Three days after Vicente's group arrived in Oldbarrow, Casey was meditating in a special cultivation room in the city.
In large cities and influential places, there were always institutions that rented out their cultivation and meditation rooms to those willing to pay the high costs. That was a common business all over the continent, where one side made money by offering high-capacity training and cultivation rooms, and the other side got good places to train and cultivate for "moderate" prices.
These rooms were prepared to withstand the powers of the magicians without suffering too much damage from their powers. On the other hand, they were especially rich in mana and various types of elements.
For magicians like Vicente, Casey, and Layla, there weren't many such rooms in the cities, even in the Chutha Dynasty. However, for a thousand gold coins, Vicente had managed to get the room where his party was now staying for the next seven days.
Thanks to Vicente's financial power, the group was on the fifth floor of one of the three cultivation towers available in Oldbarrow.
Casey was in a deep state of meditation in the 45-square-meter room, which included a bathroom and kitchen as well as a training and meditation area.
After consuming some of the resources Layla had collected in The Skull City, he was trying to break through to the last part of the 3rd stage.
Meanwhile, Vicente and Layla were now standing in the kitchen of this room, both eating and chatting.
"I'm going out to get to know the city better," Vicente said as he looked into her eyes. "Do you want me to bring you anything?"
"No. Just be careful. You can easily get into big trouble in a city like this." She said seriously.
"Don't worry. I won't get into trouble until I have the investigation results we ordered." He smiled at her before leaning close to one of her ears and saying quietly. "When Casey finishes his advance, you and I will go somewhere alone."
At the feel of him squeezing her waist and speaking into one of her ears, Layla shivered as her heart beat faster.
He had done what he had promised and made her his woman. After showing Layla a 'new' world, she had become so accustomed to the new experiences Vicente had introduced her to that she liked and wanted to be with him.
She couldn't help but smile when she heard his words, a little anxious for more time alone with Vicente.
"You're terrible, Vicente Fuller. How can you think of such things when we're in so much danger?" She asked as she looked into his eyes, close to his face.
"Am I the only one like this?" He laughed as he remembered something. "Have you forgotten that..."
As he spoke, she put a hand over his mouth and looked at him shyly, her face flushed. "Hey, don't talk about that!"
Vicente put aside what he was about to say and couldn't help but reach for Layla's lips, then began to kiss her vigorously, taking her breath away as he explored that body full of curves that women of all types and ages would envy.
Layla felt hot but resisted the temptation, knowing that it would do her no good to let him take her now that there was nothing they could do about it.
"You like to tease me..." She said as she parted her lips from his, trying to catch her breath. "Go and do what you planned!"
He smiled before leaving the room, walking down the stairs of the building until he reached the entrance hall, where many people were coming and going.
He ignored the many people there, most of whom were wealthy locals with magic cultivations between the 2nd and 3rd stages, those who could afford to go to a place like this.
When he reached Oldbarrow's main square, he bought some snacks from a shop along the way, and soon he was walking slowly, observing his surroundings and eating slowly.
He saw some of the town's major establishments but also noticed members of some of the local forces.
That city was close to the dynasty's border with a major enemy of the state, so the presence of magical powers there was significant.
There were many men from the Chutha Army on the streets, while the presence of Mages and Sovereigns was noteworthy, to the point that everywhere Vicente went in Oldbarrow, he would see people wearing the uniforms of one of these forces.
After only 30 minutes of walking through the city center, he saw 4 Sovereigns and 66 High-level Mages, a surreal amount of powerful magicians to encounter on a casual walk.
'If I attack Bone Mountain openly, it's possible that I'll have problems with many local forces.' Vicente considered this possibility, which would be terrible for him and his group.
'The master must operate in the shadows without attracting attention. The local forces will see your actions as the actions of an enemy of the Chutha Dynasty, such as the Fallen Angels. So any action in daylight will be replied not only by the people of the Bone Mountains.' Torne commented as he scanned Vicente's surroundings.
'It is also interesting that you do everything you have to do in one night or you do your attacks in two moves separated by a few days. You can't just act one day and continue the next. The local forces should be used for one-off attacks, so they'll stand guard after an attack. But after a few days, they should be back to normal.'
That was the nature of intelligent beings. It wasn't so easy to stay focused on something. That was especially true in situations like the one Torne was talking about.
You couldn't keep a group of powerful people on alert for enemy attacks forever. After an attack, those people would be sensitized for a while, and it wouldn't be interesting to act against them during that time. But after a while, such powers would lower their guard because attacks usually didn't happen as often many days or weeks after the first attack.
There was usually a period of a few days after the attack when new events were more likely to occur. But after a few days, the observation history of many forces across the continent said that the chances of new attacks happening were greatly reduced.
Experienced people who were aware of this data relaxed after a while, which was bound to happen sooner or later, as it was the nature of intelligent beings to get used to their situation.
Once the tension subsided, they would let their guard down!
But that didn't mean that everything would be easy and the local forces would be vulnerable. It just meant that the plans of someone as powerful as Vicente wouldn't be as hampered by the attention of the local observers.
'Hmm, let's go with the second option. That will give Dax time to suffer a bit.' Vicente decided.
