23 Kredon!

As Raymond walked on the road leading to Kredon, the number of people surprised him a little. Although he had expected there to be more people, since it was a provincial capital, he had still underestimated the number of people in this world. Not only that, but the cultivators that he bumped into here were of a higher calibre altogether.

To enter the provincial capital, one had to prove their identity, and since Raymond didn't have any identification, he got some papers issued. To call them papers would honestly be a little flattering. In reality, he was basically just given a small piece of parchment with his name and origin on it.

Compared to Greencrest city, entering Kredon was like entering an entirely different world. The roads were made of actual brick tiles, and not just dirt. The bricks used were completely different from the bricks of Raymond's original world, and they were a lot sturdier. Their colour might be a dull grey, but their properties were great and they were fairly cheap for that matter.

The houses were not just made of wood either, although a lot of them still incorporated plenty of it into their design. Buying a house here would probably be at least three times more expensive than in Greencrest city, and that was only a conservative guess on Raymond's part. Much like when he entered Greencrest city for the first time, Raymond decided to clean himself up before he did anything else. He was eager to upgrade his talent, but there was no hurry.

After getting a bath and buying some new sets of clothes, Raymond finally looked presentable again after about two weeks of looking like a vagrant. His outfit this time was a white martial outfit, with loose-fitting sleeves. The sleeves also had beautiful flower patterns embroidered on them, making the whole outfit look less bland. Coupled with his fairly handsome countenance and piercing golden eyes, Raymond could be described as pretty handsome.

Since he looked presentable enough, Raymond went to the marketplace to get himself some information that would come in handy. He started by looking for the Profound Secrets Trade Guild since it was the biggest trade house in this city as well. After selling some medicinal plants and stuff he had gathered on the way to Kredon, Raymond had finally amassed a grand total of 1046 gold coins. With this money, Raymond got himself a sumptuous meal to celebrate his arrival in this new city.

After that, he found himself a new inn to stay in for the time being. Both his body and his mind were extraordinarily exhausted, and even though he had planned to just relax a bit, he immediately fell asleep as soon as he laid down on the bed. The soft comfort of the bed was just too strong after practically sleeping on the ground for two weeks straight.

When Raymond woke up from his slumber, it was already dark outside, but at least he felt refreshed. With surging excitement, Raymond looked at his status for a little while.

[Host]: [Raymond Dawson]

[Race]: [Human?]

[Age]: [16]

[Cultivation]: [Body-Refining: 4th Revolution]

[Skills]: [Basic Fist Art, Basic Footwork Technique, Blue Wind True Art, Azure Wind Sword Art]

[Talents]: [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body] [Sword Force: Beginner]

[Wealth]: [1046 g]

After focusing on the talent column, Raymond could see his talent pop up.

[Moderate Wealth Mortal Body](0/1000)

Raymond didn't even hesitate for a second to spend almost all of his savings to upgrade this talent.

[Moderate Wealth Mortal Body](1000/1000)

As he noticed his money quickly disappearing, Raymond braced himself for what was to come. A strange force that seemed to come straight from heaven and earth itself entered his body through his pores. Unlike last time, Raymond could tell that this energy wasn't spiritual energy this time, it seemed to be from a much higher origin than that.

Although the energy seemed gentle in nature, the brutal pain it brought with it was something else entirely. Raymond could only grit his teeth in excruciating pain as the energy slowly but surely reconstructed his body once more. After the energy had reconstructed his body a few times, Raymond could feel all of it travelling from his body up to his eyes where it lingered for a moment.

Before he could even be confused, a burning pain appeared in his eyes, and this time, Raymond was truly on the verge of screaming out in pain. His pain tolerance was higher than before, but this amount of pain that almost no one would be able to bear. Like the rest of his body, the energy seemed to break down and reconstruct his eyes. The biggest difference was the amount of energy, as well as the amount of pain, but Raymond felt like something more was happening.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but this reconstruction felt like a massive qualitative change.

After more than half an hour of extreme pain had passed, the talent upgrade was finally over. As soon as the pain faded, Raymond collapsed on the ground. He had been holding on purely thanks to his willpower, and now that it was all over, his body couldn't take it anymore, it needed rest. Other than rest, his body also needed to replenish its nutrients, but Raymond had no way to worry about that until he woke up.

...

When Raymond woke up, he was surprised to find out that around 36 hours had passed, and the sun was already high in the sky. His stomach rumbled with pain and hunger, and Raymond went down to the lobby to order enough food for two families. This was barely enough to appease his agonising hunger, and everyone who saw him eat a mountain of food on his own looked at him with strange gazes. At first, Raymond thought that it was because of how much he ate, but after he stopped eating and was just walking around, he still got the same strange gazes.

When he stopped to look someone in the eye to ask them why they were staring at him, the person seemed to be in a daze, almost hypnotised. Raymond feared that something was wrong, and quickly went back to his own room. When he was back in his room, the first thing Raymond did was check out his status.

[Host]: [Raymond Dawson]

[Race]: [Human?]

[Age]: [16]

[Cultivation]: [Body-Refining: 4th Revolution] (12th energy channel filled)

[Skills]: [Basic Fist Art, Basic Footwork Technique, Blue Wind True Art, Azure Wind Sword Art]

[Talents]: [Superior Wealth Mortal Body] [Sword Force: Beginner] [Heaven-Piercing Eyes]

[Wealth]: [46 g]

Looking at the different columns, Raymond quickly noticed something that was completely new. In his talent column, there was a new talent called [Heaven-Piercing Eyes]. Since he had a talent related to eyes, Raymond guessed that something must've happened to them. Something about him had attracted people's attention, and since the only recent change was his talent upgrade, it had to be this talent related to his eyes!

Since he had a mirror in his room, Raymond quickly walked over to it to see if he really looked any different and the result actually surprised him a little.