Old Seth saw this scene, pointed at James Carter and burst out laughing: "This kid must have had a romantic encounter in the temple and got tormented into this state, huh?" The regulars in the tavern all knew about James Carter's little affairs.

"Maybe he really did!" The mercenary Maglai, who had been knocked out by a punch in the morning, was now bouncing around the tavern in the afternoon. He said slyly, "Let me tell you something—one of my buddies saw Carter that rascal get into the city lord's carriage with his own eyes. Do you know who was sitting inside?"

"Who?" The crowd of drunkards was instantly intrigued and all started asking.

"A mug of ale, or I won't say a word." Maglai dangled the story, shaking his head and sitting back, making it clear that without ale, there would be no truth.

One drunkard gritted his teeth, pulled out a handful of copper coins from his pocket, and tossed them to Maglai: "Spit it out—don't tell me it was the city lord's daughter?"

Maglai pocketed the coins, his eyes narrowing with delight: "Brother, you hit the nail on the head. The one sitting in the carriage was indeed the city lord's daughter, and she was alone!"

"Wow~" "Tsk tsk~" "What luck!" Exclamations of surprise echoed through the tavern. The drunkards' attention was no longer on James Carter, but had shifted entirely to the beautiful and unmatched daughter of the city lord.

In the kitchen, Anna had already prepared food for James Carter. Not just black bread, but also a small piece of high-nutrition cheese, which made James Carter's eyes light up. He picked it up and finished it in just a few bites.

"Slow down, don't choke," Anna said with a gentle smile, her face as warm as ever.

"Mm, mm." James Carter mumbled as he stuffed the remaining black bread into his mouth, barely responding as several large pieces of bread disappeared into his stomach in less than five minutes.

"You're really growing up—eating much more than before. That's good, you’re still too skinny," Anna said with a satisfied smile.

With his stomach full, James Carter didn't stay in the tavern any longer. On this day each month, Hoyt always gave him the day off. He needed to hurry back to the cemetery before dark to activate the rune stone; otherwise, at night, those restless undead would definitely come knocking, and that would be a real mess.

Usually, the cemetery was also part of the Wildfire City guards' daytime patrol route. But now, with the orc invasion imminent, all the soldiers were busy preparing inside the city, and many patrols had been canceled.

After leaving the city, the road was deserted. James Carter quickened his pace, heading swiftly toward his little wooden cabin.

"I really don't know what kind of bad luck I've run into. In this freezing weather, I'm the only one outside the city. If the orcs really come, I'll be done for in an instant. Maybe I should hope that orcs don't eat corpses," James Carter muttered as he entered the cabin, plopping down on the low wooden bed and sighing at his misfortune.

As far as he knew, if they got hungry enough, those big brutes from the Thunder Mountains with glowing green eyes definitely wouldn't mind digging up some 'frozen meat' from the cemetery.

Besides, he was still a fresh, steaming-hot living person.

"No way, I can't stay here any longer. I have to activate the rune stone as soon as possible, and then tomorrow I'll move into Old Hoyt's tavern." Luckily, that kind-hearted Miss Molly had helped him out, so he could now move into the city with a clear conscience.

He wasn't someone who overestimated himself—he knew exactly what he was capable of.

James Carter could say for sure that sixty percent of the people buried in this cemetery were warriors killed by orcs, and every one of them was stronger than he was.

This ironclad fact immediately killed any curiosity James Carter had about witnessing orc strength firsthand—because that would be pure suicide.

After finishing his bread, James Carter took the Justice Rune Stone out of his pocket, then pulled the discarded Holy Light Rune Stone from under the bed and carefully compared the two.

The patterns on the Justice Rune Stone would occasionally flicker with a flowing glow, and there was a layer of semi-transparent, unknown material engraved on the surface, from which the light emanated.

The Holy Light Rune Stone, on the other hand, was dull and lifeless, showing no unusual signs—just like an ordinary stone.

James Carter quickly noticed that the patterns on the Justice Rune Stone were not without clues. In fact, compared to the Holy Light Rune Stone, the trajectory of these patterns could be found in more places on the giant stones of the temple's outer walls. But these were just surface similarities and basically useless.

The method to activate the rune stone was very simple: James Carter just needed to focus his mind on the starting structure of the energy pattern for a while. Although James Carter didn't understand why, the method had never failed.

This starting point had already been clearly marked on the rune stone by Pastor Paul, and the starting structures on both rune stones were identical.

Remembering Pastor Paul's reminder, James Carter took off his leather robe, folded it neatly, and solemnly placed the Justice Rune Stone on top.

As soon as the rune stone was set down, a familiar wave immediately emanated from the leather robe. According to Old Hoyt, this was elemental resonance!

But what were elements, and what the heck was resonating? James Carter was completely clueless!

The leather robe seemed to sense danger—the mysterious waves grew stronger and stronger, and finally, it even started moving on its own, trying to fling the rune stone off.

James Carter was startled—he hadn't expected the robe to be so bizarre. But he immediately pressed down on the rune stone and began to focus his attention.