Chapter 68: More Trouble

Meanwhile, Ryan was completely unaware of the conversation between Julian and his attendants. He had no idea that, without realizing it, he had already offended another major family.

Since Winters Tower wasn’t far from Ashfall City’s East Gate, Ryan had taken a Wind Wolf Express, and about an hour later, he was already nearing his destination.

Although Winters Tower contained countless good things, Ryan had to remain frugal.

After browsing for quite some time, he had only purchased three Skill Stones, three First-Tier Medium Grade Healing Pills, and a portable Disguise Formation.

Disguise Formation: Profound Rank Low Grade. It consists of a formation plate and formation feet. Once activated, it can establish a small formation that disguises everything within its range as part of the surrounding scenery. Although its defensive capabilities are weak, it possesses a certain degree of concealment and probing capabilities.

Aside from the Healing Pills, which cost four Origin Stones each, everything else cost 300 Origin Stones per item.

After applying the 8.8% discount, Ryan had spent a total of 1,067 Origin Stones.

After deducting the cost of the Wind Wolf Express, he was left with 4,946 Low-Grade Origin Stones.

Originally, relying on the mysterious functions of the Boundless Creation Furnace, Ryan had felt that his ability to make money wasn’t particularly slow.

However, he never expected that his ability to spend money would be even more "lightning fast."

Compared to his spending speed, the Boundless Creation Furnace’s money-making speed was, at best, a younger brother.

Ryan had originally thought that possessing 6,000 Origin Stones already meant he was relatively wealthy.

But after seeing the dazzling array of treasures inside Winters Tower, he finally realized how shallow his previous understanding had been.

Six thousand Origin Stones were nothing.

There were still countless places where he would need to spend money in the future, so he had to be extremely careful with every Origin Stone.

Unless something was urgently needed, he absolutely couldn’t afford to buy it recklessly.

The three Healing Pills were reserved for emergencies while traveling outside the city.

As for the three Skill Stones, they contained imprints of the lowest-tier skills:

[Profound Rank Low Grade Secret Art, Spider Silk Entanglement × 1]

[Profound Rank Low Grade Secret Art, Spider Web Flying Shuttle × 1]

[Profound Rank Low Grade Combat Skill, Mountain Shaking Fist × 1]

Spider Silk Entanglement: By striking the ground with the palm, Spider Silk can be sent through the earth and released beneath the target, precisely entangling the enemy’s feet and restricting their movement. It consumes very little energy, activates rapidly, makes almost no sound when cast, and can be instant-cast, making it an excellent crowd-control technique.

Spider Web Flying Shuttle: After mastering this secret art, the user can flick a finger and shoot a shuttle-shaped Spider Web toward a target. Compressing the Spider Web into a shuttle shape greatly increases its speed and makes it easier to hit the target.

Upon striking a target or obstacle, the shuttle-shaped Spider Web immediately bursts open, transforming into a palm-sized Spider Web that restrains the enemy.

As the user’s strength increases, the Spider Web’s burst range will also expand.

The technique consumes very little energy, and up to five Spider Web Flying Shuttles can be instant-cast.

Mountain Shaking Fist: Consumes very little energy. Upon activation, it can double the user’s punching power, delivering a powerful blow capable of breaking trees and shaking mountains upon impact.

Earlier, while riding the Wind Wolf Express, Ryan had already used two of the Skill Stones.

In a short period of time, he had completely mastered the two secret arts suitable for his Spider Bloodline: Spider Silk Entanglement and Spider Web Flying Shuttle.

As for the remaining Mountain Shaking Fist Skill Stone, he hadn’t used it.

There was a reason for this.

Generally speaking, the lower the tier of a combat skill or secret art, the less energy it consumed and the faster it could be activated. Some could even be instant-cast.

At present, Ryan’s Spider Bloodline was still at the lowest D-Grade Ordinary Tier.

Its Spider Silk possessed only average strength, and the Bloodline itself was primarily suited for control.

With his current Bloodline level, learning higher-tier secret arts would be of limited usefulness.

After all, the strength and toughness of his Spider Silk itself restricted its maximum potential.

Therefore, mastering two of the lowest-tier, instant-cast control-type secret arts was far more cost-effective.

At certain critical moments, they might even produce unexpected results.

Before mastering Spider Silk Entanglement, Ryan could also manipulate his Spider Silk and send it underground to entangle his enemies.

However, he couldn’t activate the ability instantly.

Moreover, after mastering the secret art, the maximum thickness of the Spider Silk increased significantly.

Originally, his Spider Silk could only reach roughly the thickness of his pinky finger.

After mastering Spider Silk Entanglement, its maximum thickness increased to roughly that of his thumb.

This greatly enhanced its strength and restraining ability.

Therefore, whether it was combat skills or secret arts, they were undoubtedly more powerful and practical than simply relying on Bloodline abilities.

As for his Overlord Body Bloodline, it was already at the C-Grade Top Tier.

Its Bloodline level was sufficient for the time being.

If he wanted to unleash greater power from it, he only needed to master higher-tier combat skills.

Ryan already possessed a leg-type combat skill, but he was currently lacking a suitable fist-type combat skill.

Therefore, he planned to put the Mountain Shaking Fist Skill Stone into the Boundless Creation Furnace and see if it could transform it into a higher-tier fist-type combat skill Skill Stone.

There was no harm in waiting to use it until then.

Most importantly, these lowest-tier Skill Stones were relatively cheap.

The higher-tier Skill Stones were simply too expensive, and Ryan couldn’t afford to spend Origin Stones on them right now.

Skill manuals were cheaper, but they required a considerable amount of time and effort to study and comprehend.

That made them even less suitable for his current situation.

Furthermore, Ryan wanted to save as many Low-Grade Origin Stones as possible to increase the maximum multiplier of the Devouring World Art.

Naturally, he couldn’t afford to spend recklessly.

With these thoughts in mind, Ryan finally arrived near Ashfall City’s East Gate aboard the Wind Wolf Express.

Looking ahead, he saw numerous merchant caravans and Bloodline Fighters entering and leaving through the city gate, constantly moving back and forth.

Ryan’s gaze became firm.

He leaped out of the carriage and strode toward the city gate.

However, just as he was about to leave Ashfall City and enter the wilderness, two armored City Watch members suddenly stepped forward and blocked his path.

The two men stood side by side, each holding a long spear. The crossed weapons completely blocked the entrance.

"Who goes there?"

One of the tall armored City Watch members narrowed his eyes and shouted sternly:

"The city is currently under martial law. If you wish to leave through the city gate, you must first remove your obscuring light shield and submit to an inspection."

"If I have an obscuring light shield, I still need to be inspected before leaving?"

Ryan couldn’t help feeling depressed.

"How troublesome..."

He had only heard that people using obscuring light shields needed to undergo inspections when entering the city.

He hadn’t expected that they would also be required to undergo inspections when leaving.

Ryan carefully recalled what had happened previously.

He seemed to have offended a City Watch Captain from the City Lord’s Mansion.

Could these people be trying to arrest him?

Forget it.

If anything unexpected happened, he would think of another way to deal with it.

With this thought, Ryan lowered his voice as much as possible and asked in a mosquito-like whisper:

"Mira, can this Gray Light Shield be temporarily deactivated and then activated again later?"

"Yes, Master."

Mira’s soft voice immediately sounded in his mind.

Because the Gray Light Shield had been blocking them, and Ryan’s voice was so faint that it was barely audible, the two City Watch members standing nearby didn’t hear anything.

As soon as Mira finished speaking, the gray light surrounding Ryan immediately began to recede.

Within moments, it completely disappeared, revealing his true appearance.

In fact, many Bloodline Fighters preferred to conceal themselves.

In the current world, murder and robbery were common occurrences, especially in the wilderness.

Those with sufficient ability would generally conceal their true strength to some degree, unwilling to let outsiders easily see through them.

Therefore, when Ryan’s Gray Light Shield first disappeared, the tall City Watch member didn’t find anything strange.

He was already accustomed to seeing Bloodline Fighters conceal their identities.

However, the moment the gray light completely vanished and Ryan’s face was revealed, the man’s expression suddenly changed.

"You are... Ryan?!"

"You know me?!"

Ryan’s eyes immediately narrowed.

His vigilance surged, and he instinctively took a step backward.

He had no idea why this City Watch member recognized him.

But in an instant, Ryan had already prepared himself.

If the man said anything suspicious, he would immediately flee.

The thing he was most worried about was the City Watch Captain he had offended previously.

If that captain had issued an internal order for his arrest because of their previous conflict, then things would become troublesome.

At that point, not only would leaving the city be difficult, but he could also face unexpected trouble or even imprisonment.

Ryan’s muscles subtly tensed.

He quietly prepared himself for the worst.

...

A/N:

Your powerstones and Golden tickets are my motivation guys, thanks do much for the support... I really appreciate