Capital - 247

Although the elves had been at a slight disadvantage, they were able to defeat the bandits.

Zhou Fan was actually surprised as he had assumed he would need to intervene, but they managed to deal with it with no casualties.

Twenty minutes after the battle ended, the old elf got back inside the carriage. Some cuts were visible on him, but they were healing very quickly.

"We dealt with them, but we unfortunately had to use some expensive healing pills." The old elf said.

Zhou Fan nodded in response and continued to look out the window.

The old elf sighed and did his best to fall back asleep. Before he could, the group finally reached the capital.

It was even more impressive up close than it was from afar. The walls were two hundred feet tall and at six equally distanced points on the wall were floating crystals.

As the old elf noticed Zhou Fan's gaze, he began to speak.

"Those crystals used to function as powerful weapons in case of a large-scale attack from other elves or beasts, but since the cultivation reset, nobody has become strong enough to activate or use them again." He explained.

Zhou Fan nodded in understanding as he exited the carriage. Despite the clear prosperity of the capital, there was no line to enter.

The only thing between them and the entrance were two guards.

Before Zhou Fan could ask, the old elf explained.

"Not many people have left the capital or any other place since the cultivation reset. I assume that the capital will be like this for the next 5 years at least." He explained.

Zhou Fan nodded once again.

Cultivation had become such an important thing to everyone that even the most pathetic peasants cultivated.

While there were still those that had no meridians, they were getting rarer and rarer as time passed by.

After all, the more powerful the cultivator, the more likely their descendants are to have higher talent. As those with no talent died off and those with talent had children, the number of those with meridians increased greatly.

Now, only around 1% of people are born without meridians. Of that 1%, 99% are peasants and villagers.

Zhou Fan believed that one day, having no meridians would be rarer than having king rank meridians.

Cultivators may even adapt a mindset that makes them throw those with no meridians away before they even grow.

As Zhou Fan and the old elf walked up to the two guards, the rest of the group stayed behind them with the carriage and the carts.

"Halt." A guard stated. "Present your citizen ID." 

The old elf raised his arm and showed it to the guard. 

As Zhou Fan had learned in the carriage, nearly every elf born had some sort of citizen ID inside their skin. Those who didn't were either born secretly or had a ID in the form of a card.

"My friend here does not have a citizen ID." The old elf said to the guards.

The guards looked at each other in confusion before one of them entered a door on the side of the wall.

"He is requesting a superior. In the meantime, I will verify all of your citizen ID's" The guard said as he pulled out a glowing crystal.

Zhou Fan had also learned of the tool in the guards hand on the way to the capital.

The citizen ID was placed in an elf at birth and melded itself to seamlessly mold with the elf's body. As for the tool, it contained a database of every elf with an ID.

Zhou Fan was considerably impressed with the elves' invention. He had never seen such a thing before.

The group taking care of the carriage also had their IDs scanned before the man who went away came back.

Following him was a man in silver armor.

"I heard you don't have a citizen ID." The imposing elf said as he stood in front of Zhou Fan.

"Yes. I also lost all of my memories until I met these people." Zhou Fan said.

The guard looked at him suspiciously for a moment, likely trying to tell if he was lying.

"Well, this is a complicated situation." The guard explained. "Firstly, you don't have an ID. That is very rare. Second, your ears are weird. If you are not an elf, you are a beast that can transform into a humanoid creature. However, cultivation had been reset. If you were a beast, you would be stuck in beast form."

"In all honesty, I have no idea what to do with you." The guard said.

Suddenly, the old elf chimed in from the side. "Sir, I have a suspicion that he is a high elf." 

"Hmm." The guard answered in response as he scrutinized Zhou Fan.

"In that case, I will escort you to the High elf residence. There they will test if you are a high elf. If you are, you can stay. If not, I'm afraid that I will have to ask you to leave the city. Does that sound good to you?" The guard asked.

"Yes." Zhou Fan responded with a nod.

"Then it is settled. You follow me." He said to Zhou Fan.

"As for you." He spoke while looking at the old man. "You will be properly rewarded if he turns out to be a high elf."

The old elf enthusiastically nodded as the guard walked away and Zhou Fan followed.

Zhou Fan paid attention to the old elf as he walked away. As expected, the old elf didn't even spar him a second glance.

Zhou Fan wasn't surprised. He had known the old elf only treated him as possible money from the moment he met him.

Zhou Fan took his attention off of the old elf as he walked through the big city.

As he traveled behind the elf guard, he noticed that some of the children playing outside pointed at the guard and looked with admiring glances.

"Are you popular?" Zhou Fan asked.

"It may not seem like it, but I was the fourth strongest person in the capital before the reset." The elf guard said. "My silver armor recognizes me as the vice leader of the capital guard, the most prestigious group in the kingdom."