Chapter 282: Negotiate
In terms of defenses, Kaki was quite good.
Even among all of the cities that Chen Heng had seen, it was quite good.
Different from the royal capitals of ordinary kingdoms, this city seemed to have been built specifically as a stronghold.
Chen Heng and Herdosiri walked about and looked around for a while before returning to their residence.
By now, news about Chen Heng began to spread through the city.
The Kalo royal family were currently discussing and thinking about what kind of territory to give him, as well as the attitude they would use towards him.
These kinds of discussions had begun long ago, but even now, they still had not made a decision.
Chen Heng was not worried and continued to look around, as well as visit the nobles who Siriv had told him about.
The core of any kingdom would have a large group of nobles, and this was the case for the Kalo Kingdom as well.
As the royal capital of the Kalo Kingdom, there were large numbers of nobles gathered in this city, and a fair portion of them had connections to the Arlan family.
Chen Heng used this connection to go and visit them.
Only after a few days did an official summons come.
Within the royal palace, a female attendant led Chen Heng slowly forwards.
He was not too slow nor was he too fast as he walked through.
This was the Kalo Kingdom's royal palace, where the King was.
Walking in here, Chen Heng looked about.
In the past, he had been in many palaces.
Some belonged to others and some belonged to him, and they all looked quite different.
Compared to the palaces that he had seen, the Kalo Kingdom's palace was quite plain and simple. Even though the surrounding structures were quite big, they did not seem too elegant.
However, in this region, this palace gave off a unique feeling, and it had its own aesthetics.
By now, the processes for him becoming a Viscount had been finalized, and him coming here was just a private summons.
It seemed that the Kalo Kingdom's royal family were very interested in him, so they had summoned him here to see what he was like.
As such, he had come.
As he walked forwards, many gazes came from all directions.
Most of those gazes were quite sharp, and most of them were normal warriors; some of them were Life Knights who had grasped life power.
Of course, there were not many Life Knights.
From what Chen Heng could sense, there were fewer than ten Life Knights, and most of them were only at the Apprentice level; only two of them were at the First Ring level.
One of them was someone he was familiar with—it was Orimo, who had come to give him news of him becoming a Viscount.
He was also waiting within the palace.
Of course, apart from these Life Knights, Chen Heng could also sense a mysterious aura.
It was a mental energy that had been hidden very well, and from the strength of that mental energy, its owner was most likely at least at the Second Ring level.
This was a similar level to Chen Heng.
Sensing this, Chen Heng was somewhat surprised, but he soon understood.
After all, this was the Kalo Kingdom's royal capital, and he was in their palace.
As the most important place in the Kalo Kingdom, it was to be expected that there would be a Second Ring existence protecting the King.
What made Chen Heng feel interested was that this existence's aura was not as intense as those of Life Knights, but it was instead much more hidden and mysterious.
This made Chen Heng think of something else.
"A Sorcerer from this world?"
Thinking of that massive mental energy from before, Chen Heng wondered to himself.
Both world's Sorcerer system and the Sorcerer World's Sorcerer system required large amounts of mental energy.
Without strong mental energy, a Sorcerer's power would be quite weak.
From what Chen Heng could sense, that Second Ring Sorcerer's mental energy was quite powerful, and it was not any inferior to a true Sorcerer from the Sorcerer World. It was just that compared to Chen Heng, he was still weaker.
Chen Heng continued to walk, looking quite casual.
Soon, they reached a set of massive doors.
As he watched on, the large doors slowly opened, revealing what was inside.
Soon, a sparse hall appeared before his eyes.
Following this, Chen Heng walked in.
At the center of the hall was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was wearing gray robes and looked incredibly ordinary. He did not have an imposing aura about him, nor did he seem extraordinary.
When Chen Heng walked in, he was discussing something with someone else, and their talk was quite intense.
Seeing Chen Heng walk in, the middle-aged man stopped talking and looked over at Chen Heng.
"Welcome, beloved Sir Aktor," the middle-aged man gave a slight smile as he greeted Chen Heng.
"It is my honor to meet you,Your Majesty, " Chen Heng said with a smile.
"Your etiquette is flawless," the middle-aged man laughed as he spoke.
This middle-aged man was the King of the Kalo Kingdom, Karim Kalo.
In the Kalo Kingdom, Karim was someone completely worthy of the title of King, and he held great prestige among all of the rulers.
The two of them talked in the hall for a while.
"I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to the Malido Kingdom," Karim said as he sighed, "Back then, when I was still a Prince, I once visited the Malido Kingdom. It was a very good kingdom—not only was it prosperous, but it was also very cultured and far superior to Kalo."
"It's a pity..." he sighed as he looked at Chen Heng and said, "Sir Aktor, I heard that you escaped from the Malido Kingdom; what is the situation in there like now?"
"It's very chaotic," Chen Heng thought for a moment before saying, "Because of the war, there are many fields that are not looked after, and many people have become vagrants, forced to beg for a living."
"What do you think of the Oro Empire's army's strength?" Karim asked.
"Honestly speaking, they're very powerful," Chen Heng said as he nodded, "I have never formally entered a battlefield, but from my interactions with them, they seem quite powerful. It is said that their army was made up from the nobles' armies, which is why it's so powerful.
"From what I understand, they have many Life Knights acting as commanders in the army; this is also part of why they have such great battle strength."
"Is that so..." Hearing Chen Heng's words, Karim nodded before asking a few more questions.
He asked Chen Heng many things regarding the Malido Kingdom and the Oro Empire, as if he was quite interested in them.
Then again, this was not surprising.
Even though the Kalo Kingdom was quite far away, it was not unreachable.
With the Oro Empire's strength, if they wanted to reach here, it was still possible.
As such, the Kalo Kingdom still had to be wary, and this was why Karim was so interested.
Following this, Karim stopped asking about these things and invited Chen Heng to lunch.
In this world, eating with a King was something one could boast about, and it was a sign of closeness.
Chen Heng gratefully accepted, and they came to a banquet table.
The lunch was quite sumptuous, with all kinds of roasted meats, as well as some of the Kalo Kingdom's specialties.
After eating lunch, this meeting officially concluded.
An attendant led Chen Heng out.
Soon, only Karim was left in the hall.
"Were there any problems?" Karim turned and looked towards a corner.
There, an elder slowly walked out.
He was wearing gray robes and looked incredibly frail. However, his mental state still looked quite good.
He looked at Karim and shook his head, "There were no problems. He is indeed Second Ring, and his mental energy is very powerful. Before, when I was using my mental energy to scout him out, he discovered me."
"He's that powerful?"
Hearing the old Sorcerer's words, Karim was quite shocked and hurriedly asked, "If you were to fight him, how confident would you be?"
"That is quite a pointless question, Your Majesty," the old Sorcerer shook his head, "Sorcerers and Warlocks are very different.
"As a Warlock, his power comes from his bloodline, and we have no idea what kind of power he has, so how could I say who would win?"
He thought for a moment before saying, "However, from what I sensed, if I directly fought him without knowing anything about him, I would most likely die. However, if I know exactly how strong he is and can prepare, then I would have a great chance in taking him down."
No matter where it was, information was incredibly important, and this was so especially for this world's Sorcerers.
Because of the Magic Net, this world's Sorcerers had to prepare magic skill frameworks ahead of time and store them in the Magic Net.
If they did not know about their opponent, they would be at a very disadvantageous position.
For example, against an opponent who specialized in mental attacks, they would prepare mental defences.
Against opponents who specialised in fire attacks, they would prepare corresponding elemental skills.
As such, in this world, Sorcerers relied heavily on information.
If they could know ahead of time what their opponent specialised in, and prepared accordingly, they would have a much greater chance of success.
"Is that so..."
Hearing the old Sorcerer's words, Karim nodded, "From what Orimo said, this Sir Aktor seems to have mental attacks. Apart from that, we're not so sure."
He thought for a moment before continuing, "However, considering that the Hatim family has the Fire God's bloodline, perhaps he might have some of the Fire God's power as well."
"Then we will need to prepare mental defences and magic skills to counter fire attacks."
The old Sorcerer nodded and said in response, "That way we will be safer."
"I'll be troubling you," Karim said as he smiled, feeling more at ease.
Since he had decided to take in Chen Heng, as the King, he had to take measures to suppress him as well.
This old Sorcerer was one of the reasons why he was so confident in taking Chen Heng in.
Compared to the royal families of other kingdoms, the Kalo Kingdom's royal family was comparatively weaker by a bit.
However, in actuality, just within the royal family, there were multiple Second Ring existences serving the royal family.
And this was just on the face of things.
No one knew how many existences like this were lurking beneath the surface.
This was why Karim did not see Chen Heng as a threat and instead tried to take him in.
Outside, Chen Heng silently walked out of the palace.
By now, he already knew where his territory would be.
It was a territory on the north side of the Kalo Kingdom, and it was relatively close to both the core of the Kalo Kingdom and the Wastelands; it was quite a good location.
However, that area was still being invaded by Orcs, and many of the residents had fled.
Despite this, it was quite a good and large piece of land.
For the Kalo royal family to be willing to give such a large territory to Chen Heng, apart from Siriv greatly promoting Chen Heng, there was most likely also the reason that they wanted Chen Heng to block the Orcs for them.
After doing much research, Chen Heng had some knowledge about the Kalo Kingdom's terrain.
The Kalo Kingdom had large amounts of plains regions, but it also had mountains and hills scattered throughout.
The southern side was quite flat, whereas the northern side was more complicated.
Because of the complex geography, if the Orcs wanted to invade the southern side, they would only have three routes to take, and two regions were key.
The territory that the royal family had given Chen Heng was right in front of one of those key areas.
In other words, if Chen Heng really established his roots there, if the Orcs wanted to invade the southern side, a portion of them would enter Chen Heng's territory.
Thus, the Kalo Kingdom would be able to use Chen Heng's power to create a large barrier.
It was killing two birds with one stone.
If Chen Heng did not want the Orcs to run rampant in his territory, he would have to stop them and also block them for the royal family.
If it was anyone else, they naturally would not be able to do it.
However, with Chen Heng's Second Ring Warlock strength, he might be able to do it.
It seemed that the royal family's idea was quite good.
Thinking to there, Chen Heng shook his head but did not mind too much.
He had great confidence in himself and believed that he would be able to stop those Orcs.
Moreover, this matter had its benefits for him.
Before, Karim had agreed to provide some food and weapons to him.
Those were the corresponding benefits.
After all, since he wanted Chen Heng to be a barrier for him against the Orcs, he at least had to give Chen Heng some support.
Without enough food and weapons, Chen Heng would not be able to do this job very well.