Starting from Zero

Chapter 157: The City Lord’s Secret [Vol 5 Chapter 8]

Translator: blackberrry Editor: blackberrry

I had played the game for a relatively long time and have been to Lost City multiple times, but it was my first time meeting the City Lord. I unsummoned Ling and the Phantom Knights and followed Clark around half the City before being led into an inconspicuous place. "Am I not meeting the City Lord? Why did you bring me here?"

Clark did not reply me but pushed upon a door to a private estate. "Quick, go in!"

I was unable to make heads or tails out of it, but I entered anyway. Clark waited for me to enter before closing the doors again, then without explaining anything to me, he ran over to a wardrobe next to a bed and stood there. Clark grabbed onto the handle of the wardrobe and turned it instead of pulling the wardrobe door. The wardrobe suddenly shifted automatically by a large distance, and the wall behind the wardrobe was revealed. Clark walked over to the wall and knocked on it twice, causing the ground where the wardrobe originally stood to plunge downwards.

Clark pulled me onto the descending platform, which plunged into the ground with what I thought was over 7 to 8 meters before stopping, we were actually in a tunnel! The moment the both of us got off the 'elevator' and into the tunnel, the 'elevator' automatically rose upwards. The tunnel was not dark and was lit up with some light source ahead of us. Clark pulled me and walked further in.

"Hey, bro, where are we going? Didn't you say the City Lord wanted to see me? Why did you bring me into this tunnel?"

"This is the tunnel that leads to the City's Shrine!"

"But why aren't we walking by the surface? Or does the City Lord stay beneath the City?"

"Dark Cities are always built like this, half of the structures are above ground while the other half beneath, the City Lord's residence must definitely be more covert, thus it was built underground. This entrance is specially designed as well, it only allows entry and not exit!"

"Then how does the City Lord gets out?"

"The Shrine has a flight of steps that leads to the surface, but it has been sealed with a spell and only allows exit!"

"What the hell! Isn't that very troublesome!"

"It's not! Just that there are a specific entrance and exit each!"

We talked and talked until we reached the end of the tunnel, which did not cover much distance. Upon leaving the tunnel, I was taken aback, we actually appeared on the surface, and we were even in a large forest! "What….what the hell?"

"Hehe! This is an illusion spell, we are actually still underground! Follow me tightly, don't get lost, it won't be fun getting lost in this illusion!"

"Woah!" I followed Clark tightly, afraid to be trapped forever!

The forest illusion did not encompass a huge area as well and we quickly got through it. A garden appeared in front of us. The City Lord stood in the middle of the garden clad in his red armor, bending down and doing something that we could not see, his red cape had blocked our vision. With his back towards us, the City Lord did not notice our arrival.

"City Lord, brother Ziri is here!" Clark spoke up.

Before the City lord could react, a small head popped out from behind the City Lord's cape. This head belonged to an extremely adorable little girl who looked to be 7 or 8 years old, the sweet smile on her face producing two dimples. The City Lord finally turned around, he held onto the little girl's hands and walked over.

"So you're Ziri! I have to thank you personally for your help today, come, let us sit!"

The City Lord had invited me to sit and talk. I tried to look for a stool, but we were in a garden in the middle of a forest, much less a stool, I could not even find a rock to substitute for a chair. I could only look back towards the City Lord, but the City Lord had actually sat cross-legged on the grass! When in Rome, do as the Romans do, I sat beside him on the grass. Fortunately, the scenery was mysteriously beautiful, and upon sitting down, I felt more by nature.

The little girl by the City Lord's side did not accompany us to sit, but instead started running around the City Lord and laughing non-stop, children were indeed pure and sincere, even the smallest of things could make her laugh for a whole day, but us adults have real difficulty experiencing genuine happiness!

The City Lord extended his hand out and hugged the little girl who was running around.

"Alright, Ting Ting, stop running around, can you go over there and play by yourself first? I want to talk to Uncle!"

"Ting Ting, come with me! I'll bring you to Aunty for a doll!" Clark walked over and hugged the little girl.

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The Little girl's naive eyes sparkled: "Really? The doll Aunty gave Ting Ting the last time was so cute!"

"Of course, this time, we must get Aunty to make even more dolls for Ting Ting!" I could never tell that Clark who had such a brute appearance was actually so proficient in coaxing little children!

Although the little girl was extremely happy, upon thinking about the doll, she had to ask the City Lord. "Daddy, can I go?"

The City Lord nodded his head and used an extremely affectionate and slightly imposing voice to speak: "Yes you can, but don't take too many, your aunt still has to work. If you go to her, you better not cause trouble, ok?"

"Yes! Ting Ting is the most obedient!" The girl's vowed impatiently as she urged Clark to bring her to take her doll.

The City Lord watched Clark carry the little girl up and walk away before turning back to me. "You should be prepared, I'm going to take off my helmet!"

"Huh? What?" Before I could even understand the City lord's meaning, he was already taking off his helmet. When it was off, I got the shock of my life! All the Undead and ghosts could be said to be more adorable than him! Inside the Helmet was a greatly rotten faceless half a head, the right portion of his head was gone. But his right eyeball was actually still connected to his brain by a strand of nerve and was swaying back and forth, as though it could fall at any moment. Half of his brain was revealed, the watery and gooey substance looked like mushy tofu! As for the left side of his face, it was not anywhere complete either, his chin looked as though it had been smashed by something and had slanted to one side, his cheekbone was completely revealed, as for his ears…..they were already flapping downwards at his neck along with the rest of his skin! The grotesque sight in front of me almost made me puke, but I had somehow managed to control myself.

"I look really terrifying, right?" The City Lord caressed his helmet and asked me in a self-mocking tone.

"Honestly, you look really terrifying! But, we are all men, looks are not important, what matters is our capabilities!" I spoke as if I was an expert in blabbering, but honestly, I had no idea on how to comfort him!

The City Lord handed a rolled up canvas to me, and I opened it up to take a look. It was a painting and the background looked faintly familiar, after thinking about it, I suddenly realized that the background of the painting was a drawing of where we were, except that we were at a different place. The painting had two individuals, a man, and a lady. The lady was beautiful and was not inferior to Rose. She was seated on a swing made of vines, the dark green vines contrasted with her spotless white robes, making it an extremely beautiful painting. Behind the lady stood a man who had a stance that looked like he was gently pushing her. He was dressed in red armor without a helmet, and he had a smile on his face that was brimming with happiness. He was extremely handsome and suave, he was the best description of a manly figure, if any of the stars or models were half as suave as him, all the girls in the world would definitely fall for him. I suddenly sensed something amiss.

Isn't this handsome man's armor the same as the City Lord's? Could it be...

I raised my head up and looked at the City Lord in surprise. He nodded his head.

"That's right, that's me, good-looking, right?"

I nodded my head as I looked at the drawing, then raised my head up to look at the City Lord, who looked like a monster. "YOU…..!"

"It's nothing much, anyway I've died a long time ago, I don't really care about it anymore!"

"Then what about your daughter?"

"She doesn't know that I've become like this after I died, I never let her see my face, I've always been afraid of scaring her! I told her that something had lodged my helmet onto my head, and it can no longer be removed, so she doesn't complain about it. Ting Ting is a very obedient….child!" The City Lord had turned emotional talking about his daughter.

"What will you do when your daughter grows up? She'll definitely know!"

"She won't!" The City Lord said calmly. He paused for a moment, then continued: "I have sought for you today for two matters. Firstly, I want to thank you for the early warning. Because of you, we were able to complete our preparations to face our enemies, it was because of the wasted time that the enemies Mages and Aerial units had suffered that we were able to win so easily."

"You don't have to thank me, I merely reported it on the way, there isn't really any contributions. Furthermore, My Armor is still at Clark's shop, if I didn't report it, then Lost City would have been destroyed by the Light Shrine which equates to my armor is gone!"

"You don't have to be so modest, your report was truly valuable and extremely valuable as that! As thanks, I have decided to give you 20 Heavy Armored Dragons as repayment!"

"Heavy Armored Dragons?"

"MEN!" The City Lord shouted to his back, and a Mythal Legion Knight came running from nowhere, with an extremely humongous monster behind him!

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This monster that was called a 'Heavy Armored Dragon' looked extremely like a T-Rex of the dinosaurs (Imagine Godzilla), but it's size smaller. Although it was smaller than a T-Rex, it was still close to 4 meters tall. The Heavy Armored Dragon was completely covered in pitch black scales, its defense must definitely be high! As a reptile, its tail was not considerably long, only about 4 meters long, but from one look, I could tell that it had considerable might! Its two hind legs were extremely thick with their obviously powerful muscles, revealing that its hind legs contained explosive force! But compared to them, its claws were much smaller, but with its huge size, these claws were still larger than my thighs!

The most striking feature of the Heavy Armored Dragons were their large heads, which was half as large as their bodies, with extremely large mouths. The Apollyon Knight that was holding onto its leash pulled onto it, causing it to suddenly roar out, its roar as unbearable as a gong, and was extremely sharp and high-pitched. But when it opened its mouth, it also revealed its perfect set of sharp teeth, and holy shit, they sure were long, every single tooth was at least 2 inches long, anyone who was bitten by them would definitely lose their limbs. Furthermore, its teeth were dramatically pure white, who knew what brand of toothpaste they used, I very much wanted it too!

The Heavy Armored Dragon had very large eyes and were sharp slits like that of cats under light. They looked extremely scary! I realized that they had two layers of eyelids, the inner layer was transparent like that of sea creatures. Adding the fins on their tail, I reckoned that they were mobile in the water as well, and not slow to that! Under the Apollyon Knight's order, it actually knelt down, and that was when I noticed a saddle at where its neck and body were connected, which was most probably where the Rider would be seated. Behind the saddle were three sets of dorsal fins, the sharp dorsal fins could effectively serve as protection for its back. By the sides of the dorsal fins were a pair of folded membrane wings, it looked as though the Heavy Armored Dragon could fly as well, but as to its flight time, I did not know! But it had to be less than Lucky, who was a real dragon!

"What level are they?" I patted the Heavy Armored Dragon happily.

"They are level 750 creatures, and they are a very rare and hardly seen species!" The Apollyon Knight replied. "The ones with wings are even fewer!"

The City Lord walked over and took the rope over from the Apollyon Knight, who then left. "How is it? Do you like it?"

"I do, but I only have 10 Servant slots left and 1 Companion slot left! Where will I put these 20 Heavy Armored Dragons?"

"Don't you have Phantom Knights? Give these Dragons to them!"

"What? Give the Phantom Knights? Phantom Knights can keep Companions?"

The City Lord looked at me strangely, then replied me with a question. "You didn't know? All human-type NPCs have 2 Companion Slots!'

"Are you serious?"

"Of course! If not, why do you think that the mounts that the Phantom Knights you have not count as Servant slots as well? Or did you think that the Phantom Knights and the Spirit Warhorses equates to 1 Servant slot? They are actually all Companions under the Phantom Knights, that is why they are able to summon them at will!"

"F*CK! Then if I get the Phantom Knights to accept other Phantom Knights as Companions, won't this loop make me the ruler under the Heavens?"

"Dream on! All NPCs that are Servants or Companions can only keep non-human type Companions!"

"Oh!"

Woah! According to the City Lord's words, wouldn't that mean that Aldeina and Ling could take in 2 more Companions each? Wouldn't that mean that I have an additional 5 Companion Slots? (Ziri has 1 more left, adding Aldeina and Ling, excluding the Phantom Knights)

Seems like the remaining Companion Slots should be left for human-type Companions, this way, I have even more of them! So that's how the loophole can be used! HAHAHAHA! I'm a genius!

After basking in the joy, I looked at the Heavy Armored Dragon again, and started feeling depressed again! "So in the future, the Phantom Knights will ride these Heavy Armored Dragons, but with me riding Night Shade, I'll be overpowered so greatly that even if I walk at the front, I'll be too short to be noticed as the leader, I'll only look like the person to pave their way!"

"It doesn't matter, I know that you have a Nightmare*, so I prepared a few things for you." The City Lord took out a stone from his body. "This is a Transformation Gem which can be embedded in the saddle, this will allow your Companion to have the ability to transform. Remember, the Heavy Armored Dragon transformed by a Nightmare will have a substantial increase in ATK and DEF, and is much more powerful than a real Heavy Armored Dragon, since it is a much higher level monster! But after transforming into a Heavy Armored Dragon, it cannot use any Spells. Additionally, there isn't any time restriction on the transformation, you can allow him to maintain the form for as long as you want, but in between each transformation, you need to wait for an hour, for example, once you get him to transform into a Heavy Armored Dragon, you have to wait for an hour before it can turn back!"

"That's nothing! The benefits outweigh that single weakness!" Nightmare could transform into a Heavy Armored Dragon, and with Lucky, it could fight on the frontline, and I, a D&P Ride, would finally be able to mount on a Dragon, although it was a fake, it was still considered a Dragon! "Oh right, didn't you say you have two things? What's the other matter?"

"It is a personal request of mine, I hope that you can find my wife!"

"Is she the woman in the painting?"

"Yes! If you see her, give this painting to her, she will definitely recognize it, we did it together!"

"You guys drew this together?"

"Yes, this is a painting completed by us two painting separately. She sat on the swing first while I drew, then we swapped positions, and she added me to it!"

"That's super creative and romantic!" I extended out a thumb.

When I get back, I shall do that with Rose as well, seems like fun!

"Oh right, Your wife, is she still human or…..uh?" I did not know how to phrase it, he was dead, yet he still had his daughter, thus it was difficult for me to talk about his wife like that!

"She should still be alive!"

"What's her name? Where will she most probably be? You should give me some estimates to ease my search!"

"She's called Anna, as to where she is, I'm unsure! If I knew about it, I would have looked for her myself! But she is a Priest in the Light Faction and should be in one of their Shrine now. She is still unaware of my passing, if you see her, it'll be best to not tell her about my death, just tell her that I am in the midst of accomplishing a grand matter, and after it ends, I will find her."

"You don't want me to bring her back here?"

"I'm already like this, how do you want me to see her? If you're like me, will you go and meet your girlfriend? Aside from scaring her, what else can happen?" When he finished speaking, he wore his helmet back on, it looked as though he was still greatly affected by his appearance.

"Then you don't need me to bring your daughter to her? You're already an Undead, it won't be good for your daughter to keep following you, right?"

The City Lord raised his hand and was about to say something when a child's voice interrupted him. "Daddy!"

I almost fell back in shock! The adorable little girl was running over while hugging her own head, the headless neck even revealing somethings that were sticking out. The little girl ran over to the City Lord and screamed: "Daddy, help me put it back on, it dropped again!"

The City Lord turned and helped his daughter put her head back on, as I looked at his back view, I suddenly recalled when I just arrived, and finally understood what he was doing! The City Lord quickly turned back around and spoke: "You saw it yourself, Ting Ting died with me 30 years ago. After turning into an Undead, one will never age, she had always been this age since 30 years ago, but it's good for her, she will never experience pain like me!"

"I understand! I'll definitely find your wife!"

Clark ran over anxiously. "This little brat runs really quickly, she didn't see you?" Clark ran over worried that Ting Ting would see how the City Lord looked, but fortunately, the City Lord had already worn his helmet back on.

"These are 20 Heavy Armored Dragon Eggs and the painting, keep them well!" The City Lord handed the things over to me then turned to Clark: "Help Ziri prepare 20 Saddles and gift them to him for me, I don't feel so well and won't be sending you off!" With that, the City Lord turned and pulled his daughter and walked away. Watching their back view, I felt terrible, there were actually such sad NPCs in the game!

"Let's go!" Clark pulled me and left the illusion, and returned to his shop.

I took the time while Clark was preparing the Dragon Saddles to summon the Phantom Knights and handed over the Heavy Armored Dragon Eggs to them and kept the remaining 10 Eggs, which would be given to my future 10 Servants, anyway, my Servants were restricted to Calvary type units, so I would definitely be able to use them! I remembered the Transformation Gem and anxiously summoned Night Shade, then took the Saddle. I could embed the Transformation Gem without troubling Clark as I was a Blacksmith myself and had learned a few skills after being with Clark for so long!

Clark was definitely no ordinary blacksmith, he had finished the 20 Saddles in the time that I took to embed the Gem! Clark handed the saddles over to me, then went into the room to grab my Dark Dragon Lord Set. I handed the Saddles over to the Phantom Knights and kept the remaining few.

"Scott, quickly hatch these Heavy Armored Dragon eggs out for me to see!"

"Alright!"

With that, Scott started to run out of the shop. I pulled him back. "Where are you going?"

"Hatch the egg!"

"Can't you do it here?"

"Here?" Scott looked around. "No way, the room is too small, the Heavy Armored Dragon's too large!"

"It's fine, Lucky's much bigger than the Heavy Armored Dragons, when I hatched Lucky, he was the size of a kitten!"

"We are different! Companions under NPCs will instantly reach their prime, so the Heavy Armored Dragons we hatch will reinstate their original levels!"

"Are you serious? Then if I give all of you Dragons, will they instantly reach Level 1000?"

"That's impossible! Companions cannot exceed the Master's level. We are level 850, so if we were to hatch dragons, they will be at level 850, but the dragon will never be able to increase their levels to 1000!"

"So there's still such restrictions! Forget it, let's go and get the Heavy Armor Dragon Egg hatched outside!"

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(*) Night Shade is a Nightmare Horse