Supreme Devil Lord: I Can Refine All Energy-Chapter 41: The Middle City

The guard glanced at him, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

’Hmm? Did he notice I’m a Warrior?’ Eric thought, his spine subconsciously straightening and his expression becoming dignified.

The guard, however, didn’t say anything, nor did his expression become respectful like he expected, making him chuckle bitterly in his heart.

’He should be a warrior himself and stronger than me. Why would he show me respect?’ He thought.

He wasn’t aware that Novice Warriors and even Adept rank Cultivators weren’t able to determine one’s cultivation level at a glance. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have thought that the guard had realized he was a warrior even for a second.

He wanted to use {Inspect} and see his cultivation, but as it would use his precious refined energy and also because it wasn’t necessary, he dropped the idea.

"How many days?" The guard asked.

"Just one." Eric said, "I’ll also pay for my mother and younger sister, who will be there for one day too." He added, pointing to Elena and Riya standing behind him while taking out a light blue crystal card.

The guard glanced at Elena and Riya behind him. Noticing the luggage they were carrying, he frowned but didn’t comment on it.

After that he glanced at the crystal card in his hand and nodded, "It’ll be 85 credits."

Saying this, he pointed toward another, more exquisite box on the table in front of him.

Eric placed the card on top of it before covering it with his palm. A moment later, when he felt the box vibrate, he removed his hand.

This card was both an identity card and the medium of carrying credits as they were not some physical currency.

These cards were divided into different tiers. The lowest tier was the Black Metal card, the same as the man standing ahead of Eric had.

After it was the light blue crystal card, the one he had. It granted him a 5% discount on all the goods and services the Kroft family sold.

After the light blue card was green, white, and lastly purple. Each of them granted increasing discounts and more privileges in the city. Only the wealthy could obtain them, however.

For poor people like Eric, just upgrading their black metal card to light blue was a tall task. Eric had to use almost two years of his savings to upgrade to this light blue crystal card.

Poor people usually didn’t bother to upgrade because even though the light blue crystal card made them eligible for discounts, they didn’t have enough credits to buy most of the things, making it useless.

The only reason Eric upgraded it was because it granted him slightly elevated status and made it easier to enter and leave the city.

For example, when he returned from the Demon Mountain Range, if he just had the black metal card, the guards wouldn’t have allowed him entry without extorting him, even if a little, and no amount of flattery would have worked.

"Remember to leave before tomorrow nightfall." The guard routinely reminded them as they walked past him.

After they had left, the other guard standing beside him looked at him and asked, "What was that?"

The first guard raised his brows in contemplation.

"You remember the incident two months ago when young master Andrew captured a guy from the slums and took him to the mountain range? I feel he is that guy." He said in an unsure tone.

"That can’t be true." The other guard shook his head. "There is no way young master Andrew would leave him alive."

The first guard nodded, "You are right."

"But I’m pretty sure he is the same guy. Maybe I should inform young master Andrew or his henchmen about it?" He muttered thoughtfully.

"Don’t be stupid. If you turn out to be wrong, he’ll kill you for wasting his time." The other guard warned in a low tone.

...

Eric, unaware of the dangerous conversation happening between the guards, was watching Riya with a small smile on his face as she looked around in excitement and fascination.

Just the lamp-lit and paved streets were enough to fascinate her, as this was her first time seeing these.

"It’s very clean and organized here, just like you all said." She chirped. "Look. There is no house made of mud and straw here. And those shining stones in the lamps, they are the Light Stones, right? The streets are paved with stones. People can walk here even on rainy days without worrying about getting dirty."

Elena and Eric exchanged a glance and smiled as they heard her ramble on. At the same time, they felt bad for not coming here with her before.

To be honest, whenever they had a little extra money, they had tried to bring her here, but Riya, aware they couldn’t afford to waste money unnecessarily, always declined their offers—even though she desperately wanted to see what the middle city everyone in the slums dreamed of living in looked like.

A while later, under Elena’s guidance, they went deeper into the middle city, which made Eric raise his brows.

The middle city also had tiers. The area near the periphery of the slums was cheapest to live in, so those with low incomes—commoners—resided there. Then, as one moved deeper, toward the core city, the land became costly, and one needed to be quite wealthy to live there.

He had expected this uncle to be living in the commoner area, but they had almost crossed it already.

When they finally crossed it and entered the middle part of the middle city, his expression became solemn because from what he had heard, one had to be at least a Grade Two or even a Grade Three Novice Warrior to be able to earn enough to buy a house in this part.

"Mom, this uncle... Do you know how strong he is?" He asked.

Elena glanced at him, and seeing his expression, she knew what he was worried about.

She thought for a moment and said, "Before your father passed away, he had told me he was about to become a Grade Two Warrior. Maybe he is still a Grade One Warrior since it’s not easy to progress further." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Eric ignored her last sentence entirely because seeing how he was able to live in the middle city’s middle part, he must have broken through years ago.

Suddenly, he felt a soft hand on his hand that was around Elena’s waist, supporting her, and snapped out of the worried trance he was falling into. He then glanced at Elena, who was looking at him with a reassuring look in her eyes, "Everything will be alright."

Eric took a deep breath, and his grip around her waist tightened slightly. "Yes. Everything will be alright."

After walking for ten more minutes, they arrived in front of a house made from chiseled stones and neatly trimmed, better-quality wood. This house was among the better ones they had seen until now. It was several times bigger than their house and even had a small courtyard with a tree.

Riya, who had been looking around, observing everything in excitement, all this while, became serious just like Eric.

Elena patted Eric’s hand and pulled away from him to walk forward and knock on the wooden door.

A short while later, the sound of footsteps sounded from inside before the door swung open and a gruff-looking, balding middle-aged man dressed in a loose white robe appeared in front of them.

He frowned when he saw the three poorly dressed people standing in front of him, becoming visibly angry.

"Hello, Paul." Elena greeted him in a low voice.

"Hmm?" The man, Paul, squinted hearing his name. Then he took a better look at Elena, and his eyes widened in surprise and glee. "Elena!"

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