24.

Avelan teleported away from his throne and approached the source of the overbearing pressure. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the Eastern city gate.

For a moment, Avelan could feel the sense of fear emerging from his heart. What if the person radiating this pressure didn't come in good intentions?

His teleportation was instant but when he reached the site, the pressure had already receded. All that was left were two of his lower level apostles who were lying unconscious on the ground while blood flowed out of their nose and mouth and a group of crazed people staring at a boy and a girl standing at one side while grasping and whispering amongst each other.

Alex touched his forehead and a smile appeared on his mouth. This imprint given by Verenia was truly dependable.

Just as he was going towards Sheri, a strong presence appeared at the city gate.

Alex became cautious and immediately scanned this new person who had appeared out of thin air and was now standing at the city gate.

[Name : ??????]

[Race : ???????]

[Level : 376]

...

...

...

Just like the last time when he scanned the tier 7 mana beast, Alex couldn't see anything except the level of this person who had arrived, but it was seeing the level that shocked him.

Mid stage Tier 10. He was in the godly domain where the growth of people was capped at peak tier 8. The only ones who could surpass this were the Apostles of various gods or gods themselves.

One look at the people around him and all his doubts were cleared. The one in front of him was a God. Everyone with the exception of Alex, Sheri and the God himself, were bowing down to him.

Since Alex and Sheri didn't have any imprint on them, they were not subdued by the feeling of worshipping him. But everyone else, who had been in contact with godly powers before, were immediately subdued by the godly power oozing out of him.

Alex turned around to look at Sheri. Although she didn't show it on her face, she was still struggling to prevent the sense of veneration from taking over her.

The God looked around and immediately his eyes landed on Alex. He could tell that Sheri hadn't been in direct contact with godly powers yet, so she was able to stand, albeit still struggling. But Alex stood there as if there wasn't any pressure.

He looked at his apostles and the seal lying near them and immediately everything became clear.

Even he himself didn't know whom the seal on Alex's forehead belonged to, let alone his apostles.

"Let's talk elsewhere." Avelan said to Alex and disappeared from the scene.

Alex immediately understood what had happened. This God might have felt the pressure and thought that it was due to his followers trying to overwrite another god's imprint.

This God most likely wanted to settle the matter down so that it didn't develop to the stage where he had to confront another god because of his apostle's foolishness. Similar incidents had happened all over history where attempting to overwrite the imprints was considered as a challenge to a god's authority and thus leading to gods fighting amongst themselves. This God most likely wanted to suggest a compromise, but his dignity as a God wouldn't allow him to either suggest it upfront or accept it in front of all these people, so he asked Alex to meet him.

Since the apostles were still unconscious and the guards had already heard their lord allowing Alex to enter the city, Alex's carriage passed through the city gates without any obstruction or document verification.

Alex was very happy with this development. He had lost nothing and could now get the things which he wanted without any hassle.

As long as he didn't demand anything outrageous, he could get anything he wanted.

He wasn't going to demand anything outrageous in the first place.

He wanted to avoid any further contact with any of these gods until he was strong enough so he decided to ask for the only thing he wanted right now.

Alex knew that the only reason that Avelan was compromising was to not provoke the supposed God who had left the imprint on him. But, this was another hurdle that he had to overcome.

When he was talking with Verenia, she always referred to the gods as 'them'. This meant that it was highly likely that she wasn't a god, but if Avelan asked about the individual who had given him the imprint, he would be put on the spot, especially considering how little he knew about Verenia. The only way that he could think of was to cook up a story and keep the supposed god a mystery. It was the unknown that people feared provoking the most after all. He made up his mind and quickly came up with a story which he would tell if questioned about the god.

After getting into the city, the first thing that Alex did was to rent three rooms for the three of them.

He walked into his room and immediately claimed the [portable weapons store port] and put it in the room that he had rented.

He opened the weapons store and upgraded his customized weapon blueprint to level 2.

The material requirements and inscriptions on the weapon had changed a bit.

After this was done, he was tempted to have a solo dungeon run, but he controlled his impulse and prepared himself for his upcoming meeting with Avelan.

Alex walked out of his room and knocked at Sheri's room. There was no response, so he knocked once again. This time, he heard a brisk sound of the door opening.

"Why were you crying?" Alex asked Sheri.

"I wasn't. " Sheri said, wiping her tears away.

"What do you want?"

"I just forgot to give you something. Here, take this." Alex tossed over the bracelet in her hand.

"This is..?"

"Chief Blacaw had given this to me as a payment for taking you with me when I left the village. " Alex replied.

"I don't want it. It's yours now." Although Sheri was handing the bracelet over to Alex, her eyes showed how reluctant she was to let go of it.

"Are you sure? Your father told me that this was his second most valuable treasure and he wanted to give it to you after you grew up.

But you're right, it's mine now. Since it has already served the purpose that I wanted it for, I think that I'll sell it for some money." Alex began turning back.

"Nn- no! I mean ....If it has served its purpose, why not sell it to me? I'll buy it from you." Sheri said, trying to get the bracelet from Alex's hand.

"You'll buy it. But what will you buy it with?" Alex asked.

"I....." Sheri didn't know what to reply. She had already given all her money to Alex and now she didn't have anything left.

"You don't have to act so tough. I have promised your father to look after you and I will keep my promise. Take this, I have no use of this, but it can be very useful to you. Ask me if you want anything and get changed, I am taking you and Lucas for some shopping."

After speaking his mind, Alex went and informed Lucas about the same thing and returned to his room.

Alex picked up a miniature furnace and inspected it. This was the [portable weapons store port] that he had received from the system.

It was made of some unique material and a small fire was always burning inside it.

Alex took out the [Basic Inscriptions book] and began reading it. Now that the blueprint of his customized weapon had been upgraded, the inscriptions on it had also become more complicated. He had to learn these inscriptions as soon as possible so that he could craft his weapon.

After about half an hour, a knock was heard on his door and Alex put aside the book and went outside. Locking the door behind him, Alex left with Sheri and Lucas.

The next day, Alex left the rented rooms with Sheri and Lucas.

"Hey, what are you getting all shy about?" Alex asked as he looked at Sheri who didn't dare to raise her head and kept tugging at her blouse because a small part of her flat belly was visible above her skirt.

"Is....is it alright for us to meet a God in such clothes?" Sheri asked as she lifted her head only to lower it once she met Alex's gaze.

"It's alright. Outside the village, clothes like these are very common. You can even see many girls wearing such clothes on the streets if you lift your head up right now. And I don't think that you cared so much about how you looked when you randomly attacked me out of the blue when we first met, so why bother now?" Alex replied, trying to ease her worries and teasing her at the same time.

"That..... that was just to test how strong you were."

Sheri replied with a slight blush and lifted up her head. She had tried to act tough when she first met Alex and afterwards when she tried to keep up her image as someone high and mighty, but Alex found out her real nature when he taught her how to wield spears and had been teasing her about it ever since.

She wished more than anything that she didn't act that way at that time whenever she heard Alex bring it up.

Finally, Sheri was convinced after seeing many other girls of her age wearing the same clothes as her, but she still kept her head lowered while standing on the street because she could feel the gazes of nearly every man on the street fixed on her.

This wasn't just her imagination though, after getting a makeover to better suit the city, Sheri looked too cute to be ignored. She was radiating with beauty and charm. All the people found it difficult to look away after seeing her shy demeanor paired with her angelic looks.

Alex and Sheri waited for Lucas to bring their carriage and boarded it.

After half an hour, they finally reached the mansion at the centre of the city.

The guards on the gate tried to stop them, but a shrill voice ordered them to let the three in and they were led in by a butler to a hallway before entering a room at the end.

"Have a seat." Avelan said, signaling the three of them to sit.