Afterward.
Yu Qingcang brought Lu Ran to the Heaven’s Mandate Alliance headquarters in the imperial capital.
He personally arranged a room for Lu Ran.
Although it wasn’t as lavish as Lu Ran’s mansion in Blackfire City, in the imperial capital—where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold—Lu Ran’s treatment within the Heaven’s Mandate Alliance even surpassed that of many full members and high-ranking combat professionals.
“The tournament doesn’t start until tomorrow morning. It’s still early, Lu Ran. Feel free to explore the imperial capital a bit,” Yu Qingcang said to him.
Lu Ran instinctively glanced over at Liu Xinxin and the others.
Liu Xinxin saw right through him at a single glance and said with a smile, “With all that high-intensity leveling recently, you’ve had almost no private time to yourself. Now that you have the chance, go out and have a look around. We won’t tag along. The imperial capital is huge—there’s plenty for you to see.”
Ye Hongyi added, “Exactly. After the Hundred Cities League wraps up, there’ll only be five days left before the national war begins. When it’s time to prepare for battle, you won’t have much time to wander around. So take today off.”
Lu Ran really did feel like going out and having some fun.
It was his first time in the imperial capital, and he was deeply fascinated by the legendary city.
But…
Lu Ran glanced at Nanami, who had been standing silently to the side, and asked, “What about her?”
Nanami looked up at him instinctively.
Her very first thought was that she wanted to go out with Lu Ran—she didn’t want to stay here all alone.
But Yu Qingcang shook his head.
“Better not take Nanami along. The situation in the imperial capital is complicated. If her identity were exposed, it would be troublesome to deal with. Besides, Nanami caused a bit of a ruckus here last time. There are quite a few people secretly investigating her whereabouts now. If they saw her face to face, it would probably lead to a direct fight.”
So, it was better for Nanami to stay at the Heaven’s Mandate Alliance.
After saying this, Yu Qingcang looked at Nanami, but her gaze remained fixed on Lu Ran.
Whatever anyone else said meant nothing to her; she would only listen to Lu Ran’s decision.
“President Yu is right. In that case, Nanami wait for me here at the Alliance headquarters. I’ll go out for a walk and clear my head,” Lu Ran said.
A flicker of disappointment and sadness passed through Nanami’s eyes, but she didn’t say anything more.
She simply nodded to show she understood.
After that.
Lu Ran left the Alliance headquarters alone.
In the room, only the four presidents and Nanami remained.
Yu Qingcang glanced at Nanami, then mused aloud, “Neil and that group of Eagle Nation professionals are dead. But the question is, who was the mysterious informant that provided the Heaven’s Mandate Alliance with that intelligence? How did they know about the activity in the Kunlun Death Valley, and why pass the message to us?”
Lei Tai said carelessly, “What’s so strange about that? Some high-level combat professionals like to explore places most people don’t go to. Besides, the Death Valley pass isn’t a forbidden zone—it’s perfectly normal for other professionals to show up there. They just happened to stumble upon the Eagle Nation professionals. That makes sense. As a citizen of Dragon Xia, spotting something unusual and reporting it to the Alliance—that’s also completely normal.”
At first.
That was exactly what Yu Qingcang had thought.
But having held a high position for so long, he couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t quite that simple!
“It does seem a little odd, but it’s not worth dwelling on. Since they reported Neil and his people’s whereabouts, they’re on our side. No need to dig any deeper,” Liu Xinxin even said.
So the matter was put aside for the time being.
On the other side.
Lu Ran stepped out excitedly onto the main street.
The feel of the imperial capital was vastly different from a small city like Blackfire City.
The width of the streets, the architecture—everything was far more bustling and prosperous.
Just wandering around with nothing particular to do, Lu Ran strolled about and suddenly stopped in front of a building.
The reason he stopped here
was that hanging above the building was a sign with a huge class emblem next to it—clearly the mark of a Necromancer!
“Necromancer Guild…”
Lu Ran muttered to himself.
There’s actually a guild like this? What kind of guild is it? It can’t be all Necromancers, right? If that guild tried to run a dungeon or something, it wouldn’t work.
No healers, no melee fighters, no support, not even a tank class to absorb damage!
Curious, Lu Ran wondered whether he should go in and take a look.
Glancing around, it seemed like everyone coming and going was indeed a Necromancer.
Just as he was craning his neck and peering around at the entrance,
someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder from behind and asked suspiciously, “Hey kid, what are you sneaking around for?”
Startled, Lu Ran turned around.
He saw a girl with her hair done up in two little bun-like buns, probably around his age.
She had a petite figure, wore a short skirt, and had big, watery eyes—youthful, lively, and playful. A cute girl, all in all.
And she seemed to be a Necromancer as well.
He could see the Necromancer class badge on her chest.
“I’m just looking around. What exactly is this Necromancer Guild? I’ve never heard of a guild named after a single class. Isn’t that a bit too high-profile?” Lu Ran asked curiously.
To his surprise,
the girl burst out laughing after hearing him.
“You really are a country bumpkin. This ‘guild’ is not the same as a normal guild. It’s a class alliance guild. All the Necromancers registered here already have their own regular guilds,” the girl explained.
Lu Ran wasn’t slow; he understood immediately.
“So it’s basically an organization specifically for the Necromancer class, not a standard adventuring guild,” he said.
“That’s the idea. Besides Necromancers, every other class—aside from hidden classes—even rare classes have their own alliance guilds,” the girl added.
“You’re a Necromancer too. Have you joined this alliance guild?” Lu Ran asked.
“No, it’s not that easy. To get registered in the Necromancer Guild, you have to complete a series of tasks inside. Of course, the rewards for those tasks are quite generous. Some of them are just fairly difficult. Once you complete them, not only do you get a hefty reward, you can also join the Necromancer Alliance Guild and enjoy certain perks and benefits,” the girl explained.
Unfortunately,
Lu Ran wasn’t really interested.
From the girl’s description,
it was basically a mercenary mission platform, directly affiliated with the Necromancer class, that periodically handed out lower-difficulty but high-reward commissioned tasks as benefits.
That was the perk system of these class alliance guilds.
The purpose was to bring together the high-level combat professionals of each class.
“In the past, there was no Necromancer Guild in the imperial capital. The fact that we have this honor now is all because of my idol, that mysterious Necromancer big shot! We’re all benefiting from his light. The status of Necromancers in the country has been rising steadily,” the girl said, full of admiration.
Lu Ran blinked.
Wait. Mysterious Necromancer big shot? You’re not talking about me, are you?
“It’s just a pity, though. I don’t know how old that big shot Necromancer is. He’s my dream man, you know. But if he’s super old, then forget it,” the girl said, pouting slightly.
“And what if he’s young, like around your age? What would you do then?” Lu Ran couldn’t help asking.
“Well… I’d want to have his babies!” the girl said playfully.
Pfft!
Lu Ran nearly coughed up blood.
Wow. So I’ve actually got a fangirl now, huh?
“By the way, my name is Cong Yu. And you?” The girl, unsuspecting, extended a hand and asked.
“Lu Ran.” He reached out and gently took her slightly cool, soft, delicate little hand.
