Chapter 17

His arms were still trembling, especially his left arm, which was responsible for holding the shield. It would often suddenly lose strength, almost causing the bowl to fall from his hands. Every time Solu saw this, he would chuckle lightly, while Karl seemed to ignore it, just quickly eating his own meal.

It seemed he had overtrained, a sign that his muscles were about to be injured. He had never undergone specialized training before, so he didn't know his limits and certainly didn't know how to formulate a scientific training regimen. The current pain was a price he had to pay, so Zhao Mai didn't get discouraged. He put the bowl on the table, lowered his head, and started eating with his mouth directly.

This posture was somewhat ungraceful but very practical. After eating for a while, he felt his trouser leg being tugged. Looking down, he saw that it was indeed the little puppy causing trouble. It was using its small white teeth to pull at his pants, staring with big eyes and making whimpering sounds. Zhao Mai thought for a moment; such a small dog probably couldn't eat meat directly, so he scooped up some rice porridge with his hand and gave it to the puppy to drink.

The little tongue licked his palm, making it itch, and the puppy quickly finished the porridge. Just as Zhao Mai was about to give it more, Ranger Karl threw a piece of fatty meat over. The puppy, seeing this, ran a few steps excitedly, picked up the meat, and proudly returned to Zhao Mai's side, lying down to eat continuously.

"From now on, this dog is yours," Karl said to Zhao Mai. "Take care of it, and it will take care of you."

It took Zhao Mai a couple of seconds to understand the meaning of these words. He had long wanted to adopt this puppy but didn't know how to bring it up. A bright smile spread across his face. He stroked the puppy's head and asked, "What's the dog's name?"

"Jerk."

This name clearly didn't satisfy Zhao Mai. The big dog was called Dog Meat, and the puppy was called Jerk? While a humble name was easy to raise, this name was too confusing and inconvenient to call out daily.

Ranger Karl gave his animals strange names, and Zhao Mai had slowly come to understand all the meanings. The white goose that guarded the door was called Sausage, the squirrel that delivered messages was called Biscuit, and the rabbit that was always kicked over by the python was called Potato. Zhao Mai wasn't sure if this was Karl's quirk or a tradition among rangers, so after thinking for a while, he decided to give the puppy a new name: "A Liang."

"A Liang, A Liang." Zhao Mai called out this name while scratching the puppy's chin. The puppy seemed very happy, sticking out its tongue and looking at Zhao Mai with pleading eyes, barking from time to time.

"From now on, your nickname will be A Liang, the grain of the reserve grain."

No one in this world understood Chinese, so the puppy didn't know the meaning of its name. It was just immersed in a mysterious happiness and remembered that it was called A Liang, the grain of the reserve grain.

It took a lot of effort to finish dinner, and Zhao Mai started thinking about how to solve the problem of his sore and weak arms. He continuously massaged his muscles, trying to relax them as much as possible. The techniques he used were all from his imagination and clumsy imitation, far from the skills of a professional therapist, but it was better than nothing. Before falling asleep, his arms finally felt much better.

A Liang still slept squeezed next to Zhao Mai's shoulder. Sometimes its fur would brush against Zhao Mai's ear, but he never woke up. When fatigue hit, Zhao Mai slept like a dead pig, completely unaware of his surroundings.

He didn't know why the puppy liked his shoulder or what happened to his shoulder when he slept. The old angel who had brought him to this fantasy world had once patted Zhao Mai's shoulder a few times, saying it was for his fare. Whenever Zhao Mai rested due to fatigue or injury, a pure and holy positive energy would flow out from the invisible palm print, secretly healing him.

This hidden energy went unnoticed by Karl, Dog Meat, or the snake. Only A Liang vaguely sensed something, so it claimed the best spot. When the positive energy was active, it would stick out its little tongue to lick, then show a satisfied expression, as if it were a bear that had stolen some honey.

The interdimensional taxi was not as simple as Zhao Mai had imagined. It used fate coins as fuel and tolls, and the fare was calculated separately, after all, the driver couldn't make a trip for free every time. Different worlds had different dangers, which the driver had to bear, so passengers had to pay a part of their abilities as fare. This was a rule of the God of Space, which no one could violate.

Those who could independently obtain fate coins were mostly favored by fate. Their abilities were varied, but many were unique and irreplicable. In the old days of magic ships, the abilities used to pay for tickets would be permanently lost, leading many strong individuals to kill after their journey to prevent their abilities from being studied, learned, or leaked to their enemies. This situation once made interdimensional travel a high-risk business until the sudden appearance of the Ring Alliance.

This organization used the power characteristics of the God of Knowledge, the God of Magic, and the God of Prophecy to change the permanent transfer of power into a temporary one. As compensation, when the power was still on the driver, there was a certain chance that the driver could understand this power. The power understood would differ from the original, as the original user and the current user were different individuals. In the past, the power was directly used, but now there was a chance to learn, which had its pros and cons for the drivers.

At the same time, every time a crossing event occurred, the Ring Alliance would receive a portion of the ability, which could be used to identify the traveler's identity and location. If a passenger tried to eliminate the driver, the Ring Alliance would retaliate.

This was not simple revenge but the erasure of all the passenger's causes and effects, making them "never" appear in this world. The Ring Alliance would then take a portion of these erased causes and effects to reshape the killed driver, with the rest serving as the organization's operational power. This was what the old drivers valued the most.

The magic ships that crossed various dimensions and crystal walls gradually joined this organization, forming an "official" fleet, gradually monopolizing the crossing market. Some of the high-level managers of the Ring Alliance believed that the excessive monopoly of magic ships would lead to the corruption and decline of the Ring Alliance, ultimately burying it in the grave. Therefore, they supported some "part-time drivers" to a limited extent, to stimulate the competitiveness of the magic ship fleet.

These part-time drivers, like Zhao Mai, did not enjoy the Ring Alliance's service of reshaping causes and effects, but on the surface, their abilities were no different from those of the magic ship fleet, so they were still under the protection of the deterrent. This was kept secret from the part-time drivers to prevent them from joining the magic ship fleet. The Ring Alliance gave part-time drivers greater flexibility and hoped they would grow and eventually operate independently, becoming loose but powerful competitors.

The power left by the old angel was pure positive energy, a vast but domineering vitality. This energy could be used to heal wounds and promote growth, but it could also have a "pulling up the seedlings to help them grow" effect. Since the crossing, Zhao Mai's mental tension and physical fatigue had always been present. However, the positive energy slowly released, continuously comforting and healing him. For a healthy body, it might have a "pulling up the seedlings to help them grow" effect, but for an injured body, it was all beneficial.

The process of physical training was essentially causing small, manageable injuries to the body and then quickly healing them, maintaining a sense of threat while supplementing nutrition. Zhao Mai didn't understand scientific methods, and his training was already excessive, but the positive energy left by the angel was even more excessive.

The next morning, he was fully restored...

He naively thought that the old ranger Karl had secretly cast a restorative spell for him at night.

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