All of his ponds were refined many times quickly, causing Arkhen some surprise. But he continued. In the end, it took Arkhen thirty minutes to absorb all essences into the ponds and finished 500 refinement cycles!!
His EP increased by 50,000, and his mana pond's capacity increased by 500,000!
'1000 essence stones increase EP by 50,000?!' Arkhen was startled.
[My lord. That's because the essence stones you got from the reward were high-grade essence stones. These are actually very expensive and hard to get].
"Oh?'
[1000 high-grade essence stones can refine your pond 500 times. 1000 mid-grade essence stones can refine your pond 250 times. And, 1000 low-grade essence stones can refine your pond 100 times].
'I see… A single refinement of a pond increases EP by 100 and energy capacity by 1000 as mentioned indeed,' Arkhen thought and nodded. A smile appeared on his face as he asked, 'I can't wait for tomorrow's side-quest.'
[My lord. The rewards for side-quests will be different. It's not certain that tomorrow's side-quest will also give you 1000 high-grade essence stones of each energy].
'Well, it's fine. I'll just hope for a good reward and an exciting side-quest like the last one,' Arkhen said before he closed his eyes and entered meditation. He wanted to complete the main quest as soon as possible, which was about making a connection with a Star of Endowment and awakening his soul.
Three hours passed in a blink of an eye, but Arkhen didn't make any progress. He opened his eyes and frowned, 'This is actually hard, huh? I can't sense anything.'
[My lord. Try to look in the sky filled with those colorful tiny stars in the night and observe them for a while. Usually, people enter meditation at the night and grasp the wonderful feeling of those stars before entering meditation and trying to make a connection in the sky so that a suitable Star of Endowment would make a connection with you and awaken your soul].
"Welp, then I guess I'll roam this capital and know more about this world. I also want to sell those beast hides and check various things out. Did Azela and Emily wake up yet?"
[Yes, they are bathing right now].
"Oh? Hahaha, perfect then," Arkhen said as very faint silver sparks enveloped him, and after five seconds, he disappeared.
…
After two hours of a bathing session filled with passionate battles of love, the three of them came out of Mystic Wonderland.
Arkhen also told them everything that happened while inside, so they knew that Arkhen was staying at the Duke's Palace in the capital.
The three of them left the room. On the way, a few servants were confused. They had seen Arkhen entering there, but how come those two women suddenly appeared inside?
? Though they didn't bother nor dare to question that as Arkhen was an important guest who had saved young lord Gereld and young lady Meya.
After they arrived in the hall, Arkhen, Emily, and Azela saw that only Meya was in the hall. She sat on a couch with a bored expression on her face.
However, she saw Arkhen, and her eyes lit up before filling up with curiosity as she looked at Emily and Azela.
"Who are they? How did they appear with you? No one reported that other guests also came here before I arrived here thirty minutes ago," Meya said as she stood up and walked towards them and looked at Azela and Emily.
"They are my wives," Arkhen said with a grin. "And they always stay with me in a special location that only I can access."
"Hi, Meya," Azela said with a gentle smile. "Arkhen told us about you and everything that happened."
"We also heard that Arkhen engaged to you?" Emily said with a playful smile.
Meya's face turned slightly red hearing that before she giggled, "Yeah, in his dream."
Arkhen rubbed Meya's head and grinned, "Brat, my wives are more beautiful than you. I only dream of them, not you."
"I am not any less beautiful than them!" Meya said with a snort. "Anyway, since you are here, then let me show you the capital. It's big, and there are a lot of places to see. Since you all arrived in the 1st realm a few days ago, you just want to see and learn many things, right?"
"Yep," Arkhen said with a smile. "First, I want to sell some bodies of 1st-grade dire beasts."
…
Four of them left the palace on foot and walked on the streets. Many people were surprised to see some new people with young lady Mera.
The paths were made up of rough stone blocks with patterns. All buildings and paths were clean with no trash or dirt. The houses and various building structures were made up of stones and woods with aesthetic designs.
"Do you know what is the specialty of the Bariat kingdom?" Meya asked with a smile.
"What?"
"It's very safe. The geographic location of the Bariat kingdom is at the southwest corner of the 1st realm. There's a dimension wall to the west side of the kingdom, right after Skull Island. If you go through that dimension wall, you enter into heaven realm dimension. So there's no threat from the west.
"The land in the east direction until the sea is under the Bariat Empire. That land near the sea is where Lanker Duchy is located. A very important location because there's a big continent after crossing that sea. That continent has 3 kingdoms, even bigger than Bariat kingdom," Meya said.
"What if they invade?" Arkhen asked.
"They've done that. But fortunately, my mother's special power can take help from dangerous beasts living in the sea. The last time the Darkwind Kingdom tried to invade, less than half of their army barely reached the land after crossing the sea, hehe."
"What about north?" Emily asked.
"The west to the north outside the kingdom's land is all sea There's one cloud area there in the northwest, which nobody can pass as you can't fly over it. If you try, you will drop down to the limbo space, which is a space between the gravel realm and 1st realm. To come up, you will have to break the barrier, and it will teleport you to a random ascension spot instead of coming to the same place from where you dropped," Meya said with a grin.
"I see… That's good. But what is after the sea in the north direction?" Azela asked.
"Another small continent, ruled by five powerful family clans," Meya said. "The entry point in the north is protected by both the royal family and another Grand Duke house. Well, it's the duchy of that bastard who wanted me and my brother," Meya snorted as she finished speaking.
"To me, it sounds like your kingdom is surrounded and cornered instead of safe," Arkhen said with a wry smile. "Either's there's nothing much in this small Bariat kingdom, so they don't want to spend too many forces to invade or something else."
"Cough… You are right. There's not much in the Bariat kingdom. The only thing is the snowy region in the south with dangerous mountains and forests in the deep. If you pass them, you will encounter a dimension wall that if you pass through, you will simply arrive at the far north of the 1st realm, but there's a cloud area right there, so you will fall into the limbo space," Meya said with a wry smile.