348 Strike the Zhou Kingdom

"Anya, I am going to summon all of you," Alex said.

"Understood. We are taking a break currently, so you can call us anytime." Anya said.

"Summon!"

He summoned Leoz and the others.

When they arrived, the one who reacted the most was Anya. She immediately leaped toward Alex, trying to hug him. "Alex!"

Alex dodged her instinctively to the side, letting her fall to the ground. But even after that, she still said, "Alex is embarrassed to hug me, fufu…"

Alex could not comprehend why Anya was this optimistic.

But he remembered one more thing, he said, "System, can you give me the information about all my SR spirits? I did not check them much."

[Wright (Dark)

Level: 34/80 (4-Star Martial Lord Stage)

Exp: 46874/250000]

[Salijan (Fire)

Level: 33/80 (3-Star Martial Lord Stage)

Exp: 135477/230000]

[Nicole (Dark)

Level: 30/80 (10-Star Martial Grandmaster Stage)

Exp: 77213/210000]

[Ngina (Dark)

Level: 30/80 (10-Star Martial Grandmaster Stage)

Exp: 73783/210000]

[Njomo (Dark)

Level: 30/80 (10-Star Martial Grandmaster Stage)

Exp: 76564/210000]

[Limao (Earth)

Level: 28/80 (8-Star Martial Grandmaster Stage)

Exp: 123432/190000]

He was surprised to see two of them had reached the Martial Lord Stage, and in fact, they were 3-Star and 4-Star Martial Lords. Alex had been neglecting them, but fortunately, they kept leveling up together with the other spirits. So, it finally paid off.

Alex suddenly felt something off. Wright and Salijan should not be able to get to pass 3-Star Martial Lord stage if they only relied on the EXP. After all, they were not the same as Fabio, Anna, and the others that got EXP cards, "System, why are Wright and Salijan this powerful?"

[They are SR spirits, Host. Because of the difference in their ranking, they get a bigger portion of EXP when a monster is killed. But, please remember that they are not as absurd as the UR Spirits. But they are still a considerable fighting force.]

"…" Alex contemplated a little bit. "I want Leoz to follow me after this. We are going to participate in this war, but I think there might be some problems from inside the kingdom. I will be dealing with it, and I want you guys to deal with the problem from outside the kingdom."

Anya pondered a little bit before she said, "Blood Pill is it?"

Alex nodded. "Considering our past experience in the war between the Zhou Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Zhou Kingdom might want to utilize this war to make the blood pills. So, I want you to destroy their plan by killing every person that tried to make the blood pills or berserk pills. You can cooperate with Nicole."

"I see, so we are going to go around the Zhou Army and try to sneak from behind. But we won't attack the army. Instead, we are going to the ones who are responsible for blood pills. And since we have Nicole, we can try to ambush them or whatever.

"In fact, you are in trouble. I get the information from your head the instant you recall us. And that old man is no joke. Anna can deal with the old man but you might not only fight the old man alone. But seeing Anna's strength and your strength, they might come with a high-rank Martial Lord. So, you want to have Leoz by your side." Anya said.

Alex nodded his head. "Yeah."

"I understand what you want. We will deal with the Zhou Kingdom from behind. We won't be baited since we will have Nicole. But you are underestimating Nicole a little bit, Alex. She can even cover your group and our group at the same time." Anya said.

"Oh." Alex was surprised but nodded his head. He was not planning to get involved that deeply in the war as he only wanted to kill for EXP. Alex wanted to confront the Zhou soldiers from head-on, so Alex did not need Nicole's assistance for this.

"Salijan, Wright, and Nicole. I will summon all of you." Alex then took out Salijan's and Wright's as well as Nicole's card. After getting their okay, Alex then summoned them. "Summon."

"I will leave these two guys in your command. Although they could not replace Leoz, they might be able to become temporary substitutes."

"Alright. I will leave the planning to you, Anya." Alex said.

"Understood." Anya nodded. Nicole then guided the group to bypass the Zhou Soldiers.

Alex then looked at Leoz, "We are going too."

Leoz nodded.

Both of them then entered the city once again.

…

A few minutes later, Alex was with Leoz and Anna in the room. Anna had bought what he wanted, and Alex was planning to refine it later. Because he was a bit eager to use his Premium Ticket.

"System, use all of my Premium Tickets," Alex said.

[Processing]

The brown-haired girl appeared again. She smiled at Alex while bringing two boxes. When Anna and Leoz saw her, they immediately left them alone. They knew it was a precious time for her.

"Hehe… This is your package." She said while giving the two boxes to Alex with the sincerest smile she could make.

Alex nodded his head. He looked at the girl mysteriously. He did not know why, but he felt his heart torn apart when he saw that smile. Even though she gave her sincerest smile, Alex felt there was a trace of sadness in that smile.

He did not know why he felt this feeling that telling him she was very important. "You… Are you real?"

"I know that you might be troubled with all of this reincarnation thing. But I also know that we are living in the present… not the past, not the future… What you can have might come from your past or your future. But what you will have now is what you decide in the present. You and I know that we live in the present… So, I am waiting for you…" She smiled as her eyes glazed a little. She then disappeared.

"I…" Alex could only watch her disappear. "Living in the present… What I will have is what I decide to have. The future and the past might intertwine with my present life, but if in the present I don't want to accept, they would not be mine in the present…"

Alex did not know why, but those words touched the deep of his heart. He looked at the boxes with an empty eye for a while.

He took a deep breath before shaking his head. He opened the gacha one by one.

[Wind Pollen Technique (R) x1]

[Bronze Butcher (SR) x1]

[Moon Silver Bow (SR) x1]

[Summoning Ticket (SR) x5]

[Red Wood (UC) x1]

[Bamboo Fan (C) x1]

[Lightning Orb (UR) x1]

[Thunder Buster (SR) x1]

[Gemstone Nail (UC) x1]

[100x100 meter Array Paper (R) x1]

He checked the item one by one. Wind Pollen Technique was a wind element Martial Art, and it seemed he already had it from the knowledge he got in his tribulation. So, Alex immediately tossed it back into the system's inventory.

As for the Bronze Butcher, it was like a butcher knife called Cleaver. Alex did not use this weapon, so he tossed it again. It was the same as this weapon, he also did not have any use of Moon Silver Bow.

As for the Summoning Ticket… it was already inside his inventory before he even tossed it. Red Wood and Gemstone Nail were a useless material that he did not currently.

But what he never expected was the bamboo fan. It was a golden bamboo fan with such an artistic ornament. Its appearance was mesmerizing, but sadly, Alex had no use for it since it did not have any power or whatsoever.

Thunder Buster was a lightning element Martial Art, which once again tossed aside.

As for the Array Paper, Alex remembered that he had four rank 4 Teleportation array plates that he made in his free time. But he never had any use of that, so maybe he would give it to someone since he might be far stronger when he needed it. It would be better if he just made a new one.

Alex then looked at the Lightning Orb. He already forgot about this kind of item. He remembered the first time he got an element orb was when he was in the lower world, and it was a random element orb.

Alex truly did not know what to do with this orb. He decided to try it since he had many weapons to spare.

Alex took out one of his rank 4 sword. Although Alex did not care about his sword that much, he kept changing his swords according to his cultivation. He did not want to rely on the strength of the sword because he felt it was the one that restricted his progress.

But he had reached Martial Lord Stage, so he finally started using a rank 4 sword. Of course, if the enemy used a very absurd weapon, Alex would immediately take out a rank 5 or rank 6 sword he had.

He did not want to enhance the sword with his Lightning Orb. Instead, he went with the random orb he got from years ago.

Alex grabbed the orb with his hand. The orb was a dim black with a question mark in the center of the orb.

"System, how do I use this orb?"

[Just put the orb on top of your sword and channeled your Spiritual Energy. The orb will slowly assimilate with the weapon.]

Alex then followed what the system said. He put the orb on top of his sword and channeled his Spiritual Energy. Surprisingly, the orb suddenly turned to blue. As soon as it started fusing with the sword, the orb started shining brightly. Even Alex had a difficulty to open his eyes because of the brightness.

Before he knew it, the orb was already fused with the sword. He examined the sword immediately.

He felt a cold energy from the sword. He tried to see it with his Spirit Eyes and saw bluish energy hovering around the sword.

"This is… Ice element." Alex said while examining the sword.

[Yes, Host. This sword has become an Ice Element Sword. You should check your memory about Forging Master, Host.]

When the system said that, he was dumbfounded. He immediately checked his memory about Forging Master and finally found something.

Enhancing an element to a weapon. This could be considered as a high-level technique in Forgery. According to the knowledge, the person who could do this was those who were rank 5 or above.

According to the memory about Forging, no, there were also some from Alchemy and Array. It seemed after he became a Martial King, there would be a qualitative leap in his cultivation. He would start cultivating his soul. But for those Martial Lords or below, they considered this as Mental Energy.

Mental Energy helped them to make pills, weapons, or array. Alex also experienced when he made pills or Arrays. With high enough Mental Energy, Alex could refine ingredients or make symbols simultaneously.

And it seemed after he reached Martial King, the mental energy would evolve into a soul. This was what the Founder of Heavenly Sword Sect used to seal himself in the Stone Tower to teach the next generation about Seven Stars Cut.

Zwaka also used this to live in this world for a little longer so he could meet Alex in that white castle. But different from the Founder of Heavenly Sword Sect, for Alchemists, Forging Masters, or Array Masters like Zwaka, they could use or fuse a little bit of their soul to their creation.

In other words, Alchemists can use their souls to make the refining process much smoother. Forging Master can use their soul to retain the element from a metal and make an elemental sword. Array Master could use their soul to control their Array remotely.

And one of the elemental swords was in front of him. Alex tried to touch the blade with his hand, and the blade tried to freeze his hand. Alex's Fire immediately fought back with the sword.

Alex was glad that he only used this when he was a Martial Lord. If he used it when he was a Martial Master and completely clueless about this, he might be targeted by the people who knew about it.