《Tales of The Mighty Dragonair》


 Chapter 1: Waking Up At Unfamiliar Place

    Arthur opened his eyes to find himself in a strange place, where he was sitting on an enormous bed with many decorations on the walls.


    The pattern of these decorations wasn''t something familiar to him, and neither were the paintings on the walls with some weird writings on them.


    "Oh boy, thank god you are awake, I thought¡­ I thought you were gone."


    A middle-aged man thrust himself over the bed of Arthur and hugged his smaller body with firm hands. Arthur felt some weakness and his throat was dry, however he wasn''t stupid.


    He realized something was off and his mind assessed the current situation as usual, with calmness and logic.


    First thing was to gather facts, and the first fact he knew was his accurate name and history was still the same. He was Arthur, a revolutionary cultivator who sought improving the cultivation world and human lives.


    He then recalled the previous events, trying to find something that might help him understand his current situation.


    The last thing he remembered was the fall of lightning over his head, as a heaven punishment for his last groundbreaking breakthrough. however, when he tried to recall the events with more focus, a distant soft voice whispered in his ears:


    ''Challenging heavens means death.''


    He sat still in his place, frozen for a moment without knowing what to think of. All the facts pointed straight towards one thing:


    ''Heavens killed me, was I reincarnated then?''


    "Doctor Mond, can you check his health please? I know I have asked you many things lately, however I''m very grateful for saving my child, Willy. My clan, the golden lion clan, is forever indebted to you."


    Suddenly the mind of Arthur froze as a ruthless flood of information hit his mind.


    Many memories that didn''t belong to him appeared and got themselves fixated into his mind.


    He was getting memories of another person, a weak, worthless youth called Willy. This Willy belonged to a more useless clan that had a glorious name with a mediocre situation in this world.


    This clan had no achievements at all, which made its position to deteriorate from bad to worse with no signs of stopping its decline.


    A sunken ship, that was the best description of this clan. The last strike directed to it came from a rival weak clan nearby, as this clan sat its gaze upon the lands, the women, the children, and the worldly riches stored in the golden lion clan.


    This was done by poisoning the young master of this clan, this useless youth named Willy. Arthur knew that Willy already died, and his soul transmigrated by unknown powers to dwell in this body now.


    Willy was the current identity for Arthur, and he had to deal with this. He knew the body he gained lacked anything related to cultivation or any traits of strength.


    The information didn''t stop coming into his mind, and with time Arthur realized something bad.


    This world had nothing related to cultivation at all, as this world depended on the power of mages.


    Mages had power classified as superhuman. In Arthur''s point of view, those mages were like cultivators. However, the means to use their energy and exert their powers differed greatly.


    Mages depended on hunting monsters and creating bonds between themselves and the souls of the dead monsters. These souls were called an inner demon seed. Mages could use these inner demon seeds to wield supernatural powers.


    However, this came with one risk, the inner demon seed would grow and mature into a fruit, which would give birth to a true inner demon. Mages had to fight this inner demon and tame it. if they ever failed, they would lose themselves forever.


    If they succeeded, the demons would become their individual power, but the risk would continue to exist. Every time the mages grew stronger, the inner demon got the chance to repel again.


    With growing in power, mages might contain over one demon inside them, which would make the life of mages seeking for strength more hard and impossible.


    Each mage had to be honest with himself, and he needed to cast away any greed for power he couldn''t control, or else he would lose his sanity and turn into a mad living demon., a malidem.


    It wasn''t a rare occasion to see excellent images turn into malidems. This made these lands very dangerous, and whoever had the chance to grow into a mage would face a mysterious future.


    It was a blessing and a curse for anyone to become mage. As for Arthur, he knew that his current body had no power at all.


    At age of nine, all children in this world got tested for their affinity powers. It was a test conducted by special techniques and instruments measuring the child''s affinity in using magic.


    An academy that the lands of his clan belonged under its jurisdiction tested Willy. It was a well-known academy with great fame, power, and wealth.


    The Dorgazire academy was one of the strongest academies in this world, however, to enter there you needed to score high, very high in the evaluation test.


    Willy scored zero, a big zero in that test. That meant he had no affinity at all. If he had a weak affinity, then he might have a chance at a weaker academy, however his affinity made his future hopeless.


    And that made the fate of his clan unclear and desperate.

 Chapter 2: The Golden Lion Clan

    Arthur felt this wasn''t a chance for him, this was a curse and a punishment. The heavens must have cursed him to suffer, and he now was just beginning his suffering.


    Despite all this, Arthur didn''t become desperate. He always said to himself and his disciples back at the sect, the way of life of a cultivator was a life against heavens.


    No matter what heavens try to throw in front of the cultivator to obstruct his path, all the cultivator had to do was to stand firm and move straight and do everything to overcome these obstacles.


    Life wasn''t easy, and the world of a cultivator was even harder.


    Arthur swore he wouldn''t succumb to this fate. He vowed on his name and his honor as a genius cultivator to do anything and rise from this deep pit heavens threw him at.


    Circumstances didn''t create legends, and heroes were always created through suffering and hardships.


    Arthur was one of them, as he stood tall and start his own legend in this world. All would start from this moment, as his life would take a sudden detour away from his cultivation and theories towards a fresh course he never imagined it would exist.


    The life of a supreme mage.


    "His condition is stable for now. I advise him not to move a lot in the next few days so his body can recover more."


    That doctor said after he used a healing magic to assess Arthur''s body condition. Arthur''s mind was occupied by thinking of what he should do later.


    However, Willy''s father was already so excited about his son''s recovery, so he spoke with great excitement:


    "That''s thank you my lord, my clan is forever indebted to you. If anytime my lord wants help, you can come to our house."


    "You need first to survive," the doctor declared in a blunt tone as he then left the room with Willy''s dad after him.


    As for Arthur, the first thing he did was to sit on the bed and examine his new body with utmost care.


    "My body is weak, there are hardly any muscles here. So this is the start for you, Arthur."


    Arthur knew his body wasn''t suitable for his upcoming future he planned to have, so the initial things he demanded to do were to enhance this body and try to discover how to become a great mage.


    For his body to grow, he needed to eat useful food full of nutrients. Arthur''s vision moved to settle over the small table next to his bed. There were dishes of varied food there. However, from the first glance he saw nothing worthy.


    Arthur was a genius, strong cultivator, so his sense for powerful things was superb. He knew this meal wouldn''t help his body grow, as there was no meat or anything with any special power.


    The body is the end product of all the nutrients the person put in his stomach. That was a known fact for Arthur. So he went out and start wandering around the place, looking for anything useful to his body.


    He just left his bed to feel his soul tremble. This useless body was so fragile that it didn''t withstand his burning desire for power. Arthur didn''t think about sitting idle, as that doctor advised.


    He knew there were many enemies coveting him and his clan. Although he had no ties or relations with this place and these people, he needed to remain alive until becoming strong.


    So he had to stick around here for a while, and he didn''t intend to hang in menace of any attacks or danger. The disturbance of mind was equal to the distraction of soul, so he couldn''t train until he eliminated this threat for now.


    The other clan that was trying to kill him had one person with a mild affinity to water.


    Although he got rejected from The Dorgazire academy, he joined a mediocre academy in the north.


    It was an ordinary academy, however in front of Willy''s clan with no distinguished mage it was a giant.


    Arthur knew his opponent was nothing, though for his current state he required to treat this matter with care. He wasn''t concerned about his path to hegemony, as he trusted his mind in finding a solution out of any situation.


    He was troubled about his safety, so he desired to think rationally and get himself some power to scare those enemies for now. So he must strengthen his body first.

 Chapter 3: Ron

    Arthur turned to move around the house, searching for food. He noticed his senses from his other life were still his, at least he could sense the food from far and figure out if it was useful to him or not.


    After walking around for some time, and meeting bunch of servants and family members concerned about his health, Arthur reached a conclusion.


    There was nothing here that could help his body to grow.


    He now understood why this miserable child had this unfortunate fate, he and the other clansmen too. Without proper food and the needed nutrients, the body grew weak like mortals.


    To gain extraordinary power, the body had to depend on special nutrients; food with much strength and energy stored in it.


    Energy had to come from the source, and the most common basic source for children was always from the food.


    In his eyes, this body was suffering from malnutrition, so he had to fix this before planning for anything else.


    As the house was void from any suitable nutrients, he had no other choice but to leave and seek for suitable sources of food.


    To do that, he had to use the help of one servant in the house. Willy was the son of the clan master, so he had a servant dedicated to helping him in his daily needs.


    That servant always showed up in the memories of Willy, as he was a friend more than a servant. A boy the same age as Willy lived with him, so it was natural for the two to become friends.


    Arthur didn''t need to seek for him at all, as he pumped into Ron''s big body and bulging muscles on his tour inside the house. Arthur had to come up with any excuse to let Ron go with him to the outside world.


    "You are mysterious today, why the hell do you want to move outside in the situation you are at," Ron said with an obvious disapproval from Arthur''s decision.


    For Willy, Ron wasn''t just a servant or a friend, he was trusted to speak with him casually like this and give him advice as well. In Arthur''s opinion, Willy couldn''t reach this far inside the clan without the aid and advice of Ron.


    For the newcomer in this world, Arthur planned to raise his power and help this friend as well. More friends were always a good thing.


    "Just keep up with me," Arthur said.


    "Can you at least tell me where are we going?"


    This was a question that kept rolling in Arthur''s mind without rest. Willy wasn''t that active youth who liked to go out and roam the world, so the memories Arthur got from him about the external world were all limited.


    Arthur needed more info so he could decide, and the most suitable one to do this task was the bigger youth next to him.


    "Tell me, Ron, is there a place where a special environment exists with plants and animals?" Arthur asked.


    "Special environment? What do you mean by that?" Ron replied with an absent look over his face.


    "Like halos or lights appearing from time to time there, rumors about strange things happening, or the fame of being so dangerous need a place like this," Arthur replied.


    "Well, if you want something like that, then I know a place, and you too know it," Ron replied with more loss and confusion.


    "I know it too, that''s weird why I couldn''t remember it? It must be because of the disease that caught me, which made me lose my focus," Arthur said to him.


    "That''s for sure the reason behind forgetting simple things, even your simple habits. C''mon, you are a turtle, a lazy person who doesn''t like to go outside his bedroom.


    Here you are, roaming the world outside the clan head house and asking about the well-known demon forest nearby as if you intend to really go there," Ron replied.


    The words of Ron were spontaneous, but they caught the attention of Arthur at once. Yes, he had a good deal of information about that forest, although Willy didn''t visit it before in the flesh.


    Maybe that was why Arthur didn''t pay attention to it when he was looking for such a place. When he thought about it, this forest was part of the great demon forest, the forest which extended east and west in this world covering a huge stretched distance.


    This forest was like an ocean, filled with trees and monsters everywhere. Some even said no one ever reached the depth of this forest, but that wasn''t what made Arthur so interested in it.


    He understood something. The only source of energy here wasn''t in the normal plants or animals, but in the trees and monsters inside this forest and any forest like it.


    If he wanted to grow stronger, he had to hunt down monsters and cook their meat himself. To actually do so wasn''t a straightforward task. The power of the weakest monsters out there would be enough to kill him and Ron.


    He knew he couldn''t cultivate, and he couldn''t train using this world''s powers yet. Everything depended on this opportunity. If he lost it, then he would live the rest of his life a weak coward, living on the mercy of his enemies'' swords.


    He would never let his life be tainted like this, so he went there and hunt down monsters. This decision wasn''t rash, as he took it with a calm mind and careful thinking.


    His powers right now were null, but he had his memories and experiences from his past life. If his strength couldn''t help him, then he would prefer to use the tricks he knew from before as a cultivator here.


    And so he needed to change his current weapon. When he sneaked out the house with Ron, he got his sword, or Willy''s sword from one servant there.


    Using a sword wasn''t an issue for Arthur, but he knew the best choice for his current weak state of power was the bow and arrows.


    Archery was something he loved to use in his earlier life, although he was well known as a sword cultivator, he was a jack of all trades. In fact, archery was the closest way of fighting to his heart.


    And yet archery would save him here. The issue was neither he nor Ron had a bow, and he also needed many special arrows, ones that could inflict substantial damage with the slightest strength used.


    If he had the time, he would prefer to make his own bow and forge his own arrows, but he didn''t have the luxury to waste time like this. The only solution he had right now was to use the identity of the body he was using right now, the son of the head of the golden lion clan.


    "Is there a place where we can get a decent bow and good arrows?" Arthur asked as he stopped in his tracks.


    He was now far away from the house he started his journey from there. Ron looked suspiciously at him as he replied:


    "What''s wrong with you today? Suddenly you became bossy and have a mind of your own. That hit seemed to cause significant damage, or maybe some good. Anyway, if you want to get a decent bow, then you can ask your uncle, Tridor, he has a nice bow," Ron replied.


    For Arthur, the name of Tridor was well known to him, as the name was repeated many times in the memories of that poor youth, with very few appearances of the actual person in them.


    For Arthur, that uncle was eyeing the position of the head of the clan. He considered himself better than Willy''s father, and his son was better than Willy. Arthur agreed with him on a single point, as Willy was terrible in comparison with that cousin of his.


    But this world wasn''t built on personal power only, but on blood relation as well. Tridor was second in line after his brother, which made his son the fourth in line considering Willy''s presence.


    That mysterious accident which happened to that poor youth showed its secrets to Arthur. Everything was linked to that uncle, as after the disposal of the son, he could get rid of the father smoother than before.


    The road for him to wield the power of the clan would be straight with no more obstacles.


    Arthur wasn''t much concerned with this weak clan, but he knew he couldn''t just roam the world with no roots.


    This world wasn''t like the cultivation world, as rogue mages here were considered outlaws and had a terrible reputation.


    He knew that wicked man had a nice bow, but he wouldn''t ask him for that. That bow was the personal property and the pride of his uncle, so Ron asked this meant only one thing.


    Ron suspected him, and this was a tricky question to judge if he was Willy or not.


    "C''mon, don''t be ridiculous, my uncle would rather see me dead than give his beloved bow to me," Arthur answered in a way to expose his knowledge of the tense relation between him and his uncle.


    "Phew, ok that was my bad. To get a nice bow, buy it then. I think grandpa Regil''s weaponry shop might have bows and arrows, why don''t we check it?"


    The face of Ron relaxed as he realized his worries were groundless. As for Arthur, he hoped Ron would get used to his new self, as he would be like this from now on.


    "Lead the way then, I have never been to that shop before," Arthur replied.


    "You never go out in the first place, so everything here is new to you," Ron said as he moved, changing their direction towards the west. Arthur followed his steps as he joked:


    "I know the road to the big market, that''s a place, isn''t it?"


    Ron just glanced over at him, then he returned to walk again. Arthur followed him as during the way both youths spoke with each other. Ron was a friendly person, as his strongest trait being so loyal to Arthur, or Willy.

 Chapter 4: Assembling Ancestral Bow

    The road to that shop took another hour from them, and both were talking about regular matters as opposite to usual. Ron was the one who spoke most of the time unlike the habit, as Willy or Arthur now wasn''t a fan of talking.


    Arthur knew a lot about the place they were heading to, as it lay on the outer borders of the forest, so many travelers were passing through here. rogue adventurers were constant visitors to this place of the golden lion clan, as demons here were low level and were easier to be killed, easier and safer.


    Arthur was astonished by this tip, as if he was in charge of the clan he would put some taxes on passing through here. people of this world didn''t know the concept of taxes, however sects like one he belonged to gained most of their wealth and power from taxes.


    In Arthur''s opinion, this clan had the foundations to be a tycoon, placed near the forest, plus a constant stream of mages who were trying to become more powerful. If the clan posed a new tax system here then it wouldn''t be hard to train a new generation of youths with strong bodies and good affinities. The scope of future possibilities of this clan would be endless.


    However he needed first to defend his life and then he would think about these things. The place they were heading to was full of shops that lived on serving those rogue travelers. Grandpa Regil''s weaponry shop was one of them, as it was famous for his craftsmanship all over the region.


    This was something he could exploit too in the future. Wealth was based on attraction of foreign visitors, based on trade. Having something unique like this in the hand and not gaining anything in return was a waste.


    He needed to do a lot of changes here in the future, on condition there was one.


    Once they approached that place, Arthur became more astonished with it. The place was so wide, more wide than his own clan''s headquarters. The place was full of one level wooden buildings with many people coming and going everywhere.


    On the first look, Arthur felt the number of people here was by hundreds, or even over a thousand. Such a place was allowed to be free was a waste, a god damn waste.


    ''I will revolutionize this place once I took over the management of the clan,'' he muttered to himself as he walked through the place. Each shop was selling something mages here wanted, like a healing shop, supplies shop, blacksmith shop, tailor shop, and even bars were opened there.


    For him this place was near perfect, with the lack of taverns and maybe a fighting arena. He intended to build them both once he took over this clan.


    "This way, grandpa Regil''s shop is out there."


    Ron said as he took a turn to the right as there was a single shop on the end of this small street. This place lacked order; as if Arthur wanted to describe this place to anyone he would find a great difficulty to do so.


    Another point was added to this place, organization.


    "Grandpa Regil, how are you doing?" Ron said as he entered through the opened door followed by Arthur. The place was spacious with many tables that had many weapons on them. There were also some weapons hanging on the wooden walls, however they were fewer in regard to the number on the tables.


    "Isn''t this mr. Ron, how are you doing sir?"


    An old man with a hunched back and short scarce white hair replied back. The face of this man was the real embodiment of being old, with long deep ridges all over his face. His eyes were clouded with white color that made Arthur doubt he could even see them.


    "Hi grandpa Regil, here is my master, Willy the son of the head of our clan."


    Once Ron said those words the old man''s eyes widened as he tried to move from his location behind one of the tables as he intended to bow to Arthur, however the latter motioned him not to do so as he said:


    "It''s alright grandpa Regil. We are here for business, so I will trouble grandpa with my request."


    "Your requests are an honor to me and my family. Without the clan I would be a homeless person like many others. Your family provided safety and that alone is priceless. Anything you want my lord is a gift from me, and I won''t allow you to pay anything to me here."


    The old man was determined not to accept any money from Arthur who kept trying to give the old man money all the time. When Arthur lost hope in making the old man change his mind, he decided to put this note in his mind in the future, as this old man would be rewarded for his generosity with him.


    "May I ask what my lord wants from me?" grandpa Regil asked.


    "I want to have a bow and arrows, however I want something special," Arthur simply replied.


    "Something special, hmm¡­ I have something that was made by my great grandfather. It''s like a family heritage to me, but for you my lord I''m happy to give it to you. Hold on a second, I will bring it to you."


    Regil said this as he moved slowly with his short pace towards a corner. After he spent some time there moving things and opening boxes, a three piece bow was in his hand when he returned. The bow was made of strange wood that had some faint redness in its silver white color.


    Three pieces of one bow lay in front of Arthur on the table. Before grandpa Regil could assemble the bow, Arthur involuntarily moved to assemble the pieces together in a smooth way like he knew what to do.


    Grandpa Regil stood in his place with great astonishment all over his face. He muttered when Arthur stretched the elastic cord to be linked between the two ends:


    "That''s amazing, even I couldn''t assemble it without returning to the booklet left by my grandfather, that''s amazing."


    Arthur heard him to be stunned, as he lost his concentration for a second and got himself carried out in the moment. He sighed as he said trying to cover up what he just did:


    "Sorry, I just couldn''t help myself when I looked at this amazing bow."


    "It''s indeed our young lord, who deserves to be the next head of our mighty clan," grandpa Regil said with a grin full of pride.


    Arthur didn''t know what to say except he returned the bow to Regil as he said:


    "I also want enough arrows to be used with this special bow."


    Arthur didn''t hold the bow for long but he sensed some power inside it. this bow was special, and this returned for sure to the material it was made of.


    Regil took the bow as he said:


    "As I recall, my great grandfather said this bow needed special arrows to be used with this bow. Unfortunately there were no records of these arrows, but I can give you a handful of the best arrows here. they are highly requested from mages who travel here all the time."


    Arthur was disappointed, as this bow craftsmanship was something extraordinary. He doubted any arrow here would be enough to show the true potential of this bow.


    He sighed, as he had no other option except to accept this offer, so he said:


    "Thanks a lot grandpa Regil."


    "Don''t mention it, do you know this bow was made especially for your great grandfather before he was assassinated? It seems this bow is destined to be used by the golden lion house after all. Wait for me here, I will arrange enough arrows for you my lord."

 Chapter 5: Special Powers of Mages

    Arthur watched Regil as he began to collect more than one kind of arrows from different tables. The arrows were long, sharp, and with some special writings over their shafts.


    For Arthur he knew these arrows weren''t as powerful as the bow, but they had some strength in them. having such a craftsman in your house backyard was something incredible, and regretful for letting such a talent be wasted like this.


    Arthur was feeling more sure every passing second of the correctness of his decision, he must revolutionize this place and use every single talent here for his benefit.


    "Grandpa what are you doing?"


    Suddenly a very energetic girl entered the shop in a way that gave the impression of being used to do so. She was looking towards Regil at first, then she noticed the presence of Arthur and Ron.


    On the opposite to Regil''s reaction, this girl didn''t show any signs of gratitude or happiness when she saw the two, especially when her eyes fell over Arthur as some deep anger and hatred began to boil up as she raised her sword and said with hatred:


    "What is this bastard doing in my shop grandpa?"


    She was really energetic and didn''t put even the son of the head of the golden lion family in her eyes.


    Grandpa Regil knew her temper very well, so he left what he was doing as he rushed to stand between the girl and Arthur as he bowed to the latter while saying:


    "I''m very sorry, my granddaughter is young and she doesn''t recognize you, please forgive her."


    "Why are you apologizing to him? I know who he is, he is that useless head of the worthless family son, the one who got poisoned and was supposed to struggle with death back at his sweet daddy''s home," the girl then jumped to the side to bypass Regil''s body as she pointed her sword towards Arthur while shouting with extreme anger:


    "Those useless bastards didn''t do the job of killing you perfectly, then allow me your majesty to end your misery and claim your pathetic life."


    She was like a fiery tigress, moving with great speed and power while aiming her sword towards Arthur''s heart. A precise hit which told a lot about the mastery and experience of its master.


    Arthur was able to avoid the shot with complete ease; however he noticed something that made him not to. A flash with faint color appeared around the girl''s body at the same time he noticed a faint glow from behind him.


    Ron was never to permit any harm to befall on Arthur, not on his watch. The two swords met together, but the girl''s power was higher and that made Ron unwillingly retreat a couple of steps to the back before his sword broke free from the girl''s sword.


    Just as the two were about to resume their spar, two arrows suddenly moved to hit the ground, barely avoiding their feet. The two turned to look sharply towards the source of the arrows to find Arthur was standing there, holding a couple of arrows in his hands and playing with them.


    Arthur was just behind Ron a moment ago, however right now he was standing beside grandpa Regil, whose eyes were widened from shock.


    He was the only one here to witness everything, and he couldn''t believe what the young master who was known as being worthless just did.


    The girl, however, didn''t see it so she was about to expel all her anger and fire up towards him when grandpa Regil moved to stand in front of Arthur while yelling angrily:


    "Behave yourself little Madly."


    "Go away grandpa, why are you protecting him?" she stopped as she hesitated about attacking Arthur. That gave Ron a chance to attack her when Arthur calmly said:


    "Stop Ron, she is just a bad mood friend."


    "What?!!" Ron exclaimed in surprise as he nearly stumbled on the ground just to stop his sword from targeting her neck.


    "What did you just call me?" This was Madly''s angry voice as she forgot about her grandpa and was about to jump to hit Arthur with her sword.


    "I said stop it, don''t you have any respect for this old man!" Regil yelled as well as he moved to hug his granddaughter while whispering:


    "Don''t be reckless, he is really dangerous."


    Madly looked with disbelief at him while she muttered:


    "Unbelievable, the only dangerous one here is you. Just let me go and I will show you."


    Regil didn''t let her go as he tightened his hand over hers while looking in her eyes as he murmured:


    "You fool, I''m saving your life here."


    Madly misunderstood his meaning as she gritted her teeth and whispered:


    "You know I love you grandpa, but this man''s family had murdered my family, your son and his wife. Just let me avenge them right here and now. Why are you defending him? Are you so afraid of his father''s retaliation? Let''s run from here then and never come back!"


    Regil felt some deep pain that he tried to bury a long time ago with failure. His eyes even soaked with few drops of tears before he took a deep breath as he whispered:


    "You silly, I''m not protecting him but you. This man isn''t like what others think, you didn''t see how he moved from there to here. if he wanted you dead, then not even I could prevent him or save you. Just listen to me and be quiet, hopefully he is in a good mood to send him home with some money or goods from our shop."


    Madly''s eyes widened from surprise as she couldn''t believe her grandpa words, as she muttered:


    "Grandpa¡­"


    Regil tightened his hand again as he glanced towards his granddaughter with a meaningful look.


    All this was perfectly heard by Arthur, as his senses were sharper than any normal being. He, however, was concerned by something else, so he didn''t like to waste time here playing this foolish role of this useless heir.


    "Let''s speak seriously then, shall we?" Arthur said as he moved to sit on the biggest seat in this shop, which belonged to grandpa Regil. He didn''t feel odd for sitting on the biggest seat here, however Madly was really getting mad of what he just did.


    "I believe you should listen to your grandpa, as his advice is perfectly on the spot."


    His words made the angry Madly be startled, as she exchanged looks with her grandpa. Their voices were so low that they hardly heard each other, then how come this useless brat heard them?


    "Don''t look at me like this, sit I have more pressing matters to discuss with you."


    Arthur''s invitation to the three of them was weird, as Madly felt weird for being invited by a stranger in her own place. As for Regil, he was feeling more wary of Arthur, as he always heard how useless the current heir of the clan was, however this wasn''t true, this wasn''t even close to being true.


    The most shocked person here was Ron. Since he met Arthur after waking up from the poisoning accident and he felt he was dealing with a new person. Every decision Arthur took was very contradictory to what Willy used to do before.


    Even the nature of talking, Willy was usually shy and never dared to speak to strangers, not like the person in front of Ron right now. Although he was feeling odd, he was happy with this change, which had a perfect reason for waking up from this incident, and Ron hoped these changes would persist forever.


    Having such a charismatic person as a head to the clan was awesome, who knew what this new change might bring to the whole clan.


    Ron was thinking about all that when Arthur looked directly towards grandpa Regil as he seriously asked:


    "I want to ask about the special powers of mages, did they have colors?"


    His question piques the interest of the three as grandpa Regil asked back:


    "Colors? What colors?"

 Chapter 6: A Challenge and A Show of Superior Talent

    "Like faint green glow and faint brown glow, these colors," Arthur replied as he was completely focused with all his senses. He wanted to detect any single change in any of the three features, which happened to Madly when he mentioned the details of the colors.


    Arthur looked intentionally towards Madly when he said the brown color, as this was the color she emanated when she attacked him earlier. As for the green color, it came from Ron, however from the plain reaction of Ron Arthur realized that he didn''t know he got this ability yet.


    Not like Madly, this little strong girl here knew what she had. Arthur didn''t let this single notice slip by, and his notice of her reaction didn''t slip by grandpa Regil''s keen eyes.


    "I can tell you if you want to know, these colors represent the primary form of the innate talents for any mage."


    These words came from grandpa Regil''s mouth as he replied before anyone else spoke. He wanted to put an end to this feud between his beloved granddaughter and this dangerous child of the head family.


    He knew Arthur had nothing to do with the horrible crimes done by his family, or family members to be precise. He also didn''t want his granddaughter to be meddled in such a conflict with such a mysterious kid, or else the future might be darker than expected.


    Wise came with age, and his wisdom was way beyond others. Grandpa Regil once wanted revenge upon the whole golden lion family, however he realized later on that revenge was a one way ticket, with all sides losing on the way.


    So he grieved in silence and buried his pain, waiting for the day when the killers of his son and his wife would end up being killed, and this day was getting closer and closer with the time.


    Arthur didn''t know all that, but he vaguely guessed what happened. He also guessed the identity of the murders. He wasn''t interested in any justice here, but to secure what he wanted then he needed to show some justice.


    To do so, he needed two things, a promise and a demonstration.


    "If so then I have a request I hope you can agree upon," Arthur said as he looked towards Madly who just sneered while grandpa Regil said:


    "What is your request young master?"


    He was polite, and he figured there was something big that would be requested from him. He just hoped it would be a good thing.


    "I want to borrow this wild girl for a while," Arthur said and when he noticed the strange look over grandpa Regil''s face he hurriedly added, "don''t misunderstand me, I just want a mutual benefit here."


    "Like hell I will agree on doing so," Madly exclaimed in agony like the idea of being with Arthur was such a torture to her.


    "I know you have a grudge, sigh¡­ can you just listen to me just for a minute?" Arthur was speaking when Madly began to head towards the door as she didn''t want to hear what he was going to say.


    "Why? All you will do is to speak nonsense and give me empty promises," Madly stopped as she turned and faced him with her sword directed towards him as she added, "besides you are weaker to even stand in this room with me, your butler is fine but not you."


    Her words were harsh and rude, however Arthur was ok with that as he raised his hand to stop Ron from interfering as he said with a provocative smile:


    "So if I proved you wrong, and made you taste the bitterness of this dirty floor then you will follow me?"


    "That''s in your dreams!" she ferociously said. Her wild untamed nature was something that liked Arthur much, as she reminded him of those female, hot tempered cultivators back in the days.


    "I''m not joking here, is this a deal?" he calmly asked.


    "And what if you failed?" she replied with the same ferocity.


    "I will help you to get revenge on those who killed your parents," Arthur replied.


    "Even if he is your father?" she asked with serious looks.


    "Even if he is me," Arthur simply replied without showing any hesitation.


    "Master¡­" Ron was about to interfere and stop this madness however Arthur looked at him as he said:


    "Calm down, I know what I am doing."


    "No you don''t," Madly said with a wide grin from ear to ear as she added, "what guarantee I will have that you will stick to your words?"


    "This is the words of me, the heir of my family. My honor depends entirely on that," Arthur replied.


    "Not enough, who knows who might press you to change your mind," she said while giving Ron a glance.


    "What do you propose?" Arthur asked, as back in the cultivation world, an oath to the heavens or a swear over one''s dao was enough to clear all these troubles.


    "Hmm, what about we go outside and let everyone there be our witness? I believe if you are truly sincere then you wouldn''t find any problem with that, right?"


    Ron couldn''t stand by the side and watch without doing or saying anything to stop all this, so he moved at once and grabbed the arm of Arthur as he whispered:


    "If you have lost your mind because of the disease then I won''t let you destroy yourself like this."


    Arthur knew that Ron was trying to protect him, however this kind of protection was harmful for him right now. He needed that challenge, he desperately needed to win this girl no matter what.


    "Listen, I don''t know what you might think of me but this is a rare chance that we have and I don''t plan to let it slip by."


    Ron looked with more disbelief as he muttered:


    "What chance? Oh god, I didn''t think your injury was this serious."


    "It''s a chance to obtain the loyalty of a mage."


    Arthur''s words startled Ron. Arthur slipped from his grasp using this moment of confusion as he moved outside the shop while saying:


    "Go and bring whoever you want to bear witness, and be ready to be conquered."


    "You are still daydreaming, but that''s fine for me. just don''t be bitter when you lose," Madly said as she exited from the other end of the shop. Ron remained there looking towards the shade of the two then towards Regil who was just smiling faintly.


    "You must be happy that your granddaughter would finally bring revenge to your family," Ron sighed in regret, however he felt no matter what he did or said his master wouldn''t listen to him anymore.


    "You youngster didn''t get it yet, sigh," grandpa Regil sighed, "just follow along and don''t interfere, it''s for the best of your master''s interest."


    "It''s easy for you to say this," Ron said as he moved outside to follow Arthur. Grandpa Regil looked for a few moments towards the back of his before he sighed again as he muttered while moving slowly towards outside:


    "Youngsters, always dumb and spicy."


    The outside was way much different than before. As Arthur guessed, Madly knew almost everyone here, and that made the place in front of the shop to be crowded in minutes.


    This wasn''t exclusive only to the shopkeepers, as many passengers also got interested in such a scene. Arthur stood in the middle of a big empty ring, and in front of him stood Madly who began to explain things and the terms of their beforehand agreement.


    "Do you have anything to add our mighty young master?" Madly asked with a sarcastic tone.


    "No, can we start?" Arthur calmly replied. His calm was something that irritated her most, so she didn''t say anything then as her sword was raised and she moved towards him like a bullet.


    However her speed in front of his eyes was as slow as a snail. He had no power at all, however he still had his own tricks and leg movements that was enough to make this arrogant little girl taste the bitterness of the dirt.


    Her sword was covered by this faint brownish halo which was hard to detect but not to the keen eyes of Arthur. He was truly curious about the origin of this light and how it was developed.


    However he first had to evade this incoming attack, which he did simply by using one of his footwork tricks. He had a vast knowledge of leg movements, however he also knew each move had its toll over the body.


    Especially if the body was so wasted like the one he had, so he had no time to play around with this girl. Once he evaded her sword he didn''t stop, as he circled her with his inhuman speed and his two hands were holding two arrows which were pointed to her vital points.


    One was directed to her neck, the other was directed to her heart, that was the position his two arrows stopped just barely away from her body. her chest even stopped moving in fear of being injured by these arrows.


    "What about now? Do you admit defeat or should I insert the arrows deeply in your flesh and claim your life?"


    Arthur''s cold voice spread in the place with an echo in each one''s ear. The movement of his weren''t visible to normal people, however those mages who were just passing managed to see everything that happened.


    This footwork was something strange and new. The eyes of these images brightened with different intentions, as many looked with disgust towards this trick with no interest.


    These mages believed in front of absolute power no tricks could survive. However others looked at this trick with burning desires, as they were the type who wouldn''t stop to get anything that could help him be more powerful.


    And Arthur''s trick just now had piqued their interests. Those interested in the trick started to think about how to learn it. different minds and they all reached to two options only, either to learn it from Arthur willingly or by force.


    As for Arthur he didn''t know that he just invited trouble to his doorstep, as all he was thinking about right now was what to do next.


    Madly was sitting with a gloomy face inside her grandpa shop, as she was feeling ashamed and in pain for her loss. She didn''t say a single word after the fight was over, which up till now she didn''t know how the hell it ended up like this.


    On her side, grandpa Regil sat with a pitiful look over his face. He knew that everyone out there had witnessed the miracle this young master had pulled, all except his poor granddaughter.


    As For Arthur, he was sitting side by side with Ron, who was now looking weirdly towards Arthur with a silly smile that was never wiped out from his face since the moment Arthur made that trick and won the fight.

 Chapter 7: Forming A Team

    He was feeling odd about the strange change about his master, but he was also happy that his friend had matured and became someone dependable like that.


    As for the reason, he kept telling himself it was due to that illness, and he was trying to desperately believe this lie and he hoped its side effects would last forever.


    "Don''t be this bitter, you didn''t have a chance at all against me," Arthur suddenly said to break this awkward silence.


    "And why were you so sure about that? Don''t tell me because you beat me out there," Madly said with a dejected tone.


    "It''s because he had this weird move that he used against you," grandpa Regil suddenly said, which made Madly murmur with something not clear at all.


    "I would have loved to show you my move, but my body is weak right now so I can''t use this trick for now. But I promise to show it to you later, deal?" Arthur hurriedly said so he wouldn''t be asked to perform that move one more time.


    He was really tired from just using this move twice in a row, if he used it a thrice then he wouldn''t be surprised if he fainted.


    "You speak like you are a mage," Madly muttered with a discontent, she was yet upset from her loss.


    Her words made Arthur return to the topic he wanted to know more about, as he directed his words to grandpa Regil by asking:


    "I want to ask about something, why she wasn''t tested for talents?"


    Regil shook his head as he replied with the weird looks of Ron and Madly:


    "You know this sire, these tests need some coins to pay and we are so poor and can''t afford it. no one actually can afford running these tests except for the golden lion clan."


    "Hmm, that matter must be changed in the future," Arthur muttered to himself.


    "What?!" Ron exclaimed with surprise.


    "Why do you ask about me taking the destiny tests?" Madly asked.


    Arthur smiled to the two of them before saying:


    "You have to wait until the time is right for us to discuss these things, as for you," he then turned to look at Madly, "if there were others here like you, I mean powerful like you, then I would be pleased to invite them to join me."


    Madly was fiery eyeing him silently before she asked:


    "What are you trying to do here?"


    "It''s top secret for now, and I will tell you and others about everything when time is right. All I can say is that anyone misses this chance would regret, regret to the end of his life," Arthur said.


    "Arrogant bastard!" Madly exclaimed in a low tone that was audible clearly to Arthur, however he chose to fake not hearing it.


    "Listen to the young master and go bring the little gang," grandpa Regil suddenly said.


    "Grandpa!!" Madly said with surprise and blame, "I''m your granddaughter so it''s logic for you to interfere in my life, but these are my friends and you have no right to tell them what they should do."


    "Little girl, listen well to me or else I will go to their houses and grab them from their dumb heads. You are this gang boss, and now you belong to another man, and so they are. Don''t act innocent here, I know everything about you," grandpa Regil said in a threatening tone.


    "Grandpa! That''s not fair, besides I don''t belong to anyone!" Madly was really mad as she stood up and faced her grandpa.


    "Don''t speak nonsense and move your lazy self and gather up the gang," grandpa Regil then turned towards Arthur, "I''m sorry young master, my granddaughter temper is a little hard to adapt, but she is capable and her little gang are also like her."


    Madly just stood there glaring at her grandpa and then towards Arthur before she harrumphed and moved outside the shop. Arthur intended to give her a promise, a vengeance-aid promise, however as things ended up like this he decided to postpone it to later.


    As for grandpa Regil, he excused himself and resumed collecting arrows. He was now working with more energy, as he knew these arrows would be a great help to his granddaughter and Arthur.


    Grandpa Regil wasn''t a fool, he realized how unique Arthur was. What he didn''t say was that he actually met this young master couple of years ago, back when the talent tests were running.


    The person he saw was exactly typical to the rumors he heard all along, but these weren''t even close to the reality he was seeing right now.


    What he saw was a future, a new future to the golden lion clan and hence force the entire population under its control, including him. He also sensed the interest of this young master towards his granddaughter, an interest this old man would prefer to see deepened further if possible.


    That left Arthur alone for the first time since all this started with Ron, who was eyeing Arthur silently without saying a word.


    "C''mon, if you want to say anything just say it," Arthur said.


    "I want to say much, as Willy I know is way different than Willy in front of me," Ron said with a wink.


    "Is this good or bad?" Arthur faked ignorance as he asked this to his friend.


    "Well, it depends," Ron replied.


    "On what?" Arthur asked.


    "On the simple fact of time, will these changes persist or not?" Ron said with a smile.


    "Well, I think it''s safe to say it will persist," Arthur said as if he was measuring something. He knew his new personality might be suspicious to anyone close to him, but if he managed to make Ron accept his new self, then he would eliminate one source of trouble for him.


    "If so then this will be bad," Ron said with a chuckle as he patted over the back of his little weak friend. This small pat made the body of Arthur ache, but Arthur didn''t show this on his face as he knew Ron did this on purpose.


    That didn''t matter now, as what really mattered was the fact that Ron had believed him. One trouble was evaded successfully for him and one trustable aide was added to his entourage.


    This little friendly talk extended to another important question that was raging in the head of Ron for a while now, as he said:


    "May I know what my esteemed little friend here intends to do with the bow and arrows? With the men and the¡­ Girl?"

 Chapter 8: Moving Towards The Forest to Train

    His way to say ''girl'' was different as he implicated another meaning. Arthur wasn''t a young man shy to speak about women, he himself had a long history with them. He knew Madly''s personality from first glance and managed to see through her like translucent glass with no impurities.


    He knew a girl like Madly would grow to be a fine lady with a fiery temper that he himself would hesitate to make her angry. This kind of girl was a nightmare to any man, and it would be better to let her go and avoid getting near her if possible.


    However Arthur knew best that this type of girl was one of his weaknesses, which were mostly focused around women. Madly only lacked a taste of elegance, if she had this touch then he would instantly fall for her.


    This small and minute detail made all the difference, so he replied at once:


    "She is just one of my crew."


    "And what is this crew exactly?" Ron asked again as he felt his best friend was trying to evade the most important question.


    "My crew will be just a beginning," Arthur vaguely replied.


    "Beginning for what? And how can this be an answer?! I want an explanation! I demand one!" Ron was getting impatient with the new temper and manners of his best friend.


    Arthur sensed his impatience and felt his worry and concern over him, so he leaned towards him as he whispered:


    "I can''t say much as we haven''t crossed the forest yet. All I can tell you is what I''m planning to do is something big, very big, and like anything of that caliber and scale, the less who knows about it the better, right?"


    Ron looked deeply into Arthur eyes before he settled up his troubled mind by shaking his head as he muttered:


    "I don''t know friend, was this disease a blessing for you or a curse?"


    Arthur sat straight again as he looked towards grandpa Regil, watching him collecting more arrows with some energy that was strange on his old body as he murmured:


    "I don''t know friend, I hope it''s a blessing not a heaven''s revenge."


    Grandpa Regil was busy collecting arrows, even though he didn''t notice the return of his granddaughter with the company of her friends. She came back with five, which was bigger than what Arthur expected.


    Regarding the fact that this land belonged to a non mage clan like the golden lion, it was already great to spot two talents here like Ron and Madly.


    However right now there were five more, which made the number of the little crew jump from three to eight, Arthur included.


    "Seven accomplices, seven is a great number, I''m feeling good regarding this," Arthur muttered when he saw the new faces who were curious to see the man who asked to meet them.


    "Listen, as I told you I have lost a bet with this youngster here and so I have to work for him for a while. if you don''t want to follow, then it''s alright, no one will blame you," Madly loudly said, addressing her little gang.


    "A bet or a fight?" one of the five said with a teasing sneer that made Madly''s face change and turn red. For them, red meant dead, so that youngster who was younger than Madly by one year jumped to take shelter with a bigger size boy next to him.


    That boy had an adult body, even his facial features seemed old enough to not walk with these youths here, however Arthur felt he was young, as old as he.


    His body might be a side effect of his innate talent perhaps, Arthur couldn''t tell as he was yet unfamiliar with this world and its rules.


    "Hold it Madly, I believe they already watched the fight, right?" Arthur said as he stood up from his seat and moved towards the newcomers.


    "If we follow you will we be able to learn what you did to beat Madly?" The shortest and weakest in the body out of them spoke with great enthusiasm. He was this enthusiastic as even with his slim body, he looked better in shape than Arthur.


    "No problem, just follow me and you won''t regret it. may you introduce yourselves first? My name is F¡­ Willy, your golden lion young master, and here is my best friend Ron. What about you?"


    Arthur was about to mistake his real name, but he hurriedly corrected that mistake which was unnoticed to everyone, except for Ron.


    However Ron didn''t speak up or even glance at Arthur with any doubt, he decided to wait and judge later.


    "Good, I''m Drago and I''m not from here," the shortest one said.


    "I''m lily, and I love to use bows," the one who spoke at first and escaped behind that big guy was actually a girl. Arthur didn''t bother with the fact of boys and girls, he knew what mattered was only strength.


    "I''m Tarry," the great guy said with a harsh tone and thick voice with a weird accent.


    "Don''t mind him, he isn''t actually from around here at all. Sometimes I doubt he is a human like us. Sorry, I didn''t introduce myself to you, I''m¡­" he was a nice looking boy but he loved to talk much and his friends knew this about him. so, the last one pushed him to the side as he was the tallest one here while saying:


    "He is Ouly, our philosopher and dark assassin fighter, as for me I''m a swordsman and my name is Edwar."


    Arthur smiled to all of them before saying:


    "It''s my pleasure to meet you, and now," he then moved towards grandpa Regil who was still collecting nearly all the arrows in his shop, "we have to go, we spent much time here."


    Grandpa Regil stopped what he was doing as he sighed, he hoped he could bring enough arrows to this young master to use. Arthur felt his desire for help, and it was sincere so he patted his shoulder as he said:


    "Don''t worry, I will look with care after her."


    Grandpa Regil just smiled as tears began to build up in his eyes while he was watching the eight persons leave his shop and disappear behind other shops. He exited his shop and watched them until they vanished inside the forest.


    They took over two thousand arrows, which was a great number for Arthur and not enough for Regil. However Regil felt the urge of Arthur, this young master was right about one thing, he stayed here for a long time already.


    All he could do now was to wish them luck and hope their travel would pass unnoticed. He didn''t know what this young master wanted to do, but he was sure whatever it was it must be something big.


    He hoped just for his granddaughter to be patient and stick to the end of the road, as it would be regretful to let this chance slip by.

 Chapter 9: Getting Attacked by A Monster

    This little village-like market was really that close to the forest nearby. Just as Arthur and his newly gathered friends exited the market, they found themselves meeting the first squad of trees.


    The trees weren''t that tall or crowded yet, however in less than half an hour they were totally surrounded by thick bushes and long intersecting heavily branched trees.


    The air was thick, and any signs of human life ceased to exist here. Arthur believed if he had no sharp senses, he would have lost his sense of direction some time ago.


    He looked around him, they were just passing under some low branches and reached a small open place with not much trees in it. there was a small slowly running water stream which traveled its way between different size rocks.


    "Let''s stop here," Arthur said as he decided to open his mind and heart to them here. they were away from the shops with enough distance already. There was no danger in telling them now what he intended to do.


    "Finally, Mr. Important is going to tell us his big secret plan, wow."


    Madly was still behaving like Madly. Arthur didn''t mind her personality, in fact he dealt with much worse people than her. She was like an idiot child with some balls and no brain.


    "Yes, gather up and hear me out please," Arthur said as he went towards the largest rock as he stood on top of it while everyone else sat on the other rocks, everyone but Madly who was still standing in her place just looking at him.


    "Won''t you sit down?" Arthur said to her.


    "I''m comfortable like this," she coldly replied.


    "Fine, what I want to speak about now is about my future plans. I will start with one simple fact, and that is to make all of you mages," Arthur said these words and then paused as he watched the reaction of others in front of him.


    Being a mage was everyone''s dream in this world, however they were already accepting the fact that they couldn''t be ones.


    Some were destined to be mages, while others were destined to be distanced from this dream.


    "C''mon, don''t tell me you did all this to say these worthless meaningless words," Madly was the one to speak up saying what others had in mind. Even Ron, who was the closest one to Arthur, didn''t understand how Arthur proposed doing such a thing.


    "I know you think it''s hard, but I can assure you I will make you all get past this point fast," Arthur calmly replied.


    "It''s not hard, man it''s impossible," Ouly said before standing from his rock as he pointed to Madly, "Doing the test is incredibly expensive. This crazy Madly here tried to trick the academic testers but she failed. that was nearly eight years ago, when we were all nine years old.


    Now, we are seventeen years old, it''s too late to test our innate talents, man, let''s just face reality and don''t try to play useless tricks over us."


    Ouly was their philosopher, which meant for Arthur he was the brain of this little gang. He wasn''t bluffing so he instantly replied:


    "I''m not tricking anyone here, and that talent test is just a measure to the presence of innate talents. No one ever said no one can practice and enhance his or her talent after nine years, it''s just a misconception from people."


    "And what makes you this confident about it? we even don''t know if we have talents!" Ouly argued back.


    Arthur just smiled before pointing towards Madly as he said:


    "I know what her talent is."


    "What?!!"


    "!"


    "!"


    Everyone turned to look towards Madly who just felt awkward as she embarrassedly commented:


    "I don''t have talent!"


    "Yes you have, but you haven''t figured it out yet," Arthur replied.


    "Then what is my talent then?" Madly said while crossing her arms in front of her chest.


    "It''s brown in color, so I believe it''s earth related talent," Arthur said as that was the color he noticed when she was fighting him.


    "Brown? I never heard about such a stratification of the innate talents, have you ever heard about such system guys?" Madly was treating this like a joke as she asked everyone else in a theatrical way.


    "No, this is my first time hearing something like this," Ouly said as he was standing by Madly''s side by now. He wasn''t alone, as everyone else either nodded or just looked in doubt towards Arthur who just sighed as he didn''t have any knowledge of this world.


    His only proof to what he was saying was only through doing it practically and showing this to them.


    "Fine, you have the right to believe it or not but at least you will have to follow me these next days and do as I ask," Arthur said.


    "And why should we listen to your words? we should return back to our shops and little village before we lose the way," Madly said with some disgust as she was already tired from Arthur who replied:


    "First you owe me this, second if you follow me I will teach you how to do it."


    "Do what?!" Tarry said as his big body trembled the next after. This wasn''t due to his words, but due to the sudden appearance of Arthur just beside him with one arrow pointed towards his thick neck.


    Tarry was startled and if he wasn''t afraid from being injured from this arrow he would stand up right now from his place in response to this sudden move.


    "What a stunning killing move, I definitely want to learn that!" Lily the second girl in here said that as her eyes were brightened when she saw Arthur''s move.


    Arthur just smiled, it seemed he would never get tired of such a trick. He stood there for a moment before returning again to his original place while Madly muttered:


    "I thought you can''t use it anymore."


    "It consumes a lot of energy, that''s given but I can use it for more time if I want," Arthur simply replied before he turned to look at everyone else, "I won''t force you to follow me, but if you do then I will teach you how to master such a move, besides¡­"


    He paused as he sensed something was approaching their place. He had the feeling that he was being watched by something that was extremely dangerous.


    "W-What?!" Lily asked with doubt as she wanted to know what Arthur was going to say.


    Arthur began to use his senses to the full, despite not knowing how this weak body would take this toll or not. The situation seemed risky and tricky as everyone was relaxed and not aware of the danger eyeing them right now.


    Everyone looked at him with impatience, while Madly began to feel bored already as she just harrumphed while Ron felt something was odd. Arthur seemed unusually strange right now.


    Before anyone could say anything more, a black shadow leapt suddenly from the thick bushes surrounding them. this black shade was like a spear which was thrown towards Arthur directly to kill him.


    This all happened fast, but Arthur was already anticipating this attack, and he had the perfect counter to it.


    The cloud steps move was the card he used. In front of everyone, and when all hopes were lost when they noticed the shadow presence, Arthur jumped to the air with bow in his hand and three arrows appearing in the bow at the same time.


    That wasn''t all, as after this superbly timely reaction of him, his jump began to show some extraordinary stunning move. The jump was about to reach its climax before Arthur moved his right leg and hit the air like he was hitting the ground.


    This hit was followed by a more amazing jump higher. It seemed like he was jumping in the air, which was kind of true, as he was using all the strength in his body and focusing it on his right leg which acted like a cannon to shoot and his body would recoil in response.


    Amazing move, but he knew he was risking using it now, however without using it he couldn''t escape the clutches of this strange enemy. This was without doubt a fast based monster, which used its speed to overcome any prey he eyed.


    If it was fast on ground, then facing it on its turf was foolish. The only available option for him was to go where this creature couldn''t follow. When the monster hit the empty rock where Arthur was at just now, it began to be angry.


    When it stopped over the rock, its true body shape appeared. It was like a leopard with five pairs of bony pairs of wing-like extensions on both sides of its body. it seemed these extensions helped it to run faster.


    But it couldn''t actually help it to fly, which made Arthur more grateful for that.

 Chapter 10: Lets Eat The Meat of This Monster to be Stronger

    By Arthur''s disappearance from its line of sight, the monster didn''t plan to look for him as he had a long list of substitutes around it. However before it could even move a muscle, three arrows descended like fire bolts over it and fixed its body to the rocks.


    The monster roared a very loud one, it was injured and its injury seemed quite serious.


    However Arthur never intended to stop, he just was getting started.


    The show started with the wild roar of this monster, while Arthur was still midair looking awesome with his bow which had now five more arrows attached to it.


    Arthur didn''t intend to give this monster a chance, he never played it in such a careless way before. His usual style was to seize advantage and never let it go, he pushed it forward hard, real hard till his enemy broke or died.


    He started with evasion first followed by three arrows as a sudden attack, and now he released five more fire bolts which hit vital areas in his opinion at this monster''s body.


    The arrows hit their target in an instant and that monster began its chorus of roars, which didn''t last long as the next attack claimed the life of this monster by seven arrows hitting the monster.


    By that, the monsters roared its last cry in this world before its body ceased to struggle and its bright blue blood covered the rock like a fountain.


    It was dead, dead just like that in mere seconds. Everyone down there was just stupefied by what happened. they had no absolute experience at all in dealing with such monsters, and without Arthur''s minute decisions they would have died.


    They looked at Arthur whose body was falling to the ground with widened eyes and rapidly racing hearts. This was a man who they just made fun of a couple of minutes ago.


    He was the same man who just saved their lives alone by killing a monster they knew it wasn''t easy to kill if they had the job.


    As for Arthur, he knew the toll over this weak body was way worse than he expected, however it wasn''t bad to make him lose his consciousness, or perhaps he was so excited and eager to know this monster''s secrets.


    Once he reached the ground, his body felt weak but he couldn''t let himself surrender to that weakness. He needed to go and dissect this monster''s body and feel its energy, and he needed to do this fast.


    Back in his cultivation world, there were many monsters there. He had his share in hunting them, as they had the sweetest meat taste ever and were a good nutrition to a cultivator''s body.


    He needed to know what was different between the two, this world''s monsters and his previous world''s.


    "Hurry, fetch me a knife or a sword fast."


    He said that as he used the bow to help him walk rapidly towards the monster''s dead body. Everyone was stunned, however Ron was the first to respond to him.


    "Take this young master," Ron said, showing extreme respect to Arthur. To him, Willy was a brother, a little brother that needed his protection and guidance all the time despite being at the same age.


    But Arthur in front of him was the real embodiment of the young master he had in mind. Some charismatic, strong, and dependable young master that could make the game change by his actions.


    Arthur took the sword from Ron as he reached the body of this leopard. It was longer and bigger than he expected, with nearly twice the size of an adult human at least.


    "C''mon, help me move this body to the ground," Arthur ordered loudly.


    "Why the hurry? Take some rest young master as the demon core wouldn''t evaporate if we waited," Edwar, the swordsman spoke for the first time as he moved to support Arthur''s trembling body.


    "There is no time for that, just follow my orders and I will explain later."


    Arthur couldn''t tell them he was looking for the traces of spiritual energy, something that was very famous back in his world. every living creature with power in the cultivation world had a minute trace of a special kind of strength.


    This strength was unique that even gaining it would shorten many months of training time, however getting it was tricky. This trace of strength was like ether, hard to get as there was only one way to get it.


    Killing the creature and looking for the short window after death. Each creature had a different short span of time available to gain his wisp of strength, and each creature had it focused on a totally different organ.


    To find it you need to dissect the creature just after death, which would be the only window available for anyone to get it. waiting too long would end you with nothing.


    Arthur had long experience in dissecting monsters, so he didn''t find it weird to open this dead monster''s body from head to tail. The abdomen was opened and its viscera was out.


    Arthur did the most unexpected move to everyone, as he left the sword and put both of his hands deeply inside the viscera of this dead monster.


    He began to sense the pulses of energy hidden deeply within this monster''s organs. He just hoped everything would be like what he had back at his world, and luckily he sensed a faint trace of energy that was accumulating around a single organ.


    He moved his hands fast to find this organ, and when he took it out by force, he wasn''t surprised to find it was the heart.


    "So this monster burns energy in his heart to supply his muscles with extreme violent energy that would push his speed off charts, fantastic."


    He muttered these words which were strange to those around him. they suddenly felt weird, as being ignorant to a whole new world. Ron was the most shocked one, as things Arthur did couldn''t be explained by after disease effects.


    He felt like standing beside a totally new person, a stranger for him.


    As for the little gang, they were shocked as well. They had seen many mages travelling through the small village, and they had seen some of the dead monsters killed by them.


    They would sell some parts of these monsters like nails and horns for weapon making, but there was no one who ever did what Arthur just did.


    As for Arthur, he held the heart with fiery eyes as he hesitated. He didn''t know what the power in this heart would be, and would it be suitable for him or not. He kind of suspected the type of this energy, as it would augment speed.


    He wasn''t in that need of speed right now, especially when he had many tricks to use. So, he turned to look at others as he was looking for a more suitable candidate, and he just found his goal.


    "Ouly, come here fast."


    Ouly looked with doubt towards Arthur but he felt he was about to be lucky. He moved and sat beside him as he looked towards the still warm, beating heart of that monster. the blood was still oozing from the heart slowly, but it was still oozing.


    "Look at me, I know what I''m going to say looks strange to you, but believe me this is a rare, very rare opportunity for you," Arthur firmly said with a calm tone.


    "W-What opportunity?" Ouly hesitantly asked.


    "The chance to open up your power and raise your strength by folds. The opportunity to really discover your talent and make the best use of it," Arthur replied simply as if he was saying something casual.


    "W-W-What?!!!" Ouly was so anxious when he heard that and his mind was messy. He was their brain, the philosopher, but in front of Arthur he felt he was yet a little kid who knew nothing of this world.


    "Listen well, there is not much time to waste here. if you don''t want to take it, then fine I will take it myself," Arthur said.


    "Then take it," Ouly immediately replied with a rush.


    "If I did it I would waste a lot of potential in it, look¡­ just forget what I said, I will do it myself," Arthur sensed Ouly''s hesitation and he knew there was no time for that, so he decided to gain this power for himself.


    "No, stop," Ouly felt strange fear when Arthur said these words. he was shocked by himself, as he didn''t know why but something deeply inside him was dying to get this heart, "j-just tell me what to do."


    Arthur smiled, it seemed the innate talent inside this young man had awakened and was desperate to eat this wisp of energy. Arthur''s decision was right, and knowing that made him more relaxed about his choice.


    "All I want you to do is simple, tighten your fist like this," Arthur then grabbed his fingers into a compact small ball like he was going to hit the opponent with a KO fist, "then give me your fist, hurry."


    Ouly was already regretting stopping Arthur, however he was already in it. he squeezed his fist and stretched it to Arthur who took his dagger as he said;


    "I will use your dagger, the one who you used frequently and make an open wound on your hand. Don''t worry, the pain would go away fast."


    Arthur then didn''t wait for Ouly to overcome his surprise, as he immediately inserted the dagger deeply inside his fist. The dagger tip penetrated all the muscles and tissue of his fist and that made Ouly scream, and the others around them to gasp from shock.


    No one suspected Arthur to do something crazy like this.


    However what followed was way much weirder, as Arthur grabbed Ouly''s arm tightly as the fist was becoming bloody red and then he inserted it violently inside the beating heart of the monster.


    The beating suddenly paused, and Ouly felt a strange marvelous sensation which followed by a weird synchronization between him and the heart of the monster. the two hearts beat with the same rhythm, like they two were connected.


    And Ouly passed out at once with the heart still beating around his fist.


    Everyone jumped to check on him, as they noticed how pale he was. What they didn''t notice was the heart stopped oozing its blood despite beating regularly like before.


    Arthur knew what that meant, the connection and synchronization process here in this world was the same like his previous one, or at least that was in theory.


    He still lacked many things to determine the rules here, like if he used this incompatible power to his own, would it succeed or fail.


    "What happened to him?" Madly asked with concern and worry.


    "Don''t worry. He is passing through an energy boosting phase right now. Once he awakes, you wouldn''t be a match for him," Arthur replied with obvious fatigue as his body couldn''t take the weakness anymore.


    So his body crashed to the ground once he said these words.


    "What?! Are you ok?" Ron was the first to jump and catch his body. Arthur was really exhausted, however he knew a way to replenish his lost energy. This way was the purpose of coming here after all.


    "Listen to me, cut this monster''s body and cook its meat."


    "What are you talking about?" Lily was the second to rush over to him as she heard what he just said.


    "The meat of this monster had many nutrients that are beneficial to all of us. We all must eat from it," Arthur hardly explained as he was facing some difficulty in keeping his mind awake.


    "Are you delusional? We can''t eat the meat of such monsters!" Madly suddenly yelled angrily towards him. she was still beside the sleepy Ouly as she was feeling more blame and regret of what happened to him.


    She even tried to separate the heart away from his hand, but she couldn''t. even the sword couldn''t cut the heart anymore. That was absurd and weird.


    "Just listen to me, or else you will miss a big chance," Arthur said as he glanced briefly by rolling his eyes towards Madly who just sneered in response.


    "Just do as I say Ron, and if any wants to eat with us then it''s fine."


    "What about you? Are you going to be ok?" Ron asked with concern and worry, as Arthur''s body was yet recovering from that poisoning incident.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t be in danger. Just go and start fire. Keep yourselves alert, who knows what this fire might bring to us."

 Chapter 11: A Horribly Tasted Monster Meat

    Arthur''s words alarmed everyone, and as Madly was about to object on this plan again, Ron stood up and rapidly started fire. He then grabbed the body of the monster and started to cut its parts.


    He wasn''t alone, as Tarry, Edwar, and Lily began to help him, while Madly and Drago were looking after Ouly. As for Arthur, he sat on the ground resting his back to one of the rocks while closing his eyes to rest.


    He wasn''t trying to sleep yet, as he was afraid if he did, another monster would attack the team.


    He didn''t tell them, but the scent of blood here was a great seduction to other monsters nearby, while the fire was their greatest threat.


    He hoped the fire would help in protecting them, but there was no guarantee, so he needed to stay awake and be ready for any sudden attack.


    Arthur had an irresistible urge to just close his eyes and sleep, however he tried to resist that as hard as he could. He knew eventually he would fall asleep, however he was still sticking to the hope of replenishing his energy just before sleeping.


    ''Just a little more!''


    He kept telling himself this over and over uncountable times, until he felt the presence of a strange thing in his mouth with a soft voice telling him to eat.


    With a natural survival instinct he ate what he had in his mouth. He was barely able to open his eyes while everything around him started to fade away¡­ the voice, the light, and even sensing his surroundings.


    Seconds after he began to chew, he suddenly felt two things with annoying clarity at his state, the bitter taste of the meat plus the sudden gush of power into his body.


    Suddenly everything regained its vitality again like he just woke up. The first thing he saw was the face of Lily in front of him while she was carrying more pieces of that monster''s meat.


    It seemed the bitter taste of the meat made it quite unfavorable to everyone, so he was only the one eating that meat right now. Or perhaps they weren''t ready to try something as crazy as that and wanted to try it first on him.


    Either way he was grateful for that, as that meat had given him a substantial amount of energy his weak body was desperately in need of. At the same time that proved his theory was a true one, and that was just the second theory he proved.


    He tested two theories from his previous world and both came true, plus the tricks he used in the fight from his previous life, that made him quite energetic actually.


    Arthur was like a lab scientist freak who wanted nothing more than testing his theories and proving them right. Every success would energize him to do more, and he just was in the mood to do that.


    "Let''s try to add something to this horribly tasted meat, shall we?" he suddenly moved up and began to walk around while saying this. His strong tone and sudden energetic spirit attracted everyone''s attention, especially Ron who was extremely worried over him.


    "Are you sure you want to move this fast? Your body was just collapsing moments ago."


    Arthur looked at him as he smiled, then laughed as he disappeared suddenly from his place to appear tens of meters away, just standing on a high branch of a tree. Next to him there was a strange flower with pinky edged petals and faint blue in the center.


    Arthur wasn''t interested in the flower, as he didn''t know what it was. He was interested in the leaves of this flower. The presence of such a flower in his previous world would mean something insane, as it would be a treasure without a doubt.


    However now he couldn''t sense anything from the flower itself, but from its leaves he could sense a powerful amount of energy.


    Arthur didn''t know why, but after he ate that meat his perception of this world''s energy began to change. He started to sense the presence of many sources of different kinds of energies in the area around them alone, and that was something he didn''t have before.


    That was weird to him, however he knew it must be related to the meat. Somehow he began his mage journey, or perhaps his senses weren''t accustomed to the nature of energy here, and that piece of meat just did the trick.


    All he did was to pick the flower with its leaves, take a look around him to make sure there was no nearby threat of any kind, and then he vanished to reappear in the middle of the group.


    Everyone''s eyes were looking at him with different feelings, however they were mainly worried about him.


    "Give me more, and you should take your share too," he said as he took the last piece of meat from Lily''s hand before he headed to a corner and began to pick the leaves of this flower.


    "Are you ok? You just used your trick twice and you said your body can''t undertake it," Lily was the one to ask this question which was now ringing like bells in everyone''s ears.


    "Ah, don''t worry about me. this meat is really miraculous, you should start eating as well so you can start your journey," Arthur casually said as he took out an arrow and began to cut the leaves he picked into small pieces with the thin blade of the arrow.


    "Journey of what?" Edwar was the one asking as he was holding three pieces of meat in his hand.


    "Journey to become mages. By the way, the meat itself tasted bitter, I believe you cooked it with some of his glands and viscera. Next time let me do the preparations, but now come to use these leaves to make the taste better," Arthur said as he put some pieces of these leaves over the meat and began to eat it.


    As he expected, the leaves made the taste of the meat quite bearable, besides it raised the total amount of energy he could acquire from his meals.


    "Wait a minute, you can cook?" Lily looked with astonishment towards him while Ron''s suspicion deepened.


    "Don''t waste more time, eat and get stronger fast. Our presence here won''t be this peaceful for long, and I don''t want to work as your babysitter all the time," Arthur said ignoring this question as he finished the piece of meat in his hand.


    This was incredible; he could already feel his muscles crave for more meat and leaves. He moved towards the huge body of this monster. Eating it in one go would be good, but he preferred to store some of its meat for future uses.


    Who knew when they would meet another monster they could kill. There was a sword lying around beside the cooked corpse of this monster. He took it and began to slice the meat in some professional way.


    Arthur was a good cooker back at his world, which was something common back then. Cultivators were usually secluded beings, and they had to depend entirely over themselves to survive and eat.


    No one would survive eating badly cooked meals for so long a time counted in years, so everyone back then considered cooking as a life saving skill.


    As he feared, they just put the body of this monster on the fire without any kind of preparation, not even a seasoning was used over this monster. He sighed, such a good meal was wasted like this, however he and everyone here needed to eat right now.


    He began to slice the body into pieces, and then he started to cut these pieces into thinner ones. The pieces were incredibly similar to each other in size and thickness, which made this look more magical than it should be.


    The other began to watch what he was doing, especially when he started to use his leg tricks and reach out for more energy containing plants. He used them to make the taste bearable.


    What he lacked actually was seasonings like salt and pepper. He knew he could turn these piles of meat into a stock of salted meat that could be used anytime, but he had no way to get all these for now.


    He also knew he and his little gang were malnourished, they needed to eat a lot to make for what they missed.


    He intended to push them into eating this meat and finish it in less than a day. They weren''t that enthusiastic to taste the meat, however when he finished cutting the monster and clear its body, he started to distribute the meat over them.


    "Start eating now, we have a long journey to cross," he said.


    "Are you sure this is safe?" Madly was the one to object as she took one piece of meat covered with some leaves and some kind of plant seeds that Arthur put over the meat.


    "Yes, and the effects are remarkable. C''mon, moments ago I wasn''t able to open my eyes, and now I just used my move many times in a row that would have killed me already. Stop wasting time, and start eating."


    Everyone exchanged silent glances together before they nodded in agreement. Trying one bite wouldn''t harm anyway, and then like they subconsciously agreed to do it at the same time, they began to take their first bite.


    Their energy conception wasn''t anyway close to Arthur''s, however when they just chewed the meat and even not swallowed it, everyone one of them began to feel some heat in their bodies. They exchanged looks again, as somehow each one began to feel energetic, more than anytime ever in his or her life before.


    One bite turned into a mouthful of meat, and one piece of meat turned to be a pile of meat. Arthur just glances silently at them before he smiled, they were like kids to him. always loved to argue and showed their strong stands, however in reality they were all fragile and weak from inside.


    He liked that nature of them, at least they weren''t bad or mean which was something he was grateful for.

 Chapter 12: Tasting The Power Inside The Monsters Meat Turned Them Insane

    Arthur just stood there watching them without saying anything. He was sure that from the moment they ate the meat their life would have an incredible change.


    Arthur was dealing with this world on the same basis of his previous world, at least at the simple basics like sources of energy and the effect of eating these sources.


    So he knew if a normal person ate this meat he wouldn''t show any changes at all. These energy resources couldn''t give what wasn''t there to begin with, however they could easily augment it.


    If anyone of them had no innate talent in his body, then he was sure he or she wouldn''t show any improvements at all. He wasn''t worried from that, as he knew his judgment wasn''t off the mark this time.


    All of them had innate talent, and he was feeling that some of them would turn out to be unique in this world. He just had to focus on nurture them and train them more vigorously than any mage here, at least they wasted seven to eight years already.


    He didn''t stop eating his share of meat as well, besides he also put Ouly''s share on one side as Ouly was still in the middle of his evolution.


    Each piece of meat Arthur ate had made him stronger, and eventually he began to feel a remarkable change that was equivalent to climbing a small stage in the cultivation training.


    That was a remarkable feat for him, however he knew better than anyone that this world energy measurements weren''t the same as his previous world.


    So he needed to know what these measurements were, and if he couldn''t find any data then he would have to improvise. He already had a general set of stratification to the energy in this world.


    He was a scientific man with a mind always tending towards identifying and measuring everything.


    Just as he was still halfway his share, Madly was the first to finish as she turned to look at him with fiery eyes.


    "Why are you looking at me like this?" Arthur asked.


    "What was exactly in this meat?" she asked back.


    "Nothing, just some tonics to your bodies," Arthur simply replied with a faint smile.


    "You are lying again, this meat isn''t near anything ordinary like tonics," she aggressively said to him.


    "Oh, when I first lied to you?" he innocently asked.


    "When you tempt us to try this meat, you knew what would happen to us. Don''t deny it, as the answer is all over your face," she said as she moved slowly towards him.


    "And I won''t deny it, but tell me do you regret eating this meat?" he said without moving or even stopping eating his meat.


    "Regret? Yes I regret not eating the whole meat alone," she said with a chuckle that seemed not a chuckle at all.


    "Oh, you are greedy then," Arthur said as if he wasn''t interested in her words or even to her sword which she was holding right now and pointing it towards him.


    "Yes I''m greedy, and I want to eat the rest of your share," she said.


    "If you have the ability to do that, then go ahead and claim it," Arthur said without even blinking. He was still sitting in his place motionless eating another piece of meat.


    Madly wasn''t the only one eyeing his share, as somehow his share of meat was bigger than the others right now. it looked like he wasn''t interested in eating his share, when others were about to finish eating their amount.


    In fact Arthur was delaying eating his share on purpose. He knew how it felt to gain your first amount of energy, it tasted incredible. This unforgettable sensation was very addicting that everyone would hope it would never stop.


    At this moment, with the presence of a whole share of meat in the place then it was normal for everyone to set their eyes upon it, and even try to start a fight to reclaim it.


    And Arthur was hoping for them to start fighting, as he wanted to show them how big the gap was between him and them. He also needed to assess everyone''s potential, as this was one of the rarest moments when the true face of everyone''s innate talent would appear.


    And with the lack of measuring equipment under his disposal, he had to improvise and try something as rude and risky as this.


    He knew his innate talent was strong, but he also knew he wasn''t the strongest in the world. His luck might be bad and he faced up with someone here with some monstrous innate talent and beat the hell out of him.


    However he had no other choice, so he took out his bow and arrows. He seemed he was ready to fight some freaks right now, and what was really surprising was the fact everyone else didn''t seem to notice this.


    Their eyes were only focusing on the two large meat hills, one for Arthur and the other was Ouly''s. Madly was leading this formation which included even Ron.


    Arthur knew this was only a temporary control effect produced from their inner hunger and craving calls for more energy.


    "Last time, please step away and let us eat this meat," Madly said as she was confident of herself to the degree of not even picturing herself losing.


    "If you can, then come and get it," Arthur simply said as he was ready to move.


    The first attack didn''t come from Madly to his surprise, but came from Ron who moved with the help of another big man, Tarry. The two moved in unison like they were organizing this movement together.


    ''Oh, we have a mental innate talent here, that''s interestingly rare,'' Arthur thought to himself as the moment of his surprise didn''t last longer than a moment and in the next second he vanished from his place as he used his leg movement to reappear behind them.


    His aim wasn''t any of them, as he knew his first priority was to locate the one with the mental ability and neutralize him or her. He knew fighting with a group led by some mind abilities freak was a nightmare, especially this person would prove his worth the more time the fight progressed.


    His first guess was Madly, as she had all the potential to be a mental freak. However just before he could reach her, he sensed a threatening attack from the side which pushed him to jump again and change his place.


    An arrow launched by Lily was the one behind all this, as her arrows weren''t anything near normal at all. The arrow was covered with a thin layer of fire which made Arthur sure if he took one hit directly from it then his weak body wouldn''t be able to withstand another one.


    Now he had two threats, but he was so close from Madly as he decided to test her first. Just as he started to move, Madly finally began to move as well. The momentary delay that was caused by Lily made the advantage Arthur created for himself before to vanish.


    So he was now facing three attackers, Madly leading Ron and Tarry to hit him with their swords. On the side Lily was reading her next arrow and was ready to launch it.


    ''There are two missing,'' Arthur suddenly realized this, so his brain pictured the worst scenario. Mind control freaks used to distance themselves from their targets, as they needed a wider view about the whole place than anyone else.


    So instead of being this passive, he used his movement again to move away from this place. He stood above a branch of a tree, having a general look over the whole place.


    Once he stood there, he spotted the missing two. In fact one of them was heading towards him from the back to create a pincer attack. If he stood there and continued pushing his attack forward then he would end up facing a more difficult situation.

 Chapter 13: A Fervent Fight after Eating Monsters Meat

    This pincer attack came from the last swordsman, Edwar. As for the last one, Drago, he was standing on a big rock to gain better view over the place.


    ''Holala, I finally found you,'' Arthur muttered to himself with some joy. He knew he found his mental freak opponent. The disappearance and reappearance of Arthur wasn''t unexpected for all of his opponents, as they managed to spot his new location in a matter of seconds.


    However before they could move according to the orders of Drago, Arthur disappeared again to appear standing behind Drago. He didn''t delay to use his hand and hit the nape of Drago''s neck to make him fall on the ground losing his consciousness.


    Arthur wasn''t taking this conflict seriously, as he was just trying to test everyone''s true potentials. He wasn''t trying to kill them, or else he would have used his bow and arrows to eliminate them from the beginning.


    The elimination of Drago changed the game for him, as now these teens were like puppets in his hand. The next target he headed to was Lily as he sent her to sleep in the same way like he did with Drago.


    Two were down, four swordsmen left to go. Arthur didn''t rush to move as he looked around him until he found a sword lying down a couple of meters away. It was the sword used to cut the meat of that monster.


    He slowly walked towards the sword before picking it. he wasn''t that proficient in swordsmanship but he knew enough to rival those youngsters who came hot after him with extreme anger.


    "I will kill you and then eat every ounce left of meat," Madly angrily yelled with extreme viciousness. Arthur didn''t need to reply to her as he was watching every single move happening from each of them.


    Weirdly enough, when they were about to hit him, Madly paused and then retreated a couple of steps to the back.


    ''Damn it, she is also a mind freak!''


    That was what he shouted inside himself as this classic move to retreat and create a suitable gap was one of the known basic moves of any mind freaks.


    There were two mind freaks in this group, and that was extremely rare and very lucky.


    However that only made him frown from surprise but his sword never paused as it began to hit the other three in sequence.


    One sword caused a chain of green thunder around it when it touched Arthur''s sword. That was Ron''s sword, as for Edwar sword it caused purple sparks after hitting Arthur''s sword. The last one, Tarry, didn''t cause any visible effects, however Arthur felt as his internal organs were squeezed by abnormally strong force that shuttled from Tarry''s sword and entered Arthur''s body causing considerable harm in it.


    ''Wow, an irresistible innate talent, that''s even rarer!'' Arthur muttered with surprise and some joy when he discovered what Tarry''s innate talent was. It was a very strong, hard to counter ability.


    So he had to eliminate this Tarry carefully, as this single exchange caused severe damage to his initially weak body. However he had another target in mind to eliminate first.


    Madly!


    However as he expected, the more the fight progressed, the more developed that mind freak would be. As he defended against the three swords, Madly guessed what he would do next.


    So, all she could do was to expect the way he would come from to attack her. With her careful positioning behind the three swordsmen, there were only few options left for Arthur to attack from.


    And regarding the previous attacks he just did in front of her, she guessed the direction he most likely would come from.


    And she guessed it right!


    Just as Arthur used his leg movement to move standing behind Madly, he was surprised to find her sword was in its way to attack him. at the same time the three swordsmen began to move to circle him.


    ''F*** mind freaks, they always press on my nerves!'' Arthur angrily muttered.


    He knew what was the real intention of Madly by moving the three swordsmen to surround him. she didn''t want him to be surrounded, she wanted to push him to move away and thus she would be totally protected from every side by a person.


    Thus trying to sneakily attack her again would end up with big failure, or else he had to use his true strength here and that would end up hurting one of them at least.


    He didn''t want that, so if she was using her ability to set him up, it was time to teach her one of the most basic and important lessons for the mind freak fighters.


    He defended the sword attack of Madly which caused brown dust to scatter alongside his sword.


    ''Wow, a decaying innate talent plus a mind freaking talent, this girl really hit the jackpot!''


    He didn''t expect to find all these rare talents here in these randomly picked teens. That made him view the golden lion territory with a new look. Just as Madly was about to follow up her attack with another, Arthur began to move.


    She just smiled, and he returned. The two exchanged silent smiles before Arthur vanished. Madly thought her plan was a success, however just as she turned to look around for him, she was astonished to see him just standing a couple of meters away hitting Tarry.


    Tarry had such a monstrous ability, but he wasn''t initially a swordsman, as his sword movements were so clumsy. So, it was so easy for Arthur to target him and push him backward using precise hits from the non-sharp edge of the sword.


    In less than five strikes of Arthur''s sword, Tarry fell over the ground losing his consciousness and by that the tactic Madly just applied was shot in the heart simply like this.


    However Arthur wasn''t planning to stop, as he moved next towards Ron. He knew how well Ron was, and from the memories he gained from Willy, he realized the weaknesses of this friend.


    So using all this, and with the least amount of strength possible, Ron fell on the ground to follow Tarry''s lead and leave only Edwar standing stupidly beside Madly.

 Chapter 14: Discovering a Godly Innate Talent

    Arthur didn''t intend to stop here, even when it was two on one, a situation unfavorable to any fighter against a seasoned cultivator like him. just as Edwar was about to move to face him, he disappeared, reappeared just behind him, directing his bare left hand to his neck, rendering him unconscious.


    "Damn you, you are a freak!" Madly said with an obvious upset in her tone. Arthur didn''t mind her, as the freak here wasn''t him but her. He disappeared to reappear just behind her, mimicking his approach to Edwar, to be met with her sword in a swift smooth way that seemed previously planned.


    She was a mind freak, someone who could observe and learn, anticipate her enemies moves, so perfect that with the progress of any battle, her enemies would be helpless with time.


    But not Arthur, who dealt with mind freaks his entire life times he couldn''t count. Just as the sword was halfway, he disappeared again, reappearing on her left, away from the sword. Just before she could retaliate, he disappeared again, to appear standing in the first place he moved at, just behind her neck.


    This series of fast moves were intended to confuse her, disturbing the chain of actions she would ever take, destructing her defenses, making her vulnerable to his attacks. He just moved his left hand, to gently touch her neck, before she lost her consciousness and fell on the ground.


    His left hand moved to catch her, before he moved towards the rocks they were standing at. This little conflict had caused some changes to the train here, with all these powers exerted on the soft grass, but at the end the rocks were still standing, and Ouly was still sleeping.


    He moved to grab everyone from the place they were sleeping at. After he finished, he sat on a rock, facing them, like a father observing his sleeping babies. Having such an idea in his mind drove a smile over his face, as in his past life he wasn''t lucky enough to have kids.


    They seemed to sleep for longer than he expected. The first time to open the innate talents was always the hardest. Some might lose their sanity in the process, just like they did, which was an indicator, a good one, for their high ranked innate talents.


    "Two mind freaks and one irresistible talent, three good seedlings I got here," he muttered as he moved his eyes between them all, before finally resting over Ouly. "What surprising innate talent will you show me, kid?"


    He knew, if anyone here had some rare innate talent, they wouldn''t even be compared with what Ouly would show him. assassins were very rare from the beginning, so their innate talents should be something unique, rare and beautiful.


    "I guess it''s time for me to know what innate talent I have in this world."


    He knew his past innate talent, as a cultivator he could use many forms of weapons, learn many cultivation techniques. This was, back at the cultivation world, a godly given talent, a talent for geniuses, but here he wasn''t sure if his innate talent would follow his soul or his body''s will.


    In the battle from before, he just used his tricks, the skills and moves he had engraved deeply in his soul from his past life, but he refrained from using his innate talent, for fear of hurting them.


    But now he had to test his talent, and to do that he needed to ditch his sword, and fetch a weapon suitable to his taste, which was the bow he took from grandpa Regil.


    Once he touched the bow again, he felt a deep resonance with it. This was an indication of his innate talent, but he knew that he needed to fly some arrows to assess his innate talent.


    He took a deep breath, readied his mind, and then took out one arrow and flung it into the bow. He targeted a nearby tree, just tens of meters away, then he released the arrow, to move at a very high speed towards the tree before inserting its head into it firmly.


    "What the hell?!" Arthur just exclaimed in surprise, as he did feel some powers attaching himself with the arrow, but that was it. he didn''t think he did hardly have any talent at all, as he began to think, repicture the move just now, try to analyze the feeling he just had.


    He didn''t have enough data to reach a conclusion, so he put an arrow one after another without pause, trying to grasp this feeling that strangely felt somehow familiar.


    "My god, I have this god killing talent!"


    He finally recalled when and where he felt such a talent. It was a signature move of one of the strongest archers in his cultivation world. this one was somehow scary, even for him, as Arthur rarely admitted to be below someone in something, but in killing and assassination, this man was surly topping him.


    "Wow, I really got all the luck of my past life here."


    He was in a good mood, as discovering having this innate talent made him very glad and content. He didn''t delay to test out his talent, as he took another arrow and then targeted it towards the tree. Just as the arrow left the string, he manipulated his innate talent, to affect the path this arrow was heading in.


    Instead of flying straight forward, Arthur controlled the arrow to deviate, creating an arc, as it bypassed the tree and hit the one behind it, in a magnificent way.


    "Hooray, I really did it!"


    He even jumped in the air, like a little kid, driven from his excitation. This talent was really a killer, as no one could even threaten him, near or far, even if he hid behind a tree or a rock, it didn''t matter.


    All would be hit with his arrows, no matter where he or she was.


    What made this talent really scary was the fact it wasn''t related only to bows, as any flying weapons could be manipulated with it, knives, darts, even needles.


    It was a killer move, best suited for a dark assassin. Arthur looked in apology towards the sleepy Ouly, as such a talent was best suited for him.


    Arthur then started experimenting his new talent, thrilled with it, he tried to control two arrows, but he failed. He wasn''t dejected, as he knew his talent was just being discovered, and he needed quite some time to grow it stronger. Patience, that was what he needed right now.


    He then returned to sit on the rock, calmly acting as a dao protector for these kids until they started to wake up one after another. The last to wake up was Ouly, who was now seeing things differently, like a newborn looking around him in curiosity.


    "How are you all feeling?" Arthur said, as everyone was silent the moment they woke up. He knew they were just being conflicted right now, as the effects of opening their talents were just fading away, but they were still there.


    "What happened to us?" Madly, acting their previous leader, asked, in a try to better understand what happened.


    "You just opened your innate talents, congratulations," Arthur replied, simply like that.


    "No," Madly shook her head, "this isn''t the innate talents we know about."


    She glanced at everyone else, as she was asking for their opinions. They all nodded, even Ron, who was now seeing his master in new lights, with much doubts inside him than ever.


    "What is the innate talent system you have here in this world?"


    Arthur''s question was bizarre, but he had already crossed all this track with them, so he didn''t mind asking them directly, as he was oblivious to what the rules of this world were.


    "Innate talents first being assessed by academy representatives," Madly spoke up, "I saw it and heard the description with my own eyes and ears. Innate talents are divided into ranks, from zero to ten, each determines how many demons a person can hold in his body. ranks from one to three meant mediocre talent, ranks above three are considered good talent, and they will gain a chance to be taught at Dorgazire Academy."


    Her explanation was detailed, in her opinion, but plainly simple, in Arthur''s opinion.


    ''So they are assessing talents based on the power to control demons, how na?ve,'' he muttered to himself, before saying loudly, "This system is flawed."


    "How so?!" Ron was the one to ask, as he wanted to know what was really going on with his master. He wanted to privately ask him directly about that, he never thought such a disease would be life changing, not like this.


    "Because it depends upon the utilization of your innate talent, its strength, not the nature of your talents," Arthur slowly said, trying to simplify things to them.


    "What is the problem then? After all strength is what really matters," Ouly said, expressing his opinion.


    "I admit you are true, but you have also to admit this is a very restricted way of seeing things," Arthur said, and before anyone else would interrupt him, he added, "Let''s take you as an example. If we did a test on you the moment I met you, then you might gain rank one or two. however, after gaining more energy to your bodies, opening the real realm of your talents, doing the test now would be surprising to you, as you will jump one rank at least."


    His words were vague to most, but not to Ouly or Madly, as the two had some understanding of what he was saying.


    "Do you mean we should build our bodies, train our innate talents, before we consider taking the test?" Ouly asked, trying to express what he understood.


    "Yes," Arthur nodded, "this is the most logical and right approach. As doing that, you will always train your talent and make sure it will grow, even if you start in a low rank talent, your rank will keep rising non-stop," he added, before he motioned to the meat pieces reserved for Ouly, "but this also reminds me of something, gaining energy from sources like monsters and herbs is indeed good and easy, but with time your body won''t benefit from it, or to precise, your body will need massive amounts of energy that would seem impossible for these meat to supply."


    Ouly had his eyes first laid over his share, as he noticed the envious eyes of everyone else.


    "What is this meat?" he asked, wryly, feeling awkward without a reason.


    Madly took the chance to explain things to him, and Arthur didn''t stop her. He just watched what she said, as he wanted to know what she and others had learnt from him, and after she finished he was satisfied, as she learnt everything he needed her to know.

 Chapter 15: Hold It Right There, Its My Pick!

    "So, eating this meat would grant me strength like what that heart did?" he asked.


    "In theory yes, but the amount of energy in it isn''t comparable to the heart you ate," Arthur replied.


    "Then we need to eat hearts like that," Madly said, in an aggressive tone that was so childish to make Arthur laugh.


    "Sure, I will make sure you all eat hearts like him," he simply replied.


    "I recall you mentioned something about colors," Ouly suddenly said, as he rubbed his chin while recalling what were these colors, but he couldn''t.


    "That''s a manifestation for special abilities," Arthur replied, without any further explanation.


    "What abilities?" Ron asked, as he wanted to know.


    "Abilities that are driven from your innate talents, let''s take Madly for example," Arthur then pointed his finger to her, "her special ability is called mind control. During the fight with me back then, she managed to observe my moves and anticipate them. she also can communicate with other members in her team, giving them mental orders, arranging their positions and drifting plans according to circumstances in battle."


    "Wow!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise and admiration, while Madly just raised her head up high while arrogantly muttering:


    "I''m your leader, fools, surly I have a monstrous special talent."


    Arthur just chuckled, before pouring cold water on top of her arrogant raised head, "You are mistaken, there is another one with the same talent as you, plus there is even one with much stronger talent than you two."


    His words made her face change. If he was someone else, she wouldn''t hesitate in teaching him a lesson in manners with her sword, but she knew even if all of her gang jumped up over him, they would eventually lose. So, she just swallowed the insult and said in dejected tone:


    "Who are these two?"


    Arthur didn''t comment on her obvious discontent, but replied to her question by pointing out to the two he meant by saying:


    "Drago and Tarry," he simply replied.


    "Really?" Drago replied with surprise, as his short body bounced up and down from excitement. "What ability do I have?" he urgently asked.


    "Mind control as Madly," Arthur replied, "As for you," he added while looking towards the bewildered Tarry, "your ability is quite unique, which reminds me of something important."


    Arthur then moved as he looked around for something. After some time of keen search, he returned to the group with a flat piece of wood that wasn''t regular, plus the skin of the monster he just killed.


    "Are we going to eat the skin now? is it useful?" Lily asked, with uncertainty.


    "No," Arthur simply replied, "I''m trying to make a shield here," he simply added, "Start some fire," he requested from the group as he put down the two objects before he went again looking for something that could be used as a glue.


    Arthur didn''t know if there were shields in this world or not, but the innate talent of Tarry would be wasted if he only used swords. He had to use a shield, as using the shield would disrupt the enemy''s attacks, hurting him deeply, and rendering him vulnerable for the sword to claim his life or cause a deep wound.


    Arthur had chosen this style for him, for now. if in the future he found a better thing for Tarry, then he would reconsider. After quite some time, he finally found something that was on top of a large rock nearby. It was dark in color, sticky in nature.


    He used a branch from a nearby tree to collect it. it had a hard consistency, which made it difficult to be taken away from this rock. Arthur, once finished, returned to the group, finding the old fire was ignited again.


    He didn''t speak much, as he brought the piece of wood, started to shape it, roughly, using the sword they used to dissect the monster with. After he felt some content with the result, he went to the skin and started to cut it according to the size of the shield.


    He did these in front of everyone, while feeling astonished, Ron was feeling shocked. He knew his master never had such talent, especially when he didn''t know what he was doing, and for what.


    Arthur kept cutting the monster skin layer upon layer, until he finally made five layers of the skin available to him. Once finished, he put the first layer on the wooden shield, then put the branch with the ball the size of a human head, directly on fire.


    When he heard the sizzling sound of that strange lump, he moved the branch and started painting the shield with it. Then he put the skin over and stumped his foot many times until he felt satisfied.


    He repeated the process again, and each time he finished gluing one more layer. Once finished, he used the sword to make a cut into the back of this hastily, ill made shield in his opinion, marvelous work in other''s eyes.


    Once done, there was a hand grip in the back, suited for Tally to pass his hand there and hold the shield firmly. Arthur swore silently he would seek a better shield, or make it himself with the craft knowledge he carried with him from his past life.


    He handed the shield to the astonished, extremely delighted Tally. "Carry this shield in one hand, and the sword with another. Like this you can use your talent."


    Tally grabbed the shield and played with it like a little boy. "What is my talent that requires using something precious like this?"


    Arthur chuckled over Tally''s words. "It''s called an irresistible talent, it''s a very handy, extremely precious talent. When we face a monster later, you will have a chance to test it out. Just use the shield to defend the opponent first, then follow with your sword strike."


    Arthur then turned to look at the others as he said, directing his words to them, "from now on, Madly and Drago will be our leaders in any battle. You two will carry the toll of guiding us, discovering the opponent''s weaknesses and strategies, his next move, pattern of attack, and you will have to guide us over the field, rearrange our places, order us to move, and most importantly tell us when to retreat."


    Everyone was taken by what he said, as they never heard someone in this world speak like him, or use these strange arrangements in any fight. However, they knew how special Arthur was, how unique his eyesight was, and how lucky they were to be with an extraordinary person like him.


    "What about you?" Madly asked, with a blush over her face. She once saw him as a nuisance, and now she felt gratitude to him, how weird it was for her.


    "Me?" Arthur replied, "I will act as your ace, the one who will be able to do special attacks, relieve any pressure, save any life, and kill whoever you can''t deal with."


    He then looked around him, they stayed enough time here. it was time for them to move, as their training was just getting started.


    "Let''s move, follow me and keep your distances from each other. Be ready for any fight at any given time. Ouly," he then looked towards Ouly, who was sitting on his share of meat, eating it with extreme devotion and flushed face of excitement, "wrap what''s left and eat it along the way."


    Arthur then took the lead, with the advantage of his super senses, he was sure to spot any monster from far. They didn''t walk for long, as after half hour of marching, chatting excitedly with one another, Arthur had to stop this little picnic as he raised his hand high, while ordering:


    "There is another monster coming up our way.


    Once he said it, he swore he felt a wave of heat coming forth from his team. It seemed they had acquired courage after opening their talents, with no fear at all from facing monsters, but eager to test their new powers.


    Saying this wild spirit, Arthur decided to step aside, letting the space for them to test out their abilities. He retreated to the back while saying:


    "As we agreed, Madly and Drago have the reign of leading you here."


    "What about me?" Ouly, who was still eating his meat, enjoying the extravagant sense of each bite, asked.


    Arthur glanced at him, with conflicted ideas in his mind. He didn''t know what his talent would be, so he just replied:


    "Try to use your daggers and kill the monster with them. After the fight, let''s talk."


    Ouly seemed doubtful, "Is there anything I should take note of?" he asked, as he didn''t like this casual reply of Arthur, and didn''t expect it.


    "No," Arthur shook his head, as sometimes stress might mess things up, "just be natural and do your usual fight," he added, in a try to boast the poor youth''s low moral.


    Ouly just shook his head, as if he was disappointed, or shaking off any bad, distressing ideas from his mind, before he went up to join his mates. Arthur looked at them, marveling this little group of his, hoping to find more special talents here.


    The monster that showed up was like a giant bear, moving slowly with its huge body, with each step the ground trembled and its body vibrated with it. Arthur felt some danger coming from that monster, as this one was somehow hard to deal with.


    "Listen up, it''s a slow monster, yet it has a hard skin, strong defenses, and very strong offense. Do anything, but don''t get hit directly by it."


    Arthur''s warning words made the team, intoxicated in their new strength, return to reality. They thought they could kill any monster now, but the first monster to meet was something this powerful that even Arthur dreadfully treated it.


    "Hold right there, this is my pick."

 Chapter 16: Kill This Demon Bear and This Tournament Token Is Yours

    Suddenly, this female voice erupted suddenly from the direction this monster just came from. They were surprised to meet someone chasing such a monster, but the most astonished one here was Arthur.


    He couldn''t detect this girl''s position, or even sense her presence at all. Without her warning words, he would have never known she was there! that was scary, as his senses were bested up here, just like this.


    "Show yourself," Arthur said, in a vigilant tone, abandoning his previous promise and moving forward, to stand in front of everyone.


    Suddenly, a gale of wind erupted, few meters to his left, to show a figure of an alluring girl, with rounded eyes, little nose, fair skin and cheeks. Her body was carved beautifully, wearing revealing clothes that showed many of her hotness to them.


    "I''m Emy, from Dorgazire Academy. I never saw you there before, what academy are you from?"


    She was from the legendary academy everyone wanted to join, including them, so it was totally understandable for their faces to blush and their reaction to be little sluggish, except for Arthur who said back:


    "I''m Arthur, and they are my friends. We don''t belong to any academy, as we live in lands near the forest."


    His reply included so many lies and one fact. devoid of any valuable information, his respond was perfect, and for those behind him, they were surprised by his attitude and his bizarre words, but they weren''t stupid not to understand the meaning behind his move.


    He was careful, just careful. If he had learnt something from his past life, then trusting strangers you just met was one of the biggest fatal mistakes in life.


    "Oh, that''s weird. I could swear I felt some powers coming from you, like experienced students. Though your rank is low, I thought you might be hiding your powers or just belonging to a mediocre academy."


    Her words were directed mainly to herself, as if she wasn''t seeing them at all. She was like someone, used to live alone, a life Arthur knew very well about it.


    "Big sis, are you going to kill this monster?" Lily suddenly moved out, with her bow in hand, as she was already captivated by the elegance and beauty of Emy.


    "Ah, I don''t want to kill it," she shook her head, "this is a rank four monster, a monster that is hard to deal with. He just attacked some of my academy refresh recruits, causing severe damage to us, so the academy dispatched high ranked fighters like me to chase it away."


    She narrated the story in a casual fashion, like she was dealing with old friends here. This easy going nature was a constant feature for someone who was living alone, and so strong to feel threatened by anyone. Arthur knew she was telling the truth, though he didn''t drop his vigilance, after all she was so powerful to stand here and speak up her mind without reservation.


    He was about to turn around and leave, when Madly hurried to say:


    "Big sis, if we went up and killed it, you won''t be angry, right?"


    Emy just looked at her, before she laughed a short one, putting her palm over her mouth. "Sure, honey, you are so sweet. Do you want to try and kill it? I can''t even do it."


    Arthur just looked at Madly, and before he could say a word, Drago jumped in, "Good, we badly wanted to test our innate talents on this monster. thanks big sis."


    The bear was moving slowly, yet steadily, and it got close to them as they were speaking with Emy. Arthur didn''t feel any good about it, as he didn''t like others to peep over his matters, especially if this was a total stranger for him.


    But he had to admit, controlling these kids was harder than what he expected.


    "I think we should select another monster to practice," Arthur finally spoke up, attracting everyone''s attention and halting their advancing steps. they glanced, weirdly, to him, while Emy looked at him in suspicion.


    "Don''t worry about me, I won''t interfere and steal your kill," she jokingly said, as if this was what that troubled Arthur.


    "I think we can''t kill this monster," Arthur insisted, as he was ready to move away.


    "What a regret," Emy sighed, before she took out a rounded token, big enough to fill the grip of her hand. It was bronze in color, with some writing over both surfaces. Emy played, casually with no interest, by the token, "this is an invitation token, to the grand talent tournament in my academy. I was instructed to give it to superb individuals, what a regret."


    Others looked without understanding what she meant by her words, but Arthur knew exactly what she wanted to say. She was using this strange token as a bait, to push them to show her their true potentials. Arthur felt much more doubt towards her, as it seemed she wasn''t a simple student back at the academy.


    "What is this tournament?" Arthur asked.


    "It''s a tournament for rogue talent personnel, a chance to join the academy."


    This time, it wasn''t Arthur who was showing interest in her, but everyone else, as their eyes moved in unison towards her, like shreds of iron pulled by magnet.


    "Can we join the academy?" Drago rushed to ask.


    "Isn''t the age of joining the academy only nine years old?" Ouly asked, in a tone full of expectations.


    Emy observed their intense reactions and laughed a short laugh again, putting her hand per habit over her mouth. "You are mistaken here, we have other ways to join the academy. Yes the age of nine is considered an optimum age to start at the academy, but it''s not the only route to the inside of the academy.


    For example, this tournament is held annually, by inviting those outstanding talents from all over the world to compete and be assessed again. people that might have missed from before in our screening tests, or people who joined other mediocre academies and done brilliantly there. chances aren''t expired by missing the screening test, and those who have dreams must be willing to chase them to see them happen."


    Her words were sane, carrying some wisdom in them. Arthur greatly valued her words, which elevated her position in his mind by a lot. She wasn''t just a dump strong person, she was a wise one too. Arthur, like others, eyes this token carefully, with greedy eyes. If there was such an opportunity ahead of them, presented itself like this, then they would be stupid not to exploit it.


    Emy saw the drooling look over their faces, and that made her feel somehow amused. She hid the token as she said in a fake sorry tone:


    "I''m sorry y''all, I would have thought highly of you, but it seems I was mistaken."


    Her words were the last straw that crushed their hesitation, even Arthur wanted to get his hands over this token. The plan he had in mind was much longer and harder than just entering a single tournament. He planned to get hold of his territory, defending it first, then train this little gang and start building his own small army with them as the centre.


    After doing all that, he intended to find a way to show his and his group skills over to one of the teachers or highly-ranked powerful figures at the academy, even inviting one to his home, hoping for them to accept him and the others.


    But now there was no such long and hard ordeal. All they had to do was to impress this chick here, and then the token would be theirs. That suited Arthur, that he even decided to risk exposing his talents in front of her, after all even if he asked her to leave, he wouldn''t be sure she might lurk around, observing their deeds and fights.


    Others looked at Arthur, pleading and requesting for his approval. He was their leader, heart and soul, so they asked for his decision, hoping he would agree.


    "Wait," he finally gave in, throwing all his worries away, "we will kill this monster and claim the token for ourselves."


    Emy turned with a wide grin over her face, as she was sure of their approval. "That''s great, now let''s see how strong you are. Just a reminder, even if your lives are in danger I won''t interfere to help, is it clear?"


    Her words were met with a sneer from each other. If their lives were on stake, they were sure Arthur would be the one to interfere and help them.


    Once decided, everyone moved to take their position. Arthur preferred to stay away, looking at the fight from distance. He didn''t do that for fear of the monster, but in a futile attempt to keep his own true powers hidden, if possible.


    The bear was just ten meters away from Tally, who was wielding a shield and sword, standing alone at the forefront, facing the monster as he was told before from Arthur.

 Chapter 17: A Hopeless Battle

    "Is it wise to let him stand alone facing it?" Emy suddenly appeared beside Arthur, in a silent step and smooth move that didn''t arouse any reaction from the environment. Arthur''s deep senses and his long hones sense of danger were awakened, but he controlled them fast before calmly replying:


    "He is enough."


    Emy sighed, as she watched the monster slowly approaching the still standing Tally. "It''s a huge mistake, underestimating this monster like this. It''s a fourth gr¡­"


    Her words were interrupted sharply, not by Arthur, but by Tally, who was attacked by the mighty paws of the monster, directed towards the primitive shield he carried.


    Despite being afraid, Tally put the words of Arthur, which he was highly regarding them, always in his mind, to work as a sleeping lullaby. He stood his ground, until the paw was met with his shield. The strength in the paw was really insane, that pushed him to the back, strangely not losing his balance at all.


    He just retreated five or six steps, while the monsters stopped in its position, motionless. Tally didn''t wait to be amazed by the shield in hand, as it really, even after doubting it, saved his life, as he worked his sword fast, to attack the stupefied monster and dig his sword deep into its flesh.


    The hard skin, thick and nearly impenetrable, was easily sliced by Tally''s sword, like being jelly. That scene startled Emy, and interrupted her amidst her speech. Arthur, on the side, didn''t care for her reaction, as it seemed the ability of Tally was bigger, much bigger than he expected. It wasn''t only an irresistible talent, directing all Tally''s strength into his opponent, but it seemed to be a reflective talent, a higher version of it, where he could reflect his opponent''s attack upon himself, injuring the opponent with his own powers.


    That made the situation this monster was at logical, as it was now suffering severe internal damage created by his own insane power. If not using this slight window before the monster could stabilize himself, then they might regret it.


    "Wake up, and start attacking right now!"


    Arthur hastily yelled, startling everyone on the field, even Emy, who even jolted awake with a shocking eyes directed towards Tally. She was just playing with them, trying to see them in action while using the simply invaluable token as a teaser, but now her vision had completely changed.


    She was now seeing a hidden gem, some freaking talent she never saw alike before. Just as she was marveling Tarry and his outstanding performance, Ouly suddenly appeared, out of nowhere, above the head of that monster.


    Ouly was initially a few meters away from Arthur and Emy. As an assassin, he should select his timing carefully, taking advantage of his target weaknesses, and try to cause as much damage as possible. He knew that, very well in fact, but he waited and attacked not for any reason.


    He wanted, just pushed hard by his expectations, to test his new ability and realize what it was.


    He just intended to move, and once he thought of it, he ended up appearing out of nowhere, just above the head of the monster, precisely at the place he selected in mind, without breaking a sweat.


    If there was anyone here shocked by this feat, then it was him for sure. Though he was shocked, he was most thrilled by the potential his talent was showing, and he felt it was just a tiny glimpse of it.


    So he pushed it, this time he pictured himself plunging the daggers right and left, just as he always thought since the moment his eyes fell upon Arthur moving with his bizarre, superbly moved.


    Just thinking of it, he did it, as his hands holding the two daggers found themselves busy, cutting, inserting, dissecting, and even throbbing the thick skin of this monster over and over again.


    The monster after taking the first devastating hit from Tally was rendered helpless, turning itself from this fearful existence, into such a cute punching bag for them.


    The moves of Ouly reminded everyone of Arthur, and the scene of Ouly with the heart attached to his hand jumped suddenly in everyone''s mind.


    But they didn''t stop or delay their moves. They didn''t have a god-like ability such as Ouly, so they took a few moments before reaching the monster, as their swords started to attack it.


    All attacked close by, except for Lily, who was using her bow and arrows to hit the monster, and Madly who was playing the role of their designated leader.


    Arthur, on the other hand, kept watching his team killing the monster like they pleased, while Emy stood by his side, with her mouth agape from shock, asking herself if this was truly the monster that terrorized the academy disciples and made the higher ups send professionals like her.


    Just wondering about the beast, the monster shook its huge body as if it was insulted by her thoughts, raised his body, standing on his two thick legs, stretching out his head and neck to the sky, then roared.


    His roar was sudden, violent, and long, resembling a haul, resonating everywhere, and travelled to far distances.


    "Not good!" Emy softly exclaimed, as she turned to look at Arthur before warning, "this is bad! This monster is calling up more of his kin."


    Her worry and fear in the eyes were genuine, but Arthur didn''t care about it. He now had a clear grasp of his team, and the limits of their potential.


    Dealing with more of this monster wouldn''t be a trouble, especially in the presence of two mind freaks here. Arthur watched Ron, waving the sword in hand, creating that green lightning arcs dancing in intimacy around his sword, as he replied:


    "If you want to go then go."


    "Don''t be stubborn," she rudely said, "No one can face a group of the bear demons and live!" she warned, in a grim tone.


    "I don''t care," Arthur calmly said, feeling some ease in the idea of her leaving here, "but if you are going to leave, then I have to ask for the token," he remarked.


    "I have to say again, it''s impossible to emerge out of here alive," she stressed as she was feeling sure, so sure, that Arthur and his fellows were underestimating the threat they were facing.


    But Arthur didn''t speak, as he just stretched his hand to her, asking for the token. She just sighed, helplessly, as she didn''t know why they had such a stubborn mind.

 Chapter 18: The Battle Escalated into A Whole New Level - Facing Five Monsters Alone!

    She didn''t want to act, but after seeing the potential of this group, she decided not to lose them. the academy was facing hard times right now, and fresh blood, unique and rare just like them, would be a great help she could offer to the academy she adored.


    But she didn''t declare his decision to Arthur, just taking out the token and giving it to him, then turned around on her heels and moved fast, disappearing from the place, or just from the senses of Arthur.


    Arthur didn''t question her retreat, as her tone and attitude gave him the false impression of her cowardance.


    "Listen up," after the passage of a few minutes, and storing the token away, he yelled up to the group, who were now fervently attacking the monster, staining the ground with its blood, in a massive amount that was enough to make a pond. "Don''t kill him," he added, shortly and vaguely, without explaining further.


    This monster had strong offense, defense and thick life, so its vital organ was optimum nearly to all them here, even to Ouly.


    If they killed it, then he had to make a choice between extracting its vital organ, giving it to one of them, and losing this person due this in the upcoming battle, or to let the organ die, and lose the opportunity.


    So, he had to interfere, when he felt the demon wasn''t able to move, escape, or cause any trouble in the upcoming battle. Just as they stopped, and before turning to ask in confusion about the reasons of his sudden, weird call, Arthur''s voice came again hastily as he ordered:


    "There are five more demons coming, including one that seemed stronger than this."


    Their faces changed, not out of fear or despair, but of expectation and anticipation. They weren''t afraid from the incoming demons, like what Emy thought, making her shake her head in pity for their narrow mind and suicidal spirit.


    The forest around them trembled violently, even the ground started to rise up and down slightly, visible to their eyes. The demons were coming near, and Arthur didn''t need to orchestrate this attack, as Madly took the full responsibility of this.


    "Tally, you will lead the defense, welcoming each monster by your shield, Ouly, you will support him on the sides, make sure no monster would attack him while facing another. Ron, your sword has some numbing effect, so you can use it as well if Tally and Ouly were in danger. Lily, keep your arrows ready, and try to mislead the demons if they came as one group."


    Her orders were right on the spot, not missing a single arrangement, and above all, she was putting the possibility of anything going wrong ahead of her all the time. Arthur felt satisfied, as the two mind freaks here belonged to him.


    As for the last foolproof measure, it was Arthur. Everyone knew that, and as if they had tacit understanding, like small kids trying to impress their father, they didn''t speak about it out loud.


    For the nearby, ready to interfere at any moment, Emy, she felt all this was pointless. She never saw such an arrangement in battle before, as in the academy everyone has to fight for himself, even if they were in teams.


    Watching silently from near, hiding her aura and presence like always, the demons started to show up, one after another, with their big bodies and huge aura, even birds from anywhere near here started to fly away, escaping this fearful feeling.


    The first to arrive were two huge monsters, but for the group they were more punching bags for them. the monsters weren''t strolling slowly like the one from before, as they were called here using a sort of distress signal, so their momentum and attitude were already hostile and violent from the start.


    One from the north east, the other was just following behind from the north west. Just appearing in the eyesight range of the team, Lily started flinging arrows towards the northwest monster to delay it, and the strategy succeeded.


    Tally was the first to meet the two, as Madly designated, as his shield welcomed the northeast monster, shaking it, rendering it motionless in its place, while he retreated for four steps only this time.


    Supported by his previous experience, he managed to stand his ground easier and smoother than before. Once he stabilized his body, his feet didn''t stop, as he darted towards the next monster, lured by lily''s arrows, while the one he just attacked was now being tortured by Edwar and Drago.


    The next monster''s fate wasn''t different from the first, as Tally hurried to stand in its way, receiving all its anger and repaying the favor back to it. The two monsters stood like punching bags, waiting to be slaughtered like cattle, as the team started their harassment over them.


    Emy watching this amazing result was speechless, as she didn''t expect them to handle two monsters at the same time just easily like that. however, she didn''t feel any change in her final estimation, as the team had missed one important fact, a life and death caliber fact.


    Arthur also knew this slight missed realization that his team didn''t think of, but he did. He was seeing the great team work, the amazing synchronicity between his team, and the effective rapid adaptation to the newly discovered powers, and so he decided to give them their moments, as these moments would stick always in their minds, their entire life.


    So, when five more monsters appeared from far, and he sensed them, he didn''t wait until they reached here, as he took on his shoulder the responsibility of guarding them, kicked the ground and flew rapidly towards the distance.


    His move came unnoticed by his team, who were immersing themselves in attacking the two monsters fervently, without a single spare second to check over their leader.


    But, this move didn''t pass unnoticed from the keen eyes of Emy, who squinted her eyes as she watched the pattern of his moves, finding herself wanting to move and follow him, so she did.


    She strained her eyes, looking in great focus to him, observing every single move he was doing. His speed was high, but he couldn''t outrun her, and she wasn''t just nobody back at the academy.


    Mysteriously attracted to him, she kept her distance near, while maintaining her control over her aura to mask her presence off his senses, which she now knew how sharp they were.


    He could sense the presence of the monsters hundreds of meters away from him, and that seemed quite impossible for just nobody, coming from lands behind the forest.


    ''What is your secret, Arthur?'' she just thought to herself, while tracking him and keeping her distance.


    As for Arthur, he galloped his path towards the incoming monsters, without feeling the pressure at all. His mission wasn''t to kill them, but to delay, only delay, until the boys and girls back there finish their task and cause deep injuries to the two monsters, adding them two beside their previous brother, unable to even stand.


    Five monsters, with one being special, like a boss, were just a few tens of meters ahead, devastating the forest, making trees fall by the side of their track, but that didn''t flinch Arthur, who knew they were nothing compared to real monsters he once faced.

 Chapter 19: Facing The Two Bear Monster

    The first to appear were two monsters, as they thrashed into the place, tearing the trees in front of Arthur with their sharp, deadly claws. Arthur wasn''t stupid to think he could face them face on, with his bow and sword alone, so he retreated, while grabbing his bow and taking one arrow after another, releasing them all towards the side, away from the two monsters up ahead.


    Emy, standing nearby, was confused by his action, but when she observed the arrows, she felt shocked, greatly shocked from inside. The arrow Arthur released didn''t go in a straight line, as natural laws indicated, but they curved, one after another, to aim directly towards the rear monsters, hitting their bodies hard, causing them slight pain and great anger.


    Monsters weren''t dumb creatures, especially those higher than rank three, so they roared violently, looking around them towards the direction these arrows came from, before flying towards there, deviating from the place of Arthur.


    ''What a strange man!'' she muttered to herself, while watching the simple trap he laid, using his unique powers, to be effective in the most simple and amazing way.


    As for Arthur, he was content with the success of his plan. He trusted the intelligence of these monsters, so they would move away from him. as for the two coming hot at him, he started to pay them his full attention for now.


    He put away his bow, hanging it on his shoulder, side by side with the quiver he had there, then he raised his sword, facing these two little hills without hesitation.


    Then he disappeared!


    He used his foot move, to appear behind one of the monsters, hitting him hard with his sword, targeting its neck. The attack was suddenly fast, and with the slow movement of these monsters, Arthur was sure of his sword hitting them.


    However, what he didn''t consider was their thick defenses. Back there, Tally''s ability made it easy for them to hurt monsters, without suffering from the strong defenses they had, but now Arthur had to suffer first hand with this defense.


    His sword was stopped a few millimeters after digging deeply into the monster''s skin. He didn''t see that coming, but he rapidly adapted himself, disappearing again and appearing just behind the second monster, escaping the heavy strike he would have to face if he stayed in his position.


    Though the monsters were slow, their claws were moving fast, especially when ignited by pain and rage. He wasn''t polite to the second monster, as he hit him on the neck, like the first monster, while readying himself to the strong recoil his hand would suffer from this strike.


    The only problem here was the sword itself, though it was a good caliber sword, it wasn''t made to attack such heavily defended monsters. He disappeared again, reappearing behind the first monster, targeting the same place he hit before, deepening the wound, making the monster roar in a real pain this time.


    He kept dancing like this, in front of the watching, amazed eyes of Emy, as he was able to handle two monsters like them alone, and with such great ease.


    Emy was sure he wasn''t a highly ranked mage, but from what she was seeing in front of her, this man was like a viper, an old experienced mage, with years and years of honed experience, that wasn''t easy to acquire with rising in ranking alone.


    She felt astonished, deeply touched by what she was seeing, not knowing the answer to her most urgent question, how did he acquire such skills and strength without being known?


    As for Arthur, he kept moving around, harassing the two monsters, attacking the same spot over and over again, relentlessly, without feeling any distress whatsoever.


    It wasn''t that easy, even for him, considering he had such a weak body, but he had just opened his abilities, making him able to exert more powers without worrying about collapsing his body.


    But he knew he couldn''t continue like this forever. His opponents weren''t only these two monsters, but there were another three behind, which they found no one in the false direction he lured them to, and now they were heading back to him.


    So, he retreated again, creating enough, safe distance between him and the two monsters, before taking his bow again, releasing three arrows, controlling them to curve, travel a long distance to the side, before hitting the three monsters, stimulating their wrath again.


    Being safe from them for now, he restarted his harassment over the monsters, while keeping an eye over the three up ahead, and another over his little gang behind.


    The fight at their place was easier than his, going smoothly as they had the two monsters played like fools, without any chance for them to retaliate. The two monsters were now heavily wounded, and their bodies were already stained with blood, creating a bloody pool around them, before they finally couldn''t move, surrendering to their fates and falling helplessly on the ground.


    Arthur was pleased from their actions, as they already had three monsters captured, without even having a single wound. He didn''t delay as he retreated, luring the two angry monsters towards the group, while releasing more arrows to distract the three monsters far ahead.

 Chapter 20: Fighting The Horned Bear Monster on Equal Grounds

    In a few minutes, he took the two monsters to his mates, and when he appeared, they finally noticed he wasn''t standing behind them, which made them speechless, as they all asked themselves, when did he move?


    He didn''t do anything but pointing to the two monsters while saying:


    "Deal with them like usual, and I will keep the three last ones busy."


    He then moved, disappearing from his place, reappearing tens of meters away. The two monsters'' aggro was already on him, but just as they tried to follow, they were welcomed by Tarry''s shield, which rendered them still in their place, suffering severe internal damage.


    Arthur just glanced briefly at them from far, before he moved, rapidly away, heading to welcome the three, already raged monsters, which kept chasing faked attacks all over the place.


    Finding them wasn''t that hard, as he kept his eye over them all the time. Once they appeared in front of the three, they roared, as they realized this little human was the one harassing them.


    They were two huge monsters, like the ones he dealt with, plus one different monster, who had a small horn coming out the middle of its forehead.


    Seeing this horn so close made him realize how special this monster was, as this horn wasn''t a simple difference, but a status declaration. Arthur was familiar with a general ranking system back at his world, as special monsters held special status in their own kind, a status that always came with a privilege, and some special powers.


    He stood there, keenly observing the monster, wondering what special power of it would be. The two monsters moved first, targeting him, while the third, special one, kept its distance, not moving so fast or aggressive like the other two.


    Arthur decided to strike that monster first, determining what special ability it had, to assess its true strength, and know how threatening it might be.


    He disappeared, to reappear, per usual, behind that special monster, targeting the nape of its neck. Just as his sword neared that monster, a strange halo appeared, surrounding the whole monster, stopping Arthur''s sword in its track.


    ''Not good!'' Arthur muttered as he hurriedly retreated, just a hair breadth away from the paw of that monster. it seemed that halo had defensive properties, stopping anything endangering the monster away from it, and it also triggered a spontaneous offensive move that came so sudden and abrupt that startled Arthur.


    If there was anyone else but him, he was sure that person would have now died from this ability, but he had a lifelong experience of fighting, so his reaction came handy and he moved away from danger just in time.


    Any momentarily delay, and he would suffer great wounds, or even lose his life there. After this bitter experience, Arthur decided to stay away from that monster. He wasn''t the perfect counter to it, as Tally would be the only person here who could fight this monster and deal with its annoying ability.


    Being decided, Arthur started harassing the other monsters, poorly roaring out in pain, unable to even lay a single claw over him. He moved from place to another, without rest, or giving his opponents a moment of peace.


    However, his plan was doomed to be interrupted by the special monster, which stepped in, helping its two subordinates, using its ability to stop Arthur.


    The addition of this monster made things harder for Arthur, as he had to abandon targeting the same spot again, attacking other places, where he would be far enough from the reach of the special monster special ability.


    Doing so put more toll over him, as he couldn''t exert his full strength in the fight, plus he faced multiple risks, especially when the special monster moved the other two so close to him, forming a tight formation that Arthur could exploit easily from.


    Being limited like this, Arthur finally recalled something. His previous arrows managed to hit the special monster and wound it. he didn''t know the explanation for that, but he perfectly recalled the scenes where the monster was hurt by his arrows.


    Reaching this conclusion, he retreated, hastily, creating enough distance between him and the pack of monsters. Then he took out his bow, and started attacking them from far.


    He specifically targeted that annoying special one, hurting it in many places as possible. The monster roared from pain and anger, as he felt great humiliation, being toyed like this by this weak human, so it tried to chase Arthur, moving meters away from the two monsters, leaving them vulnerable to Arthur, who seized the chance and started harassing them again.


    Seeing Arthur attacking the helpless fellows, the special monster roared in rage, as it retreated again, defending the poor two, pushing Arthur back to the original spot, where he restarted using his arrows without pause.


    Emy, who was standing nearby, had her mouth opened agape from the shocking scene she was watching. She was dispatched to chase that special monster, as its powers were unique and special, no ordinary mage could deal with it. but right now, in front of her widened eyes, Arthur was able to handle himself perfectly fine, like he was the monster.


    She knew, better than Arthur, that things were far from over. This monster wasn''t valued this high just because of its defensive aura, as it had a fatal weakness towards distant attacks, like what Arthur just discovered by a stroke of luck.

 Chapter 21: Emy Finally Showed Up!

    Her fears came true, as after the continuous harassment of Arthur, that special monster decided to use its true powers. The small horn in the middle of its forehead shone brightly, in a way that caught Arthur off guard. He looked towards the horn, feeling the threat it represented to him, knowing that whatever was coming, he better to avoid it.


    He couldn''t evade things he didn''t know, so despite the growing alarm inside him, he stood his ground, not moving an inch, focusing all his senses over that monster, wondering from where the next attack would come.


    All his muscles were contracted, ready to move at any prior notice of any danger approaching, however just as he was alarmed, he spotted something moving fast towards him, a shade of a person.


    "Jump, leave the ground, fast!"


    This urgently distressed call screamed from Emy, who came running as fast as she could, knowing that Arthur would never predict the direction this hit was coming from¡­ the ground!


    It was an earth based attack, targeting Arthur from below. At the time Arthur would realize it, it would be so late for him to act, or even evade. So, she couldn''t bear to witness such a brilliant young man getting hurt, not like this, and she didn''t feel it before she already left her hiding place, running fast towards Arthur, yelling at him.


    Arthur got the warning and his mind understood it. this treacherous monster had an earth based ability, and if he stood his place like this, or even ran into anywhere else, he would still be in danger.


    However, that monster faced his nemesis, as Arthur first jumped in the air, away from the ground, and just as his jump reached its climax, he hit the air again, exerting his utmost strength, and jumped higher up in a second jump that startled Emy and even got her stumbled on the ground.


    She stood there watching Arthur flying high, before the spot on the ground where he stood cracked opened, with a long, horn like, spear shaped, hard sharp rock emerged from there, extending to the sky, trying to get Arthur.


    Arthur heaved a sigh of relief, as just the rock kept coming at him in a rapid move, he hit the air again to jump third, reaching a higher altitude, a place that rock would never reach.


    Arthur watched the speed of advance of this rock get slowed, as he didn''t push himself any further, letting his body fall smoothly over the ground, using the rocky spike that could claim his life as a landing spot, gliding smoothly over its sloppy surface, before landing safely on the ground.


    "What are you doing here?" that was the first thing he asked, without even stopping for a second, as he raised his bow and started attacking the monster again, with some anger racking up inside him.


    This monster was about to claim his life just now, if not for Emy''s timely interference, he would have ended up dead, or severely wounded.


    "Is this the thanks I get from saving your life?" she bellowed back, as she was trying to cover the fact that she was spying on him.


    "Thanks for saving my life," he said with gratitude, before adding, "and don''t spy again on me, please."


    Her face blushed, as he directly accused her like this, without even trying to cover things up. She didn''t answer him, as she had the right to do what she wanted, without taking permission from him.


    He smiled, as he felt lucky she announced her presence this early. Seeing him battle wasn''t a big issue, as he planned to make the whole world watch and admire him later on.


    What he cared about were the secrets he carried, the ways he knew to raise the powers of him and his friends. These secrets must remain as such, limited only to him and his little gang. This incident reminded him to stress over the others, to keep these things to themselves, and never share to anyone without his permission.


    Emy stood there without saying a word, and Arthur didn''t bother speaking with her, as he continued to dance with the monsters like before, sometimes he lured the special one away, driven by irrational feeling by doing nothing to this annoying human, and so Arthur would attack the poor monsters with his sword, forcing that special one to retreat.


    Things kept repeating itself for quite some time, where Arthur was attacked three times more with that earth based ability of the monster. as he already knew the extent of this ability, it was easy for him to evade, and even he used this to throw as many arrows as he could, causing deeper wounds to that monster.


    It appeared when the monster used this ability, it exhausted itself, lowered its defenses, making it vulnerable to attacks and damage, in a stronger way than before.


    Realizing this, Arthur started to wait for the times when the monster would use its ability, and he even tried to instigate it to use the ability more than once, by targeting the horn with his arrows.


    After the fourth time of using the ability, that horned bear monster looked quite exhausted, panting heavily, with its movements sluggish and slow. Arthur knew that this monster must have hit its limit already, and so it was now in a weakened state.


    He wasn''t polite, as he continued to harass the monster, attacking it with arrows, targeting the horn, neck, and any place of old wounds. His attacks brought fruit, as the monster roared, ordering the other two to chase Arthur away, until he caught its breath and was fit to join the fight again.


    "I want this bear."


    Suddenly, Emy, who was standing still, doing nothing, all this time, finally opened her mouth, pointing towards the weakened state horned bear, wanting it for herself.

 Chapter 22: Till We Meet Again

    Arthur glanced at her, as he knew she wouldn''t know any way to get the benefits of this monster like he did. It must be a knowledge, a knowledge of this world that he didn''t know yet.


    This instigated him, as he was still the knowledge thirst person he always was. He looked at her as he asked:


    "What do you want this monster for?"


    She looked strangely at him, then shook her head as she laughed while replying:


    "I will use it to make one of my students strengthen himself with."


    Arthur heaved a sigh of relief, as she seemed to think he was joking with her, asking her about such a basic info in this world. He also noted the words she said, her student, that meant only one thing.


    "Are you a teacher?" he asked.


    "When you reach the academy, you will know the answer," she said, as she moved her eyes, looking in eagerness towards the weakened monster, "what do you say? Will you give me the monster?"


    Arthur was now harassing the two bodyguards of that horned bear. Giving the horned monster to Emy meant he could guarantee her departure, for real, this time, but he would lose such a strong monster, especially when he had one person in mind, suitable to have this monster''s vital organ.


    It was a choice between safety and greedy, and for sure he chose safety, as chances to meet other monsters like this were always available here in the forest.


    "May I ask for a favor in return?" he asked, as he declared his approval for her offer.


    Her face beamed with joy, as she instantly replied:


    "What favor?"


    "I want you to teach me the way to absorb a monster," he said.


    Her beautiful eyes were fixed upon him for a while. feeling her eyes falling on him like this made him uneasy, but he didn''t speak up. If she wanted this monster, then she had to handle him the way to couple himself and others with other monsters.


    "You know this is a secret technique of the academy, right?" she calmly said, but her words seemed heavy, so heavy on him. He swallowed his throat, feeling a faint sense of danger coming from her, as he replied, as calm as he could, while fighting the monsters in front.


    "I just want to be more prepared for the tournament. I bet many participants have a monster at least coupled with them."


    She didn''t reply at once, as her eyes were trying to assess him. her previous assessment wasn''t wrong, Arthur and his gang already had powerful mage abilities, abilities that only could be acquired through coupling with monsters, creating their inner demons.


    So, Arthur''s question right now seemed suspicious. No student in the academy, especially in the early years, can have such knowledge, but he wanted to know it. The reason he used was even more bizarre, as everyone there had a monster coupled inside them, just like Arthur and his friends.


    So, why was he speaking like he didn''t have a monster? That was the question which kept bugging her, but she decided to give in and tell him, after all this wasn''t top secret knowledge, and Arthur had the capital to ask for it.


    "It''s simple, you need to use the monster''s blood and draw a circle in the ground, where you and the monster will be inside. You will have to write your name, and the name of that monster on the ground. If you don''t know the name, then refer to it as a monster. then sit down, meditate, and the coupling will start." She paused before adding, "but beware, coupling with a monster isn''t a simple selection process, you need an expert that has long experience to determine the right choice for you, or else you might take in a monster you can''t control."


    Her words were simple, but Arthur saw many spots of enhancement there. they were using a simple, very rudimentary form of binding the monsters to mages. In his opinion, this connection was loose enough to make troubles, like the problems of monsters going berserk and controlling the host.


    As for her warning, he didn''t care much about it. He knew this world''s knowledge was lacking, as they were only seeing things according to one aspect of strength. There were many aspects he knew that if widely known would revolutionize the whole world, change the current academies vision about mages and monsters.


    He didn''t need any expert, he was much better than any expert.


    Though his mind was busy thinking of this, he cupped his hand, in a formal way used back in his world, and said:


    "Thanks for teaching me this knowledge."


    Bewildered by his attitude, and strange stance he just did, Emy was delayed in responding, as he added:


    "You can take it now, it''s yours."


    He pointed to the weakened bear, as he continued to dance with the two monsters, drawing them away from the horned bear. She observed his moves, chuckled at the fact he was trying to help and shield her from the two monsters, before she moved, faster than him, grabbing the weakened monster from his horn, then disappeared with it.


    "Till we meet again," she softly whispered in the air, while Arthur just smiled without saying a thing.

 Chapter 23: What Should We Do with These Monsters? - Part 1

    The sudden disappearance of their boss alerted the other two, but Arthur was there to keep them in check, always attacking, always wounding them.


    After just a couple of minutes from Emy''s real departure this time, Arthur found his little friends had already finished their task back there, and the last couple of monsters lay on the ground, burdened by their heavy wounds, unable even to roar.


    "It''s time for me to go back, and wrap everything up."


    He smiled as he moved, with the two meat mountains after him, towards the place of his friends. Once there, Tally moved without the need to say a single word, as he welcomed the two aggressively charging bears, receiving them with his shield, and then stepping away to let the others start their carnival.


    Arthur stood away from there, as he already exhausted himself a lot, and Madly stood beside him, watching over the ongoing fight. Her care and keenness was appreciated by Arthur, as this was the true traits of a good leader, someone he could depend upon in the future.


    He just needed to rest for a bit, with no surprises his friends would kill the monsters here.


    Just as the thought stuck him, he helplessly sighed, moved from the place he was sitting at, towards the nearby trees.


    "Where are you going?" Madly asked, surprised by his sudden move.


    "I have to get the ingredients for the next meal," he simply replied, in a dejected tone, as he moved slowly towards the forest. Madly silently watched him disappear, refraining from asking to help, as she knew she would only get in his way.


    Arthur was tired, but when he recalled the last bad experience in eating the fried meat they made, that bitter taste still lingering in his taste buds, he shook the temptation of rest, preferred to tire himself up and search for suitable ingredients, plus he would also season the monsters'' meat himself.


    Eating a decent meal was the biggest reward he could grant himself, not just rest.


    So, he strained himself even more, and spent the next half hour looking for good looking weeds and herbs all over the place, anything that had energy flowing in them and its shape were similar to his previous life herbs.


    He had no knowledge of this world''s plants, but there were many similarities between the two. he guessed the uses of the herbs and weeds he grabbed, and even tasted some for his convenience. When he finally collected enough, that made him quite satisfied, he returned to the group, finding them surrounding the monsters, watching them with ease, as the monsters were already docile on the ground.


    Once reached there, with the fiery looks coming from the little gang, he couldn''t help but smile bitterly. He knew they were waiting for his return, to ask about the most essential thing that kept bothering them all this time.


    "You want to absorb hearts like Ouly did?" he asked, as he already read their minds. There were seven monsters there, and they were eight, with one had already his share of the treasure.


    "Sure, we all want to be stronger, like Ouly," Madly said, as she was the first to announce her desire.


    "Sure buddy, we all want that," Ron replied, while waving his hand to each one here.


    Arthur sighed, as he said:


    "This monster''s strength is essentially defense based, which would help all of you raise your defenses, not speed."


    "Is it bad?" Ron asked, as he sensed something was off here.


    "No, but you must understand, raising your defense won''t boost your strength obviously, but it will make you able to withstand attacks that normally would kill anyone," Arthur explained, before adding, "human body needs certain sorts of powers to exert its strength, defense and speed are just aspects of it, plus strength, intelligence, and vitality. These are the five essential aspects of any human body. to grow your strengths beyond measure, you will need to acquire vital parts of monsters belonging to one of those powers.


    To be frank with you, finding a monster for each aspect might be quite problematic, and time consuming. For example, intelligence based monsters are rare, and even vitality based monsters are even rarer."


    His lecture was quite detailed, but it gave them many insights about the strengths of the human body.


    "This is the first time I ever heard something like that," Madly mumbled, as she was a bit confused.


    "How do you know all that?" Ron asked, with doubt and amazed eyes.


    "I¡­ I don''t know, this information just keeps flowing in my head," Arthur defended himself by saying these vague words, "just to be cautious, don''t tell anyone, no matter who he is to you, about this info. At least we trust each other, but others might do anything to get strength, even dirty and treacherous acts."


    He was reminded by this point, so he used this chance to stress gently over their secrecy. They nodded in understanding, and he depended on their loyalty to him for keeping his secret.


    "Now, we have a choice we must make," he added, "this monster might be quite remarkable to some of you, if you took it as your inner demon."


    His words startled everyone, but he hurriedly added:


    "It''s a defense based monster, but I believe when coupled with you, and becoming an official mage by it, you will gain a boost in strength as well. I think any strength based fighter here will benefit from it, but¡­"


    He paused, as he always knew, everything in this world had its pros and cons.


    "But what?" Ron asked, as he was quite interested in this type of monster.

 Chapter 24: What Should We Do with These Monsters? - Part 2

    "This monster is a higher grade one, I believe early stage mages start coupling with much weaker monsters than this. So, you must bear in mind, after coupling with this monster, you have to exert your best to develop your strengths, grow up your abilities, or else the backlash would be severe."


    They exchanged silent glances before they all laughed. Arthur didn''t understand their reaction, until Ron explained:


    ''Don''t worry boss, as long as you are with us, dealing with monsters will be a piece of cake."


    "Yes, and you describe it as if this monster is strong, very strong, but we toyed with it like it was nothing," Madly said.


    Arthur was stupefied, didn''t know what to say. These little bastards didn''t want to follow him in the beginning, and now they were speaking about him being with them forever.


    Plus, they only toyed with this monster because Tarry was here, if not for him, they would have faced a worse fate than they imagined.


    He sighed, helplessly sighed, as he had no other choice but to carry on with their decision.


    "Last thing, the monsters you will be coupled with will lose their vital organs in the process, and we will have to do it one monster at a time," he finally added the last details about this offer.


    "End this lecture boss, and tell us who you think is best suited for this monster?" Madly said, in a flirting tone that made Arthur frown.


    "I think Tarry is the best option here, either for coupling with the monster or absorbing its vital organ. If I have to choose, then I will choose coupling for him. As for others, I think all swordsmen will benefit from absorbing the vital organs, not coupling," Arthur said after a momentary pause.


    "what about you boss?" Lily asked, with some curiosity. She wasn''t alone, as everyone eyes him in this way.


    Arthur had to admit, he thought about it deeply enough, so he knew what was best for him. Coupling with monsters would boost the innate talents any mage had, and having this freaking control innate talent, he wasn''t suited to couple with this monster.


    The best option for him would be an intelligent based monster, a rare one, as his innate talent depended entirely on his mind control.


    It was the same as those who were mind control freaks, Madly and Drago.


    "This monster isn''t suited for me to couple with, so I will only absorb his vital organ," he said.


    "Then I will couple it with it," Ron said.


    "Me too," Madly said.


    "No, you can''t," Arthur had to step in, stopping Madly from making this mistake, "this monster isn''t the best for you, you can''t couple with it," he warningly said.


    "What about me?" Drago asked, as he wanted to test things out.


    "And me?" Ouly said.


    "And me?" Lily asked.


    "¡­" Edwar stood silently beside the group that just asked, expressing his approval of their question.


    "Drago, Ouly, and lily can''t couple with the monster. you three must choose another, better suited, monsters than this one. As for your Edwar, you can couple with it if you like."


    Edwar smiled, as he was the only one among this group who got Arthur''s approval.


    "Now, we will start with coupling, then absorbing. Me and Ouly will stand guard here. After you all finish, I will absorb my monster, then we will cook them all," Arthur summed up their next moves, assigning orders for everyone.


    They all just nodded. As being decided, he had another task in hand, so he put down all the herbs, flowers, leaves, and even some fruits on the ground, before saying:


    "Keep watching these until I return."


    He then moved, without answering any of their wondering questions. He was busy, as now he had to revolutionize the way coupling with monsters in this world worked.


    Per his understanding, from the short words said by Emy, he understood this world''s way of coupling with monsters. It was like establishing a contract with a mythical beast back at his own world, but here no mage was able to speak with the monsters, or get its consent on the contract.


    So, basically it was similar to the pet contracts, which were a lower form of contracts done with the much weaker beasts back then, with no minds to say declare their consent. Even comparing the two ways together, this world form was way behind his own.


    And he always had some ideas in mind regarding such a contract, and he intended to put them to the test here.


    First of all, the mages here were using the monster''s own blood to write the inscriptions of this contract, and this was one of the few right things done here. After that, they write their name and the name of the monster, which was something acceptable, but there was a better way to do it.

 Chapter 25: Enhancing The Coupling Process: Rune Addition

    Each monster clan had their own strength system, as some monsters were in top command, and others were just mere members in the pack. For example, the horned monster he met before was considered one of the commanders in the bear monster race, and so using this monster in the contract was a much refined way in doing things.


    In addition to that, using the person''s name would generate some sort of weakening on the human side, which was something undesirable. Arthur understood the reason behind using the human name, as it would be a way to make the monster his own, but this concept was long known to be wrong back in his world, but it seemed not here.


    So, it was better to use the words of power, like master, boss, or even venerable. Whatever strong name would be used, it would reflect on the future relationship between the mage and the monster.


    These were the points he could enhance on a smaller scale, on a wider scale he could use the most powerful way in writing contracts, runes.


    In his world, as being the brightest mind cultivator ever, he was the most proficient one in writing runes. runes were the vessels that regulated any contract, without them, things would get out of control no matter what.


    So in this world, mages always suffered from the monsters'' rebellion, the backlash, which made them be called the inner demons. Arthur knew the real reason behind these incidents, which was due to the lack of runes.


    But runes were a science on its own. First of all, there must be a language specific only for runes, which usually would be a mix between human tongue and monster''s tongue. He didn''t know if monsters in this world could speak or not, so he would use human language for now.


    The second most essential thing was the rocks used for writing these runes. they must be special, not just any rock around. Like herbs he just collected, he must find energy rich rocks, and use them in making runes.


    Finally, the ink and the brush used for writing runes. for the ink, he would use the monster blood, which was the lowest thing possible. It was always preferable to make runes out of stronger monsters blood as ink, mixed together to maximize the benefit.


    But considering the current limitations, he had to adapt, and be content with what he had so far. In the future he would make sure to prepare much better for such a task.


    Finally he would use a branch from any tree as a brush, not the best option of course, but at least it would do the trick.


    He took quite some time looking for the rocks he needed, and finally he spotted a nearby stream of water, where he managed to feel an energy presence inside a group of rocks midstream.


    However he didn''t rush to these rocks, as he felt some threat coming from the waters. If his senses weren''t dull, then there was a monster lurking there, in ambush, waiting for any passerby.


    Arthur bid his time slowly, patiently, until after half an hour passed he couldn''t take it anymore. He used his bow and released a couple of arrows towards the water, just around the place of these rocks.


    Once the arrows descended, he heard a loud splash, and the water current in this area started to change, as if something big down the waters was moving.


    Arthur couldn''t detect the shape or the nature of this monster, but the good news was this monster had to move from the place. it seemed it was threatened by the arrows, feeling more secured to be hidden, not be easily targeted like this.


    Arthur didn''t wait longer, as he darted towards the stream, jumped over the scattered rocks amidst the waters, putting his vigilance all around, especially towards the place where that monster just escaped to.


    Once reached to the rocks, he used the sword in hand to hit them, cutting them into smaller pieces, which he fetched rapidly before retreating. The ideal number of any rune was an odd number, with five and seven being the best. He decided to use five in each coupling, so once he took enough for everyone, including him, he retreated to the shore, safely without being threatened by the monster.


    Once there, he moved rapidly, going back to the gang. Long time had already elapsed, and they would waste more time in coupling and absorbing energy.


    Once he reached the group location, he was glad to find them all fine. His appearance carrying rocks in what once was a shirt, was something odd for them, but none of them asked him anything, knowing he wouldn''t answer.


    Arthur then emptied the rocks on the ground, before giving his shirt to Ron to clean it. It was a habit Willy used to do, so he decided to use Ron here for that.


    He went to a nearby tree, then grabbed a branch thin enough to be a brush, elastic to be able to be used in writing, and then he cleared all the leaves, and started working on the tip of it using his sword.


    His actions were smooth and somehow flexible, like someone used to do so for ages, however no one asked further about that, as his last reply was vague enough to silence their curiosity.


    "It''s ready, now all those wanting to be coupled with monsters, come here."


    Arthur finally had everything ready, including a small pot, which was used before as a cup for drinks, carried by his butler, Ron, for Willy''s own services. Arthur intended to use it as a collection pot for blood of the monsters, to use it in writing.

 Chapter 26: Making Everyone Stronger Plan Starts: Coupling and Absorbing Monsters

    He pointed out to a wide place, away from the monsters, which were grouped together, leaning on each other, from fatigue and injuries. Just as Arthur went to inspect the monsters, he was surprised to find the blood dripping from them had already formed a small pool, a pool of their mixed blood was much better in writing runes than single monster blood.


    When he filled the cup with the blood, he returned to find Ron, Tarry, and Edwar ready for the process. Arthur then put the cup on the side, then he pointed to the others while instructing:


    "Bring three monsters, each stand against one of them."


    The others nodded, as it was easy to push the monsters to move. The monsters were already surrendered to them, so they didn''t exert any resistance while moving to their designated positions. It was meant for Arthur to use the blood of these monsters, but he had a better choice here.


    Arthur took the cup and the tree branch he prepared, and started writing in human tongue the word essential for any contract: Bind.


    He thought of using the language created in his world, but he hesitated, as he wasn''t sure if this language was still applicable here, or it might worsen the current process of coupling.


    Taking no further risks, with the fact he already changed a lot of things here, he started drawing a circle around each monster and one of his friends. Once he finished, he wrote on the ground the name of the horned monster, in reference to the highest form of monsters he knew of this species, and the name of master for his friends.


    Once finished, he scattered five rocks each, forming angles of star, located between the monster and his friend. Once finished, he looked to each one of them as he instructed:


    "Sit on the ground, close your eyes, clear your thoughts and then everything will be fine."


    They looked at him with excited anxious looks, before they did exactly as he instructed. Once they closed their eyes, the blood on the ground glared, causing some whispering among the others standing around this place, watching what was happening in astonishment and excitation.


    They were excited, so excited like street kids seeing a magical trick for the first time. Arthur just shook his head, then he returned to inspect everything happening to his three friends, as he wanted to see if there was anything abnormal or unusual happening here.


    Once the blood on the ground glared, the monsters shut their eyes, obediently, like being controlled by higher force. Arthur nodded in satisfaction when the blood written words on the rocks glared as well. Things then started to move according to his previous world rules, as a bubble made of the monster''s blood formed like a protective shield, covering everything inside from the eyes of any outsider.


    "Good, everything is perfect," Arthur exclaimed in more content as he inspected the shields formed by the monster''s blood. The quality of this shield was something satisfying even to him, which made him marvel the enhancements he did here.


    "Are they going to be ok?" Madly came slowly as she whispered to him.


    "Yes, things are going according to the plan," Arthur replied in an audible tone, "now it''s your turn for absorbing the organs, who wants to go first?" he asked.


    Everyone literally forgot their worries about their friends, as they thrashed to request to be the next for the process. Arthur just laughed, like a father laughing amusingly at his naughty kids.


    "Good, I want each one of you to help me kill each monster, and then ready a weapon he always used for a long time, and be ready for the process," Arthur said with a chuckle, as he was already in a good mood.


    Obediently, they moved to stand at the edge of the bloody pool formed by the monsters. Arthur moved, intentionally, slowly, as he was teasing them. once reached there, they glared at him, as they were impatient, very impatient.


    The next thing he did was very ordinary for him, as he used his sword, and inserted it deep into the first monster in front of him. the monster roared its final sound before it died. Arthur plugged his hand inside its body, as he began to sense the different organs, and when he brought out the spleen, he felt speechless.


    He thought he would take out the liver, but this time he was wrong. He just shook his head, as he went towards the first in line, who was, without any suspense, Madly. She gave him her sword, as he used it to cut her hand, then he put the blooded hand with the spleen, making her lose consciousness, fall powerless on the ground, but Arthur was there for her, as he caught her body and carried her to sit on the ground, meters away from the place of the other three friends.


    He then repeated the process with each one, until there was only one monster left, which was meant to be for him to absorb its organ. Arthur, standing watching the sleeping angels on the ground, with Ouly in his side, smiled wryly, as he thought being a father wasn''t that bad after all.


    "Let''s go and ready the monsters for the cooking," Arthur said as he went towards the place they stashed the herbs he gathered. There were different kinds of herbs there, and he tasted almost all of them. He found many flavors, like the acid and the sour, the bitter, the sweet, but he couldn''t get the salty flavor.


    He sighed, but just as he was moving to grab the herbs, he recalled the rocks he just brought. They were inside a water stream, and if he recalled it right, there was some salt in the water he tasted when he jumped over the rocks.


    He went to grab a rock, and strangely he tasted it. Ouly felt strangeness in this move, but Arthur''s face showed an excited smile, as he finally found the missing, most essential, ingredient in any food, salt.


    "Why are you happy about this rock?" Ouly finally asked, when he witnessed Arthur smashing the rock into powder, in a very careful manner, like he was afraid for a treasure to be accidentally lost.


    "It has a salty flavor," Arthur simply replied.


    "If you needed salt, then Lily already had one in her own belongings," Ouly strangely replied, as if what Arthur was doing was madness and waste of effort and time. Arthur just sighed, as he wasn''t ready yet to explain the concept of cooking an energy rich food.


    No normal seasoning could be used, or else it might ruin things. That small, missing detail explained why people in this world didn''t feel any different at all when eating monster meat.


    It was due to their wrong way of cooking, which ruined the energy inside the meat of monsters. Arthur ignored the useless remarks of Ouly, as he grabbed one monster''s body, heavily trying to pull it. Ouly moved to help at once, and the two exerted their utmost power just to move the body just a meter away.


    Arthur then decided to cut the monsters in their pool of blood first, to smaller pieces, then carry them towards the preparation place.

 Chapter 27: Fighting Wolves and Bird Monster Craving for Cooked Meat

    Doing so brought a pleasant surprise to Arthur, as the pieces of meat had fallen into the pool of blood, absorbing more nutrients from it, as each piece was soaked into the blood for a few minutes, enough to absorb a suitable amount of it.


    At first, Ouly was disgusted by what Arthur was doing, as the latter picked each piece, put many leaves, plant roots, even squeezed some fruit juice over it. The general look of each piece of meat was really unpleasant to the eye, but Arthur felt great content regarding his work.


    "Listen carefully Ouly, the secret to make good dish isn''t just the ingredients or the seasoning, but to let the meat take its time to absorb the good flavors of these seasonings."


    Arthur kept throwing remarks here and there, and Ouly ignored them at first, though his mind couldn''t miss a single word said to him, and memorized it all.


    After the two finished their preparations, done over a place covered entirely with tree leaves, they headed to make fire.


    "Good cooking needs good suitable fire, not too strong, and makes the meat fried, not too weak and makes the meat uncooked, especially the inner pieces."


    Arthur kept remarking again over the cooking process, while digging a shallow pit, putting tree branches, selected carefully by him, into the hole he just created. He then formed a handle using special tree barks he extracted keenly, and he didn''t stop after that, as he kept creating such things over and over again.


    There were three monsters being butchered, with the fourth one he entrusted it to Ouly after they all woke up. Arthur cut each monster into ten pieces, seasoned each carefully, and thus he created thirty pits.


    "It''s time to start fire," he finally said, as he started the fire in each group of woods he put in the pit. Beside each pit, he laid a whole large group of dried thick branches, cut carefully into similar pieces, then as the fire was igniting, he went to prepare the meat for cooking, putting a long, thick, spear shaped tree branch into each meat, then hanged each on its designated holder, on suitable distance from the fire.


    It wasn''t just a hobby, Ouly felt astonished at how organized Arthur was regarding cooking, like it was a life or death science.


    After putting all the meat on fire, the amazing scent of cooked mea started to appear in the place, covering the area in a pleasant cloud of scents. Ouly was more astonished regarding this, as he never smelled something great as this, making his stomach crave for this meat, but he had to control himself.


    The place of Arthur in his heart ascended a whole grade of worship, as he felt he was looking at a special man, not from this era, not from this world.


    He felt lucky following such a man, very lucky indeed.


    The cooking process didn''t last for a couple of hours, during which Arthur kept rolling the meat pieces on fire, which he controlled professionally, while adding some fruit juice he mixed together after adding some rock salty powder.


    But this process was destined to be interrupted by a sudden howl appeared close by, followed by many other howls, indicating the presence of a pack of wolf monsters nearby, attracted to the pool of blood scent here plus the scent of cooked meat.


    "I hate being disturbed while cooking," Arthur mumbled to himself, before he sensed the approach of a pack of over twenty wolves. He sensed their presence hundreds of meters away from him, and he could sense their powers too.


    "What should we do now?" Ouly stressfully asked, as the night had fallen since an hour ago, and the vision in this place was nearly limited.


    "Don''t worry, I will handle them," Arthur said as he grabbed his bow and took a few arrows, fixed them on the ground around him, "they are weaker than the bear monsters, but I believe their meat will make a fine addition to our reserves," he added while putting an arrow in the bowstring, and readied himself to shoot.


    Ouly looked amazed towards him, as he couldn''t see tens of meters in front of him, neither could he sense the presence of these monsters. Arthur managed to sense them, and assessed their strengths as well. Ouly swallowed his throat, as he thought of the way Arthur knew all this info without moving a finger.


    Arthur didn''t bother to explain anything, despite feeling the amazed expression over Ouly''s face lightened by the fire. A minute didn''t pass and these wolves were nearby, and Arthur launched his arrow, controlling its trajectory perfectly to be inserted deeply into one of these wolves'' bodies, howling loudly in pain, alerting the other wolves in the pack.


    They felt a sense of danger coming from their prey, as they were now hunted by Arthur''s arrows, one after another. As Arthur expected, they were much weaker than the bears, being monsters in grade two only, but their lack in strength was compensated with their high numbers, an advantage they started losing by the arrows hitting them in deadly locations.


    Another wave of angry howls appeared, followed by the order of attack from their alpha, which was a third rank monster. just as they started to approach the place, they kept losing more of their numbers, crippled by the arrows, lying helplessly on the ground.


    Arthur was an excellent archer, and using the amazing bow he took from grandpa Regil, and the moderately powerful arrows, he managed to injure each single one of the pack, alpha included.


    "Wait here, I will be back shortly," Arthur said before he disappeared, carrying his sword, leaving the bow behind. When he reappeared again in Ouly''s vision after quite long minutes of waiting, he was grabbing the bodies of a three meters wolves, dead by his sword.


    "Go there, and grab the other bodies here," Arthur ordered, before he started dissecting the wolves bodies, and cutting the meat into pieces as usual. Ouly followed the orders blindly, as he went and returned on many trips before he brought every single slain wolf out there.


    "Shouldn''t we wait for others, as these wolves vital organs might be useful??? Ouly asked, in a low respected tone.


    "No," Arthur just answered shortly like this. These wolves had nothing special, plus their grade was lower than the bears. From now on, he had to aim for grade four or higher monsters.


    He finished cutting the meat with the help of Ouly, who started to grab a hint over a thing or two here. Arthur then left Ouly to season the meat, and started to give him pointers every once in a while. after they finished, Arthur stored the meat on the leaves area, while saying:


    "After we collect the bear meat, we will put these on fire."


    Just as he finished speaking, a long and strange shriek came, from a place unexpected for him, the sky! He looked up, feeling the watchful eyes of a sky predator, making the angles of his mouth curved in a satisfying smile.


    "It seems our luck isn''t that bad," he said, before he went to grab his bow, arranging many arrows on the ground around him, "Lily is lucky, she will be happy when she wakes up," he said, as he sensed the grade of this monster. it was fourth grade at least, rivaling the strength of that horned bear.


    "I will need your help here," he said, as he grabbed three arrows, putting them into his bowstring, and launched them at once.


    He didn''t need to control them, as his target was easily spotted, hovering in circles around them. He aimed for its body, which was roughly five meters at least, with wings spanned for three meters for sure.


    The arrows hit the body of this monster easily and rapidly, stirring its rage, but before it could do anything except roaring from pain, he controlled the arrow after another, creating holes into the wings of this monster.


    Wings with holes were useless to any bird, no matter what rank it was. After launching the tenth guided arrow, the flying monster couldn''t keep its altitude anymore, crashing heavily tens of meters away from them, luckily near the place of the last living bear, which lay helplessly there, accepting his miserable fate.


    "Now!" Arthur yelled at Ouly, who disappeared to reappear again over the monster, cutting its body with his daggers. Arthur didn''t leave Ouly alone, as he grabbed his sword and started hacking the body of this monster in vital places.


    The monster had a horn as well, just like that of the bear, and when it sensed its helplessness in facing this barrage of attacks, the horn started to glow, creating a gale of wind, so severe that it felt quite threatening to Arthur.


    "Retreat, fast!"


    Arthur ordered Ouly to retreat, while he kept hanging himself to the tail of that bird. Any bird needed his wings intact, and its tail free to be able to fly. Grabbing the tail added more hardship to this monster, which tried to use the gale of wind it summoned to fly again, but it failed.


    Arthur didn''t stand there motionless, as he used his sword over and over again to attack the tail of such a monster, until he managed to cut it a whole, flying away from the monster.


    Just as he flew away, Arthur was afraid that monster would escape, so he desperately yelled:


    "Grab that monster!"


    He ordered Ouly, but as his fears were about to come true, a shade appeared rapidly, to fall on the huge body of this bird monster, rendering it motionless. Arthur''s eyes widened, as the one to respond to his words wasn''t Ouly, strangely was the bear monster.


    "Really?!" Arthur exclaimed in surprise, before the bear hit the head of that bird, knocking it unconscious. The bear stood there, on the weak body of the bird, enjoying its moment of triumph.

 Chapter 28: Obtaining A Pet, A Pleasant Surprise Indeed!

    "You can understand me?" Arthur asked, as he got near the bear and bird place. the gale of wind ability vanished the moment the bird lost its consciousness, but this wasn''t what Arthur was interested in, as an idea popped in his mind once the bear nodded to him.


    The bear was sentient being after all, not like what he understood about monsters of this world. it seemed the monsters here followed the same rules of his past world, that what he thought of, and thinking this far, he thought of a crazy, totally new idea, that popped in his mind.


    "I have a proposition for you," Arthur said, as he added, "I can let you live, as my pet, you will live in a place designated for pets, and summoned to fight alongside me. what do you think?"


    Ouly, watched this bizarre scene in bewildered widened eyes, stood motionless, without understanding a word said here. He knew Arthur knew things no one ever spoke of, and thus he listened carefully and watched what this unbelievable conversation would yield.


    The bear nodded again, like a child who can''t speak yet, and then he moved to be near Arthur, in a sudden move that alerted Ouly.


    "It''s ok," Arthur said, comforting the distressed Ouly, "everything is fine."


    The bear, which reached the place of Arthur, knelt down like a slave, and started to warmly, and passionately, rub its face with his leg. Arthur cressed its head for a moment, before saying:


    "After all you are this kind hearted, I like you. I will call you Don, as an old friend''s name of mine."


    The bear showed a happy expression, unbelievable for Ouly, who watched it rub the legs of Arthur with more passion. Arthur just laughed at its reaction, as he rubbed his head while saying:


    "Do you like it? tell me, can you eat meat?"


    The bear roared, without saying a word, but Arthur felt the approval of the bear. Pets were like humans, could be bred to grow stronger, and this was one of the strongest aspects of having a pet with you. It was like having another companion, loyal and strong, besides one could summon it at any place, to fight side by side with its master.


    The technique of creating a pet pack was similar to the way of absorbing the monsters, but it required the agreement of the monster to be pet. Now, with the presence of such a sentient monster here, Arthur was ready to try it out.


    The pros of this process related to its simplicity, as he wouldn''t be endangered by the fainting period others were now subjected to, so he moved to prepare things for the process.


    He had already some extras from the coupling process he prepared, so he used the branch and drew a circle around himself and the bear, writing the name he just called upon on the ground, and writing the master word as his.


    "Do you agree to become my pet?"


    Arthur simply asked this, after he threw the runes on the ground, in the same arrangement like before. Ouly stood on the side, watching with keen eyes what was going on, without asking a single question for fear to disturb Arthur.


    The bear just nodded, before roaring. Once done, the runes, the blood on the ground all lit up at the same time, after that a glow appeared, covering both of them.


    Ouly just took a few steps away, as he wrongly thought the process would take time, and he was thinking how he would protect all of them on his own, to be astonished when the bubble formed was burst open, and Arthur came out unscathed like nothing ever happened.


    "Where is the bear?" Ouly asked finally, from his shock, as he couldn''t see any trace of the bear anywhere.


    "You want to see it?" Arthur calmly asked, with a beaming smile.


    "Sure," Ouly, hesitantly, replied.


    "Come out," Arthur simply said, as a cloud of fog suddenly appeared from his body to cover an area near him. if Arthur was naked, then Ouly would be astonished to notice the presence of a tattoo over his shoulder, with the same shape of the bear.


    In seconds, the fog dispersed, and the bear appeared once again, free of any injured, as it roared violently, very lively, like the first time it attacked them.


    Ouly retreated a couple of steps after he was hit by the bear''s aura, and his reaction and shocked paled face amused Arthur, who laughed at him.


    "Don''t worry, he is now my pet."


    "Pet?" Ouly asked, as he didn''t fully understand the word.


    "Yes, a monster that''s kept within your body, can be summoned to fight with you, heads every order you say, and never betrays you. A pet, don''t you know what pet means?" Arthur, amusingly, said, as he was teaching Ouly slowly about the concept of pets.


    "I- I- I never heard of something like that," Ouly stuttered from shock, before pointing to the bear, "is it docile?"


    "Yes, just like a friendly kid."


    Ouly glanced silently at the bear, which sat on the floor without showing any signs of rebellion or violence. "Can I have one like this?" he finally asked, as he thought of the battles he could have with such a violent monster next to him.


    "Sure, but we need to capture a few monsters first," Arthur said, as he rubbed his chin slowly. He intended to make each member of his team obtain a pet, after all this would help him a lot in relieving the huge responsibility he had towards them, besides it would raise the team''s battle prowess to a new height.


    Ouly seemed excited by the promise Arthur just gave, as he focused his eyes over the bear, dreaming of the day when he would be able to obtain a pet like it.


    As for Arthur, he shifted his gaze towards the bird, as he pointed towards it while giving Don its first command as a pet:


    "Guard that bird, if it regained consciousness, just knock it down again."


    Don, the bear pet, roared in approval, before it went, obediently, towards the bird, as it sat there watching it with a serious look on its face.


    "Can I have the bird as a pet?" Ouly asked, picturing himself flying in the sky.


    "No," Arthur replied, as the conditions for a monster to be a pet required the monster''s consent to this. Don was exceptional, as it watched Arthur hacking and cooking its friends. Besides, if someone was suited best for this, then Lily would be the luckiest one in the group.


    An archer, standing on the back of a mighty monster like this, was a scene to behold. Arthur knew the importance of having a flying pet, as it would save them a lot of trouble, and would help them delve deeply into places they normally couldn''t reach.


    Ouly was dejected, but Arthur didn''t mind him for now, as he moved to move the meat over the fire. It had been a while since he last did it, and once he did, with the addition of the combined juice of many fruits, the pieces started to release a thick fog of fantastically tasty scent.


    The scent even aroused the interest of Don, which raised its head towards the meat, with an obvious greedy look over its face. One of the reasons it was approved to be Arthur''s pet was the meat it was in front of, as it knew how precious these meat was.


    Arthur then tested the meat with his sword, making sure it was properly cooked, till the depth of it. When he made sure every piece was cooked, he took the pieces down, back to the leaves area, with the help of silent Ouly, who was still dejected by Arthur''s refusal.


    After all pieces were removed, Arthur then moved the wolf pieces back to the fire, putting them properly in their places with Ouly''s assistance. Just as before, the flavor started to flood the area in minutes, as Arthur was busy cutting the cooked meat into equal small slices.


    "Come, taste this and recognize my mastery," Arthur said, waving a group of carefully sliced meat over to Ouly, who grabbed the wide leaf with meat over it, plus some salty rock powder next to them.


    The moment he tasted the meat, he was hit deeply by the great taste of the meat, totally forgetting his previous bitterness, and starting eating the pieces in front of him in great eagerness that aroused Arthur''s laughs.


    After finishing cutting the meat, Arthur started to organize them into shares, while Ouly started eating, in strange gluttony, his pieces without stopping.


    "Easy, the meat is enough to last us for days," Arthur said with a chuckle, as he started eating the meat he cooked, feeling greatly content with the result.


    "Your¡­ cook¡­is¡­ superb!"


    Ouly''s said, with mouth full of meat, as he didn''t want to stop eating even for a second. Arthur just shook his head, helplessly, before he picked the last two pieces of uncut meat, grabbing them from the piece of wood inserted in the heart of each piece, and giving them to Don.


    "Eat, and get stronger buddy."


    Don roared, expressing its happiness, before it jumped over the two pieces, wildly gnashing them with its teeth. The moment it swallowed the few mouths of meat, its body started to glow. Arthur, standing in front of Don, nodded his head in satisfaction, dreaming of the day his pet would rank up in grades, reaching the highest grade possible.


    Arthur then returned back to the meat, grabbed some of his share, leaving Ouly to enjoy his feast, as he went to check over the wolf meat, giving these pieces some of his love and care.


    After tasting the greatness of Arthur cooking, Ouly started to revise the info he stored in his mind, very seriously. He knew how precious the info he got was, as this alone was enough to make him enjoy legendary life. After he had his enough from the feast, he moved back, with many layers of meat on his hand, to help Arthur in caring for the meat on fire.

 Chapter 29: Birdy, Lets Fly!

    The night passed with no much suspense after what happened, as it seemed what happened here was noted by the monsters here, and they started avoiding this place.


    Arthur started to see monsters in new light after his pet experience with Don, as this meant monsters of fourth grade could think, and that meant they would evaluate the risks, like any human, and would refrain from going into pointless risky battles.


    What Arthur had thought of was the limitation of higher grades monsters in this place of the forest. The forest was indeed large, and thus monsters would be arranged in territories, with higher grades monsters the deeper they walked into the forest.


    However, he was thinking all night about their next move, should they continue going deeper, or return with the gains he claimed so far?


    The main task he wanted from going here had been accomplished. He had raised his strength, owned a strong pet, acquired a team, and now he managed to make the team stronger.


    He should return, but the only thing that kept him from doing so was the lack of nutrition in his clan. If he returned, then he would return to eat worthless food, and coming back here would be pointless, as he had more important things to do.


    The meat he had right now was enough for him and the opened mouths of his team for a week at maximum, so after giving the matter more thought, he decided to go on another day and night of hunting monsters and cooking them, storing as much meat as possible.


    Ouly had proven his doubts, as this little gluttonous man had eaten one fourth of his share in a single night, and it seemed he didn''t intend to stop until Arthur explained the future needs of this meat.


    Ouly, unwillingly, restrained himself from eating more, as he wanted to enjoy the marvelous taste of the meat, but it was also bad if he returned to the village and ate the tasteless worthless food there.


    The problem that appeared in front of Arthur was how to store the meat, and so he went again to the river, grabbed more rocks from there, and started making a huge amount of salted powder out of it. He then covered the meat with this salt, and left it to dry in the early sun of the morning.


    Don, who ate three large pieces alone, sat at its guarding place like a loyal hound, knocking the bird more than once when it regained its consciousness. Arthur gave it a third piece of wolf meat when it was ready, and that aroused Ouly''s regret of having a pet, as it meant having another mouth to feed.


    As the early morning appeared, with the refreshing air and that misty fog prevailing on everything here, Arthur started to travel again, gathering more necessities for his future cooking. As he was away, the sleeping members of his team were awake, and Ouly helped them to stand, eat some of their tasty share of meat, while narrating the thrilling events that happened during their sleep.


    As Ouly''s expected, they were all interested in Don, and the possibility of the pet. When they all heard about Arthur''s arrangement, for the bird to be Lily''s pet or absorbed monster, they eyes her with envy, as they all suggested for her to adopt it as a pet.


    It wasn''t heard of having a pet for a mage before, and more absurd was the presence of a flying pet.


    Lily didn''t need their plea, as she already made up her mind the moment she heard about Don. She wanted to be special, and the presence of this flying bird was so mighty and domineering, much more than she had in mind about the strongest mages in the world.


    When Arthur returned, he found everyone was awake. He smiled welcoming them as he said:


    "Have you eaten your breakfast yet?"


    "Yes, and Ouly told us about storing the food for later," Madly said, as she was as annoyed as the others by this. The only thing that made them feel better was the fact their shares were much bigger than Ouly''s, who almost finished one third of his share in one night.


    "Can I have this as a pet?" Lily suddenly jumped, like a little adorable girl, to hold Arthur''s hand, with pleading pitiful eyes that made her irresistible.


    Arthur just laughed, as he went to the place of the leaves, while saying:


    "We need to get its approval first."


    "I will go and ask it then," Lily giggled, as she moved in wide strides, jumping with each step, towards the sleeping bird.


    Arthur just sighed, helplessly, as he started to follow this kid, while he was thinking how he could help her convince the monster to agree.


    The absolute rule of any monster in his previous world was the rule of strength, as weaker monsters would announce their allegiance to the stronger ones. Putting that in mind, there was one simple, yet effective way to get this stubborn bird''s approval.


    Just as he was lost in thought, followed by everyone else who was curious to see what was going to happen, Lily had already reached the place of the sleeping bird, and then she started her trials to wake it up.


    She tried to pat on its feathers, rubbed its head, even tried to sing for it, but the bird was completely lost in its sleep, until Arthur brought a bucket of water and splashed it over its head.


    The bird shrieked loudly, as it glared at Arthur, then Don. Just as Don was about to hit it again, Arthur hurriedly said:


    "Wait!"


    Don stopped its fist, a couple of inches away from the bird''s head. Lily then used this chance as she said:


    "My big brother here said that you can understand me, so listen up well. We are here to hunt and kill monsters, eat their beautiful meat after we kill them. see these rings of fire out there?" she, in a strange childish happiness, pointed out towards the rings of fire, or what was left of charcoal remnants there, "this is the fate of any monster that refuses to be our pet. See Don here? He is alive and kicking, eating meat as well as us and getting stronger. Don''t you want to be like it? or do you want to be the meat we all eat?"


    Arthur was stupefied when he heard her words. He never thought this loli like angelic girl would be so convincing. The bird looked back at the places of cooking the meat, and then noticed the pieces of meat in the hands of everyone, as they were eating whole eyeing it with greedy looks, that scared it.


    So, it screamed, but no one here understood what it said, except for Don, which patted the head of the bird, like consoling it.


    Don had already gotten much stronger than before. After eating the three pieces of meat, its body got some enhancements, but its forehead didn''t grow a horn yet. Arthur knew it would take some time to make it grow a horn, but he didn''t have such time to waste.


    He still needed to go back to the clan, attack that other clan who was coveting his clan''s lands, and then he needed to travel to the academy during one month from now.


    He was already tight on time here, but he relied on the long journey to the academy, so he could train his pet, and also Lily could.


    "Does he agree?" Lily asked, in a childish tone, as she spoke to Don like a human being. Don lowly roared before it nodded, which indicated the approval of the bird on the contract.


    "Grant him a name, and then come you two after me," Arthur said, as he went towards the place he stored the items for the contract and runes, then he started drawing on the ground around Lily and the bird, which lay still on the ground, surrendering to its fate.


    "What is the name you gave to it?" Arthur asked when he reached the point of writing the name of the monster on the ground.


    "I called it Birdy," she said, while hugging the monster like a spoiled kid. Arthur just sighed, as he already foresaw the miserable fate of this bird.


    He wrote on the ground the names, then he looked to Lily as he instructed:


    "Ask him if it wants to accept being your pet."


    "Birdy," Lily turned to look at the monster, "Do you agree on becoming my pet?"


    Birdy roared, announcing its agreement. The blood and the runes glowed brightly, forming a protective dome that didn''t last for a minute, before it disappeared, revealing the ecstatic face of Lily.


    "Are you successful?" Madly hurried to her as she asked.


    "Yeah, I guess," Lily said, before turning to ask Arthur, "how can I summon it?"


    "Just say come out, and it would appear," Arthur simply said, as he waited to see the new member to his team.


    "Birdy, come out!" she yelled, as she raised both of her hands like a kid, while jumping in the air. A gale of wind appeared, with a fog emanating out from her body, to reveal the body of Birdy in front of everyone.


    "Wow, you are so amazing!" Lily muttered in disbelief while she started to caress its feathers.


    "Can you ride it?" Ouly asked the question that was in everyone''s head right now.


    "I can try," she said, before Birdy knelt to the ground, feeling the wishes of its master. Lily just clapped her petit hands, before getting over Birdy. Once there, she held the long strong feathers with both hands, while her torso and legs caught tightly over the sides of its strong body.


    "Let''s fly Birdy," she said. in a moment she was on the ground, and the next she was in the middle of the sky. Birdy was a very fast monster, that was indeed a great addition to Arthur''s team, who kept nodding his head in content while observing the first tour Lily took on the back of her pet.


    ''It seems I need to work harder and find everyone a suitable match,'' he sighed to himself, when he noticed the envious looks everyone was giving Lily and her pet.

 Chapter 30: Meeting A Swarm of Pythons

    Arthur stood on the ground, watching the little girl having her fun up there with her pet. He had to admit, seeing her pure laughter made his day, and he also felt some of the envy everyone was feeling.


    Back in his world, it wasn''t rare to have more than one pet, but it was related to the strength of the master. He didn''t think it would differ much here, so if he and the others wanted to have ground and flying pets, they needed, at least, to couple themselves with one monster.


    Three only had already coupled themselves with monsters, and thus he wanted to know how strong they were right now. He experienced the strength of Ouly, and knew, approximately, what absorbing vital organs had as effect on the mage.


    What remained now was to assess the effects of coupling with monsters. If it had no more effect than absorbing, then he would prefer to keep absorbing monsters, or making them pets.


    "We need to prepare ourselves to leave," he suddenly said, attracting everyone''s attention once more away from Lily and her Birdy.


    "Are we going home already?" Madly dejectedly said, expressing her upset.


    "No," he shook his head, "we need to continue hunting for monsters, and also find suitable ones for you."


    "As pets?" Ron hurried to say, "flying pets perhaps?" he added with anticipation that made Arthur laugh.


    "We will see," he just replied vaguely like this.


    Their preparation to move out wasn''t as easy as everyone thought. They had many things to carry, many provisions for them, so Arthur instructed them to make a cart, something they could move easily, and he used his pet, Don, just to act as a pulling behemoth for the cart.


    They took hours until they managed to make a cart that could move, and then they moved everything over it. Arthur made sure to fill more cups with the blood from the pool left over by monsters. He knew they might face any suitable monster at any time, so he must be prepared.


    Once finished, he called upon Lily, asking her to keep track of them, watching for any incoming danger. She gladly agreed, as being up there was a total new experience for her.


    She had only to come down once, taking some meat for her and her Birdy, from her own share, then she returned under the watching eyes of everyone to the sky, enjoying her privilege alone.


    The journey into the forest kept going smoothly for the next few hours, where they crossed great distance without meeting a single monster. they started to get bored, but Arthur was anticipating such a result.


    With the fact of the intelligent monsters, it wasn''t easy to provoke any without proper cause. Just as they crossed a water stream with their cart, Arthur felt some danger eyeing him and the others.


    He couldn''t detect the place where this danger came from, but as he was vigilant, Lily came down, hastily, on the back of Birdy, before she yelled:


    "A group of pythons are surrounding us, we need to be careful."


    Arthur''s heart sank to the ground, as the only animal he hated and feared his entire life was snakes. He had once a terrible experience when he was a kid back in the cultivation world, and since then he developed his fear of snakes.


    "How many are there? And where are they located?"


    Despite being afraid, he controlled the fear and asked what mattered to him right now.


    "They are over a hundred, and I think they are in grade four at least. They are surrounded by a single python, white in color, that seems to have two horns over its head."


    She pointed to a place not far from them. Just as Arthur tried to sense the area there, he felt a sudden painful backlash, like there was a higher form of power, much stronger than him.


    ''Intelligent based monster, that''s a good start!''


    He muttered to himself, as he put his hand over his head, enduring the throbbing pain. The changes that happened abruptly to him were noticed by everyone, who looked in worry towards him.


    "I''m fine, but this battle might be tough!" he said, while taking out his bow, putting down arrows on the ground while adding: "To hunt snakes, we need baits, delicious ones, and our meat can do the trick."


    "Are we supposed to sacrifice the meat?" Ouly asked, in doubt, as his share was already lacking compared to others.


    Arthur totally ignored him, as he said:


    "We need spears, lots and lots of spears. This battle will be hard, fast, and if we managed to turn it into a long distance battle, then we might have a greater chance in winning."


    They listened to his words, and nodded, after all he was their leader, with the most mysterious experience among them. Arthur then retreated, instructing them to gather as many long, thick, hard branches as possible. He didn''t follow them on gathering the branches, as he started to gather other important things.


    Snakes were creatures blessed with poison, but strangely their bodies couldn''t handle any other poison different than their own. One of the common ways back in his world to hunt pythons with the least possible effort was to use other poisons to counter the snakes, and render them immobile and weak.


    So, he started looking for poisonous herbs, anything that was quite familiar with his previous world''s poisonous herbs.


    On the search trip, he managed to find some herbs and leaves, even fruits not yet to be full and grown, to be used as poisons. When he returned back, he was surprised by what his team gathered, a small hill of branches were waiting for him.


    It seemed he wasn''t the only one here fearing snakes, so all of them worked double hard to collect what might save their lives.


    He just smiled helplessly, as he sat down, picked branch after branch and made it having a sharp end, suitable to be called a wooden spear. He then asked Madly and the others to squeeze what he collected into one pot, then used a small branch with smooth leaves to paint the pointy ends of these spears with this toxic liquid, hoping this might work.


    They were all working, except for Lily, whose job was to watch over for these pythons. Once they finished after one hour, they were ready to march out.


    "Take what you can handle of spears, and put the rest on the cart. Be careful while handling them, as they are all poisoned."


    Arthur gave his final warning before he explained the battle strategy:


    "Tarry will be in the front, and Lily will be helping him from the sky. I will help them with arrows as well, and your job is to attack the monsters that Tarry can''t handle with spears. Tarry, beware, these monsters are sneaky, rapid in movement, and might use distant poison spitting on you, so use the shield all the time to defend, and never delay in retreat if you sense danger."


    Tarry nodded, as he was thankful for Arthur''s concerns. As for the rest, they felt more tense, especially when they realized that apart from Tarry, none of them could handle monsters alone.


    "Let''s go," Arthur finally gave the call, as they crossed the river stream again. This time, once they crossed the river, they heard a massive hissing coming from the location Lily pointed to. They didn''t need Lily''s shout as they knew the monsters were coming.


    "Don, stay behind me," Arthur said, as he knew his bear would be helpless and just a burden in this confrontation. As for him, he went ahead, grabbed as much meat as he could, and then soaked them with what remained of the toxic juice, then spread them on distances near the team.


    Everyone''s eyes will regret these pieces of meat, which were enough to form a one large piece of the meat they cooked before. Arthur, on the other hand, didn''t feel any remorse at all, as he knew if they managed to pull this attack successfully, then their meat storage would be enough to cover their needs for weeks, even months.


    So, he distributed the meat in a haste, before he returned back towards the back lines, waiting patiently for the coming of the first waves.


    The wait didn''t last long, as the trees in front of them shook strongly, before the first wave of the pythons appeared. They were each ten meters long at least, two meters thick, with a tail biforked on the end of it, forming a fan like tail of fish not a snake.


    Each python head was half the size of an adult man, with four long canines, like small spears, plus one horn on the centre of its head, and thick long lustrous scales with green to dark contrast colors, giving a more dreadful appearance to them.


    "They had good defense, very rapid agility, rapid reflexes, and their main weapon of attack is their venom in their teeth, and their hidden attack will be from that tail. Watch out for the horns, never let anyone glow completely, or else we would be finished."

 Chapter 31: Winning The Fight Against Pythons - Part 1

    Arthur was taken aback by the presence of horns at each monster which meant they would be facing monsters on the caliber of the horned bear. He still had bad memories about his counter with the horned bear, and now he had to face over a hundred monsters at the same time, with a more dangerous python on the back.


    It was a very hard battle, but as an ex-cultivator, he loved defying heaven, so this battle wasn''t that impossible for him. The first wave came swiftly, as over dozens of pythons glided on the grassy ground, and reached the front line rapidly held by Tarry alone.


    Just as they approached him, they suddenly felt the irresistible urge towards other stuff thrown on the ground. Without any thoughts, they deviated, heading straight towards the meat scattered on the ground, gulping them one by one at a rapid pace.


    "Tarry, now!"


    Arthur yelled, as he grabbed an arrow and put it into his bow. Just as Tarry moved to meet the first monster, his body shone in black color, forming an invisible shield around him.


    This was new, as Arthur refrained from using the arrow for now, watching Tarry direct his shield towards the python. The strike didn''t only hit the python normally, but everyone noticed a shadow, bigger than Tarry''s body, moved forward with the strike to hit the python.


    This hit didn''t only render the python motionless, but it also had it spit great amounts of blood, even its scales started to peel off at many sites.


    Tarry didn''t stop, even to examine what he did to the python, as there were others around him. He was stressful, very nervous from the fact of him being alone in front of all these huge scary snakes.


    The hits he directed to the other pythons carried the same shadow with them, and they all caused the same damage. Arthur was content, very satisfied by the results of this coupling. It seemed that coupling with a monster wasn''t just related by boosting the basic attributes, but it also granted the mage abilities, certain unique abilities that magnified his already existing ones.


    Arthur then started to attack, using arrows, controlling them to hit all the pythons on critical spots.


    "Lily, attack!"


    He ordered, and Lily executed at once, as she was better than him in position, so her arrows were much faster, far stronger than hit. Arthur wasn''t upset about it, as he wanted to kill these pythons as fast as he could.


    "The rest, use spears and attack those coming from far!"


    The pythons of the first wave were already being slaughtered by Arthur and Lily''s arrows, so there was the second wave, sent by the orders of their king, the two horned white python.


    Arthur spotted the subtle movements of the pythons from far, so he arranged his team to attack those newcomers, trying to inflict some weakening to them.


    The spear attack yielded better results than he expected, as the wave was entirely entangled in a state of weakness and drowsiness, before they were the new targets of the arrows.


    Arthur hated snakes, like others, but he had to admit, the quality of these pythons exceeded his imaginations. The number of this python swarm was very huge, so it was logical for each one to gain a pet, and the rest would be killed. If anyone wanted to couple or absorb one, then Arthur would help.


    So, he refrained from dealing the last blows towards the snakes, as he moved to hit the next wave. Lily followed his orders, while he yelled at the lazy Don back there:


    "Go and grab those pythons, put them into the other shore."


    Arthur knew the main strength of grouped monsters lied in their leader, so as long as that double horned snake was still alive, any living python here would be a problem.


    But, he also knew each monster had its own territory, once stepped outside it, the bond between the king and slaves would be severed. When they retreated to the other shore, the snakes didn''t attack, or showed any signs of offense, until they crossed the river.


    Arthur let Don carry the snakes one by one towards the other shore, threw them there weakened, without any strength at all. Then it returned to grab more. When he and Lily finished the second wave, Don had already finished moving the first one, and the king just sent the third wave.


    "It''s a battle of attrition then," Arthur sighed, as he already started to feel exhausted from the continuous use of his control ability.


    The next wave was led by Arthur to bypass the already defeated second wave, as he made Tarry meet them face to face. They fell into the same trap as before.


    "Attack!"


    He yelled, taking a break from the overuse of his ability. He watched everyone attack, focusing his gaze over Ron and Edwar, to find a shadow of them following their sword attacks, yielding far more damage than before.


    He confirmed his theory, and the coupling had a magnificent effect on each mage''s battle prowess. He smiled, watching in content and pride his doing, as he didn''t need to act this time, while all the snakes were beaten to the ground.


    "Retreat, Don grab them over the river, Lily holds the next wave with me."


    After the fall of the third wave, the fourth wave came in greater numbers than before. At least fifty pythons appeared, thrashing towards them, but he used the arrows to inflict damage to them, with the aid of Lily''s arrows, they both managed to stop one fourth of the pythons.


    "Use the spears."


    The timing was appropriate, as the pythons were so near to them. The meat bait did its work to distract them, while the spears hit their huge bodies at many places. In a few minutes, all the pythons were poisoned, lying flat on the ground.


    "Continue moving them Don," Arthur yelled, encouraging his pet to move the pythons faster. After four subsequent defeats, the king of the pythons appeared with the rest of the snakes, leading the final discharge itself.


    Arthur felt some danger coming from this special python. Before he could expect the next move, the two horns over the head of that python shone brightly, and at once all the defeated pythons lying on the ground started to move, with their horns starting to shine as well.


    ''Bastard, you are mentally controlling them,'' Arthur cursed inside him, before making up his mind. "Slain them all, leave none alive!"


    It was a race between their ability to kill every and single one of the pythons here before they could activate their special ability. Arthur just glanced back, towards the other shore, to feel more confident and relieved. His idea proved itself right, as that special python couldn''t control those outside its jurisdiction.

 Chapter 32: Winning The Fight Against Pythons - Part 2

    So, the battle shifted into who would manage to succeed first, Arthur team or the pythons'' horns. The clock was ticking, and everyone of the team was exerting his or her utmost effort to kill what was left on the ground, Arthur and Don joined them as well.


    The massacre continued for two long minutes, but they managed to slay all the defeated pythons, numbering around twenty snakes. Once finished, Arthur knew it wasn''t over yet, as that special python was still surrounding itself with thirty python at the least.


    They didn''t need the special python to control them, so they activated their abilities successfully at the third minute.


    "Retreat!"


    Arthur yelled as he started to push everyone, helping them to retreat fast. He never moved his eyes from the pythons, wondering about the special ability they held. Pythons were either water based or fire based creatures, but from the fact water lined their control, he had a vague idea about their ability.


    And he is absolutely right.


    Each python formed a small ball of fire, which started to ignite in red flames first, then blue, then dark. Almost thirty balls of fire were formed, with another special ball that was white in color. This ball was unique, and Arthur knew for sure it was the ability formed by that special python.


    ''Double ability wielder, huh?!'' Arthur muttered to himself, expressing his admiration to that snake. He decided, this one would be his at the end, as this one was unique, very unique.


    It suited him, with the mental ability it had, controlling the others would help his control ability. As for the fire ability, it was just a bonus. Arthur kept pushing everyone to cross the river, until he was the last one on the ground, and Lily was the only one on the sky.


    At this moment, a change occurred at the pythons'' side, as the balls of fire started to coalesce together, using the central ball as the main, for a huge white ball that seemed quite dangerous.


    ''It''s a long range attack then, I have to interfere or else we all would die!''


    He decided to act, and when he did that he changed his previous tactic.


    "Listen to me, it''s do or die now. let''s dart towards them and defeat as many of them as possible."


    His words were brief, but everyone realized it was related to the new huge ball in the air. At once, they all crossed the river again, while Arthur was nowhere to be seen.


    He moved, using his feet movement, to appear just beside one of the pythons. He was wielding a group of spears, as he threw them one by one to be inserted deeply into one python body after another.


    Once the wooden spear was inserted into any python''s body, it hisses loudly of pain, interrupting the ability used, making the fireball lose some size gradually.


    The tactic used by Arthur was copied without any delay by others, as they used the spears to attack these pythons. Arthur was the fastest, with Ouly, as they both acted as the main force of attack, while others used the distraction caused by Arthur to help in the attack from the side.


    With each python poisoned, the ball lost part of its power, decreasing in size gradually, which seemed something unpleasant to see by the special python, which hissed louder than others, with his horns shining again.


    Arthur knew the mental trick this python was about to use, but he couldn''t undo it, except by only killing the pythons. Killing them was easier said than done, as poisoning them was easily done by the spears, but to kill just one, they needed Tarry to interfere and all of them attack simultaneously, with some time to make one python dead.


    "Tarry, target the special python, Don, protect him."


    Arthur had no other choice but to risk. It was risky from the start attacking all these high graded monsters, but it wasn''t time to resent now. Arthur didn''t let Tarry advance alone, as he moved as well to attack the special python for the first time.


    Just like what happened with the horned bear, the python had its defensive aura, which was much stronger than the horned bear. Arthur didn''t want to break it, as he depended entirely over Tarry to do so, but he tried to distract the python, using all what he had from arrows, spears, and swords.


    This barrage of attacks didn''t distract the special python, which looked towards Arthur in a human -like expression of mockery on its face. Arthur felt bad from this look, and rapidly what he feared happened, as this python controlled the ball of white fire to descend on the area around it, risking the lives of its snakes to stop Tarry.


    It was a critical moment, Arthur had to do something, as Tarry couldn''t be stopped right now, especially when he was only a couple of meters away from the python. He gritted his teeth, as he disappeared from his place, grabbed Tarry''s neck, and then moved dragging him to hit the shield of the special python violently, smashing it into pieces.


    "Now!"


    He yelled, on his only trump card, Lily, who descended among chaos and grabbed some spears from the back. She was hovering above the python, waiting for a window to interfere, and once she heard the words of Arthur, she jumped from the back of Birdy, letting the gravity control her descent, to fall heavier and faster than the ball of fire, creating unstoppable momentum, holding two spears in her hands, to fall directly over the python''s head.


    Just as she touched the python, Arthur threw Tarry to the side, grabbed her shoulder, and moved rapidly, carrying her away from the place. Once they landed on the ground, they rolled heavily for a couple of meters, creating a small crater there.


    As for Don, Arthur had cancelled its summon from the start, as he didn''t know if he was killed here, could he be resurrected or not. Arthur didn''t want to take the risk, and now the special python suicidal attack failed, as the ball of fire fell over its head, burnt many of its associates, while it was already poisoned, feeling weak, lying motionless on the ground.


    "It''s finally over," Arthur muttered in a tired tone, while standing with some difficulty from the ground. The rest of the team was now subduing the rest of pythons, which surrendered to them once they noticed the defeat of their boss.


    "Are you ok?" Arthur went to check on Lily, who coughed mouth full of blood, before weakly replying:


    "I need to rest."


    "Don''t," Arthur painfully said, as he resummoned Don again. "Go and grab the cart of meat here," he ordered. Any injuries were easily healed by using energy, either absorbing it from the world, or gaining it from external sources like food.


    At this moment, Arthur greatly missed the precious elixirs he usually used after battles. Lying on the ground beside Lily, while starting to eat the meat Don got to them in the cart, he felt a sudden relief.


    This battle was hard, very hard, but they managed to emerge victorious without major losses. This battle was another step for them towards the path of greatness, as Arthur believed the gains from this battle were immense for their current weak levels.


    But he just needed some rest before thinking about these gains.

 Chapter 33: Finding A Heavenly Treasure

    Don moved fast to bring the cart nearby, while the others moved to check on the two of them. It was the first time one of them got this beaten, deep injuries that made Lily''s face quite pale.


    "Eat, eat and regain your energy," Arthur said, as he, wearily, handed some pieces of meat to her, before stuffing more into his mouth. He was very experienced in dealing with injuries, but he usually used elixirs, not food. He swore once he went to the academy, he would search for a way to get his hand on a handful of elixirs.


    If there was no such knowledge here, he would tire himself to find it. elixirs were magic solutions to many problems, injuries were one of them.


    The moment the meat entered his stomach, he started to feel fine at an increasing rate, exceeding his expectations. He only found it possible due to his initial low rank, something he felt appreciated at this moment.


    "Don, go and move the pythons to the other shore," Arthur said, in a stronger tone, ordering his pet, "Move all of them," he added, to include the living and the dead pythons here.


    Arthur knew he got his share of luck full this time, as over one hundred pythons were gathered on the other shore, waiting for him to get better.


    After the passage of ten minutes, Arthur felt quite refreshed, as his fatigue and injuries started to fade away. He stood up, checking on Lily, whose face had much gotten better, but she still felt weak.


    As for the others, they stood like watchful dogs, eyeing the pythons they defeated. Arthur just laughed at them, as he was reminded by the starting up disciples back at his sect, whenever he gave them any task, they fervently tried to accomplish it more perfect than ever, in a try to win his favor.


    Just as he was about to move away, his sharp senses detected something weird. When he sat foot here for the first time, he sensed quite a strong aura, something that he thought was due to the pythons living there.


    But now, all the pythons were now on the other side, so there was no need for such an aura to exist. Arthur shook his head, as a tempting idea brought forth inside his mind.


    Sometimes, back at his own cultivation world, monsters got the chance to evolve, and that evolution was a risky move, as they all would be much weaker than before.


    Many cultivators back then were thrilled to hunt monsters amidst their evolution process, and thus monsters tried to defend themselves, shielding their growing aura by lying beside another thing with much greater aura.


    A heavenly treasure!


    Arthur swallowed his saliva, even for a great cultivator as him, finding a heavenly treasure was an event to celebrate. He didn''t say a word, moved slowly, yet cautiously, towards the place of such treasure.


    He hoped, for this time, to be like the case in his world. if there was a heavenly treasure, then these pythons must have killed its guardian, getting themselves a place as a guardian for that treasure, and after the evolution succeeded, their boss would swallow this heavenly treasure, gaining the most benefit out of it.


    Arthur went towards the line of trees these pythons came from, and where he felt the source of this strong aura was. His mind didn''t stop thinking about the odds. If he found the heavenly treasure, then that special python was in the middle of its evolution. That fact alone was enough to highlight its importance, escalating its value by thresholds.


    Arthur passed the trees, and his actions attracted the attention of everyone, but they didn''t move to follow him. they thought he was just routinely checking the pythons lair, a mission none of them was thrilled to volunteer for.


    Arthur just walked for fifty meters to be welcomed by a very shocking scene. The lair, where he went to check, wasn''t just as simple a lair as he thought it would be.


    It was first a deep hole in the ground, roughly fifty meters in radius. The cause of this hall was discovered rapidly by Arthur, as he found an adult head sized piece of weird rock, that was still emanating a long thin thread of steam, like it was super hot.


    Arthur wasn''t shocked by seeing this scene, but what shocked him most was the fact he found hundreds of spherical, semi-translucent eggs, each in the side of a closed fist.


    He was shocked to see this, as the whole hole wasn''t in the ground as he initially thought, but it was a hole inside a dead monster, where these eggs were kept to nourish themselves here, until they would grow mature and hatch.


    This wasn''t a simple evolution lair, it was a place where these pythons decided to multiply!


    Arthur felt a slight numbness, putting the disturbing image of hundreds of these pythons hissing around him, he moved towards the depth of this hole, carefully, in fear he might be attacked by any sudden trap.


    He now understood why that python didn''t order all the others to attack them in one wave, it was just warning them to leave. However when Arthur and the others defeated the warning waves, the mother python decided to act.


    Arthur felt conflicted, as he always respected the motherly love of any species, but he was only feeling like this, as his initial thought of turning that monster into his inner demon didn''t change.


    Once he reached there, he touched, very carefully, the rock with a small tree branch. He waited for the branch to burn, but shockingly it didn''t burn but it got frozen in an instant.


    That piece of rock wasn''t hot as he thought, it was freezingly cold, with the ability to turn anything cold in an instant.


    Arthur didn''t understand, the pythons all used the fire to attack him, so how come they used an ice attribute heavenly treasure as nutrients to their kids?


    He knew he couldn''t know the answer easily, but he was now in front of three dilemmas, the heavenly treasure in hand, the amazing eggs that didn''t yet hatch, and that big body of the dead monster in front of him.


    If he was still in his cultivation world, this problem would have been easily solved. There was an item, very popular, and widely recognized by almost all the cultivators, the spiritual ring.


    Having a spiritual ring would solve such problems in hand, as these rings had a specific area of storage inside them, with the ability to put and extract anything there, with the condition of being not alive.


    The eggs might be considered inanimate objects, though they contained life, but this life couldn''t sustain itself without nutrition. As long as the eggs didn''t hatch, they could be stored in that ring.


    Making the ring was an easy task for him, but now he didn''t know if he could do it or not. His strength wasn''t that high, and he didn''t know if this world could accept the concept of rings or not.


    Having many unanswered questions, Arthur decided to go back and think thoroughly again. The idea of making storage spiritual rings was getting more appealing to him, as it wouldn''t only solve this problem, it would solve many problems.


    Take the food problem for example, right now they had to build a cart, carry it slowly during their travels. If they had rings, they could easily store the food, other supplies, without the fear of anything bad might happen to them.


    The storage rings had a special condition, as they maintained the state of anything put inside them forever. that meant he didn''t need to salt the meat, or ditch anything he didn''t need now, but might be handy later.


    The more the thought, the more he got convinced by the idea.


    Once he reached the other shore, where Lily had also moved with her pet, Birdy, he looked at Madly as he asked:


    "Have you ever helped grandpa Regil in his forging?"

 Chapter 34: Making A Camp

    Madly looked at Arthur in question, while she replied:


    "My grandpa Regil taught me how to forge, as he intends to make me his heir, hehehe, that''s of course before meeting you boss."


    Arthur''s smile got bigger, as he finally made up his mind. "Do you have any forging equipment here?" he asked, eagerly. Even if she didn''t, he would seek and bring everything himself.


    "I have some here in my bag," she said, as she pointed to a tattered backpack thrown on the cart, "why do you ask? Do you want to repair your sword?" she asked.


    Arthur just chuckled, but he said nothing, as he went to the cart, took the bag, and gave it to Madly. When he carried it, he sensed how heavily it was. Madly noticed his reaction, and she laughed at him while saying:


    "Sorry, my grandpa always insisted on having my toolkit everywhere I go. never knows when you might need your skill, he always says that."


    She laughed shortly while Arthur commended that old man''s wisdom. They would be saved now and acquire many gains thanks to his far eyesight. Arthur watched Madly unpack her bag, taking out many items, strangely familiar to Arthur, who took them one by one and inspected them carefully.


    ''forging here looks like forging there,'' he muttered to himself, with much content. He now had secured one of the most hard conditions to be met if he wanted to forge a ring, a forging tool and a blacksmith apprentice to help.


    He then glanced at the group of pythons, lying on the ground weakly, motionless, with faint hissing sound every now and then. Their leader, that special mother, was alone in her place, with no other lowly python coming near her.


    She was a defeated queen of snakes, but she had an ego that Arthur admired. What left now was to plan out his priorities first, starting with the most easy to do, and leaving the most difficult to the last.


    Coupling with the snake queen was a must, as he had to raise his strength by thresholds if he wanted to be able to forge a fair spiritual ring. He had a large number of pythons, dead or alive, and so he needed to postpone the step of coupling to later.


    Though these pythons were weaker than the queen, they were fairly strong in their own aspects. All of them were one horned monsters, and they could use fire attributes in their attacks. Their defense was good, speed was superb, and they had poison too.


    Thinking here, Arthur felt some headache regarding the poison he inflicted upon them. this poison was unknown to him, and it was strong enough to affect grade four monsters. It was quite risky eating meat without finding a way to neutralize the toxins.


    This started to make him feel quite pain in his head, but soon he found a solution to this. Snakes were famous for toxic glands, where there lied another, not widely known, glands to neutralize toxins. As far as he recalled, he needed to carefully unplug these glands, crush them on the meat he would cook, and then everything would be fine.


    He also could eat the glands if needed, but they alone were toxic, and if eaten without being poisoned, you would end up poisoning yourself.


    Arthur then moved to check the gains he had, it was really great. The living pythons only numbered forty something, while the rest were all killed, mostly incinerated by the fiery attack that landed upon their heads. As everything was arranged in his mind now, he had only two problems left.


    He had to leave the group and enter into slumber to couple with the queen. If this ended up like before, he would take roughly twelve hours to wake up, and even more. Leaving the group undefended, alone, all this time was risky. So, he had to think about something to help in their defense.


    He observed the area they were not at. It was a long, irregular shore, made of hard slippery rocks in most parts. The forest was roughly three hundred meters away. The area they occupied was like a gulf in itself, as there was a long protrusion of land, forming like a large triangle here.


    Easy place to defend for sure, but he couldn''t be so sure of that. He was old enough to realize things could go out of hand in mere minutes, so leaving the group exposed here, with all this monster meat and blood, was something dangerous.


    He sighed, making defenses was never his style at all, however that didn''t mean he lacked the knowledge regarding a defensive trick or two.


    ''A lot of work,'' he murmured, as just thinking about this already made him exhausted. He looked around, if he put the place of the village he came from, then this spot would act as an adventurer''s rest place. it wasn''t that far from the village, and it was close to the higher grades monsters.


    The place was simply perfect, near a water stream, nature defended most of it, building a post here would be ideal, so perfect.


    He already could picture the money flowing in his pockets, or even monster products if he needed. That idea alone gave him a boast, as he looked towards his team, who was now eyeing him suspiciously.


    He was acting weird, that was everyone was thinking of. Arthur just sighed, as it seemed great minds thought alike, and there wasn''t any great mind here, except for him.


    "Listen up," he started saying this, "I know I might seem weird, but we have a lot of work to do."


    "What work?" Ron asked, as he was the closest to him, or that what everyone thought.


    "We need to transform this place into a small post," Arthur said, but when he was met with silence, he added, "a place where we can rest without the need to be worried from any attacks of any monster."


    "Really?!" Madly asked, as she added, "Is this why you asked about my toolkit?"


    "Well," Arthur said, as he was about to explain. "Let us start doing this post then," Ouly said, in a tone full of excitement.


    "Wait!" Arthur had to shout to make them calm down. "I need to explain, as it seems you don''t know what post means," he said, as he went to the forest, grabbed a long branch, used it as a long stick, and started drawing on the ground, in front of everyone.


    "A post is a place lined by natural and human made defenses. This place is perfect, as we are lined by water from most of the sides. what remains is the area adjacent to the forest, which we will need to dig deep, cut some trees, and insert these trees into the holes we dug."


    He spoke, drew, but when he finished, he sensed none had understood what he said. "Fine," he yelled, angrily, "Don, you will go with me and dig the ground," he ordered Don, as he moved towards the area adjacent to the forest. "Edwar, Ron, and Drago, move to the forest, cut thick trees down. Ouly will be watching you, in case any monster decided to attack."


    "What about me?" Madly hurriedly asked.


    "And me?" Lily jumped like a little child, raising her hand to the air.


    "Ladies, stay here, guard the pythons, and make places for us to sleep."


    Arthur gave the two girls the easiest missions between them. He wasn''t that soft towards girls, but there was no need to push them now, especially someone was needed to watch out the precious cargo.


    Arthur was aiming for something simple at first, but when he thought of the strategic importance of this place, he shifted his ambitions to be quite higher than before.


    So, when he made Don hit a tree, to make it fall on the ground, and made a rough, bear usable shovel, he didn''t let Don dig only at the order of the forest. He pushed him to dig around the whole place, a task that took roughly five hours from this bear, and many dirt that formed a hill-like existence, lining the trench.


    Arthur made Don throw the dirt inside, not outside. So, when Don finished this physical labor task, it wasn''t that exhausted like Arthur thought. That made Arthur move him towards the forest, where many trees were now missing. He used the fierce paws of Don to cut the trees into, roughly, similar logs, and then Don carried them in group towards the post.


    When the wood came, Arthur didn''t move at once to insert them deep into the hole, as he used the sword to make them look like a spear. This task took longer than he expected, and so he needed the help of Birdy, the flying monster, which used its sharp claws to make spear shaped ends of the wood log faster, much faster, than Arthur.


    The night was about to fall when Arthur finished the last preparations for the defensive wall of the post. He then called the boys, who came, panting, with much anticipation, waiting to see what this place would look like eventually.


    Arthur then did it in the simplest way ever, as he moved with the help of Birdy, which carried the log perpendicular to the hole, with the sharp edge downwards. When it left the log, Don''s turn came to fist it heavily once, twice, and finally thrice, inserting it deeply into the ground.


    The first log seemed illogical, with no purpose at all for the team, who was sitting beside the pythons, ready to start fire.


    However, with the lapse of time, the defensive wooden wall of the post was taking shape gradually. When Arthur finished, he didn''t leave any space to work as a gate, as the dirt inside the camp had formed a stepping hill towards the high leveled wall. That would be the way out, but to enter the place, help must be given from the inside, like a robe or something.


    Arthur did this as he feared a hastily made gate would weaken the wall, helping in its damage.


    Finishing the defensive wall in time, Arthur loudly declared, by actions, this piece of land was his territory. He stood amidst the emptiness of this place, marveling what would be here and there of various buildings, and trades that would make him rich, filthy rich.

 Chapter 35: Start With Cooking Pythons

    Though he was excited, he was exhausted. Like others around him, they already worked hard, apart from the girls, and thus when everything ended, they didn''t have the spirit to go and check their doings, like Arthur.


    The day was almost over, as they worked so hard to secure this area. The place was good as it had a water source nearby, and that made them drink water, fresh water, not just stored water for days.


    Arthur watched them drinking from the bucket shaped wooden reservoir that Madly did. this little girl didn''t stay still after all, he sighed as he went as well to drink from the water.


    They were all tired, but he knew, very well, that what he was going to do next would make them very energetic. After everyone drank, and ate some of their stored meat, he started to speak up, by saying:


    "Good work everyone, this place will be our home in this forest."


    They all sat on the wooden logs, covered with some soft leaves, forming like beds, taking their breaths and marveling, finally their actions.


    "Do you really think this place would stand still after we leave?" Ron asked, as he doubted the optimistic opinion of his young master. He usually got used to this young master optimistic temper, always felt good about something without even thinking.


    "Don''t worry about that," Arthur vaguely replied, as he knew this place would stand still as long as no humans messed with it. He also intended, once he settled things back home, to recruit some strong troops and send them here to settle.


    What he did to this team wasn''t just a mere fluke. He wanted to copy this experience, and start with the kids below nine years old. Having a new generation of mages would change everything in the future, so this place had to stand, and they had to use it optimally as well.


    "Now what?" Lily asked, as she was now much better than before. Her wounds healed up, as her healing ability was boasted by her strength.


    "We will try and make everyone get a pet from them," Arthur pointed to the docile pythons next to them. they laid there, just helplessly, without any resistance at all. Arthur wasn''t surprised as the others, as monsters shared this common law.


    Monsters were loyal species, couldn''t live without being loyal to someone, or some higher monster. they also recognized only strength, and that made subduing them easy, and hard at the same time.


    "Don''t look at me like this," Arthur chuckled, as everyone looked in a strange funny way towards him, like he was insane, "these monsters aren''t just normal grade four, they are horned monsters. The bear who led Don''s group was a horned one, and it was so freakishly strong. You can''t be unsatisfied with a pet like this."


    He tried to convince them, as he, himself, was very scared of snakes, so he understood their first reaction. However, as he pushed aside his fears, they also had to do the same.


    "Are they worth it?" Ouly asked, "won''t they mess with out abilities?" he added.


    "Well, if you would couple with them, or absorb them, then yes they might affect your abilities. What I''m talking about is a pet, a monster that can be summoned anytime, without the need to do anything. It will be always beside you, a card you could use in times of stress.


    And beside that, they are fairly strong in their own way. They are horned monsters, ones that could beat my Don, and Lily''s Birdy easily without breaking a sweat. Besides, I know for sure they were weakened, and so this isn''t all their strength."


    "Weakened?" Madly suddenly asked, "Why?"


    "I will tell you all later, but now let''s not waste time. I need to couple myself with that python over there, but I would lose consciousness for a long time. leaving you here, undefended, would be a mistake."


    Finally he told them why he did all this work. They now understood why he suddenly got fervent about building the post, going all out like this, even after the end of such a big battle. They nodded their heads, feeling the care he was giving to them, and now they started to accept the idea of having pets.


    "Can I have another pet?" Lily asked, as she already had one.


    "Ahem," Arthur paused, as he tried to think of an answer, "actually I can''t tell. Let''s try it out first, if it worked then fine, if not, then at least you will be the only one in the group with a flying monster."


    Lily felt some satisfaction from her reply, as she rubbed the feathers of her pet with more passion. "We need to start now," Arthur said, as he went towards the place of the pythons, with the others by his side, and Don.


    "Don, go and grab every single killed monster here."


    To start making the pet contract, he needed blood. Though he had the bear blood ready, this blood was lowly grade, in comparison to these pythons.


    So, Arthur intended to start cutting the meat, and on the way he would collect the blood he needed. Don grabbed the pythons, one by one, and put them in one side of the camp. Arthur had some extra seasoning from last time, though he doubted it would be enough to cook all these monsters.


    He didn''t have time to go out for now, so he decided to work with what he got, besides he wasn''t the only chief here anymore.


    "Grab this part well, yes, I will now dissect it," Ouly took the lead, as he started dissecting these pythons, while Arthur searched for the toxic glands, with the more precious detoxification glands.


    Once he got them, he started storing them, each in a separate place, and told the others about their places. He then went on, and helped Ouly in cutting the pythons.


    There was some gain here, as the bones of these pythons were, somehow, flexible and long, so Arthur thought they might be great materials for forging arrows. He had a good bow, but the arrows he had weren''t that good, not like the arrows he pictured making from these bones.


    Enthusiastic by this, he went on rampage to collect all the bones, not leaving any single one there. what remained, though, were the heads of these pythons, parts he didn''t want to throw as well.


    Before, he had to throw away many things, as he didn''t have the means or the place to store them. Now, he had a camp under his disposal, and he planned to forge a storage ring. These two, alone, changed his options dramatically.


    So, he stored the heads on one side, and began to cut the meat with the help of Ouly, who didn''t stop talking about how to make the most beautiful meat ever, and the ingredients he learnt from Arthur, and the techniques of cooking, even the fire temperature and the way to make good fire told them about it.


    However, none of them was this passionate about hearing or learning this, at least not from him. Arthur just sighed, helplessly, as cultivators who weren''t interested in cooking back in his world, weren''t few, but their life spans were.


    He just hoped they didn''t ditch all Ouly had told them, as this might save their lives later.

 Chapter 36: Making A Pool Full of Explosive Oil

    After cutting the meat to pieces fit to be cooked, Arthur looked towards Ouly as he said:


    "I will go and make the pet contracts for each one, and you will have Don to help you get the seasonings from the wood, and don''t forget the wood for fire as well."


    Ouly was very excited for Arthur trust in him, as he said:


    "I will go and be back in no time."


    Arthur just watched him jump over the wall, with Don in his tail, as he sighed. If he had time, he would go personally to collect the herbs and other seasonings, but he couldn''t do everything on his own.


    Ouly, and the others, were getting stronger, and he had to put them to test. He was worried over Ouly, so he decided to send Don with him. Arthur thought about sending Lily as well, to monitor him from the sky, but he was afraid this might be risky over Lily, especially since she hadn''t yet recovered from her injuries.


    Arthur then got himself busy, as he started, first, selecting those fitting monsters to be pets. He chose the strongest, with the tallest bodies, and long horns. After he selected one for each one of his group, he then started the preparations of the contract.


    The first one to try the pet process was Madly, as she decided not to be named master, but queen. The name tempted her when she heard Arthur speaking about the pythons'' queen. Arthur didn''t reject her request, and he did the contract with her being the queen. After he finished, a tattoo appeared on her back, small, sparkling, and very attractive. Madly couldn''t see it, but she was satisfied greatly by the reactions and eyes of envy from everyone.


    As she was the first, everyone then followed. Arthur kept himself busy making the contracts, but he never moved his senses away from Ouly. His worries were groundless, as it seemed the presence of all these pythons here terrorized every other monster in the area.


    Ouly came back when Arthur was about to make Ron''s contract. Ron was the last one before Lily, who chose to be the last one ever. She didn''t think she could have two pets at the same time, but Arthur was optimistic about her odds.


    He had to stop, momentarily, as he went with the team to help Ouly and Don. This time, five huge pythons appeared, forming a bridge to pass over. Ouly, after a moment of pause, followed Don over their scales. Arthur just checked on what he brought, and he felt greatly satisfied, as everything he brought was strangely identical to what Arthur used last time.


    ''Good lad,'' Arthur just commended him silently in his mind. "It''s your turn now, get in the circle."


    Arthur then led Ouly to the place of making contracts. As thank you, he made him contract the pythons ahead of Ron, who didn''t like it at first, but he swallowed it after he got his turn and received the pet.


    The group then started to summon their pets, examine them with sparkling eyes, even giving them orders, like run there, go to the river and return. In Arthur''s eyes, they were just kids, happy by Christmas eve gifts. He just watched the fun for moments, before focusing on the transformation Lily was having right now.


    The dome shaped at the contract took much more time than usual, but eventually she emerged from it safely, and the pythons were already gone. Arthur then checked her back, to find the tattoo there, lying normally like others.


    "Try it out then," he demanded.


    She didn''t delay and summoned the python, however nothing happened. Arthur saw the distress over her face, and calmed his mind.


    "You need to withdraw your summoned pet first," he remarked, finding the fault here. she nodded, as Birdy disappeared, while after that a large python appeared. She, like a little girl, jumped high, clapped her two hands, as she was extremely happy.


    She then went on rampage with the others, playing some fake battles with their pets. Arthur just looked at them and, helplessly, shook his head. ''I didn''t make you stronger just for that!'' he muttered to himself, before he looked towards his big trophy.


    ''Not yet,'' he muttered, as he turned to look at the playing group, before yelling:


    "That''s enough for now. All of you help Ouly in making the pits, grab the woods, start the fire."


    They looked, in discontent, towards him, feeling some upset from his orders, yet they all moved to execute them.


    Arthur didn''t just stand there doing nothing, as he started giving them pointers about how deep were the pits supposed to be, how much wood each pit should have, even the side of wood he commented on. what he did was to repeat the info Ouly generously provided before, hoping it would stick this time.


    After he finished instructing them, he started to care about the meat. He grabbed the detoxification glands, grind them into powder, and sprayed part of it over each meat. He didn''t use the whole amount, as he needed to save some for the rest of the pythons, plus he wanted also to save some for later uses.


    Finished from that, he ordered them to start fire, stood by their sides for one hour, giving pointers about how to spread seasonings over the meat, how to care about it over fire, and most important of all how to keep the appropriate fire under the meat.


    He noticed the presence of oily material falling off these meat, and each time they fell, the fire expanded greatly, in a fearful way.


    So, he asked Madly to create a rapid container of wood reserves from the logs he used in making the walls, then he changed the position of each meat to be slightly oblique, to make all the oil fall into one direction where he put these large pots.


    For him, he knew this oily matter would be handy in the future. Just a single drop and an explosion happened, imagine liters of it. Arthur heard of a chemical cultivator, who was very famous in his previous world. This man wasn''t a strong cultivator on his own, but he marveled at creating many elixirs that could annihilate a lot of cultivators in one go.


    Arthur was lucky to meet him once, as he saw some of that man''s creations. One of them was the reason for his fame, an explosive elixir that rumors said could turn a whole forest into a sea of flames.


    Arthur wouldn''t do that to this forest, but he wouldn''t hesitate to burn his enemies. so, he took this matter very seriously, and even assigned Madly to this job, to keep this oil safe.


    Madly, after knowing and seeing by herself how dangerous this oil was, decided to dig a large pit in one corner with the help of her new pet. After that, she started to put wood on the sides, covering the whole pit with it. she even used her toolkit to make this happen. After she finished, a wooden pool was there full of oil, explosive oil.

 Chapter 37: A Chat with A Queen

    Arthur was satisfied with her action, and he knew, best, that if a single flame touched this place, no one would leave this place alive ever again.


    So, he stressed again and again on Madly and the others, to keep themselves away from this place, and keep the fire away.


    After he finished all these preparations, he went towards the queen. The python queen was already halfway healed from her wounds, and even the toxic in her body had healed.


    Arthur intended to make this monster his own, as she had the rare, very rare, intelligent attribute. Just as he reached her, he was astonished to feel some sort of connection between her and himself. He noticed the two horns glowing, and in a reflex, he took out his sword and pointed it towards her.


    The others were far away, busy in cooking the meat and collecting the oil, so they didn''t notice any of this.


    ''Calm down¡­ No harm¡­ Be your pet.''


    A soft, feminine voice appeared suddenly in his mind, speaking stuttered words. Arthur was astonished, and realized the queen had used her mind ability to contact him, asking him to be his pet.


    "A pet is a good option for you, but I won''t be able to get any stronger by doing this."


    ''You¡­ Have¡­ Me¡­ Fight ¡­ Your¡­ side¡­"


    She continued to speak with him, as her sparkling red eyes focused on his. Arthur knew this python was trying to save herself, and for a moment he felt some temptation in doing so, but he needed her to be his own monster. She was the only one here that could help him doing this, and he doubted to meet an intelligent monster with intelligent attributes this powerful ever again.


    "No, I can''t agree to this."


    The python didn''t seem disturbed by this, as it seemed she knew Arthur wouldn''t be this easily convinced.


    ''My¡­ Babies¡­"


    Arthur knew what she was referring to, so he hurriedly said:


    "Don''t worry about them. I have found them, and I intend to build something that could help me move them with their source of nutrition into safety."


    He thought his answer would satisfy her, but she spoke to his mind again:


    ''Another¡­ Monster¡­ Three¡­ Strong¡­ Like¡­ Me¡­ Will¡­ Attack¡­ You¡­ Once¡­ I¡­ Go¡­"


    She was speaking like a little child, and when she mentioned this info, Arthur was quite surprised about it. He thought the python was the only high grade monster here. He suddenly figured out why there was no other monster during their journey to here.


    He thought other monsters were afraid of the pythons'' collective aura, but it turned out they were afraid of the other high grade monsters.


    If there were three other monsters just as strong as this python, then facing them collectively together was a suicide.


    He looked back at the kids, and now he knew his options were really limited.


    Seeing his hesitation, the python queen stressed:


    ''Another¡­ Way¡­ Pet¡­ Stronger¡­ You¡­ Me¡­"


    Arthur paused, as if he heard it right, then this queen was offering him a way to make him stronger through the pet way.


    "What way?" he asked with much interest, as his old hunger for knowledge was awakened at this moment.


    ''Writing¡­ different¡­ Other¡­ Monsters¡­ Group¡­ Pets¡­''


    Arthur''s eyes shone, as he understood what she wanted him to do.


    "You want to evolve, using the monsters I control as pets, and thus you will be stronger? This is just one time boast."


    He understood her desire, as she wanted to complete her evolution. "Besides, you need equally stronger monsters at the least, right? These weak pythons here can''t help you at all."


    ''Yes¡­ No¡­ New¡­ Pet¡­ Contract¡­ Not¡­ Master¡­ Slave¡­ Co-operatives¡­''


    Arthur looked at her, before he, doubtedly, asked:


    "Co-workers? Can this theory be true here?"


    He knew what she was talking about, as it was a myth back at his home. The theory was talking about the merge between the monster and the soul of the cultivator, to become one. However it always failed, as the soul of the monster was always stronger than the cultivator, ending up killing him.


    ''True¡­ Modifications¡­ Stones¡­ More¡­"


    Arthur understood what she was referring to, as she was talking about the runes. He looked towards the cart, where there were over fifty runes there.


    "Are fifty enough?"


    ''Yes¡­ Pet¡­ Contract¡­ Modified¡­ First¡­ Kill¡­ Others¡­ Later¡­ Stronger¡­ Together¡­''


    Arthur was hesitating for a moment. in front of him was a rare, very rare monster, that suited his unique ability best. If he risked making it his pet, and this mythical way failed, then he would have lost a precious opportunity.


    As he was thinking, he decided to take the risk. After all, he had many other opportunities in the future, with his knowledge and experience, he was sure he would find more monsters, and much more powerful one than this queen of pythons.


    "Deal, what do you need me to do?"


    ''Stones¡­ Bind¡­ Plus¡­ Partner¡­ Write¡­ Name¡­ Dragon¡­ Write¡­ Human¡­ Stones¡­ Fifty¡­ Half¡­ Bind¡­ Half¡­ Partner¡­''


    She spoke in her fascinating voice to him, and he knew what she wanted to do. He then moved towards the stones, to find all the fifty ones were written on them the word, bind.


    He sighed, as then he heard the voice of the queen again:


    ''Not¡­ Bad¡­ Need¡­ Write¡­ More¡­ My¡­ Language¡­"

 Chapter 38: Sacred Contract

    Arthur opened his mind over this missed fact, he didn''t know the language of monsters here. if he knew the language, then he could bind them more efficiently, especially when coupling with monsters.


    The issue here was regarding the stones, he needed to go out and look by himself then.


    "I have a question, say this way succeeded, do we need monsters now in the process?"


    ''Not¡­ Now¡­ Later¡­ Forever¡­''


    He sighed, as her words were really optimistic. He couldn''t believe himself when he moved outside the camp, looking for stones, that he was following the crazy advice of this queen.


    This myth had already cost a lot of cultivators lives. The only thing that reassured him was the fact he wasn''t going to couple this monster''s soul with his own cultivation base, as others did in the past. He would only create a tattoo for her, and hoping this tattoo would be somehow special.


    He wandered the place looking for any stones, without any fear of monsters. He understood the current situation of this place. As long as the mother queen of pythons stayed there in the camp, no other monster would approach here.


    He didn''t take an hour to find what he was looking for, as he found a large group or medium sized black rock, full of energy, much more than the previous rocks. He unsummoned Don, then summoned it again, ordering it to break the stones, and start carrying them to the camp.


    He waited for two hours as he moved enough rocks, not only for his benefit, but for others as well.


    If this way succeeded, he would seek to apply it on them, hoping they would benefit from it.


    He returned faster to the camp, where the night was almost at its peak. He didn''t waste anymore time, grabbed the blood mix of the pythons, and went ahead with the rocks towards the queen python.


    At this time, everyone had already sensed the strangeness of his, as he disappeared, then Don disappeared, then Don appeared with strange stones, and finally he reappeared again, and went directly to the python queen and sat in front of her.


    To them, he was doing strange, unexplained things, but they didn''t ask anything. They focused on the meat on fire, smelling the good taste of it, and feeling the marvels of their success in their cooking mission.


    "What should I write then?" he asked, as he didn''t know the language of the pythons.


    ''Seven¡­ Are¡­ Group¡­ Hundred¡­ Groups¡­ Half¡­ Mine¡­ Half¡­ Yours¡­ Half¡­ Bind¡­ Half¡­ Partner¡­''


    Arthur understood her simple math, as she needed one hundred groups or rocks, each group was formed of seven pieces as he did before. Half of these groups would be written in human tongue, and the other half would be in pythons'' tongue.


    "What are the words in your language then?"


    ''Show¡­ You¡­''


    Suddenly, two images appeared miraculously in his brain. Arthur wasn''t just a weak mage like the others, he was a veteran cultivator. What he brought with him here was his mind, and so it wasn''t that easy affecting his mind. He felt skeptical, as this python was somehow stronger than what he thought initially.


    As being told, he started writing, or to be precise, drawing the pictures in his mind over the rocks. One hundred groups, each seven pieces included, that meant seven hundred pieces of rocks. That was a lot of preparations, but when he finished, he was thrilled that he couldn''t wait to rest.


    "Let'' do it," he cheerfully said.


    He moved, cleared the area with the help of Don, before he sent him back again inside his tattoo. He then drew the circle using the monsters'' blood.


    ''Draw¡­ Three¡­''


    The queen ordered, and he executed without any delay. After finishing, he started arranging the rocks into places which looked as near to each other as sand on the ground. The queen didn''t say anything, but when he started grouping the rocks written in human tongue together, she said to him:


    ''Scatter¡­ Not¡­ Together¡­''


    He understood her point, so he started to randomly scatter the rocks, but in fact he did it on regular bases, with one group of human tongue followed by another of monster''s, one group of binding following one group of partner.


    When he finished, the others had also finished cooking the meat, as they moved it near the cart, where Ouly and Ron were enthralled by cutting it to pieces. The rest noticed what Arthur was doing, so they came closer to watch, in silence, while whispering to each other, for a feat to interrupt him.


    "Let''s do this!"


    He finally finished, and without even turning to look at others, he started the contract at once. Once he did, he noticed the change in this contract, as the outer circles shone one by one, like taking turns. After that, the stones were lifted in the air, by invisible force, where he felt it attaching to his body, and at the same time, the queen in front of him flew in the air as well.


    Before he could even process what was going on, a strong dome appeared covering the two of them, and suddenly a light was ignited, like fire, between him and the queen. He saw, with his own eyes, her body change, as the scales fell down, not on the ground but on her newly formed legs, her ample chest, and her hot body of a lady in her twentieth.


    He looked at her, with extreme shock, as he didn''t know what to say, or do. He couldn''t understand, fully, what was going on here, but he understood one thing for sure¡­ this queen of pythons wasn''t ordinary.


    "Thanks for giving me this chance to live," her voice sounded, this time in human tongue and tone, to be heard into his ears clearly, "Unfortunately I can''t maintain this form for long. Without the aura of this sacred contract between us, I wouldn''t have been able to take this form in front of you."


    "What sacred contract?" he asked, dazed in her beauty, fallen under her magic.

 Chapter 39: Having A Dragon Soul Pet

    "This isn''t just a pet contract, it''s me granting you my life, and forever I would be yours," she said, smiling a very affectionate smile. He wanted to speak more, as he felt the urge to know her better, speak with her for longer time, but she stopped him, putting her finger on her lips, while saying:


    "Tick Tock, the time is limited. I want to tell you that this contract is unique, not all races can do it. as a dragon race descendant, I could do this contract, so don''t use this over your friends or they might get hurt. See you later, my love."


    She hugged him, a deep and warm hug that made his own soul shiver, like he never felt love or passion before. Before he knew it, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on the ground, the dome was gone, the picture of this goddess was gone, and the queen of python was gone.


    "Have you decided to make it a pet?" Madly asked, in a strange tone, as she didn''t find a reason he might change his mind like this.


    He just turned to look at her after a long pause, as he knew the goddess was gone, and his soul had this longing, painful feeling of something lost, something very precious.


    "There are some strong monsters eyeing us. If I entered into a long slumber, then I would have been in trouble, we all are."


    He said it, not to reply to her question, but to justify to his doubtful self about what just happened, and why he did that. He stood up, amidst the horror looks of everyone, so he hurriedly added, "Don''t worry, they won''t attack us soon. Go now and cook the rest of the meat."


    He then went ahead of them, towards the wall of the camp, lost in his own thoughts. He didn''t know if what happened was real of his imagination, but he still could feel the warm touch of her soft hands, her fiery breaths over his chest, and even he could feel her heartbeats.


    He also recalled what she said lastly, before knocking him out of consciousness. She mentioned dragons, and being a direct line to them.


    Back in his own world, dragons were one of the toughest monsters to tame and slain. He knew some fanatics who would go to any lengths just to have their hands on any dragon.


    If she was a descendant of the dragon line, then her eggs would also be like her?


    He suddenly thought highly of these eggs. He just wanted to collect them, to hatch them later and form his own army with them. He doubted the fact they were grown on an ice aura, despite being of fire origin. But now he understood, dragons were dual species, always had two attributes at the least, if not more.


    Having fire and ice was just normal for them, and so he started to wonder about these eggs, would he let them hatch normally or he would push it and try to provide some special nutrients to them?


    Having help from dragons, even not fully evolved ones, was something great. Back in his days he might not celebrate this, but here, in this weak world, he knew this would boast his strength, and his crew strength, by bounds.


    Lost in thoughts, he had the urge to summon the queen, but he hesitated. The contract they did seemed to have some toll over her. So, it was best if he waited until the morning, at least he would give her some time to rest.


    Then he started searching his body for her tattoo, but he couldn''t find it anywhere. He thought it might be well hidden, and wouldn''t appear except when needed. A dragon tattoo would attract unneeded attention, and might cause trouble as well.


    Thinking here, he knew that forging a ring would be his top priority now. He knew the requirements of forging one ring, or the many ways he could forge one. However, only one or two ways might be quite feasible to him this time, regarding his weak strength, and lack of materials.


    He needed special material to act like the main medium. For him, there were a lot of bones he could use, but he wanted something more sturdy than that. He lacked ore, a special type of ore, and if he could his hands on one, he could use it to forge a good ring.


    He thought of using that icy rock over there, but he refrained from this. First he couldn''t touch that rock yet, and secondly that rock was essential for the eggs maturation and growth.


    So, putting this aside, he started thinking about other options. He had to go on a tour around this place, as he might find the ore he was looking for.


    His eyes moved at once towards Lily. Her Birdy was suitable for this search task, so he shouted at her to come.


    "I want to look for something, so summon Birdy and let''s have a ride."


    She looked in happiness to his request, as she was feeling how special she was, having the only flying monster in the group. At once, she unsummoned the python, then she called for Birdy. Arthur just looked at Madly as he instructed:


    "Stay here, and keep cooking the meat. Make a place suitable for the forging fire, and don''t forget to prepare a pot filled with water for the quenching process."

 Chapter 40: Forging The Storage Ring - Part 1

    She nodded, as she knew how important the fire and water was to any blacksmith. As he soared the sky on Birdy''s back, with Lily on his side, he felt how important it was to have his own flying pet.


    If that python queen was honest in what she claimed, then he already had a flying pet in the process of evolutions. Dragons were winged monsters, able to cause panic and fear to every single creature.


    "Tell Birdy to fly slowly."


    He said, as he sat on the back of Birdy, closing his eyes, and started feeling the different types of aura around him. He found some distant auras, strong enough to cause him worry. He knew they were the three monsters that the queen mentioned, and from their far distance, he knew they were quite safe, for now at least.


    Just as they flew in circles, he found a strong aura coming from the ground. It wasn''t indicating a life form, so he guessed it was an ore.


    The problem was, when he went down to check it, he found a flat piece of land, with no sign of any ore at all.


    ''Hiding yourself quite well indeed,'' he muttered to himself, before summoning Don, as he gave him a task of excavating the soil here. Don gladly nodded its head, before it went on rampage on this land. Arthur felt some changes in it, as it started to be more aggressive, like being agitated with something.


    ''I didn''t think just having this queen would affect my other pet. I wonder when I couple with a monster, would it also be this agitated as well?''


    Arthur kept watching the hard working Don, from the back of Birdy, as he started a ruckus on the ground. He wasn''t worried about attracting any monster''s attention, as there was no monster nearby.


    After half an hour, Don had already dug deep enough for Arthur to spot the source of this aura. As he guessed it, it was an ore, green in color, with some luster on its surface. It was quite advanced ore, much stronger than the rocks he used before in making runes.


    The ore excavated here was an ore vein, running deep into the ground. Arthur knew he found a source of income to his clan, in the future he would monopolize this whole place, as it seemed it was a treasure trove.


    For hours, they kept their place there, watching Don taking out more and more pieces of this green ore to the surface. After quite some time, and with the presence of a suitable amount of ore, Arthur asked Lily to use Birdy to move these rocks back at the camp.


    The transportation process started, as Birdy was so fast in moving ores to the camp. Arthur kept himself there, overseeing the process of this mining. He knew that Don was doing its best, and when the daylight appeared again, Don had managed to take out all the surface ores and was totally exhausted.


    "Rest well my friend," Arthur said, as he sent it back into his tattoo to rest. Before he went there, it, strangely, requested to eat a piece of ore, which Arthur agreed with ease.


    There were many pieces of this ore at the camp that was enough to make many weapons for a much larger group. Arthur watched Don eating the ore before it went to sleep inside his tattoo. When Birdy came again to take the last pieces, Arthur offered for it to eat a piece, which it gladly accepted. After eating it, it started to be tired, and with this last trip, it entered into rest as well into Lily''s tattoo.


    ''I hope they both grew horns,'' he muttered, as this would be great.


    Having collected this many ores, he was ready to start making his ring. The theory of making the ring was simple, as he needed a high grade ore as a bass, then he would put his own strength into it. the more he injected into the ring, the more advanced the ring would be.


    Knowing this shortcoming, his low strength, he just hoped he could make a ten meters square storage ring. Back at his world, this was decided by his cultivation base, but here he knew it was totally different.


    As for the fire, he already had an idea about it. He took one of the biggest ores and went to the wooden pool full of oil. The oil harvested from the pythons was accumulated here, and with more pythons being cooked and others being killed, the oil storage grew into a great amount.


    He took a robe and tied it tightly over the ore in hand, then threw it into the pool, letting it absorb as much oil as it could. After half an hour, he pulled the rock again, which was now saturated with this burning oil.


    "It''s time to forge," he said in content, while observing the ore with admiration. The ore had a high energy initially stored in it, but lacked the trigger to burn, and now with this oil, he solved this problem.


    He went to the place where Madly had prepared a deep pit, and put many wood nearby. He didn''t need that wood anymore, as he had a better option in hand.


    He put the rock in the pit, which was almost on its size, then he ignited fire in it. Everyone was now busy cooking, but when Arthur acted, they all looked at him, in very keen admiring eyes.


    He was their leader, the visionary who came to give them new hope, with a much brighter life than they thought of, or hoped for.


    Arthur felt their gazes upon him, but he didn''t care. He took many steps backward, as he went to grab the toolkit of Madly. Just as he got it from her, a huge explosion occurred in the pit, accompanied by a blaze of white fire that startled everyone here, except for him.

 Chapter 41: Forging The Storage Ring - Part 2

    He looked at the fire in content, as he waited until it died down, leaving only a trace of it seen by naked eye. Once there, he went to the ores, grabbed many of it, and then went to the place of the white fire.


    The toolkit of Madly included a mould, that was used to make rectangular objects. He looked at this mould, before he decided to stuff some materials into it, trying to make it more shaped like a circular, with a place empty in the middle.


    After many trials, he finally managed to do so, after using some of her equipment for that. What remained was a heavy hammer, he knew how important it would be in the process of forging. Cleansing the ores was a very important step.


    So, he went ahead and put all the ores inside the mould. It was hard at first, and he had to hit the ores many times to fragment them into tiny pieces, so they could fit into the holes in the mould.


    After that, he put the mould in the pit, and then he needed air, wind to be precise.


    The most ideal thing to produce wind here was Birdy, so he asked Lily to summon it again. when it appeared after half an hour of summoning, its shape was slightly different, as some of its feathers were not green in color.


    "I want it to work its wings and form a great wind, tell it if it performs well, I would gift him one more piece of rock."


    It seemed this ore had some benefits for the pets, so as when Madly''s pet, Birdy, was doing its part, Arthur asked everyone to summon their pets, and make them eat this ore.


    After two hours of continuous flapping, the ore inside the mould was completely melted down. Arthur knew this wasn''t enough, so he put more ores inside, and after two hours he checked it, and found the mould completely covered in melted hot liquid.


    "It''s enough, good job birdy."


    He then gave it a larger piece of ore, and Birdy ate it in an obvious joy, before it shrieked from happiness, and then it disappeared again to have some rest.


    ''It''s time for that bear to show me its strength.''


    Arthur knew cleansing was the only process that could determine the quality of the forged items, the only process he could control now. so, he summoned Don, asked him to cleanse the melted ore using the hammer. Don gladly accepted the task, and did it with admiring devotion, especially when Arthur promised it to give it one more ore.


    Don had some fur dyed in green, not at the same scale like Birdy, which made Arthur wonder if this ore had some hidden bonuses for certain monsters, or affected by certain attributes.


    Each time Don hit the melted ore, many sparks flew off, and some dirtied materials were casted away. Don kept hammering the mould for three hours, and in the middle of this, Arthur had to stop it more than once, as he needed to put the mould back into fire, to keep its temperature.


    The fire was now optimum for burning the ore, and so Arthur didn''t need the help of Birdy.


    On the sides, everyone was watching this magic show with much interest, especially Madly, who thought she would see a third rated performance from Arthur, yet again he bested her and managed in surprising her one more time.


    Even her grandpa, Regil, couldn''t do the forging in the same way and technique and devotion Arthur was doing now. She stood on the side, watching, and learning, as she knew Arthur was a superb blacksmith, much better than her grandpa.


    As for Ron, he stood on the side, watching the meat cooking process, while wondering when his young master learnt these techniques.


    He thought if illness would turn a loser into a genius, then he would gladly accept such a disease, or a blessing in his opinion.


    Arthur was completely focused on the forging process, so he didn''t notice their observing gazes on him, and even if he noticed this, he would, mostly, ignore them.


    After three hours, Don kept hammering with no change on the liquid. The ore turned from green, into brown color, then after cleansing it became golden white. When Don finished it, it had turned into silver white, with such purity that Arthur was surprised to gain.


    ''Now, it''s the moment of truth,'' Arthur murmured to himself, before he went ahead, stopped Don, gave him one big ore like Birdy, then he held the mould carefully before closing his eyes.


    The process in his past world to inject energy was simple, as during any technique used, energy would leak from the human body, and this leaked energy was used in the forging process.


    Madly watched what Arthur was doing in daze, then she was greatly amazed by what he was doing next. Holding the mould firmly, Arthur started to use his leg steps, without any pause. He thought of using his ability to control arrows, but this would be impossible for him now, as he couldn''t shoot arrows and hold the mould at the same time.


    So, his best option right now was to use the foot moves, in hope the leaked energy from it would be sufficient.

 Chapter 42: Forging The Storage Ring - Part 3

    To his surprise, he kept leaping left and right in the place for hours, without getting tired except when the nightfall happened. He spent over five hours using his tricks without rest, and this was a new record for him.


    ''Have I gotten stronger?'' he muttered, while panting, as he stood there in front of the fire, with a very exhausted body and mind.


    The final process then was simple, as he left the mould on fire for one more hour, where he went to eat some meat to inject more energy in his tired body. The work of the group was marvelous, as their stored now of food was enough to last them for months to come, and there was still two rounds of cooking before they finished all the pythons here.


    Just as he was resting, he was thinking about the quenching process, when he got a brilliant idea. The quenching was important, as its role was determined by the rate of cooling the forged item would be exposed to. The shorter it was, the higher grade the final item was, and vise versa.


    He thought of using cool water from the water stream nearby, but he refrained from that as he thought this process might take minutes. The best option he thought of was that rock, back at the monster''s lair, where he could use the ice there to quench his ring.


    Without delaying any longer, he asked Lily to summon Birdy again, which appeared in a happy mood, with much more feathers turning green.


    "Let''s go."


    Arthur went on the back of Birdy, holding the melted liquid firmly by both hands, while Lily and Madly came as well. Madly asked to come, as she wanted to know what Arthur planned to do with this item. She knew he had to start quenching now, but she was puzzled by asking for Birdy''s help.


    So, the three of them moved towards the hive, and in less than a minute, they reached there.


    The presence of all these eggs and that rock in the middle attracted the two girls'' attention, however Arthur didn''t say much, as he directly descended over towards the rock, and once there, he put the mould over it, making it directly touch the rock.


    Suddenly, a loud sizzling sound appeared, coupled with a thick white mist, emanating from the mould without pause. In less than ten seconds, the whole mould was frozen, and the forged ring inside laid, coldly, without any sign of heat.


    Once cooled down, Arthur moved the mould fast away from the rock, then he touched the ring carefully, to make sure it was cool.


    "What is this rock?" Madly asked.


    "What is this beautiful ring?" Lily asked.


    Arthur just replied simply:


    "Don''t touch the rock, or even I can''t save any of you."


    Both girls saw what happened when the mould touched the rock, and Madly grabbed the mould, which broke off at once, into small pieces. She sighed, as this mould was a precious gift from her grandpa Regil, but she wasn''t that sad about it, as she knew it was destroyed for something good to be forged from it.


    She was sure her grandpa would be proud when he heard this story.


    "Moment of truth," Arthur mumbled, as he took the ring, and slowly wore it, but nothing happened.


    ''It might need a binding process,'' he muttered to himself, as he cut his other hand, and dropped his blood over the ring. As expected, the ring absorbed all the blood, shone in green light, lighting all the lair amidst the process.


    "What is happening?" Madly asked with shock, as this was her first time seeing an item do something bizarre like this.


    "It''s working!" Arthur muttered, in a clear tone, and happy voice, while tightly closing his fist, marveling this ring.


    ''Let''s see how many meters you have little one, I hope you don''t fail me,'' he muttered, as he closed his eyes, sensed the link with the ring, like a lively heartbeats, before entering into that ring and observing its space in shocked expression.


    "Oh my¡­" he muttered, as he opened his eyes from shock. This ring had a space that was over five hundred meters, and he felt as if he could move living things there.


    "What a surprise indeed," Arthur said before laughing, like a maniac, as this surprise really took him off guard.

 Chapter 43: Lets Hunt Some Monsters, Shall We?

    Arthur''s laugh was out of place, but no one said anything about him. Arthur clasped his hand, firmly, on this ring. This ring wasn''t that high to his old world''s standard, it was, honestly, a mediocre ring.


    However, this ring with this vast space was considered a gem in his eyes. He could now wander around the forest without the fear of letting anything valuable behind. His eyes shone, greedily, as his nature as a cultivator started to sprout out, as he eyes everything around him as a treasure he could snatch and store into his ring.


    "Is everything alright?" Madly, hesitantly asked, as she knew how bizarre her grandpa would be when he finished making a masterpiece, or failed it big sometimes.


    "Sure," he said, "the ring is a success, and now we can fasten things up," he added, in a great excitation.


    "Fasten things? Weren''t we doing that already?" Lily asked, not believing what Arthur just said.


    "No, no," Arthur shook his head, "we were moving slowly like a snail," he added. He was right, as he knew if he was moving fast, then things would proceed quite differently. For example, he could start a fire into the ring, control the meat inside to be grilled there for hours without any need to cook them outside.


    He could now move a great amount of fertile earth into the ring, and move the useful plants and herbs there for any time he wanted to use them for seasoning.


    He could now store monsters for later time, when they would be resting after killing as many monsters as they desired.


    The odds were infinite in his opinion, and all of them worked, marvelously, to accelerate his work here. the two girls beside him didn''t understand his meaning, but they never asked him about it.


    They already knew if he planned something, they would figure it out soon.


    "Go on Birdy''s back now," he suddenly said, as it was time for this precious heavenly treasure to rest inside his ring. He eyed all these eggs in greed, they would form a very good source of pets and meat for the future plans he had in mind.


    The girls didn''t hesitate to do as he asked, while he waited for them to reach high in the sky, before he wore the ring for the first time. it was cold, extremely cold, but this coolness was something he yearned for.


    He then put his hand over the carcass of this dead monster, and thought of moving it inside his ring. Miraculously, the huge body of this monster vanished, alongside the rock and eggs. The place seemed suddenly empty, and he was about to fall inside the gap created by the absence of that monster, but he used his leg technique so he could reach the nearby land.


    He waved for the two stupefied girls to go down and pick him up. Possessed by the sort of magic he just did, they moved Birdy down, took him over its back, before heading back towards the camp, with shock still lingering over their faces.


    He noticed their weird reaction, but said nothing. He just chuckled, as he knew the more they got to know him, the more wonders they would see. When the three reached the camp, he didn''t speak to anyone, before moving on a rapid tour, touching everything and taking them into his ring.


    His magical touch left everyone awed, with their mouths agape from pure shock they were experiencing. After he finished taking everything, the fire included, he took a moment to arrange things inside his ring a bit. He was the master of this ring, and so he could control everything inside, including the fire temperature and the slow rotating movement of the meat over the fire.


    Once finished, he noticed their funny reaction, and couldn''t help himself to laugh at them.


    "C''mon, it''s not the first time you see me doing magic," he commented, with a chuckle.


    "Sure," Ron was the first to swallow his shock, "but this was the first time to see actual magic. What just happened?" he asked, trying to find a logic explanation to all this. "Where are our meat and fire pits?"


    "They are all inside this magical ring," Arthur said, pointing to the ring in his hand.


    "So, this magic came from this ring, what is the ring name then?" Madly sighed as she was a blacksmith herself but she was oblivious to the existence of such a ring.


    "It''s called a storage ring, as it can store anything I touch," Arthur said, trying to explain the function of this ring.


    "Can you make others for us?" Lily asked, as she was now very excited about such a ring.


    "Sure, but not now," Arthur said, as the requirements of making such a ring was exhausting on him right now. He still felt some exhaustion after pouring his energy into this ring. "We need to be ready for another fight soon," he suddenly added, reminding them of the three monsters he wanted to slay.


    "Are we going to kill them now?" Tarry asked.


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "we will start killing other monsters outside here, then leave them for tomorrow," he added. He wanted to kill the three now, but he tried to summon the queen of pythons, however he got no response from her.


    So, he had to wait, until she would be awakened. He knew she was now evolving, and just picturing a full dragon under his control was a thrilling idea, especially in such a weak world he was at.


    "What about this place?" Ouly asked, "We can''t just leave it undefended like this."


    "Don''t worry about it, as long as the three monsters exist, no other monster would dare to set foot here," Arthur said, reassuring everyone, "now, let''s go on a long wild ride, which we will keep killing monsters without any rest," he added, as he already had a plan formulated inside his mind.


    "Where are we going now?" Madly asked, as she was excited about trying the new power of her new pet here.


    "We will all ride on Birdy'' back," Arthur announced, as now they weren''t burdened by anything. They exchanged silent glances, before recalling their summons, and then they all started to board Birdy''s back.


    The overweight of all of them on Birdy''s back made it unable to fly high enough like usual, but its speed was the same. So, in less than one hour, they crossed a huge stretch of the forest, and started seeing different kinds of monsters on the ground.


    "This is a good spot for the hunting feast we are going to have," Arthur said, as he pointed towards a slightly elevated hill. It wasn''t that huge, but it was high enough to oversee a great stretch of the forest underneath it. The most prominent feature of it was the lack of trees on its body, with only long weeds there and some scattered trees.


    "Land us there," Arthur said, in a decisive happy tone. He intended to play it big this time, as he wanted to have resources that would last them for a long time. He also wanted to make each of his friends here have another pet, as this would be huge on their future prowess.


    Landing there, everyone was restless, until Arthur ordered:


    "Go and cut trees as we did before."


    He took out Don, and everyone else took out their summons. Once all the monsters were assembled, everyone felt how strong this little group of them had really become.


    He watched the monsters, guided by their masters, working in admiring synchronicity with his Don. Don was the physically strongest amongst them, so it took the task of taking trees down. As for moving them, the pythons did the trick. In less than half an hour, long and many trees lined around Arthur, while the whole body of this hill was now bare from any tree that would block the sight.


    "Let''s shape the trees as we did before. Don, you will dig the land, with the help of other monsters as well."


    Suddenly the place turned into a beehive, as everyone, Arthur included, were processing the trees, while the monsters were digging the land, with Don acting as their senior. The task in hand didn''t take an hour, and another copy of their post was formed in front of their eyes.


    Arthur stood there, as his mind was seeing the terrain around here in a different vision. The whole forest was shaking with herds of monsters, and the whole hill was literally filled with killed and severely wounded monsters of different kinds.


    "We need to make spears, wooden spears like before," he said, before he thought of another matter, "Lily, come with me."


    Lily didn''t know what was going on in his mind, but she, obediently, like a good girl followed him, rode on the back of her Birdy, and went into a certain direction. After an hour, Arthur came back with her, with a big smile over his face.

 Chapter 44: A Great Feast to Hunt Monsters on the Hill

    The team had already created hundreds of spears, using the help of their pythons. Seeing all preparations were in place, Arthur smiled as he said:


    "It''s time, let''s instigate the wrath of every single monster here."


    He said, as he took out patches of rocks and lined them in specific locations around the interior of this wooden wall. Once finished, under the observing gazes of everyone, he finally explained his plan:


    "These rocks are the same which I used in my forging before. You will have a fire pit nearby, and before any great numbers of monsters, you ignite them and threw them towards these monsters," he then stressed, "beware, these rocks are highly explosive, if you can''t handle them, or will be delayed by anything, then just don''t use them at all."


    His words meant only one thing, the situation they would face was really dangerous. They just nodded, silently, expressing their understanding of his clear warning.


    "Are we going to fight a huge number of monsters?" Ouly asked, trying to get more insight into Arthur''s plan.


    "Not only a huge number, we will face angry herds of monsters all day and night," he said.


    "How can we attract them then?" Madly asked, doubting their ability to do so.


    "We will use this," Arthur said, before he touched the clear large centre area of this hill top. Suddenly, a large monster carcass appeared, like another hill on top of the one they were on. Once they appeared, they heard a faint sound, followed by violent unending roars coming from everywhere around them.


    They panicked, while Arthur laughed from his heart content. As he suspected, the presence of this heavenly treasure would instigate every single monster in this place. they would do anything to lay their hands over this rock, and they wouldn''t listen to any order of any monster, except if it was truly a higher grade monster, and he doubted the presence of such one here.


    Whoever was strong enough, went to rival the python queen on that treasure, leaving the adjacent area filled with weaker monsters, monsters Arthur was sure of his team''s ability to face.


    "It''s showtime," he muttered happily, and excitedly, in a way he never felt before. He ran towards the wall, with Don in his tail, and others started to diverse around the place, each protecting a place with his or her monster.


    Lily undone the summoning of Birdy, and summoned her other pet. One person with one pet, this was the line of defense they got right now. Arthur watched the incoming wave of monsters, formed from massive body behemoths, even larger than Don in body size, and the smile over his face got wider and brighter.


    ''Now, I''m sure we won''t lack meat for so long.''


    Arthur didn''t put these huge monsters in his eyes, as he wanted monsters that could make a difference to his team. He dreamt of lions, tigers, or panthers to be the next pets for everyone. These pets would act as a boaster to their strengths, not just adding a single power here or there without much change to their strength.


    "Listen up," he yelled, as it was time for his experience in battles to kick in, "first use the spears, the arrows, and try to aim for the monster''s eyes and heads. We don''t aim to kill them all, just injure them, and leave the rest to me," he said, before adding, "if they got near us, then we had to use the rocks lying next to you. Don''t panic, don''t falter, just be sure of yourself and trust these rocks to do the job. If the monsters came close to the wall, then your pets could kick in. First, they would use their horns abilities to ignite strong fiery attacks on the monsters, then they could go out and battle the monsters in a group battle. Finally, if a monster manages to cross you, I will act as your last line of defense, helping you in the fight. Tarry would act as our ace, facing any strong and dangerous monster head on, and the rest keep it to me."


    He was detailed this time in lying out the strategy, which was very simple for him, much complicated for others. The incoming monsters didn''t give them anytime to process these info, as they were closing up fast.


    Arthur took out his bow, and went up the monster carcass in no time, leaving Don behind to act as a defender in his spot. Arthur was now the highest person here, seeing everything clearer than anyone else.


    And his arrows started to rain endlessly, aiming precisely for the monsters'' eyes, blinding them, and making them lose their balance, fall on slippery ground, falling downhill, to be stumped, mercilessly, with the incoming monsters.


    Without knowing it, the monsters acted as a grinder for the fallen monsters from above the hill. Arthur used this strategy as he wanted to clear as many monsters as he could without facing them head on, plus the monsters which could survive such brutal grinding, would act as a good candidate for future petting.


    Arthur was the first to act, but soon Lily joined in, followed by others. Though the monsters were fervently clashing towards the top of the hill, not caring about any defense or even simple evasion to the incoming arrows and spears, their numbers didn''t decrease, instead it kept increasing.


    "Keep it calm, we are doing great!"


    Moral was a crucial, tricky element in determining the success and failure of any battle. Arthur didn''t miss this point, as he kept encouraging his team, making them feel proud of what they were doing.


    Soon, the numbers of monsters ascending the hill exceeded their capacity to hold using arrows and spears only, so Arthur finally yelled:


    "Use the rocks, ignite the tree leaves there and throw them fast."


    Each rock was extracted from the same ore vein he discovered previously. He soaked them into the huge pool of explosive oil inside his ring. The ring advantage kicked in, brilliantly, as he could now control the huge reserve he collected from the vein there, and create as many explosive rocks as he wanted.


    As for collecting these rocks, it was easy. He just had to touch the vein, and the absorption force of the ring kicked in and took a big bite of it. he repeatedly did it, until he couldn''t unearth the vein anymore using this method.


    He took a lot of long, dry tree leaves, like broad hair, and wrapped them tightly around each rock. This action could be done for a long time and might take huge effort, however it didn''t take anything at all when he did it inside his ring.


    So, all they had to do now was to just ignite the leaves, using the pits he took out from his storage ring, and threw them over the wall, as strongly as they could, so they would travel as long as they could.


    The first to act was Madly, followed by Ron. As both trusted Arthur very much, and Madly, specifically, knew how much of an impact these explosive rocks would cause.


    As the two explosive rocks flew in the air, with a long thin line of smoke creating a long trail in the air, everyone was attracted to see what these small weird rocks might do.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"

 Chapter 45: The Esteemed Messenger of Death

    Suddenly, two massive explosions occurred, so massive that a cloud of dust erupted, and their aftershock alone was enough to clear almost half of the hill from monsters, pushing them from high towards the bottom, where the ascending monsters took the job of stumping over them.


    Though the explosions were mighty, no monster stopped even for a moment, as they were totally and fervently controlled by the urge to eat this heavenly treasure and ascend a grade, or even more.


    "Keep firing," Arthur yelled, so he could pull his team from the shock of these rocks. Now, they started to understand why Arthur warned them so seriously before, and they started to eye these small weird rocks in a new light.


    They weren''t rocks, they were a weapon to kill anything without mercy.


    The gap created by the two explosive rocks were rapidly filled again, however the monsters were welcomed this time by a series of explosions that made sure all monsters would be driven backwards, down the hill.


    "Great, great performance everyone, reuse the arrows and spears."


    As these explosions almost cleared the hill, driving all the monsters back to point zero, Arthur encouraged his friends, and changed the strategy back to the primary one.


    The battle kicked in, with a high momentum, as an endless stream of monsters kept coming from every direction. Arthur was busy fighting every single monster, so he didn''t notice the presence of some strange auras, watching the bizarre way of fighting he was using against these monsters.


    Though these new incomers weren''t friends to each other, or even acquaintances, they grouped together, without saying a word, as they started to watch this amazing battle unfolding.


    "Does anyone recognize any of them?" a twenty four old mage asked, touching his sword with his hand, in a way that felt an old habit of his. He was tall, with so little hair on his head that he was nearly bald.


    "No, this is my first time seeing them," another mage, approximately at the same age, with an emblem of Dorgazire academy on his chest, said. He had a long, broadsword, which he put on his shoulder, like he was carrying a bag.


    Others around them whispered in agreement, as this was the first time they saw these youngsters.


    "Does anyone know of these strange rocks which are causing such damage?" an archer mage, with a great eyesight, said. he was a well-built mage, with no emblem on his chest, making him and that bald the only two rogue mages here.


    "No, this is my first time seeing these rocks," one of the mages said, who belonged to another academy, a rival one to the Dorgazire academy.


    "I think I knew of this ore," someone suddenly said, as he rubbed his long, braided in three long equal length, lines of beard hair, "however where did I see this?"


    This mage, holding a long staff, became the focus of everyone here. Finally, his eyes shone, as he said nothing while rapidly retreating. It didn''t need any genius to know that he figured out where he found that ore, and now he was rapidly going to excavate some of it and keep it to his personal use.


    Others looked, vigilantly, to each other, before they rapidly dispersed. A great battle was about to unfold elsewhere, and Arthur, the main instigator for this, didn''t know a thing about it.


    All left, except for the two rogue mages, who looked to each other, before nodding. They had the same idea in mind, as this group of youngsters didn''t wear any academy emblem. Whatever the secret behind them, they thought their fortune would be for the better if they managed to follow them.


    "These kids are strong, resourceful, with even some monsters standing on their sides," the bald sword mage said.


    "They might have a summoner, or a tamer in their group," the archer said.


    "I doubt that," the sword mage said, "I have met a summoner and a tamer before, and neither of them were able to control more than one monster each."


    "Then they might all be tamers, or summoners, or bits of both," the archer said, in a tone that meant he wasn''t really buying what he was saying.


    The two looked again to each other, as their line of thoughts were aligned. The tamer and summoner mages were rare, extremely rare. They were famous for having short life spans, as they had to deal with deadly monsters, not for the purpose of killing them, but to badly injure them.


    The other undisputed fact was the group in front of them were using arrows and wooden spears in the fight. That was no summoner or tamer mages'' style of fighting. They knew these kids must have a secret, greater secret than just mere explosive rocks, and reaching this far in thoughts, both decided, more determined, to join these kids.


    "We shall show them our worth, or else they wouldn''t agree for us to join them," the archer finally said.


    "We will need to work together, use this strange battle to our favor," the swordsman said.


    "Good," the arched nodded, as he knew facing these monsters alone would be suicidal.


    "Count me in!"


    Suddenly, this female voice came, abruptly from behind them, startling them both. They weren''t startled by the voice, but by the identity of its owner. A girl walked in, twenty years in age, with a mesmerizing body, and long icy hair that was left chaotically moving with the wind behind her back. She had a red eye, a special red eye that was very distinct from far. She moved, carrying two swords in her hand, with a bow and its quaver hanging on one of her shoulders, while the other had a medium sized, thick staff.


    The two mages swallowed their dry throats, as they both had their bodies, involuntarily, shivered.


    "If the esteemed messenger of death wanted to kill them, then we can withdraw," the bald sword mage tried to be collected in front of this, ten centimeters, shorter than him, but his shaky voice betrayed him, showing how fearful he was.


    "Y-Yes, s-sure, if your excellency wanted to take their heads for any bounty hunting, we can retreat," the archer spoke in a shivered tone, and body, as he personally once saw how bloody this seemingly angled lady in front of him was.


    "Stop bullshitting, I want your help to join this group."


    The cold, icy like her hair, voice came from this girl, whose half of her face was covered by a raised up collar of her short, incommodious coat. The two exchanged glances together, not understanding what they two just heard right now.


    "Do you want us to infiltrate them, then betray them?" the bald sword mage asked, trying to confirm his guess.


    "Sorry, my lady. If you want to kill me here, then do it. if nothing, I, Clovert, never betrayed anyone before," the archer, named Clovert, said in a strong decisive tone. The bald sword mage nodded, expressing his stand as well.


    "Oh fools, if I wanted to kill you both, then you would be dead long before you knew it. I just need your help in joining this group, with no ill intentions whatsoever."


    Her words were icily, and rudely honest, said while she walked to stand in front of the two. her beautiful eyes, blessed with a very unique sharp eyesight, were focusing on the body of this youngster, slightly younger than her by few years, who was moving non-stop from his high place there, killing, giving orders to others, and even disappearing sometimes, to reappear outside the wooden wall, hit a monster with a strong sword, then return again to the top.


    ''Marvelous,'' she muttered to herself, with a shiny light that passed undetected to the two behind her, ''it seems I finally found the one helper I was seeking my entire life,'' she thought to herself, before turning to look at the two fools behind her. If she could handle the high pressured fight in this hill, she wouldn''t seek their help, but she knew she was best suited for assassination tasks, those commissioned from the bounty hunter guild.


    As for these big battles, her stamina would run out, and she, eventually, would be helpless against these endless monsters.


    The two didn''t have much of a choice here, as they both agreed to her terms. After all, having the help of the messenger of death among their team was a blessing, giving that she wasn''t here to claim any head of theirs.

 Chapter 46: Seeing Amelia - the Messenger of Death - in Action

    Arthur and his team weren''t aware of that, as they were immersed in the heated battle up ahead. The monsters, more than once, managed to pass through their defense, and Arthur had to deal personally with them. more than once, the wooden wall was about to be breached, but thanks to the timely interference of Arthur, coupled with his superb leg movements, he managed to save the day.


    After the passage of the second hour, Arthur felt the bodies of the monsters accumulated down the hill were literally about to form another hill. Many of these monsters were dead, and few of them stayed alive, despite having severe wounds.


    ''It''s time for me to go down there and collect my trophies,'' he muttered to himself, before he decided to instruct his teammates to change their defense strategy, shifting from solid defense into mad offense.


    "Listen up, we are going to use the explosive rocks all the way. Lily, you will take one python with you from here, go up there and use the fireball of the python to ignite the rocks."


    His words were shocking, but the more shocking scene here was the absurd amount of rocks he took out from his ring. He distributed enough rocks to bomb off this hill and obliterate it from existence.


    "What do you want me to do with these rocks?" Lily asked, as she was using her bow, releasing a constant stream of arrows downhill.


    "Throw the rocks from high into the monsters just away from the base of this hill," he explained slowly to her, "I want you to hold back any monster coming towards me," he added, as he finished distributing the rocks before heading to Lily.


    Lily was about to ask, but she soon shook her head, as she knew Arthur wouldn''t ask her to do so without good reason. So, she unsummoned her python, took out her Birdy again, took one python with her, Madly''s python, as she filled the back of her Birdy with explosive rocks.


    "Start!"


    Arthur gave the order, at the same time he moved hurriedly, using his leg technique, to evade the enormous number of monsters here. Along the hard battle, they had met many monsters that were great candidates for pets, like lions with double long razor like teeth, like panthers agile enough to cause them some headache in targeting them.


    Arthur was greedy, wanting them all to be part of his growing force, so he moved, without fear, evading and escaping the monster''s charge, before a series of heavy explosions sounded behind him.


    His team had already started their offense, and then he just glanced shortly as the sky, as Lily was there on the back of her Birdy, reaching the base of the hill so rapid, then she used the rocks to cause a series of explosions, violent enough to shake the whole hill.


    "Great, now it''s my turn," Arthur muttered as he dashed with haste towards the bottom. He soon reached the place where many monsters lied, motionless, weakly moaning from time to time, expressing the presence of some injured monsters.


    And then his spree of absorbing those monsters, dead or alive, into his storage ring began. As he started to do so, he began to shift his attention to the world around, trying to sense any presence of high grade monsters, those which might cause some trouble to him.


    Amidst all the violent explosions around the hill, and the unending explosions up there, the monster''s attacks seemed to be weakened greatly, and so Arthur felt satisfied and relieved.


    Until he sensed the three human auras, standing nearby, moving cautiously in between the monsters, which seemed to be so frantic that they totally ignored them.


    ''Well, well, well,'' Arthur muttered to himself, while his both hands acted without pause, touching everything around him, and sending tens of monsters in patches inside his ring. ''I didn''t expect to be watched,'' he amusedly thought, as he acted as if he didn''t detect their presence.


    The three, led by the messenger of death, multi-talented bounty hunter girl, were moving, cautiously at first, between the monsters. Later on, they noticed that monsters didn''t even bother themselves with them, so they started to move, in more bold steps, towards their destination.


    Just as they were about to approach the base of the hill, a sudden development occurred, noticed at once by this bounty hunter. She was shocked when she saw the flying pet of Lily, more shocked with the devastating attacks occurring from the ground and the sky.


    However what made her more speechless was the actions Arthur was doing, as he darted, alone, amidst all these monsters, without the fear of his life, with one strange repeated action he did.


    It was like magic, as anything he touched vanished from the place like it was never there. she stopped the small team movements, eyeing with daze all these developments, those violent explosions, and the brave, mysterious actions of Arthur.


    ''What the hell are you doing?'' she muttered to herself, as she was shaken by the strange and magical actions of Arthur. She took a deep breath, calming her disturbed shaken mind, trying to find any possible explanation to all this, but soon she gave up, while muttering to herself:


    ''Screw it, I will just ask him when I will join his team.''


    Her conviction of joining Arthur''s team grew more solid than before. It wasn''t just her, as the two behind were also having the same thought. Arthur was like a blessed person, though he was now weak, in some terms, but none of them had any doubt that he would grow to be one of the strongest persons in their world.


    Joining themselves with such a person was a blessing they planned never to let go.


    "Be ready, we must show him our worth, and help in doing whatever he is doing right now," she finally whispered, giving them the order they all yearned for. This was a perfect time, as Arthur had thrown himself into such risk, and this was a perfect opportunity for them to make him realize their worth.


    "Move out, now!"


    She suddenly yelled, as she led the charge, taking out her short thick staff at first. She had abandoned her swords, yielding her most powerful, legendary style of fight, the staff. Behind her, Gregory, the sword bald mage, took out his sword, and started to run rapidly, catching up to her. As for Clovert, he was marching slower than them, taking out his bow and starting to fill it with arrows.


    Their sudden appearance startled Lily, who was about to come near the area they appeared at. She refrained, hesitantly, before bellowing out loud:


    "Enemy or a friend?"


    She meant to ask Arthur about this, but the reply came from the girl, who was now about to clash with a group of monsters resembling monkeys, with a horn appearing from the middle of their foreheads. "Friends," she said, before a massive shadow of a large monster appeared behind her back. This monster was like a huge lion, with three horns emerging from its forehead.


    Once they moved, Arthur sensed them. He kept an eye always fixed over their place, trying to guess their true intentions. When they suddenly acted, he thought they might target him, or Lily, but when he heard the reply of that girl, and the appearance of this huge lion shadow behind her, while she moved towards a large group of monsters nearby, he started to think she was aiming to help him.


    ''Interesting,'' he muttered, as he realized their aim from just this action. He always respected smart people, who would realize the dirt in their hands wasn''t dirt, but gold. Those people were always destined to shine, and if he had the chance to grab them under his wing, then it would be great.


    However, as a sneaky old man he truly was, he didn''t show any of these ideas over his face. He even didn''t look directly towards them, while his sense was always fixed over their bodies, wanting to watch how strong they really were.


    Amelia lifted up her staff high in the air, while the shade of the lion behind her glowed in a dark red light, that was similar to black. Amidst this sudden light, Arthur managed to see the true identity of the lion, it wasn''t a lion but a lioness.


    ''Interesting choice,'' he muttered again, commending her choice of the monster suitable for her. Just as he was guessing what attack she would make with this staff, like using a severely blowing hit to the monsters, or hitting the ground heavily, creating a crater, the staff glowed with the same light, before a fog finally dissipated from it.


    "Damn, using the spell of death from the start, how cruel and serious you damn are!"


    Gregory yelled, in dissatisfaction, while changing his charge away from her. The monster behind him was a monkey, a great ape that had bulging muscles with dark brown hair. Clovert, as well, retreated, while the shade of monster behind him was a fox-like monster, with one horn only, like the monster of Gregory.


    Just as they both were retreating, Clovert didn''t stop the bow from releasing a strong attack of arrows towards another group of monsters, hundreds of meters away from him. Arthur commended his sharpness and the precise marking of his bow, knowing that this mage wasn''t just a nobody.

 Chapter 47: The Messenger of Death Crashed down!

    The fog kept expanding until it covered a radius of ten meters around Amelia, who had a smirking smile and vicious expression over her face. Once it reached this range, it stopped, and then glowed, like a small dark red sun.


    "Roar!"


    Suddenly, a violent, and painful short roars echoed from the monsters trapped inside her fog. Arthur couldn''t penetrate the fog with his senses, but he realized these monsters were killed. Once calmness prevailed, Amelia started to move around, heading straight towards the masses of monsters without any fear or hesitation, in a bold move that Arthur felt great admiration to.


    ''This is more interesting than I initially thought!''


    It was his first time seeing a true mages in action, and he had to admit, he was impressed. Gregory was now slashing his sword, releasing arc after arc of strong slashed towards his opponents, rendering them heavily wounded or dead.


    Though he and Clovert were strong, Amelia was in a league of her own. Arthur felt her movements, her attacks, her pattern of fight was somehow strange to his concepts, but he was sure she was a very experienced and veteran mage.


    Arthur was always tempted by any new thing he never saw before, and now he was watching something he was totally bleak towards. Though he was surprised and tempted by Amelia, he kept moving around, putting all monsters into his ring without any delay.


    As for Lily, she noticed that Arthur didn''t say a word of opposition and kept doing the task he started, so she knew he accepted the interference of those strangers. She was mesmerized by the beauty and elegance of Amelia, the strong attacks she and the other two mages did, especially Clovert. After all, she was also aspiring to be an archer mage herself.


    After getting over her shock, after a few minutes, she restarted her aerial attack over the monsters, as the sounds of explosions ranged once again at the base of the hill.


    "It seemed nicer from far," Gregory muttered as he was hit by a wave of dirt, rushed up after an explosion happened near him. The fight seemed desperate to him and Clovert, who was at risk being far behind like that, so he picked up speed, and moved towards Arthur.


    Arthur was keeping an eye on everyone, mainly on Amelia, so once Clovert moved, he knew he was targeting him.


    Arthur didn''t summon his Don here with him, as he knew Don wouldn''t do any good to him. However, if Clovert intended something bad for him, then summoning Don was a necessity.


    Clovert move was noticed by everyone, and Lily felt the most stressed out of them. she thought Arthur was risking it, by letting that man approach him like that, however she stopped from throwing an explosive rock on Clovert head, as she knew how strong Arthur was.


    So, she just kept hovering nearby, as a failsafe measure, if things got out of control. Clovert once reached Arthur, he said as he continued releasing his arrows:


    "Hi, sorry to come here on a sudden impulse, but waiting there at the back was quite dangerous."


    His words weren''t welcomed by any word from Arthur, who neglected him, and kept moving monsters into his ring. Seeing what Arthur was doing this near made Clovert more shocked, as he wasn''t able to understand how this youth was able to make things disappear by just touching them.


    But it wasn''t the time for him to ask any question. He wasn''t a young man anymore, as life honed his experiences and made him realize if he opened his mouth again, he would be doubted. Being doubted with such a mysterious man was lethal, very lethal.


    So, he kept doing his work, totally ignoring Arthur, but keeping a safe distance between him. Arthur just kept an eye over him from time to time, while his main focus was on Amelia.


    Amelia was on a spree of killing, anywhere she went to, monster bodies would literally be thrown everywhere. Arthur was speechless of her deadly attacks, which were all about this fog, and he was wondering if there were others like her, with this strange ability, in this world.


    As he was dazed thinking about these, Clovert suddenly said:


    "By the way, our girl here, that messenger of death, is going crazy. Her body can''t withstand the spell she is continuously using."


    Arthur faked moving his attention over her, but he had long noticed her irregular breathing. It seemed like she was panting, but he couldn''t tell as half of her face was covered up by her raised collar. As he was watching her, openly like that, Clovert added:


    "I think she can''t continue doing this for one more minute."


    Arthur''s attention was piqued, even if his hands never ceased collecting monsters. "What will happen when she loses control?" he asked.


    "Simple, she will lose her consciousness, or best be weakened, severely weakened, and so she will be an easy target for those beasts."


    Arthur noticed the tone of Clovert, as he sharply turned to him while commenting:


    "It''s strange how you seem carefree about your partner, or leader?"


    "Neither," Clovert shrugged, "she just joined the hastily made team of us three to join you," he, honestly, confessed, "and I guess she intended to go out from the start to impress you, and doing that would be risky. So, she needed others to take care of her when her body crashes, or that is what I think."


    Arthur understood everything now, as he thought, initially, the three of them were one team. Now, he knew why the three were here, and he also knew why this archer was carefree about that girl.


    Just as he was thinking about this, Amelia''s body shook, and then she swayed. Luckily that fog was still present, protecting her from the monsters, highly vigilant, around her, but not for too long. Once her body started to sway, it seemed she lost control over her ability, making the fog starting to dissipate.


    "Here she goes, what will you do, boss?" Clovert just asked, while he looked at Arthur, to find his spot empty. Just as he was puzzled by this, he glimpsed a shadow passing towards Amelia. It was Arthur, as he used his leg technique, slashed the monsters around Amelia''s fog with his sword, before the fog completely vanished.


    He wasn''t that insane to put himself into that fog, especially when she was just safe inside it. once it vanished, he also vanished from the sights of everyone here, including Amelia, whose breaths were racing, her body was aching, and her vision was starting to go blurry.


    She felt like she was carried on a soft, yet strong, cushion, and she felt like she was flying in the air. She didn''t see Arthur when he held her body by his arms before she crashed on the ground. He didn''t wait, as the monsters around the two of them weren''t that patient, so he used his leg techniques, jumped towards the sky, then he pushed his leg against the air a couple of times, before reaching a level where he, and Amelia in his arms, were both higher than Birdy.


    Lily was eyeing everything, and the moment she saw Arthur move towards Amelia, she knew he would ask for her help. She was the only person here away from danger, and so she moved Birdy to be near the place of the two.

 Chapter 48: The Mysterious Meat

    When Arthur carried Amelia and jumped to the air, she knew what he intended to do, so it was easy to pick the two on the back of Birdy.


    "Eat these," Arthur took out a large stock of the freshly cooked meat from inside his ring. Amelia, weakly, opened her eyes, looked at the meat in the hand in front of her face, and muttered in a soft voice:


    "What is this?"


    "Just eat if you want to prove me your worth!"


    Arthur didn''t intend to babysit these adults. He had the reasons to help and teach the youngsters from his own clan, but those were adult mages, already had their lives and pasts. He didn''t want to entangle himself with any stranger unless he or she was worthy.


    And he valued Amelia, highly valued her. Her new abilities that he didn''t know made him craving to get to join her into his team. However, he must act this cool and aloof, or else this might backfire on him.


    Amelia, after hearing these words, knew who''s the man who gave her these meat. Her mind was blurry, and fuzzy with events she didn''t know if they happened or not. So, trusting the man in front of her, she took the meat, as she put it into her mouth.


    The moment the meat entered her mouth, it miraculously stimulated her taste buds, made her sense a new world she never heard of. As she chewed and swallowed, a surge of warmth invaded and permeated her body from inside, like a warm hug, giving her warmth, relief, and strength.


    Suddenly, like a thick blanket thrown on her in the coldest nights of the winter, the meat pushed it away, to make her feel refreshed and alive again, vibrant like never before.


    She breathed, and with each breath she felt stronger, and clearer. The first thing she saw was the place she was at, in the middle of the air!


    Before she panicked, she touched, involuntarily, the ground she was on, to feel Birdy''s feathers. She knew where she was, and thus she spotted two faces, Arthur and Lily, standing in front of her.


    Arthur was acting aloof, as half of his attention was on her, and the other half was on the ground and the battle down there. As for Lily, she was like a curious little kitten, spying every now and then on her, while throwing these explosive rocks over the ground all the time, like a cool play a kid would have without being bored.


    "You are getting better. Stay here with Lily, and don''t join down below before eating this share of meat," Arthur said, as he took out, magically, a small hill of meat pieces in front of her. Amelia''s senses were sharp, as once the meat came up, Lily stared at it in an envious, really envious way.


    She then thought about the distant feeling she had when she was dizzy. She never managed to over exert herself and recover in less than a day. But now, she even didn''t need a half hour, or even ten minutes to recover. She grabbed a piece of meat, wondering from the bottom of her heart about what magic trick was inside this piece of meat.


    "Wh¡­" she was about to speak, and ask Arthur about this meat, but she didn''t find him anywhere. Rapidly she stood up, to sway again for a moment, before she stabilized herself.


    "Easy, you might fall from here," Lily said, as she thought she might fall for a second out there.


    "Thanks," Amelia just thanked her, before she grabbed some meat, put them piece by piece into her mouth, while scanning the ground. She rapidly found Arthur, as his disappearance from the place, to save Amelia, disrupted the rhythm of battle. Monsters were now regaining their upper hand here, especially if the two mages weren''t as half effective as Amelia did.


    So, once Arthur went down, the first thing he did was to unleash his sword, and start hacking monsters everywhere. He didn''t have a cool ability like Amelia, not yet, but he had his leg technique, and speed. So, he kept moving, in a speed that made him have after images, from place to place, injuring monsters everywhere, until gradually things calmed down for a bit.


    The two mages, Gregory and Clovert, were now heavily panting, while they were now protected behind Arthur.


    "Here, eat these and you will regain your energy," Arthur said, as he threw each one a pack of ten meat pieces, while disappearing again to slash some monsters. The two mages exchanged silent glances, before Clover whispered:


    "I saw him giving the messenger of death this meat, and the next all I saw was her standing up on her feet again."


    "No F*** way!" Gregory amazingly muttered, as he knew, as the whole world knew, how many hours Amelia''s body needed to recover. The two then put the meat into their mouths, and suddenly they were filled with energy, like a switch being easily flipped between fatigue and energetic.


    Once they tested the effects, they hurriedly ate the rest of their share. It was not compared with Amelia''s at all, as Arthur was valuing them much lower than her.


    Just as they finished, they rejoined the fight, again. Just as Arthur looked up to check on Amelia, he saw her jump, from that high altitude Birdy was at, and descended smoothly on the ground, using a white fog this time, emanated from her sword, not staff.


    ''Full of surprises still,'' Arthur muttered, as he knew he wasn''t needed to act with his full power right now. He then left the fighting to the three, with the aerial support of Lily, and he went on resuming his collecting task again.

 Chapter 49: Lets Return Home

    The amount of monsters lying on the ground, wounded or dead, was really enormous. Arthur spent another hour collecting everything, until he felt satisfied, his ring was now filled with two great mountains, one for wounded and the other for dead monsters.


    If he wished, he could let the wounded monsters heal, but he didn''t do that. he needed first to be sure these monsters would lose all the desire to fight or struggle, something that many of the wounded monsters still didn''t have, apparently, as they roared, tried to move on their feet, and even ran for couple of steps before falling again.


    Arthur left them inside, and decided to wait for as much it would take, as these rebellious monsters were all double horns, monsters higher than his pythons from before.


    "be ready, we will leave here," Arthur suddenly yelled, to make the three around him ready to retreat. Amelia had, constantly, used her spell over and over through the past hour, and she never experienced a breakdown. That was due to the meat she was eating, as Arthur gave her a great amount from the start.


    She didn''t rush to eat the meat all at once, as she just ate it over time, allowing her body to endure the spell after effects. That was something she never experienced before, and the questions inside her mind about Arthur and his group had increased by one.


    "We can''t make it, we won''t make it!"


    Gregory suddenly yelled, in a tiring tone from the constant fighting for the past couple of hours. Although he ate meat Arthur gave him and Clovert, he was still exhausted, as the meat the two had was already limited.


    Arthur glanced at the three, seeing the wariness over the archer and the swordsman, knowing that they wouldn''t be able to climb the hill to the top.


    "Fine," he sighed, helplessly, before waving to Lily, who understood his meaning. She moved her Birdy closer to the ground, while Arthur moved.


    Arthur''s body disappeared, to reappear beside Gregory. He held his body, then moved again towards Birdy. This didn''t take seconds to happen, but the effects of these seconds over Gregory, then Clovert, was big. They never thought they might be moved, like babies, without any will or resistance at all.


    As for Amelia, she knew what would happen, and this time she made sure she wouldn''t lose her focus, and try to understand how this youngster could do it.


    But after she touched the feathery back of Birdy, she didn''t succeed in getting any clue about the way Arthur used to move like this.


    "Don''t be this shocked, big brother Arthur is much more shocking than this," Lily chuckled over the funny shocked expressions over their faces. They looked at her and remained silent, before Arthur instructed:


    "Let''s go back."


    "Are we done here?" Lily asked, as she noticed the look of content over Arthur''s face. Arthur didn''t know if he should continue here or leave, but at least he knew how to determine the answer to that question.


    "Was there anyone else beside you here?" he asked Amelia and the other two. Arthur realized when he was focused here, the messy situation must have attracted the attention of many, the three included. He wanted to make sure of it, as if there were others, then it would be wise to leave here.


    "There were a lot like us," Gregory replied, as he was panting, leaning on the back of Birdy, feeling the sweet breeze of air hitting his face.


    Arthur knew they were discovered, and he didn''t want any observing eyes to notice any of his secrets. They discovered enough already from watching the fighting style he was using.


    "We will leave here," he finally decided. Once they reached the camp, things there weren''t that easy looking like they thought. Many monsters were stopped downhill, but many managed to ascend and attack the camp. The situation, though, wasn''t that dangerous, with no monster able to breach the walls yet.


    "Be ready to depart," Arthur yelled, as he went ahead, jumping from the back of Birdy, towards the carcass of that old monster. He just touched it, and the body with the heavenly treasure and the python eggs vanished.


    As the body of the huge monster disappeared, shocking the three new members of his group, the flood of monsters towards here suddenly stopped.


    They were like being possessed, and now everything regained its clarity to them. Arthur just stood there, watching their reactions, before the monsters started to disperse, in every direction, without causing any considerable pain to them.


    Only few decided to complete their charge towards the camp, and those monsters were welcomed with explosions, and merciless wooden arrows and spears.


    In less than twenty minutes, the whole world that was filled with monsters was now cleaned up, with no single monster in the vicinity. There were many monster corpses, or wounded monsters lying motionless on the ground, so Arthur said to the rest:


    "Go on Birdy''s back, and wait for me."


    Everyone exchanged silent glances, as they had three strangers now without knowing who they were, and Arthur persisted on going down there and collecting the meat. They already knew how important the meat was, but they saw him stash a huge number of monsters into his ring.


    What they didn''t know was that they were being watched, and this wasn''t good for them.


    Arthur was thinking, once he returned to the clan, he would assemble those potential mages and send them to train in the forest, after giving them meat and pets from his ring. However, he had to change all that, he had to lay low, keep off sight, and abandon any plan for now.


    He had to keep everyone safe first, and grabbing strong mages attention wasn''t in his intention at all. He was still unable to decipher the abilities Amelia was using, and he didn''t know if there was another list of abilities he didn''t know of.


    So, to be safe, they had to retreat, not only from this place, but from this whole forest. They also had to lay low, and consume what they had for the upcoming month, before their journey to the academy started.


    If he wanted to only support his little group, then what he had in the ring was much more than enough, but though he abandoned the plan to train others now in the forest, he would never abandon the feeding plan he had in mind, he would never abandon the kids in the clan territory.


    He planned to grab any monster, as all the meat counted for the well being of the children. So, he went down there, grabbed every single monster he could find, and he did that along the whole body of the hill, extending to some distance away from the base.


    Once he finished, after almost an hour, he waved to Lily, to bring her Birdy close to his position, before he jumped to its back, and then Birdy started the journey back to the village.


    Arthur noticed the cold looks that his old friends had towards the three new ones were now gone. It seemed Lily did the introduction, and she explained what happened, and how Arthur trusted them to join the team.


    So, everyone else had no objection to that, after all if not for Arthur, they would never have stepped a single miniscule step towards what they just accomplished.


    "Are we really going home?" Madly asked, with some pain, as she didn''t want to return, not yet.


    "We have been watched," Arthur said, as he was worrying so much about this topic.

 Chapter 50: Do You Know Any Other Rogue Mages to Join Us?

    If it was a simple choice for benefit then he wouldn''t hesitate to choose his own benefit, but it was a moral issue, where he would endanger thousands of lives for his own sake.


    He couldn''t accept that! He wasn''t a bad cultivator back in his days! so, he had no time to struggle, no point in object, as he declared:


    "We will change our course then, let''s go into a way that''s opposite to my family''s lands."


    His decision made everyone eye him in another light. The old crew were happy to know he wouldn''t risk everything for the sake of his safety, endangering their family and friends. Ron nodded, in satisfaction, as this was the decision the heir to his house would choose.


    "Where should we go?" Lily asked, as she was the one ordering Birdy to move.


    "Is there any place here full of high grade monsters?" Arthur asked.


    "Sure, there is one hell of a place where all the mages I know would avoid," Clovert said, as he was touched by the right decision Arthur just made.


    "Where?" Lily asked. "Why would mages avoid it?" Madly asked, while Arthur kept his silence, not saying a word.


    "It''s on the west from here, just go straight for four hours I think, where you will find a valley between a huge series of mountains. There is a lake inside, and rumors talked about an ancient monster living there, one who would kill anyone approaching the lake."


    His words made them hesitate, and even shudder in fear. Arthur noted their reaction and didn''t speak, as his interest was piqued by this place and this legendary monster.


    "Don''t scare the kids," Amelia said, "there is no monster there, as far as I know. I visited that lake many times already, and no such a monster lives there. all that''s there is a bunch of some strong monsters, slightly stronger than the ones you fought already."


    Her words calmed everyone, but Arthur felt there was more than she said. He didn''t speak, as he had another thing in mind.


    "I saw you use a strong monster in your attacks, is this your coupled monster?" he asked.


    "Coupled?" she asked back, as she didn''t understand his meaning, "Do you mean the monster I absorbed?" she added.


    "Yes, we call it coupling," Madly volunteered to speak, as she was feeling excited by Amelia''s presence, looking up to her like her idol.


    "Well, I already have two monsters inside me, one I completely control, and it''s much weaker than my second monster, which is the one which gives me most of my strength right now. the issue is, I can''t completely control it, as its grade is way above mine, so whenever I stress myself, I always end up losing consciousness or being extremely weakened. That reminds me, what is with this meat?"


    When she asked the last question, Clovert and Gregory''s attention was driven to Arthur, who just smiled as he slowly explained:


    "this meat is our cooking, it''s the meat of monsters we kill."


    "What?!!" Clovert and Gregory exclaimed at the same time, while Amelia just stood there, silent for a while, before muttering:


    "That explains things then, why you kept gathering all the monsters killed or wounded on the ground. By the way, where did all these monsters go?"


    She had many questions in mind, and every time she asked one, it would be very important to her and to the other two.


    "They are all inside this ring," Arthur calmly replied, showing off the small ring he wore in his hand.


    "This ring? What is special about it?" She examined the ring carefully, but she couldn''t find anything important or unique about it.


    "It can hold a lot of things, and it enables us to store living and dead monsters inside," Arthur said, when Madly interfered, trying to boast in front of her idol: "We made it."


    Arthur just chuckled, while Amelia nodded her head, before asking:


    "Can you make another one for me?"


    Her question seemed bizarre, but the answer of Arthur came swiftly to quench everyone''s aspiration towards the ring:


    "Sure, I will make one for each person here."


    "That''s reassuring," she exclaimed, as she knew how important such a divine tool might be. She didn''t yet fully understand the full uses of this ring, or how it worked, but if it was like Arthur said, then it would be quite handy.


    "What about the monsters that fought with you? Like this huge bird we are riding right now?" Gregory asked the question that bothered him the most.


    His question made everyone from the old gang smile, and even Lily laughed. Arthur explained the concept of pets to them, promising to make them have ones when they land on the lake. His words were quite shocking, as he declared his ability to make everyone here obtain more than one monster as a bet, using Lily as an example, as she already had two pets right now.


    Arthur didn''t say more, but deep inside him, he wanted to try and make the three new additions to his gang have more than two pets, three at least. Inside his ring, he had quite a variety of monsters, wounded but rather strong and useful monsters.


    He didn''t explain to them the concept of absorbing monsters'' vital organs, as he intended to keep this as a little surprise for them, for later.


    "May I ask, if you know other rogue mages like you?" he finally asked the question in his mind. He wanted to gather more rogue mages and form a small army of his own. The idea came to him when he decided to add the three to his little gang. If he started to add mages, then why didn''t he aim for bigger targets? More mages?


    The words of Arthur startled Amelia and the other two, as they thought he just accepted them on a whim, never thinking he already was planning to add more.


    "I know some," Amelia said, hesitatingly, before adding, "but I can''t vouch for them."


    "What do you mean?" Arthur said.


    "I mean they are already aspiring to join Dorgazire academy, working hard to join a contest to be held soon," she said.


    "Oh, that contest? We already have a token to join it," Madly, innocently, said, like it was nothing. The reaction over the faces of the three was funny, quite funny indeed, especially Clovert and Gregory.


    "What do you mean you have the token?" Gregory asked, trying to confirm his guess.


    "We met someone from the academy, some high leveled disciple, or a master there, I dunno," Arthur explained, "she gave me a token so I can participate in the ongoing contest in a month''s time from now," he added.


    "You have the guest of honor token?" Clovert, in a shocked tone, asked. His tone was shaky, like he was experiencing a deep shock right now.


    "What is about the honor token?" Ouly asked, as he noticed something was odd in their reaction.


    "The token is a rare one, gifted only by a handful of masters, or their trusted disciples. Having such a token will exempt you from entering the preliminary contest, and you will be directed towards the final selection," Clovert said, in a very excited tone.

 Chapter 51: Finding A Legendary Medicinal Herb Garden

    ****Hi everyone, Author san is here, I just want to tell you that, any given day from now on will have a daily competition, where your support with 10 Reviews+50 stones will be awarded with a Mass Release ranging from 5 to 10 chapters daily. Each time you finish the quest, I will release chapters the next day as thanks to your support. I hope you like the novel. ****


    "Do you really have it?" Amelia asked, seriously, "whoever had this token can invite as many people as he wanted, but the rules are that all must succeed or all will fall," she added, stressing over the rules.


    "Yes, I have it," Arthur said, as he never thought this token would be so important. Plus, he could now invite as many members as he liked, and such a thing was a bonus to him.


    "I think you must consider whom to join your team," Amelia said, advising him sincerely.


    "That''s right, you must select the team members carefully. Any weak or unreliable one will end up failing all," Gregory added, joining Amelia in her advice.


    But, the reaction they received from Arthur was just his calm, confident smile. He had the trust in his ability to turn non-mage personnel into very powerful mage, and so if he had mages from the start, he would turn them far stronger than before.


    "Don''t worry about this, just try to contact your friends and tell them to join us in that place if they are interested," he said, in a tone full of confidence.


    Amelia just glanced at him, like the other two, before they took out a small piece of paper. Each one had a group of these papers, which were similar to each other in shape and size. There were some writings over each piece of paper, and Arthur couldn''t make anything from these writings, as they were written in small fonts.


    "Wow, you have the bird''s wings?" Madly exclaimed, in more surprise and shock than before, as she recognized these papers from the first glance.


    "What is the bird''s wing?" Arthur asked, while watching all of the three cut their fingers, and write in their blood over these pieces of papers. Each paper would ignite the moment they raised their fingers away from it, as they threw it in the wind, to turn into ash.


    "They are a simple, yet effective, way to contact others. Mages always have it, but not lower realm mages," Ouly replied, explaining what he already knew about these papers.


    His words made the three busy writing and using these papers chuckle, as Clovert said, correcting his words:


    "It''s not a thing for higher grade mages, they are just quite expensive, especially when they are consumables. So, not any ordinary mage can afford them."


    Arthur now understood these papers, and why they were called like that. He smiled, as this way of contact was somehow strange, but quite familiar, resembling, to some extent, the way of using spiritual plates back at his home.


    He watched, with everybody else, the three writing over twenty papers, then after they finished, they looked like they just did something normal, not quite extraordinary.


    "Will they come?" Arthur asked, doubtfully.


    "I believe they will," Amelia said, "plus I asked them to contact any other friend that might be interested. You are ok with that, right?"


    Arthur was speechless, as she worked on his idea and developed it further. He just nodded in satisfaction, before he said:


    "We need to make plans to get you stronger once we reach there."


    The words he said were really, strangely, trustworthy, as it made everyone picture themselves stronger and more powerful than right now. Even Amelia, who had a back black history, smiled in satisfaction, as it seemed she chose her man quite lucky and right this time.


    The journey took four hours and half, until they reached the outer region of that valley. The place was quite the opposite to what they pictured in their minds, as from the previous serious words about the place, they thought they were heading to a graveyard -like place, or a gloomy place full of fog.


    However, what lay ahead of them was a green place, full of plants, herbs, and flowers of different kinds. The sight of this place alone was enough to make any stress fade away. The two huge series of mountains on the sides were just lining the place, in a beautiful natural order that didn''t seem out of context.


    As for the valley itself, it was really huge, extending inside for the end of the horizon, where a thin, sparkling line appeared there, indicating the presence of the lake.


    "What a paradise!" Lily exclaimed, in surprise and shock, from her admiration to this amazingly beautiful scene.


    "Is this place the dangerous hideous place you spoke of?" Ron asked, in great doubt, Gregory and Clovert. The two just shrugged their shoulders, while Amelia said:


    "This place is really beautiful, but full of dangers. No one ever understood the place, or even explored it to the fullest. All I know is that, sticking to the main road, not harming anything here, and nothing would happen to us."


    Her words aroused some vague, past memories of Arthur. This place was, weirdly, similar, very similar to any cultivator''s own garden, where cultivators used gardens to plant their own herbs for their own elixirs.


    This place strongly reminded him of that, especially that familiar scent of many medicinal herbs and flowers. If he didn''t control himself, he would have darted there, plucking every single herb and flower from inside this heaven.


    However, he was pretty sure of one thing, any medicinal garden for any cultivator was well secured. Planting herbs was a long task, that needed many conditions, plus a lot of time. cultivators usually leave the place for ages, before they return to collect their long awaited herbs.


    To do so, and to make sure no intruder would trespass here, cultivators used to capture strong, very strong monsters, and bound them to the garden, to act as their protectors.


    "It seems the rumors about this place are quite right," he muttered, in a soft voice, that was heard by everyone. The eyes of all were fixed upon him, especially Amelia, who said:


    "I have gone inside for many times already, there is no danger here."


    "Except when you try to get these herbs and flowers, right?" he corrected her, in his mesmerized melancholic tone.


    "Yes, you are right, but why would we risk our lives for such herbs and flowers?" she said, in a determinant tone, like it was out of the question to even think about it.


    "You are wrong," he muttered, as he now knew his luck was so great as it led him to here, "This place is a treasure trove for us."


    His words were vague, quite incomprehensible to the three, but to the others, they knew what he meant. They recollected what he did with the plants and flowers in the cooking, a small addition that made all the difference.


    Arthur''s mind was full of way too complicated uses of these herbs and flowers. He wasn''t aiming just to make food, that would be an insult to such a treasure, he aimed to start making elixirs, hoping that potion making rules here would also apply, like the same back in his world.


    "Let''s get down there," he said, pointing towards a point nearby the entrance, but not actually inside it. he knew the rules to stimulate the guardian of this place, and now after seeing this place, all his prior plans changed.


    ****Hi everyone, Author san is here, I just want to tell you that, any given day from now on will have a daily competition, where your support with 10 Reviews+50 stones will be awarded with a Mass Release ranging from 5 to 10 chapters daily. Each time you finish the quest, I will release chapters the next day as thanks to your support. I hope you like the novel. ****

 Chapter 52: Facing A Four Horned Monster!

    He wouldn''t set foot there now, he would start upgrading everyone''s strength as far as he could, then he would go directly to irritate that place''s guardian, seeking to kill it and finally obtain reign over this treasured garden.


    Birdy descended into the ground, without hesitation Arthur jumped even before they neared it. He wanted to check over the garden, to make sure his guesses were correct.


    Once he moved towards the entrance, he could feel the medicinal aroma in the air. This scent itself excited him more than anything else in this world. he was excited, extremely excited, as he turned to look at others while saying:


    "Let''s start, I want you all to start securing the place first."


    "Here?!" Amelia asked, as she thought they would enter inside the valley.


    "Yes, here," Arthur confirmed her doubts.


    "Won''t we enter the valley?" Madly asked, in more doubt, as she wanted to enter into that piece of paradise.


    "We will," Arthur said, before adding, ???but we will need to do some preparations first."


    "Preparations for what?" Gregory asked, as he didn''t understand, like others around him, the mindset of Arthur.


    "For taking this whole place to be ours," Arthur said, and as he knew he couldn''t explain these things in words, he added, ending this debate, "just trust me and do as I say. Now, let''s go and secure this place."


    He then called Don, his own pet, before he took out his bow and said:


    "Go for half an hour around the place, I want everything cleared. I will go alone, and you will form three teams, each led by Amelia, Clovert, and Gregory. If you meet any strong monster, don''t engage. Just mark its location, and come back here and wait for my return."


    He was excited, extremely excited, knowing that he would get his hands over a medicinal garden in this mage world. elixirs were a touch from god realm to human world, a magical potion that could change one''s life forever. in his mind, he had tons of recipes of many elixirs, and just the thought of his ability to make them again enticed him and ignited his passion once again.


    So, he didn''t wait for anyone, as he darted, in quite obvious impatience, towards the nearby forest. His senses were sharp, extending to cover as wide an area as possible, but he couldn''t reach everywhere. He chose the central location, where he could cover most of the area here.


    He didn''t find any worrying aura, but he also knew his lesson from before. There might be someone or something far stronger than himself, covering up his or her aura, so he couldn''t find them easily.


    What he was sure of, a place such as this garden would always attract many monsters to here, especially stronger ones. The more ripe fruits and mature herbs, the more ferocious monsters would gather.


    If someone told him this place was empty of danger, he would laugh at him. this place was dangerous, quite dangerous, but he had to secure it. if he faced that guardian without clearing his rear, he might be backstabbed by any monster or mage.


    Also, he wanted to raise his team''s strength, as this guardian strength would be far above his own. He must use teamwork to get it down, and each strength added counted.


    Filled with these thoughts he started to wander into the forest, not leaving a single rock unchecked. The moment he stepped in the forest, he felt like being watched. The more he delved deeper into it, the more this feeling became stronger.


    ''So, you are lurking here, trying to hide your aura, but your intent of killing is very rich, that I even would sniff it from here without the need to focus.''


    Arthur was able to sense the killing eyes set upon him, so clear like daylight. He didn''t get where this gaze was coming from, as he felt like it was already stuck to him, like a glue. He didn''t bother to seek it, as he was sure this thing would hit him soon enough. all he had to do was to wait, bid his time, and fake weakness.


    He had Don, and the fact that the monster was eyeing him without caution made him believe it was above one horn strength. Don wasn''t one horned monster, but he was close to that. He hoped it would be a two horned monster, as he could deal with it. as if it was a three horned monster, then he had no hope for that, except if he lured these monsters to others, or grouped others here to kill it.


    Arthur didn''t see any other monster along his journey, and that made him recall the feeling he had when he met the python queen. The empty place, the quiet, almost quiet area, wasn''t that pleasant at all, it was all stressing.


    However, that wasn''t the case of Arthur, as he was thrilled by the fact that he was about to catch another great monster.


    There was a play in his mind, a way to catch monsters without the need to desperately fight it, which was his ring. He could simply touch the monster, and absorb it into his ring.


    However, if that monster was conscious and awake, it could resist his attempt, and thus he would lose this chance. Monsters were sane beings, he learnt that, and so he didn''t want to burn such a great way to end fights without many losses.


    So, he planned things in his mind, as he would play a little if the monster was two horned one, or seek for others help if it was a three horned one. Then when the monster became exhausted by wounds, he would pull the trick and absorb that monster inside his ring.


    Just as he was thinking and planning silently in his mind, a sudden gust of wind appeared suddenly from behind him. if he was a second late, distracted enough to not react, his fate would be bad, very bad.


    The moment he sensed the fluctuations in the area, he changed his direction at once, grabbing Don with him in the way, before he and Don fell on the side, as his eyes were opened wide, from shock, as he finally spotted the monster that attacked him.


    It was a strange monster, had the body of a scorpion, with its four like arms, extending from its huge, armored body, ending it a very vicious and ferocious clasp. Arthur was sure if he was caught by these sharp clasps, he couldn''t survive the attack.


    That wasn''t all, as the monster had a long, curved, very armored tail, that hung above its body, moving left and right in a free way, like a viper waiting to jump over its prey. The end of this tail had a very thin and long needle like extension, that Arthur was sure of its lethality.


    As for the head of this monster, it was the head of a bony skull that resembled the skull of a bird, with a long bony peak, and four horns over its head.


    ''Four horned monster, damn it!''


    Arthur cursed his luck, as this monster was way stronger than he initially thought. Besides, he had this annoying feeling, like a mighty predator looking down on its helpless prey.


    ****Hi everyone, Author san is here, I just want to tell you that, any given day from now on will have a daily competition, where your support with 10 Reviews+50 stones will be awarded with a Mass Release ranging from 5 to 10 chapters daily. Each time you finish the quest, I will release chapters the next day as thanks to your support. I hope you like the novel. ****

 Chapter 53: Killing The Four Horned Monster - Part 1

    Don''s presence here wasn''t an advantage, but a liability, so the first thing Arthur did was to cancel its summon, as he was sure Don wouldn''t survive a moment here.


    "An intelligent human being, so modest and humble to admit his weakness. That''s interesting."


    Suddenly, a crisp sound came from the mouth of this strange monster. Arthur wasn''t that surprised, as he already talked with his dragon descendant queen.


    "Oh, you don''t look surprised, have you met anyone strong like me before? Interesting, it seemed the one you met was merciful enough to let you leave with your life," the crispy sound of the scorpion monster came again, in a tone that was so horrible and bizarre, yet Arthur felt as if it was amused by this.


    Arthur didn''t reply, or even move from his place. He was assessing this huge monster, that was alone enough to crush the whole camp they were at, the first or the second one.


    ''How am I supposed to deal with it?''


    Arthur had this inner thought once he disbanded Don. He was trying to figure out a way to deal with this monster, but every single way he thought of was invalid. The monster had a strong shell over its body, acting as invincible armor. It had very strong four clasps, and that huge poisonous tail, that could move at any range and attack from any angle, extremely deadly.


    Arthur''s only hope was that the monster would be slower than it sounded, but he recalled the way it appeared behind him. just a second of delay and he would be dead! Even if this monster''s weakness was speed, he could barely match it.


    "Invincible on land, let''s see how you will do from air," Arthur muttered, as despite being in disadvantage, he knew hope wasn''t all lost. After all, he still had that card up his sleeve, just the timing, and the preparations for that, and he was considering what to do in his mind about it.


    The monster was looking at Arthur, like it was amusing itself by the idea of a human resisting him. it didn''t move, though Arthur was sure if he slipped in his next move, he wouldn''t live to see what happened.


    Once he established his plan, he started to act. He didn''t put away his bow, as he wanted to use it to attack the monster. Once moved, the monster''s tail paused for a second, as if it was trying to sense his position.


    "Good, you have a sensor ability, that''s one many things I wanted," Arthur muttered, in a cheerful tone, as if the battle was already over. Arthur just moved sideways, from east to west, and from west to east, creating momentum, and gathering up his speed, until he felt it was enough. He wasn''t approaching the monster except one step at a time, and thus when he darted forward, he was closer to it than before.


    "What a fool!" the monster said, as its tail moved at a speed that was hard to follow with naked eye. Arthur knew once he approached the monster, he would get attacked heavily by its tail, and so he didn''t faze out when the tail appeared suddenly in front of his face, in fact he was waiting for it.


    Just as the tail was about to hit him, Arthur used his leg technique, and evaded the tail. He glided rapidly, and smoothly over the tail, before he jumped over the tail to high up. He rose one meter, five meters, ten meters, twenty meters, and then his speed went down.


    The monster didn''t bother to say anything, as Arthur was like a fly to it, and a stupid one in its opinion. Arthur now was just in the perfect spot, just on the level of the long tail, which recoiled to its original place, and all it needed to do was to move forward and sting him.


    However, a simple move like that seemed impossible to hit its target, as Arthur was waiting for this moment. Once the monster''s tail moved, Arthur kicked the air under his feet, to rise up again, and this time, he used the tail as a ground, to jump up, higher and higher than before.


    The monster couldn''t find Arthur anywhere, but Arthur could find it very easily. The monster kept moving its tail right and left, devastating the whole terrain and reshaping it, but Arthur was calm, as his altitude rose to exceed hundreds of meters above.


    "It''s time to make rain."


    Arthur then touched his ring, and from it, huge amounts of oil appeared. He was sure to cover the whole area with it, though it might touch trees accidently, but thanks to this monster, the whole area was now devoid of trees, being crushed under its huge body and sturdy shell.


    Arthur was now high, very high in the sky, and he could easily see everything around him for miles. The one thing he was looking for, was a distant spot, that seemed so small from here, but he knew who this spot was.


    It was Birdy.


    "I hope you can see it," he said, as he grabbed an arrow, and then calmed his breathing, before launching a long distance shot towards Birdy. He made sure he wouldn''t hit it by accident, and he hoped it wouldn''t hit anyone of his teams.


    Just as the arrow went to the far distance, vanished from his eyesight, he went ahead for the next step of his plan.


    "Make it rain fire!"


    He touched his ring again, and three to four pits of fire emerged in the space around him. He just let them fall, freely, towards the ground. He didn''t need to aim, or adjust their landing, or interfere in anything, as that monster was really gigantic, and it didn''t even notice the oil falling from above.


    But surely, it would notice the fire.


    Arthur then kicked the air again, trying to keep his altitude here. He knew he couldn''t keep himself here for much time, but he hoped for Lily to understand his message, and come to his rescue.


    As for the pits of fire he just threw down, they fell rapidly, gathering momentum, before they hit the hard shell of the monster, covered with the sticky, oily, thick layer, and then¡­


    "Boom!"


    A sudden, loud, massive explosion occurred. It was so massive that a cloud of dust, ash, and black smoke rose up rapidly, hitting Arthur''s body, and drifting him away, without any control.


    Arthur didn''t expect the massiveness of such an attack to be like this, despite he only used one third of his own reserves, decreasing the initial amount he thought of, which was the whole reservoir.


    If he did that, he might be caught in the middle of the fire, and be burnt along with the monster.


    His body drifted, uncontrollably, and the whole world kept circling around him, earth became sky, sky became the ground, and vise versa. He moved rapidly, gaining acceleration, and this was a very dangerous moment in his life.


    He gathered up all his power, closed his eyes, calmed down himself, and then kicked strongly, with all his might, towards a random direction. It was impossible for him to ascertain his position, but at the moment he used his leg technique, he opened his eyes, looked around him in a rapid, flash move, to realize his position.


    ****Hi everyone, Author san is here, I just want to tell you that, any given day from now on will have a daily competition, where your support with 10 Reviews+50 stones will be awarded with a Mass Release ranging from 5 to 10 chapters daily. Each time you finish the quest, I will release chapters the next day as thanks to your support. I hope you like the novel. ****

 Chapter 54: I Will Save You, But Dont Chase After Me, My Love!

    He was upside down right now, and if his technique linked, he would end up hitting the ground massively, creating a deep crater. So, he relaxed his leg, didn''t complete the technique, holding himself back, and thus his body regained his momentum, and started rotating again.


    When his body became straight, he unleashed his full technique, hitting the air violently, feeling a severe pain along his leg muscles.


    However, it wasn''t the time to be distracted, as he had moved, unwillingly, under the effect of that huge cloud of smoke, slightly away from the place of the monster.


    This wasn''t in his plan, as he didn''t perceive the huge damage of the oil. Just as he was looking for any thread of hope, a line of feathers passed rapidly across his face, to finally find a familiar body under his feet, carrying him away.


    It was Birdy, with Lily on its back, with a very worried look of horror over her face.


    "No, no, return, return back now!"


    Arthur didn''t even stabilize his body or say a thanks to the impressively timely appearance of her, as he asked her to return. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but he hurriedly said in a decisive tone:


    "Return back now, there is no time to waste."


    He was panting, and his clothes were already tattered in many places, clouded with the black smoke, even turning his face into black color. Lily swallowed what she was about to say, as from the urgent tone of him she realized how bad the situation was. She hurriedly ordered Bridy to take a sharp turn, that was enough to make him lose balance, but he caught the long feathers of Birdy at the last moment.


    His body was full of injuries, either surface or deep hidden ones. His leg muscles were torn in many places, and even his mouth had a long, dried line of black blood that was enough to express how dire his situation was.


    However he didn''t give up, he knew if he didn''t act now, linking all the steps he had done so far together with this last step, he would lose this opportunity, and next time this arrogant monster wouldn''t give him a chance to act.


    Just as Birdy flew just adjacent to the place of that monster, where a thick pillar of black smoke kept rising up, with extreme elevated temperature, Arthur let the feathers go, to free fall from this altitude, directly with great momentum towards the ground.


    As he just adjusted his body with a very painful move, he tried to console himself, enduring this pain, by thinking that the worse had yet to come. He used his senses to scan the area, confirming the place of the monster, which seemed to receive a sudden hit that it didn''t count for.


    It was now standing still, with a thick fire emerging from it. Arthur knew this would be risky, but it was the only way he could think of to deal with this monster. the thing that made him more depressed, was the fact the guardian monster was even way stronger than this one.


    If he had such a hard time dealing with such a monster, how could he deal with that guardian? Arthur knew his luck was great, but he doubted it would be great enough to make him defeat that guardian now.


    Pushing away these random thoughts, he focused, greatly focused, on the place he was falling so rapid towards. His prior plan was to fall directly above the monster, but now he couldn''t achieve that, and he was extremely glad he couldn''t.


    If he fell from such height, facing all this black smoke with very dangerous high temperature, he would have been burnt long before he reached the monster.


    Now, he had the advantage to skip this, but he had now to shift his fall, to enter this smoke, and to endure the burning as much as he could, and be, hopefully and luckily, awake when he reached the monster.


    Gritting his teeth, and his mind playing games on him, picturing the pain he would be subjected to, he shifted the direction of his fall using his leg technique, to fall directly above the monster, violently entering the black smoke and fire region.


    Once entered there, he was welcomed by a thick, extremely scorching wave of heat, and choking smoke that made him unable to breath, open his eyes, or even feel anything.


    Luckily, though, he was using his senses to search for his location, and thus when he couldn''t see anything, he knew his exact position, used his leg technique to push his body slightly upward, before rolling up his body upside down, extending his hand downward, piercing through a burning layer of extremely violent fire, and touched the hard shell of the monster.


    "ENTER MY RING!"


    He screamed, out of pain, suffocation, and torture, as the huge body of that monster vanished, with the huge fire, and that thick pillar of smoke. The place he was just falling into had, miraculously changed, from hell to paradise for him, however he had no strength left in him, and the mild fall he was subjected to had made him unable to move.


    It was like the monster had tortured him over and over again. his whole body was covered in burns, and even his muscles appeared under his skin. His hair was burnt, even his eyelashes were gone. His eyes were red, extremely red like they were about to burst at any moment.


    He was vomiting blood from time to time, as he felt everything despite the numbness spreading into his body. He felt when Lily reached him first, cried on his side like he was dying. He felt when every single member of his little team reached here, to be extremely shocked by the devastation here, and the horrible state he was in.


    The most shocked and even crashed beside him was Ron, who couldn''t help himself and screamed like he had already lost a brother. Arthur was touched by all of their reactions, even the newly joined to his team were extremely shocked and sad.


    The huge explosion that happened here was already enough to alarm every single living being in the radius of tens of miles, if not hundreds of miles. Everyone rushed here fast to be shocked by what they saw. None of them knew what happened, none except Lily, who was so shocked and devastated that she couldn''t stop crying into the huge Amelia, with only one word on her little lips: I''m sorry!


    Arthur knew his body condition was very bad, and he didn''t expect this to be the end result of everything. He had already faced many tribulations before, but it seemed his soul was ironclad, and his body was a clay.


    Every breath was so painful and tiring that he started to hope not to breathe again. He even closed his eyes, when the lights around him started to fade away. He wasn''t able to retain his consciousness, even when he tried to, he had failed, for the second time in a row he had failed in a great test, and he didn''t deserve a second chance anymore.


    ''Don''t think like that, my love, I will save you.''


    This sweet voice echoed in his mind, like a warm spring that could heal even the deep wounds of the soul. Amidst the darkness of his soul, a light shone so bright that was enough to enlighten everything around him. He couldn''t bear to look at it, so he closed his eyes and opened them, to be met with a face so beautiful that he even forgot to breathe. This face was familiar, so familiar to him, but he couldn''t tell whose face was.


    The face just giggled, as the light that shone a brief moment ago came from here, and without any notice, she leaned over him, kissed his dry, burnt lips passionately like it was the last kiss between the two.


    This moment froze the time itself, the whole world was silent, still, not moving forward in respect to this moment, which seemed to last forever.


    The face moved away from him, ending the kiss he dreamt not to end, and she chuckled, in a way he never saw before, so mesmerizing that he felt there was no other woman out there but her.


    ''Unfortunately I can''t be with you anymore, I have to return to my clan residence, and I won''t be able to leave there anymore. Don''t cry for me, don''t look for me, I will always live happily knowing you are living happily as well. Thanks for the brief moments we knew each other at, these were priceless moments, and thanks for your help, I now evolved and can join my real clan.


    If you ever wanted to remember me, remember my new name, Zilia. I want you to live prosperous, be happy, and rule over this world with your might. I will always cheer for you, even if I can''t ever see you again. good bye my love."


    The soft voice echoed in his ears, and he was given a long hug, before the angelic body and face of this goddess started to turn into spots of lights, so shiny and beautiful that even the sun couldn''t rival them. eventually her body vanished, and the spots of light faded until they dimmed and disappeared.


    And finally the whole world regained its clarity, its vitality, and its brutality, and Arthur sat up in his place, looking in a shocking gaze, without a single scratch or injury in his body.


    It was as if the dying version of him a moment ago was an illusion in the eyes of others, who just opened their mouths agape, and even retreated a couple of steps, before they screamed, ran towards him, and gave him a long, very passionate hug, full of tears and cries of joy.


    He also cried, but from the pain he felt deeply in his heart, as he lost someone, someone so dear to him that he felt this much pain when she vanished. He cried, and for the first time in his life he swore for a woman, no matter what, he wouldn''t stop until he found her home, and take her, even by force, from there.


    As she saved him, he would save her, no matter what!


    ****Hi everyone, Author san is here, I just want to tell you that, any given day from now on will have a daily competition, where your support with 10 Reviews+50 stones will be awarded with a Mass Release ranging from 5 to 10 chapters daily. Each time you finish the quest, I will release chapters the next day as thanks to your support. I hope you like the novel. ****

 Chapter 55: Going to The Academy is A Must!

    The whole group was literally over him, asking tons of questions, while others might check again to see if he still had any injury or not. Actually, he heard and saw everything they did, but his mind was somewhere else, feeling like he just lost something so precious to him.


    He didn''t know what he lost at first, but when he put his hand over his heart, felt that gaping pain in it, he was sure, pretty sure, of what he just lost.


    "So you have gone!" he softly muttered, in a bitter tone, with a long thin thread of tears flowing, unwillingly, unconsciously from his eyes. His soft voice wasn''t heard amongst the voices of others, but Amelia heard what he just said, as she stood near him, eyeing him in a strange, unbelieving look.


    "Are you ok?" This scream that came from Lily made him return finally to the real world. He just lost himself in these minutes, as he was overwhelmed by the pain he just had, and the loss he just suffered.


    "I''m fine," he smiled, trying to lie on her, trying to lie on everyone here.


    "That''s great, I didn''t know what to do, I was about to die from panic," Ron said, as he, so exhausted from the stress and emotions, sat on the ground in front of Arthur. "Don''t ever do this again," he added, in a warning finger waving in the face of Arthur.


    "Don''t worry," he just said, recalling what just happened. He lamented to himself, as he thought, wrongly, his body could sustain what monsters could, and he failed. He terribly and miserably failed, leading him to lose her.


    He moved his eyes, to see he wasn''t there, back where the monster was burnt and taken into his storage ring, he was taken back towards the entrance of that medicinal garden. He suddenly felt some aroma, that once he smelled it, sensed it entering his body, a refreshing energetic wave erupted inside his body.


    He thought he was deluded by what he just passed through, and he admitted to himself that he needed to take a few times with himself, to wrap things up and try to settle the disturbed storm of emotions inside him.


    However, he knew he would be dreaming if he could do this, right now, especially after what he just paid to get that monster trapped into his ring. He suddenly felt great hate, the urge to go and let that monster die inside his ring, however after some deep breaths, and moving for a while around the place, alone, he calmed down his disturbed mind.


    The group was already nervous, stressed by what happened to him. After he got up from this bad injury, miraculously, without any explanation, they didn''t ask him about how he improved, as they were all focusing on Lily, who was now narrating what happened and how did Arthur end up in this terrible way.


    But, a pair of two eyes were fixed on Arthur, no matter where he went. He felt the gazes of Amelia on him, but he thought it might be a curiosity of how he got himself improved like this.


    He didn''t put that in his mind, as he was now thinking about the words the queen of pythons said to him. every time he thought about her, that soft, enchanting kiss she gave him always lingered in his mind. He even kept feeling the taste of her lips like the sweetest thing ever.


    "So¡­" he muttered, lost in thoughts, as he admitted to himself, he had lost her. He tried to summon her, but he couldn''t, as she wasn''t there anymore. He recalled when she taught him the way to make her couple with him, forming a tighter, more advanced bond than the pet contract.


    "Was it illegal?" he asked himself, again, one question after another. He lacked information, he lacked understanding, and he couldn''t trust anyone about this, so he had to do this in secret, and without attracting any suspicion.


    So, he knew everything would start when he would go to the academy. There, he would have a better opportunity to learn more, and try to understand what really happened.


    The journey to the academy changed, shifted from just being a place to get more opportunities to grow, into a place with the answers he was seeking and lacking right now.


    "And then Arthur just jumped from the back of Birdy, down towards that huge burning monster, and then puff, the monster was gone in a second and Arthur was there, lying motionless on the ground, with his very severe wounds you just saw."


    Lily''s voice attracted his attention, as he decided to return to reality, and the group, and proceed with more determination towards his next target. Before that, he looked into his ring, checked on the state of that monster, which was screaming in rage the moment he woke up, finding itself in an alien place, with no ability to move a muscle.


    Arthur just checked on its condition, and made sure the burning wounds on its body never heal rapidly, before walking back to the group.


    "Is there such a monster here before?" Madly asked Amelia, as Amelia was the only person who visited into this place more than once.


    "I never saw or heard about or felt the presence of such monsters. you said it was huge in size, with four horns on its head?" she asked.


    "Yes, Arthur was the one who fought it, wasn''t it with four horns?" Lily directed the question to Arthur, who just approached them, with a slightly better look on his face.


    "Yes, it was a four horned monster, but it wasn''t a scorpion only, as its head was made out of bones," he said, as he sat with the group, on the ground.


    "Bony head?" Gregory muttered, as his face turned pale.


    "What''s wrong?" Ouly asked, as he and the others noticed the sharp reaction of the three mages in the group.


    "This wasn''t a four horned monster," Clovert said, as he took a deep breath before adding, "Four horned monsters are the limit any monster can evolve keeping its original shape. After that, the more horns it gets, the more strange things it will appear. The most common changes are the bones, as part of the monsters turn into bony appearances."


    "Do you mean it was five horned monsters?" Arthur asked in disbelief, as he never saw a fifth horn anywhere.


    "It???s normal you can''t see the fifth horn, as it''s usually hidden well by some tricky monsters. It''s usually hidden inside the bony part of the monster, so the bony transformation was acknowledged as one of the main transformations any five horned monsters or above could have," Amelia said, explaining to Arthur and the others more facts about the higher grades monsters.


    Arthur shook his head. "So even if I asked for your help, you wouldn''t be able to make a difference, right?"


    The face of Amelia twitched slightly, as she understood what he was asking about. Her reaction returned to normal as she replied, with much honesty:


    "Yes, no one here would stand a chance in front of that monster."


    "What monster are you talking about in this high regard?"


    A sudden voice appeared coming from the edge of the forest, attracting everyone''s attention. A group of ten suddenly appeared, and their aura was as scary as Amelia, but they were very careful not to release it, just like her.


    Arthur eyed them, and he knew they were part of the group Amelia and the other two invited to join his cause. At first he planned this out of whim, but now he regarded this move seriously, very seriously, as he would use all the possibilities in front of him to soar to the heavens, and shake it if needed and save Zilia.


    ****Hi everyone, Author san is here, I just want to tell you that, any given day from now on will have a daily competition, where your support with 10 Reviews+50 stones will be awarded with a Mass Release ranging from 5 to 10 chapters daily. Each time you finish the quest, I will release chapters the next day as thanks to your support. I hope you like the novel. ****

 Chapter 56: Show Me Your Worth

    Amelia didn''t find anything offensive in his question, as she honestly replied:


    "I don''t know what you are talking about, but my assessment was barely level three when I was nine."


    Arthur looked at her for a moment, as he totally forgot his way of assessing talent here was different, way different than the way talent was assessed in this world.


    "Great, gather up Gregory, Clovert, and the others, I want to explain something to all of you."


    Arthur''s words were vague, but the two in front of him suddenly felt the weight of them, it was like a higher master was about to give pointers. So, they went ahead and gathered everyone, as the rest of the group came to hear what Arthur was about to say.


    "Ok, what I''m going to tell you isn''t traditional here, in this world, but it''s applicable and real, so try to embrace it as a fact, and don''t question it," he said, as he started addressing everyone here, "the way assessing talents works here isn''t fair. In my humble opinion it''s just a superficial way to assess talents.


    In my opinion, there are ways to assess talents, as it''s not only based on a nine years old assessment, as basically our bodies can grow, and I mastered a way to make each and single body of ours grow its potentiality, and be stronger with time.


    Just look around you, all of them were just mere normal youths, with barely level one talent, in your known standards. After staying with me for less than a week, I believe their growth in talent would be least described as being monstrous, as each one of them would now be ranked in level three to four at the least."


    He paused, letting others marvel and be astonished from this fact. even Amelia and the two beside her never knew about this before. The others, however, just nodded, as they confirmed the words Arthur just said.


    "Is this related to that meat?" Amelia asked, as she was intelligent, very smart to guess it on her own.


    "Yes, it''s the way I used to raise my and others talents to the degree we have now. Besides that," he added as he summoned Don," I will boast your talents by two other ways you never heard of before, pet contract and absorbing pure energy in the form of vital organs of monsters.


    However," he paused, as his face became serious, "doing so must be according to rules, and the most important one is to figure out your main attribute. Generally there are basic attributes, and advanced ones. Basic attributes are the ones I''m going to discuss now, as advanced attributes are just rare, extremely rare."


    He then moved to Don as he said:


    "the pet can be any monster you like, and there is no limit to the grade of the monster, but we need to make it submit to you, and this might be the only limitation we might have."


    "Does that mean that five horned monster can be a pet too?"Amelia asked, with much expectation and thrill in her tone.


    "Yes, sure, and not only it, as the other monster we are going to fight later might be also a pet candidate," Arthur instantly, and casually replied.


    "What monster?" Madly asked, as she and the others looked around themselves in questioning manner, searching for this hidden monster.


    "This," Arthur paused, as he didn''t know how to describe it, "this place isn''t a normal valley. It has a very significant value, very important in our future growth, but," he paused, as he looked at Amelia and added, "the rumors regarding this place are, unfortunately, true. There is a monster living here, we can say it''s the guardian of this treasure.


    If we wanted to really boost our strength by bounds we never imagined, in a very short time span, then we needed to fight this monster and at least conquer it."


    His words were weird, as they exchanged silent glances full of doubt between each other. "Don''t question me, what I''m stating is a fact. another fact is this monster grade, at least, is slightly higher than that scorpion I just fought, and this is also another fact," he said.


    His confident tone made them start to believe what he just said.


    "How can we do this impossible task you are speaking about?" Omar said, shocking his head, as he knew the task of fighting a five horned monster was already too much for him and his team, not a higher grade monster.


    "I will boast your strength, all of your strength in the next week, and by the end of it we will be ready to face this monster," Arthur, calmly, said, as if what fear and doubt Omar just expressed were groundless.


    "Are you sure?" Omar asked, in great doubt, that Arthur never cared about. "Yup, pretty sure, and now," Arthur spoke in a tone that ended the current discussion, "what we need to discuss isn''t the possibility of killing that monster or not, what we can do now is to look for the answer of this question, what''s the attribute of each one of you?"


    He said, as he looked to each one in the eye. He knew determining attributes wasn''t that hard, but what was harder, though, was to find a suitable perfect match for each one of them. He knew there was another thing he couldn''t tell them now, which colors he noticed when each one used his abilities in fight.


    Arthur knew he had a long road ahead of him if he wanted to, systemically, transfer the deep knowledge he had to be applicable in this world. so, he just opened his mouth and explained the most basic form of attributes.


    "The most essential attributes are strength, agility, defense, vitality, and intelligence. According to each attribute, I will look for a monster suited best for you to absorb their vital energy."


    "Is this necessary?" Gregory asked, in doubt, "I think our strength is decent, just adding pets would be awesome," he added.


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "You need to understand that growing your strength is more important than raising your fight abilities. If you are at level three and stuck there, then you will face limited choices in front of you, like the maximum number of pets you can have.


    If you focused on raising your talent, and growing your own strength, then even if you started low, like level two mage for example, in less than a year you can be at level four or even five. That would boost your strength, make you be able to couple with much powerful monsters, and obtain much more pets."


    "Can we have more than one pet?" Omar asked, as he pointed to Don, who was sitting, obediently, behind Arthur like a bodyguard.


    "Sure, but now let''s wrap this up and each one has to think, very hard, about his attributes. By the way, I know you came here to join us, and you are now following my lead, but I won''t help anyone just joining me without really showing me their worth," Arthur suddenly said, attracting everyone''s attention, as this was a brand new rule.


    "For example, Amelia, Gregory, and Clovert had already participated in two major wars with us. So, I will help them get stronger now. if you want to watch, then fine, but to receive the same treatment as them, you all need to show me your worth,?? Arthur added, in a complete serious and dominant tone.

 Chapter 57: A Plan to Have Another Monster Hunting Feast

    "What do you need us to do?" Omar asked, after he exchanged silent glances with Amelia.


    "Whenever you are ready, I will take you to another place, deeper in the forest, and then I will use something to draw many monsters to us. You need to work hard and kill or wound them," Arthur said, and when the old ones heard him, their mouths twitched, and their faces changed.


    "Is this that bad?" Omar muttered to Amelia, who stood beside him. she didn''t reply on him, as she hurriedly said:


    "Wouldn''t it be challenging and quite risky if we just send them without any preparations or help to their strength?"


    Her words were met by a cheer of whispers and nodding, as that was a fair suggestion. Arthur didn''t mind that, as he simply, and carefree said:


    "If they expressed their will to go, then I will grant each one of them one pet and a lot of good meat to boast their strength, plus some arrangement like we had before."


    Amelia found these words acceptable, but as she was the one to invite Omar and the others, she added another request:


    "If so, I ask to go with them and help them in their quest."


    Arthur looked at her for a moment, and before he could answer her, Gregory jumped in as well, "Me too," he said.


    "And me," Clovert added.


    "Fine, fine, you all will go there, but after you get your rewards," Arthur said, as he then turned to look at Ouly, "Your job is to prepare a cooking section here. you might take whoever you want, and take down these trees," he then turned to look at Lily, "You will be responsible for alarming us if there is any danger approaching," then he turned to Madly and Ron, "You two will be responsible to move towards any danger and neutralize it until I and the others come to your aid, as for the rest," he then turned to look towards the newly joined members of his team, "follow me."


    He had arranged everything in minutes, as he took the main empty part here, preparing to make the pet contracts. In front of the others, he took out a small wooden cart, the one he used before he made the ring, and then he started to get busy with what he was doing.


    They were curious to see what he was doing, so they approached him and saw him get a lot of blood from thin air, and put it into many small cups, which mostly made of skull remains of the dead monsters inside his ring.


    This blood was the highest ranked blood he got, which he collected from the five horned scorpion monster he had inside his ring. The monster size was very huge, and so the amount of blood he had was now great, enough to be used for months.


    When he finished, he turned to look at the curious eyes as he asked:


    "Now, what are your main attributes?"


    Amelia spoke first, as she said:


    "I think Intelligence would be my attribute."


    Arthur didn''t know if she was right or wrong, but he trusted her judgment. "Add strength as well," he added, before looking towards Gregory. "I''m strong," he said. Arthur watched Gregory in the fight before, and he didn''t have any remarkable opinion of him.


    "And you?" he turned to ask Clovert, who replied: "Agility perhaps."


    "And strength," Arthur added, as he watched Clovert in battle before, and he had a better impression of him.


    "What about us?" Omar asked, "Will you ask us about our attributes?"


    "Nope," Arthur shook his head, "you will get pets, but they will get pets and vital organs. You don''t need attributes to have pets, I will choose the highest grade pets with me," he added, while going towards an empty place, carrying the brush he once made from a tree branch and a cup full of blood.


    "How can he get all these things from thin air?" Omar whispered to Amelia, as this question bothered him a lot.


    "He has some strange item that ring over there. He can store anything inside, and so he can also retrieve things he stored there," she whispered back, while motioning with her eyes towards Arthur''s ring.


    Arthur heard their speech, but he didn??t care about it. He was busy preparing many places to act as pet contract grounds. He had thirteen mages here, so he made five places ready for pet contracts. After they finish, he will proceed again to prepare five more, and then the last three.


    Once he finished, he looked towards the ones standing watching him doing his magic. The look over their faces drove a smile unconsciously on his face.


    "C''mon, you three and Omar and another one," Arthur said as he moved to stand in front of the five places meant for pet contracts. Amelia was the first to move, followed by the others, as each stood inside the circle made of blood without any order.


    "Ok, listen to me, you all will stand on the end of the ring, opposite to me¡­ yes, that''s it," Arthur said, while instructing them to stand on their designated spots. "Now, I will take out a wounded monster. don''t be worried about it, as it won''t do anything to you. They are all defeated and docile. After I take out your future pet, I want each one of you to look to the monster and say out loud: Begin, or start, or execute, all are fine to me."


    Arthur stopped, and didn''t say more. "What should we do next?" Amelia asked. "Nothing," Arthur shrugged his shoulders, "The contract will be activated at once, so make sure you don''t leave your place," he added.


    The ring he drew on the grassy ground wasn''t a perfect circle, as the part related to the mages side was small, and the part related to the monsters was big, very big.


    He then closed his eyes, and started to inspect monsters inside his storage ring. He had the fire pits working without pause a long time ago, but the ability to turn the monsters into meat pieces took longer than he expected, though the end result was much more perfect than before.


    If he didn''t plan to make another trip, and use the newly added images to gather up more dead and wounded monsters, he would prefer to continue cooking monsters at this slow pace.


    However, he was sure the amount of monsters he would obtain from the next fight would be huger, much huger than he got before. Besides, the monster ranking would be higher, much higher than those inside his ring.

 Chapter 58: May I Have A Flying Monster as A Pet, Please?

    When he opened his eyes again, after long minutes of silence, he was ready to start with the first pet. He knew those mages in front of him were much stronger than him and the others, that meant they would have, at least, three pets, if not four.


    The highest monster from that battle was one horned monster, and thus he planned to equip everyone here with two monsters at first, then wait until he returned from the second feast to add one more pet to them, double horned or three horned at least.


    As for himself, he had lost Zilia, and that meant he could obtain another pet. Don was good, but right now he was weaker than he needed. He was sure Don would grow up into one horned monster, or maybe two horned one, but that wouldn''t occur now, not so soon.


    The first monster he summoned was for the mage that came with Omar, it was an agile deer-like monster, with one horn on its head. Its body size wasn''t that huge, but its legs were thick and long, that made his size doubt human size.


    "This one is for you," Arthur said, before going to Omar as he took out a monster that was much like a rhinoceros. The monster seemed so dangerous, with a horn on its head, and another one extending just above its mouth. "And this is for you," Arthur said.


    "Wow, two horned monsters, that''s insane!" the mage who came with Omar exclaimed, with much envy. Arthur just glanced at him, then Omar, then the monster, as he didn''t think there would be double horned monsters in this patch.


    He then stopped in his place, searched inside his ring again. There were around thirty rhinoceros monsters like this one, which made him change all his prior plans. He returned to that mage place, waved his hand over the deer, to make it disappear, then another huge, violent looking rhinoceros appeared instead.


    The expression on everyone here was funny, as they didn''t expect for Arthur to wave a hand and then a huge brutal monster appeared out of thin air. What was shocking, though, was the monster itself. It was sitting in place, motionless, though its breaths alone were enough to make anyone looking it in the eye shudder.


    Arthur then didn''t need to hesitate anymore, as these monsters made him quite satisfied. He put a rhinoceros in front of everyone, making them all wonder how many rhinoceroses he already had.


    "May I have that deer?" Clovert, who was the only archer here, asked. Arthur just chuckled, as he waved his hand once, and the deer disappeared, and then he waved it again, and a one horned, bird like monster appeared. It resembled a falcon, but with a huge body and huge wings.


    "Oh my, it''s a flying monster!" Omar was shocked this time, as he didn''t expect to see a fling monster here.


    ""This would be the second person here to have a flying monster," Amelia said, as she winked her left eye to him. She knew how much he adored flying monsters, but he never ever dreamt of obtaining one before.


    "May I also change mine into a flying monster?" he suddenly asked, loudly, as his men standing far behind murmured between themselves. It was a known fact how much Omar loved flying monsters.


    Arthur just looked at him, and he was about to refuse. Omar was a swordsman, and such a profession was the exact opposite to the nature of the monster he was asking for. He already had a lot of flying monsters inside his ring, but he knew it would be a bad idea to agree on his proposal.


    However, just as he was about to say no, he noticed Amelia, as she was making motions with her eyes to attract his attention.


    "Please agree," she said, without any sound, using lips only, which seemed quite weird.


    "Ok," Arthur, unwillingly said, shaking his head, "but not this time, when we return from the battle up ahead, I will make a flying monster be your pet."


    Arthur thought he would be depressed by his reply, but the shocking thing was what he did, as he knelt on one knee, and swore:


    "I will always be indebted to you with my life, forever."


    Arthur just watched this sharp reaction silently, before he sighed and then retreated couple of steps to the back, while saying:


    "It''s time, start."


    "Begin!"


    All of them said in the same voice. Suddenly, all the blood on the ground, the blood on the rocks shone brightly, before a large shielding bubble appeared, covering everyone inside.


    Just before anyone opened his mouth to ask about what was happening , this shield disappeared at once, like a bubble being burst, showing only the mages inside, with no monsters.


    At the same time, everyone felt a tingling sensation on different parts of his or her body, where a new tattoo appeared, in the shape of the monster, to express the success of the process.


    "There tattoos are the places these monsters reside inside your bodies, so don''t be alarmed with them," Arthur spoke, a cheerful tone, before adding, "now, all of you retreat, except for Amelia, Clovert, and Gregory, you will have another round of pets."


    His words made every single one here turn to glance, with much envy, at the three of them, who just chuckled, feeling the advantage of joining the group early than others.


    As Arthur resumed arranging the ground, Ouly had the others help and their monsters to pave the way. With the addition of the new members and their huge pets, taking trees off was now a piece of cake process.


    Everything went smoothly as ever, while Lily was flying on the sky to monitor the place, and Clovert had planned to join her in the mission of surveillance she was doing.


    Omar, amidst all this, took out so many bird wings and then they burnt and disappeared. Arthur noticed his actions and just laughed to himself. He was sure after seeing and experiencing the special treat he was giving whoever joined him, and the huge difference in growing each person''s strength.


    Arthur continued to work, while Amelia was having a little chat with Omar, asking him about whom he sent these bird wings to. After she knew about them, she felt the decision she took from before, to be part of this group, was really a wise decision where luck played a great role in.

 Chapter 59: Betraying Me? Huh, Thats Funny, Im Not Afraid of Anyone!

    The second pets for the three, Amelia, Gregory, and Clovert were white panthers like monsters, with a tail so strong and vicious that it ended with a spear-like extension. As for the other mages who came with Omar, they had their rhinoceroses like the rest of the group. After Arthur finished, he had another thing to do, which was to make the three absorb the vital organs of a recently killed monster.


    For Amelia he took out a rhinoceros and killed it, took out its still pulsating heart, made a wound at her hand, and then let her body absorb it in a peaceful, sleepy way. Omar and his team gathered up watching this sorcery, with no words to describe what they were seeing.


    Arthur was content with their reaction, as this meant more faith and loyalty for him. Clovert took the liver of the deer monster, while Gregory asked for rhinoceros as well. Arthur complied with his request, and after he finished with them, he had finally some time to visit the cooking area.


    Omar went by him, as he was surprised beyond imagination, and he wanted to ask many questions, but what Arthur did later made him more speechless.


    Hills of dead monsters appeared out of nowhere, occupying a large stretch of the recently emptied lands. Arthur took all the killed monsters inside his ring, and left those living as a future life stock for his family and people living under the family banner.


    Monsters inside didn''t need to be fed, or cared for, and to his surprise, they could mate. He thought of a theory regarding the growth of any monster to breakthrough its shackles and raise a grade. Either this monster would eat a treasure, or live in a place full of concentrated sources of energy.


    Arthur noticed, to some extent, the heavenly treasure inside his ring emanated a strong quantum of energy, so he let this energy prevail in the whole ring. He even didn''t prevent the scorpion five horned monster from benefiting from it, as this monster was regarded as one of his best assets.


    "I know you have questions, go ahead and ask," Arthur, after finally ending all this, and waiting for the three sleepy to wake up, decided to have a long chat with Omar, who accepted the gesture and asked:


    "What is happening to them?"


    "It''s a way to boost anyone''s strength. See it like this, each monster has some sort of strength, strength, defense, agility, and so on. this strength didn''t come from nowhere, but concentrated mainly inside one of his organs.


    If you managed to slain a monster and then searched for this organ before its energy dissipated, you could absorb this energy via connecting your energy system with this organ.


    However doing so is a long and extreme process, so the mind usually tends to sleep, as a precaution against any over absorption of the energy," Arthur explained slowly to him, trying to make him understand the theory behind this procedure.


    "And you can identify this organ?" Omar asked.


    "Sure," Arthur nodded with confidence.


    "What''s this energy system?" he asked after a moment of thinking.


    "It''s the channels where mages can circulate their energy to use it. it''s a very advanced term, I don''t think it''s commonly known here," Arthur honestly said, as describing this was much harder than describing the previous theory.


    "Aha, I see," Omar nodded, as he didn''t get an answer but he felt Arthur was speaking out of some knowledge, knowledge he never met someone had before. "Look, I took the liberty and invited some of my trusted guys, they are as strong as me, and I can vouch for them with my life," he added, speaking about what he did earlier.


    "That''s great, I intended to make my group as big as it can. So, if you and others know mages who can join us, rogue mages of course, then you can invite them," Arthur said with a calm smile, encouraging him.


    "You don''t care about their attitude or nature?" Omar asked in doubt.


    "Oh Omar," Arthur sneered before adding, "anyone that crosses the line will be killed personally by me. this is something I''m not worried about, besides," he then turned to look at everyone else around them, who were working with much devotion and high spirit, "anyone who can be given a second chance of life by me won''t think about betraying me, regardless of anything else, he or she will try their best to please me. After all, I''m the one who make them like this, and I''m the only one who can maintain their advantage in life."


    The words of Arthur were so arrogant, but they were true to the core. Omar, when thought about it, realized this simple, yet ignored fact. what they had gotten from him so far was done only by him, and no one else here knew how to do anything he just did.


    No one here could make the monsters as pets, or find the vital organ to absorb it, or even had that miraculous ring in his finger like Arthur. Omar''s eyes just opened on the utter and simple truth, if Arthur decided to abandon anyone, he or she would be doomed!


    No one would be satisfied by the life he lived before after seeing what Arthur just did, so he understood the logic behind Arthur''s confidence and calmness. He wasn''t arrogant, he was just simply realistic.


    "Can I ask my friends then to invite their friends too?" he suddenly asked, as he realized the more favor he could get from this youth, the better. He was lucky, as he knew Arthur in this early stage, where any effort, no matter how simple or small it was, counted.


    "Sure," Arthur simply nodded, complying with Omar''s desires, knowing what he was thinking of.


    Arthur then started to help Ouly and the others in cooking, while Omar went busy for a while, sending and receiving bird wings. After he finished, he came with his former mages, as he ordered them, from his good heart, to try and curry all the favors they could from Arthur.


    He also advised them to learn from his doings, after all life wasn''t a guarantee, and he didn''t know what their future destiny might be.


    The three kept sleeping till the next morning. Throughout night, there were some random beast attacks from time to time, attracted to the smell of food here. Arthur didn''t have to go out and kill them himself, as Omar mages, led by Omar himself, did the job.


    They also made sure to bring back the bodies of the killed or wounded monsters, where some were double horned monsters, and even there were five three horned monsters there.

 Chapter 60: A Quarrel with the Heavenly Garden Guarding Monster

    Arthur didn''t care about them, as he was sure when he returned from that battle, he would have many three and four horned monsters inside his ring.


    At the early hours of the morning, the three woke up, feeling greatly different from before. Their strengths soared by bounds, and now Amelia was known as the most powerful one in the team, aside from Arthur of course.


    No one knew how strong exactly was Arthur, but they took his ability to take down a five horned monster as reference to his strength. No one here, including the boosted Amelia, could take on a five horned monster alone and survive.


    When they were finished from eating their meat share, which was now accumulated literally in hills inside Arthur''s ring, they were ready to move out.


    "Clovert, take out your flying pet."


    Arthur instructed Clovert, who gladly and excitedly complied. It was his first time summoning his pet, and when he did, he just felt a great sense of pride and excitement. He couldn''t wait and jumped over his pet''s back, while Arthur laughed while following him, with Amelia, Gregory, Omar, and the other mages.


    "You will keep yourselves confined here, don''t go into the forest. If anything bad happened, you can just dump the place and run on the back of Birdy," Arthur instructed in a great sense of seriousness, "if anything bad happened, just use the bird wing Omar gave to you," he added, as Omar gave Madly, Ron, Ouly, and Lily each a flying bird, and taught them how to use them yesterday.


    He tried his best to make things Arthur would appreciate, and this act wasn''t hidden from everyone''s eyes, especially Amelia, who just stole a solemn glance at him from time to time.


    "If the new friends of Omar came, just let them send Omar a message, and then Lily can help them arrive at our place provided by Omar," Arthur finally gave the last instructions, before he gave the signal for Clovert to make his pet fly.


    Just as they were leaving, he stole a glance towards the garden, and in return he felt a huge pressure coming from inside, like two giant eyes looking at him, contemplating while observing every single action of his. He wasn''t surprised, as this sense of being watched came to him constantly from inside the garden last night.


    ''You are different, lad!''


    Suddenly, a sound appeared, mystically, inside his mind. Arthur wasn''t a newbie, as this was a very famous way to speak between cultivators back at home, using something called: divine sense.


    ''Thanks for the compliment, senior," he replied, inside his mind, like he was speaking directly to that mysterious entity.


    ''Oh, you aren''t a bit surprised by me speaking to you!''


    The voice came, with some surprising manner, and Arthur just kept his silence and didn''t speak. They were now moving away from this place, heading towards a place to the north west, where he thought he saw a large hill there.


    ''I like you kid, I want to ask you a question,'' the mysterious voice said.


    ''Ask what you want, senior,'' Arthur replied, calmly, as he thought he got an opportunity ahead of him.


    ''I heard your entire plan already, and I honestly find it quite amusing. Do you think you can kill me? I will give an offer, an opportunity because I like you, just admit your allegiance to me, and give me a promise to provide fresh human sacrifices on a weekly basis, and I will let you take some of the garden plants.''


    Arthur just kept his silence, as his looks started to get solemn. Before he could say anything back, that voice came again, in a warning tone:


    ''But beware, this offer is just for this time chit chat. If you refuse, I will go ahead and kill every single one of your precious humans left behind here.''


    Arthur''s face was quite unsightly, and his sudden changes caught the attention of everyone on the back of the flying pet. They looked at him in a strange alarming way, as Arthur was frowning deeper and deeper.


    "Hahaha, you know you are a funny monster," Arthur suddenly broke into a huge laughter, that even his face got reddened when he finished from it.


    ''What do you say? Don''t you feel afraid of your people? I thought you were a good lad, but you turned out to be a scum like others!''


    "Oh, c''mon, stop the act already. First of all, you are chained inside the perimeter of this garden, can''t set a single foot out of it no matter how much you try. Second," Arthur was speaking like a maniac, facing the rapidly going away garden while speaking, "The fact that you tried to approach me proves that your master is gone, killed, finished, and you are enslaved forever to this garden, with no way out no matter what you did."


    ''You¡­'' the guarding monster''s sound stuttered, ''How can you even know that!''


    Arthur knew well enough the specific rules of making a monster guarding a treasure place like this. If the master of this monster was still alive, just speaking with him would be considered as a break to the contract, and the monster would die, or severely wounded.


    But Arthur didn''t say anything like this to the monster, in fact he was now feeling much relieved when he made sure the master of it was gone. That meant dealing with this monster would be much easier now, as the main source of this monster''s strength was dead, and a much better case scenario would be if he or she was dead a long time ago.


    "Listen up you piece of sh*t, I would like to give you one offer, and this offer is limited to our little chit chat we are having right now," Arthur said with a wide grin from ear to ear, while others felt some ominous aura surrounding them, like a deadly beast was eyeing them and so enraged that it might attack at any moment.


    "I will accept your allegiance, gladly, and promise you I want to make you my coupled monster, but my personal pet. Together, we will reign supreme over this whole world, no one would stand against us, no man no beast, nothing!


    I will set you free from your current chains, and make sure you live a proper life, a life such a great monster like you should have. But, if you refused, I swear I won''t rest until I come to you, take off your arrogant horns one by one from your stubborn stupid head, and finally will make you my slave for eternity.


    I will couple with you, make you my inner demon, and kill you once and for all, without any chance to see the light of freedom every again. your choice, your life," Arthur said, with a pure vicious carefree voice, like the choice of this monster didn''t have any significance to him.

 Chapter 61: Finding Another Ore Mine

    ''You¡­ you¡­ Good, very good. Let''s see how your arrogance will lead you, and I promise I won''t kill you rapidly, but I will enjoy torturing you for eternity.''


    The monster''s arrogant and enraged voice came, as it was really pissed off right now.


    ''If you are up to your words, come now and try to show me what you can do, let''s see if you are a real human, arrogant to the bone as you claim or pussy to the core as you are! C''mon, come and attack me!''


    Arthur didn''t feel offended, nor enraged, instead his initially wide smile turned into a big laugh, a laugh that even lasted for minutes.


    "I will come to hunt you when I want, just make your neck ready, as it will be, eventually, mine! hahahaha!"


    Arthur was a mad man, a man who lost his mind in the eyes of everyone here. if not for that ominous aura that was getting stronger and stronger, thicker and thicker, they would think he was really lost.


    As the aura increased, the flying pet started to grow restless, which engendered everyone. Arthur simple leaned on the back of the monster, and patted it calmly while muttering:


    "Don''t worry about it, I swear to make you eat roasted meat from its flesh one day, soon!"


    The words of Arthur weren''t reasonable, but when he said it, the flying pet shrieked, like it was celebrating something, announcing its stand to that guarding monster, then its body got stabilized, and its flight speed increased.


    The others, especially Clovert, looked in suspicion towards him, while Amelia asked, with some curiosity:


    "I just felt a great ominous aura, was that the guarding monster you spoke of yesterday?"


    Arthur was astonished for her cleverness, as he nodded while saying:


    "It was trying to trick me, but he is na?ve if he thought I could be tricked this easily."


    Amelia didn''t get his intent fully, but she knew he was speaking to the guarding monster, and that was indeed something worthy of admiration. She didn''t know how they two spoke to each other, and she added this to the long list of mysteries hovering around Arthur.


    The team reached the place Arthur vaguely recalled, as it was a huge hill, most likely a small mountain, where all the trees were growing on its huge body, forming a pyramid shaped elevation towards the sky.


    "Let''s get down there."


    Arthur had to admit, there was no clear spot for them to land at. The place was already filled with large trees, like it was part of the forest not a huge mountain. The moment they neared the ground, Arthur led them all to jump, while he said to Clovert:


    "Keep yourself here, and act as our eye in the sky. If there is any great danger coming, just alarm us. Feel free to join the battle as well, if you want."


    Clovert just nodded, as he didn''t get tired of this new pet, while Omar was lamenting his luck, and envying him. he wanted to have such an awesome bird pet as Clovert, but he just consoled himself, knowing that he would, eventually, get one after this battle.


    "Now," Arthur said, as they were now standing surrounded by trees everywhere, "I want you to summon your pets, and use them to clear the whole trees growing on this little mountain, reaching down its base and clear an area around it."


    Amelia and Gregory understood his meaning, as he wanted to make a replica of the previous terrain of the last battle. So, they two acted as vanguard, while the rest just followed their lead.


    Arthur also summoned Don, and gave him a good amount of meat to eat. A small horn was starting to bulge from its forehead, which was a good sign for Arthur.


    He knew this pet would lose its significance with time, unless it matched the growth of Arthur''s strength, which was something unrealistic. Arthur didn''t want to abandon it, so he was trying to help it as much as he could.


    However if this monster didn''t grow up fast enough, he would consider setting it free, and adopt another pet.


    Arthur took a rhinoceros when they were back at the camp, and now he had two pets under his disposal. The issue he was facing now was the limitation forced upon him, as he could summon only one monster at a time. He just hoped when his strength grew, he could increase the number of his summons.


    He sat there, on the peak of that mountain, overseeing the whole forest, while mages and their pets were clearing the whole body of the mountain. It didn''t take one hour, and the terrain was totally changed.


    The mountain body appeared clearly to everyone, and it was, for the surprise of Arthur, made of some ruby like rocks.


    "It''s an ore mine, not just a simple mountain," Arthur muttered, as he leaned on the ground and started sensing the flow of energy inside this ores.


    "Wow," he muttered, before he went to another spot and tested it. "this ore is really something, it''s much higher than the one I just used before."


    He was speaking about the ore he used to make his storage ring. He sensed greater flow of energy inside these rocks, and that meant this ore was much better in storing and conducting energy.


    "Do you know how to craft?" Omar, speechlessly, asked, as he thought Arthur''s surprise would end, but he just discovered another one.


    "Yes, to some extent," Arthur humbly replied, as he was busy checking the mountain in different places. What surprised him was the fact this mountain wasn''t the only place that had the ore, as ore veins continued to go on at the ground around its base.


    ''This ore is really priceless. If I could salvage it, store all this inside my ring, and use it later on¡­'' his thoughts paused, as he had a limited storage ring. It was assumedly very big, but now he saw it to have a very limited space.

 Chapter 62: Getting Shocked from the Monster Tide!

    He thought about making another ring, but this would take much time and effort. Plus, mining here would take a great deal of effort and time. He didn''t want to waste time here, as he had many things to do.


    His eyes regained their focus towards the direction of the garden, as he muttered to himself:


    ''As I thought before, this garden is very ancient, and the aura dissipated from it was enough to help support the nature here around it. I should make sure to monopolize this whole area and add it to my clan''s territory. This way I could get the full use of this place.''


    His mind was filled with another picture of this region, where all trees were cut down, and a huge, thriving city was built here. Many people were coming and going for trade, learning, asking to join the mighty clan he had, and working under his banner. A place that might turn on to something bigger, much bigger than he desired, however that was just a nice bonus to his dreams and efforts.


    ''Let the future for the future. First that garden, then back to the clan, then head to the academy, and come here after I grow my strength and form my own sect.''


    His mind was still lingering to the way of life he used to have. Though the name of the sect here would be alien to ears, he wouldn''t be that skeptical about using it, or even change it to a better name in the future.


    As they finished clearing the whole terrain, and he finished inspecting the ore, he instructed them to transform the peak into a camp, and he asked them to make wooden spears, as many as they could.


    He still had remains of the ores he got from before, and also he took back Don, and used his new pet, King, to take out ores by using his horn on the ground. In less than half an hour, a camp with much better defenses was established, and he had a suitable amount of ores in his possession.


    All the ores were sent directly into his ring, to be soaked in the container with the burning oil. Through cooking many monsters inside his ring, he managed to extract some oil from part of them, and this oil was stored in separate places, for fear of polluting the burning oil he had.


    He just hoped his luck would be great, and he found another pythons'' lair, as their oil was the best to burn, and he was sure he wouldn''t get bored from using this trick.


    "Shouldn''t we get started?" Amelia asked, with a rare fun tone in her voice, as she was waiting to marvel the astonishing shocking look Omar and his men would have. "Sure, let''s begin now," Arthur said, after he took out many of the soaked ore and distributed them around the wall, "these rocks are very, very dangerous. Tread them with care. I will leave a nearby pit fire. Each rock had tree leaves wrapping around it, you just need to light the tip and then hurriedly throw it away."


    He said, warning and advising them. when he noticed the cold reaction he received, as they didn''t imagine the danger they were at, he decided to show them what it meant to be near death and didn''t know even about it!


    He took one rock, took it very carefully, in a very cautious manner, and lit the tip of the leaves in the fire pit, then rapidly ran towards the wall and threw it as far as possible.


    He could hear the soft whispers and even some laughs, but just when the fire reached the ore, and penetrated it, a very violent explosion occurred, so massive that left behind a great cloud of smoke, with many shards of ores being thrown on the area around it in a very dangerous manner, like needles hitting everywhere, randomly.


    ''Wow, these explosive rocks can really excavate the ore!'' Arthur muttered, as this explosion was literally three times stronger than the previous one. Even Amelia and the others who saw these dangerous rocks were astonished by this upgrade, but the really shocked, and very terrified ones, were Omar''s mages, they even retreated a couple of steps away from the ores like they were cursed.


    Arthur couldn''t help but laugh on the sudden shift in their attitude, "Just be careful, understand? Now, let''s get back in position, and arrange your pets to guard the place outside the walls. Amelia will be the leader here, and I will just watch and intervene when needed."


    He then headed back to the centre of the camp, as he just touched the ground, and a huge monster carcass appeared in the place.


    Just before anyone could speak, a very mighty and violent roar appeared from somewhere near here, then the whole forest literally shocked, as a wave was formed, coming from every angle of this place, heading straight in a great momentum towards her.


    "What the hell is that!"


    The reactions on Omar and his mages were really spectacular, as Amelia couldn''t help herself and laughed to her heart extent. As for Arthur, he just jumped up towards the top of this carcass, where he glances at the eggs shortly before yelling:


    "Wake up, the monster tide is coming. Let''s do our best and kill them all. Follow the orders of Amelia, who needs to stop laughing right now!"


    Amelia hardly controlled herself, as she started to speak up and give them orders:


    "Use the spears to kill as many monsters as possible. Don''t be bothered by any wounded monster, as we don''t aim to truly kill them. just hit as many monsters with the spear as you could," while she was speaking, a violent wind wave erupted from the ground around the mountain, to hit them strongly, making her pause. At this moment, an endless stream of monsters appeared, enchanted by the heavenly treasure Arthur took out, and they were in a state that they didn''t care about anything but to reach the top and get that treasure.


    "Start!" Amelia gave the order, as the mages started to swallow their fears down, and started to throw spears everywhere. The number of monsters this time was immense, their grades were higher than last time, but that made Arthur more excited about it.


    He watched the confused and slightly afraid mages here, even Omar couldn''t use his full strength, as he was still unable to focus much.


    "Amelia, the explosive rocks!" Arthur shouted at her, as many monsters managed to slip by the lousy attacks of the mages. So, there was no time to waste, and the play time was over.


    "Wake up you morons, use the explosive rocks and make sure not to kill yourselves in the way!"

 Chapter 63: Reinforcements Have Arrived!

    Arthur watched their lousy, trembling moves, as he finally saw a great difference between this group and the friends he trained himself from before. He thought it might be a rushed decision from him, throwing them here in the middle of this heated confrontation. Just as he was thinking about personally intervening, Omar''s voice came, very loudly, very angrily, shouting like being a monster himself:


    "Stand your ground, defend this spot with your lives, and don''t embarrass me you fools!"


    His words counted much more than Arthur and Amelia together. His words were much heavier to his men, who broke through their fear and started to act, like professional mages, with much experience of life and fight, despite not facing such a situation before.


    Arthur watched the explosive rocks being thrown so far, and then he smiled. This wave of rocks really exploded massively, trembling the whole mountain and this part of the forest.


    The devastation wasn''t only limited to those huge clouds of dust, but there were uncountable shards flying everywhere, attacking nearby monsters, either killing or heavily wounding them.


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly, not from the huge count of the killed and wounded monsters falling down the mountain slope, but from all this huge amount of shards being extracted, accidently, in the process.


    The effect of the first wave of explosive rocks had a very deep impact on the mages fighting at the peak of the mountain, as they knew these great waves of monsters weren''t that scary, and they could be killed.


    And so, the massacre started.


    Arthur stood at the foremost top, watching the ongoing onslaught with a smile over his face, a content smile. He was afraid these mages wouldn''t be able to handle the pressure, but after that short speech of Omar, they were transformed and their true potential surfaced up.


    It took roughly two hours for the first patch of monsters to come near the walls, but they were devastated by the two horned rhinoceros who killed whatever stood in front of them.


    Occasionally, the mages would use some of their powers, using the inner demons to form a shadow behind them, assisting them in the attacks. Arthur watched this style of fighting, and knew right then he needed to find suitable monsters for himself and for the rest of the team who still hadn''t coupled with monsters yet.


    This patch of monsters was really rich, with so much diversity there, and most of them were double horned monsters, and three and four horned monsters weren''t that rare to spot.


    He knew this was just the beginning, and much more monsters would appear, three and four horned monsters mainly. His concerns were mainly focused on the capacity of his ring, though it was big but not big enough to be able to store all these monsters.


    ''I need to make a trip to the camp, leave the dead bodies there to be cooked. The meat wouldn''t take much space as a whole monster,'' he muttered to himself, but he didn''t rush to act, not yet.


    He was waiting, waiting for the messages Omar sent to show results. He was sure, with the words of Amelia and then Omar, many would consider joining him.


    He didn''t just aspire to make a thirty or forty mages team, he wanted to make thousands, even tens of thousands team.


    To do so, he needed to raise his strength and the strength of his core mages fast, so their success would dazzle others, and make those who roamed this world freely to seriously consider joining him.


    After the fourth hour, the whole base of this mountain was literally covered in the monster''s bodies. It was harder than the previous time, as he couldn''t just go there and collect the bodies with ease. He thought of taking back the carcass, pausing the indominant attraction of the heavenly treasure, but when he thought about it, a shadow came from far, approaching them in the sky, with many slim figures over the back of it.


    It was Birdy, and finally the reinforcements had arrived!


    "Omar, look up," Arthur yelled towards Omar, who was already absorbed in the battle, maintaining a good rhythm. Omar looked up for a second, to spot Birdy and many others on its back. He smiled, as he recognized the people on the back of it.


    "Hey big brother, those mages came asking for you," Lily shouted from the back of her pet, waving her hand like a little child, with roughly thirty mages on the back of Birdy. When they approached Arthur''s place, Arthur managed to see their faces clearly.


    Shock, absolute shocked faces was what he saw. He smiled in satisfaction, as this was the exact reaction he anticipated from them.


    "Come down little girl, and bring our guests here," Arthur said, as he knew this number would be enough to make him continue the fight, and go down there to gather the monsters.


    Lily ordered Birdy to come down, towards the ground, just beside the huge carcass Arthur was above. Arthur descended to there, to find Omar and Amelia already standing with these new mages, welcoming them.


    They were all in their twenties, and it seemed they were already friends. The moment Arthur appeared, they stopped talking, as Omar took the initiative to introduce them to him.


    "These are my friends, strong mages, not lesser than me and Amelia in strength. He is their leader, Randy, and the others work underneath his command."


    Omar was grinning from happiness, as he could notice the satisfactory smile over Arthur''s face. He had achieved his goal already, and his introduction was simple yet effective. Arthur noted that, as Omar seemed to be good at organizing and leading others.


    "Hi, welcome to my group," Arthur said, expressing his war welcome to them.


    "This is our honor," Randy said, though his eyes were attached to many places, he watched this huge carcass with wonder, astonished at the explosive rocks and their devastating effect, and was really shocked when he saw these huge, double horned rhinoceros. He was already shocked when he saw Lily''s pet, and now he was much shocked when he saw everyone''s pet.

 Chapter 64: A Heated Battle Against Monster Tide

    Back at the camp, the group didn''t summon their pets, except for Birdy, as Lily was doing her usual recon surveillance on the area. As for others, they were busy cooking a huge pile of monsters without pause.


    "May I ask, why are these monsters docile and friendly to you?" Randy asked, pointing to the pets that were roaming the place.


    "Hahaha," Arthur laughed shortly, before he replied, "I know you have many questions in your mind, but as you can see our hands are tight now. I just want to ask you this simple question now, will you join me and follow my orders and lead as your leader?"


    Arthur knew he was rushing things here, but he had no time to waste. The absence of Omar and Amelia wasn''t simple, and if they didn''t return now, the monsters would swarm this camp shortly.


    Randy was surprised by Arthur''s direct question, as he thought he would stay here for a while, speaking with him about the marvels he was doing here first, then asking him to join later. Just as he was hesitant, Omar just looked at him in a meaningful way, a look that made him realize something.


    Amelia, that fierce tigress, the one who never swore allegiance to anyone her entire life, was now standing behind this youth, pledging her unending loyalty to him. even Omar, the one with the mighty swords mages was also following this man. He didn''t need a brain smart enough to reach an answer.


    "Sure, I will follow you from this day onward," he replied, while bowing his head slightly. His sudden approval was a surprise to his group, who just stood hesitant for a brief moment, before deciding to trust the instincts and decisions of their leader.


    They all bowed their heads, and by this they officially joined Arthur''s group, snowballing it to folds greater than its initial size. Arthur looked in great content to this group, while marveling at the great future waiting for him.


    "Good, Omar and Amelia, you two return to the battlefield. As for you, follow me," Arthur said, as he turned directly and headed towards a place in this camp, empty from anything there, enough for him to start the pet contracting process to at least tem mages at the same time.


    Randy looked towards Omar, who winked to him while muttering:


    "Go and get your own pet monster."


    He then followed Amelia back to the battle, which was getting worse after their absence. As for Lily, she followed Arthur with Birdy, as she asked:


    "Big brother, do you want me to return now?"


    Arthur shook his head, as he said:


    "I will finish their pet process first, then I will go down and collect monsters. You will take me towards the garden, then send me back again."


    Lily was like a little kid, enjoying every single moment of this new life of hers. As long as what she was asked to do related to her adorable pet, she had no reason to refuse.


    So, she walked, or literally jumped each step with her pet doing the same as her. Arthur just glanced weirdly to the two of them, not knowing the pets could be affected mentally by the master.


    Once there, he took out the tools, the wooden cart with everything on it, and then started to work. He still had enough rhinoceros inside his ring. After seeing these monsters in action, he became more content with their performance, and decided to make everyone have one, unless he found a much better substitute.


    "Stand inside each ring please," he drew dozen rings on the ground, using the blood of that scorpion. Randy led the others, as they stood inside the ring, before Arthur told them how to activate the contract, then everything went smoothly like before.


    After this patch, he started to prepare again, then he finished after two more patches. Thirty mages with thirty rhinoceros were now present, and Arthur wasn''t polite as he sent them towards the ongoing battlefield.


    Amelia was the acting leader here, as she started to instruct them about what to do and how to fight. The first they did was to summon their pets, and once did they all exclaimed in surprise, as they started to observe these huge, strong monsters, standing docile in front of them, in wait for their orders.


    That was fascinating!


    Randy and his mages joined the fray, and their addition relieved a lot of pressure over others. Arthur then did a second round to fill the already exhausted explosive rocks stock at the camp, then he waved his hand towards Clovert, who was deeply immersed in using his bow and killing whatever monster he targeted.


    "Come down here, Clovert!"


    Arthur shouted at him, startling him from his deep state of mind, before he saw the newly joined group. He was supposed to act as their scout, but he liked being their executioner better.


    "Here, these rocks will be used like before, with this fire pit, but it is carefully on Birdy''s back," Arthur said, as he took out a huge pile of explosive rocks, and a small fire pit that was cornered into a sturdy trunk of a tree he took from here. the trees here had a better quality than any other tree he saw before, so they could resist, to some degree the fire in the fire pits he just summoned.


    "Whoah, wouldn''t that hurt Birdy? Burn his beautiful feathers?"


    Lily hurriedly to stand in front Arthur, refusing to let him advance, stretching her arms to the side to make him stop.


    "No, don''t worry, this is safe," Arthur said, in a small lie, "if you smelled any danger, then you can just throw the pit off," he added, as he pushed her to the side, gently, while finishing the preparations.


    Clovert arrived at this moment, and a distant memory of what Arthur did when he first met him came freshly to his mind. He waited until Arthur made sure the fire pit was secured on the back of Birdy, and then he did the same with Clovert''s pet.


    "Now, let''s go, and make sure you clear the bottom of the mountain," Arthur said, as he rode behind the annoyed Lily, feared for her precious pet. Arthur decided he must look for another way to preserve fire, as this way of aerial fight was something amazing.

 Chapter 65: Helping Arthur down the Mountain

    Just as they took off, everyone on the ground was alarmed by this, and when they saw them go beyond the reach of their attacks, Randy asked in doubt:


    "What is he trying to do?"


    "He is going to make the most stupid thing you will ever seen," Omar said, in a joking tone, while Amelia said, in an opposite seriousness:


    "This isn''t a joke, he will stand, alone, amidst all these monsters, and try to hold them back himself."


    Her words surprised Randy, while Omar just laughed on them. Amelia once told him about this, not in detail, but he got the general idea, and he still saw it amazingly silly and funny.


    "Why would he do that?" Randy, after contemplating for a moment, asked.


    "Because he has a ring that can store things inside, and he will store the bodies of the dead monsters and the wounded monster inside, or how do you think he got all these monsters to make them into pets?" she said, annoyed from Omar''s reaction.


    Omar only heard, never saw the scene with his own eyes, but she already experienced it. Just standing there required great courage, courage she had to admit to falling shorter than Arthur. She much admired that man when she saw him dart, heroically, without any panic or fear, amidst the monster tide, like he was walking in his own town.


    "I understood the wounded monster part, but why bother with the dead?" Randy asked.


    "Here, eat this meat," Omar, finally, stopped laughing, as he threw three pieces of meat from his own share that was forming a small hill beside him. Arthur left a share like this to each mage here, as he wanted them to maintain their focus, and regenerate their strengths.


    "This¡­?" Randy asked in hesitation, before deciding to eat it. He saw the pile of meat Arthur left beside each one of them, but he didn''t try to eat them. no one told him what this meat was for, so he didn''t try and put them in his mouth, despite the sweet aroma they had.


    Once put inside his mouth, tasted and experienced their great effect, his eyes shone.


    "See? This is a specially cooked meat from him, made from the meat of the killed monsters," Amelia said, as she was boosting this like it was her own achievement.


    "Really? Monsters'' meat?" Randy asked, as he glanced at the pile next to him, before he took much more pieces and started, fervently, eating them.


    His actions enticed his men, so they followed his lead, and once felt the great and magical effect of the meat, they started to eat the same way like him, or even more aggressively.


    "That Arthur is a genius, how did he learn to cook like that?" Randy asked, with a mouth full of meat. He wasn''t just enjoying the superb taste, but he was feeling this strange surge of power flowing into his body from the meat.


    "I told you, join him and you will never regret. By the way, where is Gorasan?" Omar asked, while patting on his friend''s shoulder.


    "He was on a mission, and after that he might come and join here. in fact I hope he would have come with me, as he missed a lot of fun," Randy said, while swallowing the meat before taking another bunch of it, stuffed them in his mouth, then he looked at Arthur, who was about to jump from the back of Birdy.


    "I like this Arthur, boys be ready to go out and give him a hand, after all who will contribute more to this man will have more meat," he added, while shouting at his men. Omar felt his scalp numb, as his little way to gain Arthur''s trust was revealed in this silly way by Randy. As for Amelia, she just kept smiling, as she knew what Omar was trying to do all along, but she kept watching and did nothing.


    Arthur was far away from them, and he was busy jumping from Birdy''s back, before the sounds of explosions started to sound in his ears. He started to move any single monster he could touch into his ring, while summoning his rhinoceros who tried to help defend him.


    It wasn''t that easy for anyone, but for him it wasn''t that hard. He was jumping from a place to another, depending on his spectacular foot work, and his monster was trying to follow him, hitting some monsters on the way.


    Arthur was worried about it at first, but when he saw the way that domineering monster stumped all others in his way downwards, he didn''t feel any more worry about it.


    So, he started focusing on gathering the monsters from the ground, plus all the ores he could reach as well. The whole body of the mountain was now literally covered in this stone, and he wanted to just climb the mountain back to top and collect everything, including the mountain itself.


    Amidst his behavior, he suddenly felt a faint tremble of the ground, and it was growing stronger, so he started to spread out his senses, trying to find what was the cause of this disruption.


    What he saw next made him speechless for a moment, when his eyes fell upon thirty rhinoceros, running down the mountain, with thirty mages in their tale. It was a sight to be seen, as Randy shouted from far:


    "We will help you, so just keep yourself busy and collect those freakily amazing meat!"


    It suddenly hit Arthur, as he understood the meaning and intention of Randy. He just chuckled, before returning back to his task, collecting anything on the ground.


    By the addition of the mages, the fight was now much easier, and the bodies started to accumulate once more, as they brought many explosive rocks with them, and they used them to explode the whole area around the mountain.

 Chapter 66: A Distress Message from the Other Camp: We Are Under Attack, Help!

    This added more to Arthur''s task, but he was satisfied greatly by what he gathered so far. After three hours down there, he finally gave the signal to retreat, as his ring was now almost full. He didn''t jump over Birdy''s back, as he returned to the top, collecting all the ore pieces that he could reach.


    "Ok, I will leave these rocks for you," Arthur said after they reached the top. The sight of the whole forest around them changed drastically, as many trees were not dismantled by the hooves of these enraged monsters. Arthur could now see for miles around the mountain, and everywhere he could spot was full of monsters running like crazy towards here.


    He left enough amounts of explosive rocks, wooden spears, and meat to satisfy their needs for hours. He had to return to the camp again, and let the group there cook the monsters he had collected.


    He had to empty his ring, as living monsters were now more useful than dead, besides he could kill any monster anytime he wanted.


    He left Amelia as acting leader here, plus Gregory and Clovert to help her, with Omar and Randy controlling their mages, he was sure nothing would happen, nothing from the monsters'' side.


    He knew such a bigger motion, similar to the one he pulled few days ago, would cause more suspicion and attract the watchful eyes to them. he wasn''t worried this time, as his strength was now sufficient to face a group of mages without being worried, unless he faced a master from the academy, and he highly doubted that.


    As for finding out their location and identity, he wasn''t that worried. After all, they were now way much deeper into the forest, far away from his clan''s territory. Arthur intended once he finished with the monster guarding the heavenly garden, he would retreat, silently, in a stealth way, so no one could spot him or his team.


    He knew the day of his return to the clan was getting near, and by this he would face a lot of troubles that he had to deal with so soon. He still didn''t know how much distance was there between the clan and the academy.


    If that opposing clan didn''t intend to move when he returned, he would take the initiative, defeat them, and join their lands and people to his own. He planned to use the time given to him as much efficiently as possible, gathering any suitable mage candidate from his lands, and the lands around him, even if he had to use force.


    After all, he was a mighty person in terms of his clan and those around him. It wasn''t hard going on a conquest, making all the lands around him surrender and follow his rule, but he didn''t want to cause much trouble, especially when he intended to leave the clan and never return except after quite some time.


    The distance between his two camps wasn''t that much, as he didn''t feel time when he reached the camp. It was already past noon, as the sunlight was getting fader and fader by time. He knew when he returned back, night would strike and he would have to wait till morning then.


    Once reached there, he hurriedly jumped off Birdy, before he checked everything there. nothing major happened, except a few monsters attacking, but they were stopped in place with the help of their pets.


    Arthur took this moment as he made each mage have another pet, a rhinoceros. By this he was reassured, as this place was too much for one horned monsters like their pythons.


    "I will leave these bodies for you to cook, make sure to cook them fast, and be wary of the night, as the scent might attract monsters to you. If anything happened, you know what to do," Arthur said after he filled the entire place with the bodies of the dead monsters. The place scene had changed, and even the emptied space they created started to be full.


    Arthur then left, with Lily, while he instructed her to return fast before nightfall. When he returned to the camp, he was glad to find everything was going smoothly like he hoped.


    Lily then left, and Arthur then took his place on top of the carcass. As the night was already here, the explosions created a massive light shade that could be seen from far distance away. Arthur wasn''t worried this time from getting spotted, as he wanted to be spotted so he could return home safely.


    The battle continued without any trouble until midnight, where a flash of light appeared so suddenly just next to Omar, who was startled at first, then his face started to look gloomy.


    He left his spot at once, while he went straight towards Arthur, who saw what just happened from his place up there. Arthur jumped from the top of the carcass and met Omar midway, with Amelia coming fast from far, as she had a bad omen.


    "It''s Madly, she sent a distress message, saying they are under attack from mages, approximately a group of twenty, and they are very powerful," Omar hurriedly said, as he was so worried about the youths back there.


    Arthur suddenly got extremely angry. Something didn''t add up, as he was now using a very strong attraction method to make all the eyes be focused on him here, how then these mages appeared there? he left with Madly and the others rhinoceros, so they wouldn''t fall this easily, this fast.


    "Clovert," Arthur yelled, as he clenched his fists, arched his legs, before jumping to the top of the carcass in one go, then he jumped again to lay on the back of Clovert''s pet.


    "I will leave here to you, when I finish I will come back. Be careful of any ambush here or there, as they might attack here as well."


    Arthur then motioned to Clovert, who ordered his pet to move as fast as it could, while saying, trying to comfort Arthur:


    "Don''t worry, they will be fine."


    Arthur just nodded, and didn''t speak to him. inside his ring, he started to massively produce the explosive rocks. He knew whoever dared to attack his friends must be some strong mages, who would be very difficult to deal with.


    The only question he had in mind was how they discovered here? did they follow Lily when going back? But it wasn''t that dark yet, and their attacks weren''t that noticeable, or they had been watching them all this time from far, concealing their aura?


    He didn''t find the answer, and he intended to interrogate them until he got one. In less than twenty minutes, with the maximum speed of flight of Clovert''s pet, they were able to see the distant garden and the camp there.

 Chapter 67: Fighting A Hard Battle at The Garden Entrance!

    Just the look at it made Arthur''s scalp numb from shock, as he didn''t expect to find another monster tide there. He recalled what Madly sent to Omar in his mind, and he was sure she never mentioned monsters, or Omar didn''t mention it.


    Just as he was trying to understand what was going on, he sensed the presence of humans there. they weren''t part of his team, as he knew their aura very well. These humans were strangers, strong as he thought, but not much stronger as he expected.


    The strongest in them was like Omar in strength, or even might weaker. Just as Clovert''s pet was getting closer, a sound of an evil laugh sounded in Arthur''s head, as the voice of that guardian monster echoed in his head:


    ''Oh, you finally came, I was getting bored already and planned to eat one or two of those kids until you show up.''


    Arthur gritted his teeth, as he now understood what happened, or part of it.


    ''Don''t be this mad, it''s justice after all. What did you say before? Oh, I was weak, not able to move from my place or touch any one of you, and you will come and kill me, turn me into your inner demon and then kill me once and for all, hahahahaha.''


    The sound of that monster greatly irritated Arthur, but he calmed himself, as he knew now he underestimated this monster.


    ''Don''t try to make any stupid move, though your kids are still fighting, but they are fighting the humans, who by the way were very happy to pleadge their allegiance to me, not as stupid and arrogant as you. If you don''t surrender to me now, and sacrifice yourself to me, I will order all of them to kill your kids.''


    Arthur glanced shortly at the garden, which was now ushered in complete darkness, to appear like a mighty ominous beast looking directly at him, waiting to see how he would respond.


    He then looked again towards his friends, as they were, as that monster described, safe, fighting using their monsters as shields, while they were trying to attack the mages who were now surrounding them from all sides, while cornering them towards the only way possible to get out from here, the entrance of this garden.


    He then looked at the monsters surrounding his friends, they were, mostly, three and four horned monsters. He now knew why, even after so much time, the monsters attacking the other camp were mainly two horned monsters, with few exceptions of three and four horned monsters.


    The situation was bad, as the plan of this monster was clear to Arthur. His friends were now getting closer and closer to the garden entrance, as they were attacked by twenty mages, and behind them that sea of monsters.


    ''Just surrender, there is no hope for you,'' the monster said again, as it seemed quite impatient.


    "I will leave something for you here, you know what to do," Arthur said, before turning to look at Clovert in the eye, "Don''t Hold Back!"


    Arthur then took out a huge pile of explosive rocks, and one pit of fire, the one he used before on the back of Lily''s Birdy and Clovert''s pet. Just as he did that, he jumped off the back of the flying pet, in a sudden move no one had expected, even that monster.


    At this moment, he was slightly off the place of his friends, but he used his leg technique, over and over again, to divert his landing towards his friends.


    ''It seems you aren''t just stupid, but you don''t even car¡­''


    The monster''s words were interrupted by a very violent and extreme explosion that happened just at the area adjacent to Arthur''s friends.


    When Arthur jumped down, he took out already ignited explosive rocks and scattered them along the way of his fall. So, this explosion was just the beginning, as much more explosions occurred, one after another, forming a huge and extreme wave shock that even hit Arthur and made his landing ever harder.


    But he didn''t care! whoever touched his friends had no way to live a single moment after!


    His series of explosions was just the start, as Clovert did exactly as Arthur told him, and never held back. At once, the whole space of the forest adjacent to the garden was lit on fire, and all the swarms of monsters there were literally grilled on extreme, violent fire.


    This was his retaliation against these monsters, as for the mages, the moment his feet touched the ground, he didn''t stop for a moment, as he summoned his rhinoceros, and then vanished from his place, to reappear just behind one of the mages, with a sword in hand inserting it deeply into that mage''s neck.


    He didn''t stop to see the result of his attack, as he moved again, disappearing from the place, and reappearing tens of meters away, cutting the head of another mage.


    His fight was brutal, merciless, with no hesitation or moment of pause. He sounded like the sound of death, only heard after death. His appearance and his violent attacks made his friends'' moral soar, as they guided their pets to assist him in the fight, while they started to attack using their abilities as well.


    They had only three with coupled monsters, but with the presence of such a dominant man, they were able to attack freely, and kill these invincible mages, who started to show fear and distress, and even some pleaded for mercy, but it was too late.


    Arthur didn''t stop until all of them were killed, in the most brutal way ever. He planned to torture them, but with the presence of such huge monster tide, it was wise to kill them faster.


    Once finished, he suddenly disappeared, to reappear just next to the entrance of the garden, as he put his hand on the ground, and smirked loudly towards the garden, towards its monster.


    ''What are you doing? Finally kneeling to me?'' the monster sneered, despite its voice seeming quite shaky.


    Arthur sneered back, then laughed, as his hand had touched a long stream of blood flowing towards the garden. He absorbed all the blood inside his ring, and made sure to burn it all.


    "Oh, do you think you can trick me? I didn''t think I might meet an ancient demon here, what an honor!" Arthur said, amidst his laughs.


    ''W-W-What?! How the hell did you even know that?!!!''

 Chapter 68: Rest After An Epic Battle!

    The monster was shocked beyond measures, as Arthur had figured out his true identity, one that was long forgotten from the face of this world. Arthur just smirked and said nothing, as he discovered this when he sensed the ominous aura of the monster lingering around the dead bodies of the mages, draining all the blood from them and moving it towards the garden.


    It was hard to spot such an act amidst all the darkness and chaos, but the type of monster that fed on the blood of humans not monsters was only one in his memories, a demon, and not any type of demon, an ancient one as well.


    This little thing gave him out, and Arthur had such keen senses towards extreme and rare incidents like this one.


    ''Ok, ok, I can now agree on your terms,'' the monster said, reluctantly.


    "No, I only offered you once, and see how you repaid my kindness! I won''t accept you except as a dead carcass, as I intend to make many great things from your body, so be honored and just accept your fate!"


    Arthur sneered inside himself, as this ancient demon tried to play another trick on him. along the long history of his old world, no cultivator even managed to tame or control an ancient demon. Ancient demons were such scary creatures, that one must kill at sight if possible, or flee if couldn''t manage it.


    Making the ancient demon enter his body as inner demon was like committing suicide, and it was also the case if he made it a pet. No contract would be active on such a mighty being.


    Arthur had to thank his luck, as he met such a huge identity in such a way, as its master was dead long ago, and this ancient demon''s strength was depleted along the long course of time.


    It was also a mystery, as now he was noticing things that shouldn''t exist in this world, heavenly garden, ancient demon, and a mysterious long dead master of both. Suddenly he started to believe that the knowledge he had on this world was missing a big chunk of the truth.


    This world had another hidden truth, one that made him smell the old and familiar scent of his beloved cultivation world.


    His desire to go to the academy grew even stronger at this moment, as he felt all the answers he was seeking for would be there.


    ''Damn you! I curse you, curse your name, your family, your clan, your life, your friends, I curse everything you love, curse your entire life to be miserable and pitiful.''


    The monster''s curses continued to echo in his mind, only to be distracted by the explosive sounds of the explosive rocks. Arthur didn''t mind all that, as even if he was cursed somehow, he knew many ways to lift the curse.


    After he finished absorbing and dealing with all the blood on the ground, he then moved to join the fight. The next hours were extremely tense, but with the early light of the new dawn, the monster tide was finally over, as the whole forest was now in ruins, with uncountable bodies lying dead or severely wounded everywhere.


    He was panting, holding his sword in hand, while the other held a bow. He was using his full strength in this fight, and even when Clovert went back to the camp amidst the fight and brought twenty mages from there with Amelia and Omar, he wasn''t able to get a moment of rest.


    What helped him, and all of his friends and mages here, was the huge reserve of meat he had in his ring. Lily also played a great role in the fight, aiding Clovert in attacking from the air, destroying everything near and far without exception.


    Everyone was exhausted, but they were already excited about their achievements. They managed to slay a huge number of monsters, much bigger than the number they killed at the mountain. Arthur wasn''t that excited, though, as through this battle he exhausted most of his own reserves of the explosive oil and the ores he had in his ring.


    He wasn''t that upset though, as the gains in this battle far exceeded his losses. He recalled killing a lot of pythons with four and three horns, different kinds of them, and he intended to cook them all, and drain all the precious oil from them.


    Sitting on the once was their camp, amidst all the damage and the dead bodies of monsters, with many trees around them turned into charcoal from burning in extreme conditions, all his team was now catching their breaths, trying to take a moment of peace finally, enjoying their hard earned victory.


    Victory didn''t come without losses, as five mages were dead, and nearly all of them were injured, with one having a severe wound along his abdomen. Arthur examined them all, and gave them extra shares of meat, a deserved bonus after this epic battle.


    "What happened here? Who attacked us?" Amelia finally spoke, asking about the heart of the matter.


    "There, these mages attacked us," Ouly said, pointing to the dead bodies of twenty plus mages who were mainly killed by Arthur.


    Omar moved towards them with Amelia, and suddenly the two froze up, as they recognized their faces.


    "Do you know them?" Arthur didn''t miss this reaction, as he immediately asked.


    "Well," Omar hesitated, before Amelia added, "they are part of a team we know, one of which I and Omar contacted before."

 Chapter 69: Massive Gains of the Epic Battle

    Arthur felt her desire to stand beside Omar, for fear of his retaliation. He just inwardly sighed, questioning himself how they were seeing him, he wasn''t a monster after all.


    "No problem, they were just lured by the guarding monster of this garden, tricked to flip sides and attack us," Arthur said, explaining to everyone what happened.


    Omar nodded in appreciation to Amelia, as he thought, wrongly, he was spared from Arthur''s wrath this time because she stood beside him. He was sure if Arthur went serious, he would end in no better state as these mages. After all, they all had a similar level of strength.


    "Let''s rest for an hour, then we will head back towards the camp," Arthur said, as he moved out of his place. everyone just glanced at him in doubt, and then they watched him taking all the living monsters into his ring. As for the dead, they didn''t need to take any instruction from him, as they were planning to get their revenge by grilling their meat, and eat them to get stronger.


    Arthur took roughly two hours to get all the monsters in his ring. Despite emptying it from before, the ring was getting crowded again, making him plan to replace it with a better one later on.


    "I left all the living pythons to you to kill and cook. Make sure to store their oil, and if any other kind of monster produces another type of oil, just store them separately, and make sure to remember these monsters," Arthur gave his final instructions, before heading back with ten mages only, Amelia, Omar, and Clovert. The daylight was just getting brighter when they reached the mountain, to find the monster tide there was still active, with many three and four horned monsters than before.


    Arthur was content with what he had so far, so he decided to end the battle here. Once he reached the peak of the mountain, he took the carcass back inside his ring, and then he waited until all the monsters dispersed or were killed or wounded by his team''s attacks.


    When the battle finished, and under the daylight, the mountain, which once was mighty and huge, was now tattered in many deep and big pits. A lot of its ores were lying along the body of it.


    Arthur then took his rhinoceros back, and then summoned Don, and ordered it to go to each pit and try to smash it as hard as it could. Don was grateful for Arthur to give it this task, and it started to work with great devotion, making these pits deeper and deeper.


    Arthur then started to move and collect everything, dead monsters, wounded monsters, ores scattered everywhere, and even the burnt down trees.


    When he was collecting monster''s bodies at the garden entrance, he noticed the charcoal formed from the burnt trees. It wasn''t just any type of charcoal, but a special material that could be used in forging and making any fire ignite hotter and longer.


    So, he started to pay attention to this new material, collecting as much as he could find. That made him take longer, as when the six hour passed, he had finally ended from wrapping everything, and his ring was really full.


    "It''s time to go back," he said, as he wanted to focus on strengthening everyone just before the decisive battle with that ancient demon.


    He wasn''t that worried from that demon, as if his team''s strength was lower than it, it wouldn''t tend to use these dirty tricks, and waited calmly and patiently until they attacked it.


    But its urgency and nervousness were evidence of its weakness. Arthur just didn''t want to take any more risks, as he had losses in the last fight, the first time to lose someone since he came to this world.


    This was an indication of the low strength of the team especially those newly recruited one. He knew they didn''t enjoy the same treatment as his team, but that wasn''t an excuse at all.


    Arthur started to contemplate all the way back, as he was now diving deeply inside his ring, searching for any suitable monster for each and every single one of his friends.


    There were two issues here, first the compatibility of the monster with their abilities and talents. As for the issue of choosing one horned or two horned or more from his reserve inside his ring was the second matter he had to think through.


    The first monster his three friends coupled with was no horned at all. This seemed logical at first, but he knew his friends'' strength had grown massively since last time, and thus using no horned monster wasn''t an option.


    He decided to go with one horned monster first, and see if they could handle it. he wasn''t worried about them, he was worried he might have underestimated their growth and potential.


    For once he regretted not doing that in the academy, where he could use the academy resources to better test his theories, but again he couldn''t unveil such huge secrets to anyone there. so, even if he was there, he couldn''t get a greater advantage than now.


    They reached the camp at the garden after noon. Arthur instructed them to go and help his friends in cooking meat, as he started to unpack his already full ring, dumping all the killed monsters'' bodies on the ground.


    He was also lucky to collect many pythons kind monsters, as he highly valued these monsters, so he even took the wounded and left them to his party to deal with.


    He, finally, had a moment of peace, as he needed to rest his exhausted body, but not mind, as he still had to rethink again about the coupling process he was going to make.


    The only nuisance that disturbed him all the time was that guardian voice, as it didn''t stop asking him to accept his allegiance, and even promised to accept any binding contract.


    Arthur wasn''t stupid to listen to its faked pleading voice, as he clearly knew how scary this ancient demon could be if it regained part of its former powers. No contract could be able to bind it, no matter how harsh or strong that contract was.


    So, amidst all this noisy voice that he couldn''t control, he started to rethink his plans, trying to find any possible means to upgrade them.


    At the same time, the whole stretch of burnt forest went on fire again, this time it was cooking pits, as Ouly took charge of this process, while every single member of the group followed his instructions to the letter, trying to learn the godly gift of cooking such awesome meat.

 Chapter 70: Meeting A Venerable Mysterious Being

    The exhaustion he had took almost four to five hours until he managed to restore his activity again. He ate a lot of meat, and a lot more was now stored inside his ring hour after hour. The cooking efficiency of the team elevated under Ouly''s guidance, and Arthur just sat there, enjoying the good treat he deserved.


    On one side of his ring, there were many wooden containers, containing a variety of oils, extracted from the meat of many monsters. Some were explosive in nature, while others had some healing and supporting abilities that were able to accelerate the wounds healing his group had.


    He separated the containers of fire away from the containers of life, as he loved to call them. He planned to use this oil in elixirs he intended to make once he gained full control over this garden.


    This garden was like the crown of his achievements in this world so far, as he planned to use elixirs to boost his strength, and his group as well. Making elixirs, crafting weapons, and cooking were one of the essential talents of any cultivator.


    Arthur knew his group was strong, so freakishly strong in this part of the world, but he also knew they were still mediocre in the eyes of the academy and other mages.


    He intended to use every possible means to strengthen his group, making advanced items and weapons for them to use, elixirs to support and enhance their growth speed, and meat to help and grow their affinities to a higher level.


    He knew this might take quite some time, but at least he needed to provide them with some basic supplies before leaving for the academy.


    As he regained his full vitality and stamina back, he started moving from his place to check others. The cooking festival was going smoothly, with happy laughters of everyone, stimulated by the awesome aroma of food, and the high potential of growth they eyed in each meat piece.


    Arthur wanted to store as many meat as he could, and that wasn''t only for his group, as he planned to go on and seize all the territories around his clan, joining all the lands together, and then call for those who had some strength to be tested under, and then received his care if they had potential.


    As he checked the status of his group, he decided to proceed with his plans. It was already approaching night, so it was time for him to start working. He planned to make everyone of his team be a mage, officially stepping into this realm, him included.


    So, he went to prepare, using the precious blood of that scorpion lying inside his ring, he drew many circles on the ground. He also made many runes to be used in the process, using the newly acquired ore from the mountain with the blood of that scorpion, and after one hour, and with the formal descent of the night, he finished his preparations.


    As for monsters, he had already decided to use one horned monster inside his ring. He still had some of them alive, the ones he thought they might benefit his team, and the moment to use them had come.


    "Omar, Randy, and Amelia, you will lead the others to keep the cooking continued, and guard us while we finish our preparations," Arthur spoke to the three, as they were the strongest mages he had, and he planned to depend on them more in the coming days.


    "Don''t worry, we will be ready," Randy said, in an enthusiastic way, as for Omar, he was still not recovered from the betrayal he had experienced, and he still looked quite dejected.


    "Omar, don''t be like this. That man''s betrayal had nothing to do with you," Arthur decided to give him a word of encouragement, in an attempt to not make him feel this bad.


    "Thanks, leader," Omar said, in a better tone.


    "Good, I will go and start the coupling, you will take charge now," Arthur said, as he looked to Ouly, Madly, and the others who still hadn''t got their inner demon and said:


    "Come with me, it''s time for you to be officially mages."


    They whispered between themselves, with much enthusiasm and excited faces they followed him. Arthur then introduced them to the process, simply telling them what to do.


    It was simple, and they had already witnessed the three, Ron, Tarry and Edwar do it from before. Arthur then took out their monsters, who stood calmly, and very docile, in their places, motionless, waiting for their fate to be absorbed as inner demons.


    Arthur chose monsters wisely, based on each person''s special ability. He piqued a fox like monster for him, Ouly, and Drago, the three in his team with mind abilities. He knew what it meant to be a mind freak, and despite he wasn''t one, his mind control ability over weapons was considered a high mind ability as them.


    Once he finished everything, he sat on the ground, closed his eyes and started to meditate. He knew the process would take much time, and might drain most of their strength, so he made sure to give them a suitable amount of meat to consume, just before starting the coupling process.


    He closed his eyes, and cleared his mind from any thoughts, and waited for the process to start. Suddenly, he felt attraction force, strange, yet quite familiar, with some burning pain inside his heart, quite tolerable for him to endure, and thus he kept motionless in his position, not making even a sound.


    The traction force started to get stronger, and the pain escalated, strangely, to start and cloud his mind. He felt himself being drifted in tempests of opaque white fog, something he never experienced before.


    "State the name!"


    Suddenly, a majestic venerable sound echoed in his ears, like it was coming from every single aspect around him. He didn''t know what was going on, as this was totally different from the coupling others had gone through.


    They just went to sleep, and nothing happened to them, but he had a different experience than them, and he didn''t know why. He thought it might be related to the fact he was a transmigrated person, someone who came here from another world.


    "Arthur," he said, as this was the only answer he had in mind.


    "Wrong," the deep and venerable voice replied in a majestic way, and he started to feel the fog around him to stir, forming small whirlpools in many places. "State the name, this is your last chance. State the name or vanish from this realm!"

 Chapter 71: The Birth of A Dragonair

    Arthur felt he understood the question wrong, if it wasn''t his name, then whose name it might be?


    "May I ask for a clue, your venerable being?" he asked, trying to get to know more about the answer.


    "If you were worthy of the gift, then you must have been told to remember the name. there is nothing else to say, state the name right or vanish from here!"


    Arthur''s mind was hit by a lightning bolt, as this reply stirred some recent memory he had. He didn''t know if this was the true answer, and why, but all he could do now was trust her.


    "Zilia," he said the name he was given by her, just before she disappeared, sacrificing herself for him.


    "Correct, your path should be blessed and approved by her. your path is already starting, get ready to be sent into the trial ground now!"


    Arthur''s mind froze when he heard that, he didn''t know what all this was about, but strangely as it might seem, this was familiar to him. it felt like when he got his path on cultivation, ascending great ranks, and getting tested.


    Without any need of his permission, he felt the traction force pulling him, strongly, towards the depth of that fog, which now became more docile and calm. The speed he moved with was very rapid, that everything around him turned into white smoke with no pattern or shape.


    "Boom!"


    He suddenly crashed on the ground without any warning, feeling the pain all over his body, he knew he landed roughly on this alien place. He was standing on a rocky ground, surrounded by a clear area that spanned for a mile. He had no one there, no tree, no living creatures except for him.


    Just as he was trying to check his body, and take a broader view of the place, the sound echoed again everywhere around him:


    "This is your first step in becoming a dragonair, a long path for a mortal human like you. You have one minute to kill the demon you offered as a sacrifice, fail and you will lose your qualifications for the gift your bestowed. Succeed and you will gain strength beyond your imagination, and you can be ready to be sent back to your mortal realm, looking for another worthy demon to kill."


    Arthur didn''t have time to contemplate on what he just heard, as suddenly the fox monster he was supposed to couple with was now standing in front of him. Arthur just smiled, bitterly, as others might couple with monsters then face their inner demons later on, he had to do it from the start!


    What luck!


    "You can use any weapon you had when you entered here, and you can use any special ability or summon or scroll or anything else in your possession. Let the fight begin now."


    The sound just ended, and suddenly that fox monster roared, violently, before aggressively running towards Arthur. It was a one horned monster, and from the beginning it used its horn to attack him.


    The horn glowed, and Arthur knew what would come next. That monster had a very strong mind power, that could control anything movable in its reach. Just as the horn glowed, many rocks suddenly jumped to attack Arthur, and all took the shape of huge spears, trying to claim his life.


    "Not this easy," Arthur smirked, as he used his leg technique, to evade all these attacks, then he disappeared from the sight of the fox, to appear just behind its back, taking out his sword, and slashing it smoothly like that.


    But he wasn''t meant to have it easy, as it seemed that the monster evolved, somehow, here, and became more intelligent, more experienced in fight.


    When the sword was just inches away from the fox''s neck, a shield, made of rocks, rose from the ground, to protect it. Arthur was first startled by this move, which wasn''t typical for this monster to pull, but he didn''t think much and started a jumping journey, hovering from place to place, with his sword slashing and cutting everything in its path.


    In less than twenty seconds, the fox fell to the ground, motionless, as its head was severed, and its body had many wounds, deep and shallow, all caused by Arthur''s sword.


    The fight ended simply like that, and that wasn''t a surprise at all. Arthur was the monster instead, and this low leveled monster was nothing but a breeze for him.


    "Good, you completed the rituals, and now you have gained the right to obtain this power."


    Just as the words of that mysterious being finished, Arthur felt some sort of alien energy invading his body. He didn''t resist, as he knew this was his reward. If this being wanted him harm, he would be dead long already.


    The energy moved through all his body, feeling his muscles getting strengthened, his mind being bathed in new strength, and finally the energy resided in his heart, gathering there like spiritual energy gathered inside his dantian.


    "Now, you will go back, and you are permitted to use the minimal amount of force you gained. Remember, the higher the quality of demon you use, the more energy you can harvest. You can enter here anytime you want, but each time carries the risk of losing what you gained last time, so choose wisely, mortal, and don''t be greedy, human."


    The venerable voice echoed with its wisdom before Arthur felt the traction force getting hold of himself again. He had tons of questions in his mind, but he didn''t have the chance to ask any, as the next second he found himself travelling at that high speed, with nothing there but white smoke around his body.


    "Boom!"


    Again, he crashed on the ground, returning this time to reality. He cursed his bad luck in landing, as every time he felt his body so sour, and he had injuries this time.


    What welcomed him with the bright day light, which gave him a rough estimate of his mysterious experience he just had. Time there seemed to operate differently than here, and even a minute there or less was equal to hours here.


    Just as he moved up from his place, feeling the pain all over his body, he found everyone was already awake, and he was the last one among them. strangely though, once he returned here, he heard many voices calling for others to come, like he had come in a most bizarre fashion, that stirred the alert of everyone.


    "Are you ok?"


    Amelia was the first to reach and ask him, with worry all over her pretty face. Arthur didn''t know why she was feeling this disturbed, so he replied:


    "I''m good, why are you all this worried?"


    It wasn''t only Amelia, but all the rest of the group came here, with anxious faces and worried looks. There must be something wrong, extremely wrong, for them to behave this way.


    "You have slept for over two days now, that''s weird," Ron said, as he was very worried about his master and friend.


    "Oh, two days?!" he exclaimed in surprise, as he never thought he spent all that time inside that mysterious realm, "it felt like minutes to me," he said.


    He was telling the truth, as he only felt the passage of minutes through this whole journey, but it seemed he stayed there long enough to make everyone worried.


    "Oh, that''s great, the most important thing that you are fine," Amelia said, as she heaved a deep and long sigh of relief, like others around her.

 Chapter 72: Finally Fighting the Ancient Demon Guarding the Heavenly Garden

    At this moment, Arthur knew he wasn''t just that random leader to them, but he was like their closest friend, a person they would be extremely worried about when bad things happened to him.


    He felt gratitude, deeply touched from their genuine feeling towards him, and in return he started to see them all as his friends, as part of his family.


    "Tell me, has anything major happened while I was away?" he asked, as he wanted to be briefed on anything important.


    "Nothing, we just finished cooking, and now all the meat is stacked there, waiting for you to store," Randy said, as he pointed towards the distance. The place which had many trees before, and turned later into a cooking festival, was now covered with tons of cooked meat, waiting for him to store.


    He just chuckled, as he knew this would be the leftovers after they ate what they desired for two days without his observation. He didn''t say a word, as sometimes things happen for a reason, and whatever they gained was only their luck and right to have.


    Arthur went towards these hills of meat, and in an hour he stored them neatly inside his ring. Though they consumed a lot, what remained was really unmeasurable, enough to make them eat for months to come, and might be enough to a larger group of people.


    As he finished all his preparations, it was now time to face that ancient demon. He still didn''t know what he had gained from that strange experience of his, but he planned to put that to test, with much expectations of the result.


    "Let''s get ready, we will go into that garden, and kill its nasty guardian," he finally said it, after he took out many explosive rocks, ready to be used at any time. he didn''t need to bring any fire pits from his ring, as he already used the pits prepared for cooking here.


    Everyone stood in front of the garden entrance, ready to fight that tough opponent. Arthur glanced at his group, which started over a week ago by him and Ron, and now they spanned over fifty people, all were officially mages.


    "Listen up," he started his last instructions, using his past life knowledge about dealing with ancient demons, "this monster will be quite hard to deal with. Though it''s already weakened, it can absorb human blood and use it to recover its wounds. So, no matter what, take these leaves and use them all the time whenever there is a wound you suffered.


    If you have blood loss already, just retreat away, and try to bandage it using any clothes you have. The key isn''t to just deal considerable damage to it, but to prevent it from self healing."


    His words were absurd to them, new and never heard of before. They never questioned him for knowing stuff they never heard of, as Ron already told him of the life changing experience he just had.


    They took his warning for granted, based on their past dealings and experience with him, they didn''t doubt a word he said, though what he just said meant they would face a very difficult fight up.


    "Madly, Amelia, Omar, Drago, and Randy will act as your group leaders. Follow their orders and do as they say. Whenever I say retreat, don''t stop in your place for even a second and do as I say."


    He said his final arrangements, as he chose those who already had leader capabilities, and those mind freaks from his team.


    They all nodded, and as such, the battle started by him stepping inside the entrance, heading straight to the nearest bunch of flowers with a very enchanting scent, and picked them up.


    This was a trigger to instigate the ancient demon to show itself up. Arthur knew the demon was forced to interfere, show up, and obliged to kill them all.


    Once he grabbed these flowers and took them into his hand, he felt a tremor on the ground, followed by a mighty roar. He knew these were just superficial things, a show up to scare people, other people not him.


    He stood his place motionless for a moment, before going to another flowers here, and grabbed them from the ground. He stored them into his ring, and as such the roar came again, preceded by the trembling on the ground.


    "If you don''t show yourself I won''t stop until I take all the plants here!"


    Arthur knew the demon had to interfere, if he didn''t retreat at the least. So, he moved towards the next group of flowers, and this time he didn''t take them off by force, instead he touched the ground, and absorbed all the fertile soil here with the flowers into his ring.


    This ancient demon depended entirely on this place to live, so doing so would eventually kill it, in case the contract binding it didn''t claim its life first.


    Arthur just repeated the process a couple of times before he left behind him a stretch of empty ruined holes in the ground. For others he seemed to be digging the ground, taking the plants with the soil, and leaving the land behind infertile and useless.


    That was a very hard way to instigate this monster''s wrath, as Arthur was fixed on making it move. Others behind him just kept their silence, and vigilance, knowing that their enemy might show up at any moment, from anywhere.


    They were tense, very nervous, and Arthur could even smell the scent of fear in them, but he knew once the ancient demon showed itself and battle kicked off, they would act as usual, with their confidence and bravery taking over.


    He just walked another few steps, leaving behind a ruined land, and that ancient demon couldn''t take it anymore. It was faced with the truth that Arthur intended to kill it, one way or another, so at least it would die fighting.


    Suddenly, a storm kicked in from far, as a huge body started to take shape. It was colossal, really big, like a small hill in front of them. it was like a gorilla, with hair covering all its body, and many horns appearing from every single joint of it.


    Arthur once saw it smiled, a wide grin actually, as his first impression of such a demon was what he expected from before, it was very weakened.


    Though it had this huge body, its strength was actually depleted. He knew it couldn''t stand a chance against them, provided it didn''t absorb any of their blood.


    It roared, as it started hitting its chest with its fists, causing bombing explosions with each hit, enough to stir fear into the hearts of those in front of it.


    "Tarry, it''s your turn, go and show this hairy little monkey it''s true place," Arthur wasn''t fazed even for a moment, as he started issuing orders to Tarry. Tarry just looked at him, in a very weird way, as he was asking himself what he did before to instigate Arthur''s rage and hatred against him, so he would send him like this to his death.


    Arthur felt the doubts and hesitation Tarry had, so he didn''t speak, grabbing his bow, and then using an arrow of his. He used a special arrow that he experimented upon, binding the sharp edge pointed end of the arrow with an explosive rock, which he just ignited from a fire pit inside his ring.


    Then he launched the arrow towards the demon.


    Everyone looked at him like looking at a child, so idiotic that he thought himself mighty and strong against adults. Arthur felt their gazed and sneered, as he pointed towards the demon and said nothing.


    The arrow just hit the demon, deeply inserted into its flesh, and the next second, a huge explosion occurred, pushing the huge body of that demon backward, and it even was about to fall, but it balanced its body at the last minute.


    When the smoke faded away, a very deep wound appeared, with huge amounts of blood oozing from it like a flood.


    "Tarry, go and hit it now!"

 Chapter 73: The Ancient Demon is really Cunning!

    Arthur had demonstrated enough, to each single one of them, that size didn''t matter, the little tricks of roaring and hitting the ground to make it tremble was just a childish play. What really mattered was the strength, if this demon was strong or not, and he just proved to them that the demon was nothing but a small fly.


    Even monsters they faced from before were much stronger than it!


    Everything shifted so rapidly, as their fear and doubt were changed by their resolve and courage. They knew they could do it, and they could already picture the demon falling under their hands.


    Tarry just moved, with much more confidence than others, knowing his own ability to weaken monsters, and trusting his ability to take down this demon.


    However, the demon didn''t intend to fall without a proper fight, so it roared, a very different kind of roar, a roar that was so loud that it travelled to distant places.


    Arthur felt an ominous surge of auras appearing from behind. He gritted his teeth as he muttered:


    "Refusing to just lay calmly and hand your neck to me? you will die no matter what!"


    "At least I will take some of you with me," the demon said, in a very tiring tone, that gave Arthur a clue. Whatever ability it used just now to call all other strong monsters eyeing this place, it came with a great cost.


    Arthur just looked at that stubborn demon, and he made his decision in mind. He then turned as he said to others:


    "Change of plans, wrap things here as fast as you can, then join the battle outside."


    He stepped in big strides towards the exit, as he knew what type of monsters would come. He already once struggled with a five horned monster, and he believed he would face a group of them now.


    He got stronger, no doubt at that, but he didn''t know if he would be able to stand against multiple five horned opponents.


    Others just glanced at hi, before Amelia said in a strong deep voice:


    "Summon your strongest pets, use your strongest attacks, don''t hold back anymore."


    She and the other leaders knew how dangerous it was, as they saw it clear on Arthur''s face. Even facing this huge demon didn''t make him worry, or look so anxious like he did now.


    Arthur didn''t comment, as he went outside, and looked at the whole place. The area was now wide empty, devoid of any life, but soon it would be filled with a great monster tide, led by five horned monsters.


    "They will use a kiting tactic, elongating the fight for the longest possible time, trying to drain our strength."


    He muttered to himself, as his past experience with five horned scorpion made it clear how smart these monsters were. They were like actual humans, with intelligence and strengths leagues above normal humans though.


    Arthur didn''t wait for long, as the distant forest shocked, and trees started to go missing under the louder and louder sounds of hooves.


    "Here they come," he said, as he took this time to take out all the explosive rocks and the modified arrows he already had. He knew he had to hold these monsters back as long as it took, waiting for his group to end that nasty demon inside.


    The moment the first monster appeared, Arthur rained that distant line of trees with his explosive arrows. The arrows weren''t as mighty as the explosive rocks he used to throw, but they could travel far more than the rocks, and he could also control them.


    His firing speed was initially high, as bow was his previous preferred type of weapon when he was a cultivator. The arrows managed to cover many parts of the forest lining here, but he couldn''t cover it all.


    At once, he summoned his rhinoceros, but instead of sending it towards the incoming monsters, he sent it inside to help others. His position would just keep worsening until they end it there.


    As for inside, he kept hearing the sounds of the ongoing battle with that demon. He was sure, once Tarry managed to knock it down, and others linked their attacks after him, killing this demon would be a matter of time.


    He left them with many explosive rocks. They didn''t hold back and rained that demon with fire and explosions. The sound of explosions from inside didn''t cease for a single moment, and for his battle, he started using the rocks by now.


    The monsters managed to bypass his arrows, and even their explosions weren''t enough to hinder their advance for so long. So, he had no other option but to use his rocks.


    He then started throwing rocks like a maniac, towards anything that he spotted moving. With time, the whole empty place was filled with explosions, and fire ignited again, grilling these monsters to their bones.


    He didn''t stop throwing the rocks for even a second, as he knew this fire wouldn''t be enough to stop the incoming monsters. He kept firing these rocks for minutes, without even taking a break, and he already started to feel some exhaustion.


    He couldn''t stop and eat meat to refresh himself, as he wasn''t sure what might occur if he did so. Just as he was getting tired, he felt a sudden movement coming from the air above, and without any thoughts he just jumped back, while throwing a group of rocks at the way of what was coming.


    A very violent explosion occurred, hitting him hard with a huge, rapidly growing cloud of smoke and dust and blood.


    Whatever attacked him just now, was burning in extreme fire, with a shriek sound coming from it every now and then.


    He didn''t have the time to check it, or even catch his breath, as he retreated tens of meters by this sudden attack, and lost part of his explovie rocks.


    So he took another patch, and continued to throw them everywhere in front of him. this time he didn''t take large patches of rocks, as he didn''t want to lose any.


    He knew whatever was burning and roaring of pain right now must be a very advanced monster, five horned perhaps. Just as he threw enough rocks to explode the whole world up front, he jumped, moved with his utmost speed, and appeared inside this huge pile of meat, fire, and smoke.


    This time he was prepared, as once he touched the monster and drove it inside his ring, he took out some healing leaves, soaked with the life oil and wrapped his hands and parts of his body with them, and then he retreated, picked more rocks and started to throw them.


    "One down," he muttered, as he peeked a single glance inside his ring, to find it was a five horned flying monster, and it had really some serious burns from the surprise attack it just launched.


    This sudden attack made him clear about how fervent these monsters were, and how desperate his current situation was.

 Chapter 74: Lets Go Home

    Just as he was wondering when his group would kill the demon, a sudden and violent roar came from inside, with a tremor so strong that was almost about to make him lose aim with the rock in hand and make him hit his pile of rocks instead.


    He just stabilized himself, and before he could even turn back to see what happened, a voice of two monsters passing by his head made him realize everything.


    They did it! they finally did it!


    The addition of Lily''s and Clovert''s flying pets to the battle made things more interesting, as their throwing rocks from the backs of their pets relieves a lot of pressure on him.


    With panting breaths, he took out a pile of meat and started eating them with much desire. The moment he ate the first batch, he felt greatly refreshed, and his battle ability returned to its peak.


    "Are you okay?"


    Amelia yelled from the nearby entrance of the garden, as she was very anxious on him. he just smiled, before throwing another rock while saying:


    "Never been better, let''s end this fight here so we can enjoy our garden."


    "There''s a strange medal that fell from that monster, take it, I didn''t understand what it was."


    Amelia just threw a golden medal, that was big as the size of both his hands together. He hurriedly caught it, before he grinned from ear to ear, before laughing out loud like a mad man.


    "This is great, this is just great!"


    He just said this, before he let some of his own blood fall on this medal, to make it shine, in a bright gold color.


    This medal was nothing but the ownership certificate of this garden, a tool that determined who was the owner of the garden, and couldn''t be acquired unless the previous owner was dead.


    Not every heavenly garden in his previous world had such a medal, only a rare number of them had it.


    This medal wasn''t only an ownership declaration, but it had inside it a virtual space, enough to take the whole garden within.


    It was a means to facilitate moving the garden with the owner, though it was quite risky. To move the garden, one had to unbind the guarding monster, and relieve it from the contract.


    For most cultivators that wasn''t wise, but for him it was just perfect. The garden was now a burden on him, without a guarding monster he didn''t know how to keep it. He thought of moving the precious plants and herbs inside his ring, or making another, a larger ring, but he knew he couldn''t take the whole garden with him.


    By this, all his troubles were solved, and the garden would be kept hidden, a secret only known to those with him now. until he grew up strong enough to find a suitable guardian, an ancient demon perhaps like the previous owner did, he didn''t intend to make it appear to public eyes any time soon.


    Once the flashing light faded, he took the medal, which started to grow smaller in size, so he could hang it around his neck, and then thought of moving the whole garden into it.


    Suddenly, a huge fog appeared from it, to invade the whole garden. The fog moved unhindered by anything, like it was water flowing from top of the mountain, smoothly covering the whole garden in a matter of minutes.


    It kept itself there for minutes later, then it started to go away with the wind bellowing from everywhere. It started to vanish, and when it was cleared, the whole garden was gone, with not a speck left behind.


    "Let''s retreat!"


    As he gained what he desired, there was no point in meaningless fight. He already had his garden, and he now could retreat safely without any losses.


    Once they heard the order, everyone started to retreat, rapidly and without any chaos. Lily and Clovert kept themselves quite busy, throwing all the rocks they had to cover for their retreat.


    Everything went smoother than expected, as Arthur led the others to a direction away from the place of the garden. The monsters were only focused to enter the garden, and once the humans standing in their way disappeared, they started to run towards the garden, ignoring anything else.


    Arthur took this advantage, as many parts of the garden was still covered in fog, making it unseen for the eyes of the monsters, and he waved for Lily and Clovert to come down and pick them up.


    In less than a minute, they managed to be on the back of the two flying pets, as they started to take them away, very rapidly, far from here, in the total opposite direction than the empty place of the garden.


    In less than ten minutes, they were already safe, far away from every monster that might endanger them, but they already heard that massive roars coming from the direction they came from.


    "It seems they aren''t that happy," Madly sneered, with a chuckle, mocking the monsters'' delayed realization and their reaction.


    The others just laughed at her, as they pictured the faces of these angry monsters when they realized there was no garden. Most of the group didn''t see what Arthur did, but they all were sure he had a hand in that.


    Only Amelia, Omar, Randy, and Ron noticed what he did, and for those four, Arthur had quite trust in their ability to hold their tongue, and bury this secret very deep.


    "Let''s go home, but take a long curve before heading to the village," Arthur finally said, instructing Lily to lead the way, while Clovert was following her lead.


    The journey back home took roughly one day of constant flight, which the first half went with a very stressful waiting, for the monsters to catch up.


    However, after they traveled for more than twelve hours, they managed to calm down, knowing there was no danger, as they got very near to the forest border with their village.

 Chapter 75: Making An Offer to the Bounty Hunter Guild

    As they crossed the forest border, Arthur instructed them to get down and continue the journey on foot. The distance between the village and the forest wasn''t that much, and they managed to cross it in less than two hours.


    "You know I never came here before, as all my travels and staying outside the forest was at the big inns in the huge city of the black raven clan to the north west from here," Randy, who was trying to get as much closer to Arthur as possible, using his natural way of speaking to people, said.


    Arthur didn''t hear about such a clan before, nor he had any impression of that name in the old memories of Willy, so he looked at Ron, who explained:


    "It''s a bigger clan to the north west, controlling huge lands, mainly next to the forest. I heard they claimed another clan to our north, making us so close to their borders, with the white rabbit clan standing between the two of us."


    When Arthur heard the white rabbit clan name, his heart tightened, as this was the clan which attacked and poisoned Willy from before. He didn''t fear that clan, but he felt something seemed fishy here.


    A mighty clan was getting so near to here, and at the same time, a mediocre clan got the guts to attack them here, this was no coincidence at all.


    "What''s the power of this black raven clan?" Arthur asked, trying to assess the hidden danger lurking near him.


    "It had two big towns, calling them cities, but they are towns after all," Amelia said, before Randy could blabber again. "they had many rogue mages visiting them there, as the one town lying on the borders of the forest had a branch for the bounty hunter guild," she added.


    "What about their strength, mages I mean," Arthur asked, illuminating the point he needed to know.


    "I once had a quarrel with one of their main mages, and his strength was decent," Randy hurried to say, before Amelia interfered again.


    "They had a couple of mages studying at Dorgazire academy, for five years now. I heard they are good mages, and beside these two there are around fifty other mages, ranging between rogue mages, or mages studying at lesser academies," Omar said, in much more details than Randy.


    "Two mages at the Dorgazire academy¡­" Arthur muttered to himself, as he didn''t want any trouble regarding the academy.


    His little words attracted the attention of the three veterans, who understood part of the picture.


    "Are there any expected problems with them?" Amelia asked, "If so you don''t need to worry much about the bounty hunter guild, they are always a neutral party," she added.


    "Sure, but they can issue a request there to get aid from them," Arthur said, explaining part of the problem.


    "That might be true," Omar said, "I know the leader of the branch there, and so Amelia and Randy. If you want us to speak with him, we can do that immediately," he added, ready to go this far to gaining Arthur''s favor.


    Arthur didn''t reply at once, as he knew this problem must be dealt with much caution and wisdom. Killing a snake like this clan wouldn''t be an easy task.


    "Tell me, what is the currency used at the guild?" he suddenly asked.


    "Mainly it''s the academy coin, Dorgazire coins, but not many can have it, so they used a bargain method, buying monster''s bones and other products such as ores and weapons in exchange for the coins," Randy replied.


    "I assume that bargains are always so low in value, right?" he asked.


    "Yes, in comparison to the prices of issuing any task at the guild," Randy nodded.


    "I want to issue a quest there," after some time of deep contemplation, Arthur said, "in exchange for three horned living monsters, I want all the rogue mages the guild could amass to come in a recruitment quest to my clan," he added, making the faces of everyone change at once. they looked in astonishment at him, as they didn''t think he would use such a card.


    No one had ever managed to capture monsters alive except at the academies, strong enough like Dorgazire, and they kept these monsters locked up for training their disciples.


    "Is there a specific offer to make?" Amelia asked, very impressed by Arthur''s move.


    He planned to eliminate, or at least decrease, the threat coming from the black raven clan. In a way, he would make it lose many mages who might be interested in their offer, and on another hand, he would gain many mages to help defend his clan, and many of them might be interested in joining his group, if he allowed them to see the secrets he held.


    "one mage for one monster, and ten mages come from the guild, the guild will receive one monster as a thanks gift. In addition to that, each one three horned monster can be exchanged by five two horned monsters. It''s a fair offer I think."


    They all sucked a long breath when they heard his offer, this wasn''t a fair offer, it was a tempting one, a big hand indeed. No matter what the black raven clan tried to offer for the guild, they wouldn''t be able to match his offer, or even half of it.


    He also thought to give the guild some benefits, as this way the guild would be biased towards him, and he would establish future good relations with them. he planned to annex the lands of the black raven clan, either now or later, so attracting this strong existence there would eventually benefited him on the long run.


    The three then got themselves busy sending bird wings to the leaders of that branch, knowing these mages wouldn''t refuse such a rare and generous offer.


    Just as they finished sending the messages, they had already reached the outer region of the village. The state of the village was so poor, hardly they believed it belonged to their mighty leader.

 Chapter 76: Receiving Bad News at Home

    Their faces showed an interesting expression for Arthur, who just chuckled at their reactions. He knew his territory was nothing to be proud of, but it was his, and he intended to make it very strong and mighty and prosperous in the next few days.


    "Come, we will stay here today, arrange something first, then head back to my clan HQ," Arthur said, as he turned to look at Madly, "go and inform grandpa Regil, I want to speak with him and with the main craftsmen here," he added, as he intended to start reorganizing things here first before heading home.


    Just as Madly vanished with the company of her little gang, leaving Drago behind, Arthur smelled some strange stress in the atmosphere, a very depressed mood reigning over everyone here.


    Just as he took a few steps in the streets of the market village, voices claiming his return echoed in the whole village, and suddenly everyone left what they were doing, and came here to meet him.


    Arthur didn''t like this, but he didn''t say anything, waited until all the villagers gathered around him, with a relief look over some, and more worry over others.


    "Oh, you are finally back, thanks gods for your safe return, thanks gods."


    Suddenly grandpa Regil''s voice came from behind him, making him turn to face him. beside him, Madly and the other stood, lowering their head, with gloomy expressions over their faces.


    "What''s wrong?" Arthur finally couldn''t hold himself back and asked.


    "It''s¡­ it''s¡­" grandpa Regil stuttered, didn''t know how to say this omen news to him.


    "It''s your father, he was attacked by mages from the white rabbit clan, killed in battle, and your clan home is now occupied by them," Madly finally said it, while evading the gazes of Arthur.


    Arthur didn''t have a personal impression of that man except from the brief moment he woke up in this world. He knew for sure that that man really loved his son, and this love was something he deeply respected.


    He knew he had to act like Willy here, so he wouldn''t arouse any suspicions. This extreme action from the white rabbit clan was playing along his own plans, so though he was smiling deep inside him, his face showed a very great anger, as he shouted:


    "We will move there now!"


    He didn''t stand a moment here, as he darted outside the village. everyone bought his little act, as it was the only act they expected from him, and so they also followed him, not only his crew, but also the normal villagers here.


    This small gesture from the villagers made Arthur realize how deeply respected he and that dead father of his enjoyed here. He respected back such feelings, and he knew how to repay them.


    As for his group, they already knew how strong he and they were, so they marched following his lead, with Ron walking alone by his side, not saying a word, as this was a great calamity to befall upon Arthur''s house.


    Throughout the way, the villager''s kept gossiping from behind in a soft whisper, and everyone knew the details of what happened. That distasteful uncle had betrayed his brother in battle, and now he was sitting on the throne of the clan, enjoying the treat of the leader.


    However this uncle never gained the trust or the respect of anyone in the whole clan, and inside the territory of it, but no one was strong enough to oppose this force aiding this traitor from the shadows.


    Arthur knew his guesses were right, and this was all the doings of the black raven clan. He wasn''t upset, though, as this would accelerate his plans, and give him all the reasons to act and do what he intended to do here.


    Along the way, they crossed over another village that Arthur never saw before. It was in the same miserable state like grandpa Regil''s village, and the villagers there also followed the lead of him towards the clan.


    It was a grand march, getting bigger and bigger with time. it seemed the news travelled fast around here, as many villagers just kept popping up from nowhere, enlarging their march from mere hundreds into a few thousands.


    When they reached the outskirts of the clan base, they exceeded ten thousand villagers, all came to support Arthur, even if all they could do was to cheer for him.


    Arthur stood on the main entrance of the clan, where there were no walls here to guard it, thought the buildings seemed more neatly organized, and showed some decent architecture.


    Arthur''s presence seemed to be heard by those traitors inside, as once he came towards the clan base, he spotted a group of one hundred mages standing there, and that uncle of Willy was standing in the middle of them.


    "They are mages from the guild," Omar muttered, as he and the other two managed to spot many familiar faces.


    "Is that white rabbit clan that rich?" Randy wondered, as he never expected for a weak, unheard of clan to possess such wealth.


    "It''s not them, it''s the black raven clan," Amelia muttered, as she glanced at Arthur, as if she was wondering how he saw all this coming.


    "Did the guild respond yet?" Arthur suddenly asked, in a fake angry tone.


    "No, they didn''t," Amelia replied instantly.


    "Ok, we will do this in this way," he said as he turned to look at them, at the moment when that traitor, Willy''s uncle, moved to the front in preparation to speak to him, saying anything that had no value to Arthur. "we will attack them, kill them all. If any mage surrendered, then he will become our prisoner," he added, before turning to walk towards that group of mages, while that uncle of his said:


    "My nephew, did you come here to surrender to me? surrender and pledge your loyalty, and I promise I won''t kill you."


    "And I promise I will kill you all," Arthur spurted that out, while he waved his hand, and a huge, two horned rhinoceros appeared out of nowhere, standing beside him, with its huge body.

 Chapter 77: Taking Rule of the Clan

    The appearance of such a brutal monster here, out of nothing, had a deep impact on the mercenaries hired by the black raven clan. They were mages, yes, and that made them more comprehensible of the significance of what Arthur just did.


    No one heard of such a thing before, and before they could even swallow this shock, more rhinoceros appeared, one after another, until over fifty of them stood in the front, blocking the sight, and even the rays of the setting sun.


    "Hear me out, I know you came here fulfilling a quest, in exchange for money and wealth, but nothing in this world is equal to losing your lives. Lay down your arms, surrender to me, pledge your loyalty to me, and I won''t harm you. Defy me, and I won''t show any mercy. You have ten seconds to decide," Arthur suddenly shouted, in a very loud, proud, and angry tone that he tried to make it as quite realistic as possible.


    His voice echoed, breaking this heavy silence in the place, making everyone realize this simple, yet unbelievable fact¡­ their master, their good for nothing young master, had such immense power and powerful allies beside him!


    The golden lion clan, which everyone seemed to be finished, had been revived again, from the ashes, like a mighty phoenix!


    Arthur had given them ten seconds to consider, but the fifth second didn''t pass before they made up their mind, they all, without any exception, had knelt on the ground, swearing, in a well heard, loud voice their loyalty and surrender.


    All, except for his uncle and those few mages who were part of the white rabbit clan. They all looked in horror, unable to believe their eyes, how could such a good for nothing son of the deceased clan head to be so strong.


    Arthur didn''t need to wait anymore, as it was obvious whoever surrendered to him were those coming from the bounty hunter guild, while those still standing around his uncle were mages from the white rabbit clan.


    All had to be killed then, with no hesitation or mercy.


    "kill them all," he simply gave the order and the moment he did that, all the pets moved, per orders from their masters, to attack and kill those standing in front of them.


    The mages who just surrendered watched on the side the mercilessness and brutality of these monsters. Two horned monsters were considered a huge existence to them already, and there wasn''t only one, but over fifty of them.


    Arthur watched, in calmness, the small fight that wasn''t even considered as one. All the traitors were killed, simply like that.


    He then turned to face the whole villagers, those who kept following him along the way to here, all those who decided to trust him, keep their loyalty in him, and this was the moment to repay this gratitude, and show them, no matter how brutal he was to the external world, to them he would always be kind and merciful.


    "Unjust had befallen my clan house, and all of you had seen me taking justice for my father. This isn''t just for me alone, this is all for your sake, for your children, grandchildren, and their grandchildren after them. This day won''t be forgotten by me, and my word to you would never be reneged upon by me or from anyone who would come after me.


    From this moment on, all the children, all the youths, all the strong men in the clan will get the chance to be one of my mighty group, to obtain his own beast, to be on a level no one had ever attained before.


    From this day on, our Golden Lion clan won''t be a mere ordinary clan, it will be one of the strongest clan, and you all can walk anywhere, with raised heads and be proud you are part of my clan."


    His words were strong, vibrant, clearly heard, and the feelings and determination in them were felt by all those who were present here. In one moment the whole place trembled under the ground cheering which came from the villagers, as in this day they were all baptized by Arthur, born courageous and ambitious like never before.


    Arthur watched them in content eyes, as his plan had been already set in motion. The group of mages, his friends, all glanced at him, and in the minds of all of them a suspicion. This was no way to be a birth of this moment, they all felt that this was already planned inside the mind of their leader.


    As they knew him, they knew once he planned something, he wouldn''t rest until he saw it fulfilled.


    "Madly, you will take some mages with you, spread the news over the whole villages, any one below the age of thirty is welcomed here to be tested by me from now on," Arthur started to relay his orders, not wasting any moment, as he knew how hard the mission that awaited him was.


    Madly nodded, and before she even moved, Arthur continued:


    "Omar, I want you to send the news of what happened here back to the leaders of the guild."


    Omar looked at him in a strange way, as he said:


    "But they didn''t reply back on us."


    "They were waiting to see the result of this fight, so they would know to whom they should lay their bets," Arthur said, as he read what those leaders were thinking of. He didn''t have a grudge against that, as anyone was free to choose what side to stand on, but he didn''t tolerate betrayal, so he added:


    "Tell them this would be their last chance to reply, and if I didn''t get a satisfying answer by dawn, I will consider them my enemies."


    Omar understood and nodded, without saying a word.


    "Randy, your mission is to test these new mages, keep them locked in one of the houses here, and leave some monsters to guard them, then come to my main hall after that."


    "I will come once I locked them up," Randy bowed his head slightly, feeling the honor in being giving such a task here, as being recognized by Arthur, who looked towards Ron and said:


    "I recall there were maps, old maps, in my father''s office, do you know these?"

 Chapter 78: Planning for the Future of His Clan

    Ron was feeling some sort of pride and shock from the way Arthur handled things. He saw this heir of the clan growing up day by day, taking his lessons to make him ready for this day, but he never thought Arthur would be ready for such a task, not perfectly like this.


    "Sure, I remember their places," he instantly replied.


    "Go and bring them now to the main hall, also fetch some servants to clean this place," Arthur said, before looking towards Amelia as he said:


    "Come with me."


    Amelia didn''t hesitate to follow him, while others moved to do their tasks. As for the villagers, they couldn''t stop their loud cheer, and even many of them started to dance and celebrate. Arthur didn''t mind all this, as his mind was set on somewhere else.


    That black raven clan!


    He knew it was like a thorn in his side, and thus he needed to plan it well, or else everything would be in vain. A clan as big as this one didn''t rise by accident in this world, there was no such a thing actually, so he knew they wouldn''t put themselves in the main picture as the main culprit, and might also retreat couple of steps to the back, waiting for another moment to jump on here and take everything.


    But he would never let this golden chance slip by. Arthur already sat his gaze upon the whole area surrounding his clan, and by the death of Willy''s father, he could now rule everything under his name.


    He passed through the small streets separating the small, neatly built houses here, heading straight towards the main, big house lying in the centre of this land.


    Along the way, no matter who he met, a servant or part of the family, they all knelt on the ground, and he never bothered to look at any of them in the eye. Just as he reached the main hall, he found Ron was waiting there for him.


    The main hall was meant for the leader of the clan to meet with his men, and discuss the state of the clan and the urgent matters.


    It was, as named, a very big hall, bigger than any other hall in this place, and it had many nice decorations on the walls of it. Arthur didn''t stop to marvel at the place like Amelia did, as despite the clan''s condition seemed quite shabby, this place seemed as another part of another world, reminding her of the big town of the black raven clan.


    Arthur headed straight towards that big, wide chair, lined with gold and many other jewels that mattered nothing to him, and sat, looking at the whole hall with Ron, Amelia, Omar, and Randy. They were all there, all his right handed mages, with the exception of Madly.


    "Now, I want all of you to know the battle we are going to face isn''t going to be an easy one, and our main enemy would prefer to keep himself hidden, but that would make us lose much time here," he started his talk with stating the most bothering fact, and after that he followed with the most critical question, one he wanted to know the answer long time ago.


    "How many days are there between here and the academy?"


    "At least twenty days on foot," Amelia replied, "and if we are going to use the flying pets, then I think five days would be enough," she added.


    "Don''t forget we have to pass through many risky places," Omar interrupted her.


    "I know," she nodded, "I don''t think any monster could stand against us after twenty days of preparations," she added, with a chuckle.


    Arthur knew she was, to some extent, over optimistic, but he knew he had more time under his disposal. He had taken roughly one week from the moment he took the token, and now he had twenty three days remaining. He would put one week to go there, then it would mean he only had sixteen days.


    "In a fortnight we must finish with this conflict, one way or another," he said, before looking at Amelia, Randy, and Omar, "you three know the bounty hunter guild so well, will they be extremely loyal to me, sending all what they got?"


    He, at this moment, doubted what he just said when he heard his voice, and the expression over the two faces explained it all.


    "They would prefer to support you two, so any part wins, they win with him," Omar said, revealing the twisted nature of the bounty hunter guild.


    Arthur wasn''t surprised by this, and he wasn''t mad at them either. He was just trying to gather all the possible info, putting all the variables he could know in his mind, before starting to finalize his plan.


    "Ron, is there any other clan nearby that we should be careful of?"


    It would be stupid to defend one direction, exposing the other side to another enemy to attack you, so if there was any reputable enemy nearby, he needed to know about it.


    "Not as far as I know," Ron said, before standing up and adding, "I will confirm with the records in the other room," he then left with wide strides, as he felt the importance of Arthur''s question.


    Arthur then looked towards the other three remaining here as he said:


    "I will commence a focused large scale training. I want you to be my eyes, spot anyone with outstanding skills so I can add him to our main group. Beside that, you will be tasked to choose some of your weaker mages, replace them with other stronger seedlings we might find here, and those mages we will abandon will act as team leaders; they will take over the protection of this place when we leave here."


    His words drew the future days they would face, and they knew how important this task was, so they just nodded. They were surprised for him to think about finding stranger mages than the group they already had, but they had no objection to that.


    After all, strength was all that mattered in this world, and this was the law of life here. Arthur then started to check the maps with them. there were three clans in direct contact with his land, and behind them there were seven others, then thirteen. The whole count was astonishingly twenty three, that was without the black raven clan, which would be the twenty fourth clan.

 Chapter 79: Finding the Unheard of Dragonair Academy

    "We will head to other clans first, annexing their lands, adding their people to ours. We need to be rapid and swift, and you are all authorized to use any force needed to submit them all," he started saying after a long time of thinking.


    "What shall we do with the already leaders of these clans?" Amelia asked, "Shall we accept them? or kill them all?" she added.


    "We should kill them all, or else we might leave loose ends behind," Randy said, expressing his extreme opinion.


    Arthur went silent for a moment. "Offer them to join us, if they agree from the beginning then we won''t kill them, if they refuse then kill them all. We need to show mercy with ruthlessness, as these leaders had many loyal followers in their lands. Instigating these people''s vendetta wouldn''t be worth it, and it would be far more dangerous than few living clan leaders," he said, declaring his decision.


    Others went silent, as Randy was still thinking they should kill them all, however the other two saw the point of Arthur''s view to be quite interesting and wise.


    "We will arrange it like this, during the next three days we will do a mass training course here, after that you three will lead an army each, then move towards each of the three clans, and span from there to the rest. I want to control the whole land here, here, and here in less than one week.


    After ten days we will start attacking the white rabbit clan and the black raven behind it. we will have five days to wrap things up, then we will use the last day to arrange things here, then we will head towards the academy," he said, explaining in detail his plan, setting up their rules and their missions with the timeline given to them.


    As he finished, Ron returned with a smile on his face telling everything about what he found.


    "There is no big clan nearby, but I found a rather interesting thing here," he said, as he took out an old book, with tattered dusty cover, with parts already missing from it. "there was an academy near here, at this area exactly, and this academy long lost its prestige to the Dragonzire academy, but it''s written here it had a hell of a huge history," he said, while pointing to a place in the map, lying in the heart of all these twenty four clans.


    "An academy?! Here?! what''s its name?" Omar exclaimed in surprise.


    "It''s called the dragonair''s academy," Ron said.


    Once Arthur heard the name, he felt some sort of a hidden truth being revealed slightly to him. He was a dragonair, something he didn''t yet fully understand. Was it a coincidence to be transmigrated here, and there was such a place nearby?


    He didn''t believe in coincidences, so he stated out his decision:


    "I will pay this place a visit personally, and you will act as I just instructed."


    They nodded, while he looked to Ron and said:


    "Go out there, to the whole villagers celebrating outside, and gather all those below thirty years of age, and want to be mages. I will start the tests now."


    "Right away," Ron said, as he left the book behind.


    Arthur then picked up that ancient looking book, and returned to his seat. The book name was about to fade away from time, and the pages were extremely yellow and pale, with the writing so hard to read.


    But this didn''t stop him from reading the book. It wasn''t big, only fifty pages, with tales about that academy, once known as the crown jewel of the eastern magical forest.


    He started to read it, and the more he read, the more doubtful he became. The book spoke about people who lived here, with many powers related to dragon lineage. It was written here that the dragons once lived here, married from humans, and many humans had their bloodlines in their veins.


    However the dragon had unknown calamity, and they all disappeared. After that, the lineage started to grow weak, and sometimes it was broken. The academy was known to be based on the dragon bloodline, as those mages training there were known as ''Dragonair.''


    Many tales were written, like legends, about how strong and invincible there were. They ruled the whole lands west to the forest, with many parts of the forest reigned under their rule.


    Arthur finished reading the whole book, which didn''t contain any useful information regarding the true teachings of dragonairs. He started to feel more confused, as all the tales spoke of one particular thing, the dragon acquisition of the body of the dragonairs.


    He started to think about this theory, as the only logical explanation he had would be that he had the bloodline of the dragons, and he could, to some extent, stimulate it. that would lead to change of his physique, wrongly perceived as being possessed by dragons.


    He recalled that vague experience he had, that venerable voice that spoke to him, and suddenly he started to have that old, familiar feeling, the feeling of standing on the doorsteps of a very shocking secret.


    ''I must go seek the truth myself,'' he inwardly thought, as his desire to go and explore that place only grew stronger.


    He checked the maps again, the location of this academy was amidst a valley inside one of the huge mountain series lining the distant west of here. He had a long journey of two days at least on foot, half a day if he used a flying pet.


    ''Why that venerable being didn''t give me encounters on how to use this power then?'' he didn''t understand this point, though. Was that being thinking the legacy left by the dragons still existed in that academy? That was the only explanation he had.


    He decided to wait for a couple of days here first, as he would test others and give Madly, Ron, and others clues about how to test the possibility of being a mage in any individual being tested.

 Chapter 80: The Silver Falcon Mage

    Then he moved outside, followed by others, to exit the main building of his clan. The place outside the building was a very vast garden, but now it was filled with many villagers, people chosen by Ron according to his instructions.


    "Listen up," he shouted, silencing everyone here, as they looked attentively at him, "I will give each one of you ten pieces of meat. If you feel something after eating the meat, you will go to this side," he said pointing to his right, "if you don''t feel anything, return to outside and continue your celebrations."


    The number of villagers in front of him was approaching two thousand, which meant he would abandon twenty thousand pieces of meat, simply like that.


    He then took out a huge pile of meat one after another, arranged them in patches, each away from the other with a certain distance to avoid overcrowding.


    "Willy," Omar suddenly called, "the guild replied, and they are ready to cooperate," he said.


    "Finally," Arthur said with a chuckle, before turning to Ron, "Take charge of here, and let the villagers on the right side wait. If anyone came from outside just make him or her follow the same rule."


    "I will see things done," Ron replied, as he was feeling excited about the possibility of finding more and more mage seedlings amongst his clan.


    "Send a word as well to the prisoners, let them know they will be summoned to my hall," Arthur said, as he went inside the building again, followed by the three, Amelia, Omar, and Randy.


    Once he sat on his seat again, he asked:


    "What was the exact reply of them?"


    "They said they will honor the agreement, and they ask if they went exclusively supporting us, what more benefits they will harvest," Omar said, saying the reply of the guild leader in the same exact words he read.


    "Greedy, huh?" Arthur sneered, "it seems the news travels fast, and they already heard of my existence," he muttered. He didn''t have any issue of raising the stakes with them, but if they proved to be traitors, dealing with the black raven clan behind his back, then he had to teach them a bitter lesson.


    "Send to him, and say we will give the guild the exact same treatment of the rogue mages. Each mage comes from them will be rewarded by one monster," he paused, then he added, "and tell him I don''t tolerate traitors. If it''s proven for the guild to betray me, I won''t stop at anything until I destroy and kill each single one of them, so he better control his men well enough."


    Arthur knew it wasn''t wise to threaten a potential ally, but he was willing to pay this hefty price for them, and they needed to bear the consequences of this. For him, paying hundreds of monsters wasn''t a burden, as his ring had many thousands already, approaching tens of thousands.


    However he was preparing for the future, when he reigned supreme over all this stretch of land. He didn''t have time to go and capture more monsters, or that might compromise his, already tightened, schedule.


    Omar nodded, and then took out a bird wing paper, wrote on it, then it went on flames. Arthur then looked to the three as he said:


    "What do you think the guild will do? You know them well, will they honor this agreement?"


    "They are greedy, but some of them had already dealt with the black raven clan," Randy replied, expressing part of the problem.


    "Don''t forget some guild elders already married, or their siblings got married to members of the black raven clan," Amelia added, expressing another part of the problem.


    Arthur sat there, thinking about what he had to do with this problem.


    "I think the guild master might do something crazy this time," Omar suddenly said, "I had spoken with him on multiple occasions, and he wasn''t pleased by the way the black raven clan behaved with him and his guild. He once told me he was planning to move the guild to any other place, but he didn''t find any suitable one, not yet," he added, expressing another side of the matter.


    "If he took such a decision, won''t the elders and many old mages there refuse to comply?" Randy asked, as he knew how much the black raven influence ran deeply in the hunter guild.


    "I know, but he had a back up plan," Omar said, with a wide smile over his face, "he planned to unite the three hunter guilds in this area, and for a brand new hunter guild, more powerful and with much more members in it," he added.


    "Two other guilds?" Arthur asked with some interest.


    "Yes," Omar nodded, "there are two other guilds lying to our north and south, a day distance walk. They also had some problems dealing with the local authority like this branch, and the two leaders were also thinking alike the guild leader," Omar said.


    "Are you sure of this?" Amelia asked, "the last time I checked, the two other guilds nearby were in much better state than this one," she added.


    "I also went to the two of them once, they have much better treatment than this guild, and they have much more members than ours. Even the silver falcon is a member of one of them," he added.


    "Who is the silver falcon?" Arthur asked, with much more interest than before.


    "He is a monster of his own," Randy replied, "with no offense, clan leader, this one might be stronger than you are, stronger than the four of us combined," he added, with some embarrassment.


    Arthur didn''t feel offended, but tempted. If there was such a mage out there, he would prefer to make him swear allegiance to him.


    "How old is he?" Arthur asked.


    "Fifteen," Amelia said, with some annoyance, as she was always compared to this child, "he was tested by the academy, but he never joined it," she added.

 Chapter 81: Sending Omar Away to Build A Town

    Arthur looked in question to her, so she added, "he had a personal grudge with the academy, members of the academy raided his village and killed his parents, then his bigger sister took care of him for years before she was also killed on the hands of members of the academy," she explained, thinking this might stop Arthur from seeking him.


    "Interesting indeed," Arthur leaned back, to sit comfortably on the seat, while thinking about this white falcon. One like him would be considered a hidden gem in his own terms, and he didn''t find it contradictory to add a mage with personal vendetta with the academy.


    After all, he had his own plan for him, for the future.


    Just before Arthur could speak, a bird wing appeared out of thin air, as Omar read it before it finally burnt down.


    "He agrees," Omar said with a smile getting wider on his face, "he also asks if this offer is limited to him, or to other guild branches in the vicinity as well? And finally he asks about the possibility for you to establish a branch of the hunter guild here, and this branch, if established, will be the one related to this agreement."


    Arthur knew Omar''s thoughts were the closest to reality, and he appreciated that vision of him. "Tell him to come today and establish the guild here if he wants, but he shouldn''t take a long time to come, I have a tight schedule, you know," Arthur said, expressing his warm welcome to such a golden opportunity.


    He was in a very good mood, as he watched Omar receive another message from the guild leader expressing his approval, and saying he would come tomorrow at top with many others.


    Arthur knew he would wait for the other two guilds to come with him, so the new branch would be established at once.


    "What do you think of the best place to establish the guild branch?" he asked, as he was hesitating to make it at the primitive market of grandpa Regil.


    "I think the village beside the forest would be the best place to establish a branch there," Randy said, and the two others nodded agreeing on his words.


    "If so, then we need to do a lot of work at this village," Arthur said, as he knew that village wasn''t enough to hold an important bounty hunter guild branch and all the mages belonging to it.


    "I can go and observe the work there, but I will need ten days at least to finish," Omar said, as he looked to Arthur in hesitation. He knew Arthur had plans for him, so he just said that in a suggestive way.


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur said, as he thought about what Omar just said, "you can go and return in three days. if any of the rogue mages come, I will send them to aid you. Also take this," he then went towards a small table with some scrolls on it. he wrote an order, and then sealed it with the clan head seal, and handed the scroll to Omar. "You can ask anyone to help, including those outside celebrating already," he said, gesturing to him to move.


    "I will do my best," Omar said, as he took the paper, and then moved outside the place.


    "Is it wise to start building and sending part of our forces away from here?" Amelia asked, as she was already worried of the black raven clan retaliation.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled an evil smile, "if the black raven attacked, then I will be really glad they did take such a move," he vaguely replied, in a way that made Amelia and Randy think they misunderstood his intentions, completely.


    In fact Arthur agreed to send Omar away for that reason. He wanted to appear weak, unorganized, and stressed out by time and the quests he needed to do before welcoming the new guild branch here.


    The news would travel fast, and the black raven clan would be notified, one way or another, by the alliance and the sudden cooperation between the leader of the guild and him, so they would try to either hit him now, or wait for later due to attack him.


    If he had to choose, then he would have chosen now. He wasn''t prepared, but they were also unprepared. He had many advantages now, many of his secrets were hidden, and his enemy didn''t know them yet.


    So, fighting them now would be most appropriate for him, but he also knew this had a very slim chance of occurring, as such a clan wouldn''t be this reckless in making its decision.


    What a regret, he thought, if his enemy was another mediocre clan, things would have ended in another simpler way.


    He just sighed, as he couldn''t decide for them, and he couldn''t march to attack them, as this would be the last resort to choose, and he needed to be more prepared for it.


    "Let''s go outside," he said, as it was time for the youths of the clan to be tested. The meat test was just a start up for them, as anyone with any potential within him would feel the changes brought by the meat.


    Once they returned to Ron, Arthur was delighted to find over half of the villagers who moved to take the test passed it, standing on the right side of him.


    That was even higher than his wildest imagination, one third, that was the highest number he had thought of.


    "They are all who passed the test," Ron said, welcoming Arthur, "I finished in no time, but there are still many who are coming answering the call Madly and the others are spreading everywhere," he added, as there was still many groups coming into the wide garden, to take the test.

 Chapter 82: Lets Make An Array

    "Good, continue and never stop then," Arthur said, patting Ron on the shoulder before adding more meat to the already exhausted reserves. He then went to check the new seedlings, those who would be put to further tests, and be granted many opportunities.


    "Who, among you, is afraid of being killed, step out and return home now," Arthur said once he stopped in front of these youths. Most of them were present when he reached here with his small group of mages, summoned those huge monsters and took over the clan head title by his own hands.


    He didn''t know that, but inside all those seedlings'' souls, he was already a legend.


    No one moved an inch, instead they all raised their chests in pride, even if it took them to die, they would be dead under the teachings of their legendary clan head, some honor many were preparing to take any risk to obtain.


    Arthur just nodded, commending all of them silently inside his mind. It wasn''t the first time for him to teach new disciples, he had a sect before, and he taught those youngsters until they became masters.


    And he intended to do exactly the same here, however the only problem he had was that he was exposed, totally exposed to any stranger eyes watching sneakily from far.


    There was no time to look for another place, hidden from eyes, secluded, for training, so his only option now lied in one thing, the arrays!


    Arrays were one great tool to affect mother nature, using the energy of heaven and earth, channeling it into a modified way that would cause certain results. What he needed now was an illusion array, not an advanced one of course, as advanced arrays would take much time and materials to be ready.


    He could build a simple yet effective disguising array, which would be one of the lowest arrays in the illusion category, one of the lowest he ever made in his entire life.


    To make an array, he needed various materials, like a special kind of wood to form poles, pillars of any array, and if he had a special type of clothes he would go further to form flags, but he lacked that right now.


    He had the wood material, that charcoal he gathered from the burning forest from before, he had a lot of it. These burnt down trees were really unique, as they absorbed a lot of energy dissipating from the heavenly garden.


    He thought if that didn''t work to use the trees inside the garden, but he didn''t want to do so, so he hoped this would succeed using this charcoal.


    The second thing he needed would be a special ink, and he already had three unique blood reserved to be used as ink, one of that scorpion, which was kept alive, and even was given a chance to eat some meat from time to time to recover part of its strength before continuing its bleeding.


    The second would be that flying monster''s blood. A five horned flying monster that had a really long neck, a crocodile-like head, and sharp and thin needle-like feathers, grading in red colors to orange, with a black fanned tail. Arthur also kept it in a wounded state, and never let it heal, treating it the same way he treated the scorpion.


    The third, and the highest and most precious type of ink would be that was gathered inside the heavenly garden, forming a large pool, came from the killed ancient demon.


    Arthur was skeptical to use that ancient demon blood, after all it was so rare to meet one, and even much rarer to kill one. So, he decided to go with the scorpion and that bird''s blood.


    He knew he couldn''t use different types of inks in making the poles of the array, unless he was doing a complicated array that was formed by other smaller arrays. So, he chose what he had much of, the scorpion blood.


    The third thing he needed was to know how to draw the general and specific diagram of the array, where to distribute the poles, forming certain diagrams, matching heaven and earth energy flow.


    He had this knowledge already, deep enough so he could teach others, and was considered by others as being a master. He looked at the youths, as he said:


    "I want you to keep eating this meat, each will take only one hundred pieces until I come back," he said, as he threw a huge pile of meat in front of them.


    His move seemed unnecessary to others, but he knew how deeply malnourished these youths were, and how bad their bodies needed energy. If he wanted to form an elite force as fast as possible, then he must start with what he started with for himself, nurturing his body in the right way.


    And also he needed some time to make the array. He then left Randy with the new youths, as he loved the idea of being the head of them, and started to yell at them for no reason at all, but Arthur didn''t say anything, as these youths needed some harsher treatment than the care he was giving them.


    And Randy seemed to be the perfect candidate to do this role.


    He then returned inside again, with his mind busy by the array he intended to do. He didn''t doubt if that array would work here or not, as he stopped asking himself such questions since he met that venerable mysterious dragon being.


    Without knowing it, Amelia was walking, silently, behind him. She didn''t mean to sneak on him, as she noticed how deeply immersed he was, and she didn''t want to disturb him.

 Chapter 83: Making A Concealing Array Successively

    So, she sat on a remote side in the main hall, watching him with curious eyes, as her female instincts kept telling her he was about to make something revolutionary new and unique, per usual.


    Arthur didn''t note her presence at first, but later when he did, he didn''t comment on that, after all he had to get used to being watched from his core team.


    The first thing he did was to get out his tools, as he took out his sword, the brush he had already used for so long and got used to it, and a bowel filled with the scorpion blood.


    The second thing he did was to grab the map of this big village of his, and he started to visualize the array, divide it into the simplest form possible, the triangle base, as three poles would form a great triangle, trapping the whole place inside.


    The more poles to interact, the more area to cover, and the less weak spots there were to infiltrate. If he had more time, he would add a real illusionary array inside this one, so any intruder would be dealt with the illusion array, being trapped inside it until they deal with him later.


    However, he just sighed for his lack of time. He then took out a large amount of charcoal, and started using the sword in hand to cut these burnt pieces of wood into long, thin, strangely similar in shape slices, each was roughly cylindrical in shape.


    After he finished making the right number of the poles, which was eighty one poles, he started polishing them to look exactly the same in length.


    After he finished doing all this, he grabbed the brush, and used the blood to write a series of words, all in the same order, which Amelia couldn''t read from her position, so she came, slowly, to stand behind him, watching his delicate and precise craftsmanship with admiration. The words were: Heaven- Earth- Energy- Conceal- Fog- White.


    She felt some loss, but she then let him continue what he was doing in such great concentration, and returned to her spot at the back, and continued watching him in action.


    Arthur was already familiar with the process he was doing, and finally he finished, leaving one last pole behind. That pole was unique, as it would be the heart of the array. Any array must have a heart, a central pole that would act as the general controller for the whole array.


    The more complex the array was, the more hearts it had, and the harder it would be to destroy it. to destroy a trap, you had to destroy the eye, to destroy an array, you have to find that central pole and remove it from the ground.


    But Arthur knew, despite how simple it was to break his array, it was kind of impossible for people here to have such a profound knowledge for them. so, he wasn''t worried. If he was facing other cultivators or mages with such knowledge, he would have to appoint guards to secure this pole alone.


    The central pole needed the same writings as others, but it had to follow each word with the word, Control. That was the reason it was longer than the others. After he finished doing so, all he needed to do was to insert the poles for the first time in the ground, forming the array around the hall was a simple task for him, during which his eyes silently met the eyes of Amelia for a brief moment before continuing what he was doing.


    The last pole to insert was the main pole, as he inserted in the most secure place here, in the centre of the whole region, this big house of his.


    Once he inserted the central pole in the ground, the whole array was activated for the first time, gathering a pure energy around him, bathing the poles with this energy for a few minutes, while Arthur waited, and Amelia couldn''t hold herself, as she moved and came to stand beside him.


    "What is this?" she curiously asked, as she didn''t know what was happening, but she could already feel the stir in the room energy.


    "You will see now," Arthur muttered, as he was trying to analyze the difference between the arrays here and back in his world. He had to admit, the array here had yielded much better results than the arrays he used to make back in the past life.


    ''It seemed the energy here was left alone, unused, for a long period of time, so its general concentration is already higher than my previous world,'' he muttered, as he was busy analyzing the flow of the energy here, not concerned with his array, not bothering to know if it worked or not.


    He knew it would work, and so he wasn''t interested in watching it, not like Amelia, whose beautiful rounded eyes got widened as she watched the array starting to operate, bringing forth a thick cloud of white fog, completely concealing the whole part of the hall inside the array.


    "What is this magic?" she finally overcame her shock, as she asked, bringing him out of his complicated and deep thought, jolting him awake.


    "What?" he asked, as he didn''t know what she just said.


    "I asked you what this magic is. I can''t detect or sense anything inside this fog, like it was a real fog," she said, with bright eyes and an amazing mesmerizing face.

 Chapter 84: The Training of the New Mages Begins

    Arthur just smiled, as the explanation of any array would be such a complicated task even for a master like him.


    "It''s a tool that can conceal anything inside from the eyes of any outsider," he simply explained, without delving deep into any details, "it''s called an array," he added, as he went ahead and collected the poles, starting with the central and main one.


    Once he took this pole, the whole array crashed, and she could see the area that was hidden. After he finished collecting everything, he gave the poles to her as he said:


    "Take Randy with you and Insert these poles according to places marked in this map," he gave her the map which marked the place of the poles. She just took the poles and didn''t ask for more, as she felt how profound and revolutionary this array was.


    She then headed outside the hall, where he remained holding the main pole in hand. He then looked for a hidden place, concealed by thick curtains, and inserted the pole into it.


    By the presence of the other poles roughly in their places, he knew the protection of his secrets was done. He then went ahead towards the garden, where Ron was commencing the trials on the newcomers.


    "Ron," he said, attracting his attention, "send to the group protecting those who surrendered to us, and let them bring the mages here. also choose a group of our people, who didn''t pass our test, and make them wait outside the boundaries of this town. Make them guide anyone coming to take the test to head into the fog, directly to here," he instructed.


    "What fog?" Ron asked, with confusion on his face.


    "You''ll know later, just do it," he said with a chuckle. Ron just looked silently at him for a moment, before starting relaying the orders.


    Arthur waited for half an hour until everything was set in order, the array was activated, and the mages captured returned to stand in front of him. he pointed towards the place of other mages to come as he said:


    "Stand here with them."


    The mages didn''t disobey him, as they already knew how strong he was. Arthur watched them join the huge group of mages, before he started addressing everyone:


    "From this moment on, you will experience a strong course of preparations, for you to be mages. I can''t promise you anything, but the ones who would be mages will enjoy special treatment, for him and his family. Those of you who will impress me will have a chance to come with me to the dorgazire academy in less than one month, to have the chance to join the academy."


    His words were met by a loud suction of long breaths of admiration and shock, especially from those who surrendered to him. they never thought, for even one moment that the dark fate they imagined would be the long dream any rogue mage would dream of.


    At this moment, even if Arthur didn''t ask for it, they swore to be loyal to him, to do anything just to make him satisfied.


    "Now we will start the first step of being a mage, I will get out many monsters now, kill them one by one, and everyone of you will come to me, make a wound on his hand, and hold the organ I will give to him. others have to help those sleepy ones to sit, comfortably on one side."


    Ron just nodded, as he understood Arthur''s intentions. Arthur first gave them meat to test their abilities, if present or not, and now he would test if they were able to handle the huge amount of energy inside each organ or not.


    If anyone couldn''t absorb energy from the vital organ, then he or she wouldn''t be a good choice to nourish in the future. He had a great amount of mages here, and he knew not everyone had the same destiny as the others.


    Also he knew giving them vital organs without testing their affinities wasn''t a good thing, slightly injustice to him, but that was all he could do in the time being, and he had to accept some might be abandoned due this.


    After all, luck was also part of anyone''s strength.


    "Listen up, form lines, and stand organized. When I choose anyone to advance, be ready and step forward to meet our clan head. When I select some of you to go and carry someone, just do what I say," Ron said, as he started to take the role of Arthur''s butler, the old role of his.


    Arthur then didn''t waste time, as he went to a place empty enough in the garden, and then he started taking out one monster after another. His ring was full of many kinds of monsters, ranging from one horned monsters to four horned ones. He just chose one horned monsters or less, which were enough to satisfy the needs of a few thousands already.


    They were taking a place inside his ring, and doing so would make space for other stronger monsters to mate and give birth to new monsters. This wasn''t a rare occasion now, as many monsters already did that, benefitting from the dense energy accumulating inside his ring from the heavenly treasure.


    The first monster he took out was a tiger-like monster, without horns at all. Arthur didn''t delay and used his sword to strike the head of this monster, who was covered in brown thick fur. Once died, he inserted both hands, feeling the organs inside, taking out its heart as he said:


    "Bring me one."


    Ron then muttered something, and one villager, a twelve years old one, stepped towards Arthur in shaky steps. Arthur just smiled to him as he gave the heart in his hands while saying:


    "Don''t worry, just hold it."


    The hands of this kid were full of blood, as he injured himself deeply. Arthur just smiled, as he watched the kid take the heart and grab tightly on it. The moment he did that, the child couldn''t stand anymore, falling on the ground losing consciousness, as he stepped his early steps on the path of the mages.


    Arthur was feeling excited, as the first to come was a kid with potential to be a mage. He looked at Ron with his wide smile as he said:


    "Take him to rest, and bring me the next one."


    "What about this body?" Ron asked, as he pointed to the body of the killed monster.


    "Hmm, take it to one side, and grab some of those who wouldn??t pass and teach them how to cook them. our mages need constant nutrition to get better."


    Arthur then took out the second monster, and he got himself busy killing monsters one after another. It wasn''t until the tenth monster when one villager didn''t feel anything when he took the kidney of a monster resembling a big cow with a strong body and a very agile and strong tail.


    "Never mind, go and do what Ron will tell you next," Arthur said, trying to console this twenty years villager. The youth moved, dejectedly to the side, when another one stepped in and lost his consciousness the moment he took the kidney.

 Chapter 85: Ending the Necessary Preparations for Having Pets

    After some time, more and more villagers started to fail the test. The constant pattern noticed here by Arthur was the high age of those failing, as the more to exceed twenty years, the more failures there were.


    However he wasn''t depressed by this, as any villager who could be a mage would be an addition to his growing force. In addition to that, he intended to invade other clans soon, so many other villagers would be tested, and much more mages would be added.


    Those who failed the test were handled by Ron, who started to transform a big part of the garden, and the area adjacent to it into cooking pits. He used the seasonings Arthur gave him, selected from the garden he had now in possession, and that made the meat cooked here had more value than before.


    Soon everything started to take a strange familiar turn to when they were in the forest, and by nightfall, the number of villagers coming here reached the climax, with the return of everyone, headed by Madly.


    Amelia and Randy had come a long time ago, and she took charge of handling the test with Arthur, while Randy helped in taking some of the mages remaining here, and patrol the perimeter of the town, outside the fog, keeping any outsiders out.


    As for Ron he took the mission of teaching the failed villagers how to cook. When they saw Ron dealing with this task so seriously, they started to feel more better than before, as it seemed the failure wasn''t the end of it.


    While things kept going on smoothly like this, Arthur finished dealing with the villagers at dawn, when no new villagers came here, meaning that anyone that could be tested had come already, or decided not to.


    Just in the early hours of the new morning, some villagers started to wake up. When the number reached one hundred, Arthur gathered them up as he said:


    "I will now start part two of your training, which is to supply your bodies with nutrition through meat. Each of you will continuously eat meat from here, as he or she will continue the other tests," he said, as he pointed to the huge pile of meat accumulating on one side from the cooking team.


    There were still a lot of monsters to cook, and that meant more meat to supply the new mages. Arthur then took out his own tools, and started to draw on the ground many circles. To do so, he went to another empty area, just next to the garden, as he intended to transform this area for pet contracting.


    For pets he had his own plans already, as he started to gain some insights into the laws of this world, and how mages can be arranged according to strength. Mages who had coupled with one monster could have two pets, those who coupled with two monsters could have four pets.


    For the choice of the pet, he would go for the strongest he had in his ring, the three and four horned monsters. He intended to start with three horned ones, and for those who passed to the last stage, completed the coupling process, would be granted a four horned monster as their second pet.


    As he finished his preparations, Amelia came with Randy, who left other mages to patrol the perimeter. Once they reached him, Amelia started the topic they wanted to talk about by saying:


    "Randy wants to take these green leaves and train them in the forest."


    Arthur looked at him as he said:


    "I know we should leave to lead one army in two days time, but I think we can delay one more day, take the boys to hunt some monsters, collect more ore, and return. These kids need to taste what it feels like on a real battlefield."


    He had a point here, and Arthur knew this, but his schedule was already tight. He wanted to start invading other clans, and head towards the academy hidden deep beyond these clans. He couldn''t afford to lose much time.


    When Randy noticed his hesitation, he added:


    "We can have some of them to obtain flying pets, this way we can shorten a lot of time without any risk."


    "But the number of flying monsters is so small, not exceeding twenty," Arthur annoyingly said, as he now regretted not having many flying monsters.


    "These are enough already, three armies, with each having seven flying pets. We can move hundreds of mages on their backs, and we even can divert our armies into smaller ones," Amelia said, trying to support Randy.


    Arthur sighed, as he knew what the two were thinking of was the right decision to make.


    "Ok, you will move tomorrow then, and be back within two days top," he said, before adding, "and you two will be on the head of them, I don''t want any risks inside. After all the clans we are invading don''t have mages as far as I know."


    "Don''t worry, we won''t take them too deep," Randy said, as his eyes flashed with some ambition.


    These kids were the new cornerstone of Arthur''s empire, gaining their trust would benefit him in the future. Arthur himself could read his mind, understanding all this, but he didn''t say anything to him.


    After all, inside any strong sect, many would seek their advantages as well. As long as they helped the sect to grow, and never compromised the safety of the sect, they wouldn''t be suppressed by the leaders of the sect.


    Arthur knew this, and so he didn''t object to Randy''s little ambition here.


    Giving them his blessing meant he had only one day to finish everything. He had to finish the pet step first, then start at once the coupling step.


    So, he went to another area, bigger than the previous one, located on the back of his mansion, and started to draw on earth the circles needed for the coupling process. He also took out many ores, and started writing on them as well.


    "Randy, you will be responsible for the pet contract process, just supervise the process as a whole. Amelia, your turn is to supervise the coupling process," he said, as he was busy taking out the monsters for the two processes, replenishing the drawings on the ground, and the runes he had to replace each time.


    The two nodded, as they all witnessed him do this process over and over again. They knew the key words to activate the two steps, but they didn''t know the details of each step, especially these rocks which Arthur was very careful towards.


    They noticed how much attention he had when he put the ores of the ground. The ores were the key to his whole processes, and without deciphering them, none could replicate his doing, none.

 Chapter 86: Meeting The Bounty Hunter Branches Leaders

    The process went on smoother than Arthur expected, as the new mages didn''t take much time to finish their coupling process. When the night fell, everything was literally finished, and a rare moment of peace was welcomed in the place.


    Arthur sat on his chair, as he was now waiting for Ron and others to finish counting the new mages, taking in their data, and recording them inside a big book. He knew the importance of getting things organized, and planting such a system from the start would save him a lot of trouble later.


    As he waited for them, he knew his night wouldn''t pass this easy, as those who would join him from the bounty hunter guild were now on their way here. he had many options to decide about how to deal with them, putting in mind they might have their own plans already, so he didn''t think much about it.


    What he was really considering, and thinking about every now and then, was that mysterious academy. The fact there were dragons living here, with many dragon descendants made him feel some anticipation to find that academy.


    Was there such a hidden secret here, so hidden well that even the people living next door didn''t know about it? or this was a secret that only a handful of people knew about?


    He didn''t know anything, and that made him be looking forward to his visit to that place. amidst his own thoughts, Omar arrived suddenly, without any prior notice, however his appearance didn''t alert Arthur, as this was expected.


    He knew when the guild''s mages came here, Omar would appear. When Omar entered the room, there were some people behind him, three males and two females, plus Amelia, Randy, and Ron.


    "Welcome to my clan base," Arthur said, as he stood up to greet them. He knew first impressions lasted forever, and so he wanted to appear humble, warmly welcoming them when they thought about this moment in the future.


    "Oh, it''s brother Willy, the one I kept hearing legends about," one middle aged man said. he seemed to be the leader of this group of mages, with a domineering aura of his own. His dark blue hair was long, but bundled together in two long bundles, reaching to the end of his back. He had sharp eyes, with a long and deep scar running across his forehead, slightly above his eye brows, forming a shape of a sword, a very frightening sword indeed.


    He had a huge sword on his back, with a hilt so broad and thick that seemed to be a weapon itself. Arthur had a good impression regarding him, as he seemed to be a veteran man, who lived through hell of battles so far.


    "He is Omgalden, the leader of the bounty hunter guild at the black raven clan," Omar did the introduction as he pointed, with much respect to this man.


    "Welcome Brother Omgalden, sorry to make you take all this trouble," Arthur said, welcoming his guest again.


    "It''s quite an honor actually. My men kept telling stories about how different your ways were in training new mages, and I found it appropriate to come here in person and speak with you," Omgalden said in mutual respect, then he pointed to those around him as he said:


    "May I introduce to you my friends here, this is Torend, the leader of the bounty hunter guild at Cesaly clan, and next to him is his right hand mage, and the strongest mage he had, Celi. She isn''t someone you should take lightly if I were you, despite her beauty, her halberd is really sharp enough to cut any monster, and man."


    Arthur looked at the two in front of him. The first one was another middle aged man, with no hair on his bald head, except for a few of them, which he grouped together in one bundle, dying them red. His eyes were very dark, very sharp, which gave Arthur an uneasy feeling. His nose was curved, like it was broken before, and his jaw seemed to be broken multiple times and poorly healed, leaving many indentations on his thin haired jaw and doubt edged chin.


    He wasn''t anyway taller than Omgalden, but with two swords on his back, he seemed rather far more dangerous than the latter. Arthur nodded in content, as this was another veteran fighter, another force to be added to his growing strength.


    The lady next to him was much younger, roughly at twenty years of age, but her aura seemed more sharp than Torend. She was really a beauty, more beautiful than Amelia, with a taste of clothes that made her seem like a goddess descended upon this land. Her hair was thick, long, and free without any restraints, and her pale green eyes made a lovely contrast with her dark green and blue clothes she was wearing.


    She had a long halberd that seemed so special, with a bloody aura emanating from it. what astonished Arthur was the aura around her, restrained, but deadly, like a monster waiting to jump at any moment to kill his opponent.


    He admired her looks, as he knew much more beauties than her, far more deadly than what she was.


    "Welcome brother Torend and sister Celi to my small town. It''s an honor to receive you two here," Arthur said, with much respect to the two.


    "Can we stop this now? I want to ask brother Willy to show me his legendary monster."


    Arthur looked at the youngest youth standing amidst them. He had a calm handsome face, with no speck of dust on it. if he met him anywhere, he would mistaken him to be a son of a wealthy family perhaps. He was wearing tight armor, with long sleeves as his two arms were appearing outside the sleeves. His hair was short, and his weapon was a long, broad curved sword that was hung on his waist without a scabbard.

 Chapter 87: Meeting the Sexy Lendy

    Arthur didn''t need an introduction for this youth, as he knew he was the silver falcon, the ace mage the third bounty hunter guild had. Arthur smelled some faint hostile aura coming from him, and he was expecting such an attitude from this mage, after all news would travel fast, and the token Arthur had about the academy would have been long known by them.


    "Brother silver falcon seemed quite serious," Arthur just laughed shortly, before he waved his hand, and suddenly a huge rhinoceros appeared with its two horns in the place. The size of this monster was enough to cause a stir in the place, and the aura emanated from it made everyone dreadful, and weapons appeared at once and were all directed towards Arthur''s pet.


    "Oh, calm down, it''s under my control," Arthur said as he patted on the head of the irritated pet of his, which hit its hooves on the ground, in a motion expressing its readiness for fight.


    "Just give me a chance and I would kill it on one to one fight," the silver falcon refused to budge an inch, declaring his hostile intent towards Arthur, who just smiled while saying:


    "Sending two horned monsters to you is a disrespect to your fame, I think a five horned monster would be better, what do you think brother silver falcon?"


    The words of Arthur made everyone suck a cold breath of air, as no one spoke or said a word, not even silver falcon, who knew for sure he wasn''t a match for such a monster, not alone.


    He wanted to prove his worth, his superiority, but not in such a suicidal way indeed.


    "Stop joking around brother Willy, such a monster would be a disaster for any clan, or mages, and it would be quite rare to find one in the forest."


    The second female mage here said, while she waved her long, slender staff in front of her beautiful face, which wasn''t any less than Celi''s beauty. Arthur noted her staff, as it was the same mysterious ability he knew nothing about, like Amelia.


    "Oh, I have already two in my possession," Arthur just simply replied, "if sister wanted to see one, I can take one out, but I''m not sure we can handle it properly, as it had a grudge against me, and last time I just captured it with a fluke," he added, acting both humble and proud.


    The grayish eyes of this female mage shone with bright light when she heard that. She was the third middle aged person here, making her the leader of the third guild hunter.


    "If brother Willy had captured it already, then it wouldn''t be anything near a fluke," she said, with a chuckle and a good attitude towards Arthur, who knew this beauty, whose looks never expressed her age properly, wasn''t that easy to approach.


    "You have two five horned monsters? Where do you keep them?" silver falcon said, with a defeated tone, but he hoped to prove Arthur was boasting wrongly about this, despite knowing the low chances of this.


    "I keep them here," Arthur calmly replied, as he raised his hand, showing off the ring he had.


    "Inside this ring?" Omgalden was the one to exclaim out loud.


    "Yes, brother Willy has an extraordinary ring that he made. This ring can absorb things and take things out, easily and feasibly like that," Randy said, with a pride in his tone, after all he was now Arthur''s man, and Arthur''s advantages were considered his in front of strangers.


    "That''s a good thing indeed," the female leader said, "may I ask for brother Willy to make one for me?" she asked with a wink, like she was a spoiled little girl, adorable girl.


    "Sure thing," Arthur shrugged his shoulders like this was nothing, "in fact I intended to make some new rings, but I lack some ore," he said, expressing his willingness to help, but in return it wouldn''t be free.


    "Ore? Anymore you want can''t match the magic you have in your hand," Torend immediately said, agreeing for the price Arthur just offered. "Sister Lendy had a great taste for any fancy ornaments, so she might gift you with much more than ore," he winked with an evil smile on his face, referring to the female leader with the staff.


    Lendy giggled, with a faint redness over her smooth cheeks, "brother Torend is joking, but if the ring impressed me, I might consider it."


    She looked in a meaningful way to Arthur, who just smiled at her, "I''m sure you will love it," he said, with a wink. He had many beauties when he was a cultivator, and knew well how to handle such monsters and satisfy them well.


    She laughed, a short yet stunning laugh, which appeared fake more than real.


    "Brother Willy, this my right handed man, Volren, a strict knife wielder mage, someone I really like to give missions to, as he never failed me, not even once," Omgalden said, as he pointed to a twenty five mage, standing up straight like he was a sword. He had his long, slightly curved knife hanging on his waist, with a brown leather scabbard for it.


    Arthur knew how sharp the knife cultivator were, and it seemed this feature was still with them here. they were always serious, dependable, and trusted, never lie, never flatter, never hesitate.


    "Welcome brother Volren, now let''s all sit down and have some chat together," Arthur said, as he returned to his seat while adding, "Ron, go and bring our finest meat and wine for our guests."

 Chapter 88: Tasting the Monsters Meat for the First Time

    "At once, clan head," Ron replied firmly, with curtsy, before he left to prepare for the feast. The words of Arthur were noted by everyone, as he didn''t say food, but he said meat.


    "Brother Willy, I heard from brother Omar here that you intend to expand your territory, joining many clans under your clan, and head to take a spot for yourself at the academy of Dorgazire, is that right?" Omgalden asked, directly once they ended the welcoming ceremony.


    "Yes, brother Omar said the truth," Arthur said, "I plan to annex all the lands around me, and form a mighty clan on my own," he added, "but I didn''t intend to go to the academy and reserve a spot for myself, I plan to take as many capable and worthy mages as possible," he cleared this point.


    "I think the academy is a waste place, you will lose your time there," the silver falcon said, with a great hatred in his tone.


    "I know the academy might have bad people inside, but I need its knowledge if I wanted to make my clan grow bigger," Arthur said, calmly replying to the angry mage.


    "Any clan that goes there will end up being a slave for them," he rudely replied.


    "Silver falcon, watch your tongue, we are guests here after all," Lendy said, to avoid any unneeded fight at this early time of their relation with Arthur.


    "No, it''s alright, he had all the right to ask and speak up his mind freely," Arthur said, expressing his opinion towards silver falcon, "you know for any clan to rise, it has to obtain certain factors, one of them is good relations with those forces around it, and another is to have a strong foundation, a place that no one can set foot on, well guarded, and even feared," he added, giving some hints to silver falcon and to others.


    They weren''t dumb, as they all understood his meanings hidden amidst his words.


    "Does brother Willy have a far more ambitious goal?" Lendy asked, with some interest in her tone.


    "Sure, I didn''t want to just establish a clan," Arthur said, as he pointed his hand to the ceiling, "I want to establish an existence that can rival the heavens itself," he declared, saying his dream for the future.


    "Existence? Like what?"Torend asked, with focus and curiosity.


    "A nation that would stretch its borders from east to west, without boundaries, without rivals, without no one to fear. A place where all clans would be servants to it, all academies will work for it, and all people living in it wouldn''t worry about their future, knowing it will be greatly secured in the hands of it, an empire than no one ever heard of or seen," he said, with proud words and ranging declarations.


    He knew there was no such a concept in this world, which existed only on the simple ideas of clans and academies. He would revolutionize that, and he would even go beyond this, depending on the truth he would unveil at the Dragonair academy, or the Dorgazire academy.


    His words were sudden, very strong, and indeed new to their ears. They say there, saying nothing, with surprise expressions on their faces.


    "Making even academies work for you?" Silver falcon asked, "Are you sure of this?" he again asked, with a much shocked and shaky voice.


    "Sure," Arthur simply said, confirming the meaning of Arthur''s previous words.


    Silver falcon face showed the same expression of others, shocked, in disbelief. They heard many great dreams before, but they never heard of such an ambition ever in their lives.


    "Oh, brother Willy, when you reach your dream, don''t forget this little sister here," Lendy was the first to speak, flirting with her sweet tone of voice, leaning to the side to show her big two full bulging smooth hills on her chest.


    Arthur just smiled, and said nothing. At this moment, Ron entered the room, saving him from this awkward moment. this Lendy was giving him a hot vibe, making him restless from inside, as if she was provoking, challenging him, to breach her.


    "Come, let''s eat first," Arthur said, as he waved to Ron, distributing the plates full of cooked monsters'' meat to everyone, on a large wooden table servants brought here. each one had a few plates full of different types of the finest meat they had cooked so far, with a glass of the best wine they had.


    "May I ask, brother Willy, what is this strange, delicious meat?" Torend asked, as he felt great temptation to eat this meat, something he never felt before towards any food.


    "Just taste it, brother Torend, and you will be quite satisfied," Arthur just chuckled, and said no more.


    Arthur then took a piece of meat, and simply ate it. Amelia, Randy, and Omar did the same, and others looked at them for a moment, before they started tasting this weird meat.


    Once the meat entered their mouths, their eyes shone, without any exception, as they started to eat with much desire, feeling this odd and fantastic energy flow feeling in their bodies.


    Without knowing it, they all finished their shares, and at this moment they stopped, looked around themselves, and realized what just happened.


    "Brother Willy, what is the magic in this meat?" Lendy asked, with a soft chuckle, trying to hide her embarrassment.


    "It''s not magic, it''s a special kind of meat, full of energy, very good to mages," Arthur smiled faintly as he replied.


    "I never heard of such meat before," Silver falcon said, as he was curious to know the secret behind this meat.


    "It''s simply meat of monsters, cooked by special recipe, making it taste like this," Arthur explained, without delving into any unneeded info.


    "What?!"

 Chapter 89: I Want to Establish A Bounty Hunter Guild only Answers to ME

    It wasn''t only silver falcon, literally everyone else exclaimed out in shock, as they never thought this tasty, full of energy meat would be from the monsters they usually hunt everyday.


    "Is this real?" Torend asked, with much doubt, and disbelief.


    "Yes, brother Torend, this is real," Arthur simply replied, as he waved to Ron, who was standing on the side, hardly holding his laughs.


    "Bring more of the meat," Arthur paused as he glanced at them, "do you want more or¡­" he stopped his question, waiting for their answer.


    "Sure, sure, any amount you have just sent to me," Omgalden hurried to say, as Arthur nodded his head to Ron, who went outside, knowing what to do. "Brother Willy, is there any opportunity for this meat to be sold?" Omgalden asked, as he wanted to buy as much of this meat as possible.


    "Sure," Arthur simply replied, while eating another piece of the meat, "but it''s only available to those who live under my rule," he added, to clarify things, and bringing the topic back to its main course.


    "Sure, sure, we need to know more about living here, so we can decided," Torend said.


    "Anything you want, just feel free to ask," Arthur acted in such a magnanimous way, showing them his generosity, and letting them express their doubts and thoughts.


    "I just heard from brother Omar you want to establish a branch for the bounty hunter guild here, making a strong alliance with this branch, and start working and operating in the area under your jurisdiction, is this correct?" Omgalden was the one to lead the questions, and he seemed to use Omar''s card all the time when speaking of something.


    "Sure," Arthur nodded, but didn''t say anything more.


    "May I know what conditions you ask for this branch? What you want from its members?" he asked what he had in mind, after a while of awkward silence.


    "I want nothing but loyalty, and not do something to harm my clan''s interest," Arthur simply replied.


    "You don''t require us to provide you with rogue mages for the trip to the academy?" Silver falcon asked, as this was the sensitive point for him.


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "I already have more than a thousand mages to choose from," he added, like he said something casual.


    "One thousand mages?" Lendy exclaimed with surprise, as her knowledge, and everyone else here, stated that Arthur had at max one hundred mages, mostly acquired from the rogue mages he absorbed under his wing.


    "Yes, they are my clan''s mages," Arthur said, at the moment Ron entered with a long row of servants carrying wider plates with much more meat on them. they all got silenced by this, as they looked at the meat with passion, like they were in love with it.


    "C''mon let''s eat together," Arthur said, inviting them to eat first, "Ron, tell me, how many mages do we have now?" he suddenly asked Ron, casually, like it was a normal thing to do.


    "Up to date, we have one thousand and four hundred and twenty three mages, clan head," Ron replied while nodding his head. This number freaked the guests out, as this was much more than the number of mages they already brought with them.


    The plan they drew together was to bring many mages with them, plant themselves here as the main force, backing Arthur and gaining his trust and support in his clan. This was the only guarantee for them to own a place in the shadows, however now all their preparations were gone.


    Arthur read part of their plans already, as he kept his tongue for a while, before saying:


    "I know this might seem awkward, but I have to be honest. I need a branch of the bounty hunter guild with the ambition to be a whole entity on its own."


    He finally used the card he was holding in hand, and his words managed to attract everyone''s attention away from the magical meat.


    "What do you mean brother Willy?" Torend faked ignorance, as he asked.


    "I mean what I just told you from before, I want to establish an existence above everyone else, new to all the regimes and rules known to this world. To do that, I will need to use a way to control rogue mages, a hunter guild that answers to no one but me.


    That''s why I''m looking for a branch of the bounty hunter guild to be established inside my lands. As you can see, I already own a huge army of mages, enough to flatten earth, crush any clan, even the black raven clan, and this isn''t an exaggeration," Arthur said, before eating a piece of meat, like what he was saying to them was a chit chat talk.


    "I want a branch to be led by ambitious and courageous mages, mages who would gain full support from me, to go unbounded by anything, amassing all the rogue mages from anywhere in this world, and ruling them all with fist of iron and loyalty," Arthur added, as his intentions were cleared now in front of everyone.


    He finished eating all his meat, and drank a small mouth of the good wine they had in the clan head house, which was a mere bitter tasted useless wine to him, as he looked at them and directly asked:


    "Are you the ones I''m looking for?"


    At this moment, he wasn''t just Willy, the current clan head of the golden lion clan, but he was Arthur, the legendary cultivator from the cultivation world. his domineering aura forced everyone to stop eating, and look attentively at him, while feeling the invisible pressure exerted by him.


    "Brother Willy, you are so generous and brave, we sure would love to assign ourselves with you, landing our ship on your shores, and act together towards what you aspire," Omgalden said, declaring finally their submission to him.


    Arthur was sure, unless they had a brain damage, they wouldn''t reject such a chance. Their biggest fear would be for Arthur to constantly pouch mages from them, but this would be real stupidity. It would be like cutting your own meat to feed your hunger, and eventually you would die.


    His magical card, the solution he gave them, and the task he assigned to, had eliminated all their doubts. He didn''t want to pouch from them, he wanted to pouch from all the guild branches in this world and any rogue mage he could find.


    This way, they would grow and be legendary figures, and he would have his own personal army, with many brilliant mages to fight for him.


    This was the best win-win situation he could think of, the best scenario anyone would dream of.


    "Good, let''s now eat, and after that let''s talk about business," Arthur then said, before looking to Ron, "Give all the mages who came with them a warm welcome, and prepare the place for another round of absorption and pets," he instructed Ron, who just nodded silently, before exiting the place.


    "Brother Willy, what do you mean by these preparations?" Lendy asked, while looking with her bright eyes to him.


    "Oh, it''s something nice, consider it a present for striking out this deal," Arthur just said, without revealing anything, but Omar and the two others whispered to them about the importance of such a chance.

 Chapter 90: Starting Raising the Newly Joined Mages Powers

    Arthur said nothing more, as he let the other three explain things to the guests. Amidst all that, Lendy''s eyes were fixed over him, from time to time, and he would return the look back.


    The two were separated by Omgalden, and if the latter wasn''t there, Arthur was sure this lady might leap to sit, shamelessly, inside his arms.


    "Brother Willy, are you sure this is safe?" Torend asked, as he understood the general benefit of the pets, but he couldn''t understand the process of absorbing a vital organ.


    "Sure it is," Arthur replied, "but I have to say, if we know the main attributes of the mages, this process might be much more beneficial," he added, trying to pry over this long desired piece of knowledge.


    "Brother Willy must be joking, who can assess the attributes except the high academies," Omgalden said, giving some clues, finally, to Arthur about this important topic.


    "Oh, never knew that," Arthur honestly said, "anyway, this is something I came up with, and it really had a very great effect," he added, reassuring others.


    "Great," Torend said, as he continued eating the meat. The dinner didn''t last longer than this, as once finished, despite their craving for the meat, they wanted to see and experience the two processes of Arthur.


    "Come on, let''s go outside and start the final preparations," Arthur said, standing up from his place and inviting everyone else to move along with him. Before anyone could stand, Lendy stood first, as she grabbed Arthur''s arm while smiling in a faint, faked redness on her loveable cheeks.


    "Brother Willy, I forgot to ask about that strange fog thing around the place here," as they moved outside the mansion, Silver Falcon asked, "What is this strange magical fog?" he asked what he had in his mind.


    "That''s a simple thing I invented, it''s called an array," Arthur simply replied, without giving any more info regarding the array.


    Ron was in the lead, while Arthur moved amidst everyone, while Lendy was still attaching herself to him, without saying a word, but her body said it all to him.


    As for others, they were glancing at the large number of the mages who were now picking up their weapons, and some of them were training. They felt how weak they were, but they also knew they were only mages for a small amount of time, which was something remarkable indeed.


    What they didn''t know was the fact these mages weren''t real mages yet, as Arthur didn''t give them the chance to couple with a monster, forming their inner demon. That meant their current strength was just the tip of the iceberg, not the end of their potential.


    Arthur glanced at his new mages, once were villagers, and smiled in content. He would let them go to the forest first, hunt some monsters and return, then he would make them couple with monsters, before heading on their expedition.


    As they reached the west side of the mansion, where Ron and the others had cleared the place for the newly arrived mages, Arthur felt their numbers weren''t more than one thousand, or even less, but he was sure their strengths couldn''t be underestimated.


    "May I ask brother Omgalden how many mages did you bring with you?" Arthur asked.


    "They are seven hundred and thirty two mages," Omgalden said with some pride, as this number consisted mainly of very strong mages, much stronger than mages Arthur already had.


    "Good," Arthur nodded, before asking his real question he had in mind, "and how many mages did you leave behind for the black raven clan?"


    Omgalden wasn''t surprised by the question, as he expected it long time ago, "they have no more than five hundred," he replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur went silent, as this number wasn''t low to be easily crushed in direct battle, or so high to be afraid of. However he decided to gather more intel later, just before marching to meet that nasty clan.


    "Tell your boys to line up, I want one in each circle, and the others would wait until I finish," Arthur said, as he went ahead and started his final preparations. Ron had already drawn the circles using the blood ink Arthur used, and what remained now was the crucial rune stones.


    After distributing them, Arthur then took a one horned monster, one after another, and let them all stand inside the ring, "come forth, one in each ring," he said, as the others were still shocked by the sightseeing of these monsters, despite acting docile.


    The mages hesitated, looked at their bosses, who just nodded. The mages went ahead, and then Arthur left Ron in charge of finishing the process which didn''t take much time at all.


    Once the bubble burst, and the mages moved from inside, alone, with tattoos over their bodies, the eyes of Omgalden, Lendy, and Torend shone brightly. Their mages had gotten a strong boost, and just the thought of it made them very excited.


    "Next," Ron yelled, as more mages came into the ring, while Arthur took out monsters again, and distributed the runes on the ground.


    "Brother Willy, let me help you in putting these stones on the ground," Lendy suddenly showed up next to him, with her beautiful eyes glancing at these runes, trying to decipher them.


    "No thanks, I can do it myself," Arthur firmly denied her request, without being rude he moved to another ring, finishing the making of these runes. Lendy''s look was similar to the two next to her, as the three realized from the first time how important these runes were, and now they were sure the whole process was built upon it.


    However even if they checked it, like Lendy just did, they wouldn''t get any useful info regarding how to make it. The rocks were full of words, and some rocks had words different from others, which made them confused.


    What they didn''t know was that Arthur mixed some normal rocks, with no energy stored inside them at all, with the real runes, making them confused like this. A simple trick had saved him from great trouble.

 Chapter 91: The Era of Monster Meat is Coming

    Arthur after distributing the runes, returned to stand beside the others, watching the process going on smoothly. The same process recurred, and sometimes the three leaders asked, in secret, their mages to try and memorize the different words written on the rocks, as they wanted to try and make their own runes.


    Arthur noticed this, but he didn''t speak. He knew his actions would be watched, from friends before enemies, and so he had put the trap of the faked rocks just in case of such a scenario to happen.


    After all the mages had their pets, Arthur looked at the six main mages beside him and said:


    "Do you want to have pets now?"


    He knew they wanted to have pets, but he wanted to know if they would wait to see the next magic performance of his or not. They just hesitated, as he expected, so he added:


    "Don''t think much, let''s do it," he then moved to the six rings ready by Ron and other villagers who failed the process of being chosen as mages, and then he took out six huge rhinoceroses and then started to put runes in places.


    He intentionally delayed himself in finishing the runes process, letting his new followers to be impressed by the rhinoceroses they would have as pets. The monsters Arthur chose for their minions were strong, but nothing could be compared to this kind of beast.


    Once finished, he saw the eagerness burning fervently in their eyes, and he had a smile to appear on his face, a smile of content.


    "Ok, let''s get inside, and have these monsters as your pets," he said, jolting them awake from their surprise, and making them all glance at him in silence for a long look, before going to their places.


    They all had one thing in mind, that Arthur wasn''t doing anything unintentionally, or without any benefit for him.


    As they had the process completed, the next phase came, and this time Arthur had, again to act personally, and those watching him like falcons couldn''t even get a single clue from his doings.


    "Ron, arrange everyone please in lines, and make them ready," he said, as he started to get out monster after monster, killing each of them with much ease, with no resistance, open its belly, insert both hands for a few moments, before taking them out holding one organ.


    "Come forward, one at a time. don''t delay, or you will miss your chance. Make the wound on your hands deep enough to cause constant bleeding. C''mon, move out, don''t slack behind," Ron had taken the role very passionately, as he started to shout and give orders to the mages like they were beginners, with no experience in life at all.


    Arthur heard and said nothing. He was glad of Ron''s actions, as he was spoiling them, and Ron was scolding them, and both actions were needed at the same time.


    Once the first mage came forward, and held the organ from Arthur, his eyes went suddenly soft, and he lost consciousness, falling heavily on the ground. Arthur didn''t need to say any word, as Ron was ready with teams to carry these mages into a resting place.


    As for their leaders, before they asked Arthur anything, they first sought for answers at Amelia, Omar, and Randy. The three answered their questions, reassured them to the safety of the process, as they finally explained they too had experienced such fate.


    "I hope when I faint, brother Willy will be the one to hold me," Lendy said, in a seductive tone and motion, in a voice loud enough for the busy Arthur to hear, but he ignored her, for now at least.


    The process went smoothly, with Ron supervising the whole operation. In less than ten minutes, the fire pits started to cook the meats of the killed monsters, and at this moment the three leaders had some interest in watching what was going on.


    The main noticeable thing was the fact Arthur wasn''t doing anything in that cooking, which meant he already taught these chiefs his secret recipe, something they really craved for.


    Arthur didn''t stop them from investigating the recipe, as he knew one way or another this recipe was doomed to be famous, but he decided to do a small touch, so he could get the most benefit of it.


    "Be wary, all the monsters to be cooked must the vital organs be eliminated from them, or else the meat would be less effective."


    This was an obvious lie that whoever was with him at the forest knew of, but none spoke a word. Arthur knew it was a lie, but it was also a fact, as the most important thing about the seasoning was the origin of the herbs and plants used.


    The seasoning used in this cooking session came from his heavenly garden, a treasure garden with treasured plants and herbs inside that no one would ever find anywhere else.


    So, he wasn''t lying, as using any other ingredients would end up making the same meat, but not the benefit or taste of it.


    It might seem absurd, but to some people, the taste might be much more important than the value or the benefit of it.


    Arthur silently watched them, as the era of using meat as a main supplement to raise mages was coming. In fact he wasn''t that much interested in this secret being revealed, as he had his own bigger secret, the potions!

 Chapter 92: Forging A Ring - Part 1

    The process of making the new mages absorb the vital organs went smoothly, and ended up by the six main mages of the hunter guild to have their own turn.


    Lendy tried to get much closer to Arthur when she held the organ in hand, and she lost herself in his arms as she hoped, and he carried her and put her slowly on the soft ground.


    He had some impression on her, but not that deadly crush yet, so he didn''t do anything more than carry her over to a good spot and leave her there. She was older than his current self, but he was much older than her in reality, considering his long cultivation of hundreds of years.


    As they were going to sleep for the whole night at least, Arthur returned to the mansion, with his main mages, as he had many arrangements to make.


    Once sat on his seat, and others sat on theirs, he said:


    "Have they visited the village at the forest border?"


    "Yes, and they are quite satisfied by the work done there," Omar said, as he was the one responsible for the upgrading works at the village.


    "Good," Arthur nodded in satisfaction, "Randy, are you ready to take the boys out for training?" he turned to ask Randy about this, and Randy''s eyes shone brightly as he replied:


    "Sure, when do you want us to leave?"


    "Now," Arthur said, as he looked over to Amelia and Ron while adding, "you two will take some of our oldest mages, and keep the new seedlings safe."


    "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to them," Amelia said, with some conflicted emotions, as she was feeling some odd feelings towards the obvious harassment Arthur was experiencing at the hands of Lendy.


    She knew Lendy from before, as her reputation was well known to anyone. She knew Arthur wouldn''t be safe from her schemes, as she never failed to get a mage she sat her own before.


    Arthur felt her disturbed face, and he understood the root of the problem, partly, as he didn''t find anything absurd about having a relation with a mature lady who knew what she wanted and desired.


    "Take some meat reserves with you, but you will focus mainly on cooking the monsters you hunt. I will forge a special ring for you before you leave, so go and make your preparations, and Ron, find Madly please, I want her help in making this ring."


    "I will send her over to you," Ron said, while Amelia''s face changed slightly before realizing how oversensitive she was, and her face returned to its calm again.


    "Good, go and prepare now," he said, before looking over to Omar as he added, "and you have to hasten all the preparations at the village, as in two days you will be needed here," and then he looked to all of them while adding, "all of you."


    They just nodded, understanding his meaning, then they all moved out, heading to do their assigned missions. As for Arthur, he was thinking about the new ring he intended to make for himself. last time he did the ring in the most simple way, but this time he intended to make it the best he could.


    So he started to think about the runes he should use to supplement the ring. He intended to use this ring at the academy, and give this obsolete ring to his main mages, for missions like the one they were going to do.


    His mind was also thinking about potions. He knew he could make a lot of potions now, improvising some modifications of the process, but in the end he would obtain good results. After thinking for quite some time, Madly had already entered the room, which meant he would start with the ring first.


    "Have you sent for me?" she asked once she entered the room.


    "Yes, I want your help forging another ring," he said, before pausing as he added, "I too want you to learn my craftsmanship as well."


    Her face blushed. As a blacksmith, she knew how important the forging secrets were, and learning new secrets were more exciting than anything else. He just smiled as he pointed to the corner of the room and said:


    "We will forge the ring here, c''mon, we need to finish it fast."


    He moved to the side of the room, where there was nothing there but some carpets on the ground, which he carried at one side, exposing the rock ground here.


    "This will do," he muttered, before he took out his new ore, the one he got from the mountain, the most explosive one. Just as he took it out and left it on the floor, he recalled the devastation caused by a small piece of it, so he changed his mind.


    "Let''s go outside, here won''t do."


    Madly just nodded, as she followed him obediently outside the mansion. He didn''t stop at the front garden, and went to the back, where there was no one to disturb him.


    Then he put the large piece of ore on the floor, then he poured a big amount of explosive oil on it. he intended to make the best ring, and to do that, he planned to make the ore both the furnace and the main material.


    "Get back," he warned, as he knew how explosive this piece would get. At once she retreated far back, while he ignited the edge of a long leaf, and returned to the back as well.


    "Boom!??


    A huge mighty explosion occurred, and a huge cloud of smoke rose up. Arthur didn''t have any harm, nor did Madly, but an explosion of such a scale would attract the attention of everyone.


    "Go and reassure the others, while I will control the fire," he instructed, as he moved to the front, taking the hammer she handled to him in his hand, and headed towards the raging fire, with the intention of knocking that piece of ore until it took the desired shape.


    She went to the rear, as she started meeting everyone''s anxious questions with reassuring answers. After a few minutes, everything got much organized, under the control of all his main mages, who came here in a hurry after hearing the explosion, and noticing the huge cloud of smoke.


    Arthur wasn''t in the mood to mind them, trusting Madly''s ability to make things calm, and his hand never ceased hitting this piece strongly, without stop.


    He knew the hammer he was using wasn''t that good, so he needed much force here. After quite some time, he gave up the hammer, and decided to use something far crazier.


    He summoned his rhinoceros, which stood with its huge body and long horn obediently on the side of Arthur, who pointed to the piece of ore, with fire now blazing silently inside it, with some wisps of fire extending from it from time to time.


    "Go and hit that piece of iron with your hooves," Arthur said, as Madly was now by his side, looking in daze towards this weird technique of smothering the heated up ore.


    "This is much better than your hammer," he said as he watched the rhinoceros moving towards the burning ore with no hesitation, and it hit the ore with its hooves once.


    "Do it again and again, repeatedly until I tell you to stop."

 Chapter 93: Forging A Ring - Part 2

    The monster didn''t argue with that, as it started stamping over the big piece of ore, creating a flash of sparks each time its hooves hit the ore. Arthur knew this might take some time, as the piece of ore was of higher grade then the last one.


    However he was content with the efficiency of the rhinoceros, acting as his forging hammer.


    He then took out the wooden cart from his ring, and started making runes non stop. He showed Madly how to make these runes, as he warned:


    "This is a very dangerous secret of making a good ring or equipment, so never do this in front of anyone, and never tell anyone about this."


    "Hmm," she nodded, understanding the importance and risk in this knowledge.


    Arthur mage eighty one runes'' groups, each consisting of nine ores. Each ore had either the word, Seal, or the word, Expand, with three additional groups had the name Fortify.


    After finishing all that, using the blood of his scorpion, Arthur then went to the monster, and checked the ore. The hooves of this rhinoceros were sturdy enough to sustain no damage at all from a fire of this extent, and that was enough to make Arthur feel relieved he used it not the hammer, or else it would take ages for him to finish the ring.


    On the side of the ore, he could notice minute dark particles, with the remnants of fire inside them, sparkling from time to time. These were the impurities which were forcibly expelled under the insane amount of strength that rhinoceros forced upon this ore.


    When the color of ore started to be pure, with some luster in it, Arthur pointed to it as he softly muttered:


    "This is the stage where you use the runes."


    He then started to let one rune group fall one after another. Strangely enough, when one group fell, they got stuck on the surface of the ore like there was a glue there, then they would sink inside the depth of the ore, until they all vanished.


    One after another, he let them go down, leaving the last three groups he made in the end. After he finished doing this, Madly noticed the change of the color of the ore, like it was beaming with innate energy, about to explode.


    However she noticed the calmness, even the look of satisfaction on the face of Arthur, so she reassured herself that everything was fine.


    Arthur didn''t do anything more, as he waited, patiently, until the hooves of this rhinoceros stopped sending any impurities out.


    "See? No impurities, it''s ready," he said pointing out to the ore, "stop and retreat now," Arthur said, as he let the huge monster stay beside the ore, and he stood behind it, as he warned:


    "Get your rhinoceros out, and stand behind it like me."


    Madly did as he said, without any delay her pet appeared, and she instructed it to do exactly the same as Arthur''s monster.


    "Listen up, there will be a huge fire, so stand still and endure the pain. Later on I will reward you handsomely," Arthur spoke to the two monsters, and before Madly could ask anything, he took out the explosive oil, letting it appear in the air above the ore, and fall on it in a splashing manner, with a huge tongues of fire extending many meters above their heads, like huge pillars.


    He stopped, until the fire died a bit, and then repeated it again, again, and again.


    "Are you smothering it?" she asked, as this was a rare technique her grandpa Regil spoke of once, but he didn''t know it. from his description only, she could recognize it.


    "Good eyes, yes, and it''s also a way to turn this ore into an obedient mould," Arthur said, as he continued to spread the oil over the ore.


    This delicate, and extremely dangerous part lasted for a whole half an hour, before he sprayed oil on the ore, and nothing happened anymore.


    "Good, it''s ready now," he said, as he went outside the protection of his pet. Madly, who just followed him, was shocked to see the current state of the ore¡­ it was in a semi liquid form, with much vapor extending from its shiny surface.


    "Great," Arthur nodded, before adding, "now watch how to separate the ore into different, separate sizes, to be able to forge whatever you want." He then took out the oil again, a few drops this time, and let them fall on the surface of the melted ore.


    The areas which were touched by the drops got slightly brighter, and with more drops falling on it, it started to create deep lines, separating itself into small, rounded balls, each was the size of a thumb.


    "Good, now we are ready to shape it," he said, before looking at her and asked, "how can we do that?"


    Madly was startled by the sudden question, and even she was jolted, involuntarily, from the sudden tension she felt.


    "I- I- I think we use the oil," she stuttered before her mind gave an answer to her, which she blurted out without any thinking.


    "Brilliant, that''s right, we will use the oil drops to make the shape that we wanted to do," he said, as he started to drop oil drops over the piece of the mould.


    He suddenly transformed from being a blacksmith, to be an artist, brilliantly controlling the drop size, and fall location, and even the pattern and amount of them on one spot, until he finally made one rind, hollowed from the centre, plus even some decorations along its rounded body, which rendered Madly speechless.


    "I will never reach the same level as you," she muttered, with a gasping face, as she admitted her defeat in front of this monster.


    Arthur heard her, but said nothing, as he jumped to another mould, then another, then another. Finally, he had nine rings, all had the same pattern, with slight differences in them¡­ they had numbers from one to nine.


    "Perfect, now the last step is?" he asked, but she was already mesmerized by the fine level of his craftsmanship that she couldn''t even speak. He sighed, as he took the about to be finished rings into his ring, as he touched the side of them, sustaining some non-avoided burns in the process.


    Inside his ring, he easily manipulated them to fall on top of the heavenly treasure, with a loud splash sound when each one of them touched the extreme low temperature icy treasure, releasing a thick cloud of smoke, until the ring would turn faint red in color.


    "They are ready," Arthur muttered with great sense of pride in his creation. He was limited by many things, the level of ores for example, but he was very satisfied by the end result he just had.


    Madly, on the other hand, was in another world of her own. Arthur noticed that, as this was a known state back at his cultivation world¡­ a breakthrough state.


    "Good girl, really good girl," he just nodded in satisfaction, before he moved out while saying to the two big monsters:


    "Protect her, and let no one come here or disturb her directly at any cost."


    Breakthrough moments were very rare, and each represented a great fortune in itself, and a huge risk if the owner was disturbed midway. The greater the prize, the greater the cost, and it wasn''t rare for the backlash of these moments to cause someone to lose his life, or get crippled.

 Chapter 94: Failed Attempts to Use Dragonair Strength

    Arthur went to the front to check things there. He knew he did the rings in another way than before, as this time he didn''t need to put inside the ore his own strength, as the ore already had higher strength than he could supplement. He went to the front, while holding one ring in his hand, observing it.


    He made nine rings, connected together, and could be merged to be one ring, however he didn''t plan to do that. He knew these rings were special, quite special, as they could relate to each other in a certain range.


    That meant he could easily be connected to any part of his team, as long as they were inside the covering range of these rings. The ring when examined gave him a pleasant surprise, as the inside capacity welled up to be ten thousands meters in radius, ten kilometers of free space were there.


    This was a great increase in his ring capacity, and according to his own calculations, the range of coverage was ten times maximum this size. This meant he could be connected to anyone carrying this ring as long as he or she was still within a radius of one hundred kilometers around him.


    That seemed like a big area, but he knew it wasn''t that big to cover the areas he would send his armies to. He sighed, helplessly, as this was the best he could do now. If he had an inner demon now, he might be able to help in the process of forging, but he knew he would never have such a thing, not now, not in the future.


    "I have to find a way to use my own strength, that dragonair thing, whatever it was, it must be special, not just like other ways of using powers mages in this world know of," he muttered to himself as he reached the place where the newly joined mages were lying, sleeping, on the ground.


    His eyes fell on the body of Lendy, though she was over thirty at least, she had the figure of being in her early twenties. He sighed, as he couldn''t touch her, not this soon.


    He moved towards the mansion, where he decided to try and use any means he knew so he could summon his own strength. It felt absurd for him, having a power he couldn''t use, knowing nothing about, except for a way to make it grow.


    He knew he could now go into that strange realm, but he would waste some time there. minutes would count to days in the real world, and he didn''t want to risk this, especially when he intended to go out and look for that hidden academy.


    The place outside the mansion was so calm, especially at this late hour of the night. Dawn was approaching, and so he knew he had a few hours before everyone woke up, and the place would return to its nuisance.


    He entered the mansion, with some preliminary ideas in mind. The first thing he decided to try was to cultivate, who knew this might be a way to trigger his power.


    After sitting on the ground for one hour, he couldn''t sense anything new about his strength, nor could he sense the world outside him. He opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm his disturbed thoughts.


    "So, cultivation didn''t work, I should try to summon it in another way then," he muttered, encouraging himself, standing straight from the ground, while trying to think of any clue he could use.


    The only clue was the way mages used their powers in this world. they summon a shade of the monster they conquered, so could he do the same?


    He closed his eyes, took another deep breath, and then tried to summon this shade. The more he tried, the more tired he felt, which didn''t make any sense so far for him, until he couldn''t take it, opened his eyes, panting from exhaustion.


    "Was my body this weak? Can''t handle this strength?"


    This thought was the only logical thought in mind, as this fatigue was an evidence he stirred up the strength inside him, but it also meant he couldn''t even summon it.


    The only two ways he knew about to increase his strength in this world, where to eat monster meat, and to absorb a monster''s vital organ.


    "No, there is a third way," he muttered, as he sat down, on his seat, thinking about this option. He knew he would succeed, as so far any technique he tried to imitate from his original world worked, all except cultivating.


    "Potionology isn''t that hard for me, but I need to make sure I use the best ingredients in making this power boosting potion," he muttered, trying to organize his thoughts, drawing a plan to work upon.


    He revised the strongest ingredients he had so far, things that he could use in making this potion.


    "I can grind the ore and use the powder in the making," he muttered as he took out one piece of ore, observing it for a moment, before putting it on a small, wooden side table.


    "This two kinds of blood is the highest type I had in my ring," he muttered observing two large pots, made from the skulls of killed monsters, containing the blood of the scorpion and that flying monster.


    Blood of five horned monsters was the highest blood in his possession. Putting the blood on the table, he took another pot, filled with the explosive oil.


    He observed this oil, as this wasn''t the normal python oil he used to use, but a small amount of oil made from four horned monsters with some fish scales that he and his team killed, cooked, and this was the result of cooking their meat.


    The amount wasn''t large enough to be applied in making the explosive rocks, but they were enough to make potions. He had only dozens of skulls filled with this explosive liquid, which he once tried inside his ring, and one drop caused more devastating than a whole liter of the old oil.


    The last ingredient he had in his ring would be the heavenly treasure and the monster''s carcass holding it. he didn''t know what grade was this monster so far, but from the presence near the heavenly treasure for this long, and holding its own composition, he knew it wasn''t an easy carcass.


    "I could try and grind a part of this carcass, as for the treasure, I couldn''t even touch it. I would try and make it touch the final liquid and see if it could affect it, or alter its composition," he muttered, thinking deeply about all this.


    As for the heavenly garden, he had a huge variety of plants, seeds, roots, leaves, flowers, and even fruits to choose from. He also had the body of that ancient demon, its blood, its bone, its flesh, and its horns to use in the making as well.


    He decided to go all out this time, using pits here and there. The only question he had in mind was how to balance all this together.


    The secret in making a great potion would be to use great ingredients, but the highest secret in making potions would be balance. Potions weren''t all about adding stuff one after another, it wasn''t cooking monster meat after all.


    There were many variables in the process, like the types of materials used, their amount, their order of putting together, the temperature they preferred to be concocted at, their state, should they be solid? Powder? Or liquid? Any previous preparations they needed, like being concocted alone, together with other materials, or needed some materials to boost their features before adding them to the materials.


    He knew this wouldn''t be an easy task, especially for a master of knowledge like him. the more he knew, the more he realized how hard it would be to concoct this potion. However he was determined to make it, as it would transform him no matter what.

 Chapter 95: Entering Seclusion to Concoct A Potion

    He needed isolation, as doing this task in this few hours alone wasn''t reasonable. He had plenty of materials to test upon, but not too great to waste a lot of them in trials.


    He didn''t want to just make one potion, but as many as he could. Who knew, he might need to boost his main team strength, or one potion might not be enough to boost his own strength.


    Putting that in mind, he collected all the materials he took out, then he emptied his old ring contents into his new ring, as he would give his old ring to Randy before leaving at dawn.


    Once finished, he took out some meat and started eating them until the early hours of dawn approached, shyly, on the whole world. Since the day he started to open up his powers, he and his friends never needed to rest, as if their bodies had grown beyond the normal concepts, breaking the shackles of the normal human bodies, and starting to look like cultivators.


    But he knew they were different from cultivators, who used to gain longevity with each breakthrough. He saw the middle aged mages of this world, and they look as old as any normal human being would be.


    As he was immersed in thought, Randy, Amelia, and Ron kicked in, as they looked quite enthusiastic, with great mood to go.


    "Are you ready to leave?" Arthur asked.


    "Yes, we are," Randy replied, with much confidence on his face.


    "Hmm, take this ring, it has some necessities inside, from meat to killing monsters to cook. You can fill it as you like along the way with the monster you kill, but this is just for reassurance," Arthur threw his old ring to Randy, who caught it with much pride and happiness.


    "We won''t disappoint you," he said.


    "Just don''t get anyone killed, and don''t be too late," Arthur warned, before nodding, gesturing them to leave.


    He now had Omar overlooking the construction of the new village, and the three leaving right now would take the new mages to train outside. The place was getting quieter, much suitable for him to undergo his experiments, but he didn''t start right away.


    He needed to wait until all the sleeping mages to wake up, and wait until Madly woke up as well. After arranging these two matters, he would enter his two days seclusion, trying to get a handle on how to make this potion.


    His wait didn''t last longer than a couple of hours, as many mages started to wake up. It didn''t pass four hours before all of them woke up, feeling refreshed, and their strength soared by bounds.


    They all gained quite considerable boost to their strengths, making them feel more astonished towards Arthur, who knew all these secrets, despite being a young clan leader on an unknown forsaken place as here.


    If he was one of the great academies renown in this world, they might find this acceptable. Academies had many secrets that no one else but them knew of, and each great academy had its own sets of secrets that even other academies didn''t know.


    "Are you feeling alright?" he asked, as the three leaders of the bounty hunter guild stood in front of him with their aces.


    "This is a blessing, knowing you brother Willy," Silver Falcon was the one to start, expressing his admiration of the gains he had so far in the short span of time he dealt with Arthur, who laughed shortly on his remark then said:


    "Don''t say that, it''s a blessing having you in my lands," he then looked to the three leaders as he seriously added, "I want all of you to work internally, aiding Omar in building the new village, making it the new capital for any rogue mage out there. at the same time, I want you to use all your connections, spread the words of the wonders you saw here, spreading my open invitation to any rogue mage coming here, swearing loyalty to me, and in return he or she would gain benefits through you."


    His words carried many hidden meanings, which were all very grand and alluring to them. The ambition of Arthur wasn''t that low, and he wasn''t even satisfied by the number of mages under his control.


    He needed more, the more the merrier. They sensed his thirst for getting a bigger crowd of mages, and having this growing number of mages under his control meant he would be growing stronger.


    Strength was everything in this world, and as long as they kept serving him, loyally, and showed him their worth, they would gain part of the great benefits Arthur would eventually have.


    "Don''t worry brother Willy, we will do our best," Omgalden said, striking his chest with his hand.


    "Though it pained me to leave before getting to know each other better, but I will see all the tasks you handled to me fulfilled, and I will make you surprised by the results I will score, that even pleasing me wouldn''t be enough reward for that," Lendy said, in a seductive tone, and moving her big two lumps in her chest up and down as she spoke.


    Arthur just smiled, without saying any other word, watching the three eager leaders leave with their aces. He knew their benefit wouldn''t show up at once, but in later time, when many would know about his ambitions, and fear them, they would be his killer ace.


    As they left, he now had one task in mind, which was done easily during the next hour. Madly came to bid him farewell, expressing her greatest and deepest gratitude for his teachings, as she had many inspirations she wanted to test out now.


    Arthur didn''t reject her request, stressing on her to be here in two days with everyone else, as he would set his armies out for the next expedition.


    She left, headed back with the bounty hunter mages to her original village. She wanted to seclude herself and try new things she just learnt, experimenting on many theories she had some insights about, at her grandpa''s working place.


    Arthur didn''t make her leave empty handed, as he gave her one of the rings they made, explaining in brief words:


    "This is a more magical ring than the older one I was using. This ring is connected to my ring, and so you can use it to send me messages if there is anything urgent to inform. Other than this, keep it safe, well hidden from the eyes of others, and never tell its secret to anyone."


    She promised him, in her honor, that she wouldn''t ever tell anyone about this ring until he gave her the permission to do so. He left some materials she might use in forging, like that special charcoal, enough amount of the usual explosive oil, and many ores to use in forging.


    By sending her off, he was finally alone. He left some instructions to the remaining servants here, as not to let anyone disturb him. He then closed the door of the main hall on himself, ready to start concocting this potion.

 Chapter 96: Making Potions - Part 1

    The first thing Arthur did was to scan his heavenly garden, looking for any suitable herbs from there. He found some similarities between herbs he knew before and presented inside the garden.


    After finding these herbs, he started to contemplate on how to use all the huge materials he had. The variety was extreme, and so he started to sort things out first.


    "I need to gather the fire natured materials on one side, and the water based materials on the other side. I will use the air natured materials plus some earth based materials as supporters, but I will try to make one water based and one fire based potions mainly from these materials."


    He muttered to himself, as he started to take out materials, putting them on one side each. The fire based materials included the explosive oil, the ancient demon blood and other parts powder, and over twelve ingredients he gathered from the garden, ranging from plants, flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, and fruits.


    As for the water based, he used mainly the carcass of the monster where the heavenly treasure rested upon, plus the scorpion blood and more than dozen materials he gathered from the garden.


    As for the earth based materials, he used mainly the ore he grinded into powder, and for the air based materials he used the blood of that flying five horned monster.


    After he collected the materials, sorted them out, he started to think deeply about how to mix them up, the order, the way of dealing with the temperature, and other steps of making the potions.


    This thinking session lasted for a whole day, then he was ready to test things out. He took out a small piece of ore and splashed the normal oil over it. He knew maintaining the degree of temperature was an essential step in making potions, and any mistake in it would turn things south.


    That was the risk in making potions, as any simple single mistake here would ruin the whole materials, and result in an explosion. So, he decided to use a small piece of ore, and start with the normal explosive oil, not using his super oil yet.


    As for the pot where he would cook the potion materials inside, he used a small piece of the ancient demon bones. That demon had a really sturdy skeleton, making it easy for him to cook the materials without any problems.


    The first potion he decided to make would be the fire potions, as he started by the blood of the ancient demon, plus some grinded powder of its horns and bones. After he left these ingredients on the fire for time enough to make them liquefied, he started cutting the herbs and put them one by one, or a mix together.


    He followed an ancient recipe he once did when he was a cultivator interested in potions. This recipe was, to some degree, complicated to him at that time, but now he found it quite easy to make.


    He selected this recipe as it had many steps inside that he could change without affecting the final result. It was such a complicated recipe that he could change parts in it without losing the final desired result, or ruining the materials.


    Just as he was experimenting, an explosion occurred, resulting in a very dense black smoke rising from the demon''s bone. He waved his hand to move the smoke away from his face, while sneezing for a while.


    "Ok, it seemed I had to use less explosive materials first, then end up with the explosive oil and blood," he muttered, as he felt the great acceleration of the energy inside the materials, leading to its explosion.


    So, he cleaned the place, then reused the materials in an inverted order, using the herbs first, then the ancient demon parts last. Midway though, an explosion occurred.


    "It seemed to be taxing using the explosive materials one after another," he murmured, " I need to spread them over the whole process then," he wasn''t dejected by the failures he had so far, as he learnt from each one something.


    He restarted the process, and this time the mix withstood until the very end, but when he tried to use the air based materials, an explosion occurred.


    "Cough, cough, I need to use the earth materials then, not the water," he muttered with a coughing attack from the smoke. He was so close to finishing the potion, he felt it. so, he started the fourth trial after some contemplation, where he modified the original recipe again, adding the earth materials in the middle of the mix.


    But when he did this, he felt the earth materials greatly suppressing the energy inside the liquid. He didn''t want that result, so he ditched the mix, and tried for a fifth time, trying to use a mix of both earth and wind.


    To do so, he had to make another fire, using another pot to mix the two materials. He started to experiment again, finding that using only the two materials together didn''t yield the results he wanted, so he added some explosive oil, the super one he had, to the mix, resulting in a pure, very energetic fluid, the catalyst he wanted.


    After reaching a formula to make this catalyst, he then returned to experiment on his main recipe. The first trials he used the catalyst at resulted in complete failure.


    He kept failing until the seventh trial, where he managed to balance the use of the catalyst, using it on intervals throughout the whole process, from the start to finish.


    Once he did that, a clear golden liquid appeared in front of his eyes, fluctuating with some faint redness from time to time, like a fire raging and dying at the same moment.


    "Great, I had managed to concoct a really pure potion this time," he said, as he poured the content he made into ten small glass bottles he took from the clan warehouse, used previously to store wine.


    He couldn''t yet manage to control the amount made, as he made enough to be used ten times at least. If he wanted to use it more, he could, but he doubted the benefits would be the same.


    So, he stored the ten bottles to the side, glancing at them with a sense of pride, while eating some meat to replenish his lost energy. He had wasted a day and half so far, but he learnt the right formula to make the fire potion.


    This potion meant to open the meridians, and temper them, making the cultivator stronger without the need to raise his cultivation base. If he applied the same principle here, then this potion would turn a normal mage into a special one, and for him it would be able to help support his body, making it stronger, so he could sustain the usage of his buried down energy.


    Resting for an hour, and thinking about the next potion to make, he tried to implement the lessons he learnt in making the fire potion, so he wouldn''t have to fail a lot in making the water potion.


    "I need to make the catalyst ready first, then I would try with water materials," he muttered, as he first headed to make the catalyst.


    Succeeding in it once made it easier for him the second time. After finishing everything, he started to experiment with the water potion.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"

 Chapter 97: Making Potions - Part 2

    "Boom!"


    An explosion after another occurred, making him speechless. The water materials here had strange nature, as they tend to store energy, then when he used the catalyst, the energy stored would be released.


    No matter when he used the catalyst, the explosion always occurred when he started adding it. he stopped making anymore, as he felt he was missing something here.


    "I need to process the water materials first, in a way to stimulate the energy stored inside, to make it not store the energy," he muttered, thinking of a solution.


    After an hour of thinking about this problem, he found a solution to this, by using some of the fire based materials, the bone powder of that ancient demon, to stimulate the water elements.


    When he experimented, he was pleased it worked out. Fire stimulated water, and made it release the energy to control it.


    "Boom!"


    Another explosion occurred, which made his face be all black, but he wasn''t depressed or frustrated anymore. What he lacked now was to tune the amount of fire based materials, so it would stimulate the water materials, enough to make them release their energy, without making an explosion.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    After three failures, he reached a solution. He needed to process the water materials, two at a time, with the addition of the fire element, and the catalyst.


    This weird mix made the initial recipe he was following non useful, but he still kept experimenting, and this time no explosion occurred.


    "So I have to process the materials first, then add them together later on," he muttered, but when he did that using a small portion of the materials he processed, he found the energy amount inside them not quite satisfying.


    So, he added more catalyst to the mix, and at this point the fluid started to shine, with some silver luster in it. that was the perfect form of the potion, and so he started to turn the rest of materials into this perfect potion, adding catalyst to the mix every now and then.


    He had to prepare more catalyst to be used in the final step of making this potion. Making water based potion was really much harder than the fire potion, but finally, after many setbacks, he succeeded.


    He held twenty bottles filled with this blue fluid, with silver luster to it, with some pride and anticipation. The addition of more materials made the final amount greater than the fire potion, but he didn''t mind that.


    He returned to sit on his throne, with face darkened from repeated explosions, and a room filled with black colors everywhere and some smoke still resided in here.


    He took a deep breath and started to eat some meat, while thinking about another issue.


    He had done all the steps perfectly, but he had another step in mind, where he let the potion touch that heaven treasure he had, that ice natured treasure.


    He hesitated, as this might alter the whole composition, and might destroy the materials.


    When he looked at the remaining materials on the tables beside his work space, and saw there were a few hours before all the mages came here for the next invasion, he decided to give it a try.


    So, he started another spree of making potions, and this time he didn''t experience a single explosion, making all the materials he had to yield potions.


    After working continuously for three hours straight, he had now over fifty bottles of fire potion, and over a hundred bottles of water potion.


    "Let''s test one potion at a time," he muttered, as he took one bottle, and let it enter into his ring.


    Once it entered there, it appeared just above the heavenly treasure. He first left the bottle there for a few minutes, but nothing happened. He then opened the bottle, and waited, but nothing happened.


    "Ok, I will pour its content then," he muttered, as he let the content of the fire potion fall over the heavenly treasure, a sizzling sound appeared, and a huge blow of white smoke emerged. After everything subsided, he found no trace to the potion.


    "So, it can''t be done on fire potion," he muttered, regretting losing one bottle, "let''s see what the water potion will do then."


    He repeated the process, and the same result occurred. He just felt something was missing, as fire potions end result was logical, but not the water one.


    An idea popped up in his mind, as he made two potions into his ring, one fire, and one water. He opened the two bottles at the same time, and poured the contents of the two at the same moment over the heavenly treasure.


    Once he did that, no sizzling appeared, no smoke occurred. Miraculously, the two fluids got mixed together, shrinking inside, with some impurities being repelled out of them. The initial two full bottles ended up being not enough to fill one third of one bottle, but Arthur knew this new fluid worth it.


    "So, this treasure helped in tempering the two potions, mixing them together, and eliminating the particles of no use, that''s great."


    He didn''t stop there, as he pushed inside two bottles at a time, until he had enough to fill ten bottles.


    He took out the bottles, examined the new fluid. It was faint green in color, with wisps of red and blue appearing like thunderbolts inside the fluid.


    "I can feel the high energy concentration in them," he happily muttered, as he decided to use this potion for tempering his body.


    As for the rest of his fire and water potions, he decided to leave them inside his ring, as he might need to reward his main mages when they returned in triumph from their expedition.


    Recalling the expedition, he checked the time. it was now in the morning, where the sun was starting to shine on the world.


    "They are about to come," he muttered, looking regretfully at the bottle in hand before deciding to store it. "I will find another time to take it," he muttered, trying to console himself that he would go to a place where he could find more answers about his true strength.


    Just as he stored the bottle, he heard some noise from outside, indicating the arrival of his mages. He looked at the sorry state of himself and the whole room, and shook helplessly his head, while moving outside, going out to welcome them.

 Chapter 98: Setting Armies off

    The moment he got out, he scared all of his mages, who ran at once towards him, leaving everything in their hands.


    "I''m fine, it''s just a side effect of some experiment," he said, hurriedly reassuring them.


    "Sigh," they all sighed in relief. Arthur had transformed from being just a simple clan leader to their spiritual leader. None of the present here today held any doubts that he would lead them to greater heights, heights no one had ever reached before, not someone like them.


    "Now, are the armies ready?" he asked, while glancing over Randy and Amelia.


    "Don''t worry, the boys are living and kicking," Randy said, expressing his success in sticking to his own words.


    "Good," Arthur nodded, before looking at the mages from the bounty hunter guild, "I want to issue a request, for you to support the ongoing battles. The reward would be an absorption of one vital organ to each mage that complies with my desires," he said, expressing his offer to the bounty hunter''s mages.


    "We will accept the quest, and we will be pleased to be in service," Omgalden replied, as everyone here had tasted the benefits of absorbing the vital organs.


    "Good," Arthur nodded in satisfaction, "now it''s time to leave. You will be separated into three armies. Go and pack your supplies, and take these," he took out three rings, gave one to each leader of the three armies, "these rings would act in your service," he said, while Omar, Randy, and Amelia nodded, expressing their gratitude to have these precious tools.


    "Now go, and the three leaders of the bounty hunter would stay here with one hundred mages to protect the place. I will be absent as well, going somewhere, so the security of my people rests in your hands," he said, issuing the protection quest here upon Omgalden, Lendy, and Torend''s shoulders.


    "Don''t worry, we will defend here with our blood and soul," Torend said, striking his chest in sign of confidence.


    As for Lendy, she just gave him a very seductive longing glance, before he said to everyone:


    "Go and prepare, we will march in one hour."


    Arthur then dismissed everyone, as he moved back into his mansion, where the situation was really messy.


    "I will send for someone to clean this up," Ron sighed, as he didn''t know what his clan head was doing. Arthur didn''t argue, as he said:


    "I will leave you behind. You will also have Madly and the rest of the gang, but they will stay at the village, supervising the building process."


    "I will make sure nothing goes missing then," Ron joked around, but he knew Arthur was leaving him behind so he would observe the actions of the three bounty hunter leaders.


    Hopefully, they didn''t do anything dirty enough to arouse his doubts.


    After one hour, Arthur got himself also cleaned up. He changed his clothes, and took extra sets with him, putting them inside his storage ring, which made him remember days of the old times.


    When he reached the big garden area, which wasn??t now a garden anymore after all that training sessions he did here with the other mages, he found three groups standing in front of him, waiting to move.


    Each group had over four hundred mages. It was a great number for a small army, especially when they were now heading to attack defenseless clans.


    "Listen up," once he reached them, he spoke up loudly, addressing them. "our mission isn''t to kill everyone, but to make them all submit, with as few casualties as possible. Each clan you conquer, send the word there to send their youngsters, lower than thirty years of age, dreaming to become stronger, to here.


    In one week time I will be back here, and everyone coming here will be tested, granted the opportunity to become one of us," he added. "As for any resistance, you know what to do with that. after conquering every clan, leave a delegation of ten mages, five of the village, and five of bounty hunters, to settle things there."


    He then looked towards the three leaders, and his gaze said it all. He didn''t want to have a bloodbath there, the bloodbath could be done at other clans, like the black raven clan.


    The three nodded in understanding, before they made the mages with flying pets among us to take the pets out. Then all the other mages rode over them.


    Arthur rode on the back of one of the pets with them. His target was the mountain series to the extreme west. He decided to take a flying pet mage with him, as the journey wasn''t longer than half a day using the flying monster.


    The nearest clan to here didn''t take two hours to reach, and once there he waited until Amelia, the leader of this army, let everyone on the ground before saying:


    "I will take this mage with me. He will return to you in a day."


    She looked at the mage, who was one of the new mages trained from the villagers, then back to Arthur, before she took out bird wings, gave one to the mage, and the rest to Arthur. "Keep them with you, if you needed anything, just write to me," she said, to both of them, but actually she meant these words for Arthur, who just nodded, took the bird wings with him, stored them in his ring, before setting off with the mage.


    The mage didn''t speak, as he was riding with his clan head, side by side, going on for an adventure. He was a mere villager once, just knew nothing else except for farming. But now, he was a mighty mage, one of those he always heard bedtime stories about, since he was little kids.


    Who wouldn''t admire heroes? Strong people? Mighty personnel, able to travel and venture alone against many dangers? He was not part of these legendary people, and all that was thanks to the young man standing silently and calmly a few inches away from him.

 Chapter 99: Being Followed by A Hostile Aura

    Arthur, on the other hand, was focusing on the huge wall-like existence of the mountain up front, which seemed like a thin line drawn irregularly at first on the horizon line, but now it seemed more grand and clear to him.


    It was a huge mountain series, extending for long miles into the west.


    He knew his target would be in one valley to the west, but he didn''t know the exact location, though. The map he had in hand, drawn inside the book, was roughly drawn from the ground, not air.


    So, it seemed bizarre for him, trying to relate the drawing in the book with the scenes he was seeing up ahead.


    "Land down there, I will keep the journey on foot," Arthur said, pointing to a place near the edge of the mountains. Once he jumped off the bird''s back, he sensed the strange aura of this place. it was faint, so faint, but he could feel anything hostile, no matter how small it was.


    He was watched, and whatever was watching didn''t bode well to him.


    "Say hi to Amelia for me," he said, waving his hand to the mage who just nodded, and left off, without knowing he was in danger just now.


    Once the monster vanished of sight, the hostile aura diminished a lot.


    ''So, you are aggressive to other monsters then?'' Arthur thought to himself, but as long as that aura didn''t continue to focus on him, he wouldn''t go off limit and try to stir it.


    The only dilemma he had now was where he should go!


    "The map is drawn for a ground path, marked by a dragon statue somewhere, but I can''t find anything alike here," he muttered to himself, as he took out the book, examining the map drawn in it for a moment.


    Once took it out, the previous hostile aura got greatly increased around him, in a way that he even started to feel the breath of a monster eyeing him, breathing just next to his cheeks.


    It wasn''t a monster, it was like a demon!


    ''How the hell I pop into another ancient demon?'' he muttered, lamenting his bad luck, as he then took a quick glance at the book, closed it and put it away.


    He was readying himself for battle, but once he took away the book, the aura vanished again.


    That wasn''t a coincidence, that''s what he started to think of. He thought of this aura again, and this time he didn''t look at it in a hostile way, but as a guidance.


    ''No force should be living here, except for that hidden academy,'' he muttered to himself, as he tried to recall the direction that aura came from, and started heading that way.


    He walked for one hour, along the huge side of these mountains, but his mind was trying to recall, vividly, the direction of that aura, until he couldn''t recall anymore.


    ''Let''s use some help then,'' he muttered, as he took out the book, opened the page on the map. Once the map was shown, the aura reappeared again, confirming Arthur''s guess. He then felt it clearly, and then closed the book, put it away, with the disappearance of the aura, before continuing on his way.


    He walked for another four hours, through which he used the book for two times, to make sure he was going in the right direction.


    Once he reached the place where he felt the aura emanated from, he didn''t find anything special about the place. it was a piece of the mountain main body, just like any other mountain he passed by during the past hours.


    ''Something is missing,'' he muttered, and when he couldn''t find any clue, he opened the book again.


    The moment the book opened on the page of the map, the aura emanated at once, and this time Arthur was able to witness the magic.


    ''A dragon statue will lead the way, truly to the words,'' he marveled at the work he was eyeing right now in front of him. the whole wall that was like any other part of the mountain changed, or transformed, like it was made out of sand, covering a statue made of gold and silver, then you poured water on it, removing all the fake sand from the picture.


    A great statue of a mighty dragon was standing, with much majesty and pride, pointing its huge head with horns towards the direction under its claws.


    Arthur marveled the statue for a moment, this wasn''t the work of a no one. Even back at his cultivation world, such a marvelous work couldn''t be attained at all.


    The statue reserved the aura of a true dragon, that was Arthur''s best guess. The aura was left here to guide those who had the guiding book, which was now changing in Arthur''s eyes, from just a mere worthless book of tales into a book holding secrets.


    Without any hesitation, he moved towards the place he was guided to. He didn''t let the book go, or flip the pages. He knew the part he was heading to right now was part of the hard mountain body, but the moment he reached it, he could see a small gate, in human size, looking very minute in comparison to that mighty being above it.


    He entered through it, and he was able to pass through it without any hindrance of any kind.


    The moment he passed the gate, he found himself in front of an entrance to a valley, a valley that looked strangely to a heavenly garden, just like the one he held a possession of, but it seemed much grandiose.


    This time he had no greedy intentions towards this place. He was sure the owner wasn''t here anymore, but he came here looking for answers not to cause trouble.


    And so he entered the valley, without any intention of touching any plant or herb here, though he felt the place seemed very ancient; the quality of the plants here were on a total whole level higher than the garden he owned.

 Chapter 100: Meeting A Legacy Gaurdian

    But he never thought for even a single moment to go and pick one of these treasures. Temptations, he was well aware of them, the greatest danger on any cultivator. Many great cultivators, who had a bright future in front of them, fell when they failed in front of their own temptations.


    But Arthur had his strong iron will inside his soul. Walking in this treasure trove, he didn''t glance with greed or desire to anything, but he was looking. His eyes never ceased looking for a place he might get answers from, however after a few hours walking inside this seemingly endless valley, he couldn''t find any clue of any academy here.


    So, he had two options, either to retreat and drop the matter, as the place might have been abandoned for so long, or he kept looking here.


    He had decided to wait, revise and wander the place again, trying to get the end of it. He had many clues that what he read about in the book was really true, not just a fantasy.


    "Who are you?"


    A voice suddenly appeared from his back, startled him. he jolted from surprise, turned hurriedly to look at who spoke to him, to find it was an exact copy of the dragon statue he found at the entrance, but it was much more smaller than that statue, despite the two had the same aura.


    "Oh, venerable guarding dragon, I didn''t intend to intrude here, I came just to¡­" Arthur spoke, cupping his hand, in an old familiar habit cultivators had in his previous world when meeting a senior or a being so strong like this dragon.


    "Don''t tell me what I already know. I asked you a question, who are you?" the dragon spirit asked, with fixed eyes on him.


    "Me?" Arthur hesitated, as he knew in front of such a being he couldn''t lie. He didn''t know if mind reading existed in this world or not, but to be safe, he decided to answer with the most honest answer he could present.


    "I''m called Arthur, a distant traveler from far."


    "Hmm, that might explain a lot. You evaded the temptation that is casted on this place. you also evaded desperation, and showed your resolve in pursuing the truth and reaching your goal. Many had come before you, all perished, none managed to pass the test left by my masters, sigh."


    The dragon spirit seemed tired, exhausted of some kind of wait, or the long time elapsed before Arthur came. Arthur understood this, but said none, as he knew he had to tread his way very carefully with this dragon spirit.


    It wasn''t a normal heavenly treasure guardian, it was a legacy keeper, some rare, extremely rare form of existence in the world.


    "I have to admit, you have more knowledge than many of those who came here had. I heard my master once said he left many instructions for the later generations, so they would be prepared to survive without the presence of masters, but it seemed a certain force was trying to destroy all the evidence, all clues and info left by my master were destroyed over years."


    The dragon spirit paused, as it looked towards the book in the hand of Arthur as it said with some excitation in its sound:


    "All except the relic in your hand."


    Arthur looked at that old, tattered book, in doubtful gaze. It wasn''t nowhere to be related to any relic.


    "Don''t be this skeptical, as this book is just half of the relic, so you won''t be able to sense it. by the way, how did you know all the stuff in your head? Huh? Pretty interesting knowledge though! It''s a shame you came late, after the great war, and everything we once had was lost.


    If not, I''m sure my master would be glad to adopt you as one of his main disciples. Anyway, as you reached this far, you could consider yourself my master only and remaining disciple, don''t know if you would be happy with that."


    The dragon spirit kept talking, and the more it talked, the more Arthur understood about what was going on.


    So, there was a great war, and it seemed the dragonair side lost it, so they had to run for hiding or something. The academy was abandoned, and the master of that dragon had left behind many inheritances, and strangely enough the only remaining one left in this world was this tattered book in his hands.


    This was pretty messed up info, that didn''t even help him regarding his main problem, which was how to train and use the dragonair power. However, he was excited to be able to gain an inheritance to the master of this dragon.


    "I know you are eager to learn how to control your powers, which I felt you tried to stir it before, nearly succeeded, but eventually failed," the dragon spirit said, "but let''s leave this for later, shall we? First things first, you need to complete my master''s test so you can accept the inheritance," the dragon spirit added.


    The way he said it, and how Arthur''s memories were full of many inheritances'' tough tests, Arthur knew this last part wouldn''t be this easy.


    "Surely it''s not easy, and the requirement for its completion is nearly impossible," the dragon spirit said, giving Arthur a little scare, "but my master didn''t give you the test unprepared, you will gain great things in this test, things that would define the future of you, and shape the power you will wield."


    The dragon words were vague, but for Arthur he knew that dragon was subjected to many restrictions, and he couldn''t say a lot, considering he already said much.


    "Great, I like smart dragonairs. So, tell me, are you ready to put your life on the line and risk it in this test?"


    Actually, if Arthur was thinking rationally for a moment here, he wouldn''t agree. He just came back from life, granted a new chance, which he could simply live it like a king in the clan that now his.


    But, he wasn''t that, he was a cultivator. Even if he was transmigrated, even if he came to a world without cultivation, his spirit remained true to his own beliefs, which never changed¡­


    "I totally agree," he muttered, deciding for once more, to defy the heavens, and aim for the impossible.


    That feeling, just that feeling was so intoxicating to him, that would drive him to do crazy things, risking everything, just for this tiny moment of feeling he now, after a long time, had.


    "Great, as you agreed, I will now explain things amidst our way," the dragon spirit said, and before Arthur could ask or even open his mouth, the dragon spirit flew into the book he held in hand, and vanished, just like that, inside it.

 Chapter 101: Entering into A Save Memory, to Kill A Bronzed Giant

    That little, unexpected move from the dragon was followed with something more grandiose, as the whole book floated in the air, breaking free from Arthur''s grip, who kept observing it with keen eyes.


    Beams of light started to radiate from it, like sun rays, golden and silver rays, until they coalesced together, transforming the book into a ball of mixed lights, blinding what was happening to it from the eyes of Arthur.


    The light didn''t recede, as it started to expand the ball, absorbing Arthur gradually into it.


    The moment he entered the ball, he felt a great surge of energy entering his body. energy that could easily rival the cultivation energy he once had before dying, but so much different than it.


    "Now I can tell you everything you need to know. The last step in your trial is to go back in time, into a reserved piece of memory the master entrusted to me, the place and moment of my master''s fall.


    Your task is to take over my master role, fight in his stead, and show off what great potential you held deep inside your heart and soul."


    The sound of this dragon came like it was speaking from everywhere. Arthur had a lot of things inside his head, but the dragon wasn''t yet finished, as he added:


    "I know you have many doubts, but the process is simple as this: I will now enter your body, and carry you to this point of time. you don''t need to be able to know anything about how to use your power, as I will fully stimulate it, and let you use the full potential of your strength like you were training for decades already.


    I will provide you with strength, but you need to steer it yourself. My master prohibited me to aid you in the fight anymore than this, it all depends on you. You have to defeat my master''s enemy, the one he couldn''t defeat in this fight, which ended in my master demise," the dragon spirit said.


    Arthur now got a general grip of what was going on here. that dragon master wasn''t just looking for someone to pass his teachings to, or looking for a vassal to save the academy heritage from being lost.


    He wanted an heir, someone whose future would be much brighter than his, not just any disciple, he was looking for a warrior, a savior, someone who could do what he failed to do in his supreme.


    And Arthur, with his fighting spirit blazing mighty inside his body, couldn''t say no to such a test.


    This master was so wise, Arthur knew that, as he wasn''t looking for only strong one, but he was looking for someone with the brain to best his enemies, not just by strength alone.


    Strength meant nothing alone, especially if the enemy was much smarter than you.


    "Oh, it''s interesting how you didn''t freak out or argue about how unfair it is!" the dragon spirit remarked.


    "Why should I? Blaming the circumstances is the habit of losers, as for me I usually used to go against the odds, accept what is thrown in front of my face, head on, without any running or hiding. In fact, I have to thank you, as since long I haven''t felt like this, plus you will show me what a dragonair really is," Arthur said, with a big smile over his face.


    He was greatly anticipating going into that fight, and seeing how well he would do there.


    "Don''t worry," the dragon spirit laughed shortly before adding, "you won''t be disappointed, that I can guarantee." The dragon then paused for a moment before saying, "if you are ready, we can start now. remember, I will only stimulate your full potential and augment it with my own strength. As for fighting, you will have to do it yourself."


    "Got it, fetch me in."


    "Here we go."


    The whole world suddenly started to pulsate like it was beating with life, before the bubble around him burst open. Arthur opened his eyes to find himself standing in midair, in a high altitude from the ground, amidst a wide and vast, seemingly endless, battlefield.


    There were many creatures fighting between each other, but in front of Arthur was the most dreadful creature in this world.


    For Arthur, he thought at first it wasn''t a living thing, that huge pillar, bronze in its exterior, that extended from the bottom of the earth, reaching to the top of the sky.


    However, that huge pillar, which seemed like a pillar carrying the heavens, moved. Uncountable eyes appeared along its long, huge, cylindrical bronze body, all looking, in a very intimidating and creepy way towards Arthur, who just felt real fear inside his heart, something he never felt before.


    "What is that thing?" he muttered, feeling his cold sweat oozing on his back.


    "He is the king of the bronze giants, a very cruel race, the arch enemy of our dragons and dragonairs," the dragon voice came inside his ears out of nowhere, "now you have only five minutes before that protection ball hiding you would disappear. I would fully enter your body now, grant you all the power you need."


    Just as the dragon finished speaking, Arthur felt the energy surge again, this time much mightier than before, without showing an end. It was painful at first, as he screamed for a whole minute, then his body felt the power as if it was part of his own, and so the pain stopped, and with it a sudden gush of knowledge appeared inside his mind.


    Arthur was surprised first, then he started to be happy, as an evil smile appeared on his face.


    "You little punk, you lied to me. you gave me some info about how dragonair can utilize their powers, how can they fight," Arthur smirked, with much confidence, as he now knew much about what it meant to be a dragonair.


    "I never thought I could utilize energy in this way," he muttered, as he suddenly closed his eyes, and without wasting any time, he removed his shirt, stood topless in the midair, while his fingers started to move, with golden light shining from them.


    Being a dragonair meant he would use the energy of this world in a different way, somehow similar to the runes he was making, but instead of the ores, he would use his body as a one.


    And as he drew the letters of that ancient dragon language on his bare chest, just above the heart, a resonance started to emerge from his heart, where Zilia was once sealed inside it.


    And at this moment, he swore he could sense her presence, and feel her warm breaths over his chest. Just as the feeling faded away, he was astonished to find a marvelous dragon tattoo over his chest, just covering the heart area.


    Zilia had left him part of her power, as a descendant of a dragon clan, for him, as an heir for the dragonair humans.


    Without her powers, he could never venture on such a mysterious road, and her tattoo being over his chest made him feel like he was that close to her, yet so far apart.


    "Sigh," he sighed, taking a deep breath, before exhaling. There was no time left, and he needed to completely unleash his dragonair strength.


    Being dragonair meant to be coupled with a dragon, as you utilize your human power with the dragon power, taking the form of that dragon, shape shifting your body, transforming it to be a true dragon.


    A dragon with the powers and wits of the humans, that was a powerful mix, a very powerful one indeed.


    "Release the dragon!"


    He clenched both of his fists, arched his both arms in the air, arched his back as he shouted with all his might, like his true soul was about to be stirred with this call.


    And at this moment, his whole soul, body, and tattoo on his chest stirred up. It all started with the tattoo, with a light started to shine from it, covering his whole body, turning it into light particles, changing its form, to end up being a great dragon''s body, spanning for hundreds of meters in the air, with six pairs of wings on each side of his new body.


    Arthur felt like being in the middle of the air was so natural to him, like a fish being in water, without any difficulty at all he kept himself flying in the air, balancing himself with that long, thick tail that ended with a spear like three needles, forming a strange shape of the tail end.


    He observed his new body, all these hard scales, all the might and strength he was enjoying running inside his body right now, and then he roared.


    Nothing, literally nothing in this world could stand in front of him right now, not even the heavens, or that pillar holding it.


    "Let''s chop some metal scraps, shall we."

 Chapter 102: Summoning The Heavenly Tribulations

    Just as he got that mysterious power, his mind was full of ways to use it. basically, he had a huge library of spells, like cultivation techniques, and strangely enough, both were similar in principle.


    He had to circulate his energy through his body. the more it rotated, the stronger his attacks would be. Unlike cultivators, dragonairs used their blood vessels to circulate energy, and the heart was the place where it gathered, like a dantian for cultivators.


    As he got the simple principles right, the scope of using his energy escalated to new heights. He had long experience in experimenting, and now he had the chance to do it on a genie pig.


    The moment the barrier around him shattered, he felt the distasteful aura of that bronzed pillar, looking at him like a god was looking at mortals. That aura didn''t faze him, neither did it make him feel fear, unlike everything logical, he felt great excitement, anticipated to use his new strength, test his theories in mind, upon that test subject.


    The giant glanced at him with his endless eyes, before a huge, shriek like laugh came from him. Arthur didn''t know how such a giant laugh, but that meant there was a head somewhere, and he had to kill the head so the whole pillar would disintegrate.


    Like him, this giant pillar was a manifestation of some sort of strength, however Arthur didn''t know what was that strength. He had some speculations, as this seemed to be a special kind of earth based strength, the metal strength.


    "Finally, I got tired living inside your illusion, that damned spell you treacherously used when I killed you. Come, whoever you are, come and fight papa."


    Arthur didn''t know what was going on, as he was told this was a piece of memory, stored solely to test the heir candidate. He didn''t know this huge giant was living still, and he waited for the day to fight him, so he could be set free.


    "Fine, I will grant your wish, come and taste defeat at my hands," Arthur refused to show weakness, as he retorted back to the giant pillar, who laughed again, like he heard some sort of a joke.


    "Really? You?! By your mighty self then? Come, come and rub my back, it''s the best thing you can do."


    Arthur wasn''t offended by these words, as he knew that the real owner of this huge strength died at the hands of that giant. However, he didn''t intend to use the same way as that old master did, or else he would face the same disastrous defeat.


    "Let the sky wither with lightning!"


    Suddenly, Arthur channeled all the strength inside his body. feeling the mighty strength roaming around his body, he smiled, as he was confident, so confident of his victory.


    The pillar owner didn''t understand Arthur''s words, as they weren''t part of the spells dragonairs used. He had all the right to be startled, as Arthur wasn''t fighting the same way usual dragonairs would fight, he was fighting using his own old techniques.


    The moment he felt the strength inside his body would go out of his control, he controlled it to exit from both of his claws, heading towards the sky. The moment these energies exited his body, it was manifested into two little dragons, golden silver in color, moving very fast towards the sky, like two lightning bolts themselves.


    The moment they touched the sky, the sky shook, and the place suddenly dimmed. The pillar moved its huge body, like he was observing the sudden change in the sky. Before he could understand what was going on, a huge amount of lightning descended from the sky like huge serpents, aiming directly towards that bronze pillar.


    "Boom!"


    It wasn''t only the huge body of the pillar, but the whole world shook with the massive lightning falling down from the sky. Once the lightning descended, Arthur didn''t stand by and watch, as he muttered:


    "You live a very peaceful life here, without any heavenly tribulations at all. Taste some of any cultivator has tasted to get part of the strength you got. Let the doors to the heavens crack, let the heavenly punishment descend, testing everyone, testing everything, ruling supreme above all!"


    He was now like a crazy mage, screaming nonsense to anyone who would hear him, however he knew what he was doing. As he screamed those words, the sky shook again, more massive this time, as the amount of the lightning got thickened, and their color changed from silver white to dark silver, to orange, to yellow, to gold, to red, and finally to become pitch black.


    Arthur didn''t plan to end it here, as he wasn''t satisfied by the screams and roars of that pillar, while his whole huge body was now withering under the effect of this mighty thunder.


    "Heaven isn''t merciful, heaven isn''t just, heaven isn''t kind, show me the bitterness in this world''s laws, the supreme edict that rules everything, ruin it all, let the punishment descend, let it be no living under the heaven without being tested, I challenge you, I dare you, to prove me right, and prove my right in ascending!"


    This was the mantra used by cultivators to summon heavenly tribulations back in his days. no cultivator could ascend a step without being mercilessly tested.


    The stronger the cultivator, the mightier the test. if the cultivator skipped the tribulations one time, the next tribulation would be more severe than usual, it would be considered a punishment.


    And Arthur, standing here summoning all this disaster, was asking for this punishment. As for him, a soul that was bathed literally under tribulations, he wasn''t tested at all, not like that huge pillar, who was now swaying left and right, screaming like he never did before, out of pain.


    In fact Arthur didn''t know if summoning the tribulations here would work or not, but as he noticed more similarities between this world and his previous one, he developed this conclusion, that this world wasn''t that different at all.


    Despite no one having ever summoned tribulations before, this seemed quite bizarre to the dragon spirit which was now observing everything happening from inside Arthur''s dragon body. He never saw someone fight in this way ever before, nor heard of an ability to summon these dreadful, never to be seen before, lightning.


    The lightning kept hitting the bronze pillar non-stop. Arthur knew heavenly tribulation was guided towards the pillar, as it was the only metallic object here, and thus he took all the toll of the lightning, striking it heavily, without showing any mercy.


    Arthur could help the pillar, if he stepped into the area around him, but he didn''t do that, obviously. He just waited on the side, watching that pillar being struck one time after another, without any way to hide or evade these strikes.


    The more lightning fell, the more damage that pillar had. Arthur did watch quietly on the side for a while, and when the tribulation was about to end, he started to act.

 Chapter 103: Dragonair Secret Book

    This time he channeled all his strength inside his body, feeling the gush of energy into his heart, then he pointed his claw towards the pillar, as he muttered:


    "Dragonair mighty claw technique."


    This time, he used one of the classic dragonair''s ways of fighting, the claw technique. The energy manifested itself outside the claw, forming a growing manifestation of the dragon claw, made out of gold and silver colors, moving without pause towards the pillar.


    "Boom!"


    This strike came, after all the devastation the lightning caused, to manage to break part of the pillar, causing the owner to scream out loud in huge pain.


    The part that fell was like a huge mountain, and when it touched the ground, a huge pit was formed, with a great dust cloud.


    After the dust cloud was cleared, the part that fell disappeared, confirming the previous assumptions of Arthur.


    ''So you are an earth based creature,'' he thought to himself, as he repeated the claw attack one time after another.


    The pillar was still being hit by lightning, despite the obvious decline in the tribulation intensity, the pillar had already received massive damage that made him unable to stand, or maintain this form of strength anymore.


    So, with each attack from the lightning or Arthur''s claws, the pillar lost huge chunks of it, until it was all vanished, leaving behind only a small part of it, in the shape of a bronzed man.


    He wasn''t a typical man, as his hair was thick, curved from his head, until it fell on his back. His body itself was ten times that of Arthur, and that made Arthur think he was a giant, a real giant in reality.


    The body of this giant was covered by burnt pieces of leather, that was like an old tattered armor. The giant was panting, heavily, due to his deep injuries, which kept releasing his strange dark green blood, forming a huge lake under his body.


    "W-W-Who a-a-are y-y-you?"


    The giant stuttered, asking with great difficulty this simple question. Arthur, who was still in his dragon shape, didn''t show any mercy to this giant.


    He knew if the situations were flipped around, this giant would never show him any mercy, and thus he didn''t reply back, releasing his last claw attack, to shutter the body of that giant into small pieces, killing him once and for all.


    He just took a deep breath, as he looked around him, looking at the distant ongoing battles, which looked like distant gloomy grayish shades from his position.


    Arthur then descended on the ground, and before he let that spirit dragon move him back, he took out one of his rings, and took everything that remained from that giant into his ring.


    He didn''t know what this was, but he believed this was real, and not just a memory. He once heard of cultivators who could control and manipulate time, creating dreadful time loops that could entrap the mightiest cultivators without being able to get out.


    He thought this might be something similar, and that meant he was now living a true piece of history, past history, and anything here was real.


    After finished collecting everything, his eyes started to wander the area around him, and anything that seemed precious or unique was taken at once inside his ring.


    "What are you doing?"


    Suddenly the voice of the dragon spirit came so clear into his ears. The spirit was finally awakened from the shock it received from Arthur''s performance, and when it spoke, Arthur knew his time here was over.


    "I''m gathering materials," Arthur replied, without even stopping his running through the place.


    As he feared, once the spirit sighed on his reply, the world around him shook, and he felt being propelled by a mighty rejection force, entering into a strange whirlpool place, exiting it again to find himself standing in the real world.


    However, the once flourishing garden was now tattered in ruins. There was no green anywhere, as everything was now gray or dead black.


    "Was this garden an illusion?" he muttered, as this was the only possible explanation to this.


    "Good, you have a keen judging mind as well," the spirit dragon appeared in front of him, slightly dimmed than before, like it was exhausted.


    "I''ve now fulfilled my master quest, and so you have the right to obtain the full legacy of my master. The way you did in there was really astonishing, as no one had ever fought the way you did.


    My master once told me the one to come after him would be the only hope to save this world, and he seemed to be as wise and right as he always was. Sigh," the dragon spirit said, with a weakening tone the more it spoke.


    Arthur noticed that the body of that spirit was now flickering, like a candle light about to be extinguished.


    "Hurry, take out your book, I can''t sustain this form for longer," the spirit said, and Arthur didn''t waste any more second, taking out the old and tattered book from his ring.


    The moment the book came out, the dragon spirit jumped straight into it, to be, strangely and miraculously, absorbed. Arthur felt this book was like a lake, and this spirit was a fish returning home, being warmly welcomed and easily entered the book.


    The moment the dragon spirit vanished, all the lights dimmed in this place, all except one. The book shone brightly, in bright gold and silver light, before it shook itself free from Arthur''s grasp, floating in the midair, with the light shining from it increasing per second.


    At this moment, the book''s page flipped over, from side to side, very rapid, with a loud flickering noise from pages turning very rapidly. This kept happening one time after another, and after a hundredth time, the book suddenly stopped doing this bizarre thing, before it returned to rest, calmly, with the light inside it being dimmed, until it rested on the hands of Arthur, like a docile baby, with no light at all.


    However, it had transformed, to be a whole new book, not the old tales Arthur read before.


    The book had thick covers made of gold, with thin silver, linear decorations, surrounding the neatly written words in silver. The words and decorations seemed to be engraved on the cover of the book, and the title it now carried made the blood boiled inside Arthur''s veins.


    "Dragonair Secret Book," Arthur read the words, with some sort of veneration and respect, feeling how heavy these simple words were.

 Chapter 104: Opening The First Two Pages of The Dragonairs Secret Book

    The book looked heavy, but he couldn''t feel any weight of it at all, lighter than a feather.


    ''Let''s see what this is all about,'' he murmured as he tried to open the book. The moment he flipped the pages open, he was astonished to see only the first page could be opened, while the rest was so heavily sticking together that he couldn''t even open them slightly.


    ''So I can only have the first page for now?'' he muttered, with some depressed look over his face. He wanted to know everything at once, but it seemed he couldn''t do that right now.


    "Sigh," helplessly he succumbed to his fate, and started to read the first page. The first page contained some drawings, with little writings. There were three pictures there, a dragon, a monster, and a person in between.


    "The dragonair is a person who had the bloodline of a dragon race running through his veins. He used the sacrifice of normal monsters to strengthen this bloodline, reaping more benefits from it. the stronger the monster, the more advanced the bloodline would get. The more monsters to sacrifice, the more purer the bloodline became."


    He read these few lines before looking at the three drawings again. He understood what was written here, as the dragon bloodline came to him from Zilia, and he was the person, while that monster resembled the one he just fought before.


    He now understood what happened, but he didn''t yet figure out what he should do to unlock his powers. The previous battle feeling was still freshly lingering in his mind, with the mighty shape of his body as a dragon haunting his imagination.


    He wanted to have this power, but he still didn''t have a clue. There was a simple line at the end of the page, which he read with anticipation.


    "If you obtained the elder''s approval, prove it with your blood."


    He read it more than once, and he understood its meaning. He took out his sword, injured his hand with its blade, then let the blood drip over the page.


    The page was like a sponge, absorbing the blood with no trace. After a minute, the page shone brightly, this was an obvious indication to stop pouring blood onto it.


    The page kept shining for a few minutes until he felt some shock at the book he was holding. Suddenly the page flipped by itself, like there was a hidden hand holding it, and the next page appeared in front of his eyes.


    There was another drawing there, a red and black dragon tattoo, with some writings above and under it.


    "Take the blood and make the tattoo over your heart place. the tattoo will activate the power hidden inside a dragonair, letting him utilize the power sealed inside his body."


    "If you manage to control the power, prove it with your blood."


    The instructions were simple, yet he didn''t do them at once. a single word attracted his attention, and made him think deeply about this.


    ''So, my power is sealed within me?'' he thought to himself, ''if it''s a sealed power, then a tattoo would act as a medium to unseal it. alone I could obtain a considerable amount of energy, but if I used some runes to augment it¡­'' he paused, as he felt some enlightenment regarding this matter.


    Sealing and unsealing runes weren''t common or easily done for any cultivator, but for him it was a piece of cake. He had enough high grade ore to use them in the unsealing process, but what he was thinking about was another matter.


    ''What if I used my body as an unsealing rune?'' This was what he thought about right now. to use his own body as a rune, he had to use his own blood to write the word, Unseal, on his skin.


    He was thinking also to make it like a tattoo, so this would augment the main dragon tattoo in the drawing.


    However, he didn''t know the real strength of the sealing hidden inside his body. without knowing that, he would be gambling, as if the unsealing rune he made out of his body wasn''t strong, the whole process would be in vain.


    He thought about it for long hours, before deciding to give it a try. He had already thought of the number of words written on his body, and to be safe he decided to mix his own blood with the blood of the two five horned monsters and that ancient demon he already had.


    He spent another hour gathering his own blood in a large bowl. After he finished, he was really exhausted, and so he took another couple of hours to eat meat, regaining his lost energy.


    Despite being exhausted, his mind kept thinking about the process. He thought of taking one special elixir of what he already created, but he hesitated, as he didn''t know if this would help him or make his condition much worse.


    His energy was sealed, so any trial to stimulate it, away from breaking the seal, would be futile. In return, the seal would rebound on him, causing him more injuries, rendering him most tired.


    He now understood why he felt this fatigued when he tried to stimulate his strength before. He sighed, as if he took that elixirs he made, the rebound would have been disastrous.


    He got lucky this time, and just the thought of this rebound from the seal made his heart shudder in fear.


    As he regained his strength partly back, he started to mix the four types of blood, creating a whole new blood, brimming with huge strength.


    ''It''s the best I have right now,'' he muttered, before remembering something he totally forgot¡­ the blood of that bronzed giant which he already collected.


    He patted himself on the head, as he would have missed this great blood. He hurriedly looked into his ring, to find the blood and that giant''s remnants lying there. his previous assumptions were correct, and he luckily had acted simply based on that hunch.


    He didn''t delay and took out enough amount of that blood. The moment he poured it onto the mix he had, a sizzling sound erupted, and he felt a strange feeling coming from that new mix, a sense of danger.


    ''Really?!'' he smirked, as this blood of the giant seemed to still have a will of its own, ''let''s see how you will do in front of this,'' he touched the bowel of blood to make it all be absorbed into his ring, appearing just above the icy heavenly treasure.


    ''be cleansed and cleared,'' he didn''t delay and controlled the blood to fall over the treasure. Another sizzling occurred, and this time that dangerous feeling dissipated, along with a huge bronze cloud of smoke.

 Chapter 105: Facing A Sinister Dragonairs Master in A Soul Battle

    The sizzling, strangely, continued for a really long time, that even Arthur had to stop the process more than once to make sure there was any blood remaining after all this.


    He didn''t know why, but the icy nature of that treasure inside his ring was like the nemesis of that bronzed giant blood.


    ''That blood is so dangerous, I should tread it with more care,'' he muttered to himself, as even after five hours, the cleansing process still continued.


    ''Should I go back and wait until it''s over?!!''


    He was really shocked by the strange violent nature of that bronzed giant blood. Before he could finish his words, the whole process suddenly halted, as the sizzling faded away, abruptly as it started, and there was no more bronzed smoke coming out from this blood.


    ''I hope it''s safe now,'' he thought to himself as he took the blood out, after collecting it into the bowl. He then didn''t rush to use it, but took his time examining it.


    When he sensed no danger, he decided to start and do the unsealing process, the upgraded version of his. He took out his old brush, and imagined the word he would be writing over his body.


    "Unseal"


    This was the word in his mind, and as he started the process, a strange feeling erupted, with a fresh odor that made him feel extremely awful.


    Before he felt immense pain, as this blood he just used didn''t stain his skin, it completely burnt it.


    ''Damn you!'' he muttered, gritting his teeth, withstanding the pain, as he swore to see this through!


    Each time he used the blood, more pain would erupt, with the odor of his flesh being burnt. He was drawing a word, he was tattooing it over his body.


    After immense pain, and much more will to resist the pain, he finished writing the seven words, forming a strange circle around an area of his chest, just above his heart.


    He couldn''t take it anymore, as his legs shook his balance off the ground, to fall on his knees, with exhaustion, mental and physical, taking their toll over him.


    He felt the urge to sleep, but he didn''t. He knew he wasn''t finished yet, and since he was using such a sinister blood, he shouldn''t close his eyes before wrapping everything.


    So, resisting the urge to sleep, or even rest for a bit, he stood, hardly, on his legs, with the help of his sword, swearing to finish the final drawing before resting up.


    He looked straight at the book, who was now lying on the ground, with the second page opened clear in front of him. He knew he couldn''t take any more pain for a long time, so he pictured the easiest route to draw the dragon, he pictured the dragon, he pictured himself the dragon.


    Flying in the heavens, unhindered by anything, a huge dragon looking with no interest over the worldly matters happening down below, with no rival or worry or fear, just flying past the heavens following his own desires.


    As he pictured this, his hands worked, driven by a strange force, to draw the dragon over his bare area of chest, just over the heart, surrounded by the tattoos he just, painfully, made.


    Before he knew it, the whole tattoo was drawn. Just as he finished from his imagination, he found the brush drawing the last brush over his chest, with a sting of pain, jolting him awake.


    ''What just happened?!'' he asked himself with doubt, as this daydreaming felt so vivid like it was real. When his eyes examined the tattoo, he sighed in relief.


    The task had been completed, finally, he could rest. Strangely, however, he didn''t feel any more pain or exhaustion, like all what he felt from before was just an illusion!


    "That''s weird," he muttered, shaking his head, while examining the whole work again. his flesh was burnt black from the violent drawing process, but he didn''t feel any pain in it. just as he leaned to pick the fallen book from the ground, he froze.


    His whole body froze the moment it touched the book. He didn''t know why, but the tattoo he just drew shone brightly, while he felt his entire body being set on fire.


    It was like a huge hand extended from the tattoo he just drew, aiming for his heart. Just a few millimeters away from his heart, sudden chains appeared from the words he just wrote, catching this hand hard, preventing it from pushing its course for even a millimeter more.


    ''What the hell is that!''


    He thought, with extreme horror, as this hand was exactly similar to the dragon hand of his, when he took part of that master''s test. that hand held deep and pure ill intentions towards him, and without the presence of his runes, he would have long perished.


    This master didn''t leave behind the secret book of the dragonair, as it seemed he left behind part of his soul, waiting all this time for someone who was able to kill the bronzed giant he couldn''t kill, then he would take over that person''s body.


    ''Damn it! it''s a reincarnation forced technique!''


    He cursed, inwardly, for that sick wicked dragonair master of old. That hideous master had left behind a wisp of his soul, trying to take over the body of his, and reincarnate again!


    ''Hey, what are these chains?''


    Suddenly, a strange voice echoed in his mind, as that master''s wisp of soul seemed to sense the restraints provided by the runes Arthur made on his body.


    ''Bastard! All this effort is wasted because of you! Let go of me, let me take over your body, and make the dragonaires'' golden age come forth.''


    The words of that sneaky master were full of urge and stress, which made Arthur calm down for a bit. Soul matters weren''t that easy to meddle with, and any soul attacks would be disastrous if they pass through the flesh and entered the soul deeply inside the body.


    He was lucky, extremely lucky this time. though he meant for something else with his runes, his runes saved his life at the last second!


    The thing that caused the soul of that master to shake of fear was the presence of that bronzed giant blood in these chains. Arthur felt astonished, how fear of that bronzed giant was deeply engraved inside that treacherous soul.


    ''No,'' he firmly replied, ''you aren''t qualified to bring anything to this world anymore. A soul who is afraid of its enemy doesn''t deserve a second chance in this life,'' he uttered his own beliefs, as this master''s soul didn''t deserve another chance, not with him or with anyone else.


    To kill a soul you must use a soul natured attack or weapon. Though he had vast amounts of knowledge and experience, he didn''t have anything in his mind to attack this soul and kill it.


    But, he had another stroke of inspiration. He didn''t delay as he mustered all his strength, and moved his hand carrying the brush. He withstood excruciating pain, torturing his soul right now, to add more pain to his suffering, and write one more word on top of the tattoo he just drew of that dragon, with one simple word he wrote over it.


    "Kill!"


    Once he wrote it, he felt extreme shock to his body. it was as if his whole soul was ripped apart, as a long, very sharp spear emerged suddenly from the word, heading straight towards the soul wisp, intending to kill it.


    ''If I die, your dragonair power will be lost! Everything you have comes from me, stop it or you will lose it all!!''


    ''Wrong!'' Arthur panted while trying to maintain his consciousness, '' what I have came from the sacrifice of another person, dear to me. don''t dare and compare yourself to her! You are a tiny dirty bug that only deserved to be smashed flat by my feet!''


    ''Roar!''


    The screams and roars he heard came from that remaining wisp of that dreadful master, before the spear cut it through, killing every single bit of remnants of his.


    Arthur felt extremely weak and fatigued, as he fell heavily on the ground. Amidst his last moments of consciousness, he felt he was seeing the bronzed giant he once killed, standing a few inches away from him, eyeing him with a conflicted look.


    "Really a strange existence! A dragonair killing his own master, that''s a first to hear of! It seems the days to come will be hard on my people. You are a worthy of admiration opponent! What a shame, that dragon girl managed to reach you first, what a shame!"


    He couldn''t maintain his eyes opened after these words, as he entered into deep slumber, losing track of both time and place, falling asleep from extreme pain and exhaustion.

 Chapter 106: The First Step in Training to Be A Dragonair

    Arthur didn''t know for how long he lost his consciousness, but when he woke up, he found that conspicuous book still in his hand. He felt sore all over his body, like being beaten by heavenly tribulation.


    "What should I do with you?" he dragged his aching body to sit over a small rock in the place, while eyeing that book with doubt and fear.


    The last battle that he, luckily, got out of it unscathed was still lingering fresh inside his mind. Soul attacks weren''t that easy to handle, and this time he wasn''t well prepared, but if he had to use that book again he had to be much better prepared.


    That if he was in desperate need for that book!


    He opened its pages again, to find there was no change whatsoever in the book. "Didn''t you die or what?" he skeptically asked himself while putting a book inside his ring. "Let you rote inside for now," he muttered, while taking out some meat and started chewing them.


    He wasn''t this beaten before on the hand of a person for a long time, and that beating he just had left a sore mark inside his soul. "I wouldn''t use that book ever again," he decided, "I have to find another way to stimulate my strength then," he muttered while clenching his fists and feeling how fragile and weak he was now.


    If a normal monster, even without a horn, faced him in such a sorrow state, he wouldn''t be able to defend against himself at all. So, he didn''t hurry to leave this cursed place, where everything withered away under the cruel judge of time.


    He kept himself there, eating meat and thinking of his options, until dark fell upon him. He didn''t have any flying pets, so he didn''t want to risk going out at night, especially at this time where he wasn''t perfectly recovered.


    So he first summoned Don, who had been long since summoned, and pointed to the distant trees as he ordered:


    "Go and cut those trees, then bring them here. we need some fire and a place to sleep at."


    Don, happily that his master had already summoned it, moved rapidly, executing Arthur''s orders by the letter. Arthur did nothing but watch him, and when Don dragged enough wood, he then started to bring fire from the fire pits remaining inside his ring.


    The moment fire erupted, a strange scene occurred in front of him. the long dancing tongues of fire didn''t move chaotically, freely as usual, as they all moved towards his direction, like they were paying their respect and tribute to him, to his higher being than this fire.


    "What''s going on here?" he softly muttered, thinking about an explanation of this, "did I gain some powers then?" that was the only logical explanation he had.


    Despite deciding not to use the book anymore, he had to bring it out, open it on the first page, where a human drawing grabbed all his attention. "So, I have to sit like cultivating, but amidst a place of fire or snow?!" he muttered, wondering with much doubt about the authenticity of these teachings.


    "I hope you didn''t touch the teachings as well," he spoke to the illusionary figure in his mind of that dreadful dragonair master. He then put the book away, and started to move towards the fire, with a decision made inside his head.


    "I didn''t gain my right to be a dragonair from this mere scoundler. My body has the dragonair bloodline, and I got it activated and boosted by Zilia''s sacrifice, her gift to me."


    He muttered as he took the first step into the fire itself. He was imagining himself being burnt by the flame, but strangely nothing happened. even his clothes were kept intact, untouched, untainted by the fire, which started to dance around him, like he was her centre of existence.


    "Sigh," he sighed when he saw this, as it seemed he got some powers after that huge battle. He sat on the burning ground, feeling no heat or pain at all, before closing his eyes, and starting to move his energy inside his body like it was drawn in that picture, like a huge whirlpool!


    He was closing his eyes, not sensing his surroundings at this moment, but Don was there and saw everything. The moment Arthur closed his eyes and started to meditate, the whole flames started going berserk, growing in size, the same as when Arthur used the explosive oil over the fire.


    This wasn''t all, as the growing sea of fire, which kept expanding outwards without stop, started to rotate, forming a huge, very frightening tornado of flames, centered around Arthur.


    As for Arthur, the moment he closed his eyes and tried to manipulate his energy, a very amazing feeling seeped calmly into his body, relaxing him, making him enter the state of enlightenment without any burdens.


    He was there, but his mind wasn''t, as he suddenly saw flashes of his past life, mixed with flashes of another person''s past life, that dragonair''s dreadful master''s life.


    The moment he saw was when a twelve years old child won a local examination, scoring an impressive result. Everyone was amazed by his innate talent, and many praise words came to make the child beam with pride and honor.


    It wasn''t the same man that child grew to be, he was still pure and innocent. The next scene of the memory was when the child entered a fireplace, while others looked at him with veneration and anticipation.


    The child sat, like Arthur just did, and then he closed his eyes, like Arthur, and Arthur knew he would start manipulating his energy like what he did. The next moment, the flames had gone berserk, enlarging to an extreme unimaginable, startling even Arthur himself, but the others standing there seemed not caring about this, as if this was expected, and even he got more praises on this.


    "Use the mantra now, say it to unleash your true dragonair''s bloodline!"


    A loud shout suddenly came, from among the foggy appearances of those standing there to watch. The child smiled, as he heard the words of that master.


    "Dragonair rise!"


    He muttered these words softly, just before another extraordinary thing happened. all the fires that were now raging and wrecking havoc here moved, like being under control, to slash with the kid''s body, blending smoothly with him.


    This didn''t take longer than a few seconds, and after that a huge cloud of smoke emerged from the kid, masking him from the eyes of Arthur. Arthur could hear the soft roaring breaths of a mighty beast inside the smoke, while the shade of a giant body was there, moving slowly around the place, like it was inspecting its new form.


    "You!!!"


    An angry shout came, from the depth of the smoke, followed by a sudden shock wave, dissipating all the smoke, revealing the true body of a big dragon in front of Arthur.

 Chapter 107: Taking the Form of A True Dragon

    The dragon wasn''t any close to the form Arthur took from before, but it was so similar to it in general appearance. The eyes of the dragon were looking with extreme anger and hatred, like it had its own sentience, while long thin wisps of smoke bellowed out from the nostrils of that dragon.


    "What are you doing here? How come I am a mere tool inside your body? how did this happen?" the dragon, or the true soul of that hideous master, roared in extreme humiliation and pain, shaking its big dragon head from left to right, refusing to accept this reality.


    "Go out, you have no right to be here, LEAVE!!!"


    The dragon roared, and Arthur felt a strong hit that moved him out of that memory, which started to fade away, ending in along thin wisp of smoke. Arthur didn''t feel pain or hurt anywhere, nor did he feel anger or regret of coming here.


    What that remaining soul of the distasteful master said just now had opened his eyes over the truth of what happened. He killed the soul of the master, and what remained were his own memories, which he left for his future self to learn and got stronger fast.


    This wasn''t a threat, it was an opportunity, opportunity to learn from this master despite his will! The mere idea of forcing the master to teach him allured Arthur, and at once he decided to apply the lesson he just learnt from these memories.


    "Dragonair rise!"


    At the outside world, the fire was raging, much more violent and larger than what Arthur saw in that memory. If Arthur was here, he would feel much proud of himself, as he had more talent and potential than that kid version of sneaky master.


    The moment he said these words while cultivating, his lips moved and he said it in the real world. the moment he said it, all the fire around him started to calm down, moving like a docile beast towards his body, merging with him.


    His body got enlarged, gradually, in a way that seemed natural. His muscles got bulged, stated to be covered with hard thick, sturdy looking scales. He had a tail, and his head started to have scales and got elongated.


    Then a cloud of smoke appeared, as he opened his two eyes, looking at the world from the eyes of a true dragonair.


    "Awesome!"


    The first thing he said was expressing his own feelings right now. his body was nearly double the size of that dragon he just saw, reaching ten meters in length. He had thick scales covering all his body, feeling so mighty and invincible right now.


    He moved his tail like he was moving an arm or a leg, so smoothly following his will, while having the feeling of being deadly if it hit anyone.


    His whole body was beaming with strength, and his scales were similar to each other, lustering with faint red and black colors, forming a great image, a very frightening image to his enemies.


    Just as he was marveling at his new body, he felt a sudden throbbing pain in his head, while a long, thick, very sharp horn appeared from the middle of his head.


    "Do I have horns too?!!" he exclaimed out in surprise, while he tried to move his hands to feel this horn.


    Suddenly a hand didn''t move, but a wing, startling him, and making him stop in the middle of his move. He examined the two wings, as they were wide, with a span that rivaled his length. Each wing had a sharp claw at its end, which seemed to be enough to tear down any monster or enemy.


    "That''s great!" he muttered, with much happiness from this. He didn''t need a flying pet, he could fly anywhere he wanted by himself. He tried to move around, to feel his body wasn''t as heavy as he expected.


    It was as light as a feather, moving smoothly, following his will, anywhere he wanted.


    He kept moving around for a few minutes, when he realized the devastation that happened here. He suddenly recalled the illusionary image of heaven that was here, and now he had a vague idea of what truly happened.


    As he was observing the place, he found Don coming, with much hesitation and fear, towards him from far. It seemed this little bear had moved away from the fire, and ran even further when Arthur turned into a dragon.


    "Don''t be afraid, come," Arthur said, in human tongue.


    "Master, is that you?" a soft childish tone appeared suddenly in Arthur''s mind, startling him for a moment, before smiling, very savagely in his current form, as he realized what that meant.


    He could now speak with monsters, understanding their tongue! That was unbelievable!


    "Yes, it''s me, don''t be afraid, it''s just a fighting form of mine," Arthur said, trying to reassure Don.


    "Sorry master, but your form is quite frightening to me," Don said with his childish tone.


    "Are you a child?" Arthur couldn''t control himself, as he asked this question.


    "Yes, only a couple of tens of years old," Don replied, as he reached a distance not so close from Arthur before stopping there.


    "Really?" Arthur knew monsters took much more time to grow, "tell me, how can I help you grow faster?" he asked, as if he could find a way to make monsters here grow faster than normal, he could use that to raise a monsters'' livestock inside his rings.


    He wouldn''t be limited by the grade of the monster, as he would be able to make any monster grow in ranks easily.


    "Many things can help, master, like drinking more powerful monsters'' blood, or eat strong things like that you have with you," Don said, which started to enlighten Arthur to this new point. He knew this would need more time to consider, and now he could leave from here, not bound anymore by waiting until dawn.


    "I will take you inside the tattoo, so let''s continue our talk later," Arthur said, as he thought of taking Don back, and Don vanished from its place at once.


    Arthur then glanced, for a final time, on this place, where it witnessed one of his darkest moments in his entire life, and one of its brightest.


    He then moved, didn''t look back, spanned out his two wings to their fullest, before plunging on the air to start rising up, and flying, for the second time in his life.

 Chapter 108: Crashing into Black Raven Clans Army Camp

    Arthur just flew in the sky like he was born to do that! flying was like walking, waving his two big wings felt like moving his own legs on the ground, spontaneous and without thinking at all.


    His speed wasn''t that fast, perhaps he was afraid of going too fast and ended up losing control over his body. In a few minutes, he found himself above many mountains tops, with clouds forming its bases in front of his eyes. He didn''t know where he was, but he could spot an open land at the distant horizon, so he started heading there.


    He was so deep in the mountains, and he wished he would never come back ever again to this cursed place. access to that sacred place of the long lost academy was now lost like the academy itself, only he would know its location, and only he could do that if he flew in the dragon form.


    Just as he was getting closer to the open lands, taking almost half an hour to do so, he suddenly started to feel exhausted. Controlling this huge new dragon body seemed quite taxing over his human body, and so he knew his form was about to end.


    To minimize his exerted efforts, he started to spread his wings, gliding over the air, losing altitude slowly, yet steadily, until he finally exited the mountains range, entering the open wilderness.


    At this stage, he couldn''t control his body anymore, and his strength was already failing him, but he persisted. He had exited the mountains, but he was yet so high in the air. Crushing from this high altitude would be quite deadly, so he persisted and endured as long as he could handle.


    He finally managed to reach a level where falling from it wouldn''t cause huge damage to him, and then he let all his fatigue get control over his body, losing all the flying force that kept his balance, heavily crushing on the ground.


    A deep pit was formed there from his crash. When he walked out from it, he was surprised to see his dragon form was slowly fading, and these thick black and red scales protected him from this fall, absorbing all the toll of it, leaving him unhurt.


    He just waited for a couple of minutes, while his big dragon body started to shrink gradually, until his human body appeared again. He felt great weakness, so he leaned on a tree nearby, and let his body fall on the ground, with his back leaning on it.


    "So, I can only maintain this form for half an hour, with a few minutes more or less," he muttered, as his mind never ceased calculating and observing every minute details of this new experience, "the main setback of this is the fatigue I''m feeling right now. that means if I''m not able to finish my enemy in my dragon form, I will die for sure after losing it."


    This was the only weakness he had right now. He didn''t delay and took out some meat to eat, while he started to calculate the amount of meat needed to restore his strength, and the time consumed at that.


    After ten minutes, his strength was partly restored, however he needed one hour to fully restore his strength. He ate what was estimated to be half of a monster''s meat, a great quantity indeed.


    "I suppose increasing my human body''s strength and endurance would reflect on this in the end," he muttered, while he stood up from his place. He gave that long lost academy''s direction a last, farewell look before turning around and heading towards the forest.


    He moved aimlessly for many hours, without meeting a single living, human or beast, until he found a distant village. The smoke coming from its direction made him sure there were a large number of people there, and so he headed towards that direction without any delay.


    Night was about to fall, but he wasn''t hurrying because he was afraid of walking here at night. He wasted a lot of time already, and he wanted to know where he was right now, and how much distance there was before reaching his clan base.


    He had a bird wing already, but he couldn''t contact Amelia, not until knowing his current location, so she could send a flying monster to pick him up.


    Just as he approached the place of this village, he spotted many shades inside the village, which was surrounded by a wooden wall, with some sentry posts and four high scouting towers.


    "What the hell is that?!" he muttered, not knowing where he ended up, but he felt some vigilance from seeing this village. it seemed it wasn''t a place for villagers, but a place for warriors. "Are there any mages inside?" he murmured, as he didn''t hold his steps, continuing to head towards this military camp.


    "Halt there, who are you, and what''s your business here? state the truth or we will attack you!"


    He heard this loud sound coming from one of the high towers on the sides of the big wooden gate blocking his way in. The gate was simple, but there was a symbol engraved neatly on the two doors of it, a black raven symbol!


    ''This is the black raven clan camp! How the hell is there a camp for them here? where exactly I''m?'' he thought to himself, but he didn''t delay in responding to the mage who asked him, by shouting:


    "I''m a rogue mage, wondering about this forest for weeks now. I have lost my way, have no food or water. Can I enter here and have some rest, please?"


    He tried to sound more normal, acting like a rogue mage who was traveling alone.


    "What bounty hunter guild are you following?" the mage suddenly asked, with more vigilance and some hostility to him.


    "I have none for now," Arthur just shook his head, "I had lost any connection with the bounty hunter guild at black raven clan for weeks now, that''s why I''m lost in the first place," he added, trying to use the incidence of Omgalden''s leave as excuse.


    "Oh, you are a fellow mage then," the mage''s tone changed at once, "come, come inside, there is a lot happened in the real life that you don''t know much about," he added, as Arthur heard some shouts from inside the camp, before the doors were widely opened in front of him.


    He saw five mages, all carrying their swords, ready for fight at any time. He felt their strength, they weren''t inferior to Amelia''s strength, slightly weaker than Omgalden and the others.


    These mages weren''t easy cakes it seemed, however he didn''t show them any hostility, in fact he smiled warmly to them as he walked to the inside of the camp. "Am I at the black raven clan now?" he asked, once he entered the camp, to find another two mages waiting for him.


    The doors of this camp was closed tight, before one of the two spoke up and said:


    "We aren''t, we are at the borders with the golden lion clan, inside the territory of the white rabbit clan."

 Chapter 109: Meeting A Spy inside The Camp

    He was the same mage who spoke with him before. Arthur was astonished, had the ward already started between the two sides already? How much time did he waste out there?!


    "Golden lion clan?!" Arthur faked ignorance, "Never heard of it, is this a far clan from the Black raven lands?" he added, while faking his lack of information.


    "Oh, it''s a long story, the short version of it is that this clan suddenly popped up out of the blue, with a growing army and a unique way of increasing mages'' strength. Many bounty hunter mages had already joined them, including the last guild''s leader. Now we are here to face them in battle, one day from now. Do you want to join our cause? We just want peace," the mage said.


    Arthur knew this was a mix between truth and lies! They weren''t here to make peace, they had already sat their gazes upon his lands, using their minion, the white rabbit clan, to try and kill him, or Willy.


    "Sure, if you can pay for it then I will gladly fight for you," he said the typical response of any rogue mage. The face of that mage eased a bit, as long as it was a money problem, then there was no problem at all.


    "Welcome to our camp, by the way, what is your name?" the mage asked.


    "I''m Arthur," he replied, without a flinch.


    "He is telling the truth," suddenly the mage standing silently from the beginning beside the talking mage blurted this out. Arthur eyed him, with much suspicion inside his mind. He wasn''t telling the truth at all, except for his name.


    This mage either was lying about his ability to sense the truth in words, or he knew his true identity and decided not to reveal it. Either way, he had passed the hidden test, as the face of the mage who was speaking with him all along had eased much.


    "I''m Aron, the next to be black raven clan leader, a mage from the Dorgazire academy. Welcome to our camp, I will let Kig show you where to stay," Aron beamed with a warm smile, while introducing himself.


    He was the arrogant type, or that impulsive one, rather he was quite calm and collected. Arthur added a note inside his mind, as this Aron here wasn''t the easy type to handle.


    "Thanks," Arthur just replied, while Aron nodded to him before heading to do his own business.


    Arthur then glanced at this Kig. There was a veil of mystery around him, but he didn''t show any of his doubts at all, as he warmly said:


    "Where will I stay?"


    "Please follow me," Kig simply responded, turned around and led Arthur inside the camp.


    The camp was huger than what Arthur initially expected from the outside. He managed to spot hundreds of mages, living inside hastily built huts. All mages walked fully armed with swords or bows, which made Arthur more vigilant.


    He tried to sense the strength of these mages, and he wasn''t that surprised when he felt they were all hardly reaching the level of his little gang. That meant these mages were just weaker than his top mages, but not necessarily weaker than his newly trained mages from his villagers.


    ''That''s quite interesting,'' he thought to himself, as the sheer numbers of these mages were just inferior to his own. Quantity would accommodate for the strength gap between the two sides, making the upcoming battle''s result hard to be predicted at all.


    "This will be your place," Kin said, as he took him across the whole camp, till they ended up against a small hut, similar to others, but it was the closest one to the wooden wall surrounding the camp. "May I have a word with you inside?" Kin suddenly asked.


    "Sure," Arthur didn''t reject this, as he was sure Kin would reveal his true intentions inside.


    The two entered the hut, which was only three meters in two, empty of anything but a small bed, where Kin closed the wrecking door of the hut, and turned to look at Arthur.


    "Welcome back, clan leader," Kin suddenly knelt on the ground, whispering these words, which made Arthur understand what was going on here.


    "Are you one of our eyes here?" he asked, just to make sure of his guess.


    "Leader Omgalden instructed me to stay here and relay the intel to them," Kin said, "We all were so worried about you, as we couldn''t reach you at all. I''m sure they all will be greatly excited for your return," he added, with his whispering tone, "this hut is quite special, as it hides a tunnel going under the wooden walls, so if you want to leave at any time, you can use it."


    Kin pointed to the ground, where he knocked softly on it. a resonance came, showing there was a gap underneath it. Arthur was greatly satisfied by Kin''s actions, putting a good note in his mind regarding this mage. "How long was I gone? And what is the current state of the whole war?" he finally asked the most important matters now.


    "You have gone missing for two weeks. Everyone was so crazy about it, but they kept acting according to your plan. All the small clans around the golden lion clan was successfully added to your reign. What only misses is the white rabbit and the black raven clans," Kin said, giving Arthur some scare thoughts at first when he heard about the time he went missing.


    Two weeks! That was a very long time! The only explanation was the time was lost mostly inside that mysterious dream world, where he fought that bronze giant. This made him recall the previous experience inside the other mysterious realm, where he met that venerable master.


    "Now the black raven clan was forced to move their forces, gathering up here to be ready for the fight tomorrow. The Omgalden leader thought of attacking here, but as you can see, the place is quite fortified!" Kin added, with some regret in his tone.


    "Don''t worry about it," Arthur smiled, as he patted on the shoulders of Kin, "you did a great job, so please stay away from the walls tonight," he added, as he had a plan in his mind, deciding to execute it tonight.


    Kin raised his head, looking in question towards Arthur, who just smiled back. "Now go back before anyone could miss you," Arthur said, as he patted again on Kin''s shoulders, feeling some strange softness there, but he didn''t give it any thoughts at all.


    "Be careful leader," Kin finally stood up, and moved outside the hut while muttering these words. He went outside, closed the door and vanished from the sight of Arthur, who sat on the bed, taking out his meat, while chewing it slowly. "So you wanted to play it strength for strength, trying to crush us then," he muttered, before taking out a bird''s wing, wrote something, and let it burn, silently, in front of his eyes.


    Just as he was lying there, eating, many papers started to appear in front of him. They were all bird''s wings, coming from all the top mages in his army.


    "Oh, it seems I gave you quite a scare," he chuckled as he read them all, then writing back one bird wing to Amelia, reassuring them all on him and his safety.

 Chapter 110: Something isnt Right!

    Through the whole day, Arthur just stayed inside his hut and never left. He had to plan what to do, and what benefit he should stop at.


    ''Should I try and kill the whole camp?'' he thought to himself, but he rapidly dropped this idea, ''I don''t have enough time in my transformation.''


    He was planning to use his dragonair form, attack the camp from above, destroying everything they had built for defending this place. There were many drawbacks to this, first of all the short duration he had in this form. He only had half an hour, a couple of minutes more or less.


    The second problem was the extreme weakness state after the transformation ended. Though he could regain part of his strength in ten minutes, he wouldn''t be able to do a thing if someone, like Aron the leader of this army, found him.


    The third problem would be if his army would be able to use this chaos well and deal a huge blow to these enemies or not. He trusted his main mages to deal with the top mages here, but he had this vague feeling regarding the main stream of his army, his newly recruited mages from his village, would they stand the test? or run away?


    This was another dilemma to solve! He planned everything from the start to be revolving around his existence, and now he was paying the price for that.


    In these two weeks he could grab the youths of each conquered clan and train them to be mages, greatly increasing the numbers of his army by many folds.


    ''It''s not the time for that, I should try to make the most I could of damage here,'' he shook off these disturbing thoughts, tried to focus mainly on what really mattered.


    Then it came to a real problem that he couldn''t solve, the way he should fight in the dragonair form, and if that might affect his transformation time or not.


    He had no way to know the answer to this question, especially when he was in the dragon from before, he was immersed in flying around, didn''t even try any fighting technique of the dragonairs.


    These techniques were another problem, as he first had all the techniques in his mind when he was inside that dream world, but after he exited there, his mind was blank, with nothing there to help him now.


    ''So, I can transform but I can''t fight, what a pain!''


    He wasn''t that useless though, as he could use his claws and wings to devastate the camp, but he knew he would face a strong resistance and he might not be able to kill much of them. ''First things first,'' he said to himself, ''I want to destroy the defenses, killing them is just a bonus.''


    He had to set his priorities, realizing his current limitations, and accepting them. He also tried to know what he lacked, so he would work on it in days to come.


    ''Let''s think rationally,'' after he finished thinking about these things, he started to think about the fighting ways of a dragon, ''dragons are a water and fire creatures. My dragon can use fire, as I walk to the fire unharmed. If I can manipulate it, order the fire to spread, then it would be great,'' he thought deeply about this matter.


    He didn''t have a clue, as when he was at the mountains, and saw the fire tongues paying tribute to him, not harming his body when he walked over and sat in their middle, he didn''t have any feeling at all, no connection, no trigger or something.


    This made him unable to find a clue regarding that, but he knew dragons were kings of fire, queens of water, so he had to be a king of fire and control it, even producing it inside his dragonair body.


    ''Argh, I really lack a good teacher,'' he was frustrated about his inability to solve this problem, which was a rare occasion to him. he thought of getting out the book and try to talk to the dragon spirit there, but he knew there was also a danger of that sly master lying inside the book to attack him.


    ''No, being greedy won''t help,'' he finally eased his nerves, ''my top priority is to pave the road to my army to strike here, and thus all I have to do is to devastate this wall, bring down the four towers, and then my main mission will be completed.''


    He then started to close his eyes and meditate, in the dragonair way. He really missed the usual meditation that he used to do for years, and now as he got another form of it, and time to do it, he didn''t delay at all and sat on the bed, closing his eyes, and started to meditate.


    He started to move his inner energy around his body. The first time he did so was when he entered that mysterious dream world, and the second time was when he sat in the middle of the fire, transforming himself into a dragon.


    This time he didn''t have to fight, nor transform to fight, so he calmly started to circulate his energy, around his body, trying to get a better understanding of it.


    Without knowing it, night had fallen already when he opened his eyes, breathed a long cold breath away. He watched the cold breath and wondered about it.


    ''Shouldn''t it be a fire breath?''


    He was feeling strange when he noticed the darkness inside the hut. ''Night has fallen already,'' he thought before finally moving from his place, opened the door of his hut, and started to examine the place outside.


    The camp was quiet, with many fire pits here and there, where he saw many silhouettes sitting, drinking and eating there.


    He kept observing them for quite some time, before finally entering his hut, closing the door on it.


    ''Something isn''t right,'' he thought as the vibe he got was a careless one, which seemed quite suspicious.

 Chapter 111: A Trap!

    Couple of hours ago when he walked in, the vibe he got was very serious, but now these mages acted like they didn''t care about fighting.


    ''It''s a show then, it''s a trap,'' he finally realized what was going on here. without delaying he sent a bird wing to Amelia, asking them to abort the mission, and reporting the treason of Kin to them.


    ''So, you lured the tiger from the mountains so you can kill all his clan? Such a nice act indeed,'' Arthur commended silently the brilliance of this plan, and that made him suspect this Kin even more.


    ''This isn''t a mind of a simple man, but when I was with him, I didn''t feel much danger at all,'' he thought to himself, while trying to recall the meeting with him from beginning to end.


    ''Something is fishy here,'' he thought calmly, ''this isn''t just Kin, this is someone taking over Kin''s identity,'' he jumped to this conclusion after giving it enough thoughts.


    Arthur looked to the door of his hut, then to the hole which Kin told him about. He felt great vigilance towards this, and now he had the feeling that his cover was blown from the first moment he walked here, and he fell directly into his enemy''s trap.


    He hated much to be played out like this!


    ''So, you wanted me to go out? You seem to be very trusting in your abilities,'' he muttered to himself, while receiving a bird''s wing from Amelia telling him they would retreat and change their plans for now, plus asking him to be cautious.


    His initial plan was about turning into a dragon, but now as he was facing such a cunning enemy, he decided to change his plans, hiding his own trump card to the time where using it would be a game changing.


    He then went to the hole in the ground, knocking on the cover until he found it, moved it away, before entering inside.


    He knew he was walking into the enemy''s trap directly, but he had to make sure of something. If he was this enemy, then he would take out all his main forces, spreading them outside the camp, waiting for him to leave and summon his troops.


    The words he said to Kin before he left would make Kin suspicious of his next move. This wasn''t an enemy who would overestimate his strength, but rather one who would know exactly his own, and knew better his enemy''s.


    The moment he jumped into the hole, he found himself in an underground tunnel. It wasn''t that big, but enough for him to walk with his back slightly bent. He moved in utter silence, for tens of meters, until he found the tunnel to reach an end, with an opening on the top of it.


    He reached under the hole, stayed away from it so no one could spot him, and waited. At first he didn''t hear anything, but after one hour of waiting, those up there got really bored and started to speak.


    "Our leader is mistaken, this fish didn''t come out yet."


    "Hush, he might come at any moment."


    "Even if he did, we have most of our army here, and if he didn''t move till dawn, we will come into his hut and kill him."


    "Our leader is quite nervous tonight, I don''t know why!"


    "She is always like this when trying to set a trap to a strong foe, so don''t let your guards down."


    "I think our leader is overestimating the enemy''s capabilities! We should go straight to his hut and kill him, or rather better to kill him when he comes for the first time!"


    "Hush, she is coming here, don''t speak!"


    Arthur didn''t stay at his place for another moment, returning as fast as he could back to his hut. He knew that the leader of them had a mysterious mind reading or thoughts revealing ability, such a monstrous one indeed.


    The moment he returned to his hut, he closed the opening again and sat on his bed. ''So you are a she!'' he muttered, while recalling that softness he felt when he patted on Kin''s shoulders. ''That''s interesting,'' he muttered, as he loved dealing with strong female cultivators back in his days as a cultivator, and even doing dual cultivation with them.


    As he sat on his bed, he thought about his next move. His time here was limited, and thus he needed to do a devastating blow to them, making them lose as many mages as possible, plus he had to escape from here.


    ''Ok, let''s get started then,'' he muttered, before standing up from his place, going outside, with a crazy plan in his head. The moment he went outside his hut, his presence was masked by the darkness of the night, but he was sure he was closely watched.


    This leader wouldn''t leave his hut unwatched, and he knew each movement from him would be closely monitored and reported back to the leader.


    However he didn''t care. his goal was so near to him that even a bird''s wing would seem much slower than his move. He directly went to the wall, which was ten meter only away from his hut. Once there, he didn''t delay, as he put his hand on the ground, and a huge carcass suddenly appeared out of nowhere, residing partly over the wall, crushing it into small pieces.


    The sudden development caused the mages inside and outside the camp to be alerted, however Arthur didn''t stop here, as he went up the carcass, where he took out many amounts of ores and scattered them around the carcass, letting them fall from the height of it.


    This all happened within no time, giving the mages eyeing him no chance to act at all. Just as he finished doing that, a mighty roars came from the forest around the camp, literally from everywhere.


    "So it begins," he smiled, evilly, as he anticipated the monster tide coming to devastate the camp, killing everyone here.

 Chapter 112: Arthur Turns the Table on Them

    At once, he sent a bird''s wing to Amelia, asking her a favor, then he didn''t delay and poured buckets of explosive oil from this height, soaking every single ore he threw from before.


    Then he threw one fire pit towards the ground. "Let it burn!" he just muttered that, when an explosion suddenly occurred down there, with the tongues of fire escalating to an extreme degree, exceeding even his high place up there.


    The fire lightened the whole place around him, to spot the faces of mages hiding in shadows from before, extremely anxious and very terrified in their look. "Good, this is just the beginning, let''s see if you deserve my second move," he muttered with a satisfied smile over his face.


    From his place up there he could see for a mile around him, with the light coming from fire which was spreading around him with no stop, he managed to spot his rival, finally.


    "Oh, you are a beauty, leader," he shouted, towards the one who impostered Kin''s identity. The face of her was greatly unsightly, as she knew how dire her situation was!


    The perfect solution was to abandon this camp, but she knew she couldn''t do that! she spent the last week preparing this camp, and her preparations here was the only thing preventing her enemies from attacking and annihilating her.


    She wasn''t a fool, as she knew monsters had gone berserk because of what Arthur had summoned here. so, the only logical move left for her now was to defend here, while trying to take Arthur down, and destroy this thing which made the monsters like this.


    "Listen up, spread out and defend the camp, and give me one hundred of you," she then looked up with a vicious look on her face, which, strangely, made it more appealing to the eye, "let''s kill this bastard!"


    Her words were clearly heard by the mages around her, as well as Arthur on top of the carcass. "If you submitted to me, I promise I won''t treat you badly," he shouted at her, with an evil smile of his.


    "In your dreams!" she bellowed back, refusing to budge an inch in front of her enemy, especially being this close from gaining victory.


    She knew, if she managed to endure this ordeal, killed Arthur here, then the whole region would usher under her rule.


    Arthur, on his end, knew she wouldn''t admit defeat this easily, even though he greatly doubted she would do that in this confrontation between the two. He was patient, though, as the art of hunting always required patience.


    So, he started to prepare for his second move, which was really a very risky one!


    ''Come, tell me, aren''t you tired of being locked up here, constantly being tortured by me?'' he suddenly spoke to his first gained five horned monster inside his ring.


    ''Really tired, let me out so I can vent some anger on your pathetic human existence!'' The scorpion was extremely exhausted, but it still had its spirit ignited with hatred and boiling with vengeance.


    ''Oh, it seems I should talk to that bird then,'' Arthur said, as he went silent and didn''t say another word to the scorpion.


    ''Wait, wait, tell me what you want to offer, and I might consider it,'' the scorpion hurried to say, but Arthur didn''t reply as well, as he started to watch the female leader organizing her mages, while the early attacks of the monsters started pouring in.


    ''Just tell me and I will agree on what you want to do and I will do it, anything just to get out of here and end this torture.''


    When he seeped his mind again into his storage ring, he found the scorpion screaming and asking him to give him the offer. He just smiled, as his goal was almost achieved.


    ''Nothing much, just I want you to become my pet,'' he said, expressing his offer.


    ''Pet? What does that mean?'' The scorpion faked ignorance, which made Arthur say nothing at first, while he moved his attention to the whole going on war around him.


    That female leader was quite capable, enjoying the respect of her mages. Every single word she said was executed without any mistake or hesitation. Around one hundred mages were now gathering around her, but she was distracted by the sudden appearance of a four horned monster leading the charge of others, trying to penetrate the camp from the opposite direction of here.


    Arthur knew best how fervently the monsters desired the heavenly treasure he had. These monsters wouldn''t think about anything, even their fellow monsters, as their top priority would be to reach faster to this treasure, and possess it before anyone else.


    Arthur was pleased by that sudden diversion. Four horned monster wasn''t that hard to deal with, for him or her, but for others it was quite challenging, especially if it came on head of a strong charge of many monsters.


    So, she had to move out, heading to that direction, while giving Arthur a threatening glance. Arthur knew his time was tight here, and once she killed that monster, she would move to here and wouldn''t stop until she killed him.


    ''Time to wrap things up,'' he thought to himself, ''Is it a yes or no? I don''t have time to waste on you. If you don''t agree now, I would go to that bird then,'' he said to that scorpion, getting tired of its mental, time wasting, games.


    ''Wait wait, I comply, but I have one request,'' the scorpion hurried to say.


    ''What? Speak up and don''t waste my time,'' Arthur said, with some impatience, as he knew that four horned monster wouldn''t last long in the hands of that brutal woman.


    ''I''m on the verge of evolving, just need a tiny boost to breakthrough, plus I''m a mother. I had many eggs inside me, so I would ask to lay my eggs around the heavenly treasure, just like that python,'' it said, before hurriedly adding, ''and I want to chew a tiny piece of that treasure, that''s my condition.''

 Chapter 113: Releasing the Scorpion

    ''That''s two not one!'' Arthur felt his scalp numb from this monster''s wickedness, even when asking for favor, it asked for two instead of one. For him, the two conditions worked just fine along his goals, so he didn''t have any reason to refuse.


    ''I agree. Now stand still inside, and I will start the contract process now,'' he said, while he drew a large circle around that scorpion''s massive body. he threw as many runes as he had, knowing for sure how hard it would be to control such a brutal monster, who was about to evolve soon.


    He had to hurry and do this inside his ring, something he never tried before. In theory it might succeed, but he had no room for failure here, no time for him to try another approach. He just hoped this would succeed.


    He just sneaked a fast glance towards the far distance, where the battle was raging hot on the walls of this camp. He could see the various defensive preparations of them being torn apart one by one under the constant stream of monsters.


    As for that brutal woman, she was fighting that four horned monster, but he was sure she would end up soon, and so was he. The moment he finished all preparations inside his ring, he thought:


    ''Let the contract begin!''


    Suddenly a force had emerged from inside his ring, circulating around his body, before finding a spot on his wrist, and then got inside it. he felt burning pain like a sting there, before a tattoo appeared there, in a drawing of a scorpion, black in color.


    ''Phew,'' he finally rested assured when he finished the pet contracting successfully. The scorpion had already vanished from his ring, meaning the process he just came up with worked.


    "Now let''s handle you properly, my little darling," he softly muttered, as he watched that brutal leader dealing the killing blow to the four horned monster finally. He wasn''t surprised by her strength, after all she was also part of the famous academy, she couldn''t be just a nobody.


    "Come, I''m feeling lonely here," Arthur yelled, and his words just enraged that leader even more. "Stay at your place, I''m coming to skin you alive," she said, while ordering in extreme rage, "On me!"


    "Oh, so scary," Arthur sneered, while sitting on the edge of that carcass, while letting his legs down, waving them carefree like he was enjoying sightseeing.


    His actions enraged her more. She just went straight towards his carcass, with around eighty of her top mages, while leaving the other twenty supervising the whole battlefield, acting as a distress team to relieve any pressure anywhere.


    Arthur knew this fight around him wouldn''t stop her or her mages, and he was sure this carcass wouldn''t pose any obstacle at all. However he didn''t rush to summon his newly acquired pet at once.


    "Just sit tight there, I will come now to cut your head off!" she screamed once she reached the sea fire around the carcass. This fire was strange, as despite their raging and spreading everywhere, it seemed like it was centered around the carcass, like there was something attracting it to there.


    However she didn''t think about it, as she pointed to one of her mages while saying:


    "Renj, just create a safe path for us."


    "Right away, leader," the mage with a huge body replied, while he used his coupled monster inside his body, which appeared to be some strange aquatic creature. Arthur wasn''t surprised by this, as he knew such a meticulous girl wouldn''t let a single scenario without thinking about it, and thus prepare for it.


    Ranj then used his inner demon''s strength, summoning up a mighty wave out of nowhere, which moved directly towards the sea of fire.


    The moment the wave touched the fire, a loud sizzling sound was generated, with a thick cloud of smoke, clouding the vision on what was going on down there. Arthur knew his fire wouldn''t stand long in front of this kind of attack, but he was also sure it wouldn''t fall just from a mere wave.


    When the smoke dissipated, the place was still filled with fire, making the leader frown. She had a small number of water mages under her disposal, and their strongest was Ranj. She then moved to inspect the place where the wave just hit.


    "Ranj, keep hitting this place, it will be crushed soon," she said to Ranj as she returned to her original place. Ranj didn''t delay and started issuing one attack after another, forming a great white smoke screen that started to cover the whole place around the carcass.


    "Good," Arthur muttered, as he was sure these attacks would be enough to quench his fire. "Time for you to shin," he said, as he thought about summoning his pet, using the thick smoke to his advantage.


    At once, a huge scorpion appeared in front of him, standing on the edge of that carcass. Its body rivaled the huge carcass, and it just glanced towards the heavenly treasure for a brief moment, resisting the urge to go there and consume it, before looking back to Arthur, waiting for his orders.


    "There," Arthur pointed to the source of this thick smoke as he whispered, "go down there and kill everyone, all but the female mage that''s leading them," he added.


    The scorpion didn''t move, and Arthur knew what it was thinking about, "You can injure her but not so severe enough to cause her death, but be wary she is strong as me, even slightly better."


    The scorpion nodded, before she descended from up there to the ground, escaping from Arthur''s eyes into the smoke.


    It wasn''t long until a roar was heard, and many sounds of fighting erupted. Arthur could see anything, but he could hear many screams of pain, and shouts for help. "It seems I pushed you harder than I thought," he muttered, as the scorpion wasn''t patient to wait for them to come to her, as she decided to descend and start the fight at once.

 Chapter 114: The Appearance of A Mysterious Master

    A Five horned monster was such a scary existence, and appearing, just like that, out of nowhere in front of any mage would make him paralyze from fear.


    Arthur knew how ruthless this scorpion was, and a mind freak as well. She enjoyed torturing her victims, like when she played with him back at their first encounter. For one moment there, he felt some sympathy towards the poor mages down there, they would end up in a very miserable fate.


    However, he didn''t have anything more than some compassion, and some hope that the female monster would remember his own warning regarding the female leader.


    The easiest way to kill an army was to kill its leader. The fastest way to destroy a nation was to kill their leader. However, despite knowing that, he didn''t intend any harm to her.


    He had sat his gaze upon her, she was his girl, but she didn''t know that, not yet.


    The smoke covered everything, but it started to fade away, slowly, showing the figures down below.


    The monster, the scorpion just stood there, in front of everyone else, doing nothing, as she was enjoying this sense of horror they were feeling right now.


    Arthur just smiled, helplessly, as this monster had the ability to just kill everyone down there, but she refrained from doing so.


    She was just a sadistic being, enjoying tormenting others, especially the psychological pain.


    When the smoke totally dissipated, he could now see everything in detail. That water mage had already created a safe path through fire, but that path was now blocked, along with the fire on the sides of it.


    The scorpion stood there, with her huge body, moving its own tail right and left, slowly, while enjoying the look of fear over the faces of these poor mages.


    Their eyes were following her tail, trying to anticipate her next move, her next target. Whenever she felt they would lose their guards, she sting at once, killing one of them, then her tail returned to its monotonous movement.


    Amidst all the mages, the leader stood, with her disheveled hair, which didn''t spoil any of her beauty. The look over her face wasn''t horror, but gloom, as she lamented her bad luck, thinking this scary monster just came here due to Arthur''s heavenly treasure.


    However, she never thought, even in her wildest imagination, that scary beast was Arthur''s pet!


    "Master, I need your help!"


    Suddenly, the leader shouted, out of her lungs, screaming out of help, not out of misery, but from extreme frustration and anger. No man had ever before stood in front of her and bested her, no one!


    If this was back at the academy, she would, bitterly, admit defeat, but this wasn''t the academy. Her entire clan, her long awaited dream was about to shatter if she didn''t put an end to Arthur now. She thought this monster was standing, by mere coincidence, between her and achieving her dreams.


    "Oh, do you finally need my help? So the deal is on?" a soft, yet toxic sound of a female sounded from the heart of the camp. Arthur turned to look there, to find a very stunning looking mature woman walking from one of the huts. She was wearing a thick leather white coat that looked like ice.


    The fact that she was there, all along, and he couldn''t detect any bit of her monstrous aura meant how strong she was. He knew he wasn''t an opponent for her, and he suspected even his new pet would be able to stop her.


    The only way he could do it was through his dragonair form, but if he did that, he would still be in grave danger the moment he lost this form.


    Amidst his hesitation, a bird''s wing suddenly appeared in front of him. He grabbed it, read it carefully, then smiled evilly at the incoming mage.


    He could now play with her to his heart content!


    "I- I- ¡­" the leader hesitated, and from the surface of things, Arthur knew what this toxic master wanted must be severe.


    "How can you agree on something you don''t know if she can achieve," he suddenly smirked from his high place, sneering loudly at the incoming master.


    His words immediately halted the master''s footsteps, as she raised her eyes, looked like a venomous snake towards him while saying:


    "I was about to kill this monster then retreat and let you two settle things alone, but per your rudeness, I''m obliged to teach you a lesson and kill you as a bonus on the deal!"


    "Humph," Arthur simply harrumphed, loudly, in response to her words, "Lisa, come here to me," he suddenly shouted, without setting his gaze away from the master.


    No one knew who he was speaking to until the scorpion just moved, with her huge body, to climb the carcass with impressive agility. The eyes of everyone popped out of their places when they saw that scary nightmare five horned monster stood, in a docile way, just beside Arthur, letting him ride on her back while patting on her head while saying:


    "You did a great job, but this one here is a bit harsh on you. Let me go there and deal with her, and you keep the fort safe until I come back."


    His words weren''t loud, but they were perfectly heard, and his actions were made in public, so everyone saw that huge monster nodding her head in response to his words of praise.


    Arthur then moved, alone, descending from the top of the carcass, for the first time ever in this fight, to fall on the ground, giving his back to that leader, and moving in slow steps towards the direction of this master.


    "Oh, you have a suicidal wish then?" the female master said, while taking out her two hands from the pockets of her coat, while pointing towards him, "I like your courage, boy, but my patience has limits. If you now confess your wrongdoings, knelt to apologize and promised me all of your land and people to sacrifice them to me, then I will let you live!"

 Chapter 115: Recruiting A Vampire Master

    Arthur wasn''t fazed by her words, as he kept moving forward while turning his head towards that leader, whose face was now lightened with extreme shock. "Stay here and don''t try to attack me, or else I will really kill you," he said, in a completely sincere tone that was so calm that made her entire body shiver.


    How could he be so collected in front of her brutal master? No one had ever faced her master and managed to stay calm! No one at all!


    "So, this is the request you asked from my girl in exchange for your help? What are you? A bloodsucking monster? a vampire? A necromancer?"


    His words made that cruel hearted woman frown, while one of her eyebrows was raised expressing her sincere surprise. "How can you know about all that?" she suddenly asked, with much viciousness and interest in him far more than ever before.


    "You didn''t answer me," he stressed, as he already reached the sea of fire separating him from her. She stood there watching him, as he did the same.


    "If you have the ability, then make me confess my secret to you," she muttered with extreme cruelty, "but I doubt you would stand two hits from me, so just don''t waste my time and submit to me, tell me all your secrets, and let me quench my thirst from those stupid people''s blood after fulfilling the deal with that kid," she said.


    This master didn''t know a thing about Arthur''s true identity. Just from her words alone he was able to deduct her true nature.


    ''A female vampire, very sexy as usual, with extreme desire to drink a massive amount of blood with the consent of their leader, even lowering her arrogant head to speak with some lowly one as me just because I lead people, hmm¡­'' he thought to himself, and his silence was mistaken by that vampire master to be a sign of him considering her offer.


    ''So, she is injured, severely injured, and wants to recover?'' he muttered, as this discovery by him made him quite calmer. "I will give you a chance to retreat and find another way to heal yourself," he suddenly said, giving her an opportunity to escape here, and him for not using his trump card now.


    Her beautiful face frowned when she heard his words, as a tinge of shock appeared for a brief moment there on her face, before disappearing and her usual cruel face resurfaced again. "Who are you?" she suddenly asked, with some vigilance.


    She never met anyone outside her tribe that knew about this deep secret, which was something not a common mage would know.


    Arthur didn''t reply at once, as he took a step forward, entering into the sea of fire, while saying:


    "I know of a better way to recover your wounds without the need to kill anyone."


    The moment he stepped into the fire, the fire stirred, like it met some sort of triggering factor. What made it strange was the fact all the fire in the place tried to move, gather around the body of Arthur, like they were worshipping him.


    He didn''t stop at that, as he started to rotate his energy, slightly moving it inside his body. the moment he did that, the aura of his dragonair bloodline appeared, and that vampire master detected it fast.


    A natural submission was what she felt, an innate fear inside the depth of her soul, like she was born to be inferior, much inferior to the being in front of her right now.


    Subconsciously she took a couple of steps backward until she realized what her body did on its own, and she stopped, with features expressing extreme fear.


    "Who the hell are you? From what tribe do you come from?" she asked, but she was met by the gaze of Arthur, and his heavy silence and brutal aura.


    "Just retreat, you are no match to me," he bluffed, trying to use the innate fear she was obviously feeling to make her retreat. He then used his enticing push to make her submit, "if you retreat now, I promise I will give you something precious, able to instantly heal all of your wounds," he said.


    Her beautiful eyes suddenly shone brightly in red color, before she said:


    "I can promise I won''t interfere in this conflict, but I won''t leave your side, no matter what," she then paused, before adding, "if you lie to me here, and didn''t give me what you promise, then I swear I will fight you, even if my death was the cost for that!"


    Arthur felt this was a fair trade, as he knew how urgent and stressed an injured vampire would feel. "I agree, come, let''s go up there," he said, as he stretched his hand to her. She, hesitantly, glanced at his stretched hand, before she took the steps separating her from him, walking inside the fire without being harmed by her as she took his hand.


    He then turned around, with her hand in his, feeling her softness, and went towards the carcass.


    When he passed by that leader, who was now completely stunned by this sudden turn in events, he said:


    "I like you, so you have my word, if I have to kill all of your mages, then I will, but I won''t kill you. You are my woman, despite not knowing that already. Retreating won''t help you, as I already sat my gaze upon your lands. Either submit, or I will be forced to kill everyone standing beside you then force you to submit."


    He then continued to walk, with the vampire master looking with some pity towards her disciple, saying nothing to her but hoping she would be sane and compromise, before walking behind Arthur, like an obedient child.


    Arthur then jumped up towards the carcass, and when the vampire master reached there, she was shocked to see the heavenly treasure there, with all the eggs around it.

 Chapter 116: You Have Two Days to Consider

    "So this is the reason why all these monsters are crazy?" she muttered, but Arthur didn''t reply back, as he turned to look at the stupefied female leader while saying:


    "You have two days to consider."


    He then took out one bird''s wing that Amelia gave him and threw one down towards the leader, before saying:


    "I will wait for your reply within these days, if not then I will consider this as your refusal, and the lives of your loyal mages will be exhausted in your honor."


    He then turned to look to the dark pitch sky as he shouted:


    "Now!"


    Suddenly, a huge bird monster appeared, out of nowhere, flapping its two big wings a few meters above his head. "Our ride is here," he said to the extremely surprised vampire, while taking back Lisa, the scorpion, into his tattoo on his wrist, before putting his hand on the carcass. "Jump there now," he softly muttered.


    The female master jumped over her surprise and jumped over the back of the bird. Arthur then jumped but after taking the carcass into his ring. This action didn''t escape the eyes of the female master, feeling more astonished at the secrets Arthur had.


    "Hi Lily, let''s go home," he said in greeting for Lily. He had asked Amelia to send Lily to bring him from here, and that was his own way out of here. Lily was ecstatic to meet him, as she said:


    "You are always a domineering clan leader, even alone, you managed to damage the camp that caused us many troubles before, and escape unscathed from here."


    He smiled faintly in reply to her own words, that simply described what happened back there. on the side, the female vampire master just stood silently, watching this young girl speaking so freely with such a dangerous man.


    The innate fear she just felt before still lingered in her mind, and that made her act this obedient even after Arthur''s brutal aura vanished.


    Arthur then looked towards her and asked:


    "What''s your name?"


    Up till now, he didn''t know her name at all.


    "Iman," she said, while keeping her vigilance towards him.


    "Why are you so afraid of me? I won''t bite you," he joked, "now I need to know what caused your injury, that severe for you to be this distressed," he added.


    He needed to know the cause of injury so he could determine the best way to cure her. He also wanted to know many other things, like what could hurt a vampire in this world. vampires had a very remarkable regeneration ability, and injuring them without killing them wasn''t an easy feat at all!


    Besides he wanted to know how vampires existed here, and if there were other creatures living in this world or not. He was now a living dragonair, and she was a vampire.


    Two mystic creatures existing in this world wasn''t a coincidence at all!


    As he asked her, her face changed, showing a melancholic expression, with some bitterness as she said:


    "I was betrayed by a lycon who I once was with."


    Arthur didn???t understand the nature of this creature, despite her reply answering one of his many questions in head; this world had other creatures other than his and hers!


    "What is a lycon?" he asked.


    "It''s a tribe that feeds on others'' source of life, a strange mutation from vampires. We feed on blood, and they feed on life force," she explained.


    Arthur frowned, as this was a strange ability he never heard of before. He once heard about a female cultivator had the ability to suck life from others when she mated with them, but Iman just said this was a tribe!


    "So, your injury is in your life source," he muttered.


    "Yes, and this kind of injury if not treated in time, would leave permanent damage," she said.


    Lily on the side was watching the two of them speaking of these strange words, and didn''t understand any of them. However, she had the feeling that Arthur did understand Iman''s strange words well, which made her feel more admiration towards him.


    "I agree this is hard to cure injury, so I''m wondering, if I cured you, what would you do to me in exchange for this?" he asked, while directly looking in her eyes.


    "I just promised not to interfere with your conflict with Noura, isn''t this enough?" she immediately replied.


    "No," he shook his head, "you know better that I can easily handle you, especially when I know you are severely injured," he added, "I need something else," he said, while pausing and not revealing his intentions for her.


    "What? Don''t tell me you want me to be your girl as well!" she joked with a smile over her face, but he didn''t correct her, which made her short laugh froze, turning into a really short laugh. "You want me to be your woman?" she nervously asked.


    "Well," he replied, before pausing, enjoying the stress over her face, "if we are destined for each other, then you will be mine, however I want you to help me for something. You are in the Dorgazire academy, right?" he asked, finally revealing his intentions.


    "Oh, if you mean that," she paused, as her face showed some hesitation.


    "What''s wrong?" he asked.


    "I''m not from the academy, but from another big academy, far from here," she said, before a distressed emotion appeared over her face.


    "You ran away," he expressed what his mind had reached as a conclusion, which was the only possible explanation to her presence here far away from her own academy.


    "Not running away," she sharply replied, as her self dignity was hurt by his remark, "I came here to start over again, intending to apply as a master in the Dorgazire academy," she added, revealing her goal of being here, the public goal, not the real hidden one.


    "Oh," he just muttered, while saying nothing, respecting her desire to keep the other reason secret for now, "Does that lycon still chasing you?" he asked.

 Chapter 117: Returning to the Clans Territory Again

    "Hmm," she nodded, silently and with sadness, as someone as mighty and arrogant as her reached this level where she had to run for her life, and from the one she once thought to be her chosen.


    Arthur stayed silent, while thinking about all these complicated matters. He knew Iman was a ticking bomb. Even if she joined the Dorgazire academy, she would still be in grave danger every time she moved out on an academy mission.


    He knew that lycon wouldn''t be that insane to attack her inside the academy, so his only option was to hunt here outside the academy walls, either before or after joining it.


    "Has he tracked you to here?" he suddenly asked, as if he was that lycon, he wouldn''t let this golden chance slip by his hands.


    "What do you mean by that?" she replied, in extreme fear, nearly equal to the fear she once expressed when he showed off his dragonair''s aura.


    "I''m just asking," he said, calmly watching her reactions, which showed her ignorance of that lycon''s whereabouts. "Don''t worry, even if he tracked you here, I can kill him," he said, as if that lycon was as powerful as she was right now, he could kill him using his dragonair form.


    "I- I-¡­" she stuttered, knowing that Arthur would ask for something in return. "Don''t worry, I told you if we are destined to each other, you will be mine regardless of anything else," he said, trying to reassure her disturbed emotions, "I just want you to be my inside mage in the academy," he finally stated his condition.


    "And you promise to kill him?" she asked, with doubt.


    "I will cure you first, then help you kill him later," he said, expressing his sincere plan for her. She felt his sincerity, and in comparison to her once beloved person, he was better, way better than that traitor.


    "Hmm," she slowly nodded, "I will honor this agreement on my tribe''s name," she added.


    "Well, first of all we call it here a clan, not a tribe," he said, with a wide smile over his face, "secondly, welcome onboard," he said, while looking at Lily who just giggled as she welcomed her:


    "Welcome to our big group sister, I''m sure you will be greatly surprised and very satisfied."


    Lily heard everything said here, but couldn''t understand everything. What she understood was that Iman was betrayed by her lover, and got severely wounded, while Arthur promised to cure her, in exchange for her support at the academy.


    She knew Arthur well, he wouldn''t pose a thing without knowing for sure his ability to do it. the fact that he asked for her support at the academy made her speechless. No one in the group had any confidence at joining the academy, and here was Arthur, planning for their future inside its walls!


    That was the main difference between him and them, as he always chased his dreams, and made sure to see them fulfilled.


    The flight to home took a couple of hours flying, and when they exited the forest, Arthur was astonished by the scene in front of him.


    He left the clan with slightly over one thousand mages trained from the villagers, plus less than a thousand rogue mages from the bounty hunters, but now he found over five thousands there, or even more!


    "Are they all mages?" he pointed to this huge number in disbelief.


    "No," Lily shook her head, "but most of them are the villagers who came from our newly joined tribes, sorry clans," she had learnt the word tribe from the long talks with Iman, "We have tested all of them with the meat test, and they all passed it. we just need you to do the absorption test, and the next steps as well," she said.


    Arthur just took a deep breath, feeling how strong his new power was growing into. This wasn''t a mere force of a clan, this was an army, and he was the leader of this army.


    He missed the days of his sect, where there were many disciples there. He glanced at these yet to be mages, dreaming of the day he used them to establish his old sect again.


    "If you have all of them, you can win Noura''s army easily, even if the camp is still there," Iman said, while remarking over the huge number of mages here.


    "It''s not that simple," he simply replied, "we have a deadline of the next competition of the Dorgazire academy in less than two weeks from now," he said, expressing his regret for not having time to train all of them.


    "Will you take all of them with you?" she suddenly asked, with surprise over her face.


    "Surely no," he shook his head, "I would only take those outstanding out of them," he added, as those having unique talents were unfair to let them stay back here.


    "What about others?" she asked.


    "I have a new bounty hunter branch established here, I will make all of them enlist there, train in the forest and complete quests, while giving those with outstanding performances a chance to join the academy next year," he explained his future plans for here.


    "Hmm, seems quite a nice plan for me," she nodded, admiring his way of thinking, "I want to say that I''m glad you don''t intend to kill Noura, she is a good girl with bad luck," she suddenly said.


    "Noura?!" he exclaimed with surprise, "What bad luck?" he asked.


    "It''s a long story," she sighed, while Lily suddenly said:


    "Hang on, we will descend now."


    She controlled her pet to descend to the ground, while the two of them felt the effects of this quick landing, hanging on the long feathers of Lily''s Birdy.


    Once they reached the ground, many voices came from around them, with many familiar faces popping out from everywhere, coming to check on him.


    "I''m perfectly fine, sorry to make you all worry," he said, with a wide embarrassed smile over his face.

 Chapter 118: Turning Thousands of Villagers into Mages

    "You made me so worried," Lendy suddenly jumped from god knew where and he found her attaching herself to his neck by her two slim hands, "I was so dead worried about you," she flirted with her sexy tone while moving her body directly over his.


    His face showed an awkward expression, as he totally forgot about her behavior. He tried to break free from her hands, while saying:


    "Thanks, don''t worry, I''m fine."


    He managed to slip from her hands, but he couldn''t escape her body, which was sticking like a glue to his. In fact he wasn''t that refusing to her, but not here, not now.


    "How was your visit to the camp?" Amelia suddenly showed up among the big number of mages, or yet to become one, watching their mighty leader, the one they kept hearing miracles about.


    "I just played with them for a little, and their camp now is completely crushed," he said, while pointing to Iman while adding, "She is Iman, and she will be with us from now on."


    All of the mages here jumped their eyes from Lendy, to Amelia, finally falling on the stunning beauty of Iman, feeling somehow jealous of their leader''s mighty luck in women. They were all world class beauty, enough to cause stir anywhere they go!


    "Then what are we waiting here for?" Silver Falcon suddenly appeared, saying that, "let''s go and crush them now!" he added, expressing what others were thinking about.


    "Not now," Arthur said, "I gave that leader of them a warning, two days to surrender, or we will crush all their forces in one full swoop," he added, while looking towards Omgalden and the other leaders, "Let''s make a meeting somewhere private," he then looked towards Ron, "but first I will start he absorption and coupling process. Prepare places for that."


    Ron pointed to the far, the back of everyone, as he said:


    "We have already prepared everything, plus we have also prepared cooking places for the meat."


    "Nice, show me then, and start organizing everyone," Arthur said in a satisfied tone, while turning to Iman as he said:


    "Come with me, you will get some good benefits here."


    His words were vague for her, but from the look of everyone else to her, she knew this must be something special. She just nodded, while walking behind him, while Lendy was still walking by his side, putting her hand around his shoulders, with her body slightly leaning on his.


    The whole camp of theirs moved in unison following their mysterious leader. The roughly two thousands old mages knew what was going to happen, and they started to organize everyone else.


    As for Arthur, the moment he reached the places where they kept their preparations, he started to observe the location. It was already divided by two wooden walls, extending for over one kilometer, dividing this once before a part of forest into three spacious areas.


    He didn''t waste any more time, as he started to take out one monster after another, killing them, putting his hands deep inside their abdomen, grabbing their vital organs, then giving them to the mages lining in front of him.


    All his leaders stood there, watching him do the process again and again, without any tiring feeling. This was a historical moment, as Lily had already spread the word about his future plans for these mages.


    The three bounty hunter guild leaders were beaming with proud smiles, feeling very happy they made the decision to join Arthur''s side at the right time. they also laughed, inwardly, on those left behind and refused to join them.


    Arthur took around four hours to finish, and finally he turned towards Iman and asked:


    "Do you know what your best attribute is?"


    Iman looked in a strange way to him, making him shake his head in regret. Knowing one''s best attribute would definitely make the benefits of absorption soar.


    "You are a vampire, then it''s a darkness and icy based nature," he muttered, while looking into his own ring for a suitable monster for here.


    He found a monster that was a four horned one, cold blooded lizard, with great scales over its body, making it look like a small dragon.


    He watched this lizard, and finally decided to use it. he had another monster, a crocodile like one, with three horns, but he preferred this one, especially when there was camouflage ability to it, making it more suitable to her.


    He looked first for a night based on monsters, but he didn''t find any. He took the lizard out, before muttering:


    "This will do."


    The lizard was already conquered, so the moment it got out, it didn''t move at all, while all other mages around it felt its great pressure.


    "Are you sure this is ok?" Amelia asked, as she never saw him sacrifice a four horned monster before.


    "It''s fine, she can handle it," he simply replied, before turning to her, "cut your hand, and be ready."


    She simply became the center of attention of everyone standing here, which made her, somehow, nervous. She didn''t know why Arthur was treating her so special and kind like this, as she didn''t know how valuable she was to him.


    To him, she was a great future investment, the more he supported her now, increased her strength, the more benefits he would reap back from her in the future. He knew this world simply respected strength, and thus he would make her so strong, to ensure her to obtain a great place in the academy.


    The moment she cut her hand, with her blood oozing from her severed veins, he started to act. He killed the monster using his own sword, then inserted his hands deeply into the monster.


    "Oh, you are quite lucky," he suddenly muttered, before adding, "hurry and cut the other hand, hurry," he urged her, and she complied at once, without a clue of what was going on.


    The others were also ignorant to what was going on here, but when he took out his two hands, each carrying one organ in their grip, they understood what was happening.


    "Two organs! It''s two organs!!" soft whispers erupted around her, making her much more nervous. However, she didn''t delay extending her hands to him, and the moment she grabbed this kidney and liver from him, she lost her strength at once, feeling absorbed into another realm, falling on the ground without warning, losing her consciousness, simply like that.


    However Arthur was there to support her, as he carried her mature body in his arms, putting her gently on the ground.


    "Keep some guards here, while the others will continue patrolling the forest," he gave the order, while he went away from here, "let''s start the meeting then," he said, giving the signal to everyone to act.


    The leaders first gave their instructions to their following mages, while Ron and the little gang started to organize themselves to cook the meat, with the help of other mages. As for Arthur, he went towards the only big tent here, surrounded by many smaller ones, in a corner to the north of this place.


    This tent was the place of leaders to meet, or live, but for him he would use it now for the meeting.


    He entered the tent, finding some beds there, a wide table, and many chairs.


    ''So it''s a bit of both then,'' he muttered, as he grabbed a chair, sat on it, before waiting for others to finish their arrangements, and come to sit with him here.

 Chapter 119: The First Big Meeting Starts

    He didn''t wait for long, as in fifteen minutes, they all came in.


    The first three to enter were Omgalden, Amelia, and Lendy, who just jumped into the tent, grabbing a chair and sat beside him. The others followed, Torend, Omar, Randy, Volren, Celi, Silver Falcon, and lastly Madly leading Ouly into the tent.


    Arthur just glanced at his pillars, feeling somehow proud of what he managed to achieve in the short duration he had in this world.


    "Are we going to discuss the plan of invading the black raven clan now?" Silver falcon, who was so eager to fight, asked, opening the discussion in this first grand meeting ever.


    "It will be part of the meeting, but the most pressing issue is about the arrangement of this clan after I go to the academy," Arthur said, while looking at the three guild leaders, "Do you know the academy inner system? Can I leave there at any time or not?"


    Omgalden took the responsibility of answering him, as he said:


    "The academy had very strict inside rules, and very loose outside rules. As long as you go to participate in the competition, you will take one month there, then after the competition you will have to stay in doors for one year.


    Learning, attending classes, doing missions for the academy, until you rise up one rank there, be a senior disciple, not a freshman, then you can ask to roam the world for specific durations only. such requests must be approved by the high council of the academy, and you should prepare for some rejections if your name isn''t well known inside."


    Omgalden words had hidden meaning to Arthur, who nodded in understanding. "What about these outside rules?" he suddenly asked.


    "The academy had mages from many clans in the area around it. many are already enemies in the outside world, and the academy can''t interfere in the business of the clans, or this will affect its reputation. So, outside the borders of the academy, any conflict can erupt, and the academy doesn''t hold anyone the responsibility for that," Omgalden said, explaining this important rule.


    Arthur felt some ease, as he planned to expand his territory after solidifying his handling over the current territories he just conquered. If he wouldn''t be held responsible for his clan'' actions, even if he was the clan head, then everything would be fine.


    "Good, now I want to know more about the real situation inside the black raven clan," he shifted the topic towards the issue that kept bothering him, "I met the black raven leader, Noura, and she seemed stressed by something to do this whole quest thing. So, what is the real deal here?" he asked, expressing his own doubts.


    Noura seemed to be pushed over the edge by something, and he needed to know what it was, or else the idea of her surrender wouldn''t be realistic or achieved at all!


    This time, Lendy, who was sitting just next to him, caressing his thigh with her hand under the wooden table, not caring by the side glances others were giving to her, said:


    "The leader isn''t Noura, it''s her grandfather, Hoff!"


    Arthur glanced at her before saying:


    "No, she was called by everyone as the leader."


    "Strange," Lendy muttered, "last time I heard she wasn''t the leader, right Omgalden?" she asked Omgalden, as this was the clan he once lived inside.


    "That''s weird, that old man wasn''t in any bad condition the last time I saw him."


    Arthur was feeling more odd with these replies, so he finally said:


    "We will wait until Iman wakes up and asks her, she was so close to Noura and was asked by her for help in this campaign."


    "Noura asked for outsider''s help? That''s more strange," Omgalden simply commented, not adding more, as the whole situation seemed not right at all to him, and to the others as well.


    "Anyway, we need to prioritize knowing what is happening behind the curtain, so we can wrap things here without fight if possible," Arthur said, before turning his eyes to Silver Falcon before adding, "but if there is no solution, then I think she will retreat to her clan, and fortify herself there. we will have to go to her place and knock her door hard enough to drive more sense in her."


    Silver Falcon just smiled, in content, as he was anticipating this fight from the beginning. In fact he didn''t know why Arthur was trying to avoid fighting her, and so the others. Arthur didn''t explain, but how he would fight his own girl? He wasn''t the violent natured man, and besides forcing the hands of his woman wasn''t a good approach to any girl!


    "Now, let''s discuss the arrangements after I leave here," he finally came to this sensitive important matter to all, "I plan to take only the best of mages here, who wanted to follow me to the academy, however that didn''t mean I will abandon here," he added, before looking to Madly, "I want you to teach as many mages as possible how to do the cooking, creating the meat is very essential in future growth of our clan."


    "Our mages can be satisfied by the number of chiefs we have right now," Madly instantly replied.


    "No," he shook his head, "you misunderstood my meaning," he said, "I don''t want just mages to eat meat, I want every single child in the clan below the age of fifteen to live on meat," he corrected her, declaring his intentions.


    "That¡­" she stuttered, stopped without midway in her words.


    "I know, hard, but it must be done," he said, while shifting his gaze to the three leaders of the guild, "I want to ensure that the future of our move can''t be secured only by the mages we have now. we need fresh blood, and we need to ensure that each year many mages will be able to join the academies and the guild," he stated, expressing his decision and vision.


    The three leaders just exchanged silent glances, before Lendy said:


    "Dear, this will be quite hard. We will need all the mages to work hard, kill monsters all day long, and that might not satisfy the new villagers'' needs!"


    She expressed it best, as this was what was going inside each one''s head.


    "That''s why we need to find other ways to hunt monsters, where normal villagers can participate," he finally came to the main issue related to this matter, "the weapons, traps, and elixirs are the main three pillars of our foundation," he declared.


    "Weapons I got it, but what is about traps and elixirs?" Torend, who kept his silence till now, asked.


    "Weapons I mean aren''t the one you already know, and for traps and elixirs, I plan to do a demonstration now to all of you," he said, while he took out three bottles of the fire and ice potions he previously made.


    He had many of these two now, but he didn''t intend to make mages learn the craft of potionology to make them, but to make simpler elixirs, much simpler than these two. "Here, who wants to try these two?" he asked.


    "What are these?" Lendy''s eyes shone brightly, as she sat straight on her chair, while observing the fluid inside these bottles. She wasn''t alone, as everyone here was doing the same.


    "This is the fire elixir, as for this one it''s called the ice elixir," he said, while explaining, "the fire elixir works best for explosive mages, those who love to deal huge damage on using very strong attacks, while the ice elixir works best for those mages who used tactics and calmness in their fight. Both can greatly boost everyone''s abilities, but I strongly recommend only high leveled mages to take these elixirs I have."


    His words seemed vague to them, but he tried to simplify things to them. The concepts of his cultivation knowledge seemed quite complicated and advanced to be explained simply by mere words to them.


    "So, I can take a fire bottle, right?" Silver Falcon asked, as he pointed to one of the three fire elixir.


    "Sure, it suits you," Arthur honestly replied.


    "What about me, my dear?" Lendy leaned again on his shoulder, while asking in a very seductive tone.


    "I think ice potion is best for you," he said, despite now knowing her fighting abilities, he knew she must be a manipulative type.


    "Great, then I will take one, and Silver Falcon kid here can take the fiery one," she chuckled before jumping over the table, snatching one ice bottle, and then asked:


    "How can I use it?"


    "Just drink it," Arthur simply stated the obvious for him.

 Chapter 120: Three Winners; Silver Falcon, Ouly, and Amelia

    Lendy didn''t delay, as she opened the bottle, sniffed its content like a cat, before she drank it all in one breath. After she finished, she looked at Arthur as she complained:


    "I felt nothing at all!" she just said it, and her face started to change. Inside her body, the elixir just started to work, where her breath formed a long line of mist, that turned into ice, before crashing away.


    Her body suddenly turned soft, as her eyes swayed with her body, before closing them while falling on the ground.


    "Caught you," Arthur was the closest to her, so he managed to catch her body. The moment he touched her skin, he felt extremely icy, feeling pricking on his own, but he endured. He carried her body and put her, gently, on one of the beds there, while glancing at her for a moment.


    The effect of the elixir was far stronger than he imagined, or perhaps it was because her body was so pure, didn''t have any potions before.


    He just was about to return, when he noticed her breath started to take a certain shape around her body, a cocoon! He smiled, as this was a sign for any evolution.


    He returned to his own seat, with a content smile over his face.


    "Is she going to be alright?" Silver Falcon asked, as he was kind of worried, not on his master, but on himself when he would drink the liquid bottle in hand.


    "She is going to be ok," Arthur said, while pointing towards the bottle in Silver Falcon''s hand, "Drink it already, as this will take quite some time to transform your body."


    The elixirs he made was supposed to help him unleash his dragonair powers, something that could have killed him if he did it before. For these mages, these elixirs would magically transform their bodies, cleanse them all from any residuals that would hinder their advance.


    In the case of Lendy, Arthur knew she was evolving, jumping on ranks of talent, at least one rank higher, which would be hard on someone with her age and talent.


    Silver Falcon was different, he was still young, so his body and talent would react fiercer to the elixir.


    Arthur suddenly thought of the super elixir he once made, and started to wonder if he drank it, would it make him stronger and better or not?


    While he was lost in thoughts, Silver Falcon drank the potion in one gulp. As Arthur expected, the moment the fluid entered his body, his body twitched, while fire wisps started to appear all over his body, burning his whole clothes and gears.


    "Are you okay?" Omgalden gasped as he hurried to him while asking.


    "I''m¡­" Silver falcon paused, as he clenched his fists more than once, "I''m fine, no, I''m great!" he said it with a wide smile over his face before laughing, like a mad man, with arched back and his head to the ceiling of the tent.


    He was feeling a gush of extreme violent power seeping into his body, cleaning his organs, making them far stronger than before. Even his inner demons weren''t excluded from this, as they were cleansed as well.


    "Go outside, and sat on the ground, close your eyes and just try to guide the power in you towards your most important strength," Arthur suddenly said, giving him some important pointers, so he could get the best use out of this elixir.


    "What strength?" he asked, humbly with much respect for Arthur.


    "Your inner demon," Arthur said, as this was, obviously, the most important thing for mages like him.


    He just nodded, while moving to the outside, choosing a place without anything around, and sat on the ground meditating like Arthur told him to do.


    No one here noticed that the fire wisps were pointing towards one direction, towards Arthur. They were all astonished by what was happening to him, and didn''t notice this slight detail.


    "Now, there are another four elixirs, two of each type, who would take which?" Arthur said, while pointing to the elixirs on the table, grabbing their attention over them.


    He knew, no matter what attribute was for the mage, using any type of elixir would benefit the mage no matter what. However, trying to use the most suitable one would yield wonderful results, like what was happening to Silver Falcon right now.


    Lacking any systematic approach to assess his followers attributes and main point of strengths, he had no argument in them using the wrong elixirs for now, at least they wouldn''t be harmed, and would gain some benefits.


    Omgalden and Torend each took a fire potion, while their subordinates took the remaining two ice potions. The four, however, showed the same reaction as Lendy, as they all lost their consciousness, with those taking fire potions had a layer of fire forming a cocoon around their bodies, while the ice potion takers showed the same thing like Lendy.


    Arthur just glanced at them and sighed, as he knew they would benefit, but the winner here would be Silver Falcon alone. He just regretted not having a decent way to estimate each one''s attributes, or else he would have more than one winner here.


    Bloom then glanced at the rest, who were supposed to come with him to the academy, and sighed, before taking out potions enough for them.


    "Take them, and get more strength."


    They all looked at the potions, before they took what suited them. Amelia, on the other hand, took the fire potion, in contrast to what Bloom expected. Amidst them all, she and Ouly had the best results, as they didn''t lose their consciousness, and both had extreme reactions to the elixirs once they ingested them.


    Ouly took the ice potion, forming a fog of ice, coalesced together like a cloud surrounding his body, as for Amelia, her whole body was on fire, and even her clothes were now burning.


    "Come with me," Bloom said, as he grabbed her hand, without feeling anything when touching the fire, walking outside the tent. He selected a nearby tent, entered in it first, before he cut the top of it, so it wouldn''t burn by her fire.


    "Come inside," he said, after pushing away everything inside this tent outside it. Amelia entered, feeling some strange feeling from his care on her image, as her clothes were about to disappear, revealing her soft body.


    "Sit here and I will make my Don stand out to guard you," he said while smiling to reassure her, before summoning Don and ordering it to stand here on guard, preventing anyone from entering.


    Meditation couldn''t be done with a distracted mind, or disturbed soul, that was a basic lesson Arthur knew very well. He knew she wouldn''t concentrate, fearing to be exposed to anyone coming and seeing her in this position and situation.


    So, he made everything for her to be helpful for her meditation, while she mistook it for another reason, out of his honest care.


    "Thank you," she muttered, to the emptiness that he was occupying minutes ago before closing her eyes, and starting to control her energy the way she heard him instruct Silver Falcon from before.

 Chapter 121: Meeting An Unexpected Guest

    As for Arthur, he suddenly found himself with nothing to do. Everyone around him was either training, or going on patrol here and there. He decided to take a stroll over the forest, in an attempt to calm his mind and think about an issue in his mind.


    The Dorgazire academy.


    His journey to the academy was now on his doorsteps, and he knew nearly nothing at all regarding the academy, or the upcoming test.


    He had to ask those older mages about it, as any info would be regarded good for him.


    He knew that his external disputes wouldn''t be allowed inside the walls of the academy, but he had to be careful, though, as if there was a backdoor for this law or something.


    Another issue he tried to sort out while walking was regarding his own dragonair powers. This was his own secret, that shouldn''t be known for now by anyone. Besides that, he thought about his own unique abilities, like the pets he had, and the ways to upgrade strengths by absorption, elixirs, and meat.


    The good thing was that he wouldn''t have anymore mages there to strengthen, so the absorption thing could be easily kept as a secret. However, the pet thing was hard to avoid, especially as he would depend on his pets to fight.


    Mentioning pets, he had a deal with that scorpion, so he needed to fulfill it before heading to the academy. He decided to do it on the way to the academy, as there would be enough time until the test started.


    That made just the elixir making secret remaining. He had to do it in an isolated place, perhaps when he ventured in the forest to do missions for the academy, perhaps if he managed to befriend some masters there, he would ask them for help, in exchange for elixirs.


    He knew his own strength would depend in the future on these elixirs, with the diminishing effect of absorption, except if he used five horned monsters or higher.


    Just as he was walking in the forest, he heard some noise coming from nearby, like someone stepping, accidently on dried leaves. He knew this place was being patrolled by his mages, so he stopped, turned to face the incoming mages.


    "It''s you!"


    He muttered the moment he saw the face of his unexpected guest. She was Noura, who looked at him with a serious face, with her vigilance being alerted to maximum. "What are you doing here? I thought you would choose to retreat with your mages," he said, with a warm smile on his face, expressing his happiness to see her.


    She didn''t smile back to him, instead her face became more gloomy as she said:


    "I''m here to ask about a few things first."


    "Speak up your mind then, and I promise to answer whatever questions you have in mind, provided that they aren''t my own secrets," he replied, casually, without any reservation at all.


    After all, he wanted to pouch this mage, who would help him a lot inside the academy in the near future.


    "I have watched from far away what you did to master Iman, may I ask what it is?" she started asking about the absorption process. If she announced her intention to join him, he would gladly explain, but now she didn''t make up her mind. If he told her the details, he had to deal with her, and that was something he didn''t aim for right now.


    "It''s a way to make her much stronger," he simply replied.


    "How?" she asked, with some frustration over her face, "I tried to do the same with a monster I killed, but I didn''t have any result at all," she added, surprising him for that.


    "So, you want to be stronger?" he suddenly asked.


    "Yes, very much stronger, far stronger than you can imagine," she said, with a dejected expression over her face.


    "If you join me, I will make sure that happens," he said, promising her of the thing she seemed to desperately want.


    "No, I doubt you can help me with that," she said, in a tone that made him feel annoyed by her reply, like she was insulting him.


    "You don''t know all my secrets," he said.


    "You mean striking a deal with monsters to fight for you?" she suddenly said, "This isn''t a rare case, as there are already many in the academy and outside it who can do it," she said, while a melancholic sad look appeared on her face, "eve he can do it," she said.


    He didn''t get her exact meaning, but he had some guesses already. "Is your enemy is this strong?" he asked.


    "Far powerful than you think he is," she sighed, while taking a deep breath to clear up her mind, "unless you show me a strength that equals him, I can''t accept your offer, and will fight to the last mage I have!" She declared the intention of her secret visit to him, and explained why she watched his every action inside his camp.


    "How can I be compared to someone I didn''t know?" he honestly said, as he didn''t know how strong her enemy was.


    She seemed to think about his logical remark, before she seemed to make up her mind, "fine, come with me if you want to, that man isn''t far away from here."


    The thought of having such an enemy nearby him made him startled. This wasn''t an enemy he should know nothing about, so he also made up his mind, much faster than her. "Lead the way then," he said.


    She then moved at a speed that was much higher than him, which made him quite fall behind her. She was higher in terms of training as a mage than him, but he pushed himself further, trying to cope with her strength.


    She didn''t decrease her speed at all, like she was satisfied with this single advantage that Arthur couldn''t cope with right now. They kept going for hours, passing through the forest, evading many monsters by their current speed.


    Arthur was thinking about this enemy, and after the passage of sometime he finally decided to ask her:


    "What is the benefit you will get from occupying the whole area like this? What''s the deal going on between you and that man?"


    "I only know a little, what he just told me," She said, shaking her head, as she added, "he told me he was looking for ruins, a place so old that is forgotten, but it lies here in this area, so he wanted me to control all the region before he searched for it."

 Chapter 122: Taking A Dragon Form Again

    Her words threw a heavy rock inside his heart. He felt a hand squeezing his heart as he realized who that enemy was. It wasn''t a random enemy, that man came here looking for the dragonair''s academy ruins, looking for the long lost inheritance there.


    Were his intentions good or bad? If he had good intentions, then he would be an ally for him. however, something deep inside his heart kept telling him it wasn''t a friend at all.


    If so, then he already knew the identity of that man, and his strength as well. "Tell me, have you fought with that man?" he suddenly asked.


    "Sure, a couple of times already, and every time I lost, while he spared my life to do the task he issued to me," she bitterly said, feeling much humiliation for such repeated defeats at the hands of a single foe.


    "So, may I ask, has he shown extraordinary ability? Like his whole body got covered with bronze? Transforming into a giant or something?" he asked, the question which was meant to know the truth.


    The moment he said these words, she felt great shock, as she turned at once, abruptly stopping in her tracks, landing on the ground, while facing him with a grim face.


    The look over her told him everything he needed to know, and yet he didn''t jump to conclusions, as he waited for her reply.


    "How do you know that?" she asked, with much hostility and aggressiveness.


    "So it''s true then," he sighed, bitterly sighed, as he knew how strong his enemy was.


    "Do you know him?" she asked.


    "Well," he paused, as the distant memory of him fighting that bronzed giant flashed fast in his mind, "I knew one like that," he mysteriously replied, without explaining how he knew about that, "but to be honest, it''s unfair for you to face him, only me can face him," he suddenly added, with confidence in his tone.


    "Really?" she asked, like this was the excuse she was looking for right now.


    "Yes," he simply said, "when I fight him, you will understand," he added, "but after I kill him, you will swear your allegiance to me," he was speaking calm, but serious.


    "Ah about that," she seemed to be hesitating about something, "I''m not the real leader of my clan," she said, like a child confessing his white lie to adults.


    "I know that," he instantly replied, "I asked for your loyalty, not your clan. Your clan can easily be dealt with by my forces. You saw my army, it''s now growing to a scale that would be hard for your grandpa to stand against," he said with extreme confidence in his ability to conquer her clan, which was a remark she felt some bitterness for, despite knowing for sure he wasn''t exaggerating at all!


    "If it''s me you want, then me you will get," she softly, with some embarrassment said. He didn''t care about her wild thoughts, all he cared about was her word, her approval.


    A smile appeared on his face, a big satisfying one, as he said:


    "Now, let''s go there, shall we?"


    He had gotten what he desired, and now he had only one obstacle left, that bronzed giant descendant. It seemed the hatred and enmity between the dragonairs and the bronzed giants ran so deeply, even after all these years there were people coming to look for the academy, to destroy it.


    Arthur wasn''t a pacifist, as the idea of that mage coming here for peace or asking him to simply leave didn''t even cross his mind. He knew that mage wouldn''t stop until he destroyed everything related to the dragonairs, Arthur included.


    The only issue he didn''t know now was if that mage was the only descendant like him, or there were many others. Arthur had no knowledge at all regarding his enemy, except from the time he fought the bronzed giant in the dream world.


    And for him, knowing his enemy''s strength through fighting was enough. At that time, he used the heavenly tribulation summoning to crush that giant, he had the strength and physique that enabled him to do so, and he was in a special world, where he could summon such mighty tribulation.


    But here, right now, he couldn''t do that. that made his options narrowed down from the start to only the use of the dragonair unique and only ability he knew; the dragon form.


    His side glanced at Noura, while his mind was thinking about this dilemma. He couldn''t ask her to go away, as this girl was very good at sneaking around. After some moments of thoughts, he decided to let her be, after all that fight with that bronzed giant wouldn''t be that small to contain its news from her.


    Noura sensed his gaze at her, but she said nothing. She was only concerned about saving her grandpa, and nothing more.


    They took another hour to reach an open place in the middle of the forest. It was the first time for Arthur to come here, and in the distance he could spot a huge lake with milky white waters running for the horizon, stretching like tongue in the middle of the thick trees around it.


    "This place is great to build a village here," he muttered, as he wanted to build a village for rest, with inns to stay here for all mages passing through this forest. He wanted to control the whole region here next to the forest for that reason, and to do that he must first clear the enemy standing in the distance, spoiling the beauty of the scene.


    It was a young mage, for his surprise, as he thought he would be a middle aged mage or older.


    "Is that him?" he asked, pointing towards that youngster, who was not much older than him.


    "Yes, he is," she replied, "he seems young, but beware he is very strong," she added, warning him to underestimate this youth for his age.


    "I know," he nodded, feeling somehow grateful for her. He glanced at the mage who kept standing there waiting for the two to come near him, before saying with great arrogance:


    "I told you to come here after you completely occupied the whole region, and now you are coming with this kid, bringing him to me. Is this a game for you? Do you want your grandfather to die? You really disappointed me!"


    The tone of this youngster gave Arthur more reasons to hate him. He was so arrogantly addressing her, totally ignoring Arthur, as if he was nobody in his eyes, as if the whole world had no worth in this youngster''s eyes.


    "I''m here to speak on her behalf," Arthur said, attracting the lazy gaze of that youngster. "Coming here to speak with me?" the youngster said, before laughing like he just heard a joke, "you should have the capital first before you can address me," the youth said, before he started to change.


    The youth was almost two meters tall, with great physique and proportionate muscles appearing slightly under his clothes. When he finished his words, he started to transform, as his body gained much more length, reaching five meters in length, and his body started to bulge, with muscles swelling like balloons under his clothes, tearing it apart.

 Chapter 123: Killing the Bronzed Giant Mage

    This didn''t end here, as his skin started to shine, with bronze luster. It didn''t completely cover his skin with a bronze layer like the giant Arthur fought from before, which gave him a clue over the current mage''s strength.


    He was weak! Much weaker than the giant he previously fought!


    ''He isn''t that much stronger than me, and he seemed to just awaken his powers like me, interesting,'' he thought to himself, while taking out a group of ores, then poured explosive oil over it, before taking out one fire pit as he warned:


    "Stay away, now!"


    Noura sensed the great changes occurring to the two, and the great risk Arthur was facing right now. she didn''t know how or why he took out these ores, this oil, and this fire, but once she heard him, she retreated at once to the back, with great speed.


    "Boom!"


    Suddenly, fire exploded very violently, as Arthur had taken out his most violent explosive oil and used it here. there was no time to waste, as he needed fire to transform, while that youth was about to finish his transformation.


    "Oh, you want to burn yourself alive! That''s the one you brought to speak with me? A coward!!"


    The youth was rude, as he mistakenly took Arthur''s actions to be suicidal. Noura, however, knew Arthur very well, and she knew he wouldn''t do a thing without a reason, a good reason away from committing suicide!


    Arthur didn''t give any heed to that arrogant kid, swearing inside to make him regret giving him the chance to transform. For the first fight with his dragonair powers, Arthur had already grasped his first weakness, transformation.


    To transform he needed some requirements first! That wasn''t logic, as in fights like these, if this kid wasn''t intoxicated with his own powers, he would be in grave danger.


    He closed his eyes, and started circulating his own energy very fast, instigating I to appear. The moment he did so, the whole fire around him, which was already docile to him, trying to approach his body without hurting him, starting to act berserk.


    The fire suddenly erupted everywhere around him, reaching to the youth in mere seconds, approaching Noura with great speed and momentum.


    ''Damn!'' she inwardly cursed as she retreated further, with all her might, evading fire. The fire slashed the huge body of the youth, dealing a strong blow to him, throwing him to the ground, tens of meters back, rolling his huge body on the ground, covering it with fire, until he stopped just a few meters away from the lake.


    At the beginning of the fight, and without doing anything, Arthur had already beaten him to such a state! That was taken as an insult, injuring this youth extreme arrogance, so he stood up with extreme rage, not caring about the fire that was now surrounding his body, trying to eat through his fortified bronzed skin, while looking at Arthur, as he screamed:


    "You will die a horrible death!"


    "Roar!"


    The moment the youth stood up, Arthur had already completed his transformation in the mere seconds he was rolling away under the effect of his fire. The bronzed descendant looked with extreme shock to the big dragon which just appeared in the place of Arthur, with one word repeating itself inside his mind.


    "A dragonair! You are a dragonair!" he suddenly shouted with extreme shock, and deep hatred, "I will kill you, the last dragonair on these lands, and avenge the death of my ancestors!" he bellowed before starting to run towards Arthur, who was now in dragon body.


    "What the hell is going on?!!" on the rear, far in the distance, Noura was watching this fight, this crazy fight, that made her realize she knew nothing about this world!


    This wasn''t a mere mages fight that she used to see at the academy or outside it, this was a monster fight, fight from another world and era that she knew nothing about!


    Arthur didn''t wait for that giant to reach him, as he started to move on his own, walking away from the fire that was totally absorbed by his body to make this dragon form appear.


    The moment he moved, he was astonished by his greater speed, which he never tested before. The last time when he entered this form, he just started flying, not caring about anything else!


    However, right now he was able to taste how mighty his form was! He didn''t need to learn anything, for now, as he alone was a deadly weapon.


    The moment the two approached each other, Arthur flipped his wings a little, making his big dragon body fly a couple of meters off the ground, smashing heavily on the giant upper body, taking it down with him towards the ground.


    "Boom!"


    They collided heavily on the ground, where they created a deep pit. Arthur didn''t stop there, as he used his two mighty claws of his wings, and started hacking this giant body.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Each strike caused a severe shocking wave, making the pit even deeper. Each claw of his managed to break through this kid''s strong defensive skin, making it look much fragile, like it wasn''t covered by anything from the start!


    The body of this giant suddenly started to show deep wounds, as his red blood started to ooze like fountains from each place Arthur''s claws reached. The giant screamed in pain over and over again, and he tried to break free from Arthur, who used his heavy dragon body to pin the giant to the ground.


    "Roar!"


    Arthur roared, as he plunged his sharp teeth into the neck of that giant, biting off a big chunk of meat out of it, before spitting it to the side. The state of this arrogant and mighty giant deteriorated fast, however he wasn''t that weak after all.


    "Boom!"


    Suddenly the giant used his hand to deal a strong blow to Arthur''s body, making him feel some pain.


    ''So, you can fight back, great, show me what you got then!"


    The fight suddenly turned into a dog''s battle, with each side hitting the other with his mightiest strikes, without caring about dodging, without caring about injuries.


    They were both absorbed in the fight and they kept doing this for the whole ten minutes. the first one to fall would be the loser, and Arthur was confident he wouldn''t be the first to fall here!


    He had already started the fight with great advantage, and these deep wounds he dealt first to the giant made the result clear. After another ten minutes, and just a few minutes before his dragon form expired, the giant moves started to weaken, and his eyes started to dim.


    He was dying, and at this moment Arthur plunged again at his neck shoulder joining part and ripped it off with his sharp teeth, dealing the killing blow to his mortal enemy.


    "Roar!"


    Arthur roared, announcing his victory, while the giant just loosened his hands, and his body lost all his vitality.


    This fight was very taxing on Arthur, but it was his victory after all. He moved, with his big body, walking out of the pit which now was more like a deep crater. Noura watched him from far, with shock and fear over her face.


    She never ever expected this easy going mage to be a monster! much stronger and far brutal than the mage that turned her life into hell already. Opposite to that dead bronzed giant, Arthur wasn''t trying to ruin her life, he already just saved her! Saved her grandfather!

 Chapter 124: A Talk between An Old Man and His Granddaughter

    Arthur just walked a couple of steps before he felt extremely weak. That fight wasn''t an easy one at all, especially because he had many wounds all over his body.


    "Boom!"


    His huge dragon body fell on the ground, heavily tucking on the rocks scattered there, smashing them all. The next moment, he lost his dragon form, while returning again to his normal self, however his clothes were tattered, and his body was now hacked with deep wounds, severely injured.


    "Hurry my good child, he is losing blood fast," an old looking man appeared out of nowhere, with long white hair and long white beard. His face seemed peaceful, giving Arthur a good impression of him.


    Arthur wasn''t able even to open his mouth. His mind was starting to get clouded by the weakness of the injuries and the toll of transforming into dragon form. He wanted to close his eyes and sleep, but he knew that would be risky, so he struggled with all his will to keep his eyes fully opened.


    "Hurry my child, let''s help him," the old man said, while Arthur started to see things blurry afterwards.


    He felt his body being held for quite some time, with many things being put on his body, feeling some tingling sensation, but no pain. He continued to see the hazy world around him, without even closing his eyes and rest for even a second.


    That old man was Noura''s captured grandfather, a good man indeed. He was repaying the debt of kindness Arthur had shown him by trying to treat his wounds.


    Arthur''s wounds were severe, many, and deep, but strangely his body was still surviving all these mortal energies. Noura''s grandfather tried to use plants and even mud from the lake nearby to close the wounds, while cutting down his own light coat and wrapping the wounds with it.


    As for Noura, she followed her grandfather''s words, and helped him in cleaning and dressing the wounds. After half an hour, the body of Arthur was now wrapped in all places with many pieces of her grandfather''s coat.


    "Who is this good sibling, my good child?" he finally asked his granddaughter this long awaited question, "is he one of your friends at the academy?" he added.


    "No," she shook her head, before narrating everything related to Arthur. Arthur was in another world of his own, so he couldn''t hear the words these two family members were speaking of about him.


    "So, he is the golden lion clan leader?" the old man asked, with some sparkling in his eyes, "a good match indeed."


    "Grandpa!!!" Noura''s face flushed red, as she understood the meaning of her old man, "I told you, I swore my loyalty to him, and he has already a huge army, so he will take over our clan no matter how you plan to resist him," she hurriedly added, reminding the old man of the bitter reality.


    "Who said I plan to resist him? On the contrary, I''m planning to surrender and be one of his subjects," the old man said, making Noura frown.


    "How can you surrender our clan this easily?" she asked with some doubt and disbelief.


    "Oh child," he sighed, as if he was already so tired of all the burden on his shoulders, "as our clan is about to end, I can tell you this old secret without feeling any guilt," he added.


    "What secret? Do you keep a secret of me?" she asked, with a playful look on her eyes.


    "That''s no joke, and this secret I swear to guard it with my life, like the previous long line of our clan leaders," he said, while his calm face wore the expression of seriousness.


    "Is that secret related to what happened here?" she asked, as she already had some guesses.


    "Indeed," he nodded, "in fact all these lands, and huge part of this forest was once a part of a mighty force living here, but this force had already left these lands, and left us without anything but an oath, and a promise," he said, while glancing at Arthur, who looked like sleeping.


    "It''s related to this dragon or that giant?" she asked.


    "To both," the old man said, "the oath is to never betray anyone who can transform himself to a dragon, especially to the bronzed skin giants," the old man said, "for many generations, we, leaders, thought this was a fairytale, an old myth with nothing to support it, but," he paused, as he glanced again towards Arthur and said nothing.


    Noura understood what he was referring to, and then she asked:


    "and the promise?"


    "The promise is that if someone with a dragon body managed to appear here, he will be our loyal guardian, the genius that will lead our people to live the once called the golden glory of old forgotten days," he said, before smiling warmly, "and the day has come, and my own granddaughter, my successor, is this close to this prodigy. I''m very relieved, I''m very happy, I''m very content."


    "And I''m very angry," she said, as she pointed to Arthur while saying, "this boy isn''t the one I''m looking for to be my man," she added, denying even the thought of being with Arthur for her entire life, as that what her grandpa was trying to make her accept.


    "Silly child," the old man sighed, helplessly glancing at his granddaughter, as he knew how stubborn she was, "this man will be hunted by endless stream of women that rival you, don''t be this narrow minded and let him escape your easy grasp now," he said.


    "No," she shook her head, "I admit he is strong, strange, and different, but he is a mere clan leader. I want someone I can rest assured my entire life being with him, not someone who would make me feel worried!"


    "And what are the conditions for your man then?" Arthur suddenly spoke up, as he regained his consciousness at the last part of their discussion.


    "Are you awake already?" the old man asked, trying to cover over this sensitive topic, "how are you feeling now?" he asked.


    Arthur stood up from the ground, as he glanced first at his body, wrapped in this strange clothes, which was now dyed red from his blood. He sighed, as he took a heavy damage this time. he took out some meat, and started to eat them while looking at Noura and said:


    "I know you think you know everything about me."


    "I know everything about you," she proudly said, "I have watched you for one day, and saw everything you can do," she added, before continuing, like a judge commenting on juniors match, "your methods are strange and different, but this world has many other ways that would render you more speechless."


    "I admit that," he just simply agreed before adding, "but as your grandfather said to you, I promise you that I will lead this place to heights it never reached even in the old glorious days from before."


    "Just mere words, backed by nothing," she muttered, without the fear of enraging him. She already knew he was interested in her, even called her his woman before.


    "No problem, no rush for me, though," he simply shrugged his shoulders, before eating more meat, ignoring her this time, while glancing towards her grandfather. "Will you surrender your clan, or do you want me to come and claim it by myself?"


    "Of course I will surrender to you, and also help you rule over the current territory of yours," the old man said, before bowing his head, in expression for surrender and respect, "my name is Od, and I will be your subject from here on," he said.


    "Good, let''s go then, we have no time to waste," Arthur said, before looking at Noura as he added, "you are bound by your word and promise to me, renege on that and I promise you I won''t stop at anything until I kill you."


    Her eyes looked at him in a strange manner, as he was really speaking seriously this time. she just nodded, expressing her understanding, before she and her grandpa started to follow him.

 Chapter 125: A Random Talk about the Academy

    The three walked back towards the main camp of his, but alone the way he the old man excused himself to go back to the camp of his mages, as he would bring them to Arthur''s camp and end this war by their surrender.


    Arthur just wished the old man luck, while going on his way with Noura, who remained silent all the journey, said nothing, unlike her grandpa, who talked about many things with Arthur.


    The old man was interested to know Arthur''s plans for the future. Arthur simply explained his own vision, about many villages that would be towns and cities, prosperous with their visitors of mages from many places around the forest.


    The old man asked about the meat stuff, when Noura explained this was already present inside the academy as the main food, but rarely knew the real recipe behind it.


    Arthur then talked about his aim of teaching mages how to hunt and cook their meat, he also talked about weapons and alchemy. the more he talked, the more astonished the old man was, the more bored Noura became.


    "You know all this stuff is already present in the academy, why do you bother doing it here?" she finally said after a long time of silence. Arthur knew she was still thinking about their last conversation before setting off to road, and he didn''t open that topic, not yet, not here.


    "You say these are all present in the academy, but you also say these are all secrets, so what''s the problem in making the use of these knowledge that I have, and strengthen my clan?" he replied, talking calmly with her.


    "Do you plan to make your clan like the academy? You must be joking, right?"


    "First, it''s our clan, not my clan. Secondly, sure I plan to make it even stronger than the academy, what''s the problem in that?"


    She didn''t reply, just glanced at him before sighing, as if she thought he was a helpless case. "It''s just no one had ever done it before," she remarked.


    He shrugged his shoulders with no care for her remark, "then I will be the first to do it," he said, expressing his firm resolve towards this matter.


    She didn''t speak again, just sighing from time to time, like she was thinking how helpless and aimless this effort would be wasted upon.


    "Tell me more about the academy," Arthur suddenly asked, as he wanted badly to know any info regarding this academy.


    "What can I say, it''s a huge place, reigning supreme over a large stretch of land. It had many masters, strong foundations, and long deep inheritance that started from ancient times," she said, using vague words, giving nothing useful to him.


    "What about the interior design of the teaching system? What about the competition going on in one week?" he asked, making his questions more specific.


    "Oh, you know nothing then about the academy," she commented while giving him a long glance, "how did you know all these secrets then?" she asked.


    "It''s my own secret," he simply replied.


    "Fine," she shrugged her shoulders as if she didn''t care about his own secrets, but in fact she did, "the academy is built upon the power system, depending on the number of inner demons disciples had. Each time you conquer your inner demon and gain another, you can rise in ranks there."


    She then paused, before raising her head high as she said in proud:


    "I have killed two inner demons so far, and had my third in the last weeks while staying here. When I return to the academy, I will be upgraded to the third rank there, which is quite a high position you know. Tell me, how many inner demons did you conquer? And how many do you currently have?"


    She glanced at him, with an underestimation look upon her face. She was sure he was inferior to her, and she didn''t take the age difference between the two of them into her consideration at all.


    "I don''t have any inner demon at all," he honestly replied, as his dragonair power had its unique way of working, not like traditional ways in this world.


    "Oh, how can this be?" she raised her eyebrow while commenting, "you can''t be this weak, I have seen your strength here and there already," she remarked, as she thought he was so proud in refusing to admit defeat to her, so he lied.


    "That''s the truth," he simply replied.


    "If so, you won''t be able to level up, oh except in one case," she suddenly said, as if she recalled something important, "there is an arena in the academy, where you can challenge other higher disciples and try to snatch their position. You can try that, I''m sure your dragon will make quite a stir there, and might attract the attention of some masters even, to gain their favor."


    She then turned to him, like she was teaching a kid about the reality of the world, "masters there are everything. If you managed to gain their trust, then you can have a very easy life inside the walls of the academy," she sincerely advised him, and he nodded, before saying:


    "I just want to keep my dragon ability hidden for now."


    She glanced at him before she laughed, shortly, as if she heard a silly joke, "if you hid it, how can you rise then?" she asked a simple and true question.


    "I will figure out something," he said, before stressing again as he said, "I want to keep my dragon form secret from anyone, and any master, for now."


    She looked for long at him, before she sighed as she shrugged her shoulders while saying:


    "Fine, I won''t say a word. It''s your life, and you are free to do whatever you want with it," she then paused before her face became pretty serious, "but there you won''t be able to last for long if you hid your dragon form like this. Don''t worry, you aren''t the only one who can transform into monsters, there are many mages who can do it," she added.


    "Really?!" he suddenly got interested in this, "what monsters can they transform into?" he asked.


    "This is known either as an inner demon position ability, or a secret way belonging to their clans. Either way, they can change their bodies to many monsters, monsters that we fight here in the forest," she said, while adding, "thus hiding your ability won''t be useful, as using it won''t give you any problems."


    He went into silence, as his case was different. He had a very ancient and antique form of strength, with a fearful enemy for it. he didn''t want to stir the hidden monsters sleeping anywhere, but he also didn''t want to be a leftover or a loser at the academy.


    He knew, from her remarks along this way, that his ways here weren''t that special at all. There were already many mages with pets, many mages using elixirs there.

 Chapter 126: Returning Back

    If this was true, and he believed it was, then inside the academy he would be just a normal disciple. He didn''t want to be so, as he wanted to access the hidden records of the academy, something he was sure wasn''t available to anyone there.


    "As for the contest that is about to be held soon, it''s in two weeks not one first. Secondly, it''s a one month contest that mages from all over the academy can take part in. Many mages will flood there, and the competition will always be messy and hard.


    There, a master will supervise the whole competition, and he or she will give you all a single quest, to kill a certain number of monsters in the one month time, or sometimes it''s related to some hidden treasure or even scout an unknown place.


    The theme would change every year, based on the goal set by the academy. You have to achieve the required goal to be eligible to join the academy, then you need to do more if you want your position in the academy to be higher."


    Her words made him realize how simple it was. It was a mere strength competition against time. "What about the location of the contest?" he asked.


    "It''s different each time," she said, "but sometimes it would be in the forbidden part of the forest, and other times it would be in pocket worlds discovered by the academy," she added.


    "Pocket worlds?" the word piqued his interest once he heard it. this word was common back in his cultivation life, and so he asked about it.


    "Yes, there are many hidden worlds with gates to them, known as pocket worlds here," she said, "each world has its own characteristics, with many considered huge as this world," she added, trying to explain this term to him, thinking he knew nothing about it.


    He went in silence, as this was strangely similar to his past life. many things here were similar, and he suddenly recalled the words related to the dragons.


    ''So, this world is, after all, a pocket world, not the main one?'' he thought to himself, as this was the conclusion he reached after thinking about it.


    The rest of the journey went in silence, as there was a small distance separating them from returning to the camp. Arthur''s wounds were healing with themselves, as if his body had strong healing powers.


    He was glad to notice that, as if he wanted to wait until his wounds would be healed, it would take forever for him then.


    The moment he returned to the camp, he found everyone was already awake, looking for him everywhere in teams searching the woods. Just as he spotted one of those teams, a bird''s wing kicked in, as Amelia was worried, again, on him.


    "I''m not a little child, you know!" he muttered as he was slightly annoyed with Amelia''s excessive worry about him. He could take care of himself, and he didn''t want her to be this worried at all.


    He simply replied to her, telling her he was already here. The moment he entered the camp with many patrol squads, everyone stopped what they were doing and came to check on him.


    This simple, natural, gesture from everyone made the nearby Noura understand how important he was to them. she knew no tyrant leader would enjoy such treatment, but she didn''t feel much about it.


    After all, she also enjoyed the same treatment from her mages, and that wasn''t something to feel much impressed about.


    "You are finally back," Iman said, as she glanced, like everyone else, over Noura, "and I see she had already surrendered to you."


    This word made the face of Noura flush, with some rage not shyness, however she said nothing. After all, this was the simple way to describe this matter.


    "She and her grandfather have surrendered to me, let''s prepare then for the incoming mages," he said, as he looked briefly towards the Silver Falcon, whose face showed his discontent about it.


    Arthur sighed, as this mage really loved fighting so much. If not for his hatred and vengeance with the academy, he would be an ace in his team there.


    "Good, we will prepare everything," Madly said, as she started to organize everyone here, to make things ready for welcoming the incoming mages.


    "Randy, you will help Madly in this," Arthur said, as he looked at Omar next, "and now bring me the mages for the coupling process."


    He had already made villagers absorb the monsters'' vital organs, and now it was time for him to make them have their inner demons. "How are you feeling now?" he asked Iman, while walking with his big aides towards the place made for coupling.


    "This way you used is very unique, it greatly helped me a lot. Do you intend to cure me in this way?" she asked, with her sparkling eyes, as her energy got replenished a lot, and her soul injuries started to be partly healed.


    She wasn''t in grave danger like before.


    "No," he shook his head, "I will use another method," he added, without explaining anything else.


    She didn''t ask for more, as she silently watched him with the others as he started the process of monster coupling with the current mages.


    His own reserve of monsters were depleting at a very fast pace, but in return he had acquired thousands of new mages, who would grow next year when he came back to be his strong foundation for his ambitious plan.


    He knew when he went to the academy, he would plan everything there for his next moves based on the info he would gather. The simple rule of the academy not interfering in any matters outside its walls was very convenient for him, as he could plan whatever he wanted without fearing of the academy retaliation.


    The moment he finished the coupling, he left the mages sleeping there, and headed back to the big tent. He now had one more week to prepare before heading to the academy, and he needed time to make all preparations done here.


    He entered the tent with his main mages, as they sat around the table like before. Madly and Randy had already finished their preparations, as they made sure there were enough tents for the incoming army of mages.


    And now, it was time for the grand plan to be fully explained, and roles to be distributed among them, plus the main topic of selecting those who would come with him to the academy.

 Chapter 127: The Second Meeting Begins

    Ron came in and unfolded a map of the area here, as Arthur asked him for it. It was the same map Arthur used when arranging his campaign in the first place.


    The map showed the detailed topography of the region. As the map was unfolded, it showed many other areas where Arthur didn''t aim for, especially those behind that mountain range, or very far distance from him.


    "As you see, this is the full map of the area," he started the meeting saying that, "the old man should be here in any minute now, so if he came late, please keep him updated by the content of our meeting later," he added, looking at Noura, who just nodded.


    "The old man is here," the old man said as he entered the tent, with an exhausted face from all this travel, "I would never let myself be late for this meeting," he added, as he went to sit on the empty chair beside his own granddaughter.


    "Welcome on board, now as we are complete I can discuss the full view that I have," Arthur said, in greeting to Od, before pointing to five places in the area adjacent to the forest as he said:


    "These areas will be assigned for all of you staying here, you need to build large villages, or towns if possible, amass all the craftsmen here, plus building enough inns and bounty hunter guild branches."


    "In all of them?" Omgalden was flabbergasted, as he never thought Arthur would ask for such a request, never.


    "Sure," Arthur said as he looked at Od while adding, "besides, I want you to select ten places inside the forest, spanning from these five villages, to act as temporary posts for mages there. the lake place we met there is a perfect spot, plus two places I have already selected, Randy will show you these places."


    He looked towards Randy who nodded, before saying:


    "I know only one place."


    Arthur sighed, as he recalled the first place wasn''t known for him.


    "I will ask Gregory or Clovert to show them the places today," Amelia suddenly said.


    "Thanks," Arthur said, "now, I have to stress on something, you must gather any craftsman you may find, even issue some bounty hunter quests in far towns and clans for that purpose," he added.


    "Are they that important?"Torend asked, as he missed this part in Arthur words, just like most of them here.


    "Very important," Arthur said, stressing again on the importance of this, "you have to make sure all of the craftsmen in this area are localized in our territory," he said.


    "Ok," Od said, as he knew Arthur wouldn''t ask for that for no reason.


    "As for current mages, I want two things from you, first is to select the best to join me to the academy. I need the youngest mages and the most promising ones. As for the second, if any mage has any interest in forging or alchemy, make him see me as fast as possible," he said, while looking at them once more, "I have only one week here, then I will travel to the academy. I want to train as many mages as possible these days."


    They all nodded, despite not knowing what alchemy was, all except Lendy, who was sitting, per habit, beside him.


    "What is alchemy, my dear?" she asked, with her low seductive tone.


    "It''s the craft of making potions, elixirs like you all ingested," he replied.


    Her eyes shone brightly, as she gained a lot of gains, like others, after taking the potion.


    "We will look for as many mages as possible to be able to make that magical fluid," she said, describing the potion as being magical. When Noura heard her, she sneered, attracting everyone''s attention.


    "My dear, not everyone here enjoyed the fancy treatment of the academy before, but with my love here, we all will," Lendy said, in some aggressiveness that Noura welcomed with another sneer, but said nothing in return.


    This was the sad story and dark reality of any rogue mage, they live on poor supplies, not like disciples of the academy, where they could get whatever they needed, and the best things too.


    She didn''t understand why Arthur was doing this, or how did he know all these secrets. These stuff were already considered top secret of the academy, and she was pretty sure he didn''t learn it from there.


    So, she had this curiosity, as from where did Arthur, a mere clan head in an unknown part of the world, to know all this?


    However, she knew Arthur wouldn''t just speak up about this, and to make him speak, she needed either to pay the price for it, or to be patient, and she chose the latter.


    "The final thing is," Arthur then pointed to the distant places, where there were many towns and clans there, "in the upcoming year, I want you to gather intel about these areas, and even areas beyond. I want everything, from the size of the clan, the inner structure of these clans, and the number of their mages and the state of their bounty hunters. Also I want you to establish a strong relationship with them, try to pouch as many mages as possible during this year," he added.


    They exchanged silent glances, before nodding. Doing all this in one year seemed a lot, but they were confident they would be able to do these tasks in the given period of times.


    "This is my plan, any questions?" he asked, glancing at the faces of those who would stay behind, the three main leaders of his new bounty hunter guild, and their trusted mages. "Good, now go and do the urgent tasks for now. I will set off in one week, so let''s finish these before that deadline," he said, dismissing them all.


    They all moved, all except Iman, Noura, and strangely Silver Falcon.


    "Is there anything you want?" he asked Falcon, as he knew this man didn''t like joking around.

 Chapter 128: Helping Silver Falcon in His Revenge

    "I want to ask for a private mission," he said, looking hesitantly at the two girls beside him.


    "Ok, let''s go back and talk there," Arthur said, as he glanced at the two girls, asking them to stay.


    The two went outside the tent, to the back, where there was no one there to bother them.


    "Speak freely," Arthur said, as he noticed how stressful Falcon was.


    "Well, you must have heard about my personal vendetta with the academy," Falcon started talking by saying this, which was welcomed by a nodding from Arthur. "The academy isn''t the only thing I have vendetta with," he said, and paused, as his meaning was easy to guess.


    "Was there another culprit to that old incident of yours?" Arthur asked, before adding, "this must be one of the clans nearby us, right?"


    "The accident was done by the spoiled child of a great clan north west from here. The clan had many connections with the academy, and they recruited many mages from there and attacked my own home, completely destroying it, killing everyone except for me," he paused, as his face showed deep pain and much hatred to this clan.


    "It''s not your fault," Arthur said, as there was a tinge of self blaming inside this young man''s soul.


    "It''s," he simply said, as he sighed a long sigh full of pain, as his mind retrieved very old and painful memories. "This is all my fault, as prior to this accident, I was in relation to that jerk''s girl, or the one he chose to be his," he added, narrating what happened in the past.


    "Do you regret fighting for her?" Arthur asked.


    "No," Falcon shook his head, "but she was killed on the hands of that spoiled brat, and my own family, and her family got massacred for that," he said, before raising his eyes to look at him while saying, "I want to put this clan on top of our objectives, and I ask for permission to go there and gather the intel about them myself."


    Arthur finally knew what this hidden gem wanted from him. He was, in fact, very happy for this rare opportunity to be presented to him like this. Silver Falcon was an ace, a future mage that would be a pillar for his future empire.


    Doing this favor to him, helping him quench his thirst for vengeance, would be a great way to bind him to here, and make him indebted to him.


    "Sure, you have my blessing for that," Arthur said, before pausing, "do you need anything to help?" he asked, as he knew Silver Falcon didn''t come here just to ask him that.


    "Well," he said, showing much hesitation, "I heard from others that you captured a five horned flying monster from before, and I thought having such a monster with me would add many advantages for me in this mission."


    He finally said his own purpose for coming here, as he was aiming for that flying bird. For Arthur, he didn''t need that bird, as he now had that scorpion, plus he could fly by himself if he needed to.


    However, he faked being hesitant about this, as if this matter wasn''t that easy to decide.


    "I know it''s extravagant for me to ask for that, but I need that bird''s help, and I will be indebted to you for my entire life. I live only to have my vengeance, and after achieving it, my life will be yours to decide."


    Arthur inwardly nodded, as this was what he wanted to hear from him. "Good, we can start the process now," he said, as he already finished the process inside his ring, before he gave it to Falcon for use.


    "Wear it, and just say the magical word," Arthur added, while the face of Falcon was filled with ecstasy. Falcon didn''t delay as he wore the ring, and muttered:


    "Activate the contract."


    The moment he said so, the monster inside vanished, and a bird tattoo appeared on the whole right arm of Silver Falcon, who glanced at it and marveled its beauty.


    "Good," Arthur retrieved the ring, as he nodded in satisfaction, "just treat it well, and be aware the first few times of summoning it might be a little hard, so you need to practice here first," he added, sincerely advising him.


    "I''m grateful for you, clan leader," Falcon said, as he knelt on the ground, expressing his deepest gratitude. Arthur just walked by him, patted him on the shoulder, as he muttered:


    "I''m sure you won''t disappoint me."


    "I won''t," Silver Falcon promised, before he stood up and went in the opposite direction with much determination. His long awaited revenge was already in sight, just a few months away.


    Arthur went inside the tent with great spirit, as securing this ace meant a lot for him. He spotted the two beauties standing inside, waiting for him. He knew what Iman wanted, but he didn''t know why Noura was there.


    "You said that this absorption process wasn''t the cure to my illness," Iman said, speaking directly to the point.


    "Yes, I plan to make an elixir for you," he said, as he was thinking about giving her the special elixir he made for himself, but he knew she would be better to use the cold based elixir, a modified version of it.


    "You know how to make elixirs as well?" Noura asked, as if this was the first time she heard about this, "you are a jack of all trades then!" she remarked.


    Arthur didn''t like this attitude at all, but he ignored it. He knew she was trying to open a topic to speak about, so she could speak about what she wanted.


    "Just tell me what you want," he said, as he didn''t like wasting time, especially if she would continue to act like this.


    "In the academy, well," she paused, showing great hesitation before adding, "I want us to be separate inside the academy," she finally said.


    "Separate?!" Arthur asked with some interest on his face, "Why?" he asked.


    "Nothing," she lied, "I just know there to be a lone person, so don''t tarnish my reputation please," she added, trying to cover up.


    "Do you have a lover there?" Iman was the one to ask, as she understood what was going on here.


    "What if I do?" Noura blurted out, as she had nothing more to hide, "I have a boyfriend there, and I don''t want any trouble with him," she said.


    Arthur looked at her, feeling there was something off here. her attitude wasn''t of someone who had a lover, not now, not before, so she was lying.

 Chapter 129: Amelias Face Turns Red!

    ''What are you trying to cover?'' he thought to himself, before saying:


    "I promise that I won''t talk to you if I end up being in a grade less than you."


    The face of her brightened, as she gave a sigh of relief, before she realized her acting was blown off, so her face regained its grim serious look before saying:


    "Thanks, I appreciate that, I will take my leave now."


    She hurriedly left the tent, while Arthur and Iman looked to her back, before exchanging glances together, and laughed on her.


    She was very obvious about hiding something, and her actions here made it doomed for the two of them to try and dig this secret out when they reach the academy.


    "Now, let us talk about the elixir for you," Arthur suddenly said, "I think you hate fire, right?" he asked.


    "Well, if there is a choice, I won''t select it," she honestly replied, "it''s the complete opposite of my nature, I like darkness and coldness better," she added.


    "Like I thought," he muttered, as he already guessed it. he took out one of his ice potions, and gave it to her while saying:


    "Let''s start experimenting with this one, it''s an ice natured potion, and it would greatly help you, but I doubt it would be enough."


    She glanced at the bottle in hand, as she already heard about this magical potion. "Is it fine for me to waste one for just testing?" she asked.


    "Don''t worry," he smiled warmly to her, "I just want you to analyze the potion and its effects on you," he added.


    "I thought I would lose consciousness when ingesting it," she said, with some doubts.


    "No, not in your case," he said, as he was sure she would have a great reaction, just like what Amelia and Silver Falcon had. "Start now, but let''s find somewhere else for you to test it," he said as he moved towards the exit.


    She didn''t understand why they had to leave here, but she followed him anyway to another, smaller, empty tent.


    "Here , you can try it out now," he said, as he moved the bed to the outside, while summoning his Don, again, asking him to take care of this tent.


    He stood in front of her until she took the potion with a weird look over her face. The moment she took it, she felt the gush of energy inside her body, and suddenly all her body started to emit vapor, and ice icicles started to form all over her body, tearing her clothes, and making her naked!


    She now understood why Arthur brought her here, and at this moment she glanced at Arthur who just watched her for a moment, marveling her beauty, before moving out without any warning.


    "Focus on analyzing the potion," he said, as he was satisfied by the optimum reaction of this potion.


    She just giggled when she imagined the look on his face again before she started to train, closing her eyes and circulating her energy in her body. she wasn''t inexperienced like them, as she had already many experiences, and she knew how to deal with the energy inside her body.


    Arthur knew this potion wouldn''t be enough to make her completely healed, but at least it would buy him some time until he could come up with something that might be effective and helpful to her condition.


    For now, he had other matters in his mind, starting with training the mages to be alchemists, and be blacksmiths. He knew this would require talents, and he should take more time in assessing their talents, but he didn''t have that time.


    If he waited until he returned here again, after one year at least, then great time would be lost. These two crafts were essential for any force to grow, and without them he was sure his plans would be delayed for one more year at least.


    So, he just hoped he could find some talents here. if not, he would try and start pouching these talents from the academy, a move he knew it would be dangerous, as the academy wouldn''t tolerate such behavior without doubt.


    The other thing that kept his mind busy was the problem of monsters. He had already exhausted his monster reserves, and he didn''t know the exact condition at the academy, but he was pretty sure monsters weren''t just a simple thing to be found there.


    Having monsters inside his ring was a habit he had got used to. He wanted to leave a ring here, full of monsters and the pet contract ready around them, for any mage to use without his presence here.


    He had already helped a lot of villagers to be mages, but he was sure once the fame of his clan started to spread, many would come here, and that it would be impractical to just wait for his return.


    So, he decided to go for a monster hunt again, provided he had time to do so. He just glanced at the whole busy mages here, and thought of taking them into a training session, a true expedition on the style of his old cultivation world, doing it big.


    "I should then move tomorrow when everyone is ready to move," he muttered as he noticed how busy those mages were, trying to be organized under the new system provided by the great four masters of his clan.


    Arthur just nodded to the four, while he met the seductive looks of Lendy with a wink of his eye. If he had time, he would tame this wild tigress, but he had little time, for now.


    He went back towards the tent, and the moment he entered, he found Amelia was there, waiting for him, alone.


    "Are you looking for me?" he asked, as he noticed she was glancing around, waiting for someone.


    "Yes," she was startled by his sudden appearance, before she added, "I have a request that might seem strange," she said, before pausing, waiting for him to say something.


    Arthur helplessly sighed, as it seemed everyone decided to ask for personal favors today. "Go ahead, what do you want me to do for you?" he said, while sitting on his chair in the tent.


    "I- I- I just want you not to flirt with Lendy in the public again like this," she said it, and her face instantly turned all red, and the moment it changed, Arthur thought she would run away from here, but she didn''t.


    "May I ask why?" he calmly asked, with some curiosity, was it a female envy, or something else?


    "Public pictures are important, and flirting like this might give the wrong impression about how soft and distracted you are. I know you this isn''t true, but don''t forget there are many new mages joining us, and soon you will move and leave the clan, so it''s better to maintain the public image in front of them," she said, while her face was getting redder and redder with each passing moment.


    When she just finished, she darted to the outside, finally, without turning back to look at him, despite she wanted to.

 Chapter 130: Entering Another Memory

    Arthur just glanced at her disappearing back before an evil smile appeared on top of his face.


    "So you are jealous, right?" he muttered, before shaking his head. He knew he would face more challenges the more girls joined his side. As a grown up, with a very long previous life, he knew things like these were inevitable, and he knew how to deal perfectly with these minor problems.


    He just needed to satisfy each one so they would never complain!


    He just shook his head, as this matter was too soon for him to take care of. He glanced at the empty tent around, thinking about what he could do until they bring everyone suitable for training here.


    "let''s try the super potion then," he muttered, as he now was so ready to boost his strength. Even if he went sleepy for a while, or he had his energy stimulated enough like Amelia, Silver Falcon, and Iman, he had time for that.


    He took out one ice and fire potion and before taking it, he thought a little about how to maximize its effects.


    "I can use some runes to boost the effects," he muttered before taking out some ores from his ring, and the old wooden cart that he usually used. He looked at the ores and decided to get more of them, as he kept using them in the last periods, depleting them.


    He wrote on seven ores the word ice, and on another seven the word fire, then he distributed them all around the place of the ground he decided to sit at. He put one ice rune then one fire rune, forming a circle around his place. He then sat there, before finally drinking the potion.


    The moment the potion entered his throat, he felt a deep echo coming from his soul, like a craving desire for this fluid.


    "So, one isn''t enough for you? You are such a gluttony!" he muttered, as he felt the strength of that craving deep in his soul. The potion wasn''t enough to satisfy that hunger, and if he wanted to boost his strength to the next level, he knew he had to quench that thirst.


    So, he took out another potion and drank it, but he also felt the same, still feeling hunger. A third, a fourth, and he kept using potions until he used seven of them. when he took the seventh one, that feeling started to calm down for a bit, while all that fluid inside his body was ignited, like his explosive oil smelling the scent of fire.


    An explosion occurred, nothing on the surface, though, but deep within his soul! He felt his soul to be like a dormant beast, sleeping for ages, and finally it started to wake up, stimulated by the energy accumulated from his potions.


    "If I used more, my body won''t take it! let''s be humble and not too greedy!"


    He muttered, reminding himself that greed, sometimes, might make him lose it all!


    He closed his eyes, and focused on controlling the huge amount of energy given to him by the seven potions. He could sense the fire and ice natured energies reigning supreme inside this pulp of energy, and these two powers were resonating with his soul.


    He started channeling this energy across his blood stream, using the same principle as he used back in the days when he was cultivator, and channeling his energy inside his meridians.


    The first cycle was the hardest one, as the energy was still, refusing hard to follow his control. The first cycle completed, and his energy gained some momentum inside his body, and a tiny part of it got absorbed by his soul, strengthening it, making that sleepy beast inside it more awake and eager for more.


    "Roar!"


    A small roar was felt in the depths of his soul, which drove a smile over his face. ''Don''t worry, buddie, I will make you eat today until you feel satisfied,'' he thought in his mind, speaking to his soul as if it was alive.


    The second cycle was completed faster, and smoother, than the first one. Again, a tiny part of the energy got absorbed by his soul, and the same roar appeared again, making his soul, and his entire body tremble faintly.


    ''Again!'' he muttered with an excited smile over his face, while he started channeling the energy for the third time, and forth, and so on. the more cycles he did, the shorter the duration was, the more energy his soul absorbed, the more frequent the roars became, until he could almost hear the roars with each passing second!


    The energy mass was massive, and he needed hours to make it finally disappear, totally absorbed into his soul. The moment it disappeared, he felt some clarity, as if he was getting some enlightenment.


    Fog, white fog, started to block his mind, while he found himself suddenly standing in the middle of an unknown place. He saw a youngster standing in front of a bunch of other older youths, with a smirk on their faces, as if they had hunted an animal or a monster.


    "Won''t you run or scream?" one of the youths sneered, making fun of that youth standing alone in front of them. the face of that youth was quite twisted, with much pain and agony appearing clearly on his face.


    "You all are monsters! You killed all my family! All my friends are gone, the whole village is gone!" the youth bellowed out in extreme hate and anger that Arthur could feel, strangely, so clearly, like it was coming from the depth of his soul.


    "It''s you dragon slaves who shouldn''t be alive in the first place! you are a disgrace on the human race," the previous youth, who seemed to be the leader of this gang, said. "No such dragon slave like you should be alive, so you should thank us for doing you all this favor, and don''t worry, you won''t be so late in joining everyone in the afterlife," the youth laughed an evil long laugh, like he said a joke just now, "as if there is such a thing, and afterlife, hahaha," he continued to laugh, and the others also joined him as well.


    "You monsters, do you think I would fall without a fight?" the younger angry youth said, showing a vicious look over his face.


    "What can you do?" one of the group said, "you can''t turn without fire," the youth said, as he suddenly snapped his fingers, and a small fountain of water appeared out of nowhere, floating few inches above his head, "show me how can you summon fire here in my presence, c''mon, show me your struggle so we can enjoy killing you more!"


    Arthur just felt the fear from this situation. If he was there, in the place of that youth, standing alone in front of all these monsters, he wouldn''t be able to do anything with his dragonair abilities.


    Without fire he was nothing!


    "I will show you why everyone in my village called me a genius," the boy muttered, gritting his teeth. He suddenly pointed towards that fountain of water with his hand, making a grip towards it. the youth who summoned the water had this irritating smile over his face, while sneering on the futile and silly efforts of that dragonair boy.

 Chapter 131: Arthur and Amelia

    However in the next second, that smile froze on his face, while watching his fountain, the water he summoned and controlled was getting out of his control, moving away from his head, directly heading to the dragonair boy.


    The next moment his face changed, as it turned ashen white, as the dragonair just closed his spread out fingers, making the water fountain explode, while that youth who summoned it got a backlash, severe backlash that made a thin long line of blood ooze from the corner of his mouth.


    This wasn''t all, as the moment water exploded, they didn''t fall on the ground, or evaporated, they all turned into ice, floating in the air around the dragonair boy, who just smirked:


    "For your knowledge, this dragon slave can also summon his dragon form from water and ice as well."


    Just as Arthur was watching, an angry roar came, trembling his entire soul and body, while he felt a great repelling force, driving him outside from this memory, with a vicious sound roaring in his mind:


    "Get out!"


    Arthur was thrown violently out of this memory, breaking the moment of his trance and enlightenment. He had some backlash at this moment, but he just had his soul strengthened, so he didn''t feel the same bad as before.


    He entered into a moment of that dark dragonair master memories, where he learnt something very important from this memory.


    "So I can transform using fire and water, interesting," Arthur muttered while touching his head as he had a slight headache from that backlash, "I just need some rest and I will be fine," he muttered again, before he realized he wasn''t alone.


    Amelia was sitting in front of him, looking at him with interesting eyes, so close that he even could smell her scent, making him smile, with desire, despite wanting not to.


    "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, when he noticed Amelia didn''t react to his gaze.


    "Oh," she suddenly was startled, as she was totally absorbed into his face, "sorry, but I felt a strange feeling when I looked at your weird scales," she added, as she turned her face looking away from him.


    "My scales?" he muttered, as he raised his hand, and touched his face. All his face was covered by a layer of dark red scales, very tiny, and were weakly attached to his skin that the moment he touched them, they got separated and fell on the ground.


    It wasn''t only his face, but his whole body was covered with this layer of scales. When he just moved both hands to get rid of them, his skin had a strange luster to it, like it was all new, and at this moment he realized he was completely naked!


    Arthur didn''t notice this until Amelia''s face turned extremely hot as she instantly looked away from him. He didn''t have any problem dealing with that, as he simply took out one of the uniforms he stored inside his ring.


    "You can safely look at me," he said, with an amusing tone.


    She took a moment before peeking on him, to make sure he had covered his body, but to her surprise she found him already dressed up.


    "Do you want these scales?" he asked as he collected the small scales from the ground.


    She was attracted, again, to these scales, as she took one from the ground and started to glance deeply at it. "I want to make a necklace out of them!"


    Her reply startled Arthur, who just chuckled. He never imagined she was attracted to them due to their shape and designs!


    "Sure, go ahead and do whatever you want with them," he simply waved his hand, as he wasn''t interested in these scales his body shed. His mind was busy wondering about why these scales appeared.


    He could only relate to the moment when cultivators ascended from one realm to another, which caused them to shed their filth and became purer.


    "Thanks," she giggled as she hurriedly gathered all the scattered small scales, gathered them in one small pouch before adding, "I came to tell you that we can''t find any mage who is interested in making weapons, or alchemy."


    He turned to look at her, as he doubtedly asked:


    "No one wanted to learn any of the two?"


    He couldn''t believe it, but her reply confirmed her previous words.


    "They are all interested in getting stronger, nothing else. Learning these things is considered a loser''s job here," she said, trying to make him understand their state of mind, "for them blacksmiths are already the jobs of those untalented people, a waste of their time if they tried to learn it.


    As for the second profession, no one but those who were here in the meeting and saw what magically happened by their own eyes believed there is something in the world called alchemy!"


    She then paused before chuckling as she added, "you should have seen Lendy while she was chasing her own mages, trying to make them come here and make her magical fluid."


    She laughed shortly while Arthur just smiled, before shaking his head in regret. It seemed even when a genius was present in anyplace, the fate of that place was sealed by the hands of its people.


    "What about the mages coming with me to the academy?" he asked, jumping over this matter.


    "We are commencing trials now, but it''s not simple to find our target," she sighed, helplessly. "They are all good, but not unique, and those who are so either older in age, or like Silver Flacon, you know," she added, shaking her head.


    Arthur just had to smile, as he knew Silver Flacon wasn''t destined to be with them on their journey to the academy, and his role here wasn''t any easier or simpler than their role there.


    "What is Iman doing?" he suddenly asked.


    "She is¡­ I don''t know," she said, as she was surprised by the question.

 Chapter 132: Iman is in Danger

    "So she isn''t finished yet," he softly murmured, before he said to Amelia:


    "I will send her over to supervise over the whole selection process," he said, before recalling something so he hurriedly added, "also prepare those who finish the selection, and make them ready for battle."


    "Battle?!" she asked in doubt, as far as she knew it, there was no other enemy here in this area.


    "Yes, I will go on monster hunt again," he simply said, making her eyes slightly widened as she realized his meaning.


    "Sure," she simply said, as she understood how he did this monster hunt. "Are we going to make it here?" she asked.


    "No," he shook his head, before looking to her as he added, "ask Noura and her grandfather, if there is a huge mountain here full of ores, very good ones. If not, we will have to go back to that red mountain."


    "But that mountain is very far from here," she remarked.


    "So, it''s better we find a replacement here," he smiled as he added, "go and I will find Iman and send her over to you."


    She nodded, with a strange look over her face, before she hurriedly left with tinge redness over her cheeks. Arthur just sighed, before he moved outside the tent, heading to the small tent nearby.


    It was easy to spot it, as Don was there standing guard. Once he reached there, Don moved, clearing the way for him to enter. The moment he went inside, he felt how cold the whole tent was. It was miraculous the tent wasn''t frozen under this very cold aura coming out from Iman''s body.


    Her body was showing strange transformations, as the outer layer of her skin was getting translucent, while the inner part was ice white.


    "What is going on here?" he muttered, as he leaned, despite the extreme cold aura surrounding him, as he glanced at her with focus. "So, you are losing control over this energy, and trying to contain it? how could this be possible!"


    That state she was in resembled some known condition he saw a few times already. When cultivators get desperate, and couldn''t breakthrough, they sometimes tend to do some crazy things, one of them was to ingest many energy sources, and instead of channeling the energy through meridians, they just kept storing them inside their bodies, turning the energy berserk.


    This berserk energy might stimulate the lazy potential of the cultivator, pushing him over this small, yet infinite, distance of the level he was stuck at. However, most of them would just explode and die.


    The changes in their bodies were similar to the changes in Iman''s body right now. Arthur didn''t delay, as he sat in front of her, putting both his hands on hers, while closing his eyes.


    The last memory of Iman was when she started channeling the energy inside her body, so she would never take this approach except if there was no other option in front of her.


    Something went wrong, and now if she didn''t get external help, his help, she wouldn''t get out of this crisis alone.


    If he didn''t act, she would die!


    The moment he closed his eyes, he took out one ice potion, and ingested it at once. the fluid entered his body, but it was such a low ranked potion that his soul didn''t react to.


    He didn''t ingest it for his soul, as he started channeling the ice energy inside his body, and trying to connect it with the about to explode energy inside Iman''s body.


    He didn''t try to force it, and also he didn''t want to be late, so he tried to make a balance with his tries, until he managed to connect to Iman''s icy energy.


    The moment he did so, a gush of energy entered his body, relieving the pressure inside her own body, getting her out of danger.


    However, the energy that got into him wasn''t the pure icy energy absorbed from the potion; it was a tainted form of energy, with an extreme sinister energy controlling it.


    ''As I thought,'' he muttered, while he observed that form of energy was trying to get out of control, trying to control his own energy, his whole body, and that gave him some ideas about what really happened to Iman.


    However, this energy, even when being sinister, wasn''t that high in comparison to Arthur''s real energy. Arthur left the energy act berserk, and the moment it did, it tried to control his soul.


    Just touching his soul had burned the whole sinister energy with the icy energy at the same time. He could hear the sizzling sound of the energy being burnt, and when the energy tried to retreat, in fear, he interfered, taking control of it, pushing it towards his soul, making it all vanish in mere minutes!


    Doing this took him halfway, though. Iman''s body still had a considerable amount of this sinister energy. Arthur could sense the presence of mind control in this aura, but when the aura tried to enter his soul and control it, he knew it wasn''t mind control, it was soul control.


    ''The second time I face soul type attacks in this world, is that even such common here?'' he muttered, as he took out another ice potion, and redid the whole process again, and again, and for five more times until the sinister energy inside her body vanished.


    Halfway, though, she had regained her self control, but she didn''t move, or even open her eyes. She knew Arthur was trying to help her, and she was very amused by this.


    She just was about to die, but the first thing to see after coming back from death was this handsome very strong mage doing his best to help her, it was really a scene to be amused by.


    "How do you feel right now?" he asked, as he knew of her awakening the moment it happened, but he was trying to make sure that sinister energy was expelled completely, or else it might cause more troubles later.


    "I''m good, thanks for your help," she said, with sincere gratitude and some shyness, as his body was now covered with his small scales again, naked!

 Chapter 133: Leaving for Monster and Ore Hunt

    The moment his soul was stirred, it stroked back, like a sleepy beast being harassed, it replied violently on this aura, stimulating his power, and so his scales showed up, damaging his clothes.


    He noticed that, and he smiled. The two were sitting naked in front of each other, however he wasn''t in a hurry to dress on, as he asked:


    "Where did you get this sinister energy from?"


    She wasn''t young, but being so close to him like that, in that position, after what he just did, made her unable to look him in the eye. So, she looked to the side, trying to distract her own mind while replying:


    "I told you, it''s from that lycon."


    Arthur had guessed that, and her words confirmed it. "Never thought he could use soul control techniques like that," he softly muttered, thinking of this area where he was so weak at.


    His previous world had little or scarce info related to soul control, and so he wasn''t feeling secure now, realizing how common, and dangerous, these attacks were.


    He needed to strengthen his knowledge of this matter later on inside the academy. Iman noticed his long silence, so she stole a glance of him. she noticed how deeply immersed in thinking he was, and this sight of him was new to her, and also quite fascinating.


    "Alright," he suddenly said, turning to glance at her, catching her off guard, like he intentionally did so. She hurriedly looked to the ground, with faint redness over her cheeks, making her face prettier and hotter.


    He then stood up, took the last pair of clothes from his ring, and dressed it in seconds. He had to make Ron grab more clothes for him, as these tiny scales started to annoy him. "I need you to get dressed, and supervise the selection process of the mages coming with me to the academy," he said, as he moved outside the tent, without looking back.


    She finally raised her head, looking at his departing back, while the last scenes played again inside her head.


    She playfully chuckled, as the whole thing was funny, and kinda hot.


    She then had some clothes stored inside a small bag of hers, before she went out to supervise the selection process.


    Choosing her to do the task meant he wanted mages who could survive the harsh environment of the academy. She had vast experience in that, as she was a master herself in her past great academy. She knew how tough and hard the competitive nature of the big academies was, and thus she could select mages to join him, better than anyone else.


    As she did her part, Arthur was meeting with Noura and her grandpa, Od, inside the big tent, with Amelia and Lendy there as well. Lendy was, as usual, leaning over his body, trying to seduce him.


    "There are three mountains near here with excellent ores," grandpa Od said, as he looked at the map on the table as he pointed to the three of these mountains.


    "This one had some fiery natured ores, while this one had icy natured ores, and the last one had an earth natured ores," Noura pointed to the three, explaining the nature of each one of them.


    "Which one of them is the purest and highest in grade?" he asked Noura, while ignoring Lendy''s touches for now.


    "It would be the ice mountain, then the fire mountain, and finally the earth mountain," she said.


    "Hmm," he thought, as he now could turn into a dragon using ice, but that wasn''t as grandiose and majestic like using fire. He also had explosive oil in his ring, so it would be more suitable for him to have fire ores.


    "Good, we will go to the fire mountain first," he decided, as he wanted to stock fire based ores inside his ring, the more the merrier, "make sure to send those finished the test towards that. I would stay there for two days, then move to the icy mountain, staying there for another two days, before heading to the academy," he added, explaining his timeline of his schedule to them.


    "Will you take those who you already selected?" Amelia asked, as she, Clovert, Gregory, Omar, Randy, and the small gang led by Madly were part of his academy team already.


    "Sure," he nodded, "make them all ready in minutes, we will leave once they all gathered," he said, as he added, "as for those who finished the test, make them come using flying pets, in batches," he added, putting the last touch over this arrangement.


    They all nodded, while they all left, all except for Lendy, who threw her whole body on his embrace, while saying:


    "I will miss you, one whole year without seeing or meeting is so hard on me."


    He silently glanced at her, as he was thinking of the loss of not treating her the way she deserved. If he had some time, he would take her to a secluded place, and make her his woman.


    However, he knew he would have time like this later, so he just caressed her soft skin, while softly muttering:


    "Just be a good girl and wait for me to return."


    He then kissed her, softly on the lips, then a fiery kiss was born, long enough for minutes to pass. When he moved away from her, she had his strange feeling inside her body, making it softer, hotter, and more attractive to his eyes.


    However he just caressed her before simply kissing her again, then he moved from the chair, heading to outside, while she had some fire igniting inside her body.


    Without knowing that, these simple two kisses had moved part of his energy inside her, which would be a good fortune for her future.


    Arthur went outside, to see the whole gang was there, with Amelia and her two friends as well, in addition to Omar, Randy, and two mages standing beside each one of them.


    He knew these mages'' faces from the previous fighting he had with the monsters together, and so he didn''t ask about them. He knew Omar and Randy had already chosen the best of their mages, giving them a rare chance to join the academy.


    As for the rest, they were left here to supervise things, trying to make a foothold for their masters in this growing empire of his.


    ??Let''s go," he said, while looking towards Lily, who summoned her Birdy at once. they all boarded Birdy, and before it took off, Noura came, as she planned to join them.


    "Just jump and let''s go," Arthur said, not waiting for her excuse for joining them. He didn''t mind her presence, after all he planned to hunt her even inside the academy.


    He gave her his word, but he left a backdoor for him, as his promise was only limited to when he would be ranked lower than her, and he was sure he would score higher, shocking her and others as well.


    "Hang tight, let''s go Birdy," Lily suddenly said, making her pet fly, start to go away from here, towards that mountain. On the ground, the sight of many mages grouping together was catchy, as they looked like little ants from their high altitude.

 Chapter 134: Meeting A Monster and Its Master

    The flight to the fiery mountain didn''t take a couple of hours flying, and when they got near the mountain, Arthur really saw a huge mountain drenched in dark red color, like blood.


    The sight of this mighty mountain made Arthur understand the huge amounts of ores he would gather here. The mountain stretched for miles, with its peak going towards the sky, deep into the clouds, hidden there inside the crown made of pure milky white clouds.


    Climbing this mountain itself seemed to be a challenging task, but they had Birdy, and they cheated their way to the top, easily like that.


    Birdy led them through the clouds, to find a whole new sight there, with clear sky and shiny sun over their heads.


    "This place would feel great at night," Madly muttered, while others nodded, agreeing on her remark. Arthur didn''t care about this, despite the beauty of this peak, but it wasn''t even close to the beauty of his own peak back at his sect.


    "Listen up," he said, attracting their attention, "This fight will be hard, as the body of the mountain will be hidden from our sight, so we have to act fast, and not stop attacking," he said, while he jumped over the top of the mountain.


    The mountain top was really huge, with many trees growing on it, a flat piece of hard dark red rocks were there welcoming their feet and eyes. The place seemed a bit cold, but Arthur knew that soon it would be ignited in fire and warmth.


    "Summon your pets, and let''s start building our camp," he said, while he summoned his Don, and others summoned their two horned rhinoceroses. Arthur used Don as the general leader of monsters, ordering them around to cut trees, make some holes around the top, as they made a long big wooden wall there.


    The trees growing in this place were unique, with thick and sturdy trunks. Arthur knew how unique these trees were, and that made him suspect the presence of a treasure here.


    However, if a treasure was present, then monsters would roam here, trying to snatch it! the emptiness and silence here had two explanations, there was no treasure at all, or there was a high ranked monster residing in the shadows, and the possibility of that made him act with more care.


    He started scouting the big peak, but he found nothing suspicious except for this big hole in the middle of it, which descended for an endless distance, covered after some hundred meters in darkness.


    He tried to sense this hole, but found nothing there. Though the place seemed calm, he knew this wasn''t enough to eradicate all possibilities of a threat hidden there.


    "Is there something wrong?" Noura found him standing at the hole for quite some time. As everyone else was helping in the building process with their pets, she didn''t find anything else to do but to speak to him.


    She didn''t have a pet yet, and he didn''t think of granting her one, especially with her irritating nature, so far, with him.


    "I think there is a treasure down there, and a monster too," he muttered, as he pointed to the hole, the darkness that veiled his eyesight, and hers.


    "Are you sure?" she asked, as she understood the meaning of a guarding monster beside any treasure.


    "It''s just a hunch," he said, before taking one rock from the side, pouring some oil over it, before throwing it into the hole, coupled with a fire pit.


    The rock soon ignited with fire, explosive that was enough to light most of the hole parts while descending to the ground. Arthur was content with the rock''s reaction to flames, as it kept popping up fire like lava, with many sounds of explosions that was magnified greatly by the emptiness of this hole.


    These sounds attracted everyone''s attention, and before anyone could ask or speak anything, a mighty roar came from the depth of this mountain, coming from the unseen parts of the hole.


    "There is a monster there," Arthur nodded, as he knew he couldn''t take out his own treasure before killing this one down there.


    He didn''t know if this rock had irritated the monster or not, but he hoped the monster would be agitated and come out from the depth of this hole. Such a deep hole would be a headache if they had to descend it!


    "Be ready for battle!" he suddenly shouted, giving everyone the vibe of how dangerous their current situation was.


    His words just died out, and a faint trembling started to be present in the whole top. With passing seconds, these trembling started to be more vigorous, even causing part of the rocks to be separated from the peak, falling down the mountain, causing a severe banging sound.


    Arthur just retreated to the back, recalled Don, and was ready to take out his scorpion at any given moment. just minutes of stress, while others were now surrounding him, facing the hole with their serious faces, a smoke suddenly exited from the hole opening, thick opaque red smoke.


    "Oh, few weak mages are trying to snatch my treasure, that''s interesting."


    A male middle aged sound appeared from the smoke, as it expanded massively to start covering the whole peak in moments. Arthur knew this was directed to make their vision be negated, and thus he didn''t delay as he took out many ores from his ring, poured explosive oil on them, and then he started fire.


    The fire had irritated that monster, and the speaking monster was indeed something unsightly to face. The moment fire erupted, explosions happened one after another, not the same caliber of that occurred with the dark red rock.


    The moment explosions happened, shriek screams erupted, while the sound of the middle aged man appeared again, as if he was speaking to the monster:


    "Don''t worry, I''m here, I won''t let them hurt you."


    Arthur knew things were worse than he initially thought, as this monster wasn''t alone, but he had his master with him.


    Just as he was about to take more ores, the sound of that master came to startle him, and others around as well.


    "May I ask you to state your business here first?"

 Chapter 135: Exposing the Scheme of the Monster

    Arthur didn''t know why such a master with a mighty monster would seek to negotiate with him, but he decided to keep on with him for this time, until his hunch would be verified.


    "We are here to hunt normal monsters," Arthur said.


    "Using my treasure then?" the hidden master asked, "Or you came here not knowing about my treasure?" he added, which made Arthur feel more doubt.


    "We didn''t know," Arthur replied.


    "So, you just will work on your business, without interfering in mine?"


    This made Arthur much more doubtful, and he didn''t reply with words, but he took out nearly most of the ores he had, poured oil on them, before throwing them all towards the fire raging in front of him.


    This amount of ores was enough to cause a massive explosion, with a mighty shock wave that managed to push away the white smoke, clearing the vision in front of him and the others.


    What welcomed them was a strange shaped monster, with no master there at all!


    "As I suspected," Arthur smiled, evilly, as he doubted the intentions of that monster when it used the master voice to negotiate, trying to appear magnanimous, and avoiding clashing with them!


    The monster was a huge snake, with a length exceeding five hundred meters at least. The snake body had a diameter in tens of meters, making its external appearance scary.


    The snake had thin long scales, looking like long spears, made all of semi translucent blue color. Its head was unique, with a skull of a human residing over its centre head, which was massive enough to be longer than fifty meters alone!


    A tall, and forked tongue appeared every second, coming in and out its strong long jaw, with four pairs of long curved fangs appearing from the upper and lower jaws.


    Its tail ended up dividing into six ends, with each having a feather in its end.


    The moment it appeared, everyone gasped of terror, while the face of Noura changed as she muttered:


    "It''s the feathered snake, the descendant of a legendary feathered dragon!"


    Her words added more fear to everyone, but not to Arthur, who just glanced at this monster like he was glancing at a weak snake, not this massive mighty looking one.


    "Oh, you know of me, I''m flattered," the snake spoke into their minds with the same tone of that middle aged man.


    "Are you a dragon descendant?" Arthur suddenly spoke up, as he walked directly towards the monster, not fearing it.


    "You are smart, and courageous to come towards me without fearing death!" The snake spoke with a playful tone that didn''t suit the sound of the middle aged man it was mimicking.


    The huge head of that snake rose up, tens of meters in the air, to form another peak of the mountain itself. The sight of it made everyone''s heart shudder, but Arthur kept moving, slowly and steadily, to the front as he asked again:


    "Are you a dragon descendant?"


    The snake looked in a weird way towards this mage who was walking step by step towards him, asking him about his relation to dragons.


    "Sure, why do you ask? Having some grievances with dragons?"


    "No, not grievances, but¡­" Arthur paused, as he entered the area of fire. The moment his feet stepped in, the fire around him got sudden changes, as they were docile to him, strangely trying to come near his body, and hug him.


    "Oh, interesting," the snake muttered, before another change happened.


    Arthur started to channel his energy. He didn''t stimulate his energy fast, but slowly, making it circulate smoothly inside his blood vessels. The moment he did so, the fire around him changed, as they went berserk all of sudden.


    The next moment, his body emanated an aura, a certain type of aura that not many could discern, but monsters could. The eyes of that snake got opened widely when it sensed his aura, and the next moment Arthur quieted down his energy, making all these changes subside, with the fire returning docile once more.


    "You¡­" the snake was about to speak about his identity, with a trembling shocking tone, but Arthur was faster as he hurriedly interrupted the snake, by saying:


    "Some things are meant to be hidden."


    His words were understood by the snake, which nodded his huge head before asking:


    "Do you want my treasure?"


    The attitude of this sneaky snake changed, as he knew he couldn''t trick Arthur, or even beat him. The snake had already ingested the treasure, and was now in the period of recuperation, waiting for his body to transform and evolve.


    It was the most dangerous moment at all, as his strength would be fluctuating, mainly greatly weakened, with any fight to erupt and he over used his energy to make him suffer a backlash, or even a failure in evolution.


    Arthur knew this, and that was one of the reasons that made him confidently walk towards the monster. He also had another reason to make him this calm when dealing with such a dreadful monster.


    "No, I don''t crave for your treasure," Arthur simply shook his head, while adding, "I want to know if your evolution to a dragon is complete or not."


    The snake looked at him for quite a long time, before speaking again, and this time he spoke only to Arthur alone.


    "I have ingested the treasure already."


    "I''m already aware of that."


    "But it will take me only halfway," the snake hesitated, before adding, "I have to ingest another ice natured treasure, then my evolution will be completed, and I will have two ways to choose between, two totally different destines for me."


    Arthur started to get more interested, as he didn''t know what these ways were. For him, he thought this snake would turn into a real dragon, and then both could be friends and travel together in the future, however it seemed he underestimated this evolution process.


    "What two destinies?" he curiously asked.

 Chapter 136: Making A Deal with the Monster

    "One is to stay here, take the human form, and the other is to ascend up there, and join the dragon clan," the snake explained, before adding, "I think you should know that, isn''t that written inside your dragonair holy book?"


    Arthur just bitterly smiles, as his holy book was tainted by the greedy sly dragonair master of the old times. "I have nothing to guide me here," he said, while shaking his head in regret.


    "Oh, I heard you got wiped out and the survivors got themselves out of here already," the snake said, as he was talking about the old times of the past.


    "What if I can help you?" Arthur suddenly said.


    "In exchange for what?" the snake asked.


    "In exchange of staying here, not leaving this world," Arthur finally stated his own purpose of his offer, "I want you to transform into human and stay by my side," he added.


    Of course his initial plan didn''t involve that, as he intended to get use of the true dragon this snake would end up to be. But he knew that wasn''t possible, for now, as this snake would evolve into a human form, or eventually leave.


    At least having another dragon descendant by his side would greatly help him, even provide him with missing pieces of info that he lacked much for now. The offer was easy to fulfill, so he only waited for the response of the snake.


    "You want me to stay with you?" the snake asked, as if he heard something absurd.


    "Sure, why not?" Arthur chuckled, as he didn''t understand why the snake asked him this question.


    "If so, then I will stay with you," the snake tone was strangely cheerful, like he was much happier than Arthur by this deal, "Do you know the place of this icy treasure?" the snake asked, as he thought Arthur did this deal knowing the location of an ice treasure nearby.


    "I do have it already," Arthur just replied simply like that, before turning around and giving his back to the snake while adding, "just go deep back to the place you were hiding at, and when I finish my business here, you can come and leave with me."


    The snake just glanced at him, before nodding, and his huge body suddenly moved with great ease towards the hole of the mountain peak.


    The whole talk was done in whispers, so all of the present here couldn''t hear a single word at all, since the moment Arthur went into that ring of fire.


    For them, Arthur just stood in the fire, and something happened that made that snake change the look and attitude towards him, before the snake finally moved, returning to the hole it came from, and Arthur just turned back to them, simply like that!


    "Let''s be ready," he suddenly shouted at everyone, awakening them from their daze.


    "Is everything alright?" Amelia, who was the nearest one to him, asked the question in everyone''s mind right now.


    "Sure, the snake won''t interfere in our business here," he said, as if he was stating some simple truth.


    "Are you sure?" Noura suddenly jumped in, "that monster is known for its high intelligence and great wickedness. It''s very hard to deal with, even for masters from our academy, besides it has no horns, but a skull. This means it has already awakened its supreme ability, and dealing with such a high grade monster is very risky."


    Arthur knew she was speaking so sincerely with him, but he also was sure that wasn''t the case with him. surely he knew nothing about such a monster, especially with that strange skull in the middle of his head, but that didn''t bother him.


    The monster was already in his pouch, and Arthur intended to do a servant pack with that snake before giving him the last desired treasure.


    He was just playing with the snake, showing him what he desperately needed, and in return he would make that snake more restless and much eager to complete the deal with Arthur.


    And at this point, Arthur would force the snake to sign that contract, or else he won''t take the last leap to become a real dragon.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur vaguely replied, while he looked to everyone as he added, "let''s get ready, try to take out as many ores as you can from this mountain."


    He still had a small amount of ore, but not enough to last them the whole battle. So, it was easy to gather a huge amount of ores before the battle, to use them later.


    The small encounter with the snake here had already broken part of the mountain, so he left them to collect ores from the peak, and he went down there with Lily to collect the huge chunk that fell off not long ago.


    When he descended there, he found that piece of the mountain was much bigger than he initially thought. When it fell on the ground, it smashed many parts along its way, making a huge pile of ores ready to be collected for Arthur, who wasn''t polite and took them all.


    When he finished, he was excited to find that his stock of ores had been replenished, and even doubled! He was in a good mood now, and so he made Lily take a tour around the huge mountain, collecting other loose parts of it, or fallen rocks.


    This took quite some time, nearly two hours, to finish. When he ascended the top again, he found another pile, smaller in comparison to what he already gathered, waiting for him there.


    He didn''t take these, as he intended to turn them all into explosive ores. He poured his normal explosive oils over them, and then used normal robes Madly and others had prepared from before, and the explosive ores were ready for use.


    "Let''s start," he shouted on others, while he put his hand on the ground and let the old familiar carcass appear again. the moment it came out, the whole world ushered in complete silence, before mighty roars came from many distances away from them.


    From the shape of it, this monster tide seemed to be far greater than before. Arthur wasn''t feeling any stress at all, as he knew his mages here would be able to fight this monster tide back.

 Chapter 137: The Incoming of Flying Monster Tide

    Just as he and others waited, the first wave of mages appeared from a distance. Around two hundred mages descended on the peak from the back of flying pets.


    "Lily, go back with them, and help bring more," Arthur ordered, as this batch would help them for a while, and more mages meant less pressure.


    "Hmm," Lily gladly complied, before she went with the flying pets back to the camp.


    Lily''s pet of Lily was their largest, so the next batch would be huge for certain. "Listen up, take your posts following the leaders here, and summon your pets at once," Arthur ordered, as he could feel the ground underneath him trembling faintly from the large number of monsters ascending the mountain.


    Arthur had already scanned the mountain, it really had a harsh nature there. The ascension journey wouldn''t be that easy for monsters, many would stumble and fall from high altitude, especially when their minds were controlled by their innate desire.


    The heavenly treasure he had here was a real stroke of luck, it also reminded him of Zilia, and her great help to him. without her, he wouldn''t be a dragonair from the first place, or he would have lost his soul for that greedy sinister master of old times.


    He and others didn''t wait for long, as after ten minutes, the first wave of monsters appeared. The moment they broke from the cloud layer, heavy attacks started to rain upon them, killing them all, and causing several explosions here and there, shocking the mountain, and making more pieces of it to fall.


    Arthur looked at this with delight, as if he had the ability to break this whole mountain down, he would! The explosions came in succession, and their shock wave started to stir the cloud layer, causing many gaps in it.


    Arthur could see parts of the whole mountain now. As he expected, many monsters just kept falling off the mountain along the way, dying if they fell from very high altitude, or becoming severely wounded if they fell from lower levels.


    The fight started hot, and the top of the mountain turned into a restricted area for monsters, covered in violent flames. After half an hour, his main mages ordered others to stop, as nearly one third of the mountain was now covered in a fiery layer, making this part shine from far away like it was made of red gems.


    This long distance of fire acted as a buffer, plus it already pushed the cloud layer away, making them all see the whole mountain, and the area adjacent to its base clearly.


    Monsters were falling, at a higher rate than killing them by fire. As they paused and rested, monsters who reached the fiery layer weren''t able to sustain the fire, and most of them fell, while the rest died in their places, with burnt corpses.


    The trees growing on the mountain started to catch fire in return, but they took quite some time to be burnt into charcoal. Arthur eyed these trees, and decided to gather them when the fight ended.


    After four more hours, another batch, larger in size, of mages reinforcements came to support them. The number of mages over the top of this mountain escalated to reach one thousand in number, approximately, which helped to alleviate pressure over the present mages.


    The fight started to be smoother, as every time the fire died for a bit, the leading mages would order their followers to start using the explosive ores again. After three to five waves of attack, the fire reignited strongly again, making the area top of the mountain restricted once more.


    Despite the large number of killed and injured monsters down the mountain, Arthur didn''t dare to throw himself down there. The mountain was surrounded by a huge flood of monsters, much larger than the previous times he used this tactic.


    So, he decided to wait until he got satisfied by the results, take back the treasure, then start collecting his trophies from below after the monsters tide subsided.


    The night fell on them, and the scene of the sky full of bright stars here was really unforgettable. The clearness of the sky and their high altitude made it feel as they were in another part of the world, very peaceful, very enchanting.


    The fight never ceased, as monsters were crazy by the treasure Arthur had. However, not a single monster managed to lay a single foot on the peak, or even get close to it.


    Not until dawn, when another batch of mages were added, making their numbers break through one thousand formally. At this time, a new wave of monsters appeared, coming from the sky.


    Arthur was the first to detect them, as he noticed this dark cloud moving so fast towards them. this wasn''t natural, so his senses alarmed him of the new wave coming.


    "Flying monsters are approaching, be prepared!"


    He took out his bow as he yelled at others to be aware of this threat. This wasn''t the first time for him facing flying monsters, but they usually came in low numbers, or sporadic, making it easy to kill.


    However this wave seemed more special, with their huge size, that made it easy to guess their numbers; they were in hundreds!


    This huge amount of monsters were enough to startle everyone, however Arthur followed his previous warning with his subsequent instructions.


    "All mages with flying pets make them fly away from here for now. when the fight starts, come and aid us, hitting the back of this monster wave," he ordered, before adding, "other mages will use the explosive ores and throw them towards the monsters when they come near here. divide yourselves into three groups.


    One to face the incoming ground monsters, one to attack the flying monsters, and the rest will act as emergency teams, killing those which might set foot on this carcass."


    His orders were detailed, and timely, appropriate to the situation. The leaders of his mages'' army started to relay orders based on his instructions, arranging everyone into three teams.


    It was lucky their numbers were enough to do that! at once, the whole mages under the large carcass were divided into three groups, the largest one was tasked by hitting the monsters in the air, the smallest one acted as the emergency team, climbing the carcass towards Arthur.


    The last group remained defending the wooden wall, preventing any monster from setting foot here by keeping the fire raging.


    The real fight was about to start now!

 Chapter 138: Showing Off the Dragon Form in the Open

    Arthur, surrounded by the emergency team of his mages, led by Amelia, was observing the incoming flying monsters without any worry at all.


    He knew this flying monster tide would be a challenge to his mages, but it was a good challenge indeed. As for him, at any sign of risk, he would take out his scorpion, or bring the carcass back inside his ring, securing the treasure.


    The flying monsters approached fast, but they didn''t start attacking at once. The cloud that looked darker than the surroundings in this dim light of the dawn circled around the mountain peak for a couple of times, before it finally started heading towards the peak.


    ''So, there is a leading monster there,'' Arthur muttered, as he felt the presence of a strong being inside this cloud of monsters.


    "Archers ready!" Amelia''s voice came to interrupt his thoughts, as she added, "Fire!"


    Arthur noticed that the arrows had small pieces of the explosive ores wrapped along their wooden shafts, with fire ignited on small pieces of cloth attached on the tip of the arrow.


    ''Interesting,'' he murmured to himself, as he watched the first volley of attacks fall on the cloud, finally eliminating it.


    As he expected, the cloud was formed by a large group of different shapes and grades of monsters, surrounding an eagle-like monster, with colorful feathers and fanned tail like a peacock.


    The eagle had a long, sharp looking beak, and its head had a crown-like collection of six horns.


    It was a six horned monster! the highest he faced up till now, of course without putting the snake into consideration.


    He didn''t wait anymore, as once he identified his target, he didn''t stop and jumped high up the air, heading straight towards that monster.


    The monster opened its beak, slightly, like it was smirking at him. Another volley attacked, and amidst the chaos it caused, Arthur took out a large piece of ore, ignited it with fire, and threw it towards the monster.


    It happened so fast, and the monster had limited room to maneuver from the start, so the attack fell on it, but it caused minimal damage to its feathers.


    This attack seemed to agitate the monster, causing it to flap its wings more aggressively, before heading towards Arthur, wanting to kill him.


    Arthur, after throwing that attack towards the monster, took out another ore, and burned it up around himself.


    "Boom!"


    Fire erupted fast, startling the flying monster, which didn''t understand why a human was setting fire on himself, except for a suicidal attempt.


    Before the monster changes its mind, look for another target, a very ancient, domineering aura erupted from the fire, where Arthur was. He had used the fire to channel his energy, summoning the suppressive force of dragonairs in this place.


    The flying monster paused, as it glanced at the fire and Arthur inside it with greedy eyes. The fire went berserk, but it didn''t affect it, while it started to fall towards Arthur.


    "So you aren''t planning to surrender, do you?" Arthur muttered, as he was considering summoning the dragon form here or not.


    "You are the real treasure! If I can eat you, I will jump the last piece of evolution I just needed!"


    A sound of a child appeared, sharply irritating his ears, coming from this monster. Arthur understood the more monsters were higher in grade, the more sane they became, the more human like they turn into.


    Just as the monster approached him, Arthur started to transform, taking the form of a dragon. ''It seems I can''t keep this as a secret anymore,'' he muttered to himself, while his body grew larger, and dark red scales started to cover his whole body.


    He recalled the words Noura had spoken to him from before, he wasn''t that special in doing so, and being not special held significance meaning to him, at least he could now fight with his full power fearing nothing.


    The monster he was facing right now was higher than monsters he fought from before, and that made him believe the more he advanced the higher challenges he would face.


    Just as his body was transforming, that flying monster sensed the danger and immediately all his horns started to shine at once. a huge wave of water appeared, out of nowhere, to rapidly descend upon him, putting off the fire, and interrupting his transformation.


    "Do you think I will let you take that annoying form? In your dreams!" the childish crispy voice appeared again as the monster flapped its two huge wings fast, trying to help his water attack to rapidly extinguish fire.


    "Good thing I had that moment of enlightenment from before," Arthur sneered, as he wasn''t that helpless against this natural enemy of the fire.


    The moment fire died off and water wrapped and soaked him, his transformation didn''t stop, instead it went faster. Arthur noted this, as he thought his body would return to normal before trying to take the dragon form again.


    "Roar!"


    The dragon had appeared on these lands once more! The mighty roar of Arthur in his dragon form attracted everyone''s attention, making them all look with great doubt towards him.


    Most of them had never seen this form of him before, but he didn''t care to explain, as he had now a battle to fight! He didn''t intend to ever explain, as this would be only explained in one answer: many mages can transform into monsters, and I''m one of them!


    Arthur then focused on the flying six hornet monster, as he flapped his huge wings, and moved towards the sky. Other weaker monsters just screamed when he approached them, moving as fast they could from his path.


    Those slower than others were hit by his body, falling from the sky like fireflies hitting fire!


    "So, you managed to show your full form, your grace!" the childish voice came again, this time much clearer and less irritating to Arthur''s ears.


    "You futile attempts to stop me had failed! now prepare to be killed by me!" Arthur roared back, speaking in monsters'' tongue, as he went head straight directly hitting that monster''s body, making it lose altitude, and fall.


    Arthur didn''t give it a chance to catch its breaths, as he directly folded his two wings, descending like a meteor, hitting that monster in the abdomen, taking it down with him to violently clash with the side of the mountain.


    "Boom!"


    The sound of their clash overshadowed other sounds of the mighty battle ongoing here. The clash managed to break part of the mountain, while the body of that eagle was trapped in pieces of rocks, while falling from this high towards the distant ground.


    Arthur, in dragon form, flapped his two wings, stabilizing himself midair, while watching his enemy falling to the depth of the ground.


    "Boom!"


    Another massive violent crushing sound erupted from down there when the monster fell heavily on the base of the mountain. Crushing more parts of the mountain body with it.


    Arthur kept flying in the air up there near the peak for a few moments, before he made certain that monster didn''t move a feather of it, before he started to move away, joining the ongoing battle on the peak, helping his mages in killing these small frays.


    Three and four, and even some five horned monsters were nothing in front of his dragon body! just one hit by his head, his tail, his body, or even his wings made these monsters fall.


    The moment they fell, they either hit the near peak ground, mercilessly getting hacked by the pet monsters there, or they went down the mountain, hitting the ground strongly, joining their boss in its miserable fate.


    The battle ended faster than everyone thought, and no other flying monsters came to harass them again. that all was thanks to the efforts of Arthur, one mage made the whole difference here!


    Arthur knew his time was limited as a dragon, so he hurriedly used the remaining minutes and started a massacre at the monsters trying to ascend here. he managed to kill and injure a whole lot of them, before his dragon body started to get weak, and he headed straight to the peak as his magic ended.


    The aftermath of this had come, and he was now weak, so weak after this time of transformation.


    He leaned on the huge carcass edge, sitting there watching others fighting around him while heavily taking his breath. Amelia had come to him, watching him in silence for quite some time, before muttering:


    "So you can take the form of dragon?"


    "Just lucky encounter I had," he simply replied like that, making her understand he wouldn''t tell her his secret, not now.


    "Very lucky encounter indeed," she said, while watching his severely weakened state, as his face was very pale, "but it comes with great price nonetheless."


    He just smiled at her while stuffing more meat into his mouth. He had to find a way, later on, to solve this weakening period after the transformation. It wasn''t logical how weak he was, and he was sure the dragonairs from old times must have found a way to solve this problem.


    He was sure he would find the answer either in the old records of the academy, or within the memories of that sinister dragonair master of the ancient times.


    "Are you ok?" Noura came to stand beside Amelia, as she asked in a way that showed her unconcern to what was happening to him, in contrast to what her words meant!

 Chapter 139: Sending Amelia to the Other Mountains

    "I''m fine," he simply replied, feeling more energy entering his exhausted body, knowing it wouldn''t be long before he would regain his vitality again. "These flying monsters are important to us, and many of them are three and four horned monsters. Make sure you don''t kill them all," he said, as these monsters would make perfect candidates for pets.


    "I will relay the orders now," Amelia said, as she went down to the ground, to relay his orders. Just before she jumped, she gave Noura a long glance, knowing this chick was here to check on Arthur, despite not admitting so herself.


    Amelia knew Noura from the days when she was using the guild at Noura''s black raven clan. Noura was someone so arrogant and self proud that she wouldn''t be interested in any mage, no matter what.


    However, Amelia knew they were speaking of Arthur here, someone who broke the logic and concept of normal mages. She just looked to her, silently without saying a word, before descending down to the battleground, ordering others not to kill all these monsters, leaving some alive for later use.


    "So, you took my advice and used your strongest strength," Noura then spoke of, mentioning her chat with him from before.


    "Yes, I have to use my strength to the fullest, and face any threats afterwards," he replied with a tired tone, while eating more meat.


    "But these side effects are weird," she remarked, "I have never seen such a weakening state before, are you sure you are transforming using the right procedure? The way you might use seemed a bit rude," she added, stressing on a point he already was aware of.


    But her words made him realize his transformation was already flawed! If others could transform and return to their human form normally, then he should be the same, right?


    His mind started to contemplate on how he was using his dragonair strength. Logically thinking, her point was the supposed fate he should have, not this weakening state.


    ''That??s strange, was I using the energy wrong then?'' he muttered to himself while he admitted his lack of knowledge. The only way to learn more about this power right now was through that book, the cursed soul book that he threw inside his ring and decided not to use it again.


    ''No, temporary weakness is much better than risking losing my soul against that sinister master,'' he thought while making a decision regarding this matter. He would never stop thinking about better ways to stimulate his energy, but he wouldn''t get in touch with that cursed book, not soon at least.


    "I see you are already aware of this, tell me, from where did your power come from? Is it from that relic that the bronzed giant was looking for?"


    Noura seemed of the keen type, those who paid attention to the minor details, and so she managed to connect the missing dots together, and started seeing the whole picture.


    Arthur, on another hand, didn''t reply to her, just looked silently at her. His response confirmed her guess, which made her chuckle more as she added:


    "I promise I won''t tell anyone about your little secret, as long as you keep tight about our relationship in the academy. I don''t want to make trouble for myself, not for a loser like you at least."


    She said these words and turned to leave. Her attitude was arrogant, irritating Arthur, but he said nothing back.


    ''The more you try to keep me away from you, the more I want to make you mine,'' he thought to himself, knowing that she wasn''t trying to push him away for another mage, she was pushing him away out of fear.


    ''What are you hiding in the academy, miss mysterious Noura?'' he muttered, as he was sure behind her was a secret, a big secret, and she didn''t want anyone to know it.


    He just watched her walk away, before returning to glance over his mages. They were doing great against those ground monsters, and the battle was getting smoother the more they adapted to the rhythm of it.


    In one hour, he regained all his strength back. He just checked on himself, before returning to observe the battle, waiting for a moment where he would be needed to interfere.


    But this moment never came! After a few hours, more reinforcements came here and joined the fight, making the mages fight on shifts. ''If not for those nasty flying monsters, I would have left them here, and went to the other mountain to check it,'' he thought to himself, shaking his head in regret.


    He liked this mountain, it was huge, with a snake about to ascend to become a dragon, and many ores he was in desperate need of. As for the other two mountains, he didn''t like the earth type ores, and the ice ores weren''t of much use to him.


    He might use them to make his potions, but that would mean using a small amount of the ores, not like the fire ores, which he kept depending on nearly everything!


    As the battle progressed smoothly, there was no need for all the leaders to work at the same time. as Amelia was about to get her deserved rest, Arthur waved to her to come to him.


    "Is there anything you want from me?" she asked, while her tiring face was glancing at the distant Noura, wondering what the two spoke of from before.


    "I want to make you have a flying monster as a pet," he said, while adding, "Noura knew the place of another mountain, just go there and do a reckon, grab some of the ores from there, and bring these to me," he explained his intention of calling her, before finally adding, "that''s after you gain more rest."


    "Do you want to reckon the earth natured ores or the icy natured ores? I know the places of these two mountains," she said, as she glanced with an uneasy look towards Noura. She didn''t like Noura, from before, not much, and now she didn''t like her even more, for no obvious reason, for her, for now.


    Arthur smiled in content, as he said:


    "Good, then it''s better not to let miss Noura skip my eyes, for now."


    Amelia''s eyes shone for a moment, as she understood his meaning. He wasn''t trusting her, and that made something inside her to be quite satisfied.


    "Good, I can have the pet for now, and rest while on this journey," she added, before she pointed to the biggest on the captured ones, the one with four horns on its head, a glistering feathers like they were on fire, and a very strange tall tail that seemed to be made of crystals, not feathers. "I want that one," she declared, as she liked this monster the moment her eyes fell on it.


    "Then it''s yours," Arthur smiled, before jumping down the ground, with Amelia following him. The process of making a pet was done smoothly, while he noticed the observing eyes of Noura, especially when he took out the runes.


    ''Interested in my runes? huh?'' he smirked inside, while knowing Noura was acting tough from the outside, showing her disinterest towards his secrets, despite her great desire to know them.


    Something was standing between the two of them, Arthur could feel it clearly, but he didn''t know what it was. All he knew was that this thing was dangerous, far more dangerous than he was imagining, or Noura was just overestimating its danger, which was something unlikely to happen.


    ''Let''s wait until I reach the academy, everything will be revealed to me there,'' he smiled, as he was confident that thing, no matter who or what it was, would pump into his way in the academy.


    "Oh, are we doing pets now?" Gregory suddenly popped up, while his disclamation attracted everyone''s attention around them, "I want, I want one of these as well," he added, while others looked towards Arthur, with anticipation.


    "Fine," he, helplessly, shook his head while pointing to a side, "those in rest can come here to gain flying pets, first come first serve, and the priority will be to those who will come with me to the academy, no offense."


    He set the rules, as the number of these monsters were already few, numbering only around a hundred or two. He then started to get busy making pet contracts with the mages, while Noura watched all the process from far, not moving her eyes away even for a moment.


    Amelia moved to the distance amidst all this, while laughing inwardly on Arthur. Who told him to do this process in public? In front of hungry mages like these? She just glanced back at him, before she sighed, as she knew she was always next to him, but in fact she was this distance away from his mind and heart.


    "Sigh, how can I tell you about my deep secret and not lose you?" she helplessly and painfully muttered, as a distant memory floated by her mind, making her mood turn to worse.

 Chapter 140: Making the Scorpion Evolve

    It took couple of hours from Amelia to return, and when she did, she handled all she gathered of ores to Arthur while saying:


    "The other mountains are similar to here, with nothing special about them."


    Arthur nodded to her, while she went to have some deserved rest, he started to examine the content of the storage ring she had. There were two kinds of ores there, ones of earth nature, with dark brown in color, while the others were icy white ores, very pure that you could see what lies behind them.


    ''As expected, these ores aren''t of much use to me,'' he muttered, as he couldn''t find any way to use them except for making elixirs. The amount Amelia gathered during her trip was enough, but he decided to send more to gather icy ores.


    "Lily, I want you to go with some of extra mages here to the icy mountain," he went to Lily, as he assigned this mission to her, "and take Amelia with you, she knew the way there," he added, while pointing towards the nearby resting Amelia, who just smiled, helplessly.


    "What do you want us to do there?" Lily asked, as she was slightly excited about this assignment. She had no role to play here, like many other mages who just came to find the fight was easy to handle.


    "Gather these ores for me," he said as he took out one icy ore. The moment he took it out, the eyes of Lily shone brightly, as she happily said:


    "Oh, such a beautiful ore indeed, can we make ornaments out of it?"


    "Sure, I can help you later with that," he smiled as her childish nature made him giggle.


    "Good, great, I will bring down that mountain then!" her desires were ignited by this, as her eyes shone brightly with desire and determination. Arthur felt bad for a moment for that poor mountain, it seemed Lily intended to blow it off completely to gain her ornaments!


    The next days things went by smoothly with nothing to mention, as the fight on this mountain kept raging in the same rhythm, while Lily''s group came back more than once, delivering a huge pile of ores stored inside the storage ring she took from Arthur.


    Arthur felt surprised as the whole ring was completely crowded with icy ores, which made him wonder of the way Lily and her mages used to get them.


    She came back to gather meat, replace her storage ring, and get more explosive ores. It was apparent she used fire to break down ice, a good way indeed.


    It was sad they couldn''t do the same here, use ice to break fire. Arthur decided to wrap things here on the fifth day, but he had two remaining missions before doing so.


    The two were related to his treasure, as he promised two monsters to get their share of it. he looked at this calmly resting rock and sighed, he just hoped there would be enough for everyone.


    He didn''t plan to lose this treasure, as many of his plans were already depending on it. a means to control monsters wasn''t easy to find, or to lose.


    He decided to start with his scorpion, so he unsummoned Don before summoning the scorpion. The moment the scorpion appeared, her eyes looked with gracefulness towards the rock, not giving Arthur any heed.


    "Now, let''s set things straight, you will eat a small piece of that rock, go to slumber and evolve," he said, before the scorpion moved, towards the rock, ignoring his words.


    Arthur just shook his head, before he unsummoned her, waited for a couple of minutes, then summoned her back.


    The scorpion looked towards him in vigilance, and Arthur wasn''t fazed at all as he repeated what he just said:


    "You will have to eat a small piece of it, do you understand?"


    The scorpion didn''t show any signs of agreeing, so he added in threatening tone:


    "If you don''t agree now, I will return you to your sleeping place, and our previous deal will be off."


    His words managed to shook her, as she slowly nodded her head and tail, expressing her agreement. He then took out an icy ore, went to the treasure, where he used the long ore, resembling a long stick, to mark an imaginary line over the heavenly treasure while saying:


    "This will be your part, if you trespass it, I will make sure to kill you while you evolve!"


    Again he threatened her, and she had nothing else to do about it. she knew her weakest moments came when she was evolving. She didn''t have a death feud with Arthur to instigate his wrath to such extent, and so she, unwillingly, complied, chewed the small piece he designed for her.


    "take these with you as well, they would help you evolve, and this also would greatly help you."


    He said as he waved his hand, and the whole space was filled with icy ores. The strength in these ores was small, much smaller than what was present in the heavenly treasure, but their amount was huge, at least they would help her evolve.


    She started eating them without pause, and the more she ate, the more Arthur took out from his ring, until he felt satisfied. When she ended cleaning the place, she found five icy potions waiting for her. She glanced at these five bottles with clear fluid and a faint brightness coming from within them, before she looked towards Arthur.


    "They would help you, just eat them."


    She didn''t hesitate and absorbed the five bottles, before her body had a sudden surge of icy natured energy. Her body started to grow weak, as her evolution was already starting.


    "Sleep well and I hope next time we meet you will be much stronger," he sincerely hoped for her good wishes, while sending her back to sleep inside her tattoo at his wrist.


    The moment she entered there, he felt a slight sting in his wrist, which pained him for a few minutes, before vanishing as if it didn''t appear.


    He looked at this tattoo with some strangeness in his eyes, as this was a good sign indeed. that scorpion seemed to gain a good fortune here, and he just hoped for her to grow far beyond his imagination.


    Her strength was also his, and she was very important for the future competition at the academy.


    "I never thought you would be this kind to us," a middle aged man''s voice erupted in his ears, startling him for a moment, before he realized the owner of this voice.

 Chapter 141: Tricking the Sly Snake

    It was that snake, and he seemed to be watching everything that just happened here.


    "If you are this free already, why didn''t you show up to help?" Arthur chuckled, as he slightly blamed this sly snake for hiding when the flying monsters appeared and attacked here a couple of days ago.


    "You didn''t need my help, you are more capable of handling them yourself," the middle aged voice appeared again, before a great snake showed itself in front of him.


    That rapid move was something he didn''t detect, and he didn''t know if that snake had other abilities, like shape shifting or something.


    "You are here for the treasure?" Arthur asked, faking ignorance.


    "Sure, you were about to call me, right?" the snake said, while he kept his eyes over the treasure, "but that piece you gave to the scorpion isn''t enough for me, I want the rest of that treasure, all of it," he added, with much more greed than Arthur expected.


    "That won''t do," Arthur shook his head, as he moved to stand in front of the rock, hiding it behind him, "you can have double the amount that scorpion had."


    "No, double is too low, I can leave the same part you gave to him, that would be enough for that scorpion''s later growth."


    "No, the most I can do is triple that size, nothing more."


    "Triple is low, I can recede to half of this rock."


    Arthur went silent for a moment before nodding while saying:


    "I can give you that, but I won''t give you any elixirs or icy ores."


    "Ah? Why this discrimination? You helped that scorpion with much more than she asked for!"


    Arthur didn''t know why he felt a tinge of envy here, plus more greed. "She is a pet, a monster I can summon and order around, but not like you. You can just leave me the next moment you evolve, and not come back! Investing any more in you would be a loss for me."


    "But you have my word, and I always abide by it!" the snake refused to let this matter go, as the comparison between him and the scorpion ignited something deeply residing within him.


    "Words do no use for me," Arthur said, feeling glad he managed to push this sly snake into his trap, "if you can give me something to guarantee your loyalty and obedience to me, I won''t hesitate to further help you."


    His words startled the snake, who seemed to hesitate about this matter. At this moment, and before this snake could jump out of the deep trap Arthur had pushed him, Arthur took out one icy potion, and one icy ore, and played with them in his hands, enticing the deep desire of having them inside that snake''s soul.


    "Ok, what bond do you want me to make with you? Let me warn you, having me as a pet won''t work as I will evolve to be a human, negating any pet contract!"


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly despite him trying not to show his excitement. He knew from before any pet contract wouldn''t work on this highly evolving monster, and he just had in mind the perfect way to do it.


    "It''s another way of contracting, called the fellowship contract," he said, trying to coat the slave contract with another nice wording, "see, this way you will be my follower, in human shape you will have," he added, before throwing the last piece he had, "and this way you can travel with me all over the world, have all the adventures you might like, and also will make many friends."


    The greedy eyes of that snake shone brightly when he heard these words. Arthur knew such a monster lived his life solo, without the friendship of any other, monster or human.


    That was the reason why this monster agreed to be a human, ditching the hard and lonelier path of breaking free from this realm, aiming to gain many friends and have fun with them, like humans did.


    This wasn''t the first human evolved monster Arthur had met, as when he was a cultivator he met many like this snake; all were lonely; all thought friendship.


    "Alright, do the contract then and let''s get started," the snake said, in an extreme excitation, which didn''t suit the tone of the middle aged man he was using.


    Arthur didn''t delay any more, as he took out his tools, wrote on the icy nature ores he just obtained, making a huge pile of runes of them.


    He also noticed from far away the observing keen looks of Noura, but he just leaned on the ground of that carcass, hiding what he was doing from her.


    He made seven hundred groups of ores, each consisted of seven pieces. Half had the word ''Slave'' written on them, and the other half had the word ''master'' on them.


    After he finished, he distributed the groups on the ground, while surrounding the area the snake stood at with the slave runes, while surrounding his area with master runes.


    Once he finished, he looked to the snake as he said:


    "I will start the contract now, you will feel a stinging pain on part of your body, while a tattoo will appear there. don''t be startled and just endure."


    "Humph," the snake just harrumphed with pride, as if he was caring about pain in his stage.


    "Contract activated!"


    Arthur gave the word, and the next moment the runes and the blood used to write on them, the bronzed giant blood, shone brightly, before they two were covered by an opaque shield of dark red color. Inside this shield, the snake kept screaming out of pain, while Arthur was astonished at how fragile he was!


    The process didn''t last for more than ten minutes, and after the shield disappeared, and the runes were burnt down to dust, a pair of tattoos appeared on Arthur and the snake.


    At the moment of this tattoo appearing, and just moments before the shield subsided, the snake picture got some haziness, and Arthur saw a mesmerizing form of a very stunning female standing in front of him.


    However this picture didn''t last longer than a moment, making him doubt himself about if it really happened or not.

 Chapter 142: Starting the Journey to the Academy

    The pair of tattoos were the writings of two words, master and slave, with some garniture surrounding the two words, making a very eye-catching blue and red tattoo.


    The contract process was completed, and Arthur now could feel this vague connection between him and that snake. The picture he last saw was still lingering in his mind, and he hesitated to ask the snake about it, before he decided to wait and see the final human form that the snake would take.


    "Come, eat this part," he said, as he took out another long icy ore from his ring, marking the area where the snake should eat. The snake went ahead, chewing the part of this rock, in a strange docile way.


    Arthur knew this wasn''t the true sly nature of the snake, but the effect of this contract, which would affect the true soul of the contractor, making him very obedient and easy to handle for the master.


    It might be a sly move from Arthur, but he wasn''t feeling any guilt at all. He would go to any lengths to just make himself stronger, and this chance he would never let it slip by his fingers, not if presented to him easily like this.


    The next moment he took out one of his storage rings, which was full to the prim with icy ores. He knew the energy required for the final evolution wouldn''t be this easy to accumulate, and any missing amount, no matter how tiny it was, would threaten the whole process.


    So, giving extras was the only guarantee for the evolution to succeed.


    "Get in here, it''s a good place for you to reside," he said as he pointed to his necklace, the heavenly garden he had acquired from before, as he put his hand over the head of the snake, who just lowered his head without any delay, acting very gentle and docile to him.


    "Inside you will find many ores and potions ready for you, ingest them all, and keep your hands off the plants and flowers there."


    "Hmm," the snake nodded, before Arthur sent him into the necklace, while he finally heaved a long sigh of relief.


    He checked the garden and found the snake had done what he just asked him to do. He watched him getting weaker and sleepy, before he closed his eyes and slept, starting his evolution process.


    After finishing this process, he was now ready to finish this battle here. Lily and her team had already arrived here last night, as he told them about his plans for ending the fight this morning, so they didn''t leave and stayed behind, waiting to take all the mages back to camp.


    "Alright, let''s call it off here," Arthur muttered, before pointing to the carcass and taking it back inside one of his storage rings.


    The moment this happened, the whole noisy place got silenced at the next moment, like a silence spell was used over the place.


    From their high up position, they all could spot the monsters leaving in batches, making everyone realize this training session had already ended.


    Arthur waited for roughly an hour, before he started descending the mountain on the back of Lily''s Birdy. The rest of the mages started their evacuation already, while Amelia and Noura stayed back, as Amelia wanted to help, while Noura wanted to observe.


    Arthur didn''t pay any heed to Noura''s action, knowing what he was doing wasn''t a big secret. He was just collecting dead and injured monsters bodies, as he put each in separate rings.


    The collecting process took the whole day, as he was much interested and focused on collecting ores. After five days of fighting, and with many explosions, the amount of ores here was really unimaginable, exceeding what he initially thought.


    So, he started collecting them, feeling happy to fill two rings wholly with ores. This wasted most of the time, but he knew this wasn''t for nothing.


    He also collected burnt down trees, the charcoal he would use in making elixirs later. Also any strange plant or tree still alive he wouldn''t hesitate to move them into his heavenly garden, enriching its content, helping these promising treasures to grow.


    When the night fell upon them, they were ready to leave. The whole mountain, which was once full and majestic, was now tattered in fighting injuries, with many holes and missing pieces everywhere.


    It wasn''t an exaggeration to describe the mountain as losing one fourth of its mass, which was something unbelievable, and all of these missing pieces were now residing inside Arthur''s three rings.


    Arthur returned on the back of Amelia''s flying monster, while he left Noura to Lily, asking her privately to make friends with her. In fact he already sensed the invisible tension between Amelia and Noura, so separating the two was better to avoid any further troubles.


    The journey back to the camp didn''t take long, and once they reached there, they found the place brimming with many preparations.


    They were ready to full back towards the golden lion clan main residence, where the leaders of his small territory would start building and planning for a massive expansion and building process.


    Arthur knew it was time for him to leave, as the competition had less than ten days to occur.


    "Amelia, bring everyone who would leave with us now, we will start moving at dawn."


    Amelia nodded, as she went to inform the others, while Omgalden stood with the other three, Od, Torend, and Lendy who just jumped over him the moment his feet touched the ground.


    "Are you leaving so soon, hon?" Lemdy asked in a very soft tone, while whispering in his ears, making his whole body ignited with desire. He just took a deep breath, while turning to smile to her as he said:


    "I won''t be late, it''s just one year."


    Her face showed her discontent, as she complained:


    "That''s too long, why can''t I come with you to this academy? I already hate it for taking you away from me!"


    Arthur just chuckled, as he patted on her head while saying:


    "Just be a good girl and wait for me here."


    For others, he was so young and she was much older than him, so this picture of him lecturing her seemed a bit off. Arthur just acted with his real self with her, acting much older with a much younger mage. He then turned to look at the three standing in front of him, as he said:


    "Do you have any problem dealing with things here?"


    "Nothing to worry about," Od said, as it seemed he regained the former position of being the leader, of course the leader of the top mages under Arthur.


    "Good," Arthur nodded, before taking off one ring as he gave it to Od as he added, "this has a lot of different types of ores, monsters dead and alive. Just use it to build the foundation first, then depend on yourselves to survive. I want every child here to live only on monsters'' meat, understood?"


    This point was so critical for him, as he wanted most of the children here to turn out to be mages. If he succeeded to do that, then his whole territory would be brimming with mages in the few upcoming years, turning this place upside down, toppling with the power balance in this world.


    "Understood," they all replied, while Lendy refused to leave his side until he took her to a small tent, and kissed her a fiery one, while making her body ache for his soft touches that told a lot about his rich experiences.


    Dawn appeared fast, and one hundred groups of mages stood on the edge of the forest, watching the other mages, numbering in thousands, going in the opposite direction towards the plains.


    "Let''s go," Arthur said, as he stood over Amelia''s flying monster alone, while others were residing over their own flying pets. Noura stood over Lily''s pet, while she stole glances from time to time towards Arthur, who was just looking towards the faint lightened sky, feeling more excitement for his next journey at the academy.


    ''Dorgazire academy, here I come!''


    He thought to himself, feeling already agitated by this.

 Chapter 143: Entering the Nystic Clan Lands

    The journey went smoothly while they flew for three days, crossing a vast area of the forest. Throughout flight, everyone was having fun getting to know more about each other, and Arthur remained calm, always trying to think about the next step he was going to face soon.


    According to the info Noura was generous to share, the competition would last for one whole month, where a huge number of mages would take part in it.


    She commended on the fact they came in as one group, as clans and private guilds were always moving in large numbers, making the chances of individuals hard to succeed in the competition.


    She also gave them some famous names of some clans and groups out there, who had easily secured a huge number of mages to win the competition every year. These clans and groups acted as mercenaries, looking for outstanding mages all over the place, adopting them peacefully or by force.


    Their main children would already be part of the academy from the age of nine, while those newcomers would act as their bodyguards, doing all the dirty stuff for these lucky ones.


    Life wasn''t fair, and inside the academy the reality wasn''t any different though. Arthur didn''t feel any surprise when he heard how hard it was to live inside the walls of the academy, as talent and strength alone weren''t enough to secure anything there.


    One had to have his or her own backing, if not, then mages were doomed either to fall underneath the children of large clans and guilds, or be ruined by them.


    One thing was repeated over and over again, there was no tolerance by these golden mages to any uprising star! Anyone who shone alone, not paying tribute to them, would be put as a public enemy, targeted by everyone.


    Arthur didn''t plan to act mediocre there, or planned to lower his head to anyone. He wanted to be a powerhouse, like he always used to be, and so he planned to resist with all his might.


    The main problem here remained in the masters inside the academy, as many of them already belonged to these golden clans and guilds. The rules of the academy forbid any inside trifle, or carrying the outside grudges inside its walls, but Arthur knew how easily it was to turn someone''s life into hell.


    So, planning to reign supreme with only the handful of mages under his order, and one promising master, Iman, wasn''t a realistic plan at all! If he wanted to succeed, he had to enlarge his company, making more friends than enemies, and try to find a way to grab the attention, later loyalty, of those masters.


    On the early morning of the fourth day, with only three days remaining till reaching the academy, they had bumped into their first challenge.


    The Nystic clan!


    This clan was considered one of the golden clans, one of the oldest in this part of the world, with many mages in it that went beyond the imagination of anyone. Noura described them as being cruel, savage, heartless, and only cared about their benefits and nothing else.


    The main problem lay in their territory, it was so huge that it was enough to cut their path to the academy for days! if they wanted to evade it, they had to move for four days at least to bypass it.


    And the worst news wasn''t in this clan, but in the rest of the golden clan and guilds which laid a siege-like arrangement of their forces, surrounding the whole academy, making it nearly impossible to reach there without crossing their path!


    One way or another, Arthur and his group would have to face them, so he decided to go directly through their lands, hoping to reach a compromise with them.


    In the few hours of their intrusion, and guided with the common route that mages would take, provided by Noura, they managed to fly without anything to stop their path.


    However after the third hour passed, a sudden attack came from the ground, aiming at their group. Many ball-like ores were thrown from the ground towards their group, which might be enough to make the ores reach higher altitudes easily.


    The momentum of these ores wasn''t something they could easily evade, and Arthur knew this wasn''t the full capacity of these weird attacks.


    "Halt, and let''s go to the ground to check things out," he gave the order, calmly leading everyone away from these ores, heading to the ground. The moment his group headed to the ground, these attacks halted, as Arthur guessed correctly, they were the guarding patrols of the Nystic clan.


    Arthur went to the ground first, where he jumped on the grassy land with a firm step, before moving towards the distant group of mages.


    They were numbered one hundred, a classic patrol group of the great clans as Noura described. They had strange monsters, with flat back and long broad tails, where many ores were present on their backs, and one was there on the tip of their tails.


    ''So they were using these monsters to throw these ores, interesting mechanism.''


    Arthur thought to himself, marveling this simple, yet effective use of these monsters. He knew he had seen only the tip of the iceberg of this clan, and he realized a whole new world would present itself to him inside the academy.


    "Hello friend, why attacking us?" he simply greeted the vigilant looking guards, faking his ignorance about the purpose of their attack.


    One of them, a middle aged mage, with great physique, moved to the front to meet him, while replying in his harsh tone:


    "This is a private land belonging to the Nystic clan. Trespassers like you can''t pass here without paying the necessary price."


    Arthur had a warm smile over his face, as he said:


    "My friend, we are peacefully passing, no need to violence or threats. Just tell me what''s the price you need, and I will gladly comply."

 Chapter 144: Meeting Rayan

    The man smirked, like he was laughing at Arthur''s misfortune. Per Noura''s previous information, the prices were determined by the leader of each patrol group, as there were no rules ever to regulate the whole thing.


    "That''s nice to hear, now leave half of your group back as slaves, and all the flying monsters you ride here as a price for the rest of you to pass."


    Arthur''s face got serious once he heard this, he never thought that mage would go that far. "This is an extravagant price, can''t we negotiate about it?" he said, trying to avoid any unneeded dispute here.


    The evil smile over the face of that mage got widened, as he replied while raising his fist to his men:


    "It''s not a trading post here to negotiate, either pay or perish!"


    Arthur''s attitude changed abruptly the moment that mage showed his stubborn and greedy nature. He also raised his hand o motion his mages behind him to be ready, as he said:


    "If so, let''s see who is going to perish here first."


    Just as he and that mage were about to clash, a sudden sound came from behind all the mages, as a young mage came forth, dressing well, and had a long, well crafted, short staff in his hand, using it as a scepter.


    "Halt, don''t move."


    His words came softly, but swiftly everyone there halted and didn''t move, following his orders. The mage''s appearance made the face of the middle aged mage change, as he retreated couple of steps to the side as he said with utmost respect:


    "Venerable sprout elder, it''s an honor to have your presence here today."


    Arthur didn''t know what a sprout elder meant, but he was sure it wasn''t something simple in that clan. He eyed that newcomer mage, who had the same age as Silver Falcon, the same temperament, sharp and relentless. He gave him the feeling of being a very dangerous mage, one Arthur didn''t want to make an enemy with right now.


    "How can you treat our guests in this manner?" the mage calmly glanced at the leader of this patrol, and his words made the face of that mage change at once.


    "I''m¡­ I''m so sorry, venerable sprout elder, I didn''t know they are our guests," the leader tried to correct his grave mistake, hurriedly apologizing to this sprout elder, while trying to avoid any possible punishment.


    "It''s alright," the sprout elder said, "they came without a notice, so you are forgiven, and dismissed."


    The words that came from that mage were calm, but despite that Arthur felt their heavy impact on everyone here.


    "Sure, esteemed sprout elder," the leader was about to move, before he hesitated for a moment. "Don''t worry, I need no protection in the presence of friends," the young mage said, dispelling all the worry inside that leader.


    "Let''s go boys, let''s find another place to patrol," the leader went to his mages, and yelled at them nervously, as he was so close to losing everything he had just now.


    "Thanks a lot for the help," Arthur said, trying to act nice with that mage.


    "That''s alright, the clan leader of the golden lion clan who just stirred up waves of troubles not long ago isn''t someone to be treated this badly," the young mage suddenly replied, showing off his knowledge about the true identity of Arthur.


    This made Arthur baffled, as he never expected his fame to be recognized this soon by this far away clan. "Thanks for the praise, sprout elder, I think you overestimate my deeds," Arthur simply replied, acting modest.


    "Don''t be humble, I know how strong and unique you are," the sprout elder mage smiled, a knowing smile, making Arthur feel skeptical. "You suddenly rose from death, leading a grand campaign over the nearby clans, adding them to your territory, and making this feat in less than one month''s time. that''s really something not many can pull, my friend."


    Arthur eyed that mage in a more dangerous light, as he knew the details of his journey from the start to finish. If he was so near to his clan, he would think news had travelled through rogue mages, but this clan was standing far from his clan.


    Besides, these times were the times of the academy competition, so grand clans should busy themselves dealing with mages passing to the academy.


    "Hahaha, I know you have many questions and doubts, but let me invite you to reside inside my clan''s main city. it''s far on foot, but seeing you have flying monsters with you will make the distance short," the young mage said, while pausing for a moment before adding, "The direction of our city and the academy is the same, so don''t feel embarrassed by this, brother Willy," he added, cutting the route on Arthur to decline his invitation.


    "If so, then lead the way, brother?" Arthur asked, as so far he didn''t know the name of this mage.


    "It''s Rayan. Come, let''s fly there together."


    Arthur then nodded, silently headed towards his nearby mages, where he jumped over the pet of Amelia.


    "Be careful, he is the mastermind Rayan, the cruel cold hearted genius of the Nystic clan."


    This soft whisper came from Noura while he jumped over Amelia''s pet. It seemed that Rayan here wasn''t a nobody as he already guessed, and he was very famous indeed.


    When Arthur jumped beside Amelia, he found that Rayan also summoned a flying monster, a huge beast, six horned one, with two long heads, and six tails moving rapidly all the time, like they were looking for something to hit.


    The monster was large in size, approximately triple the size of Amelia''s pet, which was already very large. Arthur''s face got more serious, as the previous words of Noura rang in the back of his mind.


    He wasn''t so special up here in the greater world! that might be good and reassuring from one side, as his own secrets wouldn''t be secrets in the eyes of others, however he would be pressured by that as well.


    He needed to find other means to be unique and special, as living a mediocre life wasn''t in his consideration, never.


    They flew for another day, while no one, literally no one, had ever spoken a single word during the journey. During their flight, they met many patrolling groups, and a growing number of them had flying pets rivaling theirs, or even better.


    The more they advanced, the higher the number of mages they met, and the more strong and dangerous vibe they gave Arthur. He suddenly realized how small his clan, in regard to this huge and strong place was. He didn''t feel dejected or dwarfed by it, on contrary he felt inspiration.


    He wanted his own territory, his own empire to be just like that, and even better!

 Chapter 145: Meeting the Great Elder of Nystic Clan

    After another couple of hours they reached a very large place, full of three and four story buildings and very organized wide streets. The style of the buildings was unique, with many inscriptions engraved upon the exterior wooden surface of these buildings.


    The buildings were unified in color, with cyan color dominating everything, and the inscriptions were done by using dark green color, with some illumination coming from the heart of these inscriptions.


    Arthur and the others fell to the ground when they reached the outer regions of this place, following what Rayan had already. Once their feet touched the ground, all of them were mesmerized by the elegance and uniqueness of this headquarters of this great clan.


    The difference between what Arthur and others had seen before in their clans and guild and here was really remarkable, and that made everyone feel such shock while walking in the streets of this city.


    But for Arthur, he had seen many grandiose cities, and for him this wasn''t a city at all. It was a decent town, well planned as many details were taken great care of, however he wasn''t feeling the same shock as others had.


    He knew this place was special, much advanced than his clan at the least, but he was sure in the years to come, he would have a grandiose city, a real city, a capital to his growing empire.


    In his eyes, this place would eventually fall under his control, and he decided to repay this act of kindness from Rayan and make this place a centre of this region in the distant future.


    "Here is the main street of our city, as many mages come from all the regions around us to trade, get to know each other, and have some fun as well. We have over a dozen branches of established bounty hunter guilds, with ranking five at the least," Rayan said, while showing off his clan''s main city with much pride.


    He had all the right to enjoy this feeling, Arthur knew that, so he didn''t say anything and let Raya enjoy his moment.


    "This is a very special city, I never saw anything like it before," Noura spoke of, expressing what everyone had in their minds.


    "Aha, that city was built over hundreds of years. We consider it the crown jewel of our clan, the pride we have from our ancestors, and each generation would make sure to leave a print here for the future generations to come."


    Arthur commended the mindset of this clan from what Raya just said, and he knew such a clan wouldn''t fall easily. Such inheritance would take a long time to conquer, not only by the might of arms, but a tiring long war of thoughts and beliefs would be required to finally control this place.


    "Here is the main welcoming hall for our esteemed guests. Let''s go inside and rest for a bit before you can set course again to the academy," Rayan suddenly pointed to a large building, composed of many smaller ones, all had a small dome in its centre, with the central building having the largest dome amongst all.


    The building had its own wall that was made out of a beautiful milky white colored ore. Arthur felt some breeze coming from this ore, and he knew this ore was quite special.


    Inside the wall, they were welcomed with a large garden, full of many plants and trees. A lot of flowers bloomed there, making a stunning color festival amusing to the eye.


    Arthur saw this and recalled his own heavenly garden, it was much higher in grade and size in comparison to this place.


    "Brother Rayan is really kind, taking us here with himself and explaining to us everything. I can''t enter here without leaving a small gift of mine, a token of friendship, may our friendship last for eternity," Arthur suddenly said, startling everyone including Raya, who glanced at him with anticipating eyes.


    Arthur then headed towards one side, where it was next to the paved way they were walking in. That place was an empty piece of this garden, approximately ten meters square, taking the form of a perfect square.


    It seemed they were preparing it to plant some plants here, however he selected it to leave his gift. From his garden, he selected a group of plants, flowers, and even small trees and took them out with part of the ground and made them all appear, miraculously, in this place.


    This sudden move attracted the attention of everyone here, including even many members of the clan, who came to observe the gift Arthur left for them.


    "Brother Willy is so generous! Such an extravagant gift is really something precious," Raya came to stand by Arthur, as he marveled these mysterious plants he left here as a gift.


    "Is he a guest of yours, Rayan?" an old looking man suddenly appeared, where he stood beside the two of them, looking at these plants with bright eyes. His face was very calm, but Arthur fetl great pressure coming from this old man.


    The man appeared here without making a single sound, making Arthur feel some vigilance towards him. He didn''t feel his presence until he spoke, and this was a very rare occurrence to Arthur.


    "Yes, great elder, he is a guest of mine, Willy, the clan leader of the golden lion clan," Raya spoke with much respect towards that man, which gave Arthur some pointers towards the real status of that man.


    "These are long lost plants, a real treasure," that old man smiled in content as he nodded in satisfaction, "they will make a great addition to our inheritance. Good eyes as always, Raya. You never disappoint me," the man added while patting on Rayan''s shoulder like a grandfather pat on the shoulder of his grandson.


    The face of Raya showed a big smile despite his tone of speech remaining as respectful as ever as he replied, "I''m only learning from you, great elder."


    "Humble as always, but that doesn''t take any credit from you," the man nodded then he glanced towards Arthur as he added, "such a great gift presented by you isn''t simple, young man. My advice to you is to keep your hand secret from the eyes of others. In this world, many would crave for what you own."

 Chapter 146: A Smoke of Internal Dispute in the Clan

    The words of that man didn''t have any threat of any kind, however they held great sincerity in his warning. Arthur was surprised by this old man''s words, as he never thought that old man would see through him, and detect his acquisition of the heavenly garden.


    "Thanks for the advice great elder," Arthur replied, following the same respectful manner Raya used to address that man.


    "Young and intelligent, powerful yet humble, ambitious but fair¡­ these are rare traits in our times. I just hope you continue to be friends with our Raya, and our clan will always be a second home for you," the old man said, vague words with deep hidden meanings.


    Arthur didn''t know if he already figured out his dragonair''s powers, but he had already put that in his consideration. The warm friendly words of this man made him feel satisfied though, with no sense of danger coming from him.


    He only felt danger from others, those with great powers in this world could detect his presence, and that might put him at some risk.


    Despite that, he never felt regret having this power. It was the fate of strong to always face threats, and he always welcomed them with open arms and strong hearts.


    "Thanks for the kind words, great elder," Arthur said, before thinking about giving this elder something as a gift. The problem he didn''t know what he could give to him, as his most precious thing was that bronzed giant remains.


    "May I give the great elder this small gift?" he suddenly took one of his nine rings out, where he put inside some bones and skin remains of that bronzed giant. These materials were really precious, and such gifts might please this old man.


    "Oh, thanks for your gift," the old man simply replied, casually taking the ring. As Arthur thought, the ring itself was a common thing here, at least to someone like this old man.


    However the moment that old man took the ring, and wore it, his eyes flashed with a bright light, as his face changed for a moment, making everyone surrounding them feel astonished.


    This old man had a very high position in their clan, and not any usual treasure could make his face change like this, not even long lost plants from ancient times.


    "That''s an interesting gift," the elder just said these words before he took out a small ore from his own storage ring. The ore was ovoid in shape, with pure white color moving inside it, like clouds forming, coalescing, and disbanding again and again. "Take this gift, it will help to secure your soul from the threats you are facing."


    The moment Arthur touched this ore, his soul felt some resonance, revernishized by this ore as if it was very thirsty and just touched water. The words of the elder made Arthur sure of his previous guesses, that the elder even saw through his dragonair book and the threats it carried.


    ''What a very dangerous man, good I''m a friend not a foe,'' he simply sighed, helplessly, as if this man already knew all his secrets, he could easily crush him if he wanted.


    "I will leave you with your guests, Rayan," the old man said, as he started to walk away. Just before he went a few steps away, he added, "make sure to treat them as you treat Godatent."


    Arthur didn''t know what that even meant, but he was sure this was a direction to how Rayan treat him in matters of status. he just hoped this Godatent nature of treating wasn''t a master and servant relation, as if so he would find himself obliged to stand on the opposite side of Raya.


    Arthur didn''t fear Raya much, but he greatly was alarmed by that old man. If that clan had already more like him, then this clan should be a place he shouldn''t touch for a long time.


    He also started to think about other great clans and guilds. If they were just like this one here, then he would be like a frog eyed the world from the depth of a well, and he had to be more careful at the academy.


    The elder vanished rapidly from the sight of everyone, and when that happened, Rayan turned to look at Arthur, with a very big smile over his face, finally showing his true emotions he held deep inside him from before.


    "Brother Willy, I never thought you have such a great treasure to make our great elder this satisfied of you," he said, before gesturing with his hand towards a nearby gate as he added, "come, let''s go inside and rest for a while."


    Arthur followed him through the gate, while the others followed silently behind. What just happened had made everyone realize that they didn''t yet know their leader this well enough. This small incident left a great mark inside all of them, especially Ron, Amelia, Iman, and of course Noura.


    They found themselves inside a wide hall, with many opened windows that let the daylight in. they felt great peace the moment their feet entered this place, some effect coming from the ores that hall was made of.


    The hall wasn''t empty, as many mages were already seated there on low leveled cushions, surrounding round tables with many food and drinks over them.


    The entrance of Arthur and his group attracted the attention of everyone, and in a few moments, some of the mages responsible for organizing this hall came to speak with Rayan, with whispers audible nearly to the whole hall.


    "Esteemed sprout elder, you know the rules," one of the mages spoke up, with a respectful, yet blaming tone.


    "We can''t just let them in, I think you registered them as a prion treatment group, right?" another mage spoke, while referring to Arthur and his group.


    "The great elder himself changed this, and gave them the godatent treatment," Raya simply replied, with a plain look on his face, "so, make out the way now, and prepare for everything."


    His words came from a higher state, but Arthur felt some aggressiveness in them. He saw how Raya dealt with many mages here, so he could tell this wasn''t a mere fluke of his.


    Raya was intentionally treating these mages in such a harsh way, and this must have a reason behind it.


    ''Any great tree will have intersecting branches,'' Arthur thought to himself, knowing this was a normal thing to find in such a large clan.

 Chapter 147: The Secret Recipe of the Nystic Clan

    "Oh, didn''t hear about it," one of the mages replied without showing any understanding to Rayan''s words.


    Just as he said that, one mage came hurrying from outside, grabbed that rude mage''s ears and started whispering something to him. the moment he finished, the face of that rude mage changed slightly, as he nodded, saying in a forced tone of respect:


    "I''m so sorry to make you wait. I just got the word our esteemed great elder just spread. Please lead them to their place."


    Despite him trying to be polite, Arthur felt great insult from his words, but he was in no way interfering here. However, Rayan had all the right to say what he wanted.


    "Lead the way, general servant of my clan, and prepare the best table, food, and wine for me and my esteemed guests. Go personally and supervise everything, or I will make sure our esteemed great elder gets to hear about your insult here today to his esteemed guests."


    The words of Raya expressed finally his true stance towards this mage and his other colleagues, he really hated them.


    Arthur knew this wasn''t a stand against the rest of adopted mages here in the clan, as he saw him treat many weak mages politely from before. This mage must be an enemy to Rayan, and as the status and the strength of this bunch of mages weren''t even on par with Raya, Arthur knew they were only servants to another man.


    A faction that stood against Rayan, that was the most acceptable explanation here.


    That mage gritted his teeth, silently not able to speak back, while his face showed how much enraged he was. "Follow me this way, esteemed sprout elder and esteemed guests," despite his stormy feelings, that mage replied with a fake respectful and calm tone, while bowing his head to Rayan, Arthur, and others.


    "Humph," Rayan just harrumphed, before turning to Arthur as he respectfully said, "sorry to make you wait and see these impudent actions. Please feel free to tell the great elder any complaints you might feel when you later meet him."


    Arthur knew Rayan was just stressing more on this mage and his companions, and he wouldn''t meet such a great man twice in a day, but he played along with him as he replied:


    "Sure, I will complain about everything that happened here to him," then he looked towards that mage before adding, "are we going to stand here forever like that?"


    The face of the mage trembled faintly from fear and anger, before he hurried to give his nervous orders in an angered tone towards his helpers. In less than a minute, a big table was already prepared in the distant end of this hall, with much higher, very luxurious looking seats made of amber like ores surrounding it. The table wasn''t enough to accommodate the one hundred group of Arthur, but the servants were working their best to prepare ten more tables for them, with each table able to accommodate around twenty mages.


    This was the general direction of Rayan, as he reserved one table alone for him and Arthur only, while the others sat at tables around them.


    As the two sat there, many dishes of food started to pile up in front of them. Arthur was, to some degree, interested in the dishes served in the clan. He knew his status was high, and the treatment he and his friends got was unique, so these dishes must be quite special.


    Before he could touch anything, Rayan started to speak, finally, when everyone just disappeared from around their table.


    "Sorry to bother you with these mild insignificant troubles, but some of these mages are really rude."


    "They are really rude, and deserve to be treated this way," Arthur simply replied, before he took one steak of meat and started to eat it. The flavor and taste of this piece was really unique, making him realize there were ways for his cooking recipe to be improved.


    "It seems brother Willy is interested in our famous meat steaks," Rayan laughed shortly, as the face of Arthur told everything about his true feelings.


    "I have some personal interest in cooking," Arthur honestly said, "I have my own recipe, always trying to work and improve it," he added, while taking another bite of his steak, marveling the adequacy of cooking it, the craft of distributing seasonings equally over it, plus there was a feeling like this steak was cooked on separate cooking fire grades, not only on the low grade fire.


    "Oh, that''s interesting," Rayan said, before adding, "So, can you tell more about the cooking of this piece?"


    Arthur just took another bite, slowly feeling the amazing mix of flavors inside it before saying:


    "The piece of meat was treated from the beginning with extreme care, as these pieces all came from the same part of the monster used in cooking. The meat was then left in seasoning for quite some time, then it was put on fire for a period before taking it off again, putting another batch of seasoning, left for couple of hours to rest, before putting it again on fire," he paused, as he took another piece and chewed small piece of it, closing his eyes while feeling the taste and dexterity of this steak. "The fire in each time is different, I believe the first is high temperature, and the latter is a lower one. I can feel the taste of charcoal used in the early cooking phase, and the taste of some salty ores in the second phase. It''s a unique craftsmanship from the cook, really brilliant and unique," he added, with sincere admiration for the cook who did that.


    The eyes of Raya got widened as he never thought this clan leader, coming from a distant place of the world, would just decipher the secret of their long famous family recipe of this steak, simply like that!


    The sharp reaction of Rayan made Arthur ascertain his guesses to be right. He just said nothing more, as he continued to eat the meat, enjoying it.


    "You are really something brother Willy," Rayan expressed his surprise as he then added, "that makes me more sure about the matter I wanted to discuss with you."


    Arthur knew this young mage wasn''t the type to waste his time on things that didn''t benefit him, and finally he was going to reveal why he saved him and his group from the beginning.


    "Brother Rayan is polite, anything you want to discuss, I''m feeling excited about it," Arthur replied, while nodding his head, but his hands never ceased to grab new dishes for his mouth to taste.


    "I want to discuss matters regarding the academy," Rayan said, pausing for a moment, before adding, "I''m pretty sure in your ability to cross the final line and win the competition, however this competition isn''t that simple to win like that."

 Chapter 148: A Sudden Development

    Arthur glanced at him, as he asked:


    "Do you mean the final ranking?"


    "Part of it, yes," Rayan admitted, as he explained, "I''m sure you are already aware of the presence of the royal clans and guilds in the academy. These clans have already had their main descendants take part of the academy since young age, but those newly discovered by them would take part in the annual competition of the academy."


    Arthur silently nodded, as he already was aware of all this. Rayan then added:


    "Between these royal clans and guilds, there is a form of competition going on, like factions, alliances are already established, enemies are known to each other, and friends are sought out everywhere."


    "That''s nice, I suppose you are part of one of these factions, right?" Arthur jumped over these minor details that he already was aware of.


    "Sure," Rayan replied, "I''m part of certain faction, but my situation is kind of special," he added, before pausing as he glanced over to the minor tables in this hall, "all these individuals will take part of the competition as well," he said in a solemn tone that expressed his bad mood about this.


    Arthur glanced at these mages, they numbered in hundreds, with each group formed of fifty mages at least. They were all above twenty of age, with no one so young there like Arthur''s team. "Are they under the command of your clan?" Arthur asked, while he already guessed the answer.


    "They are under the clan, yes," Rayan nodded, "but they aren''t under my command," he added, with some hatred and hidden pain inside his words.


    Arthur felt the hidden hatred in these words, and he already guessed what was going on here. However, before he could say anything, a group of mages appeared from the entrance of the hall, a group of five young mages, in the same age of Rayan, or slightly older.


    The moment they entered here, all the hall ushered under complete silence. The group of five moved, heading straight towards Arthur and Rayan''s table, while those sitting on the tables all stood up, and started to group themselves behind this group of five.


    Arthur smelled the scent of gunpowder already, a fight was going to erupt, and it seemed it wouldn''t be the first fight he would face!


    "May I ask about something the esteemed grand elder said?" Arthur suddenly asked, getting the weird look on Rayan''s face. He thought at this moment Arthur would distance himself away from him, or at least avoid partaking in the troubles coming here.


    Rayan''s place, no matter how delicate and fragile it was, was still a part of this clan, not an outsider like Arthur.


    "Sure," Rayan simply replied, as there was no time to waste. The growing group of his mortal enemies was now about to reach their table, and he had to stand and keep his dignity, at the least, even if this would cause much trouble later on.


    "The esteemed grand elder granted me the godatent rank of treatment, may I ask what does this mean?"


    Rayan turned to glance at him, with a strange wondering look on his face. He wanted to scream at Arthur''s face, as this wasn''t the time to ask about this minor matter. For Rayan, this matter was nothing, but for Arthur this was everything.


    And that showed to Arthur that Rayan wasn''t like his great elder, not yet!


    The smile Rayan had from Arthur made him more nervous, as if Arthur wasn''t taking the incoming threat seriously. "It''s a special kind of treatment other direct sons from equal ranked clans and guilds enjoy when they visit us here," he simply and hurriedly explained, before he turned to look at the incoming group, who just stopped in front of the table of Arthur and Rayan, with the five in the lead looking directly in their eyes.


    "How can a mere border clan that we never heard of get the godatent kind of treatment?" one of those five, the one in the middle, asked, not directing his speech towards Rayan or Arthur, but to the mage who was responsible for serving them.


    "Master Tenshi, these are the orders of the grand elder," the servant mage hurried to reply, as he knelt nervously on the ground.


    "Have you seen the grand elder edict yourself? Have you received the grand elder sealed order for that?" Tenshi asked again, with the same arrogant face he had, with eyes glaring at Rayan, and words directed to the servant.


    "N-N-No no, I didn''t receive anything."


    "Good, then throw this trash out of here and don''t let them in until they have the sealing orders from the grand elder," Tenshi said to the servant, before finally speaking to Rayan, while his face showed faked pity emotion, "I think you need to hurry, as the grand elder is going to participate in the closed summit of our clan."


    His face then returned to the arrogant vicious face he previously had, with an evil silly laugh that made Arthur feel disgusted from just hearing it.


    This mage here reminded him of many cultivators, arrogant failures, who always tend to use the deeds of ancestors as a reason to live supremely.


    A supreme life wasn''t given, it was taken, and that was the simple rule of life!


    This Tenshi here came to irritate his simple moments of peace. In fact Arthur was kind of regretting not showing off his power, at least he would know his current standing in this world. He was sure he wasn''t low, but he was wondering if he was so close to the top, or not.


    Plus he already had the answer he craved for, he was eyed by the grand elder as an equal friend, something he had to defend hardly for right now. his fate was tied with Rayan, if Rayan fell, then this special treatment would be lost.


    Arthur didn''t know if the grand elder already had foreseen all this, but he was sure he had at least anticipated part of it.


    "May I ask, brother Rayan, if the elder''s words are equal to his written ones or not?" Arthur jumped straight in the middle of this mess, startling everyone here, even his team.


    Rayan turned, again, to look at him with his weird look for the second time, while replying:


    "The grand elder''s words are like an edict, immediately executed once spoken."


    "Good," Arthur said, as he turned to look at the servant, totally ignoring Tenshi as he said to the servant:


    "Stand up and go change these dishes for us, they are already cold."

 Chapter 149: A Challenge is Issued!

    Arthur''s words made everyone glanced at him, finally, as they were all focused on Rayan. Rayan himself glanced strangely over him, as he was speechless of how daring he was, in front of Tenshi he had to be careful, not aggressive like this.


    "I can''t move without an order from master Tenshi," the mage threw the ball back to his master''s lap, and Tenshi just smiled with interest towards Arthur as he said:


    "Really interesting, tell me Rodrig, have you ever heard of that clan that''s called the golden lion?"


    Even when he was looking at him, Tenshi didn''t direct his words to Arthur, which made Arthur more determined to break this arrogance here and now. Arthur wasn''t stupid, as it was clearly obvious that the state on Tenshi was higher than Rayan, but he was tied to the boat of Rayan for now, and he wouldn''t let the boat he was standing upon sink.


    Not without fighting back at least!


    "I have never heard of such a clan, sprout head."


    One of the mages who were present here when Arthur arrived replied, while making his way to stand behind Tenshi. That mage was around twenty five, twenty six in age, with a face deformed since birth by the presence of a birthmark, a red broad nevus that took nearly half of his left cheek!


    Arthur already saw what was going to happen, and that played exactly as he wanted to.


    "Strange, such a nobody dares to raise his voice inside my clan, that''s hilarious. Rodrig, I want you to teach that insolent youngster a lesson in manners, and tell him speaking loudly without permission in others houses is a crime here."


    Tenshi words just fell, and the whole place was literally ignited, as all the mages standing behind him, all of those who were already here when Arthur arrived, glanced towards Arthur with extreme enmity, as they were ready to fight.


    "Let me teach him this lesson, brother Rodrig!"


    "My clan has no right to exist in this world if I didn''t teach this arrogant bastard a lesson!"


    "Brother Rodrig is such a nice fellow, just let me show him how brutal our barbarians behave!"


    One after one of the leaders of the many groups of mages here spoke up, expressing their willing to fight Arthur, but Rodrig found this a chance to raise his place in his master''s eyes, so he instantly replied:


    "I will face him alone, and you should all watch the mercilessness of the Black Lotus clan!"


    Arthur, on another hand, wasn''t interested in all this psychological war, as he wasn''t even affected by a tiny of it. he simply ignored all of them as he turned to Rayan as he asked:


    "Won''t the great elder be upset if he learnt about my fighting here after giving me such a nice treatment?"


    Rayan''s eyes were glancing strangely at Arthur, as he felt Arthur''s intentional actions and the result he was aiming for.


    "Don''t worry yourself Rayan, I will send for the whole summit of our clan to be notified of this simple teachings by me," Tenshi replied, directing his words to Rayan this time, as he replied to Arthur''s words.


    "But what in this fight is for me?" Arthur wasn''t satisfied by that, as he pushed things further, "I have already the special treatment of the great elder, and I can simply wait for him to finish his important meeting before I regain my position fair and square."


    He said these words while directly looking Tenshi in the eye. Tenshi knew he was right, just as everyone here knew that, and by these words what Tenshi tried to do earlier, by making the image of Rayan be tarnished by him was for nothing if Arthur didn''t join this fight now and retreated!


    Rayan thought, for a moment here, that Arthur was aiming towards this solution from the beginning, but when he glanced at his face, he knew he was wrong. Arthur didn''t want to retreat, instead he wanted to fight, badly fight that even his face showed his fighting intent very clearly.


    "You want a prize for the winner? Do you dream of winning?" Tenshi said, with a smirking expression, "sure, a frog living in a well will know nothing of this world," he then took out a nice looking sword as he waved it towards Rodrig as he added, "you once asked me of this sword, but I told you I won''t give it easily away without good cause. Now, when you kill this fly you will have it."


    The words of Tenshi caused quite a stir inside his own mages, as it seemed this sword was somehow special. Arthur tried to sense the sword, but he was met with a wall, like he was hitting his head into a rock!


    ''It''s a nice treasure indeed,'' he muttered, as he nodded while saying:


    "Let''s go outside then."


    His words made Tenshi''s face change slightly, as this was his clan residence and he should give orders around, not Arthur. "Go and inform all in the closed summit of my clan about this lesson giving under my name to this insolent outsider," Tenshi said, while addressing one of those who came with him. "Let''s all go outside and wait for the clan top to come and witness this amusing fight," he added, while turning to go away with his large entourage.


    As they went far ahead, reaching the exit of this hall, Rayan turned to look at Arthur as he said:


    "Brother Willy, this is such a dangerous game you are playing here."


    Arthur glanced at him as he replied:


    "I''m sorry to act out of my place, but if brother Rayan is feeling awkward, he can separate himself from me now."


    Arthur wasn''t doing this for the sake of Rayan, but for his future. So, if Rayan was going to distance himself from him, not being willingly daring enough to match his own steps, then associating himself with him would be a mistake, and he would rather prefer to be separated from him right now.


    "How can I do that? I''m not worried about myself, I''m worried about you," Rayan embarrassedly replied, as he was fearing for Arthur, as he added, "this Rodrig is already a very famous mage in our clan, he came from a branched clan that followed our rule under the surface. He had the blessing of many elders already to be the next clan leader of his clan. He is considered one of the top fighters in Tenshi''s faction, a very fierce opponent that can shift into a tiger with a tailed flower lotus."


    Rayan started to speak about Rodrig, Arthur''s enemy, as he was trying to make him realize how dangerous it was to face him. Arthur just nodded, as he felt some comfort while facing another monster shifter.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not that easy to die," Arthur just simply replied, before turning to look at his group as he added, "do you want to come and watch?"

 Chapter 150: A Challenge in Front of Everyone in the Clan!

    Everyone nodded, despite they already were certain of Arthur''s victory. Their confidence was apparent on their faces, with no tinge of worry on anyone of them, making Rayan feel speechless, as he thought they were all insane!


    "Let''s go then, I think the clan elders and head will be there soon," Rayan shook his head, helplessly, as he said that while moving from his table. Arthur followed him, with others walking just behind the two. "Will the clan elders and head come?" Arthur asked, as he exited the hall towards the opened garden outside.


    He suddenly was welcomed by a huge crowd blocking his way, startling him. he paused, and glanced at Rayan, who simply shook his head as he said:


    "We are a fighting clan, and so any news about a fight will attract everyone''s attention."


    His words were logical, and then he and Arthur penetrated to the front, between a growing crowd of viewers to this challenge. Just as they reached the centre of this place, Arthur was astonished to find a large stage was already there in the middle of the huge garden, with mages pulling thick long robes, pushing it higher by strange mechanism to the sky!


    Arthur stood there and watched that large arena that was made out of special ore as he asked:


    "Is this where the fight will happen?"


    When Rayan eyed him strangely, he added, "it looks quite small."


    Rayan smiles, as he didn''t know if he had to laugh or cry, before replying, explaining the nature of this battle stage:


    "This is a special battle stage of our clan, when it''s activated, the area will be massively enlarged for those inside it, but it won''t take a lot of space in the actual world."


    His words were vague, but Arthur understood what this stage was, it was like a world of its own, activated using special ways. He watched the mages who were responsible for maintaining it, as they had many boxes full of strange ores inside. He knew these ores were responsible for charging the stage, and giving it its characteristics.


    In less than a few minutes, the whole stage was ready, with long stairs made of wood and ore were linking the stage high up in the sky with the ground. On the sides of this garden, he spotted many strange boards made out of translucent ores, and the moment Tenshi ascended the stairs to the top, with the company of Rodrig, these boards shone brightly, showing scenes of the two climbing to the stage.


    "You should go now," Rayan said, before turning to look at him while sighing, "if you want to retreat, then this is the chance," he added.


    "No chance," Arthur replied, as he firmly moved towards the stairs, with Rayan on his side, as both ascended the stairs to the top.


    In the middle of their ascension, the clan top figures appeared, coming in a large group as they stopped in a place specified for them. The clan head was an old man, with many wrinkles on his face, and one intact eye only. He lost the other eye while fighting a legendary monster when he was young in a battle that shaped his fame for years.


    "Is this the boy you granted a special treatment Edmory?" the clan head asked the grand elder, one of his long life best friends living on his side up till now.


    "Yes Obrim, he is," Edmory nodded, while watching the live broadcast on one of the boards scattered in the garden.


    "My boy eyes can''t be wrong, this boy is another faulted choice by you," a middle aged man suddenly spoke, as he pointed towards Tenshi''s figure with much pride.


    "Nothing is certain," Edmory replied, before glancing at him while adding, "even current favored positions aren''t guaranteed."


    The face of Forij, Tenshi''s father, changed slightly, but he said no further. If not for the clan head to be present, he would then love to reply to Edmory''s words one for one.


    As for Obrim, the current Nystic clan leader, he ignored this side talk as he glanced towards Arthur for a moment, before his eyes shone.


    "This can''t be¡­" he simply muttered, while Edmory nodded as he replied with a smile. He knew his old friend''s one eye wouldn''t miss this aura surrounding Arthur''s body.


    "Is there something wrong, Obrim?" a middle aged woman asked, as she seemed so close from the clan leader. Everyone just glanced at her, knowing how highly their clan leader regarded this lady. She was a master at the Dorgazire academy, one of the rare types with no backing or family of known name.


    However, she was a genius, and at such a young age of thirty five she managed to create a great name and fame for herself. She was considered one of the strongest candidates to be the next academy leader, if not then she would end up being one of the rare, highly esteemed elders of the academy.


    She was invited today to meet with the clan head, so he wanted to show some of his offsprings to her, hoping one might attract her attention and would gain her support.


    Although the clan had many masters in the academy, none in the favored candidate list of the next academy leader. Gaining support of one of those in the unofficial list would be considered a great achievement to the clan, and might secure their future against other great predators in this world.


    "This boy isn''t simple," he simply replied stating that, without delving into any more details.


    "Oho," she muttered while she glanced for the first time, with serious eyes, towards Arthur. She wasn''t like most of the elders here, as her eyes managed to spot the unique air around Arthur, that intertwined ice and fire auras like they were best mates ever!


    "Interesting," she muttered, softly to herself, before looking at the clan head as she added, "is he one of your kids, Obrim?"


    Obrim didn''t know what to say, as this fight was issued from his best kid towards Arthur to kill him. Just as he was about to reply, a drum music erupted from the ground, announcing that all the participants were in their places.


    This saved him from answering her question, and just as that, Tenshi spoke to the whole clan, addressing them by saying with much pride and arrogance:


    "My fellow clansmen, and my esteemed clan head, elders, and masters, this outsider mage came into our clan and acted with such insolent behavior towards me. I''m very merciful, so I gave him the chance to redeem his pride and challenge our respected Rodrig in this fight," he then paused as he took out his precious sword as he added, "the winner shall have this dragon slayer sword."


    The moment he said these words, the sword shone dimly like it was expressing its own unwillingness of this offer. Arthur just noted that, as he never saw a weapon doing such a reaction except for one type of weapon; the soul one.

 Chapter 151: Your Objection is Denied!

    Tenshi then turned to look at Arthur, with a very mocking expression on his face as he loudly said:


    "If you want to admit defeat, make your clan a slave to mine, escape death and save your life then this is the chance to do it. just admit your mistake openly and loudly and ask for forgiveness, and I might be merciful and give you a chance to live!"


    These words made Arthur smile, as he moved couple of steps to the front, to stand on equal line with Tenshi, before pointing to Rayan who was standing behind him as he loudly said:


    "I''m glad to fight under the name of sprout elder Rayan against the sprout clan head Tenshi''s man. Let the best man win."


    His words changed everything Tenshi just spoke of, and the presence of Rayan there behind him, as he patted Arthur''s shoulders, showing his support to him to everyone, was enough evidence on Arthur''s words.


    Simply like that, Arthur had slapped Tenshi in the face, in front of all his clansmen, his elders and his masters. Arthur wasn''t participating in the fight to be disciplined, he was taking a role here to break Tenshi''s thorn in front of others, and make everyone see Rayan in new lights.


    A man wasn''t strong with his own powers alone, as the strength of his friends and allies also counted!


    "Oho ho, interesting, this kid here is very interesting."


    Suddenly Cesila''s words made everyone look at her with strange eyes, as if she was delusional or something. Arthur had just defied their sacred boy for a loser one, even if the two were from the same clan, their standings weren''t the same¡­ Their supporters weren''t equal!


    "I apologize for asking, esteemed lady Cesila, but what boy do you mean by your words?" Tenshi''s father couldn''t stand this profane act from Arthur and the supporting words of Cesila. Even if she was going to inherit the academy''s title in the future, he wouldn''t let her tarnish the reputation of his son, who he believed to inherit the name of his clan in the future.


    "The boy your boy is trying to break," Cesila didn''t find any offense in him jumping over ranks and speaking to her directly, and so, as a very vengeful character, she decided to teach him a lesson, "and if anyone asks for my advice, then you should all bet on that boy, as he will kill that mere toy you are throwing into his face."


    Her face was calm, but the weight of her words weren''t! although he started to despise her, he had to admit that three of the prominent figures here taking note of the same boy wasn''t something coincidental.


    "Treat him the tornador treatment," he didn''t hesitate to take out one of his bird''s wings as he wrote this at a hurry, and sent it to his son. "DON''T KEEP YOUR HAND!" he added in another bird''s wing to him.


    His actions didn''t pass unnoticed from many, but no one even spoke a word. Most of the people here already belonged to his son''s faction, and the rest wouldn''t speak in the presence of their clan head and the great elder, who both took note of what just happened.


    "It''s a harsh move against that boy," Obrim jokingly said to Cesila who chuckled as she replied:


    "If he was a real gold then he would shine."


    He and Edmory glanced silently at each other, with a well known look over their faces. She was so harsh and pushed Tenshi''s father to ask his son to go to such lengths, just to test Arthur.


    As for Arthur, he stood there and was ready to set foot on the battling stage when he noticed two subsequent bird''s wings had arrived at Tenshi, making his face change color at once. He turned to look at him, with some disbelief in his eyes, which made Arthur wonder who sent these two messages, and what was written inside them.


    "Go and activate the stage," Tenshi suddenly said, which made all the present feel somehow strange towards his words, all except Arthur and his group watching from down there, "let the setting be a total confrontation," he added, making the face of Rayan change, as he hurriedly said:


    "This wasn''t in the rules of challenge between the two of them, I object!"


    Just as Tenshi was about to respond, the reply came faster from down there, as the well known, very loud and proud voice of Obrim rang in the whole place, "Objection denied, the setting is approved upon by me."


    Rayan''s face showed a very fearful reaction, as he never thought his clan head would align himself with Tenshi''s dirty play, not in public like that. Rayan hurriedly glanced at Arthur as the latter said, jokingly, trying to understand what was going on:


    "Am I going to die?"


    "Well, you can be so close from that," Rayan knew Arthur was joking, but he was speaking serious, as he added, "the total confrontation means that any participant can ask for help from his subordinates, even an entire clan perhaps, as long as they were present here at this moment."


    Arthur understood the meaning of Rayan, and this proved to be a nuisance for him. He planned on transforming into a dragon, but he knew after doing so he wouldn''t be able to fight for a whole hour at least!


    ''I need to find a way to solve this weakness problem now, or to push this clown to summon all his subordinates early on,'' he thought to himself, as these were the two possible solutions presented to him.


    "What if I killed this clown from the beginning?" Arthur suddenly pointed to Rodrig as he asked Rayan loud enough to be heard by everyone.


    Rodrig was already confused about the decision of his master, but when the clan head supported this, he didn''t have any room to object here. just before Arthur spoke these words, Tenshi grabbed his arm, firmly threatening him by saying:


    "If you fail, I will personally slaughter every man woman and child in your clan!"


    Rodrig had been alongside Tenshi for years, and if he knew something for granted about his master, it was he never took his threats for play or joke! If Tenshi threatened to do it, then Tenshi would do it no matter what cost he had to pay!


    As Arthur spoke up, Tenshi tightened his grip over Rodrig''s arm, while his eyes showed how determinant he was, before replying:


    "He will summon all his team from the beginning, what about you? Who are you going to summon?"


    Tenshi just replied with the satisfying answer Arthur wanted to hear. If not for fear that he would be suspicious, he would have heaved a long sigh of relief.

 Chapter 152: The Myriad Pocket World Treasure

    As for Rodrig, he knew better, so he never thought of even speaking a single word to his very angered master, not now, not at this moment.


    "The White Lotus clan, summoned here at once, we have a war to fight!"


    Arthur just glanced at the bottom, to find around five hundred mages making their way up to the top along the stairs. They were mostly young ages, like Rodrig here, or slightly younger. He saw very few middle aged mages there, not numbering more than twenty, coming up as well.


    ''It seems you take this challenge pretty seriously,'' Arthur just smiled, thought to himself, without finding any problem in fighting more tigers.


    As for Rayan, he was feeling doubtful, very doubtful towards what was going on right now. He never imagined the events that happened down there, or even imagined Arthur to not feel frightened by all these developments.


    "Who are you going to call?" Tenshi asked again, as he thought this kid got scared from all these mages coming to face him. Arthur glanced at him as he smiled, in strange calm, as he replied:


    "None, I alone is more than enough."


    His voice wasn''t loud, but everyone heard him perfectly clear. Tenshi''s heart had some bad premonition, as the kid in front of him either to be a very dumb, or had a suicidal wish!


    Unfortunately, Tenshi was sure Arthur was neither of the two, so he was only confident in his ability to defeat all this huge number of mages, mages from such a strong and decent clan, known for generations old to be recalled.


    Tenshi then recalled the two messages he received from his father. His father never used this tornador treatment except for two times, once for his sake, and the other for his father''s sake; and this was the third time!


    Tenshi glanced at the place where the clan upper echelon was, and tried to spot his father. Despite the huge distance, he could see his father''s face, and from the look of it, he sensed how grave the current situation was!


    ''Idiot! Father didn''t ask for just this treatment, he wanted to send me a message regarding how dangerous this situation was as a whole!''


    Tenshi just lamented himself, inwardly, without showing anything on his face at all.


    "It seems to me you are so confident about yourself," Tenshi said, trying to correct his mistake by adding, "if so then why not raise the stakes a bit higher? Include more challengers perhaps?"


    Rayan glanced in a strange way towards Tenshi, as he didn''t know why he was behaving in such a strange way. He wasn''t alone, as everyone else was thinking the same thing.


    "If stakes will be risen, the rewards should be more generous," Arthur replied, without blinking while adding, "why not add something precious to you? Something that equals my life I put on the line here?"


    Arthur understood something was off here, but the more the merrier, especially when it was related to more rewards. If this arrogant son of the clan wanted him to kill more of his subordinates, dealt a strong blow to his reputation, then fine, but it would be better to be done with more rewards on the line.


    "What rewards do you seek more?" Tenshi asked, with some hesitation, "I can offer you as much as you ask, if you can chew what you can bite," he added, trying to mock Arthur as well.


    However Arthur didn''t know what to ask, so he turned to his ally, Rayan, as he asked, while pointing towards Tenshi:


    "What is his best treasure?"


    This question was simple, short and direct, but it carried very much confidence and underestimating Tenshi. Rayan didn''t know what to say, but he had to reply, as Arthur asked him in public, with a loud voice without any hesitation.


    "The myriad pocket world, it''s his best and proud collection of his," Rayan replied, selecting something that made the face of Tenshi go pale the moment he heard his reply.


    "Good," Arthur was satisfied with this pick, without knowing how much it really worth, "let the winner have this pocket world then as an additional trophy," he added.


    "In exchange of adding any number of clans to the challenge?" Tenshi asked, as he would never risk his precious world without good reassurance of his side''s win.


    "Sure," Arthur shook his head without blinking, "add as much as you want from your subordinated, provided that they aren''t from the main clan," he added, as he didn''t want to create any direct enmity with the whole clan.


    "Great," Tenshi nodded, with face that showed how much angry he was by this open challenge from Arthur, "all the clansmen under my order come forth and join this challenge then," he simply added, while waving both hands to the sky, as if the sky itself was part of his force.


    Arthur just glanced at this arrogant son of a long line of worthy mages. He had met many arrogant cultivators like him before, and he won every single clash he had with them.


    "Brother Willy, do you want me to ask for my supporters to help?" Rayan asked, as this simple challenge had escalated to reach this heights already, and he had done nothing in return to help Arthur, who glanced at him as he smiled:


    "Don''t worry brother Rayan, I will end them all in no time."


    He wasn''t arrogant or overconfident, as he knew how strong his dragonair strength was! He didn''t know much of the old forgotten techniques of the dragonairs, but he was sure his strength as a dragon would be enough to kill anyone that stood in front of his face, as long as he or she wasn''t of the bronzed giants, his nemesis strength.


    He stood there, motionless, watching thousands of mages coming towards that stage, entering it. he didn''t enter until everyone was already inside, as he gave Tenshi his last look, before he entered the stage.

 Chapter 153: The First Appearance of A System

    As he expected, the stage was a world of its own, a small world that was equal to the size of the whole large town he was now in! The world was full of trees with two peaks only standing in this place, one he stood upon, and another others were on.


    He stood on his peak as a loud voice suddenly came in, the voice of Obrim, the clan head, as he said:


    "The sacred grounds are now open, each side has only ten minutes to prepare. The sacred grounds can give each person here one special ability, either support strength, defense, shifting time, and speed. Each person had to choose one of the four boosts, and choices must be made in these ten minutes."


    He paused for a moment, while the face of Arthur showed great happiness when he heard these words.


    "The rules of this engagement are simple, either side had to kill the other one, completely annihilate his or her enemies, and grab the flag of the enemies and throw it from their peak. There is no time limit, no surrender, so good luck to all of you. The countdown starts now."


    If Arthur had one hundred percent assurance of his victory, he now had infinite assurance for that! His weakness, his only weakness was now corrected by this special place, and that alone was enough help for him.


    "I choose to boost my shifting time," he said, hurrying using this advantage before the clan head reneged on his words.


    He suddenly felt a strange feeling, which came with a soft sound in his ears:


    "Mage has selected to boost his shifting time. as long as mage is inside this place, his shifting will be permanent."


    Arthur felt some doubts towards that sound, but he didn''t give it a care. He thought that might be the arrangement of this place, not something to be startled by.


    As he finished this, he summoned Don. The moment his bear appeared, he pointed to the trees around his place, as he said:


    "Grab them, and let''s start working."


    Don nodded, as this was something it already got used to do. At once it darted towards the trees, grabbing them by the roots, then carefully, yet swiftly, shaping them into a wall.


    Arthur also joined, as he used his sword to cut the trees and divide them into smaller sized sticks that could be used as spears. He planned to slowly kite the large number of the enemies, depending on the fact that they would come at him with great momentum.


    He was like the days when he was hunting monsters, but this time he was hunting mages, and instead of the heavenly treasure he always used, he was the treasure this time, enough to drive these mages crazy!


    He took around seven minutes to prepare, while Don had already formed a wooden wall around him. The space of his peak wasn''t that spacious, only surrounding him for a five hundred meters radius, a good place to play here to his heart''s content.


    He then took out great amounts of ores, the latest fire ores he gathered, and then he poured explosive oil on them. For this occasion, he used a mix between his precious highly explosive oil, and the normal oil he usually used, to soak the whole ores with them.


    All the ores were surrounded by strips of robes, which made them easy to handle. When he finished doing so, he just had time to place his fire pits, before a drum music was played, and a flag appeared in the centre of his peak.


    It was a simple white flag, with the name of his clan and himself on it. Once the drums stopped, the other peak had a sudden cheering as many mages started to run down their mountain, heading fervently towards here.


    As he expected, the mages here were all maddened by his presence, all moved towards his peak, with the aim of rapidly clashing and killing him, to gain the favor of their master.


    Behind them, Rodrig moved, leisurely, with a serious look on his face. Though the number of his side was already overwhelming, the fate of his clan, and all the mages'' partaking here clans was on the line.


    For him, it was so rare to see his master this agitated, and every time such a thing happened was always related to something his master wanted badly. This time was no difference, despite not knowing what was so special about killing a nameless mage like this!


    Arthur stood his place, motionless, calmly watching the incoming, seemingly endless, stream of mages, without any signs of worry over his face.


    He knew he was watched, but he never thought he was watched with such care and interest by the clan head, the great elder, and Cesila, a grand figure from the academy.


    The incoming mages in the front consisted of the large number of them, the monster''s shifters one.


    Arthur knew he was facing a song of a tiger clan, but what was coming towards him wasn''t just tigers, but they were a mix of many monsters, bears, crocodiles, and flying lions even!


    He glanced at all of them, and he knew the flying ones were the first to appear, the longer to last, and would be the most annoying kind here.


    He simply started to regret not having a flying pet, or else he could have fought in the sky on its back, hunting those air predators and eliminating their threat.


    "But I have the first best option," he muttered, as he knew his dragon form was better, and here he could now use it without any problems regarding the shifting time.


    However he decided not to start using it, as he wasn''t sure of what Tenshi might pull at the most delicate moment. so, he started using his bow and sent many explosive arrows towards the incoming monster wave.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The first attacks caused some mages to cancel their transformations, fall from the sky to hit the ground hard and lose their lives in the process. However this wasn''t anything great to celebrate about, as they were the weakest group out of the whole army of mages.


    The later to come, the stronger they were, and gradually his attacks started to cause nothing to them but some wounds, nothing more!


    "Don, start using these spears and throw them at those flying ones," Arthur found his attacks weren''t causing enough damage, and so he used his next asset. Don roared, expressing his agreement as he went up ahead, grabbed a wooden spear, lightened its long robe in fire, before throwing it towards the distance.


    It went like a meteor, and once it hit the monster in a mere second, it exploded massively, much stronger than Arthur''s arrows caused by damage from before.


    "Great job, keep hitting them then," Arthur said, patting on Don''s shoulder, as he went to check the real body of the mountain, where many monsters were already climbing their ways up.


    "Just in time to send you the welcoming gift," he said as he grabbed the explosive ores and started throwing them, carelessly, towards the bottom. There were already a large number of monsters down there, so he didn''t need to waste an effort at aiming.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"

 Chapter 154: A Dragon and A scorpion Against the World

    His attacks had already caused great damage, killing many mages coming upwards towards him, but he knew this would be a temporary solution. The same thing that happened in the sky happened here, with many weak mages being sacrificed to scout his fighting style.


    After ten minutes, many stronger mages started to climb his mountain, and they weren''t much affected by his attacks. Among them, he could see monsters summoned like Don, going upwards towards him, with small wounds over their bodies from his fire.


    "So, this is the limit of these ores?" he muttered, helplessly shaking his head as he knew the more he threw, the less effect he would gain.


    However his attacks managed to disperse the formation of his enemies, making their advance to the top very delayed. He stood there on the peak throwing his explosive ores, targeting any gathering, making them ascend the mountain in separate smaller groups.


    As for the aerial battle, Don was doing a great job, hitting them and making them disperse and not gain any foothold on the mountain peak. Though Don couldn''t kill many, he wounded most of them already, making their feathers and scales tattered with many wounds.


    "It''s enough for Don and this battle shall have the next player to appear," Arthur muttered, as he unsummoned Don, taking him back into his tattoo, before taking out his next strong summon, the scorpion queen.


    After the last upgrade she had, she was sleeping and resting in his tattoo. He had no chance to witness her new form, and when he took her out, he was surprised to find that she jumped from being a five horned monster into a skull monster, with a crown made out of spikes over her head, and her tail had another one to appear beside it.


    The sudden appearance of the scorpion queen with her new huge body made the mages attacking here startle, but Arthur didn''t give them any chance to overcome their surprise as he pointed to the aerial monsters and said:


    "Attack them if you can."


    He didn''t know if she could use distant attacks now, but he found no harm in trying. As he expected, as part of her upgrade she got new abilities. Her two tails just got curved, directed its sharp end towards the flying monsters, and then they started to sprout green bolts of toxins towards them!


    This was an attack of a very strong and high grade monster, causing any mage hit by it to suffer great damage, plus the toxin weakening effect, many mages started to lose their strength and fell from the sky to heavily hit the ground and die.


    Arthur just glanced at that and nodded in content. He knew these flying mages were a nuisance, and now their numbers had been reduced to less than half, and he was sure the scorpion queen would be enough to kill them all.


    What remained now was those coming from below. He continued to throw explosive ores towards them, but in more minutes mages started to set foot on his peak.


    He knew this was going to happen, but he just hoped he could delay them and buy more time for his scorpion. As they came to the peak, he sneaked a glance inside his heavenly garden, to find that the snake was still sleeping, not finished his transformation yet.


    "So, I have to use my own strength at the end."


    Though he killed a lot of them, more than two thirds of the mages were still safe, as many were away from the harming explosions of his attacks. He glanced at those coming at him, a group of a hundred mages, growing in size with time by more climbing mages to the top.


    They were in their monster form, glaring mockingly at him, with many having grudges against him, as he already killed a lot of their clansmen in this challenge.


    Arthur didn''t care at all of them, as the next moment he simply kicked a fire pit over the explosive ores he had nearby, causing a massive explosion to erupt, with him in the middle.


    Those who were watching this from the outside were speechless as they didn''t understand why he did that! he didn''t show any strength of his own yet, and doing this action would put him in great risk, as this fire proved already its unworthy effect towards those mages; fire couldn''t stop them, or shield him from their attacks.


    The next few moments were silent and confusing to everyone, inside and outside the battling stage, but after a few minutes, when the intensity of explosions calmed down, they were speechless to see Arthur standing there, harmless, as if fire wasn''t an enemy for him, but a friend caring for him.


    "What is going on here?!!" That was the question everyone had at this moment, as they all noticed how the fire acted towards Arthur, acting very docile and gentle to him, trying even to caress his body like an obsessed lover.


    As for Arthur he didn''t delay any further, as everything was set already and all he needed was to close his eyes, and channel his energy inside his body.


    Just as he did so, the whole fire had gone berserk, moving with great speed towards everywhere around him, like a flood flowing from high up the mountain, drowning many mages even on the ground far away in a few moments.


    This sudden development was followed by a strange, very terrifying mighty roar that erupted from the heart of this fire.


    A dragon had appeared again on these lands, in front of everyone, making all of their hearts palpated from innate fear and shock.


    Arthur didn''t know how deeply shocked everyone was by his transformation, as dragons were a long lost legend, not seen or heard about for such a long time already.


    He didn''t know what others were feeling inside them right now, or how Tenshi was now feeling terrified, as he felt Arthur had planted a trap for him, and he just fell into it, simply like an idiot!


    As for Rayan, his grin on his face was already from ear to ear, as he was so shocked by what he just saw. He never knew Arthur was such a mighty mage, with such a rare and very terrifying power under his disposal. He now understood why he had such confidence and why he was so daring from before.


    As for the clan head, great elder, and the clan esteemed guest, Cesila, they were just silently exchanging silent glances.


    Arthur to them was like a gem, a hidden unpolished gem that fell into their lap. It would be stupid to let such a treasure walk by and leave them, and it would be much foolish to make enmity with such a grand figure in the future.


    "I want to support that lad," Cesila suddenly said, expressing her desire to adopt Arthur, hurriedly adding him to her side, before other masters in the academy got wind of his news.


    "He isn''t under our control," Obrim shook his head with some regret, "but he is already a friend to our son, Rayan," he added, while hinting about his demands like a sly old fox.


    Cesila understood his meaning, and she just smiled faintly before making up her mind. This was a rare chance, a mere lucky coincidence that made her meet Arthur here, away from the academy, before his star would shine brightly there.


    "Sure, why not, I can also add Rayan to my care as well. He is a good lad and I admire his good eyes at his young age," she finally said it, making the face of the great elder, the one who was supporting Rayan, beam with a bright smile over his face.


    As for Obrim, he was inwardly celebrating this gain to his clan. For him, he didn''t care for an ounce for the ongoing battle between the young generation. They were the future, and they had to live their days to the fullest, including their struggle between themselves to prove who was better than the others.

 Chapter 155: Please Help Me Dad! Tenshi Screams for Help!!

    Inside the battling stage, things were quite different, as those mages suddenly felt oppressive from Arthur''s dragonair transformation. Arthur, on other hand, was now feeling some strange energy dissipating inside his body, trying to enrich it.


    "So, this stage had some strange support energy to the body then?" he muttered, and that made him delay for a few moments there, checking this energy, making sure they wouldn''t harm his body.


    When he made sure the energy was doing nothing harmful to his body, he stared with his scary scaled eyes towards the petrified from horror mages. "It''s time to end this silly show then," he muttered, before darting rapidly towards the one hundred and something mages in their monster forms, and used his sharp, razor like, two claws at the end of his two wings to cut their strong bodies to shreds!


    Blood soaked him, but he never ceased to attack and cut their bodies without caring even to their screams or pleadings. They came here to kill him, so it was kind of fair to him to repay the kindness and kill them all.


    In mere minutes, those bunch of mages were killed in the most brutal way ever. This made others coming up the mountain to stop, feel extreme fear, turned around and started running with their tails tucked in between their legs.


    He just watched them run, as he smirked. A smirk in his dragon form looked extremely vicious scene to behold. He didn''t chase them, as their time was going to come later. Where did these fools think they could run to? He thought to himself as he lamented their stupidity. This was a sealed closed world, with no one to exit here except the winner.


    And he would be the sole winner of this challenge.


    The next target for him was these flying mages, who seemed to sense his terrifying gaze, and so they decided to escape, flapping their wings as strong as they could, trying to run faster away from this deadly monster.


    However, how could they outrun a dragon? Arthur''s huge body moved so light like a feather, so fast like a swifting arrow, to start biting these mages'' bodies with his sharp teeth, causing deep deadly wounds to them, rendering them unable to move, to fall and strike the ground heavily; all losing their lives.


    An air predator had appeared with no equal, and Arthur started to hunt them down one by one, without any difficulty or resistance at all, until he was faced with a group of large bodies of flying tigers and chimeras.


    They both had strong bodies, with thick skin acting like strong armor. The flying tigers had sharp long two rows of teeth which made them look dreadful to the eye, while chimeras had two heads, one of a lion, the other of a wolf, with a snake like tails, with most of them one tailed, while only handful of them were two tailed.


    Arthur just glanced at the distance, where his main opponent was still standing there, surrounded by many of his top fighters, calmly looking at him.


    "So you want to wear me down first before showing up??? Arthur muttered, before smirking. How could a tiger dream of wearing down a dragon? A dragon with an infinite time to his shifting?


    Arthur then didn''t delay and jumped on the newcomers. They were strong, indeed, and their attacks managed to scratch his scales, making some of them to fall off his body, leaving some scratch marks over his, but this wasn''t enough to make him even roar!


    The deadly fight he had with that bronzed giant was more challenging and brutal! As for this one, only a single bite from his sharp teeth and all of them would fall from their height, killed mercilessly on the hard ground.


    Fighting this group of a hundred mages took quite some time to finish, but the end was no different than the others; all were killed and fell on the ground motionless, while Arthur only had some wounds here and there, nothing to make him worry.


    However, this longed battle had bought quite some time for the remaining few of the flying mages to retreat, and those on the ground also retreated to their mountain peak, fortifying themselves there.


    An offensive easy battle for them had turned into such a nightmarish defensive one! Such a twist in events startled everyone on that peak, however Arthur didn''t plan to give them time to rest and recuperate, as he immediately said to the scorpion queen:


    "Go, you will attack from the ground, and I will support you from the sky."


    The scorpion queen was standing in her place, marveling at the strength and domineering shape of Arthur, as she greatly envied him for having such luck, to be a dragon descendant.


    "Sure, let''s have some fun," she simply replied, while her attitude was quite tense towards him. He watched her descend the mountain in rapid steps, before she started to move towards the next mountain in the distance.


    Two huge dreadful monsters, a dragon and a scorpion, marched one on the ground and the other flew calmly and leisurely on the air, heading straight towards those terrified mages on the top of the mountain.


    They were like eyeing death coming slowly towards them, making them more petrified, as this was the worst torture ever one could experience!


    "We surrender, we want to exit here!"


    Suddenly such screams started to appear in the world, and for those standing outside the arena knew this battle was already lost for them. it was pointless to continue it, but their tradition had no such mercy.


    However, Tenshi wasn''t yet ready to lose all of those mages in one go! that would deal a really strong blow to his prestige and power, especially when all these mages'' clan would come to redeem revenge out of him!


    He hurriedly took out one bird''s wing and wrote to his father. In the next moment, Forij had received Tenshi''s bird''s wing, reaching it before letting it burn.


    "May I suggest an end to this pointless fight?" he suddenly spoke up, trying to attract Obrim''s attention, and he successfully did so.


    "How can you ask for this? You know such a thing isn''t in our customs!" Obrim simply replied, feeling somehow pitiful for that greedy elder of his. He ever liked the personality of Forij, but he had to admit, Forij was such a treacherous sneaky snake that could do anything to reach his goals!

 Chapter 156: Falling into A Pack of Hungry Wolves!

    "I- I know that, clan head, but these mages are the future pillars of their clans. Losing them here would make large disturbances inside their clans, creating some trouble to us," Forij stuttered before he found the right logic to speak out from.


    He was used to doing this all the time, using twisted logic for his benefit, justifying his cause. He usually succeeded in using the clan''s interests to his benefit, making even his enemies unable to talk back or refuse his suggestions.


    However, this time he was doomed to fail, as he was speaking to the clan head, someone who had already experienced a lot in this life. Obrim looked at him with his one eye, a cold look that caused the atmosphere of this area to drastically change, while he asked in a very calm, very domineering tone:


    "Are you saying that mere weak slaves can cause troubles to us?"


    Forij''s body suddenly trembled, unconsciously, when he heard the cold and threatening words of his clan head. Obrim might be old, might give others the feeling of being merciful and careless to many things, but he knew, very well knew, how tyrant and merciless this clan head was!


    He swallowed his cold frozen saliva, as he tried to think of a way out of this crisis. His son had begged him to act, do anything to save these bunch of mages, or else their faction would lose the support of their clans, the same clans that helped them do their dirty work in the shadows, and had great impact on their current place in the clan.


    "May I have a suggestion?" Suddenly Edmory, the grand elder, spoke, attracting everyone''s gazes, and Forij''s extreme enmity and hatred, "if little Forij wants to save those weaklings so bad, then I think a proper price should be paid in return," he said, while giving his old best friend a meaningful glance, a glance that Obrim knew what was behind it.


    And so, Obrim nodded, silently agreeing on Edmory''s suggestion to keep on. "I think the appropriate price should be that the previous clan assessment of the future sprouts to be eliminated, and a new one should be done all over again after one year from now," Edmory added, with a very calm, extremely mocking smile over his face.


    "How dare you?!!" Forij bellowed out, instantly, in a reflex, without even thinking about his next words except when he said them. his face suddenly swollen up in rage, a rage he had to control right now or else the loss might be much more severe.


    "That''s not appropriate, if you allowed me to express my opinion," Cesila suddenly spoke up, joining the fun as well.


    "Oh, our esteemed guests always have a voice to express indeed," Obrim''s eyes shone as he turned to smile back to Cesila standing on his side. Her intervention here might be a small action from her, but to him it meant she was starting to take role in the clan.


    For her, she never cared about clans or guilds, as she always lived her entire life solo, with no companion whatsoever. She just got irritated by this greedy little insect in front of her eyes, as he wanted to stop the damage without paying the appropriate price for it.


    "I believe my new disciple should get something back out of this deal, isn''t this fair?" she said, with a calm tone and cold face, glancing over Forij who suddenly realized he had just thrown himself into a pack of wolves.


    "H-He will get a sword and a pocket world as a reward," he tried to act humble, so late unfortunately, as Cesila had already set up her mind, as she replied:


    "These are his own, he gained them rightfully so far. If so, then let this competition continue, and we all shall watch him kill all of your beloved mages, until he comes out from the stage and claims his rightful reward."


    Her words were met by the nodding and approving of Obrim and Edmory, making Furij realize he had to bleed more so he could save the future of his son. "Sure, he is a real hero, a sprout mage that should be supported. I think this enrichment pill is going to be a good encouragement for him," he said, while taking out a small box made of a shiny crystal like ore, with a small ovoid green pill resting inside it.


    This was a good thing indeed, but in the eyes of Cesila and Edmory, that wasn''t even close to be noted. Cesila was an outsider, so she didn''t know what that snake had in his possession, so she just side glanced over Edmory, who nodded in understanding, as he said to Forij:


    "I think I heard that you had a fortuitous encounter a couple of months ago, and managed to gain access to the Tailonmeng secret realm. I even heard rumors about you gaining the supreme treasure of the throne room of the long lost tailonment clan, having the legendary tailonmeng cauldron, isn''t that correct?"


    The words of Edmory were like very painful poisonous darts in the ears of Forij, but he had controlled himself better this time, hiding his intense rage and very explosive reaction. "Sure, great elder is correct indeed."


    He didn''t add a single more word, while Edmory and Cesile just glanced coldly and seriously to him, without opening their mouths. It was obvious what they were demanding, and he was trying to make his mind just accept the logic in losing all this, in exchange for saving his own son''s future.


    "So, the price will be the return of the status of each sprout to what it was before the last conclave, and give Rayan''s friend the tailonment cauldron?" Obrim asked, finally breaking this awkward silence.


    The way he made his declaration added more fuel to the fire of anger already ignited inside Forij''s soul. However, unwillingly, he nodded, feeling already their blades'' coldness being inserted into his heart, making him bleed and causing him pain.


    "Great, Edmory, you go and stop the fighting now, and I will announce this agreement to the clan afterwards," Obrim said, feeling some refreshing after this sharp, unexpected, turn of events that all played into the benefit of his clan.


    "Sure, I will go now," Edmory said, but Cesile suddenly asked, "may I come with you?"


    Edmory didn''t dare to reply, as he glanced over his friend, who nodded in a face that showed nothing, hiding his inner excitement from everyone. "Our esteemed guests are always welcomed to partake in any activity inside our clan. Edmory, take our esteemed lady to the stage, and make Rayan calm down his friend before he kills everyone inside."


    Obrim wasn''t really caring about any of those weaklings inside the stage, he just sent Edmory a message, and Edmory got it right away. "This way, my lady," Edmory said, in utmost respect, while Cesile just marveled how meticulous Obrim was for his clan.

 Chapter 157: Meeting Cesile

    As for Arthur, he was now busy flying over the mountain peak, descend on part of its exterior, kill a bunch of mages, before flying up again. he wasn''t just enjoying his time, he was experimenting, as this was really a very rare opportunity for him, as his change wouldn''t be judged by time here.


    He tried to sprout fire from his mouth, which dragons classically did, but he couldn''t. He didn''t believe dragons here couldn''t breathe fire, so the only explanation was that his own rank as a dragonair was quite low.


    He tried to use his wings to create a storm of air, to attack others. It was slightly effective, but not deadly enough to kill mages from one blow like this. The only things that were proven deadly were his two claws and his sharp teeth.


    Even his two legs claws were considered strong enough to cause deep wounds, or to be used as he did, grab some mages with them, fly in the air, and then threw them towards the distant ground, for the scorpion to kill them.


    As for the queen, she enjoyed her time here, as she stood far from the peak, used her two tails to sprout poisonous darts to the mages up there, creating a state of severe panic. This was really enjoyable for her, which revealed how sadistic and manipulative she was!


    After roughly an hour of this irritating fighting for mages, calm and interesting for Arthur and his scorpion, a sudden voice suddenly erupted in the sky, with the appearance of three figures in the mountain peak of Arthur.


    Arthur noticed their appearance, and he glanced at them from far, but his eyesight was already enhanced in this dragon form. He managed to spot two familiar faces, and one stranger there.


    "Is it over so soon?" he muttered, as he guessed what happened out there while he was toying with mages here. "I hope Rayan had gotten something worthy out of this deal," he shook his head, as he glanced at his scorpion before deciding to let her enjoy her time here. "Time is up, enjoy as best you can as the fight will stop soon," he said to her, while he flapped his wings, going back towards his peak again.


    "That''s not fair! I was just warming up!! You have to get me out more to play!!!'''' She seemed like a little child complaining about her playtime. Arthur just shook his dragon head, while going towards his mountain peak.


    In less than a few minutes he arrived there, and the moment he went down on the ground, he noticed how respectful and careful the great elder was towards this new female mage.


    She was really beautiful, someone that would make Arthur fall for her in his previous life. Arthur just glanced calmly towards her, before he roared, asking why they came here.


    "Oho, you didn''t even complete your dragonian transformation and you are this mighty already," Cesile chuckled, as she didn''t understand what Arthur said just now, despite easily guessing his meaning.


    "Roar!" Arthur roared again, as he said he was in the process of controlling his powers. "Dear, I can''t make anything of what you are saying, so let''s get this done here first. We have a deal with Tenshi''s father, to stop the fight ongoing here now, and in return you will get another treasure, a good cauldron for you to practice alchemy. You know alchemy, right?"


    Arthur was amazed by this, as he never thought the next thing he would get was the information regarding the presence of the alchemy branch of knowledge in this world.


    "Kid, alchemy is a rare branch of knowledge that mages rarely get the chance to learn it. feel appreciated that lady Cesile is taking the initiative to teach it to you," Edmory said, mistaking Arthur for not knowing what alchemy meant.


    Arthur didn''t reply in words, as they wouldn''t understand a single word of his roars anyway, so he took out one bottle, the fire potion he previously made, and tossed it with his claw, gently towards Cesile.


    However it went out like a rocket, but she gracefully and calmly caught it up, examined it before her eyes shone brightly as she nodded in content. "Great, never thought a lad from an unknown part of this world would already know about alchemy," she said, before she opened the cover of the potion and sniffed it, in front of the amazed eyes of Edmory and Rayan. "Great potion indeed, your knowledge of alchemy far passed many kids in the fourth grade at the academy already."


    She then gulped the content of the potion, with a satisfying look over her face, "great tonic to be honest, rarely acquired something like this from my disciples," she added, before taking out a small potion of hers as she tossed it back towards Arthur, "take this one, it will help minimize the side effects of your shifting after you exit here. what a regret, if you have a better potion, I might have given you the recipe for something that could make your weakening stop bothering you."


    Arthur just caught the potion gently with his claws, for fear of destroying it, before he tossed it back to her, making everyone here speechless of his actions. The next moment he took out one of his supreme potions, the ice and fire one, and tossed it to Cesile, who caught it with glittering eyes.


    "Oho, so you were holding back then?" he muttered with a wide grin over her face, "this one is much more perfect than the previous one. I really like you lad, keep impressing me and I might fall for you," she joked as she gulped the potion in one breath. The next moment, her face turned rosy, like she was drunk, while her eyes turned soft like she was instantly aroused by the potion.


    "Very strong tonic, I like it! Let me tell you, if you can provide me daily with these, I will really, really love you!"


    Arthur felt his scalp numb, as this potion was extremely precious for him, hard to make right now. it wasn''t a common cabbage found on the streets though, so he just sighed, softly, making a roaring sound that made her all laugh at him.


    "Don''t be so dejected, we will have many years together, and I''m sure you will keep surprising me in the future," she said, trying to console him, in her own way.


    "Ahem," Edmory coughed, slightly, before adding, "shouldn''t we stop the fight now?" he said, pointing towards the distant scorpion queen who was really having fun, toying with these poor mages with her poison.


    "Roar!" Arthur roared as he shook his head expressing his helplessness. He then pointed one of his winged claws to Rayan as he roared again, asking them about what benefit Rayan had from this deal.

 Chapter 158: A Miraculous Human Grade Pill

    "Asking about your friend?" Cesile chuckled, as she glanced over Rayan while adding, "you have a loyal lad here, I''m sure you are now celebrating your amazingly lucky pick."


    Rayan felt some embarrassment, as he got the most benefit out of this deal, without even moving a finger. "Don''t worry, he got a nice deal that made him cry in triumph when he heard it," she said to Arthur before pointing towards the scorpion queen, "let her come back now, she had enough fun already."


    Arthur then unsummoned the queen, feeling he had bought her quite some time for her to play. With the disappearance of the queen, and the absence of Arthur, the fight stopped abruptly just like that. the surviving mages exchanged silent glances between each other, not believing this nightmare had already ended.


    "This challenge has ended officially now by the winning of the contender, Willy of the golden lion clan. He will gain his promised sword, pocket world, and a cauldron as a reward. In addition to that, the current sprout ranking will be reset to what it previously was before the last conclave."


    The sound of the clan head appeared in the stage world, where Arthur realized what Rayan had gotten from this deal. He glanced at Rayan, who had a beaming smile over his face, expressing how great this change was, for him at least.


    After the words of Obrim ended, Cesile tossed a parchment of paper to him, with a small box with a pill inside it. "take it once you are out, it will help eliminate all the side effects of your forced transformation."


    He received them and stored them inside his storage ring, while thinking about her last words. ''So, I was forcibly transforming then, that explains much,'' he thought to himself, as he now realized why he couldn''t utilize any of the dragon famed attacks, like the standard breathing fire for instance.


    He also understood the reason behind the usual weakening after transformation. He then felt a repelling force coming from the stage itself, pushing him and others outside the stage, returning to the real world once more.


    The moment he returned to the world, his huge body started to shrink on its own, as the energy supporting it had already vanished. Arthur didn''t delay as he took out the box he received from Cesile and took the silver pill inside.


    The moment he took it, the severe weakening that usually attacked him was blocked by a strange wave of energy coming from the pill. He marveled how this worked, as this pill wasn''t any inferior to a human rank pill in his previous life.


    He was busy dealing with his current problem to not notice that the eyes of everyone were all focused on him. He returned into his human form in a few minutes, standing tall, feeling to sign of weakness this time.


    ''Amazing!'' he muttered, as if he could have a ton of such pill, he wouldn''t be worried about any fight.


    "Don''t celebrate too soon, as this kind of pill is already precious, even to some esteemed master like me," Cesile chuckled, as she noticed his desire and imagined his dreams.


    "Are you a master from the academy?" he asked, with an astonished tone. He never thought to early meet someone from the academy here.


    "Sure, I''m Cesile, one of the elder masters of the academy," she said while stretching her hand to shake his. He shook her hand as he said:


    "I''m Willy, the head of the golden lion clan."


    "I know," she chuckled, while she sensed his own body energy with this simple hand shake. It wasn''t a regular custom here for mages to shake hands, but she did so to closely examine his body, assess his strength, and try to confirm a deep guess inside her mind.


    Through this simple moment, she injected part of her energy into his body, trying to pry inside his. The moment she did so, he sensed it, and at once glanced at her while his energy surrounded her strand of energy and crushed it.


    "Oho, interesting," she giggled, while taking her hand back. At this moment, she felt some strange fear inside her soul, like she was standing beside a very dangerous predator. She shook her head, and with that she shook away this strange feeling she had.


    Arthur didn''t comment on this, as he knew she wanted to know and assess his strength, though the mean she used was really rude.


    "Let''s go down there, the clan head is waiting for you," Edmory didn''t notice this brief silent awkward moment between the two as he said, while moving towards the stairs.


    "You know I don''t like my disciples to be mere followers of other clans or guilds. If not for your current admirable devotion for this clan, I would have rather stretched the offer for you to join my side," she suddenly said, in a low tone, while they were descending the stairs side by side.


    "I don''t like my master to be a tool for other clans and guild to use, if not for that, I would have already agreed on your offer," he replied, in the same way, whispering to her as well.


    She didn''t reply, as she side glanced at him, feeling a strange thing about him. He gave her the vibe of being someone old and mature, not young and sprout like his shape.


    "Oho, interesting," she just muttered like that, as she returned to her silence again, gracefully descending the stairs towards the ground, while everyone down there were eyeing them with much respect and admiration.


    Rayan was walking behind the two in front of him, while enjoying the blessing eyes from everyone of his clan, he was also ecstatic about another thing.


    Edmory just informed him while Cesile was busy with Arthur that he would also be inside her faction in the academy!


    That news alone was worth celebration! He knew Cesile from the academy, as a famous celebrity figure like her was hard to be ignored by anyone. She was a force that everyone admired and feared, while her long line of enviers was with no end.


    She was considered a local legend in the academy, with no backing of anyone she managed to reach the top. However, joining her faction was really hard, extremely hard, even impossible for those who came from clans or guilds.


    Many tried to bribe her, gift her, even some were foolish to threaten her. She replied kindly to those offers with rejection, and for threats she had her own way to deal with them.


    "I seem to make the most right choice of my life when I decided to support Willy," he muttered to himself, with a face stretched out by a smile that expressed his current mood.


    If he and Willy were compared together in gaining from this challenge, then he would be the real winner here.


    However, for Arthur, this was something he didn''t care about. His only goal was to support Rayan, make his stand in the clan indisputable, and that would help his clan afterwards.


    Achieving that with many bonuses over it, made him quite satisfied. What he was thinking about right now was the pill he just ingested. This pill opened a world to him he longingly craved for, as his post transformation weakening was really a headache for him.


    He thought of asking Cesile for more pills, but she had expressed her refusal from the beginning. He then had no other choice but to seriously consider making the recipe he had from her.


    The problem was how, when, and where he should do this! He had a very narrow window before the next competition, and wasting any more time here would be pointless and slightly risky.


    ''It seems I have to postpone this until I finally enter the academy,'' he sighed, helplessly, as he had no other choice here.

 Chapter 159: Meeting the Clan Head and the Elders

    As they reached the ground, Edmory led the group towards the place where Obrim was. All the clansmen there were looking with admiration to Arthur, looks he never cared about.


    He wasn''t that young and impulsive to be intoxicated with such mere slight success. His eyes were on the big prize, Cesile walking in front of him. his own problems were mostly solved by her sudden unexpected appearance, as now he could be relieved that he wouldn''t be threatened easily in the academy.


    From the way Edmory was dealing with her, he knew she must be some big shot in the academy. From her own words just now, he knew she wasn''t part of any clan or guild, stood alone by herself, making her like him, but a decade or two older in experience here.


    They reached a special area where everyone there was older, all except for one. Arthur just glanced, with no interest, towards Tenshi, whose face was really unsightly at this moment.


    He stood with bowed head, and dark face, beside a man that seemed an older version of him. Arthur guessed that man''s identity as his father, someone who had some prestige already in the clan, as many mages here were standing by his side, like consoling him on his current loss.


    ''So, you are the one who struck out the deal?'' Arthur thought to himself, realizing what happened here when he was inside the battling stage world. He didn''t care about the pair of father and son, as there was a more important figure here, Obrim.


    "Welcome, Willy the clan head of the golden lion clan. It was a great sight to witness your fighting just now," Obrim said, welcoming him with warm words that made some of the elders here stole ill glances towards Arthur.


    "Thanks for the warm welcome, clan head, it''s an honor to be present here today. I just stood up to help my brother Rayan, as I would always do," Arthur replied, with his own courtesy, slightly bowing his head to Obrim, expressing his own respect towards him.


    Obrim just nodded in content towards Arthur''s reply. He didn''t care about courtesy, he cared about the message Arthur said. His clan now had one son and one supporter inside Cesile camp, which was a nice gain for him.


    "By agreement, you have thee as your rewards," Obrim waved his hand as three objects appeared in front of Arthur, a sword, a small cube, and a miniature cauldron. Arthur took them without any hesitation, and stored them inside his ring before saying:


    "Thanks a lot, it was such a pleasure doing business here."


    His saying made many laugh, including Obrim and Edmlory, but many didn''t, with Furij and Tenshi on the head of the second list. "Now you can go and rest for a bit, the fight must have its own toll on you," Obrim said, while offering Arthur to stay here in the clan for some days.


    "Thanks for the kind offer, clean head," Arthur bowed his head again, before adding, "but I have to move now, if I wanted to catch up with the competition on time."


    "Oh, quite impatient and careful are you?" Obrim praised, "no problem, I will let all the posts out there to be notified of your presence, so no one would stop you on your track," he added, before looking at Rayan, the extremely happy Rayan, as he instructed, "send someone to accompany Willy in his journey, so nothing can happen along the way."


    His words were for Raya, but his eyes were on Furij, as he was warning him from pulling anything funny.


    "I will make sure to send my private guards with him," Rayan instantly replied, before adding, "we will now excuse ourselves clan head, thanks for the support."


    Obrim just nodded, while Arthur moved behind him, exiting this place. "I will wait for you inside the academy to have more talk," Cesile suddenly said to him, and he just raised his fist high in the air. This stance had tucked on her heartstrings, causing some deep, forgetful feeling to rise for a moment there.


    "Oho, interesting," she only muttered, while softly chuckled as she watched his back while moving away.


    "This was very intense, very great fight you did back there, never knew you are such a badas*!" Rayan instantly said, with a great excitement, when they managed to get themselves far away from the big shots in his family.


    "I hope you can use this for your advantage," Arthur simply chuckled, as he knew how excited Rayan was right now. "I will, you gave me a really golden chance, I finally regained my previous rightful place back from that bastard and his father!" Rayan added, with some hatred and vengeance in his tone.


    "I''m curious, what exactly happened before between you and them?" Arthur asked, as he understood that Rayan was in a greater position than Tenshi, before the last conclave at least.


    "I had a great place in the clan, and the last conclave was just a mere show to make me a sprout head, but that treacherous Furij, Tenshi''s father, had pulled some dirty tricks and turned some of my supporters against me. I lost the conclave, and his son went up from sprout elder to sprout head."


    His tone was melancholic with so much sadness in his words. "After that I was targeted at the academy, kicked off from my clan''s faction there, and was treated like a stray dog by this Tenshi. Now, I got that all back, my reputation, my prestige, my fame, and my position and rank at the academy. Besides, I got the support of Lady Cesile, which is a great gain without doubt!"


    "Is she that prestigious inside the academy?" Arthur asked, casually, as he never knew anything in detail about the academy inside factions or powers.


    "Prestigious?!" Rayan sharply turned to him with a jump as he hurriedly added, "she is a super star there, not just normal strong masters you hear about normally every day. She is a legend, acting alone with no back up of any family or guild and she managed to dig her way up towards the very top of the academy."

 Chapter 160: Forijs Revenge Starts in Play

    His words made Arthur satisfied, as he already guessed about this. "She seems quite reliable and trustworthy," he commented, without saying more.


    "Sure, and it''s really hard for anyone to join her faction. She had such extravagant conditions that most mages there can''t rely on. For instance, she prohibited any great family mages to join her faction, I would be the third clan son to join hers, and that''s a great feat for me."


    His tone was really happy, proud of his gain today. Arthur just nodded, and then his attention was shifted to somewhere else.


    ''So, you can''t even wait until we exit your clan?'' he thought to himself, as they were followed by a group of ill intention mages.


    He didn''t glance again at them, as he walked side by side with Rayan who was extremely excited and started to speak, non-stop, about life inside the walls of the academy.


    "The students there are divided based on the initial assessments into grades, each comprising the number of inner demons they can control and the potential of their strength. The lowest is grade one, and it''s the most rank with mages.


    The more you go higher, the least number of mages there are. Mages can be considered a graduate and leave the academy once they break through grade two and enter grade three, like your mage, Noura.


    The highest grade there is tenth grade, and there are only ten mages there, and they are already considered a legend. Level nine to six had one to two mages in each grade, and grade five had around a hundred."


    Arthur just listened and nodded with his head, knowing that his friend was just ecstatic at the moment. He also started to get a general view of the academy inner arrangements. "Do the top ten mages belong to any faction?" he asked.


    "Sure, seven of them belonged to the seven big clans, with only our clan left without any representative there, making this as a big embarrassment. The new generation of me and that jerk has no hope to attain that height, making our clan head very anxious about the future of our clan," he replied, with some bitterness in his tone.


    "What about the other three?" Arthur asked, ignoring that bitterness his friend was feeling.


    "Two belonged to the top two guilds in the academy, and one belonged to lady Cesile," he replied, "that mage helped in shaping her legend, as he is the third mage to reach there in the last decade from her faction."


    "Oh, she was a master for ten years?" Arthur asked with astonishment, as this meant she was a master there at the age of twenty five!


    "No," Rayan shook his head, "she has been a master for over fifteen years now. she became master in her twenty, making her the fifth youngest master ever in the history of the academy," he added.


    Arthur felt speechless, as he never thought the academy had such monsters lurking inside it along its history. He underestimated it for being a mere academy, not worthy for his future, but now he felt he was gravely mistaken.


    This academy was the real deal, it seemed.


    "How a mage is chosen to be a master?" he asked, as he suddenly felt some attraction to that title.


    Rayan showed some hesitation as he took a couple of minutes before answering:


    "It''s really not clear, but I know for sure you need to bypass grade five at the least, then you will be subjected to a series of tests, to assess your real potential and current strength," he paused, before adding, "being a master there isn''t a joke, as your tasks are many, and your gains are much more than you can imagine!"


    Arthur became more interested in this, as if Cesile could manage to accomplish this at the age of twenty, he could aim for that in his current age. ''Only the problem of my transformation should be solved first,'' he thought to himself, as currently this point was really holding him back.


    They had already reached the hall where everything started there. Arthur managed to spot his team there, standing with their chests up high, as their eyes carried this proud look and their bodies had this glorious air.


    "These punks," he helplessly shook his head, as he knew they were now feeling much excited about his achievements, even much more than Rayan walking by his side.


    "Clan head, you are really supreme!"


    Amelia was the first to speak up, welcoming him, followed by everyone''s praising words that were full of much pride. He just nodded to them, hoping they would forget all this when they reach the testing grounds.


    After all, he had this vague feeling that things wouldn''t bypass this easily, and that Tenshi and his father wouldn''t let what happened here go without retaliation.


    "Thanks for the praising words everyone, but let''s get in shape and mind for the upcoming challenge," he paused, as he felt his words didn''t manage to shake their fantasy yet, so he added, "this isn''t something to celebrate wildly before entering the academy successfully. The losers in this challenge won''t let things pass this easily, so expect fierce battles coming towards us, and even some of us might fall there."


    His words finally managed to return them into silence, with doubtful looks over their faces. He glanced at Rayan, who understood his meaning, so he coughed slightly before saying:


    "Brother Willy is right, this Tenshi and his father, Forij, are known to be very vengeful. Their loss here today was massive, and I''m sure they won''t stop at anything to turn your upcoming trial very nightmarish."


    Arthur nodded, as he was satisfied with his friend''s exaggerations, but he said nothing more for a while, giving his friends time to adapt to this.


    "Now, let''s move outside this place," Arthur said, as he added, while glancing at Rayan, "brother Rayan here will send some mages to accompany us, so we won''t face any much trouble along the way."


    He then paused, before stealing a rapid glance over the hidden mages behind him, spying on him and his team, "but beware, we might bump into trouble anytime. Be prepared for battle from this moment on, as our trial has already started."


    Rayan and the others didn''t get the mages eyeing them, so they thought he was just trying to nail his previous warning.


    "We got the point, let''s go then, clan head," Ron said, as he spoke in the name of everyone here, trying to make Arthur stop his threatening words.


    "Wait for a moment, I will send for my personal team to come and accompany you," Rayan said, as he took out one bird''s wing, wrote something in it, before letting it burn.


    They didn''t wait for longer than ten minutes, during which everyone had summoned their flying pets and waited until a group of fifty mages, dressed in a unified custom came towards them.


    Each of them wore a slender helmet made of bronze colored ore, a tight chest plate and armor that looked so majestic with these white writings over its surface, and they held long swords that were curved, and rounded huge shields that looked so heavy.


    They were armed forces, a very intimidating one. Just as they arrived, Raya expressed his surprise as he asked:


    "What brings the falcon legion to here? where is my private army?"


    "Esteemed sprout head, the clan head gave us the order to come and escort our esteemed valuable guests, to make sure nothing wrong would happen along the way."


    One of these fifty mages, a one with the greatest body out of them, spoke with extreme respect, as his strong tone reverberated in the whole area, attracting more attention to here.


    "Oh, that''s great," Rayan joyfully said, before turning to Arthur as he added, "with them guarding you, I guarantee nothing would happen to you. Not even Furij can do a thing towards the falcon legion," he added, trying to reassure Arthur, who was already feeling doubtful towards all this.


    "Be wary of them," Arthur whispered to his team while the falcon legion was busy summoning their flying, falcon like monsters, "I''m sure they are the enemy," he added, while his gaze fell upon those who were spying on them, as their faces showed relaxed expression, not anything close to any nervousness from the sudden appearance of the falcon mages.


    ''So, this is your machination? Let''s see how you plan to attack me then,'' he thought to himself, smirking inwardly towards the move his enemy had just pulled, despite acknowledging it was a good move.


    "Let''s go," the leader of the falcon legion spoke to his mages and to Arthur and his group, "we will fly straight towards the academy main gate, and we won''t rest for a moment along the way, so be ready and endure with us."

 Chapter 161: Evading One Trap Successfully

    Arthur just rode behind Amelia''s flying pet, while he gave his last instructions for everyone to remain silent and vigilant along the road. According to Noura''s words, there were about two to three days remaining from here to the academy main gate, a journey full of many stops, supposedly, as there were many clans and guilds posts the closer they got to the academy.


    However, they were in the company of the falcon legion, the strongest fighting group in the entire Nystic clan. Arthur just had his own speculations regarding the scheme his enemy was playing here.


    To be safe, Forij wouldn''t dare to attack them openly and in the public like this, or else he would be subjected to the clan head''s wrath. The optimum choice would be to relate this task with other competitors to the clan, outside rivals who would be glad to kill a rising promising force to the clan before entering the academy.


    If an outside clan or guild had interfered, then Forij and his treacherous son, Tenshi, wouldn''t be in the spot of suspicion and questioning, as this would be all thrown over the shoulders of their enemies.


    The question here was regarding this flying falcon legion accompanying them, what role they would play in that? would they backstab them while they were fighting those enemies? ditch them and run away leaving them to fight the enemies alone?


    Arthur''s mind was full of many scenarios, but he couldn''t tell which would be the right one to occur. However, just to be safe, he dived deeply inside his heavenly garden, and checked on the status of the snake transforming into a dragon.


    He was at the last stages of transformation, meaning he would be ready to fight in a day or two. That was reassuring, as that snake had already slept for such a long time, and it was time to put him in play.


    He then started to pay attention to his hidden enemies, as many mages were still stalking them from far behind, using ground monsters to move behind them, watching them from far away.


    He knew these monsters were mages shifting into monsters, and this had given him an idea about how strong a monster shifter was. He intended to search for a clan that had such talent near his clan lands, and act upon them in the future. He even wrote a bird''s wing to Od and others, asking them to look for such a clan nearby.


    He knew such a clan must be strong, or already been annexed by another power, so he asked them to be cautious, and gather only intel regarding them. He instructed them to send him all the data they gather, and wait for his further instructions.


    He wouldn''t go ahead and clash with a strong clan without his presence in the clan at least, or else consequences might be severe. He also asked Od to be careful, as his clan might be subjected to some retaliation from Forij as well.


    As he closely observed the falcon mages flying in the front, leading the way, he didn''t find anything worthy of note about them. they were totally silent, rarely spoke in words, and usually used hand signals to motion to them about the direction.


    Arthur kept watching them with care and vigilance for a while, and with time his caution started to decrease, making him realize how risky they were.


    ''You are so patient,'' he thought to himself, as he commended on their patience and discipline. If not for his earlier hunch and doubt, he wouldn''t suspect them at all right now.


    "Willy," suddenly, Noura''s whispering voice came from beside him, as she was riding behind Lily. "We are slightly deviating from the main route to the academy," she added, while her words made him realize something.


    Their role wasn''t any of his previous assumptions, as they were tasked to carry them through a specific route, slightly away from the main one. He glanced at them with cold eyes, as he suddenly shouted to everyone:


    "Follow Noura''s lead."


    His shout startled everyone, who had their senses dull from the long flight in silence for over than one day already. He glanced at Noura with a serious look, and she understood his meaning. "Follow me," she shouted, while she started to give pointers to Lily, who was like the rest startled by this sudden development.


    "What are you doing? Where are you going?" the leader of the Falcon legion asked, with his strong tone, when Arthur and Noura started leading their party, flying away from their lead.


    "We are going through the main route to the academy," Arthur simply replied, while his eyes showed no weakness at all when he looked at the silver falcon leader.


    "Are you defying our orders? My orders?" the leader said in a very cold tone, but the next moment Arthur took out one bird''s wing, wrote something in it, as he held it high in his hand. If he let it go, it would burn and be sent to the person who gave it to him. "this is a bird''s wing given to me by the clan head, do you want me to send it now?"


    The words, the sudden threat Arthur had declared, was out of this leader''s expectations, as his features slightly changed for a brief moment, enough to make Arthur concede on all his previous guesses. "We will go through the main route, the known route to the academy, if you don''t want to follow us then it''s alright, we already know the route to there," Arthur said, while he continued to fly towards the academy, taking the official known route to all mages.


    The leader just clenched his fists silently, as his intel was all wrong. He was told that Arthur didn''t know the way to the academy, so it would be easy to take him to the ambush point. He also was told he had no way of contact with the clan head or clan grand elder, and both were wrong.


    "No, we will accompany you to the academy as I promised the clan head," he finally spoke up, as he adjusted his flying route with his men to return to the main route to the academy. He swore in front of his benefactor that he wouldn''t let this punk reach the academy, no matter what!


    However he had now to improvise, as his previous arrangements with his benefactor were now in vain! Arthur just put away his fake bird''s wing, thanking his luck that this leader wasn''t present at his brief meeting with the clan head.


    He just managed to topple their play, and now both sides had to improve, adapting to each other''s sudden unplanned moves. That was satisfying for Arthur, as he wasn''t the one to lose the edge here, but to the one to reclaim it.


    "Be prepared for a fight," he simply whispered to the nearest mages to him, as they whispered to their nearest, and so on until everyone had already gotten the message.


    A battle was about to erupt!


    There was only less than one day before he could reach the academy, and so he was sure his enemy wouldn''t sit still, and would start to act soon.

 Chapter 162: Heading Towards Another Trap!

    As expected, that leader had taken out one bird''s wing, and after a moment it burnt away. After ten minutes, another bird''s wing appeared and once he read it, he turned sharply to glance with extreme anger towards Arthur.


    ''So you have already figured it out?'' Arthur inwardly smirked, while his face showed a neutral expression. The leader just gritted his teeth, as the letter he received just now from his benefactor had the most unexpected news for him.


    Willy was lying, and he had nothing from the clan head! That was what was written inside the bird''s wing that came from Forij just now. After this one burnt, the leader said nothing, except for a loud harrumph, as he returned to look towards the distance with a serious look on his face.


    He realized that he was already discovered by his prey, and that alone made him quite vigilant towards Arthur. He didn''t know how or when his plans were unveiled, as he was so sure not to make a slightest mistake ever from beginning to end, and that made him wary towards Arthur.


    And the desire burning inside him to kill Arthur had been ignited stronger, Arthur must die!


    Arthur knew that the leader had discovered his lie, and he didn''t give any care to that. He had already returned to the main route, and the moves his enemy could pull here were already limited.


    Just as he was observing the moves of his enemy, another bird''s wing arrived at him from Forij, with further instructions about what to do next.


    The leader just read, nodded his head in admiration, as he then let the bird''s wing burn. He then whispered a few unheard words to his followers, but Arthur was focusing on him with all his senses, so he heard what he just whispered.


    "blindfolded rat!"


    That was the words he muttered, a key word only known to his men. Arthur just chuckled, as this leader was already so vigilant and careful, and so he whispered to Amelia:


    "Get me near Lily."


    Amelia understood how serious the situation they were at right now, and she realized what Arthur wanted to do. Despite hating Noura, she had to admit that she was the only one here who could help them with info regarding the remaining distance.


    She moved smoothly towards Lily''s Birdy, and the moment the two got near each other, Arthur didn''t say a word, just extended his hand towards Noura, who understood his meaning, grabbed his hand, and jumped over to his side.


    This simple move didn''t escape the careful eyes of the leader''s mages, who hurriedly informed him about this. The leader just smirked, and said nothing, as the plan put by his benefactor was really brilliant.


    He was so sure his little sneaky fish wouldn''t be able to evade this deadly trap this time. as for Arthur, the moment Noura jumped in, he whispered to her:


    "Do we have any enemy clan on our way to the academy?"


    She glanced at him with weird eyes, before she replied, in a nod. "There are tons of places where rivaled clans are there," she whispered softly, as this was an obvious thing, not needing her to come here.


    He then took out one bird''s wing, as he used his fingers as he drew a circle. "Is there any arrangement like this?" he asked. She glanced at his imaginary drawing for a moment, before she pointed to a point, then stretched a long curved line to the front, before it stopped and then she drew a circle.


    "The lake of fallen, that is the only place with such an arrangement," she said, before adding, "but no one had ever flown over it to the academy, it''s risky, as a very ancient being remains lying there."


    Arthur just glanced at her imaginary drawing for a while, before he raised his eyes and looked in coldness towards the leader while muttering to himself, ''Who will you use as a bait then?''


    The two smirked at his enemy silently, while the leader was confident about his trap success, Arthur started to wonder about the means to stop it!


    "How long to reach there," he asked.


    "Six to eight hours perhaps," she thought for a moment before answering, "after that we will have the academy walls in sight in less than three hours," she added.


    "When we get near it, just inform me," he simply said, before he returned to his silence, deeply contemplating how to respond to this trap.


    The easy way was to change direction, evading the whole trap, but that wasn''t feasible to do. This place was such near the academy that he doubted any other route would lead into it eventually. He was forced to walk there, and so he was thinking about how to stop it.


    The first thing that came in his mind was to stop the most basic and simple step ever in this trap, the bait!


    If he stopped that leader from taking anyone as bait, he would be able to buy himself some time to adapt to the next move of his.


    The only problem he had was who and how this leader would kidnap that bait. He glanced at his team, most of them weren''t that strong enough to face the direct assault of anyone of the falcon mages.


    "Spread the word, just keep our distance between us and the falcon," he muttered softly to Amelia, who just nodded and started spreading the words, in whisper.


    Despite doing that, he didn''t feel any relief inside, as if there was something missing here. He then started to put an arrangement to his men, and suddenly an idea popped up in his head.


    ''So you aren''t going to attack us in person, but use those minions running all the way behind us?'' he thought to himself, as this was the only way this leader could trick him and kidnap one of his group.


    This was quite challenging, as those who were able to stop these at front and back were really few! He only had Noura, Amelia, and himself, with others only lacking in either strength or experience.


    From the three, he would put one to the front, one in the back, and he would stay in the middle waiting for the real attack to come and went ahead to intercept and aid.

 Chapter 163: Reaching The Lake of the Fallen

    "Amelia, you go to the back and be ready to intercept any incoming attacks," he started hurriedly deploying his team, "and make sure everyone is tightly gathered together," he added, as she nodded to him before asking:


    "What about you and Noura?"


    "We will move to another place," he simply replied, before waving to Lily to come. "Let''s go," he said to Noura, as he jumped with her towards Lily''s pet. Noura realized the gravity of the situation, so she didn''t argue back with him. as for Amelia, she relayed his orders before heading towards the rear to do her defending job, taking Gregory and Clovert with her.


    "You will go with Lily to the front, these mages might try to attack us, so don''t lower your guard and be ready to block them," he gave Noura this instruction, before he jumped towards the nearby Ron''s pet.


    "Something is coming ourway?" Ron asked, with extreme vigilance, while looking at the flying falcons at the forefront.


    "More accurately enemies are coming from the front and rear," Arthur replied, as he started to watch his team getting closer to each other, while Lily''s Birdy moved to the front, taking Noura with her.


    Amelia was protecting the rear with Clovert and Gregory, and Noura was protecting the front with Lily, and now he was standing in the middle. His own preparations were completed swiftly, as all his team was now gathered around him.


    However, these actions were so obvious to his enemy, as the leader just glanced shortly at this, before shaking his head, like he was thinking all this was futile.


    ''Really? You aren''t that worried after I reacted to your hidden move, that''s very doubtful!'' Arthur thought to himself, while he noticed the calm reaction of the leader. His mind started to work hard, as he believed he guessed the plan wrongly, and there was another hidden scheme here.


    However, the more the thought about it, the more he was confident in his own assumptions! They would use a bait to lure him towards the centre of the lake, but he didn''t know what was prepared for him in the shadows!


    "Send a word to Iman, make her ready to join us in any upcoming fight!" he said to Ron, as he didn''t want to use her in this clash, but now he was forced to do so.


    Iman wasn''t considered part of his team, and he treated her as one of the future supporters of his group, even after getting Cesile''s recognition. He didn''t want to order her around, despite her already considering herself belonging to him.


    But amidst all these uncertainties, he had no other choice but to use her here. The flight continued with this extremely nervous atmosphere, with complete silence overwhelming everyone. After five hours of flying, they finally spotted a very wide space up ahead, with a great lake with golden waters waiting for them far in the front.


    Arthur didn''t need any reminder from Noura, as it was really easy to spot this lake. They exited the dense line of trees heading straight into the open world outside it, and it was easy to spot the huge number of mages gathered there, divided into many groups, surrounding the curve of this huge lake.


    It wasn''t easy to see the end of this lake, even from their high altitude. "We have arrived at the great lake of the fallen. We have something to do, so you can continue up ahead, and we will catch you later," the leader of the falcon suddenly spoke when they approached the crowded gathering of mages.


    Arthur could see each gathering with their flags of the clans or guilds belonging to it. The faces of these mages weren''t clear to him, but he was sure they were all veterans.


    "Thanks for your concern, we will find our way then," Arthur said, not saying any word about his intentions at all. Noura just rotated her head, sharply, one she heard his reply, and from the look she had from him, she knew he was lying, and she knew what she had to do.


    The leader just sneered before he said with a mocking tone:


    ??Don''t try anything funny, or else your best friend will be killed in front of your eyes!"


    His trick was finally pulled, as he pointed, outside Arthur''s expectations, towards the distant lands, where a group of mages just came out from the woods, carrying someone unconscious, heavily throwing his body on the ground.


    Arthur could see his face clearly from there, as it was Rayan! Arthur''s eyes shone with extreme rage, as he turned sharply to the leader as he ruthlessly asked:


    "Do you risk angering the clan head and the great elder of your clan?"


    "Hahaha, don''t try to use this meager useless trick again on me, as I already know you have nothing to contact them. As for these mages, they are members of the shadow crows, a mercenary assassin group that had a long dark history with big clans, including us. Nothing will be related to us, as this foolish young master of our clan was so useless to fall in their hands in the first place."


    His tone was vicious, as he said these words without any reservation to what could happen in the future. Arthur swallowed his own rage, as he never expected the bait to be Rayan.


    He didn''t owe Rayan anything, and he could simply leave him there to die, but all he had fought for would be lost. The clan faction inside the academy would be under Tenshi''s orders, and that would turn his life inside the academy into a constant stress.


    He also would lose most of the backing inside the clan, and his own clan would be in far more danger than now. everything was tied down to this weak clan young master, as the leader just said, he was useless to fall into the hands of these assassins.


    "I won''t move a muscle without having him!"

 Chapter 164: A Sudden Change in Events

    "Who said you are in a position to negotiate? You be a good lad and go inside the lake, or else I will give the signal to those barbaric to kill him now!"


    Arthur''s eyes were so cold as they showed his determination as he said:


    "If you don''t give him to me at the lake, I won''t step a single foot there. go ahead and kill him, and let''s see how your treacherous master would escape this treason, or even protect you and your family from the clan head''s ruthless retaliation!"


    "Don''t try and threaten me with empty words, I won''t give you him and you will have to go inside the lake to secure his safety!" the leader bellowed again, but Arthur didn''t continue this useless argument as he looked to Noura and others while ordering with a very loud tone:


    "The Nystic clan members are treacherous, selling their own kin for their enemies. let''s go and seek another worthy clan here!"


    His sound was really loud, and they weren''t that far from the clans up ahead, and so his words managed to attract many eyes to this place. a group of flying mages coming here wasn''t a rare scene at all, but the words of Arthur were indeed worthy of attention.


    "What are you trying to pull here?" the face of this leader suddenly changed, as he realized what Arthur was planning to do, "are you trying to kill your friend?"


    "If he is going to die anyway, why should I bother caring about his life then?" Arthur simply replied, before he loudly shouted:


    "Let''s go boys, let''s find some other trustworthy clan for us!"


    He then patted on Ron''s shoulders, and nodded to Noura, who led them all in the charge, flying to another direction, the direction that made the leader quite startled!


    They headed straight towards those assassins!


    The distance between the two wasn''t that big to start with, and when they moved from their high altitude, they went directly towards them, falling from the sky towards the assassins on the ground, like arrows launched from their bowstrings!


    This sudden development startled everyone, and when the falcons and the assassins reacted, Arthur and his mages were already upon the latter!


    The sudden change in events made everything that traitor and his minions plans fail! Arthur didn''t wait for his enemies to reorganize their lines, as he took the sword he had from Tenshi and pointed its sharp edge towards the upfront assassins as he shouted:


    "Kill them all!"


    He took out a huge amount of explosive ores and left them on the back of Ron''s pet, before leaving one fire pit there for his use. He was the first to act though, as he jumped off the back of Ron''s pet, summoned his scorpion queen in the middle of those assassins, and used his leg technique to jump swiftly around the place, landing directly on the back of the unconscious Rayan, while his sword plunged into the body of one assassin.


    The moment the sword penetrated that assassin''s body, a hissing was strangely heard as all the blood inside that mage''s body was absorbed successfully by it!


    Arthur was speechless, as he glanced shortly towards his sword, before smiling in content. "So you like to absorb blood then?"


    The sword, strangely, vibrated a little, making the smile on Arthur''s face grew wider, as he nodded while saying:


    "Great, I will make you drink to your heart''s content!"


    The second one to jump was Iman, who just used her inner demon, forming a big shadow of a human mouth with two sharp fangs, which she inserted deeply into the chest of one mage.


    Others started to jump, summoning their pets, using their inner demons, killing a decent number of these assassins in this simple exchange.


    They had the upper hand now, benefitting from the element of surprise they had, but Arthur knew this wouldn''t last for long.


    Neither were these assassins, nor the rear falcons an easy target to deal with! Besides, Arthur knew he was now in the middle of these two intimidating forces, and that would endanger his mages if those treacherous falcons decided to do a pincer attack.


    So, he just grabbed the unconscious Rayan, jumped to the air, using his leg technique swiftly, while shouting amidst the sounds of the ongoing battle:


    "Retreat!"


    His words were strange, but his mages didn''t dare to disobey his orders, as they disengaged from their enemies at once, unsummoned their pets, and summoned their flying ones, to soar the sky rapidly, heading far away from here.


    "Use the explosive ores, now!"


    The moment Arthur saw his mages were about to break away from the ground, he didn''t wait to reach Ron''s pet as he shouted at him. Ron responded in action, as he swiftly ignited all the ores, threw them over the ground, causing a violent mighty wave of explosions all of sudden, covering up the retreat of Arthur''s mages.


    The rescue mission was done brilliantly, and swiftly even though the nearby falcon legion didn''t have time to join the battle, despite them flying hot on their tail!


    However, the sudden wave of explosions created a large long wall of fire, dust, and smoke, making all of them halt in their tracks, all except their leader, who darted inside that huge mess, swearing to kill Arthur with his two hands from his extreme rage and humiliation he was feeling right now!


    Arthur, this mere weak young mage had managed to play him twice in a row, something no other mage had managed to pull before along his entire life!


    Arthur noticed him, but he didn''t give heed to his approaching speed, as he suddenly shouted:


    "Change route, let''s pick up speed and head towards these flags!"


    He pointed towards the direction of the Nystic clan camp. The moment he gave his orders and direction, his mages changed course at once, heading straight towards the distant Nystic clan''s camp!

 Chapter 165: A Sudden Saving

    This battle, this rapid paced and very loud engagement attracted the attention of all. All the mages at this place moved outside their tents, looking with much interest towards this amusing battle, all except for one group.


    The Nystic clan group!


    The early words of Arthur had made all of them stupefied, as he was accompanied by the well known falcon legion of their clan! This legion was a special force under the call of the clan head personally, and that meant these mages they were accompanying were such esteemed guests of their clan.


    What happened next made them more unease, as they spotted the infamous shadow crows nasty group. The attack of Arthur and his mages over them, their sudden retreat with Arthur carrying someone''s body, the persistent chase of the leader of the falcon group, and the heading of all of them towards here made them all vigilant.


    There was something fishy going on here! they didn''t need a brilliant mind to ascertain that! The current leader of this post started to move, ordering his men to prepare for battle, strengthen their outer defenses against other clans and guilds, preparing for any sudden backstabbing from any of them, utilizing this rare moment of chaos amongst his lines.


    The relentless chase from the falcon leader was already causing a headache for Arthur, as he thought he might return to his sanity when he saw the target Arthur was heading to.


    However, Arthur underestimated the severity of his blows to his enemy, as he drove the leader insane, only thinking about striking him down right now, not thinking about anything else!


    Rage clouded his judgement at this intense moment, and thus Arthur had some options here, however he chose the most passive one, as he didn''t want to reveal more about his own cards to his future possible contenders.


    "Help, I have rescued the young sprout clan head from the shadow crows. Help, we are chased by this agent of them, he wants to kill young master Rayan!"


    Arthur, without any shame, raised the body of the unconscious Rayan high in the air with his hand, while waving him like he was waving a flag! He was much nearer to the Nystic clan post, so they managed to clearly spot the known face of Rayan, their young master.


    "It''s master Rayan, our new sprout head! Go and save him, stop that traitor and capture him now! protect our young master!"


    The loud, decisive, and strong sound of the leader of this post had already given the mages here the final closure to their dilemma, as they moved at once, to intercept the incoming enraged falcon leader, and the many mixed forces of shadow crows assassins on the ground, and the nervous falcon legion members from the air.


    The distance between Arthur and them was getting near, but he knew that the persistent falcon leader was about to reach them before reaching the camp.


    "Iman, Noura, with me," he suddenly shouted, as he patted on Ron''s shoulder, making him turn sharply to face the incoming maddened leader. "Others keep going towards the camp, and wait for me there," he added, so his mages wouldn''t be foolish enough to come here.


    "Do you think you can stop me?!" the leader suddenly screamed, as he suddenly leaned on the falcon he was riding, and touched its feathers with his hands.


    "That''s the merging technique! He has the merging technique!" suddenly Noura muttered in panic, as if she had just witnessed something scary.


    "What''s wrong?" Arthur asked, "What''s merging technique?" he added, as he didn''t understand why she reacted like this.


    "It means you are all going to die, you, these annoying little team of yours, and that weak bastard you just saved!"


    Arthur glanced down at the subconscious Rayan, as he regretted not throwing him to one of his mages earlier. He thought of intercepting that leader, and nothing else.


    "He can merge with his pet, unifying their powers, forming a unique form of monster that isn''t easily fought," Iman was the one to speak, as she added with some hatred, "this is the ability of my ex. We should act with caution, as this isn''t going to be an easy fight."


    Arthur wasn''t so trustworthy of Noura''s estimation, but when Iman joined her side, he realized that mage wasn''t an easy target to kill. "Should I transform then?" he muttered, asking himself more than asking them.


    "No you don''t!" suddenly this calm voice erupted out of nowhere, startling him, startling everyone in this place.


    This voice was calm, but it was, strangely, clearly heard everywhere. Arthur raised his head, glanced around him to see where she was, but to his surprise he couldn''t see her anywhere.


    "This enemy is way much stronger than you, it''s too early to clash with him, not right now at least," she added, before falling upon them from the high sky. She appeared like a tiny dot, but rapidly escalated to show her true figure, and her magnificent ride, that was well known to everyone here.


    ??Lady Cesile," many shouts of shock came from all the posts here, and Arthur just glanced at her with a gratitude look over his face.


    She came to his aid, rescuing him from facing this traitor. He didn''t doubt that transforming into a dragon would be enough to delay this leader, while reinforcements reached them.


    However he was caring more about another thing, as after showing off like that he would attract more attention to him. and thus for, his post transformation weakness couldn''t be hidden from their keen eyes.


    His fatal weakness mustn''t be revealed, not in the open, not in public, not to his potential enemies.


    "Do you think you are enough to stop me?" the sound of the leader changed dramatically, to become like an ancient creature speaking to mortals. Arthur''s heart suddenly was tightened, as he recognized that shape which started to appear in front of his eyes.


    The previous mage and flying falcon had merged together, to show a form of a giant with four eyes, two large arms, one pair of huge wings, and two legs ending with broad claws.


    "It''s a mutant! An ancient mutant!"


    He shockingly muttered, as he hurriedly grabbed Ron''s shoulder with his arm while nervously yelling:


    "Retreat, all retreat now!"


    His words weren''t surprising to any of the experienced mages here, as this form of that leader was a very famous one among all clans, a form that helped to shape the legend of the falcon legion.


    "Do you think I will let you leave simply like that?" the leader sneered with his hideous tone, as two large swords suddenly appeared in his hands. He was ready to wave them, creating a deadly blow to Arthur, Noura, Ron, and Iman, alongside many mages of his clan and many others as well!


    The back of him showed a shade of the same hideous giant, with three heads and two pairs of arms. That was his inner demon, magnified with his merge, making Arthur realize how dangerous his situation was!


    However, Cesile was never to allow that leader to see his wishes being fulfilled!


    She simply took out her own weapon, a knife, a curved knife with a sow like edge and a sharp crescent end that looked quite intimidating. "Go back to the hell you crawled out from," she simply bellowed at this giant as she waved her hand with the sword, creating a mighty eruption of a volcanic wave that fell upon the giant in a blink of an eye.


    "Boom!"


    A mighty violent explosion occurred with the giant being cut in half with her one attack! The ground he stood upon was cleavaged by the attack, creating a deep crater in it. Arthur stopped in the air, with the flying pets of Lily, with Noura on Birdy''s back, and Iman standing on Amelia''s pet.


    They all looked with great astonishment towards the crater and the two halves of the giant which fell on each side of it. this simple wave of Cesile''s sword was enough to destroy a mountain if it touched it! Arthur''s scalp went numb, as this was his first time seeing the true might of a real master of this world.


    "Impressive!" he simply muttered, with admiration more than shock, while others just nodded with extreme shocked faces.

 Chapter 166: A Weird Hug!

    Arthur just stood there in the middle of the air watching Cesile going to collect the remains of that giant, before she just gave him a silent glance, nodded her head, and then went to the sky, riding over the back of her huge pet, which started to move in unparalleled speed until she vanished entirely from everyone''s eyesight.


    Arthur took that simple nod as a sign for her appreciation for his performance in that battle, as he realized she was stalking them all the way from the clan to here.


    Everything that happened must have occurred under her observation, but she decided not to interfere until things started to get out of control.


    He had to admit, facing that merged mage and monster combo wasn''t easy, or even possible at his current low rank and meager strength. He was sure in the near future he would be able to handle monsters like this one, but surely not now.


    "Let''s go back," Arthur simply said, as the whole place was frozen when that monster appeared for the first time. Even after its death, no mage from the falcon legion or from the shadow crows moved a single finger towards them, however Arthur didn''t want to fight right now, especially with all these eyes fixated upon him.


    Cesile was a very known figure, a celebrity in the academy. Her presence and her help wouldn''t bypass this easily from the talks of everyone here, and even at the academy. Arthur knew since this moment, he was already considered a threat to everyone in the competition, and when he entered the academy, he would be considered a threat to others as well.


    In fact he wasn''t caring about their opinion of him, he only feared they might know all his strengths, and try to come up with suitable counters to his. So, he decided to act low, retreating now to keep the remaining cards hidden.


    Just as they approached the Nystic clan camp, which was already on high alert since the beginning of everything, he saw his team standing on the outside gate of this camp, which consisted of many tents already, with an advanced wooden wall with ten meters heights and some defensive towers guarding it.


    Arthur just patted on Ron''s shoulder, motioning his head towards the ground, and they descended there smoothly and calmly like that.


    "Are you the leader of this camp?" Arthur jumped as he instantly asked, directed his question towards the largest man in the group of mages blocking the way to the camp.


    There were around three hundred mages standing between his mages and the inside of the camp, with Rayan nowhere to be seen.


    "Yes, I''m, may I know your name?" the man replied, in some hesitance as he just saw what happened out there with Cesile. He recognized Cesile, as he received the news from the clan about what happened there.


    "I''m Willy, the clan head of the golden lion clan," Arthur simply replied, before adding, "where is Rayan?"


    "He is inside, being examined by one of our best shamans. Don''t worry about him, but allow me to keep your company for a while, as I received the news about your arrival, only name not picture," he said, with some careful respect as he was thinking Arthur was the real deal.


    Arthur didn''t say another word, as he knew that leader was just being cautious. Arthur knew the leader was waiting for Rayan to wake up, then he would ask him to confirm his identity. That wasn''t a worrying issue for him, as he was sure that things would go quite smoothly afterwards.


    "What about them?" Arthur asked, pointing towards the far distant group of falcon mages and the shadow crows. "What are you planning to do with them?" he asked, as he wanted to know the response coming from the main clan.


    "I have sent what happened here to the clan head himself, and still waiting for his orders," the man honestly replied, before adding, "it''s a miracle you managed to rescue our young master from their hands. The shadow crows group is well known for their notorious deeds, many clans suffered on their hands, including ours," the leader of the camp added.


    "I''m glad I managed to help," Arthur said, before chuckling as he added, "after all Rayan is a close friend of mine, any threat to him equals a direct threat to me."


    Arthur''s words seemed simple, and casual, however they were intentionally said, carrying a hidden message to this leader and his mages. The leader understood Arthur''s words, and he just stayed silent, not saying anything more.


    Arthur stayed with his crew outside the camp, while other camps'' mages started to spy on things occurring here. The story about what happened was soon known to everyone, and hurriedly many messages were sent to their clans and guilds with the recent developments here.


    This place was full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, that was a fact Arthur was sure of. He couldn''t prevent the spread of news here, and he didn''t care about it, he just hoped when mages deliver the messages, they might decrease his actions here, making what he did seem quite unimpressive in comparison with Cesile''s intervention.


    Arthur didn''t wait longer than thirty minutes here, as Rayan suddenly came from the inside, in a hurried unstable steps, with ashen white face, as he hurriedly shouted:


    "Make way for him, he is my friend and our clan esteemed guest."


    His words were heard and heeded by his mages posted here, and also were well heard by the spying eyes around the place. The words of Rayan weren''t taken as seriously, as all mages in the academy knew about the developments inside the Nystic clan faction of the academy, and the current low rank of Rayan.


    "I''m glad yo¡­" Arthur was about to say his greeting to Rayan when the latter just joined and hugged him, in a very strange move that startled even Arthur himself.

 Chapter 167: The Black Mushroom Queen Poison!

    He just patted on Rayan''s shoulders, while gently pushing him away. When he looked into his eyes, he found that he was very weak, with a white face that seemed it wasn''t from the effect of just losing his consciousness.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Arthur asked, with much concern. Just before Rayan could say anything, he coughed, strongly coughed, then a gush of blood sprayed over his palm. Just as he coughed blood, his body turned suddenly soft, as his eyes rolled up, and he again lost consciousness, falling heavily on the ground.


    However Arthur was faster and managed to catch him. he glanced at the leader with ruthless cold eyes as he suddenly shouted:


    "Make way now, and find me that damn shaman or whatever who healed him!"


    The words and threat of Arthur were met with a nod from the leader, who hurriedly ordered:


    "Make way now, and bring me that shaman, now!"


    As the leader gave the order, his mages all made way for Arthur to move inside, carrying the extremely played Rayan in his hands, running with his fastest speed towards the nearest tenth, while his mages were running after him.


    Things seemed not to end here for them, as what happened to Rayan suddenly started to happen to a couple more of Arthur''s mages. They started coughing blood, before they lost their consciousness, falling heavily on the ground.


    Arthur heard the ruckus outside, and just from it he managed to spot the issue here.


    "So it''s an airborne poison! Very scary!!"


    He muttered as more mages started to show the same signs of this poison, including his mages, and the leader''s mages.


    "Hurriedly, put them all in one place, and isolate others from them!" the leader mistook this as a contagious plaque, spreading in his camp, which made Arthur hurry to correct him:


    "No, it''s not contagious, it''s spread in the air."


    "Spread in the air! I never heard of something like this!" the leader replied with some aggression, as this simple decision would determine the fate of his men.


    "Just believe me, make everyone take their caution and cover their faces with any strab of clothes soaked in water," Arthur started to give instructions, ignoring the fact that he wasn''t the leader here, "also send someone to Cesile, we need her back here, as she might be the only one able to help us."


    When the leader heard Cesile name, and Arthur proposition to ask her for help, he swallowed all the harsh words he was preparing for Arthur, as he turned to outside the tent, and started shouting on his men.


    "Arrange everyone in this tent, and everyone find a piece of cloth, soak it with water, and cover your faces with it. it''s poison that spreads in the air."


    "But leader," one of his main trusted subordinates was about to object, when the leader shouted again, venting his frustration at him:


    "Just do as I say! And send our fastest flying pet, we need to catch up with Lady Cesile and ask her to come here and help."


    Just saying the name of Cesile solved any objection inside his men. At once, everyone started to act as he said, and Arthur''s mages started to do the same.


    Arthur knew a thing or two about airborne poison, as it was a very rare, very dangerous type of poison that could exterminate a whole sect sleeping in their beds!


    He knew any airborne poison that had some enmity was water, as water dissolved it, and it was made initially by drying up the water from the main component of the poison.


    Controlling the poison spread was a thing, and counter fighting it was another. Arthur just tried to check Rayan''s body, which was getting colder with each passing minute. He knew this poison must have attacked the vital organs of his, but he didn''t know what the nature of this poison was.


    As far as he was concerned, this poison was inhaled, affecting the lungs directly, then heart, and after that it started to spread. What he didn''t understand, though, was its rapid effect over Rayan, who was supposed to be a strong mage in his own terms.


    Arthur then thought of the way Cesile used him to examine his strength. At once, he uncovered Rayan''s chest to put his palm on it, but to be met with a surprise, a thing that made him be startled for a moment, before hurriedly covering his chest while his palm was kept on it.


    "Interesting," he muttered, softly without any loud tone, as he started to circulate his inner energy, trying to send a wisp of it into Rayan''s body.


    This technique was once used back in his world as a way to measure one''s strength, and also a means to help cleanse cultivator''s body from any harming materials, including poisons.


    Though, and he was already aware of that, this technique was rude, with some limitations to it, making it unable to cure the strong poisons, like this one here.


    However it could greatly help to reduce the side effects of it, at least stop the current deterioration of Rayan. Arthur also hoped for him to determine the source of this poison and its nature. Any information was useful till Cesile came back, and then she might have a solution for that.


    As he injected a wisp of his energy inside Rayan''s body, he started to make it circulate inside his. He had some connection with his wisp, and he just hoped he could support Rayan''s body and try to find anything useful in the process.


    As he was doing that, his energy entered the bloodstream of Rayan''s chest, heading directly towards his heart, and then towards his body. Just as he approached the heart, a fierce bite welcomed his wisp, crushing it in a violent move, making him feel some pain inside his body, even though he had a slight shock to the back.


    He opened his eyes, and glanced at the poisoned Rayan, feeling somehow lost in thoughts. This attack felt quite familiar, yet it wasn''t. He didn''t know when he had experienced such a feeling before, and he had no time to adapt to it.


    Rayan''s condition was getting worse with each passing minute, however when he approached his bed, he noticed the place where he entered his energy through Rayan''s chest, as his chest was now covered in black foul odored blood, completely soaking his clothes.


    Arthur''s eyes started to shine the moment he smelled that blood, as he softly muttered:


    "The black mushroom queen poison, how the hell such a deadly poison be available here?"


    This poison was something very famous back in his world, despite it wasn''t an airborne poison, it was quite famous for being a time limited toxin.


    If the victim wasn''t cured within the first hour of contracting the poison, he or she would die no matter what! Very rare cultivators managed to exceed this time limit and slip by this death, and they all lived with crippled dantian afterwards.


    "So I have around fifty minutes top to make the cure, this is quite challenging," he muttered, as he knew how to make an antidote for such poison, but it wasn''t quite an easy feat to pull here.


    "I''ll have to make some use of you," he muttered as he darted rapidly outside the tent, searched for the leader of this camp at once, before hurriedly running towards him.

 Chapter 168: Giving the Nystic Clan Shaman Instructions

    The moment Arthur went towards the leader, the latter adjusted his body to face him. from just the face of Arthur, he knew something was really wrong.


    "Do you have this shaman?" Arthur immediately asked, and the leader pointed to a middle aged mage, with an ashen white face as god knew what was going to happen to him if not for the sudden appearance of Arthur, saving his life.


    "He isn''t the one doing this," Arthur firmly said before totally ignoring the leader as he asked the shaman:


    "Do you know the healing techniques? The medicinal herbs?"


    The shaman didn''t know who he was, or what was going on here, but he sensed that his angry leader was treating him with respect. Taking this rare chance to save his life, he hurriedly nodded as he instantly replied:


    "Yes, it''s me, I can heal anything, and I have a great knowledge of many healing herbs."


    "Good," Arthur then turned to the skeptical leader as he said with clear words and strong decisive tone:


    "We have less than forty minutes, or else everyone infected by this poisonous gas would be hopeless to save. I need all you healthy mages to start collaborating with this shaman, and search with extreme care and rapidness to find the things I will tell the shaman about."


    The leader didn''t get what was going on, as this long explanation of Arthur didn''t help in making him understand, instead it made him lose focus, feeling lost. "Just summon your mages, now!" Arthur sensed he used the wrong words with this leader, so he hurriedly acted and shifted his attitude, giving clear and simple orders to this mage.


    The leader''s body shivered slightly, as he nodded, and instantly turned to shout at his men, to call everyone here at once. while the leader and his aiders were busy summoning and organizing everyone, Arthur then turned to look at the shaman as he started to state his demands:


    "I''m looking for a plant with a sow-like leaves, brown in color and had a heart of redness, with thin white lines on its flower."


    "I know something similar to that, but the color of the heart is pale pink, not red," the shaman immediately replied, as he sensed his saving was real, and near, and in the hands of this mysterious mage.


    "Just listen and memorize what I''m saying. You have only forty minutes to find these plants. The second one is growing on the barks of the thick long old trees, like fungus but it''s not that. it had very thin leaves, pointed like thin threads.


    The next one is a flower, not so remarkable except it only blooms in the middle of the moonless nights. Away from that, it will make its leaves collapse on itself, closing up.


    The next plant is a long thick bamboo like plant, with height reaching to the adult mage height. It had sharp edges, and thin protrusions like needles. It feeds on the blood of its victims, makes sure to grab them and ensure to soak them with blood. Make sure to bring their roots intact, and grab as many of them as you can.


    The last herb is a rock like plant, that might be mistaken for a grey rock, but it grew on a thick grass. This plant is identified by fire, as when it touched fire it started to open its leaves, and show off its long cylindrical heart, with many small buds like a tongue. I want that tongue, and make sure to bring at least ten of it."


    Arthur then waited for the shaman to nod to him, making him quite satisfied with his response. As long as he was there, his eyes would be enough to spot these plants, and help these mages here to collect them.


    "We are ready," the leader suddenly said, as he was surrounded by hundreds of his mages, covering their faces with clothes soaked with water.


    This scene made Arthur wonder, as he didn''t use this way to protect himself, however he wasn''t infected. He had some vague explanation, as his dragonair strength protected him, making him immune to this poison.


    "Good, listen up, our task is to help the shaman find and collect herbs he knew of. Just act fast, and bring everything you collect all the time here. you have a forty minutes window, don''t waste any second in it and start looking now," he then turned to the shaman as he added, "go now, and don''t forget to bring as many as possible of these plants in the least possible time. don''t stop until I send for you."


    The shaman and the mages just nodded, before they all exited the camp. This strange scene startled everyone watching this camp, as they hurriedly relayed the news to their superiors.


    The orders came for them to follow these mages, find out what was going on. the whole place was now puzzled by the Nystic clan actions, thinking hard about what might be happening.


    However, as they were just nearby, the poisonous airborne toxin started to spread by wind, infecting many distant camp mages, making them all suddenly weaker, coughing up blood and then losing consciousness.


    As there was no one there to identify this strange toxin, the numbers infected by it started to grow with time. The leaders of these camps started to panic, as they sent for their home asking for advice regarding this.


    All the camps received the same response, ask the Nystic clan, make a deal with them at any cost, save everyone.


    As for Arthur, he didn''t know that, as he returned fast to the tent where everyone was lying there. the tent was secured by his own mages, and the moment he appeared in front of them, Ron hurriedly asked:


    "What''s going on?"


    "It''s an airborne toxin," Arthur simply replied, before hurriedly entered the tent. Despite him asking for materials to manufacture the antidote, he had some things to prepare first.


    This toxin was known as a strong and potent stimulator to cultivators'' potentials, as those living through this bitter experience successfully would unlock new potentials, and even might breakthrough.

 Chapter 169: Making the Antidote Potion Finally

    Everyone just exchanged silent glances, before Noura asked their most experienced mage here, Iman, about this.


    "I dunno anything like it, but as long as the clan head had said it, then he must know something already about it."


    Her reply was vague, but it indicated how much she trusted Arthur''s judge. Everyone just nodded in agreement, as their leader was always a pillar, a high existence they never understood, yet respected.


    As for Arthur, the moment he entered the tent, he first checked on everyone''s condition, making sure no one was deteriorating fast.


    "As expected, this poison is quite fierce," he wiped out a thin line of blood from the corners of his mouth, as he finished inspecting everyone. Their conditions were worsening, but they still had time.


    He then started to concentrate on making the preparations for that antidote.


    Despite it being so simple, it needed a very essential ingredient to work, fire, extreme fiery liquid. Arthur already had his fiery natured potions, but he wasn''t sure they would be enough to catalyze the herbs and kill the toxin, so he started to take out one fire ore after another.


    These ores were the highest grade ones in his possession. He also took out many charcoals, high grade explosive oil, and the blood of the slain giant bronze under his hands.


    He then took out his recently acquired cauldron. He knew how to activate this small cauldron that could be held in his hand, as he dropped a few blood drops on it, making its surface shine, and its body vibrate.


    The next moment this cauldron broke free from his hand, flew in the air while its shining light expanded, with its size expanding as well. Finally, a big cauldron enough to rival his own height stood proudly in front of him. Arthur felt some intimacy with the cauldron, and the next thing he did was to rub its metallic rough surface with his hand.


    "It seems you were mistreated by your last masters, don''t worry, together we will make legendary things," Arthur spoke to the cauldron like he was speaking with a close friend. The cauldron just hummed, before it returned to its silent calm state again.


    Arthur didn''t delay and put some of the ores under the heavy cauldron, before spraying some of the explosive oil over it, and then ignited the fire using one of his fire pits inside his ring.


    The next moment a huge explosion occurred, but strangely nothing happened but the sound of it, as everything else was absorbed by the cauldron, which surface started to shine with dim red light, like it was heating up rapidly on its own.


    "Excellent, we will be close friends from now on," Arthur just smiled, as this cauldron managed the fire and its violent explosion in a very impressive way in his opinion.


    The next thing was to put the blood of the bronzed giant mixed with the explosive oil into the cauldron. This time, Arthur didn''t need to be so meticulous about his calculations, as he had an ally to help him here, to cover up any mistakes he would make, and augment the final result of this potion.


    As he put the fluids together, he waited until he felt they were mixed well, with the dim red light getting brighter with each passing minute. He then added the other ingredients, letting the ores and charcoal to melt slowly, and mix gradually with the fluid.


    The final fluid was a faint black one, with some lines of redness here and there. He knew he had his own goal achieved, and it took him half an hour to finish that.


    "That shaman is so slow!" he complained the moment he finished, as all he needed was the last and crucial step of adding the herbs to the potion, then let the fluid dry a bit with fire, before he could use it on the patients here.


    It took another five minutes for the first batch of ingredients to finally arrive. The mages who came here had another message for him, but he wasn''t patient enough to hear them out.


    He had around ten minutes until it would be pointless to save everyone here. just as he took the herbs, he didn''t wait and started pouring them all onto the fluid he made, then waited patiently for the final color to appear, hoping something wrong didn''t occur in his calculations and hasted preparations.


    "What''s going on here?"


    Suddenly this female voice came from behind him, greatly startling him. He turned to look at Cesile, who was greatly anxious as she had already heard about what happened here.


    "It''s an airborne toxin," Arthur said, as he returned to glance onto the fluid again, waiting for it to show its characteristic green red color.


    "What airborne toxin?" she suddenly asked with interest and confusion, as she went to examine Rayan''s body. the moment she did so, she had a backlash from the poison looming inside his body, making her stagger couple of steps to the back, while muttering with some strange weakness:


    "So fierce poison indeed. it eats away their life source, and if this continued, nothing could be done to save them."


    She said what Arthur already knew about this poison. He didn''t say anything, as he closely observed the fluid. In the next few minutes, she moved to stop beside him, while marveling his alchemy abilities.


    "You alchemy technique is quite rude, but it has some sense of uniqueness in it," she said, commending his ability to make potions.


    He just nodded, and at this moment, the fluid started to show the long desired changes, making the look on her face froze, as she reassessed his abilities once again.


    As for him, the moment the fluid turned green red, he moved at once, took out some glass bottles, and filled them up with the fluid. He then went towards each one of them, starting with Raya, as he poured the content of this fluid in their bodies.


    Cesile stood beside Rayan, closely inspecting his condition, watching the marvelous changes occurring in his body by this potion. Her eyes shone with admiration and her look towards Arthur changed.


    "Who are you?" she asked, as she didn''t think some nameless clan head would have such unique abilities in such a rare branch of knowledge.


    "Just no one," Arthur humbly and vaguely replied, as he didn''t want to waste time responding now, thinking about answers to satisfy her without blowing up his secrets, as he had many patients who needed his potion.

 Chapter 170: Asking for Extravagant Requirements

    Just as he finished with them all, he felt quite relieved, as he was able to save them.


    "Take this, it will help protect you from the poison," he handed one bottle to her, as she was for sure poisoned, but her high strength helped in sharing the toll of this toxin with her body.


    "Me, poisoned?!!" she exclaimed in surprise, but his firm look made her sigh, before she took the bottle and drank its content.


    The moment the fluid entered her body, she felt extreme heat in her heart, followed by some dizziness for a moment, before she regained her full control over her body.


    "I was really poisoned!!" she stated the obvious, with some shock over her face already, "that means whoever released this toxin is still around," she added with her gaze looking outside the tent as her attention was directed toward somewhere else.


    "Stay here, and don''t leave," she said, before moving in extreme speed that rivaled instant teleportation, making him sigh helplessly, as she was a really impulsive mage.


    Whoever had released the toxin must have disappeared long ago. This toxin had a very long half life in the air, making it hard to eliminate, except if a special technique was used, one he couldn''t imitate right now.


    "Master, may I tell you the request of the leader?" one of the five mages who delivered the herbs to him spoke up, finally saying what was loaming inside his heart.


    "What is it?" Arthur asked, as he took five bottles and gave them to the mages in front of him as he added, "first take these and then speak freely."


    The mages had seen their peers get better, so they had much trust in Arthur right now. they took the potions, and gulped them, before the mage who spoke first continued:


    "This mysterious disease has already spread all over the other camps as well, infecting more of their mages. The leader asks you to prepare extra batches of this cure, as if an agreement is reached with the leader, he will trouble you for making more to cure them."


    Arthur understood what was going on here, and he just smiled evilly when he heard that. no matter what these clans had to offer for the leader, he would ask for half at least, if not then there was no potion at all.


    "Return to the leader, and tell him I will prepare more as long as you keep providing more herbs to me. also tell him that I have two thirds of what he would gain from these camps, so he should ask for a higher price then."


    His words surprised the mages, but when they recalled his vital role in solving this disaster, they all got silenced and said nothing back. They just nodded as they excused themselves, returning to the leader, and telling him Arthur''s reply.


    As for Arthur, he started examining Rayan''s state, to make sure everything was heading to the right direction, with no surprises at all.


    Amidst his waiting for Rayan''s condition to improve, he took one potion himself, as this toxin was quite deadly if not treated, and a very rare tonic when cured.


    The moment he took the potion, he felt a slight tingling sensation all over his body, making him realize he was also poisoned and his body was just fighting off the toxin, but not able to kill it.


    "That means every single one here will be infected with this toxin," he muttered to himself, as his mind started to play a very evil thought that greatly appealed to him.


    At once he headed towards the cauldron, inspecting its current content of the potion. "I think it might be good for one to two hundred more potions," he muttered, then he took out empty bottles and started filling them with the antidote.


    "Ron, come inside," he shouted on his right hand. Ron hurriedly entered the tent and when he did, he was astonished to see that big cauldron on the side of the tent.


    "Take these and distribute them all on our mages," Arthur handed over the one hundred potions to him. Ron took them on multiple times, and when he finished, he noticed Arthur was making other potions as well.


    "Do you want any help?" he asked.


    "No thanks," Arthur simply replied, before adding, "keep these potions everyone took a secret, and later I will give you another potion, so you will take it like it''s the first time to do so," he added, giving specific orders for him. Ron nodded, and headed to the outside with the last batch of potions, while he relayed his orders to everyone outside.


    Arthur hurriedly emptied the content of his cauldron, before adding other ingredients to it. as for the bottles he had, he stored them all for later use.


    This surprise attack came at the same time with the attack from the falcon and the shadow crows mages, which meant whoever did so must have some ties with Forij and his son.


    To be safe in the future he needed to store these potions. As for the cauldron, he filled it with normal explosive oil, normal fire ore, and didn''t put the blood of the bronzed giant, but the weaker blood of the scorpion from the days he was torturing her.


    He lowered the quality of his ingredients, and with that he would be sure the potion would work in relieving symptoms, but not to fully cure them. He had to be tricky here, as this would help him later on in the upcoming challenge.


    If the clans were ready to pay now, then they would be ready to pay later. This place would be poisoned for a long time, and so any mage coming here would be poisoned, giving him more sources of income, and more variety for gaining leverage and many advantages.


    As he waited for the fluid to be mixed well together, he had another batch of resources delivered for him, with another message from the leader of this camp.


    "The leader informs you, our esteemed guest, that he has already reached an agreement with other clans and guilds here. they will pay a certain amount of monsters'' cores or anything equivalent to them, and you will have one half of this amount."


    One of the mages who delivered the herbs told him about that deal. Arthur just nodded, as he expected the leader to play his own tricks. Despite he didn''t know what monster core was in this world, it seemed quite a valuable thing.


    He then took the ingredients and used them to make another amount of potion. In the middle of this, he secretly stored about one fourth of this amount into his storage ring, without any mage noticing his actions.


    He had to lower the quality of this potion, and only lowering the basic fluid quality wasn''t enough, so he also decreased the amount of the ingredients itself, and increased the size of the basic fluid.


    The diluted, lowered graded new potion was ready, and he hurriedly asked the Nystic mages for empty bottles enough for everyone here, plus he asked for the approximate number of potions he had to make.


    He showed his generous faked nature to them, and this attitude was delivered to the leader at the depth of the forest, making him very satisfied with his gains.


    The real deal included not only monsters'' cores, but also many weapons. For him, these weapons were much more important than cores, so he decided to give up half of the cores to Arthur, while he kept everything else.


    One snake was scheming against a fox, and he was destined to lose! If the leader knew about the hidden intentions of Arthur, he would never have tried to trick him, and would have taken Arthur more seriously.


    Arthur then started to make potions out of the bottles he had acquired from the Nystic clan mages. "The leader informs you to make ten thousand potions for the mages in this place," the mage suddenly spoke up after receiving a bird''s wing from the leader.


    When Arthur saw this bird''s wing, his eyes shone brightly as he missed this godly tool in his arsenal. "Send to the leader, and inform him that half of my share of the monsters'' cores will be replaced with pure bird''s wings," he said to the mages behind his back, before adding, "and inform him that this amount requires a lot of materials that I currently don''t have.


    I want a mountain equal to the finest fire ore, ice ore, wind ore, and earth ore. Plus I want many fine woods equal to the size of the whole area here. I also want an explosive oil, the finest of it, enough to fill a tank covering this whole camp, in addition to the blood of the strongest monsters they can kill, at least ten monsters for each mage.


    I want these things ready in two hours max or else my own reserves will be depleted and I wouldn''t be able to make any more potions."

 Chapter 171: An Offer to Get the Formula

    Arthur stated all his requirements, asking for extravagant things for the potions, using the huge number required for his own gains. The mages looked in doubt towards him, and he simply pointed to the fluid in the cauldron before adding:


    "How do you think this fluid came from? I made it with my own stuff, but I have only a few amounts of each ingredient that''s enough to make two hundred more potions only. also inform him to make the use of other mages here, as we have a very short time under our hand."


    His words fell at the moment when Cesile came back. She heard all of his words, and with a single glance she noticed the difference between the potion he gave to her and the ones he was currently making right now.


    She just stayed silent, not saying a word, while her eyes showed her admiration for him, as he didn''t let this single opportunity slip off his hands without gaining a portion of this sweet cake, a big portion indeed.


    "What are you hesitating for? I can ascertain his words, and my word is enough for your leader to believe!" she suddenly spoke when she noticed the obvious hesitance and doubt over their faces.


    Her words were the last straw that made their hesitation and doubt shutter. Everyone here was familiar with Cesile as her fame was already giant enough for her words to be taken for granted. The mages nodded as they all went outside and headed back to their leader, while they relayed the news to him via bird''s wings.


    "Oho, you really have a dirty mind lad," she said to him, and he embarrassedly laughed, as he was sure his little tricks wouldn''t fool her experienced senses and keen eyes.


    "But I like that, being so nice won''t serve you well in this life," she added with a chuckle, as Arthur''s performance, tricking every single big clan and guild here was admired by her.


    He had such courage to trick everyone stronger than him, and that was the mindset of mages she was looking for to work under her command. "After you finish the competition and enter the academy, come looking for me," she added, while obviously stating her desire for him to be under her faction much clearer.


    "Seek you for what?" Arthur acted dumb, as he wanted to tease her.


    "Oho, you boy has some audacity, really tired of life then," she laughed shortly and said nothing more. They both understood each other''s mindset, and this silence was the approval of each other''s intentions.


    Like this, a relation between a master and a disciple was born, and might be another form of relation in the long run.


    "Have you managed to catch that assassin?" he asked, as he already knew the answer.


    "Nah, he ran away pretty fast before I reached there," she replied, while her eyes shone brightly as she added, "but I have spotted the place where he used to release the toxin in the air. It''s a really eye opening technique, and I left a puppet of mine watching over there, maintaining a defensive shield over that place."


    Her words, her eyes, her expression all indicated for one thing, and Arthur just chuckled as he replied:


    "Call this poor puppet back, it''s not nice to leave it alone there."


    The master and the disciple laughed, with their dirty minds being alike at this moment. She had recalled her puppet back as she took out a small jar and opened it. a wisp of black smoke just appeared in the tent, and entered rapidly to this jar, before she closed its lid firmly, and stored it away.


    Arthur just noticed these actions, and said nothing, as he understood this might be another way to have a pet under control. He then returned to focus on making more potions/


    Arthur kept using his own stuff, the low grade ones, in making the potions. He had enough reserve to make tens of thousands of these potions, however he faked this as he would store up everything, and use these shitty materials.


    A thief must be courageous enough or else he wouldn''t be able to steal others! He acted with extreme confidence and admirable calmness when the mages brought materials to him. they started to evacuate their storage ring on the ground, and he, with a natural way, went ahead and collected them back into his ring, while saying:


    "These are enough to make a thousand potion only. take these potions with you and give them to the leader, make him distribute them as he sees fit."


    Despite the mages being doubtful towards his move to take away all their hard earned materials like this, they were instantly distracted by the potions Arthur gave to them. they hurriedly took these two hundred and twenty potion bottles from the ground, stored them before moving fast to their leader.


    Arthur then continued to make these false potions, and these mages kept sending him materials in great batches. He didn''t inspect any of them, but he was sure their grades were high enough for his taste. Even the explosive oil and the blood of the monsters were on another level than the ones he usually used.


    Being happy with his gains, he continued to work harder, and in the middle of this, Cesile left, after reminding him that the competition registration would start early in the morning of the next day.


    He just nodded and continued working hard, as he knew he would have a very long night. In the middle of the night, he had already finished making ten thousand potions, and delivered them all to the leader, while four of his storage rings were now filled to the brim with different kinds of high grade materials, making his grin never leave his face for a while.


    At the middle of the night, and just as Arthur finished, the leader came to him, with ragged clothes and tired face. Arthur was no better as well, as he was extremely exhausted at this current moment, despite his mood being really superb.


    "It seems you have it hard, leader," Arthur said when he noticed the leader.


    "It was hard, but we gained it big," the leader said, with faked gratitude as he added, "all thanks to you, come, let''s go inside and talk about our gains today."


    Arthur was sure this leader was hiding things from him, and not all he said of the items exchanged for his potions were what he really gained.


    However he didn''t care about this, as he already had his share of the treasure, and even got the biggest part of this delicious deal.


    They re-entered the tent again, where there were many mages already checking on their friends here. the leader just glanced at the unconscious ones as he asked:


    "How is Rayan and the others doing? I got many messages asking me about his health every now and then."


    "They are improving, how are your men?"


    "They are feeling much better, is the toxin now eliminated in their bodies? Does the toxin still exist here?" the leader asked his most concerned two questions right now.


    "The toxin should be gone inside their bodies if they took the potion," Arthur replied, while then added, "as for the toxin, Lady Cesile said she checked the place and couldn''t find the instigator, so that means there is no more toxin here anymore."


    "That''s a relief," the leader heaved a long sigh of relief, as he was really stressed by the possibility of the toxin still there in the air. "Now, about the deal with other clans and guilds, you asked for exchanging half of your share into pure bird''s wings, and so I had acquired two thousand bird''s wings, plus one thousand monsters'' cores for you, they are all in this ring," the leader took out a ring and gave it to Arthur, who simple accepted it and stored it away.


    The leader simply glanced at Arthur''s action yet he didn''t comment, despite feeling irritated for the disappearance of his ring. "There is also a request from all the clans and guilds here, including my clan, to ask you for the formula of making this antidote."


    Arthur just eyed the leader without saying a word, as if he gave them his formula, it would be much easier for them to improve it, rendering all his actions and machination so far futile. "We can give you the same amount you just gained now as a reward for the formula, what do you say?" the leader added, as he sensed his refusal.


    "Thanks for the offer, but this formula is something inherited to me by my clan and I can''t simply give it away for anything," Arthur replied, putting the toll over his clan this time.


    "Oh, I see," the leader seemed quite dejected by Arthur''s reply. In fact it wasn''t only ten thousand mages infected here, the number was double and triple this, however the clans and guilds thought of buying the formula from him, and made the potions themselves later on.


    However currently this would put their mages at danger. The leader didn''t really care much about it, as all his mages posted here were already cured first, before giving the extra potions to others.

 Chapter 172: Making A Deal with Other Clans and Guilds

    However currently this would put their mages at danger. The leader didn''t really care much about it, as all his mages posted here were already cured first, before giving the extra potions to others.


    He was aware of these facts, but shared none with Arthur. He also knew these clans and guilds might act aggressive towards him, but he warned him no more.


    Arthur felt the slight change in the leader''s mood for a moment here, making his mind work fast trying to find the reason for this. The only explanation was the number of mages infected wasn''t only ten thousand, and if that was true, then these clans and guilds might not accept his refusal.


    "If there is any need for me in the future, you can always give these birds'' wing to others, and they can easily contact me through it," he took out few bird''s wings, put drops of blood over them to activate the link, then gave them to the leader, who looked in doubt towards Arthur.


    "Sure, I will keep them for safe keeping," the leader replied, and his answer didn''t satisfy Arthur, who was sure the leader would keep them away, and never share them with anyone.


    He also smelled the leader''s intention for betraying him, not telling him anymore to make any potions. That might be the leader''s way of retaliation against him, for not selling the formula even to his clan, so he could make use of the big rewards waiting for those who could cure the diseased mages.


    "I will need to move right away, as the competition will be held tomorrow, and I need to move out now."


    "Good luck to you in the upcoming competition, do you want any escort to the academy?" the leader asked.


    "No, thanks, I already know the way there," he replied, as he glanced at Rayan as he added, "when he wakes up, tell him to meet me at the academy in one month."


    "Sure, I will deliver your message to him."


    Arthur then went outside the tent, where his team was waiting for him. "Let''s go, we need to reach the academy at dawn," Arthur instructed, and immediately all the mages summoned their flying pets and jumped over their backs before soaring to the dark, pitched black sky, vanishing from everyone''s sight.


    The moment they reached enough altitude, taking cover in the dark night, Arthur turned to Ron, who was flying just next to him, as he said:


    "Take this ring, you will find over two thousand potions there, and fifty bird''s wings connected to me. distribute them over the clans and guilds here, and tell them if they need any more healing potions, they just need to contact me directly, and I will sell them the potions anytime half priced."


    The words of Arthur were strange not only for Ron, but for everyone else, however Ron didn''t ask anything back, as he dispatched himself away from the group, while Arthur adding:


    "We will stay here waiting for your return."


    Ron vanished from their sight, as Arthur''s last words meant they wouldn''t move away from this place. they stayed there for roughly an hour, flying in circles, waiting for Ron.


    When Ron returned, he had a smile over his face, as he said to Arthur the moment he reached next to him:


    "All the clans were ecstatic with the offer, and they promised to gather the materials needed to make the potions, and they asked already for another batch of ten thousand potions," he then tossed five rings containing the materials these clans and guilds provided, then Ron added:


    "Inside these rings you will find special items that can be used to send stuff for the clans and guilds directly, this way you can keep your exchange with them. they also left a few thousands bird''s wings as a gift, as they heard about you asking for them."


    Arthur received the rings and hurriedly scanned their content to feel shocked, there were five folds of the initial price provided by the leader, and he just gave these clans and guilds a discount!


    ''That jerk! He thought he could trick me like this?!!'' Arthur inwardly cursed, but when he thought about the future need of the leader to his assistant, he calmed down a little.


    "Let''s cross the lake and go somewhere near the academy gate, I will need to work on these potions during night."


    He already had another two thousand potions in his reserve, but he needed to make as many as possible, so he wouldn''t be forced to stop in the middle of the challenge for long times making potions.


    Through the items left for the exchange with these clans and guilds, he was surprised to see the number of twenty clans and five guilds. "Are there twenty clans and five guilds back there?" he asked Ron, feeling somehow surprised by this number.


    "Yes, I found this to be quite surprising as well," Ron shared his own thought as well.


    "Good, the more the merrier," Arthur nodded, before he shifted his attention to the upcoming competition. Twenty five big clans and guilds was a bigger number than he initially thought, and so he expected fiercer competition coming from teams belonging to these super powers already.


    "No problem for me if these teams just crossed the lake late, and contracted this illness," he thought to himself, while trying to find a bright side of the matter.


    They flew for one hour before they could make it out of the distant huge walls of the academy. They then went down towards the thick trees, and Arthur took out his items, and started making out his faked potion in masses.


    Each time he made the cauldron full of fluid, it was enough to make five hundred potion bottles. These clans and guilds were generous enough to provide him with many bottles, enough to make tens of thousands of potions.


    Arthur then spent the next seven hours making potions, and when he finished, the sun was already seen clearly in the sky. He sent all the potions he had a deal for to their respective recipients, and then he stored the rest into one of his rings.


    He now had in stock over forty thousand potions, ready to be delivered once asked for. Arthur then wrapped everything, and glanced rapidly over his new wealth, marveling at his great gain, before they all went straight towards the academy walls on top of their flying pets.


    In less than one hour, they managed to spot a huge crowd gathering in front of a huge gate that spanned for over five hundred meters, with five huge doors, with only one slightly opened, making it apparent no one was allowed to pass inside yet.


    "Let''s head into there," Arthur pointed out towards a direction where not many mages were there. it was on the distant edge of this place, and thus not many mages were stationed there. they descended, and the moment they did, one of the mages standing there said:


    "Hi my friends, you are still new here, right?"


    "Yes, we are, tell me what we can do to join the competition?" Arthur was somehow exhausted from making potions for a whole day and night, and so Madly took the initiative to reply to this early twenties mage.


    "You need to go to the main gate, and register your name and the number of the mages in your team. Also you will need to select a name for your team, plus paying the corresponding fees of monsters'' cores to them. do you have enough cores to use?"


    Arthur suddenly understood the meaning and importance of these cores, and he also understood why this mage was kindly taking the initiative to welcome them.


    He was a merchant, dealing with newcomers to gain some wealth. Madly didn''t know what to say, as she turned to glance at him, while he said:


    "Thanks for the offer my friend, but we already have enough cores. However, I might need other things than cores."


    Arthur''s look was received with a wide smile over that mage''s face, as he stroke his chest in a pride move as he declared:


    "Don''t worry, sir, as long as you ask Mandy, Mandy will always give you a satisfying answer."


    "Good, now I will go and register our name, and when I return you and I will have a little chat."


    Mandy nodded, as he then turned to go and find another client for him. Arthur then turned to face everyone as he instructed:


    "Stay here, and keep a low profile."


    "I will come with you," Iman suddenly said, as she added, "this competition is for juniors like you, so I need to find my own."


    "Follow me then," Arthur replied, as he went into the mass crowd, with Iman on his tail.


    Along the way to the gate, they pumped into an endless stream of mages, with many words said here and there regarding the competition. Arthur realized the next competition was going to be held inside one of the pocket worlds of the academy.


    He also learnt that the duration of this competition would be long, as it was rumored that time inside this pocket world ran differently than time here. Arthur just found this acceptable, as this was one of the many advantages of the pocket worlds.

 Chapter 173: Arthur is Taking the First Test... Such A Shocking Result!!

    As for the aim of the competition, some claimed it was to slain a mythical creature inside, and others claimed it was regarding a conflicted territory. Arthur knew all these were speculations, so he didn''t give them any heed at all.


    After half an hour, he finally managed to reach the gate, where he found another crowd lining in one hundred long lines waiting for their order. "Let''s wait then," Arthur helplessly shook his head as he stood in the shortest line with Iman, who said:


    "Do you think you can compete fairly with all these?"


    "What do you mean by fairly?"


    "All these mages had many teams belonging to the great clans and guilds. Do you think they don''t know the aim of this competition already?"


    Arthur went into silence, as he had to admit this was a very true fact. the teams coming from these grand clans and guilds already had the advantage over rogue mages like him. he just sighed, as he replied:


    "What can I do then?"


    "Simple, I will go inside and try to find your master, and ask her about this little piece of help."


    "Really?!" Arthur turned to look at her, before he felt he just fell deeply into her trap. "What do you want in exchange for that?" he asked.


    "It''s nothing, just five more potions of the type you once gave me before," she chuckled, as she had great improvement since the day she took his potion, "don''t forget you still owe me a permanent cure," she playfully added.


    "Sigh," he didn''t argue with her, as he knew it was desperate arguing with a woman, especially a beauty of her refined caliber. He simple took out five potions and gave them to her, as he said:


    "Don''t take them in one go, and don''t do it in public."


    "I know, don''t worry, no one else will see my body after you," she winked in a very playful tone while saying her flirting answer, making him mistook her for Lendy. She stored the potions hurriedly into her ring, like they were a priceless treasure, and then she said:


    "Give me some of your bird''s wings."


    He handed her fifty bird''s wings, as he didn''t know how long he would stay inside that pocket world, and thus it would be great, having an extra help from the outside world.


    They both then stood there for another hour, before their turn had come. They didn''t know why all of these mages took all this long time already, however when Arthur and Iman reached the mage responsible for registering them, they instantly understood everything.


    There was a test of talents there, showing off your current strength and your potential talents, something that would take quite some time already.


    "State your name, your team name, your clan name, and the number of mages in your team."


    The mage routinely said the moment Arthur and Iman stepped in front of him.


    "The name is Arthur, my team name is the Golden Lion, my clan''s name is the Golden Lion clan, and I have one hundred mage inside my team."


    Arthur replied, and the mage had a piece of paper behind him where everything he said was written there at once. "Go ahead and put your hand on the orb, put both of them tightly on it and wait as long as you can hold."


    The mage then pointed towards one large crystal made of pure pink color. Arthur was about to head there, when Iman suddenly said:


    "Excuse me, I''m here to admit for the master position in the academy."


    The mage raised his head, for the first time, and glanced at her for a moment, before saying in warm welcoming words:


    "Sure, sure, you can go directly into the academy and there someone will come and guide you afterwards."


    "Thanks," she replied, before winking to Arthur as she bypassed him. He smiled back, as he went towards the crystal and put both his hands over it and waited.


    The mage responsible for the test was another one, and he was already busy examining a hundred more of these crystals, so Arthur just waited patiently, while he tried to understand how this crystal worked.


    The mages next to him were like him, waiting for the tester to come and activate the crystal. Arthur observed the distant mages, who were now being tested.


    The crystal flashed with dim light first, then bright light later on, before one mage after another retreated away from it, like it was a very hot piece of metal. The tester would then observe the crystal keenly before writing something in his sheet of paper, and then make the mages go to the next test.


    ''So, I have to withstand the energy influx from this crystal then?'' Arthur muttered, as he knew it wasn''t a very complicated test, however he glanced again at his crystal, trying to figure out how this crystal emitted such immense energy.


    The crystal was pure cold, with nothing there to be felt from it. if he passes by it in the forest, he would never think it had such an extraordinary ability.


    Arthur knew there must be a trick somewhere, but he couldn''t ascertain it. it didn''t take long for the tester to come towards his group of ten mages, as he just patted with his fingers over the crystal of each one, making it start to work.


    "Try to hold as long as you can," the tester repeated the same words which he said thousands of times already. Arthur started to feel some energy trying to penetrate his skin, and it felt quite offensive towards him.


    As a reflex, he started to resist it, using his own energy to do so. Just as his energy clashed with this hostile one, a great unpleasant feeling started to erupt there, plus something else.


    ''Interesting! This energy isn''t that harmful to me after all!''


    The moment the first clash erupted between the two energies, Arthur felt the change of his energy after this clash, as it felt slightly purer, and the energy that seemed hostile ended up being absorbed by his energy.


    ''So the test is tricky after all! My energy seemed to be very superior to this kind of energy, and thus I shouldn''t antagonize it, instead I should welcome it.''


    His own thoughts led to a drastic change in his strategy, as he kept rotating his energy, but didn''t send it towards his palms, instead he gracefully welcomed the hostile energy, withstanding the first unpleasant reaction between it and his own, before he started to enjoy the benefits of absorbing this energy.


    Suddenly the rejection he had and the friction heat at his palms miraculously vanished. Arthur was closing his eyes to concentrate on these things, so he didn''t see what unfolded outside him.


    The moment he decided to absorb the energy, not reject it, the orb started to change color at once, showing dim red, bright red, dark red, then finally black color. The face of the tester immediately changed, and everyone around Arthur felt a great wave of energy hitting their bodies, literally knocking them off the ground, driving them away from the orbs, making them fail the test.


    This scene had succeeded in attracting the attention of everyone, and some mages started to come from inside the slightly opened door of the academy to witness that.


    "It''s another prodigy! This year is destined to be unique!" one of the mages coming from the inside muttered.


    "But this one is slightly different from the others, as this is the first black colored talent we had this year," another one replied, as he observed the reaction of the orb to Arthur''s energy.


    "Should we increase the energy now?" a third one asked.


    "Sure, they all have to fail this test, even if they are prodigies," their highest in rank mage replied, as he didn''t put these young prodigies into his eyes.


    After all he hailed from one of the mightiest clans, and he was currently the head of this test. He only saw his clansmen, and no one else.


    Arthur wasn''t aware of any of this, as he was enjoying the blessing coming from this energy to his own. After a while, he started to feel the effects of this exchange getting lower, as if the energy was about to lose its effects on him.


    ''Sigh, it''s a given the lower you are, the more benefits you get when eating heavenly meat.''


    Arthur muttered to himself, as he was sure his gains would stop soon. Just as he inwardly shook his head in regret, the energy entering his body showed a dramatic change all of sudden, as if another source of energy was linked to his body, not the initial one.


    This new type of energy was much more aggressive than the previous one, and he felt its energy was harming his blood vessels, making him even bleed from his skin pores, attracting everyone''s attention.

 Chapter 174: All Attempts to Kill Arthur Fail!

    "Look, it''s just exactly like what happened to the previous fifty mages who lasted this long like him," one of the nearby mages, of those partaking in this competition shouted, making everyone who heard him sigh in regret, recalling the already fallen geniuses in this test so far.


    No one had ever managed to break the record scored from two days ago, as a single mage managed to last for a whole half an hour. Arthur didn''t manage to last more than ten minutes now, before his body started to show signs to crack and collapse.


    Without anyone noticing it, the tester just stole a glance towards that head master of this competition, before inwardly cursing this ruthless man''s methods and his dirty tricks to weaken any competitor to his own clan''s young master.


    The tester had nothing in hand to do, unfortunately, and thus he just swallowed his discontent and remained silent. His rank in the academy was already one of the lowest graded masters here, and that meant he had no saying in this matter.


    He shifted his gaze back to Arthur, for fear the head master would notice his ill gaze, and he was ready to announce Arthur''s end of testing at any moment now.


    Arthur, however, was in a totally different world of his own. The moment this new aggressive energy entered his body, and started to act rampage there, he didn''t panic.


    This wasn''t the first time for him to deal with such berserk energy, and thus he knew the key to solve this problem always relied on being calm and well collected.


    Losing your composure at this critical juncture would deem you a failure in controlling this energy, making him lose such a good chance.


    Any hardship always was risky, but it had a great chance inside it indeed. He then started to make his energy sheath this aggressive hostile energy first, protecting his blood vessels, then he started to make his energy lead the alien one to rotate inside his body.


    He had to admit, the first cycle was really quite painful, but he didn''t give in and continued to guide his energy so calmly to completely rotate around his body.


    As the first cycle finished, the next ones were much easier, and less painful. The absorption started to happen between his own and this alien one, making a marvelous transformation to his energy.


    This sudden change didn''t reflect on his outer body soon, as he took quite a few minutes before stabilizing the hostile energy, and making it completely under his control.


    ''I dunno what happened here, but I''m very grateful for that! now I can absorb as much energy as I want, and make my energy ascend to another whole level,'' he muttered to himself while feeling really grateful to the reason behind the influx of this new energy.


    He didn''t know that the cause behind this energy appearance was now feeling extreme rage towards him, as the head master noticed that Arthur''s body wasn''t getting worse, or showing any signs of breaking down, instead it showed signs of improvement!


    "What is going on here?" the head master angrily glanced at his minions, as he ruthlessly added, "didn''t I order to change the energy into a higher wind natured one? This kid dealt well with the normal earth energy, and this wind would cause much damage to him! why is he still standing there?!!"


    Arthur had already crossed the border of fifteen minutes, making him the second longest person taking part in this test. the head master had proposed this test for the academy as a way to show off.


    He had already sold places of the final ranking to other great clans and guilds, and this Arthur here was going to destroy all he had agreed upon with these clans and guilds!


    "I- I- I''m s- s- so sorry master, but the energy flooding the boy now is what you asked for," the one responsible for controlling the energy stuttered while replying to his master, knowing how scary this master could be when angry.


    "Really?!!" the master replied with doubt, as he then checked the flow of energy himself, and what he sensed made him feel more puzzled. "It''s really a wind natured energy," he muttered, as he narrowed his eyes, glancing towards Arthur, who was continuing to stand there with explosive anger.


    "Change the energy, make it the ice natured one," he ordered, with a flash in his eyes.


    "B- But master, the academy¡­"


    The assistant stopped in the middle of his phrase, swallowing what was left in it when the head master turned to brutally look at him, while muttering after some long nervous moments of silence:


    "Don''t speak with me about the academy, you can arrange your stuff well, and you have me in your back, so don''t say any more words and just do it."


    The mage moved fast, to change the quality of the energy Arthur was absorbing currently.


    Arthur didn''t know that he had absorbed wind natured and earth natured energies, the two incompatible with his own ice and fire natured energy.


    The wind energy was really aggressive natured energy, and it was Arthur''s timely adaptation to be able to limit its great harm to his body.


    The fire and ice natured energies were already considered very harmful for anyone who wasn''t natured in them. so, the academy set some rules a long time ago, preventing the usage of any of both on any new mage, so this test wouldn''t end up crippling anyone.


    That was the reason that made that mage hesitate at first, but in front of his already extremely angry master, he had no other choice but comply, or else he would lose his life right away.


    As for Arthur, he was totally immersed in his own world, trying to forcibly subdue the alien energy inside his body. The more he tried to totally control it, the sudden burst of resistance waves this energy would show, making him unable to fully absorb all of it in one go like he just did before with the earth natured energy.


    Just as he was struggling with that, he felt some refreshing cool breeze flowing towards him. The next moment, all the angry and repulsive energy vanished, and a very docile and cool energy replaced it, making his sore vessels feel much better, and started their healing as well.


    ''Wow, is this an ice natured energy? Then I should have a fire energy later on? That''s quite generous of the academy to be honest,'' he muttered, with a cheerful celebration inside his mind, while his body was rejoicing while absorbing this ice energy with extreme hunger and great thirst.


    Arthur''s inner energy was already an ice natured one, so when this new energy entered his body, marvelous effects occurred, far greater than the previous two energies combined effect.


    He didn''t only feel his energy to get purer, he also felt it getting thicker. His vessels started to show signs of changing as well, starting to be covered in thin fortified icy layers that made them far stronger.


    As for the outside, the whole world was shocked to witness this thick icy layer that suddenly erupted around his body. Whispers started to spread, and rumors about the forbidden of the academy to the use of ice in tests started to be heard here and there.


    Despite that, the head master didn''t give a heed to any of these talks, as he was thinking of himself as an already a mighty being, away from any question coming from those who had no place in the academy yet.


    He looked with a satisfying look towards Arthur, knowing this was the sign of his body being deteriorating. He knew the ice energy was so brutal, and any mage with no affinity to it would be faced with only one outcome, death!


    The second sign he waited for was that mage''s body in front of him to break apart into small pieces, before the whole ice block in front of his eyes was shattered. However, after the passage of five whole minutes, nothing like that occurred, instead that ice block started to brim with some flashing light, indicating its getting higher in rank, purer in quality.


    "What is going on exactly here?" that treacherous master muttered to himself, as he stared towards Arthur with puzzled eyes. It was supposed for Arthur to be long dead by now, however reality proved his speculations wrong.


    "No way! This mage has the ice affinity as well!" he suddenly shouted with surprise and anger, "Go, hurry, now go and change the energy into a fire natured one!" he hurriedly ordered his minions to go and change this energy, or else this mage would get more benefit instead of dying!


    The fire energy was the extreme opposite to ice energy, making any mage with an affinity to ice threatening to explode and burn to death if he got in touch with fire energy.

 Chapter 175: Smashing the Baby Orb to Cripple Arthur!

    That head master had already pictured the moment when that mage would burn to death in front of his eyes. Though this would create some problems to him with the supreme council of the academy, he didn''t care.


    What he cared about really was his undermined deals with other clans and guilds. These folks never joked around, and if he failed in giving them what he promised, then returning what he took from them wasn''t going to soothe their anger.


    In a few moments, the energy entering Arthur''s body changed dramatically, from the cold ruthless ice energy, into the hot explosive fire energy.


    In front of everyone, that growing block of ice, flashing with some lights every now and then changed, as suddenly a red light started to emanate from Arthur''s body, while the outer surface of the ice started to produce thick fog, that clouded everyone''s vision of what was really going inside.


    Arthur had another story going on, or a celebration to be honest. If he had an affinity to ice, then for fire he had many folds affinity, as he already used fire so many times to transform. The moment the fire energy entered his body, his body turned into a hungry beast, roaring from excitement, and all the energy entering his body was instantly engulfed without leaving a speck behind!


    Arthur''s body was really craving for fire, as his body was already bathed before in much weaker form of it. when this extremely pure and highly concentrated fire energy entered his body through the orb, his body shook when it touched this very high grade energy, then it started to madly absorb it, then this way didn''t satisfy his own hunger!


    Another change appeared, as his body shifted from just adapting to the energy entering his body into the one that started to suck the energy dry from the orb itself.


    The orb was a single part of a very huge one inside the academy, and that large one was connected to energy producing materials, very rare and extremely precious ones.


    Arthur''s sucking force had even bypassed the smaller orb, and reached the greater one. The moment he got linked to this orb, his body started to feel satisfied with that, and the amount of energy entering his body escalated to an unimagined scale.


    But when his suction force reached the big orb, a new world opened to his eyes, where the main four energies appeared to him, in addition to another one that he never tasted before.


    Lightning energy!


    The lightning energy was ranked as the highest one among the five, making the supreme council of the academy forbid using it on any student of the academy, and only masters were allowed to try it.


    This energy was classified as much more devastating compared to the other four, and thus no one had the right to use this in the test, or in the normal teaching classes of the academy.


    However, when Arthur''s suction force reached the huge orb, he found this new energy available to him. He didn''t need anyone''s permission, and his body started to absorb every form of energy inside that orb, including that new one.


    The moment the lightning energy entered his body for the first time, his body shook, and in front of everyone, the ice block which was now just forming a thin layer around his body started to be dyed in dark red color from the severe reaction he had with that new energy.


    "That''s better," the head master nodded in satisfaction, thinking wrongly that his plan was working, "let him bleed to death from the fire energy," he added, with a satisfying look over his face.


    Arthur''s time had already closed up on the young master of his clan, but if Arthur died, nothing of this would matter anymore. The head master just stood silent, while all the mages took part in the competition, and some of the masters standing at the academy gates were feeling shocked from this horrifying scene.


    Everyone thought Arthur was dying, but none of them even realized how gravely mistaken they were!


    Inside Arthur''s body, the lightning energy was bathing his bone marrow, replacing its old cells and tissue with a brand new, very strong and much enduring one. It also started to burn down all the useless blood inside his body, which made his body emit a great amount of blood in this short span of time.


    However that wasn''t done with any risk on his life, as any old blood was instantly replaced with a much better new one. This process didn''t pass without much pain to him, but he endured.


    His body was getting through many transformations at the same time, which made him very ecstatic of this fortunate encounter. at the same time, he knew if he couldn''t tolerate these changes and broke down right now, everything would be lost, and a very devastating backlash would erupt.


    No chance was there without risk, he knew that. so, he endured, biding his time patiently and steadily, giving his body the chance to evolve.


    He took ten minutes for his whole body to change, and the newly absorbed lightning energy had much credit in that, making his body have a new affinity to lightning as well.


    When that happened, all the stormy berserk changes inside his body halted, and his current state stabilized. In front of the eyes of all the mages outside, the blood coming out from his body ceased to appear, while the thin ice layer surrounding his body started to get thick again, with the color of his skin to change into a red fiery one.


    This was such a bizarre scene to witness, but it only indicated one thing; Arthur wasn''t dying. No one knew how he managed to pull such a feat, but the fact was presenting itself clearly in front of their eyes.


    Arthur wasn''t going to die!


    "How can the ice got thickened again?" the head master angrily shouted at his minions, before turning to glance at them while ruthlessly adding:


    "Stop this test, enough of the time he already had. We will have to make another batch of mages going up higher in timing above him! Stop the test now!"


    His orders were received by the shaking bodies of his followers, as they hurriedly looked at the one responsible for controlling the energy test and this orb, with a consoling look in their eyes.


    Their master was extremely enraged right now, and it was expected that this poor fellow of them would take the full toll of this anger.


    The mage responsible for this test hurriedly controlled the small orb, controlling it to stop injecting energy into this young monster. The moment he tried to do so, he had a severe backlash, making even his body stutter to the back couple of steps, before blood oozed from his eyes, nose, and the corners of his mouth, with his face turning ashen white.


    The orb refused to follow his command, as it was completely under the absolute control of Arthur''s body!


    "What a useless one you are!" his head master didn''t care about what happened to him, as he hurriedly went over to the mage, violently grabbed a smaller orb from his hand, in the size of a finger''s nail, and with the other hand he slapped this mage''s face, ruthlessly sending him flying away.


    He didn''t even wait to see if he was alive or dead, as he instantly turned his gaze towards Arthur as he squeezed the orb''s small part in his hand, controlling it to stop the test.


    He was a very strong mage in his own regard, so the backlash he had from such a small orb didn''t affect him like it affected the weaker mage from before. However, his inner organs felt quite uncomfortable, like he was hit by a huge monster directly in the chest!


    He swallowed his pain, as he coughed one time, and his face slightly worsened, yet his eyes shone with a very determinant light, as his face showed an extremely brutal expression.


    "Do you dare to defy me?" he gritted his teeth, and in the next moment he summoned all his strength, and applied it over this small piece of orb.


    A piece of orb meant it was part of the larger orb, and crushing it like that would instantly crush the orb in the hands of Arthur. This wouldn''t come without paying a price as well, as once he did that, he felt a greater backlash, making two thin lines of blood appear at the corners of his mouth.


    He wiped them off at once, without even caring about this, while his eyes were frozen over Arthur''s body, and the intact orb in the hands of his.


    Arthur''s body sensed the extreme shocking force coming towards the orb, trying to crush it. This made his body react, using all his strength to make the orb stand together, supporting the orb from shattering by his own sheer force.

 Chapter 176: Go and Ask the Main Orb to be Shut Down!

    That scene was really miraculous to the mages standing around the head master, as they already knew Arthur''s orb''s fate. As the orb still stood in the hands of Arthur, they knew something huge was going to happen here.


    However, the head master standing here didn''t share their shocking impression on Arthur, instead he was greatly humiliated and threatened by this young, nameless mage. He glanced deeply at him, with much hatred and anger, trying to figure out a way to stop this test.


    "You, go inside and report a malfunctioning of the main orb, make them shut it down now, or else I won''t be able to approve these test results," the head master had already found his way out, as he used his authority to threaten the academy of not approving of these test results, under the accusation of an error occurring to the main orb.


    However, it never occurred before that the main orb would have an error! Not even once! The mages standing here all knew that, and yet the one who got the order just nodded, and instantly darted towards the inside of the academy.


    What the head master here didn''t know was that the academy already had taken notice of what was going on to the main orb, as the guarding mages responsible for maintaining it had already noticed this bizarre phenomenon occurring to the main orb, and they hurriedly reported it to the higher ups at once.


    In front of these mages'' eyes, the huge orb that reached the size of a ten stories building had been quite stirred up with something, and all the five main forms of energies inside it started to act strangely, like there was something stimulating them all!


    If it was one or two forms of energy, the mages wouldn''t be much surprised by that. it wasn''t rare to find a genius or two among the new batch of the mages partaking the test outside the academy walls, but this time was deemed to be quite different.


    Not only the four main forms of energy got stirred up, the fifth forbidden energy was also restless. It was really strange, as the lightning energy never reacted to anyone before, except for a handful of masters.


    This made them report what happened here to the higher ups, and just as they were waiting for the decision to be made, the mage the head master of the competition sent had just arrived.


    "The head master of the annual competition has a report to make, as he suspects the bias of the orb, an error occurring to it, and requests the main orb to be shut down immediately, or else he wouldn''t approve the current test results."


    The mage stated exactly what his master just told him to say, however the reply he got made him realize the plan of his master was doomed to fail.


    "A failure in the main orb? The main orb never makes a mistake! We have already reported this to the higher ups, just wait here with us until we get the instructions from them," one of the mages responsible for this orb replied, with a faint dissatisfying look over his face.


    Any insult to the main orb was taken as an insult to this group of mages, as they considered their task to maintain the main orb as their sacred task in this life.


    The mage sent by the head master just nodded, as he already had seen such a result even before he moved a finger. His master tried to use his influence to force these mages to follow his orders, but he was slightly late, and the changes occurring here to the main orb weren''t known to his master, which would really enrage him more if he learnt about them.


    His master would aim towards making other mages surpass this youngster later on, but if that youngster already created such a ruckus already, how could his master pull this feat then?


    A bunch of mages surpassing the new genius in the academy without stirring the main orb would be so suspicious! Everyone would know his master had manipulated and interfered illegally in this test, and thus his master position would be questioned even by the higher ups in the academy.


    He sighed, as his master greed was endless, and this greed seemed to lead to his demise so soon.


    Arthur wasn''t aware of any of that, he even wasn''t aware of any time passing on him right now. all his attention was focused on how to utilize this chance to the utmost potential of it.


    His body had already crossed the initial upgrade he had from these energies, and right now he was strengthening the newly formed body and cleansing his energy much more.


    He was so familiar and very experienced at doing that, as the life of cultivators always relied on simply doing these two things! He started to make use of every ounce of energy pouring into his body, not caring of its origin or nature, as long as his body could use it, he wouldn''t hesitate to absorb it.


    His suction force was a new experience for him, and through it he felt the presence of such a large place full of energies at the end of this orb''s connection. He didn''t busy himself with thinking about the nature of this, or if there were any consequences for his actions or not, all he cared about was to get stronger.


    Even if there were consequences, and what he was doing was greatly forbidden in the academy, what he gained would be his, and no one could take anything back.


    That made his greed for more growth much fiercer, as he doubted he would enjoy such luxurious coincidental treatment again.


    As inside the academy, as the mages stood there waiting for the reply of the higher ups, a group of mages suddenly appeared in the place, making them all startled, feeling very nervous, and gave a scare to them.


    These mages weren''t any normal ones, as each single mage of them had already a very respectful place inside the supreme council of the academy, and the most shocking thing was that they were led by the vice dean of the academy herself!


    She was such a legendary figure already, riding over her extremely renown monster, the legendary phoenix!


    They were five mages, and in addition to the vice dean, the other famous mage was also present, Cesile!


    "Oho, this quite a scene to behold," Cesile chuckled the moment her eyes fell over this large orb, as she recognized what was going on here with a single glance.


    She wasn''t the only one to recognize these changes, as the other four beside her had already recognized this scene. "Never thought someone would be crazy enough to directly connect to the main orb, does he have a suicidal wish?" the vice dean softly murmured, with her extremely cold and straight forward face that never showed any other reaction other than this!


    The ice queen of the academy, that was strangely her name, despite her main attribute was fire!


    "Don''t speak about this mage like this, Amanda, this mage is really courageous and he or she must be commended for this action," one of the three male mages replied, as he was standing on the back of his legendary flying falcon with three heads, five pairs of wings, and a long snake-like armed tail with body covered in thick brown scales instead of feathers.


    "Otman, don''t give this mage credit yet until he or she finishes the test with their life intact!" Amanda replied, with her cold usual tone, before she glanced at the group of mages down there before asking the one sent to her by the head master:


    "You are from the competition, what are you doing here?"


    The mage really got a scare, and his feet were now soft. He knew his master''s position in the academy was so high, but not even close to be compared to any of the five standing up above. As he hesitated, out of fear, another mage of the five said:


    "Please show some mercy on the poor child, he already is about to die in his place from fear."


    "Sigh, just reply, and don''t be afraid, we won''t bite you," another mage said, while his face expression showed he would delightedly do that to him.


    "M-My master sent me here to check on the main orb, as something weird was going on with one of the mages at the test," the mage replied, keeping the threats of his master hidden from these mighty beings.


    "He was sent by the head master of the annual competition asking with great audacity to shut down the main orb or else he wouldn''t approve the results of the test," one of the mages who were tasked by maintaining the main orb hurriedly said, with great rage inside him from the precious insult he and his fellows took here from that head master!

 Chapter 177: Facing The Questions of the Big Five!

    "What did you just say?" Amanda asked, as she narrowed her eyes, and this move made the mage sent by the head master lose his control over his legs, which went so soft already, making his clash hardly on the ground with both of his knees.


    "Sigh, it seems that Rolaf has gone beyond his limits again, blinded with his greed," Cesile sighed, before adding, "let''s go, I want to see this mage already, and might as well extend an invitation to him or her."


    "Cesile! You already got one to join your faction from the new mages! Leave that one to the poor me," Otman hurriedly complained, while the five of them left, heading straight towards the gate of the academy.


    The poor mage sent by Rolaf sighed in relief, as he thought for a moment there his life would be taken by the vice dean!


    Rolaf didn''t know he caused such great trouble to himself. He never imagined such a young mage would cause enough stir, enough to attract the attention of such big shots.


    They descended upon him like a calamity befalling silently without any warning. Just as he noticed their mighty presence, he swallowed his dry throat as he muttered to himself, inwardly cursing:


    "What this useless one did exactly?!! I''m going to kill him!!!"


    "Oho, this is quite a surprise indeed," Cesile shouted in great surprise when her eyes fell upon the mage who was causing such a stir. She never imagined Arthur to be the one causing this ruckus already!


    "Do you know him?" Amanda asked.


    "Yes, he is the mage I told you about from before," she giggled as she replied with much pride and ecstasy.


    "No way, how your luck is always domineering!" Otman complained loudly, as the other two beside him just shook their heads in regret. This golden boy had already fallen in the hands of Cesile, and that would be a great boost to her future strength without doubt.


    "This mage is really interesting," Amanda suddenly commented, while her eyes shone, with an extremely rare light of admiration, "he can absorb all the five energies at the same time, and his body is doing a great job shouldering them all!" she added, as she stated what her keen and superb eyes noticed.


    "All the five at once? that''s very rare!" one of the three male mages replied, as he had a very giant body reaching five meters in length, with broad muscles and long hair, gathered together in a long cylindrical golden ore that made it take the shape of a curved sword, like the legendary one he was standing above right now.


    "That''s extremely rare, I only heard of a dozen mages before achieving this feat in the long history of the academy," Cesile hurriedly added, taking pride in the achievements of her disciple as her own.


    "It''s not a dozen, it''s over fifty mages, making this not a very rare thing," Amanda commented, correcting the wrong Cesile just made, "but what makes him unique is his extraordinary ability to utilize the five energies simultaneously, without his body being shattered from the toll of them combined," she added, while stating the unique point in Arthur''s performance.


    The five totally ignored Rolaf, and that was quite expected, as his position in the supreme council of the academy was much lower than them. this didn''t irritate him, in fact he prayed they would keep ignoring him like that, and soon leave this place for good.


    However, his dreams were shattered the next moment, as Cesile glanced at him as she said in a cold tone:


    "So, you were trying to scheme against my disciple, huh?!"


    Her words made his face change, as he hurriedly defended himself:


    "This isn''t true, I tried to be fair here."


    "Fair? How come this disciple got in contact with fire and ice energies from the beginning?" Amanda was the one to speak up, as she addressed Arthur as being already a disciple in the academy, not just a random mage. "Who is in charge of controlling the orb test?" she added, totally ignoring the about to freak out Rolaf, as she passed her gaze over the extremely terrified mages behind him.


    "M-M- Me," the poor mage who had a backlash from trying to shut down the orb forcibly replied, coming from the distance with a ashen white face, and a big palm mark over his.


    Amanda just glanced silently at him, while Cesile raised one eyebrow as she muttered:


    "You went too far this time Rolaf, did you hit the mage to force him in doing what you desire?"


    "No, that''s nonsense, I didn''t do anything to him," Rolaf replied, as he glanced with extreme threatening gaze towards the mage, who was now feeling himself coming so near from the death doorsteps, and this feeling gave him such a feeling that he never cared about anything anymore!


    "No, you are a liar!" the mage bellowed with extreme hatred and anger boiling in his tone, "he had forced me to manipulate the test, and asked me to shut down the test using the orb''s daughter, and when I got a backlash from it, he just slapped me, ruthlessly, aiming to kill me, and he shattered the orb''s daughter with his own hands!"


    "That''s a lie, this is a dirty scheme to destroy me!" Rolaf hurriedly shouted back, trying to defend himself. after all, his word was now against this mere weaker mage, that no one would ever notice.


    "Really?" however, he underestimated his current crisis he was in right now, "then where is the orb''s daughter?" Cesile asked with an extremely cold tone, as everyone here knew what it meant for destroying the orb''s daughter when a mage was using the mother in training or at a test!


    If he crushed the orb''s daughter, and succeeded in shattering the mother orb, Arthur would be subjected to a severe backlash already, making him lose a lot of his gains, and also be weakened for a very long time.

 Chapter 178: Amandas Shocking Declaration

    Rolaf pointed towards the mother orb in Arthur''s hands as he hurriedly shouted back:


    "The mother orb is intact, how come I destroyed the daughter?"


    "Then bring it to me to see now," Amanda simply declared, making Rolaf stutter and not knowing what to say!


    He already destroyed the daughter, but he couldn''t tell them that!


    "How should I know that? I''m not the one responsible for managing the orb test. just ask him, he is the one responsible for that, not me!" he shamelessly said, throwing everything over the shoulders of the poor mage, who couldn''t believe how shameless Rolaf was.


    Before this poor mage could say anything, Amanda said:


    "You are the head master of this test. if you couldn''t even know what your direct followers are doing, how can we trust you to be the head of this test?"


    Her words were direct and heavy, and her tone was loud so everyone here could clearly hear her. She didn''t care about anyone''s image or reputation, as she was like a sharp sword, making a single mistake and she wouldn''t hesitate to ruthlessly cut you in half in front of everyone''s eyes!


    "From this moment on, you are relieved from your duties as the head master of this test. You will go and confine yourself at the supreme council until the next meeting, not to see anyone, not to meet anyone, not to talk to anyone. Violate my orders, and I won''t hesitate to severe your head off your shoulders."


    Her decree was direct and severe as usual, and Rolaf knew he had already fallen so deep into the pit he had dug with his own hands. he opened his mouth once, but the cold glance he received from everyone of the great five in front of him made him stop, swallow any defensive words he planned to use, and started to move, dejectedly, away from here, vanishing behind the academy gate.


    Just simply like that, a mighty being for everyone, untouchable master, was treated with such severity when he broke the laws.


    The academy was famous for her strict rules, as long as you didn''t get caught, you can do whatever you want, but if you once got caught, you wouldn''t have a way out of your crimes, no matter who you were, or who you had as a backing!


    "You, go back to the academy and inform the supreme council main attendant there with my orders. Then head straight towards the infirmary, and have yourself treated. Also make the attendant send one in your replacement," Amanda said, as she then turned her gaze towards Arthur, closely watching the changes that were occurring to his body with much interest.


    As for the other four around her, she never glanced for them even once to take their opinions about her decisions. This was her nature, and they didn''t find any insult on her behavior.


    As for Cesile, she was the happiest one here, as the mage she spotted before coming here turned out to be such a prodigy!


    She knew Arthur was special, but she never imagined he would be as such! She watched, with the other four beside her, Arthur and waited for his training to finish.


    This wasn''t a test anymore, it was a training session he was having right now, and a very high quality one!


    "How much longer will he be able to maintain this miraculous state?" Otman suddenly asked, as he was very interested in Arthur right now.


    "It''s so hard to tell, as the records of old stated different times of the over fifty mages achieving such feat," Amanda replied with her calm cold tone, "but no one had every exceeded the mark of two hours," she then turned to glance at one mage of those who were assisting Rolaf from before and asked:


    "How much time has elapsed since his test started?"


    The mage was startled, and he hurriedly replied, in an extreme respectful tone:


    "He has lasted for one hour currently, esteemed vice dean."


    "Hmm, so he has another one hour then," Amanda muttered, before saying, "Alright, let''s all wait here for him to finish, and Cesile this gem can''t be eaten by you alone."


    "What?!" Cesile exclaimed out in shock, as she complained like a little girl, "that''s unfair! I already told you before about him."


    "You little rascal played us all! you said he was an interesting promising mage, not a prodigy one!" the giant Slone standing on a sword said, as he was joking with Cesile.


    "That''s not fair!" she again repeated her only complaint, despite knowing that her cause was already lost. Her main competitors were eyeing Arthur already. "I didn''t know he was such a prodigy! You should commend me on my superb eyes, not reprimand me like this," she added, while pouting out her lips in a childish way.


    "Oh, you did great, you really have great eyes, but this mage isn''t yours, he has to choose personally between the five of us," Otman spoke up, with a joking tone, as he was already very happy with Amanda''s decree.


    Everyone here knew that Amanda''s words had their weight, and they weren''t casual at all. Any single word she said was a decision, and no one could make her return in her decision, except the dean.


    "You are treating me ill, I will complain to Mr. E when he comes back!"


    "Go and weep even to him, he won''t respond to your pleadings, so just try to think of ways to beat us," Amanda said, as she stated her desire to gain this mage.


    "Us?! Are you planning to compete with the four of us over him?" Ercary, the only mage who remained silent all this time suddenly spoke up, with his whale-like flying monster over a large pillow of cloud like a big bed for his monster exclaimed out in shock.


    "Yes, aren''t I allowed to add more disciples under me?" Amanda simply replied, like this was something usual and normal to occur.

 Chapter 179: Amandas Hidden Reason

    "B-But, you never accepted a disciple since your last one," Otman carefully said, as this topic was already a forbidden one to speak up with Amanda. This was a known fact, as her first disciple ever, and the one who held her heart at that time, betrayed her, betraying the academy, making her forced to kill him with her own hands, and since then she never smiled, ever again!


    Amanda''s face didn''t change, but the vibe coming from her changed drastically to be extremely terrifying. This topic was really and off one to speak about, however her current decision made the four feel extremely skeptical about this.


    She never accepted a disciple ever before. Amanda didn''t say another word, as she knew her reasons to decide that were only appreciated by her alone.


    The moment she saw him, she was reminded by that mage of the past, very special, very promising, very unique. However that mage had already betrayed the academy, and despite her killing him, he had left a great rift inside the academy that up till date wasn''t cured or healed.


    She decided to adopt this mage, watch him closely, and if he showed any doubtful actions, she wouldn''t hesitate to kill him!


    That intention of her made everyone feel the coldness in her air, and after some moments, she regained her previous composure, and glanced at Arthur with a very serious look.


    Cesile, on the side, knew she was going on a losing competition here, and this was also what the other three thought of. This vice dean was already a hegemony that no sane person would refuse to be under her.


    Everyone helplessly sighed, and all the excitement they had from before vanished completely. Arthur was considered to be already taken!


    As for Arthur, the main instigator of all this, he didn''t realize his actions had attracted the attention of such a merciless predator. He was immersed in his own world, where he felt that his own energy was about to take a giant leap to the next level, however there was something that kept him from doing so.


    That hideous cursed book of his dragonair faction!


    Every time his energy would soar and gain momentum, he felt some strange wisps coming towards him from the ring in his finger. These wisps fouled his energy, preventing him from moving forward even a single step higher!


    ''That damned dragonair master of the old! I couldn''t believe a dead man could do all this, even after all this time!''


    The only way for him was to distract his thoughts, try to fight these wisps, however every time he managed to isolate some, others would appear instantly to defile his energy again!


    ''This isn''t good! That book is really troublesome!''


    He didn''t know what else to do! His body had already reached a dead end in his upgrade, and he had the feeling his body and energy required slight push forward and he would reach a new level, where he could utilize all these absorbed energies.


    However, this small feat couldn''t be achieved now! that book with that cursed soul in it stood in his way!


    The only way he had right now was to stop this training session, remove that ring, and then he would continue again. however, he doubted the academy officials would let him do that!


    This made him in such a dilemma, and he started to think about other ways to deal with that book.


    ''Why don''t I try and summon it here? I might have a hard battle, but at least I would have a chance!'' he muttered to himself, and the next moment he tried to delve with his consciousness into his ring, summoning the book here.


    Just as he tried to do so, the book suddenly appeared inside his soul, floating there calmly, yet it was surrounded with a very evil aura!


    This sudden move of his caused his ring on the outside to cause some fluctuations, very minute though, yet they weren''t missed by the keen eyes of Amanda.


    "Stay here," she muttered, as she instantly disappeared as she reappeared the next moment beside Arthur''s body. she then put her palm over his back, and closed her eyes.


    "What is she trying to do?" Otman muttered, while Cesile recalled the time she tried to pry over Arthur''s body. she just smiled, faintly, without saying a word, as she knew Arthur would react fiercely to Amanda''s intervention.


    However, nothing happened, which made her wonder about what was going on with Arthur right now, was he ok?


    Inside Arthur''s body, the moment the book appeared there, it suddenly opened its pages, fast flashing them like it was possessed. The first ten pages were flipped fast, and the eleven pages appeared there, where a hideous face was drawn, with eyes closed, and darkness surrounding him.


    The moment this face appeared, Arthur felt a shudder in his heart, extreme innate fear from the depth of his soul, as if he met a predator, his nemesis.


    And suddenly, that face had its eyes opened, directly glancing at him!


    "Kakaka, you foolish little mage! Do you think you can get rid of me this easily? Kakaka!"


    Just as these words erupted, the face suddenly started to control darkness around it, stirring it like it was boiling fog. The next moment two things occurred, the darkness started to move outside the book, like silent toxic gas, and the wisp of will of Amanda entered his body!


    "Help!"


    He didn''t care who was prying on his body, as he screamed out in panic, as he hurriedly shouted:


    "This is a cursed soul technique, aimed to completely shatter my soul and gain control over my body!"


    His words were perfectly heard by Amanda, who got shocked by the scene she just saw right now. she knew something was off the moment she felt these fluctuations on his ring, as she sensed a very evil and very ancient aura that she would never forget!

 Chapter 180: A Very Dangerous Soul Battle

    It was the same aura of her past disciple!!


    She didn''t act at once, as she first inspected Arthur''s body, making sure this aura didn''t come from him, but from that cursed book. The face drawn of this book showed a confident sneer, mocking Arthur for his naivety, and didn''t realize there was someone else there.


    ''Hang on inside, I will do something to help you!''


    Arthur heard a strange female voice, but he didn''t care about her identity, all he cared about was how to kill this face. He knew this wasn''t the whole soul of that old hideous dragonair, but if he wanted to live, he had to kill this face.


    He was so poor in regard to soul battles, but at least he now had a glimpse of hope. The next moment he controlled his energy, moved it towards that black fog.


    The moment the two collided, a sizzling sound erupted, with his energy being on the losing foot here. ''Just give up already, you are no match to me!'' the mocking sound of that old dragonair came again, making fun of his futile attempt.


    However Arthur didn''t stop, instead he used all the energies his body was now absorbing to fight back. Despite the huge amount of energy used in doing so, he was yet to lose the fight, but the speed at which this black fog was spreading into his soul and mind was now slowing, making Arthur heave a long sigh of relief.


    His task wasn''t to kill this fouled cursed soul, but to delay its spread, until that mysterious helper of his would find a way to help him.


    As for Amanda, the next moment she opened her eyes, she hurriedly glanced at the other four as she hurriedly shouted:


    "Hurry up, come here to help!"


    Her shout wasn''t received lightly by them, as they all moved, instantly appearing beside her, while their faces were very grim and so serious.


    "What''s wrong? is he ok?" Cesile hurriedly asked with much worry, as she knew Amanda wouldn''t be this troubled without a very serious reason!


    "There is no time, we need to initiate the soul cleavage diagram now!"


    "Soul cleavage! You don''t want to kill his soul!!!" Cesile was shocked by Amanda''s intentions, but Amanda hurriedly took her place in this five person diagram as she added:


    "Not him, there is a really fouled curse inside him. if we don''t hurry, we would lose him forever!"


    There were no more words to say, as everyone just jumped to take their position in this mighty diagram. This soul cleavage diagram was used to kill old ancient soul creatures in their world, a very famous and one of the top secrets of the academy.


    A weapon that helped to shape the current fame and prestige of the academy! It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say if not for it, the academy would have long been destroyed by her enemies!


    The moment everyone was in their places, they closed their eyes, and their hands started to move, in flashing moves, very synchronized together, making anyone seeing them unable to take his eyes away.


    However, despite the moves of hands being apparent in front of everyone, no one could really make sure of what moves were done here!


    It was one of the most complex diagrams in their world! they kept using the moves for a couple of minutes, before a wave of energy suddenly started to appear, forming a five angled star structure, made entirely of energy.


    "Look, isn''t it the legendary soul cleavage diagram? The five angled star diagram?!!"


    Shouts of shocked exclamations erupted everywhere around them, as many mages already identified this legendary diagram, as they heard a lot of legendary stories about it.


    The mages gasped in shock, but the five masters never paid attention to them. They all knew this diagram was impossible to be cracked by seeing, as they took years of learning and practicing it until they managed to be able to do it.


    In the ten minutes after initiating this diagram, the shape of the star built of energy changed, to be like a mighty tornado, while Arthur''s body was in the eye of it.


    Arthur didn''t have it easy this time, as his body was oozing sweat while his soul was raged by the intense fight occurring between his energy and that cursed black fog of that old dragonair.


    The fight was meaningless for the cursed soul, as that dragonair was just enjoying his time, knowing he would eventually smash Arthur''s resistance and claim his soul.


    However, after the passage of ten stressful minutes on Arthur, a sudden appearance of a large sickle in his soul startled him. At first he thought it was another trick of that cursed soul, but when he sensed the fearful reaction that soul gave, as the whole book shivered the moment that sickle appeared, he realized this sickle wasn''t here to attack him, but to help.


    ''Finally!'' he heaved a long sigh of relief, where he took away all the exhaustion and stress piled up inside him during the last ten minutes. The sickle didn''t wait, as it moved, in a slow speed, towards that book. Arthur felt this sickle was being controlled, and he was right in his guess.


    At this moment, the five masters all delved deeply inside his soul, as they were all controlling the sickle, to move towards that cursed book. The book tried to escape, move at any place away from this sickle, however this wasn''t accessible to it, as Arthur had already surrounded his soul with his energy, preventing this book from even leaving there.


    Any darkness touched that sickle shattered instantly and turned into wisps of purified energy absorbed by Arthur''s soul and body. to his astonishment, the amount of this energy was really superb, even higher than what he was currently absorbing from the main orb.


    The book kept running for the next couple of minutes, however it was doomed to be hit by the sickle in the end

 Chapter 181: Arthur Finishing the First Test

    When all the darkness it spread got purified by the sickle, the next thing that happened was the book being shattered in two halves by this sickle, causing a minute explosion inside Arthur''s soul.


    "Boom!"


    This wasn''t the sound of an explosion inside Arthur''s body, however it was an explosive shock that happened from his body, where the walls holding back his energy suddenly shattered, and his energy soared to reach another level.


    "Boom!"


    Another explosion occurred as his soul and body absorbed the purified enormous energy from that book. Arthur''s energy kept rising in an explosive way, jumping directly to the next level without any restraints this time.


    "Good lad," Cesile commended as she knew Arthur had reached a higher level in his talent and strength would subsequently rise as well. "But what was that cursed book?" Otman asked, as this book gave him a very bad feeling.


    "It''s a cursed relic done by the dark side," Amanda simply replied, and her words made the others understand what was going on here, and also shut down their mouths and not ask anymore about it.


    The dark side incident that happened years ago was caused by the betrayal of her disciple, and thus they refrained from delving deeper in front of her about this topic.


    "Let''s go back, this kid is going to be fine on his own," Amanda suddenly said, and when she noticed the doubtful looks over their faces, she added, "he isn''t yet part of our academy. He still has a competition to win, and he must score higher than anyone in it. if not, then all we have done for him so far would be in vain."


    They knew she was right, as they totally forgot the simple fact that he wasn''t a student in the academy yet. No one here had the doubt that Arthur would succeed in this competition, and even would be the top ranked mage in it. however, they had to follow the rules, and be an example for others.


    So, they all retreated, and in their path, they met the new assigned master for the test. He was another clan son master, but Amanda never cared about this, as she herself was also a clan daughter master, despite she shattered all the relations with her clan long time ago.


    "Hi esteemed masters, I was informed to go and supervise the annual competition," this master respectively said, as he noticed their presence at the gate of the academy.


    "Tony, I will trust things here in your hand. Don''t try and change anything, it''s already too late to do that. just go on with the previous preparations, and if you need anything, just inform me."


    Amanda just said these words casually, before she continued in her way, accompanied by everyone else, except for Cesile, who just delayed herself from others, and whispered in a soft cold tone:


    "Tony, don''t try to play tricks with my favorite disciple, or else no one would be there to help you."


    Tony nodded, despite smirking in his heart in response to her warning. When he heard the news, he had already gotten contacted by all the great clans and guilds, and he had made his part of the deal with them.


    Despite knowing how terrifying Cesile was, he knew if he just played by the rules, nothing bad would happen to him. Tony believed Rolaf was an idiot to act this careless and commit all these mistakes directly under his authority, as this wasn''t wise at all.


    As for him, he would be much cautious, do everything in the dark without being detected, and be safe while he would achieve his goals.


    He passed the slightly opened gate of the academy, and his eyes fell over Arthur, who was currently immersed in absorbing the energy from the orb.


    ''Sigh, another monster is showing up! This academy is really a cursed place! from where these monsters kept popping up? Anyway, I don''t know why you hurt Rolaf this bad, but it''s your own deeds lad to gain the wrath of his clan.''


    Tony thought to himself, as he already received a kill mission from the Rolaf clan, asking him to get rid of Arthur before entering the academy. Tony then walked towards the main masters presiding over this competition, and started to arrange things there.


    As for Arthur, he was in a whole different world, where the moment of his energy shattered the walls holding it, his energy had a new area to expand to.


    Arthur didn''t need to do anything, as his energy was already hungry for expansion, reaching new heights in density and clarity, making him only watch and enjoy this marvelous feeling.


    He continued for a couple of hours more, while Tony ordered for the other orbs to resume their test. The ruckus caused by Arthur''s test had already delayed the testing phase for such a long time.


    After two and half more hours, Arthur''s body had reached its saturated state, where no more energy could be used. He knew this state well, as this indicated his new strength needed to be used frequently, to be stabilized.


    He sighed, as he regretted leaving this treasure trove now. he just opened his eyes, moved his hands, and glanced around him. the moment he did so, he attracted everyone''s attention in this area, making him feel quite embarrassed.


    He glanced around for the owner of that voice, the one who came to help him, however he found none. He knew he must have taken a lot of time in this test, and that person might have left a long time ago.


    "Great record you made here, mage Willy."


    Suddenly this strange voice came from behind him while he was standing there in daze. He turned to see Tony walking slowly towards him, with a calm expression over his face. "My name is Tony, and I''m the head master, the new one, of this competition," Tony added, as he decided to take the initiative and get to know his target.

 Chapter 182: Taking the Second Test

    "The new head master?!" Arthur muttered, as he realized many things happened while he was in his training. "Thanks for the praise, master Tony," Arthur replied with courtesy, while bowing his head slightly to Tony.


    "Good lad, so humble that makes one admire! Now, go to be tested there," Tony said with a warm smile, as he pointed towards a place close by. "There you will get your inner demon rank tested," he added, as he tried to play the role of the good master in front of Arthur.


    "Thanks for the help, master Tony, I will go now," Arthur excused himself, and went towards that test area. He knew he didn''t have any inner demon, and so he didn''t put any attention or hope over this test.


    He would fail miserably at it, and he was totally prepared for that!


    "Please stand still as I will insert a wisp of my energy into your body to test your innate talent, potentials, and the level of the inner demon."


    The master who was responsible for the test said everything related to what he was going to do. Arthur noticed that this master was acting more respectful to him than other masters treating other mages.


    He didn''t reject the good treatment, though, and he had some speculations about why he was getting such attention. ''It seems I managed to cause a little stir in the academy,'' he thought to himself, while chuckling inwardly.


    He stood still, as this was the second time today someone inserted energy inside his body. as he stood still, thinking of the depressed expression over the man in front of him, he was astonished to see the expression of this mage change, as he was showing shocked expression.


    "Impossible!" the master muttered with an extremely shocked expression when he opened his eyes. He glanced at Arthur with doubt, as he shook his head while muttering something Arthur didn''t hear.


    "What''s wrong master Dern? Everything is alright?" Tony suddenly came to ask the master who was having a shocking expression after testing Arthur. "It''s a bizarre thing master Tony, very bizarre. He is a prodigy with no inner demon at all inside him! it''s so weird, really impossible!"


    The master called Dern said with shocked expression, while Tony glanced towards Arthur with doubt, as he muttered:


    "How can this be? The energy he absorbed would be enough to kill any useless common person hundreds and thousands of times already!"


    Arthur heard the causal expression of Tony, and his previous good impression about him slightly changed. He didn''t show anything on his face, but he started to feel some doubts towards the true intentions of this master.


    Was he really kind and gentle? Or a wolf disguised in a dog skin?


    "That''s not all," Dern said, "he had a very high potential, extremely high potential," he added, while shaking his head.


    "How can he have no inner demon and he had high potential? Isn''t potential based on assessing the inner demons inside his body?" Tony asked, with much doubt over his face.


    "That''s why I said it''s impossible," Darn repeated his own words, while helplessly shaking his head.


    "Tell me, what is the rank of his potential?" Tony suddenly asked.


    "It''s extremely high, at least a grand master potential caliber," Dern replied without any second thoughts.


    "What?!! Are you sure?!!" Tony sharply turned towards Dern, as this was something that really shocked him.


    "Master Tony, I know my job very well. This lad is really something."


    "But he has no inner demon, how did you test his potential then?"


    "I know it''s impossible to believe, but his body had such monstrous potential, without having an inner demon at all!"


    Tony remained silent for a while, as his face showed a happy expression. Arthur just glanced at him, while Dern mistook this as a happiness for finding a genius.


    However what made Tony very delighted was that these news would make the price tag over Arthur''s head soar! He also knew many clans and guilds would be much interested in killing such a very potential threat, and that meant he would gain much more benefits that he had already received!


    "Alright, you go back now, and wait until everyone has finished the two tests, and then we all will head into the pocket world." Tony then paused, before adding with a fake smile, "Just take care of yourself, as many people have their eyes already fixed over you."


    ''For good or bad intentions then?'' Arthur muttered to himself, while he respectively replied:


    "Thanks for master Tony advice, I will now retreat and wait for the competition to start."


    Arthur then retreated under the watchful gazes of Tony and Dern, while Tony was imagining the huge wealth he would gain from killing this lad.


    "Give me these results, I will personally deliver them to lady Amanda," Tony suddenly turned to Dern and claimed the results of Arthur. Dern mistook this as a good gesture from Tony, and he, with purely good intentions, handed the page of results regarding Arthur to him.


    Tony then checked the page again, before nodding and putting them away, before adding:


    "I hope you keep silent about this, until Lady Amanda finds a way to protect the kid."


    "Is he in danger?"


    "Sure, do you think Rolaf will let things bypass easily like this? Let''s not put much pressure already over the lad, and try to help in protecting him."


    Dern nodded, as he promised Tony not to tell anyone about these results. As for Tony, he knew if he wanted to keep this secret hidden, a promising word from Dern wasn''t enough.


    ''Sorry buddie, you will need to sacrifice your life for this secret to be hidden,'' Tony thought to himself, while laughing a very evil laugh inwardly as he retreated into the academy gates, vanished there from everyone eyes, before sending many bird''s wings to all the clans and guilds'' representatives, informing them about the news.

 Chapter 183: The Great Clans and Guilds Contact Arthur Again

    As for Arthur, he just put a note over Tony in his mind, before returning towards his team again. throughout the way though, he was the focus of everyone gazes.


    A few were kind and showing their impressive admiration to him, while the most were brimming with hatred already. He sighed, as he didn''t aim to be the public enemy, not like that.


    What he didn''t know, though, that his luck was really good. The previous mages who showed such a talent before were all punished secretly by Rolaf. He also was punished, but his punishment turned out to be a blessing, making him want to thank Rolaf, not kill him.


    As he finally reached his team, and they welcomed his return like a king returning with the heads of his archenemies, with much pride and extreme joy.


    "Great performance, our clan head is mighty!" Amelia was the first to welcome him, as her face showed a tinge of redness when her eyes directly met him.


    Right now, Arthur was emitting a very masculine aura, making all the females here sweat and nervous when looking directly in his eyes.


    "Thanks, tell me what happened when I was immersed in the test?" he casually asked, but his question made everyone, literally everyone jump towards him, while they started to speak all in one breath!


    He raised his hand high, as he hurriedly stopped them. he then said:


    "Calm down, just one person tells me what happened so I can understand!"


    Noura, who was still standing in the team, took the initiative to explain what happened:


    "You attracted these big shots to yourself, and made them use the legendary diagram on you, and you don''t know what happened!"


    She didn''t inform him of anything useful, except that he got the help of big masters in the academy. "Did Cesile show up?" he asked.


    "Yes, but she wasn''t the highest one to appear here," Noura replied, as she identified the five masters who appeared here by a single glance, "you attracted the attention of the ice queen of the academy, you are really courageous or have a death wish or both!"


    Arthur still understood nothing from her words, or why she said he had a death wish!


    "Who is she? Can you explain slowly what happened?"


    Ron decided to save him, as he interfered as he said:


    "Five masters suddenly showed up, had a small quarrel with the previous master leading this test, before he went inside the academy, and a new one just appeared. Ah, in the middle of their presence, they did gather around you and did something that resembled a big star. After that they left, and Cesile was with them."


    Ron''s words made him understand the general events that happened during he was in his test. he then turned to Noura, who hurriedly said, with a joking tone:


    "These weren''t just normal masters, but five of the top five masters in the academy, led by Lady Amanda herself, the famous ice queen, the vice dean of our academy!"


    Noura''s words made Arthur be more interested, as he asked, and he already knew the answer to his:


    "Is she higher than Cesile?"


    "She is, but don''t dream of cursing yourself and think of joining her faction."


    Noura''s reply startled him, as he stopped at her comment and asked again:


    "What curse? Isn''t she the vice dean? Much stronger than Cesile?"


    "Sigh," she shook her head, before she added, "she had an accident back in her early days, as her first student betrayed the academy, and she had to kill him. This topic is considered a taboo, as she didn''t jump over it even after the passage of all these years. Up till now, she didn''t accept any student to be under her, not a single one!"


    Noura wanted to make him let go of this crazy idea, however her words made him more interested, as he asked:


    "Was she the one that jumped first to me?"


    "You mean inspected your body? I think she is, after all we were all right here, far away from the centre of commotion around you."


    Noura''s answer was enough for him, as he now understood that Amanda had helped him already, showing her interest in him.


    He also felt some gratitude for her, as she had stepped in the decisive moment, changing the dark fate he would have faced if he stood against that cursed book alone.


    He recalled that book, as he had already saved the two halved parts of it. he didn''t know if it lost its functions or not, but he stored it hoping he might find a way to fix it in the future.


    "Have you finished your tests?" he asked everyone around him, and they all nodded, while Madly said with much envy:


    "We all scored good results, but of course nothing compared with you, monster!"


    Everyone chuckled at her remark, as for them Arthur was a monster, a good monster indeed as he was their boss. For others perhaps Arthur was a major problem, but for all of them, he was a blessing.


    The testing phase continued for a long time, and during which Arthur was resting and trying to assess his new obtained strength. He just hoped his new power would be enough to not forcibly transform into a dragon, but he knew he couldn''t ascertain this right now.


    He needed to fight, as during battle he would be able to assess his strength. Just as he was immersed in his thoughts, a bird''s wing kicked suddenly in, interrupting his thoughts, and made him open the letter and read it with some anger.


    However, the moment he read its content, a smile pushed its way over his face. His previous plot had already started to show results. In the next minutes, more and more bird''s wings appeared, and all had the same words in them.


    "We need two thousand potions for healing our diseased mages. The payment was sent to you already."

 Chapter 184: Amanda is Spying on Him

    This was the repeated message coming from the clans and guilds he already had dealt with. He didn''t know that the actual number of mages being infected was much higher than what these clans and guilds asked for.


    These clans and guilds weren''t ignorant to that, or acting stingy, as the orders coming from their headquarters stated to ask for a small amount of potions first.


    Their clans and guilds had already sent very experienced potion masters to analyze this potion, in a try to mimic Arthur''s actions and make these potions by themselves.


    These clans and guilds suspected that this place was already infected for a long time with this strange toxin, as more mages passed through this place, and all started to show signs of being intoxicated with this mysterious toxin.


    For them, having this potion formula meant not only to cure their mages, but also a source of great wealth, and a means to have more privilege over random mages. They tried to decipher this potion, but so far they failed miserably in this.


    The competition was about to start soon, and so their superiors instructed them to ask for another batch of potions, making the reserve Arthur had of it be depleted.


    Arthur just inspected his rings, to find many materials, monster cores, bird''s wings, and even weapons lying peacefully there in great quantities, making his smile be much bigger.


    He didn''t delay as he sent these clans and guilds the potions they asked for, knowing that in the competition, their infected mages would relapse with time, showing more severe symptoms, making him gain more than he was right now.


    Also he would keep this as a pressure card, a hidden weapon against any clan or guild that would be foolish enough to target him or his team inside this trial.


    He had his reserve depleted, and so he needed to make more!


    "Take these bird''s wings everyone, they are all connected to me. when the time of the trial to start approaches, just inform me at once."


    He gave one thousand bird''s wings to Amelia and Ron to spread them among everyone, and then he started to move away from here. They wanted to ask him about where he was going, but they didn''t as they knew he must have a good reason to disappear from here at this time.


    The sun was already heading to its demise, as this day would end and the night would start. Arthur had a feeling that the trial might start at dawn, or best at the late hours of the day, which would give him more time to make potions.


    Arthur didn''t realize he was watched, not only by the mages partaking in this trial, but also from the keen eyes of Amanda, who didn''t lift her eye off him even for a single moment.


    The fight she stepped into made a huge storm already inside her soul. She heard what Tony said with Dern, and knew what he did, destroying the paper that contained the results of Arthur''s test.


    She didn''t move against Tony, as just destroying the results like this wasn''t enough reason for her to punish him. she was certain, this Tony was just deviled as anyone coming from the major clans and guilds.


    Despite being one of these mages, she had already severed any relation with her clan, as part of the treason came by the support of the major clans and guilds, including hers.


    She watched Arthur going deep into the forest, being followed by many mages, while her mind was thinking hard about the origin of Arthur.


    What she sensed of his body gave her a clear understanding of how powerful he currently was. Such a strong mage couldn''t simply be without an inner demon, unless he was himself one of those ancient monsters of the old times.


    As she sat inside her palace in the academy, she had several books opened in front of her, as her eyes were reading these texts, jumping over one legend after another, while her mind kept observing Arthur and wondering what he was going to do right now.


    Arthur walked for an hour, before he selected a spot where he could work without being seen. This place was a small hill, surrounded by thick trees that looked like a giant sleeping on the ground among the dim dying light of the day.


    He already sensed those mages following him, and he didn''t care about their spying, as he would work on the potion here, and they wouldn''t tell what he was doing.


    The next thing he did was to get out all his materials, started a fire, and laid down his cauldron over it.


    "Oh, interesting, quite interesting. You are going to make potions at this tight time, are you nervous?"


    Amanda just muttered these words, as she was already surprised by what Arthur was doing. She closed the book in hand, as she started to closely observe what he was making.


    "A healing potion? Hmm¡­" she just muttered softly as her mind instantly recognized the type of potion he was making. "Your steps and line of thoughts are really revolutionary, but this potion is limited by the materials you are using. Either you are limited by the resources in your hand, or you are faking this potion for some reason."


    With just this single glance, she managed to see through him. she felt he was faking this potion, and that thought made her much more interested in him. so, she widened her gaze and started to search wide for places around the academy, as her guts told her whatever he was making, it was related to some place close to here.


    In two hours, as Arthur was successfully making tons of his potions, Amanda managed to spot the place of the lake, where she sensed the presence of the airborne, very rare toxin there.


    "The dark side, again?!!!" this time she was really stimulated by this, as she found traces of the notorious dark mages there.

 Chapter 185: Facing Large Team of Mages Blocking His Retreat

    She rapidly spotted the place where the toxin was emitted, and for one moment she was about to move, go there, and kill this source of foulness.


    However, just as she was glancing over the camps of guilds and clans there, she noticed their sickened mages, and surprisingly all of them were now taking potions similar to the one Arthur was making.


    She hesitated, before she decided to wait and observe more. She felt that Arthur had something in mind, a plan that he was making against the big clans and guilds.


    This attitude gave some insights about him, however the most disturbing part was this toxin related to the dark side.


    "Didn''t Cesile say she met him more than once before she decided to extend her invitation to him?" she thought out loud, before deciding to send a bird''s wing to Cesile, asking her about this strange toxin.


    As for Arthur, he was totally immersed in making potions with speed greater than before. He knew he had limited time, and he was quite positive these clans and guilds would seek out for him soon after the contest started.


    Though he wanted to make them all suffer, he didn''t intend to make it at the beginning. At least he would let them clash together first, then he would make an auction later on, before he stopped providing his potions to his main enemies, and focus more on those who were wise enough to be friends with him.


    He also was wondering what that arrogant leader of the Nystic clan was doing right now. that leader didn''t have any way to contact him, and he was sure the news of his deal with other clans and guilds would spread to reach his ears.


    Arthur just evilly chuckled, as he imagined the funny furious face of that leader, and his storm of rage when he heard the news. Arthur then continued to focus on making potions, while stealing a glance from time to time to check over his surroundings, making sure these hidden mages weren''t doing anything funny.


    The darkness deepened in, as hours passed like water sipping from his fingers. When dawn appeared, he had made quite a large amount of potions, exceeding one hundred thousand bottles, making his grin very big, nearly from ear to ear.


    At this moment, a bird''s wing kicked in, coming from Amelia, informing him that the last batch of mages are now about to take their test.


    He hurriedly collected everything, while moving fast, hurrying back to the test grounds.


    However, just as he marched for a quarter of an hour, a group of mages cut off his route, with bad intentions appearing wildly over their faces.


    The light of the morning was about to shine and cover the whole world, however Arthur didn''t need any light to know how many mages there were, as over one hundred mages surrounded him, making the road to the academy gate blocked.


    "May I ask what are you doing, fellow mages?" he asked, simply and casually like he wasn''t greatly outnumbered.


    "Don''t play tricks with us, you either go back, leave this place safely, or we will make sure you won''t see the walls of the academy ever again."


    One of the mages shouted with his harsh voice, making Arthur recognize his age; he was an old mage, probably in the mid-thirtieth.


    "What if I don''t choose any of those?" Arthur smirked, as the next moment he took out his sword, the one he won from Tenshi, and vanished the next moment.


    It was a long time already since he used his leg technique, and when he did, he was surprised by the great boost in speed he had due to the changes his body enjoyed.


    His sudden move startled the mages, as they thought he would negotiate with them, or try to run, call for help, and try to stall for time until his reinforcements arrived.


    They already made sure to dispatch many mages surrounding the area in front of the academy. They thought he would send for his team, but never imagined he would directly attack them.


    The next moment he appeared just beside that mage who spoke to him, in the middle of a group of twenty mages.


    "Hi hi!" he just sneered and said this greeting while his sword fell towards that middle aged mage, deeply inserted into his body.


    "Do you think this fable attack would work on me?!" the mage smirked back, as he thought he was secured from any harm, but just this simple wound.


    However the next moment his face changed, dramatically showing a fearful look, before he lost all his strength, fell on the ground, and lost his life, simply like that.


    The mages standing around the two of them were frightened, never knew what just happened, and Arthur wasn''t polite enough to explain things to them. He hurriedly went to attack others, with each sword wave of his blood thirty swords leaving a single corpse behind.


    The mages woke up late, enough after he killed fifteen mages of them. as they eyed him with extreme rage, shouting and cursing him and his family and clan, and threatening him with the names of their guilds and clans, they started to move.


    Arthur noted down in his mind the names of five big clans and two guilds, adding them to his black list, intending to start changing his policy in providing potions to these clans first.


    The attacks came swiftly from all these experienced mages, as half changed already to their monster form, while the other half summoned their pets, unsheathed their weapons, and the shades of their inner demons started to take shape behind their backs.


    Arthur welcomed all these with a simple wave of hand, as a huge scorpion queen suddenly appeared, with a roar of her that silenced every other monster here.


    The highest grade monster here was simply a five horned monster, just as the scorpion queen level at the beginning, before evolving.

 Chapter 186: Facing An Illusion Dark Mage!

    The highest grade monster here was simply a five horned monster, just as the scorpion queen level at the beginning, before evolving.


    The queen wasn''t polite, and Arthur simply instructed:


    "Wrap things here fast, and I will take my leave now."


    She replied with a roar, before she used her tails to kill many mages, sending others flying back, clearing a path for Arthur to escape into.


    If this was a normal fight, then Arthur wouldn''t hesitate to kill them all, however he knew their main aim was to delay him until the contest started without his presence.


    One of the mages here took out a bird''s wing, and hurriedly sent a warning to Tony, the one who planned for this attack from the start!


    Tony couldn''t act before the mages here would finish testing, however they were already about to finish. He just cursed inwardly the incompetence of his allies, as they promised him Arthur''s head, or at least his absence from here at the time he would start the competition.


    However, the message he received told him that Arthur was already on his way to here, and they were all entangled with a monster that they couldn''t beat fast.


    He gritted his teeth, while he hurriedly took out a bird''s wing, wrote something there, and then let it burn.


    He just summoned one of his trusted disciples, one that wouldn''t be burdened by the rules of the academy, a dark side mage one!


    Arthur didn''t know all this, as he kept running, heading straight towards the academy gate, while the sounds of the scorpion fighting the mages there were getting lowered with time.


    He thought he would be safe when he escaped this crazy fool bunch of mages, but as he as almost near the huge gathering of the mages at the academy gates, with only three minutes separating him from reaching there, something back jumped in front of him, and the next moment he saw everything around him turn pitch black, with the world he was at right now gone!


    "What is this sorcery?" he muttered, as he started to sense everything around him. After a minute, the whole darkness was shattered, and a very shocking scene appeared in front of his eyes!


    He was in the middle of the air, where he was in the heart of a very intense battle, with a familiar enemy standing in front of him, burning him with his glaring eyes!


    "You came back again, and this time I would definitely kill you!"


    Arthur suddenly understood what was going on, as he softly muttered:


    "It''s an illusion technique, and a very strong one indeed!"


    Once recognized, breaking it was very easy. His enemy had attacked him already, delved deeply into his memories, and retrieved the most deadly one of them.


    Again, it was a soul based attack, as all illusionists were soul based cultivators, or mages. He gritted his teeth, prepared himself for the pain, before he took out his sword, and stabbed himself in the heart.


    Pain! The solution to any illusion was pain, but there was a catch here; the pain must come from true things, not from things made by the illusion.


    So, he took out his sword, and stabbed his heart without any hesitation. He knew this wasn''t his body, and he wasn''t here in the first place, he was still standing in the forest, dazed and lost in the world of illusion.


    And now he just smashed that, opened his eyes, and stared at the ashen white face of his enemy.


    "If you told me who the hell is wrong with these soul mages, I might consider letting you go!"


    He said it with a calm tone and smile, like he was talking to a friend. The next moment, his sword was already at the nape nick of this mage, making him realize he was already at the doorsteps.


    One single mistake, and he would be killed by Arthur without any hesitation!


    "Kill him, and I will grant your wish when you enter the academy. Don''t waste more time, the contest is about to begin."


    Suddenly this female sound appeared, out of nowhere, startling both of them. In the next second, that head of this mage was cut smooth by Arthur''s sword, before he darted to the area of competition, with a single question ranging in his mind¡­ was she Amanda?


    Of course she was, as she received the reply to her question a long time ago from Cesile, clearing everything to her.


    Arthur wasn''t the one causing this toxin, as he was the one targeted by it! as she kept watching him, she noticed the sudden appearance of that dark side mage, and she didn''t know how he did appear in the grounds of the academy.


    However, when she glanced deeply at his face, she realized that he was already a disciple of the academy. She was about to kill him, when Arthur broke free on his own from that illusion.


    She was startled the moment he did so, as it was a known fact that this kind of attack could even kill masters without being able to break free of it.


    As she was puzzled, the words Arthur spoke made her realize a very astonishing truth; Arthur did all this without even realizing what he was doing!


    She didn''t hesitate to interfere, sending a transported voice command to him, ordering him to deliver justice over this traitor, and promising him with answers when he reached the academy after the competition ended.


    After she watched him leaving towards the academy gate, reaching there just in time, she sighed, as she sat on her seat, thinking about one spectacular fact.


    "Since when I was so interested in a man?"


    She asked herself, while her mind kept spinning searching for an answer other than the truth she knew.


    As for Arthur, the moment he appeared in the crowd, his team heaved a sigh of relief, while the face of Tony standing far in the distance twisted slightly, before returning to its normal.

 Chapter 187: The Start of the Test... Entering into A Pocket World

    "Gather up now, I will open a door to a pocket world recently discovered by the academy. This pocket world is a mystery to us, and so part of your mission inside, and part of the analysis of your performance, will be to gather intel about the world there.


    This door isn''t stable, yet, so the places you will all appear at will be random. Any mages outside the circle of one hundred meters won''t appear at the same place as those inside it, so a word of advice to all, regroup, and make each group not exceeding one hundred and fifty mages.


    When you enter the world, your main task is to stay alive for a whole month. As the world is recently discovered, it''s tasked for you to build outposts and camps to be used later by the academy.


    You are also tasked to expand the area of your influence against the indigenous inhabitants of this world. These will be part of your final assessment, with the higher marks determining the team''s ranking, and all the living teams will enter the academy.


    All the resources gathered inside is yours to take, and they won''t help in the final assessment.


    Beware, once you enter there you will be on your own, with communication with the outside world, this world being cut until the door would be opened again.


    Now, you have ten minutes to prepare, and any team ready to enter the test, step forward here and pass through the portal."


    His words were much detailed, explaining everything related to this competition. Arthur felt surprise, as he thought the test would be about killing some monsters.


    "May I ask if the number of killed monsters inside would be used as a way to assess our performance inside?" one of the mages, apparently not related to any big clan or guild, asked.


    "It was a classic pattern of our annual competition, however this year the rules were slightly changed, in regard to the¡­"


    He was in the middle of his speech when a voice, a very familiar voice now to Arthur, spoke out loud, addressing everyone here.


    "Changes in rules, the number, the quality, and the diversity of monsters killed during the period you are inside is now returned as part of the rules of the competition."


    Everyone exchanged glances, while many whispers erupted, asking about the identity of this female mage. Arthur kept his tongue, despite knowing whom this person was.


    He silently exchanged silent glances with Noura, who just shook her head, helplessly, as she realized Arthur''s knowledge of Amanda''s identity.


    "I will go on ahead, and wait for your return after one month, safely I hope."


    She said her farewells with them, with Arthur, before she vanished in the middle of the crowd. Tony was feeling extremely enraged right now, but he didn''t show any speck of that on his face.


    He already followed the old scheme put by Rolaf, and all the mages belonging to the big clans and guilds here were already prepared. Every team had many resources that was enough to build a decent village in this span of time.


    Despite losing this advantage, Tony knew Rolaf must have done his homework, investigated this world before, and delivered a detailed report about the state of it to the big clans and guilds.


    Even if Amanda had cut down one advantage, they already had much more to rely on!


    "Let''s go," Arthur said to his team, starting to walk directly towards the portal. Amelia started organizing everyone, making them standing close to each other, so no one would be sent into a different area than the rest.


    The sudden move of Arthur attracted everyone''s attention, as the whole place suddenly ushered under complete silence. Everyone glanced at Arthur and his team, like they were eyeing the ranked one team already.


    However, this was only the vision of the individual mages, or mages coming from regular clans and guilds. As for those hailing from the biggest twenty five clan and guild, they were already smirking inwardly on Arthur and his team.


    What if he was currently a prodigy? They were much more prepared, had much more people than him, and they were confident he wouldn''t even score in the top ten!


    As for their darkest plans, they all decided to search out for him and gather together to kill him. a killed prodigy wouldn''t threaten them anymore, and inside this world, anything was allowed, with no punishment at all!


    Arthur stood in front of the portal, that was only a sphere in the middle of the air. "Step under it, make sure everyone on your team is inside the one hundred radius of the portal in the centre."


    Tony calmly stated the laws, with extreme care not to deviate for a single word, as he was pretty sure Amanda was now watching.


    His mind was now thinking about the bird''s wing he sent for mages to kill Arthur, and the one he sent for the dark mage to interfere. He just prayed she didn''t see him, or else his fate might be much worse than Rolaf.


    He reminded himself again to be more cautious, not to be controlled by his impulses, and not to commit silly crimes like Rolaf.


    Arthur just nodded, as he stood in the centre, and every single one of his team moved to gather around him. "We are ready, send us in," he shouted, with extreme pride, as the next moment that ball hanging in the air shone brightly, and the next moment they were surrounded by a bright white light for a few seconds, before they all vanished from the sight of everyone.


    Just like this, the competition started, successfully, by the participation of Arthur and his team of mages in it.


    The moment the light dissipated on Arthur''s vision, he found himself standing in an empty area, with grasses stretching to the end of sight. Many trees were there, and huge five mountains stood in the back of him.

 Chapter 188: Exploring the New World

    He was on a very great place as a start, as a river ran a mile away from his place, and a large forest loomed in sight.


    "Listen up," he suddenly spoke, addressing his mages, "this competition''s main objective is to build a place for the mages of the academy to live in. I''m pretty sure others will focus on building a village, using the small amount of time provided to us."


    He paused, and Ouly asked with doubt:


    "Isn''t this what we should build?"


    "No, we will aim bigger," Arthur replied, before adding, "we already have large experience at building camps, and what we lack is people to build the buildings for us."


    His words were strange, as they all exchanged silent glances, before Amelia asked:


    "Can you bring others from the outside world?"


    "Nah," he shook his head, "why look away when we already have people here?" he added, while hinting towards his idea. "Lily, you take five mages with you and scout the whole region. I want you to draw a map of this place, anyone here proficient in drawing?" he started relaying his orders, without wasting time in explaining things they would all experience soon.


    "I can draw maps very well," Ouly lifted his hand, and also Clovert as well. "Great, you two will go with them, the sun is already rising, which means we have the whole day to do so. I want you to notice any gathering of monsters, and more importantly any gathering of people. Now go!"


    He then left Lily, Ouly, and Clovert to select two more mages to join them, while he turned to look at Randy, Gregory, Ron, and Tarry as he said:


    "You four take twenty mages with you. Your mission is to be our guarding garrison, venture deeply into the forest, the mountains, and out there at this grassy lands, and find anything that might threaten us. If you can handle it, then neutralize the threat, if not, retreat and report to me."


    They nodded, as they left to gather their men. "As for all of the rest, we will divide ourselves into two teams, one to bring down these trees, and the other is to build a huge camp."


    "How much size will our camp be?" Omar casually asked, while Arthur waved both of his hands as he said:


    "The back will be these mountains, and the front will be this forest. As for the sides, we will go to the end of our sight, as long as there is grass and flat land, we will add them to our territory."


    His words startled everyone, literally everyone, as all glanced skeptically at him, while he just shrugged his shoulders as he ordered:


    "Just move out, and don''t think and just do what I just said! We have no time to waste in the daze here!!"


    Their bodies jolted as they all hurriedly went to do what he ordered them to. Arthur stood silent, before he summoned his two horned rhinoceros. As he did so, he suddenly had a strange feeling, and the next moment he summoned the spider queen as well.


    "Oh, I can now summon two monsters at the same time!" he marveled this, as he glanced at the two while giving orders to them.


    "You will go there to this forest and destroy any tree you see. As for you, go inside the forest, and kill all the monsters you see. Move parallel to here, and don''t touch humans, no matter what!"


    The queen seemed pissed off with him, before she moved towards the forest starting her play. She missed the times where she went freely everywhere, killing whatever she liked, and played to her heart content.


    However, she also knew the massive gains she got so far from Arthur. She wasn''t stupid to not realize she was already with such a promising star, someone that wouldn''t stand low for long, and she would benefit much from this.


    As he unleashed the queen, he felt a little relieved. He also had another card, that sleepy dragon inside his heavenly garden. He didn''t check on him since leaving the lake of the fallen, and now wasn''t the time to do so.


    He had a very hard task right now, how to plan his city!


    He didn''t aim to build a mere village or a town, he decided to build a real city! To do so, he needed massive hands, and he wasn''t fool to imagine the inhabitants of this world would just agree to help him colonize here.


    He planned to use force to make them obey his command, and if possible he would also add them to his own strength, making them swear allegiance to him as their leader.


    Arthur stood here, glancing everywhere around him in silence, while every single mage of his were busy with their tasks.


    He had many visions in his mind regarding his city, and he knew if he managed to do so, the competition wasn''t something to worry about. He also believed if he did so, his status inside the academy would soar, as the knowledge of this branch of civilization seemed to be lost in this world.


    The first thing he thought of was the centre of his city, and it wasn''t so hard to determine that, as he went ahead towards the river, knowing this would be the most logical centre of the city.


    Just as he went there, he heard some ruckus coming from the forest. "So the monsters here are really aggressive," he simply muttered, shaking his head, as he knew his queen wouldn''t let a single monster here without toying with him.


    As he went along the course of this twisted river, he selected a place where the river branched another one, heading towards the right direction, ending far in the horizon. As for the main branch, it went ahead into the mountains, passing through them, and vanishing there.


    Just an hour passed, and a first wing''s bird came from Randy''s team.

 Chapter 189: Are You with Me or Against Me? Choose!

    "There is a large group of people living in the grasslands on the right, and they spotted us, preparing already for an attack. Their numbers are in thousands, and they look strong."


    Arthur just read it, and the next moment he unsummoned his queen, then summoned her again, while writing a bird''s wing back to Randy, asking him to retreat, come back, and head to the opposite direction, checking the other side of the grassy lands.


    He also wrote another one to Amelia, telling her about these news, and asking them to be ready for any sudden attack.


    "Let''s go, we have a huge army to kill."


    He simply said this to the queen, as he jumped over her back, and let her run fast towards the distant horizon to the east. He let her run along the course of the river, knowing that these people must have built their home on the side of it.


    On the way, he met Randy and the others, nodded to them, and said nothing while he went alone to the distance. The team just glanced at each other in hesitation, as Arthur was planning to attack these people alone!


    "Just keep going on your ways, I''m more than enough to stop them," he sent this simple phrase to them, and unwillingly they kept going on their road.


    After five minutes, Arthur spotted a simple village, the size of a huge town, stretching for miles in each direction, lined by simple wooden walls, and was full of houses that resemble primitive hatches!


    "So, the civilization here is so simple, what about their powers?"


    He muttered to himself, while the enemy army appeared in large numbers already, marching outside their walls.


    From the general shape of it, the all had armors, wielding swords and spears, raising flags, making him realize they weren''t this retarded in terms of fighting and organization!


    They were a large army composed of two thousand fighters at least! That gave him an estimated number of this village, as its people might reach ten thousand, or even more.


    "Listen up, I want you to play to your heart content, but try not to kill many of them, ok?" he said to his queen, as he feared she might go on berserk, killing a great number of them already.


    In Arthur''s eyes, this magnificent army was already his! He admired their craftsmanship, and desperately wanted to put his hands on all of them!


    The moment he went so close to their frontlines, the shouts came from their ranks, and suddenly a rain of arrows descended upon him and the queen.


    "Do you magic, and let''s evade this attack!"


    The queen didn''t need his words, as her two tails started to attack, releasing poisoned attacks towards the arrows, clearing the part falling on their bodies. They escaped without a scratch this volley, while another one simply appeared, this time coming horizontally towards them!


    Arthur knew that these arrows couldn''t be avoided by the huge body of his queen, so he improvised. He jumped off her back, unsummoned her to disappear in the next moment, and just as he bypassed all the arrows, he resummoned her again, to fall gracefully on her back, and she continued her charge like nothing happened!


    This swift move of his made his enemies gasp in shock, however they hurriedly adapted, and the front line moved their shields, to welcome his crazy charge against them.


    In their eyes, he was suicidal, coming alone to attack them, however the next minutes proved how wrong they were, underestimating his strength, and overestimating theirs.


    The scorpion heeded Arthur''s words, as she used her huge sturdy body to move everywhere, hitting every soldier of them and making them all wounded.


    However, not many died actually, except those unlucky ones who got smashed under her feet.


    Arthur stood over the back of her, observing the whole battle. After a few minutes, he already understood how these soldiers fought, as their weapons always flashed with bright light before attacking, and a slight shadow presented itself behind their backs.


    So, they were mages, and strangely they all used their strength through their swords. After the passage of half an hour, more than half of them were now wounded, and one tenth died, while others realized how foolish they were to think they could fight such monsters head on!


    "Surrender, and I won''t harm anyone of you anymore!" when Arthur noticed their change in mood, he didn''t let this chance go, and shouted with his declaration suddenly to them.


    "Lies! Everyone of you, outsiders, come here and promise us peace and prosperity, instead all we get is death!" one man suddenly appeared in front of Arthur, riding a monster that was half the size of his queen.


    "I''m not like them, I''m here to build, not to kill and destroy," Arthur said, stressing over his words, before he pointed towards all the soldiers on the ground, as he added, "if I wanted death, then I wouldn''t have restrained my hands from killing them."


    His words fell and all the soldiers here got a scare! They thought Arthur was fighting them with all his powers, but he was already keeping his hands off them! what if he used his full strength?!


    "What guarantee that you would keep your word?" that man said, as he pointed to the distance, far opposite to his village as he added, "we might be weak, and we already know that, but we have our brothers in this world, much stronger than us, so nearby with a huge army already. Why should we surrender to you then?"


    The words of this man startled Arthur, as the direction the man pointed to wasn''t the open horizon full of grass, but the five mountains where he didn''t send anyone yet to scout.


    "That''s not good!" Arthur just muttered, before he changed his mind. "I don''t have time for this hustle, you are either with me or against me, choose!"

 Chapter 190: A Mysterious Thing About the Rivers and Lakes

    As his words fell, everyone here felt the change in Arthur''s vibe. They all exchanged glances, knowing that this outsider wouldn''t keep off his hands now, not when he had a threatening army coming towards him.


    "Choose your words wisely, as they might be your last," Arthur ruthlessly said, as he took out his own sword, waved it towards all of them. they didn''t know what to do, but their leader, or supposedly their leader, decided for them.


    "We wo¡­"


    The man didn''t have time to continue his words, as Arthur already had seen this decision coming. This man wasn''t planning to surrender, and he didn''t care much about the lives in this village.


    So, when he just opened his mouth, Arthur disappeared from the back of the queen, reappeared instantly beside this man, where he inserted his sword in his heart.


    The next moment, this man screamed, like a little girl, before falling on the ground, dying and the monster he rode on vanished from the sight of everyone.


    The next moment, Arthur reappeared again over the back of his queen, as he glanced again at the soldiers, while asking:


    "Are you with me, or against me?"


    The soldiers didn''t need to think, as they all laid down their weapons, knelt on the ground, announcing their allegiance to him.


    Arthur didn''t feel excited about this, as the next thing he did was to give the scorpion her most crucial, first full out order.


    "Go to these mountains, and do as much as you want, with no reservations at all!"


    The queen just glanced silently at him, with some surprise and doubt, before she realized he wasn''t joking. She then darted, with extreme happiness, towards the mountains, dreaming of the happy feast and enjoyable plays she would have there.


    "Who is in charge here?" Arthur wrote a message to Randy, Amelia, and Clovert, telling them to fall back at once, hastily fortifying their place around the river branch, waiting for his return, and alarming them about the incoming huge army. He then turned his attention to the soldiers here, asking for their leader.


    "It was him," one of the soldiers kneeling on the ground replied.


    "It seems to me he wasn''t a good leader."


    "It''s true, as he was appointed to us by the alliance in the north."


    "Alliance in the north? What is that?!"


    Arthur was surprised to hear there was such a name here. an Alliance was a word not used in his cultivation world, or heard about it in the current world. so, he felt some curiosity regarding this. "And what is about that incoming army?" he added, as he was more interested now by this incoming threat.


    "It''s a huge army by the alliance of clans in our world. our world is divided into five regions, we are in the north region, much close to the border with the central region, and the east region. however that army isn''t approaching her now, as the last news we heard said it was at the western borders, dealing with some outsiders there."


    One of the soldiers kept replying to him, and his reply gave Arthur a general view over the current state of this world. it wasn''t an empty primitive world without any organization as he thought, instead it was a world brimming with lively civilizations already.


    "So, these mountains had no one?" he asked, as he thought he sent the queen to an empty place, which would make her rather unhappy.


    "There is a military post already there, with around ten thousand warriors of the alliance," the soldier replied, and when Arthur raised his eyebrow, he hurriedly added, "this number is nothing in our world, as the main army of the alliances exceeds millions."


    Arthur just sucked a cold air of breath, this wasn''t a simple mission at all. He glanced at the soldier who helped him, as he said:


    "What''s your name?"


    "Beurin."


    "From this day on, you will be the leader of the people coming from this village," Arthur said, before pointing to the village as he added, "stand up now, all of you, and follow the lead of Beurin. Go inside, bring everyone out, and let''s leave this place and migrate to the river."


    "The river?" everyone exchanged silent glances full of terror that made Arthur ask:


    "What''s wrong with the river?"


    "It''s not safe there, master," Beurin said, as he hurriedly added, "there is another side of this world, an aquatic one, and all waters in our world are gates to this world. no one dares to live there, as these monsters would appear at night, attacking and killing without restraints!"


    The words of Beunin made Arthur be in daze, how could he give up his river, simply like that? "Don''t worry, I''m here, and I promise you nothing would occur to you as long as you follow me."


    Arthur couldn''t simply build a city away from a river, or else how could this city be supplied with water? Using the river for trade and fishing?


    "But master¡­" Beunin was about to argue, but Arthur simply gave him a silent glance that scared him.


    He forgot he wasn''t speaking to a man from his world, but from another!


    "May you tell me more about these aquatic monsters?" Arthur asked, as he wanted to assess the dangers of this river.


    "They either have large numbers of small fish like monsters that could live outside water for some time, or small numbers of huge monsters that could devastate a whole village in no time."


    The answer Beunin gave made Arthur be interested in the huge monsters he spoke of. "Tell me, all the rivers had these monsters?" Arthur asked, as it wasn''t logical for all the rivers to be cursed in this world.


    "Not all of them, master, as all the clans in the five alliances enjoy safe rivers and nothing occurred to the people living there. anyone would die to get a chance to live there, safely away from the madness of these aquatic monsters."

 Chapter 191: Having A Clue about the Curse

    His reply highlighted something to Arthur, as he just smiled faintly, while his mind was unveiling a huge scheme done by these clans. "Tell me, have anyone ever managed to see the aquatic world?" Arthur asked.


    "Of course not, how can we risk entering the water?!!"


    Geunin''s reply was enough for Arthur, as he just smiled in confidence, as he asked again, while other soldiers were arranging everyone inside the village, preparing them for the migration.


    "Are there any other villages near here?"


    "There are five more villages nearby in this valley."


    "Valley?" Arthur asked, as he never thought he was next to a valley.


    "Yes, we are in the great valley next to the huge salty lake, it''s five hundred miles to the south from here, just behind these five mountains."


    Arthur glanced again at these five mountains, wondering if the queen alone was enough to play with these soldiers there. "So, this lake also had huge aquatic monsters?" Arthur asked without moving his eyes from the mountains.


    "No, master, the salty waters are safe, with no monsters at all!"


    "Oh!!" Arthur turned to look at Guenin, as his doubts started to be more grounded. If there was such an aquatic world, then it wouldn''t differentiate between salty and non-salty waters.


    Arthur was sure a huge scheme was there in this world, and he planned to uncover it, and use it for his own gains.


    The number of villagers here reached far more than he initially thought, as twenty thousand men, women, and children walked outside this primitive village, heading straight towards the place Arthur chose to be the centre of his city.


    He sent messages to everyone, giving them head up news of his approach with all this number of people. He didn''t want them to mistook these villagers as being part of the invading army he just warned them against.


    "I noticed the superb armors and weapons you have, did you make them?" Arthur pointed towards the sword and armor of Geuning as he asked.


    "They are made by the blacksmiths in our village, and they aren''t top rank masters. The weapons and armors made for the armies of the alliances are much better than these."


    Arthur took note of that, as he decided to send someone to collect the gears out of the fallen bodies of these soldiers in the mountains. He would just wait for his scorpion to return before he would think of sending anyone.


    "Do you use specific ores then?"


    "No, just the ores we extract from the mountains."


    Arthur glanced at these mountains, as his vision now changed towards them. they weren''t simply mountains, but a treasure trove for him.


    He glanced again towards the great armors and weapons of Geunin and his soldiers, and felt somehow envy of them. he must find a way to keep the city he was going to build here under his control in the future, and if possible he would try to snatch this whole pocket world and keep it under his own possession.


    The journey didn''t take longer than an hour, and they arrived at the place which Arthur left empty before. During the journey, Arthur learnt that this forest resembled the great forest at the borders of his clan, full of wild monsters, with some clans already living there inside it.


    There were also bounty hunter guilds here, and the way of their fights were similar to that in the world Arthur came from. The only difference, though, was the absence of any academy, as this term was alien to Geunin ears.


    Arthur also knew more info regarding the five villages nearby here, as they had slightly larger populations than this village. Arthur decided to go and conquer them today, as each village had one thousand warriors at least.


    This world didn''t know the word mage, as they call their mages warriors. Most of them use their inner demons to fight using their weapons, and only warriors of the big clans had access to tame beasts, or having pets, like the one Arthur just killed.


    That gave Arthur some insights, as he also learnt how much the villages and towns in the open world antagonize the big clans. If not for the sudden invasion of the outsiders, and the forming of the big five alliances, these villages and towns would never align themselves with the great clans.


    "Welcome back clan head," Ron said, as he returned with the others, fortifying the place around the river, covering an area of over two miles already with a preliminary wall.


    For Arthur''s mages, this was nothing, but to the warriors and villagers coming with Arthur, this was much greater and bigger than the wall they used to live inside.


    "Ron, go and summon Amelia, Randy, Omar, and Madly. Also bring Ouly and Clovert with you."


    "Ouly and Clovert didn''t return yet, as they send Lily back, informing us of finding something interesting there," Ron said, before glancing over Arthur''s shoulders, before continuing after Arthur nodded, giving him the permission to speak, "there is a huge ore mine nearby here, and they found many mages guarding there. they also noticed something strange, as these mages did something to the ores, before throwing them into the nearby river."


    The words of Ron seemed nothing, but to Arthur he knew this was the key to all this nightmare occurring in this world.


    The plan of ruling over here with absolute authority and unquestionable strength just emerged in his mind, as he started thinking about the steps of his plan, before saying:


    "Bring Lily as well, and send a message to Clovert and others, make them try and bring some of these ores here."


    Ron didn''t delay, despite not knowing why Arthur was this excited. Arthur then, while waiting for his main mages to come, turned to Geunin as he said:


    "You will attend this meeting, and inside it you will learn some facts about your world. just accept them and don''t be surprised."

 Chapter 192: Planning the Drawing of the City

    Geunin didn''t know whyArthur told him these words, as his wildest imagination never questioned the fake curse of this world''s waters, a curse which was played perfectly by the big clans here.


    Arthur knew such a team as the one Clovert and the others had spotted wasn''t an exception, and the whole world here was filled with such teams.


    If he was alone, he might have been worried to move alone against such a huge, ancient scheme, however right now the whole world was in turmoil. This was his perfect chance to use this in his favor, to annex more villages under his banner.


    The mages he sent for all appeared one after another without delay, while they all glanced at Geunin with some doubt and question, Arthur started the meeting as he said:


    "First I would like to introduce this warrior to you, his name is Guenin, and from now on he will be our main man inside this world, and the one dealing with the affairs of the inhabitants in this world."


    His words and introduction about Guenin made them all understand his importance, and they just nodded to him, welcoming him to their group.


    "Now we have many things to discuss. First, do any of you have a large paper that we can use to draw on it?" Arthur glanced to his mages, and Omar volunteered to reply by taking out one large piece of paper, made of monster dried skin.


    "Good, now, I want everyone to focus, as I will draw the main map of our future city. after that, you will copy it, and start building based on it. Omar, take more papers out, and you will be responsible for this."


    Omar took out a bunch of papers, and Arthur took out his own brush, the one he got used to utilize since coming to this world. he took the first paper as he started to explain:


    "The city in my mind is much different than the ones you already see in our world. so, I want you to take everything I will say and draw here and execute it without any alteration."


    He then started to draw, as the first thing he drew was a simple house, made of five stories,with deep foundation on the ground. He had already extensive knowledge about architecture, making him the right person to enlighten them.


    "This is the standard building of our city, where it will be five stories to eight stories high. Any high building like that would require deep foundation, and the materials used must be a very sturdy ore in the foundation, and very good quality woods for the building over the earth."


    He then started to explain further in detail the mechanism of digging, laying the foundations, and how to raise the building itself. Arthur now had the workers to build these massive buildings, the suitable ores from the mountain, and the excellent wood from forest.


    As for the interior decorations and the finishing touch of these buildings, he decided to postpone it for later, as he would use more resources the moment he laid his hands upon them.


    From the standard buildings, to the advanced huge mansions and palaces, Arthur explained all. He drew maps of the buildings required, the decorations in the city like fountains and statues. He drew a map of the city itself, making the big mansion and palace in the heart of the city, surrounded by large three plazas, then many wide streets branched out from them.


    He specified the places inside the city, as areas of residence were in one part, the places of the residence of mages coming from the outside world was in another, making them the residence of the noble class of this city.


    He also specified places for the army, and industry, using terms that were alien to their ears. The lecture lasted for three hours, during which their eyes were opened on a new world, a world that wasn''t known to them.


    "Now, as we finished planning the interior of the city, the time has come to the most important task here; the defense of this city. you all saw the big wall of the academy and its huge gate. I want to mimic that, and also add more touches to this."


    He then started to draw a huge wall, reaching to two hundred meters in length, with huge two gates, one to the forest, and the other to the mountains.


    "This is the general layout of the walls."


    "What are these squares and circles scattered all over the wall?" Amelia asked, pointing towards places Arthur drew at circles and squares.


    "Good question," he replied, before taking two pieces of paper, and started drawing something there. "This is called defensive towers, where the square ones will use huge bows and great arrows, and these rounded towers will use energy based attacks to defend the city."


    He then started to explain the basis of each tower. The arrow towers were simple in their regard, but the energy towers were much complicated, as many things were required there, basically very unique materials and some machinations, plus many runes.


    "I will provide these rocks, and the drawings I just drew about the types of these towers, places to put materials and rocks must be well preserved, and everything I just explained must be executed to the letter."


    He then looked towards Geunin, whose face revealed his shock as others, "you will be tasked to make villagers come to our help. From this moment on, they will be part of our city. plus, there is something else I want to discuss with you now."


    Arthur then turned to Ron as he nodded. Ron knew what he wanted, as he went outside, and came back with many ores Clovert had sent, and a message with them.


    "Clovert sent one of the mages with him. He said he raided part of this group, and despite him acquiring some ores, these enemies seemed to call for reinforcements, using strange birds as the means of communication. This bird headed towards the mountains at our back."

 Chapter 193: Making Anti-Curse Potion

    "Clovert sent one of the mages with him. He said he raided part of this group, and despite him acquiring some ores, these enemies seemed to call for reinforcements, using strange birds as the means of communication. This bird headed towards the mountains at our back."


    Arthur took the ores and glanced at them for a moment, before saying:


    "Tell him not to worry, there is a garrison there, and I have already sent my scorpion to deal with them."


    The words of Arthur picked their interest, as they already received his warning about these hidden enemies a long time ago. "Will we move against them?" Amelia asked.


    "Not yet," Arthur replied, "we first need to solve a problem, then we can move to clear them out later," he then closed his eyes, channeled his own energy, and sent a wisp into one of the ores, inspecting it.


    He was immersed in examining the ore, and he didn''t notice that a shape of a dragon appeared around his body at this moment, with both eyes opened, closely observing everyone in extreme vigilance, making everyone feel extremely shocked and panicked.


    "As I expected¡­" he was in the middle of his words, before he noticed the strange expression of fear over their faces. "What''s wrong with you? Why are you looking at me in such a way?" he asked, as he noticed their fearful look towards him.


    "Ah, nothing!" Amelia had the courage out of all of them to reply. Arthur shook his head, while the others exchanged glances, wondering what just happened here.


    "The myth of these monsters dwelling under the water is a lie," Arthur then dropped this matter, as he glanced over Geunin and said to him, making him forget his fear, and look in doubt towards Arthur, who raised the piece of ore in hand high in the air, as he added:


    "This is an ore with some elixir added to it. this elixir is something I knew of, as it''s used to enrage all the monsters in a certain area, driving them berserk, to attack any living creature around them."


    Arthur didn''t say everything he knew, as this potion was only part of a bigger one, a potion that was used to tame monsters.


    First this elixir was used to make monsters addicted to it, then another potion was used to control the monsters.


    Arthur doubted those warriors here knew already of this. However, he also had more ways, better ones, to utilize the basis these warriors had laid for him.


    In front of him, two options presented themselves, one to make an antidote to this potion, and the second was to complete the potion by adding the missing part of it.


    Despite that, he knew another solution, a better and far more worthy one to try, and he had also a use for that solution to serve his plans in better ways.


    As for Geunin, he was so shocked by Athur''s words, as he never thought the great clans would be this dirty and enslave the whole world under a reign of lies and terror!


    "Go out now, start working. We won''t stop working day or night, and leave this matter to me," Arthur said, as he decided what he would do next, before turning to Lily as he added, "stay close, as soon I would need your help."


    They just nodded, before they left him and started cooperating with Geuning to start the grand building plan. There were twenty thousand villagers here, and all of them would take roles in this huge project.


    As for Arthur, he knew the other five villages would greatly help in hurrying the process, however he had an urgent matter to solve right now, then he would be free to go to these villages, and subdue them all.


    "Let''s see, this elixir must be highly concentrated in the water already, so I need to make a concentrated, high quality potion of mine."


    He muttered to himself, as he already was thinking of using the basis here and turned the tables to his benefit.


    What he planned to do was to add a potion that would make these aquatic monsters enter the evolution phase forcibly. To complete the evolution, however, they were needed to attack each other, eat other monsters'' meat and grow.


    Eventually, a handful of them would remain and evolve to higher levels. The final level of growth varied according to the quality of the potions used, and the number of monsters participated in this process.


    "Let''s play it big then, it''s time to use part of that heavenly treasure I had," he nodded as he closed his eyes and entered his consciousness into his ring. Inside, there was the huge carcass of the dead monster, the large number of silent snake eggs, and finally the remaining piece of the heavenly treasure.


    ''Let''s take half of it just to be secured,'' he muttered to himself, as he cut half of this treasure, and took it somewhere else in his ring.


    He didn''t risk taking it out, as he would be faced with extreme risk of instigating all the monsters in the forest and river. So, he decided to leave this treasure there for a while, before opening his eyes, taking his cauldron out, his ores, his explosive oil, and many variable materials from his ring.


    He also took out parts of the bronzed giant flesh and blood. He also took out many fiery ores, the highest grade one, but he didn''t throw them all on fire, as he left the cauldron to get hot, while he waved towards Lily as he instructed:


    "Take some villagers and mages with you, and bring to me huge amounts of water."


    He must use a sample of that potion in his making, or else his potion might fail eventually to produce the desired results. Lily glanced strangely at him, before she went to do her task.


    As for him, he took out a huge pile of materials, these which he acquired from the great clans. There were a huge variety of materials in his rings right now, and he just selected randomly from them, as all the materials piled there were high grades.

 Chapter 194: Going to the Place of the Enemys Army

    As Lily was busy fetching water to him, he kept himself busy making runes out of these fiery ores. He made some evolution runes, other control runes, and he stilled his own blood on both groups. Finally he made a last rune with his name written on it with a master word above his name.


    This rune was known as the heart rune, as it would control every other rune action, linking them together, and its order was higher in execution after that.


    He made this heart rune from the largest piece of ore he could find, and he then started to put blood over it, while he ate meat from his own reserves, while waiting for Lil to come back.


    To finish the heart rune, he needed to empty a large amount of blood over it. Doing that in a short time would endanger his life, so he just used some blood, stopped the bleeding, ate enough amount of meat to feel refreshed again, and then he resumed the blood feeding ceremony.


    After half an hour, Lily returned with huge containers and put over a few flying bets. These containers were made out of the same kind of ore these warriors had their weapons made of, which made Arthur speculate the original uses of these containers.


    "Put them there," he simply said, as he then went ahead and took a large amount of water, emptied it into his already heated cauldron, before throwing the blood and flesh of the bronzed giant inside, and then he waited for the water to boil.


    As the water boiled, he started adding more and more materials in it, and from time to time, he kept throwing runes into the cauldron, determined by specific timing and amount, while he kept feeding his heart rune.


    This process seemed really a torture for Lily who kept watching him, however she didn''t know this was really a cheap price to gain such loyal strong pets.


    When the content of the cauldron seemed to be semi-solid, Arthur then stopped feeding his heart rune, and threw it directly with the rest of the materials into the cauldron, waited for five minutes before putting his hand over its severely burning surface, endured the extreme pain before sending it inside his ring.


    He endured the pain further, as he closed his eyes, and the crucial step of making this potion was already about to finish.


    He put the heavenly treasure inside this cauldron. The treasure was ice natured one, and the moment it got inside the potion, the about to be solid potion started to get frozen.


    "Come out now!" he hurriedly opened his eyes as he resummoned the cauldron out of his ring, put it on the fire, and hurriedly poured the high grade explosive oil he gained from the clans over the fire.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Explosion after explosion erupted, while he kept his place motionless, watching the extreme intense wave of fire igniting under the cauldron.


    Fire and ice, two antagonizing forces, the most crucial part of making such a ground shaking potion. As the two forces antagonized each other inside the cauldron, more explosions occurred, and Arthur did nothing but wait.


    Every five minutes he would go to one container, bring as much amount of water as he could, and empty them into the cauldron, which seemed bottomless to the watching eyes of Lily, who had already retreated hundreds of meters away from Arthur and his mad cauldron.


    After an hour, the explosions started to quiet down, and after the second hour, there were no more explosions, while the cauldron regained its normal color, while the fire under it got extinguished.


    "It''s finished!"


    Arthur muttered in high spirit as he jumped towards the cauldron, and checked its content. A clear fluid was there residing in the bottom of the cauldron, enough to make one hundred potions.


    However, Arthur knew if he took this potion outside the cauldron for one second, it would be polluted and be useless. So, he just took the whole cauldron into his ring, before going towards Lily as he finally said:


    "Let''s go, summon your Birdy, there is some place we need to reach soon."


    This was originally the main task he needed Lily for. As Lily summoned Birdy, and the two of them soared to the skies, he spotted the working villagers and mages down there.


    The outline of his city was roughly taking shape, as most of the work was now dedicated to cutting down trees, and trying to bring as many ores from the mountain as possible.


    "Sigh!"


    Arthur helplessly sighed, as the task of building a huge city here was already a very big project indeed, however he was so determined to finish it, even if he spent his time raiding and subduing other villages in this world!


    Nothing would stop him from having this city, as this would be the main bridge for his future position in the academy!


    As Birdy went towards the direction of the mountains, Arthur said:


    "Follow the course of the river."


    He knew the army of this alliance wouldn''t be threatened by monsters like other places, so they would be stationed beside the river.


    Providing supplies and rations to such a large army in this desolate place was something hard and challenging. So, Arthur was confident in his guess, as these warriors would never station themselves away from the river as their main water source!


    As he flew with Lily for half an hour, bypassing the five huge peaks of the five mountains, he spotted a valley, so wide and green that made him feel envious of its presence here away from the reach of his hands.


    In this valley, the river went through, directly forming a large lake, that stretched for miles in the distance, before it got narrowed again by another series of mountains, forming a small river as before.


    In this wide and spacious place, many tents were arranged neatly there, with many small shadows moving on the ground, like they were training.

 Chapter 195: Infiltrating the Enemys Camp Heading to the River

    Arthur didn''t need to search long, as he rapidly spotted his scorpion queen, as she was fighting many warriors already, while the trail behind her was littered with a massive number of dead bodies.


    "This girl," Arthur chuckled, helplessly, as he shook his head. He knew the scorpion queen would be enough to cause enough distraction and trouble for them, but he already had a very good solution in his hand.


    He didn''t hurry to summon her back, as he needed her to keep them quite busy for a while, until he finished his plan.


    "Land us there, behind this group of trees."


    Arthur pointed towards a small forest on the outer edge of the army tents. It was also near the branch of the river coming from the mountains. Despite they were coming from the direction of their camp, the distraction caused by the scorpion helped them to slip by, unseen.


    Arthur landed with Lily there, before she resummoned Birdy into his tattoo, before asking:


    "What now?"


    She was shocked when she spotted this huge number of enemies for the first time. she thought when Arthur spoke of the presence of an army here, it was only formed of a thousand or two at most. However her eyes made her feel quite dizzy, as the tents stretched for a really long distance, making her certain the number greatly exceeded the thousand she previously, wrongly, assumed.


    "You stay here," Arthur said, as he vanished into the trees, going straight towards the branch of the river he spotted from above.


    The only problem here was the presence of this branch inside the enemy tent zone. Arthur couldn''t put his potion on the branch at the city of his, as the river water was running from the mountains towards the forest.


    He thought it would be hard to infiltrate the tents, but when he reached the place there, he found no one to guard from this side. He smirked as he directly entered a tent, examined the contents there, and wasn''t surprised to see a bottle or two thrown here and there, carelessly, with the potion used to drive monsters crazy.


    Arthur wasn''t polite and stored these bottles, weapons, rations, even locked boxes. He kept jumping from one tent to another, using the small distance between the tents.


    However when he jumped for the twentieth something time, he was met by two warriors inside. Arthur''s presence startled them, however they didn''t have time to scream for help, as Arthur didn''t freeze up for a couple of seconds like them, and his sword killed them both in no time, before he stored their bodies into the ring, with everything else in this tent.


    "So the tents will be occupied in the next distance to the river, sigh."


    He muttered to himself, before he went ahead to infiltrate the camp using this way. The presence of warriors didn''t stop him, after all he was in war with them.


    He aimed for the branch of the river at the end of the valley, as he wanted to spill the potion there, as water would take the potion, spread it towards the whole valley, and that would help in achieving his goals.


    Arthur was heading in an oblique way, trying not to delve too deep towards the heart of the camp. However, just as he could hear the sound of the water running, he also heard the shouts of a patrol unit guarding this area.


    "Damn!"


    He cursed, as even in the middle of their distraction with the queen, they kept their vigilance towards the river. Arthur killed four warriors inside one tent easily as usual, stored everything in, and then spied with utmost care towards the outside.


    What he saw made him realize he was wrong! This wasn''t a patrol team, it was a unit of a hundred warriors stationed here to guard a certain tent. This tent wasn''t similar to others, as it was huge, reaching the size of a hundred tents combined.


    "Is this their storage tent? Or the armory tent? Or something else?"


    Arthur was so curious about this, but he had no way to know the answer right away. He needed to first get rid of this unit, and he already had the right way to do it.


    Arthur then didn''t wait here, or advance, instead he retreated the whole way until he reached half distance from what he initially crossed. He took out some of his fire ores, and spread them in a large circle, before he spilled his explosive oil on the ground, then he made repeated this in the surrounding tents, before he went to a far tent, took out his bow and one of the explosive arrows, ignited it, and then launched it horizontally towards the ring of ores and explosive oil he created, then stored everything, and darted forward towards the large tent.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    A series of explosions occurred, and suddenly fire was ignited, wildly dancing with its tongues high in the air, while eating a large number of tents in no time!


    "Fire! Hurry up and put it down, fast!!"


    Shouts of help erupted all over the camp, and chaos suddenly was born in the middle of the camp. Many started to run, and one of those was the unit guarding the precious tent, as it was really close to the fire zone.


    The moment the place got empty, Arthur ignored all the shouts and chaos behind, and darted towards the tent. He didn''t even enter it, as all he did was to put his palm over its surface, and absorbed it into his ring.


    "Shoosh!"


    The tent suddenly vanished, and despite its large size, huge shape, no one managed to sense its disappearance in a short time. Arthur didn''t stand there for a moment, as he went ahead towards the nearby river branch, using the emptiness created by his fire, and in less than five minutes he reached it.


    He didn''t hesitate, as he put his palm into the water, made sure it was heading towards the wide valley, then he took out his cauldron, and let it be immersed under water.

 Chapter 196: The Potion Mighty Effect

    He didn''t hesitate, as he put his palm into the water, made sure it was heading towards the wide valley, then he took out his cauldron, and let it be immersed under water.


    The water started to get in touch with the potion, and slowly the potion began to dissolve, vanishing from the depth of the cauldron.


    It was really stressful for ten minutes, as Arthur kept glancing around him all the time. as he made sure there was nothing left in the bottom of his cauldron, he took it back, darted directly towards the nearest tenth, and started to move towards the line of trees, while cleaning everything in his path!


    After half an hour, the fire was almost extinguished, while he reached the place of Lily, as she hurriedly asked, out of her worry:


    "Are you ok?"


    "Sure, don''t worry, they can''t harm me," Arthur smiled, before adding, "we can''t use the flying pet now, let''s retreat far on foot, head towards the mountain, and then summon Birdy there."


    She nodded, and at once they both walked into the forest, heading directly towards the nearby mountains, while moving away from the area of the tents as much as they could.


    However, just as they walked for half an hour, a sudden change suddenly occurred, making them, making everyone here, feel shocked and stupefied!


    "Roar!"


    It wasn''t a single normal roar, but it was a combined roars of endless monsters coming from everywhere. The only one in this place who just smiled when he heard this roar was Arthur, as he turned to the fearful Lily as he said:


    "Take out your Birdy now, let''s leave her."


    "B-But¡­"


    "Hurry, this place would turn into a massacre soon."


    She didn''t know what he meant by that, however she just complied with his words, summoned Birdy, and the moment it appeared there, its eyes shone brightly before it also roared, turned around, and was ready to run away, heading to the direction of the camp.


    "Not good, resummon it back now, hurry!"


    Arthur hurried to tell her this while he also hurried and resummoned the queen. He felt some resistance when he did that, but eventually the queen complied and returned to the tattoo.


    As for Birdy, he returned faster and easier than the queen, but it also showed signs of rebellion.


    "What''s going on here?"


    "It''s the potion I made, I really underestimated the amount and concentration of their potion. Come, hurry, we need to reach the mountains fast."


    Arthur had no time to explain, as he really miscalculated the concentration of the enraging potion in waters. His own potion was so much concentrated, however its final result entirely depended on the enragin potion.


    Such high concentrated enraging potion in waters made the reaction much more intense than he imagined! This was only the beginning, as this reaction would only grow in strength with time, until the whole enraging potion in the waters got depleted.


    He knew these mighty roars coming from here and far was only the beginning, as he knew any monster in the area would be greatly affected by this potion.


    "The city!"


    He suddenly recalled the city region of his, so he hurriedly took out a bird''s wing, wrote a short order to resummon all the monsters back, and sent it to Amelia at once.


    He also resummoned his two horned rhinoceros, as he left it to help others in cutting down trees.


    He felt the same kind of resistance like he felt with the queen, but eventually the monster came back into his tattoo. Arthur was surprised to realize the effects of his potion had exceeded the area of the valley.


    "Would it affect me further than here?" he muttered to himself, while he was running with his highest speed.


    After an hour, they both managed to reach the mountains, and when they did, they started climbing the mountains, taking a rough route, evading the easier route beside the river path.


    Arthur and Lily could hear already countless roars from down the valley, however they didn''t spot a single monster here. midway in their climbing journey, a bird''s wing came in, from Amelia, as she informed him of the recent development there.


    "The whole forest is shaking, and a large number of monsters are now appearing, moving with strange madness towards the mountains."


    "Don''t stand in their way or fight them, they are blinded, like the days when we were hunting monsters."


    Arthur''s reply to her was short, but he was sure she would understand his meaning well. "So the monsters in the forest also got affected, interesting," he muttered, as he didn''t stop climbing up all this time.


    After four hours, they two managed to reach a place high enough for them to be able to cross the whole mountainous area safely.


    However, the moment they reached this height, they could see the whole region around the mountains crystal clear, and what they saw made the two of them speechless, and amazed!


    There was no ground anymore! Everywhere there were only monsters! Even in the air, many flying monsters appeared in flocks, flooding the whole region. as for waters, they became extremely enraged, as endless monsters appeared from there, and all were heading towards the wide valley!


    "What have you done exactly clan head?" Lily''s scalp was numb from all these numbers of monsters she was seeing everywhere. Arthur just smiled helplessly, as he never thought his own machination would result in such a devastating result!


    "Let''s then camp here, we can''t get down now," he said, before he wrote a message to Amelia, asking her to halt everything, and group together and wait until this monster tide ends.


    Arthur and Lily kept watching this huge number of monsters who started to attack themselves in the area of the valley, madly using everything to kill each other. Then, a far stranger scene appeared, as the living monsters started to eat the dead ones!


    "They are eating each other!!"

 Chapter 197: Finding Large Army Formations!

    Lily''s comment was welcomed by Arthur''s smile, as he knew this was part of the effect of the grand potion made of his and the clans'' potions combined.


    He never thought that all these monsters were already affected by the potion of the big clans, which made him realize how deep their plot ran, and how mighty it was.


    However they were unfortunate to meet someone like him here. what he felt doubtful about was that this world seemed not to have great alchemy in it. yes they were really advanced in blacksmith technique, but he didn''t see anything like it in alchemy!


    If there was such advancement in alchemy in this world, such a scheme would have been long revealed by many, countered already, like what he did here.


    Arthur then went to sit on a side of the mountain, where he took out many meat from his ring, handed some to Lily, as he sat eating while he started investigating what he gained from that camp.


    He knew that camp down there was a past story now, as after the end of all this, the camp would be there no more. Even traces of it wouldn''t be there.


    The first thing he checked was that large tent he acquired. As his consciousness delved deeply into it, he was amazed by what he saw inside!


    The tent was really spacious, much more than he initially thought. There were many weapons stored inside rows upon rows of closed boxes, plus many potions stored on racks specialized to keep them safe. These items didn''t interest Arthur, as what really made him so delighted was the presence of many scrolls inside.


    Secrets of forging strong and very unique weapons and armors! These were really a treasure for him, if not for the current situation being risky, he would have taken these out, and started reading them.


    There was also something that attracted his attention there, defensive and offensive weapons!


    Large crossbows that he never saw alike before! At part of the tent he also saw many large wood and forged ore parts lying together, with a scroll beside them explaining the end result of this item.


    "Trabeculae?!" he muttered, with daze, as this was the first time for him to see something like that. he just glanced these parts with haste, as there was enough parts to make ten of these only. he then saw another thing that made his mind got a stir at once.


    "Formations! Large army formations!!"


    His eyes shone brightly, and this time he couldn''t help himself as he took out one of these scrolls, called the dark sword formation.


    "A soul based type of formation, interesting," he started reading the formation, as it had two parts, one for explaining everything related to this formation, and the other part was a drawing, determining each group of soldiers'' location inside this formation.


    This was an illusion offensive and defensive formation, one of the most sophisticated formations Arthur had ever seen! Formations were present and famous in his past life, but they were really rare, extremely rare, to the degree that sects were assessed by the number of formations in their possession.


    As for here, he found many formation scrolls inside this tent he found at a desolate part of this world. his mind suddenly got stirred more by the simple idea of the big clans themselves, as they must have much more scrolls in their possession, a treasure his soul craved for greatly.


    "Interesting, this world is really interesting."


    He smiled, as he started to study this formation. It needed ten thousand soldiers to form, and that gave him a thought. He hurriedly checked the other formations requirements, all needed ten thousand soldiers to perform.


    "So, the limit of scrolls here is determined by the number of the soldiers? I have to find a larger army then," he muttered to himself, as he wanted to obtain all the formations in this world for himself.


    He was greedy, but for his own good was that greed directed to. After an hour of reading, and studying, he realized how deep and sophisticated this formation was!


    In his past life, cultivators tended to use energy stored in their bodies to stir the formation, and that put much pressure over the cultivators and made the lifespan of any formation not longer than one to two hours.


    However, this formation principle had nothing to do with the energy inside each warrior. It used the energy of the warriors at first to start a channel, connecting the whole formation with the greater energy spread in the world. the limit of this formation relied only on the intensity and the size of this channel, as if the attacks coming at it was far greater than the energy provided by nature or not.


    This concept revolutionized Arthur''s vision about formations, and let him have some insights regarding these. He shook his head, with much helplessness, as he didn''t have the luxury of time to try out some ideas and turn them into formations.


    As for Lily, she noticed his focus on this scroll and decided to take her part in guarding the place. Despite the whole world now shaking under the roars and hooves of these endless monsters, no one of them cared ever about any human right now.


    Every single monster was crazy to enter the valley, rapidly killing each other, and then feasting on the flesh of the fallen ones. In the middle of such chaos, the ten thousand soldiers here tried to resist at first, not knowing what was going on with these monsters, but later on they were overwhelmed by numbers, killed by overstepping of these monster hooves, or as collateral damage to the intensive extensive battles erupted here.


    The night fell, and once it did, Arthur was interrupted in his thoughts when a bird''s wing appeared in front of him. it came from Amelia, as she stated that the villagers who had joined their camp were now restless, asking to go far from the river at night.

 Chapter 198: Discovering the Link Between This World and Dark Mage Side

    The night fell, and once it did, Arthur was interrupted in his thoughts when a bird''s wing appeared in front of him. it came from Amelia, as she stated that the villagers who had joined their camp were now restless, asking to go far from the river at night.


    Arthur sighed, as it was hard to change the wrong beliefs of people, especially when they had lived their entire lives in fear of them.


    "Just retreat to a place where you can see the river, and make them see there was no danger whatsoever from this moment on!"


    Arthur sighed again, as he knew his words alone wouldn''t be enough to change their minds. Only when they saw the truth with their own eyes, they would start to change, believe him, and not fear the waters at night anymore!


    He then continued studying this formation, as there were some complicated things used in it, like runes for example, and drawing on the ground if they wanted to make the formation far stronger.


    The variations alone in this formation made him speechless, as he realized his past cultivation world lived in darkness, using the most superficial knowledge of formation thinking, wrongly, they knew everything about it.


    A whole new world opened in front Arthur''s eyes, and he returned to his old self, a bookworm, reading and memorizing everything. His mind worked with its best capabilities to understand and develop what he was reading.


    "Can we have fire?" Lily asked, as the atmosphere here at the top was really cold, and the world was already drowned in the bottom of an ocean of darkness.


    "Sure, one moment," Arthur was jolted awake by her words, making him realize the light was long gone, and his eyes were really struggling to read well. He didn''t sense that as he was totally immersed in his own thoughts.


    The next second he took out a couple of fire pits, and let them over a group of low quality fire ores from the time he first ventured into the forest outside his clan.


    The fire ignited, and the place started to get warm. He also took out large amounts of meat, and handed them to her to eat. He then sat in front of the fire, returning to be immersed in his own world again.


    The fire in the heart of this dark night was eye catchy, but he wasn''t worried as all monsters were currently busy killing each other, falling under the effect of his grand potion.


    The night hours passed short on him, very long and boring on Lily, who finally decided to sleep, while missing the warm feathered body of her Birdy.


    This experience made her realize how important her pet was, as it wasn''t only a friend of her in various adventures, it also helped her a lot in fighting and travelling, something she totally forgot after getting used to.


    She decided once everything finished, and it was safe to call her Birdy again, to reward it with a huge meal, and even let it fly alone in the sky for a while, enjoying its free will for a time.


    She slept, on the side of Arthur, who was really busy and immersed in studying. He then used another formation to understand the formations even more. When dawn light appeared again, he had already studied three formations, and his mind wasn''t as excited as before.


    "What is going on here?"


    Arthur had noticed something disturbing. At first he was so excited by the new world of knowledge presenting itself here, however later on he started to smell something fishy.


    "Dark sword formation¡­ Dark phoenix formation¡­ Dark typhoon formation¡­ three dark formations, and three soul based formations, is this a coincidence?"


    He muttered to himself, as all the three formations he studied so far had the name dark in it, and all were based on the soul type attacks!


    He hastily took out other formation scrolls to read their names and see how they work.


    "Dark shield formation¡­ Dark sand formation¡­ Dark linear formation¡­ Dark spear formation¡­ Dark zone formation¡­ they are all dark formations, and all are based on soul type attacks!"


    This was crystal clear to him, and suddenly some hidden pieces of the puzzle started to fall in front of his eyes, getting revealed, pieced perfectly together, and finally he realized the dark secret of this world.


    This was a world which had deep ancient connections with those groups who spread the airborne toxin attacking him, also like that assassin who tried to kill him using illusions.


    And they were also like the cursed soul of that hideous dragonair of the old, who tried to kill his soul and take over his body.


    "So there are dark mages in this world, very specialized in soul type attacks?"


    He lacked a lot of information to confirm his own assumptions, but one thing was crystal clear in his mind, this world wasn''t recently discovered, instead it had deep relations with the outside world, or to the dark side perhaps.


    If this world was taken by force, then the academy expeditions here would be seen as an effort to eradicate any presence of such a dark side. But if the academy didn''t obtain it by force, then this world is a great scam, a huge plot and trap acting to serve the hidden benefits and gains of the dark side only, not the academy, not its mages, not surely him.


    "Interesting," he smirked, evilly, as he now realized how this world got its hands on such an advanced potion. He also understood why the mindset of these large clans aimed at enslaving others, as this was already the mindset of any villain.


    "I have nothing to do with your business here, except that you tried to kill me a couple of times already, and currently you are standing in front of my path to enter the academy, so¡­" Arthur sneered as he muttered to the open air, as if he was speaking to everyone.

 Chapter 199: Gaining Insights about His Citys Defensive Buildings

    He now had a belief that the big clans and guilds mages would have it much easier and far more successfully than anyone else partaking in the competition!


    "Let''s see who will have the biggest laugh at the end."


    Arthur then closed all these scrolls, hiding them inside his ring. From his past and bitter experience with the cursed dragonair book, he already knew it wasn''t safe at all using something from this dark side, without even taking enough precautions already.


    Two worlds, each with their pros and cons, and he had another world stored in his memories already¡­ This had started to make him feel much excited, and greatly challenged to prove himself worthy, and take reign over the best of here and there.


    He glanced at Lily, to find her still sleeping, like a little child, before smiling kindly to her. He then moved towards the edge of the mountain, bypassing the about to extinguish fire, where parts of it turned into long thin pillars of smoke, heading directly towards the distant sky.


    As he stood there, in the early hours of the day, he was welcomed by a thick cloud of fog, covering almost everything down there.


    However he managed to spot from places vacant of the fog yet the intense fight ongoing in the valley. He just sighed, as this place was going to continue fighting until a mighty being would be born.


    And the most amazing thing here was that this monster would be loyal to him, calling him master, and doing anything he asked for.


    Arthur then returned to sit beside Lily, while he tried to squeeze his mind about this shocking relation between this world and the dark side.


    He had no idea about anything related to that dark side, despite clashing swords with them several times already. He knew he might be able to get a lot of info when reaching the academy, but he now started to doubt his journey to there would be this easy.


    What he caused here would stir up attention, making many eye this place with vigilance and dark intentions. He thought about moving from here, but again anywhere he would go, he was destined to cause trouble.


    "Why retreating when I can use this as a foundation to my future base?"


    He thought out loud, while making up his mind. Retreating wasn''t one of his traits, and thus he decided to fortify things here, and clash head on with whoever would come to threaten him.


    He then started to rethink again about his previous plans. His biggest issues were time and lack of workers. So, he planned the moment he went down there to go and make a very wide move to snatch villagers.


    As for the current defenses of the city, he had new inspirations from the war tools he saw inside the tent. That huge trabecular was really mind blowing, and that huge crossbow made him crave for me.


    In his mind, huge towers started to be built, armed with these crossbows to aim far and mighty towards the long distance enemies. he also started to revolutionize the arrows used in them, adding the idea of explosive arrows he had into them, turning them from single target weapon to a mass killing weapon.


    As for trabechulae, as far as he was concerned he was feeling content with them. He might find some ways to improve these huge war machines, but not now.


    He had to wait until he witnessed the making process himself, and there he might add a thing or two.


    He entered the deep state of thinking again regarding these formations. The new world he just experienced made him regret his inability to use them, as he was feeling skeptical about touching something dangerous as this.


    "If they used soul type attacks, then they have to rely on the souls of the soldiers somehow."


    He started to study what he had in mind thoroughly, and this time he wasn''t impressed by them like before, instead he was focusing on finding any suspicious things there.


    The first thing he noted was the initiation process, where warriors need to wound themselves, and channel their energies. He knew this simple move must have a deeper hidden move unseen by him.


    Changing this part might affect the entire process as a whole, but at least it wouldn''t be risky to use as before.


    From here he started to note down any suspicious move, and replaced them with things he knew and experienced before. Hand movements, the time of using energy, even the runes and drawings on the ground, everything was changed, except for the places of the soldiers.


    He knew the current placing might have an issue, but he couldn''t alter that without experimenting live on real soldiers. The art of formation was destined to be so complicated to learn, and much more complicated and hard to invent.


    In hours, Lily woke up to find him still in his daze. She sighed, as she knew this time how hard her clan head was working all the time for the best interest of them.


    She was feeling much gratitude for that, and she knew for sure Arthur wouldn''t be just a mere small clan head, but a sprout for something bigger.


    She then kept her silence, as she started to get busy watching the brutal fight down there. The fight never stopped for a moment, and the monster flood just kept coming from everywhere her sight could spot without showing signs of slowing down.


    She didn''t know what Arthur did down there, but at least these monsters weren''t currently posing a threat to them. in addition to that, the huge army stationed here must have been destroyed, saving them from any trouble in the near future.


    She sat there looking at the distant ground, watching the brutal fight without any worry, like she was watching an amusing fight between kids.


    As for Arthur, he sat there squeezing his mind, trying to introduce as many changes as possible to the dark formation. What made him puzzled was the name, dark.

 Chapter 200: Finally Returning to the City

    The name wasn''t something simple, especially when it became repeated like this in each formation. The more puzzled thing was that he didn''t spot anything related to darkness at all, which made him wonder where the main trick was!


    This trick was hidden very deep that even he after a whole day of thinking and speculation couldn''t find it. "sigh, let it be then, once I have time I would try and experiment on real soldiers, and I might gain some insights about this part."


    He loudly sighed and complained, as he ended his current thinking session at the nightfall. His muttering was heard by Lily, who hurried to him as she said with a smile:


    "The fight down there is about to end, and the monster tide coming here stopped for a couple of hours already."


    Her words made him move to the edge of the mountain, where he spotted the clear clean ground of the city, and the valley was already having few monsters fighting each other there.


    From their external appearances, he knew they had evolved much further than he expected. "Let''s head down to the city then," he muttered, as it was now safe to descend.


    He didn''t receive any news from Amelia all this time, which made him slightly worried. As they both moved along the mountain, and reached the next side in a few hours, the scene of his city was now apparent from this far.


    Despite the night, there were many fireplaces spread along the ground already. When they started to reach near the ground, sounds of working hands reached their ears, making Arthur speculate about what was going on.


    He then crossed the remaining distance of the mountain with Lily until they reached the ground. When they did so, dawn was already upon them, and while they moved to the city, crossing the remaining distance on flat grounds, they took three hours to do so, making them reach the camp in the early lights of the new day.


    "Wow, they really are working hard already," Lily muttered expressing her amazement from what she saw in the daylight.


    The once clear and clean grounds started to change, with many holes being dug everywhere, and many holes were already centered around the branch of the river, just like Arthur told them to do.


    This sight made Arthur giggle, as he realized that the villagers had already known the dark truth of the great scam they were exposed to.


    Their eyes were opened, widely opened on the real truth, and it just felt nice to do so.


    "Welcome back, clan head."


    Once he neared the place of their work, Amelia spotted him with many others, as they hurriedly moved towards him and Amelia welcomed him first.


    "Great work everyone. Tell me, have anything major occurred?"


    "The group of enemies who were ditching ores in the river got beaten up by monsters during the strange tide, and now the whole area is clear from any hostile," Clovert said, as he already came back.


    "Here is the map of the whole region, we made sure to fly for hours around the place. we also spotted many villages and towns around us, all are marked in this map," Ouly moved forward couple of steps, before handing over a piece of scroll.


    Arthur took it and nodded to both of them, while he hurriedly opened the map. He was astonished to find a very detailed one, including the mountains, forests, rivers, and also villages and towns which he greatly desired.


    The number of these towns and villages exceeded what Geunin once said, as there were approximately twenty of them, half were stationed inside the forest.


    "Listen up," Arthur then glanced at everyone, "once the ability to use monsters safely returns, we will move out, sending envoys to these places, asking them to yield to us. We just need a response, those are willing to join must all move from their places and come here.


    We will promise them security, food, and also help them get stronger. Those who would refuse will face the hard fist of min."


    Arthur''s words weren''t light to anyone standing here, however they knew no one of these towns and villages would agree to yield, not this easily, not without a show of power.


    Arthur knew that already, however he also knew how tight his time he had was.


    "May I suggest paying them a visit personally, and try to convince them to join?" Geunin suggested, however Arthur shook his head as he explained:


    "We don''t have time for that, as what we did here might attract strong enemies to us soon. The scheme we just uncovered isn''t simple, and those great clans and alliances won''t sit still and watch us destroy their legacy."


    Arthur''s words gave everyone a clear vision of the future, it was a very dark and hard one. However, none of them was worried, as they already knew how strong and creative their clan head was.


    "Now, I want to ask you about this," Arthur then shifted all his attention towards Geunin, as he took out one crossbow and one group of trebuchet pieces on the ground. "Do you recognize any of these?" Arthur asked, while pointing out towards the two of them.


    "Oh, this is a crossbow, and this is a trebuchet. Of course I know the two of them, as they are two of the mightiest weapons these great clans have. How did you come to obtain these?!"


    Arthur didn''t explain how, but he was much concerned with how to make more, as he asked:


    "Can you make more of these?"


    Geunin face showed his struggle with that, as he replied with some embarrassment:


    "These two requires the blueprints for making them, and very skilled workers to manufacture them according to the drawings. Away from the skilled workers at the large towns in our worlds, no one can do it."


    "Large towns? Is there anyone nearby?" Arthur asked with more interest in that.

 Chapter 201: Twelve Sacred Monsters Are Born

    "Sure, there are three large towns in the radius of one thousand miles around us. However, all three of them belonged already to large clans, and there is a large army stationed at each one of them, making anyone dreaming of conquering these towns lose any hope to do so."


    He tried to make Arthur let down this idea, however he failed miserably at that. He didn''t know Arthur yet, however everyone else around him just shook their heads, knowing what their crazy clan head would say next.


    "Clovert, take Ouly and geunin with you. I want you to go to these towns, draw the maps to them, and try to scout about their preparations. Don''t put yourselves at risk, but try to do this as fast as you can."


    The eyes of Geunin widened, and before he could open his mouth and say anything, Clovert patted on his shoulders, saying in a consoling tone:


    "Come, our clan head always felt excited when he heard the word hard or impossible."


    Geunin moved with him and Ouly, with extreme astonishment on his face. Such a pure reaction made everyone laugh, while Arthur just smiled.


    "Are these used in fighting?" Madly jumped towards the crossbow, marveling at its huge body, while Lily also followed suit, as she was much interested in this gian bow.


    "Sure, this one here would send large sized arrows to great distances, while this one here would throw ores to great distance, causing much damage to large areas."


    Arthur tried to explain what he understood from the scrolls related to these two items. The others also were astonished, and showed much interest in both of them, while Arthur waited until they all regained their composure, as he added:


    "We will try to gather skilled workers to make more of these. Also we will introduce our own signature explosive arrows and ores into the two, making their devastation climb up to another level."


    Their eyes shone brightly as they already were quite familiar with what he was speaking about. "As for using them to the best, we need to make larger and broader towers, so expand half of the towers around the walls, make them able to hold a group of these.


    Also I want you to double the breadth of the walls and the gates, so they could also carry a bunch of these army killers."


    Arthur''s words were noted, and met with extreme excitement. "Sigh, it''s a regret already to build all this city and leave it later for the academy," Omar sighed, and his words were met with a wave of nodding and shaking heads from everyone.


    "Don''t worry, who said we would lose this?" Arthur mysteriously replied, and then he added without saying more in response to their questioning eyes, "Now go and work hard, we have no time to waste daydreaming here like this. Go now, and if you needed something, come to look for me."


    He then sent them back to work, while he started to take a stroll over the great works done here by his workers. The villagers'' faces showed extreme anger, and that was quite understandable.


    After all, what they lived their entire life afraid of turned to become a dark scheme of great clans in their world, making them extremely angry and very enraged.


    They used the work in hand to vent out some of their welled up rage. Arthur didn''t find anything wrong with that, after all the speed of the work here was already exceeding the schedule he had in mind, even the day of not working due to the monster tide was already compensated.


    After taking a tour around the places, he then went towards the forest. The devastation of the monster tide was apparent there more than anywhere else, where many trees fell, and large portions of the forest disappeared like deep scattered scars.


    He sighed, as he knew how mad the monsters might be when being enticed by something. He noticed many workers and mages working hard to collect these trees, and starting to make them ready for further use.


    He knew everything was going according to the plan, but he wanted to speed up things already. At least the wall section should be finished in the fastest time possible, and he needed to expand his armies, arm his soldiers with gears, and make the defenses of the town ready to welcome any invading army of any caliber.


    The solution for all that would be these towns and villages scattered nearby him.


    Just as he was thinking that, a series of mighty roars erupted, as the ground shook and the water of the calm river got disturbed. These sudden changes had already attracted the attention of everyone, but Arthur was the only one to know what was going on already.


    "What a luck!" he just muttered this, before he went towards Amelia as he said:


    "The area is secure, you can now use the monsters to fly. Send the convoys out, and send Clovert and others as well."


    Amelia was considered his right hand, not only for her strength, but also for her trusted opinions and performance. "What about these roars just now?" she asked, with much doubt.


    "Don''t worry yourself with them, everything is under my control."


    Arthur''s vague response made Amelia realize that he didn''t only stop the scheme done by the great clans here, but he also did something else. She just smiled, before nodding and went to do her tasks without asking for anything.


    She knew sooner or later, what he was planning secretly will be revealed.


    As for Arthur, he stood in his place watching her back, before sighing. She was really a rare type of beauty, but currently he had no mind to appreciate her.


    The roars that just happened was accompanied by the sensation of many monsters linking themselves to him.


    Twelve monsters, that was the final number of survivors inside the valley. Their roars announced their birth, however they needed to sleep so they could finish their final step of evolution.

 Chapter 202: The First Trip to Attack Villages and Towns

    "Sigh, I don''t have enough resources to feed you with, what a shame," he regretted his lack of resources, as this step could be pushed further by using many treasures, like the heavenly rock in his possession.


    He just gave them a mental order to sleep and finish their evolution. He still didn''t know what to consider them, as pets or as slave monsters, however he didn''t think much about this, as he had other things to do.


    The time for his move against the refusing town and villages would approach soon. From the map Ouly made, he knew the distance between here and the other towns and villages wouldn''t exceed a few hours in flying.


    That meant he would be faced with many wars in the next couple of hours. He glanced at everyone around him, they were working so hard already. He had an army of a thousand warriors, but he doubted this number would be enough to intimidate these villages and towns.


    "I think I would use the queen again, or might act in person this time.???


    He thought to himself, while walking again around the city. up till now, no single building was completed, or even the foundations were raised above the ground. The theories he used to build these buildings required many preparations indeed, and thus it wasn''t surprising to have such a result.


    However he was sure once the foundation stage ended, the buildings would soared into the sky in no time. as he was watching everyone working, he also examined the foundations here and there, feeling satisfied by their firmness and depth.


    Then he went towards the most important area here, the walls. As he instructed, the walls would cover a huge distance in this open stretch of land. He needed three hours to go from one side to another, making the size of his city huge already.


    He knew he would later expand the city outward, but this would be a later phase, not now.


    The walls building was going smoothly as the buildings inside the city, however he wasn''t that satisfied with their actions. He knew the problem mainly lay in the lack of workers, as the number of population here limited his plans by a lot.


    He just sighed, and before he could move back to the city center, a bird''s wing appeared, carrying only a simple news from Amelia.


    "No one agreed to join us."


    He softly chuckled, as these villages and towns had already chosen the hard way. He then sent a bird''s wing to Amelia, asking her to send Lily to the western wall.


    In less than five minutes, he spotted Lily flying on the back of her Birdy, feeling extremely excited for regaining her ability to fly on its back again.


    "Going for another adventure?" she asked, while he jumped to stand beside her while Birdy continued to fly further.


    He took the map out, spread it in front of his eyes, before he replied:


    "It''s a bunch of small wars so we can grab more workers for our city."


    His words seemed casual, however she knew how mighty and brutal he was when fighting. She just chuckled and said nothing, as she always got much surprise everytime Arthur fought.


    Arthur used the maps to go towards the distant town, as he decided to move from far to near. The flight took two hours before he spotted a much better village than the one he previously conquered, with primitive walls, small gate, and a large number of army standing in front of the massive size village they called town.


    "It''s really big," Lily commented, as she could see its full scale from the air. "And they look quite energetic," she added, while pointing to the large army, numbering in thousands, waiting for them at the large village gate.


    "Let me down there," Arthur pointed towards the ground, where there was only a mile distance between him and this army. "Stay here, and wait for me to finish," he added before he jumped down to the ground, summoned the scorpion queen, before resting calmly over her back.


    The first thing the queen did was to raise her head and eye him with silence. Arthur knew she might be angry, but he couldn''t tell if she was going to be safe after that brutal fight ended or not.


    "Sorry, but I can''t risk losing you in something I don''t know its final outcome."


    His words were said, and she stayed looking silently at him for a moment, before one of her two tails gently tapped him on the back. It was her own retaliation from him, like a soft bunch a spoiled girl did to her lover.


    "Let''s have some fun then, see these soldiers out there?" he said, changing the topic at once, while pointing towards the distance, "we need to teach them a lesson, and this time don''t hold back anymore."


    His addition was for the future battles to go smoother. This fight was destined to be brutal, and this was intentionally done by him, so when the news spread out, people would rethink thrice before saying no to him.


    Be my subject peacefully and I wouldn''t mistreat you, be my enemy and reject me, and I would kill your army mercilessly, and enslave every single one in your village.


    That was simply the message he wanted to convey, and he was sure the news would spread faster than anyone could possibly imagine.


    The scorpion queen mistook this as his own way to apologize to her, and frankly she didn''t hold back anymore. She darted fast towards the army, and before they could unleash the arrows to her, she unleashed her long range poisonous attacks towards them.


    Poison fog started to spread, and many soldiers lost their lives already in no time, while others surrounding them got really scared, causing panic and chaos to erupt.


    Arthur didn''t speak a single word or ask them to surrender, as he let the queen do whatever she wanted with them. He wanted this battle brutality to be known far and wide, so anyone wouldn''t underestimate his offer of peace anymore.

 Chapter 203: Setting up An Example

    Arthur didn''t speak a single word or ask them to surrender, as he let the queen do whatever she wanted with them. He wanted this battle brutality to be known far and wide, so anyone wouldn''t underestimate his offer of peace anymore.


    The moment chaos erupted in the ranks of the army, they were already so near from their front lines. Despite the chaos, many arrows were launched to kill them. those coming from the air were smashed easily by the scorpion queen, while those coming horizontally were avoided by the move Arthur pulled before.


    The next phase of the fight was pure brutal, one sided massacre!


    The queen moved everywhere, where she used her body to kill, her two tails to kill, her long distance poisonous attacks to kill, and even her mouth to kill.


    As for Arthur, he stood there, folding his arms in front of his chest, silently observing this massacre like a mighty king eyeing mere slaves.


    The thought of touching him started to grow far apart from everyone''s imagination, and the only thing that controlled their minds right now was to survive this massacre, to retreat and live inside their town.


    However, the next moment Arthur summoned his two horned rhinoceros, as he gave him one order:


    "Go inside, kill anyone you see."


    He pointed towards the town, and his pet just roared, and then darted directly towards the town. This sudden appearance of such a terrifying monster made everyone freeze.


    Even the place they could escape to was blocked right now! they started to lose hope, and suddenly a large number of soldiers let down their arms, knelt on the ground, and screamed asking to surrender, asking for mercy.


    "Kill those who are still standing, and let the ones surrendering safely. And you come back here and help."


    Arthur recalled his rhinoceros, just meters away from smashing into the town gate. It returned fast, and joined the fun of the queen, making her upset from this interference.


    She was already enough to kill everyone, why the need for this weak useless monster then?


    As this action enraged her more, she became too brutal towards the remaining resistance. The weird thing was that these soldiers kept fighting until their last breaths, which made Arthur wonder why they were so loyal to die!


    "Wait here, I will enter the town now," he said, while leaving the scattered groups of the surrendered soldiers under the watching eyes of the scorpion queen and the rhinoceros.


    The town was larger than the village he previously conquered, and when he just entered through the gate that was opened after the surrender wave started, he noticed the warry looks of villagers to him.


    He sighed, inwardly, as he had to set an example using them, so future villages and towns would never resist him again.


    "Listen up, carry everything you have, from this moment on you are slaves to me, your sons and their sons will be slaves to my family. Any resistance will be met by force, deadly force. So hurry and pack everything, and let''s leave."


    His words spread over the whole town from mouth to mouth, and in less than one hour, over fifty thousand villagers stood there with grim faces. Arthur didn''t wait any longer, as he went outside to the surrendered soldiers.


    "Stand up, from this moment forth, you are the slaves of my family. You will fight for my family, and you will follow my orders, and the order of my house, or you will be executed and your own families will be killed."


    His harsh words made them all feel panicked, really regretting resisting him. they were numbering three thousand soldiers, as they lost two thousand ones in the past battle.


    Arthur then went towards the front, as he met Lily at the place he left her at. She was already waiting for him, as she watched everything that unfolded here. she didn''t understand why he treated them with such brutality, but she knew he must have his own reasons.


    The travel of foot took much longer than flying over Birdy''s back! Arthur was sure that many spying eyes of the surrounding town and villages had already relayed the news.


    He didn''t rash up the march, especially when he was driving all these villagers, including women and kids. He also wanted to waste some time, so he could spread fear more inside the souls of other towns and villages.


    As for his queen and rhinoceros, he left them moving beside him, as an indicator to his desire and readiness to fight at any time!


    Arthur was marching towards the nearest village, as it was a simple village like the first one he conquered. The village had small walls, and one wooden simple gate, and in front of this gate a small army stood there, with a group of old looking people at their front.


    "Halt!" Arthur shouted when he was one mile away from this village. his large march was enough to give everyone seeing this a general picture of his strength, or else he wouldn''t be able to conquer such a town in a very short time, and force all its inhabitants to leave it in such a way!


    Arthur then moved alone towards the front, while the group of ten elders moved to meet him. their faces were old, but they had large scars and deep wound marks, giving Arthur the impression this wasn''t a simple village at all.


    "Greeting lord Willy, we were waiting for you," the oldest one spoke up first, slightly bowing his head.


    "A friend or a foe?" Arthur simply asked, without the need to waste any time speaking with them here.


    "A friend, surely a friend," the old man hurriedly said, while glancing over the surrendered three thousand warriors behind Arthur. They were enough to devastate his village, and kill all his one thousand warriors easily.


    However he knew the deadliest weapon for Arthur wasn''t them, but the two huge monsters at the back, especially that large scorpion, with two tails.


    "Then bring up everyone and let''s hurry with me, I still have many places to conquer."

 Chapter 204: Reaching A Cluster of Towns and Villages in the Forest

    Arthur then turned around, and said no more. He really was racing against time, and this old man sensed the great vibe out of him, so he hurriedly said, trying to buy his favor:


    "We have already packed and prepared to leave. Your fame and reputation wildly exceeded your steps, my lord."


    Arthur didn''t stop walking back to his party, as he muttered:


    "Then hurry up and join the rest."


    "I have a piece of news that might interest you, my lord, it''s about the time difference between here and your world."


    The words of this old man managed to pique Arthur''s interest, as he turned to glance at the old man, gesturing to him to speak.


    "The time here is much faster than the time in your world, so five days here would equal one day only passing through your world."


    The words of this old man were really a game changer to Arthur! He was familiar with the time dilemma of any pocket world, as many would have time moving very fast, and others would have it running so slow.


    For him this meant his stay here for one month had turned to five months! Despite the duration being longer, he was really ecstatic right now about this.


    "What''s your name old man?" he asked.


    "Omendy, my lord."


    "Good, I like the news you presented, so your village will be a direct subject of mine, not a slave like others. Hurry up and follow me."


    Arthur then returned to Lily and others, before changing the route to the direction of the next village. Lily had heard everything that old man had said, and she was quite upset from that!


    However, strangely for her, she noticed the change of Arthur''s mood to the better! That was quite inexplicable for her, but she remained silent and didn''t ask.


    The journey took a couple of hours before they saw the next village. this village was on the edge of the forest, so that recent monster tide had already devastated it!


    All its walls were destroyed, and the interior of the village showed many signs of damage.


    Arthur sighed, inwardly, as it seemed that monster tide made quite a devastation for many. however it was a must, and he never regretted doing it.


    As the last village, this one also presented the older people of it, as they instantly surrendered to Arthur, joining all their entire people with his march.


    Lily was speechless, as she already heard about the great refusal of everyone to the peaceful offer he made. She didn''t understand that the first brutal fight, and subduing this big town, had demonstrated clearly how strong and violent he was.


    So, for these smaller villages, they had no hope in resisting him. as for the other towns, the story was quite different.


    The next two stops were at villages as well, and they both surrendered to him. The third stop was at an empty village, as there was no one there!


    Arthur stood silently in front of this village, while holding up the map in his hands, closely examining it.


    It was supposed to be a ring of five villages here surrounding two towns, one inside and one outside this large ring. These seven villages and towns lied all inside the forest, but being supported and surrounded with some low hills, they were slightly protected from the monster tide.


    The overall vanish of everyone indicated only one thing, there was one town amassing all the forces in the area to resist him!


    That didn''t bother him at all, as he knew he was enough to deal with all of them, however the issue here was which town of the two made this bold move?


    "Lily, you take everyone and head towards the city," Arthur suddenly said, as he folded the map and hid it into his ring, "the distance from here to the city will take around four hours on foot, just at the right time before the night."


    Lily was skeptical about it, as this empty village had given her bad impression and odd omen. She wanted to argue with him, but his direct stare at her made her nod, and swallow any arguments she wanted to say.


    After all she wasn''t here to help him in the fight, and she was sure he was more than capable to fight anyone without the worry of his life.


    Arthur then stood in his place, motionless, as he watched the great population he gained moving towards his city. their number was now exceeding one hundred thousand, making him quite happy with his gains.


    As they left, he turned his full attention towards the sneaky enemy he had right here.


    The perfect choice for the town to amass those villages would be the one in the centre, as it definitely had the most relations with these villages.


    However, he knew this town would be a trap, nothing more than a delicious bait for him to fall into, before the combined armies of all these seven villages and towns would attack him.


    He smiled, evilly, as this simple move had already saved a lot of effort for him. he then turned towards his queen and rhinoceros as he said:


    "I have a very fat meal for you two."


    The rhinoceros wasn''t the type to enjoy fighting, but it would do anything Arthur would order. As for the queen, she was really interested in his words, so she lowered her tails, indicating her readiness to move and kill anyone.


    "There is an army hidden in the dark forest a couple of miles to the west. I want you to go there, and attack them."


    The queen just heard the words, and then started to run forward, disappearing in the trees. As for the rhinoceros, it just followed her footsteps, while Arthur stood behind watching the two leave.


    He knew for any trap to be effective, you had to block any retreat route. So, the army waiting for him wasn''t only one, but two.

 Chapter 205: Transforming into A Dragon that Sprays Fire!

    He knew for any trap to be effective, you had to block any retreat route. So, the army waiting for him wasn''t only one, but two.


    Plus, he didn''t know the exact location of the army he sent his two pets to, as he sent them towards the town outside the ring, threatening to devastate everyone there!


    So, the hidden army in the vicinity would be forced to show itself up!


    As for how they would know, it was so simple, as Arthur was being watched currently from the spies of this coalition army!


    As for the first army, he had already sent the bait to lure it out!


    So, he didn''t delay and darted hurriedly towards the direction he sent Lily and others towards, as they acted as the bait to lure the second army out!


    As for the spies, he wasn''t worried about them, as the first army already moved out, if not it had started fighting with Lily and the other warriors there.


    As for the second army, it was facing a tougher choice, as if it didn''t show up, the town would be devastated, and so it would be forced to leave the first army alone to face its own fate!


    This trap was doomed to fail, as they were facing someone with much greater experience than his actual age!


    As for Arthur, he wasn''t that worried over Lily, as there was already a huge number of soldiers under her disposal, besides she also had a rhinoceros!


    If things got messy, she could fly and escape, however he was sure he would reach her before anything bad would happen.


    He didn''t run for half an hour before he started to hear the sounds of swords clashing with swords. He knew the fight already started as he expected, and in the next ten minutes he was able to rush towards the battleground, and there was welcomed with a large army attacking his defending troops!


    Over thirty thousand warriors were attacking his villagers and soldiers, while Lily had unsummoned her Birdy and then summoned her rhinoceros as it started to cause some trouble to the attacking army.


    However alone it wasn''t enough! Arthur sighed, as he started to take out a huge amount of fire ore, explosive oil, and then he hurriedly ignited them all!


    He wasn''t aware at this moment that he didn''t need all this to transform into a dragon! He worked per his usual old way, and when the fire ignited suddenly it attracted the attention of everyone here.


    "Clan head! You all are dead now!"


    Lily shouted in triumph, as if the fight was already won! Everyone here heard her shout, and were very doubtful towards her claims!


    However, what happened next made everyone be startled, shocked, and frozen out of fear!


    The fire exploded, like a volcano erupting, sweeping everyone and everything in its path! The next few moments, a huge fire erupted in this thick forest area, making everyone standing here feeling shocked.


    However the true terror came when Arthur''s body changed when he channeled his energy, bulging in size, and growing out two huge wings!


    Arthur had turned into a dragon, with a mighty roar that echoed in this area of the world, announcing his supreme reign over everyone here!


    Arthur appearance startled everyone, except for Lily, who unsummoned the useless rhinoceros now, and then took out her Birdy again, jumped on its back, and shouted to everyone:


    "Surrender and live, fight and perish!"


    Her words reverberated accompanied by another mighty roar of Arthur supporting her words. the scene was shocking to everyone, and suddenly a wave of kneeling and surrendering erupted, not from everyone as some were foolish enough to resist!


    "Stand and fight, it''s just a show, it''s not that strong, stand and fight with me, stand and fight!"


    A single shouting sound kept repeating the same orders and demand, however Arthur didn''t give him the chance to mitigate any rebellion here. Arthur just flapped his wings, to fly shortly in the air, jumping hundreds of meters in one jump, before landing in the middle of the place where this young leader was shouting at his men.


    "Protect the lord!"


    These kinds of shouts came from a group of strong looking warriors, who unleashed their swords and spears, pointing them all towards Arthur.


    However Arthur knew their weapons wouldn''t do a thing against his body. just to make sure he was fine, he channeled his energy again, faster and faster, so he would strengthen his defenses, while roaring out loud towards the face of his enemies.


    "Splash!"


    Suddenly in the middle of his roar, a wave of intense fire erupted from his belly, emitted directly towards the front, covering a large area in front of him, enough to splash over all his enemies here!


    Screams of pain suddenly erupted, as this young lord, coupled with his guards had already lost their lives in the most painful way! The fire coming forth from Arthur wasn''t normal fire, as its simple touch was enough to erode the gears and the bodies of these warriors.


    Arthur was much more shocked than anyone else right now, as he never thought he would acquire such a monstrous attack without any warning!


    "Roar!"


    He roared again, trying to try out this attack once more, however nothing came this time from his mouth!


    However, his enemies here mistook this as the sign of his deadly move, so any remaining resistance knelt down without any hesitation, trying to avoid being burnt to death in such a painful way!


    Arthur then looked at them with extreme surprise, before he inwardly sneered. He had already achieved his goals here, so he flapped his wings, rose up in the air, gave the shocked Lily a meaningful glance, and left fast, heading straight towards the next battlefield before his transformation expired.


    He didn''t know that this transformation was quite different than what he used to have before!


    The distance between the first army and the second one wasn''t that big, as it took him six minutes to reach there.

 Chapter 206: Arthur Gains Another Victory

    As he sent out the two pets, unleashed them towards the direction of the second town, his enemies had got the wind of this news so fast, and started acting at once to intercept the two monsters.


    Tens of thousands of warriors moved out from all their hidden places to block the way of the two monsters. Their numbers were really huge, but the two problems they faced currently were that their forces were initially dispersed over a very large stretch of lands, so when they tried to regroup again, they had no time to form a large number of forces at onces.


    Their blockade was only formed of a thousand warrior tops, and they thought this would be enough to stop the two monsters, however the second problem emerged when the first batches fought intensely with these two; they weren''t easy monsters to deal with! Not like these forest monsters at all!


    The scorpion queen was really having the best time of her life, as she toyed and killed thousand after thousand of warriors for quite some time, making all the warriors standing in her way seem like they were made of fragile dried tree leaves, crushed instantly under her legs and mighty poisonous attacks!


    No weapon managed to penetrate her thick armored body, and no arrow managed to leave a mark after hitting her from far. To them, she was a one monster army that they couldn''t touch or stop!


    When Arthur reached the walls of the town, he found tens of thousands of warriors hurrying fast towards here, with mere five thousands of them stationed already in front of the town main gate, over the walls, and inside the towers.


    From his high altitude he spotted the distant scorpion queen, hearing her distinctive evil laughs ranging everywhere with extreme excitement of what she was doing currently.


    Arthur smiled helplessly, as he knew this would be the only possible outcome when she was fully unleashed. No blockade managed to stop her, and the faces of these warriors showed how anxious and terrified they were from her.


    However, as he joined up the fun, and knowing, wrongly, that he had roughly ten minutes to act, he decided to show them the real taste of fear.


    Throughout the way to here he thought deeply about how he used his fire attack, and he linked it with the massive transformation his energy and power had experienced before entering here.


    He realized the mechanism and theory behind his fiery attack, and he decided to put it at test, landing like a rocket towards those five thousands guarding this town currently, as he started to channel his energy inside his body, stirring up the deadly fire inside his body once more.


    "Roar!"


    A mighty roar erupted from the sky, shifting everyone''s attention to it. anyone in the range of tens of miles around here heard this roar, and subsequently they all glanced at the sky, shocked to see this huge dragon coming down towards their town like a meteorite.


    Their hearts feel the moment they spotted him, as they realized how foolish they were to think they could beat Arthur''s monstrous forces! They cursed their leaders for not listening to the offer of peace Arthur gave to them, or think about surrendering to him when he devastated the first town.


    There was no time to regret, as Arthur appeared above the heads of warriors stationed in front of the town gate. Those distant warriors caught up speed again, trying to reach fast through the town walls, and help to protect their families inside.


    "Roar!"


    Arthur roared, and this time he channeled his energy for quite a longer time than before.so, when he opened his mouth and launched his fiery flood of fire, the amount and the quality of it was really different from before; it got much better than the previous attack.


    He spread up his wings, floating in the air, while he passed over the terrified warriors down below. His attack caused a huge devastation as he continued to spray down his fire for a long one minute, while moving from one end to another, covering the whole five thousands with this fire.


    The next moment of his descent, screams started to echo wildly all over the region! very painful screams erupted, and in the next moments, these screams ceased to exist, as death was the only possible outcome for those who got in touch with this deadly fire!


    Arthur then flapped his wings and went up high, while glancing with amazed look at the great damage and huge number of deaths caused by his single attack!


    Slightly over half of the forces in front of the town died in a very painful way! The most warriors shocked by what happened were the ones standing next to those who died, as their comrades were alive in a moment, screaming in the second, then falling dead with many disfigured eroded faces and bodies on the third moment.


    This was an extreme shock to everyone, even to those standing far from here.


    "Halt your attacks, let them mourn their dead and rethink this once more."


    Arthur''s words came to stop the queen and his rhinoceros in their tracks. The rhinoceros stopped what he was doing instantly, feeling innate fear from Arthur, while the queen just killed some more, before she finally stopped when she noticed the stern gaze Arthur gave to her.


    "Since when did you become so much stronger?" she asked, with obvious upset in her tone.


    Arthur just chuckled, and said nothing, as he himself was very astonished by the strength he currently had! Another thought popped up his mind, as if he gained such strength for now, he would have his transformation time elongated.


    This mere thought made him retreat, and wait, while flying like death god over the heads of everyone inside and outside the town.


    It just took him a few flaps of his wings to span from the east to west, covering all the exposed forces on the ground with his deadly shade!

 Chapter 207: Returning to the City

    Even the shade of a predator was mighty enough to insert fear deeply in the souls of those watching him! so, these silent long minutes where he or his two monsters didn''t attack went on down below like long decades!


    It started from those remaining alive in front of the town, as they laid down their weapons, knelt deeply to the ground, expressing their desire to surrender. This sudden and logical move started to spread to most, and only a handful groups of those warriors just turned around, and started to flee, thinking wrongly they could do that!


    Arthur mockingly glanced at these running rats and roared. The next minute he started chasing them, using his mighty fire attacks to kill one group after another.


    Despite they were far away from each other, that was in the ground terms, where trees and terrain stood as an obstacle for anyone to chase them all.


    However to Arthur, who was now flying freely in the sky, it was an easy feat to pull. Flying from extreme east to west, from the distant north to south went smoothly in a very short minutes for him, and all he needed to do was to channel his energy during his chase, and rain his deadly punishment over their heads.


    This final merciless act of Arthur made it clear to everyone here, submit or die! This was an easy choice to make, as they all kept their head down, and only lamented their greedy leaders for their ego and greed even when they were given a chance to surrender and live.


    Arthur then flew a couple of minutes moreover the top of their heads, making them much more terrified even to breathe! He didn''t do this to terrorize them even more, but to waste the remaining couple of minutes in his transformation time to make sure of his assumptions.


    And these assumptions were proven to be right!


    He passed his past limit easily and without feeling any signs of returning to humans, so after a couple more minutes, he descended to the ground, standing over the town main gate, hugging the two small towers on both sides of it with his wings, and then started to cancel his transformation.


    He was getting ready for the severe backlash from doing so, but strangely, and for his good fortune, no weakness happened. He marveled this as he knew he was currently not forcing his transformation anymore, and his new evolved body could now sustain his transformation without the annoying weak state.


    He smiled, grinning from ear to ear for such good news. His smile, despite coming in human form, was represented in the warriors around him like a very brutal and vicious one.


    Their bodies even shook from terror, feeling he would kill them all in the next second.


    However what he did next made them really better, despite not fully trusting his side at all!


    "Listen up, from this moment on you are going to be the slaves of my family, serve me well and I won''t mistreat you. Disobey me and I won''t hesitate to kill you and your entire family. All warriors gather up here, and all the people inside, hear me out, take everything you have here and move out in less than one hour. You all are going back with me towards my city."


    His words were harsh, but not harsher than that painful death they all saw with their own eyes. So the moment he finished speaking, everyone, literally everyone moved to do as they were told.


    In less than half an hour, over one hundred thousands stood behind Arthur, moving through the forest, heading straight towards the second army and his own subjects and slaves.


    When he moved into the location of the second town, he was astonished to see another one hundred thousand villagers waiting for him there, ready to march out.


    News really travelled fast in this world! he just shook his head, accepted those new slaves into his large march, and headed straight towards the next location.


    When he met with Lily, she was very shocked by the large thick long march of people that stretched to the end of the world behind him. Arthur was walking up front, with the company of over thirty thousand warriors. As for his two pets, they were marching at the rear, guarding against anyone having a funny idea of escaping.


    However, everyone had already lost the will to fight anymore. The vivid picture of Arthur''s huge dragon and his deadly fire attack was still lingering inside their minds, making them all give up on any idea of escaping.


    "We will go straight to the city, then we will come here again to take the rest of the villages and towns."


    Arthur said to Lily, who just smiled and nodded. She knew this huge number of people gained from this world amassed to above three hundred and fifty thousand villagers, a very astonishing number that might cause trouble if left unattended with huge mighty force.


    She didn''t know that fear was already enough to control everyone, and Arthur didn''t decide to return home now except he wanted all these hands to work into building his city.


    The march took roughly ten hours, and during this they met some villages along the road. Arthur didn''t plan to annex them now, but they opened the gates of their villages, and joined willingly to his great march, adding more people to it.


    Arthur just glanced at this and smiled, fear was always the right weapon to gain benefits anywhere, and anytime!


    Arthur already sent a word head up to Amelia to be ready with others to welcome this huge batch of workers. He explained some were mere citizens, but most were slaves, despite having no intention in making any difference between the two in his city.


    He wasn''t a fan of slavery after all, but he needed to set up an example so everyone wouldn''t betray him, and his future expeditions would go much smoother.

 Chapter 208: Finding Interesting Adjustments to His Construction Plans

    "Welcome back clan head," Amelia led everyone to welcome him, and their faces were brimming with big wide smiles. He nodded to them as he said:


    "Has anything major occurred recently?"


    "Not a thing, everything is quite calm here," Omar replied, while pointing towards the huge digging occurring everywhere, "the work is already going smoothly, and with this huge number of workers, I''m sure most of this area would be turned into a huge digging place soon."


    His remark made everyone smile, and Arthur laughed shortly on his words. "Just stop playing around and start assigning them to work. I will take a tour here then move out to gather the next batch."


    Everyone just exchanged happy glances before they chuckled. It was really nice to have such a mighty leader. Arthur then started to move inside the great place of his city.


    According to the towns he already conquered, the mere size of his city was over twenty towns combined. He knew his city wouldn''t stop growing, and this current wave of construction would form only the core for the future plan in his mind.


    But he was really content with such progress. What he cared about right now was the walls, and defenses. The towers in this world villages and towns were really weak and short, and the walls were thin and fragile.


    He just hoped his walls and towers would be executed as he wanted. So, he started to take a very detailed tour around parts of the walls and great section of towers, checking over the foundations laid to the ground.


    He was pleased to see the excellent state of the current foundations, with the addition of the newly joined villagers brilliant ideas like smelting the rocks and hammering the mix before sending it to cool down in the deep holes inside the land.


    Also they added some modifications to the hole dug by them. Arthur just asked for the towers to have a fifty meters deep pit, filled entirely with rocks. However when he glanced at one of the recently dug holes, he was astonished to see after reaching the required depth of his drawing, the workers kept digging separate deep holes with fixed spaces between each other.


    The sight looked like a honeycomb from above, and these workers then spilled the melted mix of ores coming from the mountains into these holes, forming very long and deep pillars after cooling off.


    Arthur admired this modification, and then he turned to look at one of the workers here, as he asked:


    "Tell me, who is the owner of this idea?" Arthur pointed towards the many small holes in the bottom of the hole he was standing next to it.


    "Esteemed lord, it''s one of the workers called Deem," the worker he asked recognized him, replying at once while deeply bowing his head.


    "Good, keep the hard work," Arthur then took out one of his bird''s wings, wrote the name of that brilliant worker in it, and sent it to Amelia, asking her to find this genius and bring him to the main eastern gate to meet.


    Arthur then continued his tour, and so far everyone was quite busy digging and laying down the foundations. To melt all the ores required to build the city, a huge empty area was turned into a huge stretch of large oven, while many workers were going back and forth, carrying ores taken from the mountains to here.


    Arthur knew the nature of the ores in these mountains were earth type, which was a good thing to use in building sturdy buildings. After a couple of hours, he went to the place of the eastern gate, with Lily following him silently all this time.


    She was enjoying this tour in a very different way. As a girl coming from a nameless clan''s small village, she was very interested in seeing all these new stuff on her.


    Everything seemed magically alluring to her, and she was always busy watching what these workers were doing, and she wondered how they would build the towers, walls, and the different buildings in the city.


    When Arthur went to the gate, he noticed Ron standing there talking to someone. He was a young man, mostly twenty one years old, however all his hair was ice white in color, giving him a very distinctive look from far.


    The moment Arthur and Lily went nearer, the two in front stopped talking, while Ron smiled and welcomed Arthur by saying:


    "Clan head, this is Deem, the one you asked for."


    Arthur smiled back, nodded to Deem as he observed him. Despite knowing Arthur''s identity, Deem seemed not to be fazed by his aura and fame. He stood calmly while slightly bowing his head in greeting for Arthur.


    "I heard you are the one to suggest the idea of making pillars in the base of the foundations, right?"


    Ron hurriedly glanced at him, while Deem suddenly showed a nervous expression, so Arthur added:


    "Don''t worry, I''m admiring your idea. I didn''t bring you here today to punish you, but to discuss further about any ideas you might have in mind."


    The eyes of Deem shone brightly, as his face changed from being nervous to being excited, as he hurriedly said:


    "Thanks a lot esteemed lord for your generosity and praise. I really had many ideas in mind, but no one supported them except for the smelting ores idea and the pillars idea."


    It was the turn for Arthur''s eyes to shine brightly when he heard his words. Arthur never thought that the owner of such brilliant two ideas was the same person! That meant he had found a gem, an unpolished one.


    "Come, let''s talk and walk side by side around this gate. Tell me everything you have in mind, and I promise I won''t treat you badly."


    Arthur then walked heading to the site of the great hole of the foundation of the main gate here. "Esteemed lord, I have seen your drawings and they all inspired me to make some adjustments, if you allowed me to do so."

 Chapter 209: Meeting A Ley Lines Master

    "Esteemed lord, I have seen your drawings and they all inspired me to make some adjustments, if you allowed me to do so."


    Arthur simply nodded, as it seemed this Deem was, like others, afraid of him despite not showing it on the surface.


    "The foundations are really important, but for my knowledge there are mighty offensive war tools at the giant clans. These towers and walls might be superb in stopping any small regular army of them, but if they sat their mind on destroying them, then we wouldn''t be able to stop them."


    His words piqued Arthur interest at once, as he was sure these dark clans wouldn''t let his growing city and force to thrive easily. War was something he had to accept, and not only once, but many.


    "Go on," Arthur simply nodded with a casual tone.


    "I think a deeper foundation should be laid down first. It''s a blessing that you, esteemed lord, had selected a huge empty stretch land to build such a huge town here. so, if we could use this place to our advantage, we could lay down foundations that are so hard to demolish."


    Arthur stopped walking, as he turned to Ron and said:


    "Ron, get me some papers and pen."


    Ron nodded, and in the next moment he took out many papers, a table, set of chairs, and a pen made of a long feather of some flying monster.


    "Oh, you are really quite prepared," Arthur praised, as he went to sit on the table, in the middle of dust and noises coming from everywhere, as he gestured to the three of them to sit. "Please draw what you have in mind and explain while doing it so I can understand your meaning better."


    Deem sat at once, as he grabbed the pen, used the ink Ron provided, made out of the stilled blood of many monsters, then he started to draw while speaking:


    "My aim is to dig the whole land, so deep, then lay down the melted ore to form a huge network below the city."


    The drawing wasn''t so great, but the words, and rough drawing, and Arthur''s past experience made him realize what this young man was proposing!


    It''s a great design by Ley Lines great design!


    This was something very sophisticated and hard to achieve for many cultivators back in his past life. The idea was to use the natural earth and heaven energy pathways, and match the infrastructure of the sect with them.


    The problem was that not many could detect these lines successfully, and even if they did, most of sects were already built, or applying them to the actual structure of the sects wasn''t practical, due to the presence of great obstacle like the misplacement of the mountain peaks or the presence of a lake.


    However, as Deem said, in his own terms, this was a very stretched, free and open piece of land. It was an opportunity, a huge one indeed, as if he built his entire city based on the Ley Lines design, the results would be unimaginable!


    Deem was speaking from the mere point of strengthening the defenses and buildings, but Arthur knew exactly what it meant to successfully do it. In his time, one sect was established using the right designs of the Ley Lines, and in no time this sect grew in a remarkable speed, to reach the heights of great sects in a very short span of time.


    This was done because the Ley Lines design had gathered a huge and purified heaven and earth energy from the whole area around the sect and focused it all inside the sect, giving its cultivators a very great chance to jump ranks fast, be healthier, and stronger.


    Also many treasures started to be born from this effect, and many pets grew stronger, turning some into the sacred guardian monsters of this sect!


    That was a really living legend he witnessed personally, not read in some old books.


    "Go on," Arthur nodded, while his mind was quite busy right now, recalling everything he knew about these lines, and how to pull this feat.


    Deem started to draw more lines as he added:


    "I don''t know if you can agree with me here, but I have always had this strange connection with these lines, feeling their energy flowing, and I''m sure it will be great to align everything with them."


    Arthur''s eyes shone brighter, as this time he knew he found a real gem!


    "Do you sense these lines?" Arthur asked.


    "Sure, why?"


    "Because these are called Ley Lines, the line of energy flowing in the world. it''s a real talent, an extremely rare and very useful one," Arthur explained slowly as he was smiling in content. "I want you to draw the lines you feel, then I will task everyone to follow the lines you draw, setting down foundations along them. try to take a tour, feel the lines carefully, and give an accurate description of the thickness of each line."


    Deem looked in astonishment towards Arthur as he asked:


    "Does that make a difference?"


    "Sure, the foundations must be a real embodiment to these lines. Any slight deviation and the final effect of them would be decreased."


    "What effect?"


    Arthur just smiled mysteriously as he replied:


    "You will find it out when everything is done. I believe you will be the most to be affected by these changes here."


    Deem didn''t know what else to say about this matter, so he pushed away the paper with drawing, before taking another one as he added:


    "I also have another suggestion, if you may."


    "Sure, what is it?"


    Arthur was really in a good mood. Finding a Ley Lines master was considered a real event worthy of celebration.


    "The materials we have are quite lacking. The mountains give us a great source indeed, but these mountains are all formed of the same kind of ore. I think we need more variety of them, if possible."

 Chapter 210: Meeting A Defensive Shield for the First Time Here

    Arthur nodded, as he agreed on his words. Arthur once thought of taking out resources he gained from the great clans, as there were many ores piled there, but he realized this wasn''t enough.


    Now he was required to lay a huge foundation for his city, and thus he would need much more resources than what he initially had.


    "Are you aware of any mountains or ore sources nearby?" Arthur asked, as he didn''t meet any mountains or ore sources during his previous journey outside the city.


    Deem shook his head, as he replied:


    "Unfortunately not, esteemed lord."


    Arthur smiled as he said:


    "Don''t worry, I will find a way to get more ores. Now I want you to start preparing everything, as soon we will need your guidance to lay out our great foundations here. also feel free to redistribute the positions of the buildings, redraw the walls, towers, and gates to be fit to what you feel right."


    "I will do my best, esteemed lord."


    Arthur then turned towards Ron as he instructed:


    "Ron, you will accompany Deem on his journey here. make sure all his requirements are fulfilled."


    "Don''t worry clan head, I will make him satisfied. This way Mr. Deem."


    Arthur''s instructions made it clear to Ron how important Deem was to him. so, he decided to change the title which he used to address him with, treating him like a big figure in the clan.


    As for Arthur, the next moment he took out one of his bird''s wings, wrote a message to Amelia asking her to spread the word. He was looking for any leads for ore sources, either in the ground or in mountains.


    Arthur then glanced at Lily, who was sitting in front of him, silent all the time, as he said:


    "Let''s go, it''s time for us to have a second journey."


    "Arthur had acquired fourteen towns and villages during the first journey, so there were still six town and villages to annex. They would grant him around one hundred thousand or more of workers, a good addition to the current workers he had.


    Lily just nodded, before summoning her Birdy, taking Arthur with here, and they flew towards the direction Arthur pointed to using his map.


    Arthur was now feeling much energetic, as his gain of Deem''s talent made his mood really good.


    And the good news never ceased to come!


    After flying for half an hour, a bird''s wing came from Amelia, stating the places of dozen sources of ores. Part of them were in the forest, part was in distant places buried under the ground, while a couple were in two mountain ranges lying to the distant east and west.


    "Spread out the order, make Madly start making many storage rings now. send out our mages hurriedly to scan these places, determine if they were safe or not. Prepare a huge number of workers to go there and excavate these ores, and make our mages use their rings made by Madly in moving the ores to here. send a word to Ron, and make him tell Deem about it. Tell me if there is anything abnormal or dangerous at any of these sites."


    He hurriedly sent this message back to Amelia, while he went towards the most distant village in the region. The drawing of Ouly was quite effective, and he was anticipating the next map he would give to him after coming back from the scouting tour.


    They took six hours in flight to reach the last town in the list. The town on the ground was much more advanced than the ones he conquered, and many defensive towers were built here, making Arthur feel this town''s citizens were specialized in defensive construction.


    More reason for him to conquer the town.


    He didn''t hurry to summon his two pets, as he made Lily take a tour over the town, announcing his appearance.


    There was no single warrior standing in front of the town gate per usual, and the town gate was closed, making him feel doubtful regarding their stance.


    Did they want to surrender? Or did they want to fight? He couldn''t tell from the outside, so he shouted while touring above the town:


    "I''m Willy, the leader of the outsiders. I come here to reclaim your town, do you comply or not?"


    The response came swiftly fast, in a way he never saw before since coming to this world. a huge dome appeared, covering the whole town, making him realize they wanted war.


    However before he could summon his two pets, a shout came from down below:


    "We want to make an offer back to the famous esteemed lord of the outsiders."


    Arthur paused, as he felt more confused. did they want to fight and defend their town or did they want to surrender?!!


    "Ask what you wish, but don''t talk nonsense," Arthur shouted back.


    "Our town is already in an eternal bond with one of the strongest powers in this region. we can''t simply surrender to you or else we all will perish as a consequence of breaching the bond.


    This isn''t a joke, and all the villages and towns beside us here and for a thousand miles reside under this cursed bond since ancient ages. If you can free us, kill the power that had the bond, then the bond will transfer to you and we will all become your slaves."


    Arthur heard the words, and didn''t know if this man was lying or telling the truth. He was old enough not to accept any words said to him from a stranger!


    "We will send out ten thousand warriors, and you can examine the bond yourself to make sure we aren''t lying."


    The next moment, the gate of the town opened, and a huge number of warriors exited it, passed the barrier and stood in lines, quietly waiting for Arthur to inspect them.


    "Does the esteemed lord need an introduction to know how to locate the bond?"

 Chapter 211: Breaking the Cursed Bond

    "Does the esteemed lord need an introduction to know how to locate the bond?"


    The owner of that voice said, but Arthur just pointed downwards to Lily as he shouted back:


    "No need."


    Arthur''s face wasn''t pleasant at this moment. cursed bonds were a very famous complicated technique of the dark cultivators back in the old days of his past world. He knew a thing or two about them, but didn''t know how to break it except by killing the owner.


    The problem lied in two things here, this bond was made to affect the soul of the person, and that was another link binding this world with the dark side of the world of mages, that mysterious world that he knew nothing about!


    The second problem lied in the way to undo this bond, as he had to kill the person holding the bond. That was hard, especially if that person was a very powerful and authoritative figure, like this case here.


    The probability of the escape was quite high, and even if he killed him, if there was a line of inheritance set in this curse, and it seemed there was one, then he had to kill every single person in that direct line of inheritance.


    This simply meant more chances for failure!


    He descended to the ground with Lily, then let her fly away. If there was any trap here, he was sure to face it alone, but if Lily was here with him, she would turn to be a burden, slowing and limiting his actions.


    He went towards the warriors, as he said:


    "Don''t move, I will inspect your bodies."


    The warrior nodded, as he stood silently there. Arthur then put his hand on the head of the warrior, channeled his energy, and inserted a piece of his energy into the warrior''s body.


    At this brief moment, three things occurred. The first was the sudden appearance of a very terrifying dragon shadow behind Arthur''s body, startling everyone in front of him.


    The second thing was the sudden appearance of a strange mouth, full of sharp teeth, that emerged inside the warrior body, aimed to swallow and kill his wisp.


    The third thing was the movement of his shadow, to directly be inserted into the body of this warrior, hitting this mouth directly, and burning it with its fire sprayed from his mouth.


    The body of this warrior jolted, as he stepped a couple of steps to the back, coughed multiple times, before vomiting a very dark blood with an offensive stinking smell.


    The moment the blood went on the ground, the grass there was burnt down, turning an area of one meter radius into a bare land!


    As for the warrior, his eyes suddenly shone brightly, as he crazily started to examine something in his left shoulder. It was a tattoo, a tattoo showing the same strange mouth Arthur''s shadow had killed just now.


    This tattoo was fading in color until it permanently gone. The eyes of this warrior widened, before it welled up with tears, tears of joy, tears of long deep fear, and tears of the taste of freedom for the first time in his entire life.


    The next moment he knelt deeply on the ground, even hitting his head hard there couple of times, before announcing loud and wide, with a voice heard to everyone even inside this town:


    "I''m Gorind, and I declare you are my master until I die! I won''t disobey you, or betray you, or else let my soul be burnt down in hell for eternity."


    This swearing was strange, but Arthur recognized the heavenly oath from the first glance. Arthur didn''t know what happened, but it seemed he managed to break this curse, freeing this man, and gaining his utmost loyalty.


    "Gorind, son, are you really free?"


    The same strong voice came from inside the town, with an unbelieving tone. Gorind didn''t reply at once, as he raised his head slightly, waiting for Arthur''s decision to accept him.


    "Stand up Gorind, and I welcome you to my family as a loyal subject."


    Gorind then stood up, turned around, as he loudly shouted:


    "Father, I''m free, I''m really free. The cursed bond is now broken, and I''m totally free. My esteemed master Willy was so generous enough to free me."


    The words of Gorind were followed by his removal of all his gears, removing his clothes, and showing off his upper body naked to everyone around him.


    Everyone checked the known place of this curse, and found nothing! Nothing was there at all! This made the whole world usher in a heavy silence, before the voice erupted once more from inside the town:


    "Esteemed lord, may I propose something?"


    Arthur knew what that old man was about to say, so he loudly shouted:


    "Hear my words, and heed by them. anyone cursed and wanted to be free come forward to me, one by one, and I promise to free you all. Spread the word to other places, make this deed be known to everyone. My doors will be always opened to free anyone from such injustice. All I ask in return is your undying loyalty, and come forth to join my city."


    Words of such promise were considered a myth to these warriors and villagers, but they saw with their own eyes what Arthur did to Gorind.


    "I want to be freed."


    "Me too."


    "I want to be like Gorind."


    "I want the curse removed."


    Many voices started to echo, from warriors standing in front of Arthur, or those inside the town. "Come, I will free you all one by one! Step forward please."


    Arthur then didn''t delay to repeat what he just did to Gorind, as he used his shadow dragon to kill that curse inside their bodies. After freeing a hundred something warriors, those hesitant inside the town opened the gate of their town, removed the barrier, and many flocks of very fast small birds flew from the town, and suddenly disappeared.

 Chapter 212: Adding A Capable Defense Master to the Team

    Arthur knew about these birds from what Clovert had sent to him from before, but it was the first time for him to see them in flesh. He marveled their ability to move fast, but his bird''s wings were much faster.


    After that, a huge number of people appeared from inside the town, all were looking at him with dreaming looks. This moment was considered a legendary moment in their lives, longley dreamt by their long line of ancestors, and never achieved except for now!


    Arthur didn''t know that what he was doing here was about to start a huge stir in the area he was residing at. However even if he knew that, he wouldn''t ever hesitate to do what he was doing right now!


    Two hundred thousand villagers and warriors were freed by Arthur, who was afraid that his energy would fail him after quite some time. however, his energy didn''t get depleted, instead he felt it getting stronger, and purer; a gain he never expected ever!


    The process was quite slow to occur, and it took him one day and half to finish freeing all of them. He used both of his hands when he checked that his energy wasn''t depleted by this process.


    "Esteemed master, there are many responses from many villages and towns. They all ask you to come to you to free them all."


    The man, named Gor, who was the father of Gorind, said that. Arthur knew from the talking while he was busy freeing everyone that he was the leader of this town. A very respected fair leader, enjoyed great respect from many near and far.


    "Tell them all to come to my city, it''s around one day march from here, going to the five great mountains near here."


    Arthur''s description was noted by Gor, who hurriedly gave his orders for everyone to move out and spread this news. Arthur wasn''t tired after finishing that, and the number he gained this time had exceeded his imaginations.


    "Let''s go, bring everything here and come with me to my city."


    Arthur''s words were executed at once, as all of them had already swore the oath of allegiance to him. Arthur then walked on top of this huge march, while speaking with Gor about some topics he was interested in.


    The first thing he knew was this town had an ancient heritage in making defensive weapons, buildings, and even barriers like the one he saw. The only problem they had was the lack of resources, as the power that enslaved them all this time was always sucking them dry without a break.


    The second thing he asked about was the identity of this power.


    "It''s a middle sized clan, not considered a top class clan, but it''s not weak. It controls the whole area around their big town for thousands of miles everywhere, enslaving everyone living in these lands for ages already. They are considered the overlord of this territory, and they are really powerful. Their army consisted mainly of armies of their slaves, and that alone could reach to a very terrifying figure. As for their own private armies, they only numbered two hundred thousands."


    The words Gor said to him were detailed, as he lived in the shades of this cursed clan for his entire life.


    He also started to give Arthur many details about this clan. Arthur had the impression that it was quite a strong clan, but if he managed to neutralize every single village and town under their control, the fight with it would be quite easier.


    He had gained a lot of workers specialized in making defensive buildings, like walls and towers. Despite they never did something huge and mighty like he was currently building inside his city, their knowledge and experience would make a great addition to his workers.


    He started explaining many things regarding the building projects in his city. The more he spoke, the more the eyes of Gor and his main aides shone, as they were specialized in building such defenses, but never on such a grand scale before.


    They got all hyped up by his words, and soon they started to ask him many questions, especially regarding the Ley Lines he told them about.


    He gladly and patiently answered all of their questions, as if he was teaching them what he knew about building and construction from his past life.


    When they reached his city, Arthur was welcomed with Amelia, Ron, Deem, and Omar. They were all smiling in admiration and pride, as every time their clan head marched out alone, he came back with hundreds of thousands of workers, plus tens of thousands of warriors.


    The number of warriors in this batch was higher than others, as he gained sixty thousand warriors.


    For Arthur this wasn''t good enough to celebrate, as they weren''t strong in his own terms.


    If he wanted to really raise their strength, he would need them to have pets, absorb the vital organs of monsters, and then form their inner demons as he did with all his mages up till now.


    However, he had a small issue, that all these warriors used their inner demons to channel them into their weapons. He didn''t understand the full theory behind that yet, but he would be free later to do so.


    For now, he had some urgent things to be done first.


    "Listen up everyone, this is Gor, he will be treated the same way Deem is treated in our city," Arthur first announced the current status of Gor, slowly forming his city''s first noble class. "He had a very long experience in building defenses, so Ron he will ask you, see anything he needs and make sure to fulfill these needs. Take him in a tour first, then make him work with Deem."


    Arthur arrangements were met by Ron''s nodding as he said, greeting Gor:


    "Welcome Mr. Gor to our city. you can follow me please so you can check all the building process here."

 Chapter 213: News Regarding A Treasured Ore Mine

    Gor then nodded and expressed his utmost gratitude to Arthur, before moving with Ron away from their sights. As for Omar, he moved to accept the new batch of these workers, and started the long hard work of assigning them to their tasks.


    Deem and Amelia remained, and Arthur knew they wanted to tell him about something, and he also wanted Amelia, as the incoming clash with that middle clan here was destined to fall, either soon or later.


    "What? Just tell me what''s wrong," he asked.


    Deem looked at Amelia, who coughed slightly before saying:


    "We have checked the places we had intel about, all are ok and our mages are now helping workers in delivering the ores to us. Madly did a great job as she made over a hundred ring, and she is continuing to do more."


    Her words made Arthur feel she was circling around the topic she wanted to speak with him about. When he glanced silently towards her, she sighed as she finally said:


    "There is a problem, or to be precise, it''s an opportunity."


    She paused as she glanced at him with caution, and he nodded before she said:


    "There are rumors that Deem heard from the new workers here, speaking about a very precious ore lying deep in the forest. This ore is a high quality one, the type that could be considered a treasure."


    She paused again, and Arthur impatiently said:


    "This is all great, what is the catch? Is there a mighty beast there?"


    She shook her head as she said:


    "It''s a big clan, one that''s considered an overlord of this region. they had secured that place, built a town on top of it, and announced their control over it a few months ago."


    Arthur''s eyes shone, as he understood everything. He smiled, on contrast to what she expected, as he asked:


    "Tell me, does this clan go by the name Dorfis?"


    The two glanced at him in a weird way, before Arthur laughed, as he narrated what happened back at the town. When he finished, they both realized they underestimated Arthur.


    He wouldn''t be limited or scared by anyone, even if a mighty clan that reigned over the region for ages already.


    "But Deem told me that their main headquarters are very far from here, while their loyal villages and towns fill the distance inside the forest from here to them," Amelia said, as she was suggesting an idea to Arthur.


    "Do you want me to go in person and turn these villages and towns against them? Great idea, but will take quite some time to execute. However, first I need to secure this mine, then I will head towards the villages and towns and pay them a visit."


    He then paused, before adding:


    "Tell Gor to send more birds to these villages and towns he knew of near here. make them spread the word, in days I will visit them all personally and free them from the curse."


    Amelia nodded, while Arthur turned to Deem as he asked:


    "Do you know the location of that mine?"


    Deem nodded, as he turned towards the forest, pointed towards a certain direction as he said:


    "It''s located two hundred mile towards that direction."


    "Two hundred miles," Arthur muttered, as this distance roughly needed two days on foot to cover, half a day of flight. He then nodded as he said:


    "Send the word now to Gor, make him start spreading the news. Any village or town I will meet in my way will free them first. After I free the mine, send an army of workers there, and an army of warriors to guard them. also we need to find a solution to the lack of flying mages," he said the last sentence softly as if he was whispering to himself.


    The lack of strong mages or warriors really disturbed him. He would prefer to use his heavenly treasure trap, but he already lured out all the monsters in this area of the forest.


    Perhaps when he would go to that ore mine, he might try his luck there. He wanted hundreds of thousands of monsters, a thing he knew would be hard to get currently.


    However if he managed to do so, he would make his current firepower soar to another level, plus he would be more secured while he was away from here.


    "Send the word to Lily, she will come with me now, as for you two, I will leave my city under your care."


    They two nodded, while they went to do their tasks. Lily appeared after half an hour, during which Arthur took a wide tour in the area, to witness the grand construction project that stretched to cover his whole city.


    The workers were busy digging the ground deep, in long thick curvy lines, intertwining between each other in a random pattern, however Arthur knew this wasn''t random at all, and all this followed the distribution of energy veins in this area.


    "Are we going out so soon?" Lily asked the moment she arrived at his location, with impatient tone. He embarrassingly smiled, as he realized he kept using her non-stop for days already, and she might be in need for rest!


    "Sorry, are you tired? I can send it to anyone else."


    "No, I''m just surprised you have the strength to set out again!" she replied, before she shrugged her shoulders, summoned Birdy, then the two moved towards the direction of the forest.


    As for Amelia and others, they were really busy with all the tasks Arthur left to them. He trusted their judge in doing the right thing here, as he took the toll of expanding the rule of their growing city everywhere.


    Deem was so busy giving instructions here and there. The construction plan he proposed would take another week to finish, especially when he asked for the long lines dug here to be so deep, reaching in most places to one hundred meters depth, or even more.

 Chapter 214: Breaking the Cursed Bonds for Two Days

    The journey to that mine would take at least six hours from Birdy to make them reach there, but after flying for four hours, many villages and towns started to appear, like small dots from their high altitude.


    "Descend there."


    Arthur instructed, as he pointed towards the centre of this cluster of villages and towns. The distribution of them here reminded him of the two towns and five villages distribution, however this time it was five folds this number, covering more area than the previous cluster he conquered.


    Lily followed his orders, making Birdy descend towards the central town there. "Will we descend or fly over?" she asked.


    "Fly over for now," he replied. In minutes they were already above the sky of the town, while Arthur shouted with his loudest voice:


    "Hear my words, I''m Willy, the leader of the outsiders. I came here today to free you from your curses, and claim all your allegiance to me. if not, I will have to reside in force, you have five minutes to consider."


    His words reverberated far and near, and while he was just flying fast over this town, a response came from a location away from all these towns and villages.


    "Who is so impudent to try and assume his ability to remove my family curse! Heed my orders everyone, activat¡­"


    The owner of this voice didn''t have time to continue speaking, as Arthur channeled his energy fast, stimulating his transformation.


    Arthur knew his body evolved, and his transformation now became not forced like before. So, he decided to try here stimulating the dragonair form without any external aid, as he already felt his ability to do so when he broke the curses inside the bodies of those warriors and villagers from before.


    "Roar!"


    His mighty roar interrupted the shout of that young master of the Dorfis clan. Arthur''s body changed in response to his will, and his stimulated energy channeled inside his body turned his body into a dragon.


    He flapped his wings, and then headed directly towards the location the voice came from. It took him five minutes to reach there, and during these minutes he never stopped channeling his energy!


    "Attack!"


    The scared voice of this young master came to order his warriors. In the next moment, a huge amount of arrows darted towards Arthur, who just flapped his wings casually, breaking them all!


    His body was the toughest armor that these arrows might face! He was already upon their heads, and the next moment he opened his mouth, and let the flood of his burning fire fall upon them like judgment day!


    "Attack, keep attacking!"


    The shouts of this young master were mixed with the horrible screams of the warriors down below. In mere minutes, Arthur had passed over this area a couple of times, causing hell to descend on this part of forest, bruning everything, killing any form of life there!


    In less than five minutes, a huge army formed of ten thousand elite warriors was killed, along with the young master dispatched from the Dorfis clan branch at the ore mine to obstruct any attempt of these towns and villages to rebel!


    Arthur flew a couple of times in the region, and when he found no one to say a single word against him, he went towards the direction of Lily''s bird, canceled his transformation, and landed there beside her like nothing happened.


    Lily was speechless, and she wasn''t the only one to feel so, but everyone inside this cluster of villages and towns were as well.


    "Surrender now or die!" Arthur shouted to everyone down below, and in the next few minutes, all the protective shields were removed, while a huge number of villagers and warriors excited these towns and villages.


    "Please free us, and we will swear allegiance to you."


    Many shouts came from everywhere, and Arthur just raised his hand high to silence them all. "I will free you now one by one, hurry and organize yourselves. Those freed will take everything here and head towards the end of this forest, where five mountains lied."


    Arthur then jumped off the back of Birdy, used tall trees to descend safely on the ground, while a long freeing session started here.


    It took him two days to finish freeing them. During those days, he sent Lily to do two things for him, first to scan the region of any incoming army of this clan, and second to find other clusters like this one, told to him by the villagers and warriors he was freeing.


    He was also surprised to see many high class warriors coming forward, surrendering to him. that dead young master didn''t come only with a ten thousand army, but with a hundred thousand, but he dispersed his army inside these towns and villages to control the masses.


    These warriors were also controlled like others, lived a humiliated fearful life, and so they welcomed the generous offer of Arthur, announcing their allegiance to him.


    Many came from areas far away from here, so it wasn''t possible for Arthur to free their homes, but he promised them to do whatever he could to help them if he had the chance to do so.


    In two days he kept working day and night, feeling some gains after freeing all of them. "Listen up, just follow the forest to its end, and head straight towards the five great mountains in the distance."


    Everyone started to pack their things, move out, while the warriors were hesitating about leaving him alone.


    "Esteemed lord, this clan is really hard to deal with. They have strong defensive tools ready at their town in the mine," one of the warriors said to Arthur, trying to ask to join him.


    "Don''t worry everyone, I''m not that weak myself. Just go ahead and work hard in my city."


    His words didn''t make them feel any better, but they couldn''t disobey his orders. So, unwillingly they started to march heading straight towards the direction of his city.

 Chapter 215: Fighting Against An Army Dark Formation

    As for Arthur, he jumped over Birdy''s back, while asking:


    "Did you memorize all their locations?"


    "Sure, they were trying to move out sneakily in small groups, but I noted their locations, or Birdy did and he told me," she laughed as she said what happened. Arthur took out his map, and handed it over to Lily as he said:


    "We are here, where are the locations of these warriors?"


    Lily wasn''t that good at maps, but she tried to approximately mark the locations she spotted. Just as she was midway in her demonstration, Arthur figured out the full arrangement at once.


    It wasn''t a random dispatch of the warriors, but a formation! A dark formation he once saw before!


    "Interesting," he sneered, as it was time for him to fight a formation head on. He wasn''t worried, as any formation had only one weakness.


    If it was hit before being laid down, and enough numbers of the warriors were killed, the formation would fail, and those initiated it would have a backlash.


    He smirked, as this was something he wanted to try. He wanted to see how a soul natured, dark formation''s backlash would be like.


    So, he made Birdy take him towards the places of these warriors. the moment he reached at the place of the most warriors, he didn''t act on his own, but silently summoning the scorpion queen, taking advantage of the huge trees here, as he instructed:


    "Kill to your heart content."


    She waved her two tails left and right in excitement, as she was very pleased with Arthur lately. He took her out a lot, let her do whatever she wanted, kill as much as she desired, and never reprimanded her for doing that.


    He was just the perfect master for her!


    "Let''s go to that place," Arthur pointed towards the opposite direction, as he landed his rhinoceros there, asking it to attack all the warriors here.


    After laying down his two pets in the most essential points of this huge formation, he started to head towards the next cluster of villages and towns Lily had spotted.


    Throughout the scout tour Lily had done, she found out the places of three other large clusters like the one Arthur just freed. These clusters were forming a direct line with the mine ore, making Arthur believe those working in the mine were living in these clusters.


    This time his appearance above the first cluster was met by a sudden violent attack of arrows coming from the towns and villages walls and towers.


    "You mixed yourselves with the people I desire? Interesting."


    Arthur knew this plan was nasty, but he wasn''t hopeless here. He simply channeled his energy, while he started to transform again into a dragon.


    "Roar!"


    He flew directly towards the biggest town in the centre of this cluster. Arrows were useless against him, so he didn''t even try to dodge, descending like a lightning bolt, while channeling his energy inside his body.


    "Splash!"


    This time he tried another trick he once saw a dragon use, as he went down with extreme speed, then suddenly opened up his wings, while releasing a single splash of fire, before closing his mouth at this moment.


    All this resulted in him throwing out a fire ball like a rocket towards the defensive tower zone in this town!


    One hit, all it took was one hit and the concentrated clusters of towers here were ruined at no time. Arthur repeatedly hunted down those on the walls and towers, killing and demolishing the town''s defenses in a visible eye speed.


    And finally he managed to destroy all the resistance in this town in fifteen minutes.


    He then flew over the cluster once more, waiting for anyone to attack, however no arrow came anymore, while all the towns and villages gates were opened, and a large number of people emerged from them.


    Arthur then glanced at them, before taking a long fly around the cluster. From Lily''s description, many soldiers were already distributed here. He just moved above the places of forest where Lily spotted these suspicious movements, and he didn''t delay to cover them with his deadly fire.


    A crescendo of screams erupted, and he didn''t stop killing these warriors without hesitation.


    He knew they were mostly forced to attack him, but that didn''t mean he wouldn''t kill them all if he had the chance.


    If he didn''t do it, then he would risk being severely wounded, or even killed!


    Arthur then returned to Lily''s Birdy, returned to his human form again, before saying:


    "I will free them, and you start scouting again. for sure they will send another batch of warriors. also try to find their source."


    Arthur knew it wasn''t easy to dispatch all these warriors without care to the limited resources under the clan branch''s disposal here. He smelled something fishy, as if this clan had a way to gain a huge number of warriors out of nowhere!


    Arthur then started killing the strange mouth inside each warrior or villager, while erasing the cursed enslaving tattoo from their shoulders.


    The process took him two more days, and through these days, Lily had given him many good news.


    She had found a place that was only a large cave in a small mountain. It seemed this mountain had some relation with the ore mine, as it was formed of strange colored rocks that kept flashing in daylight.


    Arthur didn''t fully understand her meaning, but he at least knew something was fishy indeed. She described how many numbers of warriors kept getting out of this cave without an end. She also traced them down, and gave him many places where they were concentrated.


    Arthur then recalled his two pets to his tattoos, before summoning them again. He gave them the general direction he needed them to act at, then he let the two loose.


    The rhinoceros started to show some brutality from over killing, however Arthur wasn''t worried. He didn''t want his pets to be like Lily''s pet, docile and cute, he wanted them to be ferocious, like real beasts.


    After he sent them by one day, he started to move. He sent all those freed towards his city, while flying in the sky on the back of Birdy.

 Chapter 216: Teleportation Circle Technique Vs Space Locking Technique

    The distance between his place and that cave wasn''t that far, as he reached it in one hour''s flight. Throughout the way, he found some warriors moving out from the direction of that cave.


    The moment he saw that cave, he felt the energy concentration there, it was really monstrous. He didn''t need to go inside to confirm his guess, as he felt huge energy fluctuations, like some sort of huge technique was activated and then deactivated.


    That linked with all the constant stream of warriors coming from inside the cave made him realize there was a teleportation circle of a similar technique inside the cave.


    This technique was considered common back in his days, as sects usually were built on a huge stretch of land, and they always ruled over a large piece of forests and controlled many ore mines.


    So, making these teleportation circles was something essential to make sure the cultivators wouldn''t waste precious time moving on foot or flying on the back of their pets.


    Arthur knew this was a serious problem, as like this any capable warrior from this clan could initiate this circle around his city and transport a large army in no time to appear in front the doors of his city!


    He just smiled evilly, as like any technique in his past world, there was a solution to that, and he decided to use this solution here, right now, to topple this clan''s scheme.


    "Lily, I want you to retreat, and let me deal with this place. take a huge tour around the mine, and note any similar places like this one."


    Lily glanced at him for a moment before she just nodded and the next moment he jumped off from here, vanishing in the ocean of trees down below.


    The moment he touched the ground, he started to act as once. to face off this teleportation circle technique he had to use a technique of his own, a space locking technique.


    This technique wasn''t simple for many to execute, but it was for him. All he needed to do was to plant many runes at specific places, drawing a large circle around the cave, before finally activating the technique.


    He headed towards the first point in his mind. He already memorized the whole place, knew each place he would use to plant runes there.


    Through going there, he met many groups of warriors, all were marching in tens. He waited until they all passed before he moved out, as the time to hunt them down didn''t come yet.


    The moment he reached the first point, he started making runes for his technique. Making such runes was simple, but the issue was to organize the types of these runes. He had a space group, a seal group, a destruction group, and finally a ban group.


    Each group consisted of forty nine smaller ones, each one consisted of seven ores written on them the specific word needed for the rune to be active.


    He simply used fire natured high quality ores for destruction and ban groups, and the earth type ores taken from the big clans and guilds to make the seal group, and finally a wind natured ores for the space group.


    He worked fast, with great efficiency and smoothly finished making all the needed runes for all points here, before digging the ground and burying the runes there.


    He distributed the runes to be exactly similar to the circle he was going to lay them all at. After finishing doing that, he covered the hole with dirt, and then moved towards the next location.


    Seven points, all were essential to initiate the circle, and seven auxiliary more to support it in case the teleportation circle inside was of a high quality.


    It took him roughly one hour to finish everything, then the last thing he did was to put a drop of his blood over the last group of runes, initiating the link with the whole circle.


    After the finished, he retreated outside the area of effect of his circle, and then he started mumbling:


    "Space locking circle¡­ activate!"


    The next moment the whole world shook slightly around the cave, before the energy fluctuation stopped, and the huge energy inside the cave started to go still.


    His energy perception was superb, and the moment this happened, he was sure he stopped this circle inside from running successfully.


    The ruckus and noises coming from inside made him more certain of this. He evilly smiled, before starting to channel his own energy, and the dragonair mighty form appeared again.


    "Roar!"


    The next moment he roared, while flapping his wings to start flying off the ground. This roar startled every warrior in the region, and when he was in the air, he noticed many already running, coming towards the direction of the cave.


    He evilly smirked, as it was too late to do something to his technique. The only way to undo it was to search for the locations he buried his runes and take them off their formation.


    However he doubted anyone here had the ability to do so. There might be someone back at the clan to be capable of doing this, but he or she wouldn''t be able to come here in time to do so.


    Arthur then started his hunting spree, turning this whole place of forest into a living place of hell! Screams started to fill the place, and fire started raging wildly killing every single form of life here.


    His fountain of fire was like a death message, anywhere it touched turned into a death zone instantly, mixed with the painful screams of everyone down there.


    The warriors were already spread over a large area, but Arthur wasn''t in a hurry here. He had already shut down the annoying teleportation circle of the enemy; no reinforcements would arrive here anymore.


    So, he started flapping his huge wings, moving above every single corner of this forest around the mine, while hunting and killing any warrior moving down there.


    This massacre raged for four more hours, and at the end of it, no single warrior was left alive in the vicinity of this ore mine, while his enemies all retreated, the few surviving lot of them, to hide deeply into the town remaining at the heart of the mine.


    This town wasn''t that big after all to accommodate a large number of warriors, however Arthur wasn''t sure if there was a teleportation circle there or not. So, he decided to just keep killing the distant warriors, where he left his queen and rhinoceros there, and leave this town to the last.


    He also needed Lily''s confirmation that there were no other teleportation circles nearby, or else he might be surprised by an attack coming from any dark formation of his enemies.

 Chapter 217: Facing A Strange Dangerous Array!

    Arthur was right about his doubts, as when he killed everyone he spotted outside, taking a couple more hours in doing so, he went to find Lily.


    She was looming around the town in this mine ore place. Arthur just cancelled his transformation, feeling how much he was blessed to upgrade his energy and body, to avoid the weakness that usually haunted him from before.


    "Is there anything wrong about here?" he asked, as he noticed Lily was circling the area without the guts to enter it.


    "It''s not me, it''s Birdy, he doesn''t want to enter that place, like something is scaring him."


    Arthur looked at the town and the area around him. for him, everything seemed fine, and he didn''t fly over it directly, but he went so close to it a couple of times, and he didn''t feel anything suspicious about it.


    "Wait a minute," he said, as he recalled his two pets back to his tattoos, then summoned the scorpion queen again.


    The moment he did so, the queen''s attitude suddenly got weird, as she hurriedly turned to face the front with extreme vigilance, issuing a sound like roaring, but it had some warning meaning, like she was warning a predator in front to stay away.


    "Go back now!" Arthur didn''t delay and issued the order of retreat. Even the queen heeded by his command and retreated. As they retreated a couple of miles, and the attitude of the queen returned to normal, Arthur didn''t delay in turning into a dragon at once, so he could have a nice chat with the queen, understanding what was going on here.


    As he turned into a dragon, the scorpion sensed that, and she instantly bellowed on ranting on what happened just now.


    "You fool! How can you summon me in such a huge trap? Huh? Can''t you see all these vicious dark monsters eyeing us? They were about to attack, only a couple of tens of meters away! How can you stand so freely there, doing nothing at all!!!"


    Her tone was aggressive and her voice was angry and her attitude was rude, but Arthur didn''t care about any of that currently. What he cared about was her meaning, the presence of threat just a few meters away and he couldn''t see it! or even sense it!


    "Are you saying there were monsters so close to us right there?" he asked.


    "What? Don''t tell me you didn''t see them? there is a huge army of monsters there, how can you be so blind not to see?"


    "Calm down, I''m not trying to tease you here, there was nothing really there in front of me, or at least I couldn''t see it," he paused here, as he started to understand what was going on here, "tell me, were there any humans around these monsters?" he asked.


    "There are, but very few, scattered in the distance, but no one of them was at the front."


    "hmm¡­"


    Arthur just muttered, as his mind was already deciphering this issue. He knew what was going on, partly, as there was something that didn''t add to the mix here.


    ''So they are using an illusion grand formation, making the whole area covering tens of miles around the ore mine be covered in this illusion, however what is the story about this monster army then? Why can''t I sense their presence, even when I''m in a dragon form?''


    The dilemma he had currently was annoying him. He had many theories in his mind, all were applicable here, but each had different ways to deal with it!


    So, he stopped speaking for a long time, while his mind was trying to find the right answer to all these questions, however after half an hour of staying silent, he couldn''t reach a conclusion.


    He knew his enemy was using some arrays at this moment, one was an illusion based array, and the other was related to hide any aura of the great army of monsters inside.


    However he wasn''t sure if these monsters were also part of the illusion formation, or real monsters, or warriors transformed into monsters!


    "Sigh, it seems I only have this way to exclude at least one option here," he sighed, as he glanced at the queen as he added:


    "Can you win one on one with these monsters? Are they weaker than you?"


    He needed a rough estimation to these monsters'' strength, and the queen understood his meaning, as she said:


    "They are like five horned monsters back in our worlds, but there is a strange intimidating dark aura around each of them, so their strength might be slightly higher, six horned strength perhaps."


    "That will be no problem then," he muttered, as the next moment he cancelled his dragon form, returned to the human form, as he glanced at Lily and said:


    "I will need your help in the next fight."


    "Aerial attacks like before?" she wasn''t that stupid, as she realized what he wanted her to do.


    "Sure, I will trust you with this task," he then took out one ring, started to organize stuff in it, as he only put fire ores, the highest grade explosive oil, many long ropes, and fire pits inside. "Take this, and use the ores and oils to make explosive ores, and you know what to do next. Also fly fast and catch up with the retreating army of warriors. ask ten thousand of them to come here at once, as I will need their help"


    Arthur then didn''t hurry to execute his plan, as he needed time for Lily to be well prepared, plus he also needed a place suited for such a brutal fight.


    He then returned to his dragon form, while starting to circle the sky, looking for his target. Strange enough, his most suited place here was the cave, the one he once locked the space in.


    Despite killing every single warrior around the cave, he didn''t really enter it. he didn''t want to risk entering the home of a well prepared enemy, but currently he had to.


    The next moment, he summoned his rhinoceros. His double horned monster was not much stronger and more violent than before, as he already tasted the human blood and flesh endlessly.


    "Go inside and kill anyone you see."

 Chapter 218: Arthur Got A Real Scare from Her Stunning Beauty!

    Arthur gave the word, and the rhinoceros, which wasn''t as intimidated by Arthur like before, nodded its huge head, and then ran directly towards the cave entrance.


    Just as it entered the cave, Arthur felt a great threat coming towards the rhinoceros, so he hurriedly called it back, then resummoned it again.


    "What did you find inside?" Arthur asked the moment the rhinoceros appeared in front of him.


    "Master, there is a strange thing inside. Once I crossed the opening of that cave, I found myself standing inside a very spacious place, another forest not like this one. Everything was dark in color, dark green trees, dark blue water, and there are dark scary monsters that are no weaker than five horned monsters."


    The words of the rhinoceros made Arthur''s eyebrows rise! He didn''t imagine the scheme of his enemy to be so deep! There wasn''t one army, but two!


    That made him more wary of this clan! They were well versed in the art of arrays and formations, much better than what he initially expected.


    "So, two armies, one hidden and the other is apparent, interesting," he muttered before turning to his rhinoceros and asked:


    "Did you manage to spot the approximate size of that forest?"


    "It''s very big, I think no less than here."


    Arthur then thought about this, as the only array he had in mind right now was the blending array, where two places would be bound together for eternity. This kind of bond couldn''t be broken, and that explained why his own array didn''t break such a link.


    "If I can''t undo it, then I would kill every single monster in there. it''s a good thing, as I wanted many monsters at this time," he muttered, before taking back his rhinoceros, flew to the sky and kept searching for any suitable place.


    The best two places here were already taken! He had to reside in less preferable places, and in less than half an hour he managed to find a suitable place for the incoming fight.


    It wasn''t a mountain, but a hill, however it wasn''t one, but a group of hills gathered together with many valleys intersecting between then. The middle hill was much higher than the rest, and so it had a better view over everything.


    Arthur flew for a few minutes above it, imagining the incoming fight scene in his mind. The battle would be brutal, and he would lose many good warriors in it, however the gains would be enormous.


    He already knew what his enemies had done here, as all these monsters were real ones, blessed or cursed by the dark energy, turning them more powerful, more brutal, and much more vicious.


    However he knew these were only monsters, even the curse of darkness used upon them would be considered a good thing to his plan. This curse would magnify the monsters'' dark traits, including hunger and desire for evolution.


    He planned to use his oldest trick ever, the heavenly treasure. However he knew the number of monsters he would face in this confrontation would be challenging, and their current boosted strength might be an issue.


    He thought about bringing the treasure for a time then taking it back, alternating arousing the craziness of these monsters and cancelling it.


    However he feared his enemies would act, use another array to prevent the monsters from leaving these two forests.


    He didn''t know if these two were two separate forests or one, but he tended to believe they were two separate places, as each place had only one chance for permanently binding using an array, or that was the case in his previous life.


    So, he decided it to be a full out attack, and thus he needed to use all the tricks he could muster currently.


    "It''s time to check you my friend," he muttered, as he stood over the hill, returned to his human form again, wrote a bird''s wing for Lily telling her about his current place, and then he took out the heavenly garden necklace around his neck, closed his eyes, and delved deeply inside.


    The garden was calm and peaceful as usual, however when he went to check over that snake condition, he got a scare at once!


    Instead of that snake, he found a very mesmerizing beauty lady standing there, marching leisurely in the whole garden, enjoying the amazing sight there!


    "What?! You aren''t an old man?!!!" Arthur shockingly exclaimed out loud, startling that lady, as she turned to look around her, to find no one there.


    "Show yourself, it''s not a nice thing to spy on a weak lady like me!"


    Arthur didn''t know what to say, didn''t know if he should laugh or cry!


    "You¡­ just come out now, I will take you outside to have a nice chat together," Arthur didn''t know what to say except that. The next moment he opened his eyes, shook his head, trying to accept the fact he just saw with his own two eyes inside!


    He was a she, and she was really stunning beauty that could kill nations with that simple and elegant beautiful face! No speck of wrong was in her features at all, with her small slim eyes, small rounded face, small pointed nose, even her pointed slender chin was really amazing, with her two soft lips that were like two small strawberries, rounded and red!


    As for her body, she wasn''t a slim figure, or fat one, but really middle in between, with a curved, very proportionate body, and her chest was really big, might be bigger than her head!


    "Come forth," he softly muttered, preparing himself for the amazing scene he just saw inside.


    However, what came out wasn''t that lady, but a huge dragon! The dragon had thin shiny blue scales, with two tails, each ended with a long spear like feathers!


    There was a horn in the middle of the dragon head, and the whole shape of the dragon was really amazing, much more beautiful than the shape of Arthur''s dragon.


    And this dragon was a she, a female, not male.


    "Can you speak?" Arthur tried to jump over his scare and shock as he asked.


    "Sure, I''m not a dull dragon after all," her soft, extremely tempting female voice came to reply to him, like a masterpiece of music played in his ears!


    "Why don''t you appear in your human form?" he asked.


    "This world can''t support my body to transform, I need more energy to consume so I can evolve further, take the last leap to be able to show up here as a human," she replied, before smiling, or that was what Arthur felt, "inside your garden I can be a human. Tell me, did you like my new body? it came out spontaneously, but if it''s not good I can focus more on improving it."


    Arthur''s mouth twitched! Making your already sexy and top grade beautiful body more refined? Did she plan to kill others just by a smile?


    "No, you are really great already," he hurriedly shook his head, fearing she might consider this crazy idea, "but wasn''t you an old man before?"


    "No, this was just an act for me to hide my true identity," she paused, before her body shook slightly and her two huge wings closed up on her body, like she was embarrassed, "You, guys, always bully any little weak helpless girl like me, so I had to act tough and mighty so you all will fear and don''t bully me."


    Arthur''s mouth twitched again, and his eyes also joined in. He didn''t know what to say, except to jump over this topic, and never return to it!

 Chapter 219: Extensive Preparations for the Fight - Part 1

    "I called you out today as I will need your help, a big and difficult battle will erupt soon," he said, turning finally to the main point that interested him.


    "Fight against humans?" she asked with some anticipation.


    "No, mainly against monsters," he replied.


    "Sigh, I wanted to fight against humans to test my strength, but against monsters, sigh, they will only run the moment they see me."


    "Don''t worry about that," Arthur evilly smiled, "I have something that will make them all go crazy," he added, mysteriously hinting towards the heavenly rock he had.


    "That ice treasure of yours?" she asked, with eyes shining with greed, "give me some, after you finish this battle. I want to appear here in my human form."


    Arthur didn''t know how to reply to her shamelessness, so he just totally ignored her as he waited for the arrival of his army.


    "Why are you ignoring me? huh? Ain''t I that beautiful enough to satisfy you? Don''t you want me to be by your side? Huh? Where are you looking away? Huh? I won''t stop until you give me the treasure I want!"


    Arthur started to have a headache, and to keep his sanity, he started to lay down war resources on each hill peak. There were twenty peaks in total, in addition to the one in the middle. That arrangement made Arthur have some insights regarding making an array of his own, using his runes, avoiding using the dark formations he had in his possession.


    He wasn''t trusting these dark warriors and mages at all! He was pretty sure they had some hidden trick implanted in these formations, and so they were currently useless to him.


    Even the knowledge he acquired from them was risky! He needed first to take the opinion of masters in the academy, like Amanda or Cesile so he could be safe when starting using this art.


    And so, amidst the noise this female dragon made, he started to make a huge pile of runes, in an attempt to evade the headache coming from her voice.


    However, despite making many runes, implementing them all around the area surrounding these peaks, and on top of these peaks, he didn''t manage to avoid the headache caused by her!


    "Tell me what name will you go with from now on?" he suddenly asked.


    "Do you want me to change my name?" she asked back, and his next silence made her start thinking about this matter, like a child being distracted by a new play!


    He finally enjoyed a long period of peace, and he used this to finalize the final touches of his arrays. He laid down many complex arrays, interlinking together to form a layer upon layer of mixed offensive arrays.


    He made all of them laid down on the central hill, so he could control all of them at once. Also he laid down a couple of defensive arrays, so he could help his army to retreat in times of distress.


    After all, he still was ignorant to the disparity in strength between his current warriors and the incoming monster tide!


    "Call me Tina!" she suddenly said, and he turned to look at her as he asked:


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I like this name."


    "Fine, I will call you Tina. Now, prepare for the battle, and I want you to choose one peak to be focused on."


    "This peak will do," she said as she flapped her wings, rose a couple of meters high then landed again on the ground of the central peak.


    "Won''t do," he shook his head, "I will be stationed here, controlling the fight. Just select another one then."


    She glanced at him, before softly roaring, expressing her upset. She planned to annex the heavenly treasure amidst the chaos, but she got busted by him!


    "Fine, I will choose the front peak over there," she pointed her wing towards a far peak, "will I be alone fighting them?" she asked.


    Before he could reply, the fronts of his army arrived at this moment to this region. he smiled as he said:


    "Reinforcements have arrived, they will work under your command," he pointed towards the incoming warriors. He had already arranged their formations in his head, as each peak would carry around a thousand of them, covering ten peaks only, the outermost peaks.


    He planned to form a strong line of defense first, with his arrays helping them to sustain the brutal attack of these monsters, and also helping these warriors to kill more of these monsters.


    As for the explosive ores he already stacked in huge amounts at each peak, he left the mission to explain how to use them to Lily.


    "Tina, I want you to circle over the frontline peaks, aid in the defense, and help these warriors in distress."


    She glanced at him before softly roaring. She then went towards the first peak, and her sight startled everyone coming to here, Lily included.


    "She is an ally!" Arthur shouted so he would reassure them. Lily was the most shocked one here, as she knew Arthur didn''t have such an ally before! Arthur was growing fast in an unpredictable way, making her feel more secure and pleased, after all he was her clan head and team leader.


    Lily then came directly towards him, while glancing briefly to Tina, as she greeted her. Tina replied the greeting with a nod, making Lily realize she understood her words.


    She didn''t imagine she could speak human tongue too!


    "How come you get a mighty dragon in the mere hours I left you alone?!"


    He giggled when she said these words, and he didn''t reply to her, instead he said:


    "I want you to teach these warriors how to use these explosive ores. Also make them prepare fire pits, and if they need more, then come to me in the middle of the fight and get more."


    She just glanced at him for a moment, before sighing. "I have already explained and demonstrated everything to them when they were marching to here. what a regret no one of them had a pet, or else this fight would have been much easier."

 Chapter 220: Extensive Preparations for the Fight - Part 2

    Arthur smiled mysteriously as he said:


    "This will happen sooner than you expect," he then turned to glance at the peaks, waiting for the warriors to take their places. "Make each one thousand stay at one peak, and make them cover the ten outermost peaks first."


    "This won''t do," she shook her head, as she added, "I didn''t bring ten thousand, but forty!"


    He glanced in surprise to her, as she explained:


    "This was half the number of warriors I found there. I left half to guard the moving villagers, and the rest I took with me here. I also asked for the strongest, and only the strongest came here."


    Her words made Arthur much more delighted. These added numbers would make the whole fighting easier, and also his plans more feasible to be executed.


    "Ok, make each peak have two thousands, and make the front warriors fight, and the ones behind them ready to support and replace them at any given time."


    Lily nodded, before preparing to fly over to relay his words to everyone. As there was this huge number of them here, he had an idea in mind that he could utilize now.


    "Wait," he suddenly said, sent me one thousand of them," he added, and before she could ask anything, he took out a handful of large crossbows and started spreading them around his peak.


    He didn''t have many of these, only hundreds, but he knew they could attack long distance targets, and he also planned to make an alteration to the large number of arrows he had.


    The moment she spotted all this, she instantly understood his meaning. "Take a hundred and start distributing them on the ten peaks surrounding this one," he added, while he started getting busy, manually editing one arrow, putting a large piece of fire ore along the shaft of the arrow, while then soaking it with his explosive oil, and finally binding a long rope to the ore, making it fixed along the long shaft of these long arrows, before finally lifting a small part free.


    She took a hundred of these huge crossbows on many trips, putting around twenty of them over each peak. Arthur''s peak had the largest number of these crossbows, reaching three hundred crossbows that made the peak look quite occupied.


    "Why not take some to the first ten peaks?" Lily asked when she saw the huge number of crossbows here.


    "The first ten peaks might be lost at some point of this fight, so I can''t put any crossbow there."


    His reply made her realize how much she underestimated the incoming fight. She just nodded, before asking:


    "Then can I take some on my Birdy and take some warriors to operate them? Birdy can carry ten of these giant bows!"


    Arthur glanced at her, then at Birdy, then at his crossbows before he nodded and said:


    "No problem. take whatever you need, and hurry to send me a thousand warrior. Also ask all of the warriors here to go out and cut these trees around the peaks, make them cut the trees to be roughly equal to these bunch of arrows, and make them transport them all to here."


    He then threw a bunch of large arrows to her. She grabbed them as she glanced with confused look while asking:


    "Won''t we start fighting now?"


    "Fighting without enough preparation is a loser''s way of fighting. Go and do what I asked you to do now, and let''s all hurry up. The earlier we finish our preparations the better."


    She knew he was very serious right now, so she took the arrows, took the crossbows, and then went towards the front warriors, relaying his orders.


    Like an ant colony, everyone started to do his job without delay. The one thousand warriors who came here to Arthur were tasked with one mission only.


    "Watch me how to bind these ores to the shafts of these arrows, how I soak them with this oil, and how I bind this rope to them. make sure to copy my steps. From now on, the task of providing these arrows to the others will be your mission, don''t disappoint me in it."


    His words made them all realize how important this task was, despite they wouldn''t have the chance to fight in person. Arthur intended to make only half of them continue doing the arrows during the fight, while the other half would work on the crossbows here.


    Tina watched all this unfolded in front of her eyes while marveling how Arthur controlled all of them, arranging these to work in such cooperation and dedication.


    The preparations continued for hours, and after ten hours, a large stretch of the forest around these peaks got cleaned up entirely by his warriors!


    In the middle of that, Tina decided to give him a proper hand here, so she flew over to his peak, as he was pretty busy making these explosive arrows non-stop.


    "You are really a hard worker," she suddenly said, startling everyone by her presence, and more by her strange sweet voice.


    "There''s no time to waste, just tell me what you want," he replied without even raising his head to glance at her, or even stopping what he was doing.


    "I have a trick that can help you in your next fight," she said, before she pointed her wing towards the distance as she added, "I can control the earth, to some degree of course, so I can help digging a long and deep trench around here."


    Arthur stopped his work once heard her words, raised his head to glance at her with glimmering eyes:


    "That will be helpful. Can you make it in layers? Ring inside the ring inside another?"


    She got his meaning and nodded, before she ranted again about her rightful claim of his treasure. He just ignored her remarks, and returned to work, while other warriors were speechless of this strange form of conversation occurring between a man and a dragon; like a man and his wife!


    The next hours the noises coming from the distance didn''t stop for a single moment, as Tina kept shooking the whole place with her strange ability to control earth.


    Arthur stopped from time to time to watch how she did it. she was flying over the ground, while her two large claws kept touching the ground, and any place she touched was left with a deep long tunnel.


    This tunnel was superficial at first, however after many laps around the same area, the tunnel kept getting deeper, until it was formally deep enough to be called a trench.


    Arthu nodded in satisfaction, despite her ability seeming weak, she had the advantage to make the whole terrain change with enough time and effort. He then returned to continue making arrows, while his preparations were about to be completed.


    And after another ten hours, he was ready, with an endless amount of explosive large arrows ready inside his ring, and all his warriors were already on their peaks, while the ground around them was void of any tree for miles, and five deep broad trenches were there surrounding them on regular intervals.


    "Let the fight begin!" Arthur muttered as he waved his hand, and finally the old carcass and the heavenly treasure inside appeared for the first time in this world.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"

 Chapter 221: Two Dragons Are Better Than One

    The moment the carcass appeared, the whole world shook with mighty and endless roars. Arthur turned and glanced at the world around him; these roars didn''t come from two directions, instead five!


    "Oho, this is interesting," he muttered, as he never thought there were more hidden traps lying here by this clan. "It seems they already are putting great emphasis on this ore mine," he thought as all these preparations were made to secure this place from any possible invasion.


    "Good for me I used this trick of mine to lure them out," he muttered as he started to spot a huge number of monsters gulping towards here from five invisible places.


    He didn''t just glance at the monsters, but also at the places where these came from. "It''s a centered square formation, a very nasty offensive dark formation I read about in the records I have," he muttered again, while thinking deeply about this.


    His enemies weren''t just these dump monsters, but warriors hidden deeply inside these places. If he didn''t find a way to drive them out, he would have to fight the formation head on.


    This formation was included in the huge pile of formations he had, a very nasty array called the centered square formation, where ten thousand warriors would be distributed on five main points. Four would make the corners of a square, and one would be the centre.


    This formation was an illusion formation, weakening formation, their warriors'' boost formation, plus pretty strong offensive formation.


    It was a very complex formation, a nasty one to deal with especially when facing equal numbers and a strong army.


    Arthur then shook his head, as he didn''t have anything in hand currently to drive them out. So, he only had to focus on the current monster tide, act to raise the overall strength of his warriors, and finally he would think of a way to make these warriors hidden inside these five spots to show their faces.


    As for the current monsters, they were crazed enough by his heavenly treasure, gulping with their mightiest speed from everywhere, wanting to be the first to reach the treasure and consume it.


    This was some irresistible desire planted deeply in their souls! Arthur then waited in his location, while Tina was flying in the air, with Lily flying on back of her Birdy with ten big crossbows stationed there, and many warriors already operating them.


    In ten minutes, the first wave of monsters appeared at the location of this hill cluster, and the first thing they faced was the five layered trench.


    "Fire!"


    Arthur''s order came so sudden, and his personal army of warriors instantly complied.


    Arthur didn''t try these crossbows before, but when his warriors started using them, he was astonished by the range of their offense; it was nearly double what he had in mind from his past life!


    "I can make my peak operate as well, the range is great," he muttered, but he didn''t hurry to use his peak''s crossbows, not yet.


    The first wave of huge arrows descended over the monsters, and the next second, a huge series of explosions erupted, killing many, injuring much more, plus the amazing shock effect that pushed literally half of the monsters standing to the ground, tens of meters away.


    The next moment, huge large tongues of fire ascended to the sky, forming an intimidating wall of fire that lasted for a minute. Despite that, no monster stopped its march, and many went directly to hit this fire wall head on!


    Arthur just smiled, while his warriors were all shocked by this scene.


    "Fire at will!" he gave the free attack order, as this attack helped in killing and wounding a large number of monsters, however much more kept coming from behind!


    He didn''t know how many were there hidden in these forests, but he was ready to face millions of these monsters right here and kill them all!


    The ten peaks around him started to crazily fight the monsters with their crossbows and explosive arrows, while the front ten peaks didn''t even engage in fight yet.


    Most of the monsters arrived here were already stopped by the trench circles, killed or wounded by the explosions caused by the arrows. Any missed ones were instantly killed by Lily''s warriors, leaving the rest doing nothing but only watch and marvel.


    This fight was on a whole other scale than what they got to see in their world so far! The number of their enemies, the defensive and offensive tactics used here, and above all this sense of being mighty and invincible that started to seep slowly into their souls was pretty refreshing and amazing!


    They never felt like that ever before! All of them were just slaves for the Dorfis clan, never had this moment of triumph and glory ever in their entire lives!


    Arthur didn''t know his warriors here were all going through a ground shaking transformation deep down their core souls! He just watched the good ongoing fight, wondering when these monsters would be able to move past these defenses and reach the first peaks.


    There, he left them with explosive ores only, and he was sure this line wouldn''t hold much long if faced directly with this huge number of maddened monsters simultaneously.


    So, he had to make them stronger!


    After an hour of this brutal fight, he started to act! In the past, he didn''t have his current card of transforming into a dragon without any side effects, so he had to go in his human form and overuse his leg technique.


    However, right now he didn''t have to go for such lengths, as he started channeling his energy while giving the order to his warriors on this peak:


    "Keep making arrows, don''t stop until I tell you to."


    The next moment his body started to swell in front of their eyes, to end up being a huge intimidating dragon. They all saw him when fighting their armies from before, and yet they felt the same great fear when they saw him, especially when being this close!


    He didn''t care about their scare, as he flapped his wings and then went directly into the frontline!


    "What are you going to do?" Tina shouted as she came to him from far. Through all this hour, she was bored, having nothing to do up till now.


    "I''m going to collect the wounded and dead monsters scattered here," he said, as his intentions weren''t something to hide from her.


    "Interesting," she muttered, before adding, "let me join the fun. Do you have a spare ring?"


    "Here, take it," he threw one ring to her, and the next moment it was gone. Two hands were faster than one, two dragons were better than one.

 Chapter 222: Making Preparations for the Pet Contracts

    The next thing happened was for both of them to descend directly towards the huge number of monsters, just behind the area of trenches and the walls of fires caused by the explosive arrows everywhere on the edge of the trenches.


    "Focus mainly on the wounded monsters, and beware, these monsters aren''t in their right mind, so they won''t be afraid of going straight and hit you."


    Arthur tried to warn her, but she were much excited than to wait and listen. She went directly to the ground, reached there faster than him, and the moment she did, she started hitting the monsters with her body directly without fear!


    Her body was strong, and her defenses were immune to this kind of weak monsters'' attacks. So, she wasn''t worried at all. Arthur sighed, as she didn''t need to look for wounded monsters anywhere, she was creating these herself!


    He went down to the ground and mimicked her approach. The moment he landed there, he hit many monsters, making them all fall to the ground, wounded without doubt.


    "It seems your way of doing things is very practical," Arthur commended loudly, as the next moment of his landing, many monsters started hitting his huge body, and all he felt was just a tingling sensation here and there.


    She laughed, wildly, as if this was the right place and the perfect scene to be in. Arthur shook his large head, and then started to gather monsters.


    He had forty thousand warriors here, very easy to satisfy in terms of pets and vital organs. However, he had hundreds of thousands of normal villagers back at his city, and over a hundred thousand warriors at least stationed there.


    He didn''t want to arm and strengthen his warriors alone, he wanted to strengthen every single person in his city. doing so would make his city stronger, far stronger as any other town or city here in this world, as everyone there would be a warrior, everyone would be a strong fighter.


    "By the way, you didn''t seem surprised by my dragon form," he suddenly said, amidst the mighty explosive sounds raging everywhere, and the chaos around them caused by these monsters.


    "I sensed the presence of my blood in you since the moment I met you. So, if you aren''t a dragon, what possibly you else could be?"


    Her reply was logic and he just kept his silence, working hard to move from one place to another, hitting and wounding monsters in the process. The pile of monsters inside his ring was rapidly accumulating, and he knew in less than a few hours, he and she would be done here.


    That was a rather higher rate of getting monsters than he ever did in his life so far. He grinned, and his grin looked so vicious and brutal, however there was no sane monster here to question his reckless jump towards such a monstrous dragon.


    As for the rest of the battleground, soon all the areas around these twenty one hills got filled to the brim with monsters. Any single random attack would make a large number of monsters get killed or wounded, however it was apparent many places were missed, many monsters escaped this ring of fire, and only the five layered deep trenches stood there to make them unable to reach the first ten peaks.


    "Let''s go, that''s quite enough for now," Arthur said, as he noticed the high frequency of escaping monsters happening right now. He had no more time to waste. These wounded and dead monsters wouldn''t go anywhere.


    "You go, I''m having fun already. I have an ornament, much better and larger than your ring. I will use it to accumulate your precious monsters."


    Tina didn''t want to leave here, and that was understandable by him. He didn''t need her at this moment, and his own reserves of monsters were enough to satisfy the whole forty thousand warriors.


    What was left now was to hurry back, prepare everything and start the process of giving each warrior a pet and try to finish at least those at the first ten peaks as soon as possible.


    He flapped his wings, went high in the air, and then moved directly towards the central peak in a very scary and intimidating scene to those watching this fight.


    From the air he was able to assess the current situation, and things were about to go out of his warriors control soon. The monsters were already piled over each other, starting to block the trenches, and soon these trenches would be leveled up to the ground level.


    So, he estimated to only have a couple of hours more, give or take from this period and the monsters would reach the first ten peaks.


    He had many crossbows ready at his peak, plus the ten peaks had tons of explosive ores. He also had his own complex formations, but he didn''t want to burn all his moves from the beginning.


    The game was just unfolded, and even the midgame didn''t occur yet.


    The moment he reached his peak, he returned to be human again, while shouting at a group of his warriors:


    "Go, make those in the front come here in batches of thousands. Hurry and don''t delay. Any batch moved must be replaced by those in the peaks behind."


    The warriors were all terrified of him, even after he cancelled his transformation, and thus they moved fast, hurriedly going to the peaks in the area, spreading the order.


    As for him, he knew the peaks were all full, including his, so he left the order to make anyone coming to head downwards, while he went directly towards one of the valleys between the peaks.


    The moment he reached there, he took out his tools, his ores, and started the preparations.


    The area he was working at was big, but the number of his warriors was bigger. His main problem would be in the making and replacing runes, and thus after he finished drawing over a five hundred circle here using the blood of his scorpion queen, he started to make runes without pause.

 Chapter 223: Arming the Whole Army of Warriors with An Army of Pets

    In ten minutes, the first batch of warriors came. No one understood what was going on, and Arthur didn''t have time to waste on explaining, so he hurriedly pointed to the wide space as he ordered:


    "One warrior in one circle, and those who have none just wait for others to finish."


    His words were met by silence, as they exchanged glances without knowing what he wanted to do.


    "Hurry up and don''t waste time!" he shouted again, without raising his head even from his current ore he was writing on. they all jolted awake from his shout, as his recent huge dragon form flying above their heads was still fresh.


    They did as he asked, and he gave them a couple of minutes, finished another pile of runes, then moved towards their direction.


    A wave of hand, one monster appeared, and a group of runes were laid on the ground, both inside the circle with the warrior.


    This action made everyone skeptical, and many whispers started to spread. "Shut up and pay attention. Don''t move, don''t get out of the circle, and don''t unsheathe your weapons, they are docile now!"


    As he took out monsters one after another at a rapid pace, he noticed some were nervous that they took out their weapons and pointed them towards the monsters.


    The warriors were hesitating, but after a few minutes, and glancing at other monsters standing calmly and steadily in other circles, they unsheathed their weapons, and everyone was in daze to know what was going on!


    All these monsters were five horned ones! Different shapes, ranging from lions, tigers, elephants, crocodiles, even monsters with wings were there, like winged snakes!


    No matter their shape, their size was all huge! As Arthur finished laying the last one, he didn''t even glance at them, as he returned to his own working place, grabbed the ores there, as he shouted:


    "Say these words after me; activate contract!"


    Everyone heard the words and were in much more dilemma than before, however not everyone hesitated here. many said the magical words, and instantly tens of huge balls of lights erupted, engulfing every single one of them with the monster inside.


    This caused a stir! These warriors were all deemed slaves to a slave contract they inherited from their ancestors, so most were shocked from the cores of their souls when they heard this cursed word.


    As they were in doubt and hesitation, while Arthur was ignoring all this and working fast to make more ruins, those who initiated the contract out of trust or extreme fear suddenly appeared again in front of others.


    They were completely fine, with nothing happening to them except for a tattoo! That made the place usher under heavy silence, and the shade of the past era of terrany and slavery loomed darkly covering the eyes of everyone!


    "Those who finished their pet contract, summon yours now, and go to the frontline fast!"


    Arthur ignored the extremely nervous atmosphere and he laid his orders to those who listened to his orders. The next moment, a very shocking scene happened that was like a cold slap of hand over each ones'' face when they saw these huge monsters appearing again, out of nowhere, and they were so obedient to the orders of other warriors.


    Those warriors were now looking at others with a high and arrogant look, as they all jumped over the backs of their respective monster, and moved at once, heading in great momentum towards the frontline!


    "Listen up, I have no time to waste, if you don''t start now, I will make others replace you!"


    His words startled everyone, and the next moment they all were jolted awake, then they all said the words. Arthur didn''t waste a single moment glancing at them, as he knew even a pig headed person wouldn''t let such an opportunity slip off their hands this easily.


    He waited for a couple of minutes before he raised his head to glance at everyone. They had already finished their contract, and by this, the monsters in front of them all vanished.


    ??Go now and support the frontline. Send more in batches, and spread the word around, today you all will gain this gift from me."


    The warriors were so much excited and pleased, and they all knelt down on the ground and cheered for his salute.


    "Now go, and the rest move out to stand in the circles."


    He didn''t need to explain anything to them, as he just moved out after making more runes, redrew the circles once more, took out monsters randomly, and scattered the runes, before returning to his working zone as he muttered;


    "Start!"


    The warriors complied, all without exception, as they all shouted the magical words. After a few minutes, they all reappeared again, with excited expressions over their faces, and like kids they started summoning their pets, marveling at them.


    "Don''t waste time here, we are in the middle of a war!" Arthur spilled a cold cup of water over their heads, making them all jolt awake from their moment of happiness, and they all knelt down, cheered to his name, before they moved fast, hurriedly spreading the news.


    In minutes, the next batch appeared, with faces brimming with expectations. Arthur knew the word must have been spread, and everyone saw the new emerging powers their peers had.


    "Alright, stand in one circle, and don''t move."


    Arthur simply gave the order, before he started redrawing the circles again, repeating all the steps, stating all the needed instructions, before returning to continue making his runes.


    This kept repeating for hours, and he barely made enough runes to satisfy the needs of his army. After the passage of seven hours, he had finally finished giving everyone a pet, and he just stood there, sighing in exhaustion, as he finally did a great step to secure his victory here.


    He then took everything back into his ring, and went upwards towards the peak once more. He was so tired of transforming into a dragon, or even taking part in this battle now. so, he took his time climbing the hill, observing the scenery, and eating meat along the way.

 Chapter 224: Activating the Formations

    In half an hour, he reached the peak of his, to find the outer protection ring was really under intense attacks from monsters!


    The monsters already managed to fill the trenches with their dead bodies, and thus the following waves of monsters were able to easily cross over the bodies of their kin, reaching to the outer ten hills easily.


    The aim of these monsters weren''t to kill or attack the hills and warriors upon them, instead they wanted to come here to this central hill and reach the heavenly treasure.


    So, they didn''t focus their march over the hills, instead moved in great numbers, filling the valleys in between.


    The warriors on the top ten hills used everything in hand to kill the monsters trying to reach them, and they used their new pets to help them defend these hills valiantly so far.


    As for the valleys, the subsequent ten hills started to take the responsibility of defeating monsters there, and that made the attacks hitting the far distance cease to exist, adding more pressure to the valleys and the hills overall.


    As for the sky, Lily was trying to do as best as she could, however she was limited by the few number of warriors on the back of her Birdy.


    "That''s not working, it''s time to organize things up," Arthur muttered, before turning to glance on the tons of arrows made so far by the warriors here. This amount was also present on the other hills, where warriors kept coming to and fro, moving the arrows to the adjacent ten hills.


    The valleys separating the central hill of his from the surrounding ten were almost clear of monsters. However Arthur knew this wouldn''t remain as such for a long time if things kept going this way.


    "You, take these and spread over the leaders of each hill. Make them drop their blood and then send it back to me. give them these as well, and tell them if anything major happened, they can write to me on these papers."


    Arthur took out two piles of bird''s wing, one unbound yet, and one was bound to him, and handed them over to a group of warriors here.


    The warriors took these and hurriedly went to execute the order, while Arthur turned to glance at his working warriors as he shouted:


    "Listen up, half of you move to handle these crossbows, while the rest keep working. Your aim is to fire as far as possible, targeting the area outside the hills."


    He started organizing things, as he saw the best way to defend the valleys would be from the ten hills in the middle. They had a greater broader view over all the valleys here, and they could attack easily and efficiently without commiting many mistakes.


    So, he gave his warriors here the task to attack the distance, while he glanced there, not seeing Tina anywhere.


    "This greedy little girl, did she like the play of hitting and storing monsters so much?" he muttered, as he knew she was still playing with monsters out there.


    His assumptions were right, as Tina was really immersed in bullying the monsters. She had filled her storage ornament long time ago with monsters, and thus she focused only to play, moving around unhindered, and hit the incoming monsters head on without suffering any losses.


    In fact he didn''t mind that, as her presence there helped in decreasing the toll gradually over the hills and valleys.


    "Let''s give a slight hand to you then," he muttered, before standing over the area with many runes buried underneath it.


    "Weakening formation, activate!"


    "Illusion formation, activate!"


    "Confusion formation, activate!"


    "Slowing formation, activate!"


    He activated one formation after another. In the next minutes, the whole area started to show changes! Fog started to appear, thin dim fog that seemed so thin at first, but gradually it started taking shape.


    The air itself started to show some aberrations, as many parts had many invisible waves erupting from the central peak, heading straight outward.


    He had to stay there, controlling the four formations by his energy channeled into the runed down his legs, while a great shadow of a dragon represented itself behind his back.


    This scene startled everyone around him for the first couple of minutes, but when nothing else happened, they started to grow accustomed to this. As for Arthur, he was quite busy controlling and directing the formations, trying to evade hurting any of his scattered warriors everywhere.


    The addition of these formations came as a game changer! The monsters who were darting with extreme momentum were now trapped in place, played like puppets in his hands, and this helped his warriors to kill them easier, faster, and in bigger numbers than before.


    The fight continued to rage on like this without any more surprises. The explosive arrows sent from his central peak were so many that caused the appearance of overlying layers of huge fiery walls, turning the area around the hills into a restricted one.


    Despite that overwhelming crushing superiority he currently had, Arthur was worried about other things. This war was, from the start, an attritional one. The consumption of wood here in making arrows, coupled with the great consumption of arrows currently occurring by hundreds of crossbows made him worry about the wood reserves he had here.


    He had already cleared a good space of the forest from trees, and they were all stored into his peak, and any extra was now residing into his rings.


    However, even after a day of constant fighting here, the monsters didn''t show any signs to decrease at all! After one day of this brutal fight, the amount of his wood reserves was getting low, reaching the point to be completely depleted in half a day most from now.


    This was quite disturbing for him, as the main defense used now was a mix between his arrays, the pets of his warriors, and the mighty effects of the explosive arrows!


    "We need more arrows!'''' This was the single fact he had to admit. However, to do so, he needed to go seeking trees beyond the five hidden points of his enemy.

 Chapter 225: The Appearance of the Invisible Poison Once More

    That meant he needed flying pets to do so, to move warriors enough to gather wood, and make them return here to resupply the exhausted reserves.


    "How can I do that?" he muttered to himself, thinking about how to solve this dilemma. He didn''t lack warriors, and currently he could spare to send thousands of them away, but the only problem lied in how to move them there!


    "Sigh, the only solution is to use Birdy and make him move them on many trips, risking attracting the attention of others," he sighed, as he had no other option here.


    All the monsters appeared so far were ground based monsters, not a single flying one showed its ugly face yet. And so, he was lacking in the flying mighty power of pets, and currently he had to act with what he had in hand.


    "Sigh," he sighed, before taking out one bird''s wing and wrote a message to Lily, asking her to come here at once. he also took a couple of the bird''s wings of leaders of the ten peaks close to him, and ordered them to send three hundred warriors back with their pets to his central peak.


    Three thousand warriors, and Lily''s Birdy could only move up to three hundred at most in each trip. That meant ten trips alone to move the warriors to the front, and ten again to send them back when finished, or if there was any sort of danger occurring there to them.


    According to his estimates, the journey to the distant parts of the forest would take half an hour flying, and that meant this move would take around five hours to move them to distant places.


    "Sigh, ten hours lost in just resupplying woods, plus the trips taken by Lily to gather the woods constantly, losing her aid in this fight," he helplessly sighed, shaking his head in regret, as he wouldn''t prefer to lose his sky eye in this fight, not when things would develop to much more heights soon.


    Lily received his message, and she headed back towards his peak at once. As for the ten peaks around him, the ones receiving the message there started to dispatch those unneeded by them at the moment.


    Lily stood there with her Birdy flying above her head, with the ten warriors standing on the back of it. the three thousand warriors group started to show up in batches, coming from the ten peaks around.


    "Is there a hidden task I smell here?" Lily asked when she noticed the coming from far warriors.


    "We are running low on wood here," Arthur said, and his words instantly attracted her attention. She knew their current advantage and superiority was able to happen due to the explosive arrows.


    Without them, they would lose the upper hand instantly.


    "Want me to take them away?" she understood Arthur''s line of thoughts from the many interactions together.


    "Sure, you will go to places behind all the monsters. Scatter them in ten groups, each is three hundred warriors. leave them to cut trees and organize them well, and give them your and my bird''s wings to contact when they have many wood to carry," Arthur said, and Lily nodded as she understood what he wanted her to do.


    "What about dangers?"


    "They have my and your bird''s wing. If anything happens, they will be easy to defend themselves using their pets, and we will be notified at once."


    "And?" she insisted, and he just silently glanced at her. "Sigh, fine, but if there is an opportunity to save them, I will," she said, in a warning tone, as she understood the hidden meaning of Arthur.


    He wouldn''t move out to save them except if it was safe here, which was something hard to believe to happen so soon.


    This all happened in soft whispers, and after the two finished, Lily then turned to face the three thousands in front of her as Arthur said:


    "You will go with Lily towards places behind the monster tide. Your role is to gather wood from there as fast as you can, and as much as you can."


    Arthur then turned to supervise the whole battle again, leaving things here to Lily, who started to answer the warriors questions about using pets, killing monsters there, and how to move the wood to here.


    She answered all of them, as she would be the one responsible for the moving process. Arthur gave her one of his nine rings, and despite not being empty currently, there was a large space inside to store.


    As such, Lily then loaded her Birdy with three hundred warriors, while leaving her ten warriors with crossbows there as well, asking them to guard everyone, and then flew towards the distance.


    Arthur just followed her with his eyesight for a while before he returned to focus on the fight ongoing here.


    He knew she would be spotted by others observing this fight, and this might put the whole group at risk. As for her, he wasn''t worried, as no flying monster was here to threaten her.


    The fight kept raging, as the formations helped his army in defending this area. After hours of constant fighting, Arthur noticed something coming towards here from the direction of the five hidden gates.


    At first he thought he noticed some kind of reflection on the air far away, however after a few minutes, he started to see the same kind of shimmering sparks in many places, getting near towards here.


    He didn''t know what was that, and just he was in daze, Tina''s huge dragon body suddenly jumped from the distant grounds, where she was having her fun time with other monsters there, and instantly darted towards Arthur''s peak, shouting one single word in an alarming tone:


    "Poison!"


    Her scream made the eyes of Arthur be widened while his mind instantly linked everything. "Not good!" he muttered, as he realized everything.


    The next moment, he didn''t delay and started channeling his energy. The next moment he took the dragon form, instantly darting to the sky!


    And before he left, a huge pile of bottles appeared in the place his dragon body was taking.

 Chapter 226: The Dark Mages and Warriors Appeared!

    Things happened so fast that no one even had time to get a glimpse of him.he hurriedly went towards every single peak, starting from the distant ones, landed on each peak for a second, left a pile of bottles, then left the next moment without even glancing at anyone.


    This happened frequently at the rest of peaks, while he shouted at Tina:


    "Get back here, I left you a pile of bottles at my peak, consume them all!"


    "Do you know such a poison?" she hurriedly asked, as she didn''t delay in moving towards the peak.


    "No time to explain, just order everyone to gulp a couple of the bottles I left for them at each peak, hurry!"


    Tina understood how urgent the situation was, so she hurriedly shouted, in a voice heard to others:


    "Listen up, your lord has left a pile of bottles at each peak, make sure each one of you will get a couple of those and consume them now! hurry, there is no time!"


    Her words and the urge in them made everyone stop fighting, and start consuming these bottles at once. as for her, when she went to the central peak, she found the pile Arthur left there half consumed, and thus she consumed the rest!


    Arthur kept flying over from peak to another, while he cursed his bad luck! He never thought the source of such deadly poison he had experienced once before came from here!


    "If the poison came from here, then that meant there are many dark mages here as well!" he muttered, as he knew this fight had just gotten harder.


    However, that didn''t prevent him from proceeding in his plans! The presence of such a toxic pocket of enemies just next to his growing city would be disastrous if left untouched.


    "I have to kill every single one of them, and make sure there are no such hidden pockets for this dark clan nearby as well." His sight then turned towards the distance, where Lily and others were working.


    Lily had consumed the higher grade antidote like him, and that meant she wouldn''t be in any danger. However, her warriors would be if they crossed here now!


    Lily had just transported the second pile of woods to him, making his own reserves of wood return to increase again. He just finished off all peaks, returned to his own, and his mind was now focusing on one thing.


    He needed to make a huge pile of the higher grade potion!


    What he used currently was the weaker form he made for clans and guilds out there. This potion might be effective for a short span of time, a day or two, but in the long run it wouldn''t be so effective at all!


    The problem would be in time needed to do that, as in just these mere confusing minutes, the formations he controlled became useless, his warriors stopped attacking, and monsters gained a good amount of ground during this, even some of the outermost peaks became in danger.


    If not for the pets, these peaks might have been just overwhelmed right now! so, he decided to do both at the same time, controlling formations with half mind, and making the potions with the other half.


    Once reached his central peak, he cancelled his transformation, while Tina stood there beside him, watching him taking the human form again.


    "What is this all about?" she asked.


    "It''s an invisible dark poison that can spread in the air. I once met it in the world outside of here, and managed to create an antidote for it," he simply explained, before adding, "the antidote I have currently is weak, will protect us for just a day or two, so I will start making better one now, and I hope they don''t send more dark attacks soon."


    "They?!"


    "Dark mages from the outside world, they use arthodox methods in their fight, and it seems they have deep roots here."


    He then regained his control over the formations, reactivated them again, and this helped in stopping the current momentum of monsters.


    His warriors also returned to attack, driving the monsters back either wounded or dead. The fight returned to be in his favor, but he knew his enemies would start moving soon.


    He then took a bird''s wing and informed Lily about the presence of poison here, making her not to bring any warrior with her. The toxin once appeared would inhabit the area it spread into, and thus his only hope to win this was to make enough potions to satisfy his warriors'' needs.


    He just nearly expired his own reserves of potions made for clans and guilds, and thus he even didn''t have enough potions to support his warriors for a second round.


    "I will scan the sky and see if there is a strange group of people anywhere," Tina suddenly said, when she noticed how busy he was as he started taking out his tools and cauldron.


    "If you found any, don''t hesitate to kill at sight," he said, without even glancing at her. He was now controlling the formation the best he could, while starting to make the refined version of the potion.


    "It''s great these guilds and clans supported me with huge amounts of high grade resources," he muttered, as this was something he didn''t need to worry about now.


    His rings were filled with a huge amount of potion ores and herbs, so he didn''t need to search and instantly took out pile after pile of them, putting them into the cauldron at once.


    "I have enough bottles to satisfy everyone, I hope," he checked his own reserves of the empty bottles given to him by the clans and guilds from before.


    He found them more than enough, making him quite confident in facing this ordeal and emerging victorious. He then started to make the potion while his attention was diverted to control the formations and observing the current fight.


    Everything was currently under the control of his warriors, as the monsters returned to be trapped in the valleys, while the huge walls of fire kept raging everywhere, killing them in the valleys and outside the peaks.


    However, after a couple of hours, and after Lily came again delivering more batches of woods, while taking enough high grade potions for her warriors, a new change appeared!


    The dark mages and warriors started to show up, finally, and their appearance was accompanied by a brutal attack from Tina.


    She was eyeing and waiting for their arrival impatiently all this time!

 Chapter 227: The Sudden Appearance of Three Mighty Monsters

    The groups that appeared couldn''t be spotted easily from his far location, but he knew for sure they appeared, as Tina suddenly grew restless, descended down from the sky without any warning, falling like a meteorite, and a massive clash occurred afterwards.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Despite the violent attacks occurring from her, Arthur just felt she wasn''t doing as much damage there, or else why did she keep hammering that place with her claws and ice breath? She even started using her earth control ability as well!


    From his far spot, he could see the dirt rising to the sky, and just after a few minutes, he managed to spot a huge dome, created by an invisible aura, and the dirt just showed it off to him and everyone.


    "An array!" he muttered, as he realized his enemies were getting serious. "It seems their monsters are running low, that''s a good sign indeed," he smirked, as he wanted for so long to draw them out of their hiding.


    If they didn''t come out by themselves, he would have to venture into their turf, but that would come on a greater risk; after all they must be well prepared to accept invaders there!


    The next few minutes were filled by huge attacks from Tina, and finally that dome ruptured under her persistence, like a soft bubble bursting in hand, and then she started massacring the mages and warriors there.


    Arthur didn''t feel any sorry for them, as he turned his attention towards the other four places. "One down, four remained," he muttered. He thought of going there in his dragon form, rain over their heads, his burning fire, but he knew if he did so, this place would be overwhelmed by monsters after the disruption of his formations.


    Plus, he didn''t yet finish making enough potions! He only made enough for twenty thousands or slightly more.


    He is still in need to work for more hours to satisfy his warriors needs. He also knew his warriors only had these hours before showing signs of toxicity, and thus he had no way to go out right now and toy with them.


    He had to wait patiently right here, and wait for their grand formation to be completed, unfortunately.


    The presence of these five places, hidden and distributed in such a way here, wasn''t indeed a coincidence; this was the base of a grand formation!


    "Taking one down isn''t enough, at least two more must be destroyed to render this formation useless," he muttered to himself, while shaking his head in regret. "If not for the urgeness and seriousness of that poison, it would have been better for me to join Tina and devastate two more!


    As he was dwelling in his own thoughts, Tina flew off from her place, announcing killing everyone there, before she went directly towards another direction.


    "Be ready, they are coming in thousands, and they are pretty stronger than these weak monsters," she shouted from far, and he perfectly heard her warning.


    He sighed, as he knew she was speaking the truth, as he expected this attack to come with all the might these dark mages and warriors could muster.


    He had dealt with one of them personally, and he had to admit, he was much stronger than all the warriors and mages of his party so far!


    And thus he was well prepared for the incoming brutal fight, ready for all the losses he might suffer to secure his victory.


    His only focus was on completely killing those dark enemies, so he could be secured in his city.


    Tina then went like a thunderbolt towards the next group of dark mages and warriors. their place was near his hills, making him sure they would arrive here in less than ten more minutes; they were moving pretty fast, faster than he thought!


    He hurriedly took out his bird''s wings related to all the leaders of the hills, and sent a warning message to all, making them ready for the great impact coming towards them.


    He also sent to the outermost ten hills'' leaders, asking them to be ready to withdraw at any given notice. There were around twenty thousand warriors at these hills, enough to fortify his inner hills.


    As Tina made one party stop in their tracks, attacking with all her might, feeling much anger and hatred towards those who launched this nasty poison here, the other three parties managed to reach the hills safely, and thus a formation started to take shape in front of Arthur''s eyes.


    "It''s a summon formation, a brilliant one indeed!" Arthur muttered, as he recognized the array taking place in front of his eyes. It wasn''t that hard to guess, after all a huge circle with many strange writings in its many inner circular rings appeared, with a scale enough to cover all the region his hills were taking.


    And this was the effect of three groups only, which made him feel quite lucky to have Tina out there, or else this ring of summoning might be much larger than this.


    "Retreat to the back hills, now!" he sent this order to all the leaders of the outermost hills. Against such incoming new monsters, they wouldn''t be able to stand a chance alone!


    So, it would be better not to lose them there, and try to fortify his second line of defense instead.


    The warriors instantly started to evacuate the hills, moving inwardly in a very impressive motion. Midway, though, mighty roars erupted, and three strange shaped monsters appeared, with huge bodies, and the worst news was they were flying!


    Airborne monsters! That was a disaster to all his warriors indeed!


    They got accustomed to fighting ground monsters, and Arthur was relying on this fact in building his plan. However, right now, with the sudden appearance of these three huge monsters in the air, he knew his warriors wouldn''t stand a chance alone!


    "You are really making my job to kill you harder, you know," he muttered while shaking off his head. If his warriors were going to die either way, then he better leave the making of potions and join the fight personally.


    This was the right decision to make right now!


    The three monsters were still coming to this world, as their bodies weren''t yet solid. One of them was like a huge dragon, but its head was the head of a strange bird, with three peaks in one head! Its body was as huge as Tina''s body, slightly smaller than Arthur''s. instead of scales, it was covered half of its back body with feathers, long thin like needles, ending with sharp edges like large swords.

 Chapter 228: The Final Fight Kicks Off

    As for the second monster, it was like a flying elephant, with a huge body that was full of meat and muscles. It had one long trunk that ended with strange long thin filaments that gave Arthur an eerie feeling. It had two huge ears, flapping on both of its huge heads, covered with circular scales. Its tail was long, much longer than its trunk, thin and flexible, moving everywhere like a snake, ending up with a spear-like end.


    As for the last monster, it was a whale sized and shaped one, with a huge fin-like tail, biforked at its end to two parts, and each part biforked again, and again, until ending in an endless long spear-like end. Its head was long, with a huge wide mouth, and a long elastic weird tongue that kept darting in and out like that of a snake. It had dozens of huge razor-like teeth rows inside its jaws, with skin so soft and moistening like it just came out of water.


    All the three had wings, three groups of paid long wings, that kept their bodies flying in the air.


    Just watching them from the ground, from this near, made every single warrior be shocked and paralyzed out of fear!


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    This time, the roars didn''t come from the monster direction, but from two different directions at the same time; one from front, as Tina managed to kill every single one inside the fourth group of dark enemies, while the second came from behind, as Arthur had already transformed into his dragon form.


    And beside him, the scorpion queen appeared!


    "Wow, such huge and strong cursed monsters," the moment she appeared, she said these words, while glancing wide at the three monsters.


    "Cursed?" Arthur asked back.


    "Yes, these aren''t their true forms, they are merely weaker than me in reality, but they got boosted strength by some cursed dark energy," she muttered, before she paused, thinking for quite some time before adding, "yes, they are cursed, and the aura surrounding them now is the root of this curse."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered as he realized her meaning; the formation used by these three group of dark enemies wasn''t just one it seemed. There were more formations in play, and that just seemed right considering their number and preparations. "I will leave the defenses here to you, act as much rampage as you like," he said, before starting to flap his wings and move towards the nearby huge monsters.


    "Be careful, this aura is exactly the same as the one I sensed inside the hidden forest I went into!" she said, and he just roared back, as he already guessed it.


    It seemed he really made the inner monsters lose much of their numbers to the degree of threatening the entire defenses of these hidden pockets. So, the mages and warriors inside decided to come out, bring forth their dark aura to this world.


    However, they couldn''t turn the whole area even into what they already did at the forests, as they lasted for so long in these forests, infesting it already with their aura for so long time.


    And so he wasn''t much worried regarding the ground monsters, mostly they could only affect them slightly, raising their strengths by one grade only.


    This wouldn''t be a problem to his warriors, especially when his bloodthirsty scorpion queen was there in play! As for his rhinoceros, he also summoned it, but he didn''t say any word to it, as he didn''t put much hopes on its survival, or even playing a good role here.


    After all, it was much weaker than those monsters, which made it obvious that summoning him would only serve as cannon fodder, just single cannon fodder added to his long list of warriors here!


    As for these three monsters, the moment he just bypassed the area of hills, standing above the trenches region, these three monsters were finally summoned into this world.


    "We need to deal with them fast, they are strong, not weaker than me and you," Tina said, as panic was apparent in her tone.


    "No, you deal with those dark mages and warriors down below," Arthur corrected her line of thinking, while glancing coldly at the large number of mages and warriors down below, starting to run towards the nearby hills.


    "Kill the runners or those behind?" she asked.


    "Thos behind, leave the runners for my warriors to kill," he said.


    "They aren''t a match for them," she retorted back.


    "I know, but the most dangerous ones are those behind. Killing them will only grant us victory at the end," he said, as he already knew her fears so well.


    "On such a great cost?!" she sighed, as she regretfully said.


    "On any cost," he added, while he went directly over those running mages and warriors, while totally neglecting them. He was already channeling all his energy in his body, not for these cannon fodders, but for the great three prizes up ahead.


    "As you wish," she said, with a tone that expressed how deeply regretful she was for such a big loss. Arthur knew his decision was cruel, however it was the right thing to do in this complicated battle. He was fighting a snake, and to kill a snake, he had to kill its head, not tail first!


    As an arrow, he darted towards the three mighty monsters, which replied to his daring approach, all alone, by three wild roars.


    "Splash!"


    Arthur suddenly stopped, hundreds of meters away from the three, flapping his wings to support his sudden stop, while opening his mouth wide open, and spraying a strong fountain of his deadly fire.


    And the sizzling sound just came from the front, coupled with the rising of thick steam from the three monsters'' bodies, as the fire started to burn their bodies in wide areas!


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Three extremely pained roars erupted from them, followed by their violent retaliation. The dragon-like bird opened its peak, and a strong gush of acid fell on Arthur''s body, while the elephant waved its long trunk, and dark green, seemingly toxic, fire was sprayed over Arthur''s body.


    As for the last one, it just opened its jaws wide as long and numerous thick spears of ice were formed, all darted at once towards Arthur''s body, covering a huge area in the process.


    Arthur was cornered in such a disadvantageous fight from the start!

 Chapter 229: Crippling A Monster and Killing Another

    The three attacks fell upon his huge body without warning, as the acid made his entire body ache and feel itchy everywhere, while the fire raged over the acid, making him feel weird.


    The fire was his own turf, but this kind of fire seemed quite uneasy to him! he felt somehow uncomfortable, while his body pained in many places. As for the long spears of ice, they hit his body, crashed on different places, while feeling needles inserted deeply into his flesh.


    "It''s going to be hard, I know," he muttered, while not stopping channeling his energy, continuing to spray fire over all of them. he knew his fire was stronger, and his defenses were superior to their attacks, so he wasn'' t that worried, enduring the pain, and continuing to press on his attack.


    The three monsters kept roaring in pain time after time, while their bodies ignited with wild fire, with many places being eroded by Arthur''s flames. Arthur didn''t stop his attack even for a mere second until an opening presented itself when that huge whale-like monster took a strong hit from his fire, and showed signs of weakness.


    It couldn''t support its huge body in the air anymore!


    Its body was always living in water and ice, needing moisture to function perfectly. However, after half an hour of constant attacking, his body was dried up, and even his attacks started to waver; turning weaker minute after minute.


    "I will start with you!" Arthur smirked, as he hurriedly flapped his wings vigorously to drive his body forward, descending over the wide and huge body of that monster like thunder.


    Just the attack of his body drove this monster hundreds of meters down, and the next moment, Arthur inserted his two claws deeply into the flesh of that monster, while he opened his large jaw and took a nice bit of that monster''s seemingly neck, ripped a large part of it, and then spit it out to fall into the ground nearby.


    And the next thing he did was to release his channeled energy outward, forming a strong fountain of fire that seemed like a cannon from this short distance, targeting that area he just exposed!


    "Roar!"


    A very pained roar erupted from this monster, turning it much weaker from Arthur''s brutal attack. If he had more time, he would be able to completely finish it here, however he wasn''t fighting a single monster after all!


    The other two didn''t stand by and did nothing! After Arthur stopped his nasty annoying fire attack, moved to hit their comrade, they also moved to attack him, intercepting his deadly attack on the whale monster.


    Two huge monsters fell from the sky, rapidly descending upon his head. Arthur had to let his claws loose, jump over the body of that whale, and dive directly towards the ground, before spreading his wings to fly flat for a while, then flapping his wings again to rise in the sky.


    And the two monsters totally ignored their heavily injured companion, which had no more strength to stay in the air, heavily falling towards the ground and strongly smashing head on with it.


    "Roar!"


    It gave a very weak long roar, expressing its retreat from this fight. As for the other two monsters, they were hot on Arthur''s tail, keeping attacking him with their acid and fire!


    "Those two are really persistent," Arthur said as even after going left and right without prior notice, they kept following him with strange persistence. Finally he decided to do a risky move, flapping his wings hard, going directly and almost vertically to the sky, and the two angry monsters just followed suit.


    As he reached a very high altitude, enduring all kinds of pain coming from the many injuries he suffered so far, he suddenly stopped flapping his wings, turned his whole body upside down using his tail, and his retaliation time had finally come!


    He descended like an arrow over the two monsters, while his fire returned to directly hit them, using gravity, to fall heavily over their heads and eyes, extremely eroding them!


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The two roared in extreme pain, while their combined attack failed to follow Arthur''s sudden move. Arthur didn''t let this chance go by so easily, as he decided to take out the most annoying one of the two; the dragon like bird; the acid sprayer monster!


    "Roar!" Arthur roared ferociously as he hit the body of that monster heavily, while closing up his opened jaw over its neck. This monster had a narrow well defined neck that the previous whale, and thus this violent bite from Arthur managed to rip off most of the flesh from the monster''s neck, exposing its spine.


    "Splash!"


    "Roar!"


    Arthur didn''t delay in taking out his deadly eroding fire once more, and this time the monster roared its last one on these lands, finally dying from this deadly attack!


    "Roar!"


    The last monster standing roared, in anger and humiliation, as Arthur alone managed to cripple one, and killed another, without them being able to kill him. Arthur just raised his head to glance at the angry monster nearby, up above, standing there without moving, as if it was fearing to single handed attack Arthur.


    "Are you afraid of me?" Arhur smirked, evilly glancing at this monster before shouting towards it, "If you want to live, submit to me, be my pet, and I would let you live."


    He liked the idea of having another dragon into his own army, even if it was a cursed dark one! If darkness would be on his side, serving him, then he wouldn''t mind using this darkness to help him achieve his good deeds.


    The monster wasn''t stupid, as it understood Arthur''s words perfectly, however it only roared in pain, like it was struggling with something.


    "Boom!"


    At this moment, a huge explosion erupted from one location down below, and Arthur turned his head at the moment to witness Tina finally breaking the final barrier surrounding one group of these dark mages and warriors, setting herself loose over them, finally able to vent her suppressed anger!

 Chapter 230: You Make Your Dragonair Ancestors Ashamed in their Graves!

    She watched Arthur''s devastation to the three monsters, while she only was kept away from those weak humans by a large group of nasty defensive arrays! She didn''t do anything since she and Arthur split, and that made her extremely enraged at this moment!


    "Roar!"


    The monster struggle seemed to end with this weak roar, as it seemed it lost the fight, and whoever was controlling it had the upper hand now. the monster didn''t stand a single moment in place, as it flapped its huge wings, aided with its huge ears, using its huge heavy, elephant-like body to fall, directly heading towards Tina!


    "You want to attack my slave and save your masters? Not under my watch!" Arthur sneered, as the next moment he also jumped off the falling body of that dead monster he just killed, directly clashing with the huge body of that monster.


    He managed to push that monster off track, both falling together rapidly and violently towards the ground!


    Arthur just used his claws to rip the thick skin of that monster off, while he used his jaw to rip more of its thick and huge flesh. The monster roared in pain, while using both its long trunk and tail to whip Arthur''s body, trying to inflict severe pain and damage to him.


    Arthur was really in great pain at this moment, however after his first brutal fight even in this life against the young bronzed giant mage, he was learnt how to endure pain until he achieved his victory.


    This monster was now at great disadvantage, losing the initiative, being in a very unfavorable position, falling heavily towards the ground; all these made Arthur endure, kept wracking havoc into this huge monster''s body, while keeping an eye for the ground.


    Just when they were tens of meters away from it, he pushed his body using his two claws, flapped his wing to resist the fall, stabilizing his body only one hundred meters approximately from the ground, where that monster heavily hit the ground, massively causing a loud bang, creating a deep pit here.


    "Splash!"


    And the next moment, Arthur let his energy exit his body through his opened jaws, and a strong splash of eroding fire descended violently over this monster, killing what remained of life in it after all this.


    It even didn''t have the strength to issue its last roar!


    "Finally down," Arthur panted, as he already had severe wounds everywhere, while his huge and majestic body was now tainted by his own blood and flesh, crushed scales and even remnants of the acid, cursed fire, and broken ice spears inserted deeply into his flesh.


    However it wasn''t yet time for him to rest and heal, or even feel the pain; he still had two other groups of those notorious dark mages and warriors to kill.


    And so, he flapped his wings, heavily moving towards the distance, while Tina also rose finally from the ground, after killing all the humans there.


    She wasn''t satisfied, not even for a single bit! The look of the heavily injured Arthur pained her, as she thought she would be in much use for him, but the truth proved her wrong!


    "One for you, one for me," Arthur said, in a weak tone, while flying unstable and much slower than usual towards one of the two groups there.


    "Let them both to me, I want to kill them all," she demanded, in a very vengeful tone.


    "No time," he simply replied, before finally appearing above the area of those mages and warriors.


    They raised their heads, knowing for sure the doomed fate they would all face. Two huge mighty dragons were now eyeing their two groups, and their current numbers weren''t enough to pull any larger array, making their fate sealed.


    Arthur could see the panic in their eyes, and that didn''t stir any speck of sympathy inside his soul. They had gone far, way too far in the enmity between the two of them, and it was time for them to taste from the bitter cup they gave to him.


    The next moment, he opened his jaws, and all the energy suppressed inside his injured body was released! As for Tina, she just followed suit, using the ice attack to heavily batter the protective arrays, smashing them one after another.


    It was obvious to any observer at this moment, that despite Arthur being heavily injured and depleted, his attack was far stronger than Tina. That explained why she took all this time to deal with the barriers from before, and even now she took longer, much longer, than him to destroy these barriers.


    "A defiled son of the famous dragonairs is standing in our way! That''s really a joke!!"


    Suddenly, this strong voice came from inside the arrays Arthur was crushing with his fire. The words greatly startled him, but he didn''t trust his enemies, and kept showering the arrays with his fire.


    "Your ancestors will be ashamed of your deeds! Go and be cursed in this life and the life after that for breaking the code!" the owner of this voice just said these curses before Arthur finally managed to smash the last barrier, taking ten minutes to do so, and his eroding cursed fire came to flood everything and everyone inside, leaving none alive in seconds!


    Arthur stopped spraying his fire, while his mind was now heavy with the words that dark mage said. He wasn''t a dark warrior, and he seemed the great leader of these groups, as everyone was surrounding him, trying to shield him from the incoming death in vain.


    "What is the meaning of that?" Arthur muttered to himself, but he knew he couldn''t find the answer here, right now. "I will leave them to you," he simply said, as he felt more weakness haunting his soul, and right now all he needed was to go to his peak and rest!


    As he went higher, slowly and with much pain with each flap of his great wings, he glanced at the current fighting occurring at the hills.


    Devastation! Extreme devastation happened there! That was the simple description of the current situation there! The outermost hills were long overwhelmed by the monsters after retreating his warriors, and those ten behind them were now brutal fighting grounds, where monsters were wreaking havoc with warriors there.


    At least ten thousand warriors died there so far in this brutal clash, however many of the hills kept firing large numbers of arrows, causing many explosions here and there.


    This wasn''t the only thing that helped the warriors'' losses not to swell up even more, as the pets he armed everyone with played a greater role in that, directly clashing against monsters, forming huge line of defense around five peaks, while the other five were literally described as a massacring grounds for his warriors.


    "Sigh, they needed a little help," he softly and tiredly sighed when he noticed even the central peak was now under heavy attacks with a huge stream of monsters. At such scale, even his formations wouldn''t be able to stop these monsters from taking over all the peaks soon.


    Only him could do it, only his deadly fire could solve and put an end to this fight! And thus, he started channeling his energy again, while slowly approaching his hills with his great shadow overriding the earth underneath, like a huge silent shadow of death approaching from far.

 Chapter 231: Losing out Consciousness

    As he reached the sky above the hills, he didn''t delay to spread out his two wings, glide smoothly on the air currents, letting his huge body move slowly, yet steadily, like standing over ground.


    And the next moment a huge mighty current of deadly fire fell upon the huge packs of monsters in the valleys, eroding and killing a great number of them in a matter of seconds!


    He started attacking from the edge of the hills, heading directly towards the central ones, while stopping from time to time as not to hit his own warriors by mistake.


    Those warriors, the living ones, would turn stronger after this battle. They were crucified, greatly transformed in this fight, and losing anymore of them would be a loss for him.


    And simply like this, a dragon kept hovering over the whole hill zone, unhindered by anyone, while killing anything that stood in his way!


    In less than an hour, the pressure exerted over the warriors decreased greatly, especially after the joining of Tina to him, aiding him in his massacre!


    "You go and rest, leave this to me," she said, as she noticed how exhausted and heavily injured he was. "I will make sure the rest of these monsters are killed easily and neatly here," she added, when she noticed he wasn''t replying to her.


    He wasn''t acting stubborn at the moment, but he was so depleted and weak that even speaking was considered a great toll over him!


    Without saying anything, he stopped channeling his energy, diving deeply towards the central hill, and strongly clashed with it.


    He lost a lot of blood during the previous brutal fight, and at this moment he simply closed his eyes and fell to a sleep!


    Tina glanced at his body shrinking back to show up his original form, and what appeared greatly startled her! The acid and fire were still there on parts of his body, slowly eating away his flesh. Many parts of his abdomen and thighs showed short, yet thick sticks of ice, inserted deeply inside his body, making him further bleed.


    "Hurry and amend him," she hurriedly shouted at the warriors standing over the central peak. The recent attacks of Arthur made the huge gush of monsters decrease greatly, and thus the pressure over here was much declined.


    As for Tina, she kept attacking using her ice breath, making sure no monster came across the central peak, or any of the remaining peaks around it!


    The fight lasted for another ten hours. During these hours, Arthur was lying motionless, covered in many white stripes, while his wounds were taken care of using the medicinal knowledge of this world.


    His body was healing on its own, especially after cleaning all of his wounds, but he lost a lot of blood already, making him take over seven hours to wake up.


    The moment he opened his eyes, the first thing he heard was the loud noise of the explosive arrows; the fight was still going still, his mind realized that.


    As he sat straight, he checked his own body and sighed, he never thought to have such heavy injuries during that fight. He knew what made his condition worse was that extra hour of battle with these monsters, but he had to interfere or the losses would be grave, and the win would be tasteless!


    He glanced at the battlefield, seeing Tina still wreaking havoc everywhere, while his warriors kept firing arrows non stop. He noticed a distant shadow, resembling Lily and her bird, flying away into the distance. It seemed she was still coming here to bring enough wood to his warriors.


    "I have to rapidly recover," he sighed, before taking a large number of meat, started eating them.


    These meat helped a lot in giving him enough strength to stand straight. The moment he did, he started analyzing the battle, ignoring the loud cheers of excitement of his warriors by his recovery.


    He wasn''t yet fully recovered, and he doubted he would recover so soon.


    The fight was still brutal, but the number of monsters showed a clear decrease than before. That was good news, as this meant the five forests were now cleanly cleared from their monsters.


    "I want to see what lies inside for them to place such a large number of monsters and defenses here," he muttered, while chewing more meat. In the next couple of hours, the fight started to grow weaker, with the intensity of the battle being lowered due to the low number of monsters coming.


    However, there was an increasing alarming issue here, the warriors started to show signs of that notorious poison!


    "Sigh, I can''t even have a day off, right?" he helplessly shook his head, before taking out huge piles of bottles containing the final antidote of the toxin. "Take these and spread it over the survivors," he instructed, before taking out his cauldron, his resources, his fire and started working again.


    He wasn''t in a hurry, though, as the signs that appeared were all about making warriors weaker. No one lost his consciousness so far, which gave him enough time to make his potion, with no stress or worries at all.


    He had already made over twenty thousand bottles, and the number of warriors still alive didn''t exceed thirty thousand. In less than three more hours, he managed to make over ten thousand bottles, and thus he stopped what he was doing, and stored all his items.


    It was apparent now how crucial this potion was, but he didn''t need to stress over himself now; after all this battle was considered his win!


    "Are you alright?" suddenly Tina left the fight and came to check over him. he glanced at her huge body, with the contrasting image of the stunning beauty inside his heavenly garden forced itself in his mind at this moment. "I''ll live, thanks for the help," he replied.


    "It''s nothing, after all I didn''t do much in this fight," she embarrassedly said, as she was still blaming herself for not being this useful to him.

 Chapter 232: Entering the Cursed Black Forest

    "You helped, and that matters," he simply replied, "are they about to stop coming?"


    "I think so," she nodded, "the numbers now decreased from hundreds of thousands into mere thousands. Even two of these forests ceased to send out any monster at all," she added, while pointing to two different directions.


    "Really?!" he ate another meat, before adding, "let''s go and check these out," he then went towards her, climbed over her back, and sat comfortable over her smooth scales.


    Strangely enough, riding her like this made him feel more comfortable, and she was more shy!


    "Hang tight then," she nervously said, before soaring to the sky, heading directly towards one of the two emptied forests.


    When they were in the air, Arthur found what she mentioned was correct; two of the five hidden forests were now silent, not sending a single monster from them. as for the other three, only thousands kept coming out from them, and this meant this fight would soon end.


    "I need to come back later and collect all these bodies," he muttered when he noticed the thick pile of monsters on the ground, covering a huge stretch of the forest around the hill area.


    It wasn''t an exaggeration to say the incoming monsters weren''t stepping on the ground, but on the bodies of dead and wounded monsters.


    "I have stored many already, do you need more?" she asked, with a surprise in her tone.


    "Sure, my city will have millions, and I want for all of them to have pets," he casually replied, while setting his gaze fixed over the hidden forest they were now approaching fast.


    The place wasn''t any different than others, as Arthur sat on the back of Tina, facing a wide place between two normal trees. If not for him and Tina to locate this place from earlier, none of them would be able to detect it now.


    "Well hidden place, that might be problematic," he thought out loud, while rubbing the back of Tina with the palm of his hand. Strangely this simple move made both of them feel comfortable, and that made Tina be more shy.


    "Go in?" she asked, trying to forget about this warm feeling of his touch.


    "We came, we should say hello to those inside, right?" he replied with a chuckle, and the next moment she jumped directly into the emptiness between the two trees.


    The moment she passed through the hidden entrance, a huge desolate place appeared in front of their eyes. Saying it was a forest was a wrong expression indeed, as Arthur never saw a forest with such darkness before!


    Black roots, black soil, black trunk, black leaves, even the fruits were black!


    "Is the whole world like this?" Tina softly muttered, as this place made her have a creepy feeling.


    "It''s a cursed place, as they injected darkness in here for such a long time," he muttered, before not finding anything useful to him here, so he added, "fly over, let''s have a wider view."


    She hesitated for a moment, before flying to the sky and spreading her wings softly on the air current. The clouds were also dark, even the air when coming in fast, forming a turbulent visible current, it showed long curly black lines!


    This was a total black world! and in it, no single living thing remained; not a monster, not a human, not even a bird!


    "I don''t like this place," she muttered, while Arthur just glanced back, to see the place they just came from was formed in a huge gate, standing alone, with nothing to hold.


    "It''s a gate world, that means this is a smaller pocket space. Does it have a heart then?" he muttered, as this gate resembled, somehow, to the pocket world gates in his previous world.


    Any pocket world would have a heart, a central place that controlling it meant controlling the whole place. for Arthur, he didn''t mind raising his own dark monsters, at least gaining such huge pocket worlds would make him have much spacious spaces to store and raise his monsters.


    "I just hope it could be moved, not fixed to a mysterious place," he said, as to obtain this pocket world, he had to sever the connection with the place he just came from.


    If this world was small, he could easily do that while linking it to his body. if it was larger, he would link it to his own storage ring. In any case of these, he would easily link it to himself, making him safely return to his entry point.


    However, if this pocket world was huge, he wouldn''t be able to link it to anything belonging to him. so, the risk of binding it to him would be great, as the opposite would happen, and he would be bound to the world, moved permanently to here, cutting his relation to the outside world forever!


    "The whole world is just this dark cursed forest, extending to no end! There isn''t even a single mountain or hill here!" Tina said after ten minutes of flying here. Arthur was also astonished by the current size of this forest, as he never thought of it to be this vast!


    Even flying high and for minutes didn''t bring him the impression they had reached the end of this world. "A large world, sigh," he inwardly muttered with regret, as this would seem not a place to be taken home.


    "Just roam around the gate for hundreds of miles, these dark mages and warriors just appeared after ten hours, that means they live in a far place from here," after thinking for quite some time, he realized that the appearance of these dark groups wasn''t related to his effect on the echo system here, but related to how far they initially were from the teleportation gate.


    Tina nodded, and she silently flew through the air, looking for anything unusual than these creepy dark trees. She was vigilant, as she didn''t like the place here, even for a single bit.


    As for Arthur, he wasn''t feeling eerie like her at all. While the world was quiet and peaceful, he started thinking back again to the last words of that dying dark mage.


    "it seems dragonairs had some relations with the dark side after all," after long thinking, he reached this conclusion, not based only on the words of that saying made, but also recalling the bitter experience he had with that cursed book!


    It wasn''t a single case, it seemed, but a trait of his cult! However, as he wasn''t that fan of the dark art, he didn''t like this, and decided not to follow this dark route at all.


    "They had their own heritage and thoughts, and I had my own ideals and goals; I won''t be a dark mage in this world, like I wasn''t a dark cultivator in the past one," he said to himself, finally clearing all the doubts and disturbing thoughts he had inside him about this matter.


    "Oh, look out there, isn''t that a strange thing?" Tina suddenly shouted, and her voice came hoarse and strangely loud after all this period of silence.

 Chapter 233: The Appearance of A Venerable Being

    Arthur was jolted awake from his own thoughts, to be met with a large cylindrical dark building, rising to a height exceeding their current flying altitude. It looked like a giant dark pillar, holding the sky and connecting the ground.


    "Go over there, but stay low when getting near," he muttered, while his eyes were attracted to such a huge structure; he didn''t know what it was, and this was a very rare occurrence to meet with something he never heard of or saw before.


    That huge pillar looked near, but it took one hour to reach it. Tina did like Arthur had told her, flew on lower altitude, between trees, or smashing directly into it.


    In front of Arthur, a wide open area, void of any tree or plant, was surrounding this pillar. What he was looking for now was places for those dark mages and warriors to dwell at, and as he was looking for those, distant shouts came from the front.


    "Stay sharp, hold together, I''m sure they will exterminate that intruder and return to support us."


    "The south west point failed to support, now only six out of eight are still holding."


    "One more hour, the distance from here to the demon gate is long. Just give them more time, withstand all your might!"


    "Tina," Arthur suddenly whispered, "descend here, don''t make a sound," he added, while he was glancing towards the direction of these voices with extreme vigilance.


    He was only careful when he thought about the presence of people here, but he wasn''t serious. As there were still dark mages and warriors here, then he wouldn''t let them all be dead.


    "Your mission is to hold a group of them and don''t let them die or escape," he whispered, before moving slowly and silently, between the trees, towards the front.


    The more he got near that open space around the huge tower, the clearer he heard these mages and warriors speaking and complaining.


    And suddenly it hit him!


    "You are trying to demonize this pillar, turning it from light to darkness," he muttered, while he never heard of such things before, however he understood this pillar was something that brought forth great power and strength to its owner.


    And it was ownerless, with its previous owner recently deceased.


    "So, these pockets aren''t from this world, and you dragged them all here to here so you can use the help of the dark forces in this world? interesting idea, but I plan to upside down everything you planned to do," he evilly smirked as he understood many of the plannings here.


    They were using the help of this world''s mages, after shattering the link between this pillar here and the world it came from. Arthur then glanced at all of the mages and warriors around him, they were gathered in three main groups, and from what he heard, three more groups must be also present on the other side.


    Tina was on his side, so he just turned to her, nodded, before he started channeling his energy. He planned not to go soft on them from the beginning, who knew what they were preparing as defenses and might surprise him.


    The next minute, a huge dragon appeared, on the side of Tina. Arthur didn''t delay, as he flapped his wings, and directly rose to the air, being seen by everyone, shocking them all!


    "Intruders, ac¡­"


    Just as the one who seemed to be their leader opened up his mouth, the whole place around him was covered in extremely hot fire that eroded their bodies and instantly killed them.


    Arthur just started with this group, and it didn''t take more than one breath from him to kill them all.


    "Their numbers are small," he roared while flapping his wings, heading directly towards the next group.


    There were six total groups here, and he just killed one, so five remaining. Tina went to kill another, using her ice breath, and then she stood high up over another group, with her breath ready to be unleashed, while coldly saying:


    "Move and die!"


    Her words made them all freeze in panic, while the distant screams of pain appeared loud and clear in the silent world, as Arthur killed two more.


    And at this moment, the whole world shook!


    "Run, it''s breaking free!"


    A shout came, not from anywhere else but the place Tina was now hovering over. As that mage shouted, every single remaining mage and warrior here left everything, and started to run.


    "Give a chase, don''t let anyone escape!" Arthur hurriedly shouted, as he turned around, while flapping his wings, in preparation to give a chase to them.


    However, at this moment, his whole body froze! It wasn''t from fear, but it happened as the whole world around him froze, like this moment of time was frozen and stopped by external force.


    And a pair of huge eyes appeared in dim fog, not showing anything but vicious dark red eyes. "A dragonair saving the pillar of light? That''s a first, what happened to you? Have you lost your way?"


    Arthur heard this voice, deep and venerable, as it came from ancient glorious times to the current desolate and ruined era.


    "Sigh, I saw a mark over you, it seems he had seen what you might become. It won''t be hidden from the eyes of others, and that would put your life in danger, hmm¡­"


    The sound kept talking to himself, and Arthur just didn''t understand what was going on. He had no control over his body, as he felt huge, irresistible energy forcing over his body, making him unable to move.


    This energy came from the two eyes staring at him, as the owner was really interested and focused only on him.


    "Sigh, I can''t help you with all this dark energy inside your body, lad. It''s your misfortune, being born with darkness and seeking the light, eventually both will torn you apart, what a regret, sigh," the voice came again speaking mysterious words for Arthur, who just felt some resonance, vague understanding started to be formed inside his soul.

 Chapter 234: Purifying the Evil Pillar First Step

    His hidden identity started to rise up to the top, slowly and shyly, veiled still with curtains, thick enough to shoulder what lies beneath them from his eyes.


    "This pillar is a waste, spoiled with dark energy enough to corrupt it. it needs to be connected to a source of light, supported by a person in this world, such a hassle I''m too lazy to look for someone to take care of. It''s better to demolish it then, and obliterate it from this world."


    The eyes then shifted their gaze upon the huge pillar, and Arthur could feel the rise of energy around him, focusing mainly over the pillar.


    Strangely, he didn''t want this to happen, he wanted this pillar to himself! He paid an extreme price just to acquire it, and he wouldn''t stand still while some unknown being was going to destroy it in front of his eyes!


    As such, he started channeling all his energy, trying to resist the huge energy forced upon him. He mustered every ounce of strength here, and miraculously his body twitched, gaining advantage that the energy force on his body got much weaker.


    "Oh, you can resist my restriction, impressive."


    The owner of the voice said, and when Arthur felt the energy and restriction would be increased, the opposite happened; the energy instantly vanished, and he regained total control over his body.


    "I''m interested in seeing what you plan to do, do you want to fight me? do you want to escape?" the owner asked, but the answer of Arthur came to startle him. "I want to obtain the ownership of this pillar."


    The owner of these two huge eyes in the sky went silent for a moment, before saying:


    "This pillar contained a huge amount of dark energy. Linking it to yourself will turn you wholly to the dark side, losing the touch of grace you have from him. Do you want to risk that? do you want to be a dark fighter as your ancestors were?"


    Arthur didn''t understand over half of this voice''s words, and his reply came swiftly, expressing his determination, loudly declaring:


    "I don''t know what you are talking about, esteemed senior, but I neither plan to run or escape, or to be linked to the dark side at all! I paid a huge price killing all the dark mages and warriors, I shoved my path here with my sweat and blood of my followers, and I won''t accept returning after all this empty handed."


    The owner went silent again, as if he was thinking about the words of Arthur. "Interesting lad indeed, his eyes did never mistake anything or anyone before, and it seems this is also the case here. Listen kid, to link this pillar to you, you need to just drop your blood over it, however if you do so, it will be linked to you instantly, spoiling your body with filthy dark energy. If you wanted to keep your pure energy intact, you need to find a suitable light based source to be attached to this pillar and this world, joining the two together, and letting the light purify evil."


    Arthur didn''t know why, but when this venerable mysterious being spoke about light, he thought of his heavenly garden. He glanced shortly at it, imagining it lying peacefully around his human neck, before smiling as he said nothing, flapped his wings and moved towards the pillar.


    The eyes just followed him, and didn''t do or say nothing, while he got near that pillar in no time. the next thing he did was to injure his own wing with his claw, and a large drop of blood fell upon the pillar.


    "Rumble!"


    The whole world shook, and Arthur suddenly felt a huge energy entering his body. he didn''t delay as he went to the ground, cancelled his own transformation, sat like he always did as a cultivator, closing his eyes, while focusing all his care and attention towards one thing only; resisting the invading energy!


    It was really like the time he got connected with that orb, as a huge gush of energy flooded his body in no time, like a dam being broken suddenly, setting loose all the water behind to immerse the world.


    However, this time Arthur didn''t welcome this energy, instead he kept pushing it away, using all his own to surround and totally isolate it, while directing it entirely towards one of his hands.


    The moment this energy started to reach there, he didn''t delay moving his hand, fast clutching over the necklace around his neck, directly injecting the energy into this necklace. "I hope it works," he prayed, while continuing to channel the energy outside his hand towards the necklace.


    "Oho, you have a light treasure, you are really a very lucky lad," the voice came to praise him, while Arthur had no strength left to even reply to him. all his focus was now laid over directing the invading energy towards the heavenly garden, and nothing more mattered now.


    "Mark my words, lad, when you become strong enough to reach my place, come and look for me. ask about master Tonny, but don''t use my name here, as your lowly plain had long forgotten my name."


    The voice started to grow weaker, appeared like it was coming from a far distance, before the last words even came like soft whispers and then vanished!


    It wasn''t only the voice that vanished, but the pillar, the dark world, the dark trees, and even Tina and the remaining mages and warriors, all vanished from his eyes, to be replaced in the next moment with a very familiar scene.


    "Sigh, I finally came back," he muttered, while glancing around himself, as the world he entered from that dark pocket space appeared in front of his eyes again.


    "Are you ok? What just happened? where is that huge pillar?" Tina hurriedly came to him, feeling puzzled and worried. However, just as she was about to come, he hurriedly shouted:


    "Don''t let them escape!"


    She knew from this simple order that he was fine, nothing wrong happened, and it seemed he gained a good fortune inside. She nodded, as she turned in the sky, hovering over the place where all the dark mages and warriors just appeared at. "Run and I promise you a painful death," she threatened, as her last warning seemed to be kind and soft to them, doing nothing to stop them from running away.


    This time, the mages and warriors of the dark side didn''t have the strength or the intention to run away. They all fell on their knees, taking their breaths, just like someone was on verge of death and now he was just rescued!


    "They are lying like obedient little mice, what do you want to do then?" she asked, as she was surprised by their easy surrender to her.


    "Next?" he muttered, before setting his gaze towards the remaining four dark hidden worlds, "let''s just purify the world from their evil," he muttered, standing up, before summoning back his scorpion queen, and then summoning her again with his rhinoceros, who was still alive. "Keep an eye on them, and lead them to the place I will disappear at," he ordered, before jumping over Tina''s back as he added, "if they run, you have the right to torture and toy with the runners as much as you want. Let??s go."


    He then rose to the sky on Tina''s back, and his mind was now thinking of one thing only, his heavenly garden.


    "Let''s see what happened to you," he muttered, before closing his eyes and moving his consciousness inside.

 Chapter 235: News About the Origin Energy

    The moment he went inside his heavenly garden, he was met with explosive sounds and mighty rumbles occurring there!


    The pillar landed, alongside its huge stretch of dark forest, on the edge of his small heavenly garden, but size didn''t matter here as the fight instantly erupted between the darkness inside the dark forest and the pillar, and the light inside the heavenly garden; and the garden was already winning this war!


    Each explosive sound indicated the purification of a dark tree, each rumble happened because part of the dark soil was successfully purified, turning into rich soil with very green and lively trees.


    "That''s interesting," Arthur muttered when he sensed the overall energy level here getting thickened and increased in intensity, as he was worried this confrontation would deplete the energy inside the garden.


    By contrast to that, the garden got many benefits as well, and its energy started to be denser and higher.


    "Good, you keep purifying and adding this cursed land strength to yours. I can feel your hunger to more, and I promise you, more will be added to you soon. So, get ready and prepare yourself for a delicious meal."


    He said to the whole garden as if he was speaking to a sane being. He didn''t notice that the planets moved their leaves in celebration to his declaration, as he hurriedly retreated his gaze, with much excited expression over his face.


    This was a great gain to him in every way, despite not knowing what this pillar would do to him when it got completely purified.


    He soon reached the next hidden forest, and there were still some monsters coming out from it. he didn''t care about them, neither did Tina, who simply flew directly inside, pushing the monsters away, everywhere, wounded on the ground.


    "Go directly forward until we find the pillar," he said, and Tina moved at once in the sky, hidden towards the pillar in the distance.


    This forest was an exact copy of the other one, with all dark trees and dark soil. There were still many monsters heading here, but Arthur never cared about them.


    Even if he added this place with its monsters to his garden, there was nothing to worry about. His garden was able to transform the huge darkness of the pillar and forest, and a few scattered dark monsters here and there wouldn''t be a problem.


    In a few hours of flying, they met many monsters which were all crazy about heading towards the gate. Arthur was now much interested in knowing the fate of these monsters when being purified; would they be killed? Would they return to their normal state, losing all the bonuses of darkness? Or the garden would supplement the darkness with light, keeping their current state of strength?


    He needed these monsters for his great population back home. If he could, he would prefer to let them mate fast, and produce more monsters to him, if such a thing was possible.


    After five hours of flying, the pillar suddenly appeared like a tiny stick from far. "It??s there, go directly to it and start killing everyone," he said, as he started preparing himself as well, channeling his energy, preparing to be transformed at any moment.


    In an hour, they both appeared on top of these dark mages and warriors'' heads, greatly startling them. Arthur didn''t need to be cautious anymore, as he jumped from the back of Tin?, transforming himself into a dragon, and like this the two dragons started the small massacre here.


    "Do you need any living prisoners?" she asked.


    "No, just kill them all," he muttered, as he already had the needed prisoners outside. The place was covered instantly in fire and ice caused by the two breaths, while dark mages and warriors here started to flee the moment many groups were exterminated, and the whole world started to shake.


    "Rumble!"


    Again, the mighty rumbling occurred, followed by the sudden appearance of the two huge mighty eyes in the world.


    "Oh, you are having a nice feast here, lad," the familiar voice appeared, as he added, "do you plan to absorb the pillar here as well? Was the previous one handed perfectly by you?" he asked, in much interest.


    Arthur had the mighty force upon his body for mere second, before he regained his freedom. He flapped his wings, headed directly to the pillar, while saying:


    "I have successfully dealt with the pillar and its darkness, and I plan to annex all the remaining pillars here."


    "Remaining pillars? How many do you have in your area?"


    "Three more are left, esteemed senior," Arthur was trying to be as polite as possible to this being, as he knew how much difference in strength between the two was.


    "Five, that''s the classic draining formation of the dark forces. Tell me, kid, is there any special area here? surrounded by these pillars?" the voice asked in much interest than ever.


    "Yes, there is an ore mine in the middle of this formation, and I''m trying to control this mine now," Arthur honestly replied.


    "Good, your luck lad is infinite! This ore isn''t a normal ore, so try to secure it, defend it well, and make sure to use it in every single way possible, either making gears, or potions, or even building with it."


    Arthur was already above the pillar, but he didn''t hurry to bind it to him, as he got interested with what this venerable being just said. "I plan to use it to build my city, but can senior teach me more about the benefits of this ore? Why were the dark forces draining it, treating it in such a serious way?"


    "They should and you better treat this mine in a much more serious way as well," the voice said, before pausing as he then added, "I know for sure the long line of inheritance to your long history is broken, or else no green seed would grow up in a swamp. There is light energy and dark energy in any world, however these two energies weren''t created from nothing; they both were born from a higher form of energy; the origin energy."

 Chapter 236: Starting to Strengthen the Heavenly Garden

    Arthur realized he was being taught by this master, and he was really excited by this gain. It was his first, really first, time since coming to this world to be taught by someone about it and its secrets. "This energy is neutral, far stronger than both combined. As the mother of all energies, it can supplement any other minor form of energy, giving it huge benefits in less time."


    He stopped, and Arthur didn''t need him to continue. He already understood the real implications of this ore, and he planned to seriously widen the usages of it, not just using it to build his city.


    Also he realized he underestimated the importance of this place. his enemies wouldn''t stand still against his interruption to their plans, and the chances for them to send an army to retrieve the mine was pretty high.


    So, he decided to instantly order everyone in the city to come here and extract the ore, turning this mine empty in the shortest span of time.


    "Thanks esteemed senior for the teachings, I really appreciate the guidance," he said, acting in enough courtesy, and even bowing his head.


    "Hahaha, a polite lad like you isn''t a loss to help, I''m sure he also saw the good future you will have, and thus decided to leave his mark on you for others to acknowledge. Work hard kid, and don''t disappoint masters who put their faith in you."


    The master then retreated his energy, only keeping it over the pillar, where Arthur let his blood drop over it. the next moment Arthur went to the ground, cancelled his transformation, and started controlling the sudden gush of dark energy into his body.


    As previous time, he didn''t waste the time and controlled the energy well, driving it all towards his hand holding the necklace. In less than half an hour, Arthur was ejected outside, with the rest of dark mages and warriors, and Tina who was now hovering over their heads.


    "Surrender or die," Arthur simply said, and the scorpion queen had long arrived here with the rhinoceros, leading the first batch of prisoners to stay there.


    The dark mages and warriors knew they were doomed for, so they all raised their hands, let their weapons fall, surrendering to Arthur and his small, yet mighty forces here.


    "Keep an eye on them, and move to the next place I vanish into," he said, before jumping again over Tina''s back, heading straight towards the next hidden forest.


    It took him one more day to completely absorb the other three pillars. When he finished, he sneaked a peep into the heavenly garden, to find a huge war between the light and darkness energies ragin intensely there, with the darkness being constantly on the back foot.


    The sounds of explosions alone were so deafening, and the rumbles occurring all the time made it look like an apocalyptic piece of land, not a place of plants and green.


    He didn''t hurry to retreat his gaze, as he checked on the monsters there. The three forests here had monsters, not huge in numbers but they had a decent amount indeed.


    What he found made him chuckle with excitement, as some of these monsters were purified by the light energy, not losing an ounce of their current strength; instead, they got boosted again, being much stronger than before.


    That was great news, as their total numbers exceeded a hundred thousand monster. he then recalled the huge number of wounded monsters in the real battlefield around the hills, and he decided to go and collect them all, send them into his garden.


    "Give me your storage necklace so I can have the monsters inside," he said to Tina, who was now hovering over the whole place, checking the current situation of war down the hills.


    The fight had long stopped, as their warriors managed to finally secure victory. They were now recuperating, taking long deserved rest after this long and tiring battle.


    As for monsters, endless numbers of them were wounded, and they didn''t lose the hope of going to the hills towards the heavenly treasure. Arthur glanced at their futile actions, and simply smiled. "Take me down there," he pointed towards the centre of the battlefield, where hundreds of thousands of monsters lay there wounded, piled one over another, covering a huge area of the forest.


    "Take this, it''s my own storage necklace," she said, as she threw off a long necklace. Arthur caught it, and without any hesitation he emptied what was inside directly into the heavenly garden, then gave the necklace back to her once his feet touched the ground.


    "Need me to do anything more?" she asked, as the old bitterness of not being much help to him still lingering in her mind. "Sure, go and scout the mine area, if possible start massacring there, leave none alive," he said, as he pointed towards the direction of the mine.


    She nodded, before simply taking off towards there, with much determination to directly infiltrate this weakened fortress, and kill anyone there showing resistance.


    As for him, he started to send a huge amount of wounded monsters inside his heavenly garden. After quite some time, he sneaked again inside the garden, to be faced with a much stronger battle inside, with many monsters gaining the benefits of being purified, healed, and also he was astonished to see some starting to mate together, in a peaceful manner, with some being already pregnant there.


    What also surprised him was the dead monsters he took from Tina''s storage necklace. These monsters got partly purified, and then disappeared.


    When he followed what was happening to them, he was astonished to see their bodies turn into soil, greatly increasing the size of the garden and enriching its energy.


    "Great, even the dead monsters have such unexpected benefits," he muttered, while he retreated his gaze and consciousness, no longer selecting the wounded, taking everything inside his heavenly garden.


    He planned to turn the bodies of these monsters into meat, to strengthen the bodies of his warriors here. However, the dead bodies of these monsters had much more benefits to his garden, which now had the top priority to him.


    He wanted to strengthen the garden more, making it much stronger in facing these five dark huge pillars and their surrounding large dark forests. The rate the garden was purifying these dark places wasn''t that satisfying to him, as he needed months to get them all cleaned.


    And so, he decided to give a hand to his garden, trying to make her purify this darkness faster and more efficient.

 Chapter 237: Heading for the Mine

    "Rumble!"


    As he was busy taking over the war benefits of monsters, dead and wounded, into his heavenly garden, this strange mighty rumble occurred, coming from far.


    "It''s from the direction of the ore mine," he muttered, as he raised his head looking towards the source where this sound came from. He knew for sure Tina wasn''t going to play easy with these warriors, and he didn''t feel sorry for them.


    Tina seemed stressed by his own performance, after all they both were dragons. He noticed and said nothing, as sometimes envy would be a great help to anyone, especially someone with infinite potential like Tina.


    "Let her vent her anger then," he muttered, while he returned to add more monsters inside his garden.


    "Rumble!"


    The voice came much stronger, but he didn''t care. in the next few hours, as he was busy collecting everything here, this rumble was repeated frequently, and it suddenly began to be a custom he got used to.


    As he finished wrapping everything, he turned to the hills and decided to walk inside the valleys there. Many monsters were killed inside, and few, very few, were wounded and remained alive.


    He needed dead monsters badly as he needed the alive ones, and so he entered the valleys. His warriors were long rested, recovered from the toll of this epic fight for them, and they now were watching their hard working leader not enjoying a single moment of rest or even celebration of this huge victory.


    They glanced at his actions, with extreme admiration and veneration. They realized they had a master that never ceased to upgrade and strengthen himself, and that made them clear on what type of life they would have under this young master.


    A life full of work and huge effort, but with great gains and much respect. They didn''t flinch back, instead they felt very blessed, as such a master wouldn''t stop helping them to upgrade their strength, and everytime they did something good, they would be heavily rewarded.


    It took hours for Arthur to circle the whole place, take every single monster inside his garden, while noticing the silent and proud gazes of his men. If they could help, he wouldn''t hesitate to order them around, however he was the only one able to do this tedious task.


    As for Tina''s battle, the rumble stopped occurring for an hour or more, but he didn''t glimpse a shade of her so far. He didn''t know what took her so long to come, but he wasn''t in a hurry.


    He had already sent a bird''s wing to Lily asking her to go and bring those hundreds of thousands of villagers back. He had to empty this mine as fast as he could, and bringing all his villagers from his under construction far city wasn''t a logical solution.


    And such he had to wait for them to come, and he estimated they might need a couple of days to come back here. After he finished clearing everything, the outside battlefield, the huge trenches, the valleys, and the hills, he headed towards the central hill and reclaimed his own heavenly treasure.


    The scorpion queen long came to this area with the prisoners, and his warriors didn''t need any order from him, as they moved to surround and detain them.


    As for interrogating them, he would leave this task to Amelia and others back home. He was tired, and wanted to enjoy a few days of rest. However, he still needed one more thing to do.


    "Listen up," he shouted, after wrapping everything on the central peak, "our target in the small town in the heart of this place. I have already sent a vanguard, and we need to go and claim the town by ourselves. Any surrender is accepted, any resistance shall be met by force."


    How voice echoed at the whole area, full of his thirty thousand warriors, who just cheered loudly creating an uproar of excitement; they were fighters and their life was all about wars.


    Per his instructions, which he distributed to the leaders of each of the twenty peaks, the army moved out towards the distance. As for his queen and rhinoceros, he just let them loose, scanning the area around, looking for any missed enemies or even greater threat of the hidden forests.


    As everything was set in motion, he transformed into a dragon, soared to the sky while advancing first towards the distant ore mine and town.


    The mine is situated in a strange shaped mountain, which had part of its body being irregular, looking like a sow from far. On the top of it, a large flat area appeared where there was a small village built there, supervising the large town in the bottom of the mountain.


    It was a huge mountain, but it looked weird and eye catchy. The bottom of it had a town, built over an area that was cleared of trees. So, it was completely surrounded with trees from everywhere, like the forest was about to encroach on it, not the town being the infestation here.


    As Arthur went there, he was preparing himself for a proper fight. As Tina didn''t come to him to deliver news or ask for help, he realized she must have faced a tough rock here; a hidden last measure of defense perhaps.


    However, when he reached the open space above the mountain and the village and town, he was surprised to see Tina sitting lazily on the highest point of the mountain, supervising a huge number of villagers who were now working hard to extract the ore, afraid of making her angry.


    "Oh, you really took your time to get here," she said the moment she noticed his appearance beside her. His sudden appearance startled the villagers here, and that made them feel more terrified, exerting one hundred percent extra of their effort in work.


    "What happened here?" he asked, as he went down to stand on a lower place than her, suitable for his huge body to rest easily without any problems.

 Chapter 238: Meeting Sara

    "I came, I hovered, I broke in the barrier, and I conquered the two settlements. All these slaves just swore an oath to you and me to serve under our orders, and I just ordered them to work hard, extract all the ores, as I know you are in a hurry to gain the ores for your little city."


    "You made them a slave for me and you?" Arthur left everything she said, and focused on this part. She playfully waved her tail, and Arthur just pictured her full curved alluring back moving at this moment , making his heart palpitate. "What, aren''t you and me going to mate? You and I are dragons, and you and I are very suited to be together," she then faked an innocent expression, something a dragon with all these scales and fierce features could never pull, but she strangely did, "or you don''t like the cute little girl of me?"


    Arthur just swallowed his throat, as he tried to push away all the dirty thoughts for now. this would be weird, for two dragons to mate here, in front of the public. It would be more appropriate to hold her soft and curvy body in his arms, instead of all these scales and huge body.


    The next second he roared, a very strong and long roar, as to alarm everyone to glance at him, and they all did. The next second he cancelled his transformation, and returned human again.


    "Listen up, I''m Willy, your master and this dragon master. From this day forth, you are my subjects, and after finishing from the mine here, I promise to reward you all with what you all deserve, based on your own effort and honest work."


    His voice reverberated from his high position to spread over everywhere down below, reaching even the coming warrior army of his. That declaration made Tina pout in discontent, and his warriors to cheer louder from far, as they thought their leader had conquered the whole fort of the enemy alone, and in mere minutes.


    As things got to be steady and peaceful here, he didn''t need to go for any offense, and all the warriors ready for war had to be used properly. So, he took his bird''s wings, sent his orders to his warriors'' leaders, making them responsible for supervising for the work here, and only four groups had the task of defending the mine.


    "You shouldn''t have made them all yours, I wanna some to play with," Tina didn''t pass over this point even after an hour. Arthur just smiled, shook his head, and said nothing. This girl here was already spoiling herself much with him, like they had already become a man and woman.


    As the workers continued to extract the ore, Arthur decided to go down and take a stroll there. "Wanna come?" he asked, and she just glanced at all the dust and ruckus going on down there, before shaking her head and looking in another direction. "Doesn''t suit my beautiful scales," she simply muttered.


    He simply smiled, said nothing, as he started descending the mountain in dragon form. His first stop was at the small village, as he noticed the presence of many villagers there, doing nothing at all!


    "Welcome our new lord, we are honored to receive you," one of the middle aged villagers bowed deeply to him, and Arthur just changed his form back to human before asking:


    "What are you doing here? why aren''t you working with them?"


    "W-We are the officials appointed here by the last lord. Our job is to make sure the mine functions properly, and no error will occur," one of them replied, after stuttering for a moment. Arthur''s looks started to become colder. "No place fo you in my place, either you move your fatty as*es down below and work, or I will make sure you leave this place properly on the edges of my warriors'' swords."


    His words jolted them out of scare, as they exchanged silent glances, and as Arthur noticed that, he simply took out his sword, the one he had the first moment he arrived in this world, and cut the head of one of them. "Move and work or stay and die!" his tone was low, but the next moment they all ran, heading towards the exit of this small village, descending the mountain path towards the mines to work there.


    "Filthy fat dirty officials!" he cursed, as he smelled the scent of corruption spreading from their bodies a mile away!


    The numbers of these officials weren''t big, only a couple of thousands, and that made him think about killing them all. However, he didn''t do that, as he went to the inside of the village, exploring it.


    To be called a village was an understatement, as it had a luxurious design of building suited of a city! he marveled the fine decorations, the many statues of a strange creature, five heads like tigers, two bodies merged together near the tail, five group of claws, one pair of long wings, covered with strange sharp feathers, acting each like a thin pointed long needle. As for the whole body, it was covered in scales, partly, and parts weren''t.


    When he moved to closely watch these statues, he was astonished to see this wasn''t a whole creature, it was representing a wounded, severely wounded, creature. Many wings had fractures, making them not extend fully and straight. The body had many places void of scales, while the bare parts showed the shape of a deep wound.


    Wounds here, wounds there, broken wings, broken claws, fractured tails, even some had a head or two missing, Arthur saw all the various statues representing this deformation to the monster in every possible way.


    "This isn''t a sacred monster of them, it''s the opposite!" he muttered, as he left all the decorations in the houses and the luxure appearing even in the paves street he was walking on, and focused on a small fountain with the statue of such a monster being trapped in a long, extremely scary, rope line darkness, extended from the hands of three dark mages, ending each with a tortured face.


    "It''s the soul suckers, one of the nasty groups of the dark warriors here."


    Suddenly this voice came so clear from his back, and the moment he turned to see his speaker, he found a young girl, nearly in his age, with calm beauty that would seem rather common, but he couldn''t leave his eyes away from her.


    "And you are?" he asked, as he made sure to send everyone away.


    "I''m the lucky one to be saved and rescued by you, my lord," she replied, while her facial small and delicate features showed a sincere expression of appreciation. She bent her knees, cross side each other, bowing her head, while holding the tips of her long and wide gown while saying:


    "I''m called Sara, the once was the daughter of the great sculpture of these lands, a princess to a ruined nation, someone who was misfortunate enough to witness the downfall of all my kin, very lucky indeed to marvel the devastation of those who enslaved me, and made my life full of all these scars."


    She introduced herself in such a long and formal manner, while Arthur just forget all this as he asked:


    "A princess? Such a weird term in this world!"


    "It''s not from this world, if you are asking," she replied, without straightening her body yet, waiting for his order to do so.

 Chapter 239: Dealing with the Suspicious Sara

    Arthur''s interest was piqued the moment this girl appeared. Her special way in dressing, moving, and talking was quite special. As for her introduction about herself, well¡­ she managed to arouse his interest much more.


    "May I ask if you explain the princess term to me? I came from a world full of academies and clans," he said, before pointing to her to stand straight.


    "It''s like the son of the head of the clan, or the next academy master candidate, something like that but in a wider group of people, controlling much more lands and ordering huge armies, much stronger than your known great clans."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur just rubbed his chin, as his thirst of knowledge always was his sole weakness. "May I ask how come a strong princess like you end up being here?" he asked, as according to her words she wasn''t from this world, and she was the daughter of a mighty clan.


    "Sigh, it''s not that we were weak, but we had many opponents who were strong as us; all worked for the dark side except for us! All prospered and only we perished. As a prisoner, I was led to live and serve, while my father, the fallen king, had been humiliated. If not for his own extraordinary skill to craft these statues, he wouldn''t remain alive for now."


    Arthur just glanced again at the fountain with the really amazing statue in it as he marveled this craftsmanship. "It''s really good, I like it," before turning to look at her, "I like you too, but you have to go and work with others, prove yourself first to me, and then you can enjoy a better life," he said, declaring his decision regarding her.


    After all, what she provided was only talks, seemingly real, but it was only words. "I don''t reject, but can I start my accomplishments with a little thing?" she asked, and Arthur just nodded. "Come with me, my lord," she then moved, slowly yet her body was waving right and left with each step.


    Arthur had his vigilance as he kept channeling his energy all the time. a single mishap from her, and he wouldn''t hesitate to burn her to charcoal. However, if she was right, then he had a new world to learn about, more info regarding his enemies, and a beautiful girl with a unique craftsmanship that he wanted.


    She led him amidst the streets, not towards the central building, where all the treasures should be there. "Shouldn''t we go to the main building?" he asked.


    "It''s a trap, empty with only deadly traps. No one lived ever there," she simply replied, "if you don''t believe me, then go ahead and be my guest," she added with a soft laugh. Arthur wasn''t sure yet if he should listen to her or not. "What are these monsters appearing in the statues?" he asked.


    The moment he spoke these words, the body of the girl twitched, involuntarily, before she stopped, turned around and glared at his eyes.


    "It was the form our royal clan enjoyed when we were in power. These statues represent each single death of one of my family, and they forced my father to make them all, and at the end he couldn''t withstand the humiliation and died of grief."


    Arthur could see the small specks of tears appearing on her small eyes, but she hurriedly wiped them off, controlled herself, as she turned sharply before continuing to walk as she said no more.


    As for Arthur, he started to believe this girl''s story, but the question was how much benefit he could take from her? Coming from a different world, with different knowledge and experience was such a treasure he could accept from her.


    But he didn''t speak or say a thing, as he followed her towards a distant building, on the edge of this small village. the building had nothing special about it; just like any other buildings here. if not for her to lead him directly towards it, he wouldn''t have noticed it at all.


    "This is the storage place for these dark warriors. It''s not a simple building," she said before leaning on the ground, as she grabbed a small rock and then she threw it to the front, to be stopped abruptly by an invisible shield.


    "Protective array," Arthur muttered. "Not just protection, there is also an illusion. All this area starting from this point is an illusion to hide the shape of the real huge storage lying in front of us," she said, and Arthur just glanced briefly at her, not knowing if she was telling the truth or she was just laying a trap for him.


    "Do you know how to destroy the array?" he asked.


    "Simple, you need to overcome the defensive power of the array using force. As for the illusion, you either need to enter it and crush it with mere force, and I don''t personally advise you to do so, or you look for the scattered poles of the array, which happened for me to know the places of all of them."


    Arthur just listened and said nothing. If she had ill intentions for him, she could have used this chance to send him directly into the illusion trap, or was she cautious? "Alright, lead the way to extract the poles first," he said.


    "We need to conquer the defensive shield first," she said.


    "Do you still have your own strength?" he suddenly asked, and when he spoke about it, her body twitched again, like she was in deep pain, struggling against something.


    "No, they have destroyed my own way to use my strength," she said.


    "Oh," Arthur just replied, before his suspicion grew more. "You can leave then and go to work. After retrieving everything, I will come looking for you," he said, casually, while faking his look towards the shield. However, he was eyeing her carefully and cautiously; as there was definitely something wrong with this girl.

 Chapter 240: Dealing with A Cursed Soul Once Again

    The moment he said that, the body of the girl shivered again, confirming his own guesses. Arthur then didn''t delay, as he turned around, left here, and moved directly towards the central building, causing the disturbed girl to be terrified.


    "Where are you going? It''s a dead end full of death and agony!" she screamed as she hurriedly ran to stand between him and the distant main building.


    "Move away, or else I would be forced to act harsh," he said, as he pushed her strongly to the side, and continued walking to the front.


    Every single person he met here was a slave, one with a tattoo to control his or her life. however another thought crossed his mind, about the possibility of using the tattoo to control the soul of the person.


    In this case, this tattoo would be quite different than the first one, and dealing with it wouldn''t be through erasing the tattoo here, but killing the controller; the one hiding in that building!


    And so, he headed directly towards that building, while the poor girl kept shouting, screaming, warning, and when he reached the building she started to curse him, revealing the hidden true colors of her controller.


    "Come out peacefully or else I would burn this whole village on your head," he simply shouted, ignoring the screams and curses of the girl behind. As no one replied to him, he didn''t delay, transformed instantly into his dragon form, and used his tail to smash the front door and the small walls of this building into pieces.


    The building seems huge, but after this simple strike, it appeared small. Inside there was a wide hall,and in the middle of it there were two girls sitting back to back, strangely identical, one black and one white in their gowns.


    And they were exactly the same as the girl behind him, even in their dresses!


    "See what you did, naughty little dragon, this little girl will be punished severely by me later on for her failing to trick you," a vicious old woman sound appeared from the depth of this building, with a cracking sound erupting with each move of her legs.


    She was a monster, just like Arthur, and she wasn''t a dragon, she was a huge winged tiger, with dark colored strips alternating with silver, making it shine before totally appearing here.


    She wasn''t anyway smaller than Arthur in size, and Arthur felt she wasn''t weaker at all. "Who are you?" he asked.


    "A good question, am I an enemy, or a friend? That''s something you should decide by yourself," she asked, as she moved, heading slowly towards the two closed eyes girls. "As for this girl, I have no much use for you, do you want her? If not I will have to kill her."


    Arthur didn''t know why, but he felt a strange familiarity with this winged tiger''s way of speech. He had some vague resonance, getting stronger with each time the tiger spoke up.


    Also the attitude of the tiger was weird, if she was cornered, why wouldn''t she resist? If she was strong, why lean towards trickery and bargaining?


    "Are you afraid of me?" he smirked, while moving his tail right and left, feigning his preparation to attack.


    "Afraid? Hahaha, son you are tens of thousands of years early to stand against me! hahaha," the tiger laughed, however Arthur felt a nervous feeling inside her tone; she was scared of him!


    And another thing, he had already discovered the strange familiarity he felt, and when he did he realized what was going on here.


    "Why did you try to go to the sealed warehouse?" he asked, as he knew the main goal of this old hag was to sneak into that defensive barrier.


    "What matters to you? If you don''t want a big battle right here, then you should step aside and break that barrier for me. in return you will also get this poor little girl."


    "Sorry," Arthur said, as he started to step into the building, with each of his steps crushing the ground to pieces, "I don''t deal with vengeful cursed souls from ancient times anymore," he said, as he splashed his fiery breath towards the two girls in front, burning the two in a blink of an eye.


    "Noooo!" The tiger screamed before its body vanished, as for the two girls, one turned into specks of light, headed directly towards the outside girl, while the other was black, kept circling inside a small illusionary circle without any way to escape.


    "A summoning array, one of the creepiest soul arrays I have ever heard of," he shook his great head as he turned to glance at the girl behind, who lost her consciousness and fell to the ground the moment her soul returned to her, "the question is if her soul is strong enough to live, or I came too late? Sigh!"


    He then watched the dark old soul, like the soul of the ancient dark dragonair master inside the cursed book, burn piece by piece into ashes.


    He discovered all this, but he didn''t know why that hag was so persistent to go and unlock the defensive barrier over the warehouse. Arthur then glanced at it, before shouting at the high up Tina:


    "Please attack the defensive barrier from your place."


    In a moment, Tina''s voice came from the thick fog surrounding the peak:


    "What barrier? Where is it?"


    Arturh didn''t reply in words, as he flipped his wings and then let his energy go out for a single brief moment before stopping it. The energy exited his body in the form of a ball of fire falling over the nearby shield, hitting and lightening it all up to be apparent to the high up Tina.


    "Alright," she simply replied after a moment before a showering attack of ice fell over the shield, starting to consume it.


    As for Arthur, he returned to his human form just near the unconscious girl. He went to her, made her sit, and then put both his hands over her back. A wisp of his energy entered her body, looking for any hidden mark or tattoo or remnants of that dark foul energy.


    "Roar!"


    A face welcomed him, and instantly his dragon shadow appeared behind his body, opened its mouth and gulped entirely this mouth.


    "Interesting, the quality of this cursed tattoo is much higher than anything else I have met so far," he muttered, as the strength of this mouth was apparently higher. "Let''s see if there is a residue of energy inside you," he mumbled before closing his eyes, focusing on analyzing the weak body of this girl.


    He felt some sympathy with her, as after all he also faced the same dilemma when he was dealing with his cursed book. If not for Amanda''s timely intervention, he might have ended in a much worse fate than this girl.

 Chapter 241: A Strange Confusing Situation

    Arthur''s consciousness entered with another wisp of his energy inside her body to be startled by what he saw down deep her soul.


    Before entering, he knew that this girl was a princess, coming from a lost destroyed civilization, trapped here with her father for a long time before her father was killed.


    Her own strength was like him, turning into the monster pictured clearly in the statues inside this village, and the cursed soul that wanted to take control of her body and shatter her soul was that on the huge winged ferocious tiger.


    However, when he entered there, he found a completely different situation! The soul of this girl took the shape of a tiger, while the wicked soul trying to crush hers took the shape of that hideous monster!


    Arthur examined closely, not hurrying to interfere at once, better assessing this weird situation. ''What''s going on here?'' he muttered as the more he focused, the more shocked he became!


    After five minutes of watching, he realized the strange truth! this girl wasn''t the princess of the long lost civilization, she was the daughter of this world, and her ability was to turn into that deformed hideous dark monster pictured into the statues all over here!


    The statues didn''t show up any broken or wounded monsters, as these monsters were already marred, born with this curse of being so ugly and disfigured!


    As for the tiger soul, it was pure white, brimming with light energy all over, making a clear contrast of the darkness here; and the most bizarre shocking thing was that this soul was the one trying to force itself here, trying to kill this dark soul and control the body!


    ''This is really weird!'' he muttered to himself, however he knew what he should do! No matter who was invading whom, the light should prevail and darkness should be vanquished!


    Gaining more allies was much better than gaining more enemies. as such he didn''t delay, as he controlled all his channeled energy for all this time, injecting it all inside the body of this young girl, directly smashing the darkness soul!


    "How dare you interfere with my trophy!" the hideous sound of that old hag appeared again, coming from the soul of this girl, the dark hideous monster!


    Arthur didn''t bother to reply, as he started using his energy, forming a mighty huge dragon inside, formed of a small part white and a larger part dark, joining hand in hand with the winged tiger to ferociously attack this sinister dark soul!


    "Curse you all, curse you a traitorous son of dragonairs!" the old hag kept cursing while screaming out in pain, as each passing minute large part of her soul was shattered, turning into nothing under the combined attack of both.


    After half an hour, after a long battle they both managed to clearly kill the old hag completely, shattering her last speck of soul, making her die forever.


    The next moment, the extremely weakened light winged tiger soul went to take her place in the centre of this body, finally controlling the body, finally winning this adversary battle!


    And she opened her eyes, at the same time Arthur did.


    "Thank you my lord for your benevolence. If not for your intervention there, I would have been consumed by this dark monster."


    The next moment she stood up, knelt to the ground, while speaking out in a sincere tone. Arthur just glanced at her, with head full of puzzled questions, before waving his hand to her as he said:


    "It''s alright, after all I''m the enemy of these dark warriors," he then shifted his glance to the distance, where the ice breaths of Tina kept falling heavily over the strong defensive shield. "It will take some time for the shield to be broken," he muttered.


    "It''s a high grade shield formed of many smaller ones. It will take at least a day for her to be able to break it," the girl said, while adding, "If we two joined hands with her, then we can break it in much less time than that."


    Arthur then glanced at her, as he wasn''t in a hurry to break down this shield. "Who are you? And what just happened here?" he asked, as these were the two main questions he had in mind right now.


    "My name has long been forgotten by my long sleeping soul. I was once a mighty warrior, controlling a huge clan here, and this is my home, the home of me, the home of ancestors, the home of the upcoming generation," she said without raising her bowed head and her knelt body.


    "I think the later generations were weak, being conquered by these alien monsters. I was sleeping when a summoning occurred, and I was forced to enter this sinister''s soul body; forced to a battle I never wanted, about to be dead however you managed to save me."


    "Stand straight and tell me if you are so old and don''t know a thing about this world, how do you know this shield''s strength and composition," Arthur said, while expressing his own doubts.


    "I have part of this old hag memory while fighting with her, and if my lord allowed me time to recuperate, I will gain access to all of her memories, telling you everything you want to know in detail," she said, while she was acting modest and humble.


    "Sure, go ahead and strengthen your soul," Arthur said before waving his hand, and a huge pile of meat appeared suddenly beside the two. "Eat these and you will regain much of your former strength in a short time," he said.


    "Thanks for my lord''s generosity, I will start recuperating now," she replied with her own courtesy words before getting to the meat, grabbing one in obvious doubt, before eating one slowly in a small bite.


    The next moment her eyes shone brightly, and the small bite turned to a gulping action, where she stuffed all the meat she could reach with both of her hands, directly filling her small mouth, making Arthur chuckle.

 Chapter 242: The Priceless Treasure

    He didn''t say much, waved his hand again and left another huge pile of meat for this little glutinous girl, before changing himself into a dragon, soaring to the sky up ahead.


    He would wait for the girl to finish what she said, and then would hear her words and explanation out. However, he wouldn''t wait doing nothing while Tina was working hard to crush this persistent shield.


    That shield was shielding the mysterious building inside, something that seemed much precious for that sinister hag to take all the trouble to trick him in the middle of her own attempt to absorb this ancient soul.


    He already understood part of the truth from the words of this ancient soul. It seemed these dark warriors weren''t initially part of this world, instead they invaded it like what the Dorgazire academy was doing right now.


    However, this invasion seemed too old, as the foundations of the old clans here were shuttered, and these dark warriors managed to root their foundations deep and strong.


    "No matter what, I plan to exterminate this evil, if not now then later," he muttered, as he was delighted to know all these facts. He would use these as an excuse to maintain his own territory here, and continue to strengthen it under the blessing of the academy.


    The academy thought this world was newly discovered by mages, a raw world worthy to invest inside. However the truth proved it wasn''t, and the world was completely controlled by the dark forces.


    So, the exploration expedition would turn instantly into a purging crusade against this darkness; any forces would be welcomed to join and support this long tedious war.


    And he planned to make his strength in this world shine as the most prominent one, so those back in the academy wouldn''t hesitate to agree to his demands; to keep what he built here and continue upgrading and fighting the darkness festing deeply in this world.


    He needed info more desperately than anything else! He just hoped this ancient soul would be true to her words, gain access to all the memories of this hag, and simply like this he would have all the answers he wanted, plus a huge pile of priceless info to bargain with the academy with.


    As such, he hovered over the dome of this huge sturdy shield, channeling his energy, while joining hands with Tina using his fire breath.


    "This shield is so hard to crack!" Tina complained from high above, and he simply chuckled, a chuckle appearing to the world as a roar. "It protects something precious inside, so we need to keep battering it until it cracks," he simply replied, while continuing to shower the shield with his fire.


    It took six more hours for the ancient soul to finish her recuperation, and the moment she did, she transformed finally into her own monster form.


    A huge winged tiger loomed from the nearby ground, making Tina quite startled. "A friend or a foe?" she asked with puzzled tone, as she noticed the ease of Arthur towards the incoming tiger.


    "A follower, just like you," he muttered, before he turned to glance at the incoming tiger. "Have you finished recuperating? Did it go well?" he asked, as he was much interested in cracking all the info more than gaining her aid.


    "Answering my lord, I have successfully gained all access to her memories, and I know exactly what happened to my world, and why this building is heavily guarded," she replied, and Arthur''s face showed a very ferocious expression that intended to express his delight and excitation.


    "Tell me," he demanded with much urgeness in his tone.


    "This building is a huge warehouse where they stored all the extracted ore, however this isn''t the main significance of it. inside this building, there are two important items, one that could lead to the main clan controlling these areas, one that''s called Dorfis clan.


    The second item is much more important, as this clan had paid a hefty price for the main dark clans of this world, gaining control over a hundred light pillars, things that looked like giant towers. This item is a gateway connecting all these pillars to it.


    These pillars are made entirely of light energy, and they were hidden cleverly inside secluded small pocket worlds, attached to many places inside the territory controlled by this Drofis dark clan.


    These pillars had a huge amount of light energy, and they had the technique of turning them into dark ones, harvesting a great amount of energy to aid them in nurturing far stronger dark monsters and warriors.


    Up till now, they didn''t succeed in turning anyone of these pillars to darkness, and around here lies five of such pillars, the closest ones to turn dark.


    I strongly advise my lord to go out and use this item to access these five pillars, and destroy them at once. if this clan was let to turn all these pillars into darkness, they would muster a huge strength, enough to push them towards the great dark clans controlling this world."


    Arthur just listened and said nothing, except for ferocious roars that expressed his uncontrolled laughs. "Sara, I have already conquered these five pillars, and this item is something precious to me. once I had it, I won''t hesitate to go and conquer those one hundred pillars remaining under this dark clan''s control."


    She glanced strangely at him, while he laughed again while adding:


    "I decided to call you Sara from now on, any objections?"


    "Nothing at all, Sara is a nice name," she said, however Arthur felt her discontent with this name, as it was the name of the one who tried to kill her.


    "Tell me about the process of invading your soul that happened here," he then said, while returning to focus on cracking this shield. Right now he was in a very good mood, and he just wanted to instantly crush this shield and gained access to that precious item.


    That old hag wanted to escape into her clan, and take the precious item with her. Arthur just felt extremely lucky for having all this benefit for such a small price to pay! He felt great gratitude for those dark warriors for keeping such a priceless item stored here!


    As for Sara, she resigned to her fate, being named by the most hateful person she knew. The next moment she started waving her two claws, sending mighty air currents towards the shield, helping Arthur and Tina in breaking it.


    "These dark clans aren''t part of this world. they came from a distant world called the dark world. that world was long destroyed by their greedy sinister ancestors after depleting all the resources in it. This clan came here with others, conquered the old clans living here, setting their people under a malicious curse to turn them all into slaves.


    They didn''t feel any satisfaction at that, as they started to use a dark way to force the souls of the ancients out of their graves, consume them to strengthen theirs and get to know more about their old precious knowledge.


    I wasn''t the first one to be subjected to such humiliation and tyranny, in fact I came at the end of a very long ling of such cursed defile and trespassing!


    Other clans in this world are doing the same, and this gained them many knowledge about secret places full of resources, like this ore mine right here; plus many hidden old secrets of the strength of the old times.


    Like the formations they are currently using after injecting their dark sinister energy, modifying them, turning them into mere tools to serve their dark desires," she explained, and all her words managed to give Arthur a pleasant shock!

 Chapter 243: Entering the Warehouse

    Arthur kept attacking the shield with the other two without saying a comment. His mind was thinking about the advantage his enemies currently had, as they didn''t only have pillars, they also have this strange wicked way to absorb the souls of the long dead!


    That was bad!


    The shield proved hard to crack, however in less than four more hours the sounds of cracking appeared, and in less than one hour it got shattered, revealing a second formation; the illusion one.


    This one didn''t take half an hour from them to be breached. The moment this happened, all the small usually seen buildings here vanished, exposing the real face of this place.


    A huge single building appeared in front of his eyes, with a height reaching to five stories at least. "Tina, continue observing the workers, and when Lily comes, send her to me."


    "What about her?" Tina asked, with strange aggressiveness in her tone. "She will come with me."


    Arthur simply replied, before heading directly to the ground. Sara just followed up, and when both reached the front door, he wasn''t polite and smashed it to pieces, finally entering the place.


    The interior looked more vast than what it appeared from outside. The warehouse wasn''t only five stories tall, but it appeared to have like twenty levels at least!


    It was towering to the sky, with a rounded large transparent doom in the middle of the roof. "There, you will find what you are looking for there," Sara pointed her claw towards the distance, where Arthur understood the significance of this transparent dome being here.


    The whole place was filled with ores extracted from the ground! The amount stored here was really huge, neatly organized in large blocks, each containing one hundred cubic shaped ore, smoothly cut and arranged to be like large bricks.


    They walked in the middle of this place, where everything around was filled with these ores, lined in long, seemingly endless lines. He just glanced at all this amount, then glanding at the higher levels, feeling amazed and dazed with all this amount.


    The higher levels were built to be like the ground level they were walking at, with only the main road linking the door to the centre being exposed to the roof.


    That means whatever lied here was also placed in the above levels as well! A treasure! A huge pile of treasure! "I will make sure all the warriors move these under the lead of Lily."


    His eyes shone with greed, as this amount was enough to create the layout of his Ley Lines design in the ground of his entire city! As for the buildings, he was sure the workers here would extract much more amount than this, enough to build ten cities, not just one!


    "Should I enlarge my plans then?"


    After seeing all these ores, his mind started to think bigger. He knew the building process was always the hardest, and as they were laying down foundations, then why didn''t he play it on a bigger scale?


    "I should do that, after all I have the cards to make sure I will hold this place under my own control."


    He decided to enlarge and expand his current city, adding more military based facilities and defenses. He now knew part of the real strength of the dark clans here, and facing them like this without enough preparations was considered suicidal!


    He wouldn''t stand by and let them destroy all the gains he had with hard work and precious time; and so he settled on building a fortress city, one that couldn''t be breached by any army no matter what!


    As he was lost in thoughts, he finally reached the central place of this warehouse; a large empty circle with two oval rounded teleportation portals.


    "Which one is the one leading to the clan place?"


    He stood in front of the two, puzzled, as the two were working, flashing with arcs of lightning. They were strangely similar, with one had some red lines in it, and the other had blue!


    "It''s the red one."


    "Will my breaths work on it?"


    He channeled his energy while thinking of using force to destroy it. however, Sara''s face instantly changed, as she hurried to say:


    "No, wait, this can''t be destroyed by your weak level of energy."


    He glanced at her in question, as she explained:


    "It''s a very high grade form of portal that is fortified heavily in the main clan home. If you use force upon it, the only result will be for a retaliation attack to erupt and destroy the whole place down!"


    He got an instant scare! He wouldn''t dare to risk losing all these precious ores! "What should I do?"


    "A formation should be fought with a formation. Do you know any sealing arrays?"


    He strangely glanced at her, as he already had one formation in mind, the one he used to cut down the linking circle inside the cave before. However what made him feel weird was for her to ask him about it.


    "Don''t you know one?"


    She said she came from ancient times where formations were known and highly advanced there! "Not everyone has the knowledge of such complicated things."


    He glanced deeply at her, as her reply was kinda logical, but he didn''t buy it so far. "What are you proficient at then?" he asked.


    She seemed hesitant, before sighing as she said:


    "It''s something related to the structure of empires and kingdoms."


    He didn''t understand, and she just expected him to be. "Listen, in old times, there were no clans, there were only empires and kingdoms. My specialty back then was called an empire maker."


    Her words didn''t serve except for adding more puzzlement to him. "I''m the one they seek if a new power is rising, so I can guide them and make this power grow to be an empire," she added, trying to simplify things to him.


    Arthur wasn''t familiar with these concepts. Back in his cultivation world, he only had some sects joining together to rule land under the name of kingdoms, but this wasn''t so popular or in the shape she was speaking about.

 Chapter 244: An Empire Maker Job

    "You mean you set a plan for them to move upon so they can form an empire? what''s empire even mean?"


    She knew this would be tough, but she had to use the most simple of words to explain. "Empires are like great clans or academies in your world, reigning over a huge stretch of land. The ruling system there lies in the hands of one man, we call an emperor, with the line of his descendants coming after him to rule over these lands after he passes away.


    Simply put, a kingdom can be related to a large clan territory of your world''s concepts, and an empire can equal the coalescing of at least ten of these clans."


    His eyes shone brightly, as this was a new branch of information provided to him. "As you guessed, I draw a strategy, with simple yet effective steps to build an empire. In the meantime, I also lead armies to make sure the empire is built with strong forces, not to be taken down the moment it just rises up."


    Her words made him realize her importance. "Can you make these plans again?" he asked.


    "For you? Do you want to be an emperor?"


    Her laughs vibrated in the place, as she found this quite amusing.


    "Sure, I was trying to build a city, and now I want to build an empire."


    His logic was weird, but who was she to complain? "Sigh, you are currently my lord, and I will serve you best to achieve your goals. Luckily, any empire is built from a single city. so, we can consider you taking the first real step towards building the empire you wanted."


    Her words made him chuckle, as he was pleased to know that his mere whim of decision taken when reaching this world had yielded such a result.


    "What is the next step then?"


    She glanced strangely again towards him. "We are building an empire, not a mere lousy clan! This needs time, planning, and also many of your own insights."


    "Insights?"


    "Like do you want it to be strong based on armies and invasions, or prosperous built on economy, industry and trade?"


    He paused, thinking briefly at her words, before taking out his stored ores, his usual tools, and started to form the needed runes for his own seal formation. "I want them all! I want my empire to be strong and wealthy."


    "Greed isn''t a good thing, y''know!"


    "Sigh," he helplessly sighed, "you don''t get it, do you?" he then finished making the first rune, put it on the ground, before grabbing the other ores to form the next. "This world will have a huge war soon, a war between light and dark sides. if I didn''t focus on strength, I won''t be able to protect it."


    "Then we need to direct the empire towards military might, not the total opposite!"


    "This won''t do," he shook his head, while taking another ore to write upon. "Having great military might is important, but without enough economic base to support it, the whole place will crumble and be weak. Plus, trade is a great way to gain friends, stress enemies, and avoid many troubles in the process."


    She went silent, before muttering:


    "I get your point perfectly, but this didn''t happen ever before."


    "Then make it happen! the fact it didn''t happen doesn''t mean it''s impossible, right?"


    She glanced at him, speechless, not knowing what to say. "But there is a huge percentage of failure here, won''t you be upset?"


    He paused, before returning to work again. "I won''t lie and say I won''t, but think it this way; I came here and planned to build a city and was very content and proud of it, and now you are planning to make me build an empire. even if you lose, even everything, I still will have my city, right? There is nothing there to lose, take all the risks you see appropriate, and I will support you from the sides."


    She didn''t open her mouth regarding this topic ever again! his logic was undeniably the most foolish reason she had ever heard in her past life; however as weird as it might see, she couldn''t refute it!


    She glanced at his back, while working on his runes, diligently and with extreme concentration. ''This is the back of an emperor, sigh, birds of a feather really flock together!'' she muttered to herself, as she accepted his demands in her soul, and decided to work her best to help him.


    As for Arthur, he continued to work, not bothering his mind with this empire concept. After all, he still couldn''t fully understand the great feat he simply took today, inside this forsaken place, away from any prior planning or intentions to be a great person in this grandiose way!


    He took half an hour to finish making the runes'' groups, then he started to assign them in different places. This teleportation portal was much stronger than the previous one, so he had to make use of his strongest sealing formation ever; the dozen pointed heads!


    Once finished arranging the runes, he simply put a single drop of blood over the main controller of this formation. Unlike others, this one needs to be connected to him, so it would function properly and also be alerted if someone tried to attack it.


    Then he started forming a simple defensive shield, not strong like the one around that warehouse, but it was enough to hold on for hours at least.


    He laid a double layered defensive shield, one to shield the inside and one to shield the outside. So, if anyone of the main clan had some hidden tricks to pull out here, he or she wouldn''t be able to step a single foot inside the place, even if the sealing array was undone!


    "Finished," he rubbed his hands together, as he glanced over the other portal. "So this one is the one leading to the other pillars?"


    "Sure, but you need to have a map of pillars in your mind, so you can know where to go," she then stretched her hand as she demanded, "give me a piece of paper and I will draw the entire map out for you."

 Chapter 245: Finishing All Preparations before Going Out on Adventure

    Arthur didn''t have any papers right now, so he had to improvise.


    "Take this brush and paint the map on the ground," he said, while handing over the brush he used all this time.


    It was initially a tree branch with many leaves, but after all his uses it transformed into a real brush. Its leaves stuck on the wooden shaft, with the end of it was pointed, smooth, and flexible; an end that could absorb blood and paint it perfectly in thin strikes or broad according to his own will.


    She took the brush after cancelling her transformation, glanced weirdly at it as she said:


    "This map will be seen by others afterwards."


    Arthur understood her worries. "Don''t worry, I will paint the whole area with this blood then," he pointed to the small container of the blood he was using in drawing and making his runes.


    She understood his point and so she started working on the ground while asking:


    "What do you plan to do next?"


    "I will go inside these secret pillars locations and will harvest all the pillars inside."


    "Harvest them? can you do that?"


    "Sure, however it will be a tough battle, and I can only go alone. I need Tina to stay here, as those surrendered villagers aren''t trusted by me currently," he recalled that he didn''t clear their curses, and that made him wary.


    "It seems you need to make some preparations and need my help as well. Go and finish yours, but leave enough meat for me. this transformation is still taxing on this fragile new body of mine."


    Arthur glanced silently at her and said nothing. He didn''t move, still, as he didn''t fully trust her.


    "What? Don''t you trust me?"


    He didn''t reply, only watching her working, making her sigh a little. She knew he just knew her, and in a very weird situation. Even after telling him what he needed to know, he still doubted her for a bit.


    He waited for half an hour until she finished drawing everything. As she finished, he started to memorize this star looking map, feeling much excited the more he examined it.


    All these stars were obviously the locations of the hidden pocket worlds with pillars. He knew going there alone might be quite risky, but he had to work fast and hammer the iron while being hot.


    He knew the clan might not be aware yet of their losses here, and when that happened they wouldn''t hesitate to invade here and try to close the portal he had with the pillars.


    Or at least fortifying these places with mighty armies he couldn''t kill alone!


    "Clan head, you called for me?" as he was painting the ground with the blood covering all the tracks here of this painting, Lily appeared coming from outside, while her face showed how delighted and excited she was.


    "Sure, have you brought back everyone?" he asked.


    "Yes, all are now working here, and the warriors are guarding the place per your orders."


    "Good," he nodded in content, while her eyes got attracted to this unique drawing, partly covered with blood, on the ground. She felt how special it was, and despite her curiosity she didn''t ask anything.


    Arthur was trying to cover all the tracks here, making her realize he didn''t want anyone to know a single word about it. "Go and gather all the surrendered villagers and warriors here who still have their slave marks. I will be finished soon and come out to free them all," he said.


    "Alright," she didn''t stay and moved outside executing his orders. Sara stood on the side, silently watching him working slowly and steadily, covering everything.


    As he finished, he didn''t speak a word while storing everything inside his ring before heading to the outside, followed by Sara.


    When they exited the building, they found Lily had already summoned a huge number of villagers here, and they stood in silence waiting for his orders.


    "Listen, one by one move towards me, and then after freeing yourselves, go and continue your work," he shouted, before moving a couple of steps forward, waiting for the first one to advance.


    The freeing process was quite long, as it took him one day to free all of these hundreds of thousands of villagers from the slave mark. Their numbers were higher than he expected, making him glad he decided to free them now before venturing on his long journey.


    Part of them were the warriors who surrendered to him, and he let them serve him as warriors, joining his small army, doubling it.


    Once finished, the whole village looked quite desolate, in contrast to the huge numbers that were staying here in the past hours. "Tina, Lily, come with me inside," he ordered, as he currently had to arrange things here.


    The two went inside, one small girl walking on the side of her flying per, and one huge dragon. Once they reached the floor covered with blood with two portals there, Arthur started arranging things here.


    "I''m going for a rough long battle where I won''t be able to give any help here in a short span of time. are you prepared to defend this place on your own?" he asked, directing his question to Lily.


    "I can, but I might need the help of big sis Amelia and others here," after a moment of silence she said, expressing her ability to do so.


    "Good, then here is what you are going to do. Send for them to come here and aid you in strengthening the defenses here. as for all these ores, and the ones extracted from the mine, you can ask Madly to craft more rings, and make all warriors with flying pets to act as the transportation unit," he then took out large pile of bird''s wings, handed them to her as he added:


    "Take these and start forming your own communication network."


    She took the bird''s wings while asking:


    "Is there a chance the clan might attack us here?"

 Chapter 246: I Found A Treasure Trove!

    "I will try to keep them busy as much as I can, but we can''t be too careless, right? Let''s be ready for any trouble. Also send for Gor, make him prepare for walls and towers drawings and send some of his trusted workers to build many towers and a huge wall here. This mine will take time to be emptied, so we need to turn it into a real impregnable fortress."


    She nodded, as she simply replied:


    "I will relay all of your orders to him. Do you need us to go and capture more villages and towns? Do you want me to bring more workers from the city?"


    "Nope," he shook his head firmly, "don''t go out on your own, and don''t accept any surrendering villages and towns here. who knows what tricks this wicked clan may pull."


    "What if people come announcing their surrender to me?" she asked, feeling the heavy responsibility lied on her shoulders already.


    He patted on her head while muttering:


    "Just send them back to the direction of the city. all the area around here and towards the city is under our control now. you can send them with clear consciousness."


    She felt a strange feeling as her hair was played by his fingers. her cheeks reddened expressing her anxiety as she glanced elsewhere while softly saying:


    "What if they refused to leave?"


    "Then kill them all!" he simply replied, before adding:


    "This place is important, very important. Consider it as our clan''s biggest secret place. treat it this way and never let any outsider in."


    She nodded, as she understood all her responsibilities and his warnings well. He would prefer to leave Tina here as he initially thought, but after eliminating the threat of those villagers and their slave curses, there was no need for him to waste Tina here, especially when he knew the next fights will be really hard and stressful.


    "Do you need any help from warriors here?" Lily asked, as she watched Arthur jumping over the back of Tina. "No, just keep things running here until I come back. I will try my best not to take much time there. let''s go."


    He said, while Sara jumped over Tina''s back as well. She had eaten a lot of meat already while Arthur was freeing the villagers. Arthur then headed straight towards the portal, and the moment he did, he found himself standing on a huge place, dark, covered under a thick cloud of black fog.


    "Just think about the map in your mind, and choose the star you wanted to head at."


    Sara''s whispering voice came as he closed his eyes and pictured the map in his mind. When he opened his eyes, he found the fog was gone, and a huge map was there, and he was standing on top of one of the stars.


    The stars were all shining with bright red light, except for the one he was standing above, which was lightened in blue. Other stars were lightened in green, while five were dark black, dimmed not shining with any light.


    "Can you see what I''m seeing now?" he asked.


    "Sure, these green lighted stars are other gates opened here like the one we came from. Those red ones are the places hiding pillars inside, while these five are the ones you already conquered," she explained while pausing for a moment, "never thought you managed to snatch five pillars from their hands in one go."


    He smiled and didn''t comment, as he noticed the presence of thin silver threads, easily missed, connecting all these stars together. "Should we go to them?" he asked.


    "Sure, anyway other than these routes isn''t safe."


    Her reply confirmed his guess, and as such he glanced at the map again. There were many red stars here, but few green ones. He noticed that most of the green ones were concentrated on the other end of his place, while no other star was behind him.


    He started to memorize this map in its full version, and his mind began to formulate an invading strategy to all of these stars.


    "We should start from that way," he pointed towards the right, as there were around twenty red stars there with no single green one at all. "Are we going to invade the green ones too? Mostly they are related to treasured places in this world."


    He thought about her words well, but he didn''t need to take such a risk. He was strong, but he had few fighters on his side, really scarce actually. So, he needed to venture carefully, trying not to alarm the main clan so soon.


    The problems would start after finishing another area like this, standing to his left, as the remaining front would start to show green stars every now and then.


    Dealing with green stars would prove to be challenging, especially that large number of them, exceeding twenty, clustered around another twenty red stars at the other end of his location.


    "Let''s deal with this one bit at a time then," he thought to himself, before patting on the head of Tina as he moved her large head towards certain direction as he said:


    "Move straight forward there, don''t take any turns."


    Tine nodded as she already felt how dangerous it was here. she moved towards the direction he specified, penetrating the white fog in front of her. After a few minutes, they reached a red star, where they could enter the hidden pillar there.


    "If we entered, then how can we go back here?" he asked, as this question popped up suddenly in his mind, just moments away from reaching the star, making Time pause from stepping over it.


    "Inside every forest there is a portal linking it to here," Sara replied after retrieving the memories she absorbed.


    "What is the preferred location of this portal?" he asked, as he didn''t recall any portal inside the five hidden forests with pillars that he already conquered and obtained.


    "It''s usually located inside a large shack, where they store all the resources harvested from the pocket world, usually one kilometer away from the pillar location."


    "There is a shack with resources stored inside?" he strangely asked back with much joy over his face. Any resources were welcomed and as she nodded, he closed his eyes and entered the heavenly garden with his consciousness to confirm the presence of such a shack.


    The garden had seen ground shaking changes in the past days, as its size grew to reach a magnificent size of ten times its original area, covering many parts of the five black forests in green, adding more territory to it.


    The purified conquered places weren''t dead after all, as all the black trees turned green, and this black dead soil turned into a lavish coat of green grass, plants, and different types of herbs, declaring their allegiance to the heavenly garden.


    He smiled when he saw this scene, and what made him happier was the fact that there were still nearly half of these forests unpurified yet.


    As for the monsters, those dark monsters were now purified into normal monsters, gaining more power and boost through living here. He also saw many mating together, and some were already carrying their babies in their bellies.


    "It seems time passes here quite differently than the outside world," he thought to himself, as all these changes weren''t able to occur within a day or two!


    The next thing he did was to scan one of the dark forests, looking for the place described by Sara for his shock, he found a large town, built entirely of simple wooden shacks, without any living person inside.


    He wasn''t polite and started checking a random sample of these shacks. Inside each one he found a huge pile of resources; ores, trees, even monster remains like blood, bone, and even horns were stockpiled there.


    He also found some shacks with many scrolls regarding formations, and others filled with different strange types of potions. "It''s a treasure trove, I have found a treasure trove!" he laughed wildly as his heart was throbbing with excitement and greed!


    "Where they should put the portal then?" he got out of one of the shacks as he began to think about the most important thing right now; the portal!


    "It should be in the central largest shack here," he guessed it, and then he started to look for such a shack with such a description.


    And he found it! it was, strangely, an exact copy of the warehouse he just conquered. His mouth went wide from excitement, as he delved deeply inside the big warehouse, to be faced with an exact copy of the one he just came from.


    This shack was filled with another kind of ore he didn''t know about, stored in layers upon layers, left there unprotected and calmly waiting for him to grab them all! When he went to the central dome, he found two there!


    "This isn''t good, I need to seal these portals leading to the clan fast," he muttered, as he retrieved his consciousness, opened his eyes, and said with mixed feelings:


    "Let''s go, I have located the portal to this map already."


    Tina heard his words and then went towards the star. The moment she stepped upon it, a flash of light enveloped the three of them, and in the next moment, they all appeared inside this large warehouse.


    "Have we gone back again?" Tina muttered in confusion, but Arthur hurriedly patted her head as he softly whispered:


    "Low profile, let''s keep a low profile for now."

 Chapter 247: Turn Everyone Against Each Other Plan

    Tina glanced in a strange way towards him, however he didn''t care about her right now, as he first glanced at the space around, making sure no one was here.


    This huge warehouse had these two portals in its center, but despite their importance, they weren''t guarded.


    No one had ever stood against them in this world, the dark clans, and that drove the overrated sense of confidence to these clans, making them never put guards there, never thought of anyone invading them, ever once!


    And that made Arthur know the only visitors here would be to store ores, or when some urgent summon occurred from the clan, so other than this, this warehouse would be completely empty.


    And he had work to do.


    He went to one side, using the darkness there as a veil, while Tina and Sara just followed his steps silently from the sides. Once there, he started to work; taking out all of his tools to make runes.


    He had to make runes, to seal this portal, and he had to make an extra of these ores, as he just recalled there was a disturbing mole he had to pluck if he wanted to safely control this place.


    The portal linking this hidden pocket to the outside world.


    Arthur worked, while the two girls started guarding the area with vigilance. In two hours, Arthur made enough runes for sealing many portals. "Alright, this is enough for now, I need to make more amidst the battle," he muttered, as he took away all his tools and most of the runes.


    "How are we going to fight?" Sara asked, but Tina just shook her head. She knew how brutal Arthur was, and as such he would come up with his usual card.


    "We will use this place against them," he softly replied, as he started putting the double sealing layer around the portal leading to the clan. He already could make the difference between the two, as the one leading to the map would have some redness in it, while the other portal would have darkness.


    "We are ready, let''s start," he smiled to the two girls, as Sara looked in daze while Tina just shook her head; she already had a clue or two about what he was planning to do.


    The next moment, inside this central emptiness in this huge warehouse, he simply took out his heavenly treasure out of his ring, and let the huge carcass to appear here, filling part of this huge place.


    And then the next second, the whole world thundred by mighty roars rumbling even in the building here!


    "Wow, what is that?" Sara asked, while Tina started to explain things to her. As for Arthur, he used a little trick to turn this heavily fortified fortress of his enemies into a mess!


    As he decided to come here, from the first moment back at the first warehouse he conquered, he knew how hard and challenging this battle would be.


    He wouldn''t be only facing the dark mages and warriors here, but he would also face dark monsters; monsters he took quite a long time and huge effort in addition to sacrificing tens of thousands of his warriors just to conquer them in days!


    Thinking about facing all of this alone, with only two girls on his side, even if the two were a dragon and a winged tiger, was a suicidal mission.


    And so he decided to turn these forces on each other! He would use the monsters here to kill the dark forces, and in the end he would go to reap the benefits.


    His main obstacle wasn''t the monsters at all, even if there were many flying ones; they wouldn''t care about him going to snatch the pillar. In fact he just hoped to be able to take over all this place without losing a single monster in the process, as the monsters he took inside already proved their worth and showed him a great potential.


    So, the only stubborn rock here were these dark mages and warriors! They could order monsters, control the portals to ask for external aid, either from the outside world or the clan. In addition to that, they would instantly alarm the clan, making his future invasions risky.


    "What a regret, I only have one heavenly treasure only," he said in regret, when he thought of moving to other places and spread the same chaos there at the same time.


    "Why not divide this piece of small rock into smaller pieces?" Sara suddenly asked.


    "Will it work in small pieces?" he asked, as he was afraid if he did so, the small pieces of rock wouldn''t be able to attract the monsters anymore.


    "Sure, even a tiny speck of it would be enough to entice the monsters crazy," she confidently replied, "and you can hide it anywhere you like without worrying about it being discovered. But, why are you thinking about dividing that?" she asked, as she didn''t get the mindset of Arthur yet.


    As for Tina, she just smirked, as she knew what this little master of her was thinking of!


    Arthur then jumped over the carcass, not caring about the loud warnings coming from everywhere around the place, or the sounds of fighting occurring from far off; as he glanced at the small piece of rock he had currently.


    He had used many parts of it before, and now what remained was almost like a closed fist size, or even slightly smaller.


    "It''s not that small to be honest," Sara said when she noticed the obvious hesitation Arthur had, "plus we have a dragon claw ready to cut it into small neatly similar in size pieces. I promise this will garnish us at least twenty small pieces, or even more."


    Arthur glanced at her while shaking his head. "I can''t use all of it," he said, before pointing around him, "these eggs can''t live without feeding on it," he added.


    Despite feeling conflicted towards the origin of his dragonair force, he was still feeling gratitude towards Zilia, as without her help, he wouldn''t be able to face the ferocious malicious attack of that cursed soul.

 Chapter 248: Attacking Twenty Pocket Worlds at the Same Time

    "These eggs? They are already mature, but they are so greedy, didn''t hurry to hatch as they wanted to feed more on the carcass and the treasure," it was Tina''s voice that came to startle him with that answer. "Are you sure?" he asked, wth doubt as he didn''t want anything bad to happen to these eggs.


    "Pretty sure, just let them inside the carcass and they will keep eating it," Tina said, as she tucked out her tongue while adding, "but instead of those greedy eggs, why not give me a piece of two as a reward? Huh?"


    "Keep your mouth off, only hand me your claw," Arthur didn''t agree as he had many uses of this treasure. "Stingy master," Tina pouted her dragon lips to look quite terrifying instead of being alluring as she intended to be.


    "If I get another treasure, I promise to give this old one to you, but not now."


    Arthur''s words were final, and he just grabbed the claws of her and started dividing the treasure into smaller pieces. As Sara said, the calw was enough to meticulously divide them into very tiny pieces, and the number that this piece could yield was bigger.


    However, he only cut off twenty pieces before letting the claw off. He left a four fingers size piece in the carcass, while taking the whole thing with the eggs inside his ring.


    He only kept outside on tiny pieces, smaller than a fingernail in size. He waited, carefully assessing the situation outside.


    As Sara said, there was no change at all. He smiled, patterned her on the head again, messing with her hair, while heading towards a place of many ores being placed together, and then he hid this small, easily to be missed, piece in the middle of the ores.


    "We are ready," he said.


    "Ready for what?" Sara wasn''t yet aware of his plan, while Tina moved to stand between the two. "Just jump," she said, and Arthur was the first to follow, leaving Sara alone.


    "Crazy little master," she murmured, before Arthur stretched his hand to her, and she took it without knowing what was going on.


    The next moment, Tina jumped, to fall over the portal leading to the map, reappearing again there.


    "What? Why are we here?"


    "It''s just his plan, don''t be surprised by his mind, he is much more twisted than you think he is," Tina replied while Arthur was now imagining the map again in his mind, so the thick fog all dissipated, and the whole place appeared again clear in front of him.


    "This way," he pointed towards a direction, and Tina followed his finger guidance towards the next star. "Oh, so we are going to cause chaos everywhere, this is a plan I like more," Sara finally got what Arthur intended to do.


    Like this they kept jumping from one place to another, inserting one small piece of treasure hidden well in a place away from the central zone. Arthur kept working on his runes, and the first thing he did in any warehouse was to seal the portal leading to the clan first.


    After jumping into the twenty worlds, his mission was partly done. "Let''s go back to the first world then," he pointed towards a distant direction and Tina simply followed.


    He had sealed the portal now, caused enough chaos for the dark forces inside each pocket world to be aware of his deeds. He was sure the first thing they would try was to ask for help from the main clan through the portal, making the place be filled with his enemies; enemies ready to be slaughtered.


    "Be ready for battle," he simply said that as Tina was about to reach the star of the first world.


    The moment they appeared again in the world, they were met with hundreds of panicked mages and warriors, standing around the two portals, while trying to break his seal on the first portal.


    Their appearance came as a sudden intrusion from a direction they never expected. They were shocked, but Arthur, Sara, and Tina weren''t.


    The next moment, Arthur turned into a dragon, while Sara turned into a winged tiger. Simply like that, a massacre occurred in this place.


    The fight was already doomed to be unfavorable for the dark mages and warriors, and Arthur planned it to be this way. Using the chaos he created and the seal he placed in each world as a bait, then giving them time to group here making it easier for him to reduce the numbers of his enemies by large chunks.


    And stupidly as ever, they also helped in deepening their wounds and magnifying their losses.


    "Intruders, come and help to kill them!"


    Many shouts like these erupted in the whole place, coupled with the mighty roars erupted from the three monsters attacking and killing everywhere. In minutes, as the three filled the place with their fire, ice, and wind attacks; more reinforcements came from the front door, heading towards here in a hurry and disarray.


    "More to kill, hahaha," Arthur just laughed out loud when he saw the reinforcements coming from far. The initial troops here were already half dead, and the other half were scattered around the place like scared sheep.


    As for the three, they kept attacking without pause, but Arthur moved towards the incoming reinforcements, so he wouldn''t give them any chance to regroup and rearrange their lines.


    Many attacks fell on his body, arrows and even thrown weapons, but his body was immune to all these attacks. The only thing that could possibly endanger him currently was the arrays.


    And as long as he kept killing them and chaotically sending them running without arrangements, then everything would be fine.


    So he headed straight towards them, channeling his energy while reaching on top of their heads, then a fountain of his eroding fire fell upon their heads, killing them instantly without any resistance at all.


    It was a simply one sided battle, where the three only killed anyone moving towards them without hesitation or difficulty.


    After an hour of constant fighting, the place was ushered under complete strange silence; the silence of the dead. No one even managed to be alive after this massacre, or even escape to the outside, as Arthur stood at the door, killing anyone passing it, preventing those scared to death of dark mages and warriors from escaping.


    "Tina, use your ice to put out the fire," he hurriedly shouted at the distant Tina, and inside this empty wide place, his voice echoed many times until reaching her ears.


    She started to put down the fire, as Arthur''s fire was really tyrant, spreading everywhere during this hour. After half an hour, everything was now under their control.


    During this half an hour, Arthur glanced at the outside world to know what was going on. the mages and warriors here were in tens of thousands in numbers, however their enemies were in millions!


    Such an unbalanced fight made them under constant pressure, falling in large numbers even when using their defensive shields and different kinds of arrays.


    "Should I give them a hand?" Arthur wondered while observing the ongoing brutal fight. He shook his head and didn''t go outside to help the monsters; after all the numbers of them here were really high, and losing a couple of hundreds of thousands would be a suitable price to pay!


    He glanced briefly at the distant pillar, seeing the same shield and arrays lightning all the time, without any signs of breaking down. "It will take quite some time then," he muttered before he returned again to Sara and Tina, cancelling his transformation as he said:


    "Let''s go, we have nineteen other places to sweep clean."

 Chapter 249: Leaving A Slave Mark over Sara

    As promised, he kept jumping from one pocket world to another, spreading chaos and killing anyone who dared to come near the sealed portal.


    The escape route was closed, and only the far distant portal leading to the outside was the only escape route from here.


    However, for any mage and warrior the obstacle was all these crazy monsters blocking their way; as for Arthur the only hurdle was the long hours taken to reach there.


    So, he prioritized the killing of those who were able to break his seal, kill all those strong enough to pose a threat in the future, and finally eliminating any possibility of using arrays at all.


    And now, after killing all the high strength in these twenty pocket worlds, taking roughly a day and half, he was ready for phase two of his plan.


    Venturing in each world to head towards one portal would take some time, and so he had some plan in his mind.


    But he had yet one problem; Sara.


    "Rumble!"


    Another wind attack erupted from Sara followed by an ice attack of Tina to kill the last standing enemies here. they both glanced at Arthur, who was quite busy drawing something on the ground.


    "What are you doing?" Sara came with Tina as she asked with a curious look over her face.


    "He still doesn''t trust you," Tina replied, and her words made Sara blush. "Come and stand here, and think of me as your master."


    "Is this a slave contract?" Sara muttered as she moved to inspect it. she scratched her claws over the ground while walking, making a screeching irritating sound to the ear. "But why is this slave contract different?" her eyes were already shining, as she understood part of the contract, not most of it.


    "It''s a modified pet contract," he explained, while moving forward to her, with a calm smile, unfazed by her response. "Pet? Do you think I''m your pet?" her tone didn''t change, and her wings which were slowly flapping froze in place.


    "It''s modified to avoid the nasty nature of the slave contract."


    "Which is¡­ not being a slave perhaps, becoming a pet is better, right?"


    He stood in front of her while his gaze never shifted for a glance away from her eyes. "It''s to avoid me forcing you doing something out of your desire," he explained while patting, again, on her head, making her shake hers sharply, trying to lose his hand.


    "What''s the point in it then?"


    "If you betrayed me, then don''t aim for another soul to take over, as I will shatter yours."


    His words were calm, but they were really cold. Sara had a very bad impression about the dark craft including slave marks, however as the one on the ground was different, and his claims were logical, she had no room for objection here.


    She hesitated, while moving her legs slowly, and that annoying sound coming from her walk disappeared. Her tail was nervously moving right and left, while her wings were loosely resting over her body.


    Arthur just moved to his spot, ignoring her lazy hesitant attitude; after all he got what he wanted. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.


    "Just stand there and think of accepting me as your master."


    His words made her narrow her eyes for a moment before softly sighing, or roaring, before she glanced to the ground, announcing her submission.


    "Start," he had no time to play around, so he started the process. The next few minutes a shielding bubble was formed around them, while Tina just showed a wide grin, looking really vicious, from the side.


    "I''m officially now not the only one fooled by him, I''m not the only baby girl he had," she chuckled.


    After the disappearance of the bubble, Arthur''s last preparation was now finished. He never stopped making sealing runes all the day and half ago, and thus he was currently ready for the next step; sealing the portals linking the pocket worlds to the outside one.


    "Listen up, I will teach you two how to lay down a sealing array around the portal remaining in each world."


    "Are we going to trap them all?" Tina asked.


    "Sure, we have to finalize everything, cut all the loose ends before I absorb these worlds."


    He then started using his brush and explained things to them. "Now, take these runes and we each will head to three different worlds. after you finish, gather near the pillar, as I will come to take them one by one."


    They both nodded, as they had understood now how to lay down the runes, as for him, he had another thing in mind.


    "This is your world, go inside and I will come to pick you after half a day most," he said to Tina as the both of them stood in front of one star. Tina had already entered her own world, and only Tina was left as she was the only one not knowing how to navigate these worlds.


    "Do you trust her?"


    "I still can''t totally trust her, but I have safeguarded us. Plus, without her help so far, we couldn''t reach this far here, right? Now go and don''t waste more time."


    She glanced shortly at him before she sighed. "You need to come and visit me inside the heavenly garden after this ends¡­ regularly, alright?"


    Her picture of a mesmerizing beauty jumped over his mind again when he heard her words. He couldn''t help himself from grinning as his face showed a playful expression. "Sure, we will have much fun later on," he said.


    "I will wait for you to fulfill your promise then, or else¡­" she said before hurriedly entering the world without adding any more words. He shook his head before heading towards one of the stars, jumping in.


    "Let''s see what lies outside of here," he muttered, as the next moment he changed into a dragon, and started his journey heading away from this warehouse.

 Chapter 250: Finding A Cluster of Villages and Towns

    He glanced at the ongoing fight raging here at the warehouse and there around the pillar; things were still quite hot and it seemed it would need hours for these mages and warriors to be overwhelmed by the monsters.


    "Darkness is fighting against itself, why should I bother?" he shrugged as he flapped his wings hard and directly headed towards one direction, the one he had in mind about the portal. "I just hope this portal wouldn''t be in another place, or else more hours will be lost," he muttered as he gave the same direction to the two girls.


    After long hours of flying without doing anything, he was extremely bored. He was tempted more than once to go down there and kill some monsters, trying to move some muscles and energy, however he didn''t.


    He knew all these monsters would fall under his control sooner or later, so he endured this monotonous flying, maintaining his current speed and course towards the portal direction.


    After four hours he finally found the portal. before even seeing it, he knew it was there; as the sounds of fight came from there showing the influx of reinforcements to here.


    "They are fast," he muttered, and after a few minutes the portal appeared at the horizon, with a defensive shield lying there. The shield held thousands of mages and warriors inside, shielding them from the huge number of monsters around them.


    "Stupid," he muttered as those mages and warriors didn''t get what was happening so far. "They should totally ignore monsters and head directly towards the front," he shook his head, lamenting the stupidity of his enemies.


    These monsters were now crazed by the heavenly treasure, not caring about anything but going to the warehouse and obtaining the treasure for themselves.


    So, it was a foolish move trying to make a way in the sea of the monsters by fighting them! however he knew that his approach wasn''t expected and arthodox to this world, and he didn''t care about explaining anything to anyone.


    "Let me give the monster a hand then," he then started using his energy piled up inside his body, and in the next half an hour, a huge fountain of fire rained over the shield, until it was shattered.


    The next massacre was something he knew the result of, so he didn''t participate in this battle, while hovering silently watching the ongoing massacre without interfering.


    The outside world kept pouring large numbers of mages and warriors for hours, and after a couple of hours Arthur got sick of that, and decided to interfere.


    He suddenly descended, fast, while heading straight towards the portal. Although he was seen easily by the warriors and mages on the ground, no one ever dared to shift his or her attention to fight him; they were all overwhelmed by the monsters, busy fighting them and defending themselves.


    So, he passed the portal easily, finally entering the outside spacious world.


    "Monster, kill him!"


    "Activate formation!"


    "Keep pushing forward, our allies are trapped inside!"


    What welcomed him was such chaos that he never expected! Unlike the portals he conquered in the forest from before, this one was inside a huge town, with many small, large villages and towns connected to its border, forming a huge cluster of enemies here.


    "Roar!"


    Arthur wasn''t surprised by the huge number of enemies here, but he was astonished by the huge stretch of towns and villages under their control. "I thought I would find a treasure trove here, and it seemed I underestimated them; it''s apparent it''s not a single treasure trove, but many!" he loudly laughed, while his laughs were heard as mighty roars.


    The next thing he did was to spray his breath on separate places, killing large number of his enemies without focusing on a single place. he wasn''t inexperienced fighter, as he knew their formation required certain number of groups, so he made sure not enough groups would be formed, and always there would be a missing couple needed for any formation.


    Many attacks rained over his body, to be easily deflected by his strong thick scales. This invincible state and brutal attacks of his started to push fear fast in the souls of the warriors and mages behind, gradually losing any hope of conquering him.


    Only few, select few kept shouting, relaying orders to those who stopped their trials against him. "So you are the rats of this clan here," he evilly smirked, before moving fast, targeting those who were shouting or ordering others.


    In less than ten minutes, the place ushered under complete heavy silence, with only the sound of his flapping wings against the wind being heard everywhere. He hovered there for minutes, waiting for anyone foolish enough to stand against him.


    And when he made sure there was no threat of resistance anymore, he headed towards the roof of the highest and biggest building in this town, stood over it before cancelling his transformation.


    "I''m Willy, and I came to kill all the Dorfis dark rats here, freeing all of you from their enslavement. Hear me out, anyone wanting to be freed, live a life of a human should live, working for his own benefit, secured from any slavery, then come here and line in front of me."


    His words thundered in the place, with no other sound heard there but some gasps. He waited, didn''t move, while watching those around him.


    "Lord, may I ask what will you do about our sealing slave mark?" one of those in front of him said, while shoving his way between the heavy lines of warriors gathered here.


    "I have a way to permanently remove it," Arthur simply replied, "I have already freed hundreds of thousands, and can free endlessly as long as you desire," he added.


    His words were the words of a single man, but to them it was the words of a mighty dragon, a one that appeared on top of their heads, killing all those who enslaved and terrorized them, promising them freedom and prosperity.


    His words carried extreme weight, but what he claimed was a dream, a legend so hard to be true. "May I ask if you free me here in front of all of us so we can trust your words?" the man asked, as he hurriedly added, "I''m Merick, the leader of the coalition of villages and towns here. I promise you, lord, if your words were proved to be true, I promise we all will unconditionally follow you to any lengths."


    "Come forth then," Arthur simply replied, transformed to a dragon in the next moment, headed down to the ground, before cancelling his dragon form.


    He could jump to the ground, however he preferred this way so they would know he was always ready to turn into his dragon form; killing any funny thought anyone might already have in mind.

 Chapter 251: Gaining Dozen Warehouses Full of Weapons

    Arthur''s move caused more fear inside the souls of those around him. his speaker, Merick, moved forward, with no fear, instead he was full of anticipation.


    Removing the seal was always considered a long lost dream to most of those living underneath the slavery in this world.


    "Stop and don''t move."


    Arthur then put his hand over Merick''s head, and inserted part of his energy into Merick''s body. While he was doing that, some fools mistook this as a careless sign from him, and instantly hundreds moved from the huge crowd around, pushing others to the floor, while raising their weapons on him.


    The next moment a shadow of the dragon appeared, startling everyone, even those coming to attack hurried to stop, stumbling their tracks, and falling to the floor.


    For Arthur the matter didn''t take a moment there, and he noticed these hidden traitors early, but didn''t react. He was about to summon the scorpion queen here when they approached him, but it seemed his dragon shadow was enough to scare them.


    As for the tattoo and its malicious mouth shade, they were successfully removed by his dragonair energy. "It''s all done, go and execute those traitors for me," he said.


    "L-Lord¡­" Merick stuttered, couldn''t believe his own eyes. The next moment he ripped off his armor and clothes to see the place on his shoulder, the cursed seal was gone!


    "I''m free, the lord is right in his promise. Go and kill those traitors!" he shouted at his men, and instantly a ruckus occurred everywhere; as power of gossip and whispers showed its worth at this moment.


    As a small fight erupted, and ended without any suspense, Merick came towards Arthur, knelt on the floor, leading all others here to kneel, and others beyond Arthur''s perception and eyesight to kneel as well.


    "Listen, I have no time to waste here. you have a maximum of six hours. Anyone who wants to be freed and follow my move against this tyrant clan has to come inside this world in less than this time, or else the portal will be shut down by me."


    He paused as he recalled his initial purpose of coming here. "Is there any treasure or protected buildings here?" he asked.


    "There are dozens of huge warehouses full of special weapons, my lord. And our villages and towns are proficient in making weapons in all kinds," Merick respectfully answered.


    "Siege weapons?" Arthur asked with shining eyes.


    "All kinds of weapons, my lord."


    The answer of Merick made Arthur chuckle. "Come, lead the way to those warehouses and let everyone gather every single piece of treasure, tools, and weapons they have here and follow me to the portal."


    Merick then took a minute to relay orders, and instantly the place turned into a buzzing place, brimming with movement, or to be specific, running.


    Merick led Arthur without saying a single word inside this large town, and they ended up in a huge section full of large buildings, with a defensive array surrounding them all. "Here are the dozen warehouses my lord asked for," Merick said.


    "Good, go now and finish your preparations. I don''t need to waste more time, six hours only Merick, don''t delay further." Arthur had to warn him again, as he didn''t want to lose all these good treasures, a talented population included.


    "At once, my lord. I promise you in a couple of hours we will all move inside carrying everything here, even the buildings itself," Merick promised.


    "Ah one more thing," Arthur stopped him in tracks, "when entering the world, don''t bother with monsters. I will set a protective shield enough to hold all your population. Just stand there and wait for me to take you out. So, take all needed food and water, enough to last you for a week."


    Arthur didn''t want to stop his invasion, especially over the twenty places right now. so, he decided to first let them live inside the forest until he completely secured the twenty pillars.


    "Also make your men ready, in one hour most this shield will be destroyed by me. move everything inside with you, leave nothing there left for Dorfis clan to reap after we leave," he added, as dozens of warehouses would need time to sweep clean.


    "Sure, I will note that," Merick replied, then headed fast towards the distance. Arthur didn''t bother with him, as he transformed into a dragon in the next moment, and started battering the shield with his fire.


    The shield wasn''t meant to be so strong to stop external invasion it seemed, as in half an hour it was all shattered. Arthur went then directly towards one of the huge buildings and entered it.


    What welcomed him was a similar warehouse to the ones he visited before, with many levels and long rows stretching to the other distant end. He moved to one of the rows and examined the weapons lying over there.


    "What a great gain!" he chuckled as he took one of the swords lying on the square piece of wood, with others like it lying there calmly waiting to be looted.


    The sword wasn''t like the bloodied sword of his, but it was practically better than any other sword he had seen so far. According to his knowledge of forging, this was a really fine piece, greatly crafted and well made.


    "Great, now I can''t rest assured from the lack of weapons in my growing city," he muttered while glancing at the distance, checking if there was a portal hidden anywhere there.


    However he didn''t find the same dome shaped structure here. He exited the warehouse after taking the sword into his inventory, then soared the sky, taking a single round over the buildings, making sure none had such a transparent dome.


    "Good, all settled here then," he muttered, as all the buildings here lacked such a dome. He then headed back towards the portal, noticing the big moves everywhere from the villagers, and directly entered it.

 Chapter 252: A Way to Activate the Pillar Deadly Attack

    "I need to lay down the shield first," he muttered as he selected a huge area, stretching for tens of miles, and started laying his runes there.


    The monsters were still coming from the distant horizon towards the pillar, passing through the portal lying in the middle of this pocket world. this world seemed much bigger than the five he previously snatched, more space for his heavenly garden to grow.


    As he finished laying down everything, he activated the shield before waiting for a few minutes as the monsters inside evacuated the shield smoothly, leaving a cleared large area around the portal.


    "This will be enough," he muttered before rising to the sky, heading straight towards the pillar.


    He didn''t fly fast, trying to give more time for the Merick and his villagers to enter the world. After eight hours, he finally reached the pillar region, where the battle was still raging hot here and around the distant cluster of buildings.


    "I think they had enough time to move on," he muttered, before heading towards the ten group of mages and warriors down below, battering the shield covering the whole area, shattering it in half an hour without any problems.


    He didn''t need to act against all the mages and warriors here, as the angry monsters did this job perfectly fine. In minutes the whole world shook, and the same familiar pair of eyes appeared once more, observing this world calmly while stopping everything in place.


    "Oho boy, you are really an energetic youngster," the voice said, and the next moment Arthur regained his freedom to move. "Master, the dark clan I''m against had controlled a hundred pillar, and I plan to retrieve them all," Arthur said, expressing his intent.


    "That''s a good number, lad. Are you prepared to clean them all? Being greedy sometimes is a grave sin, like underestimating your enemy."


    "I''m ready to take them all, but I''m not confident in my lone ability to gain all pillars," Arthur said, while flying towards the pillar, as he planned to start absorbing it.


    "This is predicted. However, I can''t give you a hand here, though I can give you a hint," the venerable master paused as he added, "each pillar is a weapon in itself. As long as it isn''t fully turned to darkness, this weapon can attack those trespassing onto it. to trigger that you will need to use a special kind of arrows, made entirely of light energy plus a tinge of our clan bloodline."


    The voice paused here and said no more. The next moment Arthur took out a large pot filled with blood, a special kind of blood. "Such as this, master?"


    "Good lad, that''s exactly what you need. I will leave all the instructions needed to craft such arrows in the ground here. study them well and follow my steps, and you will have a chance."


    "Thanks a lot for the help again, master. I won''t disappoint your expectations and will be met again for a hundred times more," Arthur bowed his head, and the next moment the ground filled with bodies of dead dark mages and warriors showed a big movement.


    It felt like a huge finger was drawing something on the ground like a stick drawing on sand.


    Arthur waited for a couple of minutes before the master finished, then he put a drop of blood over the pillar, headed to the distant warehouse, endured the pain and withstood the huge influx of energy.


    The moment he reached the portal, he stood there just a single step away from it, cancelled the transformation, and started channeling the energy towards his garden.


    The moment he felt the whole place was shifting, he took the step into the portal, while his mind rumbled.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment he was expelled from here. However he appeared in the great map, standing on top of a dying black star.


    "Let''s see if this succeeded," he mumbled as he closed his eyes for a second, entered the heavenly garden and checked it. The first thing to welcome him was the mighty sounds of explosions and rumbles occurring everywhere, particularly towards the newly added piece of forest to the garden.


    "Great, let''s see if they made it to here," he muttered as he shifted his gaze towards the distant part of the six forest, seeing a large number of villagers standing inside the defensive shield he made. They were harmless, and their numbers were so huge, counted in hundreds of thousands.


    "If I could amass all the villagers from each pocket world, hehehe," he laughed as he was feeling very greedy and so much excited at this moment.


    He came here with only a hundred mages, and now his city had reached a million citizens, and would grow more in the next few days.


    "Let''s not waste more time, to the next world then," he opened his eyes after imaging the map in his mind, to see the whole place clear again. He headed straight towards the nearby star, where Tina was responsible for clearing.


    The moment he appeared in the warehouse, he heard the high sounds of fighting everywhere. "It seems it''s quite hot in here," he sneered, before changing into a dragon, heading straight outside.


    He glanced first at his foremost important target; the pillar. It was standing still, with many dark forces defending it. "It will sustain for days if left alone." This was good news for him, as he wanted to take his time collecting the precious loot of the outside world.


    He took six hours to reach the portal, and there he found Tina fighting all the mages and warriors, without laying down the seal. "Sigh, I knew she would prefer to kill them with her hands," he shook his head as he knew how frustrated Tina was for lacking achievements so far.


    "Oh, you finally came," she said with a happy full of pride tone, before spraying another ice breath towards the warriors and mages coming in from the outside world.


    "Nice work you did here," he lied and praised her, or else she would keep breaking his plans to prove her worth later on.


    "Oh, thanks," she showed a ferocious expression over her dragon face, however Arthur knew she was smiling in satisfaction. "Come, we have work to do," he said, while falling directly towards the portal.


    "Oh, we are going to kill them outside? That''s more I like it!"


    "Sigh," he only sighed, and the next moment he came out from the portal. What welcomed him wasn''t a huge cluster of towns and villages, or a mine, or even a forest; it was a very large, stretching to the horizon on every side, training a military camp full of endless warriors!

 Chapter 253: Trouble Looming in the Distance

    "Yes, this is such a grand welcoming party worthy of the two of us, hehehe," Tina said the moment she appeared in the world with him. The two dragons appearing here was such a shock that made the world usher under complete silence.


    "Let''s retreat," he suddenly said, as he knew how hard and difficult such a battle would be. She was about to argue, but he instantly entered the portal while a huge ruckus erupted behind him, with many shouts erupted and most of the repeated one sentence in his ear before disappearing ¨C formation!


    "Why did we retreat? We can kill them easily and gain a lot of warriors!" Tina appeared behind him. He sighed, as he knew she must be annoyed by this retreat, but this was the best solution he had right now.


    "They have huge numbers, very organized, well trained, and they were all ready for battle. Believe me, if we were facing them dispersed without an order then I wouldn''t hesitate to advance, to kill. But they were ready to activate their nasty formations."


    He tried to reason with her, but all he got from her was silence, with some mumbling angry words that he couldn''t make anything of. He didn''t delay this time and activated the sealing array Tina had already planted around the portal, then headed back to the pillar.


    "Can I kill them while you destroy the pillar?" she asked as they kicked off to the distant pillar.


    "You killed enough, plus wasting any effort here is pointless; this world is mine now. save your breaths for the next worlds, we still have a long list to cover."


    "Oh, you reminded me, sure I can wait till I reach the next world and vent all my frustration there." she said in a vicious tone that made Arthur shake his head, helplessly, feeling how poor lucked those in the next world were. "Do you want me to enter the world outside and control it until you come?" she asked, and her question gave him a scare.


    "Absolutely not!" his answer was definite and direct. She wasn''t wise, she was rash, with the thought of her being outside like the last situation made him quite worried on her. "Never go outside alone without me, NEVER!" he stressed again on his words, as he didn''t want her to think this was a simple order, with no big consequences coming from breaking it.


    "Hmm," she nodded with a tone that expressed how depressed she was. "Don''t be so sad, we will go to the next world and have much fun, I promise."


    He then went to the pillar in five hours, and he didn''t intervene with the battle, leaving Tina to have her fun here and at the distant warehouse. He had already explained to her what she had to do after killing all of them, and she waited for him at the portal, while he dropped a blood over the pillar.


    The venerable being appeared again, however he didn''t speak. There was nothing more to say, and he just glanced, watching this young lad doing his best to stand against the dark side, a side his ancestors long belonged to.


    As before, Arthur dropped his blood, endured the influx of energy as he went directly towards the portal, where Tina was waiting. "Go!" he shouted as she passed the portal while he cancelled the transformation and started channeling the energy.


    "Rumble!"


    With the rumble, he took the second step to leave the world, and the next instant the world itself disappeared to be linked to his heavenly garden.


    The next moment he appeared at the map, where Tina was standing still, waiting for him. "Done?" she asked, and he just closed his eyes and pictured the map to unlock the fog completely dissipating it.


    "This way," he said while jumping over her back. "Sara is this way?" she asked, and he just patted her shoulders to make her move towards the next star, leaving behind a dying star.


    As they reached there, the world wasn''t that much different than that of the previous two. Arthur and Tina followed behind, moved towards the distant portal.


    As they passed the pillar they found Sara had already sealed the portal and was waiting for them in the vicinity of the pillar, circling in the air.


    "You sure took your long time to come here," she complained the moment she came near them. "We have a new mission we need to do," Arthur said, while Tina started narrating what happened in the previous world, complaining as well for the bad decision Arthur had made.


    However, from the words of her Sara could tell Arthur had done the right action back there. As for Arthur, he kept flying without saying or commenting on the two girls'' gossip.


    They took around five hours to reach the portal, where there were only monsters and a sealed portal, with no trace of anyone else there. "When you came here, did you find an army?" he asked.


    "I found a large number of weak humans, that''s all," she replied and that made Arthur smile. The number wasn''t the issue, but the total strength. "It seemed I will have another huge population boost this time," he muttered with a loud laugh that echoed like a roar.


    He then descended, deactivating the formation, before a large number of the warriors and mages came to face them out of the portal.


    "Ignore them, let''s see the world outside," he simply said as he went directly towards the portal, totally ignoring those new enemies.


    The moment he appeared outside, he found himself inside a large town, surrounded with a small number of towns and villages. They weren''t the huge cluster of villages and towns he was looking for, but they must have a decent amount of warriors and villagers to annex.


    "Let''s divide a¡­" he was about to finish his words when Tina roared and went at once to the front, killing as many warriors standing in front of her path!


    "Just don''t over kill them, and target those of the Dorfis clan first," he shouted while sighing. His soft sigh came as a mighty roar, while Sara came to stand by his side, in the middle of the air. "Quite energetic, isn''t she?"


    "Yes, but she might get herself into trouble if not restricted."


    "Don''t worry, I will be by her side," Sara then moved, heading directly towards Tina, who was now filling the whole world with her loud roars and mighty icy breaths.


    In less than an hour, everything was settled. Tina killed many warriors, including those of Dorfis clan, and that made others so terrified from her, hurriedly announcing their surrender and allegiance to her.


    However before she could enjoy this moment of glory, Sara interfered, corrected the mistake of the warriors and villagers, declaring the real lord they should follow.


    "Tsk, can''t you let me enjoy one moment at least without stepping in? annoying like him, tsk," Tina said while flapping her wings, moving higher, further away from Sara and Arthur, feeling much discontent.


    "Despite the two had many differences, she and the scorpion queen share the same bloody nature," he sighed to himself while watching her soar the sky, while circling around the place, looking and wishing for any single resistance here to attack.


    "Listen up¡­" Arthur then started addressing his new people. After proving he could remove the tattoo easily for them, they all moved and hurried to join him through the portal.


    Arthur was interested in the main warehouses here, and he was led to them by the leader of this cluster of villages and towns. Arthur didn''t remember his name, as this place had no special craftsmanship at all, they were all miners! And this place was built around a special kind of ore, very rare, very precious.


    "The origin ore," he mumbled to himself the moment he heard about that ore, and that made him reluctant, very, to leave this place and retreat.


    However, when he knew there was a nearby main fort to the Dorfis clan here, he didn''t delay and gave the villagers and warriors three hours to wrap things here.


    He stood in front of twenty warehouses with their defensive shield shattered by the combined effort of Tina, Sara, and him. when he entered there, he found a familiar warehouse to the ones he had seen before, and this one was filled with ores.


    "It''s like the one we initially conquered," Tina muttered when she glanced at one side of the long rows here. "Not quite different or special than the other one."


    Her comment made Sara and Arthur speechless, as they both knew how important this ore was, each in his own terms.


    "Bring your men, carry every single piece of ore from here to the portal, and don''t be late, three hours only," Arthur turned around as he gave his instructions to the man leading the place here. he then went to the portal with Tina and Sare, established a defensive formation around the portal, enough for it to sustain the large number of villagers, warriors and ores.


    "Are we going to hunt down ores now?" Tina asked, as she felt great pride in her own achievement in this battle. "We will take anything that''s useful," Arthur replied, before heading towards the pillar and the two girls went behind him.


    The mild tension between Tina and Sara didn''t amend itself, as they both flew in silence, giving Arthur a chance to reflect over his current situation.


    This mine was located near a local fortress belonging to the Dorfis clan. That meant they would definitely be alarmed by what happened here in a short time, alarming the head clan, making the future confrontations hard and challenging.

 Chapter 254: A Mysterious Castle

    Arthur didn''t care much about the next confrontations. He just hoped he would take much more of pillars before the clan would take note of his actions.


    "If so, then I can fool them," he muttered as he decided to change the play ¨Cfor a little.


    He then let Tina kill the mages and warriors here before he took the pillar like usual. When he appeared on top of the dying black star, he had made up his mind.


    "No, we aren''t going to continue that way," he said, stopping Sara from moving towards the next star.


    "Why?" Tina asked.


    "Just a little change," he paused as he was checking the whole map in front of him, "to be much safer."


    He didn''t explain more, as he chose to go the opposite direction of here. The stars were grouped into major three, and he decided to attack a couple of each group, randomly and without order.


    This was to inflict more chaos to his enemies, making them unable to read his next move, unable to fortify every single pillar, and if they did their support would be stretched out.


    "This way," he said, moving out towards the distant stars in the opposite direction. The two followed his direction, while he rode over Tina''s back, glancing over the whole map.


    He was thinking of this map, all these stars and roads connecting them as a giant spider web, and he would be the spider to eat all of his enemies.


    To do so, he was now visualizing the steps he could take, anticipating their actions and behavior, so he could choose his next step wisely.


    "Spread, scatter, confuse, and conquer¡­ that will be my strategy here," he muttered to himself while the two girls went to the star he selected.


    "Like usual," he whispered to the two girls, as they moved to the side while he used the sealing runes to set up a formation around the portal leading to the main clan. Then he used a small fragment of the heavenly treasure, divided it to yield two small fingernails pieces, planted one in the warehouse, before leaving the place with the girls.


    "This one," he selected another one, slightly away from the first star. He did the same there, before retreating and pointing to the previous direction of the twenty stars as he said:


    "Let''s go back."


    The girls followed his instructions, despite not fully understanding what his real intentions were.


    "Tina will come with me, Sara, you go inside and do as we agreed upon," he gave his instructions to the two, changing the order of their attack.


    The two girls nodded, before Sara went towards the star he selected, and then Tina led him into the pocket world.


    He did so to confuse the enemy about their ability to hunt down the pillars. He wouldn''t set a definite pattern for his movements, so he wouldn''t be anticipated.


    Speed wasn''t the issue anymore, pattern, deceiving the enemy about his abilities were the more stressing issues right now; and he was trying his best to make his enemy confused.


    The moment he went inside the world, he was met with loud noises of battle. "Fly towards the portal," he said, and Tina took him towards there.


    Throughout the journey, he didn''t speak much with her, as he delved with his mind inside the heavenly treasure, making sure his two gained populations were safe.


    What surprised him was that they didn''t only stay inside safe and sound, they had the time to construct some villages and live there happily without any problems. Arthur forgot about the time difference between the two worlds, and it seemed during his hours fighting and moving from world to another, weeks or even months passed upon the villagers inside.


    ''As long as you are safe nothing matters,'' he thought to himself when he checked upon the group of villagers he most cared about, those craftsmen who could make weapons.


    Even inside the heavenly garden, they didn''t stop looking for ores and made many weapons. Arthur was speechless as he didn''t expect his garden to contain ore veins as well!


    ''Great, it seems I don''t need to take all of them out.'' He thought of the time factor inside the garden, making him consider leaving them inside, to make as many weapons as they could.


    And for the ores and other materials, it seemed he didn''t need to worry about these anymore.


    "The portal is there," Tina said, disturbing his line of thoughts. The moment he glanced at the portal, he felt something was odd.


    "Where are the reinforcements?" this wasn''t only his question, but also Tina was thinking the same thing, as they both glanced from the distance over the completely still and silent portal.


    "Were they killed by the monsters? We might have come late!" Tina muttered, however Arthur knew something wasn''t right here.


    "The portal is already sealed," he muttered as he sensed the portal and found it completely closed. "Who sealed it? you?" Tina asked, while Arthur just shook his head. "It seems they did," he said, as he glanced back towards the pillar direction.


    "Want to go back and ask them nicely?"


    "We don''t need to waste time, we can simply ask those in the outside world," he then pointed to the ground, "take me there," he ordered.


    Tina landed on the spot he selected. "It''s a strange sealing formation," he muttered after observing the portal from different places for an hour. "It might be more than just a sealing formation then," he reached this conclusion as he sensed the fluctuation of energy around the portal, caused by more than one source.


    He took his ores and tools. "No matter what, all will be weak in front of a fiery destruction formation, right?" he then started to make many groups of runes, each formed of nine ores grouped together to form one rune, and each nine runes were grouped together to form one group.


    And he made eighty one group of such runes. The runes had the words Break, Fire, Destroy, and Unseal, making him produce eighty one group of each word.


    "I''m ready," he said to Tina after distributing the runes into two intersecting nine headed stars, "we might face some angry folks here."


    "Then let''s fly and wait for them to calm down," she paused before adding in her ferocious manner, "or do you prefer for me to kill them?"


    "Just rise," he said after burying the last rune underground, putting his blood over this last group, and then activating the formation.


    "Rumble!"


    As he jumped on Tina''s back, hurrying her to rise, the portal shook massively, as a huge fiery wave erupted from it, taking the portal as a centre, before spreading for miles around it, killing any monster or tree in the way.


    "Wow, your formation is so mighty!" Tina roared happily as she watched this devastation caused by his formation.


    "It wasn''t supposed to do that," he muttered, with some loss and confusion. his formation was supposed to attack the gate, crushing the formations sealing it, moving inward, not outward like this.


    "There must be an explanation," he muttered, before watching the fire decreasing in intensity before gradually dying down.


    It took half an hour for the fire to disappear and the ground to cool down. "Where are those angry little humans?" Tina asked in a frustrated tone, and Arthur just shared her confusion, not frustration.


    "Take us through the portal to see what''s there on the other side."


    Tina took him fast towards the portal. the more he appeared next to it, the more he felt strange currents of energy flowing chaotically around the portal, sometimes flowing in, sometimes flowing out, like a breathing pattern.


    "Is there a huge monster on the other side?" even Tina noticed it, asking him this question. "We will know the answer right away," he replied, while preparing himself for a grand fight.


    The moment Tina passed through the portal, the two of them were ready for a brutal fight, however what welcomed them was a strange tranquility.


    "Weird, where is the monster?" Tina asked, "where are the warriors?"


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t reply as he glanced around him, sensing the energy flowing in the place. "Chaotic, angry, resentful," he muttered before glancing towards a distant direction, where a veil of white fog covered the top of a low mountain. "So they are trying to drain your strength?" he softly muttered as he was attracted to the distant mountain.


    "What are you mumbling about? Huh?"


    "Let''s go back, there is nothing for us here."


    "What about the monsters? What about the warriors?"


    "Just go now, I will explain things later."


    Unwillingly she returned back inside the pocket world, where she flew again towards the pillar. She kept asking Arthur about what was there, but he kept his silence.


    What he felt out there was a disturbed angry flow of energy caused by the mighty clash of two titans; two grand formations.


    He didn''t know if the castle he saw was surrounded by pillars or it was sealed and they were trying to unlock the seal. "Either way this castle held something important for them, so it''s only polite of me to come and claim all the pillars," he muttered to himself with shining eyes.


    "Again?! Are you going to ignore me forever like this? I''m mad at you, if you care!"


    He was jolted awake by Tina''s voice. He just patted on her smooth scales on her back while saying:


    "I do care, very much actually. Just be patient, a huge meal for you is on its way."


    "Meal? What? Hurry and tell me¡­ I like eating a lot!"


    "Sigh!"


    He sighed, while leaving her making a fuss over what he said, wrongly interpreting his words for another meaning.


    What saved him was the appearance of the pillar, where he turned into a dragon, let Tina loose over the mages and warriors down below, before moving to obtain the pillar.


    Once more the venerable being was summoned, and he just glanced, said nothing, and even Arthur felt a satisfying glance in the two giant eyes.


    "Let''s go," the moment he appeared in the map world he jumped over Tina''s back and headed straight towards the next star. At this point, Arthur decided to clear all the stars surrounding that castle first, before heading back towards the two stars at the opposite side.

 Chapter 255: The Sky Castle

    The next star was the one Sara went into. Arthur directly entered the star with Tina, and as they were moving towards the distant portal, they found Tina hovering over the pillar area, doing nothing but killing some warriors and mages running here and there every once in a while.


    "You finally came," she sighed the moment she spotted him on the back of Tina.


    "What are you doing here?" Tina asked, before Arthur could say anything.


    "The portal was sealed already, so I came back."


    Tina was about to speak when Arthur patted on her head. "Let''s go, things are much more complicated than you think."


    Unwillingly, she flapped her wings fast and strong, feeling some discontent for stopping her in the middle of her words. Arthur didn''t want to speak here, near the warriors and mages, as they might be alarmed with his goal and might do something to the portal. after all the seal was laid down and controlled by them.


    During the flight, Arthur narrated simply what he found, kept his theories to himself, while ending his words by asking:


    "Was there such a strong sealed place in your days that held great treasures?"


    "Hmm¡­ There was no such thing back in my day, so it must be the work of the latter generations. But why do I have no collection about it from those old hag memories?"


    "Don''t stress yourself, after all this old hag was so small compared to the whole world."


    "Who is this old hag? Huh?"


    Arthur only sighed while Sara repeatedly said the story about how she came back from the world of the dead to here. the distance remained from the portal was filled with the long and stupid debates between the two of the girls about who had the higher moral right here, Sara or the old hag Sara!


    And Arthur just kept his mouth shut, refraining from entering such a mess!


    He took this time to make runes for the sealed portal. He knew how important his runes were, and it seemed many of this Dorfis clan''s strongest weapons were negated easily by his runes.


    So, he decided to take the journey to and back from the portal each time to make runes ¨Cdifferent kinds of runes, and as much as he could make.


    "Here is the portal, how can we unseal it?" Sara said suddenly, interrupting the concentrated work of Arthur on the runes. he glanced at the distant portal as he muttered:


    "I will deal with it," then he looked at Tina beneath him, "take me there."


    He pointed towards a direction where he started to lay down his breaking array. In half an hour he stood over the last place of buried runes, dropped a blood drop over it, and activated the array.


    "Rumble!"


    Like before, the whole world shook, and a gush of wind erupted strongly from the direction of the portal. "What a mighty effect of such a small array!" Sara remarked with surprise over her face.


    "I know, right? I also was astonished the first time I saw this!"


    "It''s not caused solely by my array, it''s the strange sealing mechanism here and its effect over the castle out there. let''s go!"


    Arthur led the two girls outside while Tina was mumbling something about his bias towards her, which he completely ignored.


    "That''s impossible! The sky castle is still there!!!"


    The instant they went out of the portal, Sara paused in her place, while her eyes never moved away from the distant mountain veiled in fog and that distant blurry castle outlining appearing from this far.


    And she just muttered these words.


    "Castle of the sky? What is this?" Tina asked in a hurry the question Arthur had in mind, so he remained silent, listening to Sara''s words.


    "It''s one of the most sacred, most secret places of our world! there is no way they could learn this easily from the absorbed souls. We all have a banning array around our souls protecting such precious info. They must have found it by chance, sigh!"


    "Is it a treasure?" Tina asked again.


    "It''s a sacred place holding the most valued treasures ever, but don''t ask more as I can''t answer any."


    Tina was about to ask again, enjoying this feeling of superiority that she lacked, however Arthur just patted on her shoulders, silencing her, while she mumbled something like her usual.


    "I want to ask three things, and I think they aren''t related to the sealing you have," he said, trying to reassure her, "is saving this place worth it for me and my still new empire? If I saved it, will this be a good blow to my enemies? I came here feeling the strange and weird nature of this region, but I couldn''t ascertain why the energy was so chaotic here, and how the sealing process even worked. I even can''t tell the array used to seal it or the array used to break it!"


    His three questions were thrown at Sara, who just stayed silent, as her mind was retrieving distant memories, memories she thought she would never recall!


    "It''s very crucial for you to gain what''s inside if you want to build an everlasting empire," she started replying by saying these non-specific words, yet she replied on his, "and for sure, without me knowing any details about their hideous wicked dirty plans; saving here will deal a devastating blow to them!"


    Her tone was very resentful, while her glare over the distant castle was filled with determination. "What about the sealing mechanism here?" he demanded.


    "I can''t tell you the details of it, sorry," she said shaking her head, "but I can correct your mistake here; it''s not an array at all, it''s a design, a ground buried natural energy flow design."


    "Fey Lines design!!!" he was extremely shocked, as this didn''t even cross his mind at all. "Can you feel the Fey Lines? Are you a Few Lines master?" he asked with tone expressing his current mood.


    She turned to glance briefly at him. "So you call it Fey Lines design? Noted, but I''m no master of this. In fact in each generation only few, really few gifted people would have such a talent," she said.


    "Sigh," he sighed, as this was also the case back in his previous cultivation world. "It seems those masters are really gems buried scarcely in the mountain," he whispered, while glancing at the distant castle as he added:


    "Let''s go, we know what we have to do here, and we have to act fast before the Dorfis clan sends out any reinforcements."


    The three returned to the pocket world, while Arthur kept working over his runes, Sara went silent thinking about the sky castle and what lies inside, and Tina was the only one free, not knowing what to do, so she decided to waste her time humming a tone of a song she once composed.


    "A storm is coming a couple of scales away


    A love is lost instead to live and stay


    A choice is blamed for this hearsay


    A heart was broken


    Be beyond any amendment it possibly may."


    She kept humming and singing her own composed songs and tunes, making Arthur think of her beautiful figure again, walking slowly and leisurely in the paths of a large palace, his palace, while she kept singing and jumping, humming and dancing like a beautiful little fairy.


    "Should we split?" Sara asked the moment they appeared in the map world again, standing over a dark dying star. Arthur was there next to them in his human form, saying as he jumped over Tina''s back:


    "No need, we will hit one world after another together."


    The arrangement he used before was to save time, but now all he needed to do was to unseal the portal, claim the pillar, and move to another world.


    And just like this, the next ten worlds had these simple arrangements, where the time was lost only during their to and fro journey. But Arthur used this time to make more runes.


    When they entered the thirteenth world, they found different things here; there were reinforcements!


    When they moved towards the distant portal, the three noticed a couple of hours away from the portal the presence of a huge number of warriors, moving unhindered by monsters, protected from them by their grand formation.


    "Oh, finally! This is what I call an enemy with some balls!" Tina said as she didn''t wait for Arthur''s consent and dived towards the shields and the warriors. Arthur hurriedly picked his tool and runes, jumped off her back, turned into a dragon midair, before flying upward, leaving Tina to have all the fun she desired.


    She was restrained for all this time, and it was only normal to let her vent some steam over these warriors and mages.


    "Have they realized what we were doing and sent reinforcements this fast?" Arthur muttered while looking at the huge number of warriors and mages here, protected by density array shields. Each array needed ten thousand dark warriors and mage to perform, and in front of him he had at least dozens of these shields!


    "I think they are the force entrusted to this crack the sky castle," Sara replied before glancing at the portal, as if she was seeing through it towards the outside world, "this means this is the last node of this dark clan, and crushing it will set the sky castle free."


    "Can''t I take it?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there before hurrying to ask.


    "It requires a soul bloodline of the royal families to carry the castle away, and it''s your lucky day that I''m, was a princess, and the royal blood runs deeply in my soul."

 Chapter 256: Summoning Scorpion Queen Again

    Arthur didn''t fully understand the concept she was speaking about, but as long as she could take the castle away, then he wouldn''t mind the means.


    "Let''s ignore these warriors here and go to the other side," he said, as this pocket world was considered now his own. Wasting time on these warriors and mages wouldn''t help.


    The two nodded as they followed his lead heading directly towards the portal. the portal seal was now broken, and this was due to the imbalance caused by the destruction of all other twelve nodes by Arthur and his two companions.


    They passed without anyone to stop them, as everyone was already busy maintaining the shields up and defending against the crazy monsters. The moment Arthur passed the portal he was met with a surprise he didn''t expect.


    "Oh, so you are really in collaboration with the dark clans here," he laughed and his laughs appeared as mighty terrifying roars.


    The portal led to an open space of land, void of any tree or green, to let these warriors and mages build their facility here. In front of him lay a huge town, apparently hastily built as the walls and towers looked quite rudimentary in comparison to what he saw before.


    As for the inside of the town, it was full of one story high wooden shacks, making him feel this was closer to being a military camp rather than a normal town.


    However in the centre there were many traditional town buildings, towering to five and seven stories in height, making him quite sure they contained all the war provisions, weapons and tools.


    The portal was away from this large town by a couple of miles, however the distance was filled with a large number of warriors. Amidst them, Arthur manages to spot familiar faces of the great clan teams who entered the contest with him.


    There were many teams already here, and that made him surprised at first, then quite pleased; he could now kill those enemies and traitors at the same time, reducing the size of competition.


    "Do you know them?" Tina asked as she watched many mages turning into monsters ¨Cground monsters.


    "They came in with me, and it seems they have some relation with the dark clans here."


    "Do you want to avoid killing them?" Sara asked, as despite her anger for people supporting those dark invaders to her world, she didn''t want to make Arthur angry as well.


    "Nah, I want them all to die. Let''s play as usual, and leave only those surrendering warriors alive. If those mages surrendered, kill them nonetheless."


    His words were orders for the two, and these orders just came to satisfy their needs. As there were so many, numbering in hundreds of thousands, and there was a huge town behind, Arthur decided to take his queen out to play.


    "Finally! I thought you totally forgot about me!"


    The moment she appeared, she killed some mages and warriors first as she complained loudly to him.


    "Your strength is lacking, but here you can have some fun."


    "Kill without restraints? Torture without limits?"


    "Do as you please."


    "Hehehe."


    She was like a lionese let loose over zebras; attacked here and there, threw poison darts using her two huge tails, and even smashing monster shifters and warriors underneath her huge body.


    She simply was like a walking killing machine!


    "Who is she? She seems quite barbaric!" Sara remarked as she was using air attacks to kill everywhere.


    "She is a pet of mine," Arthur simply replied, as his hands were tied, fighting with many warriors defending the main gate and walls of the town.


    However, in front of his eroding terrifying fire nothing could last forever!


    He could simply fly over the walls and attack the main camp, however he knew that over ninety percent of those hundreds of thousands here were already forced to be here; enslaved.


    And so, with his ability to free them, they weren''t enemies in his eyes. Instead, they were a very fat tasty piece of cake that he wanted to eat.


    "Focus on the leaders of this huge army, and don''t prevent anyone from entering the portal," Arthur shouted from the top of the crushed walls and gate to his followers. He wanted to crush the leaders fast, as this would make the rest surrender, and he would win it big this time, as usual.


    "I can''t get satisfied with the population and warriors, sigh!" he sighed as he felt some sense of guilt to be greedy, however in the next moment he shook this feeling as he rose to the sky again and took a large tour around the place.


    Away from the central buildings, everywhere was filled with normal freaked out warriors. He ignored them as he trusted the three out there to be enough to kill the outer leaders and terrorize the helpless warriors.


    As for the real leaders, those high up in ranks and leading everyone, he would take the responsibility to face them head on.


    And as he approached the sky of this central cluster of tall buildings, the retaliation of those in the ground began!


    "Swoosh!"


    Long strong looking arrows were launched from huge ballistae on the ground and on top of these buildings. Their numbers were large and they appeared so sudden, trying to surprise him.


    However he already had these ballistae and knew how difficult it was to face their darts head on; so the moment he spotted them he started to evade!


    The easiest thing to do was to fold his wings, downward his head to head like a rock towards the ground. Just doing this made him avoid most of these arrows, while some started hitting his strong body and thick scales.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Wow, they learnt how to make explosive arrowheads, and it seems to be much more advanced than my primitive approach," he marveled the arrows hitting his body and exploding, despite feeling unsightly from each hit, but he wasn''t quite injured so far.

 Chapter 257: Leave this Bastard to Me!!

    "You attacked and hit me, let me attack and hit you then," he sneered as he was seeing this as a silly game; with the victor already determined.


    He suddenly unfolded his wings, spreading both of them wide and sustained the heavy resistance of the air, making his body fly higher for tens of meters before stabilizing and floating on the air like he was surfing the water.


    And the next moment, he unleashed his channeled energy inside his body, spraying fire over the surfaces of the buildings and at the ground, setting fire over all his visible enemies to him.


    He could simply turn this place upside down with fire, however he wanted these buildings intact as much as possible. After all the presence of such a force with these ballistae here indicated the large size of war weapons they already had!


    "Tina, come and help to control my fire," he shouted without looking at her, as he kept attacking here and there, while the attacks over him began to decline fast. In the next couple of minutes, Tina appeared and used her icy breaths to put down the fire, preventing it from spreading over the whole place.


    Despite doing that, many parts of the ceiling of these buildings cracked and crashed on the ground, revealing the wonders stored inside.


    "A treasure of war weapons, hahaha, I''m really lucky, hahaha!"


    He laughed evilly while his roars shuddered the hearts of his enemies. The first clash yielded in many casualties in the lines of his already scarce enemies, and when he thought he already had it under his control; a monster suddenly appeared in the place.


    It was a hideous shaped monster, five heads like tigers, two bodies merged together near the tail, five groups of claws, one pair of long wings, covered with strange sharp feathers, acting each like a thin pointed long needle. As for the whole body, it was covered in scales, partly, and parts weren''t, with deformed wings, scars and bruises all over its large body; the monster he once saw pictured in statues was real in flesh in front of him.


    And it was coming to kill him!


    "Leave this bastard to me!"


    As he was prepared to receive this disgusting monster, this loud shout came from behind, thundered in the whole place, as a huger winger tiger moved with a great momentum, glaring eyes, averse thick finger-like veins all over her body. Sara was coming, and Arthur saw it was appropriate for her to kill this monster.


    So he retreated, giving space for the two to fight while he led Tina to clear the rest of the area of any remaining resistance. The fight ended on the ground fast, but the battle on the air seemed to take longer than Arthur expected.


    It wasn''t because the two sides were equally matched, however it was due to the fact Sara was brimming with extreme hatred and anger; so she used this monster, her most dreaded enemy, to vent on her welled up anger and frustration.


    So she toyed with him, toyed in a way that made the scorpion queen be marveled with her as she muttered:


    "This tigresse lady is something, I must befriend her and learn some of her vicious nature."


    Arthur just sighed, and didn''t comment, while he took this chance to cancel his transformation, landing over the back of Tina, while addressing the hundreds of thousands of surrendered warriors underneath him:


    "I won''t say much, I killed those who enslaved you, and I can prove to you that I can remove any curse over you and others. Surrender and be ready to join me into that pocket world, or else stay here and live as slaves forever."


    His words were perfectly heard, even amidst the wild screams that were full of sadness and hatred coming from the distant battle. The warriors exchanged glances and Arthur didn''t waste anymore time as he went down, selected the warrior randomly and erased his cursed tattoo in front of everyone.


    The reaction he received was expected, as whispers started to spread, and after ten minutes, most of the warriors started to march silently towards the pocket world.


    A couple of tens of thousands remained behind, making Arthur sigh. "It seems some people got used to living in bad conditions that they couldn''t even recognize the blessing of being free, sigh!"


    He could easily kill them, but he saw them as pathetic as walking dead, without any soul or ambition. He sighed and just as he was about to order Sara to wrap things up, one warrior stepped forward, knelt on the ground, as he loudly said:


    "Esteemed lord, you grace in saving and freeing us is such a blessing we can''t reject or pay back except with our lives. However we aren''t the only ones enslaved, we came from many towns and villages in this huge region; and we ask for your mercy to extend over our families and friends as well."


    "Oh, so that''s the case then," Arthur smiled wryly, as he thought they were pathetic masochists, but they were thinking of their people. "How long will you take to bring them here?" he asked, as he couldn''t wait for so long here, or else the clan might send a huge army; an army the three of them couldn''t face alone.


    "We need a day at most," the warrior said. just before Arthur could refuse, as this was such longer duration than what he had in mind, Sara''s voice echoed from the distance as she said:


    "We need two days to finish our business here."


    Her words were the final call here, as Arthur didn''t know taking possession of this castle was this hard, requiring such a long time. "Alright, you heard the lady. Go and bring everyone, bring everything, and spread the words out there fast. In less than two days, I will move out from here, and won''t return ever again. whoever wants to be freed must catch up before that."


    "Thanks, thanks my esteemed lord and my esteemed lady for your generosity and benevolence," the warrior kept thanking the two and behind him everyone else repeated the same words for a couple of minutes until Arthur waved his hand for them to stop and start moving.


    In the next minutes they all moved away, and in less than an hour, the whole place was dead silent, except for the repressed screams of anger and pain Sara was releasing from time to time while hacking in brutality the weakened, about to die, body of that hideous monster.


    "Is it alright to let her do that?" Tina softly muttered as she observed the fight for a couple of minutes and couldn''t keep watching anymore. Unlike the scorpion queen who was glancing without blinking over the fight from its start up till now.


    "Let her be," Arthur glanced for a while towards Sara before sighing, "she deserves to have her revenge in her own way. Come, we have a huge place to sweep clean until she finishes the fight."


    His eyes shone brightly as he greedily glanced at the nearby partly ruined centered region; picturing all the precious weapons and gears inside, making him drool over them.

 Chapter 258: Taking All the Warehouses

    He moved with Tina towards the nearby buildings. The central area was formed entirely of large buildings, five to seven stories tall, numbering around fifty, with the size of the large warehouses he was now quite familiar with.


    Once reached a building, he entered it. huge war tools were lined in complete form, one after another, to fill the area of this spacious warehouse.


    "They are huge!" Tina remarked while Arthur was just grinning from ear to ear. "We need to take them all," he said before thinking about the time and effort needed to do so. "Didn''t I take a warehouse before?" he thought to himself, recalling the supply tent he had once acquired from the small military camp in the mountains.


    "Let''s go," he said to Tina as both headed to the outside. "No harm in trying," he encouraged himself to get over the bitter potential loss of all things inside if he didn''t manage to pull this trick.


    He put his palm on the building before closing his eyes and tried to take it inside his largest storage item he currently had; the heavenly garden.


    "Rumbl!"


    The building twisted and rumbled for a moment giving his heart a scare there! however in the next moment, and as he opened his eyes, he was so pleased to see the whole building was gone, leaving behind a large empty area with some wooden remains dug deeply in the ground.


    He closed his eyes again, and when he entered the heavenly garden he was welcomed with a mighty wave of roars and rumbles. Explosions were still going everywhere as the garden was purifying piece after piece of the dark forests he added to it.


    Despite all this time, not a single pillar was purified so far! There was one pillar that the garden reached, but it left a small dark area around it before going on to purify the remaining vast areas of its forest.


    "So the garden has to first completely purify every single piece of land before purifying the pillars," he sighed as this would take longer than he expected. He moved his glance to spot the warehouse he just took, standing proudly near the centre of his garden, just next to the remains of the slain guardian of the garden.


    "Good, now I can instantly take them all!" he smirked evilly and greedily moved to one warehouse after another, taking a peek inside before taking the whole building inside his garden.


    Despite the large size and spacious area of storage inside each building, he knew that the war tools there were huge, taking much of the space inside as they were fully assembled.


    That meant the total number he would gain from them wouldn''t be much, but it would be enough to fortify his city and make it impregnable.


    He spotted trebuchets, ballistae ¨Clarge, intermediate, and small. He also found some catapults, dart carts, large bows, siege towers, even gate smasher carts were found as well.


    "They came quite prepared," he muttered as after he finished taking everything, he glanced over the distant castle, feeling how much important it was for the clan to take such lengths to attack it.


    "Roar!"


    Sara was still busy venting off her anger and frustration over that monster, and Arthur didn''t hurry her, not yet. "Let''s go back," he said as he jumped over Tina''s back, and she flew towards the portal.


    There, they found those who surrendered were gathered together, forming many small protective shields to shield them from the crazy monsters. As for the armies he passed by during his path to here, most of them retreated, and joined the surrendered forces.


    Most, not all, as there were two armies still walking in the distant horizon, wanting to go to the pillar forces and support them. "You go and kill these two stupid groups. Aim for their leaders and if the others surrendered, make them retreat to here," he said as he jumped off her, turned to a dragon, and dived deeply towards the ground.


    "Sigh, always giving me orders and nothing else, tsk," she groaned but he totally ignored her words. She was quite ambitious, and greedy like any dragon. However he wasn''t obliged to listen to her words, demands, or complaints.


    As he went down to establish a protective shield around a suitable area for his new warriors to live, putting into account the incoming huge number of villagers as well, Tina started her barrage of attacks over the two shielded armies, while venting her own frustration over them.


    He just kept doing his own task, ignoring the brutal fight she was having with those two armies. Each had ten thousand warriors at least, making him not quite interested in gaining them all right now.


    The number of warriors alone in front of him were in hundreds of thousands, making his vision towards the numbers of the warriors change dramatically.


    "Done!" he smiled as he had finished laying down the shield, only needed to be activated by his drop of blood. "Are you finished?" he turned to ask Tina, to find her returning with less than half of the initial numbers of the two armies.


    He shook his head and said nothing, as this was an acceptable result, and insignificant loss. "Go inside, hurry and don''t waste my time anymore, or else¡­" she shouted at the warriors and they shivered out of fear before running over towards Arthur. As they entered the shield zone, he dropped his blood, finally activating the barrier, feeling like closing the barn door over some cattle.


    Let''s go back, it''s time to head for that castle," he said as he jumped over Tina and both went through the portal and appeared at the other end of it.


    As they left the fight going on, they returned to find it still continuing. Sara was so careful not to directly kill it, and even this monster''s pleading for mercy and offers to surrender and shift sides didn''t convince her to stop or even to show him any mercy!


    "Wrap things up, we need to move."

 Chapter 259: Acquiring the Castle of the Sky Successfully

    "Wrap things up, we need to move."


    Arthur shouted at Sara to make her glance back with a glaring look at him. "It''s not the last one you will kill, so save some of your hatred for the rest," he said as he took back the about to complain scorpion queen, who was having the fun of her life watching this brutality.


    "Tsk, alright," Sara unwillingly agreed as she dealt a deadly blow to her foe before leaning over its body, took the head of it, stored it inside her storage item, then flew following Arthur and Tina.


    "Couldn''t you take much more time? I didn''t have much time for revenge!"


    Tina was the one to turn and glance over to her; eyeing her with a weird look. Arthur just shrugged and said nothing about her words. "How can we take this castle away?" he asked, as this topic was the thing he needed to concern himself mostly right now.


    "It''s simple, we just need to take a tour around the castle, where the defensive arrays main nodes are; then I will insert a wisp of my soul into each node, then the castle will be ours."


    "And you won''t tell us anything about this legendary castle?" Tina asked, prepared to go on a long fight with her. But, Sara was now having some inner peace after venting over that monster, so she was generous and didn''t follow Tina''s trap. "You will know everything soon," she simply replied like that, ignoring the mocking tone in Tina''s words.


    "Do you know the places of these nodes?" Arthur asked, ignoring this girls'' fight.


    "Well, this might be a slight problem," Sara muttered, "the nodes keep changing their location constantly so no one could tell any outsider about their places."


    "No pattern?"


    "Not one, all random."


    "Sigh! So how do you plan to find it?"


    "Simply by using the most basic technique," she giggled and said no more. Arthur just glanced over her, and sighed again. it seemed the last fight had changed something in her personality, making her less restless and quite collected.


    They flew for hours heading towards the castle, which greatly astonished Arthur. He thought the castle was quite near, but he was proven wrong!


    "Let''s stop here, it''s a suitable distance," Sara suddenly said, as she stood in the air, flapping her wings, while glancing around her like she was looking for something.


    "Anything?" Tina asked, in an annoyed tone as during the flight she tried to tease Sara more than once but failed.


    "¡­"


    Sara didn''t respond, and after a few minutes she moved towards a certain direction before cutting a small wound using her claws.


    "Sizzle!"


    The moment her blood dropped off her wound, a sizzling sound came from the front, like thousands and thousands of lightning arcs were heading directly towards them. Arthur was prepared for any fight, and Tina was just glancing at the scene with a mocking look over her face.


    The next moment the sound stopped when a strange deformity occurred in the air in front of them, showing a large mouth, a mouth Arthur was so familiar with.


    "Isn''t this¡­?" Tina asked, and Arthur just patted on her head to shut up. The two mouths were identically the same, but this one was made out of pure light, while that of the enslave curse was made out of darkness.


    The two were the same, but completely different!


    The mouth opened widely as it engulfed her blood and then it vanished in thin air like it wasn''t there a moment ago.


    "Let''s move to the next node," Sara said, while moving to the east. Tine raised her head in question and Arthur just knocked on her with his fist. "Follow her, c''mon," he said.


    Tina just mumbled something as she went directly after Sara.


    What happened here happened one hundred times! They circled around the castle, and the area they covered was really vast! As Sara said before, they took two and half days to finally complete a whole circle.


    And when they did, nothing happened!


    "Is there anything wrong?" Arthur asked as Sara stood silent for over an hour now, glancing stubbornly towards the front without taking a single step forward.


    "This castle¡­ sigh!" she only said that before turning to face Arthur as she explained:


    "The next generations changed some of the rules. now they don''t only need a royal soul bloodline, they also need a royal soul!"


    Arthur glanced at her without understanding her meaning ¨Cagain! she noticed his bizarre look so she explained:


    "They need someone currently ruling over a territory! I no longer rule over anything, so I can''t crack this stupid shield and obtain the castle!"


    Arthur understood her meaning while Tina jumped her butt; as usual, as she hurriedly said:


    "Why are you so sad? We have Willy here, he is more than enough to complete this condition."


    Arthur glanced at Sara, as Tina also did ¨Cboth with skeptical looks. The hesitation Sara had made Arthur doubted her intentions. She didn''t intend to give him the castle, or to be specific the entirety of it!


    "That''s not the issue!" Sara said in a defensive tone, "If he wanted to crack the shield and obtain the castle, he has to own a huge storage item, something that will only be made out of pure light energy, or else the castle will backlash and attack him, nearly killing him! it''s risky, quite risky!"


    Arthur and Tina exchanged silent glances together; it wasn''t apparent if her worries were real or fake. However, either way Tina knew well enough that Arthur could easily accomplish this task!


    "Is there any other condition?" he calmly asked, trying to prevent a faint smile from appearing over his face.


    "No, but this condition is nearly impossible! You need to have a place that can hold the whole vast space of this castle and the lands we just took over two days to circle around! And would be made entirely of pure light energy!"


    Arthur didn''t speak much as he simply asked:


    "What should I do?"


    "Are you crazy or what?!!" she bellowed at him, and this time it was Tina who replied to her, with a sneer:


    "Don''t belittle your master tiger girl, he is much more capable than you think!"


    Sara glanced at Tina then at Arthur to realize he had something to satisfy the needs of this shield. "Sigh, alright, you need to drop your blood and the final node will come to ingest, test, and approve or kill you."


    She said while moving to the side, clearing a path for him to stand in her initial place. He moved, and stood in a different spot before making a wound over his body with his wing claws.


    "Rumble!"


    This time a huger mouth made out of pure golden white light came to swallow his blood. The next moment a rumble occurred, and the castle with the whole place around it shook, to be covered in a thick veil of fog, before everything became unclear in front of his eyes.


    ''Your artifact!''


    Suddenly this venerable monotonous voice rang in his mind, and instantly he muttered:


    "My heavenly garden necklace."


    ''Drop your blood drop over it!''


    The source came again, instructing him what to do. Just as he was about to wound himself again, as his previous wound healed itself, the mouth opened wide and the drop it took before came out.


    Arthur understood the meaning of it, and thus he put his returned drop with a drop of his own blood as well.


    He wasn''t sure if this was right or this was a trap, but he wouldn''t lose anything to be more cautious.


    Nothing happened next except for the mouth to move directly towards the necklace, vanished into it, taking the whole castle along with it.


    "Sigh, so you actually had something to take the whole castle; impressive!"


    Sara muttered, and her tone expressed how depressed she was. Arthur just glanced silently at her before she added, after noticing the direct doubting and questioning glares of Tina:


    "I just wanted to obtain this sacred heritage of my people; what''s wrong in that?"


    "You belong to my man, and thus anything you have belonged to him as well!"


    "He isn''t yet¡­ my man as yours!" Sara refused to retreat this time, and like that the two girls returned to fighting each other using words once more.


    Arthur wasn''t in the mood to listen or intervene between them; as he closed his eyes and started observing the heavenly garden and that huge new territory added to it with such a grand mountain and huge castle resting over its peak.


    "The mere sight of it rings bells of lost memories of my sect, sigh!" he shook his head before heading directly towards the castle. "Let''s see if you deserve all this fuss or not," he muttered as he started diving deeply into the castle, exploring each inch in it.

 Chapter 260: Ringing the Bell

    The whole world inside his heavenly garden was very chaotic, filled with sounds of explosions and rumblings, but not inside the castle of the sky territory he just added to the garden.


    The castle was added on the outer region of the garden, separated from its centre by a double layer of dark forest. Despite that, the moment it appeared there it peacefully and completely integrated with the garden, and a shield was invoked around it to protect the inside from any noise or disturbance.


    "Sigh, it''s more like my old sect," Arthur walked as he had a melancholic feeling when passing through this invisible shield and entering a completely different world; full of quiet and peace.


    That was the case inside his sect, any sect back at his cultivation world. he glanced at that solitary peak in the distance as he muttered:


    "Are you a sect? really?"


    Despite the very low possibility of that, he thought of it while hoping to find it true. Finding a sect here wouldn''t only make him feel like being home, but he also might find a lead that would give him answers regarding how he reached here and the relation between this world and his past world.


    He was in ethereal form, where only his consciousness was there, so he flew directly towards the peak.


    This time he didn''t meet any resistance, any strange mouths or defensive shields. His path to the peak was unhindered, as he reached there and stood in place motionless for quite long minutes.


    In front of him, and from his current altitude, he was able to see the faces of a large number of youths; all were sleepy, peacefully, while their whole bodies were covered in a thick layer of white fog, like a casket.


    "What is going on here?" he muttered with shock in his tone as he continued to fly around the whole castle. The empty green gardens were filled with these endless white fogged caskets, these peacefully sleepy youths like they were dead.


    And with the eerie silence here, not even the sound of a wind, he felt he wasn''t in a castle, he was in a graveyard. "Should I go out and ask her?" he muttered before deciding to take a tour first.


    The castle resided to occupy the total surface of the peak of this mountain; so it''s space was really vast! He took half an hour to tour the whole opened places, and around three huge central buildings that were connected together, dozens of large gardens stretched from these buildings towards the distant high walls and towers.


    He glanced at these three central buildings, and decided to take a tour inside.


    The main one was ten stories tall at least, with a pointed tapering dome that seemed to cover one third of this building. Four cylindrical towers extended from each corner of this square-like building, with a wide stretch of stairs that led to the main door of the building; the only door in the three buildings!


    "So, I have to enter through here, but isn''t this a bell?" he noticed the presence of a rod hanging down from the ceiling covering the ten meter space in front of the door.


    He looked up and found a small rounded bronze bell hanging in the base of this wooden ceiling. Instinctively he held the rod and shook it, and the next moment a ringing sound rang in the whole castle; the first loud sound ever since ancient times!


    "Oh, it''s in ethereal form, hmm¡­ interesting!"


    Suddenly Artur felt himself being sucked inside the door, with everything around him spinning with no end for a few moments, before this strange voice came saying these words.


    And Arthur opened his eyes!


    He was on the ground, inside a medium sized room, full of books, tables with books, and even a small wall library on each wall filled with books!


    "Wow, have I been sent back home?!" he muttered the moment he saw this bookish mess, as his own dwelling in his past life was similar to that.


    "Let''s see, Arthur is your real name, but you came from a cultivation world. you took over this owner''s body in a fate guided way, making you far away from the dark ways. Great, you are a friend then."


    Arthur turned to see his speaker, to find an old man sitting behind the biggest desk in here; with many books covering it. "Who are you?" he asked.


    "You can say I''m someone doomed with the insight to the future; a foreteller of the past," the man simply said, introducing himself in this vague manner.


    "And your name?"


    "Alex, but this name will be long forgotten at the place and time you came from."


    "Ok Alex, this isn''t real, right?"


    "This is a projected dream where I can see a glimpse of the future. You were summoned to my dream so I can have a nice chat with you."


    Arthur digested what Alex told him and he found it strange to believe, but he had seen a lot of strange things in his entire life, so it wasn''t that hard to accept. "You left a way to contact you from the castle in the sky, why?"


    "The castle is our last remaining fort from our time in yours. I have seen the demise of my civilization, the massacre those invaders did, and the dark future our people will have; a slavery system, that''s what they will get, sigh."


    Arthur felt the bitterness in the old man''s voice, and he couldn''t say anything to reassure him. in fact what Alex said meant perfect sense already, as everything he said came to happen indeed.


    "I summoned you today to entrust you with the offsprings of our powers," Alex finally started to speak about the reason he summoned Arthur here for. "Inside the castle of the sky you will see many youths, sleeping since ancient times."


    "I have seen them, who put them there?"

 Chapter 261: The Dragonair System

    "Me, and anyone who will inherit my will and position in the upcoming long years before invasion," Alex said before pausing as if he recalled something unpleasant.


    "Since the day I have seen the vision of that dark future, I wracked my mind and finally found a glimpse of hope," he added with a calm smile over his face.


    "The castle of the sky?" Arthur asked.


    "In you," Alex calmly corrected him, "you will lead a grand move against those dark forces. Not only here, but everywhere your feet touched a place; making you the nemesis of the dark forces, a rogue dragonair who abandoned the long and dark history of his ancestors for the total good in the world."


    Arthur was feeling uncomfortable, being seen naked like this without a single secret he could hide. However he knew this wasn''t real, or at least this wasn''t in the present time; this was in the past, distant past where all the people knowing his secrets will be long dead.


    "Since the day I found and saw your deeds, I decided to attach the hope of our people on your path. So, I started looking for youths, exceptional ones, with many abilities and powers that they excel at; and I used a technique to make them sleep without aging inside the castle of the sky, waiting for you, waiting for their savior."


    These words finally lit the light over the scheme of this old man, rendering Arthur speechless. He didn''t know the magnitude of this man''s words, and so he couldn''t feel happy or excited about it. "I can''t promise you anything," he said, trying to clear his stand here.


    "I know, you are still in the process of evolving, however I can present a gift for you, something you will be very grateful to, and let''s consider this as a down payment for our agreement."


    "A gift?" Arthur asked with shining eyes. "What gift?" he demanded.


    "Inside the heart of the castle lies a very unique thing, an ancient creature that once visited our world in its early steps. It lived there for tens of thousands of years, taught humans, taught us, everything we currently know. Without it we couldn''t reach to the stage we have right now."


    Arthur stayed silent for a moment, not knowing what is the relation of this creature with the gift Alex was speaking about. "Why don''t you ask it to protect you from the invaders?" Arthur asked, as from the words of this old man he could be certain this creature was like a god to them.


    "Unfortunately this creature got aged, and now it''s in a deep slumber, a slumber that will last for a hundred thousand years," Alex sighed a long a deep sigh that gave Arthur the feeling how tired and hopeless this man was.


    "In fact I can say that the slumber of our mighty creature caused the demise of our people; all lost compass, all started to act selfish, and that made us decline instead of growing up."


    Arthur kept his tongue, as he knew the evil inside many people. Without a strong power to lead and unify, many would seek power and authority out of their greed.


    "What''s the relation of this creature to me? to my gift?"


    "The creature is really too old, and before it went to slumber he informed us that when it wakes up, it won''t be the same! It won''t be able to survive on its own, so it asked us to prepare a mighty youth, someone we can entrust it to."


    Alex paused here and said no more, and Arthur didn''t know what to say. This old man was telling him that he would gift him their mightiest creature, the one mind that made all this possible. "Do you want it to be my bet?" he asked, as this was the only thing he could think of right now.


    "No, it''s not a pet. You can''t pet it even if the two of you wanted to. This creature is so strong that your body can''t handle it," Alex replied while shaking his head slowly.


    "Then what?"


    "Don''t be this impatient, it''s a new thing for you after all," Alex smiled as he took an orb and gave it to Arthur. "Here, I have stored what I once saw of your future," he said, and when he noticed the questioning look over Arthur he added, "just hold it and close your eyes."


    Arthur took the orb, examined it. It was a slightly cool globular small orb, possibly made out of dim white glass. He held it perfectly in his fist before listening to Alex''s instructions and closed his eyes.


    The next moment a scene presented itself inside his mind. He was standing there, in the ground, surrounded by corpses of hideous monsters; monsters like the one Sara vented all her anger upon recently. Arthur then knelt on the ground, touched a corpse with his hand, and the next moment the dead corpse shook violently and a grand change occurred!


    The deformed flesh full of blisters, bruises, and wounds started to change! The deformed wings repaired itself, got longer, thicker. The body covered in patches of ugly scales with many areas vacant changed, to be covered with a thick layer of skin, then thick magnificent scales started to add on.


    The head of this monster changed, the tail changed, everything changed in mere minutes, like this simple touch of Arthur wasn''t a human touch; but a god''s touch!


    "System, it''s ready. Inject the soul in it!"


    Arthur heard his own voice, not much different than the voice he had right now, while speaking to the air, like someone was already present there next to him.


    And weirder than that, the body of the monster that he touched, the dead monster''s corpse, jerked and vibrated, shook violently for brief moments before the monster opened its closed eyes, stood up with his large body, stood beside Arthur and bowed its head to him.


    A dragon was standing in front of his image, kneeling his head to him, lively like it wasn''t just a dead hideous deformed monster minutes ago!


    And the image ended as Arthur opened his eyes, feeling extremely shocked inside! He transformed a dead enemy of his into a perfect loyal dragon!


    "How could I do that?!!!" he asked the most stressing question in his mind right now.


    "It''s not you, it''s the creature," Alex smiled as he replied calmly as usual. "This creature had the power to change everything, and from this vision and others I had passed by before, I could tell you this will be your future self."


    Arthur glanced at the orb resting quietly in his palm before muttering:


    "This creature''s name is system?" he asked.


    "No, this creature new being with you will be called a system," Alex corrected, "and don''t ask about the system, as I don''t know much either myself. It''s a new brand concept, something never happened before in our world," he added, as he didn''t want to lie to Arthur or provide him with wrong intel.


    "But you know a thing or two, right?" Arthur asked, as he was sure someone with such a blessing, or a curse, would know many secrets.


    "Well, I can tell you two facts that I know about," Alex said without any delay. "The creature will be linked to your soul forever; if you die he will die, if you survive, he will. Also it will provide you with a certain path, an evolution path, like you used to call in your old world; a cultivation path. This path will be unique only to you, with no one able to mimic or learn from you, and you won''t be able to teach anyone the path."


    "A cultivation path?" Arthur muttered, as he was well aware of such terms used frequently in his past world. masters would teach their disciples cultivation based on their strengths and traits, calling this unique tailored cultivation a cultivation path.


    "Sure, it''s slightly like this, but much different in the details. You will be able to experience everything on your own, and I hope one day you will be able to turn our enemies into dragons."


    Arthur glanced again at the orb, recalling the shocking images of him rising the dead monster and shifting it into a lively dragon! "Will I be a cursed man who trespassed the dead and call them into this life?" he muttered softly to himself, however Alex sitting next to him perfectly heard his dejected words.


    "It''s not a cursed thing, it will be a blessing; a weapon that will make all your enemies shudder in fear out of fear," Alex paused for a moment before adding, "I saw you many times doing the same thing already, so I can be confident in my assumption and say clearly that this will be your special strength as a dragonair; a dragonair system, that was what you once called in one of my visions."


    "A dragonair system?" Arthur muttered before returning the orb back to Alex as he added, "I like this name."


    "Me too," Alex chuckled as he was happy his present had been well accepted by Arthur. "Now can we speak about your own demands?" Arthur asked, as he knew Alex had gifted him this mysterious gift in exchange for something.

 Chapter 262: Ding! The Dragonair System is Activated

    Alex kept his calm smile over his face while replying:


    "I just want something that will be beneficial to both of us."


    "The sleeping youths?"


    "They won''t be sleeping when you come back, and they were told to follow the one who will awaken them from their sleep; treating you as their lord and master to serve."


    Arthur didn''t speak for a while. For him this was a good deal indeed, where he wouldn''t lose anything and in return he would gain more of the talented personnel. "What''s the catch here?" he asked, as he was sure this wouldn''t come like this seemingly free meal.


    "These youths have great potential and talent, but they didn''t have enough time to train and grow. So, you will need to support their growth and help them evolve."


    Arthur knew the bad news didn''t come yet, and so he remained silent, letting Alex add his last hidden piece of bad news:


    "However doing so will instigate the wrath of the great clans in your current time. The sky castle is famous, very famous and the souls they disturbed and killed all had such valuable info."


    Arthur knew this was the bad news he was waiting for, so he didn''t speak again, letting Alex continue his own words. "I have seen bits of your future after having the youths; bloody and full of great wars! Your city will be subjected to relentless attacks even after leaving the world. so, I have another thing to ask."


    "Ask."


    "I want you to take them back with you when you leave here. if you left them here, most of them will be killed, and the future of our people will be lost."


    Arthur thought about it for a second, knowing he didn''t own the right to decide such a thing, so he chose to be honest with Alex as he replied:


    "Despite me wanting to do that, I can''t promise it. the decision of such a thing isn''t in my hand to make. Plus isn''t taking them away makes your world lose its future offsprings? They are the hope of your world, while many spilled their lives for them to live. It''s better if they continued living here, even if many died, they will know the cruelty of your current world and adapt to it."


    "Sigh, it''s not that simple you know," Alex replied with this long and deep sigh, "first you have the right to bring them, as from the moment of your return, they will be literally your slaves; and in your academy slaves are allowed to join their masters. As for the current world of ours, it''s beyond repair. The only hope is for you and them to leave here, get stronger fast in your own world, and then come back from time to time to rage wars and purify the present evil."


    His words weren''t easily refutable by Arthur, who remained silent for a long time thinking about this. "Will the great clans of my time attack my city?" he asked.


    "Each month a huge army will befall upon you, plus the small clan you live next door to it will start attacking you in a week or two from the moment of your return."


    Arthur went to silence again. if it was the middle clan of Dorfis then he was pretty sure of his current ability to crush them. however the great clans were something else.


    He knew that one army a month wasn''t much, giving him enough time to prepare. This time wasn''t given to him by the generosity of these clans, but because of the large distance separating him from the clans'' bases.


    So, after some defeats, and as the time of his departure would draw near, they would work together to form an army he couldn''t face alone! "The last battle will be tough, right?" he simply asked, as his line of thoughts led him to this simple conclusion.


    And Alex just nodded as he said nothing.


    "What''s the odds?" he asked.


    "Without the help of your dragonair system, your survival chances are low, pretty low."


    "My dragonair system?" he muttered, while Alex nodded as he said:


    "When you come back the system will be instantly activated. Try to follow and complete its requirements, and I''m sure you will gain a massive boost from these missions."


    Arthur didn''t yet fully understand the system, so he couldn''t evaluate the current situation he was facing. However, the gains weren''t that easy to neglect, and he was pretty sure after a few months, as his city would be fully built and more villages and towns would join him, he wouldn''t be able to lose, not this easily.


    He had many cards in hand to use, like the pets, like the monsters he left sleeping inside the mountains, like the huge arsenal he was currently having; plus the villagers he snatched from Dorfis'' claws and the new talents he would now acquire.


    "It''s a deal then," he finally expressed his agreement, while Alex showed a beaming smile. "I knew you would agree, and I hope you will make right choices and be bold enough so you will be able to live and thrive."


    Alex then waved his hand towards Arthur as if he was throwing something away. "Now go, it''s my time to wake up, and your time to return."


    "Wait, what about the books here? I love reading new books a lot!"


    "I have stored them all inside the castle, so feel free to check them when you have time. now go, you have many things to do."


    The next moment Arthur felt a repulsion force driving him away. He went inside a vortex of black and white, kept spinning there for an unknown period of time before finally opening his eyes, finding himself still standing on the doorstep of the castle.


    "Ding! The esteemed creature is bound successfully to your soul. From now on, he chooses to be called the system."


    "Ding! The system is exploring your memories to assess your suitable path of evolution."


    "Ding! The system found two paths for you; a cultivation path and a dragonair path."


    "Ding! Be aware that if you chose the cultivation path, you wouldn''t be able to get the help of the system until you leave this world and your past world."


    "Ding! Which path will you choose?"


    Arthur was tempted to choose his old cultivation path. He had reached the pinnacle in it, however the warning he received made him hesitant, plus the vision he had seen just now made him lean more towards choosing the dragonair system.


    As for the messages that kept ringing in his head, he didn''t expect the system Alex spoke about to be so noisy! Despite that he didn''t question the system about its existence, not yet, not now.


    "Ding! You have five minutes to consider, if not the system will choose by default what''s best for you."


    "I choose the dragonair path!"


    He didn''t want his path to be chosen by anyone but him, or else he wouldn''t feel true to it and always would be doubtful. Doubt was one of the most devastating feelings any cultivator would have! And as a past habit, he decided not to take such risk!


    "Ding! Dragonair path is chosen, the system is now activated, and the system will be called from this day forth the dragonair system."


    "Ding! The system won''t fully function now, as your own energy is so low. The system planned your future path of evolution, please accept the tasks and try to complete them in the shortest duration of time. to assign a new task just ask for it."


    Arthur reached a point where he couldn''t follow up with the system anymore. "What are tasks? What''s the benefit I will gain from them?"


    "Ding! Tasks are the nodes system had chosen in your dragonair path. Following this path, completing the tasks will give you great rewards based on your performance and the number of tasks finished in a certain period of time."


    Arthur wasn''t yet satisfied as he asked again:


    "So time is an important factor to you, right? And from where did these rewards come from? Can you give me an example of these?"


    "Ding! Time is the most critical currency in the world, in any world. completing any task won''t only give you rewards, but will also harvest part of the natural energy of the world, gaining more recognition of the world, and this energy and recognition are the most essential growth elements for the system and its host. As for the rewards, you can explore them by asking for your first task."


    Arthur was able to relay, somehow, to the words of the system. The natural energy of the world was the thing he used to care most when he was a cultivator. However since he came here, he wasn''t able to harvest any of it!


    "So I need recognition of the world first to be able to use its energy? That''s a first!" he murmured, before feeling some movements around him. he turned to see all the sleepy youths inside these strange caskets were now standing in front of him, gathering from everywhere, as they were now fully awake; just like what Alex told him.

 Chapter 263: The First Two Tasks Are Assigned to Arthur by the Dragonair System

    He turned to face these tens of thousands of youths, all ranging in age between twelve and sixteen. They all moved and gathered in front of him, looking at him in a silent manner.


    He thought of saying something, but before he could open his mouth, one of the youths said:


    "So this is the savior they promised us with? He isn''t that older than us!"


    He glanced at the youth feeling strange as he never expected to be attacked in the first meeting with them!


    "Yes, I can''t accept serving someone so young and looking weaker than us."


    "Let''s select our leaders from our own selves. I recommend we select those who had direct lineage with the emperors, kings, and queens."


    "Good suggestion and excellent words. those with royal bloodline please step forward, let''s select someone worthy, better than this clown!"


    Arthur was at first speechless, feeling lost here, but gradually he became angry as he realized the dirty play those in power of ancient times planned!


    Just as he was about to reply, try to find a way to kill this small rebellion in its infant stage, the system voice rang in his mind again:


    "Ding! The reward you were promised had been tainted by the ancient schemes of the old monarchs! Your authority is in question, and soon everyone will revolt against you. A dragonair is mighty, and in front of disrespectful folks, strength and brutality is the only answer. A task is assigned to you, please ask for it to view and accept it."


    "That seems quite appropriate. Show me the task."


    "Ding! The dragonair is mighty and his authority is the supreme task! The youths who should have been loyal to you are revolting. Diplomacy will fail, only strength and brutal strength will be enough to silence any second thoughts. You have the slave mark, but it''s not activated yet as they didn''t recognize you.


    The task is to use brutal force and start a massacre, killing at least one tenth of the population here and terrorizing the others.


    Failure to do the mission will result in losing the right to own these youths, making the future steps for you as a potential monarch hard and unpredictable.


    Success will grant you the youths loyalty, plus more of the world recognition, plus the rewards of summoning one thousand basic tier monsters of the ancient times."


    Arthur totally ignored the silly play going on in front of him as he marveled the task he had. He glanced at the rewards and felt some curiosity towards the basic tier monsters the system spoke of; were they like the monster in the world he came from? Were they ranked here like there?


    He glanced at those youths before asking:


    "If I killed one tenth of them, won''t that endanger losing some talents in the process?"


    "Ding! Don''t worry yourself, each talent has hundreds of candidates. Even if you killed half of them, you wouldn''t be at any loss."


    "Tsk, that''s a relief then. I''m sure she will love this," he smirked evilly and viciously as he knew how he would disciple these arrogant rebellious bastards.


    "Come forth!"


    The next moment, the scorpion queen appeared, with her great body and double tails, making her look really scary. She was still mad at him, as he stopped the amusing fight she was seeing between Sara and that hideous monster.


    She glanced at him, and she couldn''t speak now as he was in human form, but he pointed towards the youths who all got silenced by the sudden appearance of that scorpion as he said:


    "Go and kill one fourth of them."


    She turned her head to glance at those tens of thousands of youths, before turning to look at him again, with anticipating eyes.


    "Sure, you can play as much as you like. They were rude and they needed to be faced with the utter truth. now go, I will watch from the side."


    "Roar!"


    The scorpion roared, in a happy manner, before she jumped over the stupefied youths, and a massacre started.


    The youths tried to run, organize their lines and use their powers; however they were just awakened from deep slumber, and Arthur knew exactly how hard it would be to use one''s strengths after sleeping for a long time.


    He returned to the mansion, with the loud screams of pain, agony, and despair coming from behind him. He opened the door before entering inside the building.


    He was met by a wide hall, with many chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. The moment he stepped in, the chandeliers all lit up, lightening the whole place, making him smile with deep content and excitement.


    "All the walls are covered with books? that''s very generous of you old Alex."


    The walls were all covered in rows upon rows of books; he was inside a huge library. For some book nerd like himself, this was truly the biggest prize he could ask for.


    Just as he was about to go and read some books, to know what the ancient civilization was built upon, the system voice rang in his ears:


    "Ding! There is no time to waste in here. you must go out soon and start your next task."


    "My next task? So soon? The first isn''t over yet!"


    "Ding! Sigh, you used such a vicious means to discipline them, and soon they will all kneel and ask for your forgiveness. This task is considered over, and the time here will be wasted. Time is a golden essence, and you need to be more careful. your next task is selected, and you need to start it soon."


    Arthur was really skeptical about leaving all this book trove here and retreating. "What''s the urgency about the task?" he asked.


    "Ding! Open it yourself and see!"


    "Sigh, alright, show it to me."


    "Ding! The dragonair is mighty and he must reign supreme over the whole region task! Your enemies have caught wind of what you just gained here, and they asked the Dorfis clan to stand up to you for the next month until they can divert part of their strength to destroy you once and for all!


    The task is divided into many stages, and the basic stage is available to you now.


    The basic stage of the dragonair is mighty and he must reign supreme over the whole region task: You are in the middle of taking the pillars away from the Dorfis clan. These pillars are the main lifeline currently for the clan; taking them away will deal a great blow to their morale and strength.


    Task objectives: all the pillars must be acquired, all in less than a week period.


    Failure to do the task will result in a great increase in your enemy''s strength, great weakening of your potential growth, and the next battles will be hard and unpredictable.


    Success in doing the task will give you great benefits in population and war supplies, plus gaining the world recognition, plus a reward of an army of a hundred thousand of an ancient warring legion."


    Arthur suddenly got his attention towards this point neglected by him; Alex warning! His enemies rapidly knew about his deeds, and now they had sent the Dorfis clan after him to reduce his rising speed.


    "It seems I have to postpone checking out here for later," he sighed, before saying:


    "I accept the task, but I want to ask; why one week?"


    "Ding! The duration was selected based on the approximated time your enemies will move to attack your city."


    "Is it in one week?" he got an instant scare as his city was still in an infant stage, and he doubted in a week''s time he would be able to finish building it!


    "Ding! The attack will fall in two to three weeks max, so you have one week at least to return to your city and prepare things there."


    "Phew, you made my heart drop to my knees, system."


    "¡­"


    The system ignored his remark, and he had no time to waste now. he moved outside, closed the door tightly, before saying to his scorpion queen, who was very immersed in the joy of torturing those arrogant youths:


    "Stay here until you finish your assignment, then I will summon you out to play more."


    "Roar!"


    The scorpion roared happily in reply while Arthur opened his closed eyes, returned to the real world.


    In the real world, Sara and Tina were still fighting each other with words, making Arthur have some doubts.


    "Hey, how long have I been inside?"


    The two suddenly stopped fighting as they glanced at him in a strange way like he just asked a silly question. "Not more than five minutes, why?" Tina replied, while Sara sighed as she muttered, shaking her head:


    "You got the supreme treasure, what a regret!"


    Tina glanced at her as it seemed they two had quarreled already about this treasure. "I told you, he is your man, and anything good to be called a treasure should belong to him!"


    Sara lost all the will to argue with her as she just sighed, ignored Tina, as she turned to Arthur as she asked:


    "Are the youths alright?"


    "This is a long story, I will tell you about while we are on the way. Tina, c''mon here."


    Tina moved towards him and he just rode her before she and Sara flew back towards the place of the last portal. "Did you know about the existence of that treasure?" he asked.


    "Everyone in my time knew about it. It was a known fact that someone of the ancient dudes called Alex something built the castle and left a great treasure inside for the one who would come in the future and enter it. by the way, what is the treasure anyway?"


    He smiled faintly and said nothing, as he would prefer to keep the identity of the system hidden for now.

 Chapter 264: Facing the First Trap of His Enemies

    The three traveled back towards the portal. the place where the castle was now lied a normal stretch of the forest instead. Arthur glanced at the scene and found no mark or a sign of the presence of the castle for all so long. He marveled this as this wasn''t a normal work of an array master.


    "I must dig deep inside the library and take out all the array books to read," he muttered as he decided to focus more on the array knowledge, the most advanced knowledge of this lost civilization in his opinion.


    The journey back took ten hours, during which Sara tried more than once to pry over the secret of the system, but he totally ignored her. He even didn''t tell her anything about it being a system, making her curiosity unquenched.


    Since the moment he stepped outside the garden world, the system stopped speaking to him and he didn''t try to speak with it. so far he was yet feeling quite uncomfortable for someone to be inside his mind, knowing everything about him, and ordering him around.


    ''I have to find a way to assign my own tasks by my own will,'' he thought to himself, as this was the only thing he would feel comfortable about.


    ''Ding! When you are strong enough, you can do it. but now you are weak, so try to get stronger faster.''


    Arthur was speechless about the reply of the system, as he thought he had to speak out loud to communicate with it. ''Is this a complaint or a remark?'' he thought.


    ''Ding! It''s a desire and a goal.''


    The reply of the system made him quite comfortable, but not too much. At least he knew the system didn''t have that bitter personality, nitpicking on everything like an annoying granny!


    As for Tina, she once asked about this treasure, after getting her curiosity aroused by Sara''s persistence, but eventually she dropped it when Arthur evaded her as well.


    As they got near the portal, they recognized many silhouettes standing outside the portal, numbering in large numbers, with much more coming from multiple directions.


    "It seems they started to flood here not long after we left," Tina said as she saw some groups stationed near the portal, guiding people inside. "Will we move inside and close the gate?" Sara asked, as she didn''t want to remain here anymore.


    However, Arthur knew how hard the next fights would be, so he decided to gain every single ounce of strength he could, and not waste any opportunity no matter what.


    "We will leave and come back after finishing clearing the other four remaining pillars on this side."


    He made up his mind, as this place was like a treasure trove for the population he desperately needed. After all the earlier he finished building his city the better.


    The two girls didn''t object as they moved with him inside the portal. their appearance came to startle everyone, however Arthur spoke up while passing over:


    "Spread the word, I have extended the duration here for four more days. anyone able to catch up is welcomed here."


    He then entered the portal, while those standing over to organize the incoming migrants hurried to use their birds to spread out the word.


    Four days were a very good duration to let everyone around here move and even some distant villages and towns might come as well.


    As for Arthur and the two girls, they moved inside the pocket world, heading straight towards the warehouse, bypassing the pillar in the process.


    They didn''t stop for the pillar as they went to the star map, glancing at the last four stars.


    These stars were in the centre of this group, which gave Arthur some eerie feeling.


    "Shall we split up?" Tina asked.


    "I think we will find great resistance in these stars, so let''s stick together."


    His answer was the most cautious one right now. He knew his enemies were well aware of his motions right now, and it would be logical to anticipate their preparations for his appearance.


    The next pocket world was easy to handle, and it was in the middle of a forest, without any village, town, or mine near it. Arthur didn''t delay and took the pillar before appearing again at the star map.


    "That world was nothing, are you sure they will appear in the next stars?" Tina was still skeptical about this, as she wanted each to take one star to save time.


    However Arthur preferred to be cautious, as speed wasn''t an option here. "We will continue one star at a time," he said, before the three went to the next star and entered the world there.


    Like the previous one, it was easy to handle, and it was also linked to the middle of nowhere. Arthur was surprised to find two consecutive pocket worlds connected to nothing, making him wonder why they did it this way.


    At the third star, the moment they got near the portal, they found many warriors waiting for them there.


    They were numbered in hundreds of thousands, with many monsters working under their orders, protected from the effect of the heavenly rock shard by a protective array.


    "Oh, they are here indeed," Sara said, while giving Tina a side glance, while the latter just harrumphed. Arthur started to observe these warriors; they weren''t moving away from the portal but standing around it, blocking any possible way to enter it without attacking them.


    "Are they asking us to attack them?" he muttered, thinking about it before he shook his head, "if they are confident in stopping me, then let them try. Tina, Sara, you two will handle these warriors here," he said, before jumping off Tina''s back, finally had the time to stretch some muscles.


    "Roar!"


    And his dragon form appeared again after a couple of days without using it. "What about you?" Sara asked, as she noticed he planned something else.


    "I will go outside and scout the region. something seemed off here," he said before directly descending towards the portal.


    From just the arrangements here, he was pretty sure that these enemies wanted one goal; to delay his advance and buy some time!


    He was pretty confident that if he focused on killing these warriors, much more would arrive from the portal endlessly. So, he decided to cut the chase straight and head directly into the portal and see by himself what was going on at the other end.


    As he passed through the portal, he heard the attacks of ice and wind coming from Tina and Sara. He knew the couple were more than enough to deal with things here, and he was pretty confident in his ability to handle things on the other side.


    After all, his enemy wasn''t that confident about himself yet, so he was trying to stop his advance until his preparations would end.


    As he passed the portal, he exited it to find himself in a huge cluster of villages and towns, much more concentrated than the clusters he took so far.


    As he flew up in the sky, he saw the endless stream of warriors coming from everywhere, even from the horizon. "As I thought, they are trying to waste my time here, but why?" that was the question that rang inside his mind, making him decide to avoid attacking anyone here, and started taking a tour around the place.


    He flew a couple of times around the central large town, where other villages and towns were built and gathered around it. there was nothing wrong there, nothing to alert him, which was something annoying in itself.


    As he was circling for the fourth time, he noticed a warrior standing on top of a defensive tower, waving a flag right and left like trying to send a message to someone. As he took notice of him, and started heading his direction, the warrior stopped waving the flags, and then pointed the two flags together, pointing towards a certain direction.


    "Oh, you want me to go there?" Arthur muttered, while his words came as might roars. He glanced at the direction of the flags, and it pointed to a side of the cluster of buildings here, with nothing special about it.


    He turned to glance at the warrior again, seeing him changing the direction of a flag, pointing to another direction. Arthur also followed his guidance with his eyesight, to see nothing special as well.


    "What is going on here?" Arthur asked as he was feeling he was missing the point. And the warrior kept changing the flags'' direction one time after another.


    "Oh, it''s a formation!" the eyes of Arthur shone when the warrior completely pointed towards twelve directions before returning to the first point he started off again. Arthur then didn''t delay and moved towards one direction of the twelve this warrior had told him about.


    "So you are using an array, a grand twelve points array. But for what purpose?" he was feeling confused about the answer to this question, however he decided to keep going and check these places, stopping the plot of his enemies.


    After all, his enemies wouldn''t do something good to him.

 Chapter 265: A Task to Destroy the Dorfis Clan Stronghold

    As he flew towards the first point, he bypassed several towns and villages underneath him. this place was really clustered by many, much more than he got even from the previous clusters combined.


    Behind the large compound of the villages and towns, a forest lied up ahead; short thick layered trees that made the area look like being covered in green painting.


    "Where are you little rats?" he muttered to himself, as he went flying to the direction he was guided to. He knew that this warrior couldn''t open up his mouth, or else he would be killed instantly by the slave curse.


    Just as he flew for five minutes without finding any clue, he found the main place he was looking for! As of sudden, a small area of trees were cleared, showing a group of dark cloaked men working on some ores and a long flag with a word written on it.


    "Incinerate?" he muttered, before he decided to incinerate them down below with his fire. The fight didn''t take more than couple of seconds as his fire was really domineering.


    After killing them all he descended to the ground, where he found the ores and flag intact from his fire. "A life sealed array? No way!" he muttered as he took with him the ores and the flag to examine while flying to the next point looking for other spots.


    He took out one ore and carefully examined it, tried to smash it with his claws with no avail. "Sigh, it''s really a life sealed array. That''s quite disturbing," he muttered before putting the ore away, picking up the speed to find the next array point.


    The life sealed array was something famous back at his time, and quite rare indeed. It was a technique when making the array runes, linking them together with some sort of soul bond; so no one could destroy these runes unless they were grouped together as a whole and were crushed at the same time.


    "I just hope there won''t be some sly bastard here," he thought to himself, as the main problem was when a small group of runes, even if a single rune, was taken away by someone. That would render the runes indestructible.


    The next hour he consumed it in traveling across the other eleven points, killing all those cloaked dark warriors and mages he met, taking out all the runes with him, before finally collecting all of the runes and flags together.


    He returned to the centre of this huge cluster, which was surrounded by other scattered villages and towns in the distance. "It seems this is a very important place for the Dorfis clan," he muttered, as this looked like a slave colony, and finding a war camp nearby or a clan stronghold wouldn''t be surprising.


    As he stood in the middle of the sky, above the central large town here, he took out all the runes and flags and then crushed them all with his fire.


    "Sizzle!"


    They all burnt! Nothing remains except for that strange black and red smoke that rose in thick waves like the whole town was on fire!


    "This array¡­ it seems they planned something very dark this time," he muttered to himself, before shifting his glance towards the one warrior that helped him, the one who stood above the tower still, glancing over him without shifting his gaze anywhere.


    "I should ask more of him," he descended directly towards the man, and the moment he reached him, he cancelled his transformation. "Should I say thanks to whom?" he said first when his legs touched the ground of the tower.


    "I''m Erick, and our time is little. They are still out there observing us, and if they suspect my help to you, they won''t hesitate to kill all of us and our families as well."


    The youth who was slightly over Arthur''s age by couple of years said, hurrying in his own words, and didn''t wait for Arthur to speak as he instantly added:


    "There is a stronghold where many of Dorfis clansmen art stationed; their numbers are in tens of thousands and they have fortified their castle well enough. the array in your hand was meant to be activated several hours later, burning all of us here, creating a mighty wave of death directed towards the portal and the world inside. So, you have only these few hours window to save all of us here."


    Arthur knew his time with this youth was limited, so he didn''t hassle about anything and got straight to the point. "Why don''t you come inside the portal and I will seal it!"


    "We can''t!" the youth shook his head before opening an opening in the base of the tower, with a thick robe extended down all the way to the ground. "This isn''t our home, this is just the military camp dedicated to guard the ancient ruins on the opposite side. Our homes, families, friends, everyone will be killed if we go with you. We can''t!"


    He jumped and disappeared from the sight of Arthur while his sound vibrated through the deep tunnel: "You have to choose," he said.


    Arthur sighed, as this seemed to be a very hard mission to accomplish. Despite the rich meal in front of him, eating it would waste much effort and time, risking everything. He thought of the better choice here, to retreat, seal the portal and forget about this place like he once did with Tina before.


    However¡­


    "Ding! Erick has given you a chance to gain many benefits from here. The stronghold here is ranked third in the Dorfis clan; wiping it out will result in greatly weakening their strength beyond your imagination. The ruins this place is guarding had a very significant importance, not to Dorfis clan but to you."


    "Ding! A task is issued to you, and the system strongly advises you to take it."


    Arthur felt skeptical about this, but he was curious about this task so he shrugged and said:


    "Show me the task."

 Chapter 266: A Dragomancer Special Ability

    "Show me the task."


    "Ding! The dragonair is mighty, and he isn''t alone! The ability to recruit a grand army of dragons, reviving the old lost legend of the dragon clan is in hand! The secret lies in the ruins, and the ruins are tightly guarded by the army here and at the Dorfis stronghold.


    Cut the snake head task is issued for you to accept. You are asked to go and exterminate all of the Dorfis clansmen living in the castle in the north. Cutting the snake head won''t only help in securing the ruins, but will help you in acquiring many populations, a currency hard to find these days.


    Task objectives: Exterminate and control the Dorfis clan stronghold in the north.


    Task time limit: Six hours and thirty five minutes¡­ Tick tock¡­ Tick tock.


    Failure to do the task will result in strengthening the Dorfis clan stand, making them bolder in the next confrontations with you, plus losing the rare chance to awaken the dragonair special ability, and losing all the population and resources here.


    Success in doing the task will grant you a castle, large number of population and supplies, plus the activation of the dragonair special ability.


    Note one: Don''t leave a corpse of those monsters behind. Sweep the castle clean.


    Note two: Time is of golden essence¡­ Tick tock¡­ Tick tock¡­"


    He glanced with widened eyes at this task, and his mind had only one thing right now; that scene he saw while awakening the dead monsters and turning them into dragons.


    "May I ask about the name of this ability?" he asked, while holding his breath out of anticipation.


    "Ding! It''s called a dragomancer ability."


    "Meaning?" he asked again, greatly anticipating the answer.


    "Ding! Turning the dead into dragons."


    "Yes!" he shouted with extreme excitation while hurrying to say:


    "I accept."


    The next moment he didn''t wait for the system to confirm his acceptance, totally ignoring its words, as he turned instantly into a dragon, heading directly towards the portal.


    The moment he went inside, he saw Tina and Sara attacking the warriors. "You two, stop now and hurry up to come with me," he said before turning around and disappearing into the portal without saying any more.


    Sara and Tina exchanged silent glaces, before they sighed and moved after him. the moment they appeared outside, they were astonished to see all the endless warriors surrounding the place, and as they were about to attack these, Arthur voice came from far:


    "Not them, hurry and follow me, there is no time!"


    His eyes were fixed on two things only, a small map that the system provided of this region, where five locations were marked on it; the cluster of villages and towns next to the portal, the distant Dorfis stronghold, the ruins on the opposite side of the castle, and two more spots he didn''t know what they were.


    And he didn''t currently care, as his eyesight was focused on a small clock, ticking all the time while the seconds are passing fast like water. He knew the problem wasn''t in just walking there, but to be able to infiltrate the defensive arrays in time and kill everyone inside.


    "What''s all this about?" Sara was faster than Tina as she caught up to him. "Why are you in such a hurry? Is it a dangerous situation? Is it an opportunity?"


    "An opportunity!" he replied, before motioning with his head towards the about to appear in the horizon castle, "there is a great fortress of the Dorfis clan out there with so many of their kin. We need to kill them all!" he added, and at this moment Tina came as she weirdly said:


    "That''s great, I know, but why is the rush then? We can work our time to kill them without this tension!"


    He thought for a moment, searching for a suitable lie the two could buy, as he wouldn''t tell them about his system, not yet. "I cracked a very deadly array set around the portal, and according to the warriors there are more of these. The only way is to kill them all and we need to do that in less than four hours, or else these arrays will be instantly activated, creating a massive destruction that we might not be able to evade."


    Tina remained silent, while Sara said in a grave tone:


    "Describe this array for me."


    He smiled, inwardly, as he didn''t lie about the existence of the array. "Twelve points array, covering a grand distance, with a flag surrounded by a large group or runes, and all linked together by some sort of a bond. I couldn''t destroy them one by one until I gathered all of them and crushed them all."


    Sara''s face seemed gloomy as she asked again:


    "What is the color of the smoke that rose up from it?"


    Arthur was surprised for her to ask about this specific uncommon info, however he replied: "Dark and red, thick like the whole place was in fire."


    "We need to hurry then, this is the doomsday array, one so destructive that it was said it can destroy the whole world. if this is activated, even the three of us won''t survive its destructive force."


    Arthur was glad her words worked to support his lie, but he was also doubtful about the existence of such a terrifying array. "Who made such a crazy array?" he asked.


    "The old dude called Alex from ancient times. It was said he made it, hid all the info related to it or perhaps burnt it. There are only one hundred of such arrays, not big enough to destroy the world, but each one is strong enough to exterminate the whole region here.


    If my assumptions are right, then these warriors down there at the castle are preparing to evacuate here, and that means¡­"


    "There is a portal linking directly to the clan!" Tina said, with a look that expressed her worry despite being in a dragon form. "We need to seal it before they send more reinforcements to stall for time."


    "No, there is a better approach," Sara sneered evilly as she added, "We can look for an array, and send it directly into the clan after changing the ownership to m¡­ to master."


    She was thinking selfishly again, before she hurried to correct herself, however Arthur didn''t care about her mistake right now, as his mind was much interested in what she just proposed.


    "Interesting idea Sara, I like it!" he evilly laughed and his laughs showed up being mighty roars that reverberated around the whole world. He knew he lied about the presence of other arrays, but according to her words, Alex had stored the knowledge of these arrays somewhere not easily found.


    ''The castle of the sky!'' he thought to himself while heading straight towards the castle appearing in the distance. ''Sigh, there is no time for me to make this from scratch, I hope the old man had stored some of his masterpieces inside the castle,'' he then closed his eyes and glanced at the world inside his heavenly garden.


    It wasn''t a garden anymore; it was a huge region filled with many pillars and dark forests, monsters turning to light and dead soil turned lavish green once again.

 Chapter 267: A Mysterious Painting

    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Sounds of mighty explosions covered over anything else in this world. He didn''t have time to explore everything in detail, but he had a rapid glance over the whole garden, feeling somehow proud of what he did so far.


    The garden had expanded in size to exceed one hundred fold than its original size, making it look like a whole region. The pillars ¨Cespecially newly added one ¨Cwere still black, with large pieces of forests and huge numbers of monsters still covered in the dark; but he was pretty content with the purification pace of the garden.


    It might take months for the garden to completely purify everything, but he wasn''t in any hurry. He just needed some monsters, and good places to make the villagers here live peacefully without any problems.


    The time here was moving much faster than the outside, as the villagers he took had built real towns and villages, even some started to be pregnant and there were a wave of newborn babies everywhere!


    With no threat of any kind, and the presence of every man inside the village or town; this was the most logical result to have!


    Arthur just smiled before he headed straight towards the only quiet and peaceful place here, with the protective shields raised up like a huge sky covering the castle over the mountain with the forest around it.


    He passed unhindered and went towards the central building, however when he reached there he found a funny scene; the scorpion queen was sitting on guard to the door while all the youths were around here, massaging her body!


    "Hahaha, you are really enjoying your stay here, hahaha."


    His voice came to startle her, before she glanced over his dragon body descending from the sky towards the ground, heading directly to the door. "You promised to come and take me out but you totally forgot about me," she complained, and he knew the time here was moving much faster than outside.


    "I came here to bring you out."


    "A battle?" she jumped a little with her body, shaking off all the youths around her without caring, like they were insignificant insects. "Will I have fun like I did here?" she added.


    "Sure, just be ready, we will leave in a minute," he said, before hurrying to enter the building. He didn''t risk to cancel his dragon form, or else his outside form might be cancelled as well.


    As he entered the huge library, he was allured again with the huge number of books here, but he controlled himself while muttering:


    "The array has many flags, so it must be placed in a wide place to be enough to contain all the runes and flags."


    He then headed inside the building, for the first time ever. The library was huge, formed of ten stories tall, with levels full of books. "I just need a year and I promise to read all of you and memorize you babies," he said with a wishful glance over the books, like he was speaking to them.


    The first level was wide, but there was no place suitable to store anything in it. The whole ground layer was sectioned with long parallel walls, with enough space for him to walk between them with his huge body.


    He took roughly an hour, running between the sections, just rapidly glancing at them. He then flapped his wings and flew in the central large space, that extended from the ground level to the upper one, ending straight to the huge dome that had many paintings inside it.


    The second, third, fourth, and up till the tenth level didn''t have anything that could store a single array. He stood on the railing of the tenth floor, observing the dome above him before muttering:


    "So you didn''t save anything for me, old man! Sigh!"


    Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something strange in the paintings of the dome; there was a dragon! When he closely observed this, he found this dragon was identical to himself, like someone had drawn this image of time on this dome a long time ago!


    "Oh, Alex and his special foretelling ability," he muttered, realizing what happened, and then he started studying the painting with much care.


    The painting described the journey of a dragon flying between ten stories levels, looking for something, while this thing couldn''t be found. The last two images pictured Arthur standing on the railing, then flying towards the doom, before falling like a meteor towards the ground; making Arthur a bit confused.


    He glanced at the images again. "There is no doubt," he muttered, before he glanced at the dome, then determined the place he should be at before falling to the ground. "No harm in trying, right?" he then flipped his wings, headed; exactly like what was drawn in the painting, towards the highest points in the inner concave surface of this dome.


    Then he turned around.


    "Oho, you naughty Alex! You hid a huge underground basement with such an amazing concealment array!"


    What he found from his position was a flash of light, overlapping over a long transparent corridor, like a pillar descending exactly from his position towards the ground; where he spotted a hazy image of a room.


    Without any further ado he folded his two wings, letting his body descend like a heavy rock, exactly like it was pictured in the painting up above.


    As he descended to the ground, he marveled at the strength and uniqueness of Alex''s power, feeling the need to to search desperately and seriously for such a talent in this world, and the world beyond it.


    "If I have such a talent, no one would be able to stop me," he muttered while his body just passed the ground, through the opening there, to find himself in a spacious underground hall, that was connected to other halls through short corridors.


    The place wasn''t dark, as it was strangely lit up by the ores used to build this space, lightening the whole place like a fire in a fireplace. He smiled, as he flapped his wings and stopped his rapid descent, to stand in the ground, just a couple of meters away from it.

 Chapter 268: Breaking Through the Defensive Arrays Forcibly!

    The way of building and lighting the whole place like this made him feel somehow warm, like being home after a long journey outside. He glanced at the boxes packed above each other, in square blocks, with top of these boxes opened showing what was inside them.


    "All of these are arrays!" he muttered with disbelief, as he saw flags with runes gathered together in the boxes around him. He moved slowly towards one of the boxes, and tried to examine the array.


    "Hmm, each box had a drawing on it explaining its effect," he muttered as he noticed a small drawing on the outer surface of the wooden box. The drawing was a small dome surrounding a piece of land, explaining its effect. "A defensive array, let''s see the next ones then," he moved his wings towards the nearby boxes, and examined all.


    "So this hall contained defensive arrays only," he muttered after taking a random tour around. Every box he saw had the same drawing, with some minor changes in it. "Let''s see the next hall then," he moved towards the corridor, flying there until he reached an exact copy of the first hall.


    He went towards one of the boxes and examined the drawing on it; it showed the appearance of a huge arrow attacking an area, creating an explosion in it. "Such an offensive array is suitable to be situated on top of the defensive towers in my city," he muttered before taking dozens of these boxes, clearing out half a block. "They might be useful in destroying the defensive shields around that castle."


    He took them so he could hasten the destruction of the defensive arrays around the castle. He was fighting against time, and he needed anything to help. He then moved towards the next hall, as this one was filled with offensive arrays.


    The next one had offensive arrays too, forming a tornado of air around a certain place. He took a dozen as well before heading to the next hall; where he finally found what he came here for.


    "Finally found you!" he smiled while standing in front of a box with a drawing of a large area being on fire, while the wave of destruction was focused upon another area.


    This was similar to the description he had about the array from Sara, and when he examined the box, he found twelve flags and many runes.


    "Hmm¡­ I think using a single array isn''t enough, right?" He took dozens of boxes, clearing two whole blocks here. He glanced around the distant corridors, feeling somehow anticipated for the next halls. But he had no much time to waste!


    He simply opened his eyes, and found himself was about to reach the defensive array zone. "Just mere minutes here and I think I took around half an hour inside, sigh!" he tried to calculate the time difference and found it larger than he expected.


    "Are you finally awake?" Tina asked, as it seemed she tried to speak to him previously with no response. "We met some patrolling warriors, and we killed them all," she said when he gave her a questioning glance.


    "Then they know we are coming for them," he said with no worry or pressure at all. "Let''s not keep them waiting."


    In ten minutes they reached the area covered with defensive arrays. "Use your strongest attacks and let''s see how long this array would last for," he said to the two before channeling his energy and releasing it in the form of a fountain of corrosive fire.


    The two girls next to him also started to use their attacks, and the three started to hammer down the defensive array, trying to break it.


    "It looks sturdy!" Tina complained after half an hour, and Arthur knew this wasn''t a good sign for him. his mission wasn''t to destroy the array, but to kill every single one inside it. from his position he could see tens of thousands of warriors forming their own defensive arrays as well!


    "They are trying to support the arrays with their own!" Sara said, explaining their actions.


    "Stalling for time?" Arthur muttered as he realized that more reinforcements would arrive. "To activate the destructive arrays they had," Sara said, and he didn''t care to correct her mistake.


    "Let''s see then," he evilly smiled while stopping his attack, taking out one of the offensive arrays he got from inside the castle. "The arrow of destruction! How can you have such a monstrous array?!!" Sara suddenly exclaimed in shock and some tinge or terror the moment he took out the array. He glanced at her without saying a thing, as he didn''t know what her reaction would be when she learnt about the huge pile of these inside his sky castle.


    "Do you know how to use it?" he asked, as he had the array but didn''t know how to activate it.


    "Easy, you just put your blood on the array, and then use your fire to ignite it, before throwing the flags to the shield, just like the way of any offensive array in my world."


    Her words expressed how basic these knowledge were, but he didn''t know them. He wasn''t from her world. He did as she said, dropped a blood over the largest central flag, and the moment he did the flag shone brightly before it controlled the other flags and runes to stick to it.


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered before he channeled his energy and released it in a mighty fire wave.


    Strange enough, the fire entered the flag and never exited it; like there was a black hole sucking all of his fire without leaving a single strand astray!


    "It''s ready," Sara said in an obvious envious tone. She didn''t need to remind him of that, as the moment the array took enough of the fire, the runes and other flags started to melt and merge with the central flag, creating a huge spear made entirely out of fire; taking the same shape of the arrow Arthur saw drawn on the surface of the box.


    "Let''s see how strong you are," Arthur then stopped his fountain of fire, got hold of this spear, feeling nothing at all despite the scorching fire lurking in the shaft he was holding.


    "Boom!"


    The moment he threw it, he felt like a heavy pressure descended upon this piece of land, like the feeling when the eyes of the venerable master appeared each time he took a pillar.


    And then there was silence, followed by a mushroom cloud of light, with a mighty repulsive wave of dust and rubble, before a mighty deafening sound of explosion erupted.


    And a huge hole was presented in the arrays, extending deeply towards the ground, where a deep pit was formed in a large diameter, exterminating a huge number of warriors with their arrays.


    "W¡­ Wow!" Tina was speechless, stupefied by the mighty effect of this array, while Sara only marveled the scene she once experienced in her life, and that memory was never erased from her mind.


    "We can do it," Arthur just smiled in content, as now the biggest hurdle against his task was successfully eliminated. "Let''s go, kill anyone you meet," he said before descending fast towards the ground, followed by a dragon and a winged tiger.

 Chapter 269: Gaining A New Temporary Ability

    The three descended smoothly through the forced opening in each defensive array, making them reach the ground at the base of the castle without any interruption.


    However Arthur knew the real fight would only start right now! and he never intended to waste his time dealing with these warriors around them.


    The three''s appearance came to startle everyone, however, as Arthur expected, the leaders of those here were really experienced, as many shouts started to appear, gathering everyone together, and making them shift all their focus over the new enemies.


    And instantly the three were surrounded by tens of thousands of warriors, all using the defensive arrays, to block the path for the three to move.


    "Should we attack left?" Tina asked.


    "Or right?" Sara added.


    "Neither," Arthur shook his head, before he simply closed his eyes and went inside the heavenly garden necklace around his neck. He wasn''t alone, as he collected a lot of population already, and many of the warriors who took all the time inside to rest, train, and grew stronger.


    "Listen up, this is your lord, I need your help, I''m fighting the now Dorfis clan, can you fight against them with your slave tattoos?" he asked as their answer would determine everything.


    "We can''t," the answer came from the different regions he had and that made him open his eyes, cancel his transformation, as he jumped over Tina''s back as he said:


    "Buy me as much time as you can," he said, before closing up his eyes again.


    He had a theory he wanted to put to test, if he owned the garden, was the overlord there, then couldn''t he just push himself further and start freeing the warriors and villagers en mass?


    This was something he needed to test, and currently it was the best time to test it. The moment he entered the garden, he went directly towards the oldest pillar he took with villagers and warriors. "Stay still," he simply ordered before trying to channel his strength, expanding his awareness to cover a large number of them, locating the tattoo and trying to burn it.


    The first group he tried upon were a hundred, he selected randomly, and when he tried his approach, he was welcomed by the system voice:


    "Ding! Do you want to kill the tattoo and free them?"


    Arthur didn''t proceed with his approach, as he asked:


    "Can you help?"


    "Ding! Sure, but this won''t be a rewarding task, but if you use the approach frequently then I can turn it into an ability for you to use."


    Arthur was very content with the offer of the system, so he didn''t delay as he replied:


    "Agreed."


    "Ding! The sprout of the ability of killing the cursing tattoos is temporarily activated. Anytime you want to use it just say the magic words."


    "Which are?"


    "Ding! Are you stupid?"


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t know what to say, as he was surprised by the reply of the system. He sighed, as if the system was a being he wouldn''t hesitate to punch it on the face. "Ok, use the ability now," he muttered, while keeping his anger away.


    "Ding! A hundred people were freed. Next time of use the number will be two hundred."


    "Use it again."


    "Ding! Two hundred people were freed. Next time of use the number will be three hundred."


    "Use it again."


    "Ding! Three hundred people were freed. Next time of use the number will be four hundred."


    .


    .


    .


    "Use it again."


    "Ding! Twenty thousand people were freed. Next time of use the number will be twenty five thousand."


    .


    .


    .


    "Use it again."


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a hundred more times will make it a permanent ability."


    "Nice," Arthur smiled, as after so many uses of the ability, freeing two groups of villages and warriors so far, he was able to reach the ceiling of this amazing ability, and now he was able to make it permanent.


    However using it for one hundred times was something he couldn''t achieve currently. After all the remaining villagers and warriors weren''t enough to even make him use it fifty times.


    "Can I keep the ability count for later to fulfill?" he asked.


    "Ding! Sure, but you won''t be able to gain the full benefit of having the ability before you turn it permanent."


    "What benefit?"


    "Ding! To be able to level it up, and to be able to absorb the energy you purify, use it to nourish your body or nourish your items."


    Arthur was speechless for a moment as he asked, a question he knew his answer already:


    "What about the energy now? where does it go?"


    "Ding! Don''t be stingy, I need some energy to function, you know."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t know why the system was showing off such a strange side to him. "Sigh, you were much nicer to me back when we were still strangers," he murmured, and the system didn''t reply.


    "Alright, let''s move to another place and keep using the ability please."


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a ninety nine more times will make it a permanent ability."


    .


    .


    .


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a fifty three more times will make it a permanent ability."


    "Finally finished."


    By this Arthur had already freed everyone here, warriors and villagers. He took the chance to free all, and he was hoping the newly added villagers at the portal would be enough to make his ability permanent.


    "Be ready to be summoned up," he shouted, all over the place, while glancing at the monsters which were now purified and gained more boost in strength.


    "Next time I will try to do the pet contract en mass as well," he said before opening his eyes, finding the whole world around him was full of attacks coming from distant warriors in the castle, warriors from the ground, and Sara and Tina were hopeless against all these huge numbers of enemies, only able to avoid most of the attacks so far.

 Chapter 270: Happy New Year: Causing A Massive Devastation Using Arrow of Destruction Arrays!

    They both had wounds, but nothing severe yet, luckily. He glanced at the whole world before smiling, standing off the back of Tina before jumping, letting his body fall while turning into a dragon.


    Many attacks fell upon his body, he was injured, slightly, but not too much.


    "Come forth, all of you," he shouted, and the next moment as he waved his hands, the whole place got suddenly crowded with hundreds of thousands of warriors appearing out of nowhere.


    As the enemies were using the defensive arrays, these warriors appeared to fill the spaces between them. their appearance came as a surprise to their enemies, even to Tina and Sara, but to Arthur''s warriors they were ready.


    The next moment they used their array, forming the defensive shields around them, making them in a position just equal to their enemies.


    And among them, his scorpion queen was there, summoned finally to have fun.


    "I will leave this to you," he roared, and as no one understood his dragon tongue, Tina was the one to translate his words in human words.


    And the next thing he did was to leave everything behind, go directly towards the castle.


    His main enemies were there, as for the rest; they were just small fries.


    He wouldn''t waste his precious time on them.


    And without the need for him to say anything, Tina and Sara moved following him, heading towards the castle.


    The castle itself was surrounded by a mightier defensive array, one that resembled the one they just destroyed. Inside the castle, there were around two thousand warriors, looking quite strong.


    And many started to change their bodies, turning into the hideous monsters Arthur got used to!


    "I want to kill them all by myself," Sara gritted her teeth while saying this with extreme hatred.


    "We have no much time to do that," Arthur shook his head, before taking out another arrow of destruction array, rendering Sara and Tina speechless!


    "Another monstrous array?!!" Tina couldn''t hold back her shock as she muttered with disbelief, however Arthur didn''t have the mind or time to reply and explain, as the next thing he did was to drop a single blood over the array, while releasing his fire over it, making the array ready to be used.


    And the next thing he did was to throw this spear towards the castle. The moment the array moved, a heavy pressure descended again over the world, while the stressing silence and stillness reappeared again, and everything was followed by a massive, more destructive, shock wave, erupted from the point of penetration of the array, with a huge mushroom cloud rising to the heavens.


    The scene was really terrifying, especially when the dust and rubbles settled down, showing the huge crater that was formed in the heart of the castle, while all the dark warriors, every single one of them had their defensive arrays shuttered, while Arthur''s warriors only had some cracks in theirs, but their new shields held the pressure.


    It was much more destructive than before, and Arthur didn''t know the reason for that. but it was all the machination of his system, a slight unnoticed push of energy from what it stored up so far, making the array much scarier than ever.


    After all such arrays depended entirely on the strength of the user, the stronger, the mightier.


    However he didn''t hold back to think about it, as he opened his mouth, channelled his energy, sprouting them out, covering a large number of his enemies with his fire.


    Many warriors and monsters were now either killed or severely wounded. His attack made the two girls next to him awaken, move at once to join him in attacking the castle.


    As for his enemies, they weren''t that late in replying, turning into monsters in an instant, while moving towards the three in great momentum.


    "Again!" Arthur shouted, as during this chaos, he took a third array, didn''t hesitate to use his fire to ignite it, and like a mass destruction weapon he threw it towards the castle, causing a third and much stronger attack that the previous two.


    The whole world ushered under heavy deafening silence that caused the air itself very hard to breath. A third mushroom cloud appeared, and this time the light flash coming from it didn''t vanish instantly, but prevailed for quite some time.


    "Rumble!"


    The whole world shivered, as this mighty rumble came from the castle, creating a massive shock wave that even sent Arthur and the two girls flying backward.


    The monsters and warriors inside the castle took the heavy toll of the wave, sweeping them like flour specks, making them fly in the air, stay suspended there, moving right and left with the direction of the wave, until the wave settled down, letting those suspended in the air to fall.


    And without the need for anyone to check, they were all dead!


    This happened to many monsters, but those warriors who were delayed to transform were pushed out of the castle to join the other dark warriors on the ground, being sent away for a long distance, and without their defensive shield many died already.


    As for Arthur''s warriors, their shield just barely stood the mighty shock wave, to falter and be broken just at the mere end of the wave; leaving the warriors unharmed, luckily.


    As for the castle itself, it had a deeper crater than the first one, like a deep wound, leading it to the deep basis of it. Arthur stood in the air, coming from the distance he was thrown to by the wave, while the two girls started flying from two different directions.


    As Arthur headed towards the castle to examine it, he noticed the rise of many monsters as well. "So you are still alive?" he evilly smirked, before throwing a rapid glance at the castle, making sure no one was in there, then headed directly towards the nearest monster.


    He simply opened his mouth and sprayed a corrosive deadly fountain of his fire, killing the already wounded monster in moments.


    And simply like that, he started his spree of hunting down the sporadic monsters rising from the ground, while the two girls joined him in killing the monsters, easily hunting them one by one.

 Chapter 271: An Unexpected Visitor

    He wasn''t acting alone, as Sara and Tina helped as well. The fight at first was easy, but gradually more monsters started to appear beyond their capacity to insta kill from one hit.


    In half an hour, things got settled where many monsters numbering in hundreds were now flying in the sky, while the ground had a very intense fight, a fight between one side protected with weakened defensive arrays, and a side protected by nothing.


    The ground fight was heading towards a closure for Arthur''s warriors, however the air fight wasn''t as easy as this.


    "They outnumber us," Sara muttered as they were three facing hundreds of flying monsters. Arthur glanced at the two girls next to him. Sara had the weakest defense among the two, while Tina despite being a dragon he knew her defensese weren''t as strong as his.


    "I will act as a vanguard, and you two support me from behind," this was the only tactic he could use, beside another trick he could pull. "A decoy you mean?" Sara corrected him, while Tina just harrumphed before Arthur moved to the front, alone, ignoring the two behind.


    "Just select your targets well, and try not to directly engage with them," he said before he took out another array.


    The moment the array came out, panic erupted everywhere, even in his two girls'' side. Everyone now was very familiar with his deadly attack, and so the moment he took out the array, chaos erupted!


    The monsters started to move away from each other, moving away from his way, however he flew fast, and in mere moments he clashed directly with many monsters, making them all lose altitude and fall.


    "So you meant this vanguard," Sara sighed, and Tina just gave her a glance before she moved towards the falling monsters, using her breath to attack them.


    As for Arthur, he kept chasing the scared monsters, which started loudly cursing, mentioning the traitor word, the abomination nickname, and a lot of curses on him and his entire dragonair clan.


    And he didn''t care! all he did was to use the advantage in speed, plus the chaos erupting out of innate fear from the depth of their souls.


    As he kept chasing them like this, he started to up the game by a little, spraying his breath everywhere, burning many monsters while chasing them, and from time to time he would raise the array and put it directly into the fire.


    This move was branded in their minds as the move before the apocalypse! So the moment he did so, the panic inside each monster escalated rapidly, reaching a very frightening level, making them even hit each other, trying to escape away from the path of this death god chasing them!


    "What are you doing? Come and face me you rats! Come and don''t run, let''s play for a long time, I have many, much more of these arrays, so let''s have the fun of our lives here! hahahaha!"


    He was acting like a maniac, persistently chasing any collected group of monsters, spreading their numbers. They were huge and numerous, but now they were very far apart and they didn''t want themselves to be gathered together.


    Numerous yet divided; that made them so weak and easy to kill!


    The massacre took an hour, and during this many managed to slip towards the castle, vanishing inside it, like a black hole absorbing over a hundred of them without any problems.


    "Escaping into your clan? That''s not a safe haven for you anymore, hehehe," he evilly smirked, before finally killing the last monster in the air.


    He shifted his gaze towards the ground, seeing the whole fight was already on the verge to be completed. He glanced at the clock of his quest; he took four and half hours to do all that! and now he had approximately two hours left for the task to be finished.


    "Just enough to wrap things here and send the gift to the Dorfis clan," he muttered before turning to the girls as he shouted: "Let''s go, we need to kill every last one of them."


    He then descended, opened his mouth, and started spraying fire over the defenseless dark warriors. The girls glanced at him in strange expressions, as they saw it their warriors were much more than enough to deal with the dark ones.


    Joining the fight would be a bullying act! However as they noticed, Arthur seemed quite stressed about something, and so they didn''t delay and descended as well, helping him in killing the dark warriors in large batches.


    With the three joining the fight, it turned from one sided fight into a mere massacre. It took a whole hour to kill every single one of the dark warriors, leaving the whole area littered in ruins, dead bodies, and many killed monsters.


    "Sigh, I''m pretty sure this fight didn''t need us," Sara complained, while Tina just harrumphed while preparing for a fight, but Arthur totally ignored the two as he said:


    "Arrange the warriors to take all the weapons, search the castle for any items or resources, then wait for me here."


    He flapped his wings and moved rapidly towards the castle. "Are you going to seal the portal?" Sara shouted, as she imagined what he intended to do.


    However he kept moving forward towards the castle, with his mind thinking about something. "Should I send the arrow of destruction as well?"


    He was pretty impressed by that array, so he took a rapid glance at his storage ring to find he had dozens of this arrow. He smiled as he decided to use them in conjunction with the doomsday array.


    The castle was left with deep two scars, and many shallow wounds that affected even their strong sturdy looking walls and the few numbers of the small towers.


    The castle had one big central mansion, with numerous supporting smaller buildings, in comparison to the mansion; but they were slightly large in their own accord.


    He didn''t need to search for the portal, and it was located inside that mansion, so he went directly to it.


    He didn''t knock the door, or cancel his dragon form, as he breached the door directly using his huge body. The door was thick and apparently made of a fine material, but it was like a feather in face of a tornado; being gnashed from the walls and thrown to the opposite end of the big hall where Arthur entered.


    As expected, he found the portal leading to the Dorfis clan headquarter, however what he didn''t expect was to find an old man waiting for him, a man that gave him a vibe; a very dangerous vibe.

 Chapter 272: Meeting Dorfis Clan Head Face to Face

    Despite meeting such a stranger, and the feeling of danger that overwhelmed him, Arthur didn''t retreat or show any signs of nervousness, while flying towards the portal, finally landing ten meters away from the man.


    "Can you step aside please?" Arthur asked, as if he didn''t care at all with the presence of such a man.


    "What do you intend to do?" the man asked, in a tone that wasn''t rushed or slow; a very confident parenting tone, like he was a parent speaking with his child.


    Arthur didn''t feel any speck of doubt or nervousness from this man!


    "Why do you ask?" he said, trying to act collected in front of the man.


    "I''m Olor, the leader of the Dorfis clan. According to your world terms, I''m the clan head of the Dorfis clan."


    "And so what?"


    "It''s my clan that you keep killing and ruining its belongings, like what you did here, like what you plan to do."


    Arthur smiled, trying to give himself the confidence in dealing with such an old fox. "You seem quite confident about my plans," he said, in a mocking tone.


    But the man wasn''t offended by it, or he might be but he controlled himself so well. "I know you want to seal the portal, cutting our path from here before taking off all the slaves we had paid so much price and blood to gather," Olor said.


    Arthur knew he was wrong, but he didn''t correct him. "This lies in my best interest. After all it was you who stood in my way all the time," he said.


    "It''s you who came invading this world; our world, in the first place!"


    "Just like you did thousands of years ago; it''s karma."


    "What''s Karma?" Olor asked, as this term was alien to his words. Arthur had to admit, this man had supreme control over his emotions, and he was a sly person.


    Even when he tried to attack him, fighting word for word, the man gave himself a breakthrough by using this simple question. "None of your business," Arthur tried to be rude, as he didn''t like speaking with Olor.


    "About business," however Olor didn''t give him the chance to continue his long row of rude words, "I came here offering a business deal for you," he added, with a smile that gave Arthur an eerie feeling.


    "A business deal?" Arthur faked surprise, and he truly was! He never thought his enemies would come, in the person of their leader, and offer him a truce!


    "I know you came here as part of that annoying academy admission test. so I can offer you a peaceful solution, you keep the areas under your reign, and we won''t come to touch you or harass you. Besides, we can give you one hundred thousand warriors, with their families as well, so you can be sure not to be bored during your stay here."


    Arthur''s eyes shone with cold light; this man was trying to fool him! he knew from his system that the major clans were preparing to attack him, asking the Dorfis clan to come and stop his advance.


    And strangely, and admiringly enough this deal was serving the Dorfis clan side and the great clans side as well.


    With only Arthur coming out as the lone loser! If he agreed, then he would stop advancing, making the Dorfis clan achieve what it was asked of her. As for the great clans, they would amass a huge army in months, come to stamp over Arthur and his meager power.


    Arthur read all that, and despite his anger, he had to admit that his enemy was really a cunning bastard!


    "Can you give me time to consider?" he said, faking interest about the deal.


    "Sure, but how long do you need?" Olor asked.


    "Gimme a day," Arthur said, while glancing over the portal as he added, "but to be safe I will ask you to return to your headquarter, and I will seal the portal later on," he added, making Olor glance at him for a silent period before asking:


    "If you are going to do that, how come we know your reply?"


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled, before adding, "I have a way to make you know about my response," he added.


    Olor stayed there watching Arthur, as Arthur stayed there watching him. the two had glanced for minutes to each other, before Olor said:


    "I can leave someone I trust here with you then, what do you say?"


    "Nah, I don''t like to be watched, even if we have a deal this request of yours will be rejected."


    Arthur tried to play over the tone of his acceptance of the offer of Olor, making the old man hesitant. He didn''t know how Arthur intended to send his reply to them, but he also didn''t want to directly clash and turn him instantly into a direct enemy.


    An enemy they had a great deal of trouble with so far!


    "Agreed," Olor said, before adding, "but just one day, if we didn''t get the response by then, then say goodbye to your dear beloved city!"


    Arthur didn''t care about the empty threats of Olor, as if they really had the power to do that, Olor wouldn''t come here and bargain with him. Arthur wanted to sneer, laugh, reprimand this sly fox, but he controlled himself quite well, totally hiding all these under the veil of a warm smile on his face.


    "Don''t worry, the reply will come once I make up my mind about it."


    Olor gave him a long glance before sighing, muttering something about the dragonairs and their cursed fate, before turning and disappearing inside the portal.


    Once departed, Arthur''s face changed dramatically showing his seriousness; this wasn''t an easy meeting at all! He knew his foe was much stronger than himself, making him realize how small and weak in this world he was.


    "System, how can I raise my strength?" he asked, as the only way he knew of was to follow the steps of the dragonairs. Meeting that venerable master again would be quite risky, especially when it took him days to finish a few minutes stay in that mysterious realm.


    "Ding! Away from your dragonair path, there is none!"

 Chapter 273: Attacking Dorfis Clan Headquarters

    The reply of the system was really straight forward, making him sigh. He didn''t want to be in any danger, but he was now facing a real threat, and he had to seriously consider raising up his strength soon.


    "I will leave it to the time when I return to the city," he shook his head as he decided to postpone this matter for later.


    He glanced towards the portal, regaining his usual smiling face again, as he muttered: "Don''t worry old man, I will make sure my answer will come to you loud and clear."


    He didn''t waste time as he took out dozens of the arrays he had, doomsday arrays and an arrow of destruction arrays. "First I will activate all of them," he muttered before dropping his blood over them.


    He didn''t know if the portal was situated inside the headquarters of the Dorfis clan or away from it, but he hoped for the former to be true. If not, then the arrow of destruction arrays would be wasted for nothing.


    Unfortunately he didn''t have a way to judge upon these assumptions, and he had no way to know the effects of his attack, or witness it.


    But he was pretty sure enough devastation would follow, plus he decided to change his approach; each time he went to a pocket world, he would first send a couple of arrays in greetings to the Dorfis clan, before sealing the portal.


    "Sigh, I now feel much regret for me not being able to see these attacks, sigh!"


    He finished linking all the arrays with his blood, and when he did that with the doomsday arrays, he found something interesting. He couldn''t bind with more than two at the same time, as he had this strange sort of connection with them, being able to trigger them at any moment.


    "Two is my maximum limit for now, why is there no zero beside it? twenty is a much nicer number after all, sigh!" he complained as he didn''t know if two would be enough or not.


    He stored the extra arrays in his ring, and took a few more of the arrow of destruction arrays, and bound them with his blood. The next thing was simple, as he activated all the arrays using his fire.


    "These two doomsday arrays are really glutinous!" he sighed as it took him a few minutes to make all the arrow of destruction arrays ready, but the two doomsday arrays took around half an hour to be ready.


    "I hope you are worth the name and effort," he said to the two before putting them beside him. He intended using them later, as first he would cause chaos using his arrows of destruction.


    He glanced and examined the portal in front of him. "For sure they have a fail safe mechanism, so that means I will have a narrow window, only the first attacks will arrive," he picked all the arrays and decided to throw the arrows of destruction first as a group, then followed by the doomsday arrays.


    But he had only two hands, and he had over fifty activated arrows of destruction! "Ok, I will throw one of the two doomsday arrays with the first wave, hoping they would be in chaos and leave the portal open for a longer duration," he muttered as he arranged the arrays beside him in groups.


    Each group had twenty arrays, making him in need for thirty seconds to a minute to throw them all!


    After doing that, he started to lay down his own sealing array around the portal. He laid much more than the usual double layered array, as he feared for the shock wave created by his massive attacks to cross the portal and come here to destroy the protective arrays.


    "Let''s start, I hope my message will be well received by you sly fox!"


    Arthur was ready, and the next second he held ten arrays in each hand, and threw them all towards the portal, falling like lightning on the heads of his enemies.


    "Activate!" he softly muttered, detonating the doomsday array, feeling even a slight tremor in his own soul. "Quite fierce," he muttered before noticing the extension of fire around the portal, like it was being engulfed in the aftermath of the attack.


    And then he took another group, and threw them, then another, and another, racing time as fast as he could, before finally throwing the last array.


    "Activate!" he activated the second doomsday array, and also felt the tremor in his soul. He didn''t even hesitate for a brief second, as he activated the sealing arrays one by one, rapidly closing the portal and sealing a small area around it.


    "Phew, just in time," he sighed as in front of him long tongues of flames started to come out from the portal, eating it away from inside out. It seemed the portal was about to be destroyed, however in the next minutes he felt the shaking of the whole castle, as the portal itself was the root of all these tremors.


    "Rumble!"


    Fire and destruction came out from the portal, hitting directly and massively towards the sealing arrays, destroying them one by one.


    "Damn it! I underestimated the attack shock wave," he cursed out loud as he hurried to take out all his defensive sealing arrays and laid them all in layers, one by one to block the shock wave as much as he could.


    "Activate!" he activated the arrays without any hesitation once he finished laying them around the portal. he didn''t notice, but he took roughly half of the whole spacious hall to lay down all of his protective arrays; but he didn''t regret it.


    These arrays were being destroyed like being made out of water bubbles! In front of this mighty attack, his arrays kept popping one after another.


    But after a tense ten minutes, and after destroying roughly over two thirds of his defensive arrays, the shock wave slowed down, and started to take more time to eat away his arrays.


    "Finally!" he sighed, feeling the extreme tension he was experiencing being vaporized away when the shock wave stopped coming, ending up like a nightmare ceased to exist after waking up.


    "If this was the simple shock wave of the attack, what was the real horror of my attacks then?" he wondered while panting to take out his breaths. He felt some regret for not being there, and also lucky for not being the one to experience such horror.


    "I hope this would be enough to delay you bastards until I finish clearing all the pillars."

 Chapter 274: Gaining the Rewards for the Completed Quests

    As he was taking his breaths, the sound of the system which was silent for this past hours rang again in his mind:


    "Ding! Congratulations for completing the dragonair is mighty and his authority is supreme quest successfully."


    "Ding! Congratulations for successfully cutting the snake head quest successfully."


    "Ding! As a reward for your outstanding performance in the dragonair is mighty and his authority is supreme task, you gained the world recognition, the loyalty of the remaining youths, activating the slave mark now. plus you gained the right to summon one thousand basic tier of ancient monsters through the system."


    "Ding! As a reward for your outstanding performance in the cut the snake head task, you gained the world recognition, the current castle which you can move to your heavenly garden or keep it with the system, five hundred thousand population bonus coming from the scattered weak villages and towns oppressed in this world, and the dragomancer ability."


    Arthur heard these messages and felt happy about them, especially the gains of the monsters, unexpected population, and of course his long awaited and deeply desired dragomancer ability.


    "How can I have the population? And the monsters if killed can be regenerated again? what about the info of the dragomancer ability?"


    He had a lot of questions, and he just threw them one by one in the face of the system.


    "Ding! The population will be added to the castle, so the system urges you to link it to your heavenly garden."


    "Ding! The monsters are permanent, as they are summoned by the souls of the deceased monsters of old times. However, if a monster is killed, it will need time to regenerate according to the current level of the monster."


    "Ding! The dragomancer ability is a supreme and unique ability of the dragonairs. Only a few on the long course of the dragonair clan had this ability unlocked to them. rumors say that the first dragonair ever was a mage with this ability, and that helped him to create the legend of the dragonairs.


    The ability is time limited and energy consuming, with many levels that are still unlocked for you. For the current zero level, you can use it once a day, and according to your current low energy you can only turn a dozen of killed monsters into dragons.


    To upgrade the ability to the next level, you need to first raise your energy, and use the ability ten times successfully summoning one dragon at least each time. Summoning ten dragons total with any number of attempts is considered a go too.


    Note1: You must kill the monsters yourself, or on the hand of one of your affiliated forces.


    Note2: Not all monsters can turn into dragons, only the unique and high ranked monsters have a certain chance to turn into dragons. You must use the ability on the body of the monster to know if it can transform or not.


    Note 3: This ability is limited to deceased monsters, can''t work on living ones.


    Note4: The two conditions in raising the level of the ability must be fulfilled. If you complete one condition and the second is still not completed, the system will store your progress for you and won''t be wasted."


    Arthur glanced at the detailed answers of the system and went silent for a moment. The castle and monsters weren''t a thing to bother him, as he would link the castle to his garden, and would ask the system to release monsters inside the garden to gain more benefits there.


    As for the dragomancer ability, he felt some challenges here. The task of using the ability with no certainty of success bothered him, and the condition to raise his strength bothered him even more.


    "What if I used the ability of over a dozen monsters and some failed? can I try again?"


    "Ding! You have a dozen attempts each time, the ability has no relation with your success and failure."


    "What about help here? at least give me some hints about the monsters with the highest rate of success!"


    "Ding! I asked you before to collect all the dead bodies of the Dorfis monsters, I believe I hinted enough."


    "¡­"


    Arthur just shook his head, as this moody system was sometimes annoying. He went outside, where the whole area ushered under strange heavy silence.


    None was alive after this huge battle! He lost many good warriors but he didn''t care, as he knew he could replace them soon. Plus, what was the benefit of warriors if not used in fights?


    "Have you finished?" Sara asked, as she flew directly to him. "I heard some explosions coming from inside."


    "Yes, I was worried, she wasn''t," Tina came as well, while giving Sara a side glance.


    "I was worried, but I didn''t show this over my face!"


    "Yeah, tell me about it!"


    "Ladies, it''s not the time to fight. We have things to do," Arthur had to step in, interrupt the two girls'' fight. "What things? Didn''t we win the war?" Tina asked.


    "I need you two to go back and secure the portal, who knows what those sneaky Dorfis clan might try to pull."


    "Alright, will you come?" Tina asked, while Sara kept her silence, glancing over him without saying a single word. "No, I will take a tour around here," he paused, as he noticed the strange doubting look of Sara, and before she opened her mouth to ask to come he decisively added, "You two go and arrange the migration of the population to the pocket world. take the warriors here with you as well, and let them aid you in your mission"


    His words were clear, and they silenced Sara, preventing her from saying what she had in mind. "Alright, just don''t be late," she said, helplessly, as she wanted to come with him.


    He watched them moving away, followed by the large number of his surviving warriors. After they vanished from his eyesight, he sighed. He didn''t want anyone to pry over his first attempt to use his ability; what if something went wrong here?


    Plus he wanted to keep this thing as his private secret, for now at least. He then turned to the devastated castle, the tattered ground filled with pits, ruins, and dead bodies of warriors and monsters.

 Chapter 275: Summoning Dragons out of Dragomancer Ability

    "Let''s collect them then," he started moving towards the nearest monster, glanced at its hideous shape before shaking his head and taking it inside his ring. "I really can''t understand how the hell the founder of this clan chose such a defiled ugly monster as the clan sacred monster, sigh."


    He knew that each clan would start like any sect in his previous world, by a genius who shone brightly in the world, establishing his or her own heritage, gathering people around and starting forming a clan.


    This was the classic way to form anything in the world, and he knew this. So he was confused about the reason these dark clans selected such a deformed and ugly looking monsters to transform into.


    Despite him not knowing the answer, though it was easy to guess, he kept gathering the killed monsters all over the place. there were over three thousand dead monsters here; most with losing limbs, wings, or even half of their bodies.


    "Many monsters are losing things, will this affect the usage of the dragomancer ability?" he asked, as this was something he thought of after collecting so many hacked corpses.


    "Ding! The dead are dead with no care about shape or beauty. You can use the ability on any killed monster corpse, provided that you don''t use a severed limb or a missing wing to do that; only the main body counts."


    "Great."


    Arthur then continued to collect the bodies, and it took him roughly two hours to jump from a place to another, gathering all the killed monsters scattered in a very wide space around the castle.


    "What about the ruins?" he suddenly asked, in the middle of doing his current task.


    "Ding! What about them?" the system replied.


    "didn''t you say it''s very important to me?"


    "Ding! You need to go there yourself and assess the situation, but a word of advice; you are still too weak to enter there and benefit from the ruins."


    Arthur was speechless for a moment there. "Wait a minute, I will leave here after taking all the population with me, how can I benefit from the ruins? And why are you advising against going there?"


    "Ding! The ruins are already part of the castle''s surrounding area, so moving the castle will move the ruins with it."


    Arthur understood the reason in the system words, as he nodded. "And about advising not to go there?"


    "Ding! The ruins are filled with dark energy, you can consider it like the pillars you are harvesting; it needs time to be purified. Going there now would mean only facing great dangers, dangers that even I can''t help you to face."


    "¡­"


    Arthur just paused for a moment from what he was doing, before he sighed. "I gained a treasure but can''t even get a glimpse of it; that''s really frustrating!"


    Arthur then continued collecting the corpses until there were only a dozen left. "Now what should I do?" he asked as he stood in front of the dozen huge bodies, not knowing what he should do next.


    "Ding! You need to put your hand for a minute over the body of each monster after asking to use the ability."


    "I want to use the dragomancer ability," he said as he leaned forward and put the palm of his hand over the body of the dead monster. strangely enough, this was exactly similar to what he saw before when he met Alex.


    "Ding! The ability is used. You have one hour to use the ability, and if the hour passes without using it, you will lose your right to summon dragons."


    "I don''t mind this, I have my dozen bodies ready."


    Arthur kept waiting for a minute, and as the minute ended, the huge corpse shivered as he felt a force was pushing his hand away.


    "Sigh! It''s a failure!"


    He sighed as the monster body turned to ash the next moment, making him lose one of the limited slots he had. "One lose, eleven to go," he muttered, trying to encourage himself before going to the next monster and putting his hand over it.


    "Another failure."


    "And a failure!"


    "Sigh¡­"


    "¡­"


    It wasn''t until the fifth attempt that he felt something different; the monster continued to shiver and didn''t turn into ash like others. He waited, with much anticipation, while the dead monster in front of him was changing.


    Its deformed hacked body was changing, the wounds healed, the broken wings were repaired, straightened, and got much longer and thicker.


    Scales started to cover the body, with a tail that ended up with a large ball, enough to kill a man with a simple swing. Arthur waited for the whole ten minutes before the transformation ended and the system sound rang in his ears, telling him the obvious.


    "Ding! Congratulations on summoning the first dragon. You gained the recognition of the world. your summoned dragon is ready to hear and follow your orders."


    Arthur ignored the system message as he went towards the large dragon to inspect it. "You are slightly smaller than Tina, but you are a dragon," he muttered as he touched the dark scales of the dragon, and his touch invoked the tremble of the dragon body startling Arthur. "And you are alive."


    "Thanks master for saving my soul," suddenly a harsh tone appeared from the dragon as he tilted his head to Arthur, examining him as Arthur examined him back.


    "You can speak, interesting," Arthur smiled after some moments of silence. "You said I saved your soul, what does this even mean?" he asked, as he felt there was something hidden between the lines here.


    The dragon turned his huge body before replying in his harsh, yet respectful tone:


    "I was the soul of the monster you killed, master, and you partially purified me, helping me to redeem my own mistakes and try to amend my past crimes."


    Arthur nodded as he understood the mechanism of his dragomancer ability, or partially got it. "That means sending you inside the garden will benefit you greatly," he muttered before touching the dragon as he said:


    "I will send you to a place that will help to purify you more. You might feel some pain in the process, but you will regain your former power and many benefits with it."


    Arthur didn''t wait for the reply of the dragon as he instantly took him inside his garden. "Six attempts, one success and five failures, that means I will get one more dragon at least."


    He was wrong, as he gained three not one! It seemed the technique was a little rusty at first, and the more he used it, the more success he would garnish.


    And he sent the three dragons to the garden to join their older brother. The next moment he closed his eyes, and started to wonder through the garden.

 Chapter 276: Sending A Birds Wing to Amelia

    The garden was now massive, inappropriate to be called a garden. The added areas to it were still under purification, and from the shape of things here he felt it would take months to clear all the pillars clean.


    This time he wasn''t interested in those pillars or monsters, or even the castle on top of the mountain, he came here to examine the dragons he sent in.


    He had a theory and wanted to test it. when he got near the centre of the garden, where everything looked quite peaceful and green, with much advancement in the growth, grade, and diversity of things here; making him quite content and surprised.


    In the middle of all this, four huge dragons were sitting on the ground, with their huge bodies raising up and down, regularly, breathing with closed eyes like sleeping beauties.


    Once he approached, they opened their eyes, stood up in a hurry before kneeling down in salute to him. "Welcome master," they all said in one tone.


    "Tell me, do you feel any difference?" he didn''t care about their salute as he wanted to know if his theory was proven right or not.


    "We feel something changing from the inside, yet it''s slow and I think it will take a long time to be complete," one of the dragons said to him, explaining with some difficulty what he was feeling.


    "Like being purified?" Arthur wasn''t satisfied by this answer so he asked in other words.


    "I- I think so," the dragon replied after a moment of hesitation.


    "I thought so," Arthur nodded and the next moment he opened his eyes with a wide smile all over his face. "So I can also purify them more and raise their strength like normal monsters," he muttered as this was the theory he wanted to test.


    And it was proven right, making him realize using his ability wasn''t the end of his gain, but it was just the beginning.


    Arthur had finished his own business here, and when he left, the whole area ushered under complete heavy silence; as none was left alive in this zone.


    "When are you going to take the castle into my garden?" Arthur asked the system while flying back towards the portal.


    "Ding! When you finish from here, and before leaving through the portal, the system will take the whole area inside your garden."


    "The whole region? not only the castle and the ruins?" Arthur was speechless for a moment, as he didn''t expect the system to be this mighty.


    "Ding! The whole region is connected with the foundations of the ruins, so I have to exert more strength and reclaim the whole region."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t speak again as he knew what the system meant. "A Fey Line diagram," he muttered, as this was the only thing he had in mind when hearing the system words.


    In hours he reached the portal area, where he found Sara and Tina flying around the sky, patrolling the area like he asked them to. "Finally came back," Sara hurried to say in greetings when she noticed him coming. "Can we go in and take the pillar now?" Tina said, as she seemed so bored doing nothing here.


    "Have all the villagers and warriors come in?" he asked while glancing over the ground where long lines of immigrants were still heading this way from everywhere.


    "They need another two hours, we can go in and take the pillar while they arrive here," Sara said, joining Tina''s side, as she was also bored.


    Arthur was flying in the air with the two girls, and the three huge monsters made a frightening image all down below. "You two can go inside and play with the warriors around the warehouse, leave the pillar until I come to you," he said, as he didn''t want to start taking the pillar away before taking the whole people from here.


    "What about you?" Tina asked, "Won''t you come with us?"


    "I will follow once I make sure every single one of them has arrived at the portal."


    "Then I will wait with you."


    "Me too!"


    The two girls changed their decision at the same moment, as they both wanted to stay with him for different reasons. Tina just wanted to play a little with him, getting closer to him, trying to tease him with her beauty and amazing human body she exerted great effort to imagine and shape.


    As for Sara, she wanted to know what he was doing back at the castle after sending them away. She was pretty sure he was hiding something, and she wanted to know it.


    As for Arthur, he simply ignored the two, as he was pretty sure if the two were together, none of them would gain what they planned for.


    And he was right!


    "Why are you staying here? go and have fun killing warriors around the warehouse!"


    "You want me to leave you alone with him? huh? What are you planning dirty mind tigress?!!"


    "D- Dirty mind? Who are you accusing? I have nothing in mind!"


    "Humph, why so nervous? Why being defensive?"


    Arthur just watched the two girls fight as he silently sighed, before shifting his attention towards the long lines of immigrants coming from far. "These additions will be enough to make my city able to withstand the next ordeals," he muttered before taking out a bird''s wing, and wrote a long letter to Amelia, delivering the news he had for her.


    He first asked about the current condition of the mine and the city. then he told her about the millions he had amassed so far in his garden, plus the future numbers he would amass after finishing his current task. He also gave her a warning about the upcoming fights, not only against the Dorfis clan but against other big ones.


    So, he asked her to hasten the building of the city, plus making some advancements in the defense system and the size of it to be able to accommodate all these millions.

 Chapter 277: A Change in Plans! The Time is Really Tight!!

    He knew the initial blueprint of his city would accommodate millions easily, but he was now aiming to have tens of millions in his city. such a figure would need change in plans, especially when everything was still raw and immature.


    After half an hour, he received a response from Amelia. She wrote a very long letter to him, taking three bird''s wings to deliver the message.


    First the mine progress was going smoothly, with no major problems so far. She also told him that many villages and towns came from long distances after hearing about them and asked to join, and she did as he instructed; sent them all back to the city.


    As for the city, she explained that the current population and the potential growth curve forced them to change the blueprints. Deem had already expanded the blueprint to make the city compromise of ten sections, each could hold up to five million, making the city currently not in need of any change.


    As for the defensive buildings, this was a problem as building towers and walls was easy, but according to Dor, he couldn''t make many defensive buildings without the weapons to support them.


    So this dilemma made the final blueprint not ready yet, and they are now focusing on building the old city while laying the foundations of four more sectors, leaving the rest till he comes again and takes a decision about it.


    As for the Dorfis clan, she said they noticed some strange movements recently but couldn''t understand or hold the ones doing this. So with his warning she now understood what was going on here; and she would start war preparations and would hasten the building of the first five sectors at least.


    "A problem in equipment? Hahaha, thanks to the Dorfis clan I have acquired a real treasure of war machines, hehehe."


    He didn''t delay and wrote back, narrating the huge number of war weapons under his disposal, stored already inside the dozens of hangers he took possession of from before. He wrote asking them to go wild, build as many defensive buildings as they could, and they should first finish them out as the war might start at any moment.


    As for sending these back, he promised he would figure out a way so they shouldn''t worry themselves about these. He also took a rapid tour inside these warehouses, examining their content in general, and sending the main items he found listed in the message.


    After doing all that, he noticed some lines started to show an end, meaning there are only a couple of hours left before they all would enter the world.


    Despite that he didn''t hurry to enter the portal, as he didn''t want to lose these villagers and warriors, as the system would absorb the whole region after entering the portal, leaving those outside unable to enter the portal again.


    As he expected, it took four hours and a half for all the villagers to come and enter the portal. Arthur glanced at the emptiness around the portal before glancing over the distance, to the place where the ruins existed.


    "Till next time darling," he muttered before taking the two girls with him, entering the portal and sealing it using his sealing array.


    The population here was really immense, and the earlier defensive shields he and the girls sat before were hardly enough to contain them all. So the next thing he did was to expand the area, learning from what happened inside other pillars, as these villagers and warriors would start building their homes again and start living for such a long time inside his garden.


    "Now I will remove all your slave marks, so stay still and don''t move," he stood in midair, flapping his wings like a giant mythic beast, and his roars made everyone silent. Tina did the translation for him, and so the whole world ushered unders sudden strange silence, except for the distant roaring monsters.


    He then thought in his mind, giving the order to his system:


    "I want to use the ability of killing the cursing tattoos."


    "Ding! The sprout of the ability of killing the cursing tattoos is temporarily activated. The ability can be used according to your will."


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a fifty two more times will make it a permanent ability."


    "Use it again," he muttered.


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a fifty one more times will make it a permanent ability."


    "Again."


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a fifty more times will make it a permanent ability."


    .


    .


    "Again."


    "Ding! One hundred thousand people were freed. You have reached the maximum limit of your current power. Using the ability for a thirteen more times will make it a permanent ability."


    "Sigh, only this far I can use the ability, only thirteen more times and it can be permanent," he muttered with some regret, as he thought he could unlock the ability permanently in this wave.


    "How do you liberate many in a short time?" Tina was the oldest one and the one who witnessed him doing the liberation ceremony long time ago. he glanced at her and just smiled, before looking to the people as he roared:


    "From this moment you are my subjects. Live here temporarily and fear nothing. Keep working hard and try to build and expand your population, hone your skills, and be ready for any fight at any given notice. I might be in need of warriors later on."


    Tina was still looking at him speechlessly, so Sara took her place in translating the orders to the people. Arthur then flew away, heading straight towards the pillar, while Tina was still asking him many times about the ability while he continued to keep his silence.


    As for Sara, she just flew silently as well, while thinking about the words of Tina, the silence of Arthur, and the rumors regarding the treasure in the heart of the castle of the sky which Arthur took.


    And she was linking the dots.


    As he went to the pillar, he didn''t delay and sent the grumpy Tina and the doubtful Sara to kill all the warriors in the place.


    As he took the pillar, the eyes of the venerable master appeared once more, glancing with content and delight towards Arthur, before letting him go and absorb the pillar.


    Just as he appeared in the star map again, and before he could say anything to the girls, the system was faster to send him a sudden message.

 Chapter 278: Taking Many Pillars in Short Time

    "Ding! You took two days to finish things here. don''t forget you have five days only before the deadline of the dragonair is mighty and he must reign supreme over the whole region task. Failure will make your enemies stronger, and you won''t be able to take the pillars again."


    Arthur paused as his mind froze. He glanced at the remaining pillars, he didn''t even take one fifth of them! "Can I ask for the time to be delayed?" he asked, trying to find a solution to this problem.


    "Ding! The system can''t help you with that!"


    "Why? It''s just another week no more!"


    "Ding! Your enemies had already hastened their plans regarding the pillars. At least half of them will be turned to their side, the dark side, so you have no liberty to ask for the time to be extended."


    "¡­"


    Arthur was speechless, as he didn''t expect his enemies to start acting serious regarding the pillars. It seemed they understood his aim, and thus they focused first on securing the pillars, to make their strength rise fast.


    "Ding! Can the system give a recommendation?"


    "Sure, I''m out of options here to be honest."


    "Ding! You can absorb the pillars directly without the need to waste time on angering the monsters or go to seal the portals."


    "And lose all the potential resources and populations on the other end of the portals? Not an option!"


    He knew how important the worlds on the other side of the pillars were to him and his future city and empire. without these, he would give up on really large opportunities, a solution he would be crazy if he agreed upon.


    "Ding! You misunderstood something here, when taking the pillars with their regions inside your garden, the portals are still connected to the outside world. so, taking them won''t affect anything at all regarding your plans, except when they send people inside the pillar regions to attack your garden.


    "If it''s only for that, I won''t mind taking this risk at all," he muttered to himself, before making up his mind. "We will have a change in plans," he turned to his girls as he jumped over Tina''s back while adding, "we will jump bang over them, kill anyone on sight, and take the pillar at once."


    Tina laughed, as this was exactly what she hoped for, while Sara asked:


    "Why the sudden change in plans?"


    "A hunch," he simply replied without explaining anything more.


    He then closed his eyes, imagined the whole star map before opening them again.


    There were only two pillars remaining here, one linked to the area full of population and the other was unknown to him. He didn''t delay and headed towards the one with the population.


    "I think we didn''t take more than a couple of days so far, will you cut the link to the outside world now and leave all these villagers?" Sara asked the moment they exited the portal and appeared inside the warehouse.


    "The link won''t break, it will remain later on after taking the pillars, come with me to kill everyone there," he said before heading straight towards the exit.


    "Wow, that means I will have more fun inside," Tina giggled, without knowing that the garden was now filled with many changes that she wouldn''t be able to recognize when coming back.


    And she would have much fun indeed.


    The trio flew in the sky, heading straight towards the pillar. "Tina, go and kill every single one of these warriors," he said pointing with his head towards the warriors defending the warehouse.


    And Tina simply and gladly complied.


    As for the pillar, the fight there was nothing to Arthur and Sara, making them clear the place in no time. "Retreat now," he shouted as the eye appeared in the next moment, freezing everything else.


    "You seem quite in a hurry, don''t you?"


    The venerable master was able to see through his aim, and Arthur regained his freedom as he said:


    "I have a great war back home, so I need to hurry in collecting the pillars."


    "You can go back and finish your war then come to take the pillars, I can prevent anyone from taking them until you return."


    Arthur felt tempted, but he recalled the system mission and the stakes on line here. He didn''t know how the Dorfis clan would use the pillars, so he didn''t want to take any risk. Collecting the pillars was his only way to guarantee his safety, his people safety, and his sprouting empire and city safety.


    "Thanks for the offer esteemed master, but I prefer to weaken my enemy once and for all before the fight, especially if it will be a long war."


    "Hmm¡­ quite courageous. Actually there is no way I can interfere in things going on here, but I needed to test you and you just passed the test. good luck on your quest young white dragonair."


    The eyes of the venerable then disappeared, leaving everything able to move again. This was the first time the master left without watching him take the pillars. "Phew, it seems I was under danger without knowing it," he sighed in relief as it seemed the presence of the master till the end each time he took the pillars wasn''t a routine.


    The master was watching him, waiting for any doubtful move and he might have attacked him.


    "Go back now, I will start taking the pillar," he ordered the two girls who went directly towards the portal.


    Arthur then took the pillar, returned to the star map, before heading finally towards the final pillar in this eastern group. He easily collected the pillar, making all the twenty stars on this side dark and looking dead.


    "Twenty are down, eighty left to harvest," he mattered as he felt the great pressure already on him. The number was large, and if he used his old plan he would take forever to finish collecting the pillars.


    However by this new strategy of his, hit, snatch, and run away he managed to take another thirty pillars, clearing the whole left stars, and even handled many of the central stars.

 Chapter 279: Ambush in Sight, Arthur Needs to Prepare!

    During all this, his appearance was sudden, without any warning, first sealing the portal to the Dorfis clan headquarter, before heading fast towards the pillar.


    Things seemed quite easy, and taking a single pillar didn''t require more than a day. "At this rate, we should be able to get all the pillars in a couple days," Tina laughed wholeheartedly as she was the one enjoying the most of this new plan.


    However Arthur and Sara didn''t feel the same enthusiasm and optimism like her. Sara knew how tough and hard the Dorfis clan and dark clans in this world were, while Arthur was pretty sure that what he did towards the Dorfis headquarter wouldn''t be tolerated easily by them.


    And that feeling of stepping onto a hard to escape from trap was growing in himself with each passing star he took.


    The central cluster had around thirty stars, with the remaining thirty clustered around those forts of the Dorfis clan. Through the remaining stars of the central region, he met no single resistance at all.


    For Tina this was a hilarious matter to laugh on, for Sara this was strange, and disturbing.


    However for Arthur this was bad news, a very bad news.


    "They are conserving their strengths," he muttered as this was the worst case scenario he would face.


    How would you eat up an elephant? One bite at a time, but what if the elephant faced you head on, could you eat it? could you even survive facing it?


    That what he was facing right now, experiencing the feeling of the net tightened around him, and the cold tough touch of the rope closing up over his neck; and this wasn''t a pleasant feeling at all!


    "I need to prepare, I can''t go on like this without any preparations!" This was what he decided to do at the last star of the central cluster.


    What he had in mind, not his warriors stored inside his heavenly garden, but the blueprint that venerable bronzed giant master left for him to craft; the arrow he was bestowed upon as a weapon to trigger the pillar.


    He never thought of truly making this weapon now, as he wanted to use the pillars in the future to guard the entire territory of his empire, but currently he was forced to do that.


    He just stepped outside the portal, entered the warehouse, but he stopped, didn''t move forward as usual, making the two girls eye him in suspicion.


    "You two go and have some fun, I have things here to do first," he said, with a distracted mind as the next moment he sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and started delving inside his heavenly garden.


    He was looking for the pillar where the venerable master left him a drawing on the ground. He once saw it, but he needed to carefully study it now.


    What he recalled from before was that this arrow would require the light energy, the bloodline of the bronzed giants. He had the blood, but about the light energy, he might have a clue about it.


    He was now standing on top of the pillar, one of the earliest to add here, but it was still dark; not yet purified. Arthur glanced at the forest around it to see that most of the forest was purified successfully, so the pillar would require a couple of days to be purified.


    He then shifted his gaze towards the drawing on the ground.


    The instructions were drawn clearly in steps to make. He needed some materials, refined them on different steps, before finally assembling all together.


    What he noticed, and was clearly stated, was that each step must include part of the bloodline of the bronzed giants and a wisp of light energy.


    "How can I take a wisp of the light energy then?" he muttered as he scanned the drawing many times already with no clue so far. He thought of using the energy of the garden, but the question was how to harvest the energy? Was there a mean for that?


    "I need to ask the master then," he muttered as he opened his eyes to find the two girls were standing on each side, protecting him. "You didn''t leave?" he asked, as this scene reminded him of the old, yet still fresh in his mind, his dharma protectors, who used to protect him while he was secluded in cultivation.


    "We thought it would be best to stay and protect you," Tina said, as she glanced at Sara as she added, "this was her idea actually, hate to admit it but I agreed on her opinion this time."


    Arthur just smiled before he stood up, turned into a dragon the next moment, as he said:


    "I will attack the pillar, come with me."


    He went towards the pillar, with the two girls in his company. The fight wasn''t surprising at all, and after killing everyone there, the pillar shook and rumbled, and the venerable master appeared once more with his two giant eyes that were enough to freeze everything.


    "Master, I want to ask about something," Arthur once regained his freedom and hurried to speak as the master started to leave here the moment he appeared.


    "You have a question or a problem?" the master asked with some interest.


    "Both," Arthur replied, "I know for sure I''m heading for a trap set by my enemies, a trap my meager strength and few numbers wouldn''t suffice to conquer. So I want to make that arrow bestow its blueprint upon me."


    "You want to know how to harvest the light energy, right?" the master asked, not waiting for Arthur to continue his words.


    And Arthur just nodded without adding any words.


    "It''s easy, as it seems you have a light based treasure, am I correct?"


    "Yes master."


    "So it''s simple, all you need is to use a vassal to shift the energy from this treasure to the materials you use in the manufacture."


    "A vassal?" Arthur asked, "like what?"


    "Like the pillars you are collecting like candies," the master replied with a simple laugh, before adding when he noticed the puzzled expression over Arthur''s face, "from the expression of your face the pillars are still not purified yet.


    But that''s not a problem, you can forcibly use the pillars by going to anyone and use a drop of blood over the pillar, then you can control it to filter the light energy you want."


    Arthur nodded, as he realized what he had to do. "Thanks master, but won''t that affect the pillar?" he expressed his own concerns.


    "Nothing in this world can harm the pillars, so don''t worry. The worst it will take more time for it to be purified, not an issue as you own so many pillars so far."


    "Thanks for your teachings, master," Arthur cupped his hands and slightly bowed his head, saluting the master who just laughed, vanished without saying anymore.


    As for Arthur, he knew what he had to do.


    The moment he appeared in front of the girls, he didn''t move a muscle, sat on the dying black star as he said: "Stand in guard, and don''t disturb me."

 Chapter 280: Forging the Arrow - Part 1

    The next thing he did astonished the girls, as he injured himself, took the blood somewhere before closing his eyes.


    He knew he could enter the heavenly garden in ethereal form, so he needed to bring his blood with him. the blood and Arthur appeared just above the pillar with the drawing his master did from before.


    "So I will harvest the light energy first, then start making the arrows," he muttered as he waved his hand to let a drop of his suspended blood fall upon the pillar.


    "Rumble!"


    This time the pillar itself shook, while its exterior dark surface started to brighten up. Arthur felt some sort of pressure being exerted over him, a pressure so similar to the venerable master''s pressure but a lot weaker.


    "Are you testing me or challenging me?" Arthur muttered, calmly as he wasn''t worried at all. He waited, patiently enduring the weak pressure over him, and after a few long minutes; the pressure suddenly vanished.


    In the middle of his eyebrows, a light dot appeared there, shining with white light. Its size was so small, not exceeding the needle tip, but it was shiny so anyone could see it.


    However Arthur couldn''t, but he felt its presence there, as a slightly burning sensation appeared in this area, making his hand move to touch and examine it.


    "Weird, I can''t feel anything abnormal there with my hand, but my soul is somehow linked to a dot there."


    He then shook his head. "There is no time to examine it, I feel the link with the dot, and somehow I feel the link to that pillar¡­ it seems quite¡­ angry!"


    He closed his eyes while trying to feel the pillar, and the emotions he got was only one; anger! The pillar was angry, and that seemed the cause of the pressure exerted over him.


    "I hope the rest of the pillars would be as angry as you," he muttered, and what he got in response was¡­


    "Rumble!"


    The pillar shook again, like it had a sentient and could understand his words. Arthur glanced speechlessly for a moment towards the pillar before smiling widely.


    "Ok, being able to understand me is something nice. I''m on your side, the one who saved you, and I intend to save every other pillar trapped out there. but I need your help. I want to harvest the light energy here, turn it into something I could use to build a weapon. Can you help me?"


    This time silence was his only response. He waited for minutes but nothing happened, making him laugh shortly on himself. "Wow, I was just speaking to a stone right now, and thinking it could hear and aid me, sigh!"


    Just as he was about to give up having the help of the pillar, the light dot in his forehead started to sting suddenly, causing him a stabbing pain!


    "What is that?!"


    The next moment he saw a bubble emerging from his forehead, from the place of that pain. The bubble had white coat, filled with nothing but air at first, expanding like a small balloon being inflated until it reached the size of double his body.


    Then it stopped, and the transparent air inside started to be replaced by white fog. The fog was scanty at first, but gradually it started to thicken up, until it finally turned this balloon into a large ball of white opaque color, with nothing seen inside it.


    "Tuck!"


    The next thing happened was the sound of something being separated, as the balloon shook before it fell smoothly on the ground.


    "Boom!"


    Despite it falling like a feather, once it touched the ground an explosive sound occurred. A shock wave of rubbles and dust emerged, even clouding the vision of Arthur for a few moments, before everything settled up.


    A small pit appeared under the balloon, giving him a hint about the real weight of this seemingly light thing.


    "Is this the light energy?" he asked the pillar, as this time he was pretty sure the pillar was the one who helped him.


    "Rumble!"


    And the answer came swiftly in the usual manner of speaking by the pillar. Arthur just said nothing as he went towards the balloon to examine it. the moment he touched the balloon he was astonished to see his hand dig deeper inside the balloon, like there was nothing out there to hold the white material inside.


    "Interesting," he muttered while taking his hand out, filled with white material; the white energy. "Like this I can do whatever I want, great," he smiled in content before returning the material he took inside the balloon again.


    "Time to make these arrows then."


    He went again to examine the drawings. "I need long thin wood taken from extremely high ranked trees, plus the ores like iron but with much higher quality than it, silver and gold refined ore, and all should be soaked first in this strange potion," he muttered as he summed everything drawn on the ground up.


    For the potion thing he had many materials that he didn''t even know their names; tree leaves, flowers, even seeds. However he wasn''t worried, as he had a huge pile of materials harvested from the big clans and guilds from the time before entering the contest.


    A time that felt happening from ages ago!


    "So I should use some sort of special water, mixed with the blood of the bronzed giant and the white energy. Let''s see if I have a substitute to this water," he muttered before starting to check up his rings.


    Each time he found something worthy of using, he took it out and put it on the ground nearby. After a couple of hours, he managed to take out a large pile of materials, and just as he was about to start taking his cauldron out, he noticed something interesting.


    "Never thought my garden can affect these materials," he smiled after examining a bunch of the materials he took from before; all had gotten some enhancements and started to show some upgrade signs.

 Chapter 281: Forging the Arrows - Part 2

    "I should then empty all my rings here," he didn''t delay, and went to the centre of his garden, where his dragons were resting and undergoing purification. He didn''t disturb them as he simply waved his hands, emptying the rings he had, creating huge hills of materials in the place!


    He really had milked the large clans and guilds off resources before entering here!


    The next moment he moved away, not waiting for the dragons to salute him, as he was busy as they were. "I hope these materials can get some benefits here¡­ what is that?"


    He stopped moving as he noticed some sparklings on the distance in the one side of the garden. "Is this a lake?" he muttered before heading directly there, to find a large silver watered lake waiting for him.


    "Good, I need some of your water," he then placed his hand inside the lake to suck part of it into one of his storage rings.


    "Roar!"


    Just as he was midway sucking the waters away, he heard this strange roar coming from the water, muffled by the waters standing between him and the monster underneath the lake!


    "Wow, never thought an aquatic life would be raised up here," he was surprised before watching a huge monster, whale-like appearance, resembling the one he once fought around the mine area.


    The monster jumped off water, flew in the air for a few moments, while giving him a warning glance. "Buddie I''m the owner of this garden. If you don''t want to end up being barbecued for dinner, show some respect and piss off," Arthur shouted at the monster, while trying to resist the urge of hunting it down and trying its meat.


    "I never tried an aquatic monster''s meat in this world. it should be tasty and juicy, right?" he muttered to himself, and his sound was deliberately loud, enough to be heard by that whale-like monster.


    The monster got an instant scare as the next moment it dived deeply under water, never to be spotted again. "I know your home mate, so don''t feel this much secure by running deep into the lake!" he shouted, while laughing at the monster and himself.


    After taking enough water he headed back towards the pillar, before taking out his fiery ores, his cauldron, and poured inside it the water he just collected, enough amount of bronzed giant blood and the light energy.


    Then he started the fire.


    The ores he took were highly fiery ores, making the fire ignited on a very high temperature from the start. He waited for the mixture to boil for a few minutes before putting other materials inside.


    Then he waited for an hour before the whole mixture got mixed together before adding the materials he had one by one into the cauldron, waiting for ten minutes each time before taking the materials out.


    For the wood he had many varieties in front of him; all were high ranked woods. He used a sword as an axe to chop the thick wood pieces into regularly shaped thin long shafts.


    As he finished doing so, he waited until all his materials were soaked in the potion he made. He had around thirty pillars remaining, with many Dorfis clan strongholds in the middle, linked to almost all of them.


    "I''m pretty sure the resistance will start from the first pillar, making each pillar a desperate fight to be secured," he muttered, so he decided to make around one hundred arrow for each pillar.


    So he started to sort out materials. In general, he needed to make three thousand arrows, but the materials he had processed so far were enough to make over ten thousand arrows, making him quite pleased as he decided to go all out and make these arrows in one go.


    "I lack good smithing tools," he glanced at the old cart he was still using since the beginning. He had some primitive tools, which he acquired from Madly a long time ago. "I need to start taking care of all these items first," he muttered before vanishing, as he went directly to one of the populations he had under his control, where they were making weapons.


    His sudden appearance in that ethereal form startled everyone in the village he appeared at. "Don''t be startled, I just need to borrow a foring toolkit," he said as he noticed the sudden tension in the place.


    "Lord¡­ ahem, esteemed lord, you can have my own kit. It''s one of the best here in the village and it will be a great help to you," a youth stepped forward, feeling somehow awkward directly speaking to the man who did all the miracles to them, saving them from the dark fate that awaited all of them and gave them such an opportunity to live out in peace.


    Arthur didn''t act polite as he took the tools that youth gave to him. "Thanks," he said shortly after examining them, feeling how much more advanced they were than the tools he previously was using.


    He then disappeared from the place, and the moment he did the villagers all heaved a long sigh of relief. It was so stressful for them to deal directly with their legendary mighty lord, but they all knew a thing or two about him; he was interested in forging.


    As he returned to the pillar, he was quite read. He took out all the new items and started arranging them. there was an oven, a large semi-circular special ore made hollowed piece that had two sections; one for the fire and one for materials.


    Beside the oven he placed a large anvil that reached to his waist. The anvil had a long broad top, that was suited to make even large pieces of equipment. The anvil had a tripod fixing it on the ground, with an additional leg that extended from the centre for more stability.


    He also had many mold designs that made him smile. All the molds came in rubber form, which made him quite interested in these. "So I can change the shape and size, adding more than one together to make bigger items, great!"


    He started playing with the molds to make out the mold he needed to use to make arrowheads. According to the design of the venerable master, these arrows all had long pointy surfaces, with a ball-like ending, and saw -like sides; five sides projecting like small knives.


    He tried to mimic the design, and despite it seemed an easy task at first, it proved quite challenging for him. It took him a couple of hours until he managed to form enough molds to be used, then he linked them together over a broader surface mold, to have tables of arrow head molds, each one had around a fifty arrow head.


    He glanced at the ten tables with satisfaction. "So I can make the ten thousand arrows in less than twenty times," he muttered before glancing over the materials, the items he had arranged over the cart including a variety of different sizes and weights hammers, a group of chisels enough to make different items, a group of size graded forks, and a group of different lengthed tongs plus other different items that he didn''t know they present before for a blacksmith.


    Like this huge feathered fan that seemed to be used to increase the intensity of the fire, or that pod of water that he place near the anvil, filled it with potion fluid he took from the cauldron, letting it cool down first to used to quench the final product of his making.


    "It seems quite hard and much more complicated than I used to do before," he muttered while glancing over all these varieties which made him speechless for a moment there. "Now I''m ready to make the arrows," he smiled before starting the forging process.

 Chapter 282: Agnus

    The first thing he did was to smelt the materials he had. He started the fire in the lower section of the oven, filling it with the highest fiery ores he possessed. Then he started the fire, waited for a couple of minutes and even used the fan to try its effect.


    "So it creates a certain type of wind that augments fire; interesting," he muttered after a few minutes of observation. He also noticed the special effect of the oven; no matter how strong and wild the fire was, it was already tamed under the over lower section, with not a single wisp escaping away.


    He then put the materials inside the upper section, and waited for them to melt down. All the ores he had resembling iron were put inside the pot, with blood of the bronzed giant and part of the white energy.


    Then he waited. In ten minutes everything melted together. He used the fork to mix them well before holding the short hand of the upper section, taking it away from the fire, before waiting for it to cool off.


    In minutes the mixture which was liquid started to be semi-solid. He held the hammer, the largest one with a broad head, and felt its heaviness on his arm muscles before starting to wave it high up and let it fall heavily over the mixture, starting to cleanse it over the anvil.


    "Tuck!"


    "Tuck!"


    "Tuck!"


    He kept hammering the mixture, creating silver sparks everywhere. At first nothing happened, but gradually some dirt and other unneeded materials were pushed away.


    He kept doing this for minutes before feeling the mixture was starting to cool off beyond his desired state, so he returned it to the oven, mixed it together with the fork, then took it off the fire and hammered it again.


    And again.


    And again.


    He kept doing this for whole hours before he felt content with the result. Midway the size of his melted mixture diminished greatly from cleansing, so he added more materials to it and kept cleansing all.


    "This seems to be good," he muttered while glancing at the silver green mixture in front of him. He then put the mixture on fire to be melted, turned into loose liquid as he took the molds he created and put them one by one on the ground.


    Then he carried the pot with fluid, and went to each mold to spill the fluid over it. The mold once touched the extreme heat got stiffened up, turned into hard material, not affected by this kind of temperature.


    After filling the whole molds, he still had half of the liquid remaining, so he returned it to the oven before carrying each mold and put it into water.


    He didn''t forget to put some blood and light energy inside water, to make sure everything had the signature of both.


    "Shoosh!"


    "Sizzle!"


    A huge cloud of fog erupted when he put the first mold in water, accompanied by many sounds as water started to rapidly cool down the melted ores. It didn''t take him a minute to finish, but his face was now covered with silver green material, like a strange funny mask.


    "That wasn''t expected, sigh," he wiped out his face after putting the final mold on the ground. He leaned on the molds and examined it; the arrow heads were neatly arranged there.


    He then took the chisel, and started the final process of cleaning the arrows and making them sharper and more defined. The arrow heads seemed quite intimidating even for him, so he treated them with extra care.


    As he finished he was so eager to try to see the final arrows than make more heads, so he hurried to the shafts, which were now drying up from the potions they were immersed at, took a few and started linking the heads with the shafts.


    He made the heads so they would have a long groove along the length of them, enough for the shaft tip to be inserted and fixed safely there. He also used a material to glue them together; a simple muddy material he had in his ring.


    Then he started the long and boring feathering process, where he used a small nail like tool to pierce the other end of the arrow shaft, then glued small feathers he had into these holes.


    The feathers came from the first flying monster he acquired, along with the scorpion queen. The bird was hurt and it shed a lot of feathers from struggling inside, and these feathers seemed to come in use now.


    "So this is the arrow which will determine everything," he marveled his creation with admiration and curiosity. The arrows he made seemed really strong, but he didn''t know if they were enough to kill the enemies he would face later on or not.


    "It''s a regret I don''t have a target to practice on," he muttered while glancing at the pillar next to him before dropping the idea of trying one of the arrows here.


    He didn''t know what effects the garden would experience from such an attack. So he returned to make more arrow heads, taking roughly a day and a half here until he finished.


    "Twelve thousand and three hundred and twenty two arrows, slightly larger than what I initially expected," he muttered as he observed the arrows stored inside his ring. He was now ready, and what he lacked was a bow!


    He had the bow he had acquired from Grandpa Regil back at the village, but that bow was really weak and low grade for him now. "Sigh, I don''t know how to make bows, and I have no more time to waste," he muttered before recalling the man who gave him this toolkit and smiled.


    He stored everything away, cupped his hands to the pillar in a respectful stance to it, before moving out rapidly heading back to the village he once visited.


    His sudden appearance again startled the villagers working in this large spacious building. Arthur didn''t bother with anyone but one person; the one who gave him this kit.


    "Esteemed lord, are you satisfied by the tools I gave you? Is there any problem with them?" the youngster hurried to speak up his mind, fearing there might be an unintended problem with the tools he gave to Arthur, despite being his best tools.


    "What is your name?" Arthur asked without answering the youngster''s questions.


    "Agnus," the youngster replied.

 Chapter 283: Obtaining A Stronger Bow

    "I want a bow, a very strong bow, do you know how I can have one?" Arthur directly asked about what he wanted, not wasting a single moment speaking nonsense with the boy.


    And the boy was jolted awake by the realization that his legendary lord seemed quite satisfied by the kit he handed to him, as he came back asking for a bow.


    "I have one that I made recently, it''s one of the strongest bows I have ever witnessed, if not the strongest of all. But¡­"


    The boy hesitated and Arthur just nodded for him to continue. "This bow needs a very strong man to exert its true potential. So I stored it away, do you want it my lord?"


    "Go and bring it," Arthur simply replied without paying any attention to Agnus'' hesitation.


    Agnus then moved away, vanishing from his sight for a couple of minutes before returning carrying a really large bow.


    The bow was in a W shape, very big that even exceeded Agnus''s height while standing upright. The white wood pieces used were broad, had many carvings in black, while the string seemed quite thick and not flexible.


    "Will this work?" Arthur gasped the moment he saw this bow, while holding it to feel its weight and difficulty in holding due to its length. "The strings are fine," Agnus simply replied.


    "Strings?!!" Arthur exclaimed before he examined the thick looking string to find it was formed of many thin filament-like strings, made of the same material, grouped together to feel like they were one string.


    "I made it so when using you can launch one arrow or a dozen arrows at the same time," Agnus just shrugged as what he did was that simple.


    Arthur was amazed by it, and he greatly appreciated the bow. "Thanks again," he simply said before vanishing, appearing in a wide stretch of land.


    "I need to test this bow first," he muttered as he took out normal arrows, selected a target, and aimed directly at it. "It''s quite heavy," he experienced the full resistance of using all the strings in one go, but he decided to start off with the strongest power of it.


    He clenched his muscles pulling the string back as far as he could, before releasing the arrow.


    "Boom!"


    It wasn''t a mere shot, it was an explosive one! The arrow landed over the tree he selected, smashed it to pieces, continued moving towards a large rock behind and finally exploded there.


    "Even the rock couldn''t handle a normal arrow, interesting," Arthur smiled in content as he examined the rock to find a deep groove inside, with the arrow almost shattering it into two havles.


    Arthur didn''t hurry to leave, as he started to use his arrow manipulation talent, a talent he never used for such a long time making it quite rusty.


    "I needed six hours to regain the old feeling back again, sigh I was careless not to hone my skills," he shook his head despite being able to fully control the dozen arrows he could launch simultaneously from the bow, he wasn''t content with that.


    He felt some difficulty in regaining back the feeling of using his talent, making him wonder about the other team members who had talents as well. "I need to make them start training on these talents, I depended on the academy for that but going for the academy will take longer than expected."


    He then stored the bow, glanced over the area around him; it was all covered in ruins.


    He selected a place where the garden purification didn''t reach yet, so this damage didn''t really annoy him, but he was thinking about another thing.


    "I need to make normal arrows to use while fighting," he muttered before recalling Agnus. "That''s the benefit of having a whole army of workers behind your back," he sneered before vanishing and heading directly to Agnus.


    This time Agnus wasn''t startled like the previous two times, he became more accustomed in dealing with Arthur. As for the others, well they still had a scare!


    "I want arrows, all the arrows you can collect," Arthur stated his need without even saying a greeting, like he was meeting an old friend.


    "Normal ones or special ones?"


    Arhur was about to say normal, but he thought why didn''t he have them all?


    "Both," he replied, and the next hour the whole village here worked to transport arrows made and stored before to Arthur who gladly accepted and stored them inside his ring.


    "Do you want us to make more?" Agnus asked, as he noticed how pleased his lord was.


    "Sure, and if you can make special arrows as well then it will be great too," Arthur said, and when he noticed the strange look over Agnus face he added, "not like your special bow, I mean stronger versions of normal bows, can be widely produced, easily used, and cause great damage."


    "Aha, this is a feasible task," Agnus'' face brightened up when he heard Arthur''s words, before striking his chest with his fist, "leave this to me."


    "Good," Arthur simply nodded before taking his leave, disappearing from the place just like he appeared.


    He had now arranged for everything, and the moment he opened his eyes in the star map, he asked the most essential question:


    "How much time did I take?"


    "Around half a day," Tina replied as she was feeling more bored than Sara, who just asked: "Have you finished your preparations?"


    "Sure, let''s go to the next star," he said with a faint smile over his face before adding, "the next battles will be really tough, so don''t venture away from my sight and don''t hold back anymore."


    "Are we going to have fun? Finally!!" Tina was the happiest one here by this news, as for Sara she went silent, knowing that the next steps would be hard. "Should we play with care and use the monsters'' plan?" she asked, trying to pry over his plans and real intentions.


    "Just support me to the pillar and I will do everything from there," he simply replied without giving much details to this curious and keen tigress.

 Chapter 284: Arrow of Extermination

    The trio went towards the front, the remaining thirty stars with many Dorfis strongholds inside and around.


    The first star was surrounded by three green stars forming a shape of a triangle around the first red star. For Arthur, he knew it was more logical to exterminate one stronghold after another, especially when he knew most of the warriors and mages inside were now moved to stations around the middle pillar.


    But he didn''t have time to do that!


    He first needed to exterminate all the pillars, then his greed would lead him to attack some left out, unguarded posts.


    "Be ready," he muttered before taking out the bow and simple arrows hung around his shoulder.


    "Wow, this bow¡­ it''s amazing!" Sara muttered but Tina didn''t stop even to glance at the bow, asking herself what was so amazing about a piece of wood and leather?


    And the next moment, the trio entered the portal.


    "That''s quite unexpected!" Tina complained as the moment they went outside of the portal, they found no warehouse as it was all demolished.


    Instead they found themselves in the open land, surrounded by a large and strong array. Arthur examined the array silently before shaking his head. "They are using a trapping plus illusion array, do they think I didn''t come well prepared for them?"


    The two girls turned to glance at him while he took one of his recently made arrows, as he muttered, "let''s see if you worth the trouble of making," then he took the shot.


    He didn''t need to aim at anything, as he raised his arms with the bow stretched at his maximum limit, before releasing the arrow. The arrow was long, with a long and sharp tapering end.


    Anyone who saw this arrow had a tinge of fear inside their souls, especially those belonging to the dark side.


    The arrow moved like a thunderbolt, hitting the illusion all around them, creating a loud sizzling sound, followed by a strange heavy silence.


    It hit the dome of the arrays up above!


    "I feel like¡­ the arrow of destruction array, but much stronger," Sara shokingly muttered these stuttering words while there was no other sound heard around.


    Even her own vanished, smashed under the heaviness and tension originated from this arrow.


    And the next moment¡­


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Frankly Arthur expected it to be like the arrow of destruction he once used, but when he saw the explosive effect of this arrow, he knew it was much higher than that old array!


    The dome started to crack, with long and interlinked fissures that kept increasing on an alarming rate. The gaps between these cracks, the force that caused these fissures showed a pure red, extremely violent long tongues of fire.


    And when the whole dome shattered, the real attack started!


    Shock waves appeared, one after another, all started from the outer surface of the cracked arrays, spreading to the horizon¡­everywhere!


    The attack was like pulsations, like a heart beating one beat after another, with a rhythm and such a deadly force that impacted everything, exterminated everyone, gave no exception to none!


    And the trio were standing in the heart of all this, watching this horrifying scene with their own eyes, without believing that was really happening.


    "W- W- What is that arrow exactly?" Sara, after a long time of silence and fear, asked with much shock, stuttering in her words.


    "I call it¡­" Arthur paused as the next moment his sound was eaten away by the mighty explosion that carved the end of this arrow attack¡­ as a strange creature built out of fire appeared.


    A dragon head, wings, claws, and tail with the body of a bronzed giant! The two mixed together in a strange way that made even Arthur silenced and stupefied!


    "Roar!"


    That creature just roared, and its roar seemed to consume all its energy, eating it from inside out until it all vanished, and the fire died down.


    But the devastation it caused, especially that last attack, didn''t let anything live in this pocket world! not humans, not monsters, not even the black trees and plants!


    All were killed, exterminated, all except the trio and the pillar standing arrogantly in the distance.


    "I call it the arrow of extermination!" Arthur finally said it, naming this arrow of his, feeling the sweet pleasure of being so mighty, or having such a mighty weapon.


    "It''s really¡­" Tina muttered, as she stuttered and paused for a brief moment, "a very suited name for such a level of extermination!"


    "Let''s go, I will take the pillar and you two keep your guards up," Arthur then hid the bow, turned into a dragon before heading directly towards the pillar.


    Away from his own roars and flapping wings, the whole world was silent, and this time it was literally dead silent.


    He went directly towards the pillar where he found it still enjoying the attack, gathering around it a small bubble of the attack devastational energy.


    Arthur stood in front of the pillar looking at it in daze, as this was the first time he met such a condition of the pillars. As he was dazed, and the two girls were just about to reach him, two things happened.


    A loud sound came from distance, from the direction of the portal linking to here. "So they are so eager to stop me, trying to use distant attacks? Silly!" he muttered as he noticed the presence of many random arrows heading everywhere, attacking mainly the direction of the portal he came from.


    But he didn''t care as before he could think of a way to solve this pillar problem, it was solved on its own!


    "Great fight lad, I really enjoyed seeing the arrow being triggered and the whole armies of these dark folks being barbecued!"


    The sound of the venerable master came, as his two eyes appeared above the pillar, completely stagnating everything. "Now come and take the pillar and leave, and I will stay to hold all these useless attacks. You shouldn''t waste your time or energy here lad," the master added as he freed Arthur and the two girls from the paralyzing energy while Arthur cupped his hands and respectively said:


    "Thanks master, I will keep working hard."


    "I have great faith in you to do so, and many are now watching you; enemies before friends so don''t slack and always push against time."


    "I promise!"

 Chapter 285: A Brutal Fight at the Star Map

    Arthur then turned to glance at Sara and Tina. He didn''t need to tell them anything as they heard the words of the venerable master, so in the next moments they flew fast, heading back towards the standing alone portal, and stepped into it.


    As they vanished, Arthur then moved towards the pillar. His blood drop managed to penetrate through the pillar outer shell and seeped deeply inside the pillar before finally feeling the energy of the pillar invading his body.


    So he hurried to return fast towards the portal before taking the pillar inside his heavenly garden and then appearing in the star map.


    "Wait here for a moment," he said, before closing his eyes.


    "Wait, there is a new change!" Sara didn''t have time to alarm him, as he hurriedly went inside the heavenly garden.


    The moment he entered, he was welcomed with the usual explosive and rumbling sounds. He went fast to examine the newly added pillar and dark forest.


    "As I expected, they didn''t give up on attacking here," he muttered as he noticed the large number of armies flooding outside the portal. "Should I close it, or¡­?" he thought to himself before deciding to meet this challenge with another.


    If he sealed this portal then his enemies would hurry to shift over all the armies to the next portal and the next, until he would face really endless waves of attacks he wouldn''t be able to challenge.


    Even if his arrow of extermination was great, it had limits! Besides he had a limited number of these, and overusing this would force his enemies to find a counter.


    Plus he didn''t have much time to waste, as he was pretty sure the last ten pillars would prove to be challenging and time consuming.


    "All who can fight here listen to my words, there is an invasion of those who once elsaved you. I will give you a direction to head towards. Work together, and use this to vent out your vengeance and also train. This won''t be the only battleground here, as many will follow, so use your full strength and make sure you don''t die!"


    The next moment he took out an arrow of extermination and fired it towards the large numbers of enemies before vanishing from the garden.


    He knew how strong and mighty his arrows were, and he was sure the devastation caused here would be seen anywhere in his garden world.


    As he opened his eyes he sensed something was off! Tina and Sara weren''t standing beside his side as usual, plus he heard many roars and many screams coming from the front.


    "What is going on?!!" he hurriedly closed his eyes, imagined the map then opened his eyes to witness the great scene he never expected!


    A large army of monsters, those Dorfis hideous monsters were popping from every single star around him, moving to intercept Tina and Sara, and trying to reach him.


    "Are you so desperate to attack me directly here? that''s ridiculous!"


    Arthur stood up, took his bow out and a bunch of his extermination arrows.


    "Wait, this map is fragile, if you used the arrows here it will be shattered!" Sara hurried to shout back at him, trying to stop him from launching his deadly attacks.


    But he didn''t listen to her, as his plan wasn''t as she imagined!


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    Arrow after arrow started to head fast like lightning bolts towards their targets. When everyone saw the trajectory of these arrows, they all sucked in a cold breath!


    The arrows weren''t targeting anyone of them, but it was targeting the portals itself! These green stars they kept coming from received the arrows, took them without any resistance, and let them pass to the worlds behind them!


    And the next moment, no more monsters came from these green stars being hit by these arrows!


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    He kept firing, while jumping from one star to another, changing his location, bypassing any possible obstruction between him and the stars.


    If a single arrow of his missed or was blocked, he would be doomed to lose this map and lose the fight on the pillars!


    So he was careful, extremely careful towards selecting any target. If he didn''t have any, he would shower those green stars which he previously attacked with another volley of arrows.


    Making sure no more reinforcements would come through, plus he knew these stars led to already established Dorfis clan strongholds, so having many defensive preparations wasn''t a fantasy.


    Single or double arrow attacks weren''t enough to cause enough devastation, so he made sure that each star would receive dozens of arrows, permanently silencing these stars, even turning some of them into red light, making him wonder about the significance of these colors.


    "They are retreating," Sara shouted as these monsters started to fly back, creating a distance between the two sides.


    "Not under my watch! I finally got some dummy monsters to kill! Stay back you cowards!" Tina didn''t stop and watch like Tina as she went directly towards the monster''s large group without any fear.


    "Support her, hurry!" Arthur gave the order to Sara as he himself turned into a dragon, roared wildly before turning to fly towards the monsters up front.


    "Aren''t they retreating?" Sara muttered in confusion.


    "No, they are clustering around the remaining stars to prevent me from destroying them," he explained and his words enlightened everything in front of Sara''s eyes.


    "Then I will make sure they won''t be able to protect anything," Tina viciously roared before jumping over the monsters, with the support of Arthur and Sara from behind, and a dog fight monsters erupted around this area of the star map.


    The final fight started, sooner than Arthur expected, however he didn''t mind that as they forced his hand to use his arrows here, making him realize a very easy and more feasible way to clear his path than he initially planned.


    So he wasn''t that much angry or frustrated, in fact he was very pleased and much content towards this development.


    "I could now garnish all these strongholds belonging to them and add them to my garden," he thought to himself with much greed. He wasn''t eyeing the resources stored in each stronghold, as he was pretty sure his arrows would devastate everything.


    But he was sure these hideous twisted mind monsters wouldn''t choose a place to station their stronghold at without good reason, a cluster of large slaves or places with rare resources.


    And he wanted them all!

 Chapter 286: A Brutal Dragon Fight!

    "Be careful to not overuse the strong attacks of us, as the map star won''t handle this pressure well," Sara warned them again when they were so close to the clustering monsters.


    They looked like they were going to station themselves in the last stand, and Arthur planned for it to be so!


    "So I can only use my claws?" Tina said in complain but Arthur had another opinion as he said:


    "Just close over one, and send a direct hit towards it, then jump to another and so on."


    "That''s much better,are they up front?"


    "Just fly directly and you will reach the constellation they are standing above."


    "Great," she said before waving her wings directly heading towards the direction Arthur pointed towards. As she moved, Sara glanced at him as he said:


    "If this was the way to crush this star map, then why didn''t they use it up till now?" he simply said that before taking out a weapon he long didn''t use; that bloodthirst sword.


    And the moment it came out, it hummed, showing its discontent to be left out for such a long time.


    "Don''t complain buddie, I kept you for such a grand feast, look up ahead!" Arthur just smiled before holding it in his claw, feeling slightly off by the small size of this sword. "If only you were bigger, sigh!"


    "Buzz!"


    The next moment the sword got broader, longer, and heavier. Strangely it swelled up like it was a sponge absorbing water; not fragile but showing much power than before. "Oh, you can do that?" Arthur muttered in surprise before laughing a roaring laugh, "sure, you are such a nasty sword. Let''s go my old friend."


    Arthur was moving steadily towards the large group of monsters that kept getting larger. Tina had already reached there, and the fight proved to be much harder than she expected, making her very satisfied!


    After taking out the sword, a dragon was launched out like an arrow, heading towards the monsters; holding a large intimidating sword in a claw, waving it right and left.


    One hit, and the monster attacked would be sucked dry out of blood; turning eventually into a pile of ash!


    Monster after monster turned into ash, while they started attacking to defend their protected circle of stars. Arthur started to feel pain, but he didn''t stop his steps even once; always pushing forward.


    One star, two stars, five stars were liberated of the handle of the monsters, but he kept pushing forward. When the trio were pushing the monsters and more stars started to be liberated, Arthur just flew backward, suddenly throwing his sword to the front, like a death scythe it moved claiming the lives of any monster it met.


    And during this, a bow and a bunch of arrows appeared, and the mighty big dragon vanished; popped up like a soap bubble showing the true human behind it.


    And Arthur just grabbed the bow, put the arrows one after another, pulled the string as hard as he could before sending the arrows inside the stars he just flew above.


    Each star got around dozens of his extermination arrows, and that sneaky attack was met by angry roars by the monsters.


    "Watch out!" Tina shouted when some monsters left the plan of defending the fort and ventured like mad dogs towards Arthur. Arthur was still in midair, but the next moment he channeled his energy, transformed again into the dragon, to embrace the incoming attacks with one simple sentence¡­


    "Come back, babe!"


    The bow and arrow just vanished, as they were taken back.


    "Buzz!"


    It wasn''t a roaring hum of the sword but its appearance alone was enough to cause fear in the hearts of those watching it.


    No matter who, the target would be drained out of blood once touched by such a blood hungry sword. The sword was kept for such a long time inside Arthur''s ring, and all this time it grew restless, angry, and very impatient.


    And now it was it''s time to shine, especially when the meal contained such a high grade of blood.


    When it was called upon by his master, it complied, flew backwards, hitting many monsters in the process, killing more before finally falling in the claws of Arthur again.


    "Come you worthless worms," he evilly smirked in the face of such an evil clan. He didn''t hesitate or wait for them to come over his direction, as he went directly towards them.


    They were angry, and he was impatient, so both sides hit each other and a strong suicidal fight erupted where he fought with over fifty monsters while he alone stood in the air.


    He endured all the wounds they inflicted at him; they were attacking without any care or reservation. Like monsters at their last dying breaths, their last stance, last charge, last bite; they caused severe deep wounds over Arthur''s body.


    But Arthur wasn''t doing anything as he kept waving his sword, with each wave he killed one or two of these monsters. The fight end result was obvious, but the cost Arthur had to pay was greater than what he expected.


    "Those nasty monsters could go berserk when they wanted to be!" he gulped for breath when he finally dried the last one up. "I shouldn''t enter such suicidal encounters with them so soon," he laughed at his messy state before glancing at the front.


    The sudden venture of these fifty something monsters created gaps along the fortified clustering of the monsters. They were trying to amend these, while making Tina and Sara busy.


    "You forgot me, ain''t you?" he laughed out loud before throwing his sword again towards the front, targeting a gap that directly created a path to the heart of this group; that was where he selected to aim; that was his target.


    The sword moved, cleaving all monsters in its path, making the gap look more void, ready to welcome Arthur.


    And he just ignored any other monster that tried to jump at him, leaving the fight with Tina and Sara, in a try to stop him.


    "Come back!"

 Chapter 287: They Simply Ran Away!!

    The next moment the sword returned, killing those who tried to hurriedly close this gap, this vital gap, before resting in the claw of Arthur who simply waved it left and right.


    And those incoming to stop him were simply turned into ashes!


    He moved towards the gap, and any monster tried to stop him was simply met by this indomitable sword. Arthur moved, while all the monsters jumped towards him, clustering over like it was honey and they were bees, but all they got in return was an ashen grey fate!


    "Push forward, let''s help him!" Tina shouted at Sara before she, without any thinking, threw herself into the crowd of monsters up ahead. Sara watched her crazy move before shaking off her head, while muttering: "Such crazy girl is really suited to be his match, but¡­ she has a point though!"


    The next moment she also followed suit, as their two sudden attacks caused the retaliation of the monsters over Arthur to falter. Arthur kept pushing forward, invading all the large numbers of monsters around him, while he then started to use his other card.


    His fire breaths started to roar everywhere, hitting monster after monster, hunting them down.


    He was attacking like he was arrogantly spitting down on them; one spit per monster did the job! On one side, his sword kept moving, hitting everything, and on the other his fire breaths kept hitting any daring monster to come so near to him.


    And from behind, on two sides; one flying tigress and one flying dragon were raging havoc, cutting off the reinforcements coming from many stars on the periphery; relieving the pressure exerted over Arthur for a considerable amount.


    "Sigh, if the scorpion was much stronger, she would love this fight for sure!" he sarcastically said, while closing up onto the central large green star. He knew this one others were desperately defending, trying to prevent him from reaching there; was the one linking to the clan main headquarter.


    And as he once attacked this place, he wouldn''t hesitate to attack it again!


    The more he got closer, the resistance started to be fiercer, even they started to use their special attacks; an acid burning dark thick fluid attack that was like thick oil.


    The moment this oil fell upon his body, it managed to clear away many scales, creating wounds everywhere. Arthur glanced briefly at the new wounds before noticing something.


    These wounds resembled the ones over the bodies of these hideous monsters! That was strange, as he asked himself if they were cursed with their own powers!


    As for the pain and wounds, he didn''t care about them. He just focused on getting near that central star, and not such an attack would falter his steps. besides not all monsters could use this attack, as only a few did use this trick, making him more confident.


    "Can you protect me for a moment?" Arthur suddenly asked his sword, like he was asking a partner!


    "Buzz!" and the sword replied with this single hum, before it broke free from Arthur''s hand, started to move in a large circle with Arthur its centre. "Time to pay back the debts you bastards!" He cancelled his transformation, took out his arrows and bow, and more than a hundred arrows were launched in no time towards the star, hitting it one time after another, and he waited for it to turn red!


    The stars he hit so far all changed color from green to red, which made it obvious to him that the colors related to the stability of the Dorfis clan over these stars.


    Did this mean these stars also contained pillars? Or something else? Arthur didn''t know the answer, but he intended to know after finishing collecting all the pillars.


    "Are you this mighty?" even after one hundred more arrows, the star didn''t change color! He clenched his fist while shouting: "Keep protecting me for more," then he took out a five hundred arrows in one go!


    He planned to go all out!


    "Swoosh!"


    The next moment, something was thrown out of the portal, while the next moment the star turned from green to black! "What the hell?!" Arthur didn''t know what was going on, as he observed this ball that was thrown out of the portal before it was closed.


    The moment this ball appeared, chaos erupted! All the monsters surviving had a panicked expression over their faces, and the next moment they didn''t care about anything at all, jumped towards the nearest star to vanish inside.


    Arthur didn''t need anyone to tell him how dangerous this ball was, but even before he could do anything, his sword was first to hit it!


    "It¡­ is¡­ delicious!"


    Arthur''s eyes widened from shock as his sword spoke up, with this rusty voice, like someone speaking from underground. "Can you contain it?" he hurried to ask, and the next moment the reply came by the sword buzzing and a simple broken sentence.


    "I¡­ can¡­ need¡­ time!"


    "That''s great, and I have the right place for you to spend all the time you want; get inside!"


    Arthur then touched the sword, taking it with that strange ball inside his garden. The next moment he closed his eyes and went deeply to examine the situation in his garden.


    It wouldn''t be good for the ball to explode, damaging all what he craved for with great effort. When he went inside, he found the sword lying on a very strange spot; the top of a pillar!


    And it wasn''t just any pillar, it was the one which was recently added, the one which absorbed the energy of the arrow of extermination, making it quite unique. "Is this a coincidence?" he thought to himself, before shaking his head. "This stingy sword is even greedier than me!" he muttered to himself, as this sword intentionally selected the pillar.


    Arthur didn''t speak as he stood motionless observing the sword, with this ball at the tip of its blade. Despite the sword and the ball being big, they were like small dots over the huge surface of the pillar.


    "I think an hour has passed here, so that means we are fine," he said to himself the moment he opened his eyes; exiting the garden world. the next moment he found Tina and Sara standing on his side, while the place ushered under strange heavy silence.


    "Sigh, so they ran off? Just like that?" he asked, while glancing at the black star that once linked to the Dorfis clan headquarters.


    "Yeah, simply like that, humph!" Tina seemed angry as she finally found the fun she wanted, but didn''t have enough time to enjoy it. Arthur simply smiled, as he glanced over the other stars.


    They were all still functioning.


    "Don''t be upset, we will have much more fun in the next stars," he said before heading towards one of the rear stars, as he added, "we will start invading from here; are you two ready?"


    "Your wounds¡­" Sara said and added nothing more, while glancing over the deep and multiple wounds he currently had. "It''s nothing, we need to hit them while they are still unbalanced," he replied while getting closer to the star he selected.


    "Shouldn''t we hit that one? Take them by order?" Tina asked as she flew by his side with Sara catching behind.


    "It''s what they expect, and so their defenses there would be the strongest. While here, they are either unprepared or unqualified to stop us," he calmly explained, hoping for her hot tempered head to get some wisdom; to be much like Sara.


    But he was doomed to fail, as she was and would still the hot tempered snake he helped to transform into a dragon!


    "Then send me into these heavily fortified stars, let me play to my heart content!"


    "Sigh!"


    "You are beyond hopeless!"


    "Stop judging me, you coward tigress!!"


    "Hey¡­ stop fighting and be ready, we have a war to fight. Let''s go!"

 Chapter 288: Dismantling the Deflective Array by Burning It to Ash!

    He didn''t intervene usually in the two girls skirmishes, but right now the situation wasn''t that easy to be underestimated by the two like this.


    They needed to be ready, as he was pretty confident what happened here wasn''t the end; it was only the beginning!


    The moment the trio appeared in the pocket world, it was pretty obvious their appearance came out of the dark Dorfis clan''s expectations.


    There were many warriors here, but their formation was literally a mess; plus their defensive shield wasn''t on yet!


    "Sound the alarm!"


    "Intruders!!"


    "Kill them!!!"


    Shout after another started to echo, but as they weren''t ready, they would never be able to be a match for the trio, so Arthur just simply said:


    "Go and have the fun you wanted."


    Tina giggled as she jumped over the warriors here, killing anyone she could reach with her claws, and those far away were targeted by her ice breath.


    "Let''s go," Arthur then flew to the sky, with Sara following so close by. As there was no single defensive shield here, the trip to the pillar seemed like a walk in the park compared to the intense fighting they just had!


    "It''s too easy, isn''t it somehow suspicious?" Sara was the one to speak out her mind, and Arthur just glanced at the nearby pillar and the small number of warriors defending the mages here as he said:


    "No matter what, they are expecting us back at the star we left behind. If they had the power to cover up all these pillars with enough force to stop me; then they wouldn''t ask for a hundred but a thousand pillars and they wouldn''t be a middle sized clan."


    She nodded in silence as his reply seemed logical to her. The next thing went smooth as he took the pillar and returned to unite with the two girls in the star map.


    "They didn''t come, huh?" he muttered when he appeared there, as the place seemed quiet with no danger of any kind. "They are up to something then," he believed more in this. He turned to the two girls who were standing silently behind him. "We will go to that star," he selected the total opposite star to the one they just snatched and turned dark.


    The next star''s pillar was snatched nice and easy without any problems. Tina was content with the fighting she had so far, despite the short time she had but she was happy she could now fight without any restraints, without any warrior running away.


    Sara was still doubtful, and Arthur was pretty confident in his senses; his enemies are doing something in the shadows and he was confident he would discover it soon.


    "To that star?" Sara asked as she pointed out to the opposite side. "No, we can''t move on pattern or else this would be all pointless," he replied while glancing over the remaining twenty seven stars here.


    "So where? To the centre?" she asked again.


    "This one," he picked a star in close proximity to the dead central star of the main Dorfis clan headquarters. "Why?" she asked with curiosity, but she was doomed to be disappointed as he didn''t answer.


    He selected this star randomly, and also by a sense inside him. He rarely had this alarming sense, and so he needed to know what his enemies were planning.


    He wasn''t that worried, but this vague feeling was really annoying! When he selected the star, he felt the resonance with his inner warning. He knew he would find something there. "Be prepared, this fight will be dirty."


    He just warned the two before directly entering the portal and appearing on the other side. As expected, he found a large number of warriors and mages waiting for him, combined by large number of monsters.


    They stood there, with no fear at all, like they never heard the news, and that was simply unbelievable to be true!


    "Why are they standing like showing off?" even Tina felt something was odd, so she asked, without venturing forward like her usual. "Is it an illusion?" Sara expressed her doubts, but Arthur didn''t reply, as he glanced towards the distance, outside the thick layers of heavy enemies surrounding here.


    He could see the pillar perfectly fine, and that meant this wasn''t an illusion!


    "They are trying to act smart and nasty," he sighed before flapping his wings to rise up as he added, "Let''s move, we need to take the defensive and deflective shields first."


    The two girls exchanged glances before following him. "What is the trick here?" Sara asked.


    "Didn''t you have deflective arrays back in your days?" Arthur was surprised to hear her question, making him jump to a conclusion based on her next answer; "No, this is the first time to hear of such a thing!"


    "Sigh, it seems they had the help of the outside again," he muttered as this was the only explanation. It was also feasible for the later generation than Tina to discover such an array, but Arthur highly doubted that.


    If they had such a knowledge breakthrough then they wouldn''t have fallen under the clutches of the dark mages like this. "To destroy it we need to concentrate our attack on a single point, not large enough to stimulate its deflective function, and focused enough to cause the damage needed," he explained in plain words, but to the girls they seemed puzzles!


    "What do you even mean by that?!!"


    He glanced at Tina trying to hold his laughs. She looked quite cute. "This shield works by absorbing any attack and reflecting it towards the attacker''s direction," he said.


    "Then we should find another way to bypass it! What about my earth control ability? It''s weak but it can work fine!"


    "It''s stimulated by a large area attack, like your arrow of extermination, right?"


    "Right."


    "Why don''t you reply to me? huh?!!"


    "So we need to make the area of attack as small as possible."


    "But not too much to lose the intensity of the attack, losing the damage meant failure as well."


    "You two¡­ Roar!!!"


    "Depleting the array, huh?"


    "That''s the theory."


    "¡­"


    "Which spot will we attack?"


    "I think the central highest point in the dome array would be nice."


    "¡­"


    "I think so too."


    "Tina," he finally paid attention to her, and when he did she was on the verge to explode out on their faces! "Go and vent your anger over that point there."


    He didn''t continue his words, and Tina just glanced at the direction of his claw before hurrying over there and started to vent her frustration out.


    "Keep focusing over one point," he shouted, and his shout came out as a mighty roar!


    "You did this on purpose?"


    "Sure, I needed her to freeze it up before I step in and melt that down with the aid of your wind."


    "¡­"


    Sara was speechless as she didn''t expect him to be able to play Tina so perfectly and naturally as this. A thought suddenly crossed her mind; was she also played out nice and neat like this before? Was she being played out right now?


    She glanced silently at him, feeling for the first time how terrifying he was. She thought she could outsmart him somehow, but in the end she realized the old words which Tina once told her.


    She wasn''t trying to mock her or act superior as she initially wrongly thought; she was honestly advising her! Arthur wasn''t simple, wasn''t simple at all despite his kind nature, the face he kept showing to anyone!


    They waited, for ten minutes, until Arthur felt it was enough for Tina to vent out her depressed anger, then he stepped in. "With me!" he said before releasing the energy he kept channeling all this time.


    Two dragons, one flying tigress and three attacks; all focused on a single small point that didn''t exceed one meter radius! It seemed amazing how precise and accurate they were. When the three attacks combined together, cracking sounds started to pop up everywhere.


    "It''s breaking!" Sara muttered as she glanced for a moment at the whole world around them; a huge dome appeared out of nowhere, and it was full of many long and irregular cracks!


    "Keep attacking!" Tina was the one to roar out, as she still felt anger and much frustration; she wanted to go out and unleash all this over the whole army of warriors, mages, and monsters out there!


    In less than two minutes, the array couldn''t take anymore and started to burn on itself. Like dried tree leaves touching wisps of fire, curling on themselves and turning ashen gray before they went to oblivion with the wind; the array was destroyed and the outer enemies were now in reach.


    "Roar!"


    It was Tina''s roar that reverberated all over the world. Arthur wanted to use the arrow of extermination to end this, but when he saw how angry she was, he preferred to give her more space.


    Especially when no one, literally no one managed to stand a single attack from her!

 Chapter 289: A Scheme and Its Applicable Counter

    "Let''s go," Arthur said and Sara worried about Tina for the first time ever! "Will she be alright?" she said, before adding, "alone?"


    "Yeah, she is more than enough. if you focused more you will notice the warriors here aren''t that strong, even monsters here seemed quite boring and dull," he said, before heading straight towards the pillar.


    "Something seems off here," he sniffed it even before he sat his feet here. He knew this star would reveal the truth to him, but which truth?


    As he headed towards the pillar, Tina followed suit. Her worry for Tina was replaced by doubt and suspicion the moment she noticed the weakness of these warriors, mages, and monsters.


    "What are they planning¡­"


    She was midway in her words when a rumble broke her, making her stop. She and Arthur glanced at the same time towards the distance, where this rumble occurred!


    A red light pillar was launched from the horizon, seen easily from such a far distance, making everyone alerted and feel the pressure.


    "What is that?" Arthur muttered, as he didn''t get the meaning of the presence of such pillars of light.


    But Sara did!


    "These bastards!" she said before adding, "they are starting a new portal out there, I think they are trying to establish another route away from the star map."


    "This means," Arthur''s eyes shone coldly as the conclusion jumped into his mind.


    "Yes, they will cut the portal linking the pocket world to the star map."


    "Rendering the map useless while securing themselves from me. such a brilliant strike! I have to admit, they played it well this time," he smiled with a strange expression on his face, like he was giving up.


    But Sara next to him had another thought, that was the terrifying calm before the storm! And his storm would be devastating!


    "Do you know how much time they need to finish these portals?"


    "I think roughly two days at least, three at top."


    He smirked, "Just matching my schedule." He then glanced at the pillar next to him before recalling the star map in his mind.


    This star was near the centre, but it wasn''t near any other red stars with pillars. That meant wasting time here was pointless. "Let''s get this done fast, and tell Tina to stop and retreat, we will have another deadly fight soon."


    Sara glanced at his back while flying calmly towards the pillar. "I would much love to pay anything and understand what is going on inside this brain of yours!" she muttered softly before turning to leave and notify Tina.


    As for Arthur, he needed a little help from his venerable master. He knew if he picked the pillars one by one, he would fail to collect them all! Two days weren''t much time, and according to the current rate, he would finish a dozen more pillars in less than a day.


    Then the final group of a dozen or slightly more would prove to be hard to clear in less than a single day, especially when his enemy would be well prepared for him this time.


    The fight seemed pointless, logically, but his enemies seemed quite stressing over the last group of pillars. He didn''t know why they needed the pillars so badly, even paying so much price to snatch a handful of ten or a dozen at most from his hands.


    But for him, losing one meant losing everything he exerted his deepest effort for! So he didn''t plan to let them snatch a ten, not even a single pillar would end up resting in their grasp!


    To do so, he needed to counter the scheme they were executing right now, and so he wanted a small help from his master.


    "Master, may I ask you about something?"


    As the venerable huge eyes appeared freezing everything, he didn''t delay to speak up his mind. His master kept his silence in the last pillars, rarely praising or speaking to him.


    "A help?" the master asked before adding, "you did a great job already, but my abilities here are limited, so don''t expect much even from me," he added, clarifying things to Arthur so he wouldn''t be greatly disappointed.


    "I need just a small piece of intel," Arthur said, before adding, "My enemy is planning to cut the route of my entry to here. He is using the red pillar out there to establish new portals. I just want to know if there is a group of pillars being close to each other, like in the same region or something."


    He explained with haste things here and what he wanted from the master. He was pretty sure the master wasn''t free all time to hear everything, so he tried to sum things up.


    As for the master he kept his silence for a moment before he spoke again:


    "This is actually quite easy and tricky at the same time. I know the places of all pillars in this world, so I can tell you now there are two places like you asked for in the remaining cluster of pillars in your region, but the trick lies in how can I inform you about the places of such pillars."


    Arthur understood the meaning of the master, so he had no other option but to use the rude and crude method. "Then I would be a troubling master to let him inform me whenever I step into one of these places."


    "This is the only feasible solution you have," the master said before adding, "good luck lad, and hurry up as this isn''t one of these places and that red light pillar is appearing everywhere around the pillars of your region."


    "Thanks for the warning master," despite him knowing already such intel, he respectfully thanked the master with such courtesy before heading towards the pillar to redeem it.


    The resistance he faced from the monsters and warriors were now gone as everything except for him and his two girls was petrified in place. so he went back easily and stepped to the star map, where he was met with a barrage of angry words coming from Tina!

 Chapter 290: Finally Finding the One!

    "You did it on purpose, ain''t you? Huh? Every Time I have my fun ruined by you! You bastard, fun destroyer, hater of any joy; I hate you!"


    Arthur just heard her words but didn''t care, he knew she would be this mad but there was no use in wasting time inside that pocket world, or even explain to such a thick head dragon the urgent situation they were currently at.


    Dragons when getting angry would be very hard to reason with, especially a female fierce one like Tina!


    "Let''s go," he just said while turning into a dragon, flying towards a star surrounded with a group of others.


    "Don''t you dare walk away from me like this! What do you think yourself are? A dragon?!"


    Arthur just smiled, while Sara followed silently from behind. "This must be it," he thought to himself as he stood at the star, glancing at the angry grumpy Tina at the back. "Won''t you come? There is much more fun down there than up here," he said, while trying his best to control his laughs.


    "¡­"


    Despite her anger and arrogance, her rude behavior didn''t stand in front of having more fun; so she complied and flew towards the star as the trio entered the next world.


    "Sorry lad, this isn''t one of the pillars you are seeking."


    This simple reply came to make him sigh. He selected this star in the heart of other stars around it, and it wasn''t that near to any pillar. The time when he showed up in the star map again he found Tina less angry and more amused. ''Are we going to hit and run like this?" she asked as she considered this as a game and started to have fun with it!


    "Sigh, keep following me and don''t slack behind," he muttered before glancing again at the remaining stars. It took him roughly two hours to finish that previous star, and if he continued like this then he would be able to secure all the pillars barely in time.


    "They won''t leave the important pillars without proper defenses," he muttered as this was something he would do if he was in their shoes.


    The idea in his mind was something they must be aware of; such a wicked and very cunning enemy wouldn''t miss this weakness; the only weakness in his plan without putting much counter defenses against any possible intervention of Arthur.


    So, he knew if he depended only on these jumps from a star to another he wouldn''t finish the task. He jumped into the next star, hoping it would be the one.


    "Sorry lad, this isn''t one of the pillars you are seeking."


    "Sorry lad¡­"


    "Again sorry."


    "Not this time."


    "Sigh, go for another one."


    "This luck of yours is really admirably bad!"


    For six stars he jumped into later he was fated to be disappointed. With each star taken and his aim still unfulfilled, he became more restless, less patient, and much angry!


    "Seven down, nineteen are left to conquer. Please, the next one is the one, please," he pleaded to the will of this world, hoping he would have some mercy and sympathy upon his poor luck.


    And this time his luck finally changed, and his prayers were answered!


    "Wow, they are really much more energetic than the last ones," Tina cheered joyfully the moment she stepped outside the portal.


    "They look stronger, be careful," Sara muttered after glancing around her before her eyes fell upon Arthur.


    He wasn''t surprised, he wasn''t shocked to see all these numbers that filled the entire sky and extended to fill each gap in the ground. The whole world was covered under a veil of arrays, making taking a single step towards the distant pillar seemed mission impossible.


    Even she had felt the challenge here, making her doubt if the trio alone would be able to clear all those well prepared enemies!


    Arthur wasn''t shocked or terrified; he was excited! Much excited that he couldn''t even speak! He glanced at those numbers, all these preparations, and was trying to make sure he wasn''t dreaming.


    The ground was literally excavated out, turned into large circular pits that were totally surrounded by many arrays. The sky was filled with the excavated parts of the earth, suspended in the air with some sort of array, with many monsters standing on these floating islands, well protected by these defensive arrays.


    The world, the entire world was turned into a fighting fortress, either in the sky or in the ground; but that didn''t even make him feel any surprise, doubt, or fear.


    His weird silence was noted even by Tina, who turned to glance at him as she asked: "Are you ok?"


    He smiled, and his smile turned into a grin, before laughing. His laughs appeared like roars as he was finally believing his eyes; he was finally his one!


    "I shall be death to this world!" he only muttered so before he flapped his wings, flew in the air for hundreds of meters without saying any more words even to his two girls; who stood motionless looking strangely towards him.


    "Is her alright?" Tina turned to ask Sara who didn''t know what to say. She was like her, feeling something was off with Arthur.


    The two couldn''t relate or understand his feelings; finding this world meant everything to him! his mission would be completed, he would obtain all the pillars, would amass many treasures and population, plus and access to many zones in this world.


    The stress, that great heavy stress like a huge planet residing over his chest was finally removed. He was beyond excited that he couldn''t even express his own mind except with his actions!


    He would honor this moment and burn this entire world to the ground! He wouldn''t stop and use all his powers to make sure nothing would be left here; nothing but only the pillar!


    Plus he had no time to waste. As finding his deeply cherished world wasn''t the end of anything; it was just the beginning of the end. He still had to travel for ten hours, fight outside the portal out there, before returning and taking all the pillars he could acquire before his enemies would activate their portals and sever the link with the star map.


    As he reached high altitude, and under everyone''s watchful eyes he took out two arrays with flags, opened his mouth before splashing the fire over them, melting the ores together around the flag poles, activating two arrows of destruction.


    "What is he going to do? Has he lost his mind?!!!" Tina was beyond shock, as they were totally surrounded with the annoying deflective array, and now Arthur was preparing to use one of his strongest attacks ever!


    Before even Sara could open her mouth, Arthur then took out his W-shaped longbow and a huge number of his own created arrows; the arrows of extermination!


    "Oh my my!" Tina horrifyingly muttered, but the next moment Sara turned and shouted at her while flapping her wings: "Let''s go, hurry!"


    "To stop him? he totally lost it now! how can we shake his mind back to this world?!!" Tina hurried to shout back, but she didn''t stay at the ground. Even if her man was crazy, and was about to invite death to them, she wouldn''t let him stand out alone, not like this!


    "No, you got it totally wrong," Sara hurried to say, before adding, "he is trying to overload the array with much more energy that its capacity to hold, turning it from such a defensive tool to a very frightening tool; unleashing all these energy out in a burst wave that would leave the effects of all his arrows and arrays ashamed! Hurry, we must help!"


    Sara''s words weren''t loud, but Arthur over there heard them perfectly, and only loud, very excited roars erupted from him as he was laughing with his heart content.


    "Swoosh!"


    The next moment he held the bow, using his claws, forcibly opening it to go much beyond his usual ability to pull the strings. He didn''t know if this bow would tolerate his full dragon powers or not, so he used only a small part of it and it seemed to be enough.


    The next moment he turned into a firing machine, launching his arrows and activated arrays like a long connected line of arrows and arrays towards the deflective shield.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    And the whole world shook under the mighty explosions that started to rage upon the deflective shield surrounding the trio.


    "Throw arrays of destruction to use!" Sara hurriedly shouted at him, as she and Sara''s breaths really paled in front of his mighty attacks. Arthur didn''t say a word but took out a dozen of such arrays and threw them towards the two girls.


    The deflective shield had two ways to overcome, one he used before as it was the easiest and less stressful. But here he was using the second method; overloading the array with an amount of energy it couldn''t tolerate!


    The trick here was not to stop attacking for even a single moment, not giving the array a chance to fully absorb the attack''s energy, resulting in its decomposition from inside out, releasing the energy to the outside world in the form of a mighty bomb explosion!

 Chapter 291: Tinas Lousy Move

    The combined attacks of the trio didn''t take five minutes before the whole array was shattered.


    It started from within the array; which was a higher fortified version of the usual arrays they faced so far, supported by many auxiliary arrays as well.


    But all these efforts were doomed to fail! The energy consumption rate of the main deflective array exceeded its own capacity to control, so it started to break apart from the core.


    It started like a birth of a new dawn, where only one single, hair breadth light shone amidst the darkness, extending to the whole horizon, reaching everywhere.


    Then this was followed by much more light, creating a huge wave that extended from the shield towards the whole world.


    Then another wave was formed, and another, appearing in a heart-beat like fashion, accelerating with each passing minute.


    Despite all these signs of destruction, Arthur didn''t stop attacking for even one second and didn''t give the girls the order to. It was a decisive moment where any single mistake from his part would result in many regretful results.


    Each wave passing through the world would smash some defensive arrays here and there. Those standing still after many waves showed many cracks on their surfaces, announcing the approach of their destruction.


    Those who had their arrays destroyed were subjected directly to the waves. Mere humans couldn''t sustain a couple of waves, popping up like corn on fire. Those who had turned into monsters were much stronger, managed to sustain many waves, and many of them tried to establish more defensive arrays, but all they did was blown away by the waves.


    "Finally!" Arthur suddenly stopped attacking and muttered this with a sigh of relief. The girls also stopped their part, as the trio glanced at the birth of this new star, shining over the entire world with blinding light that extended outward in a move to sweep everything in its path!


    This was the biggest and final wave of light!


    And it was so mighty that its bright light lasted for one whole hour!


    "I don''t think we can even find their remains now," Arthur joked as he was in a very good mood.


    "What a shame, I wanted to fight them for a bit!" Tina complained, per usual.


    "The pillar?" Sara asked, expressing her concerns on the pillar from this mighty explosion.


    "Don''t worry, it won''t be affected," Arthur said before turning his gaze trying to see the pillar amidst this shiny bright silver light that blocked the vision of anything inside it. "I hope it will be alright," he muttered softly as this attack really had gone beyond his expectations.


    The light started to fade away ¨Cgradually ¨Cand this took another half an hour before the trio could see clearly to some degree the world outside the destroyed array.


    "The array still stands?!" Sara muttered in shock, while Tina viciously smiled as she instantly moved, without saying a word, trying to directly penetrate and smash the array with her thick head!


    "Wait!" Arthur just shouted trying to stop her, but he was late.


    "Boom!"


    The moment she hit the array, she was instantly thrown to the ground like a meteor. The sound of her body hitting the ground was so massive, making Arthur run hastily towards her place which was now covered in a large cloud of dust.


    "that stupid lizard!" Sara was flying beside him while expressing her complaints. But her choice of words made Arthur turn to glance at her, giving her a scare as she hurriedly said: "A dragon, a nice and good looking dragon."


    "Sigh!" Arthur didn''t say a word as he jumped over the ground, landing on the edge of the place Tina just landed there.


    "I''m alright, don''t worry, just a couple of scales destroyed, not a big deal," her slightly weak voice came from the dust veiled place like she was speaking from deep down. Arthur and Sara exchanged glances before he jumped over to the dust cloud, finding himself standing in the middle of a deep pit, with the body of Tina lying there filled with many wounds.


    He flapped his wings and Sara just joined him. "This looks pretty bad," Sara muttered with a tinge of shocked tone in her words. "What caused this to her? She didn''t use any sort of attack and that array should be long gone!"


    Arthur just let his wings unfolded, to slide over the air descending slowly towards Tina as he explained:


    "It isn''t the deflective shield, it is a natural barrier caused by the energy exploded out of the array. She just pumped straight towards it, and the energy just responded. Sigh," he helplessly sighed before muttering, "it was really a good thing she did this while the energy was fading. If she pumped into that barrier earlier with the full throttle of energy, she might not be alive so far."


    His tone was showing how much annoyed he was, but Sara side glanced at him thinking about another matter; he wasn''t that much worried or showing any sign of grief over Tina! And she was the oldest to know him out of the two!


    "I need to make sure he won''t be this cold if I fell into trouble," she muttered to herself, as she decided to be more bold after this adventure ended. For her, she was a soul of an ancient human who lived her life to the fullest, and she didn''t know that she was eyeing someone who was in the same shoes as her!


    "Don''t worry, I''m fine," Tina arrogantly said when she noticed them coming silently towards her. She wasn''t fine, as this hit was much worse than it looked.


    But as Arthur said, it was a good fortune she just hit the barrier while the energy was fading. "Your body is full of wounds. Can you move your wings?" he asked, as this was a very important thing he needed to make sure of.

 Chapter 292: Revealing the Full Plan

    "I think it''s ok," she replied as she waved both of her wings, "I''m stuck on the ground, don''t know why but there is a strange glue-like substance keeping my body in place," she said, expressing the reason for her staying down there in such an embarrassing position.


    "Are you sure it''s not your blood?" Sara asked, in a way that seemed more sarcastic that worried.


    "Humph," Tina only harrumphed before glancing at Arthur, "Can you take me inside again and then summon me back?" she asked, and Arthur was already thinking about doing this.


    "Alright, come in," he said as he touched her with his claw, and the next moment¡­ puff! She vanished in thin air, appearing inside his garden.


    "Did you take her inside the place you are taking all pillars to?" Sara asked, as she hardly prevented herself from asking about the castle of the sky.


    "She wasn''t lying," Arthur muttered, totally ignoring Sara''s question as a substance in the ground attracted his attention.


    It was soft, clay like material, shining with some blue luster while the color of it actually was milk white. "What is this?" he asked, as he was surprised to find such a thing down the ground.


    "It must be some sort of ore or a rare material," Sara joined him in examining this material, "I think it has some relation with light, or hear perhaps. I''m pretty sure deep down there it would be liquid not solid," she added as she had this info, but she didn''t know anything more.


    "Isn''t this part of your world resources?" Arthur asked.


    "No, this is my first time seeing such a thing, but there is only this info in the memories I claimed from that dead old hag."


    "Hmm¡­ that''s interesting," he muttered with shining eyes as his greed started to move at this point. He never expected that these pocket worlds came from worlds outside of this one, and he never thought they would have such rare and unique resources.


    "I will have to ask those lazy villagers to work their butt and search for any materials under the ground then," he thought to himself as he wanted to take all the resources piled inside his garden.


    Plus he wasn''t sure if the garden would have any improving effect over these materials, but he hoped it would. "Let''s go," he said as he flew towards the top, intending to summon Tina first then go inside his garden world and assign these missions to the villagers.


    The moment he reached the surface, he glanced at the barrier with the still fading light outside. He sighed, as this attack really went beyond all his expectations, and that would mean the world would be swept clean of any monster and human, leaving only the pillar standing alone.


    "Come out," he said, summoning Tina out again.


    "What the hell have you done to the garden?!!" the moment she was summoned out again, she burst out shouting with amazement and disbelief.


    "What?!" Arthur asked with confusion before realizing since summoning her out of the garden, this was the first time for her to go back. So, it was reasonable for her to act like this.


    "The garden¡­ all these pillars¡­ and those crazy battles everywhere! C''mon, why didn''t you send me inside to play and have fun?" she asked, with a complaining tone as a little spoiled girl asked to be spoiled more.


    "There was no need for you inside, and not yet," he simply replied, but she didn''t give him the chance to elaborate further as she shouted again:


    "That''s unfair! You let these humans have all the fun in the world! can''t you even reward me by letting me vent out my anger for a while? even for a little time, give me a month there, please!"


    "A- A month?!!" he asked with his eye corner twitching of her shameless attitude. "I have a better proposition for you," he said, in a tone that made Sara want to step in and refuse instead of Tina.


    But as usual, Tina was always following her desires and emotions, thinking and regretting later. "I agree if it has fun things to do," she said, cutting the road for her salvation. "Dummy girl, when will you ever learn! Stupid immature lizard!" Sara muttered to herself, making sure her voice wouldn''t be heard by anyone this time.


    "After this light fades away, I will send you two to the portal of this world, with one mission," he said, finally revealing his plan against the scheme of the dark Dorfis clan.


    "What? Even me? she is the one to ask for it, not me!!!" Sara was quite speechless of dragging her to this mess, despite her silence all the time! she knew that silence was a virtue, but in some situations keeping your silence would be a sin!


    "Oh? You want me to go out and kill all those monsters and pathetic humans? I would love to, surely I would!" As for Tina, she expressed her excitement as she even jumped a couple of times while flapping her wings and roaring out to the world.


    Arthur just smiled while giving Sara a single long silent glance that made the latter quite nervous. He didn''t need to elaborate about selecting her to go with Tina, as the accident that Tina just did to herself right now was enough proof of how dangerous it was to leave her alone!


    He wasn''t that worried about her, but he was worried his own investment all this time in her would be wasted! "I want you two to go out, hold the fort there, defend the opening against all invasions and not let anyone get near the portal!" he said, elaborating further about his plan.


    "We can simply seal the portal!" Sara annoyingly muttered as she didn''t yet accept the task Arthur just assigned to her.


    "Stupid cat," Arthur said, repaying her misuse of words from before, making Sara''s eyes glow with faint anger, as she hated this word a lot! "Our aim isn''t to destroy the portal, but to keep it running."


    "For what? Huh? It''s better for us to seal it and keep moving, or add this place to your garden and let your beloved warriors inside fight this battle instead!"


    "That won''t do," he shook his head before finally revealing everything, "this pocket world is connected to a cluster of other pocket worlds with pillars¡­ geographically. I know we can''t beat the Dorfis clan in time, and in the end some pillars would be lost as their plan would succeed. But I would prefer for this group to be the pillars around this pocket world."


    His words reveal his whole plan, making even Tina to gasp in admiration. "Why are you so focused in claiming all these pillars and in such a short time? what''s special about having all of them instead of having most of them?" Sara expressed her own doubts, finally, as she couldn''t refute Arthur''s last logic.


    "That''s something you don''t need to bother yourself about," and the reply came instantly from Arthur, decisively closing the door in her face! He wouldn''t tell anyone about his own intentions.


    And his reply made the doubt inside Sara''s mind turn into a belief; he was hiding something big, that was what she believed right now.


    And he didn''t care about what she was thinking, after all she was part of his belonging, a follower not a partner.

 Chapter 293: Sending the Girls Off

    The light took another hour to end, and when it did it did it with a bang; like the last dying breath of an ancient behemoth. Arthur just stood his place watching the barrier shining brightly for the last time with a bang, before everything became open and clear to him.


    The entire world was now ushered in ruins! It seemed like a great sweeper passed here, cleaned and cleaved everything with no exception but for the pillar in the near, and the portal in the distance.


    The light pillar extending in the horizon was still shining, dimly than before but it was still there.


    "You two go ahead, and I will take the pillar and leave here," he said as he flapped his wings and rose to the sky.


    "Tsk," Sara just sneered before she went behind him, going on a different way. During their wait inside the barrier, he gave them a great number of arrows, reaching a thousand one, and he entered his garden and made more of them.


    He also armed them with a hundred doomsday and arrow of destruction arrays brought forth from the vault underneath the castle of the sky.


    As for the warriors of his garden world, he just spread the news about the upcoming important battle, even interfered personally at dozen places, sealing many portals there to relieve the pressure over his warriors and let part of them be ready to help the two girls.


    He also asked Agnus to be responsible for equipping those warriors with the best equipment he had, plus asking for any war machines that might help. He was pleased to see some ballistae, in different sizes, plus some catapults as well.


    If he could he would ask them to build a castle out there, but time was ripe and he had only the window of a couple of days.


    "Finally boy, you made it!"


    The master''s voice came with some joy as he expressed his relief. "Thanks master, now I will start hunting down other pillars than the ones near here," Arthur said as he planned to avoid all the stars nearby this one. "Might I ask how many pillars are situated near here?" he asked, as he wanted to be sure not to waste his time on a linked pillar here.


    "There are seven more."


    "Good," he replied before saluting his master, bowing his head in respect before going on and taking that pillar.


    As he appeared in the star map, he closed his eyes instantly, as he wanted to check on the girls.


    Not much time passed since their departure, so he instantly found them not far from the pillar. They were flying fast, but Sara seemed to be troubled by something else; constantly glancing around her like a scared cat!


    "Don''t worry, there is no danger in this world," his voice came to startle both of them, making them move away instantly from the direction of his voice. "Hahaha, never thought you would be startled by my voice," he laughed, amused by their reaction.


    "You are¡­ like a ghost?" Tina muttered with surprise over her face.


    "That''s me entering here with my soul, not body," he said, before adding, "Do you want me to come here with my real body?" with a wink and a playful tone that made Tina pause for a moment there.


    He was just teasing her, after all he intended to spend a couple of days here with his real body, and enjoy the softness of her!


    "Is this the place you kept taking pillars to?" Sara asked, as she wanted to make sure of her guess.


    "And the castle of the sky," he said before adding, "but the shield is still raised, so you can''t enter. If you try, you will be killed."


    "By the shield?" she muttered, while not believing his words.


    "By me," he chuckled like he was telling a joke, but the vibe he gave to her made her realize he wasn''t! and his simple and direct answer made her evil thoughts inside to quill down for a bit.


    She knew she wasn''t a match for him, not before, not now, and perhaps never!


    "When you reach the portal, go out there and make some bangs. I have spread the word already, and many warriors with good equipment and many war tools will come to your aid in hours. So, don''t worry and make all the ruckus you want, but make sure not to go so far ahead."


    "Why? I want to kill them all and have much fun!"


    Arthur just smiled helplessly before waving his hand, and the next moment the scorpion queen appeared again, landing over the back of Tina, giving her an instant scare at first before curiously observing her.


    "Take this little one with you, she also loves the same fun you adore much," he laughed as he said, before disappearing from the place.


    "Oh, are we going to have fun?" the scorpion queen asked.


    "We are going to kill endless warriors and monsters, is this fun to you?" Tina asked, testing her out.


    "Wow, I love it! can I torture them a bit before killing them?"


    "Hehehe, I like you little one, hehehe"


    "Pathetic!"


    As for Arthur, the moment he appeared in the star map he started first examining it. the stars near the one he was standing on top of were exactly seven, making him heave a sigh of relief. "Finally things started to be sorted out," he said as he glanced at the rest of the stars, examining them.


    "So this group is also a connected group like this one here, and they are also eight stars in total. And that group is smaller, four stars, so I will exterminate them with the other sporadic groups before leaving these two connected groups to the last.


    "I can risk not finishing that one before the pillars being activated, but as long as it''s connected to my world and the portal is secured, I can be sure to have all the rest of pillars," he muttered before moving out towards a sporadic star.

 Chapter 294: The Clock is Ticking... Tick Tock... Tick Tock...

    As he kept attacking these stars, he didn''t find any problem dealing with the resistance there. The Dorfis clan was now focusing entirely over the three connected groups of stars and pillars, totally ignoring the rest.


    So this made his task to collect all the sporadic stars easy, taking only half a day to do that!


    What was left behind were the connected pillars. He now knew what he should do, despite the high consumption rate of this kind of attack, but it was the fastest way to make him get rid of all their preparations.


    Seventeen pillars remained, and a day and half in his time before the portal plan of the Dorfis clan would be set in motion.


    "First I should secure one of the big groups, before heading to exterminate the smaller one," he decided to be cautious, while heading towards one of the eight stars and entering it.


    The moment he appeared in the pocket world, he was faced by the same scene he faced before. "No change in plans, or no time to do so? Either way this is good news for me," he sneered as he took out his bow and arrows, and started bombing the array around him.


    He needed one hour to best the array, more three to wait for it to calm down and all the effects would vanish before he went ahead and snatched the pillar away.


    As he waited for three hours for the devastation of the smashed array to cool off, he kept working and not slacking, making so many arrows of extermination as much as he could.


    He went into his garden, first checking on the status of the two girls to find the area quiet with long lines of warriors gathered up around the portal, waiting for their turn to join the fight.


    He then checked the other fighting grounds, to find that his warriors were now beating their foes thanks to the new gears he gave the orders to make. "Agnus is quite a capable one indeed," he muttered in content, as this wasn''t the work of a single man, or a single village.


    He was sure many villages took part in this, and he just agreed on such behavior. After all they were all now his subjects, belonging to the same flag.


    He even noticed some portals were totally dominated by his warriors. They weren''t many, only a few of a five so far, but this was a good sign. He left instruction for them to send many scouts outside, spreading the word of him accepting any refugees with no limit. Also he made them stress on the fact he could free them of their slavery curses.


    And as part of the portal started to be freed, it wouldn''t take much time for others to be controlled by his warriors as well. So, he also gave them the same instructions, plus he asked for any extra units to move to the newly added pillars, as the portals there would face great war soon.


    He knew they alone wouldn''t be enough to face the wrath of the Dorfis monsters, but he couldn''t send for his girls to help here. "Sigh, I lack really capable fighters," he helplessly shook his head once appearing in the star map, but all he could do was to regularly check on the status of the garden, and give any possible help to those in need to.


    So he hopped into the next star, and the next, and the next, until totally clearing the four clusters of them, killing endless numbers of warriors inside, while adding them all to his garden.


    "As these four are completely collected, no need to waste resources on these," he said before closing his eyes, entering the world of his again and this time he sealed the portals leading to the outside world, while redistributing the warriors fighting her to other places.


    He felt quite stressed out, and his warrior pool started to show signs of drying up. However, as he waited inside the last star barrier, he received some reassuring news at last.


    Many refugees started pouring in! whole villages and towns moved with their whole people and resources, joined his garden world.


    In the last three hours alone, over two hundred thousand villagers and fifty thousand capable warriors joined his world. his world was starting to take another shape, a shape of a great nation!


    He didn''t delay and instantly worked on relieving their curses, fulfilling his promise to them. from their mouths, he realized that his fame had already reached far and wide, and now it was enough to just mention his name for whole regions to move out to respond to his call!


    "I never imagined this war would take such a turn, and sarcastically it all started with a contest," he smiled when he recalled the root of all this. At first he wasn''t sure if the academy would approve for him to keep contact here, but now he could easily link a pocket world to his empire, hiding the entrance to it quite well, so he could always pay a visit here at any time.


    "The next stars then," he didn''t delay and moved out towards the next stars, snatching them one by one.


    He knew his enemies must have recognized his pattern a long time ago, but they took all this trouble to make their plan successful; they couldn''t simply ditch it and find another; as it seemed there was no other!


    As for the way they defended the world, he realized that at some stars the amount of warriors and mages there started to show an obvious decline, especially for the number of monsters.


    "So you are pulling back your forces to minimize your losses, or to prepare for the last stand? Either way this is the best solution you currently have," he muttered when he waited for the broken array to be clear. He knew they wouldn''t think of removing the current defensive arrays, as they were doing the job of delaying him perfectly fine.

 Chapter 295: Sending Farewell Gifts Everywhere

    Any star now would require at least four hours to be cleared out, making him waste the day and half he previously had on clearing out almost clearing out nine stars, leaving three of one cluster and seven of another cluster untouched yet!


    Ten pillars, that was all he missed right now, and the system just said, not letting him even rest for a single moment:


    "Ding! Just a reminder, you have only one day left."


    "Don''t you see I''m whipping my as* here to get this done?"


    "Ding! The clock is Ticking... Tick Tock... Tick Tock..."


    "..."


    As the system was such a pain, Arthur added again, emphasizing on his efforts:


    "I know the remaining time and things on stake here. I''m not slacking, y''know!"


    "Ding! Making a great effort is admirable, but if not with the desired results it would be in vain and worth nothing. Be smart, don''t work stupidly hard!"


    Arthur knew the system was telling the truth, and he wasn''t that desperate yet to be frustrated over such words. In fact, the words of the system right now gave him new inspiration. He turned to observe the remaining stars with shining eyes and an evil face!


    The remaining stars were doomed to be not taken by him through here. He might jump over one star, preventing anyone from taking it, but this would be all. He wouldn''t be able to touch another star through here.


    "So why don''t I give them a farewell fiery message?" he smirked evilly before taking out his bow and arrows, and the next minutes he kept firing hundreds of his arrows towards each star.


    To unlock any star they needed to reach for the portal and close it themselves. That meant they would lower their guards, or that what he just hoped them to do.


    So he sent in this many numbers of his arrows of extermination, plus two doomsday arrays to each star, before finally jumping into one of them.


    He selected one that belonged to the almost finished eight star cluster, so he would shorten the time needed here and make sure the resistance coming from the outside would be weaker than the other cluster where Tina and Sara were guarding.


    As he stepped into the world, he was met with a world full of devastation and ruins. "Great, that means many will end up the same way, right? Time to gather more pillars before they retaliate," he loudly laughed before directly heading towards the pillar, taking it out in no time, reappearing again in the star map.


    "Three stars are dead, that means others will follow soon," he just casually glanced at this, as he hurriedly hopped into the next star, finding the same ruins and silence there, before he took the pillar and went to the next and last one in this eight cluster of stars.


    "Phew I luckily made it, thanks to your system," the moment he went to the star map, he found that the other stars inside the remaining cluster were dying off one by one.


    "Another farewell gift, don''t blame me, I''m just generous," he smirked evilly as he launched dozens of arrows towards the last three stars, while trying to jump into one of them, but his timing was slightly off and couldn''t reach there in time.


    "No problem, at least my gifts were warmly received, hahaha," he laughed, alone, while standing in this dying star map, with no shining star out there. all stars were pitch black now, but his own controlled stars had that dark luster, while those belonged to his enemies had a grayish black gloomy look.


    "Even in dying you look so hideous, sigh!"


    He glanced over the place, feeling himself standing in a graveyard. "System, what will happen to this star map? Who owns it now?" he asked, as he wouldn''t be totally safe if his enemies had a backdoor or something to hack this map and be able to roam freely in his own belongings!


    "Ding! The current star map is ownerless."


    The reply of the system was short and vague, not really replying on Arthur''s doubts. "How can I make it mine?" he asked.


    "Ding! By completely taking all the pillars attached to it," the system reply made Arthur link the request with this star map, not believing his ears as he asked again:


    "Don''t tell me you gave me this quest for just this star map?"


    "Ding! It''s not a normal star map, the Dorfis dark clan is simply stupid and ignorant."


    "Then what is it?"


    "Ding! It''s too early for you to know."


    "No tips or gossips at all?" he didn''t lose hope in knowing more from his system, as his curiosity was really piqued this time by the system words.


    "Ding! Without it you can aspire to be a strong man, but with it you can turn into a mighty dragonair, one with no equal!"


    "hmm¡­" he muttered to himself before adding with a beaming smile, "that aspiration of yours for me is really admirable! I like that, and I won''t fail you."


    "Ding! Failing me means failing yourself."


    "Alright, no time to waste then. I will go to the girls and end this long struggle now."


    He didn''t delay jumping into the star guarded by the two girls. However, as he entered there, he didn''t hurry towards the portal, as he first headed towards the portals of the four stars, used couple of his arrows to clear the hostile, before sending double of his doomsday arrays and dozens of his arrows towards the portal before finally sealing it.


    "This is my farewell gift for you, be happy and die well until I see you again in the after life, hehehe," he loudly shouted this sentence before he closed any of the four portals.


    As the next war was the war he needed to focus most on, he took a random tour around the place and made sure things were under total control here.


    Then he directed any extra warriors towards the portal of the last war, while promising those who came to join him to free them once he finished this war.


    And they all just nodded and gladly accepted his personal promise, a promise of such a legendary figure in their world meant everything to those weak and oppressed people.


    "My last pillars, here I come for you."


    He smiled, with much excitation and anticipation, as he went directly towards the portal. midway, he grabbed his four summoned dragons. They weren''t yet fully purified, but they got many boost in strength by staying here for this time.


    "Back when I was a cultivator, only laying down and cultivating wasn''t a good thing. Every now and then one should go out and explore the world, strengthen his knowledge of his new gained power and stabilize it. they needed this now, caring too much for them isn''t that good," he said to himself as he was recalled by this new ability he totally forgot about.


    He was reminding himself to use the ability, and as such, just in front of the portal, he took out a dozen corpses of his ring as he was ready to use his dragomancer ability once again!

 Chapter 296: Using Dragomancer Ability Again

    He had already a huge pile of monster bodies inside his rings, so it wasn''t a problem for him to use his ability for a long time. The only issue he was currently facing was the low success rate.


    "Last time I gained four dragons, I hope this time I gain more," he prayed before putting his hand on the first corpse as he said: "I want to use my dragomancer ability."


    "Ding! The ability is used. You have one hour to use the ability, and if the hour passes without using it, you will lose your right to summon dragons."


    "Ding! Sorry, it''s a failure."


    "Sigh, the first attempt is this bad," he shook his head helplessly while watching the body of the killed monster turn into a pile of ash. He then moved towards the next one, and it was another failure.


    "Ding! Congratulations on summoning a dragon. You gained the recognition of the world. your summoned dragon is ready to hear and follow your orders."


    "Finally," he smiled with joy as this gave him a very good feeling about his end result. "Just wait here for a moment," he said to the dragon which just appeared from the corpse of that hideous monster. the dragon just bowed his head before following the orders of Arthur and stopped on one side.


    "A success!"


    "Another success!"


    "A fourth success in a row! That''s a record!"


    "A failure! Damn! I jinxed myself or what!"


    "A failure, sigh!"


    "A success! Yeah baby, gimme more!"


    "A failure! I won''t speak again after any success!"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    He stuck to his own rule and didn''t speak after any success, which made him gain three successive successes. "It seems the world will doesn''t like me celebrating over a successful summon," he muttered, shaking his head bitterly while not knowing if he should laugh or cry.


    He glanced over his newly added dragons; eight strong looking dragons stood in front of him, showing their respect by their obedient silence.


    "Alright, I know it isn''t fair to just summon you guys up and then throw you to the battle the next moment, but I''m in a dire situation here. I have one day to completely conquer seven worlds, with massive armies of monsters and humans guarding them. so, I will have to use you guys, and also those old ones."


    He then went towards the portal, flying with his eight new obedient and strong looking dragons. Their appearance caught the attention of everyone standing in front of the portal, waiting for their turn to fight.


    "The lord is here!"


    "Heil the lord!"


    "The lord is mighty and we will win this!"


    "Nothing stops in front of the path of our mighty lord!"


    Shouts upon shouts erupted suddenly in the whole place, while many supportive and encouraged cheering started to sprout out in waves. Arthur just glanced at all this and smiled; he never expected his presence here to be welcomed this warmly.


    He never expected his popularity among his people to be this high! Their trust in him gave him a strange sense of power; a power that could defy heaven itself.


    He never felt this way, even when he was a sect elder and master back in his days. He was well respected indeed, feared for sure, but not adored and beloved like this!


    His body started to gain a new sort of strength; the strength of belief. His soul felt much refreshed than ever, feeling like getting home after a long tiring day of work to find his beautiful wife taking him into her embrace with love, lust, and care.


    It was an amazing feeling that he never felt before, and the strangest thing was that he never realized this sort of power at this moment, but when he reflected later on the origin of this mighty power, he realized it all started from this place!


    The next moment he passed through the portal, and the world filled with explosions and rumbles, cheerings and shouts was replaced by a world of chaos of a brutal war!


    "As I expected," he softly muttered with no surprise over his face when he saw this huge army of monsters on the air and warriors and mages on the ground standing like a solid rock in front of his own armies led by Tina and Sara.


    "You are still alive, that''s good," he muttered as he noticed instantly the two huge monsters wrecking havoc among the smaller hideous ones, moving unstoppable everywhere, killing huge numbers of monsters with Tina''s icy breaths and Sara''s wind attacks.


    But their minute number was the only obstacle in front of winning this war! As he stood motionless in the air for a few minutes observing this war, something unique piqued his interest.


    The fighting warriors, mages, and monsters didn''t come from seven portals only, they came from over dozens more! "Have they moved more pocket worlds to here?" he muttered in surprise as he didn''t expect this to happen.


    "I never thought you would be this generous to bring me all these worlds. and I won''t be rude not to accept this gift, hahaha," his mood changed from good to better when he realized that his gains here had soared for much more than he expected.


    He didn''t see the pocket places now as just pillar holdings; they held treasures, valuable and unique treasures in them. Each pocket world wouldn''t only give the chance for his garden to evolve and grow bigger, but it also would contribute more to his personal growth, his army strength, and his empire''s total dominance over others!


    "Great, you eight wait here for now and guard me," he said before heading to an empty spot on the ground, landed there surrounded by his eight newly summoned dragons before closing his eyes.


    He momentarily roamed the garden world seeking for his dragons he previously summoned. He found them laying silently on the ground, closing their eyes like sleeping babies.


    "Wake up, we have a mission to do," he said, before adding as they all opened their eyes and stood up from the ground, "I will summon you in a minute to a brutal war, so be ready."


    "We will, master," the four replied in unison, with their deep and harsh voices, before he opened his eyes.

 Chapter 297: The Start of the Final Fight

    He simply waved his hands, and the four dragons came out from his necklace. This necklace turned from something he acquired by pure luck in his beginning to be one of the foundations of his current and future strength.


    "The orders are simple," he said the moment the dozen dragons gathered around him, "you will move to help the dragon and the flying tigress there. kill any monster, warrior, or mage you might face," he said, as he didn''t want him to come towards the next pillars.


    "We will honor you, master," the four older dragons said, with their bodies seemingly bigger than the other newly summoned ones. "The purification there seems to have a brilliant effect on them," he muttered before he glanced over the distance while his dragons started to move.


    The strategy of the Dorfis clan didn''t change, as they used their defensive arrays to form impregnable spots on the ground, while the sky was filled by endless monsters; all worth nothing in front of the duo of his girls.


    And now with the addition of the dozen dragons, things would turn to be much easier for the girls now.


    "Despite that, this isn''t even enough to consume all these monsters," he sighed, as he never cared about the arrays on the ground, and only cared for those annoying monsters in the air, blocking the way for his advance.


    "No time to waste here," he said to himself, as each portal was located hours away from the pillar. The journey itself would take half a day going to and fro, so he thought of another approach to save time. "I should stay in my place when the pillar is taken. Master once said if I did so then I would appear in the same spot that the world was taking." He thought to himself while trying to calculate the time and see if he could do it.


    "Nah, even doing so would only give me at most five pillars. Two will be missing," he sighed before he asked his system, as this was the only hope left out for him. "Do you have a means to make me fly faster?"


    "Ding! I can give you a hand, but this will decrease the amount of world blessing to you."


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly when he heard that, and without hesitation he said:


    "Without that, taking all these pillars is a doomed operation. I agree."


    "Ding! When you want to use this just inform me. it only lasts for six hours, so select wisely when to use it."


    Arthur went silent for a moment, before deciding to use it in the last marathon before his time would be up. "Activate it when there is only six hours left for the deadline," he said, before turning his head towards the distant fight and starting flying in the air.


    His two girls had noticed his presence a long time ago, but their hands were so busy that they couldn''t even speak or greet him.


    Detecting the places of the pocket worlds with pillars was easy, as each portal had this dark red pillar of light as a beacon, announcing its location to him. "I might need half an hour to reach each location," he muttered as he measured the distance roughly from his place.


    ''Oh, you seem to be really energetic," as he was flying directly towards the closest portal to him, he noticed a giant creature wrecking havoc among endless armies of mages and warriors. It was his scorpion queen, and she seemed to be having the fun of her life at this moment.


    So he decided not to disturb her, keeping himself flying directly towards the portal.


    At first no one blocked his path, but eventually monsters started to group in very large numbers, preparing themselves to fight him. "No time for small flies like you," he softly muttered while taking out his bow and arrows of extermination before sending dozens of them flying to different directions.


    Some went even towards the ground, hitting the most dense places piled with defensive arrays.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The explosions were so mighty and sudden that they hit their mark, and started to exterminate all those around them, while they moved outwards.


    Arthur just aimed far and wide, but despite that he even got him with some of the shockwaves of his attacks. "Curse it, I forgot I wasn''t protected either," he complained while moving up from the rubbles he found himself ending up at.


    He felt sore all over his body, but he endured as he moved upward. The scene of devastation he saw made him quite satisfied, as nearly half of the whole attacking enemies either on air or ground were now swept clean.


    The entire battlefield went silent for a moment here, as it seemed the arrows Tina and Sara used before weren''t even close to his own.


    And the next moment he moved again towards the nearest pillar of dark red light, unhindered by anything; flying alone like a king of death!


    The entire world here stopped everything and observed this big dragon flying towards the portal before entering it.


    The portal was already flooding new waves of warriors and monsters, but not enough to stop Arthur who simply pushed his way through using force.


    The world he appeared at was a world full of monsters and arrays that made his advance to the front nearly impossible.


    "Sigh, I think it''s time for me to use the trick the old man told me," he said to himself, as he took his bow and launched a couple of arrows to cause enough devastation for him to bypass this blockade.


    In one hour of flight he managed to spot the pillar away in the far distance. To reach here he used five arrows so far, and now he was surrounded by many, however he didn''t care.


    "Swoosh!"


    The arrow he sent flying had to fly for hundreds of miles to reach its target, a near impossible thing to happen but Arthur didn''t doubt his arrow.


    And the moment the arrow went towards the direction of the pillar, an invisible suction force appeared, holding the arrow directly towards the pillar, smashing anything in the way!

 Chapter 298: A Pathetic Counter

    The thing was that Arthur himself was sure his arrow would reach its target without knowing how, so when he saw the arrow moving following this suction force he was surprised and happy.


    Either his master was helping him, or this pillar was really sick of all these tries to make it turn to the dark side, and it decided to make a stand.


    Or perhaps it''s a thing of the arrow he made following his master''s instructions.


    Once the arrow was launched, nothing stopped it; no arrays, no monsters, not even attacks of different kinds on the arrow.


    Arthur was happy and wanted to stand and see what would this arrow end up with, but he wasn''t protected from the wrath of the arrow; he was simply exposed to what was going to happen next just like anyone else here.


    Or that was what he believed.


    So, the next moment he didn''t bother himself with anyone here, turned around and rapidly hit the ground towards the portal, taking less than one hour to do so.


    But the arrow hit the pillar in less than ten minutes. The scene was really majestic and shocking beyond description. The arrow once hit the pillar, the whole world felt this massive rumble that engulfed the entire world, shaking even the souls of each creature living here.


    Everyone felt this, all except Arthur. Everyone was subjected to freezing waves of pressure emanating from the pillar, but not Arthur. He kept flying towards the portal not caring about anything else. His time was tight, and now he knew what he had to do with the rest of it.


    He would visit each single world and launch an arrow towards the pillars, freeing every world from any hostiles. Then he would use the last six hours hoping to reclaim these pillars.


    The pillar kept exerting its growing pressure over the world here, and Arthur kept approaching the portal until he finally exited it.


    "Phew, next time let me try and aim towards the general direction of the pillar from the start, as this was quite scary."


    He knew if he was caught in the turmoil of the pillar retaliation, he might not be exempted from the pillar wrath. So he was quite nervous especially when he stole a glance to see the pillar was taking the same shape his arrow of extermination took when attacking; a mix between bronzed giants and dragons.


    The next thing would be a total annihilation attack level. the moment he got out, and just as he took a couple of breaths, he noticed that during the past two hours, his enemies sent in a flood of humans and warriors, filling the gaps between the portal again.


    So the moment he went out, he was pumped by endless monsters and defensive arrays. He sighed, and without saying a single word in reply to all the shouts that erupted the moment he appeared, he took out his bow and a single arrow of extermination.


    "Don''t play much with fire, boys!" he smirked before sending the arrow flying to a distance safe away from his location, in between the other portals, aiming to clear all the area from his enemies.


    "What the hell is that?!!" however what he saw shocked him for a moment here. the arrow just before landing on its target, was engulfed by something invisible, and disappeared! "Is this some kind of a monster or¡­?" he thought to himself before glancing over him. "Let''s leave this area by force first."


    He opened his mouth and started to shower the entire place with his fiery breaths. The first attacks killed many monsters which were taken by surprise; they thought he only could attack using bow and arrows.


    This created an empty space enough for him to move freely for a couple of minutes. "Let''s see what is happening there," he smiled with some excitation and anticipation in his mind. He had a vague idea about what was going on, but he needed to confirm it first.


    So he took out his arrows, and this time he didn''t take a single or a couple; he took a hundred!


    In the next minutes he fired the hundred ones towards different directions, and the same thing happened, almost, in the arrows; disappearing into nothing the moment they were about to touch the ground.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    At least five of the arrows hit the ground, luckily not close to each other, causing enough devastation from their horrifying attack.


    As the attacks engulfed everything, Arthur kept noticing the places where his arrows previously vanished, and once the attack reached these places; some sort of an invisible protective shield appeared.


    It was like a small curtain, just limiting a rectangular area, anything beyond it was devastated by the attack per usual. "Bingo, you use the pocket worlds to take the hits of my arrows? You really underestimate me and my arrows, hahaha!"


    He laughed evilly, while appearing to others as scary roars. Arthur then didn''t stand in his place, moved instantly towards the nearest portal, even enduring some shockwaves of his previous attacks.


    "The more pocket worlds you bring to me the better; as I won''t be polite and will take them all," he said with great excitement to himself. this wasn''t a thing to be sad about, as losing not a hundred, but even a thousand of his arrows wouldn''t be a problem to him.


    His enemies thought ¨Cwrongly ¨Cthat he had a limited amount of these arrows, so they figured out a way to exhaust his reserve of them. "If they knew I had over ten thousand arrows in my possession, what would they feel? Hahahaha!"


    He made all these while waiting for hours inside the protective shield of his attacks. With time, he became so proficient in making these arrows, as the process of forging them now was considered a routine easy work for him.


    The moment he entered the second portal, he glanced at all the huge army waiting nervously for him, and smiled. "Are you ready to receive my arrow?" he said while taking out his bow and arrow, preparing to use them blindly, hoping this might work.

 Chapter 299: Meeting Olor Again

    As he released his arrow, he waited for it to move towards its direction. Others thought he was attacking them, so they all, without exception, monsters and humans, hurried to escape the expected range of his deadly arrow''s attack.


    "Oh, news really travels fast," he muttered with no interest in these flies around him. the arrow he sent went straight forward, directed towards its target as normal. "Sigh, it seems I need to waste time then," he shook his head, and as he was about to fly, the arrow started to pick up speed, not falling to the ground but moving parallel to it.


    And anything that stood in its way was smashed directly to shreds!


    "That''s my boy," he smiled in joy as he watched the arrow moving away for a few moments there, to make sure he wasn''t dreaming, before turning directly to the portal, vanishing from this world.


    "I didn''t take much time but you still managed to cover all this area with these, sigh!" The moment he came out he was faced with a large number of enemies gathering from many places; many pocket worlds.


    He sighed, as his enemy was really persistent. "I hope you don''t waste my time and let the arrows fall normally," he said as he threw a dozen arrows, one after another, heading directly towards different places.


    "Sigh, you are really persistent," the moment his arrows reached the ground, or were almost reaching it, the pocket worlds moved and engulfed them all, making them detonate inside the pocket worlds.


    "Alright, time to shower you with many arrows, let''s see how you can handle a hundred," he then released a hundred arrows in a few minutes, and watched them all being engulfed by pocket worlds.


    This made the corners of his eyes twitched, "just how many pocket worlds are you planning to sacrifice? Let''s put this to test then."


    He started firing arrows non-stop, while not even glancing at the fate of the released arrows. He kept firing until he started to hear the familiar rumble, and that meant his arrows started to hit their mark.


    "Three hundred and twenty nine, that''s quite a figure!" he muttered as he counted the arrows he released, to be surprised by the huge number of pocket worlds stationed here just to defend against his attack.


    The next dozen arrows hit their mark, making sure everything was obliterated under death and ruins, revealing the places of the pocket worlds in this region. "Many were added newly to here, does that mean they obtain a reserve of ready to use pocket worlds?"


    That was the only explanation for them to have all these pocket worlds, using them like throwing them away. "I want that reserve," he evilly smiled as he set his gaze on whoever held these pocket worlds. however this wasn''t the time to look for him, as he moved directly towards the next portal, entered it.


    This kept happening for the next portals until there was only one portal left, the last one! Despite not obtaining the pillars under his possession yet, he had removed his enemies holding over them as well. This took him five hours to conclude, making him having almost a couple of hours left for him to start using the boost in speed.


    But this time he stopped abruptly in his tracks, as someone just moved out from the portal leading to the last pillar; a single man, an old man, a person he met before and made him quite cautious regarding him.


    "It seems we two are fated to meet each other on the doorsteps of a war each time, Mr. Arthur."


    Olor spoke, in his usual confident tone, not slow or rushed, with this faint smile over his face like he was meeting an old friend.


    "Can you step aside please."


    "The same old greeting between the two of us, interesting. Tell me, Mr. Arthur, aren''t you having enough with all the pillars you had so far? Why push us so far to take even the last one from our hands?"


    "It''s just the last pillar, Mr. Olor, so why not give it to me for free as a token of our old friendship?"


    "Mentioning friendship, I really liked the gift you sent to my home last time, and I intend to repay your kindness later properly and with much generosity."


    Arthur smiled, showing no signs of distress or nervousness at all, as he said:


    "I will be waiting for your visit and greatly anticipating it. I will be sure that my city will be well decorated and much prepared for warmly welcoming you and all your guests and friends."


    "Interesting," Olor said before pointing towards the other portals in the distance as he added, "you can have those as a sign of my good will."


    "Gifting someone things that belonged to him isn''t a nice manner, Mr. Olor."


    "Things he stole from others, not initially his."


    "Stolen, taken by force, name it as you like; the truth these things don''t belong to you or to anyone in this world. say that I''m taking them back to return them later to their rightful owners."


    "Lies! They have no rightful owners, they are all dead! You just want them for yourself!"


    "What if, what can you do to stop me?" Arthur had enough of chatting nonsense with a sworn enemy like Olor as he added, "if I were you, I would have selected my own side very well. Working underneath me might seem hard to believe, but I promise if you served me well, you will be redeemed from all your filthy mistakes and dirty crimes and be clean and pure like newly born babies."


    "What a joke! A dragonair, one who was known as the dark terror even amongst the dark side is trying to seduce me to join his little betrayal to his own clan! Do you really think the great dragonairs up there haven''t got a tip of what you are doing? Do you believe they won''t touch you? Such a pathetic kid!"


    Arthur''s heart felt a strange clutch at these threatening words, but at the same time he felt really lucky to hear these words from the mouth of his enemy, mistaken him to know all these facts already.


    "Interesting refusal to my offer of peace and prosperity by threatening me. so, we have nothing here to say more! Step aside or you will fall here!" Arthur said, trying to act collected after hearing such a heavy threat.


    Those dragonairs of the old weren''t killed, or simply vanished. It seemed they all went towards a certain place. ''Were they the ones who sent Zilia to me? is that venerable master one of them? will he attack me the next moment I try to advance?'' many questions echoed in his mind, and that made him realize he had another option he never thought of.


    The bronzed giant master he was speaking with!

 Chapter 300: A Truly Desperate Situation

    Olor didn''t move, of course, as he said again:


    "Sorry, I never meant to threaten you. Just leave this one and leave here in peace, and I promise you not to send my armies to attack your city for two months."


    Arthur looked at him in a strange way, making him add; "Three months perhaps?"¡­ "Four?"¡­ "Alright, I won''t attack your city until you leave here, are you satisfied?"


    Arthur knew this offer was something that couldn''t be trusted, coming from the mouth of such a sly snake, but nonetheless he had to admit he felt quite tempted here.


    "Ding! This pillar is the central pillar which can control others. They linked it to other pillars and activated an ancient curse to make it control others. If you left it in their hands, your fate would be sealed!"


    The face of Arthur changed the moment he heard the words of the system. He glanced at this old sly fox standing in front of him while muttering to himself: "You aren''t a fox, you are a copra! One wrong decision here or there and I will find myself killed!"


    "What about this offer then," he said loudly to Olor, with an aggressive behavior much worse than before, "if you stepped down now I promise not to go and smash your little arrogant clan of yours over your heads. But stand against me; this time, or any other time, and I swear on my own soul that I won''t stop until I demolish the last brick in your filthy dirty clan headquarter and kill every single last soul carrying the name of Dorfis in this world!"


    His tone was aggressive, arrogant, and strong; directly insulting this copra to let it reveal its final shape. A direct battle with such a being was much better than fighting a hidden danger, threatened from anywhere anytime.


    And his words managed to finally uncover the true intentions of Olor, whose face turned instantly dark as he cursed out loud:


    "Impudent child! An abomination is really an abomination! You will burn, under my hands here, or under the hands of all of our combined clans in the near future, or under the wrath of the mighty dragonair elders in the future!"


    Olor''s words meant a lot to Arthur, especially that last part related to the dragonair elders. The next moment Olor waved his hand, and instantly the pillar of light next to him shone while he smirked evilly, showing his real sly face:


    "Did you think these pillars were put here just for show? Let me show you kid the true strength of the darkness in this world! Grand sealing formation activated!"


    Arthur glanced at the pillar of dark red light which instantly turned into pitch dark instantly, shooting a long pillar of light towards the sky. It wasn''t only it, but all the other pillars of light here acted the same way!


    "Damn, these aren''t just portals!" Arthur cursed inwardly before he added, trying to calm down himself: "they need me to be confined in a closed space, before they would activate such an array. I''m still out in the open so I''m s¡­"


    He was midway in his own thoughts when Olor made a hand gesture to him as he laughed evilly:


    "Do you think you are safe as you are in the open? Stupid little kid! Go in and face the present we all prepared for you!"


    The next moment Arthur felt such irrestible traction force that got hold of his big dragon body, sending him forcibly inside the pocket world while the laughs of Olor reverberated loudly inside his own mind: "See you inside, and let''s see how arrogant you will be after we torture and then kill you bastard son of the dragonairs!"


    The world shifted in front of Arthur''s eyes, and the next moment he found himself standing out of the portal that led to the outside world, but this time the portal was pitch black like ink, with no signs of being active at this moment.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    .


    .


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Eight times the whole world shook and rumbled under the effect of the appearance of eight giant black pillars, each was similar to the pillars Arthur just got hold of from before.


    The eight surrounded him, while putting him and the last pillar in the centre of this eight diagram formation. "Eight diagrams with a central axis sealing dark formation, sigh you are using your top array to seal me here?" Arthur instantly identified this array, as he once read a scroll about it when he snatched the warehouse from the first army he fought and killed.


    "To activate such a formation you need at least fifty thousand warriors acting each in groups, with each group linked to one pillar of the nine. Does this mean you already have turned this pillar to darkness?" Arthur asked, as he said what he recalled about this kind of formation.


    Olor needed to link fifty thousand warriors to each pillar of the nine to activate the array, or else it won''t be active. That meant the central pillar has turned into darkness already, making him feel quite pain in his heart and anger!


    "Interesting, such a knowledgeable alien kid to our own secrets. Yes it''s now ours, and yes this is our grand formation bestowed upon us by all the great clans here in our world," Olor replied, as he stood on the central pillar, not so far from Arthur location.


    This time the pocked world wasn''t that wide and spacious world, instead it was small, only limited to a hundred miles max in distance. Arthur glanced all around, as each pillar suddenly showed a cloaked individual appearing on top of it, silently watching him.


    He felt extreme hatred coming from each one of these, and he also felt some sort of hidden danger. Anyone of them wasn''t lower than Olor in strength, and he even felt they might be much stronger than Olor.


    "System, if you have any trick up your sleeve then this is the right time to show it!"

 Chapter 301: Wasting Time

    Arthur was literally at his lowest point in his new life, and despite falling this deep in this dark abyss; he never lost sight of hope even when it turned into a tiny almost invisible dot of light in the far sky!


    "Ding! Buy some time for me."


    And the simple and short, yet decisive, words of the system made this flickering light of hope ignite fiercely, as Arthur knew deep down his soul that the system had a plan, and this ancient creature of old times needs only some time to finalize it.


    And Arthur was quite confident in his ability to buy all the time his system needed, no matter what he had to endure!


    "So, this is the bastard child of the dragonair clan?"


    One deep voice came from one of the eight pillars surrounding Arthur.


    "I thought he would be much older, far stronger, not this weak fly!"


    "Olor, your strength is really in question here!"


    "Pathetic!"


    "He isn''t worth even me coming all the way here! he isn''t worth the time and resources wasted to form armies to kill him! I want compensation from you Olor for your incompetence!"


    "How can such a weak mage cause all this trouble under your watch?"


    They were speaking with such arrogance that Arthur felt it brimmed from their confidence and their high status; giving him a clumsy idea about their identities.


    And before Olor could speak, Arthur suddenly stepped in, saying in a casual tone:


    "Oh, I never thought Olor would be so kind to invite all the great dark clans heads here to meet me. I''m really dishonored by your presence."


    "And he has a sharp tongue, with nothing to back his own words but his mere foolish delusion of his own self; noted, I wrote everything about him already and we can proceed to kill him."


    This sound suddenly erupted from one of the pillars, showing a figure that matched with the voice; extreme young beauty, not like those old ones here.


    "Oho, such a beauty here? What are you doing out there girl? These old men will eat you alive with their eyes alone!"


    "Hehehe, and he has a sense of humor that I like, added."


    The reply came strangely from the girl that seemed not too old from him, in mid- twentieth, while she was speaking to some invisible being to her side like she was giving orders to her butlers.


    "I also like you," he said, before making a motion with his hands as if he was holding her, "come and let us play together," he added.


    "Hehehe, and horny as well, noted," she then stopped speaking to whoever or whatever present beside her before glancing over to Arthur as she said:


    "It''s a shame I won''t be able to play with you, torture you as much as I love and hear your own screams ¨Cwell at least Olor here will do this for me, right my little Oly?"


    Arthur glanced at Olor, to see his face turned upside down, as if he was so terrified of some deadly creature. "Beauty is toxic, I have to admit," Arthur smirked as he remarked on Olor''s reaction.


    "And I agree with that," and the girl chuckled softly in a very soft melody that even touched Arthur''s heart, making him realize how dangerous this girl was. "A seduction monster, one of the most horrifying indeed," he thought to himself as he totally knew this innocent beauty was actually such a very ugly and hideous monster, using seduction and illusion to form a net around her victims to kill them.


    "Olor, we will stand and watch, and won''t interfere. Let''s see how capable you are. If not, then the Dorfis clan ambition will be halted, and even their stand amongst the middle clans in our world will be under question!"


    This strong and firm tone came from the last pillar, whose owner was the last to speak, showing his authority and position as the head of this group of hungry pack of wolves eyeing their prey.


    "And you came all down here to just watch? Interesting!"


    The man only gave Arthur a silent glance, and Arthur felt he was really facing death! He didn''t like this feeling, but he had a perfect control over his expressions, making no single hint of him being afraid at all!


    "And he loves to insult strong foes to make him feel better, did this with Olor and now with our prime, noted."


    Again this sexy voice of the seductive girl came to interrupt the heavy silence prevailing here. "Olor, don''t waste our time more than that," the man spoke again to Olor, giving him a threat not an order!


    Olor''s body shivered slightly when he heard these words, making Arthur understand perfectly the place and strength of that man. Olor then turned to face Arthur with a completely different attitude than the one he showed towards the other clan heads; an arrogant and vicious attitude, like a hunter looking at a deer entangled with his trap net.


    "Embrace yourself boy, as this time I will repay all the kind gifts you sent to my clan."


    "Oh, you don''t tell me, did the kids like them?" Arthur asked with a laugh he couldn''t control, making the face of Olor change slightly before he also laughed evilly and much louder as he said:


    "I will make sure to go to your dirty little village you like to call city and torture each single girl, child, and elders there."


    "Olor, stop wasting time!"


    This time the shout came from the head pillar made Olor stop instantly from wasting time with Arthur. Arthur inwardly cursed at this hidden leader, as he seemed pissed by Arthur''s obvious tries to waste time.


    "Are you done?"


    "Ding! Just give me a minute!"


    "Sigh, I hope I will have one," Arthur muttered as the next moment he noticed Olor putting his hand over the top of the pillar while muttering something unheard to Arthur, before the whole pillar shone in dark light engulfing all the lights around it.


    "Rumble!"


    The world shook again, and this time a dome shaped array appeared from all the pillars, to unite with the small dark pillar of light emanated from Olor''s pillar, before a strong pressure was exerted over Arthur''s body, making even breathing so difficult.


    "The sealing array is activated, you can proceed," the leader said again, as Arthur really felt great oppression at this moment.


    Amidst this desperate moment, and as he was thinking what would be the nature of the attack coming from Olor and how to defend against it, a new change occurred!


    "Rise, our sacred guardian!" Olor shouted, while a great pressure suddenly emanated, not from him, but from the pillar, resembling the pressure of the two eyes of the master Arthur had experienced before.


    "Not good!" Arthur muttered as the next moment a creature appeared, not the two eyes of his master, but a giant hideous monster of the Dorfis clan, so large that it could stand shoulder to shoulder with the giant pillars here!


    And this monster wasn''t fully appearing yet, and the whole world rumbled under its huge pressure!


    "If this thing appeared here I would be dead! System help!"


    "Ding! Yes I totally agree with your statement!"


    "¡­"

 Chapter 302: Ding! I Got Your Back!

    "C''mon, I thought you had a plan!!"


    Arthur had a moment of scare here, as he thought and trusted the system ability to weave a strong counter to such a trap.


    "Ding! I have already acted, don''t worry. First let me tell you some facts," the system said, making Arthur feel not much reassurance as he felt there was some bad news here.


    "Is this the time for this?" he asked with doubt.


    "Ding! Every risk comes with great opportunities, you know that!"


    "You mean there is an opportunity here?"


    "Ding! Sure, a great one to be frank, if things went right you might even go to this Olor and hug him warmly as thanks!"


    Arthur''s stern and worried expression was replaced instantly with his joy! "Hurry then and tell me," he demanded with urge.


    "Ding! Those pillars and dark warriors over them aren''t here! they are forcibly projected here from different places."


    Arthur was confused, yet he didn''t express any of his doubts as he said:


    "Go on."


    "Ding! The pillars came each from different places, and those standing in front of them came from other places. So, that being said, the two aren''t actually here and aren''t together, and this is the great opportunity you currently have!"


    "I didn''t understand your meaning man," Arthur honestly replied while his body was being pressured more with such growing oppression coming from the semi-real huge hideous monster.


    "Ding! Each pillar each is like the one in the central, prime pillars! Each is connected to at least a hundred more other pillars. So¡­" the system paused, intentionally, letting the mind of Arthur go wild!


    "Don''t tell me you are aiming to snatch all these primes with their pillars? That would be a great strike and great fortune man!"


    "Ding! That''s exactly what you should aim for! These are the enemies you are destined to fight in months time, so weakening them here will be a great help to your future battles. Gaining these pillars from their grasps will make your own strength and the strength of your armies soar!"


    Arthur''s greed was enticed by these delicious words and promises! "I want that, for hell I want that! but how can I do it? I even can''t raise my head properly, and that huge monster is really strong!"


    "Ding! As they called upon their master from another place, you also can call upon your master, right?"


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly as he understood what the pillar was referring to. "That''s really a plan, but how can I possibly do that?"


    "Ding! Do you know a summoning technique?"


    "Sure, I know dozens!"


    "Ding! I need only one, one that is so powerful to use the strength of a five star diagram formed of light pillars."


    Arthur ingested the words of the system and thought deeply about them. "But I don''t have five purified pillars of light yet! I don''t even have one!"


    "Ding! What do you think I was doing all this time then?"


    The answer of the system startled Arthur as he suddenly realized what the system had done! "Do you have the ability to purify the pillars? Why didn''t you say so from before?" he hurried to say, as this was a really great help he desperately needed!


    "Ding! This is an advanced ability that you can wield after this fight," the system reply came with such a rich reward that made Arthur drool!


    "Do you mean¡­?"


    "Ding! Yes! I planned before to wait until you get stronger, but under such current circumstances, and putting in mind your success in gaining all these pillars here, then you are able to easily gain enough world recognition, enough for me to open this ability for you."


    "What is this ability? Tell me!"


    "Ding! Right now? hehehe, it''s an ability not only related to the pillars, but it can greatly enhance your strength in various fields."


    Arthur''s interest was now much greater than his worry or fear! He knew his hope of survival had miraculously turned into a desire for victory, with great possibility of doing that! so, he wanted to know more right now, not fearing anything else!


    "Ding! It''s an ability to accelerate time for a limited place, I believe you know what this means, right?"


    "You made the already fast time inside the garden much faster! This¡­ this is a big man! It won''t only help me purify more pillars, it will help me do many things!"


    "Ding! I told you, this ability will make your strength grow to another level."


    Arthur was so much excited that even his sheer joy was enough to make his body tremble, giving him strength to defy the massive oppressive power exerted upon him from the sealing array and the upcoming monster.


    "Tell me what should I do?"


    "Ding! Just drop five blood drops now, and I will link you directly to the pillars. Then you can summon them using your blood, and leave their placing to me," the system said, before adding in a serious tone:


    "Ding! Be aware that the moment the pillars would appear, things will escalate at a very terrifying speed! So, you need to work fast and be ready to use your summoning technique. In fact I advise you to start the summoning after giving me the blood, and don''t bring forth the pillars until you are ready."


    Arthur nodded heavily under this great pressure, as his mind looked through the dozens of summoning techniques he knew from his past life.


    He had known a myriad of summoning techniques, but this time he was looking for a suitable one to be used by a weak person to summon a god!


    And he had the perfect technique for that!


    "The only problem is that I will be laid weak after using this!"


    "Ding! Don''t worry, I got your back here."


    "You don''t understand, I will exhaust my energy no matter how much you supported me."


    "Ding! I told you already, I got your back!"


    Arthur was hesitant for a moment before sighing. "After all this is the only one that I''m sure of its success, hoping just the master will respond in time."

 Chapter 303: The System Really isnt Easy!

    The summoning he was aiming for didn''t use his pure strength or energy brimming inside his body to call upon his master, but it uses his soul force; a very rare and unique form of strength that usually needed a long time to be replenished.


    Any weakening to the soul force for anyone would result in him getting greatly weakened. That was the reason behind his hesitation, but as the system was so confident in helping and protecting him, then he had to give it a shot.


    "I will bleed myself, but not for your sake, but for my own summoning. When I give you the signal, then you can have the blood you want," Arthur said as he slowly moved his claw to injure his leg, creating a long gush of fresh red blood oozing out from the wound.


    He knew his body would heal spontaneously if not for that sealing power and oppressive force he was subjected to. And he didn''t care, as he needed this blood now to do the needed rituals.


    Like anything he knew of, he had to use runes to do the summon. "Considering the identity of the person I want to summon, I will use this entire world as a huge rune to call upon him," he muttered before writing down his own name; Arthur, and next to it he wrote another word; Soul!


    If at any other time, he wouldn''t take a minute to do it, but now he took five! When he finished, the two words were written largely at the ground, while the system asked in surprise:


    "Ding!You used another name than Willy?"


    Arthur found this question silly enough to reply upon, as he was quite sure the system was already peeping a lot in his mind and thoughts; finding about his true self wasn''t that hard. "I''m ready," he muttered as he wrote the final word; Summon.


    "Ding! You didn''t write the name of the master!"


    "Despite it might seem silly but I don''t really know his name. So, I will go with the second best option here."


    "Ding! Which is?"


    "Picturing his two giant frightening eyes and hope this might work."


    "Ding! You use a lot of hope recently in this plan!"


    "I know, but at least we have a plan here, right?"


    "¡­"


    "Stop wasting time and take my blood, my body is really at its limits!" Arthur hurried the system despite he wasn''t that crushed over yet. He didn''t want to be so wasted when fighting these heads of the great dark clans.


    The next moment he noticed the disappearance of a large portion of the small lake created by his own blood. "You said five drops, not five cubic meters!" he smirked, trying to cater a joke.


    "Ding! A cubic meter is considered a decent drop for the large pillars, don''t you think?"


    "¡­"


    He went silent while he tried to stop the bleeding using his claw. He didn''t wait for long, and even before his system could inform him about the success of the linking process, he already felt a deep rumble within his soul.


    "Ding! The linking is complete, you can now summon them by placing your hand over your¡­ pool of blood."


    "I know," Arthur said, as he suddenly felt some power entering his body, refreshing up his soul. "Did you know these pillars were so helpful to the soul? Was this the backing you were speaking of?" he asked, and the system mysteriously replied:


    "Ding! You will see for yourself soon enough. hurry, the creature is almost summoned, and summoning your master will take much time that you think."


    Arthur knew the system wasn''t bluffing, as it was the first time in his entire life; past and present, to use this method of summoning. He sighed, as he said:


    "I will start the summon first, then bring forth my pillars."


    "Ding! Both are fine to me, do as you wish but hurry."


    Arthur nodded, as he simply moved away his claw from the wound and then placed it in the middle of the three words, while muttering:


    "Soul Summon Array¡­ Activate!"


    At this moment he paused to picture the eyes of his master. It was said to make the summon easier and raise the odds of its success, one better to experience the feeling he felt with that person.


    And currently he was suppressed by similar strength to his master, even if it was much weaker, but this helped him a lot in perfectly picturing the eyes and the pressure they brought upon the world.


    The moment he activated the array, he felt like his soul was being drained, dripping drop by drop with each passing moment, with each drop a feeling of weakness started to slash his body heavily, making him shudder!


    And just as he was experiencing this weakness that he never had before, he understood why there was such a warning beside this technique; not to be used by weak souls, not to be used ever if there was another option.


    "Sigh, I will depend on you then to protect me," Arthur weakily muttered to his system, as he felt his eyelids starting to get so heavy to open.


    "Ding! You will help yourself, yourself!"


    Arthur was getting into another world at this moment, so he didn''t fully understand the hidden meanings of the system reply.


    However the next moment he felt exactly what the system meant!


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    .


    .


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Ninety three explosive sounds erupted suddenly inside his soul without warning! Each explosion created a new fountain where fresh and pure strength started to pour into his dried up soul; rapidly refreshing it again.


    In less than a minute, the almost fainted and about to collapse Arthur was revived, with much more energy and vitality than he ever had in his entire life!


    "What the hell happened?!!!" he was extremely shocked, not only to bypass and cure the side effects of this summoning technique, but also because the gains he had were unbelievable!


    His soul wasn''t the only thing benefitted from this, as his entire body and his whole strength got decent upgrades, making him now able to stand, straighten up his arched back, resisting the force subjected over him like it was getting weaker; however his body was the one getting stronger.


    "Ding! No time to explain, focus on the summoning. When you reach master, hurry and summon the pillars to aid him."

 Chapter 304: Olors Secret Decision

    Arthur was really feeling much better than before after his system''s tricks just now. He didn''t need the system to explain anything, as he already realized what happened, and he was so grateful for this old creature to take care of him as he trusted him to be.


    "Let''s focus then on summoning master," he muttered as he started to close his eyes, clear his mind, and only focus on one thing and one thing only; the two giant eyes of his master.


    After a couple of minutes, he reopened his eyes with a puzzled expression over his face.


    "Ding! Is there something wrong?"


    "Every time I try to summon a master I fail!"


    "Ding! Is he that far away?"


    "No," Arthur shook his head, before adding with a puzzled expression and confused tone, "I feel like¡­ he is quite near, very near; yet it was like this small distance between the two of us was so vast that I couldn''t reach him at all!"


    "Ding! I think there is an explanation to that," the system then paused before adding, "Ding! The monster summoned here must have come from the same plane master!"


    Arthur understood the general problem here as he asked: "What should we do then?"


    "Ding! Try to interfere with the portal summoning this monster here and summon master in return¡­ use the pillars, summon them all!"


    "All of them?" Arthur was speechless, as he thought he would summon only five!


    "Ding! There is no time to risk, bet everything on summoning master or else we all will perish here!"


    "You are right, I have to be bold!" he smiled as he turned towards the about to appear giant monster with the sincere effort of his enemies as he added; "Even these hideous things are doing their best to stop me, I should match their effort and sincerity at least."


    He then put both of his hands on the ground, using his pool of blood as a medium as he shouted:


    "All pillars, come forth now!"


    The next moment all he heard was a very loud sequence of rumbles that shook even his soul from within! The pressure exerted over him by the combined forces of the seal and he monsters shattered away, and he regained his freedom once more.


    Plus ninety three pillars appearing in this world, surrounding him and surrounding everyone!


    And for him these weren''t just pillars, they were his own pillars! Linked to his soul by his blood.


    "Ding! Hurry and focus, summon him now!"


    The system urging words came in the same moment as the picture of the summoned monster got vibrated, being hazy after almost being real!


    "Olor! Do something now!" The leader of the big clans seemed to realize the danger of what Arthur was doing, but Olor knew best he wasn''t a direct match to Arthur, not with the presence of all these pillars supporting him.


    "Do something, he is planning for more!" the leader urged, and his tone carried all the anger and frustration he was currently feeling towards Arthur.


    Olor didn''t have anything to do except to sacrifice part of his own personal guards. He simply waved his hand and instantly dozens of hideous monsters appeared, with fierce looks and armor augmenting their bodies.


    "Go, grab me his head, or at least interrupt what he is doing!"


    The words of Olor were ordered to them, and the next moment this group of fifty monsters flew directly towards Arthur, who opened his eyes slightly to glance at them.


    "Ding! Concentrate on your thing, and I will remove all the annoying flies!"


    Arthur knew his system wasn''t bluffing, not in this delicate moment of his summon. He almost felt the presence of the master, and only needed a couple of minutes to perform the summon.


    "I need just a few minutes," he muttered before closing up his eyes again and entirely absorbed in summoning the master.


    "Ding! Don''t worry lad, I got your back," the words of the system were so faint that Arthur couldn''t hear them amidst his focus. The moment the monsters got near him, and they did in no time, they suddenly and simply vanished; one by one; like passing through a teleportation portal presented around Arthur!


    "What the hell..?!!" Olor couldn''t help himself from muttering in disbelief, not knowing what just happened! in less than a minute, more than half of his guards he summoned were engulfed into nothing!


    Not even a drop of blood remained! What frustrated him more was that the slave mark he had with them got severed in a clean and rapid way that gave him no time to adapt!


    "Damn! Dealing with this kid is really toxic! I shouldn''t be the one to handle all this! I wasn''t the one who invited him in or dared to f*ck with the Dorgazire Academy! I told them this was a bad idea, but who would listen to a middle clan opinion like me!


    And now I''m the one who is taking all the wrath of this loose dragonair! This shouldn''t be right, I should retreat and leave the stage to them. In fact I should do this after this fight, even if they got mad at me," Olor cursed inwardly while lamenting his bad luck and his world''s biggest clans'' greed for this disaster he had!


    Those fifty guards were part of his own asset, one of his strongest weapons! He didn''t have much of them! only a couple of hundreds more, not even reaching five!


    Losing them here would only serve him nothing; instead he would be left out weakened after getting rid of this disaster child in front of him!


    "I will retreat, make a secret peace with this kid, even if I have to pay a hefty price for that. I''m pretty sure these clans would suffer huge losses, and not impossible for one or a couple to lose their place even in the big circle."


    His fear used his greed to cloud his eyes and made him take such a drastic decision to save his pathetic life!


    And in the future he would feel much relieved that he took such a decision at the right moment, before it was too late!

 Chapter 305: Arthur, His System, and His Masters Combined Fight Against Everything!

    "However I should survive this now," Olor muttered to himself as he was having a bad omen right now, just like other leaders gathered here.


    "Pathetic! You can''t stop a single lad! Let''s all summon our elites now!"


    The leader of all spoke, and his words were like a decree; even upon Olor, who was the last to summon another batch of fifty monsters, to join the small army of elites summoned by other leaders.


    "Go, don''t let him continue whatever he was doing," the leader shouted, in a very nervous tone, before addressing the rest of the leaders, "and we all need to focus. Our mighty guardian is almost here! let''s finish this summon faster!"


    Two things happened at the same time; a pack of hungry monsters moved towards Arthur, and the leaders started to concentrate fully towards summoning their guardian monster.


    Their combined efforts proved to be worthy nothing in front of the mighty sealing of all these pillars. As for the monsters they summoned, they ended up in no better fate than the ones Olor summoned before.


    "At least I''m not the one failing and losing alone this time," he inwardly smirked as he glanced at their gloomy faces, as they failed in the two missioned they assigned themselves.


    "I have found him!"


    Arthur couldn''t help himself but to yell, loudly, startling even his enemies and system! Arthur was seeking for his master, and as he felt before; his master was present near, focusing entirely on breaking in.


    And all Arthur did, using the help of the pillars he summoned, was to create a small crack in the nutshell his enemies formed around this region!


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment a huge pillar of light descended from the sky, out of nowhere, like it was hidden there all the time. The moment it touched the ground, the whole world shook, and again Arthur experienced what he usually felt when entering his garden!


    Total chaos and all out war!


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The world kept shaking, and the pillars started to sway; all without exception, even those belonging to the dark camp. Arthur had his connection with the ninety three pillars, so he felt what was going on as well.


    These pillars seemed rejoicing by the presence of this huge pillar of light, like seeing someone dear and long missed, and was finally here!


    "Good job lad, I knew I can depend on you here in this world, hehehehe," the sound of his master came, originating from the pillar itself, making Arthur realize something.


    His master belonged to the bronzed giants, who could turn into bronzed giants with shape resembling huge pillars. "What if the next evolution of them was to turn into a pillar of light? Pure white light? Interesting!" he muttered to himself, while the master said agai, like he heard his soft whispers:


    "That''s not totally right, lad. But you are still too young and far too weak to learn these facts! Let me finish this fight first before this worm can arrive here!"


    The summoning technique used by Arthur was unique and not similar to the one used by the leaders of the dark clans. The summoning he used had a hefty price for a reason; it was fast, effective, and could summon even a god to a place.


    However the time for this summon was also a weakness! His master couldn''t stay here for a long time, and as Arthur knew this, he refrained from wasting time by speaking with his master.


    The war wasn''t over yet, and if his master vanished before clearing things here, he would be doomed!


    "Ding! Let''s help him and do our part."


    The system suddenly awakened Arthur from his daze. "Yup, you are right. I''m not totally depending on master," he then smirked as he said with some embarrassment; "sorry master, you will act as the main decoy here."


    "Amusing and rude lad, but I like you, hehehe," the master words came as the pillar started to shine with bright light. "Do whatever you wish, for me I''m here to take this annoying worm back home and make a delicious soup on it."


    "Leave some for me, for later," Arthur joked as he flapped his wings and started flying, heading directly towards the nearest leader on a pillar.


    "Hehehe, I didn''t know you like food. Alright, I will leave some for you, for later."


    Arthur couldn''t believe his joke right now was taken seriously by his master, making him already drooling over this promised meal. "It seems I will advance easily and gain much strength later, hehehe," he laughed inwardly while heading fast towards the already dazed, amazed, and frightened leader.


    "W- W- What are you trying to do? Stay away, stay away you filthy son of a notable clan!"


    "Shhh, don''t make much noise or master will come and kill you wherever you are right now!"


    The words of Arthur were casual, yet the treat in them was so heavy that made the leader freeze in place, motionless.


    "Ding! Just drop a blood as usual, and I will do the rest, hehehe!"


    Even his system was excited and in a very good mood for this turn of events. Just as Arthur went to the pillar, dropped a blood drop on it, the pillar shook as usual and the next moment it vanished!


    "Wow, I never knew you can help in taking them fast like this!"


    "Ding! This is also an ability, too early for you to use, and too costly for me to activate. So, don''t depend on me each time; as this time is special!"


    "Alright, I was just asking," Arthur laughed and didn''t take the words of the system to the heart. He was also in a very good mood, especially when the leader who was standing on top of the pillar had his face changed drastically once the pillar disappeared!


    "Where is my pillar, you filthy thief?!! Bring it back to me right away!"


    Arthur was about to throw a word or two to him, but the next thing happened was that his master finished his preparations, as the light shining from the pillar suddenly dimmed, in a very catchy way, before exploding like a bomb, covering everything in a blinding light!


    "Oh, you are trying to resist and escape? Don''t, I have already sealed this place! no one is allowed to come or leave here without my permission!"

 Chapter 306: A Strange Message to Arthur!

    Arthur just smiled as he watched the phantom of that huge deformed monster that was about to be summoned dimmed under the light of his master.


    The light was cleansing away the monster like a dawn light sweeping the darkness of the night away. Arthur knew this fight was already near over, his biggest concern was about to be illuminated, and he gained a far stronger ally.


    "Sorry, borrowed it," Arthur sneered in a reply to the angry and stupefied master before moving towards the next pillar.


    "You filthy little thief! Give my pillar back, give it back now!" the leader seemed truly pissed off as he kept yelling and cursing from behind, but he did no more than that!


    "So your presence here was just to scare me?" he muttered to himself as if the leader had something in his hand to do, then he would have already done it!


    "Ding! They can fight in a certain range, so be careful next time."


    "Thanks," Arthur appreciated the system of time remarks and help so far. The shouts of that leader with the sudden disappearance of the pillar made every single leader vigilant towards Arthur.


    "What are you waiting for? Let''s activate defensive shields around our pillars!" their leader spoke, and his words echoed in the whole place.


    The next moment Arthur noticed the strange hand movements of these leaders, flashing fast in a way he never saw before.


    "Sigh, I have no time to stand back and observe, sorry, this pillar is mine," he smirked as he landed a drop of blood over the pillar before the clan head standing on it managed to activate the shield on time.


    "Rumble!"


    The pillar was taken forcibly despite the defensive shield was about to close up to it. Arthur shook his head as he glanced over the others; all were now completely surrounded by the shields, preventing Arthur from getting near the pillars inside.


    "Sigh, tell me you have a way to crack this!" he muttered, as he knew his time here was limited.


    If he gave these dark clan heads enough time, they wouldn''t hesitate to call back all the remaining pillars, making his efforts lie to waste!


    "Ding! This formation is strange, never heard of before, so can''t help here; sorry."


    The response of his system made him very depressed, and this wasn''t the end of it!


    "We need to keep him in bay before we can secure the pillars. All clan heads heed to my orders and summon all the guards ranked fifth and below."


    This shout came from the direction of their leader, making Arthur feel more pressured and his hope to get his hands over these pillars just blew to winds!


    "Sigh, it seems I can only go this far!" he shook his head before watching many warriors appearing from every single direction of the pillars; even from the two clan heads he took their pillars.


    "Kill him, whoever brings me his head will marry my daughter!"


    "Kill him! whoever manages to bring me his dirty head will be appointed as my right arm man!"


    The two leaders viciously shouted, instigating their fighters against Arthur, who just retreated and stole a brief glance over his master!


    The pillar was still shining, and the huge monster kept dimming, but the fight wasn''t over yet. That made him more helpless and hopeless, giving him the impression his aim wouldn''t be reached this time.


    "System, keep sending them into my garden, I''m not in the mood to fight them now," he said, as he didn''t want to disturb himself from going for other pillars and try to crack this strange defensive formation.


    So, he kept flying towards the third pillar, not totally losing hope regarding dealing with it.


    "Let''s see if it can handle my arrows and arrays!" he muttered as he took out his two arrays, one arrow, and his bow; intending to try all his strongest attacks towards this defensive shield to test it.


    As for all the warriors getting near him, they all instantly vanished if they got near Arthur for a hundred meter radius. Like this his system created a free hundred meter radius zone for him to concentrate; a death zone for others.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    He tried his three weapons; and none worked! The moment any one of them touched the surface of the defensive shields, they vanished, just like what his system did with the attacking warriors.


    "Sigh, I knew I had a small chance here, but this is really frustrating!"


    He shook his head as he glanced over the perfectly fine faint blue shield that extended along the whole pillar. "Let''s examine it from every corner, there might be a weakness anywhere," he tried to raise his morale up as he moved around the pillar, seeking for anything that could help him break this impregnable defense here.


    "Sigh, even on the top of the pillar the shield still covers it perfectly with no weakness whatsoever!" he finally started to be desperate, as the shield he saw covering the pillar was really perfect.


    "Is the secret in these weird hand movements?" he asked himself, trying to get more clues to aid him.


    Amidst his hard and desperate tries to recall what these moves were, his system stepped him, telling him a bizarre news.


    "Ding! One of those who were captured and subdued by me inside the garden tells a strange thing."


    "What?" he wasn''t in the right mood to hear someone blabbery. His mind was busy trying to crack this puzzling shield.


    "Ding! He says Olor wants to offer you peace, and in return he will accept any of your demands, plus a means to crack this shield."


    "What the hell? Does he know how to crack the shield?" Arthur hurried to shout in his mind, as the words of his system, this strange offer that suddenly came from Olor, was something he never expected or dreamt of.


    It was the straw he now desperately needed to escape his drowning in this failure.

 Chapter 307: A Generous Offer

    "Ding! He has a seed of a portal, and he claims this to be the legendary mirror of ancient times; able to connect two minds briefly at the same time."


    "Does Olor want to speak to me? interesting," Arthur muttered, before glancing over the battlefield around him. He had no other option there, and when his eyes fell over Olor, he noticed that Olor was glancing at him; calm and much collected than ever.


    "Alright, I should enter my garden then."


    "Ding! I will protect you here, so don''t worry."


    "I depend on you," Arthur then stopped in midair, where his wings kept flapping slowly, keeping his body suspended midair, while he closed his eyes and delved deeply inside the garden.


    The garden was filled with explosions everywhere, while the entire world rumbled every now and then under the constant fight between the light of the garden and the darkness of the dark forests.


    Arthur found himself appearing inside the central garden, the base where everything started. There he found many warriors sitting on the ground, being purified by the light energy of the garden.


    All were sitting closed eyes, all except one.


    "You are the one Olor sent?" Arthur asked, and that warrior was startled to see Arthur in his ethereal state, before hurrying to kneel on the ground as he said:


    "Apologies master, this was a message my previous master told me to deliver."


    "Master?" Arthur asked without much understanding.


    "Sure, since I was taken here, all my dark binding curses were crushed by the light, while a sound told us that I''m now one of your subjects."


    "Sure, sure, now tell me the message," Arthur nodded as if he was already aware of this. He knew this would be a little trick his system pulled, and he was very grateful for it.


    "My previous master wished to make a peace treaty with the master. He gave me this seed and asked me to deliver it to you."


    Arthur glanced silently towards the bean shaped dark green seed without moving an inch. "It''s really safe. Planting it will result in a small plant with a mirror connecting it to another plant like it; the one that seed came from. So, you can talk directly with Olor."


    The man hurried to explain when he sensed the doubtful looks of Arthur. "Great, plant it here then," Arthur pointed to an empty place as he instructed.


    "Well," the man hesitated, and this time the system was the one to clear all the doubts for him.


    "Ding! This is a safe seed, don''t worry. Just take and plant it, as whoever plants it will be the owner of this seed, and the plant will be only visible and used by him alone."


    "Aha, I see," Arthur extended his hand as he said with a soft smile, "was just testing you. Here, give it to me."


    The man was confused, but he didn''t delay to deliver the seed to Arthur. The next thing happened was that the seed was planted in the dirt of the garden; a place rich with nutrients and brimming with pure and majestic light energy.


    "Rumble!"


    So it wasn''t an exaggeration to say planting it here changed it, making it transform from a seed to produce a small plant with a single mirror, to a huge and towering tree that erupted in mere minutes, growing without an end for quite a while, before it finally stopped.


    "Wow, I never thought Olor would be this generous!" Arthur chuckled, as the tree that appeared in his garden wasn''t any less majestic and grandiose than any pillar in it.


    It was filled with strange broad leaves, many flowers, and a large number of seeds.


    And above all, the trunk was made entirely of a glass-like material, which seemed transparent at some places, semi-transparent at others, and reflective like mirrors at certain spots.


    "What should I do now?" Arthur just asked this, and the next moment he noticed a branch of this huge tree moving down, carrying a small box-like mirror.


    Just as the branch reached him, the mirror surface fluctuated, and a face appeared there; solemn and gloomy.


    It was Olor.


    Then the moment he appeared there, his negative disturbed looking face was swept clean by a fresh and friendly looking smile.


    "Mr. Willy, it''s a great pleasure that you accepted my little invitation and gift."


    Arthur glanced over the great towering tree as he didn''t know how to describe this as a small gift, but he replied casually:


    "Thanks for the gift, and please let''s speak about your offer, I still have many pillars to snatch, hehehe."


    The face of Olor didn''t seem this distressed anymore, as he had already succumbed to the fate of losing all his pillars to Arthur, and it just felt nice for not being the only loser here.


    "I know, so I will cut to the point. I know the shield presented here by other clan heads is quite difficult to crack, but I''m willing to tell you the only weakness and how to overcome it."


    "Good, but for what?"


    "I want peace with you; no more fighting anymore."


    Arthur interestingly glanced at Olor, hard to decide if this man''s sincerity was real or fake. "Couple of minutes ago you were so fixated on killing me, refusing to budge an inch and now you want to convince me you won''t conspire with other enemies of mine; who are your friends by the way, in exchange for peace?"


    "Sure, I know it''s hard to believe but I''m truly sincere at that," Olor said, before hurriedly adding, "I can offer you something that might please you as well. Consider it as a token of our new friendship."


    "A token of friendship? C''mon, do you think I''m a little kid to trick him with some candies on the corner? I know you plan to attack my city in a few months, either alone or with other clans."


    "Sigh, I don''t know how you knew this, but this was in the past."


    "And now?" Arthur calmly asked.


    "I know I can''t win against you, and even if the other clans did crush you oneday; it won''t be easy."


    "Aha, I see," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly as he understood the mindset of the dark clan head in front of him. "The last man to appear is the least man to lose, interesting."


    "I already paid a hefty price facing you, and I''m not willing or prepared to lose more," Olor''s tone was direct and firm, with no shame or embarrassment whatsoever.


    "Alright, what''s your token?" Arthur asked.


    "I heard that you are desperately amazing villages and towns from everywhere. I know what you want them for, and I have just the gift and a suggestion for you to consider."


    "Go on," Arthur nodded, while getting more interested in this offer.


    If he lacked anything, it would be population and resources. Gaining one meant one step shorter to achieve his goal.


    "I can give you a large number of villagers from places that are under my control. Consider this as a friendship gift, a sign of my new coat."


    "A light coat on a dark crow, that would be a scene to be marveled."


    "Don''t mock me, Mr. Willy. I just want what''s best for my people."


    "And for yourself," Arthur said, before adding, "Alright, that gift is much appreciated. What is the suggestion then?"


    "I know you are fixed on my region because I first confronted you, but close to your city location is a gathering region of many powers, where many villages and towns reside there unguarded and unsecured by any notable dark forces."


    Arthur''s mind was instantly enlightened, and his interest was immediately piqued as he asked:


    "Are they like the number of villagers you will give?" he asked, trying to assess the size of this hidden treasure.


    "Much more than what I will give to you and what you also gained so far from me," Olor''s sound said with an excited tone, as he knew he nailed the right spot with Arthur, "this area isn''t just rich in population, but also in resources. It''s considered one of the main trade routes in our world, and from there you can get to many other clans'' territories without wasting much time and effort."


    Arthur didn''t know what to say to this man. If he was present in front of him right now he wouldn''t hesitate to hug him and call him a brother!

 Chapter 308: Striking A Great Deal with Olor

    Arthur was so excited about this offer, but he knew life wasn''t such a sweet pie. "Are there big clans in this area?" he asked, trying to understand more the truth about the situation of this area.


    "Sure, three great clans and five middle sized ones, plus a dozen of small sized clans," Olor''s instant response gave Arthur a scare! This wasn''t a small area at all, for him it looked like the centre of this world!


    "Do you want me to throw myself into such a mess?"


    "I know it might seem quite hard, but the situation there is much more complicated than you think. The great clans don''t care about this area, as they left the management for the middle sized ones, which are doing a great job at suppressing everyone. They turned this huge area into their own farm, amassing a huge number of slaves there, making them live to produce much more slaves for their armies."


    Arthur was hesitant, but amidst this he had the advice from his system, on time as usual.


    "Ding! If I were you, I would have accepted this offer right away."


    "Don''t this be rash and reckless?"


    "Ding! This area is as he described, full of slaves and a small number of warriors, who are slaves as well. Very few real clan members exist, plus the presence of many small clans in the middle of all this with all their knowledge and resources.


    Simply put it''s a treasure trove, and you need it."


    Arthur thought about the words of his system, knowing that it never gave him the right suggestion. "Alright, but I have one modification to your proposal," Arthur finally expressed his thoughts out loud to Olor, making his face be tensed up.


    "What modifications?" Olor tried his best to maintain his tone neutral, and he failed miserably at that.


    "I can see what you aim for, weakening those big shots while preserving your own powers. That''s quite an ambition, right?"


    The face of Olor changed slightly before nodding, without saying a word.


    "Good, then I would like to help you more in achieving your goal, slightly broadening it further."


    The words of Arthur startled Olor, whose face showed how much shocked he was, right with his tone. "What do you mean? May you elaborate further?" he asked, trying to make sure he didn''t misunderstand Arthur''s words.


    "It''s simple, this world I consider as my own. However, it''s really a very complicated world, with many foreign powers playing on the stage and much more pulling the strings from the shadows.


    So, I want you to act as my own personal agent. I will make sure all the clans here suffer a lot in their next war with me, to the degree that you will be one of the only few here with much power preserved to lead the dark world."


    "Do you want me to be¡­ their general leader?" Olor was much shocked beyond description, as he never thought Arthur would ask him to do that, or even aspire to be the supreme leader here.


    "Sure, I want you, as my man, to lead them here and work with me to rule this world," Arthur nodded, confirming Olor''s words.


    "B- But what is it for me? at the end you won''t let the dark world continue here, right?" after some moments of thoughts, and after perfectly handling his own shock, he asked about this disturbing fact.


    "You will have your dream of being the leader of a great clan come true. In addition to that, you and I know perfectly well that the dark side isn''t limited to this world, right?"


    The face of Olor showed his understanding of this strange, risky, yet bold plan. "Aren''t you afraid of me betraying you?" he asked, "after all right now I''m in a position that makes me vulnerable, but in the future and after having so much power, this miserable situation will change."


    Arthur smiled as he had a slave contract in mind to process. Again, his system spoke, giving him its usual timely valuable advice.


    "Ding! I know of a way to establish a soul based contract with the will of the world here as a witness. Like that he won''t be able to betray you."


    The smile on Arthur''s face grew larger as he replied:


    "I''m not that pure hearted naive person to believe a dark leader like you will stick to his own words promised in such advisory conditions. You will make two contracts with me; a slave contract and a soul based contract."


    The face of Olor changed again, as he never thought Arthur to have such means to strangle him. He sighed, as his position was already hit the bottom here. "I have selected this path, and I shall see it to the end," he said to himself, trying to make the taste of losing his freedom much sweeter than the bitterness it had right now in his mouth.


    "Alright, let''s do it."


    Arthur then started to work for ten minutes, preparing the runes used for his own slave contract, and for the soul contract. The slave contract was similar to the contracts he did before; with a circle drawn around Olor by using the blood of a high end monster, while he made Olor make runes like the ones he just created.


    Two circles were formed, one at each side, then Arthur muttered: "Activate!"


    The next moment the two were shielded by two bubbles for a few minutes before vanishing, and now Arthur had a small tattoo on his left shoulder with a hideous monster face, while Olor had another one in his chest.


    "Now the second contract, draw the circle this time using your own blood," Arthur said as he followed the words of his system to the letter.


    He also drew a circle around him with his own blood, before putting the runes he made with the words of the world''s will over them. when finished, Arthur then waited for Olor to finish his preparations, then he said:


    "Memorize these words and repeat them with much belief in your heart."

 Chapter 309: Finally Breaking the Shield

    Arthur then added, "I, Olor, call upon the world''s will to come and bear witness over my agreement with Willy. I won''t betray the deal made, or else let my soul be cursed and imprisoned forever in agony and despair under the mercy of the world''s will."


    Olor felt some sense of danger when he heard the words, but there was no way to return now. He then memorized the words, and then said them, and the moment he did; both him and Arthur felt a surge of energy engulfing both of them.


    "Do you accept?" a deep and venerable voice came from everywhere, speaking to Arthur. He knew this majestic and unequal feeling of superiority came from the world''s will, and so he didn''t delay to say out loud: "I accept."


    "And I bore witness on this."


    The voice then went silent, while Arthur felt some of this energy entering deeply inside his soul, refreshing it, and giving him more strength.


    As for Olor, he felt some pain as the will didn''t like the fact of him being one of those who defiled the world. his soul got branded by the world''s will, feeling a stinging pain deep within it.


    "It''s all finished, and now our two fates are linked together," Arthur said with a grin as he was now feeling much delighted about this unexpected gain.


    "Sure," Olor nodded with some pained expression over his face, "now let''s finish the task outside," he added, before touching his heart location on his chest, rubbing it in a try to ease that annoying constant pain.


    "Sure, tell me how to bypass the shield."


    "It''s simple, use the same way you take away the pillar and take it away."


    The reply of Olor was so simple yet unbelievable. "I can take the pillar because it''s a pillar, how can I take the shield? Or¡­" Arthur paused amidst his words after the sudden realization hit him.


    "Yup, it isn''t a shield actually, it''s a portal that links the area around the pillar to a myriad of smaller pocket worlds."


    The eyes of Arthur shone brightly as he was now feeling more excitement than before. "That means I need to bind them all one by one?" he asked.


    "No, just binding one will bind others with it. after all those leaders merged these worlds together to form such a mighty defensive shield."


    "Aha," Arthur nodded, so much pleased with this realization. Gaining more worlds meant more space to his garden, with more resources.


    "Alright, I will try this then."


    "Not even a thanks?"


    "You are working for me now, why should I thank you for?" Arthur smiled while he added, "Keep this bead mirror thing with you all the time, as I will speak with you after all this ends."


    Arthur then finally opened his eyes, as the system was keeping its words and securing the area around him. not a single warrior managed to slip past the defensive one hundred meters area with him in the centre.


    "Time to see if your plan is a go," he muttered as he glanced towards the nearest pillar, as he flapped his wings while adding, "system, keep protecting me for a minute here."


    "Ding! I got your back, go smash these arrogant bastards heads!"


    Arthur just smiled as he went towards the pillar, with every single monster coming at him to be sent away instantly by his system.


    "Not tired of trying yet?" the leader on top of the pillar said, mocking Arthur who totally ignored him, injured himself again, before taking the blooded claw and sticking it on the protective blue shield.


    "What the hell are you trying to do?" the leader seemed quite nervous, yet he asked in a fake tone of strong and collected.


    Arthur ignored him, and this was because the moment his blood touched the shield, he felt the same kind of energy surging inside his body; yet this one was quite stronger!


    "Never thought these pocket worlds have pillars as well!" Arthur muttered before hurrying to add, "I will turn human, system be alert," he added as he couldn''t channel this much energy while being in dragon form.


    "Ding! Go ahead, don''t hold back!"


    The next moment Arthur closed his eyes, cancelled his dragon transformation and focused entirely on channeling the energy into the necklace.


    The moment he turned human, his body started to fall from the high height he was at; yet he wasn''t worried.


    He knew he had to channel the energy fast, and then return to the dragon again. so, he didn''t let any worried thoughts hinder him and focused on linking the energy to his garden.


    His body kept falling, spinning around himself, while the monsters kept chasing hot after him; and none managed to touch a single hair of him thanks to the system.


    "Done!" just less than a hundred meters from the ground, he opened his eyes and hurried to transform again, instantly unfolding his wings on their widest span while resisting the momentum of falling with such speed.


    And the next moment his body glided in the air, just meters away from the ground, before he started to catch up altitude, heading towards the pillar to see if there was any change on the shield there.


    "Oho, this looks better than I thought," he muttered with a grin over his face while watching the blue shield get fainter and fainter with each passing second, until it was all gone!


    He was so eager to enter his garden and see the changes there, but he didn''t have time to do that right here. "One shield down, and that pillar is mine!"


    He moved towards the pillar and under the amazed and shocked gazes of the clan head on top of it and just touched the pillar with his blooded claw.


    "You are mine!" he muttered as he felt the familiar surge of energy inside his body before linking it towards his garden. The pillar just vanished like the two others before it, popped up like a bubble of soap, vanishing in thin air.


    "Impossible!"


    This leader wasn''t the only shocked clan head here, as others had the same shocked expression on their faces.

 Chapter 310: A Dirty Trick

    Despite feeling quite uncomfortable dealing directly with the surge of energy of the pillar, he didn''t transform into a human again. The stressful moments from before were preferred to be reserved for the shields by him.


    And when the second shield and pillar vanished, things became clear to everyone standing here; this wasn''t a fluke! He had already cracked the mystery behind all this.


    "How did he manage to know such a thing? Was there a traitor among us?"


    These two questions rang heavily and very loudly inside each clan head''s mind. The next moment everyone glanced at the other in vigilance, feeling much doubt and a lot of suspicion.


    And Arthur didn''t notice this, yet his system did!


    "Ding! I would strongly advise to go and snatch the shield and pillar of Olor."


    The sudden advice came from the system made Arthur; who was about to turn and head towards another pillar, to pause, change direction towards the centre as he asked:


    "Don''t you trust him after all these restraints?"


    "Ding! I trust him, but don''t trust the others. Losing this ideal and extremely rare to encounter spy should be treated with extreme care and caution."


    The words of the system were enough to highlight what was happening here. Arthur didn''t ask, yet his mind already understood what was going on.


    "So they are suspecting each other?" he asked, before evilly smirking as he added, "Ask the newly acquired men inside about the identity of the rival clans to the leader of this gang."


    "Ding! Nice idea," the system didn''t need to ask further as it already read Arthur''s mind and understood his line of thoughts.


    And it liked what Arthur was thinking of.


    "Finally I will have the pleasure to see that look of despair on your filthy face!"


    Arthur roared as he smirked Olor, who just glanced at him without speaking, faking his own frustration and helplessness, while glancing at the others seeking help.


    And as he expected and was certain of; help didn''t come!


    "Ding! The pillar on the opposite direction of the leader''s pillar is the person leading the rival clan."


    "Good, let''s leave it for later then."


    Arthur went berserk on the pillars, while the clan heads were much frustrated by such a result. They could call upon more warriors, but the strange ability of Arthur in dealing with the warriors they already sent made them all skeptical to send more.


    Especially when their guardian monster was now being totally suppressed by the pillar summoned by Arthur, making this place unsuitable for them to stay, and this fight being a hopeless one.


    If not for the lockdown ability the master used upon here, sealing any movement trying to escape the place, they would have escaped here long time ago!


    But now they were destined to stand motionless, with bodies trembling out of frustration, while watching Arthur taking down one shield and pillar like gathering mere rocks from the side of the road!


    "Beware this won''t be easily forgotten Mr. Willy."


    When Arthur cracked the shield of the main leader, the leader couldn''t help himself to issue this statement, promising Arthur of a great retaliation.


    "Let''s face it, you already are planning to form a united army to come and destroy me; so why act modest and humble here? just show off your true dirty dark colors, they suit you better."


    "How do you know all of these?!!" the leader was really speechless as this was yet another secret of their own to be revealed.


    "How indeed, hehehe!" and Arthur just laughed, stirring the already troubled water more.


    "Lad I''m finished here, do you need any help?" the master suddenly spoke as the dark hideous monster was gone, vanished in thin air, leaving only the pillar of light standing mighty in the world.


    "Thanks master, give me two more pillars to go and we can leave here."


    "Two?"


    "Yup."


    "Fine, I will wait then."


    This little conversation was heard perfectly by everyone standing here, and the hidden meaning behind it was quite obvious.


    Someone was destined not to lose his pillar today, and for sure that person was the traitor among them.


    There were three remaining pillars now, so one of them was the traitor. Everyone glanced with much doubt and vigilance towards the remaining pillars, watching carefully who would be the traitor among them.


    "One down, another one to go," Arthur smiled as he said these before heading towards the pillar next to the rival clan pillar. "I will take the shield, don''t hate me for this master!"


    "What the hell are you talking about stingy brat?!!" the clan head on top of the pillar hurried to speak, knowing that this was a very dangerous accusation and foul play from Arthur.


    But Arthur didn''t argue or speak with him, instead he said to his master:


    "Can we have a mute over them? I hate to be disturbed by their noises during my triumph moment."


    "As you wish, lad."


    The master replied, and his tone carried much amusement and interest with what Arthur was planning here to do. For him he knew Arthur was up to something, and he was now feeling more delighted to appear here.


    Even more than his joy to have such a worm for dinner soup!


    Despite all expectations, Arthur then moved towards the last pillar, the one he decided to be the one to take all the blame here; the head clan of the main rival clan to the biggest clan in this world.


    The man on top of the pillar just eyed him with vigilance and hatred, as he already read what Arthur was planning to do.


    He knew the clan head next to him was nothing, not like a big shot like him!


    And the next actions of Arthur proved him right, and made the felony of betraying the dark clans be stuck forever to him.


    Arthur took the shield off him before heading back to take the neighboring pillar before turning to his master as he said:


    "I''m done master, you can send it all away."

 Chapter 311: A Small Fight with Master About Dinner!

    "Alright."


    The next moment a wave of light prevailed here as the master said in strong deep tone:


    "My little lad here asked me to generously send you back, but I''m not such a kind person. I will leave a mark on your souls, eating it slowly away. In less than ten years you will all be killed by it. farewell dark clan puppets."


    The light then surrounded everyone before an agony and pained expression appeared on their faces; all but one.


    "I will visit you soon!"


    These were the silent words the one framed by Arthur spoke with his lips, with a very angry face and threatening glances.


    "I will wait for you then, master," Arthur cupped his claws in the direction of that man, making his anger escalate to no end. Arthur knew this man intended ill to him, but he didn''t care.


    He was playing a dangerous game, and if he wasn''t shameless and bold enough, he would lose everything.


    Arthur then watched all the leaders leave, feeling no much regret about losing the last pillar. However, all vanished except the last one.


    "I thought you might want to end this little play of yours and take the pillar back," the master laughed as he said that, and Arthur understood what he did.


    "Thanks master for helping me out."


    "It''s me who should thank you. After all, such a weak and fragile lad as yours is helping me to liberate all my family heritage."


    Arthur smiled and didn''t reply as he glanced at the last leader, whose red bulging eyes expressed everything he was thinking about right now.


    "Why don''t we make a deal together?" Arthur was so greedy that he decided to try and pouch this cornered leader to his side.


    The leader''s face turned more gloomy as he glanced at him while saying nothing.


    "Let''s face the bitter truth; you were scandalled by me. you and I know very well you are innocent and you were framed, but do you really think others will be merciful on you? Will they listen? Will they trust you?"


    Arthur then sighed, faking a sad reaction as he added:


    "If you were a light clans, I would say friendship and old bonds never die easily. Trust gained over hundred of years won''t be scratched by just a mere play I just tricked you all with. However, you and I know very well this isn''t the case here.


    They will suspect and blame you, not only stopping at mere words and you know that. they will keep coming until the last kid and girl from your clan would be wiped out, or much worse to be enslaved like what you did to the indigenous people of this world.


    Do you want to risk standing alone? Do you think you can fight them all? Do you really have the delusion of them listening to you? Or having friends and allies sticking together with you at this ordeal?"


    Arthur then sighed, and the more he spoke the more unsightly the face of this clan head became. Arthur knew his words wouldn''t be instantly embraced by this man, but at least he would nail the offer inside his soul so deep that he wouldn''t be able to neglect it at some point.


    "Before I die, I will come to kill you!"


    The clan head just spoke with his lips, and Arthur didn''t feel angry or frustrated. Instead, he smiled as he confidently said:


    "I trust your judgment, working for me isn''t that bad after all. Just think about it man, and don''t let your ego stand between you and your only hope to survive.


    You aren''t one of us; those who have principles and beliefs so damn rooted deeply inside to die for! You are a dark side man, taking advantage of others is your creed, and surviving to live another day is your utmost desire! I will let you go and consider my offer, if you accept it, you know where to find me."


    Then Arthur''s face turned serious as he added, "And if you have this delusion that you can stand against me, then marvel your eyes well with my master here, as next time you won''t have the chance to see this amazing scene before dying."


    Arthur then dropped his blood over the pillar, before channeling the energy towards his garden. The next moment the pillar shook and rumbled, before turning to nihility, vanishing instantly.


    And then the leader''s presence was permitted to leave, while Arthur waved his hand towards him, like he was waving at a deeply cherished friend.


    "You really¡­ sigh, you are a dragonair son indeed."


    The master sighed while Arthur laughed shortly before turning to face his master, while cupping his claws and deeply bowing to his master with much appreciation. "Thanks for the help here, without you I would have been doomed."


    "Never mind, but have a question; who was the mole?"


    Arthur then straighten his body as he replied:


    "It''s Olor, the one man who had the one hundred pillars being snatched away from him."


    "Hehehe, you are really something! But don''t trust him so much, after all they are dark clans, have no honor, and their words never last!"


    "Don''t worry master, I got him tied up by a slave mark and an oath on the witness of the world''s will."


    "World''s will?!"


    Arthur suddenly felt some tension in the air, making him realize he might have said something he shouldn''t have. While he became nervous, the master suddenly laughed, and this time his laughs were really longer than ever.


    "Sure, that''s really a great encounter for you. But beware, playing with the world''s will isn''t a child''s joke."


    Arthur heaved a silent sigh of relief while nodding and saying no more. He didn''t know what he should say and not to say in regard to this matter.


    "I will go now to make my delicious dinner ready. Hehehe, I''m sure those old folks will be much envious of me tonight, hehehe."


    "Ahem, master, I have a request."


    "Ah, sure, your share will be preserved in the soup. Only the soup, alright?"


    "Master!"


    "This is final! I won''t give you a single bone of it. this is for your own protection! Your body can''t handle this huge amount of energy at this weak state of yours."


    "I won''t eat it, I want to do something with it."


    "A weapon? No way, you won''t be able even to wield it!"


    "Nah, it''s another thing. Can the master preserve a small piece of bone for me, please?"


    "Sigh," the master seemed quite annoyed with this request, yet he said, "alright, I will send one to you through one of the already freed pillars."


    Arthur realized his master was speaking about those five pure pillars he now had. "Another thing master."


    "I won''t give you anymore than this! Don''t be greedy! Gosh, why are all the dragonairs greedy and stubborn?!"


    Arthur hurried to shake his head as he explained:


    "It''s not related to that monster, I want to ask about the pillars I just snatched."


    "What about them?" the tone of the master showed how puzzled he was right now.


    "I know they are the master pillars, connecting more pillars together. I want to know the way to summon others."


    "Oh, don''t tell me they are the primes? Oh lad, your luck is endless, hehehehe," the master laughed for a long time again before he added, "it''s simple, use the arrows you made and launch them on the pillar. Then you will be able to summon any connected pillars to them. remember, one arrow for each pillar, no less."


    "So the more I tried the better, right?"


    "Smart kid, now time for me to go."


    The master then vanished instantly like the way he appeared. The moment he disappeared, Arthur felt the entire world here got dimmed, making him sigh. "I should have asked for another bone or a piece of flesh for these pillars I will gather," he shook his head in regret, before turning to glance over the exit of the world, which now became wide open for him.


    "Did I lose the quest?" he asked, while heading towards the outside world.


    "Ding! No, you perfectly completed it. all you need to do now is to go and take the remaining pillars out there."


    "Good."

 Chapter 312: Annexing All the Pocket Worlds Here

    The moment he went to the outside world he was faced with such brutal all out war between his forces and Olor''s. he sighed, as despite recruiting Olor under his wing, he couldn''t yet implement that into action.


    He had to be sure to keep the general stand of Olor the same, or else he would risk losing everything he gained. "I don''t want to lose my precious arrows on them either," he shook his head while glancing at the hordes of warriors and monsters filling the ground and the sky.


    The moment he appeared, all panicked! He totally forgot a simple yet crucial fact; he already massacred endless numbers of them.


    So just with his sudden appearance, the area around him got stirred up. They weren''t trying to attack, they were trying to run away!


    "Oh, wow, that isn''t expected!" he grinned as he glanced at the other portals; those with pillars inside, before expanding his reach towards the huge number of pocket worlds here.


    "Why should I be satisfied with a small bite while I can have the whole pie?" he smirked as he went directly towards the nearest pocket world. He reached there unhindered, like a death king marching among living mortals.


    "Even in here? that''s really amusing!"


    The moment he stepped into the pocket world, his eyes were attracted to the direction of the pillar he recalled. However, with only a few hundred meters of flight, he was faced with the same panic and chaos here.


    This time he didn''t care about them, as he wanted simply to obtain his pillar and leave this place.


    As for those trapped here, with all the pocket worlds attached to this space, he would never say no to them and their resources.


    "I should start taking my garden world more seriously," he thought to himself while heading towards the last pillar of the hundred.


    His garden world now changed from a mere simple garden he once acquired into this vast land that contained huge riches and many challenges.


    He wanted to move those living inside the garden when coming back, but at this rate he started to have a change in his mind.


    He would prefer to make them stay there to develop his garden world, besides he wanted more of these villagers and warriors.


    "I can use the time difference advantage and use the garden as a training place for my warrior army," he thought about Agnus and his bow and arrows.


    If he gave Agnus enough time and support, he would be able to create much better equipment than the ones he made so far.


    "And I also can transform the old knowledge of this world and the new knowledge of the academy to the villagers inside. I''m pretty sure this will make an unexpected change."


    He suddenly realized he had many assets under his disposal, and now all he needed to do was to lay low and start putting them into their perfect roles.


    "Rumble!"


    The pillar shook as usual while he started channeling the energy through his body. After dealing with those shields he started to withstand channeling the pillar energy while being in dragonair form.


    "The last one is done. Sigh, master never showed up after the battle. Is he alright or is he trying to avoid meeting me? I hope he is just busy preparing for his legendary meal, hehehe."


    Arthur showed up in the world, and by the last pillar he had finally completed the seemingly impossible task the system gave to him.


    "But these worlds, tsk," he glanced over the large number of pocket worlds he had in this place and felt some pain in leaving these here without taking them. "I will take them then. System, do you know what is the core of these pocket worlds?"


    Taking the worlds into his garden was easy before as he used the pillar to do the trick. But now he couldn''t use this approach anymore.


    "Ding! The portal to the outside world is one of their main cores."


    "Really?" The evil grin over his face made even the system pause for a moment there. Arthur didn''t need to hesitate anymore, as like this he would be able to obtain all these worlds in a shorter time than he ever expected. "Using my blood?" he asked.


    "Ding! Or by using a rune."


    "I don''t have time to make runes, it''s blood then."


    He waved his wings and moved instantly towards the first pocket world nearest to him. his appearance caused the usual stir and scare, and he ignored them as he cut his leg with his claw and let a big drop of blood fall over the portal.


    The portal was initially something invisible, yet when the blood fell on it, a surge of red waves erupted on its surface. This revealed the total oval shaped entrance of the portal, and the next moment Arthur felt the influx of energy to his body.


    Unlike the pocket world with pillars, this one seemed much docile that even Arthur had the luxury to move towards the next world, and started linking it with his blood.


    "It''s much easier than I thought!"


    "Ding! This is because all of them are weak leveled worlds."


    "Weak leveled? Are the pocket worlds graded?"


    "Ding! Anything is graded according to many elements. For example these worlds can sustain buildings and support life, but can''t support strong magical objects like the pillars."


    "Hmm," Arthur was interested in this as he asked, "is it dangerous adding them to my garden?"


    "Ding! Your garden is very unique, it can elevate anything by using the endless power of light inside its core. Any world connected to it will be absorbed by the garden and become part of it. so, don''t worry and have all the worlds you want."


    "Great."


    Arthur then stopped talking as he kept amassing worlds everywhere he could reach. At first he was seen to be jumping from one portal to another, like a fool splashing his blood everywhere.


    However after an hour, things became clear to everyone; he was amassing the worlds; making them disappear.

 Chapter 313: Chances Only Come Once in A Lifetime

    Tina and Sara at the distance noticed what he was doing. As they observed him for a time, they realized how stress free he became, making them heave a sigh of relief.


    "So he made it!"


    "He is my man, I am sure he will make it!"


    "Yes, I know. You weren''t stressful at all the past hours."


    "At least I was worried about him, not like you cold heart tiger!"


    "Humph, being silent doesn''t mean I''m not worried. I don''t need to be a drama dragon queen to show my worries to him."


    "Tsk."


    Despite leaving them for such a time, and working together to kill all these hostiles; they were still acting aggressive to each other.


    Arthur didn''t hear that, and even if he did he wouldn''t do a thing. All he cared about was for the two to do their jobs perfectly. As for these skirmishes, he wasn''t such a pacifist himself so he didn''t mind them.


    Arthur was busy talking with his system right now, especially when the number of the remaining worlds decreased to hit the low one third of their original numbers.


    The endless armies of monsters and warriors started to falter, showing signs of decreasing without any fight. As for the intensity of the frontal battle; the heat got lowered there by noticeable degrees.


    "Ding! Are you sure you want your evaluation now?"


    "Sure, didn''t I complete the task you gave to me?"


    "Ding! That''s correct, yet there is another thing you will miss."


    "What is it?"


    "Ding! A chance to get more of the world will favor and gain more rewards."


    Arthur was having this debate with his system. He had completed the quest, and he waited for the rewards. Yet when he asked the system about this, the system asked him to wait.


    And that made him confused, and even after this small talk with the system, he didn''t feel much clear about it.


    "Is there a room to make my rewards in any quest get a boost?"


    "Ding! The quests I issue and the rewards come from the world''s will. Your quests match the general desire of the world, so if you did much more than asked, and achieved more than required, your rewards would be much more. Understand?"


    "Honestly? No."


    "Ding! Your task was to liberate the pillars and weaken your enemies. your initial target was a hundred, and now you have the chance to turn them into hundreds more, or even a thousand. Your biggest enemy here is now a puppet in your hands, yet you didn''t fully implement that to your advantage."


    Arthur started to get a general view over what the system was talking about. "So I need first to move the pillars linked to the prime ones in my possession, and start using Olor in my favor, then my rewards will be more?"


    "Ding! Yup!"


    "Good, these won''t take a day of me to complete," he nodded as despite having to time limit this time, he wanted to see the changes in his rewards.


    If the changes satisfied him, then he wouldn''t stop at anything to over fulfill each single task he accepted. If not, then he wouldn''t bother doing that.


    Arthur then took a couple more hours to completely annex all the portals inside. The moment he finished doing that, the world seemed more quiet; strangely quiet at this moment.


    "Sigh, where are the drums of wars? The horns of attacks? The roars of monsters and the wail of injured? Sigh, I have become accustomed to war more than normal since coming to this world."


    He shook his head while heading back towards the remaining army of warriors led by his two girls.


    "You did great," Tina was the first to jump at him while warmly welcoming him. "Did I?" he replied while grinning as he added, "won''t you come at me now to complain of interrupting your fun time?"


    "Nah, I have my enough, even this little rascal over there had it well too," she pointed towards the scorpion queen, who was standing in the rear silent, not like her usual self.


    "Is she alright?"


    "She is about to evolve, so she is trying to minimize any sudden actions until you take her back," Sara replied, while pointing at the army down there, "they are now resting for quite some time. what should we do now?"


    Arthur glanced at the warrior faces, feeling much happy of those who survived. As for those who died, he had no regret as their death wasn''t in vain after all.


    He got what he came here for, and much more than desired.


    "It''s time for us to go home," he said.


    "Can we enter the star map again?" Sara seemed quite interested in this star map, and her question made Arthur confirm again with his system about this forgotten detail.


    "Sure, we will go to another area inside and enter the star map from there," this was the explanation his system gave to him. As for returning home, he will have to go to the first star he used on the map to reappear again at the mine.


    "Lead everyone inside."


    "Will we seal this portal?" Tina asked.


    "Well," he paused, while glancing at this place. He knew this was so much closer to the Dorfis headquarter than his own city, yet he was skeptical about sealing it.


    He might need this place to be used later in his dealings with Olor. It was perfect, so close yet not too close to be noticed.


    "We will leave it, but will assign guards to patrol these lands."


    "Do you still plan on annexing the population from here?" Sara said in a dissatisfied tone, like she was saying he had already enough population and didn''t need to take such risk.


    "Yes, not only population, but resources. Anything that might help I won''t hesitate to acquire."


    It was a good idea for him to use this as a cover up to make his deal with Olor currently classified. He didn''t intend on telling anyone about it; not his girls or his main aiders in the city.


    "Alright, I will lead them in," Tina said before returning to fly low over the heads of the warriors, while shouting at them with many orders.


    "Sigh, she seemed quite absorbed in being the leader of an army."


    "She is quite aggressive, and foolish to be honest," Sara remarked.


    "And you tend to be quite cautious and secretive, also a fool," Arthur gave his own remark on her attitude, and her reaction was just mere silence.


    The two simply glanced at each other before she sighed. "It''s not easy to trust a stranger," she said.


    "A stranger holding your life in his hands? a stranger who saved your life to begin with?" Arthur just said these words before leisurely flapping his wings heading towards his scorpion while adding: "You might be one of my toppes warriors currently, but in the future many strong rivals will rise. If you don''t solve your issues fast, you will miss your opportunity."


    He then paused, while keeping moving slowly towards the scorpion queen before faintly adding, like whispering: "Chances never come more than once in the lifetime."

 Chapter 314: The Perfect Plan of the System

    Arthur headed towards the lazy looking scorpion queen. She noticed his presence a long time ago, but she lacked the strength to move on and call upon him.


    "Finally you recalled you have a scorpion queen," she welcomed him with a tired tone and semi-closed eyes. "I want to get into the tattoo to get some rest. I feel my evolution time is ticking closer each minute."


    "I have a better option," he said, before continuing his way towards the portal as he added, "come inside is much better than my tattoo."


    "Sigh, I tried to enter there but the noises just kept me distracted."


    Arthur knew what she was talking about, and he didn''t even slow down his flying speed as he said:


    "You know of a place inside where things are quite calm, don''t you?"


    "Oh! Will you take me there and let all those weaklings do a massage for me? I like it!"


    Arthur paused for real this time, turned to give her a silent long glance until he entered the portal. she felt she said something wrong amidst her excitement, yet she knew Arthur wouldn''t be so mean and cruel to prevent her from going there.


    And so she followed.


    "I will take you to my tattoo first, resist the urge to sleep so you can sleep there and have your¡­ massage."


    She felt his mocking tone and decided to ignore it. instigating his anger at this moment would make her lose this massage session and any future ones as well.


    The next moment she entered into her tattoo while he glanced silently over the portal here. it was one of the many he snatched, easily missed. "Can you memorize this place for me, please?" he asked for help.


    "Ding! Sure, leave it to me."


    "Good," he then examined the entire garden. This place started to look more complicated each time he came back to it. "Sigh, I need someone to map out this place for me," he muttered as he, the owner himself, was feeling lost for a moment there.


    "Here you are," he muttered before moving himself instantly to appear inside the castle. The moment he appeared everyone around were given a scare, then a startle, before kneeling down one by one to him.


    "Cool, you learnt your lesson well," he praised, before waving his arm while muttering, "come forth."


    "Wow, I''m really here, hehehe."


    The moment she appeared, he noticed the look of scare over the faces of these youths got more dignified. He simply glanced at all that and didn''t speak, while selecting a place to move towards and vanished instantly from the place.


    "Hehehe, it''s you and me now. keep kneeling to me, while some of you come to rub my back. Where is Antony? I liked the massage he gave to me last time."


    The moment he vanished she started to live her rule as their queen. The kids there were so scared of her, much more than Arthur. Any request she asked for was answered without pause!


    As for Arthur, he appeared the next moment in front of the portal leading to the star map.


    "I can make changes to the star map?"


    "Ding! The star map is a heavenly treasure blessed by the will of many worlds. it''s not used to link small pocket worlds together, it has a far more important role to play than that."


    "And this role is?"


    "Ding! Weren''t you bothered by the problem of leaving this place when heading to your academy?"


    The question of the system made Arthur''s mind freeze for a moment. this was his deepest desire, to not be severed from here. "Don''t tell me this can help?"


    "Ding! It can! Instead of betting and begging others to agree to come here every now and then, make your presence here at any time an undeniable fact!"


    "Oho, I like it! but won''t that instigate some anger and hostility? Will the academy agree on me leading here?"


    "Ding! You forgot the most important fact; all things here belonged to you. The people, the city, the warriors; even the enemies are now linked to you and you alone. Who can deny an emperor the right to rule his own empire? no one!"


    Arthur began to see his dream coming true. He was worried, terribly worried about the fate of things he was building here after returning to the academy.


    And to some extent that made him be less bold and more lenient towards certain things. However, with what the system just offered right now, his mindset changed.


    "This is my city, my empire, and my world! I won''t let anyone deny it from me!" he declared his new resolve out loud, before adding:


    "Tell me, what do you need me to do?"


    "Ding! It''s a long process, but at least you have the needed requirements for that."


    "Which are?"


    "Ding! Home, a middle portal, and a huge source of energy."


    "Hmm¡­" he stood silent there for a moment before adding, "I know home, and middle portal, but the huge source of energy¡­ do you mean these pillars?" he asked.


    "Ding! The pillars can do, yet you have a better source."


    "What?"


    "Ding! The piece of bone you asked your master for!"


    The eyes of Arthur shone as he hurried to say:


    "I planned for it to be buried here or back in my city. I thought it would help things here or back there to grow."


    "Ding! I have a better proposition. When your master presents the bone, ask him to separate it into three parts."


    "One for here, one for the city, and the last one¡­ for the star map perhaps?"


    "Ding! Sure, it will be for it."


    "Interesting¡­" he muttered before glancing at the portal linked to the star map in front of him before adding, "it sounds like a nice plan."


    "Ding! It''s a perfect plan. The star map isn''t accessible to anyone except those you will authorize. It will be your secret, not found anywhere, can''t be pry over by anyone, and you can''t even lose it. all you need to do is to prepare this source of energy and the moment you put it there; this whole treasure will be yours."

 Chapter 315: Returning to the Mine

    "I''m excited already," Arthur said before heading towards the portal, to reappear again in the star map. The map was covered in fog as usual, and as he imagined the map of it in his mind, things began to be clear in front of his eyes.


    "It feels like I didn''t come here for a decade!"


    Every single star here was covered in black color. "Are they still functioning?" he asked.


    "Ding! All are either severed from here or being transferred into your garden. So your garden is acting like your middle world, supporting the map and helping organize things here."


    "I don''t fully understand it, but soon I will," he smiled before glancing over the back, where the first star, the one that began all this was lying there.


    "Time to go back."


    He moved leisurely without any stress or worries, towards the last star. The moment he reached there, he jumped into it, appearing again in the spacious warehouse.


    "Wow, Amelia and the others did a great job here," he laughed the moment he exited the portal. the warehouse that once was filled with the ores extracted from the mine was now completely empty.


    He walked in between the empty shelves while feeling much proud in this silence. "I''m wondering how much advanced my city has become!"


    He went outside, and the moment he reached there he found Lily''s pet, Birdy, flying over the sky, with many silhouettes over its back. As Arthur was standing there, he noticed the new advancements and modifications this place had witnessed.


    Instead of being opened and linked to the forest, a great space of trees was cleaned, creating a large empty place surrounding large and strong looking walls. The walls surrounded the place in a circular fashion, and to the end of Arthur''s sight there were many towers standing watch there.


    "Impressive," he remarked as these walls and towers were strong enough to hold a city not a small mine like this one. "It seems Amelia did a brilliant job here," he was content, yet he felt something strange in the atmosphere.


    The place was quite, strangely quiet. There was no sound of villagers working their pickaxes on the stones down there, or the sounds of their superiors ordering them to work.


    "What''s wrong here?" he muttered before he squinted his eyes, and at the distant walls he saw many lines of warriors standing there, waiting.


    Like waiting for an enemy to approach!


    "Sigh, no moment of peace for me, right?" he shook his head as he hoped to lay down for some days and enjoy his hard earned rewards. "But what enemy could possibly be there to make them alert?" he wondered as he noticed the whole villagers and workers inside the mine were now standing behind the walls, preparing to aid the frontline warriors.


    "I will lay low and see what''s coming."


    He then went to a tree in the vicinity before jumping over it and lay on one of its branches. The view there wasn''t much different than what he had seen from the ground.


    Yet he wasn''t that exposed.


    "Be ready, they are coming!'''' The shout of Lily made him realize how dangerous this situation was. The tone of her was filled with worry and tension; something he rarely heard from such a little angel like her.


    "So, what are you?" he muttered as he focused over the horizon, where trees started to sway. It was like there was a huge monster tide coming towards here, the same he experienced before when he used his treasure.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The next moment the entire world was filled with roars coming from every direction around the mine. "Sh*t! these aren''t monsters! I was slightly careless and totally forgot about them!" he hurried to curse loudly when he saw the first batch of monsters jumping off the forest.


    "Son of b*tches! So they used the mages of the big clans and guilds loyal to them to hit me?" he shouted with much anger as he heard the same noises coming from the back of the mine. "And they are coming with a real monster tide and many hideous monsters as well!" he was feeling irritated by this.


    "Damn you, Olor! How can you not warn me about this?!!" he was really enraged, as from the shape of it he realized this wasn''t the first time such an attack befell on here.


    "If they came this far, then my city¡­ damn it!" he cursed again before deciding to show up. He was really furious, yet before jumping and transforming he went inside his garden first.


    The scorpion queen was so lazy right there, starting her evolution sleeping while benefiting from the rich energy environment here and the service those youths were giving to her.


    At the portal leading to the outside world, Tina and Sara were there leading everyone to the inside again. "Be ready, a war is erupting outside."


    "Oh, you are so kind these days! I love you a ton!"


    "Tsk!"


    "Don''t underestimate this, as there are other battles in the near distance."


    He then exited the garden, transformed into a dragon, as he summoned his two girls here.


    "Wow, this is a great fight! I love it!" Tina turned to him as she begged, "can I bring my boys here? please? They are strong and well disciplined. They will help."


    "Sigh, they just finished fighting. Give them time to recuperate at least."


    "Don''t worry, I know what''s best for my boys."


    Arthur sighed, and the next moment he waved his hand, and a huge number of warriors suddenly appeared.


    "Roar!"


    The next moment Arthur roared, before soaring to the sky, attracting every single attention on this battlefield.


    "The lord is back!"


    "Our mighty lord is back!"


    These shouts started to emerge here and there, while Arthur picked up height, reaching to Lily and her Birdy. He glanced at the world from his place, seeing the large and strong defensive shields stopping the hordes of ground monsters everywhere. While the arrows of the warriors on the walls kept harvesting their lives.


    "Finally, I was starting to lose hope of you coming back," Lily welcomed him with this long sigh of relief and this complaining tone. "What took you so long? Are you alright?" she asked, while not waiting for him to respond.


    "Roar!"


    And the only response he gave her was with this long mighty roar that startled even Birdy. "He is telling you to wait for later. He wanted to know what is going on here? how about the city?" Tina said, explaining the roars of Arthur.


    "These¡­ sigh, these monster transforming mages popped up out of nowhere recently. They started harassing out borders here and back in the city. a couple of times tried to attack our ground caravans and a single rare occasion of attacking the air caravans.


    All ended with their failures. Then suddenly three days ago they started to show up in large numbers, attacking in a suicide manner. They attacked us here and the city there, yet they didn''t succeed to bypass our defenses.


    I lead the defenses here, while the others are leading the defenses at the city. the walls there are partially completed, so there are many weak spots needing their attention."


    Arthur glanced at the world down below and had some understanding. "I will visit you soon, you bastard," he laughed mockingly on the promising words of the framed clan head.


    His laughs went to others like mighty roars, giving much scare to many monsters down below. "Don''t worry, we will handle it from here," Tina said, and this time she wasn''t translating Arthur''s roars, but expressing her own words.

 Chapter 316: The City is Under Attack!

    Arthur glanced at the world down below and had some understanding. "I will visit you soon, you bastard," he laughed mockingly on the promising words of the framed clan head.


    His laughs went to others like mighty roars, giving much scare to many monsters down below. "Don''t worry, we will handle it from here," Tina said, and this time she wasn''t translating Arthur''s roars, but expressing her own words.


    "I will leave you two here," he said before turning to glance at the distance, towards the direction of his city. "There is some place I need to go to now."


    "What if something went wrong?" Sara hurried to ask.


    "Stop it, nothing is going wrong, we are here!" Tina proudly said with no concern about the fighting here.


    "If you wanted anything, just let Lily use the flying birds and I will answer your calls."


    "From your far distance?" Sara asked again.


    "¡­"


    He didn''t say any more words, as he silently gazed at her before glancing at the portal down below then went forward with his top speed.


    "Is he going to be alright?" Lily asked, with much worry in her tone. "There is a huge hideous flying monster standing behind all these attacks," she added, before hurrying to say, "I should alarm him."


    "Don''t bother, he already knows his enemy very well," Sara said, stopping her from wasting one bird''s wing.


    "Listen to my orders, go beyond the walls and start killing!"


    "Kill!"


    "Kill!"


    "Kill!"


    Her boys were so energetic that even their cheers reached the ears of the distant Arthur, making him shake his head helplessly with a faint smile over his dragon face.


    "Now, won''t you be polite and come to greet papa?" he smirked, as he knew these attacks weren''t random. A hideous monster must be leading them.


    He knew why Olor didn''t alarm him about this, as he didn''t know about these attacks. They came from a totally different enemy and direction.


    Arthur kept flying directly towards the direction of the city. the places he passed upon were filled with a huge influx of monsters; yet he resisted the urge to go and attack them.


    "They must have come from pocket worlds, or portals," he muttered while deciding to give his troops this slight hand.


    He kept flying for an hour before the influx of monsters suddenly stopped. He didn''t see anything resembling that red pillar of the portal, so that meant these portals were hidden. "More probably they are pocket worlds," he said to himself before taking a detour, heading slightly closer to the tops of trees until he reached the places where these monsters started appearing out of thin air.


    "One, two,¡­ five, six,¡­ twenty one, twenty two,¡­ forty nine, and fifty. Fifty whole worlds are connected to here, sigh," he shook his head as this number really exceeded his expectations.


    "Ding! You can just link them to your garden."


    "And risk getting foreigners inside? Their numbers are great, but not too much. I''m sure Tina and Sara would be enough to handle these."


    "Ding! Are you worried about your city?"


    "If their leader isn''t here, then he is there eyeing my city. Let''s face it, this place is important, yet my city is the base of everything. Demolishing it will get me more losses than this mine."


    "Ding! You have a point here."


    Arthur then returned to fly higher, moving as fast as he could with a troubled mind. He left the place for too long, and so he wasn''t sure of his city''s ability to handle things there.


    The flight from here to his city wouldn''t take more than six to eight hours. He didn''t meet anything unusual during this flight, until he finally exited the forest, and then he was met with a very great and terrifying scene.


    He missed the city by tens of miles, yet when he exited the forest he could see the huge walls of the city being on the near line of sight. The walls there were really majestic, reaching more than one hundred meters in height, with a broad surface enabling even too many siege weapons to be stationed there easily.


    The faint shape of catapults being launched all the time, throwing fiery ores that exploded once reached the ground was a common scene to be found on the surface of the walls.


    As for the ballistae, he couldn''t see them yet their arrows were easily distinguished with their big shape and huge explosive damage.


    Higher rounded towers were stationed on regular intervals, adding more power and fire to the defensive task here.


    Everything seemed quite nice and neat, yet even with the huge defensive shield covering the entire city the situation there wasn''t that hopeful.


    "Giant siege towers and trabechaults! Not only monsters but a grand foot army of warriors! This man is really fixed on destroying me!"


    Arthur was astonished to see the large number of war machines his enemy had. The endless lines of warriors stretched around the walls of his city were really majestic. Plus the existence of a ground and flying mix of mage and dark warrior monsters; making this battle more hard than it should be.


    "I have to go and see where the weak spots are," he muttered, before heading to the sky with no care to anyone here.


    "Is there anyone here branded with a slave mark?" he asked, as if so he would be able to free them, and create some chaos.


    "Ding! Not a single one of them carried the mark. They are all dark warriors of the dark clan."


    "And they seemed quite fixated on destroying my small city, sigh!"


    "Ding! You framed their leader and doomed their clan with death."


    "I know, but can''t they deal with their dark friends, not me? they should face problems with them, not hurrying to risk losing most of their strength like idiots like this."


    "Ding! I think this is the only way to salvage their lives."


    Arthur understood the meaning of the system, and he just sighed helplessly while saying:


    "There is another way around."


    "Ding! They seem not to like working for you."


    "They are dark guys, should be pleased with a bone and a life. what is there to complain about? Tsk."


    His mood was now bad, and at this moment many enemies and allies noticed his presence.


    One loud cheer came from inside the city, while a long mighty roar came from the monsters.


    "They like me, see?"


    "Ding! Ding!"


    "Hahaha, yeah they like me, hahaha!"

 Chapter 317: Preparing Reinforcements

    "¡­"


    The system didn''t even bother to respond to him while he moved towards the above of the shield of the city. what he saw down there was something that gave him quite a surprise.


    "Wow, all the underground stuff is done, and even thirty percent of all the building process is about to be complete. That''s amazing!" he then moved his gaze towards the distance, trying to see where was the weakest part here in the wall.


    "Roar!"


    However many roars erupted as a huge swarm of monsters moved heading towards him. they gathered together, formed a huge formation in the high altitude, before descending towards him like thunder.


    "Sigh, you never learn your lessons, do you?" he took out his bow and single arrow of extermination before firing it towards the other end of this army.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment the arrow was launched, the monsters showed a restless movement. They paused, gathered together like trying to form circles around circles.


    "So you are trying to deal with my arrow? Really?" he laughed while taking out another arrow and then a third and fourth down to twelve arrows were launched.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    .


    .


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Each arrow hit a different target in a different direction. Yet they all surrounded the huge group of monsters in between while creating a twelve points diagram.


    And the next moment was like doomsday!


    Arthur was sure of his arrow''s effect, so he didn''t even bother to watch or turn his head to gaze. He knew this attack was so mighty that it was enough to clear all the hostiles on this side, or at least half of them.


    His main concern was to get away from the initial blast waves of the explosions, and find the place with the weakest defenses.


    "Boom!"


    He managed to escape the radius of explosions easily, but not the after shock waves. His body was hit massively with wave after wave creating bang sounds on his body, and finally diverting him to hit the shield forcibly and violently, making the entire shield shake.


    It wasn''t due to his impact with it, but to the constant shock waves that erupted and lasted for the whole ten minutes.


    "Sigh, I need to find a better way to deal with such attacks," he muttered while examining his bruised body and smashed scales. "I was lucky to get away from the radius of the blast. I should think of a protective shield like those which protected me and the girls inside the pocket worlds."


    "Ding! You can have a protective shield of your own as a function of the system."


    "Really? Don''t tell me it''s later, right?"


    "Ding! At least there is light at the end of the tunnel."


    "I first need to survive the tunnel mate," he gritted his teeth before channeling his energy inside his body trying to accelerate the healing and make his body regain his previous flexibility.


    Then he flew again, while marveling the devastation his attack just created. Literally all the hostiles in the air were swept clean, except for a mere group of a thousand monsters which survived the hit using their strange circle array.


    "But they look quite devastated. No need for me to act, my boys will do the job," he muttered before turning to the front, focusing on finding the weakest spot here.


    The city was already large and spanned over a huge stretch of land. He flew for half an hour just to reach the other end, making him feel much proud for having this beast built here.


    "Found you," he shouted the moment he spotted places with no walls in them yet. The walls were built, mostly, and the few bare areas remaining were now having the most brutal fights in this war.


    And the enemy had focused his most capable warriors and monsters to target these areas.


    "Twenty five gaps, that''s really something," he sighed before noticing another problem; the shield.


    The protective shield seemed to work on the walls by certain mechanisms. The absence of these walls in these areas made it impossible for the shield to cover this.


    And that wasn''t everything, the shield had to retreat towards the wall section inside the city, exposing a great deal in this part to the enemy.


    "It''s amazing they managed to keep these areas secure so far," he commended when he realized how hard it was to defend these parts.


    It would be easier to retreat and give up these places, while fighting the enemy behind the rear walls and shield.


    Yet Amelia and the others decided to match the enemy head on and not conceded even for a single inch of the city to them. That attitude impressed him so much, and he realized he really chose his trusted top aiders well.


    "Ding! I have to warn you, using the arrows here will affect your men as well as the buildings."


    "I know," he simply replied before flying closer to these spots. "I think I must work on improving my own strength and upgrading you as well."


    "Ding! You want more functions?"


    "Sure, if I have more options here then this fight would be much easier, right?"


    He then closed his eyes for a second, entering his garden and gave the order to the free and extra warriors there to be ready. "I can''t use the extermination arrows, yet I can use the normal arrows, right?" he smiled as he took out a large bunch of normal arrows and then started shooting from far away at the incoming hordes of flying monsters.


    Each arrow held a strong force that was enough to instantly kill a monster before continuing its path to kill another two or three at least.


    This seemed nothing in comparison to the large number of enemies coming at him, yet he kept firing non-stop, while waiting for the right moment and place to make his warriors appear.


    "As you decided to come here, don''t think about going home again," he evilly smirked as he decided the place where he would spread out his surprise army.

 Chapter 318: Ronald Shows Up!

    This part of the city was at the conjunction between the city area and the forest in the front. This side of the wall seemed to be hastily built, as Arthur realized seeing it from above the issues it had here.


    The walls were supposed to follow a straight line parallel to the woods before they would arch at the distance to connect with the rear walls facing the mountains.


    However the walls here were abruptly broken, to go inside midway, leaving behind more area to cover.


    That made a huge part of the wall coming from the mountains exposed, so they had to connect both using an oblique line of walls. This was where the weak defensive spots appeared, and it seemed they didn''t have enough time to complete this weakened wall.


    After all his city was built entirely over a Fey Line diagram buried under the ground. Deviating from it, and building this urgent section of walls here made things weak not strong, compared to any other wall section built following the diagram.


    "They had the news of the attack coming and then had built this sector in a hurry, not sticking to the initial plan I suppose," he muttered as he started to channel his energy before letting out a strong fountain of deadly fire.


    Anything the fire touched corroded and instantly caused a deadly wound to the target. Even those lucky enough to be away from the direct gush of the fire, they had deep wounds just from the splashes that came towards them.


    Arthur started killing his way using his fire, while hitting those away using his bow. Alone he turned into a killing machine; unstoppable and unapproachable.


    The flood of monsters coming at him was met by all these attacks, creating a stunning scene of many monsters falling off the air like snowflakes; all either dead or about to.


    Yet he wasn''t moving chaotically as he was aiming for a certain direction. The swarms of monsters here came from miles at the front, where many pocket worlds appeared to send out warriors.


    And he just aimed at these, deciding to hit them where it really hurt.


    However, just as he was heading smoothly towards the place he wanted, a strange man floated in the air. He was a middle aged man, with such a dignified face and strong aura that made Arthur pause the moment he noticed him.


    The man wasn''t using anything to float, not a wing not a power not even using part of a transformation. The man was just rising up from the ground like he was walking on the ground; easy and casually pressing each leg higher like ascending stairs.


    "Oh, never thought to find such a strong character here in this forgotten world," he roared, and the man understood him quite fine as he smiled, showing two strange scars at the corners of his mouth.


    "If not for such an impious dragonair son causing all this trouble to my friends I wouldn''t have shown myself here."


    "I never thought dragonair is a creed."


    "It is, and you don''t need to know more about it as soon you will lose everything."


    The next thing the man did was to take out a long and strange looking staff. It had thin and thick ends, with the thick end having such a large dark red glistering ore in the middle of it, and the man just grabbed it from the thin part.


    "I don''t know why but I doubt you can harm me with this old man stick of yours."


    Arthur tried to act casual, unfazed with such threat. Yet he knew this man''s words weren''t groundless and he was in real danger.


    But he didn''t know what sort of danger it was or its extent yet. Also he didn''t know if he could escape this attack successfully.


    "I know youth can be impulsive, but you crossed all the red lines here kid," the man then pointed the staff towards him with a deepening voice, "Let the curse of eternal agony befall on you, Willy of the golden lion clan. Let your bone age, your flesh wither, and let your fiery dragonair soul burn out until a small flicker only reminds. Willy of the golden lion clan; I curse you!"


    The next moment a group of circles appeared out of thin air, each had different shape and color; all forming diagrams of five heads to twelve heads.


    Arthur counted dozens of them in this flash of second, and when he glanced at these he felt shudder deep inside his soul.


    "If you have a trick, this is the best time to use," he hurried to say, addressing his system which suddenly went off.


    "Don''t bother, any external aid or link to anyone except yourself will be severed. This is the ancient curse our ancestors took, and without the proper intervention from me or capable individuals, you will perish here once and for all. You will be lucky to be alive after this, crippled yet alive. And I promise you to swiftly kill you without making you suffer."


    Arthur tried to move, yet his body was stuck to the air like he was deeply immersed in the mud. "Don''t try, I have already sealed the space around you," the man said.


    "Who are you?" Arthur asked, with extreme hatred and vigilance.


    "I''m the man who your clan hired to do their dirty stuff. I''m Roland."


    Alright Roland, I promise you I won''t die here, and sooner or later I will come to claim your head of yours."


    "Hahaha, so funny. This curse wasn''t done by the clan, it was done by their nemesis, the bronzed giant clan. You can''t escape it even if you turned your heart to the other side, as this aimed and targeted your dragonair''s blood. Just accept the truth and face death with a broad smile."


    Arthur didn''t listen to his talk as he tried his best to break free, yet the shackles enforced on him weren''t that easy to handle.

 Chapter 319: Arthur is Dead!!!

    Arthur glanced again on top of his head to see the circles grew to a frightening number of a hundred.


    "Shouldn''t you preserve your energy for later? Even killing me won''t make you escape the retaliation of my armies."


    "An empty threat coming from a dead dragonair. Sigh, it''s always an awful job to hunt one of your kin down, yet you are such a weak person with meager personal and follower strength. The only one here to possibly pose a threat to me is you, and now you are going to die."


    The next moment the madman held the staff with both hands and Arthur noticed the bulging veins on his face. The next moment the aura around him changed, like the aura of an ancient beast waking up from slumber.


    And then a huge beast appeared, it was like a giant with a dozen eyes, a very ugly looking face, and two teeth only appearing from his dummy looking mouth.


    It appeared, and it was in a mere phantom shape yet the world around them rumbled. Arthur felt the same dreadful aura coming from this phantom like the one that came from the monster his master just hunted.


    "If the master was here he would be very pleased," he shook his head while his eyes showed a strange reaction¡­ he wasn''t giving up, he was planning to annex that strong man to make him his own puppet.


    "Killing you is a mere snap of my fingers," Ronald shouted with a strange laugh.


    "Killing you is a waste, and much trouble I don''t want to go into," Arthur replied back, while his mind was now filled with many scenarios, where he was trying to find not only a way out but also a means to enslave and control this Ronald.


    "Just give up, I was supposed to intervene and kill you at the previous gathering yet you managed to summon that despicable identity of the bronzed giants. If not for him, you would have been long dead kid."


    Arthur didn''t reply and Ronald didn''t speak anymore. It was apparent how taxing this was upon him. the sweat droplets started to ooze from his body while his body started to shake while he didn''t look well.


    It was so hard upon him to use this curse here in this lower realm, fighting against the weak world''s will to enforce the curse upon Arthur.


    The scene was watched by everyone, while shouts of cries and despair were heard from far, back from the city, coming from sounds he hardly could recognize.


    The more time passed, the stronger the traction force Ronald had until he was able to finally move the huge number of circles to descend, one by one, upon Arthur.


    "Boom!"


    The first circle hit him making him feel like a mountain just fell upon his body. his body sank towards the ground, heavily hitting it and creating a deep crater.


    And the next moment another circle hit him, and another, and they kept hitting him one by one like a blizzard.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The first few circles Arthur had the strength to roar and struggle against them, yet when he was hit with the twentieth circle, his voice disappeared entirely, while he lay motionless at the bottom of this pit while receiving the hits.


    And the circles kept descending one by one, mercilessly slamming hard with his body.


    "Hahaha, the first dozens act against your strong body, and the rest act to curse your soul. You should be able to hear me out boy, the worst hasn''t yet come, hahahaha."


    Ronald''s voice and sinister laughs echoed in the whole world. the entire city and areas around it where many fights were going suddenly ushered under complete silence.


    This was the fight that would decide the fate of this entire war, either Arthur died and everything he did so far would be in vain, or he would miraculously survive and thus their assault here would be doomed.


    So not only the city residents, Arthur friends, and the villagers who gathered up here over time were silent, even the enemies as well were.


    All prayed, each with different goals. The place was completely silent and seemed dead except from those large circles that kept descending without pause over the ground, and these sinister loud laughs of Ronald.


    He was getting weaker, it was apparent to everyone, but no one had the strength or the ability to target him. Everyone inside Arthur''s faction was either praying or falling on his knees crying.


    All hoped for a miracle to descend, despite knowing that miracles abandoned this world a long time ago.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Hahaha, ninety five, ninety six, c''mon there''s only a couple left, hahaha¡­ ninety nine, and one hundred!"


    Ronald had already flown to be so near the place of the pit, while his body grew weaker that he couldn''t even support his flying body anymore. So he descended, stood on the edge of the pit, while panting for breath while observing the dead silent body of Arthur at the bottom of the pit.


    Arthur had long lost his dragonair''s body, and that was acceptable as the curse worked and entirely suppressed his bloodline.


    "You know you made me take all this trouble just to make sure you won''t summon your nasty bronze giant person again. sigh, I hope they will pay me well for your head."


    He then didn''t delay, cancelled the summoning of his monster while standing on the ground using the staff. This time he used it as a stick while walking to the edge and taking out one small pill before consuming it.


    The pill pushed some energy into his body, enough for him to jump off the edge falling towards the dead body of Arthur. The staff suddenly disappeared and a big sharp axe appeared instead.


    He grabbed the long thick rounded handle made out of a special kind of wood before swaying it behind his arched back, waiting for the moment he got near Arthur''s body to decapitate him.


    In front of everyone, Ronald jumped off the edge of the pit, removing his staff and replacing a big axe instead. The next moment he disappeared into the veiled depth of the pit, while all they heard after a few long stressful moments was this.


    "Boom!"

 Chapter 320: Slave Contract... Activate!

    The explosive sound erupted, and for those who were far they didn''t know what happened, except they expected it¡­ wrongly!


    "Im¡­ Impossible!"


    Ronald''s shaky voice came from the already smashed lips and teeth while flying back in the air, while Arthur was ascending from the ground in front of him with his fist raised in the air.


    Arthur¡­ the one who took all this was completely fine! He waited and lied, playing dead down there, waiting for the chance to start his counter.


    And his counter just started!


    He didn''t bother to say a word, as he turned on himself, arching his body while resting with his both hands on the ground while his leg directed a powerful blow, another blow to Ronald''s jaw, sending him flying in the air.


    And this wasn''t yet over, as Arthur bent his elbows before jamming him in the air. The next moment a sword appeared out of thin air. It was the same sword he once gained from the Nystic clan. The same sword that got the fortune to evolve above the pillar for all this time.


    And now it was the time to get it out and use it.


    Arthur was midair, with his bent body and bloody sword raised in the air. The eyes of Ronald widened, not from fear but from shock.


    "Boom!"


    The hit Ronald took was so strong that sent his body flying on the ground, rolling over for a few times before stopping. He tried to stand on his hands, yet one of them was now lying a few meters away from him, separated from his body!


    "Ah!" he screamed, not from pain yet from frustration. He paid such a hefty price to kill Arthur, using the most lethal curse ever used against a dragonair, with no record so far of a failure!


    Yet it failed him at the most needed moment, and that dragonair kid was standing in front of him with this smug smile over his face.


    "I will kill you, I won''t rest until I kill you!" Ronald bellowed out, promising from the depth of his soul, not realizing what Arthur had planned for him.


    As Ronald was busy cursing and threatening, while his severed hand was now splashing the ground with his own blood while the other took out the earlier staff out, Arthur didn''t stand there doing nothing.


    He moved, circling around Ronald, with his sword lowered. He was like a predator, just waiting for the right moment to jump over his prey and finish it.


    Yet Ronald was vigilant, keeping his eyes all the time over Arthur while delaying healing himself. He knew Arthur was waiting for him to do that so he could aim for another shot.


    Despite being at such a low realm, the rejection he received from the world''s will joint with the tremendous effort he had done by using the curse made him quite vulnerable.


    He didn''t know that the sword in Arthur''s hand wasn''t just a mere sword; it was an evolved one now. Its sharpness and blood lust were something beyond the level of many weapons here, and even in the world Arthur came from.


    "Don''t test your luck, I can already foresee your death!" Ronald smirked, trying to use mockery and instigate the fiery blood inside any youth.


    Just Arthur wasn''t any youth, he had a soul of an old cunning man inside him. He kept circling Ronald, whose blood kept dripping and draining his strength.


    A whole minute passed, and Ronald knew he couldn''t sustain a couple more like this. He had to seal the wound. He cursed his own recklessness and bad luck, as he totally depended on the curse to do its magic.


    And now he was so weak that even stopping the bleeding by using his own strength wasn''t accessible to him. He was trapped, and the only way out was to kill this stubborn brat moving around him in a circle with such a disregarded look.


    Slowly he moved his other hand to direct the thick tip of the staff towards his bleeding hand, while his eyes fixed on Arthur. He waited, just like Arthur, for a moment of distraction.


    "Just a tiny moment, give it to me bastard!" Ronald inwardly cursed while praying for the shift of his luck.


    And then Arthur just did the unexpected, as he moved a couple of steps towards him while looking for a second away.


    "That''s it!" Ronald inwardly shouted, celebrating his long awaited moment. The next second he made his staff touch his bleeding arm with the glowing tip of it, while enduring the pain for a single moment.


    And prayed, prayed that Arthur would be momentarily distracted and delayed to react. He desperately wanted this slight window of chance to succeed, and then everything would go entirely according to his plan.


    "What the hell is that?!!!" The moment he opened his eyes, he was welcomed with a very bizarre scene that he never expected.


    In front of him, Arthur was standing motionless while the distance between the two was filled with strange looking ores. All had writings, some with a language he understood and others he didn''t.


    "What the hell¡­?!!!" he was still shocked and startled that even the pain he was feeling faded away.


    "Slave contract¡­ Activate!"


    The sound of Arthur came like a thunderbolt falling upon Ronald''s head. Ronald''s body shook, this time not from the curse or the overuse of his energy but from the mere effect of Arthur''s words.


    The next moment he glanced at the area, where Arthur was moving at minutes ago. "Son of a b*tch!!!" he loudly cursed, as the area was now covered entirely with a circle made of his own blood. He glanced at the ores to find them all the writings on them were using his own blood.


    Even the ground he was standing upon was soaked completely with his blood. Everything was set for such a slave contract to be started, and he fell like a fool in this small youth''s foul play!

 Chapter 321: Worlds Will Offer

    "I won''t let this happen! Over my dead body!" he shouted out from the depth of his lungs while holding the staff like a stick, summoning all his energy to attack the already forming a shield of energy with his mightiest strike he could muster right now.


    "Rumble!"


    "Boom!"


    The two sounds appeared at the same moment, where the shield rumbled from the mighty attack Ronald used, yet he was met with a far stronger hit, sending him flying backward to smash the ground in an explosive sound.


    "Don''t bother, this line was made entirely by your blood. Not a single attack from you will harm it, so give up already and lie low until the contract is finished."


    "Over my dead body!" Ronald bitterly shouted, with a far sore state than even the one he had when he used the curse. Arthur thought he would use another foolish attack, either at the shield of the contract or directed at him.


    Yet Ronald raised his head to the sky while shouting:


    "You promised if I ever wanted your aid you will come, and I''m ready to pay the cost!" Ronald then hit the just sealed wound, reopening it, and his blood gushed out again.


    "What are you doing? Do you want to kill yourself?" Arthur smirked while he was having bad omen inside him. He knew taking down such a monster wouldn''t be easy, even if he was totally wasted like this.


    And in the next moment, his omen was proven right!


    "Rumble!"


    "Thunder!"


    "Boom!"


    The entire world above the two changed, as the sky was literally cracked open, showing off an enormous monster''s head. The edges of the crack were getting pulled by two huge hands with three fingers each; all covered in fur.


    The monster''s head was like the monster phantom that once appeared behind Roland. And at this moment, the system jumped in to deliver more news.


    "Ding! The Golam giant monster is trying to cross from a higher realm to here. Despite he is trespassing against all laws, the world''s will here is very weak and can''t handle him."


    And this wasn''t the end, as the entire world kept shaking while more gap was created for the monster to pass his upper part through it. It wouldn''t take long until this monster would appear here, and thus it would be the end of Arthur for real this time.


    "Ding! Can you summon the master?"


    "Again? that''s impossible! I can''t use such a crazy technique two times in a row or else I would be dead!"


    "Ding! Then I have a proposition for you."


    Arthur suddenly felt weird, as the system seemed scheming something and Arthur just felt bad about it. "Is it a quest?" he asked.


    "Ding! It''s a world class mission issued not by me but from the world''s will."


    The words of the system were weird, and that intensified the feeling Arthur had, making it more real. "Is it this bad?" he asked.


    "Ding! You can''t call a catastrophe bad, as it holds a disaster it also carries an equal opportunity in it, right?"


    Arthur shook his head helplessly while glancing at Ronald who was just sitting in his place, motionless, watching with a dumb smile the descent of the monster he called forth.


    "You prefer to serve such a hideous monster than to serve me?" Arthur sighed, as this reckless decision of Ronald made things quite impossible for him now.


    "Humph," Ronald didn''t even glance at him, or bother to reply. Arthur knew that completing the contract would take quite the time. After all, this contract would be enforced upon Ronald, not by his own will, so it would take time.


    Much more time than that was needed for that monster to descend from the sky.


    "Alright, I have no other choice here, do I?"


    "Ding! Believe me you will like both options."


    "There are two missions?!!" Arthur was speechless for a moment there while the system laughed, for the first time since appearing in Arthur''s life. "Ding! There are two options for you to choose from, and which one to choose is up to you."


    "Alright, then tell Mr. magician," Arthur laughed as well despite the desperate situation he was now at.


    "Ding! The world''s will here is weak, and it craves for energy. That monster is something that can help it grow and heal, so it came up with these two options for you to choose from."


    Arthur was much curious about this world''s will identity and attitude. Was it like the heavens back in his days? Or was it something entirely different and new?


    "Ding! First, you need to cause significant injury to the monster before the world''s will seal that portal and force the monster back to where it came from. The second is to help it kill the monster."


    "Kill what?" Arthur instantly remarked with widening eyes and bulged neck veins. He knew he was greedy for any chance, yet he never was suicidal!


    "Ding! You aren''t required to kill it, instead you are asked to trap the monster here for sometime."


    "You mean to just be a punching bag for the monster?"


    "Ding! Not like this, indeed. I have a plan and believe me, it will work for your best interest. The reward the world''s will is offering is really generous. I recommend considering this as your only choice."


    Arthur took in a large flow of cold air before he demanded: "Tell me the details then."


    "Ding! If you agreed on this and completed the task, you will gain support from the world''s will to link your city directly towards your star map. Also, the world''s will offer an upgrade to the underground Fey Line diagram you are using in your city.


    Plus, you may call upon every single living in this world, with a voice reaching everywhere. You can offer to those far away and not heard or still hesitant to join you an invitation, directly cutting short the trouble of seeking them personally.


    Also, you will get one tenth of this monster''s full body, not just a stick or a bone. And the most interesting part here is an offer for your protection for one time when you go to your dragonair upgrade step."


    "¡­"

 Chapter 322: The Colossal Golam

    Arthur was so amazed and shocked that he couldn''t speak for a few moments. These were really a powerful boost to his strength, either directly or in an indirect way. "Sure, I agree, on condition you have a way to deal with that behemoth," he hurried to say, while giving out his own condition.


    "Ding! Don''t worry, I won''t put you in a deadly situation."


    Arthur just shook his head before glancing again at the extremely weakened Ronald, yet his eyes were still glaring with hatred and triumph towards Arthur. Then he glanced at the Golam monster. "Let''s start then and tell me what you will do," he said.


    "Ding! Just prepare your bow and arrows, and I promise you won''t be disappointed."


    The system then went silent and never spoke for a while. During the next stressful minutes, the entire world kept shaking under the descending colossal body of that monster.


    "Hahaha, you are doomed! This isn''t a mere monster like those weaklings here; this is an entire world guardian! I had a relation with him for such a long time, and he craved for my services yet I always refused. In fact, serving such a mighty being is much better and more respectful that serving a meager weakling like you."


    The tone of Ronald was brimming with confidence and joy; bitter joy. After all, he would end up being enslaved either way.


    But Arthur didn''t respond, or fazed with these empty threats. He trusted his system and knew it wouldn''t put him in a deadlock situation.


    After all, if he died then this creature bound to him as a system would perish with him!


    "Yes, feel the horror and drown in regret. Nothing will help you here, not your power, not your master, nothing at all! Hahaha!"


    Ronald was in an excellent mood despite being in such a bitter state. His wound kept draining on his blood, and the slave contract force kept rising and pushing his body hard.


    Arthur gave him a careless glance, as he promised to return these remarks back at him in a much more severe way later on.


    The monster finally descended from the giant hole in the sky. The hole was now elliptical with irregular edges, showing a complete darkness behind it.


    "See this darkness there? This was the world this monster was guarding until he consumed everything in it to evolve.


    He was a weak world''s will like this pathetic world, yet now marvel at his grandiose appearance. How can you stand a chance against such a tyrant? How can anyone be able to even stop him? Hahaha, face it, cursed boy, you are doomed!"


    "System, isn''t it time yet?" Arthur had its full of these trash words coming out from Ronald''s dirty mouth.


    "Ding! Once it touches the ground, we will start."


    Arthur glanced at the body of the monster while had only one foot remaining inside that darkness before nodding. "Good, I''m waiting for your magic trick."


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The entire world shook and exploded under the descent of such a colossal being. Arthur felt the whole earth would be split open from its body and forceful descent, yet he was astonished to see it standing in a shallow pit like not that enormous or heavy.


    "Ding! Be ready!"


    "Roar!"


    "Rumble!"


    A mighty roar erupted from the mouth of this monster. Arthur now could see the details of it much clearer than before. It had two horizontal groups of eyes on its forehead, each composed of five eyes; three big and two smaller ones in between.


    It had a very colossal body indeed, with a short thick neck that gave Arthur the impression its head was just planted on its shoulders. It had two giant arms, yet at the elbow region each ended with six forearms, making him have a dozen arms!


    He had two small wings on its back; compared to his giant body, ending up with sharp like razor edges, pointing out like spears.


    And the mouth it opened to roar had three teeth only in it, yellow and dark, infested with many things Arthur didn''t want to know anything about.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Suddenly five pillars appeared out of nowhere, descending heavily on the ground surrounding this Golam. The Golam glanced at these with not much care, while Arthur was given a scare!


    "Don''t tell me this poor plan is your plan?!!"


    "Ding! This is the plan; the first phase of it."


    "Boom!"


    The next moment another pillar appeared. It wasn''t a pure light pillar like the five, as it was still a dark pillar. Arthur glanced at the pillar, not knowing what the plan of this system was. "Tell me you aren''t kidding, right? These pillars hardly suppressed the other monster!" he remarked, in a tone that was already filled with despair.


    "Ding! That was because you didn''t fully use the genuine powers of the pillars. You have your bow, and you have your arrows."


    The words of the system shook him greatly from inside. His eyes widened until both seemed to pop out of his head! "Don''t tell me¡­?" he muttered in disbelief.


    "Ding! This is the plan, so get ready as I have here eight pillars needing your intervention."


    Arthur knew what his system meant, and he realized the simple, yet effective, plan of his system. "I hope it works," he muttered before taking out his bow and arrows and then aimed at the pillar that just appeared.


    "Stop it, don''t make me laugh to death, haha haha!" Ronald was still lost in his own delusions.


    "Ding! It will!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    .


    .


    .


    And then the entire world shook under the appearance of pillar after pillar, all surrounding the Golam inside.


    "Roar!"


    The Golam just roared before it clenched his half dozen fists and aimed to hit one pillar, the nearest light pillar to him.


    "Ding! Hit the pillars now!" the system roared and Arthur didn''t delay, as he sent out five arrows in one go.


    And the next moment he used the long forgotten ability to control the arrows completely. He directed their course to avoid the monster, avoid the other pillars, before hitting the five light pillars standing next to the Golam.


    "Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!"


    The entire world was filled with these successive rumbles coming from the five pillars. Arthur stood there watching in complete vigilance and extreme anticipation, waiting for the effect of this attack.


    The rumbling coming from the pillars was followed by the birth of white hazy curved wave that drifted towards the Golam. The two attacks hit each other in no time, and then complete silence ruled the world.


    It wasn''t simple silence; it was a gratifying one that made everyone''s souls shudder. And Arthur wasn''t an exception to that!


    "What the hell did you make me trigger here?!!" Arthur hardly swallowed his throat before he muttered with a shaky tone, trembling body, and quaking soul.


    "Ding! This is a battle that is between two world''s wills. So it''s an epic battle. Hehehe!" the system seemed to be in an excellent mood, feeling much satisfied about the current outcome. Except for Arthur, there was nothing still happening in front of his eyes!

 Chapter 323: Fight with A Golam

    The silence seemed not to end! Arthur stood in his place with sweat droplets accumulating on his forehead while the giant Golam was frozen in place with its great hands hitting the wave of the pillars.


    "Ding! You should aid in the fight and hit the other pillars I just summoned."


    "What fight? It''s totally frozen!"


    "Ding! It''s because your level is still so low. The fight is very intense, or else why do you feel like death is eyeing you? That Golam is just waiting for when it can move freely and attack you here."


    The system then paused, intentionally. "Ding! Don''t give it this chance!"


    Arthur''s body jolted awake, as system expressed in precise words the dreadful feeling he had since the start of this fight. "I shouldn''t delay then," he told himself before trying to work on his bow.


    Surprisingly, he couldn''t lift his hands straight and pull the strings of the bow with five arrows in it. His hands shook and he couldn''t aim well. "Damn it!" he cursed before taking only one arrow and breathed in and out; trying to calm himself.


    Yet it took him a couple of minutes to accomplish that. He aimed towards the dark pillar landed here after the five light pillars, and then he let the string loose.


    "I have to control it, it''s going way off the target," he hurried to remind himself as the arrow went astray; aiming to a totally different direction.


    At this moment, using the primitive talent he had seemed quite challenging! He had to concentrate hard to control the trajectory of that speeding arrow until he made it hit the target.


    "Rumble!"


    Another wave originated from the pillar heading towards the Golam, hitting it, and stood in place motionless like the other five.


    And more pressure appeared in the air, making Arthur feel more dreadful towards that strange silent confrontation.


    "Ding! Don''t stop, keep hitting the other pillars, and try to get used to the pressure. This fight is going to last for a while."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t reply as he was focusing on stabilizing his trembling arms. He launched dozens of arrows; all were controlled with his ability to hit their mark.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The world was dead silent except for these rumbles. Even their sounds came muffled, like the pressure here was even pressing over the sound as well.


    When he reached the fiftieth pillar, the pressure exerted over his body was so massive that even lifting the bow straight seemed really impossible.


    "I won''t stop launching my arrows, you bastard!" Arthur gritted his teeth while grabbing the arrow as he knelt on one knee, fixing it to the ground and supporting the wooden arc with the side of his leg.


    This made all his aim off, yet he wasn''t baffled with this. After all, he had to control each arrow he launched so far. All he cared about right now was one thing; to keep firing arrows!


    "Ding! One arrow brilliantly hit the target. The Golam is more suppressed now! keep firing, keep the outstanding work!"


    The system kept cheering on him like he was a child, yet at this moment he was really in a need for some encouraging words to keep his sheer will blazing.


    Arrow after arrow kept flying off his bow, each one hit its mark, and a rumble was heard next. This kept occurring until he crossed the barrier of the seventieth pillars and arrows.


    Two things happened; the first was that Golam glanced at him, directly glaring with its red eyes, making his soul feel naked in front of these threatening gazes.


    "Damn! This Golam is really something else!" he complained as he never thought this fear even when dealing with his master. Despite that, he used all the stubborn nature any cultivator had and defied these gazes.


    Arrows kept firing towards the remaining pillars.


    And then the second thing happened; the pillars didn''t send the attacking waves towards the monster. Instead, a pillar of dark and white light emerged from their top, heading to the sky.


    "What is happening?"


    "Ding! These are the pillars you snatched from the dark clans previously. They are summoning other pillars to here."


    "But I see nothing!"


    "Ding! You need to keep firing at them as each arrow will summon one pillar. Till you summoned all, these pillars won''t appear and that great pillar of light won''t disappear."


    "Sigh, I totally forgot about them."


    "Ding! You need to hurry as well. The fight is still raging wild between the Golam and your pillars."


    "Didn''t the world''s will ask me to trap it? It''s trapped. Where is the will?"


    "Ding! She is preparing."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t speak anymore as even speaking was draining on his already stressed out body.


    As the system said, the next arrows he launched to these pillars caused nothing but a rumbling sound. "I suppose they are like the prime pillar I snatched from the Dorfis clan. So, one hundred arrows for each one of you, and I have eight!"


    Launching just seventy arrows so far was a hard task, yet he had over eight hundred to launch! And he had to do this fast so that he could be able to join this strange fight again!


    "Isn''t there anyway to relieve this immense pressure? I can hardly support my body!"


    "Ding! Have you reached your limit?"


    "Are you kidding me? I have long time ago!"


    "Ding! This pressure is very helpful to your soul. Try to channel your energy but don''t transform into a dragon yet."


    "¡­"


    Arthur knew that his system was trying to train his body and soul against such pressure. However, his soul was already so strong, and he experienced many instances like these back in his past life.


    So he didn''t take the advice of the system and directly transformed into a dragon!


    "You bastard! I will kill you once freed from these annoying wisps!"


    The moment he turned into a dragon, he heard the perfect sound of the Golam ringing in his mind. The sound alone was enough to make his soul quiver, and he even spit blood out of his mouth.

 Chapter 324: My City wont Be Destroyed!

    "Damn! Only with words alone I had this backlash! I can''t let it be free!" Arthur promised as he used the dragonair''s powerful body to launch the arrows.


    This time he returned to send five arrows in a single volley towards one target. The shaking he once had was gone, and now he could stand perfectly fine while aiming perfectly towards his target.


    So, the speed of his firing caught up to his usual speed. He kept firing until the first one hundred arrows hit the first pillar. He was about to move his aim towards the next pillar, but he found the light pillar didn''t vanish.


    He glanced briefly at the pillar to find that there were no changes at all on it. "Does it need more arrows?"


    "Ding! It seems so."


    "Sigh, despite I would rejoice at any other time about this, but right now I feel quite frustrated!"


    Arthur had no other choice but to shower that pillar with more arrows. When he exceeded three hundred and twenty-five mark, the pillar finally showed some changes.


    The light emerging from its top flickered, and gradually it dimmed, preparing to die out. "Finally! Three hundred and twenty-five pillars! That''s triple the number I initially had!"


    "Ding! I believe you might end up with a garden full of pillars this time."


    "Hahaha, that''s superb, yet frustrating!"


    Arthur then didn''t wait for the pillar to finish its changed as he hurried to send more arrows to the second one. Just as he launched fifty arrows, the pillar rumbled in succession and each time one pillar emerged around it out of nowhere!


    In minutes the entire place was now full with pillars! Arthur glanced at this and sighed. "It really turned to be a garden of pillars, sigh!" he continued to hit the pillar he had targeted before while the others were lost amidst the new wave of pillars.


    "Ding! You should hit some new pillars. The Golam is gaining the upper hand again."


    "¡­"


    Arthur was now feeling less pressure than before, so he could fire at ease towards any pillars. The only problem he currently had was the large number of these pillars that stood in the way of his arrows.


    "Can''t you take some inside?"


    "Ding! Even double these pillars wouldn''t be enough to trap the Golam."


    "What? Even with this huge number of pillars it''s still uncontrolled?!"


    "Ding! The Golam isn''t a normal monster after all. It''s your luck you have a relation with the world''s will through me. Or else at any other circumstances, even these pillars wouldn''t help."


    "Alright, I will do my best then," Arthur said as he aimed towards the new pillars.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The pillars caused many waves to hit the Golam, while Arthur kept hitting the prime and normal pillars alternatively. The second pillar gave him three hundred pillars, the third gave him four hundred and ten, the fourth and fifth gave him two hundred and fifty.


    The sixth, seventh, and eights prime pillars each gave four hundred and fifty pillars. In the middle of this, he kept firing arrows from time to time to trigger the pillars and attack the Golam.


    "Isn''t the world''s will take much time than expected?" he asked midway through all this.


    "Ding! She is still preparing."


    "Is she a beauty?" he joked while launching another arrow.


    "Ding! I think it''s best for you not to put any hopes for her."


    "Oh, she isn''t that good?"


    "Ding! It''s quite the opposite!"


    "Really?"


    "Ding! That''s the simple fact!"


    "I''m your master, by the way."


    "Ding! Even if you are, and I dreamt about this; being related to her is a blessing. Don''t aim higher, or your disappointment might kill you."


    "Sigh, even my ally is standing on her side."


    "Ding! That''s for your own good."


    "¡­"


    Arthur then kept working while thinking about that beauty he was expecting to see. He didn''t know what was taking her so long to appear, yet he hoped when she did she could kill this Golam in one attack.


    As he finished summoning all the pillars, he faced a great difficulty in aiming at them. They were tightly arranged around the Golam, which was still fixed in the same position since the start.


    "How is this strange fight?" he asked.


    "Ding! The Golam is under control now, and soon the world''s will will descend and finish it."


    "I hope so too."


    "Ding! Don''t worry about that. Just try to finish the slave contract with that Ronald."


    "Why the rush?"


    "Ding! You need to move out of here before the fight erupts."


    "And the fight? And the pillars? I wanna see the fight!"


    "Ding! You want to see the beauty, yet the fight is far beyond your ability to endure. It''s best for you to leave and stay safe far away."


    "This is my city!"


    "Ding! The fight might destroy it!"


    "What are you saying?" Arthur just felt surprised by the straightforward way his system spoke about demolishing his city. "I will never let that happen!!" he declared loudly his stand.


    "Ding! This is inevitable! The Golam is so near to the city and the fight will affect everything here."


    "Then I will stay and protect what''s mine!"


    "Ding! It''s dangerous."


    "I don''t care! This city is mine, and I won''t allow anyone to touch it!"


    "¡­"


    The system didn''t know what to say in front of his stubborn mind. Arthur felt angry again about this situation. If he was stronger, then he would have been able to properly defend the city and conquer any invaders.


    "Ding! Why did you stop firing?"


    "The Golam is now controlled by me, and I won''t keep attacking here anymore," Arthur said as he turned to glance at the city far in the back. "Move those pillars there and insert them around the entire city," he said.


    "Ding! Are you going to waste the effect of the pillars on a single city?"


    "It''s my city! I would waste anything to protect it!" Arthur''s tone was aggressive as he shouted back at the system. "Move all those untriggered yet by my arrows," he said, stressing on his demand once more.


    "¡­"


    The system couldn''t refuse this as the next moment pillars disappeared one by one from the place and reappeared around the shield covering the city.


    Arthur didn''t know if the shield would be enough or not, yet from the words of the system he knew it wouldn''t last. So, he used the pillars and trigger them one by one to defend the city from the war that was going to erupt soon.


    It seemed that world''s will wasn''t strong enough to instantly kill the Golam, and a brutal fight would erupt soon. He also had one card he didn''t use so far, and it seemed he would have to call them here to defend the city. Through all this time he kept them hidden, to be used against his enemies in the future.


    Yet he would now use them to protect his city!


    "Demolishing my city? Huh! On my dead body!!" he shook his head while glancing at the extremely weakened Ronald. He didn''t know how long this contract would last, yet he hoped for it to end soon.


    He had another mission to do, he had a city to defend!

 Chapter 325: A Tough Situation

    "Ding! You know by helping the world''s will more she will be generous with you."


    "Don''t¡­ just don''t!" Arthur wasn''t in the mood to hear any excuse right now. He was dead set on this, In addition, he was madly furious.


    His city was the base of everything he worked for and aimed to achieve. He thought joining hands with that world''s will was going to be without losses, yet he was mistaken.


    And that made him quite angry at himself! He was blinded for a moment by greed. If he knew this from the beginning, he wouldn''t have chosen this way!


    Sealing and sending the Golam back home seemed quite a plan to him right now. But it was too late for regret. "No matter what, I have accomplished my part and all that''s left is for the world''s will to come and do her part," he said, addressing himself and the system.


    He glanced over his broad shoulders to spot his city. "Scattering the pillars alone isn''t enough," he muttered before taking out a bird''s wing and started writing something to Amelia.


    Once done, he changed his vision to focus entirely on Ronald; that bastard was the only thing standing between staying here and going there to secure his city.


    "You know you can''t even run away from this. The master I called upon isn''t your today''s monster. He won''t leave here without a big bang that would devastate the entire world!"


    Arthur squinted his eyes, instigating Ronald''s weak and bitter laughs. He knew he was doomed now, as the monster he summoned was sealed in place like that!


    He was now quite nervous about his future, and death appealed to him. But his only way to reach that was for his wound to bleed him to death.


    To bleed out before the ticking contract clock reached zero, or else his own future would be already decided as a slave. He couldn''t deepen his injuries as the immense pressure exerted from the Golam also pressured him.


    Even the blood coming out of his wound slowed down long time ago, further moving his death dream far away.


    As for Arthur, the bitter said words out of despair coming from Ronald rang alarming bells in his mind. "The girls," he muttered before hurrying to take out one bird''s wing and wrote to Lily.


    The paper had one order; retreat, abandon mine and follow Tina and Sara to inside the star map. He also gave some instructions to the tigress and the dragon for what the two should do.


    He would let them move everyone through the star map to his garden. He knew this was going to take much time, so he stressed on speed or death would await all.


    He just hoped the thick headed Tina to follow the orders, and Sara wouldn''t run for herself first abandoning everyone. After all, Sara was the only one who knew the star map details beside him.


    "Ding! The world''s will will come here in an hour."


    "She gave you a time? That''s relieving."


    Arthur knew this wasn''t out of pure good will. He knew this hour was his own responsibility to handle, and thus if the Golam broke free during this, so all his efforts from before would be rendered pointless.


    Yet he wasn''t stressed or worried. If the pillars couldn''t control the Golam, then he would launch more arrows to the pillars.


    And the time for that Ronald to yield to him would approach one hour. He didn''t know that from the contract he started, but from the time frame the world''s will gave to him.


    She must have chosen the time appropriate for her own benefits, meaning the contract would end around one hour.


    "Do you think I don''t have something in mind?" he smirked before he injured himself with his claw, letting his blood ooze out slowly. Ronald stared with widened eyes towards him, not knowing what he intended to do.


    Unlike him, Arthur could move with much ease, and he then moved around the circle he once drew by Ronald''s blood.


    "Ding! What are you doing?" the system felt something was odd here, so it asked.


    "Doing what I should do," Arthur just replied without giving more info to the system. The system didn''t ask more, as it delved deeply inside Arthur''s mind, and after a few moments it said: "Ding! You are speeding up the contract!!"


    Arthur was almost finished as this time he didn''t need to fake anything. Once finished, he took out a group of ores before he started drawing characters on it; Haste!


    "Ding! Moving away from the Golam in this delicate timing isn''t good."


    Arthur continued to work on his runes, ignoring the system. He only made one group of eighty-nine runes before putting it in the center of the circle.


    The moment he did so, Ronald''s features changed. It seemed he was resisting something, but in the end his struggle stopped and he looked like an obedient child.


    "Good, five more minutes and it will be finished."


    "Ding! What about the Golam?"


    "Isn''t it under the control of the pillars?"


    "Ding! This is temporarily! It''s so strong and the fight with the pillars is raging hot."


    Arthur didn''t know if he could trust the system words or not, but he just smiled as he said:


    "When it''s about to break free from the pillars'' confinement, tell me."


    "Ding! It is! It''s trying all the time!"


    "Sigh," Arthur was already annoyed by this system. He didn''t speak again as he took out his bow and sent a group of arrows fast to hit the pillars once again.


    And like before, the arrows caused a surge of wave of energy. The Golam was again hit with newly developed waves, while Arthur said: "Happy now? I can seal him for eternity, so tell your precious princess to hurry. Her little scheme will not work."


    "Ding! She isn''t scheming anything!"


    "Stop being defensive and inform her."


    Arthur then kept firing more arrows to hit the pillars once more. The reassuring thing about pillars was the fact they couldn''t be destroyed.


    So one less thing to worry about.

 Chapter 326: Want Population? Take These!

    As the new rune showed up its magic, Arthur had already fired over a hundred arrow. That was less than one eighth of the total number of pillars out there around the Golam, but these recent waves kept that Golam in check.


    "Master!" in less than ten minutes the contracting process finished and Ronald stood there, helplessly saluting Arthur.


    "Finally, you knew your right place in this world," Arthur smirked before adding, "from now on you will be my loyal dog," he said while pointing out to the new tattoo on his left hand.


    It was a dragon tattoo, and Ronald had the other twin of it on his chest. Arthur then glanced at the Golam before muttering, "it''s time for us to go back."


    "Master, I have depleted my energy so I can''t be helpful right now."


    "Your help isn''t in strength. Don''t worry, I crave about something else from you."


    The calm smile on Arthur''s face wasn''t pleasant to Ronald, who didn''t know what Arthur planned out for him. "Go inside and recuperate," Arthur said as he put his hand over him, taking him inside his garden.


    "I hope they retreated," He then closed his eyes to check on the garden. He spotted Tina, whom were leading her own warriors and the warriors and villagers of the mine into the garden world from one portal.


    He smiled in content, before appearing suddenly in front of her.


    "Gosh, you gave me a scare here," she bellowed out as his appearance startled her. "What''s going on? Is there really such a danger?" she asked.


    "You have half an hour to retreat. Tell this to Sara and Lilly, I don''t need them to be caught in the middle of this."


    She didn''t reply at once, as she was sure he wouldn''t exaggerate something in such a way. "Is it this dangerous?" she asked, "are you going to be alright?" she added.


    "Don''t worry about me. There is no time, make everyone evacuate instantly," he said before reopening his eyes. "Good, I think most of them slipped through in these past minutes. That''s reassuring."


    He then flapped his wings, rising from the deep pit he was inside. "I won''t let you go away!" the Golam roared, and Arthur just ignored it.


    If the Golam had something to do, then it would have done it long time ago!


    "Ding! Don''t underestimate it, it''s not that easy to kill!"


    "Glad to be not my task, but your sweet princess."


    "¡­"


    Arthur went directly towards his city. The defensive barrier there was the weakest, yet he didn''t plan to concede anything in this fight except if he was forced to do so.


    When he approached the city, he noticed the hostile forces weren''t anywhere to be seen. "They know how to run fast," he sighed as he spotted Amelia in front of all his main mages.


    They were standing on top of a gate. As he descended there, he passed through the shield easily to land in front of them. As he canceled his transformation, he was surrounded with everyone, as they seemed quite worried.


    "Are you alright?"


    "What''s going to happen?"


    "Why are those pillars here?"


    "What is that gigantic monster?"


    "Are we going to die?"


    Many questions and worries were thrown at him instantly from everyone. The only one standing calm and collected was Amelia and Ron. The first knew more about this situation from the beginning, despite the sudden appearance of that Golam startled her.


    As for Ron, he was totally confident that his new master''s version was quite resourceful and able to deal with any calamity.


    "Cam down everyone, we will not perish, and we won''t leave the city to be ruined. We are here to win our right to go into the academy, and we will do it no matter what!"


    He then glanced over the enormous distant Golam that looked like a mountain. "This is the weapon our enemies desperately prepared for us. This isn''t the first of its kind to face, and like the previous one, I''m planning to slay it."


    "Y- You met something terrible like this already?"


    The shocked tone of Amelia expressed everyone''s thoughts. "Yes, and as you can see, I''m still alive. We need to be well prepared for the next explosion."


    "Explosion?!!"


    Omar exclaimed in more shock. "This monster won''t fall without a big bang. And that bang would kill anything in its way," he didn''t add more, as he turned to glance among the people here as he asked, "where is Gor? Where is Deem?"


    "Here."


    "It''s me."


    The two moved from the crowd of mages to stand in front of him. One handled his defenses, and the other was asked with laying down the Fey Lines diagram.


    "I want to activate the defensive shield by its mightiest power when the explosion happens. Just don''t activate everything at the start, wait for my signal and use anything you need from the city."


    Gor exchanged silent glances with Deem and then with Amelia as he said:


    "This will not be a problem, but we lack population."


    "We have one million and half here, but a million is needed to activate one layer of the defensive shields," Amelia stepped in to explain. "Because of this we couldn''t activate over one layer."


    "Population isn''t a problem," Arthur smiled with complete confidence before closing his eyes and entering his garden.


    Aside from the pillars, the second most gained benefit he had from all the recent adventures was the population he snatched so far! "Million? Huh, I have millions here," he smirked while taking a general tour inside the garden world and giving out simple instruction to everyone.


    All were about to be transported into his major base, yet they don''t need to take everything with them. He asked them to take any war related items only. Aside from that, they needed nothing else.


    In less than ten minutes he had already arranged everything inside his garden. When he opened his eyes, only one minute passed. "Make space for the new population," he said as he pointed towards the vacant and spacious area behind the walls as he said: "Bring them here."


    He was speaking to his system, and the next moment the space got crowded with many people appearing out of thin air. This scene, this grand scene startled and deeply touched everyone here.


    "These¡­" Gor didn''t know what to say, except he swallowed his dried up throat and the rest of his shocked words.


    "Don''t stand here, there are more coming. Hurry and arrange things with him," Arthur gave the order to everyone standing around him, and instantly they were all jolted awake by his words and then went down to the ground.


    Dealing with such an influx of people wasn''t a simple task, especially if the end of the world was going to happen soon.

 Chapter 327: Rearranging the Pillars

    As most moved, only Amelia, Omar, Ron, and Deem remained. Arthur glanced over to Deem as he said:


    "I want to know if these pillars match the Ley Line diagram of the city."


    Deem glanced fast at the pillars before sighing. "All are misplaced," he said.


    "Alright, draw me their right places and I will redistribute them," Arthur said as he addressed both Deem and his system.


    "Ding! Do you plan on matching them with the underground diagram? If you do that, you might not be able to move them ever again."


    "Who cares, I have many and I will have more."


    "Ding! These pillars are dark ones, they still needed to be purified."


    "I will use my arrows to purify them. Plus, I might link my garden to here in the future, so they won''t be dark forever, right?"


    "¡­"


    The system wasn''t rooting for Arthur''s plan. It wanted him to aid the world''s will with all his might and abandon his city.


    Defending the city wasn''t that impossible, but in the end he wouldn''t be able to save all of it. That was what the system believed. So instead of wasting resources and time here, he should focus on helping the world''s will more.


    Like this, he would get to the good side of the world''s will and might befriend her. That was the aim of the system, yet Arthur had another opinion about it.


    "I will draw the general layout of the city and the diagram, pinpoint the places where the pillars could be stationed," Deem said before he took out a large sheet of dried up monster skin and drew using some ink he made himself.


    He already had the diagram engraved in his mind, and so he didn''t find any difficulty in drawing it in less than two minutes. He drew the large city as a small oval-shaped place, while he drew points of places the pillars should be placed at.


    "Great," Arthur muttered, "you should move them now," he said, talking to his system.


    "Ding! Are you certain of this?"


    "We discussed about it, just do it!"


    "Ding! Sigh!"


    The system then rearranged the pillars according to Deem''s drawing. "Did you pinpoint the pillars according to their numbers or the city''s capacity?" Arthur asked after observing the diagram for some time, waiting for his system to finish its task.


    "I made it according to the current pillar numbers plus the future planning of the city," Deem said before pointing to the side directed to the mountains as he added, "this part is useless, as we won''t be able to expand in the future there. Not like these parts."


    He pointed to the three other sides of the city, the one facing the forest and the two others facing the open world. "Do you plan to cut down the forest?"


    "Sure, we need to expand. In my future plan of the city, we will need to go towards the mine zone and add it inside our territory."


    "Oh, this would be such a grand city," Arthur commended, and then he glanced over the distant Golam, checking if it was sealed or breaking free.


    "Sigh, that monster¡­" he took out his bow and arrows before he felt some resistance, pulling the strings like he used to do. He didn''t hesitate and channeled his energy before changing back to a dragon form.


    And then he started releasing arrows for minutes before the system spoke again.


    "Ding! Finished! And the world''s will is descending in ten minutes."


    "Just about time," he smiled before he closed his eyes and then he closed his eyes and connected his senses towards one direction and stimulating his energy to go through an unused link.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    .


    .


    .


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Twelve loud roars erupted so suddenly with the shaking of the entire mountains. Everyone living here got a scare while Amelia muttered in disbelief: "This feeling, I can almost relate to it."


    She then glanced over the direction the roars came from; behind the mountains. "Oh god, they are from that time!" she hurried to glance at Arthur who just kept his dragonair form active just in case.


    After all, he created those monsters himself, yet he never met them. He didn''t know if they would be obedient or filial children.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    As they kept approaching the city, the roars kept getting stronger and louder. Arthur just stood in his place watching the distant mountains, while his system asked:


    "Ding! What are they? I can almost feel an aura that doesn''t belong to this world!"


    "They are my creation, my children."


    The answer of Arthur was short, yet the system didn''t ask for me as it started delving deeply inside Arthur''s mind.


    "Ding! Oh dear! You created twelve sacred guardians when you came up here?"


    "I wanted to solve a problem, and I got a lucky encounter."


    "Ding! This isn''t just luck!"


    "Hehehe."


    Arthur waited for a few minutes before a few silhouettes appeared coming from the mountains. Twelve monsters appeared; four flying, four running, and four were moving into the river.


    "Didn''t expect to have such a mix," he commented before observing their shapes.


    The flying ones were like huge eagles, four with a giant body covered in small glittering scales that reflected the dying rays of the sun. Their tails were so broad that might be considered as a third wing.


    Their wings had sharp feathers at their edges, while their peak ended with a long and sharp way that made them resemble spears.


    They had a group of eyes left and right. Each group was made of dozens of smaller eyes. They had a crown over their heads, made entirely of strange black bones and horns.


    The four running were like giant dinosaurs, with three having two heads and one having three. They had small wings that didn''t aid in flight, yet they kept flapping them while running, adding to their speed.


    They had thick and armored skin, that even Arthur doubted he could affect it with his fire. Their tails were really long, stretched for tens of meters behind them like gigantic snakes; ending up in thick short needles that looked scary and deadly with such green fog dissipating from them.

 Chapter 328: The Twelve are Summoned

    As for those coming from water, he couldn''t make sure of their details, yet he felt they weren''t any less strong than the others.


    Their sudden appearance made even Amelia and Omar standing beside him feel the pressure and fear. He didn''t care about them as he flapped his wings and moved outside of the shield to meet them.


    They were his making, and he had this mysterious link directly to their souls. They weren''t his slaves; they were like his children, grandiose and deadly children.


    "Master!"


    "Master!"


    "Master!"


    .


    .


    .


    "Master!"


    "Master!"


    "Are you the one who created us?"


    All greeted him properly while the third dinosaur-like monster with three heads showed the first defiance of all by his rude question.


    Arthur glanced at him before he said only one word, not to him but to all. "Kneel!"


    The single word he spoke was bitter, direct and decisive. Yet they first exchanged glances between each other before all knelt, even the three monsters appearing from the waters in a crocodile-like shape. All knelt except for two, the three headed dinosaur and one of the four water monsters.


    He had the largest body of all, where he had two heads, and like three bodies attached. The skin covering him wasn''t only armored, but it had faint sharp needle-like projections that made Arthur certain they were so lethal and toxic.


    His tail wasn''t long, yet it was formed of five parts lined one above another strangely. His mouth had very sharp teeth and a very long tongue; in length and in rudeness.


    "I don''t recognize you as the master. You are the one who created us, I can smell the blood running in my veins coming from you; but you are weak. I can''t accept a weak master to me. I will lead this pack of sacred monsters and leave here."


    "No, I will be the one leading them!"


    "Sigh, perish!"


    Arthur didn''t want to waste his breaths over these filial two sons of his.


    All he needed to do was to push his energy through the link until he sensed their souls, then he crushed them. He knew the two were strong, stronger than the others, and even might be a match to him.


    But what was the benefit of a powerful servant if he was such a treacherous one?


    In the next moment, the faces of the two monsters changed, showing their severe pain.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The two roared in pain, even couldn''t plead for mercy as they knelt on the ground the next instant trying to show their obedience. Yet Arthur didn''t stop crushing their souls.


    "Master, they are wrong and we ask for them to be forgiven."


    "Master, please show mercy!"


    "Master, please let them live!"


    Other monsters were scared that even three of them spoke with shaky tones, trying to plead instead of the two about to die monsters.


    "I didn''t give you the chance to be born and took all that effort to hear such thorn words! instead of thanking me for giving you this chance, creating a sacred monster out of worthless ones you were before I hear such rude words coming out from them?"


    Arthur wasn''t that angry in reality, but he wanted to make sure this lesson would be deeply engraved in the souls of each standing monster here. He was kindhearted to those who were following him with extreme devotion.


    As for those rebels, he wouldn''t hesitate to show them the merciless side of his personality.


    "Master, please. I''m sure they learnt their lessons well!"


    One monster had the courage to speak up, and he was the biggest of the four birds. Arthur glanced at him without saying a word, then he finally released the crushing force he was exerting over the two.


    "Do you have anything to say?" he asked, while waiting calmly to see the two final decision.


    Were they with him, following his orders and never questioning him, or were they still having the rebellious nature?


    "I- I admit you are my master and creator. Anything you want I will do no matter what!"


    "Damn you! Leaning on such cheap tricks to handle me! Come and fight me on equal grounds, come!"


    "Sigh!" The crocodile was really smart, yet the dinosaur really had a thick skull, thicker than his skin.


    This time Arthur didn''t speak or say anything, as he simply activated the link and crushed the soul of the monster into nihility. This took little time as he did before, as last time he was crushing their souls slowly to torment them.


    The giant body of the monster swayed before it finally hit the ground, with his eyes showing no motion of life. The other monsters all took in icy breaths, feeling deep fear running wild in the depths of their souls.


    They were strong, even some considered themselves stronger that Arthur, but who was fool enough to bet his life against such fate?


    Arthur didn''t move a finger to kill their equal, he even did it on a whim with no much time taken! He also could delay it and make their journey to the afterlife more painful.


    So even if they knew they were stronger, they knew they weren''t superior! They now understood that Arthur was their master, and if anyone of them had a dying wish, then he or she should stand against him.


    To be killed instantly in the next second, like their friend!


    This lesson was deeply engraved inside their souls, and thus they all hurried to kneel, not daring to raise their heads to meet him in the eye.


    Arthur glanced at them while nodding in content. Despite being sad about losing such a powerful monster, he knew he had to pay such a cheap price to avoid any future troubles.


    "I summoned you here as the entire world will be covered in death soon. I wanted to protect you," he said in a regretful, sad tone. "Now come with me, we will protect this city together," he said before flapping his wings and moving towards the city shield.


    The monsters didn''t dare to defy or delay, as they moved in unison towards the shield.


    That scene of Arthur coming towards the city gate and walls with those giant and mighty monsters was unforgettable. Just watching this, especially for those who met Arthur long time ago when he was alone, knew if they survived this ordeal, Arthur wouldn''t end up being no one.


    He was destined to be such a mighty person, and they were just lucky to meet him early once before all this started.


    "Stay inside the walls and be ready to do whatever I say," Arthur waited until the eleven monsters passed through the gate as he pointed towards one space far in the distance.


    He didn''t want his newly summoned monsters to scare his villagers. After doing this, he didn''t head directly to the top of the walls, as he returned towards the dead monster.


    "It''s such a waste to leave this enormous body be wasted," he smirked as he touched it and instantly took it inside his garden. "I''m sure you will give birth to a mighty dragon," he smiled in content while heading back towards Amelia and the others.

 Chapter 329: The Pillars Problems

    "Boom!"


    Just as he was midway towards the city, he suddenly felt an immense pressure exerted over his body, making him crash. His hit to the ground was sudden, but he didn''t have any injuries what so ever.


    That made him baffled with what happened, yet just as he struggled to stand on the ground, his system voice echoed in his mind.


    "Ding! The five hundred pillars merged with the city already."


    "Is this the reason I had this immense pressure?" he was struggling yet to stand. "I have to forget about flying then," he shook his head as he walked towards the nearby city gates.


    "Ding! It''s just the first step, soon more will come so be prepared."


    "Prepared for what?"


    "Ding! I dunno. This is the first time someone does something foolish like this!"


    "¡­"


    Arthur kept walking with much difficulty, like a toddler until he reached the city shield. The moment he reached there he found Amelia, Omar, and Deem hurrying to wait for him at the gates.


    "Are you alright?" Amelia asked in much worry.


    "I''ll live," he simply roared, yet they didn''t understand his meaning.


    "Let''s¡­ Let''s go inside might things get better."


    Arthur followed her inside, yet when he stepped into the city another development happened.


    "Rumble!"


    The entire city rumbled and rumbled again. In the next few minutes, even the ground shook under their feet.


    "What''s going on?" Deem asked with a pale face, "the underground Ley Lines diagram is changing!"


    Arthur got an instant scare, yet before he could ask his system about what was going on, the underground diagram shone brightly in bright blue light before it shifted under the eyes of everyone.


    "Ding! The pillars are changing the Ley Lines diagram to suit their effects."


    "What effect?" Arthur hurried to ask with much worry and concern.


    This diagram was considered the future pillar of his city, and now his own pillars were messing with it!


    "Ding! I told you before, I don''t know!"


    Arthur just sighed, as he helplessly glanced over these changes and couldn''t do a single thing to them. "I just hope they are for the best," he said to himself.


    These rumbles continued for another ten minutes. when they stopped, Arthur felt sudden throbbing pain in the middle of his forehead, then all the immense pressure was gone.


    He hardly could support his body from pain, as that spot the stung him was still radiating pain all over his head. "Damn, what''s with that stupid headache!" he roared before canceling his transformation, returning human again.


    And the moment he did that, he knelt on the ground on both hands, supporting his ragged breathed body.


    "What''s going on? do you have a clue?" Deem was the most worried one other than him in the entire city, as he was the one knowing the importance of the Ley Lines.


    "I think¡­" Arthur was midway in his words when he abruptly was cut short by a strange humming sound that came from everywhere around them.


    "What the hell?!!" Omar was the one to exclaim in shock and disbelief, expressing what others were feeling right now.


    Around them, the entire wall and defensive structures they had for their city vanished! "It''s not happening only here, it''s happening even to the inside walls and towers!" Amelia added as she glanced over the inside city as well.


    This was a thing beyond their beliefs! Just as Arthur was about to ask his system, the system simply replied:


    "Ding! Don''t ask me, I know nothing!"


    "Sigh," he just had nothing to do now but pray. He glanced over another direction that others; towards his five hundred pillars direction.


    They were shimmering in a strange light that was like light specks dancing around them. this was new, as Arthur knew well enough how these pillars looked like. "So you are still amidst your transformations," he muttered before turning to glance over the giant and distant Golam as he hurriedly asked:


    "How much time left for the world''s will to descend?"


    "Ding! Approximately fifteen."


    "And that monster?"


    "Ding! I think it will break free in less than that!"


    "Alright," Arthur then turned to the three stupefied standing beside him, "don''t worry, these are just minute changes, and soon things will return to its previous state."


    He then turned to a dragon as he muttered to himself, "hopefully they return better."


    He took out his bow and arrows and shot arrows towards the distant pillars. Each arrow hit its mark perfectly even from such a long distance, and each arrow caused another wave of attack towards the frozen Golam.


    "Just wait, you moron, after you deplete the energy of these pillars like a fool I will come to torment you for eternity!"


    The threatening words of the Golam weren''t groundless, and these words made Arthur realize something!


    "Don''t tell me he is correct!"


    "Ding! Sigh, that''s correct indeed. Each arrow will release part of the stored energy inside the pillars."


    Arthur got an instant scare as he hurried to blame his system. "You didn''t tell me that before!"


    "Ding! Excuse me Mr. stubborn and city lover, you didn''t listen or give me the chance to explain!"


    "Tsk," Arthur just knew what he did couldn''t be undone, so he shifted his attention towards another matter. "How long can they stand?"


    "Ding! I hope for the world''s will to kill this Golam!"


    "Me too," he shook his head before taking another arrow and hit a pillar with it. "We need to conserve using the pillars for now. tell me are these enough to contain it until the world''s will appears?"


    "Ding! They will hold for that time, but not for minutes longer!"


    Arthur glanced at the distant pillars, feeling somehow stressed. He lacked a good deal of info about everything and so his decisions were sometimes inappropriate!


    "Going to the academy is a must," he muttered, "I need to lie low for a while and build up my strength," he added before turning to gaze upon his city behind, "yet this place will be the precious pearl in my heart," he promised.

 Chapter 330: The Worlds Will

    He now had his way to connect this place to his garden and the star map. What remained then was to bound the academy with this place.


    He didn''t want to come here and then couldn''t go back! He was still in desperate need for what the academy held of knowledge. He needed to gain allies, learn more about the truth of this world, and make himself invincible!


    "Patience, one step at a time," he reminded himself before glancing over the Golam in the distance, "this will be my first step then."


    He didn''t return human again as he waited with his bow and an area fulled of his arrows for the descent of the world''s will and the end of his pillars transformation.


    As for the city, everyone there was panicked by what happened, yet Amelia sent many bird''s wings to her mages to make everyone calm down. To lose the walls and defenses at such a critical moment was something scary indeed, yet the shields were still working.


    And that was the only good thing here.


    The clock ticked mercilessly, and minutes soon flew by like water from fingers before fifteen minutes passed.


    The world''s will didn''t appear yet, and the entire city changes didn''t end either!


    "Where is she?" Arthur nervously asked.


    "Ding! She is here!"


    Just as the system said these, the entire sky changed. The original blue sky with some clouds with sun going down changed. Redness became the only color there, and instead of bright light or darkness, the entire world ushered under a veil of dimmed one!


    "Is she the world''s will or the world''s destroyer?" Arthur smirked as he couldn''t see anything good coming from this scene.


    "Your tongue is acid, as Tommy just told me!"


    Suddenly this fresh and cool sound came from behind him, giving him a surprise. As he turned to see, he found a stunningly beautiful girl floating in the air.


    She was approximately ten times bigger than him in size; she was a giant!


    Her body was slim and sexy, yet she was a gigantic version of a beauty! She wore a dress that exposed her shoulders, elbows, knees and heels. Her back was partially exposed, and on both sides of her the dress expanded to be linked with some sort of fancy armor that looked like wings.


    "Are you¡­?" he couldn''t continue the question as he was really amazed by her! A giant beauty, that was his first time seeing that!


    "Don''t stare at me like this, I''ve never dealt with strangers before!"


    "Oh! A shy giant beauty!" he thought to himself while looking at her caf¨¦ au lait skin and her spotless face. Her hair was really long, and it seemed to be well cared for, yet with its silver color her face was really clear to him.


    He couldn''t move his eyes off her! She was really a beauty, a rare beauty for him!


    "Ding! Say something!" the system stepped in to urge him to speak.


    "Ahem," he cleared his throat first before saying, "it''s nice to finally meet you. What''s your name?"


    "Not interested in knowing someone in the middle of his tribulation," she replied with strange arrogance, yet her words made Arthur''s body shiver. "What did you just say?" he urged her for more.


    "As you heard," she smiled and her smile showed two long canines appearing from her upper and lower jaws. "She is a vampire!" he thought to himself.


    "I''m not," she simply replied, before glancing over him for another moment. "Advice from a previous failed one in what you are living through right now," she then paused, like she was struggling to find the words. "Don''t hold back! Do anything you can to be stronger, never hold back!"


    Arthur didn''t know what she was talking about, yet she didn''t give him any chance to ask. The next moment she disappeared from his sight, and the next moment she was standing on top of the Golam.


    "A failed and deluded one can''t be allowed to disturb my own life," she muttered softly, like she was speaking to herself, yet Arthur could perfectly hear her from his place.


    "System, who is she?"


    "Ding! She is the world''s will."


    "I know that!! I mean, who is she? Her past? Her identity?"


    His answer came not from the system, but from this giant beauty who took out a giant sword matching her giant physique as she held it with both hands. "Don''t ask about things that don''t belong to you," she murmured before her features changed.


    It wasn''t only her feature, yet her entire aura changed. The vibe she gave to Arthur wasn''t anything like the one he had moments ago.


    She was like an ancient demon waking up! Forget about his master, she was even scarier than the giant bronze he once fought in his past trial!


    "She¡­ she is strong!" he couldn''t find the words to describe her, as the next moment the sword was lit up with thunder and fire, then descended upon the Golam, aiming at its short thick neck.


    Yet as Arthur thought this attack would be enough, the sword stopped just meters away from its mark. "What''s going on?" he asked.


    "Ding! The Golam is still preserving its energy."


    "Really?" Arthur then didn''t care about the pillars at the distance. Even if they were all depleted, rendered useless, he wouldn''t stop at anything to help this giant girl.


    He took out his bow and arrows, started raining the pillars with them.


    "Curse you! I swear even if I will die here I would take you down with me!" the Golam roared in pain as the sudden waves of attack coming from the pillars pained it.


    "Ding! I told you to forget about her! You can''t make her your own!"


    "Damn you system! She is the first one I ever met since coming here that knows something about what I''m living through! I thought I was dead, I thought all hopes were gone, yet it seems I was wrong!"


    Arthur wasn''t in the mind to speak rationally right now, he was literally crazy! He had the answers he needed right in front of him, and now one Golam was asking to kill these answers, and his system was asking him to forget about getting near them.


    "Over my dead body!" he gritted his teeth and started a rampage of arrows rained over the pillars with no preservation. Right now he wasn''t Arthur, the one who found himself bound to this world''s shackles; he was Arthur, the genius cultivator who roamed the entire lands of his world and did miracles!


    "If this was a little trick by my fate, I won''t let this fate fool me anymore," he was furious, anxious, and very excited that even his blood boiled! His dragonair form even got shaken by the massive gush of his emotions at this moment.


    Everything he tried to forget and bury was now unearthed clear in front of his eyes. "I wasn''t killed! I was given a chance to prove my worth! Damn it!" he cursed, feeling much regret over his negligence and neglect of such a scenario.


    "You are a fool¡­ Arthur!" he said to himself before releasing another crazy volley towards the Golam.

 Chapter 331: Everything Got Complicated at the Same Time!

    "Sigh, I won''t tell you anything," the giant beauty said while she kept pushing the sword forward. The attacks Arthur launched managed to weaken the Golam, allowing her sword to move forward.


    "You will," Arthur gritted his teeth as he roared while launching more arrows. He wasn''t preserving his strength anymore, as he controlled every single arrow he threw towards the Golam.


    "Just forget it, you will know everything from your guardian."


    "You will be my guardian then!"


    "I can''t!"


    "Why? Am I that ugly to you?"


    "Tsk, you are really such an arrogant cultivator!"


    "Every cultivator is arrogant!"


    "Just drop it already, I won''t be your guardian!"


    "Give me a reason for that."


    "I¡­ I can''t be your guardian."


    Arthur released more arrows as he roared: "Tell me why!!"


    "Because I''m a failure! I failed in my tribulation! Are you happy now!"


    Arthur went silent for a moment while he kept releasing his arrows. "If so, then why are you craving for this Golam then?"


    "Tsk, this traitor sold his soul already to the dark side. He gave up the mercy of heaven and wasn''t content with his fate and failure. I can''t allow him to nourish and get stronger on my account! If it came to this, then I would kill and absorb its energy instead."


    "Won''t that make you stronger?"


    "I¡­ I dunno," she seemed hesitant before adding, "when failed you can''t grow your strength anymore. My strength¡­ it was taken away¡­ sealed and can''t be retrieved."


    Arthur felt the bitterness in her tone, yet he also felt some defiance; the old and familiar cultivator stubbornness he once had! "If you can get stronger than this isn''t the end of your destiny," he said, before adding, "this might be part of your tribulation."


    "Hahaha, you are really funny you know," she bitterly laughed as she couldn''t believe how na?ve Arthur was.


    "Then tell me, if this wasn''t your tribulation, then is this mine? Is it possible and logical to face such a giant monster that I can''t even run from? C''mon, don''t tell me you don''t smell the familiar scent of heavens here!!"


    The words of Arthur made the body of that giant beauty tremble. "This can''t be true, I was told I lost everything and failed!"


    "Like any cultivator back at any tribulation; failing means starting over from scratches not giving up! Those giving up are only losers, the only losers."


    "Loser?" she muttered, and at this moment even her sword trembled with her shaky hands. "This can''t be true! I tried everything, yet failed! my guardian once told me it''s futile to attempt this, he can''t lie to me."


    Arthur didn''t know what she meant by a guardian and these words, but he was very familiar with the twists of fate. He had been fooled by this, thinking wrongly he died and was sent here as a coincidence.


    Yet everything seemed not coincidental at all! "Listen to me, accept your role as my guardian and let''s break these shackles together."


    "Why me? you are destined to meet your guardian in the right moment."


    Arthur glanced at her sword to find it almost about to crush the last defenses of the Golam. He smiled in content and confidence before saying:


    "Because if that guardian wanted to meet me, he or she would have done that already!"


    "They wait for you to prove yourself first."


    "More than this?" he sneered, "I have already surpassed many obstacles and created many miracles. I''m not the weak, sick boy I once was in this world. my body is strong, my strength is superb, and my ability as a dragonair is sharpened. Even I got a strange voice calling itself a system! I''m far more prepared than you imagine. How can this guardian not show up yet?"


    He paused before finally adding his last sentence: "Except if you are my guardian, and we were destined to meet each other here."


    "That''s¡­ that''s impossible! My guardian told me many times that a failed contender is a useless one. My strength was sealed, and I can''t even train or use any of my former strength. I can''t be your guardian. This can''t be!"


    Arthur didn''t continue to argue with her, as he sensed in her tone the start of accepting what he offered. "Let''s kill this Golam first, and you absorb its energy, and then we can discuss this later."


    "Sigh, you don''t know what is going to happen next."


    Arthur felt a bad foreboding coming from her words. "What do you mean?"


    "Your enemies summoned this Golam as the last attempt to kill you. Failing in this and they will send a message to their agents in your world."


    She didn''t add more, and he wasn''t that dumb to understand her meaning. "Will I be called to leave this world?"


    "Unfortunately, yes, and that''s the reason why I offered connecting this city of yours with your star map."


    "You know about the star map!"


    "It''s an old antique tossed here by my guardian."


    Arthur didn''t quite understand the relation between the two of them, yet he could be certain of her deep pain, anger, and disappointment. He didn''t know if that was directed to herself or to the guardian.


    "Even if I left here, I would be able to return again."


    "Then leave this until next time."


    Arthur sent another volley of arrows and then waited. The sword was already touching the skin of that Golam, cutting it and creating a gush of green blood. "It''s a date then."


    "What?!!" she was startled that even her sword was about to miss the spot except for her rapid reaction to correct its path. "Your dirty mind!" she bellowed angrily, yet Arthur didn''t feel true anger in her tone.


    "I promise to make this date unforgettable."


    "Tsk," she simply ignored him as she tried all her might to insert her sword deeper. "Even after mixing your soul, you still hold the dirty desires of a cultivator. You are really something."


    "What do you mean?" he just said that before a sudden and loud rumble occurred. Even the ground of his city trembled like a mighty earthquake hit the land. "Is this from the Golam?" he muttered, but before he could even ascertain the full situation, and in the middle of this long rumble, the Ley Lines underground diagram started to show changes.


    "Ding! The changes the pillars made to your city have finished."


    "I can see that," Arthur replied while holding his breath from the scene he was seeing right now. The entire city that was vacant with no walls had now shown strange pillars ascending from the ground.


    "Where are the pillars?" all the five hundred pillars which were surrounding the city were gone!


    "Ding! They are integrated successfully in the city."


    "Sigh, I can''t then move them now, right?"


    "Ding! I told you!"


    "Tsk," he glanced at the changes that were occurring at the entire city as he muttered, "I just hope they would benefit my city now and in the future."


    "Ding! I can''t tell, but after finishing their evolution I will tell you all the details."


    "Evolution?!" Arthur remarked before asking, "Were they evolving?"


    "Ding! It seems so. I told you this is the first time for me to see this, so I couldn''t tell what was going on."


    Arthur didn''t stress on this point as he was taken with all the changes in his city. The first thing that happened was the glowing of the entire area covered with walls, towers, and gates.


    Then small pillars started to rise, like young sprouts, moving up thin at the start, shaky like they were fragile and small.


    Then they started to thicken, unite together and form long coherent thick and strong walls with semi-circular surface-like tubes lined together.


    Then they started to gain altitude. The previous walls of his city ranged from fifty to one hundred meters. These new walls kept rising, crossing the one hundred margin, and didn''t stop until they reached two hundred.


    Then the towering walls started to get thickened, moving inside and outside, increasing the broad surface of them.


    And thorns started to appear on its outer surface, while stairs appeared on the inner ones.


    Just as things seemed to cool down, another rumble occurred and certain places of the walls started to show changes.


    They first got themselves separated from the rest of the walls, started to get a fully rounded surface before increasing more in length and width, until they were double the normal walls in width, and exceeding three hundred meters in length.


    They were circular, with a smooth outer surface that started to change color from yellow to dark red, resembling the color of the pillars.


    "I think¡­ these are the five hundred pillars?" Arthur muttered as he counted more than two hundred, and there was still more.


    "Ding! You are correct, they are the pillars after getting evolved."


    "I think there are no changes there."


    "Ding! Wait until they end the evolution and then I will tell you everything."


    "Boom!"


    At the same moment a loud explosion occurred coming from the battle between the giant girl and the Golam. "Damn! That Golam is really strong!" Arthur cursed as he noticed the Golam was deeply injured at its shoulders and neck, yet it was still brimming with vitality.


    "Ding! The Golam used some strange technique to boost its strength."


    "You mean this is going to end soon?"


    "Ding! It would after five minutes, yet can we seal it for that time?"


    The question of the system was instantly answered by the mighty roars of the Golam. "It''s about to break free!" Arthur gritted his teeth, yet before he released more arrows, the Golam disappeared from his location.


    "Ding! It''s coming!"


    "I know already," Arthur felt a great threat, like death knocking on his door.

 Chapter 332: Arthur Was Fooled, but by Whom?

    Arthur didn''t finish his words, and then a mighty silence prevailed on the entire world. He felt like he was surrounded with a bubble of thick waters, separating him from the outside world, killing his senses and any relation he had with the outside world.


    "I told you already, even if I was going to die I would take you down with me, despicable ant!"


    This sound came so clear and fresh to his ears, like the owner stood directly in front of him. Yet there was nothing.


    "Ding! It''s an illusion! It''s stopped by the city shield."


    The sound of his system came as usual, just in time to alarm him from this situation. "Thanks," Arthur replied with utmost gratitude, "will the shields hold?"


    "Ding! Not long enough."


    "Can you help and direct my hands?"


    The words of Arthur were accompanied by stretching out the strings.


    "Do you think I''m that weak and restrained like before? It was a slight mistake of mine, and won''t be repeated."


    "Ding! You raise and I''ll aim and let us both set the arrows loose."


    Arthur didn''t listen to the Golam''s words and trusted his system. He raised his bow to feel a strange gush of power appearing so suddenly from his soul towards his hands.


    "Interesting," he muttered as he thought the system lived in his mind! The system controlled his hands and adjusted their trajectory, before Arthur felt the sudden disappearance of the force. "So this is setting the arrows loose?" he sneered before letting the string free, and next thing the arrows vanished from his sight.


    "Truly is a marvelous illusion technique," he shook his head while adding, "strange that every single dark side person or monster I met so far excelled at two things and two things only; soul attacks and illusions."


    He felt quite frustrated, as both were one of his weakest territories. That was weird, as if he was sent here to a world compatible with his own weaknesses, not strengths.


    "Ding! Successfully hit their mark yet the Golam is quite strong and prepared this time."


    "Then we need to launch more," he smiled as he said with a sly smile, "we have five hundred pillars here, let''s see if it can deal with them all."


    Then he started a spree of his bow attacks with no pause. The system kept aiding him while he even didn''t ask about the giant beauty.


    Until he launched over a thousand arrows already!


    "Tell me it''s restrained!"


    "Ding! Almost, but it still can move and roar quite loud."


    "What about the world''s will?"


    "Ding! She is standing on the corner."


    "Watching?!!"


    "¡­"


    Arthur was stupefied at first, before he realized what she was trying to do. "Tell her on my behalf that this isn''t my tribulation. If she doesn''t step in and muster her courage, I will die and she will fail."


    The giant beauty was thinking about his own words, and the only way to test it was through letting him face the Golam alone.


    If this was his tribulation, then he would have a slim chance of success. If not, then he would be pressured to a deadly situation.


    Arthur knew already he was doomed if things kept heading this way, his way. He wasn''t able to handle the Golam after breaking free, as the principal person related to the tribulation had already stepped in.


    His role, and he believed this was his destined role here, was only to support her. After her appearance his role would be meaningless, and if he continued to press forward or be heroic, he would die.


    "Cultivators are those stingy, arrogant bastards. Strange, I''m not feeling like them since coming here."


    This thought suddenly struck him out of nowhere, feeling like he was altered or parts of his personality were sealed.


    "She once said something about my soul, damn I don''t have time to consider what she intoned," he gritted his teeth before he released another volley and then the system response came again.


    "Ding! She said she is believing you about her tribulation, but what about you?"


    "What about me?"


    "Ding! She asks what role do you have here?"


    "Stupid girl! I''m here to help her retake the path again! I''m here to make her my guardian, and first she needs to be a guardian to fit my needs. Stupid big sexy girl!"


    "Ding! Ahem, she is the world''s will!"


    "Deliver my words word by word!!"


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t stop firing his arrows and until he hit the two thousand mark, almost depleting all his arrows with no change at all at his side, the system stepped in to say:


    "Ding! She will intervene now."


    "Finally!"


    "Ding! She got a little angry with your words, yet now she is convinced with them."


    "Stupid girl is always silly! The truth is very clear in front of her eyes, yet she denied it!"


    "Ding! What you said was out of logic."


    "It''s total logic! You don''t know heavens or tribulations, I do! She does! We both know exactly what it meant to go on a path to defy heavens!"


    "Ding! What does it mean then?"


    "To always be vigilant and not trust what you see in front of your own eyes! Heavens are such a trickery being that would use even illusions or faking death to make you believe you lost."


    "Ding! And what then?"


    Arthur went silent for a moment before adding in a deep tone: "Then you will really lose, lose yourself, lose your strength, lose your soul, lose even your life! This is what it means to go against heavens."


    "Ding! It''s a scary path in my opinion."


    "Scary?" Arthur chuckled before adding, "this path is fun and interesting, not like the quite boring mages and dragonairs path I''m walking right now. Sigh, how did I be convinced to walk on this path? What made me fall this deep? Strange and¡­ suspicious!"


    His mind worked again, yet differently, like he was in a deep slumber and woke up. Things looked quite different to him at this moment, and the sense of being fooled rooted deeply in his mind.


    "I was framed," he muttered in clear conviction, "and the only one who can help me clarify things is him," he added while glancing to the back, towards the illusion of his city. "After finishing this, I have to have a word with him."


    "Ding! The world''s will cause a deep wound to the Golam, but¡­"


    The system paused, and despite the good news it was relaying, its tone was different. "But what?" Arthur impatiently asked, "what this dirty monster pulled?"


    "Ding! It activated its own explosion mechanism, and even the world''s will can''t save your city, or¡­"


    "Me? Is it trying to kill me? Hehehe!" Arthur laughed like a madman. He was now in the worst situation ever. His city''s defenses weren''t finished, he depleted most of his pillars, and he had a handful of arrows that didn''t exceed a hundred!


    "Ding! She says if you want she can take only you and run away."


    "Never!" Arthur suddenly regained his old vicious nature, "I never ran from a tribulation before, neither I will do now! This is my city, and I will either live with it or die with!"

 Chapter 333: Something is Wrong with the Pillars

    Arthur just said that, and then the entire world around him changed to reveal the actual world. "Interesting, that Golam had it hard from you," he commented on the current state of the Golam.


    There wasn''t a single place without a wound there! the entire giant body was covered in a green liquid that formed its blood. The giant lady floated in the air, looking minute compared to the enormous body of the Golam, with her sword still covered in a veil of fire and lightning.


    "Didn''t know you cared this much about me," he joked around, while glancing over the walls and pillars.


    They were already formed, and the shield covering the city seemed to gain benefits as well. It could alone hold back the Golam, yet he felt like something was holding them back.


    "Funny," she just sneered before adding, "come with me funny man and live. Staying here would only kill you for nothing."


    "It ain''t for nothing," he shook his head before seriously adding, "you finished your tribulation, and now what remains is mine."


    "Yours? Which is?"


    "This city is my tribulation. I will protect it and win this challenge."


    She glanced for a brief moment there before saying, "are you sure you aren''t deluded?"


    "Thanks for your concern. I will end my tribulation successfully like you did, then we will have a nice and long chat together."


    She felt something in his tone, so she hurried to say: "Nothing intimate will happen!"


    "Don''t be scared, I won''t do a dual cultivation with my mentor, right?"


    She was much more scared now than before. His tone and attitude made her think of many old memories, memories she selected to forget forever and never recall again.


    "Annoying weak man."


    He just smiled and didn''t comment as he was bothered with something else.


    "I feel these pillars and walls are strong, yet they can''t show up their true strength for something."


    "Ding! Your hunch is right, I also feel this way."


    "Can''t you know the details of these? Tell me what stands between them and their true strength."


    The system went silent for a few moments, while Arthur''s attention was focused on the Golam.


    The entire body of the Golam was covered in green liquid, and that liquid shone slowly, giving it a terrifying look.


    "It''s exploding strangely," he muttered as he thought the Golam would trigger its soul and explode from its core.


    "Its triggering mechanism lies in its blood, so it would explode from outside inward."


    "Its blood?" Arthur muttered before glancing at the large green pond that appeared under its body. "If I took that blood away, would the explosion be weaker?" he asked.


    "It''s quite dangerous getting near it right now," she commented before waving her sword, "or else I would continue attacking it."


    "You might have a point," he smiled, a very calm and sly smile before adding, "it just happens I have the perfect counter for it."


    The next moment a sword appeared floating just meters above Arthur''s head. It was the old bloodthirsty sword. "I don''t know what to say, but you really have the luck of the world," he laughed before gripping the handle as he unsheathed the sword.


    "I know, you can feel your meal, right?" Arthur laughed as he felt the humming of the sword. "Go and drink its blood dry," he threw the sword like a spear.


    The giant lady glanced strangely towards this small sword, not knowing how this small fish was supposed to drink such a giant lake!


    "Buzz!"


    Yet as the sword left the hand of Arthur, went towards the greenish blood, it kept buzzing and slowly growing in size. When it reached the pond, it wasn''t small anymore; its size got enlarged a hundred times already!


    "Wow! That sword just now suits me to carry," the giant lady clapped like a little girl seeing a fancy dress. "Forget it, it''s my sword," Arthur simply and directly rejected her and tried to snatch his sword.


    "Won''t you give your master a gift? In celebration of accepting you as my disciple?"


    "It''s the other way around, greedy giant sexy girl!"


    Her face got reddened when she heard his last words, and all the angry words she was trying to say got choked in her throat, rendering her speechless.


    "Just forget it, this is my sword. Be glad I didn''t ask for yours as a present for your disciple."


    "Tsk, you are really stingy."


    "You are the greedy one."


    "Ding! Can you two stop fooling around and try to think of a way to save your city?"


    "Have you found the right answer?"


    The system went to silence again, making Arthur shake his head helplessly. He had to wait for the system answer, as this was the only way he had to make his chances to live and save his city higher.


    The next minutes were really stressful. While the giant beauty stood there trying to convince him to come with her, he didn''t listen to any of her words.


    He believed this was his true role in this tribulation, and he had to bypass it no matter what on his own record.


    "Ding! All I could find is that the total energy these pillars needed is just lacking."


    The system finally gave him an answer. Despite it not being detailed, it pointed out the issue here. "The energy inside the pillars got depleted?" he was surprised to reach this conclusion. "I didn''t use the arrows on them!"


    "Ding! The energy was depleted trying to change the infrastructure of your city."


    "Any idea of how to replenish it, fast, like now?"


    "Ding! Away from this Golam, I can''t find any other source of energy here enough to the pillars."


    The reply of the system seemed quite vague, yet he gave him inspiration. His eyes shone brightly while he instantly canceled his transformation.


    "Gor, come here!"


    His shout wasn''t that quiet as it instantly reverberated in the entire city carrying his own nervousness and anxiety.

 Chapter 334: A Plan to Save Everything

    "Asking for him alone isn''t enough," Arthur hurried to close his eyes before he entered the world of the garden.


    There he found Agnus, asked him to hurry and make something before reopening his eyes again. Gor was close by, and so in less than a couple of minutes he appeared in his sight; running with his highest speed.


    Even before he reached close to him, Arthur opened his mouth as he urged: "Giant chains, as many as you can get. Hurry and bring them here, now!"


    Gor was instantly startled by his words, even his body trembled and stumbled while trying to stop his rapid advance. He then turned around without saying a single word, and his voice carried orders to his followers.


    "Ding! Are you sure this is the correct thing to do?"


    "This is the only way."


    "Ding! It''s risky!"


    "Without risking against tribulation, how can one succeed?"


    His answer was short, yet it was decisive. The system stood on the side of the giant beauty, silently watching him, waiting for Gor''s return.


    "Amelia, bring everyone who is adult and powerful enough here!"


    His next order was to the nearby Amelia. She took out many bird''s wings and then she wrote something on them before they vanished. In the next minutes, the entire city was brimming with activity.


    "What''s the plan, clan head?" she came to ask, with many of the one hundred mages who came with him here.


    "You will know in time," he replied without saying anymore. Closing his eyes, he entered the garden world where he was met with a surprise from Agnus.


    "You are really a big shot in my empire already, Agnus," he expressed his gratitude with this vague sentence. Yet Agnus just bowed his head, "I''m doing my best to serve you, lord."


    Arthur was so much pleased with this youngster, a genius in his own career; that was his opinion about him. "I''m sure you will continue to amaze me," he said before taking everything that genius crafter before opening his eyes again.


    The entire world around him changed again, as this time the entire city was summoned here. All the citizens stood side by side with the warriors, filling the entire space in front of him.


    And more were still coming.


    "Listen up," he spoke, and the moment his sound appeared all the ruckus and noises here vanished. You could even hear a needle hitting the ground at this moment. "We are challenged, and like any other time this challenge will end in one way; our way!"


    He then pointed towards the Golam that was now shining in green as he added, "this giant monster is trying to annihilate us by a mighty explosion. I won''t lie to you, our situation doesn''t bode well. But there is hope, risky and crazy, but it''s hope after all."


    He turned to glance at Gor as he gestured to him with his eyes to take the chains out. Gor and his own associates had many storage rings, and the next moment they started evacuating them all.


    Long thick chains lined one after another, filling the entire space between him and the end of the shield. Some of them even were so long to extend beyond the shield.


    "Our own path to salvation is by gripping that giant monster and making it enter here before exploding. As crazy as it might seem, this is the only way we have right now to be saved."


    He then waited, waited for anyone to shout at him, calling him crazy. He waited for defying words and complaints, for those scared enough to run away from here, far away from the city and him.


    Yet he was shocked to see none shouting or retreating; all stood motionless in place. This simple stand made him feel something strange, something he never felt before.


    "It seems I was wrong before in trying to walk the path alone," he muttered to himself, feeling somehow weird. He was quite sure this wasn''t the intention of the heavens by sending him here. "Or was it?" he didn''t know, and he didn''t have time to contemplate more on such a complicated philosophy.


    The next moment he turned into a dragon. "Hear and engrave my words deep into your minds and souls; as I''m indebted to you now by what you just did here," he said just before he turned into a dragon.


    His voice wasn''t loud, yet it was perfectly heard everywhere. All stood in pride, feeling so much pleased they chose right. Not to stand here and die, but to trust the right master and lord. Even dying with him wasn''t considered bad after all they lived through.


    At least they would die with their raised up high, as free men, not slaves. Dying for oneself beliefs and lives was something totally different from dying for others'' beliefs and lives.


    "You come with me!" the next moment he flapped his wings, roared at the eleven sacred giant monsters of his own.


    If he was going to do it, he would make sure to use each single ounce of strength he had. The eleven monsters appeared with their giant bodies coming from far in an unparalleled speed. "What''s up, master?" the giant flying monster asked, leading the others as the first to approach Arthur.


    "We need to surround that Golam with these chains, fix them tightly around its body then come here again," Arthur explained as he went towards the end of a couple of chains, grabbed them with his claws before taking them towards the Golam.


    The eleven monsters didn''t have time to ask or hesitate, as the recent killing of their friend was a fresh memory in their minds.


    They hurried to follow suit, while all the humans in the city stood there watching their lord leading this small group of giant monsters with giant chains flying towards the giant monster.


    Arthur passed over his sword, which was now sinking deeply inside the giant pond of green blood.

 Chapter 335: Pulling the Golam into the City

    It was absorbing blood crazily, yet the blood was replenished in a faster way. The giant Golam had a body filled with tons of this green fluid, so the task of depleting the blood on the sword alone seemed too much.


    "Yet any help is appreciated," Arthur muttered to himself before he glanced at the Golam''s giant body. It was his first time being so near from this colossal being, making him feel how small he and other monsters were.


    But this didn''t stop him. He aimed for one of the Golam''s giant forearms before circling around it for a couple of times, before letting the chains fall over the forearms.


    Then he returned, grabbed more and did the same with another forearm. His monsters followed his lead, and in less than ten minutes, hundreds of chains were already in place surrounding the Golam.


    "First phase is over," he muttered before hurrying back to the city. "Come back and try to pull these chains," he shouted to his monsters. As he reached the vast group of his citizens and warriors, he waved his wing, and then gigantic machines appeared out of thin air.


    "They are good, but not enough," he shook his head as he examined these machines. They were made of a special ore, and they were built to form a giant wheel ending up with thick and many long chains.


    Yet these chains were much smaller than the ones wrapped around the Golam. Arthur then grabbed the Golam''s chains, one by one put them in these machines.


    "A dozen in each machine," he shouted as he showed his monster how it was done. He grabbed one end of the chain and fixed it on one projection on the giant wheel, then moved to grab another and did the same. Each wheel had twenty-four of such projections.


    So in the end the wheel had one with the chain and one free. There were only six of these, making them lack at least another six or more.


    "Start pulling these chains," he said once he canceled his transformation before closing his eyes and delving deeply inside his garden.


    "You are really¡­ sigh, what can I say. This war''s victory''s credit will go to you and the others," Arthur muttered in really deep gratitude the moment he saw Agnus.


    He stood there and on his side ten of such machines stood by. "I did little, after all we already had many of these stored here. We used them to extract ore, but after slight modifications they can fit your needs."


    Arthur didn''t say anymore, as there was nothing more to say. Arthur took the machines as he added, "make more and store them for later."


    Then he opened his eyes before waving his hand, and ten more of these giant machines appeared. He turned to a dragon before taking the other loose chains and put them in their respective places.


    "Pull!"


    "Pull!"


    "For the city, pull!"


    "For the lord, pull!"


    "For our lives, pull!"


    "For the future, pull!"


    "For our children, pull!"


    "For the dream, pull!"


    "For glory, pull!"


    Shouts appeared all over the city, where the citizens started to grab the chains and pull with all their might.


    At first nothing happened, and it seemed as if Arthur''s plan was a failure. Yet after a couple of minutes, and with all those stubborn people, the chains moved.


    The chins first got tightened, first around the wheels, then around the Golam. It didn''t show signs of tightening up as a whole, except after ten more minutes where each chain seemed to stretch out like a strong pillar.


    "I just hope they endure the pressure and weight," Arthur muttered as he wasn''t concerned about the chains, as he was much concerned about the machines pulling that giant Golam here.


    These machines were fixed on the ground by certain mechanisms, but he was still worried. They weren''t meant to be used like this, and that was what concerned him.


    The Golam moved. At this stage the Golam lost all control over its body, so despite feeling what they were doing it didn''t stop them.


    Plus, it thought they were mad enough to invite it inside the city! "Gor, the defensive shield," Arthur turned human again as he shouted at Gor. The shields wouldn''t let the Golam enter the city, so they needed to be lowered for now.


    Gor moved, and during the wait for the shields to be lowered and the Golam to move inside, two machines couldn''t sustain all that pressure and were doomed to pieces already.


    "As I feared," Arthur just closed his eyes and went inside the garden to come back with twenty more of these machines. He took out five of them and stationed them on the side of the destroyed machines.


    Then he worked with the monsters to fill them with chains, yet this time he ordered them to lower the pressure on the machines by making each one responsible for only five chains.


    If it was up to him, he would have used all the twenty machines, but he was sure those already used were doomed to be lost. Besides, he didn''t have all that number of machines to replace everything here.


    And so through the next hour, five more machines exploded into pieces and were replaced with ten more. He also had another visit to the garden where he took twenty more machines.


    Then he replaced the existing ones gradually. As for the Golam, it was already on the doorsteps of the city. Its giant glaring green body was now standing so close from everyone, leaving behind a deep and thick track of green groove on the ground.


    "The shields are down, my lord," Gor came at this moment as he told him about this. "We shifted the shield to the back, to protect most of the villagers and warriors," he added, explaining why it took him so long to execute Arthur''s order.


    "Good," Arthur just nodded before returning to watch in great anxiety the approaching giant body of the Golam. "I hope we can make it in time," he muttered to himself before asking his system: "Do you know how to make the pillars absorb the energy of the Golam?"


    "Ding! To be honest, I don''t know. This turf is totally outside my expertise."


    "Tsk," Arthur was impatient, worried that after all this effort he wouldn''t be able to save his city.


    He could have moved his citizens inside his garden, escaped with the giant beauty away from here.


    But that would mean he would fail his tribulation and also meant the next tribulation he would face would be really disastrous.


    "I hope the pillars would work on their own," he muttered before he decided to let his citizens and warriors pull the Golam as he started making more arrows of extinction inside his garden. "Who knows what these pillars might need to be triggered," he thought to himself while being absorbed in making arrows.


    This time it was really stressful on him, yet he didn''t lose his hope in winning this tribulation and emerging victorious. "I hope things won''t go south this time," he sighed as he opened his eyes from time to time to check on things outside before returning to make his arrows.

 Chapter 336: A Vortex!

    He kept making arrows and checking the outside state now and then for three hours. At the fourth hour, the Golam had already crossed the border of his city walls.


    And at this moment, the entire city trembled. The Golam felt the danger it was dragged to, yet it couldn''t do anything at this moment. Its body wasn''t controlled by its will anymore, and then it only stood there watching the pillars shining one after another.


    "So they are instantly activated with no my help?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there before chuckling. "This is better, at least I made quite some arrows to sustain me for now," he shook his head with a big smile.


    He was happy that the pillars didn''t need his intervention to be activated. But the issue here wasn''t about activating the pillar anymore, but about what to do about the Golam when it exploded!


    "We need more chains and machines then," he didn''t delay entering his garden to meet Agnus.


    The youth was already immersed in modifying the machines. He already had a hundred of them, or even more. When Arthur showed up again in front of him, he was greatly astonished by this scene.


    "Lord, do you want more? I made all these just in case."


    Arthur smiled in pride, as this Agnus was really a man he could depend on. "Do you have any idea how to make these machines work on their own?" he suddenly asked, as this thought just popped up in his mind.


    "On their own?" Agnus stopped working as he raised his head to glance at Arthur. "This is quite challenging," he smiled before adding, "but I like it. Give me a couple of hours before I can find something that can be done."


    Arthur''s smile went bigger as he said, "I also want large and long strong chains."


    "I will let others do this while thinking about how to make these machines work on their own."


    "Great, you have three hours top. Make sure to find a solution before that."


    "I will."


    Arthur then opened his eyes to return to the actual world, where he found the Golam had already crossed entirely the border of his city.


    The pillars were all now shining in bright white and dark light, mixed together. He knew something was going to happen, but he didn''t know what it was.


    In the next minutes no new changes occurred, yet after ten minutes, each pillar emitted a long curved pillar of mixed light. Five hundred lights gathered up above the Golam, and a huge vortex started to show up.


    "What is this aura?" even Arthur felt dreadful from such vortex. Despite feeling such a danger, he didn''t move. He knew this wasn''t aimed at him or his city, it was targeting the Golam.


    The Golam felt this familiar aura, and it knew exactly what it was. it didn''t have any will to move even a finger or even scream.


    It wasn''t the only one here to recognize this aura, as the giant beauty muttered in disbelief: "Are you summoning the aura of the guardian?"


    The question she asked was perfectly heard by Arthur, who just shrugged as he had no clue or say about this.


    He didn''t know what even an aura of a guardian meant.


    "System?" he asked, and this time the system replied for his concerns.


    "Ding! This vortex is connected to the legendary graveyard where many guardians fell. It''s strange and unexpected, yet I believe this will give you a significant benefit."


    "Me? I think this will serve the master on the other side of this vortex!"


    "Ding! You didn''t get it, don''t you? This vortex is connected to a barren world, with no life and all death there."


    Arthur glanced at the slowly expanding vortex before feeling lost. "Do you mean my city will absorb this energy as a whole? Then what the vortex is here for?"


    "Ding! The vortex is absorbing the energy, channeling it into something that belonged to you."


    "Me? What is it?" Arthur was speechless as he understood nothing the system talked about. He checked everything he had to find nothing abnormal going on right now.


    "Are you sure about that?" he asked again, and this time the system went all silent for quite long minutes before returning to say:


    "Ding! It''s happening in a few hours, so we will see."


    As the system said that, changes occurred to the Golam. Its gigantic body started to dissolve slowly from the outer surface as its tough skin showed signs of decay.


    Particles rose slow towards the vortex, creating a minor dust storm. It seemed like the vortex was eating away the Golam, which made the giant beauty even perplexed and worried. "My Golam!" she screamed, yet she didn''t know what to do.


    "Stop this already!" she hurried to shout at Arthur, who just shrugged as he replied, "I have no say at that anymore. The Golam is totally fixed to the ground!"


    He wasn''t lying, as from the moment this vortex appeared, his chains never pulled the Golam''s body an inch further!


    "It''s my Golam! It''s not fair for you to take it as a whole like this! This is a steal!"


    "If you stepped in and helped my city, none of this would happen!"


    "Don''t throw this on me; this is your city, not mine!"


    "Tsk, anyway, what happened can''t be changed. Cross fingers that some will remain for you to take."


    She gritted her white teeth before she moved her eyes towards another direction. "Retract your sword now, I will take all this blood."


    She said in a tone that didn''t allow any room for negotiations. "Are you sure? This blood is the main explosive thing in this Golam. If you didn''t take it, or failed to control it, then we all will be doomed!"


    "I can handle it. Just move your glutinous sword away."


    Arthur sneered before he then walked, very slowly and casually, towards the blood pond. "Can''t you call it directly? Can''t you even run?" she was really at the edge of losing her mind here, and he just shrugged and said nothing.

 Chapter 337: Daddy, Im Hungry!

    It was her fault not to help him, so why would he sacrifice his sword and Golam for her? If this encounter ended up with him reaping all the benefits, then he wouldn''t mind that.


    "At least I need to get answers, and this might work as an excellent card on the table," he said to himself while bypassing the giant and stupefied body of the Golam.


    As the giant beauty watched him with a trembling body and glaring eyes while walking leisurely towards the green pond, he even stopped a couple of times to enjoy the sightseeing of his city.


    But at last he reached the pond and finally waved for the sword to come.


    "I''m still hungry, daddy."


    This childish tone appeared so sudden in his mind to startle him. "Wow, you can speak again. Is this temporary?"


    "No, I''ve been awakened, but I''m hungry daddy. I wanna blood."


    "Don''t worry, my dear," Arthur chuckled as he turned his gaze towards the giant body of the Golam, "daddy will make you eat till you are full." He then grabbed the sword, which got shrunk to fit his hand before returning to the city once more.


    "It''s all yours," he didn''t forget to throw this word to the giant beauty which just sneered and said nothing. The next moment she appeared next to the pond and started absorbing it via a certain way of hers.


    As for Arthur, he just glanced at her eagerness and anxious look before shaking his head and continued to head to the city. This time as he passed by the body of the Golam he threw the sword to it while softly muttering: "Go, it''s all yours."


    "Daddy is the best, yahoo!"


    Arthur giggled as he watched the sword entering through the thick body of the Golam until the hilt before stopping there. Compared to the giant body of the Golam, this new child of his was really minute and hardly noticeable.


    "I hope it can eat some before this giant body vanishes," he said to himself before returning to his previous spot, in front of the machines and giant chains.


    At the first hour, the pillars were the only thing shining in the entire city when the darkness fell. The villagers lit up fire and gathered around as they learned from Amelia, who learned from Arthur that the Golam wouldn''t be moved anymore.


    At the second hour, the walls of the entire city shone as well. This took roughly three to four hours to make the entire walls shine like ignited fire.


    The entire city was lit up in a strange mix of black and white light in the darkness''s depth of the night. Arthur just glanced at this scene, feeling somehow proud. "This is my creation, this is my city!" he said to himself with extreme happiness and excitement.


    After passing four hours, another thing shone. This time it was the deeply buried Ley Lines diagram, the infrastructure of his city all lit up at this moment.


    It started faintly, yet after passing the first hour, everyone started to notice it. As the sixth hour passed, and just as the dawn was about to befall upon them; the entire city was literally lit up!


    "That''s¡­ that''s really what one can call a scene to behold!" he couldn''t keep his excitement anymore, as he realized this was done by the vortex.


    The vortex grew large to the degree to cover his entire city. As for the Golam, its body kept decaying, eaten away mainly by the vortex and minimal by his sword.


    The small dust storm of particles was covered in the darkness''s veil of the night for hours. It wasn''t until the underground diagram lit up, then the particles glimmered in the reflection of this light.


    Even the light of the fire pits lit all over the city dimmed in front of this scene! "Like this, my city can be spotted hundreds of miles away!" Arthur was very happy by all this, yet he was much expecting the final result of these changes.


    Also, he was waiting to see what role he had to play in all this! He kept asking his system every passing hour, and he only got the same answer the system gave previously to him.


    He was related to all this, yet he didn''t feel any changes to his body.


    Not until the moment of the dawn!


    As the shaky light of the dawn stepped in the sky, Arthur suddenly felt a strange sensation in his soul.


    It first started as itching, then as the light of the day intensified by the emergence of the sun, he felt much pain inside. It was like hundreds of needles were inserted inside his soul!


    "This hurt!"


    "Ding! You need to withstand this, this is only getting started."


    "This¡­ sigh, why should I get tormented by my fortune?"


    He shook his head, helplessly trying to divert his attention away from the pain. Yet this didn''t help, and the pain just kept escalating to the degree he couldn''t stand anymore.


    This kept going for hours, and when the sun went to the middle of the sky, he was literally rolling on the ground out of immense pain.


    Yet he didn''t scream! He tried to control his pain as much as he could, while not showing any weakness to anyone.


    But he couldn''t even sit straight on the ground, and this kept going for an entire hour. Amelia and everyone came running to him when everything started, as his face showed his deep pain.


    "I''m fine, this is a have to go experience I have to bypass," he hardly said these words while trying not to scream out loud. Despite that, their anxious faces and his twisted body on the ground expressed the situation better than any words.


    As the intense hour passed, he felt some refreshment finally. The pain started to gradually dissipate. "Or my senses got dull from it?" he muttered to himself, yet either way he was getting better.

 Chapter 338: Liar!

    It wasn''t until the next nightfall that he felt no pain at all. He stood there, amidst his relieved retainers, glancing over the huge vortex up above and the skinny looking Golam right now.


    Most of the Golam''s enormous body was absorbed, leaving only an obvious skeleton covered with thin layers of muscles and skin. The Golam was dying, that was a fact, and that shiny green liquid that covered its body was mostly gone by now.


    The sword was still in place with its hilt, making Arthur feel some relief about it. As for the giant beauty, she claimed the green pond a long time ago, yet she didn''t show any sympathy for him during the past hard hours.


    "Cold hearted one your are," he smirked while glancing directly at her distant figure.


    "You are such a sneaky cultivator! You deserve to be treated this way!"


    "Tsk," he shook his head without saying anymore. He knew he had a tough relation with that giant girl, yet he was still fixed on taking her as a master.


    "I have no other option here, do I?" he muttered to himself while trying to accept the fact of her harsh attitude.


    "Ding! Be ready, it''s already finished!"


    Suddenly the system said this, and with no prior notice the vortex rotated. It first started slowly, but gradually it picked up speed.


    The more it rotated, a cloud appeared. It was thick white at the start, then it grew fainter until it became totally transparent.


    A whole new world appeared right now in front of Arthur''s eyes. He didn''t know, but these changes only appeared to him.


    As for everyone else, the vortex was still there, silent and quite as ever!


    The world that appeared there was in daytime, not at night like the world he was currently at. The world showed a devastated world, with many pits and broken buildings.


    Amidst all that, a touch of green appeared here and there, as plants grew up even in such a harsh environment.


    As the scene appeared to his eyes, he wondered what he would need to do next. Yet before he could ask his system, he saw a wisp of smoke appearing from a spot there.


    It started like a thin shaky line of white smoke, then it grew denser and thicker, larger and solid until a giant face was shown to him at this moment.


    "It can''t be¡­ Zilia?" he stuttered from shock while stepping a couple meters to the back when he recognized the face he saw in front of him. "This can''t be possible!"


    "Arthur, I didn''t imagine meeting you so soon."


    Her sweet voice reverberated like thunder in his mind. "You are Zilia¡­ but how?"


    "It was simply part of the guardian process for you, dear," her voice came again before she added, "and now it''s the ending process where I will become your guardian. You really shocked me by your rapid progress so far, and I''m looking forward to the day you succeed in your trial."


    Arthur''s mind was blown away right now. He was trying to recall the events which happened to him before with her, yet they seemed quite distant away. Nothing pointed out to her being a special one like a guardian, except for what she did to him when he met that sly master.


    "So you don''t grant me the dragonair''s seed to protect me from that master?" he asked in doubt, as this puzzled him at the moment. "Don''t you do this to protect me? I thought I have to come and rescue you."


    "Oh dear, I have been long dead already for thousands of years. This was just a wisp of my soul you met, and I didn''t grant you anything. You already had this seed from the body you became into. All I did was just to give you a little push to help you grow stronger. A wise decision for me, I think, hehehe."


    She seemed quite happy, yet he wasn''t that convinced yet. "Do you mean the worthless body of Willy had such an immense power, yet he wasn''t able to use or detect it?"


    "Yes, that happens a lot if you grow in such a weak and ignorant clan, even ignorant to their long and great heritage."


    "Sigh, that''s true indeed."


    He recalled that the book about the dragonair''s academy was left to dust in Willy''s clan, with no one touching it anymore. He recalled the degraded food, the miserable conditions of the clan, and the inner conflicts of the main family ruling it. "Everything was doomed, Willy," he reached this conclusion.


    "What do you want me to do now?" he asked.


    "Just stand there and I will send all my knowledge and soul link to you. Once there, you will be able to connect to me at any time. This way I can be with you all the time."


    He nodded, and then he watched the face grow blurry before returning to be a giant cloud of smoke again before turning thin. The cloud and her face were so large that took most of the scene he was watching.


    "What is that?" so when she retracted all this, another thing appeared in Arthur''s line of sight. It was a dark pillar of smoke, rising from another spot far away from Zilia''s spot.


    "Damn you! What are you trying to pull here?" the angry tone of Zilia appeared like thunder in Arthur''s mind, coupled with another voice he hardly had memory of. "This brat is mine!"


    The two pillars suddenly twisted on one another, forming many knots already. It seemed the white and darkness were fighting right now, yet Arthur stood there speechless, trying to remember when he heard this voice before.


    "Scram you piece of sh*t! this is a pure light seed, nothing to do with your filthy darkness!"


    "Hahaha, you are wrong, my dear little pumpkin. He is already tainted by my darkness seed the moment he reached this world, long before you even met him. I was there, I inserted a seed of darkness deep in his soul, and soon this will consume him!"


    "Liar!"

 Chapter 339: Things Got Cleared!

    At this moment, Arthur suddenly recalled where and when he heard that voice. "The damn doctor!" he cursed loudly while his body trembled from deep anger and shock.


    He was fooled! Fooled since the moment he opened his eyes to this world!"


    "See? Even that meager kid knew about me. Go away and leave this delicious kid to me."


    "He is a pure child of pure light!"


    "Hehehe, that was long before I put the dark dragonair seed in his soul and left that cursed book there for him to find. He must have found and used it, and by now his soul is beyond any redemption. Just give it up and return to dust, this kid is mine and his pure soul will be a great nourish to my darkness, hehehe."


    Arthur''s body was now about to explode of anger! His energy channeled out of instinct, and the next moment his dragonair''s form appeared in this world once more. "Do you mean this was all your doing?" he asked with a heavy tone and fiery eyes.


    "You have a dragonair''s seed, weak and negligent, yet it was there. The body you appeared at is Willy''s body, that good-for-nothing kid. His soul merged with yours, so you have the seed in you. But alone you wouldn''t be able to ignite it, and so I just gave you a slight push, as this musing lamp just described, and you walked the path of the dragonair."


    A small vicious face appeared from a branching cloud of the dark smoke. "Dragonairs were all tainted by my side a long time ago. Despite your ancestor''s seeds being pure light, the long dark generations that came after that made you all belong to us. Just give it up already, you aren''t a pure hearted one, you are a damned cursed and tainted person."


    The face then laughed, as if he was seeing the fruits of his genius plans unfold in front of his eyes. "The book, I can already smell it deep within you. You fell into my bait and took the book, hehehe. You are doomed. Give it up old lady, this kid is now a vessel to accept one of us."


    "On my dead body!"


    "Hahaha, you are already long dead, hahaha!"


    Arthur had it all clear in front of his eyes right now. "So this was all a scheme from the start?" his own voice was brimming with anger that even his tone came out shaking like his body.


    He clenched his claws, examined his giant dragonair''s body before he shook his head. "No, this isn''t a scheme, this body is mine! This ability is mine! No one has the right to determine anything for me!" he raised his head and glanced at the vortex.


    "How familiar this is," he had a melancholic moment when he did so. It was strangely similar to his way to defy heaven. "Raise your head high, scream your name out loud, and let the heavens shake from your roars!" he said to himself, reminding his mind and soul of the old long forgotten feeling he once had.


    The feeling to challenge all shackles and break them apart!


    "I''m Arthur and I will fuck*ng defeat you!" he shouted, and his shout came as a mighty roar that traveled fast through the world.


    "Kid, it''s useless, the book is cursed, and you are doomed. Just don''t waste my time and breaths on you."


    Arthur glanced over to that sly face while he showed a slier face himself. "You mean this one?" he sneered before taking out the book he once crushed and ruined.


    It was two halves already, broken apart with papers already crushed to many pieces. "Damn you! My book! My precious book! What did you do to it, vulgar cultivator! Damn you!"


    The screams of this sly face made Arthur feel delighted and relieved. He let the book fall on the ground before the eyes of that dark soul, while the white soul of Zilia seized this moment and tightened her grip over the dark pillar.


    "You damned soul, let me go now! This boy is mine! I touched it first!"


    "Didn''t your mommy warn you not to touch others'' stuff? Who cares if you touched him first or last, he is a pure seed and it was your fault to try to defile him!"


    The fight seemed to intensify at this moment, and Arthur had no say in it. He stood his place glancing impatiently, at this fight, not doubting that the light soul of Zilia would prevail.


    "Damn you! Damn you kid! Damn you all! If he isn''t mine, then I won''t let you take him!"


    "Go back to your filthy swarm dark fouled soul and leave this sacred place to me!"


    "On my dead body!"


    "Funny, you are already as dead and cold as me, hehehe."


    Despite her laughs, Arthur felt how nervous she was. He didn''t know why, but the words that the dark master said just now made Zilia worried and anxious.


    "What''s going on here?"


    "Ding! I think this ritual is bound to a limited time."


    "What?!!" Arthur was shocked, and he even got a scare from the words of the system.


    "Ding! Think about it, the vortex was summoned here using this unique moment and certain things aligned together. Your city with the underground Ley Lines and pillars, the giant Golam''s body and enormous energy. This led to this moment, yet it''s not permanent. After all, everything is bound to one limited source here."


    Arthur didn''t need his system to spoon feed him the answer, as the next moment he turned to glance directly at the Golam. "That Golam is about to be killed."


    "Ding! It''s life source is the only source that can stabilize such a sacred channel. If Zilia couldn''t reach you in the next ten minutes, you won''t be able to gain her blessing!"


    Arthur clenched tighter on his claws, "Can''t I do anything to help?"

 Chapter 340: The End of Book 1

    Author Note: I''m really excited about finishing my first book of the novel. I usually write my own novels in trilogy, and the first book just received its final chapter.


    It was such a long and interesting journey, and I hope the final twists of book 1 appeal to you.


    I would love to hear your own thoughts here or in reviews. And thanks for supporting my book :D


    ranmaro.


    -----------------------------


    "Ding! You have nothing to do, after all this fight is way beyond your comprehension and it lies in another plane, different from here."


    Arthur gritted his sharp teeth while trying to squeeze his mind, searching for a solution.


    He felt there was one, yet somehow he missed it. He kept squeezing his claws nervously before he suddenly relaxed them after a couple of stressful minutes. "No, I have the second best solution here."


    Then he turned to look at the giant beauty. "Ding! Her? She can''t replace your guardian, especially after you already met your destined one."


    "Hehehe, yes, she isn''t my destined guardian, but she can be one."


    Arthur didn''t waste anymore time as he hurriedly shouted at Zilia. "Can you entrust another one with the authority to be my guardian?"


    The two pillars now had thousands of interlinking knots together that they looked like a giant whole rope! "I can''t do this to anyone!" her faint, distressed, frustrated and depressed tone came to his mind.


    "She is a failed person, a person like me but way older and far more experienced than me."


    The answer this time came from the sly soul as he laughed loudly, enjoying this amusing fight with Zilia while feeling more joy in ruining her plans already.


    "Hahaha, she can''t! once you fail your pathetic tests, you can''t become guardians at all! Only candidates can be entrusted with such a role, and can have that useless glory of yours. Give it up, boy, you won''t get a guardian this day, hahaha!"


    Arthur wanted to just punch that annoying mouth of his with his claws right now! He glanced at the distant girl before he softly muttered, "can''t you make her reapply again?"


    "What?!!" this scream came from the dark soul, and this gave Arthur some hope. This time he expressed his thoughts out loud and crystal clear. "Can you make her enter the trial again?"


    "I can, but that won''t make her your guardian!"


    "She will!" Arthur hurried to say, as the vortex started to shake and for a moment there the scene blurred in front of his eyes. "Sh*t, it''s almost time so soon," he inwardly cursed before rushing to say:


    "She can be assigned a trial to guide me to succeed in my trial. She won''t literally be my guardian, but in fact she is."


    "This¡­ this is a twist in rules! You are a pure light side, you can''t dirty your hands after all these dead years by playing by the rules!"


    The sound of the dark soul seemed urgent and distressed, making Arthur believe in his own success and victory already. "Hehehe, who told you that playing with rules is dirty? It''s totally legal!"


    "Don''t dare do it!"


    "Watch me, you filthy little worm!"


    The next moment the light pillar sent a thin arrow that instantly traveled the distance between the two worlds in a blink of an eye. The arrow landed on the giant girl, creating a giant oval-shaped cocoon of opaque white matter.


    "Rumble!"


    Just as the arrow landed, and the cocoon appeared, the world rumbled around Arthur. He turned to look at the Golam, which was already taking its last breaths.


    "Damn you light seed! I won''t let this matter go untouched! I vow on my name to kill you and ruin all this! I won''t let you succeed, ever, even if I used all my strength to do that!"


    These screams and empty threats and more were launched from the dark soul, yet Arthur was unfazed by these. "I have little time, my dear brave Arthur. I just wanted to tell you this isn''t the last time we will see each other. Until we meet again, be prosperous and strong. Always keep your head high!"


    Arthur felt a great gush of emotions welling up inside him; yet he perfectly controlled them. "I will," he simply said that before the Golam''s body crashed and its energy finally got depleted.


    "Boom!"


    The next second the vortex exploded and the link between the two worlds shattered. The last scene Arthur saw was the fight was still raging between the two rivals, as for him he had nothing to occur at his world; except for this giant cocoon and that gigantic skeleton of the Golam.


    "Sigh! It finally ended!" he felt greatly tired after all these stressful events. He glanced at the Golam skeleton. Despite its owner''s soul being gone, the bones itself kept pulsating a green light, with each pulse a quake occurred in his city.


    "It seems this isn''t suited to be left here in the open," he moved his wings and then went to the bones and took them inside his garden.


    He was also worried that his garden wouldn''t hold the bones, yet when he entered there he was quite relieved. All the changes that occurred after the appearance of the bones were the rise in the rumbling intensity in the garden to be like deafening cannons.


    As for the ground around the bones, where he laid them in the center of his garden, they were now indented strangely around the bones.


    The giant Golam''s skeleton was already gigantic, and so the surrounding ground got deeper. Arthur first thought it was because of the immense weight and strength of that skeleton, yet later on he realized it was an act from his garden.


    He waved his hand to retrieve his sword, which was now covered in strange thick green smoke. "Are you alright?" he asked as he felt the sword was moving strangely away from the skeleton.


    "I''m tired daddy, I will sleep daddy," the sword then yawned before it fell like a rock on the ground, midway between Arthur and the skeleton, leaving Arthur quite speechless there.


    "At least here is safe and beneficial to your growth," he didn''t know if he should laugh or cry. "I think the garden is planning to eat these bones away," he muttered before reopening his eyes as he returned to the actual world.


    "Is it safe for my garden to consume the bones?"


    "Ding! It''s not to consume them, it''s merging the bones with its own source, making it grow stronger and faster. It''s very beneficial, and I''m quite sure you will be amazed by the final result."


    "If you say so," Arthur trusted his system and took his words for granted.He smiled in content after hearing this answer as he turned to examine the giant girl again. "Don''t tell me she will turn to a butterfly!" he joked, trying to bring his body forward towards the giant cocoon, fighting the pain with plain humor.

 Chapter 341: The Beginning of Book 2

    As he got near the cocoon, he discovered how huge it was! "Sigh, such a big girl if turned into a butterfly, tsk," he shook his head while putting his hand over the cocoon, taking it inside his garden as well.


    Then he turned to glance over the entire forest he had of pillars. "I need to take them all back one by one, don''t I?" he muttered to himself.


    "Ding! I can''t help you with them."


    "Alright," he then moved to collect all the pillars one by one. It took him roughly one hour to do so, and after that he had such a grin of content over his face.


    "It''s good to end this big fight as the winner," he laughed when he turned to face his city. "yet I''m so tired," he needed rest, and deserved one.


    But he knew he would need more time to arrange things here before he could really rest clear minded from anything else.


    He flew towards his city, while Amelia, Ron, and even Lilly appeared there! "When did you come?" he asked Lilly as he was surprised to see her silhouette standing among the others here.


    "Amelia sent me a message and then I asked sister Sara to take me back. I then used Birdy to come here."


    "This seems quite long," he smiled before turning to glance at the others, "where is Sara?" he asked as he didn''t notice her presence here.


    "She said she has something to do," Lilly casually replied, yet Arthur didn''t like this answer.


    He buried his own doubts deep for now, as he intended to have a long chat with Sara later. "Are you ok?" Amelia asked with concern, and that made her blush for a moment there.


    Arthur noticed her nervous tone. "Don''t worry, I''m alright," he smiled warmly to her before turning to others as he added, "we have work to do. The city needs to be organized. The aftermath of this battle must be cleaned, clear, and focus for now on building the other buildings inside the city."


    "What about the walls? The defenses?" Gor asked.


    "Leave them for now," he said in a very tiring tone, "just organize the new people and warriors. Send patrols to scan the areas outside. Any strange finding make sure to inform me about."


    They nodded, before he glanced at Amelia as he added, "I want to speak with you later."


    "S- sure," she wanted to ask why, yet she stuttered and agreed to his request. She didn''t know why, but right now she was so nervous for no reason.


    "What about these?" Ron pointed towards the giant machines and chains.


    "Can you use them in defenses?" he turned the question to Gor, who glanced for a moment there before saying: "We can fix them on top of some towers, but I can''t guarantee their effect until being tested.''''


    "Good, then use them and if you need more just find me."


    "What about the mine?" Lilly asked.


    "What about it?"


    "Will we leave it empty like this?"


    Arthur was instantly reminded of the rapid evacuation he ordered amidst the fight. "Tsk, more work for me," he shook his head before adding, "I will send people back."


    "I will go to live there then," she seemed quite happy, before Madly stepped in as well, "and me too!"


    "Alright, anyone wants to go there can come with Lilly," he said before turning to glance at Amelia as he asked, "is there anything I can do now to the city?"


    Amelia glanced at everyone then at the city around with shining walls and underground diagrams. "No, we are ok for now."


    "Good, I will go to the mine then and come back soon," he said before turning into a dragon, then soared the sky.


    Everyone watched their legendary clan head and city lord disappear in the darkness of the night before each started to do their work.


    As for Arthur, his mind was fixed on something else.


    "What is she doing?" he muttered as he was thinking about Sara. "System, can you I have some tracking ability later on?" he asked, as he lacked such a thing right now.


    "Ding! You can but in the future."


    "Near or far?"


    "Ding! Depending on your performance."


    "Sigh, I can''t wait to get my hands on this op ability. I now in desperate need of scanning miles around me."


    "Ding! Wait, I think you mean another ability here."


    "What? What do you mean?"


    "Ding! What I talked about was an ability to track someone, knowing its location and even spying on him or her. What you are speaking of is another ability, a scout one that can make you scout on the area around for miles."


    "Interesting," Arthur smiled before adding, "I want both then."


    "Ding! Hehehe, you need to work harder then."


    "Tsk," Arthur then focused on the flight. The distance from his city to the mine took six hours to cross, yet he wasn''t in a hurry. He was thinking about his next moves here.


    "That giant sexy spoke about my time being limited here. That means I would be called to go outside sooner than expected," he knew this would be one of his top priorities. "I also need to sort out things here, Olor and his clan must be organized to play their supposed role. Also these other clans near me, that''s too much for little time, tsk."


    He now had not only to hurry and build his city, he also needed to link it to the star map as well. "Recalling this, the master didn''t send what we agreed upon," he shook his head before adding, "I will meet him sooner than he thinks, hehehe."


    He laughed as he knew he would find more pillars at other clans. Meaning he would be able to meet the master soon. "As for Olor, I need to carefully consider his role," he muttered to himself, as Olor was such a ticking bomb.

 Chapter 342: Saras Suspicious Act!

    If used wrongly, then he would be exposed and his benefit would expire. "Sooner or later he would be suspected and exposed, but it''s better to later than sooner for me."


    He then thought about the city building process. "I don''t lack ores to build it, and the population problem is solved by my large population inside the garden plus what I will snatch later on."


    He then paused, as he recalled one single problem here. "Do you know if the walls could be enlarged or not?" he asked his system about this problem he was now facing.


    The walls were now embedded with the pillars, both were linked to the underground Ley Lines'' diagram. Expanding the walls now became an issue as he couldn''t depend on normal means to do it.


    "Ding! The walls now have special circumstances, yet the current walls can expand to cover triple the size of your current city."


    "That''s interesting, then what about later? How can I expand them?"


    "Ding! Use more pillars to the walls and you will gain more space. This is the rule now."


    "Nice," he smiled as now he had some implication of his pillars. Despite losing five hundred pillars to his city, his garden still held much more than that!


    And he also used tainted pillars, which would be a different case when using purified pillars.


    As he reached the mine, the next thing he did was to examine its surroundings. "Strange, I can''t see any portal around here," he muttered as he also found no such portal near his city when he was collecting his pillars.


    "Where did all these worlds go?" he muttered, as he was skeptical about this. He wanted to add more worlds to his garden, as he wanted his garden to turn into a world of its own.


    "Sigh, I just hope they aren''t hiding so good not to be found."


    The presence of such danger was something he didn''t hope for, but he would ask Amelia to send patrols to scan the area around the city and mine just to be more safe.


    "Come out," the next moment he started to take the people inside his garden in patches. In the next half an hour, the entire mine was now crowded by workers as it was before.


    "Go and secure the walls," Tina gave the orders the moment she appeared in the mine area. She seemed quite absorbed in her role to be a general of an army, a scene that made Arthur shake his head helplessly.


    "Where is Sara?" she flew over to stand beside him just next to the building holding the portal to the star map. "I don''t know," he replied before adding, "did she say anything weird before leaving with Lilly?"


    The face of Tina changed as she started to squeeze her mind, looking for an answer to his question. "She seemed quite distracted when we were inside the garden. I thought she was speaking to herself like a crazy tigress, but never thought of anything at this time."


    "Speaking to herself?" Arthur repeated her words before asking, "do you recall any of what she said?"


    "They do all crazy stuff, like I won''t tolerate this, and complain about her current life. Oh, she also said something about a cave."


    The eyes of Tina shone brightly as she hurried to add, "this cave seemed quite important to her, like a secret. The moment she spoke about it loudly she turned around to see if anyone noticed. As usual I feigned ignorance, as I didn''t care about her own crazy mumbling!"


    "A cave?" he muttered again, trying to recall if he saw any caves here before. "I never saw one around here. Caves need mountains to exist, and no mountains here but all are in the city."


    He was very puzzled now! If she wanted to go to a cave then she had to pass the city, yet she left once she came out here. Meaning that cave is nearby here!


    "I think she said it was an underwater cave," Tina suddenly said after a long moment of contemplating.


    "Underwater cave¡­ that might be possible," he knew where to look, as he recalled the place first discovered nearby here. "Can she have a system?" he asked his system while he was on his way to that place.


    He sent a bird''s wing back to Amelia who returned the message with a rough map showing the place of the small army his scouts found at first nearby here. It wasn''t that close actually, as he needed four hour of flying in a different direction than his city.


    But his guts told him that he was heading to the right place.


    "Ding! It''s possible."


    This short answer of the system changed everything, as he now had this possibility and with it many questions rose up in his mind. "If she became a danger, then as I rescued her life I can easily kill it off."


    He had made up his mind, as he was so patient with her for such a long time. Now he wouldn''t tolerate her rebellious attitude anymore!


    "I just hope to be my ally," he preferred this option much better than having such enmity with her. After all she helped him a lot, especially with his star map.


    He went towards the direction marked on his map. In four hours he spotted from far the great river branch running there, and on one of its banks he spotted a small pond diverting from the river.


    "It''s there, I can feel it," he said to himself before taking a tour first around the place. The forest extended to cover everything around the pond, except for a kilometer around the shores of this small pond.


    As for the pond itself, the water looked quite calm with no waves or current. "This pond looked suspicious," he said to himself before he decided to hide in the forest, and wait.


    To be sure she wouldn''t feel his presence he cancelled his transformation. He lied on a thick branch of such a long tree, supervising over the entire crescentic shaped shore of this pond.


    He waited patiently for hours, while he was quite vigilant of anything moving around him.


    Away from astray weak monsters, he found nothing of concern. "Is this the right place?" After six hours he asked himself this question, especially when the sun was heading south, and the night was closing on him.


    "If it went dark, I would be forced to turn into a dragon," he shook his head as his dragon eyesight was much better than his human one in darkness.


    Just one hour later, and as he was seriously considering transforming, the surface of the pond suddenly was stirred up. Giant waves started to appear all of a sudden from its center, with a whirlpool forming where the water level was lowered in this place than others.


    Then a large statue was raised from the depth of this pond. It had a cylindrical base with a shape of a monster on its top.


    "This isn''t the shape of her monster, or Olor''s monster," he muttered as the statue showed the shape of a different monster. "It''s a dragonair''s statue!" Once the statue was raised high enough from the pond he managed to clearly spot it in the dying rays of the sun.

 Chapter 343: The Dragonairs Statue

    It was such a giant statue picturing in clear skill a dragon coming up from a man! Its upper half was a face of a man while the rest of the body pictured a changing from human to dragon.


    "Is this her aim? For what?" he didn''t know what she aimed to do with the statue. Just as the statue was raised above the level of the water, Sara appeared holding its lower pole with her claws.


    She headed towards the shore of the pond, carefully putting this statue straight on the ground before she stood in front of it, marveling its beauty.


    "What will you do now?" he muttered to himself before he noticed she took out a piece of paper and a pen before writing something on it. "A bird''s wing?!" he was very surprised by this. "So you aren''t alone in this treason?"


    He wanted to ask Amelia if anyone there had received a bird''s wing just now. Yet he paused, as this seemed something he or she couldn''t judge!


    "There is no way to know, then¡­" he glanced at her as he watched the paper burning down. "You will tell me everything one way or another," he ruthlessly said before he started to move.


    "What the hell?!!"


    Just as he took a couple of steps forward, he was forced to stop. A sudden flare appeared out of nowhere startling him. The next moment, a bird''s wing fell in front of him.


    Catching it with his hands, he was so skeptical right now. "Did you send this to me?" he muttered before he opened the paper and read what was written inside.


    "Come to this location, there is something you must see."


    This was her writing, and the message contained a rough drawing from the city to here using the river branch. He glanced for a few minutes to the paper then raised his head towards her. "Did you realize my presence then?"


    He was feeling much doubt right now, but he had no way to tell. "Let''s play a fool then," he decided to play along with her and wait for a few hours here.


    The night fell, and just during this time he kept his vigilance towards her ¨Cwatching every single move she did! Yet even after a few hours had passed, she didn''t do more than sit there and glance all around.


    "Is she acting this good or I misunderstood her?" he was now questioning himself, yet his gut was telling him that something was fishy here.


    However so far she didn''t do anything more suspicious than coming here out of nowhere without informing him. This alone was enough to suspect her, yet her summoning of him complicated things.


    "Alright, it''s about time to show up," he muttered before channeling his energy and turning into a dragon. He appeared from the darkness of the night and befell heavily beside her.


    "Finally you decided to come," she said welcoming him, with such an obvious boring tone.


    "Sorry, the distance was so long," he lied before glancing over the statue like he was the first time seeing it. "What is that?"


    "It''s something I had some info about from the soul I consumed," she said, and he glanced shortly over her, not knowing if she was telling the truth or lying like him.


    "That''s interesting," he said before returning to marvel at the statue again. "What''s all this about?" he asked.


    "It should be a portal leading to another world," she replied before walking to the statue standing erect there as she touched it with her claws. "A world that had many dragonair''s relics."


    "Relics?" he glanced for a longer period. ''She didn''t know about my cursed book incident,'' he thought and decided to play along with her. "What are these relics?"


    "I dunno," she shook her head before adding, "but that old hag had many protection against this specific memory of her. She went inside once and came out with a technique to absorb souls."


    "She invented the technique?" Arthur was surprised to hear that.


    "Of course not," Sara seemed surprised by Arthur''s line of thinking, "all the techniques hailed from this world," she said while pointing to the statue, "all the big clans here had such statues under their possession."


    Arthur was now more surprised to know that. ''If so then Olor must know about this,'' he muttered as Sara didn''t know about his deal with Olor like others.


    "Do you want me to go in?" he asked, as she now had an excuse for finding this place, but not a purpose.


    "Of course this is up to you, I just wanted to show you this statue and tell you about its existence in every clan here."


    Her logic wasn''t bad but he wasn''t that convinced. "Thanks for that, I will take it inside my garden then," he lied as he put his hand over the statue and the next moment it vanished into one of his storage rings.


    His garden was so vast and she couldn''t know where he hid it. As for her, she just smiled when he did so. "Let''s go back now, is everything alright in the city?"


    "It''s all over now," he simply replied, "is there any other hidden memories inside that soul?" he suddenly asked, and she calmly replied: "There are many."


    ''Damn! So she can do anything later and make it stick to the memories,'' he felt this was a perfect excuse for her to escape any suspicion. "Alright, let''s go back," he said before flapping his wings and rose to the sky.


    She simply followed, and during their flight to the city she remained as usual, calm and collected. He started to notice the difference from Tina, as she always was the one to cause trouble and noise in this small team of three.


    As they headed back, Arthur didn''t stop thinking about his statue. ''Time to meet Olor then,'' he decided, and the moment he reached the city he found Amelia waiting for him.


    "How is everything going?" he asked, with a distracted mind.


    "It''s alright," she said, before being much embarrassed, "you said you wanted to see me when you come back, right?"

 Chapter 344: Meeting Olor Again

    He looked at her, and then he decided to have some fun first. "Sure, let''s go inside. Is the mansion built yet?" he asked before remembering something. He turned to Sara as he added, "don''t venture out today."


    "I need rest."


    "We all deserve one."


    He then walked towards the depth of his city. It was the first time since his departure to get the mine and population to walk inside this place.


    "You did a great job, many buildings are almost over," he commended with a sincere tone.


    "Thanks, we had time to build all these, yet our main priority was to finish the walls and various defenses first."


    "That isn''t needed anymore," he simply replied, before adding, "the walls and towers are now handed over to me."


    "Is it because of the pillars?"


    "You can say that," he replied without delving deeper into the topic. The last incident had made him quite vigilant towards telling others his deep secrets. ''I don''t know if that man planted some spies in my people or not,'' he thought to himself while feeling annoyed with such thought.


    Many things happened that needed his attention, yet so far he needed first to vent off some stress and clear his mind. During the remainder of his walk, he remained silent. He enjoyed the city and Amelia was only shy and embarrassed.


    She wasn''t a kid, or a pure hearted person of this world. She had a clue or two about what Arthur wanted from her, and she didn''t mind that.


    In fact she felt some joy for being the first woman he sat his gaze upon, hoping to be his last too.


    Despite believing otherwise. ''Such a man is destined to be surrounded with many beauties,'' she said to herself before she glanced at herself without him noticing that. ''I''m not that bad, I should be enough for him¡­ for now,'' she said to herself.


    As for Arthur, he was thinking about what he learnt from the last fight. ''So this dragonair''s ability was given to me by the dark side, and supported by the light side. It seemed this war is much more complicated and deep than I initially thought, sigh,'' he said to himself before thinking about another matter.


    ''My soul isn''t my old one, tsk that''s a really annoying thing,'' he shook his head while trying to accept this fact. When he compared this life with the life he had once lived, he found many similarities and contradictions.


    ''I never was so caring to others, I have to admit that,'' this was the most contradictory issue he found, alongside his interest in building up his empire and raising it above all.


    ''I never cared this much about my sector, only cared about what they can do to me,'' he recalled many incidents where he decided to abandon some of his disciples for his own benefits. ''Was I right? Am I wrong now?'' he was puzzled, yet he knew even if he decided to be a cold one, his soul and heart wouldn''t allow him to be.


    "Tsk, that Willy,'' he was helpless, as it seemed this compassion and love for others came from Willy. ''Why didn''t I appear in the soul of a strong cold person?''


    His train of thoughts was stopped when they arrived at the mansion. "It''s partially completed," he muttered as one third of it was completely built, while the other two were halfway through.


    "We would finish it in a week or two maximum," she said before pointing towards the finished part, "there lies a dozen rooms in the upper three floors, and a gigantic meeting room in the basement."


    "Let''s head to the upper floors then," he said before he put his arm around her waist, "Let''s have some fun today," he added before taking her inside the mansion.


    ''At least we both shared the love of beauties, hehehe,'' he inwardly laughed as he watched the devastated naked beauty sleeping like an angel next to him. ''This was refreshing,'' he thought before glancing over the window of this room to the outside dying sun of the day.


    ''I have to see Olor,'' he thought before closing up his eyes and entering into his garden.


    His soul was now feeling much more energetic than before. Most of the worries and stress he had were gone by now. "Having beauties is such a magic blessing," he chuckled while glancing over the giant beauty hiding inside her cocoon. "To later then," he said before moving towards a different direction.


    He appeared just beside his tree, this giant one he had acquired from Olor. "This can replace bird''s wings, for a safer way to contact other hidden agents of me," he had this thought after sleeping with Amelia, about creating more agents in the dark side like Olor.


    "I can''t stress over this or else I might screw things up," he shook his head, knowing he had to wait for his chances, not chasing after them.


    He then went to the tree and stood there not knowing what to do. "Which one was connected to Olor?" he softly muttered and the next moment the tree shook as one branch descended with a mirror towards him.


    "Wow, it''s voice activated, that''s something," he laughed before the mirror appeared in front of him. It showed nothing, and he didn''t know what to do.


    "Olor, are you there?" he shouted at the mirror, like calling over Olor from a distance. Yet nothing happened. "should I hit it or something?" he thought before knocking on its surface like he was knocking on a door.


    This did something to the surface of the mirror as it stirred up showing minute waves. This kept happening in slow rhythm until it suddenly calmed down again. "Should I hit it harder?" he muttered.


    Just before his fist reached the mirror, its surface changed showed a familiar face in front of him. "Hi Willy, I''m glad to see you alright," Olor said the moment he saw Arthur''s face in front of him.


    "Did you know about this attack?" Arthur was reminded of this and instantly he was angry at Olor.


    "I just learnt after returning to the clan. That crazy dude went on his own accord to attack you trying to redeem his honor."


    "That''s the case then," Arthur muttered before stressing on this issue, "if anything major happened again you must inform me with it."


    "I will make sure to do that."


    Olor seemed quite hesitant about something before he said, "There are rumors regarding the clans nearby you."


    "Those you told me about? What are these rumors?"


    "They are gathering up a large army to hit you again, plus¡­" Olor seemed hesitated more. "Just speak up your mind," Arthur demanded.


    "There is another rumor circulating from the big clans. They said they will send someone to the other world to make your trial end sooner than it was planned to be."


    Arthur already had this tip, so he wasn''t fazed by it. "And?" he calmly asked.


    "And you want to make me the wedge to destroy the dark clans. Frankly I can''t do it with you off the picture," he finally said what bothered him, and that made Arthur laugh.


    "You are afraid?"


    "I¡­ I should be. They are stronger and don''t show mercy to anyone! That one you framed is now about to get a strong hit from them, and he is one of the biggest clans here."


    Olor''s tone was rushed with his anxiety, yet Arthur just smiled back. "Don''t worry yourself, I will find a way to be always here," he said, without delving into details.


    "Really? How?"


    "That''s my own business. You need to start doing your part of the deal," Arthur said before adding, "I need intel about many things, all the info you can gather send it to me here."


    "Like what?" Olor seemed to believe what Arthur just claimed, so he was still nervous.


    "Like statues of dragonairs scattered around this world."


    "How¡­ how did you know that so fast?" Olor seemed quite astonished before his mind provided him the answer, "you found the sacred cave? What a lucky kid you are!"


    "This kid here is your master, so be more respectful here," Arthur wasn''t offended but he said teasing him. "Tell me, what do you know about these statues? Tell me everything!"

 Chapter 345: The Hidden Truth about the Statues

    Olor just shook his head helplessly, before he said:


    "This isn''t just any statues. This world once was under the reign of your dragonairs'' clan, and they handed it to us a couple of hundred of years ago.


    The statues are gates linking the planes of these dragonairs to here. It''s one way passage though, as your ancestors never put this place in their eyes."


    Arthur nodded, as these were the same words he heard from Sara. "I heard the soul absorption technique hailed from there. Is that correct?"


    This time the shock of Olor was unparalleled! "How do you know all this? Have you already acquired another spy other than me?" he asked with rushed breaths.


    Arthur glanced silently at him and didn''t answer. "Just reply," he said, keeping his secrets his.


    "Sigh, you are really like those dragonairs of old times. What you heard is correct, and these techniques can''t be acquired easily, and can''t be transferred to anyone.


    So, each couple of years we have the chance to send in our representatives to acquire such a mighty skill. This technique was said to have originated from this world, but I really don''t know the truth about this."


    "That''s good. Is there anything special about these statues?"


    "Special?" Olor seemed lost in his thoughts before saying, "I think there were ancient rumors regarding them. Ancient monsters sealed in these statues."


    "Ancient monsters?"


    ''Ancient monsters of this world!"


    The answer of Olor cleared much fog on the truth. "Is there any way to release them?" he asked.


    "I told you, these are just rumors! What I heard about was that dragonairs sealed these statues and they might know the way to release them."


    The answer of Olor wasn''t helpful to Arthur, who now knew the real reason behind Sara going there. "So she knows how to release her monster," he muttered to himself before putting this matter aside for now.


    After all he would stay back and watch her do whatever she wanted before deciding what to do with her. "But I have some relation with this process," he was certain of this.


    Or else why would she call upon him and wait all this time doing nothing?


    "I need you to provide a detailed map to me regarding the clans nearby. Plus, I want another one with places of population and resources."


    "Right away, master."


    "Also keep your eyes open towards any news regarding the big clans'' movement."


    "Sure, any word I hear will be delivered to you."


    "Good, now go."


    "Thanks for your kindness, master."


    Arthur watched Olor disappearing before sighing. He knew this sly man wouldn''t be this respectful to him if he had the chance to kill him. So he wasn''t fooled by his silver tongue or sweet words.


    "Now I should wait for him to send me the maps, and then I can start my crusade again," he said to himself while deciding to wait for Olor. He knew Olor wouldn''t delay to deliver the maps, and his guess was proven right.


    In less than one hour, Olor knocked on the mirror where he felt this signal reaching his mind. "So this is how this works," he said to himself before knocking on the mirror, and then Olor showed him the maps.


    Arthur memorized them before finally opening his eyes. Amelia was long awake and left here in a hurry, it seemed. ''Tsk, still a young girl after all, young and sexy, hehehe," he shook his head while laughing with a clear heart.


    He recalled the map he just saw. "These clans are closer to me than expected!"


    He didn''t expect them to be this close! According to the map, the distance between his city and the border zone with these clans would take roughly a day and a half on foot.


    That meant with flying, he would reach there in half a day!


    "These mountains seemed to serve better than I thought," he muttered while exiting the mansion. The spot of these clans exited way beyond the series of mountains here.


    "If not for these mountains, my city would have been surrounded by huge armies long time ago!" he glanced over the mountains lying back to his city, feeling much delighted to select this place to build his city.


    The other route around the mountains would take a week to cross, making the journey quite unrealistic.


    As he went out of the mansion, he noticed the large number of his citizens working hard to finish the remaining buildings. The entire city had less than thirty percent now full of buildings, and the rest were still empty spaces waiting to be built.


    "My time here is tight," he said as he took out one bird''s wing and wrote something to Amelia before letting it burn. The next ten minutes he found many faces coming towards the mansion where he went inside the base floor and entered the meeting room ahead of them.


    The room was really vast, taking around half of the entire mansion area. As most of the mansion was still under construction, only part of the room was available now.


    And it was more than enough to contain his small team he summoned.


    Amelia came in with Omar and Randy. They were followed with Ron, Ouly, and Drago. Then Guenin, Deem, and Gor appeared, with Sara coming last.


    The appearance of Sara surprised him, but he said nothing. After all, he asked Amelia to bring the main figures of his city to a grand secret meeting. And it seemed she invited Sara as well.


    "Sit," he said while sitting on the head of a big oval table made of a fiery ore. "I gathered you here today so I can set the future plans of the city."


    He said before glancing over Deem, "Can you bring me some papers and pen?" he asked and Deem obediently took some of his papers and pen out.


    "This is the map of the surrounding area," he started drawing the map Olor provided to him. He drew such a large map that even the area of his city and adjacent forest seemed like a small circle there.

 Chapter 346: The Grand Meeting

    "Here is the headquarter of the Drofis clan, and here is their main fortified territory," he lined the area he agreed upon with Olor for him to keep his dominion working. "And the rest will belong to us."


    As he said that and left the map for everyone to see, everyone took a cold breath. "All these are ours to take?" Randy asked with disbelief. "Won''t the Dorfis clan attack us?"


    "How did you know about such a map?" Sara suddenly asked, and her tone expressed how much she believed his words.


    "Just lucky encounter," he mysteriously answered, "the Dorfis clan just took a heavy blow from us and now they won''t be able to launch any attacks soon. Despite that, these lands are filled with many strongholds of them."


    He then started to lean on the map again, scattering many dots all over the area below the line. "These are roughly their forts, and they wouldn''t dare to defend them for now at least. So the faster the better."


    He then paused before watching the faces of everyone. Shock, disbelief, and excitement; these were all the emotions they all shared.


    All except for Sara, who glanced directly at him with much doubt. "You mean¡­" Randy asked without daring to continue.


    "All of this will be ours if we move fast to seize this golden chance, so¡­" he then turned to Amelia as he added, "you are responsible for gathering all the aerial forces we have right now. Summon Lily as well and send them to every single area that''s away from these forts."


    He then turned to glance at Omar and Randy, "you two will form two giant armies, and head towards these forts. Take them one by one and be sure to be quick to seize them."


    "What if they retreated?" Omar asked, calm and wise per usual.


    "Let them run, even if they managed to fortify the back line, we still have a great share of this tasty cake."


    "True," Omar nodded before asking, "what about the resources? Each fort we conquered so far is filled with many resources!"


    Arthur knew that each fort was filled to the brim with precious resources. He didn''t answer Omar directly as he turned again to speak with Amelia. "Make Madly start making endless storage rings and distribute what''s there among Omar and Randy."


    "What about us?" Ron asked, as this plan didn''t require him or his friends to participate in.


    "The city needs to be guarded, and this heavy task will be upon you," he said before adding, "plus any request for reinforcements you are obliged to answer."


    "Good," Ron nodded and the two others beside him nodded as well.


    "As for the three of you," Arthur turned to glance at Guenin first. "You will come with me."


    He had thought of a leader to his army of warriors inside his garden, and Guenin was the perfect choice for that. "As for you two, you need to keep building the city and make sure any needs for the army are answered."


    "We will," Deem and Gor said in one breath.


    "Why do I feel like you are going away?" Amelia asked, with a hunch of a woman. "I will go to another place to stop an army from coming here and salvage more resources."


    He then paused before adding, "our time here has been shortened, so don''t hesitate to do your utmost efforts before our time is up."


    His last words made everyone silent. They glanced at him asking for more, but he didn''t say any. "Now go, the earlier you move the better," he said before pointing to the map, "take this and copy it to many copies. Leave some here and the rest will be distributed on the two armies."


    Deem took the map and nodded before he and the rest went away, except for Guenin, Amelia, and Sara.


    "What''s my role, lord?" Guenin asked, as he expected much from his lord.


    And his lord didn''t disappoint him.


    "I will send you to a place where many warriors are gathered. Train them well and lead them outside the gates scattered in the world to seize more villages and towns."


    Guenin''s eyes shone brightly as he excitedly bowed to him. Arthur just smiled before putting his arm on his shoulder, and the next moment he was gone.


    "You are going to send another hidden army to attack these lands?" Sara knew everything about these portals.


    "We need to hasten things here," he said, and refrained from adding more. He needed many warriors to aid him in the upcoming hard battles, but he didn''t tell her that. Not yet!


    "when will you leave?" Amelia asked with faint redness over her sweet cheeks. The memory of hours ago was still fresh in her mind.


    He smiled warmly to her before saying, "don''t worry, soon all of this will be over and we will return home again," he lied, as he never intended to leave this world, or at least his city, to anyone.


    "That''s good to hear," she nodded before excusing herself and went off. She seemed distracted, as if Sara wasn''t around. She would have preferred to lie for a bit in his arms.


    "Are you going to leave here?" Sara asked the moment the two were alone.


    "There is something else I want to talk with you about," his tone was serious and that look he gave her made her nervous. "S- Say then."


    He silently glanced at her, adding more to her nervousness. This reaction of her made him quite sure she was there for the monster sealed in the statue. "You once promised me to turn my city into an empire," he finally said what he wanted to discuss with her.


    And this made her, unintentionally, heave a sigh of relief.


    "It''s about that," she said.


    "What do you think it was about?" he asked, enjoying this little game with her.


    "N- Nothing," she stuttered, knowing she slipped her tongue here, "You want me to draw a road map for you? Despite you leaving here soon?"


    "Don''t worry about me, I will leave and let my trusted men lead the city for me," he didn''t lie here, as he was now training Guenin, Deem, and Gor to be able to rule over this city, with Olor in the shadows to aid in times of distress.


    "Ah, that''s a relief then," she said, despite her tone being vacant of any relief regarding this arrangement. "I will tell you the steps needed to establish an empire," she then leaned over the table as she started to say the conditions.

 Chapter 347: How to Establish An Empire - Part 1

    "First of all you need a strong base to start from. You did great here, and this city will turn into the capital of your empire in the future," she said these words first before adding:


    "As for what you lack, sigh you lack a lot. First you need to know that focusing on the army is good. An empire without a strong army defending it isn''t considered an empire at all.


    Yet empires won''t be built on military alone. You need science, trade, and stable internal affairs; things I can say clearly that you lack."


    Arthur just glanced at her deeply with just nodding. He came from a world where strength only mattered, as for all these things she spoke of; he didn''t ever care about them.


    "Science is one of the major bases of any empire. Without innovations you will always be one step behind everyone else. Science is a thing that can touch any other aspect here; be it military, citizen lives, or even trade. All depend to some degree on science.


    To encourage science you need to look first for scientists. Frankly speaking they are rare after what those filthy invaders did to my world. But there are many still. You need just to focus your search upon them. Plus¡­"


    She paused while giving him a meaningful glance. "The sky castle and those kids?" he asked.


    "Yup, those are very crucial for your future. Most of them hailed from the ancient scientific families. Have you gained their trust yet?"


    "Don''t worry yourself about them," he simply replied, refusing to give her more details about these kids. Since the start, she showed great interest in the castle and those kids.


    "Sigh," she helplessly shook her head with a long sigh, "after gaining their trust, and gathering more scientists, you can establish the academies."


    "Academies?" he was surprised to hear this term from her. He came here to join the academy, and now she was speaking about him establishing one.


    He knew nothing at all about academies to begin with!


    "Not like your academy," Sara seemed to know more than he thought about the Dorgazine academy. ''Lilly,'' he sighed inwardly as he knew from where did she gain such knowledge. ''I must have a word with her and everyone later,'' he decided.


    "The academies I meant are those interested in science and innovations. From these academies, inventions will be born, and you will be able to apply new things to various life aspects in your empire. But¡­"


    She paused before adding, stressing on her next words with deeper tone, "this would take much time than you think, plus many resources and support. This is a future step, a giant step for you, so you should be patient and not rush things."


    He noticed how much understanding she had towards these academies. "You can work as these academies chief," he proposed.


    "Dean, it''s called dean."


    "Whatever, you will be their dean."


    "That would be better indeed," she smiled as she hurriedly added, "when will you give me those kids then?"


    He understood the reason behind her compliance. "Later," he vaguely replied, "what about trade?" he asked, shifting the topic away from this matter.


    "Tsk," she glanced at him silently for a period before saying, "having currency is the core of any trade. Yet you don''t own one."


    "Tell me, genius, how can I have one?" he replied with the same look and tone she gave him. He wasn''t challenging her, he really didn''t know a thing about currencies!


    The trade term he knew about was based on bargain, changing goods for goods with equal value.


    "What do you know about trade then? Don''t tell me you know nothing!"


    "Bargain is the trade I know."


    "Primitive," she said, in a mocking tone that he totally ignored. "Bargain isn''t fair and subjective. Some goods might be priceless for you, pointless for others. Currencies solve this problem."


    "How, genius?" he replied in the same mocking tone.


    "Setting a unified version to value everything, people wouldn''t bargain about goods. Simply a pricing system will be applied controlling everything. This way anyone inside your empire will be able to trade on equal terms, regardless of place and time."


    "Seems interesting," he liked the idea, "how can I have this currency then?"


    "A coin must be made first, easy for us to make, impossible for others to copy. You need to make sure you, and you alone, have the right to make this coin. Or else anyone would make forged coins and make you lose," she started to explain in detail before adding:


    "Then you need to link it to something valuable. Not anything can be used to link to coins; and this is considered the toughest step in making any currency."


    She paused, so he could absorb all she said, before adding:


    "For example if you selected an ore from this world, and the next day another rival clan or empire found mines of this ore. The value of this ore would decrease, affecting your coin negatively.


    So, you need to select something hard to find, very precious to anyone, and you have a way to gain it easily and cheaply, and above all in great quantity!"


    "So I should look for ores from my world then?"


    "Not only that, you also have to make sure it''s not easy for dark clans to get their hands on it, or make trouble for you to get more of it."


    He went into a period of silence thinking about something. ''I have ores inside my garden world! If I can find something rare and unique, then I would be the only one able to get hands on, plus no one would ever cause me trouble inside my garden world.''


    This idea seemed much more appealing to him than going out and seeking the world for ores. "After finding this ore, what else should I do?" he asked, as he would give this task to Agnus living inside his garden.

 Chapter 348: How to Establish An Empire - Part 2

    He trusted Agnus, and he was such a capable person indeed. Plus he was a blacksmith, someone very familiar with finding and evaluating ores.


    "After establishing the coin, you need to make it recognized. This is a tricky part, as you don''t need only to spread it inside your empire, you need to distribute it everywhere."


    He glanced strangely at her. "Even to my enemies?"


    "Especially to your enemies," she replied before adding, "you miss the biggest point of the coin; it''s a weapon! Imagine the entire world here recognizing your coin. Then you will be the sole controller of the trade and economy everywhere! If anyone becomes your enemy, he or she will risk losing the coins you supported, and lose the trade ability with everyone else."


    "They will be secluded, right?"


    "Bravo, that''s the biggest strength of any coin. Plus, the more coins scattered in the world, the easier for you to gain resources. This will also help in turning your empire into the center of this world, the center of any world."


    She seemed quite enthusiastic about this, so he said: "I will see about the source of the ore, while you should provide the coin and the system to imply it. If you found anyone worthy of taking the responsibility of ruling this entire system; don''t delay and introduce him or her to me."


    "Agreed," she nodded, before adding, "and you need to know a trade can''t be done without enough security and the presence of a good and complicated road network."


    "Roads?" This was another vague concept for him.


    "Merchants would arrive here easier and faster if there were a network of roads connecting everywhere! Road network is a must, and this is considered a big project in itself. Either in building or securing them from thieves; this task would take time, effort, and resources."


    "Sigh, all your words contain this resources thing. Is there anything cheap here?"


    She laughed as she replied: "Building an empire isn''t a child''s game, or a beggar''s aim."


    "That''s a fact," he couldn''t refute her logic, "and these roads must be built to link cities like this one or towns?"


    "Towns, even villages. If you can, link everything inside your empire with roads, and leave the rest of the world barren like the way it is."


    "That''s¡­" he didn''t know what to say.


    "This is important to make sure your empire thrive while others struggle to survive. Plus roads aren''t only used for trade; armies also march easier and faster on roads. By keeping the roads off at your empire borders, you will guarantee no one will attack you out of nowhere."


    Her logic was interesting for him to nod.


    "As for the internal affairs, this is a giant project. As you can see, building just one city took such time, effort, and resources."


    "Sure, this is going to be the capital."


    "Indeed, yet it won''t be your only city."


    "You mean¡­?"


    "You will need to build cities, more actually than you think. And you need to select places to build them. Each city will rule over a certain area of your empire, making itself like a small kingdom under your reign. How to select their location, and how many towns and villages you will build around would be the task of the ones responsible for this."


    She seemed not ready to take this job, and he knew she had a point here. After all she was tasked with the science and currency missions. "I will find people to do this job," he said.


    "You should be, and you should do it fast. The true authority of any empire is demonstrated by how much space it actually holds through these cities, towns, and village systems.


    It will take time, so you need to start it soon."


    "I understand."


    "Then you need to do certain things beside just building cities. Selecting their governors is another challenge for you. Plus, you need first to determine the true lands your empire will control."


    "I already had that determined," he replied, referring to the map he just drew a while back.


    "This is a good start, yet the space you control is small," she honestly said, "you need to expand it."


    "I intend to," he simply replied, as this was his next step here; invading other clans'' lands and gaining more population and resources.


    "That''s good, then you need to train a good army to defend your borders and maintain your hold over them. You can also establish cities far away at the border to strengthen your grip there. But, roads would be important, and also walls."


    "To protect the lands?"


    "And line up your dominion. Walls aren''t only for defense, they are a great tool to determine domains."


    "I see," he nodded as he thought of his wall here. ''This wall won''t do, it will need massive number of pillars to make it cover all this area,'' he inwardly sighed before saying:


    "I prefer to start building cities at the border."


    "To migrate population and resources to them?" she read his mind easily here as she already understood his ambition and plans, "that indeed will work. But, you need to know building such cities way away from here would be a risky task."


    He understood her meaning, "don''t worry, I will make sure these clans won''t be free to even worry about my cities and walls."


    "That''s a relief," she commended, before adding, "these are the essential pillars of any empire. After establishing the empire, you will need to refine it further. Like selecting ladies and defining the royal family to the masses. Like establishing the law."


    "Law?"


    "Sure, you don''t want your empire to be ruled by the law of the jungle! Laws are important, yet they need a strong system and many people to be applied. So, you can postpone them for now."


    He didn''t fully understand her logic here, as he didn''t see anything wrong about the rule of the jungle. He was the strongest power in his empire, so no one would ever threaten him.


    As for his citizens, he thought being able to take what you want with your strength wasn''t a bad thing! ''I lived in such a world for my entire life, can''t see anything wrong in it!'' he muttered to himself before saying:


    "Alright, leave it for later than. Anything else?"


    "No, those are enough for now."


    "Good, first we will go to hit some bad clans, then when we return here we will start working on your plan," he said before turning to leave from the mansion.


    She glanced at her back, with conflicted thoughts. "Sigh, it seems I can''t escape his sharp senses," she helplessly shook her head before hurrying after him.


    She knew he suspected her, and she knew he didn''t trust her much anymore.


    And she just hoped he wouldn''t decide to kill her! So she tried her best to show him she was still valuable, and he needed her.


    And he fully understood her aim through what she just said and did.


    As she exited the mansion, she spotted his big dragon body flying in the air already. "So impatient, tsk," she hurried to change into her tigress form before hurrying to follow him.

 Chapter 349: Nara

    "Where are we going again?" she asked for the tenth time already, and he repeated the same answer over to her.


    "To attack some armies nearby."


    "And how did you know about them?"


    "A hunch."


    "Liar!"


    "Hehehe."


    This was the tenth time for such conversation to occur! They flew for hours, first bypassing the mountain reach before finding more mountains in the distance.


    There was a valley in between, linked to the valley inside the mountains he once visited. After that it was only a stretch of mountains, with no signs of life at all!


    "Are you sure we are enough?" she again asked, for the fifth time!


    "I told you, gosh why are you so tense like this!" he didn''t say his usual answer as he felt greatly annoyed with her constant questions.


    "I¡­ I just want to be sure the two of us will be enough."


    "We will."


    "Sigh, it''s boring flying silently for hours! I miss that chatty dragon!"


    "Tina? C''mon, you are relieved she isn''t here!"


    "No way! Yes I can''t deny she gets on my nerves so fast each time, yet she at least creates some noise and life here."


    "Why don''t you speak then?"


    "I''m!"


    "You are only asking!"


    "Aren''t questions words too?"


    "Sigh," he simply decided to ignore her from now on. The mountains were almost about to reach an end, as they started tapering their peaks to the ground; forming a series of hills and wide valleys.


    Despite the green color jumping in front of their eyes, they didn''t spot any sign of life anywhere.


    "Are you sure we aren''t lost?"


    "Shh, you are noisy! We are on the right track."


    "I hope so."


    She then went into silence, yet when they delved outside the mountain she was surprised by something. "Here is the place where a mighty empire once lived," she muttered, before turning to glance at him, "did you know that? Did you choose this place on purpose?"


    "A mighty empire? Yours?"


    "No, mine lied to the north from your city, this is the south west where another rival empire lied."


    Arthur didn''t know what to say to her, yet he understood why many original inhabitants of this world lived here. "I just hope to find some resources and population here."


    "I bet, this empire hailed reign over a great stretch of lands, known as the largest empire in our world in size and population."


    "They seemed to be the strongest empire in your world."


    "No, not even close. Even my empire wasn''t the strongest out there," she said before wenting into silence for moments, "the strongest of all was some scary empire with such advanced technology that we thought it might not perish. It was the empire where the idea of the castle of the sky was born."


    Arthur was reminded of his strange visit to the past. ''Was I moved to that empire at that time?'' he wondered to himself before noticing something on the horizon.


    "It''s a town," Sara muttered before adding, "it''s a cluster of towns."


    She was right, as the closer the got there the more towns and villages appeared in front of their eyes. Their appearance was spotted from far, and it seemed to cause some ruckus already.


    "They look energetic, hehehe."


    She seemed to enjoy the state of fear emanating from this town, laing Arthur realize the old relation between her empire and the empire that lived here wasn''t good.


    "Don''t cause problems here, we came to get them to work for us," he warned.


    "I know, don''t worry about me," she nodded before the two reached the outskirts of this cluster of towns.


    Arthur never saw such a cluster before in this world; stretching for miles east and west, extending to no end seemingly to the distant horizon.


    He stood there in the air glancing at them, and the villagers living underneath him glanced back; with doubt and much fear.


    "Make the introduction for me," he said as he couldn''t speak in human tongue while in dragonair''s form.


    "Listen up, we came from the city behind the mountains to free you all. We know you lived your entire lives under the shackles of slavery and fear, now we are going to give your life meaning. Willy here is our lord, a mighty lord who clashed head to head with those dark clans you fear and serve, and won! Anyone interested in changing his life and taking a different path; a courageous path, please step forward and be ready to leave."


    Her words were loud, arrogant, yet Arthur didn''t interfere. "Being arrogant is better than being hostile," he said to himself while watching the villagers everywhere whispering between themselves.


    "Are the legends true then?" suddenly a feminine voice came from a spot not too far from the two. A girl appeared, in her early twenties, with the power of youth firing up all over her sexy body.


    Tall and beautiful, that was what Arthur noticed about her. She had her long hair grouped together to form a rounded shape behind her head, giving her the impression to have two heads!


    Her eyes were wide, with their faint green color giving Arthur the impression of looking at a tranquil scenery. Yet he knew she was strong, with that long bow held with her hand and these numerous arrows she carried on her shoulders.


    "Who are you to speak? Identify yourself," Sara arrogantly said, feeling some challenge with this confident strong beauty.


    "I''m Nara, the leader of this place, and other places," she said before ignoring Sara and focusing on Arthur, "we heard many rumors that were close to being myths. About a man, descending from the sky, removing all the tattoos and can empty entire towns in hours with no trace left.


    A shadow, appearing everywhere without the restriction of time or place. A mighty person who can turn into a dragon, fighting great battles with no fear; and winning them all!"


    Arthur couldn''t speak, yet he was impressed with this girl. "Take a tour around the area, see if there are any traps here," he muttered and his words were heard to Nara like roars.

 Chapter 350: A New Quest

    "Tsk, she is just a human girl with no powers," Sara grumpled before turning to move away while Arthur went towards the ground.


    "I''m the man you are speaking of," the moment he reached the earth, he cancelled his transformation and then made his human shape appear to everyone.


    This caused enough stir that looked like a fight was about to happen. "Calm down already, he is true and in front of us in flesh," Nara roared, and strangely enough her sound was echoed in every direction; reaching everywhere!


    This scene startled Arthur, making him realize she wasn''t just a mere human after all. "Sorry about that, but your reputation greatly preceded you," she apologized in a calm tone. "I''m sure everyone will be glad to comply, yet we have a little problem here we want to solve."


    He glanced at her thinking she would ask for benefits for herself. "Speak and I will determine if your requests are fair or not," he said while demoting her rank for many grades already inside his mind.


    "This place held significant meaning to us, as our ancestors once were a mighty people. They left a heritage and instructions to never let certain things be away from our sights."


    Her words surprised Arthur and managed to pique his interest, "Go on," he nodded.


    "These things are our own heritage and secrets. For us, they are just relics with no significance to our strength or desperate situation, except the spiritual place they hold in our souls."


    He understood her meaning. "You can bring them with you then, I won''t mind having different heritages and cultures inside my city."


    "This is where the problem lies," she bitterly smiled, "if not for the impossibility of us moving them, we wouldn''t have stayed here all this time."


    "Do you mean they can''t be moved?" he didn''t understand her meaning, yet she said, "can lord come with me and check them himself?"


    She pointed to a direction with her hand, away from the place of the towns and villages. Arthur didn''t sense any hostility from her, yet he took out his bow and his own arrows of extermination and held both on his shoulders. "Lead the way then," he smiled.


    "Didn''t know lord has such a taste in bows," her eyes shone brightly the moment he took the bow made by Agnus for him. He inwardly smiled, as he wouldn''t offer his bow to anyone, even to her!


    "You need to work harder to get one like it," he simply replied, and his words carried different meanings for both.


    "I will make sure to be qualified," her smile made Arthur think she misunderstood his meaning there. Yet he didn''t care to correct her and followed her steps towards the distant mountains.


    The area was formed of plains, with a river branch coming out from the mountains, diverted into four smaller branches; each went in a different direction.


    And she just led him directly towards the area of bifurcation. "Don''t tell me it''s the river!" he joked around, and she laughed a sweet laugh as she replied: "No, of course not; it''s much harder than the river."


    He laughed with her and from far Sara glanced at the two while watching their actions. "Did they manage to build that?" she muttered as she realized this girl was far more dangerous than she initially thought.


    "I have to wait and see everything before taking a decision," she said to herself before she turned to take another tour around the land, with all her senses focused on the two reaching the nearby river.


    "It''s here," she said, and he just glanced at the area where the river would go into four different directions. "Is it underwater?" he skeptically asked.


    "No, it''s dead ahead of us," she muttered before taking something from her chest; a pure white key.


    "Without this, no one can ever find this place," she said before she threw the key to the air as she muttered, "the bloodlines of the ancient Trokas, listen to my command and obey my orders¡­ let us in!"


    Just as she said these words, Arthur felt a strange suction force taking him forcibly to the front. The entire world vanished, and another world appeared in front of his eyes; a world filled with ruins, destruction, and death!


    "What is this place?" he felt vigilant the moment he appeared here. There was no obvious threat here except from the world itself.


    "This was once the place where my ancestors lived, calling it the midland. Legends said they were able to traverse many worlds, harvest a lot of treasures. Yet their demise came swift and only the last few of them managed hardly to isolate this area into such a secluded space."


    "Is this a pocket world?" he asked, as this was the closest answer to what she said.


    "You can say so, dragonair filthy boy!"


    The answer didn''t come from Nara, as a deep voice appeared coming from everywhere! He felt like hundreds of thousands of mouths spoke at this moment, and they all shared the same thing; they hated him!


    "He is my lord, esteemed guardians," she hurried to say before adding, "and he is an enemy to the invaders who destroyed you."


    "Lies!" The shout was so loud that it made Arthur''s body tremble. "A descendant of those savages can''t be a savior!" again the voices came with such enmity and hatred that Arthur felt so deep and intense.


    "I''m their descendant, that''s a fact," he said as he realized Nara wasn''t able to save him from this wrath alone. "Yet I stand in a total opposite direction to them."


    "Liar!"


    "I''m no liar, and I don''t know how to prove this to you."


    The voices stopped speaking, yet he felt eyes glancing at him. He didn''t speak, as he waited for their request and test. The world here seemed desolate, and if this world agreed, he could easily give life to it, bring it with him far from here, and let it rise again in might and reputation.


    "Each dragonair has a lineage linking him to the old ancestors of ancient time. This is a known fact in all worlds. You can prove your words to me by going in and meeting them."


    The voice spoke in such an aggressive manner, yet he felt like they were mocking him.


    "Ding! The will of an ancient vengeful world is asking you to prove your honesty. A quest is launched and you can choose to accept or refuse it."


    Suddenly his long silenced system spoke. "You didn''t give me the rewards of my last completed mission," he said, as he didn''t forget about the reward of his pillar quest.


    "Ding! I waited for a good chance to give the reward to you, and now is a good time to get them," the system replied before adding:


    "Ding! You did exceptionally well in the quest, managed to gain one hundred pillars from your enemy. Plus, you gained more pillars from more enemies, and even turned one of your deadliest enemies into your pawn.


    As a reward, you shall receive the initial one thousand ancient monsters, plus a breeding place to them. You also shall receive the support the world''s will promised to grant you with, to protect you during your leveling up. And you shall receive two opportunities more for that as a bonus.


    You also shall receive the key to a hidden realm, where you can find another vengeful world''s soul belonging to the mightiest empire once lived in this world."

 Chapter 351: Dragonairs Sexy Aura

    "All these¡­" Are was surprised by all these rewards, yet he didn''t think he didn''t deserve these. "Thanks, these rewards will be a great help to me," he honestly said before adding, "you can put those monsters and this breeding thing inside the garden for now."


    "Ding! They are already inside."


    "Good," Arthur was now ready before adding, "show me the new quest then."


    "Ding! Vengeful world''s will is questioning you! A quest has been issued by the vengeful world''s will of the Trokas empire. An old enmity and unforgotten hatred was now the obstacle you needed to clear.


    Your deeds and actions alone aren''t enough! You need to risk your life to prove your sincerity to this ancient world''s will. Enter your dragonair''s sacred world and face the wrath of the ancient souls.


    Survive this and gain more power up in return for you to win the challenge. As a reward, you will be recognized by one more world''s will. Power of belief will be opened for you.


    A gate to all the worlds linked to the Trokas empire will be available to be integrated in your star map. You will be able to take this secret pocket world away and integrate it with your garden.


    The Trokas empire excelled at soul matters; so you will get a blessing from the world''s will, cleansing your soul. A path to retrieve your old full soul will be opened for you.


    The quest is available only once, refusing it will make you instantly and permanently expelled from this world; you will never have this chance ever again!


    The quest time is limited, only a few minutes to decide. If you accept it, you are obliged to start it at once."


    Arthur sensed this quest was slightly different than other quests he ever had before! "Don''t you think this quest has more rewards than anything else? And what is this all about cleansing my soul and retrieving my whole self again?"


    "Ding! When you came here, your soul merged with Willy''s soul. The soul you have now isn''t your old one, so many decisions you make seemed strange to you.


    Plus, you can''t cultivate! To cultivate you need your soul to be a whole once more. This is a long road, yet you stumbled over one of its rare first steps thanks to your great luck."


    Arthur was shocked to hear that! "I couldn''t cultivate because my soul was polluted?" he exclaimed in shock, and his words were slightly loud for the nearby Nara to hear.


    Yet she glanced at him and said nothing, the same for Trokas world''s will.


    "Alright, I agree," he loudly announced, before glancing over the horizon, speaking to the world''s will of this place, "after I come back you will follow me."


    "This is a promise, yet you have to prove your words," the loud voices came and they laughed hysterically at him. "Poor boy, either your lies will be proven and you will be expelled from here forever, or you will be right and then you will be judged by the filthy ancestors of yours."


    Arthur wasn''t fazed by these words. "May I know what you will gain from all this?" he asked, as expelling him seemed quite logical, yet killing him seemed inappropriate.


    "If you are a liar, I will expose you to my daughter here. If you are not, then I will gain a chance to have my revenge."


    "Against me? Against your ally? Your only ally?"


    "You are too shallow minded to reach the answer," the voice screamed before they shouted again, "start now and show me your worth, dragonair''s boy."


    Arthur wasn''t that shocked from all these screams anymore. "Be ready, my life is on the line here," he muttered to his system.


    "Ding! Don''t worry, I''ll make sure to shield you, except I have a feeling you won''t need that now."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Ding! You will know soon enough. Now sit and start channeling your energy and I will aid you."


    Arthur didn''t know what the system was talking about, yet he hurried to sit on the ground, closed his eyes and started channeling his energy.


    The energy inside his body was now more majestic and vast than his first time to do that! He took a few minutes to make them all rotate inside his body at high speed, refraining from turning into a dragon.


    "Stay back child," the world''s will roared, as a wave of strange fire emerged from Arthur''s body, extending wildly everywhere!


    Nara tried to run away, yet she was too late. "Stay away from my child, filthy dragonair cursed fire!" The world''s will roared, and the next moment a wave of pure white energy appeared like a giant water wave, surrounded the area around Arthur and suppressed his uncontrolled fire.


    "These dragonairs! It''s lucky that the boy is still weak, or else containing this fire would be proven hard even for me," the voice shrieked before the wave of energy managed to suppress all the fire, even covering the body of Arthur.


    "T- Thanks guardian," Nara was shocked at this close of death moment she just had. "but he is a good person," she tried to defend Arthur.


    "I know what he did out there," the world''s will screamed.


    "If you know then why¡­?" Nara asked before pausing in the middle of her sentence, as she didn''t know why she was shouting back at the world''s will or why she was defending Arthur so much.


    "Tsk, these dragonairs and their sexy aura," the world''s will seemed more enraged. "Don''t lament yourself, many great women fell for their seduction. It''s in their nature, dominating all women by their auras without the need to do anything."


    Nara didn''t fully understand the bitter words of the world''s will, yet she trusted her guardian. "I¡­ I don''t think he tried to seduce me."


    Her eyes were attracted to the body of Arthur, who was now immersed in his own world.


    "He seems like a nice boy, born in the wrong clan. He doesn''t need to do anything, this aura is just a gift granted to them with their powers."


    "I see," she nodded before asking after a moment of hesitation, "will he be alright?"


    "Foolish child," the world''s will roared, "he isn''t a liar, yet facing the wrath of the dragonair ancestor on the other end will be hard to predict."


    "Guardian¡­" Nara didn''t know why but her heart deeply ached after hearing these words.

 Chapter 352: Prove Yourself or Perish!

    "Sigh, this scene¡­ sigh, it''s not a blessing to live for so long," the world''s will voices this time were softer than ever. "I can''t promise you anything, but I will try my best to save him. Though I''m not strong enough to do that, not before and definitely not now."


    Nara didn''t know why, but she felt her guardian''s voices were speaking to themselves. She remained silent, puzzled and doubted of her stance towards this stranger that she just met. "Is it the legendary love of first meeting?" she muttered, before shaking her head and watching Arthur''s still body with anticipation.


    As for Arthur, he was now immersed in his own world. After a few moments of stirring up his energy without transforming into a dragon, he felt his soul was sucked towards a tempest like before.


    He didn''t know how long it passed, yet he knew it would take longer than the few seconds he would stay there.


    "It seems this link with the dragonairs elders isn''t simple," he muttered, recalling the words of the ancient world''s will.


    He thought he was meeting up with an elder from the dragonair clan, like the master of the bronzed giant clan he knew.


    Once he recalled that master, he felt quite annoyed at the deal that wasn''t done so far. "Better for him to grant me my share, or else¡­" he muttered to himself recalling the deal he had with the master.


    "Boom!"


    The next moment his body suddenly crashed into the ground. "This hurts," he complained while leaning on the ground heavily to stand straight.


    "Finally you came," the sound this time was much more majestic and deep than before. "you caused much trouble for being a son of ours. Tell me, did we treat you wrong? Why all this hatred to our teachings?"


    Arthut couldn''t see the man speaking, yet he knew he wasn''t just one. He sensed many eyes falling over his body. He stood and patted on his clothes a couple of times to remove the dust particles.


    "You say you didn''t treat me ill? How can this be?" he sneered, refusing to succumb to their own logic. "The first memory I had was about a doctor poisoning me for his own benefits, a dragonair master of ancient times. The next thing I recall was about a cursed book with a vengeful dark soul trying to kill me. Yet again another dragonair master.


    Tell me, venerable being of old times, is this all about the dragonairs? Treason, betrayal, schemes, and dirty doings?"


    "Impudent child! These all are nonsense!"


    "Really? What about this book then?" he took the cleaved book out. "This book was the one who wanted to kill me, can you refute this fact?"


    "Such insults can''t be allowed!"


    Suddenly another voice shouted in anger, stirring up a wave of humming around Arthur. "Tsk, even you are scared for me to see your faces. What? Afraid I would seek your descendants and kill them?"


    "This kid must die! Let me kill him!"


    "Sit down Gregory, you know the rules," the first voice thundered and his words silenced everyone. "Plus dragonairs aren''t all bad," the voice continued while Arthur didn''t know the meaning of these words.


    "Kid, it was said that our ancient ancestor, the founding ancestor, was a good man. I doubt these words myself, yet here you are proving that we have some twisted genes belonging to the good side."


    The voice paused before adding:


    "As a tradition, and bound by the sacred rules laid down by our esteemed ancestors, you are to be tested and we won''t interfere. Yet as you can see¡­" then the voice got deepened, "you caused enough hatred already that I can''t honestly control."


    "My life is mine, my way is mine, no one has the right to tell me what to do and what not to do."


    "Yet you shall follow the teachings of your clan."


    "A clan that tried to poison and kill me? And now are trying to conspire to kill me?"


    "This is your clan, no matter how you did we will still be bound to each other."


    "By blood, not deeds."


    "Good words, I agree with that," the voice then paused before he added, "so you will be tested. If you are really as you claim, strong and mighty, then your deeds will support your claims. If not, then it''s a waste of time to let you continue to live."


    Arthur wasn''t fazed with these threats. He came here prepared for a death and life battle. "Bring it on, anything you throw at me I will crush!"


    "Good lad, despite being bad would be better," the voice remarked, and Arthur didn''t know if he was mocking or praising him.


    The next moment he felt a shadow coming out from his body. Like last time, the monster he absorbed would be summoned.


    Except this happened a long time ago for him!


    The monster that appeared in front of him started to slowly take shape. "Per rules we can decide which monsters you shall fight; the ones you absorbed or the ones you killed."


    The sound paused, and Arthur had a bad omen for that. "And we selected the ones you killed. Per rules, as a first practitioner dragonair, you would be granted a certain level of challenge."


    As his words fell, the shadow coming out of his body got thickened, and the shadow of the monster appeared starting to grow broader.


    "This isn''t a single monster," Arthur remarked, while taking out his bow and arrows.


    "You are such a violent boy, a true dragonair lad in the core. Not fully like us, but you carry our bloodlust. You killed many, and from then only the strongest five would appear here."


    Arthur grabbed his bow before muttering to himself, "I should take the sword as well."


    He knew his sword was now evolving, yet he had no other choice. He had no time to delve into his garden world and ask Agnus for a good sword. Last time he met him was just before coming here, where he checked on the legion of monsters he gained and talked a bit with him.


    "Your demons will face you now, prove yourself or perish!"

 Chapter 353: Dragon Vs Dragon

    As the voice fell, five great monsters appeared in front of Arthur. Couple were those hideous monsters belonging to the Dorfis clan, and the other three were the three giant monsters he once fought around the mines.


    "These three¡­" he wasn''t worried about the two hideous monsters, yet those three giant ones were a headache. He still recalled the painful memory of their acid and ice attacks.


    "Combine!"


    The old dragonair master muttered, and then these monsters turned instantly into five pulps of great shadows before merging together. "Rules are fair, one dragonair against one monster," the master added, and Arthur didn''t know what would be the result of this merge.


    The merge didn''t take long, and the next moment a huge monster appeared! It was double the size of Arthur''s dragonair''s body, and it wasn''t any close to the monsters that were summoned.


    It was a giant dragon with five heads and four pairs of wings!


    "These¡­" he stuttered, not knowing what to say.


    "Aren''t the monsters you killed?" the voice of that master reverberated in the place, with such a mocking tone.


    "Didn''t you say we are so bad? Consider this as us being bad then," one of those who spoke before said then he laughed, and many laughed with him.


    Arthur just swallowed this and said nothing. After all this was what he should have expected from them. "Just a friendly reminder, those arrows carried the dirty aura of those arrogant bronzed giants; you can''t use them here."


    Just as the voice fell, the arrows Arthur took out all turned into ash in an instant. He glanced at the empty quiver on his shoulder and shook his head.


    "It''s good I have more normal arrows," he muttered to himself yet he didn''t take anything out.


    "Let the challenge begin," as the master spoke these words, the dragon in front of Arthur had suddenly come to life! It glanced at Arthur like a predator eyeing its prey; with no consideration at all.


    "This will be challenging," he muttered before jumping to the back, creating as much distance as he could between him and this monster.


    Then he started channeling his energy, and the next moment his dragonair form appeared.


    The monster wasn''t fazed by this, even Arthur saw a glimpse of a smirk over its vicious and savage heads. "Not taking me quite seriously, huh?" he muttered before the sound of the master fell again:


    "You need to kill it in ten minutes. Failing to do that means failure, and we will have the right to decide your fate!"


    Arthur understood the trick here; they were trying to make him fail so they could have the right to determine his fate.


    "Ten minutes then," he tightly grabbed his bow, and his evasion strategy he just had puffed in smoke just after hearing these words. "So let''s make these ten minutes count," he then thought, "system, can you help here?"


    "Ding! I can bless one weapon of yours, do you want me to bless the bow?"


    "The bow? No, bless the arrows!"


    Arthur didn''t need any bonus to the bow, yet he wanted all the support he could have for the arrows.


    "Ding! What arrows? Your quiver is empty!"


    "These," he waved his hand and the quiver became four on his back; all filled up with arrows. They were the normal arrows he made before making the explosive extermination arrows.


    "Ding! Consider it done."


    Arthur didn''t feel anything, yet he trusted his system. The dragon stood its place motionless. After all it had nothing there to lose, not like Arthur.


    Wasting time wasn''t in his advantage, so when he created enough distance between himself and that dragon, he started to attack!


    The bow in hand had five arrows at the time, and when he pulled the strings to his maximum limit, he let them go and instantly filled another five.


    "Let''s test the destructive force of these arrows first," he thought to himself while refraining from controlling the arrows.


    The dragon seemed to not care at all at the incoming arrows, as it casually waved its wing to meet them head on.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Yet it was gravely mistaken! The arrows were blessed by the world''s will aura. Such a deep and strong aura couldn''t be taken lightly like that!


    The arrows met the dragon''s wings and exploded violently, creating such a violent shock wave and gigantic mushroom cloud of dust and blood.


    "These are superb arrows," Arthur commended in excitement, yet he didn''t stop his hands from releasing more.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Five roars came one after another, expressing the deep pain and humiliation this dragon felt right now.


    "This aura¡­ this isn''t dragonair''s aura. Kid, how can you get hold of such aura?" the master exclaimed in surprise after a few moments of being shocked.


    "This is against the rules, he can''t be allowed to continue!" one of those vengeful masters spoke up, and he gained much support from others as well.


    "The trial isn''t under my control. If he broke the rules he would have been punished already," the master replied, in such a helpless tone.


    "So I was also in great risk of being punished without knowing that?" Arthur muttered to himself, feeling his luck was on his side this time.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment the ground shook as the cloud of dust and blood started to show up holes. The five heads of that dragon started to spill out fire like spraying water on grass!


    And each direction the fire went, anything burnt and vanished; even his fortified arrows!


    "So you decided to be serious?" Arthur smirked before deciding to up his game a notch.


    He kept firing arrows, yet his mind started to be attached to these. Each arrow was completely under his control, making it twist and bypass any fire coming from these opened mouths.


    And this affected his speed of launching more arrows, yet his aim greatly improved!


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Sounds of explosion started to rang from the monster, while Arthur tried to aim at its weakness.


    The area of junction between the five heads wasn''t covered with any scales at all. He aimed at it, and he managed to hit it a couple of times already; creating deep wounds there!

 Chapter 354: The Sudden Intervention!

    Despite the reappearance of the dense mushroom cloud, he was easily able to see through it. His eyesight was connected with the arrows, so anywhere they went he could see.


    Yet it greatly limited his ability to evade the fire, as he was surprised by them a couple of times; with no time to evade!


    Five minutes passed like this, and the monster ended up being burdened with deep wounds and a bloodied body. It was now greatly weakened, and this appeared well on the fire it sprayed.


    The fire amplitude decreased in size and range. Their destructive nature diminished gradually, even spraying it now on the cloud around the monster wasn''t enough to dissipate it.


    Arthur knew his victory was near, yet he didn''t know if this monster still hid another card or not. Plus, he didn''t know if he could kill it in the next five minutes.


    "Attack him you fool!"


    One of the masters was so angry that he shouted at the monster, reprimanding it. It seemed they paid a hefty price to summon this monster, and they wouldn''t accept anything but Arthur''s head in return.


    Arthur wasn''t intoxicated in his triumph so far. The moment the monster started to run towards him he started to run as well; in the total opposite direction!


    This kept the distance between the two the same!


    "Damn you! What is this worm doing? Why didn''t you bring up a killer!"


    One of those masters couldn''t keep his calm anymore, as he bellowed on others, blaming them.


    "Shut up, you were there when we decided to stall for time don''t you?!! Why didn''t you disagree at that time? Huh?" the master who was in control of this trial retorted back, and Arthur understood everything now.


    They wanted to corner him to the rule of time, so he wouldn''t be able to escape his fate anymore. Yet they underestimated him, greatly underestimated his abilities.


    He kept running, and the monster kept chasing; while his arrows kept thundering on top of that monster''s head.


    The attacks finally managed to cause such a severe wound to the monster that one of its heads was chopped off! It was two minutes apart from the deadline, and then Arthur decided to hasten things here.


    "Come here my sword," he muttered before taking out the bloodthirsty sword. It was calmly lying in his hand, not showing any sign of being alive!


    "Tsk, you are such a lucky bastard! Even in your hibernation and evolution you gained such a chance to suck this monster''s blood dry!"


    Arthur didn''t delay as he used the moment of the monster agony and threw the sword away. He tried to control the trajectory of the sword, feeling hard doing that.


    Yet he managed to shift its course at the final ends, making it be inserted at the big wound created from the severed head.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    And this invoked the monster to roar out in deep pain, stopping in its tracks and even falling on the ground motionless.


    "Good kid," Arthur laughed before starting to focus on launching his arrows non-stop. Sounds of explosion dominated the scene, and during the next minute; three more heads were chopped and only one remained.


    The monster didn''t have any strength to even raise this head; it was leaning on the ground like a dying snake!


    And Arthur didn''t hold back! He knew he had less than a minute here!


    The atmosphere was quite tense, as everyone was watching, counting seconds, hoping they would fly away.


    Yet Arthur moved fast, closed up the distance between him and that monster. "It''s all or none now," he muttered, knowing it was such a risky move to do that.


    Yet he had no time to waste! Even the time needed for his arrows to reach their targets must be shortened.


    As he stood in front of the dust cloud, he saw the shadow of the final head moving. There was only ten seconds, only ten seconds left so he didn''t have time to evade.


    The monster was accumulating its strength for such a last attack. The moment it opened its mouth, a ball of fire started to glow in front of Arthur''s eyes.


    "As if I would let you do that," he roared as well while aiming a dozen arrows towards the area holding the head. "Either you die or I!" Arthur released them and from such close distance they hit their mark instantly.


    And the monster just had its last head chopped away, falling on the ground, exploding violently.


    A sea of fire emerged centered around the severed head! Arthur didn''t have time to waste anymore, as he didn''t trust those bastards to announce his victory or approve it.


    The next moment he jumped into the fire and dust, enduring the damage while putting his hand over the monster''s body; sending it inside his garden.


    "Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!"


    The sound of this strange and majestic bell rang, and Arthur didn''t know what this even meant.


    And the world around him ushered under heavy and deafening silence!


    "Scram!"


    The moment the master spoke, he shouted angrily at Arthur, who felt a giant hand hitting him sending him flying.


    "Damn you, can''t you accept defeat fairly?" he cursed back before finally vanishing into the tempest he came from.


    His body ached! If not for the last damage he received from this dying monster''s fire, he wouldn''t be in such pain and agony now.


    "Yet I won, hehehe," he was so amazed and excited, yet the next moment his body violently hit the ground.


    "Boom!"


    "What the hell?" Arthur exclaimed in shock and pain, while trying to stabilize his body fast. He came back, again to the arena he just left!


    "What the hell are you doing here? Didn''t I throw you back to your world?!!"


    The master also was shocked the same as Arthur, which made the latter feel much doubt. "Are you playing tricks with me, sneaky old man? Send me ba¡­"


    He was midway in his words when he felt a strange change in his body.


    He was so sensitive to any energy other than his! And at this moment his body had a strange energy massively invading his!


    "This aura¡­ again?" the master muttered before the next moment an explosion of the aura occurred, instantly filling the entire place in a blink of an eye.


    "What is going on?" Arthur muttered. He didn''t feel any hostility coming from this aura, yet he didn''t understand what was happening.


    Back at the world he came from, his body was now shining with pure white light, like turning into a star. His body was raised midair, while the aura of the ancient world''s will entered his body massively.


    "Guardian¡­ is he going to be alright?"


    "Don''t worry, dear. This is just an old account I need to settle."


    Nara stood motionless with much worry over her face. She didn''t doubt her guardian words, yet she was feeling odd and worried over Arthur.


    The world''s will didn''t lie, as the next moment it filled the entire place she started to attack everyone; literally everyone.


    "What is going on? Hurry and screw this boy back from the hole he came from!" one of the masters sensed the grave danger eyeing him and screamed in panic. Others shouted as well, yet the headmaster of them wasn''t speaking at all.


    "It''s you¡­" he simply muttered these words before the world''s will voice came, in a single voice this time, exposing her feminine tone:


    "Yes, I told you I won''t forget what you did. I came here to settle the old account between us."


    Arthur was standing on the ground motionless, having no say in this. He glanced everywhere to see the entire world covered in a thick veil of pure whiteness.


    Yet this veil couldn''t prevent the painful screams or the shouts of panic coming from everyone here!


    "Would I be able to come and level up again?" he directed his words to his system, only caring about this matter.


    "Ding! Your trial is always controlled by the ancient will of your ancestor. You can come here again, and will have much better treatment than this time."


    "I should thank her then," Arthur muttered despite knowing she didn''t come here for his sake. "Ding! You should, after all she will be one of your sharpest blades in the future."


    "I¡­ I hope so."


    He stayed in his place hearing nothing but sounds of explosions and screams of pain. He knew this was a brutal fight, a very high end fight he couldn''t have a say at.


    Yet he regretted not seeing everything happening! He wanted to know how the top people in this world fought and learned.


    "Come with me," the soft sound of the world''s will appeared suddenly in his ears. The next thing he felt was a strong traction force pulling him again. This time it was for real.


    When he opened his eyes again, he wasn''t surprised to see the thick aura that was surrounding his body. He was covered in white foamy clouds, like what appeared in the trial place.


    "What was that all about?" he said. He was standing motionless there, watching the white clouds dissipate.


    "None of your business," the screams appeared again, this time he wasn''t fazed or intimidated by it. He crossed his arms while saying: "I proved my words, can''t you show some appreciation at least and explain."


    "Appreciation for what? It''s you who was in danger not mine!"


    "Tsk, you seem stubborn."


    "Thank you."


    Her answer silenced him. He only shook his head before turning to Nara. "Do you know anything?" he said, while taking the steps towards her.


    "No, she¡­ she seems to have her own issues."


    Her answer wasn''t helpful, and only his system might be.


    "Ding! I can''t read her mind, so¡­"


    "Tsk," he turned to glance at the white fog, as against his expectations it remained there!


    "Ding! Congratulations on completing your quest. The quest had some intervention yet you managed to finish the tasks before that."

 Chapter 355: Rich Quest Rewards!

    And his system kept sending him messages one after another.


    "Ding! Your power has increased by one level. You can now breath fire that erodes everything away or fire to heal others. Your number of dragons transformed daily by your dragomancer ability is increased to reach thirty dragon."


    "Ding! Your number of clearing up any curses increased to cover two hundred thousand people at the same time. The ability turned to be permanent, and through using it the ability level can be elevated and the total number can be increased."


    "Ding! You have the ability now to create shadows of you. The maximum number of shadows called in the same time can''t exceed three. The shadows will have half of your power, and they can stay alive until you cancel them or be killed. You can control them mentally or leave them to me. You can communicate with them anytime you want, no matter where they are."


    "Ding! You gained the ability to scout your surroundings. The scout scope can''t exceed one hundred miles, and everything inside will be analyzed by me and I will give you the report. The ability is permanent and the more you use it the higher it will rise."


    "Ding! You gained the gate to other worlds controlled and visited by the Trokas empire. The gate is now merging up with your star map and can be used in a week from now."


    "Ding! You gained the recognition of the Trokas empire''s ancient world''s will. She is gladly offering up her services to be the soul controlling the star map for you. Integration with your star map will take six months; after which she can help you discover more worlds and link them to the star map."


    "Ding! The Trokas empire world''s will offer up her help to link the star map to this world. You need to select a building to initiate a portal and the link will be completed by her."


    "Ding! You gained a soul blessing from the Trokas empire world''s will. Your soul has become more resistant to soul attacks. Any illusions won''t work easily on you. Your soul gained a stabilizing bonus. Your will won''t be bent by others at any situation. Your soul gained a charming bonus. Your sexuality effect on girls is increased by folds."


    "Ding! You gained a path to cleanse up your soul and start retrieving your past self. Your soul is tarnished by Willy''s soul, yet dead and still annoying. When you reach a certain point in this path, you will be able to start cultivating again. Your path is divided into dual cultivation soul cleaning, bloodlust soul cleansing, belief soul cleansing, world acquisition path, and imperial soul cleansing. The paths are selected based on your past experiences in the world after coming in Willy''s body. The path you select can''t be changed, yet in the future you can add more paths and cleanse your soul faster. You have one day to consider."


    The messages were many, yet everyone of them was a priceless gain. He now had more power, stronger abilities, and unlocked more. He also had a path to cleanse his soul and retrieve his old self; a path to return to his old cultivation world.


    For him, the last message was the most important of all!


    "These choices¡­" he shook his head, as his heart leaned towards one already; yet his mind leaned towards another.


    "Dual cultivation is much easier to me and far more interesting, yet the bloodlust path is a more practical road. I have many wars to fight, a lot of blood to spill, and it''s very convenient for me to choose this path. Yet¡­" he hesitated, as his mind wanted one thing and his heart yearned for another.


    As for the other three paths, he didn''t consider them.


    "The belief path is hard to venture. As for that world acquisition, I will need to wait for months until the Trokas world''s will fully integrate to my star map before being able to use that.


    As for Imperial path, tsk. I suck at this and know nothing at all regarding this path."


    He had already narrowed down his selection; yet he couldn''t reach a conclusion.


    "Ding! You don''t need to stress over yourself. I''m pretty sure other opportunities will rise in the future and you will be able to have all of these paths."


    He understood the point his system was trying to convey. "Yet, wasting time on a hard path will give me a loss."


    "Ding! At least you have two easy to fulfill paths. The quests in each one is easy for you to accomplish."


    "Quests? I will have quests?" he wondered, as he never thought he would have quests. He thought he would have to do things according to the philosophy of the path, not quests issued by his system.


    "Ding! Sure, each path is considered a long road of quests. Fulfilling the quests will make you reach your goal easier."


    "Hmm¡­ let me think about it then," he couldn''t reach a decision yet.


    "Ding! You have a day, don''t take much time to decide."


    "¡­"


    "Ding! Do you agree on what the Trokas empire world''s will offer?"


    "Sure," he simply replied.


    "Thanks," the voices came again, and this time he felt some sincerity in her tone.


    "It''s me who should thank you," he giggled before adding, "let''s work together to amass endless worlds."


    "Hehehe, I like your spirit."


    Then the entire world started to stir up, while a pushing force sent the couple back to the river side.


    "Sigh, it seems I took much longer than I expected," he muttered and Nara turned to glance at the huge ruckus occurring in the distance.


    "You sure are popular."


    "Indeed," he said with a smile on his face. "System, use the scout ability and tell me what is going on over there," he added.


    He thought he would take a couple of days inside his upgrading trial, yet from the shape of things and the roars of Sara, he realized he took more than that!


    "Ding! A huge army is assaulting the cluster of villages and towns up ahead. There are at least one hundred thousand warriors fighting the warriors of the villages and towns. The war is currently in stalemate."


    Arthur nodded before saying, "What about the villagers?"


    "Ding! Their number increased by folds since last time you were here. There are at least five million villagers scattered all over the region. The warrior army of yours reached five hundred thousand warriors at least."


    "If I have this number, then why is the war still in a stalemate?"


    This puzzled him, as according to his system description; his army should reign supreme over his enemies, claiming victory long time ago.

 Chapter 356: A Big Dark Clan Joined the Fray

    "Ding! The warriors are coming from many pocket worlds, and so your army can''t handle them yet."


    "Again?!" Arthur was speechless, "is there a way to summon all these worlds in any place? This is such a cheat!"


    "Ding! But you can have many worlds like this."


    "Last time I got nothing, sigh."


    "Last time was different. The portals leading to the worlds were crushed by the Golam''s oppressive aura."


    "Hmm¡­ that makes sense," he now understood why after killing the Golam he had no portal left for him to use!


    "How many this time?" he said, trying to calculate his gain from this battle.


    "Ding! Five hundred worlds are there."


    "Wow, so many," he commented before adding, "how long have I been inside the trial?"


    "Ding! A week!"


    "What?!!!"


    The short answer startled him. He thought he went there for three to four days, but a week? That was a lot of time wasted here. "Then I have to end this pointless fight fast," he decided.


    "Will you stay here or come with me?"


    He was going to join the fight and summon all his warriors if needed. A hot cake was waiting for him, and all he needed to do was to enter each portal and acquire the world.


    As for Nara, she seemed strong, but not strong enough. "I will go and lead my warriors," she said as she didn''t know everything; yet she could guess what was going on.


    "Good, see you later then," he turned into a dragon before soaring to the sky.


    "Finally! What took you so long?" as he approached the war zone, he was met with this sigh of relief from Sara.


    "Didn''t think you would be this pressured by mere warriors."


    "Tsk, a week gone and now you come to mock me? These warriors are endless, plus many monsters appear from time to time," she said before adding, "they use strange formations to attack; mainly illusion based. Even I found it hard to deal with them."


    "Illusion? He smirked before glancing over the distance. The ground was covered in fog that was hard to see from far; white and thin fog that was circling around each group of warriors.


    The warriors divided themselves into ten thousand man groups, and they looked experienced. "They are strong," he remarked, while seeing the difference on the side of his warriors.


    Scatter with no leader, that was the simple description for his army! Despite having the upper hand in numbers, they weren''t faring well in terms of direct clashes with his organized enemies.


    And the most annoying fact was these pocket worlds! They kept pouring out warriors non-stop, replenishing any fallen warriors on their side.


    "You stay here," he simply said before heading directly towards the distant portals.


    This time, he didn''t intend to let any world slip off his hand. His garden world was now considered a large pocket world in its own regard, yet he aimed for it to be more spacious and larger.


    He wouldn''t let any chance off, especially if presented to him like this!


    So, he planned to start from the rear, and start squeezing the invaders between him and his army.


    He wasn''t worried about these warriors anymore; their leader was about to reach and lead them. Nara seemed quite capable, or that what he hoped for.


    "Won''t you take me with you? Gosh, you just came and now you are leaving?" as for Sara, she seemed annoyed by his arrangement.


    "I can''t trust them to hold the fort, but I can trust you with that."


    His simple reply made her drop any thought of coming with him. She knew what he was going to do, and unlike Tina she wasn''t a fan of slaughter and deadly encounters.


    Yet she wanted to accompany him to know what happened during the past week! Her mind never stopped stirring around this issue; great things must have happened and only he and that girl of the Terakos empire knew about them.


    Nara was a lost case already, as the two didn''t know each other yet for her to depend on her gossip. As for Arthur, if she couldn''t know the truth from him right now; she would never know anything later!


    She watched him leaving towards the distant portal, while he kept sending his deadly fire everywhere.


    The portals seemed quite secured with a legion of fifty thousand warriors standing on guard. "They learned their lessons," he sneered, as if these warriors would be able to stop him.


    As he passed over the portals, ruckus occurred in the lines of the guarding warriors. They feared for him to come at them. "Am I that famous already?" he was already in a good mood to joke about their nervous reactions.


    Formations started to appear around many portals, yet he kept flying leisurely towards the distance. "Just be patient, your turn will come soon," he roared, and they thought he was about to attack and became more nervous.


    As he reached the distant portal, he found it quite special than others. Hundred thousand warriors and a legion made entirely of strange shaped monsters secured this one.


    The monsters were like giant dinosaurs with long thin pairs of wings. Most had three to four pairs, yet few had five.


    Only one had ten pairs, looking majestic with this horn over his head. He stood in the middle of this huge army; like a king!


    This monster had five pairs of eyes on each side of his head, with a central giant eye that gave Arthur the impression of being watched.


    "They are a new clan then," he muttered before thinking back to the map he had in mind. "which clan is it? Are there any pillars in these worlds?" his interest was now much piqued by this point alone.


    "Ding! This monster has an illusion soul attack eye."


    The system suddenly warned, and Arthur knew it was referring to the central eye in his head. "Can I overcome it?"


    "Ding! You can resist, yet can''t crush it completely."


    "Resisting is fine for me," Arthur didn''t intend to repay the illusion double for the monster. He would do it using his arrows, fire, and claws.

 Chapter 357: Meeting New Master

    Arthur went forward without any hesitation while that enemy of his stayed calm and collected. "He is underestimating me," he said to himself while getting near to the dense defenses there.


    "Ding! Won''t you use your arrows now?"


    "No, I will enter the pocket world and add it to my garden."


    Arthur''s aim here wasn''t to kill everyone, he wanted the pocket worlds. Just as he reached the outer border of the warriors, formations started to kick in.


    Huge domes appeared and he was instantly hit by them. "Damn, they are really dead serious at stopping me," he sneered as the moment he was hit, his head felt a little dizzy. But he managed to control his calm and sanity.


    Formation after formation hit him, and yet he kept flying forward without attacking any. As he got near the portal in the centre of this place; the final monster moved.


    It opened its jaw, and inside there was another smaller one that roared. Arthur felt a sonic wave to assault him, making him feel much dizzy.


    "Ding! You can resist this attack for a few minutes, not more!" and the system warned.


    "One minute is enough," Arthur said as he changed his mind. He would start killing these!


    Yet he kept pressing forward, and the monster, aided with the giant number of warriors here, kept hitting him. His speed decreased but he kept getting near the portal with each second.


    Just as he was almost there, he let his body down, falling like a huge rock to the ground, feigning finally falling to their attacks.


    "Survive this if you can," but as he was a few tens of meters away from the ground, he sneered while taking out his bow and extermination arrows, sending ten of them everywhere.


    His wings became horizontal all of sudden after releasing the arrows and retrieving the bow, letting his body slide over the air, moving forward with great speed; entering the portal.


    "I''m in," he laughed, yet the world he came into was much vaster than what he initially thought!


    And it was already crowded with warriors to the end of his sight. "Scout," he said while flapping his wings and catching up altitude.


    "Ding! There are millions of warriors here, few led by monsters. The good news is I sense the presence of a pillar in the centre of this world, not too far from here."


    "Finally some good news," he smirked as he didn''t want to just get a world without pillars.


    If a world was without pillars, he would only need to press over the portal and make it shift to his garden. Then his garden would do the rest.


    Yet he couldn''t go easily forward, as the next moment many domes appeared blocking his path and attacking him.


    "Ding! You can maintain your composure for one hour."


    "I don''t think I will need all that time, right?" he then moved with his fastest speed towards the direction his system provided to him.


    As he went there, he kept getting hit with endless attacks of formations. Also many long thick arrows started to come at him from the ground; yet he wasn''t that much concerned with these weak things.


    His body was now stronger, and he could resist such attacks easily. After ten minutes of flying he finally spotted the pillar. "Here you are," he smiled warmly like seeing an old friend. "Let''s see why this old master took so long," he was still mad at that master.


    He wanted his share of the meal!


    As he got near to the pillar, he noticed the difference between it and the others he already had. "This one is pitch black," he said.


    "Ding! This pillar is very ancient, already turned and bathed into darkness for such a long time. I suggest shaking it off with many arrows to cleanse it first."


    "Good advice," Arthur stood a few miles off that pillar before starting to rain it with many arrows.


    "Tick."


    "Tick."


    "Tick."


    "Boom."


    "Boom."


    "Boom."


    "Rumble."


    "Rumble."


    "Rumble."


    The first few arrows caused a muffled sound that seemed insignificant. Yet when more arrows hit the pillar, the sound intensified until the entire world shook with each hit.


    Then a sudden wave of light erupted, clearing everything in its path. And Arthur wasn''t an exception.


    "Damn," he cursed as he stood off the ground with many injuries.


    "Dang! Praise your luck! Your increase in strength in recent times leaned to the light side, cleansing your soul. So this attack hit you mildly, not like others."


    Arthur glanced at the devastation caused in the world around him before realizing what his system meant. The entire world here littered in ruins, and all the mighty army that stood on the ground was wiped clean!


    "Interesting attack," he laughed before heading towards the pillar.


    "Ding! Only those in pure darkness were massacred."


    The system suddenly spoke, making him puzzled. "Are there any survivors? How?"


    "Ding! There are many who survived, and this was due to their slave marks. All those coming from the dark clan were killed."


    "That''s¡­ good," he smiled as he caught up again, "cleanse them then use my ability."


    "Dang! I will cleanse them all and tell you the final number."


    "Alright," he agreed as he wasn''t interested in hearing the updates of each time his ability was used.


    Once he reached the pillar, he found a luster of light coming forth from its pitch dark structure. In the heart of it, he could see a slim thread of light pulsating weakly there. "Time for you to go home, buddy," he muttered before injuring himself and landing a drop of blood on it.


    "Rumble!"


    This time a strange eye appeared, not the familiar eye of his master. The eye looked more majestic as it scanned him, scanned everything in the world for a couple of long stressful minutes.


    "So, you are the lad he spoke of?" the sound came like coming from a million mouths. "you are something indeed," and the next moment Arthur felt all the oppression gone.


    "Thanks¡­ venerable master," he bowed his head, showing his respect to the new master.


    "It''s alright, you are doing us a favor after all," the venerable master said, before adding, "now continue your hard work, and in time you will be rewarded by me."

 Chapter 358: The Academy is Calling Them Back!

    A vague promise and the next moment the eye vanished! "Damn! That lucky bastard!" and then Arthur cursed, as he now wasn''t able to get his hands on the meal he wanted.


    He hurried to retreat as the pillar''s energy started entering his body. As there was no obstruction this time, he reached the portal in less minutes than he expected.


    And just as he was there, he cancelled his transformation and started channeling the energy.


    Once linked to his garden, he moved outside, returning again into the dragon form.


    And the world outside was filled with destruction from his arrows attacks!


    The monster guarded here was already killed, and his corpse lay on the ground motionless alongside all of his warriors.


    "It''s a waste to let this body rot here," he didn''t delay and took the dead corpse into his garden before glancing at the other portals.


    Some were hit in the middle of his last attack, and those were the closest to his place. "One down, hundreds left to take," he sneered as he went towards the next portal and repeated his assault.


    These portals didn''t have the same monster guarding them, and when he cleansed their pillars using his arrows; most of the warriors inside didn''t die!


    "Clear all their curses for me."


    "Ding! This¡­ this is just a large number! It will take time."


    "I have time to spare," Arthur laughed, "after all they will reside inside my garden."


    "Ding! Alright."


    Arthur then spent hours jumping from one world to another, meeting a couple of masters in the process. He reached a conclusion; each group of pillars resided under the guarding of one master.


    So when he cleansed and retrieved one pillar belonging to that master, this master would show up.


    What puzzled him yet was these masters stand against the pillars and their fate. These pillars belonged to the dark clans for a long time; yet these masters did nothing to prevent this thing.


    What he also noticed was the presence of different clans here. Not all the pocket worlds contained the same kind of dinosaur-like monsters. Some were like bats, and others were like hyenas. Some had snake bodies, and others had spider-like physique.


    In the end, he managed to take all the worlds to his garden. This rich harvest went beyond his imagination, as all worlds contained pillars in them!


    "These clans¡­ they are really strong," he had to admit, this world wasn''t freshly discovered. Instead it seemed a dark world resided under the dark clans'' grasp. "What was their aim to grant this to the academy?" this was the question he didn''t have an answer to.


    Such a world, with all these rich and strong clans, shouldn''t be sacrificed like this. "Did the higher ups want to punish the academy? Or the clans?" he muttered while heading back to Nara.


    The fight there was over a long time ago. After taking more than half of the worlds, killing and cleansing everyone inside, the reinforcements were cut down to a great extent. This helped Sara and Nara and the army of warriors a lot.


    So when he came back to the cluster of towns, everyone cheered loudly for his crushing victory. They lived their entire lives under the threat and humiliation of these dark clans, and today they tasted for the first time what it meant to be strong.


    They tasted what vengeance was like.


    And all this happened in their first days joining their new master, who turned in their eyes into a legendary master.


    "Welcome back," Nara welcomed him with her big smile, before adding, "it was intense, and we lost many. Yet the gains overshadow these losses."


    "That''s good to hear," he chuckled before adding, "let everyone ready to enter my place," he said as there were too many already here.


    "They are ready."


    "Take them inside, can you?"


    "Ding! You need to merge your scout with your garden, something that you can''t do now," the system replied, disappointing him. If he was to take them one by one, then he would take forever to do so!


    "Ding! Yet you can start a portal here linking to your garden. You will lose a small part of your strength to apply this ability, do you want me to do that for you?"


    Arthur was hesitant for a moment, "Alright, do it," yet he decided to unlock this ability. After all, he needed such a thing so he could enter his garden anywhere!


    "Ding! The portal creation ability is unlocked. Now you can create portals to your garden, but not to your star map."


    "Why?"


    "Ding! Your star map is much higher than your garden."


    "Tsk," he shook his head before adding, "alright, create a few portals here for them to enter."


    "Ding! Done!"


    The next moment, over a hundred portals appeared out of nowhere, startling everyone around them.


    "Don''t panic, just enter there and you will be safe," he shouted, and Nara then started to relay her orders.


    "Did you gain many pillars?" As for Sara, she knew how much Arthur yearned for the pillars. From the smile over his face since coming back, she realized he must have acquired a lot of them.


    "Hehehe," and he only laughed.


    "Ding! Big news! There is a trace of suction force coming to here."


    Suddenly his system said these words after a couple of hours and most of the warriors here managed to enter his garden. "What do you mean by that?" Arthur didn''t understand the words of his system.


    "Ding! The outer world, the academy, it''s calling upon everyone they sent inside."


    "Now?!!!" Arthur was shocked, yet he recalled something. "That damn week," he cursed, and the next moment his body felt heavy, like bathing in a pool of lead.


    "Ding! I can resist this for you, but not for long. Only one hour."


    "That''s¡­ not even enough!"


    Arthur had a scary thought right now, he didn''t manage to establish a link between this world and the academy world. He had a link between his star map and this world, yet he didn''t have such a link to the academy world.


    "Ding! This is fate, besides you can use your new ability. It will take much longer and be much harder, yet it''s a secure way to come here."


    "You mean establishing a portal from my garden to the academy world, then through my garden I go here via these portals?" he pointed towards the portals warriors were going into.


    "Ding! No, you can''t come here by that," the system said, before correcting him, "you will need to go to the star map first then here."


    "But where does the portal of the star map lie?"


    "Ding! You need a building to link the portal to."


    "I''m way off the city now!"


    "Ding! Use the buildings here then."


    "Here?!!" Arthur glanced around before sighing, "is there no other option?"


    "Ding! Unfortunately not. When you come back here again you can correct things."


    "Sigh," he then didn''t delay and took out many bird''s wings. He wrote to all of his team leaders and the city high people. He didn''t know if his team was still in the city or gone, yet he simply tried to explain what was going on and what they needed to arrange.


    And most of all, he stressed many times on his ability to return here soon.

 Chapter 359: Going Back to the Academy

    His instructions instantly vanished, reaching his followers. "I hope these reach them in time," he muttered before glancing at the two girls in front of him.


    "Make everyone haste," he said to Nara whose eyes showed doubt.


    "An enemy?" she asked.


    "No, my time here is up."


    "What?!" she was shocked beyond description, and also was Sara. "What do you mean? Are you leaving now?" she hurried to ask.


    "No time to waste, I only got one hour! Go now and push everyone inside, and you too go inside."


    The girls glanced at him, thinking he was joking. They just won a big fight, and it was the time to press forward.


    Yet he chose to leave at this moment!


    The two didn''t see the entire picture, and he didn''t care to explain. The next moment he moved towards the nearby buildings, trying to select someone big and strong enough to endure anything.


    "Is he serious?" Nara turned to ask Sara, who didn''t know what to say. She wasn''t less shocked than her right now! "I hope he isn''t," she replied, and her answer made Nara sigh.


    "A lot of questions needed to be answered," she muttered before going to her men to push everyone lasting here yet inside the portals.


    "Me too," Sara said, before glancing at Arthur who seemed looking for something. "I hope you know what you are doing!"


    She then went behind Nara, helping her.


    As for Arthur, he didn''t have a say in all that! He had many things in play, many loose ends and great opportunities. "I have to find a way to come here regularly," he muttered, knowing the issue wasn''t just about coming to this world.


    The biggest issue was the academy itself!


    This world had this advantage of time difference with the academy world. That meant he could spend the entire night in this world, staying for two days at least in this word.


    "But that isn''t secure," he knew this was quite risky. What if someone came to look for him? Being absent with no way to be found might not be that suspicious.


    Yet if this occurrence was repeated, and the news of his presence here in the world was revealed, his situation would be much complicated.


    "Ding! You can leave a clone of you here," the system suddenly said, per its habit; just saying the appropriate words in the most needed moment. "But this clone will take the dragon form of you, not you."


    "Meaning I can only use it here, not there," Arthur shook his head, as his problem wasn''t here but out there. "I need to be prepared for the worse," he muttered, setting the goal of securing his life in the academy as top priority now.


    "Ding! You can try to find an excuse."


    "Won''t do, I will come here each night and my deeds will be heard sooner or later," Arthur didn''t agree this time with the system suggestion. "I need to find something permanent."


    "Ding! Like what?"


    Arthur had found a big building that seemed to be used as the food storage in this place. "I don''t know yet. I have to go back first and assess the situation. Then I might find my chance."


    He then entered the building, checked its interior. It was a big empty building, with many racks with nothing on them. "This will do," he muttered, "what should I do?"


    "Ding! You need to put your hand on the building from the outside, and let me do the rest for you," the system said and then Arthur went outside without hesitation.


    The moment his hand touched the wooden surface, his palm shone brightly with white light. The light started to invade the entire building, and in minutes the building looked like it was on fire from far away.


    "Ding! It''s done, you can retrieve your hand."


    "One hardle is taken care of," Arthur wasn''t that excited, as he knew he had a long list of problems yet to solve.


    "They are still not finished," he shook his head while glancing at the remaining big number of villagers and warriors. "Sigh, I wanted to swallow the entire region, but that week¡­ tsk," he had a tinge of regret regarding the promotion trial he had.


    But he gained a lot of it, so he wasn''t that disappointed about it.


    "Ding! They will make it," the system said, "if not now, you can return and then they will continue to join your garden."


    "Through what?" Arthur was speechless, "my portals will all be gone!"


    "Ding! This building portal will be functioning."


    "My star map? No way, this is my top secret and only few could know about it," he shook his head before glancing over those hundreds of thousands still remaining here. "I need to do something about it."


    He then went to Nara and Sara. "You two go inside," he ordered and without giving them any chance to argue, he shouted at everyone:


    "The portals here are temporary. If they vanished, don''t panic," he then glanced at the two girls, who had no option but to go on and enter through one of the portals.


    Others made way for them. "If that happens, all you need to do is to head towards these mountains and live there for a couple of days. I promise I will come back to get you. Spread the word, anyone wants to be free, he has to show up in five days at top."


    He gave himself five days here and one day outside before coming back. "I won''t take longer than a day in the academy, right?" he said to himself.


    "Ding! Be ready, you will be moved now!"


    At the end of the hour, around two hundred thousands remained before he vanished from this world.


    He felt like his soul being sucked by irresistible force. He had nothing to do until his feet touched the ground, and his ears heard a noisy debate around even before the light was cleared away from his eyes.


    "Willy isn''t dead, my clan head is alive!" and this shout came to ring in his ears with the familiar tone of Ron.


    "If he is, then why didn''t he show up when we called? Enough time has passed, and with his death you are unqualified."


    "Who is dead?"


    Arthur''s voice rang in this open space that he never been to. The moment he started seeing things clearly, he knew he wasn''t outside the gates of the academy anymore.


    He was already inside!


    He didn''t even glance around enough to see who was assuming his death with such stubbornness.


    "Clan head!"


    "Clan master!"


    The moment he said these words, everyone had their eyes glued over his body like seeing a ghost. His team stood there for a moment before cheering out loud and running to him.


    "What took you so long?" and Amelia seemed quite frustrated.


    "Had to do some things, didn''t you receive my messages?" he asked, as he felt they didn''t.


    "What messages?" Ron asked, "we didn''t have anything from you."


    "Sigh," he shook his head before glancing around. He was inside a large garden; small trees and many strange plants with pink, yellow, and green everywhere.


    In the distance he could see general shapes of buildings scattered everywhere.


    And in this spacious place, the place was crowded!


    "Are you Willy of the Golden Lion clan?" This question came, not from the old man who Ron and others were debating with, but from a middle aged man that came from behind.


    And behind him, five marched with respect, including two he already knew; Cesile and Amanda.


    What was special was the fact the two were walking obediently with utmost respect.


    ''This must be the dean,'' he thought, and that was the only possible conclusion for him to reach.


    "Yes, sir dean," he didn''t what to call him so he used the title he had in his mind.


    "Good eyes, and keen senses," the man commended, "I heard a lot before now, you sure know how to cause ruckus anywhere you go."


    Arthur only smiled while Amanda did the introduction: "He is Mr. E, our grand elder."


    "He now knows I''m not the dean," he smiled before laughing, "and don''t worry I''m not interested in taking him from you. After all, having a new disciple for you is really a great news to me."


    He then glanced at Arthur before adding, "how are things inside?"


    "They are¡­ good," Arthur didn''t know what to say. If it was up to him, then he would have vented out his anger and frustration.


    "Good?" the grand elder looked quite suspicious, "I heard things other than this," he turned to glance in a certain direction. And there, an old lady came with an extremely fragile body; yet her eyes told Arthur a lot.


    ''She is dangerous!''


    ''Ding! Like the old man who argued with your butler.''


    ''Indeed,'' Arthur was already doubting this hag, while his face remained silent and his reaction was plain.


    "That world isn''t suited for lads like them," the hag said in a weak tone, yet it was strangely audible clearly to Arthur. "It was a trap world given to us by those nasty dark clans. If they remained inside anymore, we would have lost all of them."


    She then stopped leaning on her thick and long staff as she pointed it towards the space around with her arched back. "Look around, we sent tens of thousands and only a handful of hundreds returned! If we left them inside anymore; we might have much deeper losses than we have sustained already."

 Chapter 360: A Debate!

    The words of this old lady made Arthur speechless for a moment. "Even of all perished, I was excelling there and you stopped me!" he couldn''t hold himself back any longer.


    Despite her being dangerous, he wasn''t much afraid. This was the academy and he had already two devoted strong people on his side!


    "You¡­!!!" The hag was surprised by Arthur''s words. "If you can''t see through the things down there then you are blind!"


    "You are the blind one!"


    "Willy, hold your tongue please!'''' At this moment Amanda had to step in. "Lady U doesn''t mean bad! She cares about everyone, and even if you were surviving down there, that doesn''t mean you were triumphing!"


    "Humph," even against Amanda he wasn''t fazed.


    "Explain yourself kid," the old man who previously argued with Arthur''s gang came as well and joined the argument. "The world is totally ruled by dark clans, and no one of you is able to stand their might! The words reached us already; they were preparing a giant army to crush all of your weak settlements."


    "I didn''t build a settlement," he replied with strong belief, "I built a grand city with mighty defenses that crushed many armies and would crush more!"


    He wanted to shout loud, "I built an empire," yet he didn''t. his empire was his private dream and he wouldn''t risk exposing his outrageous ambition to anyone he didn''t know or trust.


    "A city?" this time it was the turn of Mr. E to speak up. "I have no information regarding this," and his words were directed to the two elders standing beside him right now.


    "We¡­ I don''t think I heard anything about a city before," the old man said, while feeling slightly pressured by Mr. E gazes. "It must be some exaggeration of this kid."


    "I''m not exaggerating," Arthur retorted back, "I built a huge city, fought many wars, and crushed Dorfis clan main assault a couple of times. In fact a week before coming out I crushed another big clan''s army on the same walls of my city. And now my armies are heading everywhere to press on the victory and grant me more territory, population, and resources. Except for your intervention, I would have crushed another group of clans led by a big dark one!"


    "You¡­" the elder''s face turned red from rage, "you shouldn''t have high hopes about that place. It was a trial meant to assess your performance."


    And Lady U joined the elder and supported his words. "Your presence inside was a temporary procedure. Your settlement or whatever you like to call stood no chance against the big dark clans deeply rooted inside; even if what you said about crushing the middle sized Dorfis clan is true!"


    Arthur didn''t speak again as Amanda gave him a warning glance while Cesile spoke for the first time. "If he says the truth, then we should use this city to our advantage," she suggested, trying not to slack Arthur''s efforts and deprive him from even the credit.


    "We don''t need anything pathetic as a weak settlement," the elder was already aggressive and rude, "we will handle our own things."


    "What about my city? My people?" Arthur asked, trying to show his faked anxiety.


    "They aren''t yours anymore," the elder harrumphed before coldly replying.


    "Tsk," and Arthur just went silent saying nothing.


    "Alright, shall this debate end here?" Mr. E tried to mediate, "as everyone returned from inside, the results of the assessment shall be pronounced."


    He then glanced at Arthur as he added, "everyone has already tested their progress at the memory crystal. It''s your turn now to be assessed. Come with me."


    He then stepped to the side where a small oval platform Arthur didn''t notice before stood erect with a diagonal shard of white crystal.


    "What is it?" he muttered while Amanda replied while walking to his front: "It''s a means to investigate memories. It''s the way to assess your progress inside without wasting much time."


    "A mind reader?!" he was shocked and worried that he even paused for a moment there.


    ''Ding! Don''t be startled; I will hide anything related to me, the world''s wills you got in touch with, and the star map.''


    Then Arthur continued walking.


    His momentary pause didn''t attract anyone''s eyes, as everyone was already focusing on Mr. E going to the crystal.


    All the previous disciples didn''t have such honor! And Mr. E wasn''t alone!


    All of the five great figures were walking behind him, side by side with the two supreme council elders.


    The sudden ruckus caused by Arthur''s appearance managed to attract everyone''s attention here. For those who were inside, the name of Willy became well known; yet none stepped forward to say a word or two to support his claims.


    All of the survivors here didn''t manage to claim this by their own work like Willy. They were all descendants of great clans and guilds in this world; most had deals with the dark clans even before stepping inside the test.


    Most were Arthur''s enemies, yet he didn''t know this.


    ''Don''t forget to cloud the memories of the pillars as well.''


    ''Ding! Ok!''


    ''And the deal with Olor, also the fight with the big clans.''


    ''¡­''


    His system didn''t answer, and Arthur kept thinking of his deeds inside the world. He did a lot, and many things were considered his secret.


    ''Ding! Don''t overthink matters, after all most of your deeds are well known to your real enemies in the dark side. Want to hear my opinion?''


    ''Sure,'' Arthur had arrived at the crystal with others.


    ''Ding! Make your allies know how great you are.''


    ''And the spies?''


    ''Ding! Your enemies don''t need any spies to know what they have already known on your deeds.''


    ''You got a point,'' Arthur complied with his system and then Mr. E spoke, distracting him from the conversation with his system:


    "This is the crystal of memory, just put your hands there and wait for her evaluation."

 Chapter 361: The Memory Crystal

    Arthur knew he couldn''t delay or do anything suspicious in front of all those strong people. So he went up ahead and put both of his arms on the crystal.


    A strange feeling started to assault him, making him feel quite dizzy.


    He felt the same as when the giant eyes of the masters of bronzed giants glanced at him; absolutely naked with nothing inside to hide!


    As for others, they didn''t feel what he felt, yet they were all glancing at the crystal, with much curiosity in their eyes.


    "If he says the truth, then this assessment will be extraordinary!" Mr. E said, not directing his words to anyone in particular.


    "Humph, as if a mere disciple candidate in his age coming from nowhere can do one tenth of what he claimed!" and the elder was already on bad terms with Arthur, directly standing to the opposite side of his.


    "Don''t judge early, Mr. B," Lady U said, while adding, "he might have done one hundredth only of what he said."


    "Hahaha, true, you are absolutely true, hahaha."


    The two laughed on the silly joke they cracked, but none shared their laughs. For Amanda and Cesile, Arthur was someone who kept doing surprises one after another. They trusted him, and even if he claimed an impossible claim; they chose to believe him.


    The other three with them shared the general belief as the two. After all everyone saw what Arthur did in the first part of the assessment.


    "Don''t underestimate him," and Mr. E had more faith in Amanda and Cesile than those two, "he might prove you two wrong."


    "Nonsense!" Mr. B shouted, "he can''t be this outstanding or else reports would come delivering his news!"


    "The reports that said before this world is a new world to inhabit and safe to be used in testing the kids?" it was Cesile who commented with a mocking tone.


    "Don''t you trust the supreme council''s assessments?" Lady U coldly said.


    "I can''t find myself trusting the reports regarding this trial at all," and Amanda stepped to stand beside Cesile in clear words, "these reports were flawed from the start, and I advise the elders to start a wide investigation and find the culprit behind this¡­ mistake."


    She wanted to say shame or felony, yet she paused before choosing a milder form of expression. She was strong and her stance in the academy was unshaken, but she wasn''t the only one here enjoying such treatment.


    And most important than all; her future disciple shouldn''t live under the threat of the supreme council. She wouldn''t stay inside the academy all the time, and she didn''t want to venture on a mission and return to find him killed by them.


    "I will personally see this issue investigated thoroughly," and Mr. E''s words were the final decision in this matter.


    After which no one spoke again, while glancing over the crystal waiting for the assessment.


    "Didn''t it take a slightly longer time than usual?" Cesile said after the passage of half an hour without showing any response.


    "Or the evaluation was zero and the kid is just feigning being tested," Mr. B sneered before shouting out loud, "hey you, stop acting and come down. We already know how great you did down there, hahaha."


    He was in a good mood, while Amanda exchanged glances with Cesile. Both seemed to be much closer than ever after Arthur appeared in the picture.


    "If the evaluation was a failure, the crystal will inform us about it," and Mr. E had to step in again before this escalated to another debate. "He is still testing, let''s wait and see."


    "Tsk," Mr. B sneered and said nothing. He knew this fact for sure, yet he was trying to tease the two kids playing mighty and authoritative, supporting a new disciple he wouldn''t put in his eyes!


    As for Arthur, he was still feeling dizzy, not knowing how much time passed. Yet after an hour and a half, he finally felt his mind returning to work normally and he staggered a few steps to the back before stabilizing himself.


    Yet just before he could adapt and analyze what he just experienced, the crystal in front of him started to shine.


    "Is it¡­ alright?" Arthur asked as he stepped more distance to the back, joining up the group of the heads of the academy.


    "It''s starting to show up your evaluation," Amanda was the first to speak before Cesile added, "you took much longer than usual."


    "Yet not the longest in our academy history," and Mr. B didn''t let this opportunity slip off his fingers, "the highest record ever belonged to the legendary supreme council head, my great grandfather!"


    "We all know that, Mr. B," and Mr. E said, trying to stop any more quarrel, "the moment of truth is coming up and this kid evaluation will be revealed."


    "Humph, he is just an arrogant weak kid! If he had such talent, then he would have been discovered long ago by our scouts," and Lady U said, also trying to belittle Arthur.


    "Scouts aren''t gods and many examples proved that in our history!" yet Cesile didn''t accept these words and stepped forward to defend her disciple.


    "Rare occasions, my dear, they are extremely rare occasions," yet Lady U wasn''t fazed as she said, in a tone of a mentor trying to correct her disciple''s foolish mistake.


    "We''ll see," Mr. E said again, "the first color ended and the next one is appearing," he added as the white flashing color of the crystal changed into a second one.


    "What are these colors?" Arthur stood on the side silently watching all this debate while not knowing where to laugh or cry. He just wanted to prove his ability and achievements, yet he didn''t want to create enemies.


    Except those already working for the dark clans. "Are you working for them?" he muttered to himself, eyeing the two elders with doubt.


    "The crystal explores your memories, and as we asked it to assess the trial; it will only care for any memories about the trial," Amanda calmly replied, "the evaluation is stripped according to colors, and the more colors you get the higher your evaluation would be."


    "And the grade you will be when joining the academy. The white color is nothing, as the starting grade for us begins with green," Cesile added, while the crystal showed faint green light.


    "The colors aren''t everything," yet Mr. B didn''t let the three exchange happy words and didn''t try to ruin the atmosphere, "the most important is the luster and density of the final color you will achieve. See this one you scored," he pointed towards the crystal, "this is faint green, meaning you didn''t do well in this trial, not as well as you claimed."


    "That''s true if it''s the final color!" Cesile tried to control herself when replying to these hidden insults.


    "It''s," and Mr. B kept harassing her.

 Chapter 362: Scoring An Excellent Grade

    And yet he was destined to be proven wrong! It didn''t take a minute for the color to change showing faint blue.


    "A second grade? Tsk, not shabby for a junior with a big mouth," and Lady U had her share to mock Arthur this time.


    But no one spoke to her, as the color started to change again to be faint bronze.


    "Third grade? That''s nice," and this time Cesile was the one to support Arthur, trying to repay what the two arrogant elders said moments ago.


    Arthur stood in his place saying nothing. He didn''t know if this crystal read his secrets or not. ''If the evaluation is shown in colors, then I should be safe,'' he said to himself, trying to calm down his disturbed mind.


    ''Ding! The most important thing is the absence of any means to investigate the crystal, or else you should better think about destroying it.''


    ''That''s a good idea,'' he smiled before watching the color change again. This time it was bright silver.


    "Fourth grade? With outstanding performance?" Mr. E muttered, and his words landed on the place making it dead silent.


    Every party here had their own thoughts, with those supporting Arthur celebrating, and the other thinking how to tarnish these results and making them invalid.


    Yet another color changed as a dark golden color appeared shone from the crystal.


    Then a bright red color, followed by bright white, then lastly it ended with pitch black color.


    "Seventh grade? A fresh disciple jumped directly to seventh grade? This is bullshit!" Lady U groaned about this result, not able to contain her doubts and frustration anymore.


    "We need proof, each crystal can provide a proof for the assessment if asked," and Mr. B said, claiming for a proof, "no one ever entered the academy and started in seventh grade directly. He can''t be this genius, or else the scout must have discovered him a long time ago!"


    "Scouts aren''t gods! They usually commit mistakes!" Amanda spoke, defending her brilliant disciple. She was now feeling much excited about this result, feeling much pride about Arthur. Also the old and unforgettable incident of her first disciple made her slightly worried, but not too much actually.


    ''I have watched him fighting the dark clans, being targeted by them. If he was one of them, he wouldn''t be subjected to such treatment,'' she said to herself, justifying the worry and trying to get rid off it.


    "I ask for a hearing request from the crystal," yet Mr. B didn''t back off.


    "Me too," and Lady U joined him in that claim.


    "And I also request that," and surprisingly Cesile also said, "I need to cut any loose doubts about the extraordinary performance of my disciple."


    "It''s mine, not yours!" Amanda joked with her, knowing deep inside that she stole Arthur from her in first place!


    "Chill out you two, I won''t let this gem fall to anyone but me," and Slone, the giant man standing silent all the time beside the two ladies spoke, finally expressing his thoughts.


    "Me too!"


    "This gem is too precious to let go, consider me in this as well."


    The other two also spoke, making the two ladies glare at them.


    "Calm down, it''s a privilege for a sixth grade and above disciple to follow more than one master," and Mr. E spoke to calm the about to explode situation before laughing. "Even I find myself enticed to accept him as a disciple."


    "Proven that this assessment is right!" yet Mr. B was dead fixed on doubting Arthur.


    "Alright, I, Mr. E, ask for a hearing from you, memory crystal."


    The words of Mr. E just fell on the crystal before it shone brightly with all the colors it released. The colors kept alternating before finally stopping on the bright white one.


    "A white color, that''s a peculiar choice," and Mr. E muttered. "Did he save a big shot inside that world?" and he asked himself, while his voice was loud enough to be heard by others.


    ''The world''s will, sh*t!'' and Arthur inwardly cursed.


    The next moment the crystal didn''t give him or the system any chance to speak as it emanated a screen in front of everyone. There, scenes started to play and the appearing scenes made even Arthur speechless.


    "All of these¡­ were rescued by him?" Amanda couldn''t keep her shock inside anymore. In front of her, the screen showed Arthur standing in front of a portal, looking over hundreds of thousands of villagers living in a cluster of towns and villages while promising them a free path from slavery and a path for revenge!


    And the next scene played where he stood in front of tens of thousands of warriors, promising them the same thing. And the scenes kept showing his deeds to the slaves in that pocket world, where he promised the same everytime; a path out of slavery and a path for prosperity and revenge.


    The last scene played was the scene after his battle with the dark clans outside the cluster of villages and towns. Over a million villagers stood there cheering his name, as they went into the many portals he provided; taking them all into his garden world.


    "He can use portal techniques, that''s unbelievable!" Cesile was the one to express her surprise of what she saw.


    "That bow," yet Slone''s eyes were fixed on something entirely different, "it''s a good bow," he added while commending the bow that appeared frequently in all the scenes.


    "He is¡­ a good lad," and finally Mr. E spoke up, while turning to glance at the two friends of his in the supreme council of the academy. Mr. B and Lady U had their faces darkened when seeing these scenes. "I think it''s unquestionable now about his performance and results," he added, trying to clear any bad impressions the two had. "He is a strong lad that our academy shall support."


    "With all might," Amanda said.


    "With all might," and the other four around her said in an enthusiastic tone.


    "With all might," yet Mr. B muttered in low tone and depressed spirit, while Lady U kept her silence.

 Chapter 363: Announcing The Results

    "Let''s go and announce the results," Mr. B wanted to end this unpleasant scene now.


    "Yes, it''s about time we do that," and Mr. E agreed before focusing over Arthur. "You did incredibly good inside this world," he praised.


    "Thanks, can I gain access to the world then?" he said, trying to find a solution to his problem. "As you can all see, I have many whom I saved and trusted me with their lives. I can''t let them alone like this. I can''t go back on my words."


    "Words you said with no authority or backing, you shouldn''t have done that in the first place, humph," and Lady U harrumphed, expressing her dissatisfaction.


    "The council has to fully agree on your request," Mr. E seemed troubled as he hinted to him about the dead end he was seeking.


    "Sigh," all Arthur could do was to helplessly sigh while walking behind the others to a small stage in this place.


    Everyone standing here had seen the scenes broadcasted by the crystl and heard the big words and promises he made. They also heard his pleading and Mr. E kind refusal.


    Their eyes carried out mocking expressions, most not all of them were already eyeing him as their biggest rival and enemy in the academy.


    Arthur didn''t care about them. He knew most if not all already belonged to big clans and guilds one way or another. They weren''t the ones responsible for their decisions to start with.


    ''I don''t care about minions,'' he said to himself while watching Mr. E ascend the platform.


    "The test is concluded, and the results are out. The first five of you are Willy, Brand, Garny, Ema, and Lisa. These five are arranged per their performance and fair assessment by the memory crystal," he paused before adding, "yet this year we have a unique occasion; Willy has scored enough deeds to be in the seventh grade, being the leader of this batch of disciples."


    The words of Mr. E fell and the place went into deafening silence from shock. All the eyes here went to stick over Arthur, even those disciples who came to check on their future followers.


    Eyes were fixed on Arthur, and he felt much hatred emanated towards him. But he wasn''t fazed. He knew his new life here would prove to be quite challenging.


    ''I need to find a way to solve the problem of the portal,'' he muttered as the only viable option was one which would make him waste more time.


    "Now, you will follow the senior disciples to show you around the academy. As for those who didn''t fare well, good luck next time and I hope to see you next year."


    Mr. E ended his speech short before descending the platform and coming towards Arthur with the big names around him.


    "You need to come with us first," Mr. E laughed, "there is another issue we need to settle before letting you go."


    Arthur understood his meaning, and at this moment he stood in the middle of his group. "Can they come?" he said.


    "Sure, yet they will stay outside the council building," and the answer came with a happy smile from Mr. E.


    Arthur then went outside the open garden he was in. Along the way, everyone made a route for this collection of celebrity figures in the academy, and all of the eyes laid upon Arthur and his group of a hundred; wondering what they were doing there.


    The group passed through many open gardens, crossed many roads, and bypassed some buildings. What Arthur noticed was the unique design of the academy.


    Buildings weren''t clustered together in one spot, they were scattered along the place. Gardens had the upper hand here, and thus it was logic for many disciples to sit there in small groups and chat.


    "There are such a large number of disciples," he muttered as he met thousands of students in the past hour.


    "The academy is grand and it controls a large piece of land," Otman, one of the three males, said.


    "Despite our high standards, we welcome thousands of new disciples each year," Cesile explained.


    "Plus the presence of many groups following each one of them, so the total number of disciples and followers in the academy is really big," and Slone joined.


    They were all trying to make good contacts with him, yet two refrained from doing that. Arthur appreciated their explanation and care for him, and he realized they had a point here.


    "So the academy has millions?" he muttered, thinking this number was too much.


    "Only those high in grades are allowed to live in the inside campus of the academy," Mr. E said, trying to stop this hidden war between his followers, "as for the rest, they live in the outer campus located in many places around the academy."


    Arthur nodded as this made more sense to him. Yet the total number of students here was really too much!


    "Don''t think the number is really in millions; each year we lose many good disciples and their followers. So, the exact number of students and their followers doesn''t exceed five hundred thousand," Amanda spoke, and as usual she was more specific than others in regard to the academy info.


    "Still¡­ too much," he smiled, as he thought this was a power no one could easily resist. The academy seemed to be a place to educate, yet he had this feeling he was walking to a warmongering academy.


    They finally reached a place that seemed quite restricted to many. A giant wall stretched to guard this place, and this wall wasn''t built of stones but with some sort of energy. A huge ball made of white color created a protective shield around a smaller area inside the heart of the academy.


    "Shield formation?" he was surprised, yet Mr. E corrected him: "It''s a checking formation."


    "No one with no authority to enter here can bypass this formation no matter how strong he is!" Otman proudly said, before adding, "this is made by my boys, following my instructions."

 Chapter 364: The Problem of the Portal

    Arthur glanced at him, feeling the need to kidnap this man and make him work for his purpose! He read many dark formations already, yet he couldn''t implement what he read so far.


    ''I need to ask him about formations,'' he decided.


    "Your formation can''t work without the help of my boys," Slone said, as the cold war between the master started to intensify. "The pols and runes you asked for are all prepared by my boys. I''m the best blacksmith master in the academy after all!"


    "And I''m the strongest defensive master!" yet Otman refused to budge!


    "And I''m the strongest master in offense!" Cesile had a fiery temper and she refused to let the two dominate the scene.


    "And I''m your acting dean until your dean comes back! Can you stop acting childish in front of a child! Grow up and wait for your chances, they are soon to come."


    His words stopped the about to escalate argument, while knowing this would be only temporary.


    The main war will be conducted in front of the elder''s council of the academy.


    "This way," he said to Arthur while glancing at his followers, "you stay here and he will be back in a short time."


    Arthur nodded to the silent group of his. Arthur gave them a warning glance when he came from the memory crystal, making them all silent and discrete.


    Everyone here knew a thing or two about his deeds, and the main figures in the group knew more. Amelia was the most informative one, and so she was the most discrete and strict one; stressing upon all not to say a word!


    Arthur went inside the building which seemed large from the outside. It was five stories high, yet when he went in he was surprised to find it formed of two levels only.


    And they headed to the ground floor.


    The place had five doors, and Mr. E just selected one of them where it led to a spacious room. "Go there and wait until I summon the council," he said to Arthur while disappearing with the rest through another door.


    Arthur went in, where there were many seats on the ground, with many balconies overseeing a central empty platform from different levels. He knew this platform was the place he was supposed to be, yet he went to one of the seats and waited.


    He wasn''t lazy, as he was immersed in a debate with his system at the moment!


    ''I need to find another means to do that!''


    ''Ding! This is the only possible way right now. You can leave a clone here and go to the other world via your garden and star map. Then you can return using the portal guarded by your clone.''


    ''This¡­ leaving a dragon in the academy dorms isn''t wise!''


    ''Ding! I know, but it''s the only way to keep the portal running. Or else the portal will vanish the moment you leave this world.''


    ''Tsk, it''s not a good plan,'' he complained, as he knew he would be busted at any moment.


    ''Ding! Then try to find out another mean.''


    ''You mean?''


    ''Ding! You seem to select a master, try to ask the masters about the ability to establish a link to this world.''


    Arthur thought about this for a moment. ''They aren''t that mean to me, yet it would be risky to expose my ability to go to that world.''


    ''Ding! You will be discovered sooner or later.''


    ''I know, but better later than sooner.''


    ''Ding! It''s your call.''


    ''Tsk.''


    Arthur wasn''t sure about what he should do, yet he couldn''t abandon what he made so far in his city. Each passing moment here without checking on things there seemed a loss; a great loss to him.


    ''The timing of coming here couldn''t be any more perfect,'' he complained.


    Coming here this soon was expected, yet the time wasn''t what he hoped for. He was already on the win move, and he wanted to press forward and secure his big win.


    ''Ding! Waiting a day or couple won''t affect your progress so much,'' the system said.


    ''I hope you are correct,'' and Arthur sighed.


    Arthur waited in this place for almost an hour. He was already impatient and quite nervous. If it was up to him, he would go directly to his dorm, close his doors and not see anyone for days after.


    ''Yet that would look suspicious,'' he muttered.


    "Creak!"


    The next sound he heard was the sound of many doors opening. The balconies all had many people appearing at it; old and young. Yet they all glanced at him in the most curious way.


    ''Something seemed odd here,'' he said to himself, and he was right in his guess.


    This hour he passed here wasn''t wasted in nothing, as the five masters argued in front of the elders about their right to make Arthur theirs.


    This was the first thing they had to do; convince the council of elders with their right so they would be named in the final list Arthur would choose from.


    And four were selected, as the fifth one didn''t have any strong proof to support his claims. He was a swordsman, and Arthur never showed a sword around him either before getting to the academy or in the trials.


    They even asked the help of the crystal which didn''t see the times where Arthur used his bloody sword. So the decision was made after many debates, and four stood in front of Arthur right now on that platform.


    As for him, he was asked to stand in front of the platform and wait.


    "See, this is a rare occasion in the history of our academy," Mr. E stood in one balcony while saying these words, not to Arthur alone but to everyone else.


    "A disciple has reached seventh grade in one go, making him quite valuable and a very good asset to us. He did extraordinary in the test as you saw. So, we will grant him the privilege of choosing more than one master according to his needs and desire."

 Chapter 365: The Selection Process

    He then shifted his gaze to the four standing in front of Arthur as he continued:


    "Five competed on him, and many more asked also to sponsor the kid. Yet we settled on these four. So, you can now speak your thoughts and show your pros so he would choose wisely."


    "Tsk, if not you aren''t a swordsman, tsk," the moment Mr. E finished his words, the swordsman that wasn''t selected complained in a loud tone.


    "Who said I''m not?" and Arthur suddenly replied, making those who were about to reprimand Armond stop.


    "You are?" and Armond eagerly asked, "but the crystal didn''t show any sword with you," he added, in a doubtful tone.


    Yet he hoped the words Arthur claimed to be true.


    "I have this little one here," Arthur summoned in the next moment his bloody sword. The sword was still in phase of evolution, yet the moment it appeared it caused stir that startled Arthur, startled everyone.


    The sword had a fog of blood emanated from it, red and green in color. The moment it went out, everyone sensed the oppression coming from it. "What a fine sword you have," and even Armond had his eyes fixed over this sword, wishing he could lay his hands over it to examine.


    "Thanks, master," and Arthur sent the troubling sword back, wondering why it acted in such a way!


    "You are sure full of surprises," Mr. E laughed, "alright, let Armond join the fun then."


    Armond didn''t hesitate as he used his sword and jumped off his balcony heading to the platform. He stood erect with his flying sword on his side, while Arthur marveled this technique and ability.


    As for others, it wasn''t the best news ever. One more rival was added to the mix, and it seemed Arthur was interested in him.


    "I will start," Slone was the first to speak, with his giant body quivering from his excitement. "I''m the greatest master in the academy when it comes to forging. Name it and anything you can think of I can make for you. Selecting me as a master will boost your forging skills, and if you aren''t fond of forging then I can promise to train some of your followers to be excellents blacksmiths."


    His words were said before he took a step back, leaving the stage for others.


    And Otman was the next eager one to step forward.


    "As you saw, any formation in the academy I was the master behind it. I won''t brag much, but no formation master born in these walls didn''t learn from me. I promise to turn you into a mighty formation master, someone excelled at defending yourself, your group, and any place you want."


    He paused as he recalled the offer that Slone made just now. "And if you aren''t that interested in formations, I can support your group, turning whoever wishes to become a mighty formation master."


    He then went back, stood proud with his head high. He gave a mocking glance over Slone, as if he was sure he would be a better option for Arthur.


    "It''s my turn now," and Cesile laughed as she stepped forward. "One word, I''m the one who saw your talent first and supported it. You have seen how much I defended you at the Nystic clan, and I will always defend you anytime.


    I''m considered the top master in offense; no one here can stand a single attack of me. Even the king of defense, Otman, can''t do it. Even the ace blacksmith, Slone, can''t have any gear to defend against my attacks. Rest assured that I will train you and your entire group to be the strongest group ever in the academy."


    She then laughed, feeling happy about her presentation, more confident than the other two about her chances in gaining Arthur''s choice.


    For her, she was certain Arthur would choose her beside Amanda. Only Armond had a chance against her, slim chance in her opinion.


    "Tsk, you three are going all out leaving me slim chance to shine," Armond complained before standing in front of Arthur, "I promise you to train you best in swords. You will be the most ferocious one over there. Defense? Huh, what does a swordsman need a defense for? Gears? That''s lame, only a single sword and a single swordsman are needed, nothing else!


    Offense? There is no comparison with a true swordsman, with due respect to my fellows here.


    A swordsman life is sharp like the edge of his sword; attack to kill, and kill with single attack only. That''s my motto."


    He then added while taking a step back, "and I will train all of your group and anyone you recommend if they show interest in swords as well. That''s my promise to you."


    "Finally you finished your pathetic attempts," Amanda said before moving forward. "I will wait for you at my private courtyard," she only said this before retreating; from the entire hall!


    "Are you this confident?" Mr. E laughed while watching her reach the door fast in calm steps and such a domineering attitude.


    "He is mine, and other masters are the ones who should aim to gain his interest," she simply replied before vanishing behind the door of the hall.


    "Such arrogance," Slone shook his head, "I wish I have some of this as well!"


    "She is pretty sure of her win, after all¡­ she is Amanda," Cesile sighed, before looking at Arthur, "what''s your call then? Whom will you choose among us?"


    Arthur was on his own world, thinking deeply about their offers and how he could use these well. He needed all of these services, if not for him then for all of his large followers.


    For instance, he would send Agnus and Madly to train under Slone''s guidance. He also would recommend Gor and Deem to learn from Otman. As for Armond, he would send Amelia, Randy, and Omar to learn from him.


    Cesile would best to train his big warriors, especially Sara, Tina, and the scorpion he had. They were very offensive and played a great role in all his attacks.


    As for himself, he would train under all, keeping Amanda exclusively for him.


    "What''s your decision, kid? We don''t have the entire time to waste here," one of the elders said in a rude way, expressing his uninterest in attending here.


    "Give him some time," yet Mr. E stood on his side, "this isn''t a simple decision to make."


    "Humph, hopefully he wouldn''t wait for my funeral to decide."


    Arthur felt the enmity clear in the tone of that man, yet he didn''t bother much about it. He knew the great clans and guilds had their own pawns inside the academy.


    What he did, either inside the test or in the academy after his return, would stir up trouble no doubt. Plus, he didn''t remove the possibility of many of them already collaborating with dark clans.


    "I have decided," he then said loudly, attracting everyone''s attention.


    "Finally," and that man said, trying to demote the high attention Arthur had. "Tell us kid, which one you chose with your brilliant sense and extraordinary mind?" he added, in a way that showed mocking rather than appreciation.


    "I will choose them all," and Arthur just smiled, as his answer descended upon all like thunder.


    "What have you just said? All of them? What do you think you are?!!!" and the aggressive elder said first, trying to gain support for his claims.


    "It''s¡­" and Mr. E paused, not knowing what to say, "really a first incident in the academy to have more than two masters for one disciple."


    He paused for long moments, while everyone was eyeing him. He was the head of the elders'' council, a presence that had much influence upon most of the other elders here.


    His word would be heard and many would follow.


    "Do you know that each master has certain tasks to be fulfilled? Failing some for some time will make others claim to deprive you from this master?" and he didn''t rush to say his decision, instead he expressed his thoughts.


    "Tasks like what?" Arthur asked, trying to know better about his next life in the academy.


    "Take Slone for instance, he will give you the task of making a certain number of gears each week. If you fail to comply with the numbers, or satisfy the quality, you will have a bad report from him."


    Mr. E then turned to glance over the four masters here, "any master can''t cover up the slaking of his disciples; these are the rules that all follow to the letter. Plus that," he then turned again to Arthur, "you need to attend their lessons, study them and try to apply these to you."


    "Can''t I have some followers help me in these tasks?" Arthur asked, trying to see any loophole here to exploit. If it was only up to him to do these tasks, then this choice of his would exhaust him to death!


    He also had to think about his city and imperial project he had there! He needed time to go and come without being pressured.


    "Sure, but you need to make a certain percentage of your duties yourself. Plus don''t trust your group so much, not everyone is a genius like yourself."


    "Then I choose to stick to my decision," Arthur didn''t doubt the ability of the ones he would choose. After all he had a large number of followers, not a mere hundred.


    He already had some in his mind!


    "This can''t be! No disciple should be allowed to mock out the teaching system like this!" and yet another elder spoke up, trying to stir others to support him and his ally''s stand against Arthur.

 Chapter 366: A Debate

    Arthur glanced at the direction the sound came from, yet it was in a high leveled balcony; so he didn''t see the features of that elder quite well.


    "It hasn''t happened before, but that doesn''t mean it''s prohibited," Mr. E spoke with a high tone, "so we can''t blame the boy for being greedy."


    "Yet he has to know this comes with great responsibility," one of the elders said; a woman she was, "each master here has a long list of weekly assignments. He has to finish them, either alone or with the help of his team."


    Mr. E didn''t reply, as he glanced at Arthur who instantly said: "I understand the stakes and am ready to shoulder the responsibility."


    "You heard the boy," and this time Slone couldn''t hold himself back anymore, "he promises to be a good lad and do all the tasks required."


    "You can''t go easy on him or favor him because he has many masters," another elder spoke, warning the four masters on the platform. "Our academy has a reputation to guard," he added.


    "Rest assured Mr. L, we know what we have to do," Cesile also spoke up, supporting Slone and Arthur.


    "Great," Mr. E spoke up before adding, "it''s settled. The boy will choose five masters. Whose in favor raises hands," he then asked for a vote.


    And Arthur didn''t find it surprising for the most of the present here to aid Mr. E''s decision.


    "That''s decided then," and Mr. E said in a happy tone, "let this be a rare moment of our history. A disciple coming from an unknown clan to take five masters and achieve grade seven. Welcome Willy," he said, while congratulating Arthur.


    "Thanks, Mr. E."


    "For you it''s the grand elder," Mr. E corrected him with a joke.


    "Thanks, grand elder," and Arthur complied.


    "Now go, you need to rest then start your teachings tomorrow."


    Arthur heard the sounds of many doors being shut. "It seems some are pissed off at me," and he chuckled, not feeling any pressure at the moment.


    His focus was entirely on how to reach the other world.


    "Good lad, I will see you tomorrow in my courtyard," Slone said while Otman patted on his shoulder followed by Armond who just gave him a nod.


    Then all vanished fast from his eyesight while he joined his group with Cesile walking on his side.


    "You know¡­ you surprised me inside for a moment there, hehehe," she was extremely happy about this unexpected result. "I bet she even didn''t see this coming," she said, referring to Amanda.


    "I just wanted to learn all of what they spoke of," he tried to justify himself, as he sensed some doubt in her words.


    "Surely you are an extraordinary mage," she said before adding, "anyway I will lead you now to your new residence. As your grade is high, you will stay here in the core academy with your team."


    "Oh, the core academy, that looks fantastic," Arthur said, expressing his delight.


    "By the way, do you know some elders didn''t like what you scored?" she said while leading the path with Arthur walking a step behind.


    "I noticed," he replied, "they seem quite annoyed by what I did," he added.


    "Sure, they hailed from great clans and guilds. Such pathetic existence is mean and dark. I wanted once to investigate the background of each great clan and guild, to see if some are dealing with black clans here. Yet these elders led a giant move against me at that time, tsk."


    Arthur gave her a side glance, thinking if she would be the right person to seek. "Where is your courtyard? Here?" he asked.


    "No, only Amanda has her own courtyard here, given that she has no disciples at all," she said before adding, "see that building over there? Her courtyard lies just behind it. So near to your dorm actually."


    She pointed to a direction then to another opposite one, making Arthur speechless. ''How could the two be close?!!'' he wondered, while walking behind her towards the direction of his dorm.


    After a half an hour walk, and through meeting very few disciples and masters who gave the new faces a curious looks; they finally reached their place of residence.


    Calling it a dorm was such an understating word. It was a giant mansion, with a wall surrounding it and three small buildings inside.


    The main mansion was three stories high, the typical of most buildings they saw so far. "Here, you will stay in this place," Cesile said while enjoying the reaction on everyone''s faces. "What do you think of this?"


    "Just¡­ awesome!" Amelia was really shocked with such generosity. She heard many words among the crowd while waiting for Arthur to return; all were speaking about common dorms where many disciples would share the place with others.


    But this one¡­ it was like having their own territory inside the academy.


    "Now go inside and familiarize yourselves on the place," Cesile said before adding, "you should ask for maids to come and servants as well if you want. If you do, then ask any of your masters tomorrow and he or she will arrange that for you."


    She then started to walk away, very fast, disappearing soon from their eyesights.


    "Go inside, I have something to do," Arthur suddenly said before turning to Amelia, "you will be responsible for leading my team here. Arrange everything until I return."


    He didn''t wait for anyone to say anything before moving after Cesile. He walked to the direction of Amanda''s dorm, while others glanced at him for a moment before Amelia took the charge in his stead.


    "You heard the clan master, go inside and let''s arrange where you will sleep."


    She then took everyone inside, while few eyes were tracking them, and now they started to track Arthur.


    Arthur didn''t notice them, as he walked fast towards Amanda''s residence. If there was someone here willing to help him, Amanda would be that person.

 Chapter 367: A Chat with Amanda

    ''Ding! You will need to give her some info then.''


    ''Giving one person I trust some of what I know won''t be a problem like going out and asking everyone, right?''


    ''Ding! It''s your choice, yet you must know Amanda isn''t an easy person.''


    ''And is capable and quite resourceful! You weren''t with me when she connected with me from such a great distance far," he said, recalling what happened when a dark clan assassin fought with him.


    The distance between his dorm and Amanda''s took roughly an hour. He wanted to run, yet when he met some disciples here and masters, he refrained from doing such an eye catchy act.


    Reaching Amanda''s residence, he wasn''t surprised to see a grander mansion than his. It had even security, servants, and maids.


    "Stop, no one is allowed to trespass here," one of the five guards stopped him in such a rude manner.


    "Sorry to ask, but can you tell the lady that her disciple is here?"


    His words were met with strange gazes, not only from the five guards but even from the maids and servants inside the mansion.


    "What''s your name?"


    "Willy."


    "Alright, wait here for your punishment then," the guard said as if Arthur just committed a grave mistake. "My lady has no disciples, that''s a known fact," he added, as he aggressively eyed him.


    "She accepted me today," Arthur wasn''t fazed at all, "just go inside and inform her and you will know everything."


    The guard''s look seemed strange, yet he muttered: "Wait here," then he went inside the mansion.


    After five minutes he came up, with much shocked expression on his face than when he heard Arthur''s words. "Alright, come inside. She is waiting," he said, while the other four turned to glance at him, thinking he was sick or something.


    Yet he gave them a meaningful glance before clearing a path for Arthur to go through. Arthur nodded to him while moving inside the mansion where everyone glanced at him like witnessing an extraordinary moment.


    "You know I never thought you''d make such ruckus," she came out from the mansion wearing comfortable clothes and looked different from the serious one he used to see. "What? Feeling surprised to see me like that? I''m a lady you know," she laughed shortly at his funny expression.


    "Oh, sorry to disturb you," Arthur said, trying to hide his embarrassment.


    "No problem, I really didn''t imagine you coming to me this soon," she said before adding, "come inside, I think you have urgent matters to discuss then," she then glanced towards the distance, out to nowhere before muttering something unheard to him followed by the appearance of a transparent shield around the mansion.


    "Instant array!" and Arthur was inwardly shocked by the technique she used.


    "Don''t think Otman is the only one specialized in formations," she chuckled, before adding, "for me you can consider I''m a rounded mage, with high strength and speciality in everything. Come, no one will annoy us anymore," she said while walking gracefully inside her mansion.


    The mansion was really luxurious, full of statues of beautiful ladies and many golden and rare ore ornaments.


    She led him to one of the smaller rooms inside the ground floor, where she waved to a servant as she asked:


    "What do you want to drink? Or you are hungry perhaps?"


    She seemed rather opposite to the stern looking lady she always was. "Thanks, I''m fine," and he simply rejected, as he had many things in mind.


    "Seems you are quite troubled by something," she said while waving to the servant who went outside and closed the door. "Tell, what bothers you? So far all I can see is a bunch of twisted elders whom everyone doesn''t like."


    She referred to the elders in her words, yet his face didn''t show anything to what she said. "Perhaps¡­ your city?" she frowned while his face showed a slight change.


    "Hahaha, c''mon, don''t tell me after completing the task and being here you are still thinking of that small place of yours."


    She seemed not to really understand the true value of what Arthur did inside that world. His greatest fear was for the academy to come after his city, yet he didn''t expect this cold shoulder towards what he worked for so hard.


    "I want to have access there," he said, finally trying to ask without offering anything in return.


    "That¡­ you just came back, and you have obligations you know," she didn''t know how to respond to him.


    "I can come back often from there," he said, without adding much.


    Yet what he just spilled out made the eyes of her shine. "You little rascal! You have a way to go there and come with your own will!" she laughed while adding, "if you have such a mean, then why come here to see me?"


    She paused, and he didn''t answer and remained silent. "Your method is flawed," she said while leaning leisurely on her seat, extending one leg over the other, exposing her soft white skin. "Tell me, why should I help you?"


    He was about to speak, yet she added, correcting her question, "Let me rephrase it for you, what can a master like me benefit from a disciple like you? Give me some benefits, and keep your secrets for yourself¡­ for now at least," she wasn''t interested in his secrets, as she was pretty sure she would come across them one way or another.


    What interested her greatly was the benefits he could offer; these would expose to her what value his secrets were and what plans this little sneaky disciple of hers had in mind.


    Arthur on other hand was surprised by her demands. He waited silently as she glanced with no hurry; she knew she startled him by her question.


    ''Ding! Offer her a pillar,'' and the system suddenly spoke up.


    ''This¡­ do you think a mere pillar would be enough for her?'' Arthur was pretty sure a pillar was something she wouldn''t agree upon.


    ''Ding! Try, it might give you a lead on what interests her.''

 Chapter 368: A Fast Learner

    Arthur found the words of his system logical. "I have gained something in that world that might interest you," he said.


    "Then tell, I''m all ears," she waited to see how lucky this disciple of her was.


    "I had a pillar, black in color and polluted with dark energy."


    "Tsk," she showed a depressed expression over her face, "these pillars are worth nothing to me. They would to any dark clan, but to me and others in the other camp; we can''t use these!"


    Arthur''s eyes shone, as he knew what would make her interested in helping him. "What if I say I will give you a purified one?"


    This time the look over her face changed. She seemed interested, and Arthur couldn''t hold his smile from showing up. "You little rascal, you have a means to purify them? Damn your lucky boy, it''s even greater than me!"


    He laughed and said nothing. This wasn''t luck, as he gained them in very risky encounters. Paying the price was something he didn''t mind, yet he couldn''t agree on calling it luck.


    "This is interesting," she said, and just as his hopes went high, she added, "but not enough."


    He was about to speak, adding more pillars to the mix before she said, "I''m not interested in a pillar or two, if you told me your own way of purifying the pillars, I might consider giving you what you desire."


    "This¡­" he went silent, not knowing what to say.


    "Oh, I thought this was something you truly desire," she chuckled, enjoying the face of disturbed Arthur in front of her. "C''mon Willy it''s a technique, right? Just tell it to me and I promise no one else would know about it."


    He sighed, before saying: "It''s not that I don''t want to teach you the technique; there is no technique at all."


    "Then it''s an item?" she asked, "this might be problematic," she knew it wouldn''t be appropriate to ask for her disciple gadgets.


    ''Ding! Offer to help her in purifying what she has!''


    As usual, the system timing and words of advice couldn''t be anymore perfect!


    "I can give a nice offer," he said.


    "Helping me purify mine?" she already read his mind, "that won''t do, as I have many, really many. You will waste time in clearing them."


    "Don''t worry, I''m the man for this task," he confidently said, while patting his chest.


    "Are you sure?" she asked, before adding, "raiding the dark clans'' stronghold is a hobby of mine. I have really a large number of pillars. Just how much time your item needs to purify one?"


    "It can purify a large number over an extended period of time," he said before adding, but these pillars must be in pocket worlds of their own."


    "Sure, each pillar I had comes with a world," she said before giving him a deep glance. "What item do you have to do that?"


    "One Day I will tell you."


    "Really? When is this day? Soon?"


    "I hope."


    She chuckled before saying, "If you did me this favor, then I can make a portal for you. But this portal won''t last more than one month."


    "Isn''t there an item that can help me go there at any time?" he asked, while adding, "and another one for the return journey."


    "Hahaha, you talk like you will move all the time between the two worlds," she laughed, yet her eyes were sizing him up. ''You do really want to focus on that world, huh!'' she muttered to herself while knowing what was in Arthur''s mind.


    For her, he was just an impulsive youth. "After what you did here today, your name will be known far and wide. Going off too much will put you in too much danger," she honestly advised, yet he didn''t take her words to heart.


    He was already on the dark clans blacklist. His academy score here didn''t wouldn''t add much to his troubles. "Don''t worry, I will be discrete and careful."


    "Sure you are," she said while not believing a single word of what he just said. "But an item to go and one to return will cost you more than the pillars," and her request revealed the greedy nature of her.


    ''C''mon, show me what you held dear and precious to you,'' she said to herself while waiting for the big trophy.


    She was pretty sure now, Arthur didn''t live through a normal experience inside the world. ''A mere settlement that can''t be compared to a village? What was the elder responsible for checking the test results doing?!!'' she was feeling much doubt towards the report she received as part of the upper echelon of the academy.


    ''I have to go there personally and see for myself,'' she decided, as the attitude Arthur exposed right now proved to her what he built wasn''t just a mere settlement, or even a village!


    She knew he was a clan master himself, so he wouldn''t value a mere village or even a town. ''A city perhaps like he claimed?'' she thought, yet even this seemed enticing to such a youth, her gut feeling told her it was something bigger.


    "You want something more?" he asked, "can you give me some hints?"


    He didn''t know what she wanted, and she herself didn''t know the answer. "Just anything precious and rare will do," she said.


    "Hmm¡­" he thought deeply at what he had inside his garden. He had many populations, great talents, pillars and monsters. Yet he didn''t have many rare things there.


    ''Ding! Offer her part of the monster you helped the world''s will to kill.''


    The system offered him advice. ''Wasn''t it integrated into my garden already?'' Arthur was surprised by the offer.


    ''Ding! I can extract a tiny piece of it, let''s say a finger size piece would do.''


    He glanced at her, thinking for a moment about the importance of the item she had to him. "I have something, a piece of a strong monster that I found by chance inside the world," he said.


    "Monster?" She seemed not interested in that.


    "It isn''t just any type of monster," he added, it''s a great monster, something I never saw before."


    "You speak of something I couldn''t understand," she said before adding, "bring it forth and let me assess it myself to judge."


    ''Take it out,'' Arthur said to his system and the next moment a large piece of flesh covered in green liquid appeared in the room.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment it appeared, the entire atmosphere changed. A rumble sound erupted not from the piece but from the defensive shield Amanda used before entering the mansion.


    "What is that?!" her eyes shone brightly while she hurried to move and inspect this piece of finger. "This is¡­ how did you come by something like this?" she expressed her great shock in her loud tone and facial features. "I will accept it, hehehe," she then touched the piece and took it inside one of her storage items.


    This brief moment of contact with the finger left a wound over her hand. "Impressive," she commented before mumbling something and the wound healed, yet slower than usual. "It has some toxic effect, plus deep dark energy, partially purified," she muttered while returning to her seat.


    "You deserve what you asked for," she said, while putting her hand on the ground, and a small box appeared. "Take it, there is a seed inside. Plant it inside the mansion you have. You will need some instructions to link it to the world, do you know formations?" she asked.


    ''Ding! Linking it is a task you will leave to me,'' and the system said, solving this minor problem for him.


    "Sure, I know a thing or two about arrays," and Arthur replied, expressing falsely his ability to link the two worlds together.


    "Great, then you won''t find a problem going back and forth to your dear world," she said before glancing deeply at him. "This gift alone is worth the item you asked for. So, our pillar deal¡­"


    "You can provide some of your treasures in return," and he just played with her the same game she played with him just now.


    "Fast learner you are," she laughed before adding, "Alright, I can give you¡­ let''s see¡­ an item to defend or an item to offend?"


    "Is there another option than these two?" he didn''t lack offensive tools, and defense wasn''t his area of interest.


    "Hmm¡­ a unique item then¡­ what about an item that can move you freely in a radius of ten miles?"


    "Sporadically?" he asked.


    "Sure, an item that can specify location will be much higher and more expensive."

 Chapter 369: The Seed

    Arthur was interested in such items. "But you can''t use it while being inside a formation," she warned.


    "It''s fine by me," he agreed, after all the pillars would come with their pocket worlds that would integrate itself inside the garden; expanding it.


    "It''s a deal then," she chuckled before taking out a pair of gloves. "Here, take them," she threw them over and he examined them after.


    They were normally looking black and gold leather gloves. "Are these¡­?" he asked, while not believing these normally looking ones had the ability to transport him.


    "Yes, and they have a bonus effect on any weapon you have. They will add more speed to it, so if you hold a sword, your strikes will become like shades."


    "And a bow?"


    "The arrow release rate will be doubled at least, and the speed of the arrows will change."


    He nodded in satisfaction while wearing them off. He didn''t feel anything special. "You just need to think of moving around and they will take you instantly into a random spot," she said before pointing to the ceiling, "yet you are inside an array, so they won''t work right now and you will feel nothing."


    "Then I will move back to my residence," he smiled while standing and clubbing his hands in respectful move, "thanks for the help."


    "It''s a trade, so don''t feel this touch," she chuckled before adding, "tomorrow I will prepare the pillars. Don''t be late, I will be your first teacher."


    "May I bring some of my followers as well?"


    "Greedy person you are! Sure, little rascal," she laughed before pointing to the door and he just left.


    As he went outside the mansion, she seemed to be looking at him still. "I''m sure you will use my seed to move now. I should go as well to that world and see what you are doing, little one," she smiled softly before snapping her fingers, and a clone appeared directly out of thin air.


    "Keep watching the little rascal''s mansion for me," she said before snapping again and her comfortable clothes changed showing her armor, a sword and a staff. "I have a journey to make," and the next moment she vanished from her place.


    Arthur went directly towards his mansion, and through the way he had a conversation with his system.


    ''Ding! You have been followed.''


    ''By Amanda?''


    ''Ding! She is one of those following you, but that''s no surprise. Yet others are following you closely.''


    ''Elders?''


    ''Ding! I think from their age and strength they are disciples. They are weak.''


    ''Cannon fodders,'' Arthur smiled, before throwing this topic off his shoulders, ''let them follow, I have nothing to hide,'' he smiled as he planned to create a protective array once reached the mansion. ''Tell me, have you opened the box?''


    ''Ding! It''s a seed, and you don''t need to plant it inside your mansion,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! I''m now planting it inside the star map. With all the powers inside it, this seed will grow to a tall tree in less than an hour.''


    ''Perfect,'' Arthur then went silent for a moment before asking, ''How are things inside the world?''


    ''Ding! How can I know that? You need to go yourself and explore things there.''


    ''Tsk,'' he shook his head before adding, ''I need to find a way to always be in touch with that world.''


    ''Ding! You need to consider that. I think the academy will dispatch mages soon, and a big war will erupt.''


    ''That''s¡­ good or bad?'' he didn''t know if this was good for him or not. ''I think it''s good.''


    ''Ding! It''s both! Access to that world will be available to many, and the dark clans in the academy world will do their best to stop the attempts of the academy.''


    ''A big war you mean.''


    ''Ding! An all out war, and with your current strength and limitations you have, you won''t stand a chance in this upcoming war.''


    ''So I need to push further and hone my top aiders'' abilities,'' he thought seriously about this while linking it to the five masters he had. ''I have to benefit from the access I have right now.''


    ''Ding! You should, plus you have to annex another giant dark clan if you wanted to secure yourself in this war.''


    ''For resources and population?''


    ''Ding! For securing the backyard of your city and keeping the big wars away from your doorsteps.''


    Arthur understood the logic behind the system words, so he just nodded and said nothing. In an hour he managed to reach the mansion where his hundred followers were already sitting in the garden and resting.


    "How does it go?" Omar asked, as he was the first to meet him at the door.


    "Wait a moment," and Arthur just said before going to a corner covered by the wall and then took out his tools. He started making runes, and he doubled the number of runes used to establish three sealing arrays; blocking sight, blocking ears, and blocking senses.


    After he put them all around the mansion under the silent watchful gazes of the team, the arrays were activated and finally he had some privacy.


    ''Ding! The seed grew into a towering tree already,'' and the system just said, before adding, ''you need to plant a seed also here.''


    ''A seed? Again?!''


    ''Ding! That''s how it works! Seeds from that tree are connected together beyond the boundaries of the worlds.''


    The words of the system enlightened Arthur about an issue. ''Does this mean whoever gave Amanda this seed can use it to come to me?''


    ''Ding! It''s possible, yet you have no other option. This is the direct form to transfer from here to your city world and be back again.''


    ''Tsk,'' Arthur knew his system had a point here, and there was no other option. ''Alright, give me the seed.''


    The next moment he felt something rounded in his palm. He checked and found a white silver seed, in the size of a finger tip in his palm.


    ''Ding! Plant it and then use the blood of monsters you have to nourish it.''


    ''The old blood? Can I use the bronzed giant blood then?''

 Chapter 370: Going to The Star Map

    It was a long time since he squeezed strong monsters of blood.


    ''Ding! If you want higher form, then you should use the green blood of that Golam you killed.''


    ''Do I have such a thing?'' Arthur was speechless, ''that glutinous sword took most of it! And that greedy world''s will took the rest!''


    ''Ding! The corpse of the Golam had an enormous amount of blood. A green pool is now formed inside the center of your garden. Just delve there and you will see it.''


    Arthur didn''t check his garden for such a long time, yet before he could do that, Amelia came to ask.


    "How are things going?"


    "Good," he smiled before glancing at everyone, "from tomorrow you will be distributed on masters and learn from them. The tasks they will issue to me will be done by you," he said.


    "Why do I think we have other things to do?" Ron laughed as he stood in front of his master. "What are we going to do now?" he winked, as if he already read the mind of his master.


    It wasn''t only him; everyone here had a discussion before Arthur showed up. They all agreed that he would do anything to return back to the city world, and that might be the reason behind his rush to go out just after arriving.


    "Hahaha, you guessed it right," he laughed, "we will go now to the city world again and continue our tasks there."


    "War?" Amelia asked.


    "Preparation for it," he said, before recalling the place he linked his portal to, "but we won''t appear at the city, we will appear half a day travel away from it."


    They exchanged silent glances before Lily asked: "If we got separated, how can we return here then?" and she had a point.


    ''Ding! Leave a clone with them, and when it''s time, I will make it create a portal at your city for them to follow,'' as usual, the system advice came in time. ''Ding! Just remember, you have fourteen hours here, meaning you have almost three and half days till the morning hours here.''


    ''That seems enough,'' Arthur then glanced over his group before saying, "When you are there, make sure to bring Dor and Gor plus any outstanding talents in the city with you. Only select the best."


    "Do you have a way to make us come here without your presence?" Omar asked in doubt.


    "You will see," and Arthur just smiled and said nothing more.


    He selected a spot next to the mansion and planted the seed there. Nothing happened afterwards. "Sigh, it seems it needs some help," he muttered before closing his eyes and entering his garden.


    The garden looked the same, with rumbles and sounds of explosions filling the atmosphere. He headed directly towards the heart of it, where he found a new pond there like what the system told him.


    He opened his eyes and put his hands over the place of the seed before dark green fluid started to ooze from his palm. The fluid was rapidly absorbed by the seed, making the amount he took vanish in no time.


    "Rumble!"


    The next few minutes a rumble occur, followed by a faint quiver of the ground then a small srpout appeared. "You sure take your time to grow," he shook his head before continuing to pour more Golam''s blood to the seed.


    He didn''t know this blood wasn''t the same as the Golam''s initial blood; it was highly refined by his garden. And it wasn''t all the blood inside the Golam.


    In fact it was a tiny amount of it! The garden was purifying and augmenting the blood, refining it into a higher form of blood before gathering it at the pond.


    It took an hour for the small sprout to grow into a tall tree, roughly challenging the mansion in height. It was a normal tree, with normal green leaves. Yet the bark of it seemed different.


    The Hazily appearance of a transparent veil covered the bark all around. ''Ding! It''s ready,'' and the system said.


    ''This¡­'' Arthur glanced at the bark and the portal it showed before adding, ''anyone can enter through it to my star map world, this is dangerous!''


    ''Ding! You can drop your blood over it so you will only be its master,'' the system simply replied, ''this way no one will ever use it without your permission.''


    ''Are you sure?''


    ''Ding! One hundred percent.''


    ''Alright,'' he went to the tree, took out a knife and cut his finger; letting his blood cover the tree bark.


    The next moment he felt a booming sound in his mind, and next thing he felt was a connection with that tree. ''It worth everything I paid for,'' he smiled as he now had a complete control over this mighty portal.


    ''Ding! And this isn''t the only seed available.''


    ''That''s great,'' Arthur laughed before he turned to everyone. "Ready to go back for round two?" he asked and everyone laughed happily while following him through the tree.


    They all appeared in the star map, yet this time it was slightly different.


    ''What are all those monsters?'' he muttered to himself while seeing strange dark monsters covering the paths that''s not linked to a path between two giant stars.


    Instead of the initial small stars, the star map now had two gigantic stars, with a tree in the middle of them. As for other small stars, they were now illuminated in silver color, looking more lively than ever!


    ''Can they use these stars to go to the other portals?'' he asked.


    ''Ding! These stars aren''t functioning right now. They can''t! For them to use the stars, they need to be in red color again.''


    ''Meaning accessing them from the city world, not from the academy world, right?''


    ''Ding! You guessed it correctly.''


    ''Sigh,'' he knew wasting half a day was something big for him and his group, yet he now had access to the city world. Each night he would go there with his group, and thus they wouldn''t be separated from the city and his other work there.


    ''Ding! You need to go to that big star on the other end.''


    ''What about this one here?'' he pointed to the nearby gigantic star.


    ''Ding! This one is linked to the world''s Trokas empire once reached. You can venture there at any time.''


    ''Later then,'' he muttered before watching the vigilant monsters scattered here. ''Who are they again?''


    ''Ding! They are the guardian of your star map. As you are the master, no fog will cloud your sight anymore, and they all serve you. But for others, they won''t be able to see them.''


    ''A protective precaution? Nice!''


    ''Ding! They will also get stronger and much in number with each growth of the star map.''


    ''That''s a relief,'' he smiled before turning to others behind him, "Come behind and don''t misstep here, or else your life will be the price."


    He didn''t mean to scare them, yet he had to be clear so no one would do something foolish they would regret.


    They followed his steps until reaching the gigantic red star. Arthur didn''t say anything more as he jumped over it and instantly vanished.


    And they followed suit.

 Chapter 371: The Black Clovert Group

    "So they are trying to stop my tracks?" Arthur stood outside the building that turned into a portal before, glancing at the area around.


    Sounds of many people roaming the area were delivered to his ears the moment he stepped out. ''Dig around and find what is going on,'' he said to his system.


    ''Ding! There is an army searching the place, not too big actually and they didn''t have any monsters,'' the system said before adding, ''they seem to look for you.''


    ''Good,'' he smiled, ''time to stretch out some muscles.''


    He turned to glance over those who came with him. "Stay here and don''t move," then he turned into a dragon before flying off the ground.


    The moment he appeared with his big body, he attracted the attention of everyone here. Their numbers weren''t great to begin with, roughly a couple of thousands, ten at most.


    He felt no hostility from them, yet they looked quite organized and well trained. They had good armors and weapons, making him sure they weren''t just nobody.


    "Roar!" he roared, warning them before taking a full round over their heads.


    And the next thing they did was to kneel! All of them knelt on the ground expressing their loyalty to him.


    "So you are coming here to join me," he smiled while his words were translated into roars.


    He descended onto the ground, cancelling his transformation yet keeping his energy channeled. This type of army seemed strong, and he didn''t know their true intentions yet.


    "Master," they all shouted in unison, while a big man moved from the lines, with two others behind him with bodies not inferior to his.


    "Welcome back master, we were looking and waiting for you," he said before leading the two to kneel on the ground while presenting his sword on the front hand before adding, "your subordinate, Jack, is expressing his willingness to follow master."


    Arthur examined him, feeling nothing wrong coming from this man. "Who are you?"


    "We are the black clovert group, a resisting group formed by the real people of this world. We lived by the code of the honor and carried our weapons all this time to defend our people against those brutals," he said before pausing. "We heard legends about masters, and when we came to this famous place we found things different."


    He then pointed his finger to the mountains without even raising his head. "Those you saved spoke stories about your kindness and might. It''s an honor to follow such a master, me and my men present our blades and lives for you and for our people."


    Arthur felt admiration for this man and his small group. "Is there any other?" he said.


    "There are some scattered groups around the world, yet we are the closest to master. I''m sure everyone will be very happy to follow the master if the chance is ripe and circumstances are suitable."


    "Good," Arthur said, "raise your heads, it''s not yours that shall bow to me," he added while saying, "welcome to my empire."


    "Thanks master," Jack said before adding, "as we came here, we met many along the road. They are trying to come to master''s city, yet they were all stopped by the dark Trifle clan."


    "Trifle clan?"


    "It''s the big clan controlling these lands," Jack explained, "if master has any use for us, then I propose to go and assault them."


    Arthur didn''t have any objection to this, as this matched his plans. "How many are their numbers?" he said.


    "Too much actually," Jack said, "but they are scattered over a large stretch of land. If we moved fast, we might be able to hunt many of them."


    "Are they slaves or descendants of the main clan?"


    "Descendants master."


    Jack thought for a moment before saying, "alright, gather up your men and hit the road. Leave a group of five hundred behind to escort those refugees back to the city."


    He then moved towards the building again while Jack watched his back with admiration. "You listen to the master boys, let''s show him how mighty we are!"


    Arthur heard them and smiled.


    "Be ready, you will take some people and couple hundreds of warriors with you to the city," he said before adding, "use your flying pets to reach the city fast, but leave a couple behind to lead others."


    "Are you going to stay behind?" Amelia asked, "what about the portal?"


    ''System,'' Arthur didn''t answer her directly as he asked his system, and the next moment a fog of darkness appeared from his body taking the form of a dragon next to him.


    When the fog dissipated, a dragon exactly the same as him appeared. He felt some sort of connection with the dragon. "Master," and the dragon roared to others, yet he perfectly understood him.


    "Go with them, and make a portal at the city when you reach there," Arthur arranged things before adding, "station yourself there and wait for any instructions."


    "Your wishes are my orders, master."


    "Good," Arthur nodded before looking at the others, "don''t delay much there. We have at most three days. Be sure to be ready to move the moment I tell you," he said before adding, "the portal will lead you to my star map. Wait there for me to return. Anything happens you know how to inform me about."


    He then turned into a dragon, rose high in the air before moving behind the small army that sat first.


    He didn''t lack warriors, yet he lacked capable ones. This group was a nice addition for him, and he sat his gaze already for other groups out there.


    As he reached the army, he cancelled his transformation before saying:


    "I will move faster than you, so come here," he muttered before the system used the technique and many portals appeared out of nowhere. "Go inside, join other warriors of mine and arrange them. Each one of you will lead an army each."


    His words seemed mysterious to them, yet they nodded and said nothing. As they all entered the portals, they vanished and the place seemed quite empty.


    "I''m sure you will be surprised by the size of my armies," he laughed before turning into a dragon; soaring through the sky again.

 Chapter 372: An Army of the Trifle Clan

    It took a couple of hours to meet the first army of the Trifle clan. The army was leading a large group of pathetic looking people.


    "I found you," he roared, and his sudden appearance startled everyone. The people cheered creating such an uproar, while the hostile army tried to gather up their lines fast.


    Yet Arthur was faster to react.


    "Open many gates and let my armies out," he said before opening his mouth and those who tried to group had the bad luck first.


    His fire got much augmentation after the upgrade he had. So, with simple spray of his fire many died; none remained alive after getting in touch with his fire.


    His armies, led by Jack and his group, joined the fight with this mighty scene of their master killing everything in his path.


    "Let''s join the master, kill all!" Jack had his blood boiling after seeing such a scene, shouting with his lungs to his men and new army.


    And the next moment tens of thousand moved fast to attack those scattered everywhere.


    The Trifle clan warriors weren''t that much to begin with; scattered and with the first strike Arthur landed they lost all the will to fight.


    It wasn''t strange for some to start running, leaving behind their friends and fellow clansmen.


    Arthur wasn''t that kind to let anyone escape, so he left the main battle to his grand army and went to hunt those deserters.


    There was no end other than death for those here. In less than an hour, the fight ended. Just before the end, the leader of this army made sure to leave behind a bitter memory; ordering his remaining men to leave everything and turn their blades to the peaceful helpless people.


    This caused a small massacre, yet when Arthur interfered, he managed to decrease the losses by a great margin.


    "Go inside," he was enraged by this defiled last act of these enemies. He cancelled his transformation while adding to his system: ''Make sure their slave marks are removed.''


    ''Ding! I haven''t removed the previous batch yet!''


    ''Add them then to the queue,'' he simply said before glancing over the portals, ''and add some more.''


    ''¡­''


    The system did what he asked for and it took roughly another half an hour to absorb a population of a hundred thousand or more plus his army. "Be ready for the next fight," he shouted at Jack and others, as they nodded before vanishing from his sight through the portals.


    "Next," he muttered before returning to his dragon form and soaring the sky again.


    Despite not having a detailed map of this region, he still had the map Olor drew in his mind. He always returned to it to figure where he was and where to head next.


    He kept jumping from one place to another, attacking many armies, releasing hundreds of thousands of population and leaving none of his enemies behind.


    After a couple of times, Jack and his men leading the giant armies of his warriors got used to his tactic. The scene of him spraying fire on the largest group of warriors in the area.


    And this scene never got old in their eyes at all!


    However, after an entire day of hunting these armies, the first reaction of the Trifle clan came strong and in such a grandiose way.


    An army of hundreds of thousands led by tens of thousands of monsters appeared looming in the distance; cutting the road on him to press forward.


    "Tsk, can''t you let me hunt in peace for three days then?" he shook his head while laughing in an amusing way. "Anyway, I need my armies to train better on large wars, not these small skirmishes that give them nothing."


    The next moment hundreds of portals appeared and he stood in front of them all. Hundreds of thousands of his warriors appeared from the portals in the next minutes, while the opposing army pressed hot on them.


    "Roar!" and Arthur roared before he muttered to his system, "Bring those thousand monsters that I gained from the quest here, with my dragons."


    The next moment a thousand monsters appeared in front of him. They weren''t flying monsters as he expected, instead they were giant elephant-like monsters with sharp spear-like trunks that could be used as mighty weapons.


    And they had another thing that made him surprised and amused.


    "They can attack from distance?" that reminded him of his scorpion, and Sara. "Bring Sara over," he said before adding ,"come forth my scorpion."


    The scorpion queen appeared on the ground while Sara appeared on the air. His army started to rival the enemy in their grand formation; warriors with formations on the ground, and monsters in the air and ground.


    Even the numbers look matched! Yet the personal strengths and the team work would determine the outcome of this large fight.


    Both armies stretched for miles, and Arthur dominated the sky with Sara and his dragons, while his enemies sent thousands of flying monsters to stop them.


    As for the rest, they had to dispatch the major part to stop the ground monsters. Or else their ground armies would be done for.


    "You finally remembered me!" Sara seemed quite annoyed by his lack of contact with her.


    "You need to adapt to that," and he didn''t apologize, as he couldn''t be with her all the time.


    "Then take me to your academy," she asked.


    "Sure, I have plans for you," he promised before adding, "now let''s focus on this fight."


    "This?" she laughed before adding, "we will crush them."


    He laughed with her as he took out his bow and arrows. It had been long since he used the arrows in fights since coming back, and now it was the time to devastate his enemies.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The next hour sounds of explosions rumbled the entire battlefield. He made sure to target those behind, to make sure his army wouldn''t be caught in the middle of his arrows.


    Besides, the leaders of the army would be stationed there. Keeping them busy defending seemed a good choice for him.

 Chapter 373: The Stronghold

    As for the frontline, he and his flying monster squad did a great job tangling with them. Despite the great disparity in numbers, some were killed by his extermination arrows, some were shot down by normal arrows, and most were killed by his fire, Sara''s wind attacks, and his dragons brutal attacks.


    "Summon other clones as well," he ordered, and the next moment two dragons appeared in front of him. The number was small, yet their addition helped in accelerating things.


    As for the ground team, they were already on the winning grounds. The start of the fight seemed stalled for hours before the arrows Arthur launched kept wrecking havoc and decreasing the numbers of his enemies.


    The enemy lost many reinforcements, making the front line quiver and in time it started to fall.


    And Jack leading the others pressed forward with all their might.


    They were winning, and despite all the efforts the Trifle''s army leaders tried; they couldn''t stop or even decrease their momentum.


    Either on air or ground; they kept pressing forward with nothing to stop them.


    The battle took six hours to conclude. Despite there being no population behind, yet Arthur knew he had cleared a lot of hurdles to gain more.


    Plus if there was any town for the clan here, it would be easy to conquer it.


    "Do you know if there is a base for the Trifle clan here?" he asked Jack while turning back to humans. His army got used already to his tactic; they didn''t need any instructions to go back to the portals they came from.


    Through this fight they lose over a hundred thousand warriors, yet they killed folds of that for the enemy.


    "There is a big stronghold to the west of here," Jack pointed to a certain direction, "this army must hail from there."


    "A stronghold? A town or cluster of towns you mean?" Arthur wasn''t that familiar with that term. "Do you mean a castle?"


    "It''s a larger form of a castle, with many towns and villages being grouped under the protection of long walls and strong defenses," Jack explained before adding, "but after this fight, I doubt they have any decent defenses there."


    "Slaves or clansmen?" Arthur asked.


    "Mainly slaves."


    "Great," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly, "go back now and be prepared."


    "I will."


    Arthur returned again to the dragon form while his one thousand ancient monsters entered the portals with his army. Only Sara and the two dragons of his remained.


    "Go in two different directions and scout the entire region for me," he said to his two clones, "if you found anything useful, inform me about it."


    They had a unique connection with him, so telling him about things was easy. He pointed to the direction of the stronghold before adding, "I will be there in case you wanted to come."


    "Master," the two dragons said in unison before turning to two different directions and moving fast.


    "You seem much stronger than before," Sara commented while observing him closely, "like you gained an upgrade or something."


    He laughed and said nothing while moving towards the direction of the stronghold.


    "You know, the stronghold is a place like the castle of the sky you took," she said before adding, "you promised to give me access there, right?"


    "What do you know about these strongholds? Are their defenses strong?" he evaded that issue while asking about what he cared about.


    "Tsk," and she wasn''t pleased by his cold attitude, "these strongholds are strong! Breaking the defenses might take days if using force."


    "Even without enough people to defend?"


    "It''s all based on formations, so they only need a small number to function."


    He suddenly got this thought that was what his enemies wanted; to stumble him in his advance and make him waste more time here.


    ''Do they know already about my academy schedule and tasks?'' he muttered to himself as this was possible.


    Yet the next second he laughed, as his two clones would act on his behalf and scout the region for him.


    The flight took three hours. During which, they didn''t meet a single refugee or army at all.


    When they reached the stronghold, it was precisely like what Jack described.


    "Big walls with thick defensive shields; they are really prepared for a long fight," he laughed before glancing over Sara, "you will take the responsibility of this fight."


    "And you?"


    "I have other things to do," he said before taking some bird''s wings and giving them to her, "these are connected to me, just write on them what you need and I will get your messages."


    She saw him many times using these scrolls, while sending or receiving them. She took them and nodded. "Take care," she suddenly said, feeling worried over him.


    "Don''t worry," he simply replied before waiting for an hour while all his army was assembled.


    "Divide the army into two halves, one will stay here and follow the orders of lady Sara, while the other return to through the portals," he said to Jack before returning again to his dragon form.


    Jack was really a capable general. Even leading some strangers, he managed to unify them and make them follow his commands to the letter and execute them swiftly.


    In half an hour, everything was settled. "I will depend on you here," he said, before warning, "watch out for any surprise attacks."


    "Hidden armies?" she said.


    And he just nodded before heading to a direction far from the stronghold.


    Seeing him fly away seemed to startle those inside. It took them a couple of minutes to react, and when he was far from them he heard the sound of war drums and explosions landing on the ground.


    "Being restless seeing your plans fail? Hahaha!" he simply ignored this provocation and went forward on his path. "What are you trying to stop me for?" he muttered, as he was pretty sure they were trying to cover up something.


    And he decided to screw all their arrangements and acquire this thing for himself.

 Chapter 374: Searching for the Precious Item

    He started looking for that precious thing. He knew it wasn''t far, yet he refrained from attacking any army he found.


    "I got no time to waste here," he said to himself when he passed over the fifth army so far.


    His two clones kept sending him information regarding more armies; all were normal and nothing seemed special at all.


    Just as he passed over the fifth army, he noticed something shining at the horizon. "Could it be¡­" he said to himself before heading directly to that direction.


    The shimmering light coming from far was tricky! He thought he would reach there in less than ten minutes, yet after half an hour of continuous flight and passing over one more army, he finally got near enough to spot what that was.


    "That''s the reason it took me some time to find you," he laughed when he saw this strange cart flying in the sky; drawn by dozens of flying giant monsters.


    Despite all that number, they couldn''t outrun him. The giant size of that cart, resembling a large mansion, made the task of running away from him impossible.


    The cart moved with its highest speed, but Arthur kept pushing forward, chasing it for another half an hour.


    His sudden appearance was spotted from far, making the masters working on the cart restless; whipping the monsters with long whips filled with thorns.


    They tried to make them exert their efforts, mustering every ounce of their strength.


    Yet Arthur got so close to them that he even could see the candle light inside the cart flickering from the high speed.


    "You won''t go away from me," he laughed while getting so near to the cart.


    At this moment, a hundred of shadows jumped off the cart; seemingly the guards of it. They all changed into giant monsters of the Trifle clan; yet Arthur wasn''t fazed.


    Despite looking quite strong, he had the element of surprise and the coolest mind here. He didn''t doubt his victory for even a second; unlike them who had their heads filled with unnecessary worries.


    "Come, let''s play," he laughed before launching a wide range of attacks on these monsters using his fire breath. The fire was really strong; each monster hit by it lost balance and seemed heavily injured.


    Yet none fell to the ground or even retreated; they kept pushing forward and a bolt of blue water appeared out of their dinosaur-like heads.


    "Tsk, you are taking me lightly, aren''t you?" he sneered before easily evading those lousy attacks.


    "Rumble!"


    Yet another attack came in, screaming loudly at him. A volley of lethal long thick arrows, seeming to be made specially for him, were launched from the top of that gigantic cart.


    This attack came just in time with the attacks coming from monsters up front. It was such an amazing synchronizing effort, yet Arthur wasn''t worried or even thought of retreating.


    The next moment he cancelled his transformation where he returned human again. He didn''t have any control over his body, yet he fell towards the ground fast, faster than the incoming arrows.


    Then he turned into a dragon again, taking out his bow and normal arrows, and sent a volley of dozens of them towards the cart.


    "Roar!"


    The monsters roared, and he roared back; both sides kept firing their breaths towards the other, yet Arthur''s body withstood many hits, not like them.


    Just after ten minutes of the start of the battle, over half of the initial one hundred monsters fell. As for the deadly arrows launched at him, he kept destroying the gears over the cart everytime they tried to establish some.


    Yet he couldn''t destroy them all in time; and some arrows kept firing at him, while he continued to evade using his simple tactic.


    And yet, another group of monsters appeared. They were only ten, with long and thin bodies like crocodiles, very gigantic jaws and sharp teeth, plus three pairs of short, strong looking wings.


    "A new kind? That''s nice," he laughed before pointing his arrows towards these new ones. His normal arrows whistled in the air, yet the moment they reached these monsters they were forced to stop in place, started to be ignited with strange dark fire, turning into ash.


    And the monster flew forward with calm and steady speed, like they were taking a stroll in their back garden.


    "An elite army you are?" he laughed before adding, "you will make a fine collection to my group of dragons," he then shifted the arrows and used the extermination ones.


    He was skeptical about using these right here, as they had a great devastational effect on everything; including him.


    Being this near he wasn''t sure he would get out from their blast unscathed. He also worried about the precious cargo up ahead. "Tsk, I hope your defensive abilities are superb," he muttered before releasing ten arrows, one for each monster.


    Then he continued to spray fire, enduring dozens of water blasts that hit him during this brief moment of distraction.


    For him, those forty remaining monsters around were like flies; he only cared about the predators coming from behind.


    His arrows reached the monsters in time, and they paused as well. Just as the black fire etupred around each one, an explosion was triggered and an intense explosion occurred, sending mighty blast waves one after another everywhere; hitting the cart, hitting the monsters, and hitting Arthur himself.


    All went into the ground, falling to different directions. "Good, these arrows lost some of their strength back there," he smiled before not waiting for the shockwave effect to subside and kept releasing more arrows.


    He knew his arrows wouldn''t reach their target easily, as the wind kept interfering in everything around. He tried to control them using his senses, yet his level of control was too shallow; he couldn''t do that!


    "No problem still," he sneered as he watched one of his arrows hit a lump of stone and wood coming from the smashed cart.


    "Rumble!"

 Chapter 375: Getting Severely Injured!

    This time the explosion was much worse than the previous ones. The explosion created a mightier wave that hit everyone again, making all shift places midair, creating more distance from each other.


    And most of the ten monsters were hit closely by this shockwave, taking the most damage here.


    And this wasn''t the end of it; it was just the beginning.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    .


    .


    "Rumble!"


    Explosions kept raging one after another, while hitting everyone and scattering them everywhere. Arthur was encouraged to do that when the heavy gigantic cart was separated from its dragging monsters in the first explosions; heading faster than everyone towards a distant direction.


    This created enough and secured space between it and all the monsters. Besides, he aimed his arrows towards the rear of those monsters; making them take the full throttle of his arrows without endangering the cart and its precious cargo.


    As these explosions hit the monsters from this close, they seemed heavily injured, and some even fell silently towards the ground; not moving even a wing!


    "Good, now I have to¡­" he turned to glance at the cart heading far away, while his body was moving slower now. He was about to stabilize himself when he spotted the cart. "Sh*t!!!" he cursed out loud when he noticed no one came out of the cart, or even tried to stabilize it!


    The cart fell like gigantic rock towards the ground; gaining momentum and high speed. If this continued, then the cart would definitely hit the ground and explode into tiny pieces, leaving none alive!


    "Damn! I need to interfere," he didn''t wait for all the effects of the blasts to subside before working his wings hard. His giant body was a liability for him right now; creating a resisting force that prevented him from getting near the cart easily.


    "Screw it," he canceled his transformation, while letting his body fall freely towards the ground. Unlike his strong dragon body; his human body was fragile; played in the wind like a broken kite!


    Yet he endured! All the pain and injuries he had didn''t prevent him from eyeing his target and heading straight to it! Just as the wind started to grow calmer as he neared the ground, he turned into a dragon; using his wings with all their might to catch up with that cart.


    "Let it work, please," he prayed while the distance of the two got so near from the ground. He had only one chance to react, and he just hoped he would be able to gain this slim window.


    One mile away from the ground.


    Five hundred meters away from the ground.


    One hundred meters away from the ground.


    Twenty meters away from the ground.


    "Go in, damn it!" he finally managed to stretch out his claw and barely touch one of the wracked pieces of the cart''s surface. The next moment, the cart was gone and he was alone facing the ground with all his indomitable momentum and short distance.


    "Grrr¡­" he gritted his teeth while fanning out his wings, trying to reduce the impact of the fall.


    "A port¡­" he was midway of his words, asking his system to summon a portal for him to fall into; yet he was too late!


    "Boom!"


    The explosive sound he had from the fall was so loud for everyone still conscious and alive to hear. At the last second he sprayed his fire trying to help his aching wings to reduce the impact of his descent; a late move from him.


    When the dust settled, the ground showed a long deep groove ending up with his giant body. His body was filled with wounds, deep and shallow, plus many bruises.


    And his fire was dancing around his body, turning him into a living torch!


    His breaths were irregular, and he couldn''t even move a muscle from his position.


    The impact of his rough landing made him feel like every single bone in his dragon body being smashed. He wasn''t perfectly fine when he took this massive hit; he already was injured.


    His enemies weren''t anyway better than him; yet two of those elite monsters endured the pain and moved to others. Their comrades were either killed or subconscious.


    As for the other weak Trifle clan monsters; most were killed. The remaining were heavily injured or subconscious as well.


    However they managed to bring five monsters while heading towards Arthur.


    "I have to give it to you, dragonair boy," one of them said in obvious difficulty; yet his mocking tone was still there; untouched!


    "Boy, hand over what you took and we will make you leave this world in peace," the other one spoke, in a harsh tone that held many enmity.


    This young weak dragonair had caused them all this trouble! For him this was an insult that couldn''t be washed away by just death!


    Arthur was really exhausted and so weak, even raising his head at this moment took much effort and caused severe pain.


    He glanced at those seven monsters. They were all heavily wounded!


    ''Summon them for me,'' and Arthur was too weak to even move his lips; just give the system a thought and the system didn''t delay to comply.


    The next moment the thousand ancient monsters appeared there. Their sudden appearance startled the seven monsters, yet they seemed to be not too worried of them.


    "You still have some strength to play? Admirable! I''m pretty sure your elders will be proud when hearing about your deeds, and much happier to hear about your death," the funny one of the two monsters said before laughing, "but they will be terribly in shame when everyone knows that you fell under our hands; not theirs, hahaha!"


    He seemed not fazed by all these monsters, and Arthur knew his monsters weren''t enough to handle these two alone.


    If they had to face the Trifle clan monsters, even a grand army of tens of thousands, he wouldn''t be worried at all.


    Yet these two¡­ he knew how strong they were!


    ''Ding! Just hang on there for five more minutes,'' yet his system stopped him from moving.


    ''Sigh, I just started using them,'' he shook his head in regret, ''and now I will lose them all!''


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, I have a trick to use.''


    Arthur didn''t know what his system was talking about; yet he trusted it. He stayed there, feigning his extreme weak state while his army of monsters surrounded him, shielding his body from those seven monsters.


    ''I can feel strength getting back into me,'' he muttered to himself while feeling his body healing itself faster than ever. ''If not for my fire,'' he inwardly sighed, as this short and intense battle gave him more insights at what he lacked.


    He lacked good defense! He always mocked defense, yet now he tasted how it was like to be smashed and being on the edge of death.


    ''Ding! You have your strong dragonair body!'' the system said, in a teasing tone.


    ''This... can''t you see how my body turned up to?'' Arthur inwardly sighed while closing his eyes against the fresh and pained memory of his fall!


    ''If not for that last fire breath of mine, I would have been unconscious by now!''


    ''Ding! That was... a timely stroke of luck.''


    ''I agree,'' he didn''t use that fire breath on purpose of healing himself, he wanted to propel his body up, decreasing the impact of his fall.


    ''Sigh, I also need a teleporting ability. The one Amanda gave me won''t be of much use to me.''


    He thought amidst the fight to move away using his new gloves, yet he couldn''t activate them in time. He also couldn''t use them in the fight back there.


    If he had a gear that would make him teleport directly to anywhere he wished, even if it had a short range, the outcome of this battle would have been much different!


    ''Ding! You are still young and learning. Plus such stuff is considered priceless!''


    ''I just hope to have my luck again and gain something like that,'' he thought before adding, ''don''t you have any ability like that?''


    ''Ding! Sorry, this kind of ability is limited to a higher stage than yours.''


    Despite the disappointing tone of the system, Arthur was thrilled. ''Really? That''s great! I would love to have it unlocked one day.''


    The system seemed surprised by Arthur''s reaction. ''Ding! But this day will come far in the future.''


    ''No problem for me, at least I have a solution for this problem even if it is a couple of years later.''


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 376: Dragomancer Ability

    The battle unfolded in front of his eyes. His army of ground monsters was really stronger than what he initially thought; managing to kill all the five Trifle clan monsters in minutes.


    Yet the only headache came from the two strange monsters. They weren''t so dumb to face these ground ones head one, as they moved to the air; away from the reach of his monsters


    Then they started hunting these monsters down in groups.


    In less than ten minutes, the two alone managed to kill over two hundred of his monsters.


    This loss pained him, yet he knew; a sacrifice should be made here.


    During these ten minutes, his body recovered most of his powers; yet he waited more. He wasn''t greedy to let himself heal to his full strength; after all his enemies weren''t in top condition yet.


    But he wanted to attack when they are closer to him. He waited for a couple of minutes before his chance appeared once again.


    His ancient monsters tried to attack these airborne ones with their long attacks. Despite causing some trouble to the two monsters, their attacks couldn''t break their defenses.


    Yet this kept the two busy defending and trying to hunt down his defenseless monsters until the two got close to Arthur, just ten meters above his head.


    "It''s my turn now," at this moment Arthur stood up like a giant from the ground without any difficulty. He held his bow in one hand, with the other grabbing the string hard before letting four extermination arrows to be loose.


    ''Take them back,'' Arthur shouted, and the next moment portals appeared all over the place; engulfing most of his ground army.


    The first arrow was eroded before exploding, sending a strong shock wave everywhere. As for the second, it managed to break through the flawed defenses of the two monsters; hitting them directly into their bellies.


    Arthur didn''t stand there and watch; he knew his arrows would be deadly. The next moment he launched the arrows he activated the glove, ready for being transferred away.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Two mighty shockwaves roared in the place, sending the two monsters away with deadly wounds. The two took four hits this close; two were directly assaulting their bodies from within.


    As for Arthur, just before the shockwaves reached him he managed to be far away. He appeared ten miles far from his initial location, watching the scene of his shockwaves devastating the place he was just occupying.


    ''Ding! Part of your ancient monsters couldn''t make it in time and were lost in these attacks.''


    The system just kept him updated of the new developments, making Arthur feel some regret towards this loss.


    ''That was¡­ inevitable,'' he sighed before adding, ''check over the place there and see if the two monsters were alive.''


    The system went silent for couple of moments before returning to say:


    ''Ding! They both are dead.''


    ''Finally,'' Arthur sighed before flapping his wings and going to the place of the fight. His shockwaves had vanished by now, leaving behind a scene of devastation and utter destruction.


    In this zone he found the bodies of his dead ancient monsters plus the bodies of many others; including the two he just killed.


    "These bodies; it''s a waste to let them like this," he laughed before adding, "even after death you will serve me," he went towards the two monsters first as he said:


    ''Use my dragomancer ability on them.''


    ''Ding! The dragomancer ability is used, twenty nine times is left for this day.''


    The next moment a gigantic dragon appeared in front of him. It was triple the size of Arthur''s current dragon body with a couple of pearls on top of its head.


    "Master," the dragon knelt in salute to Arthur who felt great expectations for that dragon. "Tell me, can you use the defensive ability from before?" he asked, as this ability was really supreme.


    "Sure master," and the answer he got made him laugh. "That''s great, come let''s bring your fellow ones to life," he then started turning the monsters around to dragons.


    The special monsters were ten from the start. Two were easily found around the place of the last fight, yet the other eight took roughly an hour to be found and turned into dragons.


    He took inside all the killed bodies of monsters; either his own ancient ones of the Trifle killed ones. Arthur turned another twenty into dragons, ending up having thirty of them.


    "Nice boost," he laughed before recalling the cart he took the trouble to hijack. "Stay here and guard," he ordered before closing his eyes and entering into his garden world.


    ''Where is this cart?'' he muttered as he appeared on top of one of the pillar zones.


    ''Ding! It''s in the central place,'' the system replied.


    Arthur went fast towards the center to see the cart landing there, peacefully like it wasn''t minutes ago about to be smashed into tiny pieces.


    The cart didn''t look well itself; after all many parts of its roof were ripped off by his previous attacks. Next to it, a stunning beautiful lady stood watching the scene with calm looks and sharp eyes.


    ''Who is she?'' he asked, trying to remember if he saw her before.


    ''Ding! She appeared out of the cart once entered here.''


    ''From the cart?!'' Arthur was speechless for a moment, ''is she another monster guarding the precious cargo? With what? Her beauty?''


    ''Ding! Hahaha, you need to go there and ask, nicely or by force,'' the system joked with him and both laughed before Arthur landed in front of the lady, startling her for a moment.


    "Are you the master of this noisy place?" she asked while her face showed how much annoyed she was by all these rumbles and sounds of explosions.


    "Yes," Arthur said before adding with a curious look, "who are you?"


    "That''s not important," yet the lady replied in such an arrogant manner, "let me out and you won''t be killed by my guards."


    "Your guards?" Arthur said, "those ten monsters?" he asked before laughing when she nodded. "They are all killed by me, meaning you are mine now, hehehe."

 Chapter 377: The Dark Prestigious Oblack Academy

    "Vulgar lowly dragonair! Didn''t your masters inform you not to mess around with the great Oblack academy?!" The lady seemed pissed off by his answer, and her tone seemed quite distressed.


    "My masters aren''t those filthy dragonairs of yours," Arthur replied with a strong tone and stance, "Don''t try to threaten me, I don''t know what this academy of yours is, and I don''t care about it!"


    "You should," the lady bellowed back, while hitting the ground with both feet with a slight jump that made her look amusing, "my academy is the best academy in all worlds!"


    "Really?" he smirked, "why then I never heard of it?"


    "That means you are so lowly and weak! Gosh, I don''t know how you managed to kill my guards! They are handpicked by my aunt! You are lying! They can''t be dead!"


    Arthur was getting tired of her nonsense. "Step aside, I have to see what precious cargo those monsters were trying to protect."


    "it''s me, you moron!" and the lady seemed more insulted by his words, "nothing is more precious than me around here, even you and your pathetic loud world!"


    "You¡­" Arthur suspiciously glanced at her for a moment. Aside from being a beauty, he couldn''t find anything special about her. "Move aside," he went forward, roughly pushing her aside before delving inside the giant cart.


    The cart was like a big mansion, filled with rooms and had three levels. He checked everything there; apart from the ores and many good arrays and weapons, he didn''t find anything useful!


    He went out with a puzzled look, while the lady looked back with her buffed face and angry look. She jumped again on the ground while shouting at him: "Have you believed me now? Hurry and release me, or else you won''t be safe from my guards."


    "I told you, your pathetic guards are all dead, killed by me!"


    "Nonsense! I just used a scouting device now and sensed their lively vibrant aura. They are alive; you pathetic liar!"


    Arthur glanced at her for a moment there, hating this attitude! ''Bring one inside,'' he said to his system and the next moments, one of the guards appeared in the new shape of a grand dragon.


    "Yeah, this is my guard, but why does it look like a dragon?" her face showed how puzzled she was. "Come, come and protect your lady," she arrogantly shouted, with a pride tone that didn''t suit her current situation.


    "Master," and the dragon totally ignored her before kneeling to Arthur, "do you want something of me?" he asked, and his words and behavior shocked the arrogant lady.


    "Do you know her?" Arthur pointed to her before adding, "Do you have any collection about her?"


    "Yes master, some vague memories," the dragon replied, "she belongs to one of the prestigious dark clans in another world. She is also part of the Oblack academy, a very strong and ancient dark academy in the universe."


    The words of the dragon were met with a nodding from the lady. "Her name is Anna, but away from that I have no other memories about her," the dragon said while apologizing to Arthur.


    Yet what he said made Arthur chuckle. "Never thought the dark clans had a dark academy as well," he muttered before glancing over Anna, "from now on you will be my slave."


    "What?!" this time her face showed a panicked look as she retreated a couple of steps backward, "n- no way¡­ no one of my clan ever ended up in such a lowly position! Even those good for nothing servants weren''t treated as slaves! You can''t do this to me! I can''t end up being a slave!"


    "Then be my wife," Arthur laughed, while playing with her.


    "What? That''s more impossible! My esteemed Hailor clan is much more grandiose than your dragonairs! I can''t marry someone as lowly as you are!" she went silent for a moment before gathering up all her courage; "Release me!"


    "Tsk, I will leave you here to reflect, and if the next time I find you like this; I would rather kill you!" Arthur threatened in a very serious tone before opening his eyes, and vanishing from the garden world.


    ''Bring him here,'' Arthur said before thinking again about what he just heard.


    His system brought the dragon out. Arthur gave him a glance before focusing his gaze upon the other nine dragons like that one. "Anyone here tell me who Anna is? Any information will be useful," he said, while watching their reactions.


    The answers he got were mainly repetitive of what he just heard inside, but more info was revealed as well.


    "So she came here in a quest from her academy?" he muttered while thinking about this. "This seems like the test I had from my academy to enter here,"he added before thinking about another thing.


    They all agreed she was strong! Yet her powers were sealed somehow by the masters in her academy to be suited for this world. If she released her powers; then she would be no less than the Golam he once fought in his own estimation.


    "I have to make sure she would turn to be my slave then," he muttered before thinking about another issue. "She had limited time here, then she will be recalled to her world."


    This info seemed vague as no one here knew how much time she had; but they all said she just came in. and she wasn''t the only one to be here.


    "Interesting," he laughed as one of the dragons spoke about a conversation he had in mind where she knew some of the places of other contestants of hers. "I can''t let her fail alone, right?" he laughed as according to the news he learnt; each big dark clan here received two of such contestants.


    "One is nearby then," he thought before adding, "Spread out and avoid any fight. If you spotted such a cart somewhere around here, come fast and inform me," he said.


    ''Can you track them?'' he asked his system.


    ''Ding! I can, but your strength right now is lower than this ability,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! I will do this one favor for you.''


    ''Thanks,'' Arthur replied in gratitude. His system kept aiding him throughout his journey; even stepping out of place and giving him aid he shouldn''t currently have.


    He watched his dragons moving, each in a separate way, before turning his gaze towards the area he hurriedly crossed. "It''s time to go and collect all my trophies," he smirked before flying in the air and heading directly towards the nearest army and population.


    ''Keep an eye on her for me,'' he said, while approaching the nearest crowd.


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, she is traumatized by what happened to her.''


    ''Tsk, such a person coming from a great clan and academy as she claims¡­ it''s weird to act and be this fragile,'' he went silent for a moment before adding, ''it''s not impossible to be feigning this attitude. Just keep a close watch on her actions.''


    ''Ding! I will.''


    ''And take out my army, we will wrap things fast,'' he descended upon the army scattered and panicked to see him coming.


    News travelled fast, and what happened to other armies reached the ears of everyone.


    The fight ended up pretty quick, and Arthur waited for an hour to collect all his population and send his warriors back.


    "The next group," he laughed while heading to the sky and going after the next group. He sent already orders to his two clones to keep looking for a gigantic cart. He had to snitch as many contestants as possible. As for the reason for their presence here, he would depend on Anna inside to spill everything out.


    "Or Olor, he must know a thing or two about them."


    With each passing day, the importance of Olor seemed to grow exponentially to him. This sneaky man he got by luck seemed to be much luckier than himself. "I need to make sure he wouldn''t be exposed," he then went to silent before adding, "and if possible I would send some of his clansmen into that academy."


    He wanted to develop the role of Olor, and by this he would end up having eyes inside a very prestigious and secretive academy of the dark side.

 Chapter 378: Convincing Anna

    Arthur kept hunting the groups of those small armies for hours. He waited, patiently for any news coming from any of his scouts; yet he got nothing.


    "Strange, was the other one far away from here?" he felt quite perplexed about this outcome, and he didn''t accept this.


    "Time to go and interrogate this sweet princess," he laughed before heading to a nearby bunch of trees and hid himself there.


    During those hours he took all the population he could, devastating many armies in the process. No army stood a chance against this swift and brutal assault.


    Yet he had no more targets so far! So, he either would go back to the stronghold and aid in the siege there, or keep looking for that other contestants coming from the dark Oblack academy.


    He went inside his garden and observed Anna for a while; she seemed quite anxious already. Moving right and left, not standing in one place for more than a few minutes before moving to another.


    Now and then she would hit a small rock away out of frustration.


    "Chill out, I don''t mean harm to you," his sudden appearance jolted her awake from the depth of her thoughts.


    "You decided to show up," she tried to act arrogant and collected like before; yet miserably failed. "Have you decided to let me go?"


    "Well¡­ about that¡­" he feigned difficulty before adding, "I wanted to, but see I have to obtain some benefits in return."


    She stepped a couple steps back while asking in a shaky tone: "What do you mean?"


    He laughed, and let her imagination go wild for a few moments here. "I just want to hunt down more contestants," he said, before seriously making his offer, "after all I learnt about your trial here. You aren''t the only one, and you have no friends here," he paused before adding, "except for me."


    "You¡­" she pointed out to him while heaving a long sigh of relief. "You aren''t my friend, and won''t be!"


    "C''mon, I''m trying to help you out," he wasn''t offended by her rejection as he said with a calm smile.


    "What do you mean by that? You are holding me here; already making me fail the test."


    "See? That''s where you are wrong," he said, before adding, "I''m not here to make you fail the test, I''m here to make sure everyone else but you will fail it."


    Her eyes went wide open while her mind picked up his hidden meaning. "You mean¡­ you will hunt them down and only release me?"


    "Of course," he lied, "what else would I want from you?"


    "For what?" after a brief moment of hesitation and silence she asked. "We aren''t friends and your clan is the enemy of mine!"


    "Consider it as a new start between us," he said before adding, "a start of a relationship that will last long."


    "What relation?" she again went panic and stepped a couple of steps to the back.


    "Friendship of course, what else did you think of?" he feigned ignorance while inwardly laughing at her.


    Such a naive girl coming from a prestigious clan and academy. ''That''s a regret for them, and a lucky encounter for me,'' he inwardly sneered while watching this golden fish taking his bait and falling inside his net.


    "But¡­" she was about to say something, yet stopped while glancing at him.


    "I''m weak you mean?" he said before laughing, "c''mon, all your powers were sealed before coming here to fit this lowly world of mine. It''s not an exaggeration to say that the only obstacle for me to gain you isn''t your strength, or the power of your guards; but the large distance separating me from the others."


    He laughed, a very confident laugh, while she remained silent gazing upon him.


    Her mind kept warning her not to accept, warning her from the aftermath of such a rash decision. Yet her heart kept telling her to accept; after all she risked everything to be here on this trial.


    She couldn''t accept failure! ''How can I refuse such an offer while victory loomed in the distance?'' she said to herself, finally making up her troubled mind.


    "Alright, I will agree to help," she said, before adding, "tell me what do you know about the trial?"


    "Well¡­ pretty much nothing in fact," he embarrassedly laughed before adding when he noticed her strange look, "all I heard was that you came here with sealed powers, two in each great clan, trying to do something."


    "That''s¡­ lame of you to trick me here!" she groaned off his little trick before adding with a sweet laugh, "but if you didn''t act dirty, how can I trust you then to be my ally? Hahaha!"


    He glanced at her wild laughs and was speechless. ''This girl¡­ has a twisted mind indeed!'' he remarked to himself before saying: "Alright, tell me what you know."


    "I know a lot," she returned to speak seriously, yet her smile didn''t leave her face, "I know where other dear friends of mine are, how can you find them, their strengths and weaknesses¡­ I know pretty much everything."


    He noticed her tone seemed quite vengeful. "You hold¡­ a lot of grievances inside you, ain''t you?"


    "What can you tell!" she shouted at him while the smile she had was wiped away. "Let''s talk about business and not personal matters."


    ''Yeah, you have such a grudge against everyone here,'' he said to himself. "Alright, tell me everything you know, and I promise your revenge will be met in a very nice way you will like."


    Her face brightened up despite shouting at him: "Told you I have nothing against them! They are my dear friends!"


    He laughed. "Alright, let''s call them this way from now on. So, how can I find your dear friends? What are their main traits? Tell me everything regarding this trial."


    She evilly smirked before starting to tell him everything.


    This took a full hour, yet he learnt everything he needed from her.

 Chapter 379: Heading to the Sky!

    For the outside world, only ten minutes mostly passed, and when he stood up again and flew to the sky; he had such a confident and content smile over his face.


    "This world¡­ still holds many secrets!" he said while heading straight towards a certain direction.


    ''Ding! I have to warn you, passing through this way will leave you somehow weakened!''


    His system warned, yet he kept flying upwards, heading to the stars! What Anna told him minutes ago uncovered a great secret of this world; giant portals that helped to link the vast places here together existed.


    All he needed to do was to fly higher than ever; go beyond the limits of the sky and then he would find a small map to use; according to her description.


    "All I need to do is just fall," he said before laughing, "anyone can fall, right?"


    ''Ding! But it''s dangerous! You need to know once used this path, you will appear far away from your city,'' the system warned before adding more weight to its words, ''you have less than two days to come back to the academy; or did you forget about this?''


    "I didn''t," Arthur shook his head before adding, "yet you know I can return from anywhere to the star map, while my team can return from the gate at the city. Nothing bad will happen."


    ''Ding! What about your main army? They are attacking the stronghold and leaving them like this will put them in danger!''


    "Why are you nervous about this?" Arthur noticed the strange tone and attitude of his system.


    ''Ding! Because you will lose my support for a whole day each time you pass through this map!''


    This time Arthur was speechless! He depended a lot on his system, and now he couldn''t use this support at all. "Will I lose all the abilities for a day?"


    ''Ding! Not the abilities, but my guidance and services in hard times.''


    Arthur heaved a long sigh of relief before saying: "Don''t worry then, I won''t put me in any danger while you are sleeping."


    ''Ding! I hope so despite doubting that!''


    "Hehehe, have some faith in me," Arthur laughed as he continued to fly higher, heading closer to his target.


    The sky was shrouded in clouds in the early morning of the day; yet when he approached it he noticed the presence of bright light at the distance.


    He headed up, and the more he did the more this light became shiner. The sky seemed endless, and he started to feel tired. But he continued to push higher and higher until he couldn''t feel his wings anymore.


    "Where is this map?" he angrily said while trying to withstand this pressure exerted over his body from extreme pain. No answer came to him, and after a minute he couldn''t feel his body anymore.


    The bright light was just there! "Just a couple of flaps and I will be there," he tried to encourage himself and drive some power to his exhausted wings.


    Yet he failed! It was such a short distance but his wings couldn''t keep on. His body fell from such height , while the cold air in this high altitude haunted his face and body. "Damn!" he screamed as he couldn''t move his wings anymore.


    He started to catch speed, heading straight towards the ground. The earth came near with each passing minute, and he didn''t give up flapping his wings.


    "If I fail to move away, at least I can''t die here," he gritted his teeth as he waited. If his wings were useless, then he would use his gloves!


    Just as he passed the area of clouds, he was finally able to breathe the warm air of the early morning again. His body started to regain its senses yet it wasn''t fast enough.


    The earth drew faster.


    "Screw it," he cancelled his transformation the next moment while returning again to the human form. He clenched his fists and waited. "I have to time out this," he muttered before watching the earth and trying to speculate the right moment to act.


    "Now," he shouted before activating his gloves'' ability. The next moment his body vanished from place, appearing ten miles far from his first location. Yet his speed didn''t decrease much!


    "Again!" he used the glove once more, and jumped ten miles, then ten miles, and he kept doing this for five times in a row before finally there was not enough distance from earth.


    He changed his body to become a dragon, yet his landing was so harsh that it caused a strong rumble to the ground around.


    "Cough¡­ cough¡­ this landing¡­" he stood shakily with his injured body to find himself in a deep crater created by his fall. He glanced at his body; littered with bruises and wounds all over.


    "Sigh, I didn''t only fail yet I have all these wounds," he didn''t delay and sprayed fire directly over his body.


    This time he healed faster than before as he kept releasing his fire for five minutes. Once finished, his body was almost healed, and his strength mostly returned to its peak.


    "I have to return to the stronghold then and wait for new there," he flapped his wings and left the crater while moving in the sky.


    "What the hell is that?!"


    The moment he did so, a strange scene appeared in front of his eyes; an ocean!


    He observed this for a moment before recalling the map Olor drew to him. "There was no ocean there," he muttered before he returned to the ground; hid inside a thick group of trees and then entered his garden again.


    He headed directly towards the tree of mirrors. "Olor must have answers to this," he muttered while his mind gave him the only possible explanation here; he managed to move away from his place as planned!


    "If so then I have missed the map, or I couldn''t control my travels here," he said to himself while hanging all his hope for answers on what Olor would say.


    The moment he reached there he didn''t delay knocking over the mirror that appeared in front of him until Olor''s face appeared a couple of minutes later.


    "Master," he said, with respectful words and sly tone, "your deeds are causing a stir right now, hehehe."


    "Really?" Arthur laughed.


    "You should be in your academy, yet you are here, hehehe."


    Olor seemed quite amused by this situation, and Arthur just laughed and didn''t say anything related to this. "Tell me, is there an ocean in your world?"


    Olor glanced strangely at him before saying: "There are a couple of oceans actually."


    "Silver blue waters, with dirty pink shoes perhaps?" Arthur recalled the memory he had from that ocean and tried to describe it as he saw it.


    "This¡­ this is the pinky ocean, how do you know about it?" Olor said before adding, fearing to anger Arthur, "it''s located on the extreme north side of the world, where two great clans live there."


    "Two great clans¡­ interesting," Arthur smirked before adding, "give me a map for that place."


    The gaze Olor gave him seemed funny, and he couldn''t control his curiosity. "is master there, perhaps?" he asked, in a sly tone.


    "Just provide the map," he said before adding, "what do you know about those coming from Oblack academy?"


    This time Olor''s face showed how shocked he was! "You met one of them already?" he said before hurriedly adding, "they are trouble, master. There is a great being observing them right now in the world. Please refrain from touching them, or else this being won''t hesitate to act."


    "Great being?" Arthur muttered, "a guarding monster like the one you summoned?" he asked.


    "No, he is a master of that academy coming here to secure the kids," Olor said before adding when he noticed the puzzled look over Arthur, "the kids don''t know about his presence."


    "Oh," Arthur understood everything before adding, "just tell me what do you know."

 Chapter 380: The Amazor Clan

    Olor didn''t know how crazy his master was, yet he started to tell him everything. All the info he said matched what Anna provided before; yet he knew one more thing. "So they aren''t just one group of kids, but three!" he said while trying to know more about this matter.


    "Yes, a group for the great clans, another for the mid clans like myself, and lastly a lowly group for the weak clans," Olor replied before adding, "no group knew about the presence of the other."


    He paused before saying, "the master supervising them won''t care about the lowly group, and might not care much about the group that joined the mid clans. Just be sure to stay away from the group at the big clans; he will definitely interfere if you touch one of them."


    Arthur inwardly sighed; he already had touched one of those youths. He went silent for a moment before thinking more about the reason this master didn''t show up so far!


    He had Anna for quite some time now, and if that master wanted to act; he would have been dead a long time ago!


    "That''s weird," he said to himself before saying: "Go and grab me the map," he paused before adding, "and grab me detailed maps about every inch in your world."


    "Alright," Olor seemed puzzled and hesitant, yet he disappeared for ten minutes before returning with many maps. Arthur started memorizing them to the heart.


    The place he appeared at was the shore of a gigantic ocean. The ocean separated between two large clans, one in the lands and one lived in many islands scattered away from the shore.


    "This ocean¡­ is really gigantic!" Arthur glanced at the ocean while flying in the air. He couldn''t see any islands at the end of his eyesight, despite in the maps these islands were so dense around the shore zone, so closely drawn to the coast line.


    The warm breeze air of the ocean was really refreshing while the sun went to the middle of the sky. Arthur took a deep breath before thinking about his next move.


    Just as he was middle in thoughts, a bird''s wing appeared in front of him coming from Amelia.


    "They have returned, good," he read it before laughing, "this Tina¡­ sigh."


    In the letter, Amelia said that Tina was quite restless after their sudden disappearance. She tried to explain things to her, but she didn''t accept her words and she wanted to come with them to the star map, to meet Arthur.


    She also requested to come to his current place, yet Arthur shook his head in helplessness. "This girl¡­ she should be content by stationing at the nice and peaceful mine," he muttered as Tina left the mine and went to the city after his sudden departure.


    "Alright, let her come with you," he wrote back while thinking how to deal with her bloody nature. "Should I allow her to join the training with Cesile?" he thought, and just the idea of the two joining together in one place made him laugh.


    "Time to head to that great clan and say hello," he evilly smiled after sending the bird''s wing off. He decided, he wouldn''t lose more time here venturing in the ocean; aimlessly looking for these islands.


    "It''s better to cause some bang here in the nearby lands," he turned and went straight towards the series of mountains looming in the distance.


    Under the shiny sunlight, these mountains sparkled with myriad of colors like a giant rainbow. "The colored mountains, so I''m exactly at the edge of this ocean," he recognized these mountains from the maps he saw.


    If his guess was right, then he was so far from the main headquarter of the big dark clan here; the Amazor clan.


    He knew a thing or two about this clan from the mouth of Olor. It''s one of the top clans even in the giant clans, yet it wasn''t top in strength but in numbers.


    Their monsters weren''t flying one, making them already on the backfoot here compared to other clans.


    "According to Olor, this clan can''t be in the great clan list except for its great stretch of lands they rule," Arthur muttered to himself while realizing something.


    He landed on a hidden gem suited best for him!


    "If they have population and resources, I will gladly accept them all!"


    He then went towards the mountains. This series of mountains stretched from north to south, lining the ocean coast. According to Olor, there was an ancient pact between the two great clans here; the Amazor clan couldn''t own a single town or village beyond the mountain range!


    "So for them this is considered a natural barrier, and also a limitation," he said before thinking about such a clan.


    Without any flying monsters they kept their status and lands by myriads of grand armies and formations. "Olor told me they focus greatly on science, making great breakthroughs that backboned their rule and made them unshakable till now."


    He passed over the peaks of the mountains, where he found only monsters and nothing else.


    He took a couple of hours to cross these mountains, and when he exited them, he was met with a scene that surprised him!


    "All these villages and towns!" In front of his eyes; endless villages and towns appeared. He looked left and right to find no end to them, clustering together, forming a gigantic body that rivaled his vision of his own city.


    "This¡­ this is a treasure trove!" he laughed as he had all these villagers ready for him to acquire.


    "But¡­" he paused as there was a problem here. "This system¡­ he said he will be back in twelve hours," he muttered before thinking about the time he stayed here. "I think I still need six hours for him to appear again."


    He needed his system to arrange portals for him, plus to start erasing the slave marks on everyone. "He still didn''t finish erasing the curses of everyone I had inside," he sighed before he glanced again at the villages and towns.

 Chapter 381: The First Victory

    His sudden appearance here startled and alarmed everyone. They weren''t used to any flying monster in the area; especially such a giant dragon.


    As such, alarm sounds started to echo everywhere. "Even from the distance," he muttered while the sounds came as well from the lands beyond his sight.


    "That''s fine, I should be able to control this area then in the next hours," he moved towards the front, looking for a suitable area to fight.


    Yet he flew for half an hour without seeing any open place until he reached the end of the villages and towns here. They abruptly ended at open plains, ending up with a line of trees at the end of his eyesight.


    "A forest?" he said to himself before noticing a large dust cloud coming from far on the west. "They are really fast," he smiled before thinking, "should I use the armies inside?"


    His army stationed in his garden was a ground one. Facing such numbers by this army would prove to be challenging. "Yet they will help," he said before turning to the ground and then he started to manually take out all the armies he could reach.


    His warriors grew restless inside; doing nothing but wait. So when he summoned them, they were eager to fight. Without any further ado, they recognized the incoming enemy from far and started to arrange their lines.


    Arthur took out a hundred thousand warriors, then he rose to the air and started scouting the incoming army. Despite his sudden intrusion; the army coming at him seemed to be in hundreds of thousands.


    "That''s amazing," he muttered and he checked for any monsters among the warriors coming closer at him and his army. "Few of them, that''s nice," he smirked when he noticed the scattered monsters among the warriors acting as their leaders.


    "Taking them down should be enough," he didn''t delay as he went head on towards these monsters. His sudden approach was welcomed with chaotic movement down below, as many formations were triggered aiming to defend against any of his attacks.


    "Really?" he laughed and his laughs were heard as brutal roars before taking out his bow and couple of arrows before launching them to different directions.


    "Rumble."


    "Rumble."


    "Rumble."


    The arrows he sent went ahead and caused several explosions that made everyone stop in their tracks and glance in horror at that epic scene.


    "I have to admit, using these arrows never gets old, hehehe," he laughed while moving, using these moments of distraction, and started targeting the nearby monsters.


    These monsters were like bulls, with many horns and three to five elastic tails. Each group of monsters didn''t have more than a hundred.


    Despite their thick scales defending their bodies; they couldn''t withstand his fire. The sprays he rained over their heads came to add more horror to the scene; announcing his appearance in this far part of the world.


    "It seems that my reputation had reached this place," he laughed while noticing the cheers coming from different places supporting him.


    Most of them came from the dense cluster of villages and towns. He ignored all these as he went everywhere targeting these monsters.


    And that marked the real start of this fight!


    The monsters were on the ground, yet they lived in the shadow of flying monsters in this world for so long. They developed many strategies and built huge weapons to hunt flying monsters.


    And Arthur started to taste some of these arrangements.


    "Tsk, all these huge spears flying at me¡­ do you think I''m out of solutions?" he laughed before canceling his transformation the moment these long thick black spears came near to him. As he returned human again, he fell to the ground, simply evading the spears.


    "Any slaves don''t move, I will kill all the monsters leading you and set you free."


    In this short moment of being human, he shouted with his loudest voice to tell those on the ground about his plans. If they knew they would be free soon, they mightn''t listen to any orders coming from the ground monsters.


    As he expected, his words caused great stir down below. The warriors started to clear paths around those monsters; easily marking them to him.


    "Thanks," he roared while going directly towards these circles demarcated by the warriors before killing any monster inside.


    None escaped his fire, and all were killed in no time. He went forward, covering the entire army in a couple of hours, while evading many attacks coming from the ground.


    Cheers kept coming from the villages, as they watched him crushing all these monsters. The light of their freedom drew near the more he Sprayed his fire breaths.


    After five hours of fighting solo, he managed to finally kill all the monsters in this grand army. He hovered above the warriors'' heads while heading directly towards the nearest town.


    "Listen up, spread the words¡­ anyone wanting to be free has to be ready to move in two hours from now," he shouted before adding, "send the words to other settlements, let everyone know I''m here, and I will save them all!"


    He stood on the roof of a grand building in this town, towering to reach seven stories high as he shouted at the villagers and warriors near and far.


    As his words fell, some shouted asking one question. "Are you the kind lord from the east?"


    He smiled as according to Olor''s maps, the place he came from was from the east from here, at the center of this world. "It''s me," he said, "and I''m here to save all of you and provide you a new path in life," he tried to act magnanimous, and his words and attitude served to achieve that.


    The loud cheering he received after saying these words was epic! He even felt the building he was standing upon tremble faintly under the sounds of everyone around.


    "Go, we have no time to waste," he urged, before stressing, "spread the word, I will stay here for days. Let anyone close by to come, and those far to be ready and waiting."

 Chapter 382: The System Is Back

    Those around started to move fast, and he saw many hurrying to their homes, taking out many things on wooden carts before exiting these buildings with all their family members.


    As for the warriors, a group of them hurried to his way, seemingly wanting to ask about some issues of their own.


    "Speak," he said even before this group of a hundred warriors reach him.


    "Lord, we are very grateful to you," one of them said, looking strong and veteran by the long scar over his face. "but most of us came from different places," he paused before adding, "we aren''t far from here, only one day walk and half running. We promise we will go and get back sooner than that."


    Arthur understood his meaning and he didn''t have any objection for that. "Alright, spread out and bring everyone you can," he said before stressing, "I won''t stay here more than two days."


    He had limited time in his visit to this world, and in less than two days he would have to return to the academy once more.


    "Thanks¡­ thanks a lot lord. We won''t be delayed, I promise you," the warrior expressed his gratitude before running towards the outside. Arthur watched them move out, fanning everywhere like locust, while running with all their might towards the distance.


    "If only I have more time," he sighed despite knowing he would return here in mere hours after leaving. "I hope the academy masters won''t rain me with tasks that will take more time to do," he hoped, despite feeling those nasty elders of the council wouldn''t let this happen.


    ''Ding! I''m back!''


    After two hours of the end of this fight, and as he stayed on the roof of this building overseeing everything; his system finally returned online and greeted him.


    "Finally," Arthur sighed, "I really missed you buddy."


    ''Ding! I warned you, I will be off for half a day and you will be greatly exhausted.''


    The system''s words brought back the bitter and confused memories he had about his trip to here. "I didn''t see the map, I only went up and then lost my control and fell to find myself here."


    ''Ding! The map is the clouds! You passed it a long time before falling, hehehe,'' the system laughed, as Arthur didn''t know he already reached the map from the start and didn''t need to take all the trouble. ''Ding! But as you went as high as you could, you managed to cross a large distance and come to such a remote place.''


    "Do you mean¡­?"


    ''Ding! The higher you rise, the greater you fall, and the more distance you will travel.''


    "Aha," Arthur nodded before glancing all around him, "can you start showing off portals? There are too many to take this time."


    ''Ding! And they have curses as well¡­ I didn''t even finish the previous batch of slaves, and now you added this enormous number!''


    "Hehehe, don''t grumble, I''m only doing the best I can."


    ''Ding! Indeed! I will scatter the portals now,'' the system then started to show up portals all around the towns and villages.


    "Listen up, all those ready to enter these portals and you will be safe," he shouted and his messages were delivered from mouth to mouth until everyone learnt about it.


    They started to migrate, with eyes full of hopes and hearts binding with excitement. They lived their entire lives in misery and now it was the time for them to experience a brand new thing; freedom!


    Arthur waited for an entire day and half while watching the endless stream of people passing through his portals. Half a day ago, many people started to show up from the distance, and now the entire region around him turned into such a crowded place!


    "Wow, this clan¡­ it''s really a treasure trove!" he laughed while watching the great numbers coming and all the riches they brought with their wooden carts. He was excited to have all of them, and much more excited to have more coming without showing an end.


    ''Ding! Beware, your time here is about to end,'' the system warned, ''Ding! You have roughly an hour to leave if you want to reach the academy at morning hours.''


    "Yeah, it''s about time," he sighed before adding, "but what about them?"


    ''Ding! Leave a message for them to wait in these villages and towns. After all you already cleared them entirely from any citizen and they looked like ghost towns.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded before shouting at some warriors organizing the influx of migration. He left instructions and wrote to Amelia as well telling her to leave and bring with her Gor, Deem, and anyone who showed great talent.


    "What about Tina?" Amelia instantly wrote back and he laughed when he read her words.


    "Just bring her onboard," he replied while selecting the grand building he stood upon all this time and muttered: "Turn this building into a gate to the star map."


    ''Ding! Keep your hands steady,'' the system then took care of everything and the building shone brightly for a couple of minutes before it returned to normal once more.


    Yet a veil covered this building only visible to him. ''Ding! I used a disguise technique to hide the portal for now. Only you can see and use it,'' the system explained, ''Ding! You can leave the moment you want.''


    Arthur waited until it was the last minute before passing through the building. The influx stream here didn''t stop, yet his orders were perfectly relayed.


    The next moment he showed up at his star map, where he found his one hundred team, another hundred of new faces led by Gor and Deem, plus Tina.


    "You finally decided to show up? Leaving me behind without saying a word? I''m mad at you!"she shouted the moment he appeared, yet her tone wasn''t angry at all!


    She seemed quite excited by the next adventure she was going to take. Seeing her like that made him recall what he thought of before; combining the two girls together; Cesile and Tina!

 Chapter 383: Returning to the Academy

    "Follow me, we have little time to waste," he said before he headed straight towards the other big red star. Others followed and the new ones were really excited by this new trip.


    As Arthur passed the star, he appeared again in the garden of his mansion. Others followed him here and Tina was the most excited one of all!


    "Wow, I like the air, I love the calm¡­ not like the loud chaotic world of yours," she laughed while moving out like a baby with a giant dragon body jumping everywhere.


    "Calm yourself," he laughed, before adding, "we have to go now for the first master, but first have you arranged them according to each master''s abilities?" he directed his words to Amelia, Omar, and Randy.


    "Sure, but we don''t know what Amanda can do, so¡­" Randy said while pausing as he didn''t know what to say.


    "Amanda is a genius in everything," Arthur said before adding, "yet I''m not sure she will welcome all this number," he laughed before walking to the gate, "follow me."


    He moved outside the mansion to notice many eyes were observing his place. "Good, I have set up a strong defensive barrier," he muttered to himself before walking straight towards Amanda''s mansion.


    His team moved around him like their bodyguards. Tina looked very dreadful to the many eyes looking at them, and at once many bird''s wings left the area around him to deliver this great news.


    A dragon had appeared in flesh in the academy!


    That was great news indeed!


    Just as Arthur reached the mansion of Amanda, he noticed a strange occurrence there; many silhouettes appeared coming in and out in a hurry from the mansion.


    ''Scan the area for me,'' Arthur said and the system didn''t instantly reply.


    ''Ding! There is something wrong with Amanda.''


    The system words startled Arthur as he started to rush his steps towards the mansion. The moment he and his entourage appeared, the guards standing at the front door stopped them while the one who met Arthur before said:


    "My lady is extremely ill today and she apologized for not being able to attend your class for this whole week."


    "I want to see her!" Arthur had such a bad omen that made him unable to leave.


    "But¡­"


    "It''s just me," Arthur noticed the hesitation on the guard''s face while he nervously looked at Tina.


    "Alright," the guard couldn''t refuse his demands, after all he wasn''t just anybody now.


    "I wanna come, I wanna see!" Tina was still immersed in her childish attitude, and her words startled everyone.


    They never thought she could speak human tongue!


    "She is fine, I can vouch for her," Arthur sighed before saying this to the stupefied guards then he entered the mansion with Tina before waiting for them to make up their minds.


    As he passed the gates, he found many faces he recognized from the meeting inside the elders'' council; they were all elders!


    "Something big happened," Arthur muttered before he walked under the heavy eyes of everyone entering the mansion with Tina.


    Inside things looked more chaotic than ever! People were running left and right, bringing many ores, items, and even oils towards a certain direction.


    "Follow me," Arthur said before adding, "and don''t do anything reckless."


    "Hmm."


    Arthur reached the room where everyone was running to and fro. There he found Cesile standing nervously near the door, with Otman leaning on the distance near a large bed where he used many ores and poles to surround it.


    "Oh, you came for your lesson," Cesile seemed quite distracted as she noticed him late. "And you brought your pet with you, that''s¡­" she seemed not amazed to see Tina as if her mind was busy with something. "Sorry Willy, you can''t take any lessons for a couple of days from us."


    "What happened?" Arthur didn''t stop though at the door as he entered the room to find many grim faces there. Slone was leaning on the wall with Mr. E having sad looks over the helplessly lying body on the bed.


    "We¡­" Cesile seemed hesitant and troubled before adding, "we don''t know what happened!" she glanced at the unconscious Amanda as if she was looking at an elder sister going to the grave. "Her servants found her like this an hour ago and then we came."


    Arthur glanced like all at Amanda, lying peacefully and sleeping like beauty at the bed. Her face was extremely pale and that was strange. "I saw her hours ago, and she was fine," he muttered and his words fell in this place to drive silence upon it.


    Everyone glanced at him while he ignored them all.


    ''Ding! I can sense a strange aura there,'' suddenly the system said, taking the full attention of Arthur. ''What do you mean?'' he asked.


    ''Ding! That kid you had from that academy, I can sense a familiar aura like her.''


    The eyes of Arthur shone brightly for a moment while he clenched his fists together. An idea popped in his mind, a very remote yet the only reasonable idea here.


    ''What else do you sense?''


    ''Ding! She is poisoned! On the soul level, something even I can''t fully ascertain.''


    ''At the soul level?'' Arthur muttered before asking, ''What can I do to help her?''


    ''Ding! You need to go and check her closely, infuse a wisp of your energy inside.''


    Arthur stood in his place motionless making everyone feel pity for him. Just as everyone thought this kid might cry at any moment; he moved!


    "What are you doing?" A distasteful voice came loudly from his back, a voice he perfectly was familiar with.


    And he chose to ignore him!


    "Stop, what a pathetic kid like you think he is able to do?!!!"


    "Roar!"


    Just as Mr. B entered the room and said these vulgar rude words, Tina couldn''t withstand his insults and roared mightly at him. This sudden and close roar from a dragon made him pause, and his face showed a moment of fear out there.

 Chapter 384: Amandas Illness

    Yet he rapidly collected himself and controlled his emotions. "Wanna fight? C''mon, I didn''t taste the blood of the dragon yet," and he tried to act mighty here, challenging Tina.


    "Tina, back down!" Arthur wasn''t in the mood to have more troubles as he shouted back at Tine stopping her from doing anything foolish. He was already standing beside Otman, who had his face wrinkled and seemed extremely agitated by what happened to her.


    "Tsk, consider yourself lucky, worm!" Tina didn''t act, yet she let her tongue to reply back with her loud voice that startled everyone.


    "A talking dragon pet? That kid is really lucky," another voice Arthur hated appeared from the corridor, "and luck seems to be blind and chooses unworthy kids for its sacred aid," Lady U added while entering the vast room with a group of three other elders.


    "That kid, I told you she isn''t worthy of any praise or support!" she said, while speaking about Amanda and addressing Mr. E.


    "Not now," Mr. E tried not to enter a debate at this dark hour.


    "Still favoring her? She won''t survive this, and if she does, she will be crippled."


    "How do you know that?" Arthur suddenly turns to face her ugly old face. "Do you know something we don''t?" he added with such a tone that seemed to accuse and question her.


    And that turned her face red of anger.


    "You¡­" she muttered while her entire body trembled. "How dare you speak to me, filthy useless kid!"


    "Lady U¡­" Suddenly this thunderous voice came from Mr. E while he moved towards her. "Answer the questions," he added, with such a strict face and strong attitude.


    "What? Are you taking this kid''s blabbery for real?!!`` She seemed agitated and nervous, yet she tried to shield herself from Arthur.


    "This kid has a point," he reached the place to stand between her and Arthur. "No one here knows a thing about what happened or what is causing this illness to her. And here you seem quite confident about her; why?"


    ''Ding! Good, you distracted them, go and test her now!''


    The system just asked Arthur to cause a distraction, and so he decided to use this vulgar lady to accomplish that. Despite him reacting on a whim, when Mr. E spoke he realized he had laid his hand over a sore spot. ''She knows something,'' he said to himself while turning at once and entered through the array Slone did.


    Otman was standing next to him, so what he did was instantly noticed by him. He glanced over Arthur''s face; it was the face of someone knowing what he was doing!


    So he refrained to speak or alert everyone here.


    Arthur reached at once to Amanda''s pale hands and grabbed it within his. She was cold, weak, and faintly he could feel a pulse there.


    ''Ding! Close your eyes and insert a wisp of your energy there,'' the system hurried him, as he knew what he was doing would be discovered soon.


    Arthur did what his system instructed, and just as he closed his eyes and channeled his energy, Mr. B noticed him.


    "Hey kid, what are you doing? Stop right there!!" he moved, trying to cause a distraction of what Lady U had attracted attention to her.


    Everyone at once turned to glance at Arthur, who was now delving deeply inside Amanda''s body; sending a wisp of energy to her.


    "Stop right there filthy boy!" and Mr. B didn''t stop at shouting as he moved trying to bypass Mr. E and reach Arthur.


    "Roar!"


    "Stop right there!"


    "Don''t move!"


    Suddenly Tina acted to stand at once beside Mr. E shielding Arthur from the reach of that rude elder. Mr. E shouted as well as Otman, while Cesile and Slone moved from different directions to stand at once in front of Mr. B path, blocking him.


    Things happened so fast, and it seemed like a war was about to erupt here. Arthur was in his own world at this moment, not knowing what was going on outside.


    His system on other hand knew, but it refrained from saying a thing to him. He trusted those outside to stop those traitors while he directed his full attention to aid Arthur.


    As he went inside her body, Arthur felt her soul weak, like a flickering candle light almost to extinguish. He moved around her body and found no damage there, which was a good thing after all.


    "Time to see what is causing all this," he took a deep breath before he went directly to her soul.


    Her soul was really about to extinguish at any moment. The soul fire inside her body seemed so dim that Arthur thought it was dying. "Yet nothing is there, what''s going on? Is this a result of a hidden injury?" he muttered to himself while he found nothing out there causing her soul to be this week.


    ''Ding! Let me inspect her soul,'' the system then extended a wisp of his own to touch her soul, carefully assessing her.


    The moment he did so it retracted fast, like being stung by a viper.


    "What''s wrong?" Arthur was so keen at this moment, and he noticed what happened.


    ''Ding! There is a thing infecting her soul directly, trying to eat it away!''


    "What do you mean by that? Is it a weapon? An injury?" Arthur didn''t know what his system meant, after all he wasn''t that deep at soul matters.


    ''Ding! Neither! It''s a living thing, so dark and aggressive, hungry for any soul. Just this mere moment of contact with it I thought like it was going to eat me alive!''


    "A living thing?" Arthur muttered before adding, "Extremely dark living thing? That''s¡­" he paused before a thought popped up his mind. "Can my garden help?"


    ''Ding! Your garden can, but the issue lies in time,'' the system paused there before adding, ''Ding! She has little time, not enough for your garden to do her magic.''


    Arthur went into silence for a moment, before saying: "Master once told me that even the dark pillars that were infected with extreme darkness still have some light within. Only a trigger is needed, only a strong push can awaken these pure light souls lying within."

 Chapter 385: A Fight with Pillars and Arrows

    ''Ding! He didn''t say that!''


    "Literally yes, but that''s what I understood from him," Arthur said while his mind was heavied by thinking about how to save Amanda. "Can I stimulate my garden power? Can I focus it to help her and accelerate the healing?"


    The system didn''t answer as it went into silence thinking about this question and bizarre approach of him. ''Ding! It''s possible, using the pillars. But¡­''


    "The pillars'' energy will be depleted, right?" Arthur muttered before his answer came from the quiet system. "Alright, let''s do this."


    ''Ding! You will lose all the pillars!''


    ''Ding! This¡­'' the system seemed quite hesitant before it added, ''Ding! I can''t guarantee this thing will be killed when you use your concentrated garden energy.''


    "At least we will aid her. Just tell me what I have to do! Should I take her inside my garden?"


    ''Ding! No, this is too risky,'' the system said, ''Ding! Even if you lost the pillars, don''t risk polluting your garden.''


    "Then I will do it outside," Arthur decided, "what should I do?"


    ''Ding! You need to summon all the pillars, do the same as you did with that Golam.''


    "But¡­" Arthur seemed hesitant, as that fight was really a catastrophe! "Where my garden lies in all this?" he asked about another issue.


    ''Ding! I will summon hidden portals linking the garden with all the pillars. I think this should be enough to focus all the garden''s energy on her.''


    Arthur gave this idea a deep thought before finally nodding, "Let''s do it," he muttered and just before he went outside he added in great gratitude, "I don''t know how you followed me, but thanks for shielding this burden instead of me."


    He knew what caused all this to her, and he was really grateful. He opened his eyes and the next thing he saw was a war about to erupt between two angry sides!


    ''Ding! This place is too limited, you need to take her outside,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! And your human body is weak. You need to always stay in dragon form,'' he paused for a moment there before stressing again, ''Ding! Be in dragonair form all the time!''


    ''Alright,'' Arthur replied before he released his hands off her and then let his energy loose.


    The nearby Otman was stunned by the sudden change in Arthur''s body and the next moment he was pushed further away by the giant body of Arthur. In fact the room was huge, but when two dragons appeared there; the place looked crowded!


    Arthur didn''t wait anymore, as the next second he grabbed the unconscious Amanda and moved, heading directly towards the window where he jumped in front of everyone''s eyes.


    "Tell Mr. E to follow you alone," before jumping he said these words to Tina. To others, he just roared, while Tina translated what he just told her to others.


    "Stay here, no one is allowed to follow," and Mr. E complied. He didn''t know what Arthur was planning, but he didn''t hesitate to follow this kid''s words.


    After all he wasn''t a fool; he was sure Arthur knew something.


    "What about them?" Slone shouted from behind.


    "If anyone broke my words and left this room, kill them!" and his swift answer came to startle everyone. Mr. E was famous for his kind and wise nature; never showed such decisiveness except now.


    The moment he jumped through the window he summoned his flying pet. A giant flying dinosaur appeared and carried him to follow the dragon up ahead.


    Arthur didn''t know where to go, yet he looked for the most open place in his sight and went there. Just as he landed and put the body of Amanda on the grass, he cancelled his transformation and turned to face the rapidly following Mr. E.


    "Use all of your strongest arrays to seal this place," he shouted before adding, "and ask master Otman to come and help."


    He then turned to a dragon again, while waiting for Mr. E to act.


    Opposite to his expectations, Mr. E didn''t hesitate or stood there to ask questions. For him, any question right now was useless. He felt Arthur''s urgeness and he could feel the weakening pulse of Amanda.


    "Otman, come here fast!" he shouted and the next moment Otman appeared coming out of the window of Amanda''s mansion in the far distance.


    "What do you want me to do?" Otman asked without any further ado while standing over his pet.


    "Use the strongest sealing arrays," Mr. E said before giving Arthur a short glance, "and the strongest defensive arrays as well. Hurry!"


    His gut feeling told him what this new genius his academy gained was going to cause such a ruckus that would need the strongest defensive procedures.


    Otman didn''t delay and took out many flags and runes and started scattering them all over the place. As for Mr. E, he used his authority and shifted the shields protecting the inner academy to be focused entirely here.


    ''Ding! Everything looks good, let''s start,'' his system spoke when it felt the sufficient arrangements these two masters took.


    "Let''s start," Arthur roared before the next moment a huge pillar appeared out of nowhere. The sudden appearance of this pillar puzzled Mr. E who said:


    "Stay outside and guard this place with your life."


    "Count on me for that," Otman was puzzled as well yet he didn''t hesitate to comply.


    The two were already familiar with these pillars, as each one of them had many stored with no use for them at all. "Bring me all the pillars you have," Mr. E said before receiving a couple of rings then he went inside the formation.


    "No problem," Arthur laughed, "after all she owed me a ton more, and she has to wake up to give them to me."


    Otman started chanting something while he injured his hand. The poles and master flags of all his formations were stained with his blood. "No one is allowed to bypass me without a death fight!" he shouted to everywhere, knowing who was watching here closely.

 Chapter 386: An Echo

    Otman did what Mr. E asked him for. he stood on guard with his pet roaring, standing next to him with Mr. E pet roaring as well; aiding in the guarding process, while watching Mr. E walking in strong steps away.


    Mr. E entered the area to find Arthur had already summoned hundreds of pillars, closely packed and neatly organized to surround the body of Amanda.


    "Make sure to arrange them in twelve headed star diagrams," Arthur said to his system which started to modify the pillars to match his requirements.


    Things started to develop fast when he took out more than five hundred pillars from his garden. The body of Amanda started to twitch while a strange dark fog dissipated from it.


    "Black curse?" Mr. E noticed this fog while muttering, "Or something else?" he wondered.


    His presence was noticed by Arthur who totally ignored him. He wasn''t sure he would be able to master this fight alone; so he didn''t mind an extra hand.


    As he took out all his pillars, the fog coming out of Amanda''s body thickened.


    "Laying them on a twelve headed diagram? Such offensive arrangement¡­" Mr. E wasn''t standing there doing nothing, as he deciphered what Arthur was doing in a short time. "I should help then," he started to move, while taking out more pillars and filling the emptiness with what he and Otman had.


    Arthur noticed his actions and didn''t object. "Can you link those to my garden?"


    ''Ding! Sure! But after that you can''t sever the link with the garden.''


    "No problem," Arthur smiled, "this is a bonus after all if any of these pillars survived this battle."


    He was convinced the losses here would be great, yet he had to do it. Amanda entered such a state because of him. If she didn''t interfere and protect him; he would have ended like her!


    ''Ding! I''m ready.''


    "He is too," Arthur glanced over Mr. E who laid down over three thousand pillars there. "Tsk, he is such a rich man!"


    He didn''t know these pillars weren''t all Mr. E''s. Arthur didn''t delay as he took his bow and special arrows.


    "What is he going to do?" Mr. E glanced over this scene as he stood far from Arthur.


    Arthur used his bow and started to rain the pillars. "Start concentrating the garden power now," he shouted while he tried to use the most arrows he could control and sent them all flying to hit different pillars.


    These pillars weren''t purified yet, as all his purified ones were now integrated at his city. The moment his arrows landed on each pillar, an image of a half bronze giant and a dragon appeared from the explosion.


    And a soft rumble started to echo at first, followed by more louder rumbles one after another as he kept sending more arrows towards the same pillars; aiming to stimulate their innate strength.


    Each pillar took five arrows to be stimulated, and suddenly the world was filled with consecutive rumbles.


    Arthur didn''t stop his hand as he kept launching more arrows, yet he didn''t notice any change at Amanda after stimulating half of the pillars.


    "What''s wrong? Where is my garden?"


    ''Ding! It''s connecting to the pillars added by that master, and it won''t appear until you stimulate them all.''


    "All that time!" Arthur sighed before he tried his best to launch more arrows and used his ability to further guide them to make sure they would hit their mark.


    Mr. E stood far watching all this being unfold. "This kid¡­ I never thought he is this resourceful," he was inwardly shocked by what Arthur was doing. "What are these arrows? They look special," he noticed the unique aspects of the arrows and decided to investigate them later on.


    It took Arthur ten more minutes to hit everything around, and make sure all the pillars started to shine with white light. "It''s ready, summon the garden power now," he said while waiting in the air glancing at Amanda. "She looks paler, hurry," he urged.


    ''Ding! It''s coming!''


    The next moment Arthur and Mr. E felt like a sacred being descended upon them. The sky dimmed and the air became eerie and cold. Even Mr. E felt the pressure in this brief moment.


    As for Arthur, he was the owner of the garden, so he was affected by any pressure at all. Despite that, he knew his garden had become stronger; much stronger than he ever thought!


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment the sky cleared, and above each pillar a small ball of light appeared. The sounds of rumbling invaded the place while Arthur felt a familiarity with their rhythm. "It''s my garden, it''s here," he laughed and his laughs became mighty roars.


    ''Ding! Don''t celebrate yet, this is just the first step to heal her,'' the system tried to control Arthur''s high expectations, ''Ding! Hit the pillar again, a group of twelve at a time.''


    "Alright," Arthur was in a refreshing mood right now. "It really feels awesome to have strong followers and allies," he said to himself as he considered his garden as his biggest ally and asset!


    And his bow started to work again. This time he had to make sure he would hit the twelve pillars forming the twelve diagram at the same time. So, he went to stand in the center, just near Amanda''s body and started firing the arrows.


    He used his ability to control them. To make sure they would reach at the same time, he launched twelve arrows simultaneously. The first wave of arrows hit the pillars and a strange thing happened.


    An echo!


    It was like he hit a giant bell with a big drum! The arrows exploded yet what reacted wasn''t the pillars but the balls above them.


    And a strange silent wave erupted from each ball, heading inward towards him and Amanda.


    "Am I in danger? Is she in danger?" he hurriedly asked as these waves moved slowly towards him, like they were being controlled.


    He dreaded these waves!

 Chapter 387: A Complicated Soul Attack

    ''Ding! They are the purification waves of your garden! Don''t worry, you are their master and Amanda isn''t a dark clan descendant,'' the system paused for a moment before adding, ''Ding! But the next minutes will be quite dangerous. Keep firing!''


    Arthur felt the nervousness in his system''s tone and realized things were far from over. He started to fire his arrows again, targeting the next group, while pausing for a moment to watch these slow waves passing through him without any harm.


    Yet the moment they landed on Amanda''s body, a violent convulsion occurred, then another, and another. It seemed each wave was like a strong electronic pulse, invading her body and invoking it to twitch!


    And the most prominent thing that happened next was for the black fog to condense with more waves hitting her.


    ''Ding! Keep hitting, that dirty fog is the thing I touched and eating away her soul,'' the system urged him before adding, ''Ding! If we let it go back, the recoil will be enough to extinguish her last flickering soul light!''


    "Count on me," Arthur started to fire his arrows again like a mad man. He kept doing this for minutes while he used all his concentration to control the waves of arrows to reach their pillars.


    So he didn''t notice what happened to Amanda, yet Mr. E noticed.


    Her body was now covered in a dense veil of black smoke that kept waving like it was alive. Her body started to rise up in the air, while her eyes opened showing complete dark eyes!


    She wasn''t herself anymore, she was something else!


    "Soul control? What freak did she fight?!!" The shock of Mr. E was beyond imagination, and yet he didn''t petrify in front of this. "That kid is in danger," he didn''t hesitate and took out his long spear.


    He used many weapons and was already proficient in most, yet to aim and do the required damage from such a distance; either an arrow or a spear would do.


    "The boy has arrows, I can''t interfere with him, so this would do," he muttered to himself while his golden black spear was thrown to move like thunder; nailing Amanda to the ground and startling Arthur.


    "What the hell?!" he glanced over Amanda''s dark eyes and her body covered in black fog as he added, "why didn''t you warn me?"


    ''Ding! If so then what good is that lad over there?''


    "Lad? He is a master!"


    ''Ding! Don''t waste time, keep firing and he will do his job in handling her.''


    Arthur glanced again at the spear penetrating her belly, and then returned to fire his arrows. He gave Mr. E a nod before his arrows started to rain again over the pillars, creating more waves and evoking more dark fog out of her body.


    As for the wound created by the spear, Arthur didn''t see any red blood oozing from it; only filth dark fluid appeared.


    "He injured that thing, not her," he muttered while keeping his hand and mind busy with arrows.


    The thing he didn''t notice while firing was the white balls over the pillars. The pillars were arranged in circular fashion, forming onion-like layers. He started from the center outward, so each wave created had an impact on those inside.


    And that made these balls of light expand. It was slow but with time it became noticeable if he was free to glance around.


    But he wasn''t!


    And his system didn''t interrupt his focus.


    He kept firing towards the pillars and when he finally finished hitting the pillars for the second round. The waves created seemed endless, coming slowly and steadily towards Amanda.


    "She is still unconscious," he glanced back at her and murmured. Even after all these arrows and waves, he couldn''t kill that thing or push it further away from her.


    ''Ding! At least you interrupted its meal and now her soul is slowly healing on itself.''


    "You mean we need to buy her time?"


    ''Ding! That''s the plan,'' the system said while refraining to add more. This thing wasn''t that simple, and the system was pretty sure when Amanda was on the verge of awakening; it would go wild.


    For such a parasite, living without a host meant death.


    Arthur complied to his system''s plans and kept firing the arrows. Midway though, that thing behind seemed restless for more than once and Mr. E had to interfere using his deadly spears.


    After the fourth round, Arthur felt the entire world looking fuzzy to him. These waves coming without an end kept interlinking together, forming strange visual impacts.


    ''Ding! Close your eyes and continue, these waves are starting to grow to something else.''


    The system noticed the effects of these complicated waves on him, so it tried to give him guidance. For Arthur, closing up his eyes and launching arrows to their targets wasn''t that big of a deal.


    He used his talent to control arrows and made them hit their mark. The more rounds he finished, the more the waves became more deadly.


    "This kid¡­ this is a soul based pure attack. Such a complicated level I hardly can withstand, how can he do that?" Mr. E stood far as he watched the outgoing waves and analyzed them.


    It wasn''t his first time fighting soul attacks; most of his sworn enemies use this nasty trick.


    So he managed to break down the nature of those waves, and to his surprise these waves didn''t show the end of their potential; as they started to evolve to a higher stronger form of attack.


    "But that thing¡­" he glanced again over Amanda''s body, before sighing. "Him alone isn''t enough! I should slack off. What will others say when a fresh disciple does his best and I stand to watch while my best disciple is going to die?"


    He took out a strange weapon. It was a big gold and silver triangle. He held it in one hand, while it almost reached his height, before taking a long thick white rod from his storage ring.

 Chapter 388: Mr. E Is Serious

    "Time to cause a bang!" he laughed as it was ages since he used his sacred weapon for facing off soul attacks.


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    The next moment he kept hitting the triangle hard and caused strong vibration over it. The sound it emitted wasn''t musical at all; it was like explosions ranging wild, hitting everywhere.


    Surprisingly, when the waves he emitted reached Arthur''s wave; the two merged together to form a higher version of attack.


    Much stronger and more deadly attacks started to land over that parasite thing.


    And from that moment, that thing kept twitching hard like it was in agony!


    Arthur was still closing his eyes while keeping his arrows fired up towards the pillars. The system watched the actions of Mr. E, and it was relieved. ''Finally he decided to act again,'' it said to itself while watching the new waves hitting the thing behind Arthur and causing obvious changes to it.


    The fight kept raging for an entire hour before the black parasite couldn''t handle it any more and started to act like the system expected; berserk!


    ''Ding! Hurry and move to the front, keep your eyes shut!'' the system didn''t delay to warn Arthur, while instigating him to move.


    Arthur was immersed in what he was doing. It wasn''t easy at all targeting all these thousand pillars continuously for an hour; yet remarkably he managed to pull that feat by his extreme focus and determination.


    Yet when the system''s voice echoed in his mind, he was distracted and almost lost control on a couple of arrows before hurrying to regain his control back.


    "Don''t startle me like this!" he roared while stopping his arrow rain and moved to the front as the system implied.


    ''Ding! Things aren''t looking that good right now, you better retreat outside the range of the pillars. Join that master of yours, he will be able to perfectly protect you.''


    The words of the system made him worried, yet he didn''t speak as he kept flying forward with his utmost effort.


    As for Mr. E, the moment that parasite started to act berserk, swelling out in size to reach a great height, he didn''t delay and took out more spears and threw them at that monster.


    "That kid¡­" he was extremely worried at Arthur before noticing his sudden move far from the reach of that monster. "Good lad," he commended before glancing back at Amanda. "She is getting better," he noticed the changes in her, "this is the riskiest moment then."


    Out of his experience in fighting soul based dark clansmen, he knew this was the hardest moment every. Many good mages fell under the false belief they were about to reach their goal and exterminate their opponents, yet that moment of almost reaching their goal marked the moments of their failures and defeats.


    So he didn''t hold back anymore and started alternatively throwing out spears while hardly hitting the triangle. For him this intense fight wasn''t that stressful, as he fought many other stressful ones before.


    He also purposely threw the spears through the triangle, making them carry more of the waves he created with them; adding more lethality to his attacks.


    "Acting tough aren''t you?" Despite all these attacks, that monster out there didn''t show any signs of breaking apart. "Let''s see how long you will survive me."


    Mr. E paused from launching any more spears before he actively summoned three giant monsters to his aid. One was a giant lion with wings, the other was a giant lizard with three heads, and the third was a giant shark fish with five broad whale-like tails.


    "Master."


    "Master."


    "Master."


    The three respectfully greeted Mr. E and the approaching Arthur heard their tongue and understood their saying.


    "Three monsters as pets! Are they strong?" he asked and his system instantly replied:


    ''Ding! tell them to ask him to use purified water and dust.''


    The system didn''t answer his words, as it seemed quite irritated by what was going on with that parasite.


    In its opinion; these attacks could hardly contain the parasite, not kill it!


    "Listen, tell the master to use purified water and dust in his attacks."


    Arthur didn''t know what that even meant, yet he shouted at the three monsters who turned to glance at him in a weird way.


    "A dragon?" the whale muttered in a strange tone.


    "A human turning into a dragon?" the lizard said as he had more insight than the whale.


    "Master, he is asking you to use the purified water and dust in your attacks," and the lion didn''t hesitate to deliver the message.


    Mr. E''s eyes shone when he heard this. "Good lad, this idea is nice," he laughed before taking out a large cauldron and large leather tank filled with water. "But these two are really rare to find and I have only this handful of them," he muttered.


    He didn''t hesitate to immerse the triangle in the brownish silver dust before opening the hatch of the tank and immersed it into the water. "How did he know I have them? And how did he even know about them?" this was another puzzle to add to his long list about Arthur.


    Once done, he started releasing the waves again. This time the waves had a brownish silver color, and when they emerged with the waves Arthur created, they formed a shifting in color waves between brown, white, silver, and transparent.


    "Take these spears and do like I did," Mr. E finally waved his hand and took a large pile of spears, enough to form a gigantic hill. "Through them through my triangle," he added before focusing his all over hitting that triangle hard.


    The three monsters didn''t delay and started acting. The mighty force each had added to the impact of the spears, even starting to make holes in the enormous body of that black parasite.


    Yet this wasn''t the real reason behind these effects, as this was caused by the mix of water and dust Mr. E provided to them.

 Chapter 389: Amandas Help!

    "I just hope I would be left with some of them at the end," he sighed without any regret. Amanda was like a child to him, and he wouldn''t hesitate to do whatever he could to save her!


    This new addition of dust and water made the attacks the four launched more effective. Even Arthur started to feel some dizziness while approaching his master.


    ''Ding! Just a hundred meter more, press on, we are almost there!'' and the system didn''t stop encouraging him, as it was risky to stay inside the reach of these waves anymore.


    As he finally crossed these last hundred meters, the system said:


    ''Ding! You can open your eyes.''


    When Arthur opened them, he was stupefied to see that gigantic black monster with no specific shape and many tentacles. It was like a broad sheet of darkness with a wavy surface and no telling which was head and tail!


    "What is¡­ that thing?" his soul felt much threatened when he glanced at that for a minute. "Was that supposed to hit me?" he finally realized how dangerous his situation was back there without him knowing that.


    And the more he realized that, the more appreciation he felt towards Amanda.


    ''Ding! This is the first time for me to see. To be honest, if you were hit by it; your death wouldn''t be an impossible outcome.''


    "I agree," Arthur nodded before turning to glance at his master and his four gigantic pets.


    ''Ding! Don''t! you did enough already. The level of this fight exceeded your limits.''


    Arthur thought of going there and help, or return to fire his arrows; yet his system warned him not to do so. Arthur wasn''t aware yet, but he already exhausted most of his strength, and his soul felt wary right now.


    He needed rest, and he couldn''t rest before that thing would be killed first.


    "But¡­" despite seeing the logic in the system''s words, Arthur couldn''t stand by and watch.


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, the last killing blow will be yours,'' the system reassured him before adding, ''Ding! But you need to be in perfect shape to do that!''


    The feeling of exhaustion finally started to haunt him. He glanced at his weakened body; even flying seemed stressful for him right now. "Should I cancel the transformation?" he asked while heading towards the ground like a broken plan.


    ''Ding! Never!''


    The simple and direct response of his system made him realize he wasn''t safe yet. "Alright," he finally landed on the ground and sat there motionless, watching the ongoing fight while bidding his time for rest.


    ''Ding! You can take out your meat and strengthen yourself faster.''


    "Good idea," Arthur didn''t make meat out of monsters for such a long time, yet he still had huge reserves of his old meat. He started taking huge amounts of them and kept eating them without reservation.


    "Eating amidst battle? You are such a weirdo," Mr. E noticed what Arthur was doing as he laughed. He was content Arthur was fine, and he believed this fight wasn''t suited for such a weak disciple like him.


    Mr. E continued his attacks using his triangle while his monsters kept aiding him throwing spears. After two more hours, Arthur felt his body recovered yet he didn''t hurry to go and help.


    ''Ding! Stay here and wait, your time isn''t up yet,'' his system kept warning him while he had nothing else to do but wait.


    The black fog kept shaking all the time. After the departure of Arthur, his pillars lost all the aiding force to help Mr. E in his attacks.


    "Can I at least use my arrows?"


    ''Ding! No, save them for later.''


    "Why do I have the feeling that you know something and don''t want to tell?"


    ''Ding! Just wait, the end of this fight is drawing close.''


    Just as the two were having this debate inside Arthur''s mind, a strange vicious sound erupted from the direction of that fog.


    "You can''t kill me, if you do this pathetic human here will die!"


    The words were followed by a loud laugh that resembled a roar. Mr. E had his face change for a moment before hitting the triangle with more power than ever.


    "Just give up, you can''t even trap me with your pathetic toys! You are alone, and you can''t handle me on your own."


    The dark monster laughed while its surface seemed to tremble.


    ''Ding! It''s afraid, and so it starts to speak,'' yet the system spoke to Arthur, making him realize how trickery this monster was!


    "What for? Stalling for time?"


    ''Ding! That''s what it wants.''


    Just before Arthur could ask his next question, a strange thing occurred.


    More pillars began to show up with their towering height and giant bodies! They came out of nowhere and started to be arranged around the outer circle of pillars; following what Arthur initially aligned them into.


    "He isn''t alone anymore!"


    This weak tone with deep hatred and extreme anger came from the back of the monster, startling it.


    Arthur glanced fast towards Amanda to find her standing from the ground, in a shaken body, while her hand held a long scepter; a black one with a strange luster.


    "Do you recognize this one here? It belonged to your master!" Amanda said in a vicious tone as she fiercely waved this giant scepter and landed it over the body of the dark monster.


    "She is fine!" Arthur heaved a long sigh of relief.


    ''Ding! She is everything but fine!'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! She is trying to stop what that monster is trying to do.''


    "Which is¡­?"


    ''Ding! Like what your Golam tried to do!''


    The eyes of Arthur got widened and he felt his soul being sucked in. "No way, we can''t allow this to happen," he hurriedly glanced at Amanda who was now extracting the scepter from this monster''s body and hurrying to attack it again.


    And the sounds of new pillars being added to the ground resounded in the space!

 Chapter 390: The Last Resort

    "She is trying to give me a hand?" he asked while trying to guess what she was planning.


    ''Ding! That''s correct, she knows it''s impossible to kill this monster before it self detonates. So, she is taking all the pillars she had and entrusting you with them.''


    Arthur felt touched, yet a thought passed through his mind. "How did you know what she was going to do?"


    ''Ding! I didn''t,'' the system replied, ''Ding! I just guessed it.''


    Arthur was speechless for a moment before the sounds of pillars appearing ceased. ''Ding! Don''t be petrified like you are afraid or something. Go there and finish that damned parasite off!''


    Arthur smiled while he flapped his wings wide and took his bow and arrows once more.


    These sudden developments weren''t in the expectations of Mr. E. he sensed the shift in energy inside that huge parasite body, and knew what Amanda was trying to do.


    Yet when Arthur flew in the air once more, he was surprised! "This kid¡­ how the hell did he manage to heal fast?" he wondered and then the scene of Arthur eating meat jumped into his mind. "Can this simple meat heal him? That''s amazing!" he laughed while trying to keep the attacks constant with his pets.


    The addition of Arthur to the fight gave birth to the higher form of soul attacks. The monster seemed struggling between all these attacks, yet it wasn''t dying!


    ''Ding keep hitting the pillars and leave everything to these two,'' the system noticed the anxiety swelling up inside Arthur, so he tried to reassure him.


    "Can they stop it? Can they kill it in time?" he asked, and the system didn''t answer right away.


    "I knew it," Arthur sighed before thinking how to help in killing this monster.


    ''Ding! You don''t know all the tricks these two masters have, right?''


    Arthur knew his system had a point. "What if they couldn''t?" yet he was still worried.


    ''Ding! Then there is a last option that I would rather not use.''


    "Really? Last trick?"


    ''Ding! You can say that.''


    Arthur felt his system wasn''t bluffing, so he started to grow calmer. "Alright, I will trust you on this."


    The system didn''t answer while he kept firing the arrows everywhere. The new pillars Amanda added needed some time to be linked with his garden; time he used to activate all the other pillars for two rounds before aiming for the new ones.


    Each one had five arrows to be activated, then after he completely activated them; he started to aim at all of the pillars, launching more waves of attacks.


    And this time the monster seemed to be really under great pressure.


    "Taste the wrath of me!" At this moment, Amanda suddenly shouted in great tone, while one hand held the scepter and the other was raised to the sky.


    Arthur didn''t know what was going on, yet the next minutes dark clouds gathered above her before she descended her hand, and thick tongues of thunder descended with it.


    ''Ding! See? I told you, these two aren''t that easy!''


    "You¡­ are absolutely right!"


    Arthur watched the showering attacks of thunder falling from the sky as he felt intimidated with these. If he was in the place of that monster, he was pretty sure nothing would shield him from this lightning.


    And this wasn''t the end of it!


    "Hahaha, I won''t let you have all the fun," Mr. E let the triangle to be hung in the air before taking a long and thick silver blue rod from his storage ring. The moment this rod appeared, Arthur felt tongues of thunder dancing around it.


    ''Ding! Water and thunder, both augment each other,'' and the system explained as this rod had water based power which attracted some of the dissipating thunder from Amelia''s attacks.


    Mr. E pointed it towards the monster and the next moment the dark clouds over the sky rained. It wasn''t normal rain, it was a flood, and while descending they carried more thunder towards the ground!


    And then the place at the monster turned to be a dead zone for anyone!


    ''Ding! Keep firing, they are doing their best to trap it!''


    "Trap? This isn''t enough to kill it?"


    ''Ding! I told you, the killing strike will come from you, not them!''


    "Well¡­" Arthur doubted what his system said, yet he didn''t hesitate and kept firing his arrows. "How can I kill something the two of them couldn''t?!" he asked the question that puzzled him.


    He squeezed his mind more than once, and reached a conclusion! He had no way to help more than his arrows, garden, and pillars.


    Away from these three; he had nothing else to be considered a lethal weapon to kill this monster with!


    ''Ding! Just keep firing and when time is ripe, I will inform you about your missed weapon.''


    Arthur listened to his system and kept his hands busy all the time. What he cared most about was the fact his reserve of arrows was depleted by all these arrows launched to his the pillars.


    "I hope they won''t run out," he said to himself.


    Yet after another hour of constant brutal fighting, the monster seemed not greatly affected by all this. Arthur was starting to lose hope, as his arrows were already on the verge of depletion.


    As for the two masters of his, their attacks combined together for the past hour to devastate the monster. But in Arthur''s opinion, these attacks were strong yet not enough to kill it!


    ''Ding! You are set to go, brace yourself and move towards it now!''


    The words of his system finally came to make him more puzzled than before. "What do you mean by that? The monster is still alive and strong! How am I supposed to kill it?!! What difference will I make?!!!"


    ''Ding! You are going to know it soon enough,'' the system said, ''Ding! Just go, the window you have is already small!''


    "Tsk, speaking in riddles again," Arthur shook his head before he started moving.

 Chapter 391: What Magic Is Going to Occur?

    ''Ding! You are going to know it soon enough,'' the system said, ''Ding! Just go, the window you have is already small!''


    "Tsk, speaking in riddles again," Arthur shook his head before he started moving.


    His sudden move was noticed instantly by his two masters, who thought he was deluded by something or allured by their combined fierce attacks.


    "Stay back kid, you can''t do anything for now," Mr. E shouted from behind.


    "Go back Willy, it''s already dangerous," Amanda spoke in a low tone from the front, trying to make him retreat.


    Yet he roared and kept going upfront with great momentum. "Tsk, this kid," Mr. E shook his head in regret, "why is he so stubborn?" a thought then hit him. "Was he attacked by that monster without me noticing it?"


    He hurried to turn to his lion. "Go after him, make sure to bring him back even if you are dragging him by force!"


    "I promise, master," the lion replied and Arthur understood his loud answer from far.


    "Mr. E is fixed on bringing me back!"


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, all we need is to get as much closer to it as possible.''


    "Then what?"


    ''Ding! Leave the rest to me, yet you have to give me your answer.''


    "Answer for what?"


    ''Ding! What path will you take for your soul redemption? I strongly suggest you select the bloodlust path!''


    The words of his system totally stupefied him. "Right now? Are you serious?!!"


    ''Ding! Hurry and decide, or else we will lose our little opportunity here!''


    "Tsk," Arthur didn''t know what his system was aiming for, "I''ll trust you for this, I choose the bloodlust path."


    ''Ding! The bloodlust path is opened for you!''


    Just as these words fell, the entire world changed in front of Arthur. The sky suddenly dimmed and a strange vibe appeared out of nowhere making him quite dreadful.


    Yet it was such a familiar feeling he lost since coming here!


    "This is¡­ the tribulation!" he was extremely shocked to pause from flying for a moment.


    ''Ding! Keep moving, we have no time to waste!'' his system urged.


    "C''mon, tell me what''s going on here!!!"


    Arthur returned to move his wings while his mind was up in stir. What he didn''t know was that all these changes were only perceived by him; no other one here felt or experienced what he was testing right now!


    ''Ding! Opening the path to your soul redemption puts you on the cultivation track again. Despite you having to start from scratch, your first step is ignited by a tribulation.''


    "Meaning?"


    ''Ding! You chose the bloodlust path, a path of slaughter and kill. As you were initially a great cultivator in your past life; your tests will be harder than ever.''


    The system paused for a moment before it used a trick to affect the speed of the incoming lion without anyone noticing it!


    ''Ding! Your current tribulation is different! You will be assigned a task by a mysterious being, far superior than what you think. You need to accomplish it or else your soul will be cleansed in lightning like your old days.''


    Arthur laughed, from the bottom of his heart, for the first time ever since coming to this world. "I don''t mind the old days to be honest."


    ''Ding! You should! This tribulation is fiercer than your old days! Don''t dream of facing one of them oneday, or else I can''t guarantee your safety.''


    "Don''t be overprotected! My life was always a life of constant challenges and risks!"


    ''Ding! Stop talking and focus. Your mission is to kill that monster.''


    "What?!! C''mon, be serious, how can I possibly do that?!!" he was shocked to know his current mission. "If it''s like that, I would gladly accept the lightning redemption!"


    ''Ding! Don''t be stupid! Your test is to use lightning as well! Just get as close as possible to this pathetic worm and let us finish this long fight.''


    Arthur didn''t get the meaning of the system, yet he kept getting closer to the monster. "Is this close enough?" he was already at the inner circle of his pillars, the one he once stood at from the start.


    ''Ding! Nice, now I want you to attack the heavens.''


    "Attack what?!!" Arthur instantly shouted, "how can I possibly do that?!!"


    ''Ding! Just release your arrows up and wait.''


    "Tsk," Arthur directed his arrows to the sky. For the two masters here they saw Arthur point his bow to the clouds then his arrows went missing the moment after.


    They didn''t know where they went, and their minds didn''t provide any answers to them except one. "You still are shrouded in mysteries," Mr. E muttered while Amanda watched with anticipation what would happen next.


    Yet both of them were destined to be disappointed! What Arthur experienced was considered something happening in another plane, not seen or felt by the two of them.


    So, when his arrows went into the dim sky, the sky rumbled and he saw thick tongues of lightning branching off the places his arrows just hit.


    "What is going to happen? What magic is going to occur?" he muttered to himself and his system didn''t answer, as the answer was about to present itself right away!


    ''Ding! Keep firing!'' the system urged and he complied.


    After the fifth volley, the original dim sky turned to be filled with lightning all over it. His arrows went to hit everywhere, and the moment the sky was covered in this veil of lightning, the lightning started to be released downwards!


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The lightning kept hitting everything around him except for him. "Amanda!" he shouted in panic while turning to spot her; yet she was absolutely fine!


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, this thunder is the cheat help you can use at any tribulation. After all your tests will all share the same thing; being against creatures way above your strength.''


    "Wow, so I can use this all the time? And why Amanda is saved from the lightning?"

 Chapter 392: Arthur Is Hit!

    In front of his eyes, the lightning went berserk and hit everything around him in a five hundred meters radius! That was enough to bake Amanda alive!


    ''Ding! Your trial selected this monster to be killed, so your ability to summon lightning will only affect it, not others.''


    "That''s¡­ brilliant!" he was excited by such an outcome.


    ''Ding! Don''t waste time, your window is limited to five minutes.''


    "Then let every second count!"


    He stopped talking and hesitating anymore, while his hands kept firing the arrows in the fastest way possible he ever did.


    In front of the two masters, he was crazily releasing his arrows into oblivion, while the monster started to roar in obvious pain!


    "What is this kid doing?" Mr. E wondered as he felt the aura of that monster getting weaker. "What technique is he using?" he asked, yet he couldn''t find an answer.


    As for Amanda, despite having no answer to the same questions, she knew Arthur was doing something out of familiarity. She followed him since he left here and entered the city world, and she got a clear grasp about him.


    "He is special, strange and unique! I''m sure he has many secrets that no one knows about!" she reached this conclusion after watching his deeds inside that world.


    She visited his city, and was really impressed by it! "I never saw anyone planning such a grand thing! There is no such grand city in our world or that world," that was the impression she got from his city.


    As for his style of fighting, she was surprised to find him daring enough to offend the Oblack dark academy. And when he moved from his location to a very remote one, she knew he had a way to unveil the secrets of the world he was living in!


    But her observation was cut with an unexpected encounter!


    ''Ding! Keep firing, we are almost there!'' the system urged and kept encouraging him while Arthur continued to fire his arrows non-stop.


    Each volley of arrows contained a dozen of them, and after five of such volleys, the sky would send its wrath down the monster.


    Each strike caused significant damage to it, and after four minutes of constant baking; the monster seemed on the verge of dying!


    The two masters were surprised and puzzled, yet they didn''t stop their hands for even a second. They kept attacking, and these attacks helped Arthur a lot in his tribulation without knowing it.


    The more they attacked the more that parasite monster seemed to get weakened, and Arthur knew it was so soon to see it dying.


    ''Ding! I need you to trust me on this.''


    Suddenly his system spoke in this vague tone, and Arthur didn''t even get the chance to express his doubts when that black parasite roared all of sudden and the earth trembled from the sound alone.


    "I''ll kill you, damned dragonair!" the voice it spoke with was coarse and told a lot about its current condition.


    Opposite to Arthur''s expectations, the monster didn''t explode! It moved all of sudden to attack him. Moving from such close proximity and with that much stronger monster meant Arthur had no other way around but to retreat, or else he would die for certain!


    "What the hell?!!!" just as he tried to move, his body stiffened. He sensed a strange aura coming directly from his soul, invading his body and making his muscles stop responding. "Damn it! I''m going to die, moron!" he cursed at his system as he realized what the previous vague statement meant.


    Yet his system didn''t respond or comply, and Arthur had no time to think about anything else!


    The monster just appeared in front of his face!


    "Stay away!" Arthur roared yet in the middle of his own words, the monster entered his body, targeting his soul!


    This was exactly what Amanda went through! As she got rid off this deadly parasite, she could now stand slowly, yet her face showed no sign of victory.


    Her disciple, the one she paid all this price for, was finally hit by that strange monster.


    "Hurry, come fast, we need to support him," she didn''t delay to shout at Mr. B who was standing in the distance not knowing what was going on here.


    Then the next moment he traveled the distance to herside in a mere moment. "What happened?" he asked as she just leaned on him while pointing towards Arthur with weak hands. "He got infected with what was inside me. We need to help him, cough¡­ cough¡­"


    She couldn''t continue her words before she coughed blood. Mr. B held her to the ground as his face showed extreme serious expression. "This isn''t good," he muttered, while glancing all over the place which turned into a forest of pillars, "this kid can''t die, this monster can''t be allowed to live anymore!"


    He went towards Arthur who was now lying softly on the ground with closed eyes and pale face. He was exactly like when he saw Amanda for the first time. "This monster¡­ where did you get infected with it?" he asked while he touched Arthur''s arm and tried to sense his power.


    "His pulse is weak, but¡­" he froze the moment he injected a wisp of his energy into Arthur''s body. "That''s¡­ amazing!!" he was surprised even standing and turning to the puzzled Amelia, "he is eating away the monster!"


    "What?!!! How?!!!" Amanda was speechless for a moment before asking in extreme shock. "I tried to face it, and I lost from the first clash. How can this be possible? Cough¡­ cough¡­" she spat black blood from her throat before turning to her master. "Master, please save him."


    "Don''t worry, I will try my best to help," Mr. B knew he had nothing in his power to do. If so, he wouldn''t wait all this watching his best disciple on the dying bed!


    As he stood in front of Arthur and tried to use many formations to augment the soul of Arthur, the latter was now in a completely different world of his own.

 Chapter 393: The Systems Plan

    "Where am I?" he asked the moment he opened his eyes. He was standing on a very small stretch of land; not exceeding three meters in diameter, shining with white light among an ocean of pitch black around him. "Is this my garden? Or my star map? Or perhaps¡­ I''m dying!"


    ''Ding! Don''t be silly, you are far from dying!''


    The strong voice of his system echoed in his ears coming from a specific direction. Arthur glanced at the small rounded piece of earth he was standing upon as he asked: "Are you this land?"


    ''Ding! I''m the seed this land needs,'' the system vaguely answered, ''Ding! And this isn''t my land, it''s yours!''


    "My land?" Arthur muttered before glancing all around, "what land?" he asked as he added, "and what is this strange eerie darkness? I can feel a strange familiarity with it!"


    ''Ding! Try to remember the last thing that happened to you.''


    Arthur went silent for a moment. His mind was fuzzy right now. "I recall going to my city world, coming back and finding Amanda sick¡­"


    He paused, as his eyes went round. "This is the monster I was fighting? Is it eating me now?" he asked in extreme vigilance while his eyes shone determination to battle even in his last moments of life.


    ''Ding! Don''t be drifted away by this, think¡­ there is something else you forgot!''


    "Something else¡­" Arthur muttered and this time he felt a great headache assaulting him when he tried to remember more.


    ''Ding! Focus! Endure the pain! You have to!'' the system kept pushing and he kept trying to remember. Each time he tried to recall that missing thing, the headache became fiercer!


    "C''mon!" he gritted his teeth while enduring all the pain that hit him. "I was¡­ standing amidst lightning¡­ I was amidst my path¡­ I was facing¡­ the tribulation!"


    The moment he said the last word, all the headache went away and suddenly he felt the darkness around him getting fainter. He even could see small areas next to the ground he was standing at.


    ''Ding! Congratulations, you are now officially on the path to redeem your soul.''


    "System, you have to explain things to me!" Arthur wasn''t excited. In fact he was much puzzled with this more than ever!


    ''Ding! Sure, but let me explain things in brief right now.''


    "Am I in danger?"


    ''Ding! Sure, danger lurks in this shadow!''


    "Then make it quick."


    ''Ding! You need to know that the tribulation you started wasn''t a normal one; it was the birth tribulation; the origin and everything else will follow. But for it to be successful, it needs an offering.''


    "That monster, right?"


    ''Ding! Correct, and it also needs a host, a seed, and area to expand.''


    "You are talking about it like¡­" Arthur paused as his mind realized what this was.


    ''Ding! Yes, it''s not a heaven tribulation for you to be tested, it''s the seed of your cultivation path. Without it you can''t return to your old days no matter what!''


    "This is¡­ the path?" Arthur glanced around before adding, "this is really a minute desolate place to be!"


    ''Ding! You are the host, and you were deprived of all your powers before coming here. So, don''t blame it and blame yourself instead.''


    "That''s harsh," Arthur smiled as he added, "but as long as there is a cultivation path for me, I''m content."


    ''Ding! Don''t celebrate early, this monster is still alive.''


    "I can see that, thanks!"


    ''Ding! You need to kill it so your cultivation path will be solidified and expanded!''


    "How can I do that? We have been fighting it for hours back there and look¡­ it''s fine!"


    ''Ding! It''s far from fine, it''s almost dying,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! Your cultivation path is already eating it away. you only need to accelerate the process, or else¡­''


    "Or else what?"


    ''Ding! You will be left in a coma for a long, really long time!''


    Arthur went silent for a moment. If he kept himself in this state for so long, everything he worked for would be lost!


    "What should I do to help?" he asked.


    ''Ding! You need to sacrifice part of this monster to your garden.''


    "Isn''t my garden my own? Why do you seem like I''m going to lose here?"


    ''Ding! For your cultivation path to work, it needs energy. This monster will act like that until its entire energy gets depleted; either by time or by your progress in your new cultivation path.''


    Arthur wasn''t a newbie in things related to cultivation, so he realized what his system was talking about. "This cultivation path isn''t supported by this world then, right?"


    ''Ding! That''s a fact! Without great energy supporting it, you won''t be able to utilize anything from it.''


    "That''s¡­ weird," he muttered before a thought came to his mind, "that means every time the energy here is about to be depleted I will be assigned a new quest?"


    ''Ding! You got it fast.''


    The answer of his system explained everything to him. "Fine, at most this will accelerate my next quest," he muttered before adding, "my garden is considered one of my strongest assets. Let it enjoy some benefits as well."


    ''Ding! Alright, I will start channeling part of the energy and you need what to do.''


    "Good," Arthur sat on the ground while he closed his eyes and started checking his body. All of a sudden, a violent and immense amount of energy entered his body. "This¡­ it''s really much purer and aggressive dark energy than I ever experienced," he said while he simply guided this energy to link with his garden.


    The first step was hard, yet the moment his garden got connected with that monster''s dark energy; he sensed a strong suction force erupting from within the necklace around his neck.


    "Calm down, you are really more excited than me!" he laughed while waiting and watching on the side, just like Mr. E standing next to his body.

 Chapter 394: The World Path Is The Hardest Path

    "This kid¡­" the moment Arthur started linking his garden to the monster''s energy, Mr. E sensed it.


    "What''s wrong?" Amanda was extremely worried about him. "Is he alright?"


    "I can''t say the opposite of this," he smiled before laughing, "this kid is killing the monster. Calm down, he is fine and he will come out of this stronger," he said before giving her a deep meaningful glance.


    "Don''t ask again, master. You are the one who taught me to honor my disciples'' secrets!"


    "But this one is special!"


    "Whatever, I can''t tell you a thing without his permission," she kept her mouth shut regarding what caused all this ruckus.


    "At least tell me such a thing won''t happen again!" he said.


    "The situation is grave, and this kid will face greater dangers all the time!" she said without exposing any details.


    "That''s¡­ quite disturbing," he gave Arthur a deeper glance, "this kid is shrouded in mystery even to me!"


    "Don''t doubt him, I trust his ability to become stronger and a great asset to our academy," she tried to make her master not to consider Arthur a threat.


    "I need a good reason to trust him," he said before deciding, "next time you go outside, I will accompany you."


    "Master!!" she was speechless there for a moment. "He is my disciple!"


    "And he is also mine," Mr. E laughed on the funny expression his dearest disciple showed on her face. "You know, I''m considered the dean right now, making every disciple technically mine."


    "That''s¡­ lame!"


    "Hahaha, call it the privilege of my position," he was in a good mood before adding, "this way you won''t have to expose anything, plus¡­" his face changed as he said in a deeper tone, "I can interfere at the right moment to save both of you."


    "¡­"


    She didn''t say a word, as she couldn''t reply to his logic.


    As for Arthur he stayed in his place for hours. The energy stored inside that monster was endless, and despite the presence of two beings eating away the energy like there was breathing air it seemed he needed more hours to finish!


    ''Ding! Keep concentrating, we still have a long time for it to be over.''


    "Tsk, this monster¡­ is it higher than the Gollam?"


    ''Ding! Much higher.''


    "Any idea of its origin?"


    ''Ding! Why ask about something you already know the answer to?''


    "Sigh, I just wanted to gain more information here."


    ''Ding! I''m not the one to give you such info. Please focus.''


    Arthur kept his silence and the two masters outside didn''t move. Mr. E checked his status from time to time, while he spent most of the time caring about Amanda.


    He gave her healing herbs, strong potions, and even gave her rare meat and wine. She was now shrouded with many healing formations to aid in accelerating her recovery.


    "At least tell me your enemy is dead!" he didn''t give up asking, and she didn''t leak any single viable info to him. In fact she started to enjoy this conversation, where her mind recalled many old and forgotten memories of her being a disciple here under his care.


    Despite the passing of all these years, he never left her side and kept supporting her all the time. He faced many complaints and even once was accused of a love affair with her; yet he was dead settled on guarding and supporting her.


    And she never betrayed his trust till date.


    "He¡­" her face showed how difficult this question was, "he is still alive, yet not in a better shape than me."


    "That''s disturbing," he deeply considered her answer before adding, "if you can''t even kill him and end up in such a state¡­ this man is dangerous."


    He paused before asking, "is he stronger than I?"


    "I doubt that!"


    "Good, then next time let''s make sure he is dead for good then."


    "That''s if he had any support to his side like me," she laughed a pure laugh before adding, "I''m pretty sure he was there all alone."


    "There¡­ where?"


    "Tsk, stop asking. I won''t answer no matter what you do!" she complained like a little kid.


    He glanced at her before shaking his head. "Stubborn and childish like ever!" he sighed before going to check over Arthur. "Wow, this kid is almost done from killing that monster," he exclaimed in joy and anticipation.


    If his disciple didn''t tell him anything useful, then he would pressure the main culprit and knew everything from his mouth.


    But he was doomed to be disappointed!


    ''Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully killed the monster and completed the quest. Your soul cleansing path is finally opened to you,'' the system excitedly said before adding, ''Ding! Marvel your new cultivation path.''


    In front of Arthur''s opened eyes, the small piece of land he was standing upon started to expand. More areas were added, and the initial ten meters turned into a mile radius!


    "What should I do with this?" he asked after carefully glancing and observing this land. He even stood up and took a stroll over it.


    ''Ding! This is the source of your cultivation power. The vast it becomes, the stronger you will be.''


    "A world building cultivation path?" he wondered as that was what he sensed and understood from the system''s words and after examining his new land. "This is one of the hardest cultivation paths I ever saw in my life!"


    ''Ding! True, as this world doesn''t support spiritual energy, you need to depend upon here to develop that.''


    "What about my meridians? My dantian?"


    ''Ding! You will need to start everything from scratch,'' the system replied, before adding, ''Ding! You don''t need to tell you this, but you need to build a dantian and meridians suited to your cultivation path.''


    "Tsk, this is challenging," he muttered while he knew the words of his system were absolutely correct.


    ''Ding! Are you perhaps afraid?'' The system asked and the tone of it made Arthur reply right away with great spirit!

 Chapter 395: The Academy Seal

    "Afraid?" he muttered before laughing, "Don''t misunderstand me, but I have never been excited in my life like this moment!" his body even shook a bit while saying these words. "I love challenges, especially those coming from heaven."


    He was now pretty sure of what was going on. He challenged the heavens once before by developing a cultivation path that would turn immortals into gods.


    "I wasn''t punished, I was sent here to be tested¡­ to see if I deserve having such power or not; that''s the methodology then," he muttered with a grin over his face. "What''s next?" he asked.


    ''Ding! You need to go back and solidify your newly acquired power,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! You also need to find a way to link the two worlds together.''


    "To secure my spiritual energy supply?"


    ''Ding! Indeed!''


    "Alright, let''s go back then," he said before giving the place a final glance before finally opening his eyes in the academy world and sitting straight with some dizziness and extreme fatigue.


    He leaned forward and Mr. E held his body, before giving him a deep glance. "Are you alright?" Amanda asked as she was able to walk now without staggering.


    "I''m¡­ ok I think," he said in such a weak tone that told them how exhausted he was.


    "Come," Mr. E shouted back at one of his pets. The giant lion came at once and Mr. E carried Arthur and put him on the back of the pet. "Your soul is exhausted and your energy is depleted. You just need a couple of days to rest and good supplements," he turned to Amanda who nodded, as she would take responsibility for that.


    ''Ding! I will take the pillars now.''


    Just before the lion kicked off, the pillars all around turned hazy all of sudden before vanishing in front of their eyes.


    "The pillars¡­" Mr. E muttered before turning to Arthur as if he knew he was the one behind this.


    "Sorry, I will clean them and bring them back," Arthur said while he never intended to do so.


    "Clean them? Can you clean them?" yet Mr. E focused entirely on a different thing, "that''s great! You can have them as much as you like. If one is cleaned, can you give it to me to test?" he asked, as he had never managed to find a way to clean any pillar of darkness.


    "I promise," Arthur lied, but he wanted for him to drop this matter.


    "Don''t worry, I will make sure he will give them back," yet Amanda laughed from behind, while Arthur knew she wasn''t joking!


    "Good, let''s go out then," Mr. E said, "we have another problem to solve."


    "Those dirty elders?" Amanda said, as she figured out what was going on without the need for her master to explain.


    "They are¡­ If they are linked to the one who did this to you, I swear I won''t let anyone of them alive this time!" Mr. E threatened, and Arthur knew those filthy elders would face a hard time in the next few days.


    The three of them moved outside the formation. The moment they did, the scene that appeared in front of their eyes startled them all!


    "What is going on here?" Amanda shouted, before Mr. E raised his hand high and the next moment a diagram descended upon the ground from the sky.


    It didn''t do anything to Arthur, yet to those fighting around the formation they were instantly stupefied in place!


    "It''s a restriction technique," Arthur muttered and Amanda just nodded before she went ahead to stand beside her master.


    The fight seemed to extend beyond the boundaries of the inner academy. Mr. E stood there glancing at all the damage before waving his hand, and Otman regained his freedom.


    "Master E, you finally came out," he seemed quite exhausted, suffering multiple wounds, yet he didn''t care about them for the moment. "Some elders led a rebellion and started wreaking havoc in the academy," he added while pointing his fingers to a couple of elders, including Mr. B and Lady U.


    "Great," Mr. E said in such a grim and serious tone, "you dare to believe I would be killed inside and started all this¡­ amazing! I have to say, you really have balls!"


    "We didn''t attack first!" Suddenly Mr. B shouted with a loud and angry tone, "your men attacked us and we just defended ourselves!"


    "We ask for a fair trial!" Lady U shouted also to support Mr. B''s words, "we want justice on the hands of the dean!"


    "Sure, you come here and attack the formation that''s guarded by Otman and claim this is just a self defense? Funny, really hilarious," Mr. E even laughed, a laugh that made the body of Arthur tremble.


    "And now you have the courage and audacity to ask for a fair trial! What do you think this place is? The backyard of your clans and guilds? We are the Dorgazire academy! Anyone who dared to rebel will be executed at the moment!"


    His words didn''t finish and he took out a medallion. It was a golden one, engraved with red lines. He held it high in the air while muttering: "Per authority given to me, let all those who rebelled and attacked my academy be punished by death!"


    The sky suddenly lit up with a diagram similar to the one Mr. E summoned just now. The medallion shone brightly and a pillar of light erupted from it to the sky. The moment the light touched the diagram, every single one in front of Arthur''s eyes had a tattoo mark over his or her shoulder to shine!


    All except him!


    "A control tattoo!!" he was surprised to see such a thing here, "but I can''t complain, it wasn''t used against me yet."


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, if you want I can seal or remove that seal from your body after gaining it.''


    "That''s¡­ relieving," he said as he wasn''t feeling comfortable being controlled by someone else.


    As the light shone brighter, and the pillar emerging from the medallion thickened, the tattoos over everyone''s shoulders shone.

 Chapter 396: The Other Face of Mr. E!

    "Let the guarding soul of our academy be the judge. Those who are sinners will die!" Mr. E muttered these words in deep tone and veneration.


    The next moments a heavy silence prevailed everywhere, before shouts of pain and screams of panic erupted from some. Arthur witnessed many figures being engulfed in golden fire before nothing remained from them except for their ornaments.


    This kept happening fast, like a virus infecting everyone! "All of them¡­" he muttered in disbelief, as the number of these golden fires kept increasing in front of his eyes, numbering in hundreds!


    "Tsk, they are all sinners and traitors," Mr. E said in disgust, "remember, anyone betraying the academy will be judged and killed without the need to move a finger," he wasn''t acting proud or mighty, as Arthur sensed a tinge of pain from his voice.


    "The loss is great," he muttered.


    "Not only here, but those clans and guilds might act against us," he said before adding, "they have been collaborating with dark clans for a long time already. Most of them can be considered our enemies, the one you can''t corner; the hardest enemies ever!"


    Arthur nodded, understanding the logic behind Mr. E words. "But this is a must, we are after all the Dorgazire academy; the guardian of the eastern part of this world. We can''t be pressured by the dark clans, or let those traitors do whatever they wish without proper punishment."


    His resolve was firm, and Arthur admired that in him. Despite knowing what was on stake here, he didn''t hesitate and applied justice by force! Such a master was someone who would be dependable.


    "And I won''t stand by watching those dark clans doing whatever they like," he also vowed to himself. After all, this war started because of him, and he didn''t intend to stop or go back over what he accomplished so far.


    The purge continued for an entire hour, and after that the entire world ushered under heavy silence. "Release," Mr. E calmly muttered, as if he didn''t commit a genocide right now!


    "Cesile, Armond, Slone¡­ come now!" he shouted and after everyone regained their freedom, they all glanced at him with fear and veneration.


    He was such a decisive master, despite being known for his kindness and hate for violence. Yet, at this decisive moment, using soft measures weren''t considered wise.


    "Master," the three came and greeted him in great veneration.


    "You three are responsible for counting the dead. Cesile, make sure to create a list of shame of all the clans and guilds whose had the highest death toll."


    "Right away, master," they all said before Cesile paused for a moment while glancing over the weak pale Arthur behind. "Is he ok?" she asked, as she gave Amanda a glance, "is everything alright?"


    "Don''t worry, both are fine but they need rest for the next few days," Mr. E said before turning to Arthur and Amanda, "take him back to his residence and make sure he won''t have any classes for a week."


    She nodded and gave Arthur a meaningful glance before the two moved in silence away. "I will keep my eyes on you two all the time," Mr. E said to himself as he had this feeling the two wouldn''t listen to his words and stay indoors for a whole week.


    "What''s special about that world anyway?!" he regained his focus back on the world used to conduct a test. "I thought it was a silly joke by our enemies, yet that world seemed quite special. I have to go personally there and investigate it," he muttered before observing the chaos around him, "but after I get everything sorted out."


    He knew the academy suffered losses this time, and the wounds created by the elders'' betrayal wouldn''t heal in one day or even a week. Yet he moved, raising up his head, knowing he took the right decision back there.


    "You owe me a lot!" Amanda said once they moved far from the reach of her master. "I saved your life, and you stole my pillars!"


    "I didn''t steal them, I just borrowed them," Arthur instantly replied with a weak voice.


    "Without my consent!"


    "You were there, why didn''t you claim them?"


    "I was on the verge of dying! Have some manners! Don''t you have an honor?" she laughed while enjoying teasing him.


    "I do, but you gave me the pillars voluntarily and I didn''t steal them!" he refused to budge.


    "Then you owe me for saving your life," she said while adding, "and you owe me many things to explain."


    "I owe you nothing to explain," he said, trying to avoid her interrogation.


    "C''mon, I saw your city, I saw your army, I saw what you did back there! I even saw you move from one place to another using a very unique way! You can''t be anyone, a mere clan head from a nameless clan of the desolate areas, you have a secret. I want to hear it!"


    "Don''t you know prying on others'' secrets is a naughty habit?"


    "I love being naughty," she laughed before adding, "you won''t get rid of me using these pathetic word games. C''mon, aren''t we a master and disciple? You are my only disciple for years; can''t you trust me? I just risked my neck for you back there! Do you know what would have happened to you if I didn''t stop that mysterious dark master? C''mon, show me some appreciation!"


    "Thanks a lot for everything," he shrugged.


    "That''s it?"


    "Yup, isn''t thanks enough? Do you want me to kowtow to you?"


    "What''s this?" she asked before adding, "forget anything, I want answers!"


    "And I ain''t telling a word."


    "Let''s see how you can do anything there without me by your side, humph!" she harrumphed as she glanced to the other side as if she was mad at him.


    He simply gazed at her before returning to look forward.


    "C''mon, tell me something! Tell me everything!" she said again, making him realize how childish she was in the interior.


    "Aren''t you ashamed of yourself? The mighty Amanda is jumping around a disciple like a kid?"


    "Don''t try to play these tricks on me, I can do whatever I want, and I won''t be ashamed at all!" she said in an arrogant tone, "yet aren''t you ashamed not to express your gratitude to the girl who saved your life back there?"


    "I also saved your life and repaid the debt," he said without glancing at her eyes focusing on him.


    "That''s not fair, it doesn''t count!"


    "It does!"


    "No, do you want me to go back and tell Mr. E about everything I know?" she suddenly threatened, "I''m not the one who will have great deal of his secrets exposed, hehehe."


    She stopped, and started to walk in the opposite direction, startling him. He turned to her as he sighed. "Trouble," he muttered to himself, before loudly shouting, "alright, come back."


    She raised her hand high in a waving sign as she loudly said: "No, you a bullyer! You bully cute girls who risk their lives for you, poor me, poor me."


    His eyes twitched as he didn''t know what to say to this shameless master! "She is even more shameless than me back in the days!" he said to himself before finally saying in a sincere tone: "Come, I will answer some questions of yours."


    "Really?!" the next moment she appeared instantly in front of his face, startling him. He was weak at the moment, and this sudden move of her made him lose balance.


    "Watch out," he shouted as he fell directly over her, yet she couldn''t move in time and she ended up embracing him with his head softly lying on her shoulders and hot breaths coming out from him over her neck!


    "Stay away," she rudely threw him to the side in reaction to what she suddenly felt. He fell on the ground, flipped a couple of times before finally resting on his back. "Ah, c''mon I didn''t mean anything," he shouted in pain while he tried to stand straight.


    "You¡­ you are a naughty one! Keep your distance away or else¡­" she threatened with red cheeks and a soft touch of pink under her eyes. The moment he saw this he understood everything.


    "You are such a sensitive girl from the inside," he muttered to himself before smiling as he said: "I promise this won''t happen again, but don''t surprise me like this. I''m still injured and weak right now."


    He pointed to his body who had many wounds and even his clothes were stained in his blood. She hesitated before helplessly sighing, "alright, let''s go back to your residence," she then moved at the front, while he silently followed without saying a word.

 Chapter 397: An Interrogation

    When the two reached Arthur''s mansion, they found Arthur''s team so worriedly waiting for his return.


    "Clan master!"


    "Clan head!"


    "Willy!"


    "Lord!"


    "Master!"


    Suddenly everyone shouted when they saw him, and he felt some warmth deep down his soul. "Everyone is alright?" he asked when they all gathered around him, eyeing him with worry and eyeing Amanda with caution.


    "You do a lot of things inside that world, sneaky little disciples, hahaha!" Amanda suddenly spoke about their doing back in the city world, which made everyone, even Tina, glance at him in doubt and question.


    They didn''t respond to her indirect question, and he only shrugged before saying: "She knows."


    "Knows what?" Tina asked in an aggressive tone, as she wasn''t like most of the team here; she only saw Amanda lying helplessly at the bed.


    "Everything I assume," Amanda was the one to answer her before she gave Tina a deep glance. "You are his pet or his follower?"


    "I''m his girl! What about you? Who are you? What are you to him?!"


    "That''s¡­ a lot of questions, hehehe," Amanda laughed while leading Arthur into his mansion. "What a nice tree you have here," she winked to him and he only sighed.


    "Why are you acting like my woman?" he muttered softly while watching everyone leave, leaving him inside a room with her while Tina stayed on the distance eyeing her with vigilance.


    "It looks fun," she laughed.


    "Teasing a little dragon like Tina, she is pure hearted one."


    "She is little? C''mon, I bet she is a thousand years old!"


    "What?!!" Arthur was speechless for a moment before adding, "perhaps you are right, but to me she is a little girl."


    "Anyway," she turned her gaze away from Tina, yet the latter didn''t, "tell me everything about that city of yours."


    "My city?" Arthur feigned ignorance, "what about it?"


    "It''s not¡­ normal at all!" she struggled for a moment there, "If you aimed for something prestigious, then you could have built a grand clan, or even an academy. But this¡­ it''s weird!"


    He smiled while saying, "I don''t think it''s weird, and who told you I won''t have a clan and an academy there?"


    "With those high and intimidating walls? Plus I smelled the aura of pillars there. The aura seemed strange, not too dark like they were purified."


    She paused while gazing deeply at him. "How can you purify such a grand wall and make pillars integrated into it? Or was it initially a group of pillars and you modified them somehow?"


    Her questions made Arthur surprised. ''Indeed, a strong person will have a bright mind and vast experience,'' he said to himself.


    And she kept her silence while waiting for his response.


    "Well," he cleared his throat, "I can''t really tell you."


    "C''mon!" she shouted at him, making even the distant Tina restless and nervous. "You have to give me something in return for saving your life!"


    "And I saved yours!"


    "First not alone, second I also worked with you on the side, third and foremost important of all; if you don''t show me enough gratitude this moment, I won''t step out of my way and help you ever again!"


    He didn''t know if she was just throwing empty threats at him or being serious, but he had to admit to himself; he needed her support especially when there were other players on the stage!


    "Do you know of an academy called Oblack?" he suddenly asked, trying to give her some info away from his own secrets.


    "Sure, I fought that man from such an academy. Give me something I don''t know!"


    "Like what?" he smiled, as he sensed she had something in mind related to that academy issue.


    "Like¡­ why was he so deadly set on killing you?" she glanced at him before adding, "I first came to your city and took some time to scout it, then when I got bored and didn''t see you appearing there I started to look for you. I saw you flying in the sky trying to reach another place, and strangely you did!"


    She narrated what she experienced in the city world before adding, "so, I didn''t see anything away from you killing more of the enemies and doing some weird tricks. Nothing to make such a person so mad at you, plus¡­"


    She paused while her face got serious, "what made such a master from an infamous dark academy to come all the way here in the first place?"


    He smiled before calmly replying: "Am I being interrogated?"


    "Well," she shrugged, "you can say clearly with no worry that you aren''t," she paused while her face reclaimed its former seriousness, "but for me you have to answer my questions and relieve all the doubts or else¡­"


    He sighed, "Don''t act strong and aggressive with me," he said while his face turned evil, "I love bad girls."


    "More reasons for me to act this way," she laughed while winking at him. "C''mon, give me some answers."


    "Tsk, can''t you settle with no answer?"


    "Never!"


    "Will you leave me alone after hearing the answer to this question?"


    "What? Getting bored of me already? I promise I will make you amused all the time," she laughed while giving Tina a short glance, "so, what is your answer, bad boy?"


    Arthur took a deep breath before pointing to his body, "Can''t see I''m wounded and exhausted?"


    "I know better than anyone else how tricky you are! Don''t think I will settle with this as an answer, give me the answer or else I will go to Mr. E and open a formal investigation if you want."


    "Tsk, why do you have such a fiery temper?"


    "Why do you act so cold and insensitive?"


    He sighed as she was really stubborn about this point. He knew she wouldn''t let him free without leaking some of his secrets. "Alright, I will tell you about the reason this dark academy master was here."


    "As a start I can''t refuse this," she said before returning her back to the seat as she amusingly added, "but don''t mistook me as a fool girl like that silly dragon over there. I will gladly accept this appetizer and wait for the main dish after."


    "Sigh," he shook his head while saying, "just hear me and you will know how big this info is."


    "I''m all ears."

 Chapter 398: Talk About the City

    Arthur didn''t play with her anymore as he seriously said:


    "This academy did the same as ours, sent a bunch of their disciples to the world as a test."


    "A test? Then that master is¡­" she paused while her eyes shone brightly, "wait a minute, if you know such a secret info, does that mean you already encountered one of them?" she said.


    "I can''t deny that," he simply replied, "and I''m on the run to hunt them down," he added.


    "You know their locations?!!" she was surprised more than before.


    "I know the general layout of them; two disciples for each big, medium, and small clan," he explained, "but the most important ones are in the big clans."


    "And?"


    "And what?"


    "Whom did you kidnap, dirty disciple of mine? Surely it''s a she, right?" she laughed like hearing a joke that amused her.


    "Let''s¡­ drop this topic, shall we?" he smiled helplessly while her laugh went to another level.


    "It''s a girl then, playboy, hehehe."


    "At least you got yourself the info you want, right? Let me go now!"


    "What? Who said I was holding you?" she looked at him in a strange way, "I''m in your room, dummy, not the opposite, hehehe," she laughed and he looked silently at her.


    "I won''t leave before you tell me more."


    "Like what?"


    "Like¡­hmm¡­ c''mon you have tons of secrets worth more than your weight in promethium!" she laughed, with a puzzled look over her face. "Let''s start with your city, what do you intend to do with it?"


    "Nothing actually, just a place to spend my time in calm and peace, and what is this promethium?"


    "Hehehe," she laughed, "don''t try to fool me, I already got the vibe of something big going on there," she pointed to him as warning, "don''t play dumb or silly tricks, you know better."


    "What''s promethium then?" he tried to shift the topic away.


    "Something far more important than even me to the academy in this world. Now, tell me what you hide, little playboy!"


    "Tsk, I told you, it''s just a place to sit and enjoy sightseeing," he sticked to his lie.


    "Alright," she suddenly stood up, "it''s time to pay Mr. E an interesting visit he will much appreciate."


    "Wait," he hurried to stop her, "your temper¡­ gosh, can''t you be soft and kind like a girl?"


    "You mean dumb and fool like a kid?" she returned to her seat before seriously adding, "I''m done playing here, so if you kept slipping away like this I will find myself obliged to make Mr. E and others join this interesting discussion."


    "Scary!" he muttered.


    "Don''t think I''m the best candidate to be the dean for nothing, kiddo!" she laughed like she heard a praise, "come to mammy and tell what you hide."


    "Mammy?" it was his turn to laugh, "you aren''t that old to me!"


    "Oh, you are a real playboy, hehehe," she laughed at his words, "there is at least twenty years apart. Word for the future, if you have any plans regarding me, just drop them already. It''s pointless."


    "We''ll see," he teased her, before saying, "alright what if I made a deal with you?"


    "You aren''t in a position to lay terms, kid! Just spit it out and don''t waste my time!"


    Her seriousness was met with a bitter smile from him. "What is the real aim for this city of yours?"


    "Do you like it this much?" he said before laughing, "I can get you a room in my big palace there."


    "See, Mr. E is just nearby¡­ Mr. E¡­ Mr. E¡­" she suddenly stood up and shouted out like she was really calling him.


    "Stop, I will talk, alright?"


    "Good boy, hehehe," she returned to her seat and then he said:


    "I built it to be a major base for my future operation in that world."


    "Not enough, keep going."


    "I plan to annex more villages and towns and add them to it."


    "Keep going."


    "Tsk," he shook his head, "I plan for it to be a capital."


    "Capital?" she glanced strangely at him, "like the old kingdom capitals in this world?" she asked.


    "This world had kingdoms too?" he was surprised.


    "Long, really long time has passed since the last one," she sighed, "after all our world wasn''t in this disorder before the dark clans arrived."


    "Interesting," he muttered, "it''s the same history of the other world."


    "I bet," she nodded, "after all most of the basic worlds here share the same history and miserable events."


    "Basic worlds?" he asked.


    "Kid, I''m the one asking questions around here, not the one providing answers," she teased him, "c''mon, tell me more."


    "About what?" he shrugged, "I''ve already told you my plans for my city and what I know about the Oblack academy."


    "Hmm¡­ what about this strange power of yours?"


    "My power?" he suddenly became slightly nervous, "what do you even mean by that?"


    She glanced at him silently and the atmosphere of the room changed, yet he kept his silence and didn''t speak, glaring back at her.


    "Mr. E said you ate away that monster, that''s something not a normal mage can do. Hell, even me can''t do such a thing. Our attack by pillars was mainly soul based, something we ¨C good mages ¨C couldn''t do!"


    She vigilantly glanced at him before adding in a more serious and deep tone, "you also can turn to a dragon, something I never heard before except from an ancient academy called a dragonair; a very dark academy that we once destroyed in the old past."


    "Wow, you know a lot of history," he said.


    "Thanks for the praise," she was flattered by his words even waving a couple of hair fell over her beautiful cheeks to look much prettier in his eyes. "C''mon, tell me about these and I will go," she promised.


    Yet he knew he could never share his deepest secrets with her!


    And his struggle to answer her was met instantly with a stern look.


    "You have to tell me," she said, before threatening, "after all I''m your master in the academy, the one who you can share secrets with and don''t worry to be spread out for anyone but me."


    He doubtedly looked at her while she added, "this is the academy code," and she sighed, "it''s also my personal code."


    "Code of what?"

 Chapter 399: A Funny Quarrel!

    "Code of honor," her eyes went astray for a moment, "for example Mr. E asked me about what I know about you, yet I told him nothing despite he is technically my master," she tried to make him understand, "the relation between master and disciple inside these walls of our academy is sacred!"


    "Hmm¡­" he didn''t know what to say, but her words touched his heart and soul.


    "I know it''s not easy to share anything with a stranger," she added, "but I''m not a stranger to you, I''m you mammy after all."


    "You are my girl, not mammy," he laughed.


    "C''mon, if you are older then this might work!"


    "It will," he laughed again, "I promise!"


    "Such big words from a small man, hehehe," she teased him. "Now entrust me with your secrets, or else¡­" she paused while giving him a threatening glance.


    "Sigh, why are you so hard to deal with?"


    "Because I''m not that easily fooled," she leaned her back to the seat while enjoying the troubled face of Arthur, "won''t kill you if you told me something, right?"


    He didn''t know what to say, and his mind started to weigh his options here. He couldn''t risk losing the support of the academy he worked so hard just to enter!


    "An advice from your wise and older master; a secret lying safely with your master is better than a secret known by all!" she threatened and he knew he couldn''t escape her clutches this easy.


    "Tsk, alright I will tell you something," he finally conceded and she didn''t seem to be surprised. After all she perfectly cornered him! "But I need something in return," he added.


    "C''mon, we have more than twenty years apart! Told you to drop this matter, drop it, alright?"


    "Hehehe, didn''t mean that but y''know, it looks more interesting to have a date with you in return," he laughed as he teased her.


    "A bully playboy! Tsk, how can girls fall into you like this?! Be more discrete, gosh!"


    "I like being direct," he said.


    "Being rude and mean, vulgar and irresponsible!"


    "Being sexy and horny."


    "That''s it, I''ll bring Mr. E to interrogate you!" she seriously stood up and he hurried to stop her but she seemed more angry than before, or might be embarrassed!


    "C''mon, I was joking!"


    "Don''t joke with things that don''t belong to you! Humph!" she went back after he held his hand to stop her, making her face have a tinge blush. "Don''t ever touch me again, understand!"


    She was angry, and he felt threatened for a moment there. "Can''t promise that, hehehe," yet he didn''t budge as he returned to his seat while saying:


    "I just want you to help me capture those disciples."


    "That''s a given," she nodded, "anything to weaken this academy will be gladly welcomed by me and others."


    "No, I just want you," he stressed, "I don''t want others to meddle in my matters!"


    "Then you have a problem," she laughed, regaining her carefree nature, "see, Mr. E has already sat his gaze upon you and me, hehehe."


    "What do you mean?" he asked while feeling more of a headache, "I didn''t know I was this popular!" he said with a shaking head and bitter tone.


    "It''s your fault to be so shiny and stunning," she said, "after all he saw what you can do this close, and he sensed the same thing I felt from you when we met for the first time¡­"


    "Being special?"


    "Being an arrogant playboy kid," she laughed, "you have to accept his interference, after all he is quite strong and will be useful."


    He sighed before she added, "don''t worry, he is my master, and I can vouch for him."


    "I hope he doesn''t come here later and interrogate me."


    "This¡­ I can''t promise anything about, hehehe," she was really enjoying the struggle her disciple was at. "You need to learn how to fix your own mess."


    "True," he nodded, before glancing at the door, "can you leave me now for rest? I have to regain my shape to be able to fight these dark disciples."


    "No, no, no," she shook her finger in front of his face, "you can''t get rid off me this easy, do you?" she laughed before adding, "I know you are injured, but no to that much! I bet you''ll enter your word the moment I leave, right?"


    She laughed and he just kept glancing at her saying nothing. "What do you want to hide from me? Gosh, you are really a boy worth his weight of secrets!"


    "I won''t tell you anymore!"


    "You owe me the answer to your powers, then¡­" she paused, "I might leave you alone... for now!"


    "For now?!!" he was speechless. "Don''t be greedy old hag!" he laughed.


    "Who is old and hag, rude kid! I''m still young and vibrant!" she retorted back with a strong tone and sharp attitude.


    "Then let''s go out on a date!"


    "In your dreams!"


    "Is it against the rules of the academy?"


    "You aren''t my type, that''s all!"


    "Young?"


    "Weak!"


    "Hot?"


    "Rude!"


    "Sexy?"


    "Vulgar!"


    The two laughed at each other before she finally said: "Let''s get this done first, I have to go back and watch your little trip into the world."


    "I won''t enter it now!"


    "Liar!"


    "I promise!"


    "Promises coming from playboys are lies!"


    "I''m not lying!"


    "Yet you are a playboy!"


    The two glared for a moment there before breaking into laughter again. "Alright, say and I will leave you to rest," she winked before adding, "if you consider going there as a rest, hehehe."


    "Tsk, why can''t you be settled with what I have already told you?"


    "Mr. E¡­ Mr. E¡­"


    "Alright, alright¡­ stop! I will tell, sigh!" he shook his head as he hurriedly stopped her.


    "Who called me?"


    Yet at this moment while he was about to speak and she was waiting for his secrets, Mr. E did appear at the door, startling even Tina!

 Chapter 400: Mr. E

    His sudden appearance made Arthur helplessly sigh. "See? You name it and a catastrophe appears!" he muttered and she just nodded.


    "What catastrophe?" he entered the room uninvited, "if anything is threatening you, you can depend on me to solve," he smiled while stopping just beside Amanda, "after all you are considered my grandson, hehehe."


    "He is just a nobody!"


    "I''m your son in-law!"


    "What the hell are you two talking about?" he glanced at the two while laughing, "I like the son in-law, better than grandson, hehehe!"


    "Master!" Amanda shouted while her face went pale, "you won''t return to that old habit of yours," she said with a bitter tone.


    "C''mon, it''s not like me going around the academy looking for broom''s for you," he laughed as he pointed to Arthur, "this boy asked for it himself, I said nothing!"


    "Master!!!"


    "C''mon, can you two speak outside while I sleep for a bit?" Arthur said, trying to escape this bizarre situation.


    "No, you owe an answer!" Amanda said.


    "Kid, a word from your master; this girl is fiery and hot, don''t let her away from you grasp."


    "Master!!!"


    "See? Even when being mad she is sexy, hehehe!"


    "Master!!!"


    "I know, but I need to rest so I can chase her," Arthur laughed.


    "Really? Alright then, do you know what we were talking about?" she angrily turned to Arthur as she didn''t move her eyes away while addressing her master.


    And Mr. E didn''t let the invitation slip by as he grabbed a seat and say leisurely at it. "I''m listening, tell me¡­ you know how much I love stories, hehehe."


    "You two¡­" Arthur had his eyes twitched, "a master is like a disciple indeed," he muttered.


    "Sure, and this applies to you my dear son in-law, hehehe."


    "C''mon, stop fooling around both of you! I''m serious!" Amanda threatened as she stood from the seat while Mr. E winked at Arthur as he said:


    "She is against any love relation, can I entrust you with this issue?"


    "Anytime master, anytime, hehehe," Arthur laughed with Mr. E while the face of Amanda kept getting redder.


    "Both of you are mean and bad!" she harrumphed before sitting again, "I will tell you then¡­" she paused as she glared at Arthur, "everything."


    "Tell me, I didn''t hear nice stories for so long."


    "Ahem," Arthur tried to interrupt this little party on his secrets, "can you stop fooling around?" he said to Amanda who just sneered and raised her head up high. "Apologize first," she demanded.


    "About what?"


    "Y''know, don''t act like you don''t!"


    "I really don''t!"


    "Liar!"


    "I''m serious!"


    "Playboys aren''t serious anytime, anywhere!"


    "Wow, you are already fighting like couples, hehehe," Mr. E said, interrupting their funny exchange of words.


    "We aren''t!" Amanda strongly opposed, "he is way weaker and younger than me! Not my type!"


    "Darling," Mr. E laughed, "he is perfectly your type, hehehe."


    "Can you leave me to rest, please," Arthur said, trying to escape again.


    "Not before you apologize and answer!"


    "Not before I hear the amusing stories here!"


    "Damn!" Arthur cursed, "you two are bullying me!"


    "The privilege of being your master!" Amanda laughed.


    "And the privilege of being your master''s master," and Mr. E joined her as well.


    "Tsk," Arthur just shook his head, "I can''t tell my secrets to anyone!" he declared.


    "I''m not," Mr. E laughed, "after all I''m your father in-law, call me papa and I may drop the stories part."


    "Master!"


    "Papa, can you leave us alone for now?" Arthur laughed as he winked at him.


    "Well, no problem, but don''t be mean or horny you two, hehehe," he winked as he stood up while Amanda was glaring at him. If look would burn, he would have been incinerated a long time ago!


    "But I will know your deep secrets sooner or later, hehehe," Mr. E was strangely in a good mood before he vanished from the room like the way he appeared here.


    "You rascal!" the next moment he vanished she turned to Arthur and shouted at him, "how can you say these words in front of my master?"


    "I didn''t say a thing," Arthur acted innocent, "he jumped to conclusions himself!"


    "Son in-law was your saying!"


    "Nope, it was him!"


    "How can he call you son-in-law out of the blue? What do you take me for? A fool?"


    "I didn''t mean it," he smiled as he added, "do you want to know the answer or not?" he tried to save his neck here by shifting the topic back to something she craved for.


    "Humph," she harrumphed before adding, "better to be a good secret or else I swear I would spill your secrets all over the academy!"


    "Tarnish your future man reputation? So lame!"


    "Say this one more time and see what will happen to you! I dare you!"


    Her tone and attitude told him a lot about her. "Tsk, no need to threaten me," he shook his head, "after all you are going to be mine."


    "In your dreams!"


    "We''ll see, hehehe."


    "That''s why I never accepted a disciple ever,tsk," she shook her head as if she was regretting accepting him, "now tell me or else¡­" she didn''t continue her repeated threats.


    "I know, I know," he laughed, "this secret will make you quite satisfied," he added before seriously looking at her.


    "What?" she felt a little nervous, "why are you looking at me in such a pervert way?"


    "It''s not pervert, I''m just serious!"


    "You look pervert when you are serious!"


    "Not my fault to see me this way, but I''m serious here!"


    "Pervert!"


    "Tsk, can''t I have a word with you without fighting?" he said before adding with a big laugh, "we didn''t sleep together yet to fight like couples!"


    "What? Do you have a death wish, kid?"


    "Tsk, using threats won''t work on me!"


    "Really? Mr. E¡­ Mr. E¡­"


    "What do you call me for? Huh? Had a fight already? Or a nice story to tell?"


    "Gosh! What''s wrong with you two?!!"

 Chapter 401: A Stolen Statue

    The moment she called him, he appeared in the room with a concerned face that made Arthur want to curse loud!


    "He is mean to me," she pointed to Arthur as she added, "he is a bad disciple with a dirty mind!"


    "Dear," Mr. E said in a passionate tone, "he wants to be your man, so he must have a dirty mind and rude thoughts," he laughed and Arthur laughed with him, leaving Amanda alone hitting the ground with her feet.


    "C''mon you two, you''re bullies!"


    "I just stated facts," Mr. E was very amused with this situation, "if this was it, then I will leave," he winked to Arthur he added, "be bold, she loves bad boys, hehehe."


    "Master!!!"


    He escaped with his life as she was about to explode at him. She turned to Arthur with much anger that made him feel threatened. "You better stop fooling around and give me a good answer or else I swear not a single bone will be left intact in you!"


    "Scary!" he muttered before hurrying to add when she took out a sword all of sudden from her storage ring, "I''m a dragonair, one who hailed from that academy."


    His words startled her, and the next moment she sat at the seat with a lost look on her face. "That''s impossible," she muttered before returning to him, "you are their sworn enemy right now! You did many things to them and ruined many of their plans!"


    "I know," he shrugged, "I''ve selected to be a good mage, and that put me against them."


    "It''s dangerous," she muttered before adding, "that cursed soul that was trying to eat you up the other day¡­" she paused while he simply nodded.


    "It was one of those dark masters of the past, wanted to be revived."


    "They can?!!" she was more speechless, and much interested in this.


    "Well," he didn''t know what to say, "they already did that in that world," he added after a flash thought about this point.


    "You are kidding me, right?" she tried to make sure she understood his meaning right, "you can''t be serious!"


    "You can go inside and see for yourself," he shrugged like he was telling a mere bedtime story, "this happened in all grand dark clans in that world."


    "How?" she demanded for more.


    "They have this weird technique from a higher dragonair realm," he said before seriously adding, "what will you do about it?"


    "I have to kill them all," she decided, "these old monsters shouldn''t be given a second chance."


    Her words seemed quite heavy as if she was talking about something she personally experienced. At this moment Arthur realized something; he knew absolutely nothing about her!


    ''I need to go and milk my father in-law then, hehehe,'' he smirked inwardly before saying, "I have a way to go to that world, but I''m too weak right now to venture there alone!"


    "You shouldn''t!" she stressed on this point with a deep tone, "this world must be much higher and far stronger than here."


    "We can''t destroy that world?" he asked.


    "It''s much easier and safer to destroy these links," she corrected, "tell me how this link looks?"


    "Like this," he waved a hand and the next moment the statue appeared smashing the roof of the mansion and even destroying one wall!


    "What the hell is that?!!" This question came from Mr. E who strangely appeared the moment this statue appeared, "I will take that," he touched it and the next moment he and that statue disappeared leaving the two in the room speechless for a moment.


    "You have a weird master!" Arthur said.


    "Don''t tell me about him," she sighed while turning her gaze to him, "he took your statue!"


    "He is your master and I''m your disciple, go and fetch my statue back to me!"


    "He is your father-in-law and your grandmaster; go and get your things yourself!"


    "Tsk, you are afraid of him, what a shame!"


    "And you are braver than me, go get your things back tiger!"


    The two glanced silently for a moment before he shook his head while helplessly sighing, "you two are such shameless masters!"


    "Speaking like an angel, the one who took all our pillars!"


    "I just borrowed them!"


    "You stole them!"


    "C''mon, you gave them voluntarily!"


    "Liar!"


    "I''m telling the truth!"


    "Liar!"


    "Tsk," he shook his head before adding, "you got your answers and that master took my things. Can you leave me to rest?"


    "You will go inside now?" she teased him.


    "I''m going to rest, that''s all!" he replied with a loud tone.


    "Alright," she laughed as she stood up, "I will see you inside then, hehehe!" the next moment she disappeared while he stayed alone for a while enjoying this wonderful peace.


    "These two¡­" he shook his head while recalling what just happened, "I will need to find something for them to be busy with!" he had the perfect candidate for that in mind.


    ''Ding! At least you had two strong aiders now!'' the system finally spoke after such a long time of silence.


    "Thanks for letting me alone there."


    ''Ding! They are your girl and your father in-law, stepping in seemed inappropriate!''


    "Such a nice one you are," Arthur sneered before taking a deep breath, "I need to rest for a while before entering there again," he muttered before shouting at the outside Tina: "Bring Amelia to me."


    She was jolted awake before she vanished from his sight for a moment and returned with Amelia. Her face seemed weird, like she already heard everything he spoke with Amanda about.


    "I want you to be ready to move in five hours," he said before adding, "we have a vacation here for a week, so we will do everything we have inside during that time."


    "A- Alright," she seemed quite distracted and hesitant about something. "Are you in love with Amanda?" she suddenly asked.


    ''Damn! Girls'' are always sensitive towards that,'' he said to himself as he knew this matter couldn''t be treated lightly. "Baby, I have only you in my heart," he said while standing from his seat and wrapping his arms around her.


    "Really?" she glanced at him for a moment, "but you tried to seduce her to be your woman and she resisted!" she said while her face showed a tinge of redness.


    "She is someone I like, not love," he said before painting a soft kiss all of sudden on her sweet lips, "I only have you in my heart," he lied.


    "Ah, that''s a relief," she hurried to free herself from his arms while feeling quite nervous about all this, about opening up her heart in front of Tina, "I- I''ll go and inform others then."


    She hurried to leave in a nervous way while Tina sneered. "You are such a bad master," she laughed.


    "C''mon, do you want to be in my heart too?" he laughed with her while extending the offer.


    "Not in that ugly body," she giggled before hurrying to leave as well. "If you want me to be yours, find a way for me to evolve then, hehehe."


    She vanished while he heaved a sigh of relief. "That was so close," he sighed before glancing at the damage the statue he summoned caused. "Tsk, my statue," he regretted losing it before deciphering its secrets.


    "I need to rest," he went upstairs and selected a random room where he laid his body, closed his eyes, and shut down all his thoughts while going into deep sleep.

 Chapter 402: Returning To the City World

    Arthur slept for six hours before finally waking up. As he didn''t sleep for so long, he felt strange when moving off his bed. "Sigh, this feeling¡­ I should depend more on the meat then," he shook his head trying to wake himself.


    "I need meat, and arrows," he muttered recalling the stock he depleted in the last fight. "Tsk, so much work for me," he shook his head before descending to the ground where he was welcomed with his team.


    "Are you ready?" he asked with a yawn.


    "Someone needs good rest," Ron joked before adding, "if you are tired, you can deliver us then return to sleep here."


    "No, many things need to be done," Arthur said while checking the barrier he made. "It seems this barrier is weak against masters like Mr. E," he muttered while shaking his head in helplessness. He knew Mr. E was someone special, and he couldn''t limit his movements at all.


    "Let''s go," he said while passing through the transparent veil of the tree. He crossed with his team the star map to end up being inside the place he left before.


    "Wow, what is this place?" Omar was excited while Randy hurried to examine the cluster of towns and villages. "They stretch to no end!" and he was much more touched than Omar.


    "Sigh, I forgot about this problem," Arthur muttered before adding, ''Open a portal for them to enter my world, and make sure they will appear next to the portal of the mine.''


    ''Ding! Alright.''


    The next moment a portal appeared and Arthur said: "Go inside, you will find another portal leading to the mines. Go there and from the mines go the city."


    "I will stay!" Tina suddenly said.


    "Me too," and Amelia said.


    "C''mon, it''s not a party!" Arthur was speechless at the two," you two go back. The city is under your responsibility," he said to Amelia before turning his gaze to Tina, "and you have a much important mission."


    "Which is?" Tina asked in discontent, "I want to be here and help!"


    "Sara is out there alone, fighting many armies," Arthur said before adding, "you need to cross the mountain series and look for a giant fortress. Aid her and when you two conquer that place, spread out and look for more armies to kill."


    "Wow, if this is the case then I''m in," she said in such an excited tone.


    "Fool!" Amelia groaned before entering the portal with everyone. When they disappeared, Arthur was finally able to heave a long sigh of relief. "I need to start working on my arrows as well," he muttered before glancing around, "but I need first to start absorbing all these," he changed into a dragon and went to the sky.


    His sudden appearance made everyone active again; cheering out loud like welcoming the return of a real king.


    "Hehehe, they love me!"


    ''Ding! I have already cleared all the curses inside your garden,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! Your ability has upgraded to cover four hundred thousands in one go.''


    "That''s great news," Arthur roared before adding, "Open up many portals and let them enter the garden world."


    ''Ding! Right away.''


    "And open one for me as well."


    ''Ding! In the air!!!''


    "No, put it down there," he motioned with his head towards the building he just came through."


    ''Ding! Done!''


    Arthur went directly towards the portal then he appeared next thing inside his garden world.


    "Wow! It has been a while since coming here," he muttered the moment he entered the world as he noticed the presence of many colors in the sky of his garden world. "What''s going on here?" he asked.


    ''Ding! The garden has partially absorbed the energy from the Golam dead body and now is evolving.''


    "I like that!" Arthur laughed before adding, "I will make arrows next to the blood pool," he went towards the pool of the Golam intending to use the blood of it in the making.


    ''Ding! This will change the arrows for a bit!'' the system warned.


    "For the better I hope," he smiled before taking out all his items and started forging.


    He had everything ready, only needed to smelt materials, combine them together and start assembling the arrows.


    When he added the refined blood of the Golam, he sensed a soft hissing coming from the arrows. He also immersed the wood he gathered into the pool for hours before he started assembling the arrows.


    When he finished, over twenty thousand special arrows were made, plus another twenty of normal ones.


    "These normal arrows were useful in dealing with enemies without risking great damage," he muttered while examining the arrows he made. "Everything is ready, it''s time to go and pay that chick a visit," he smiled before vanishing from his place and reappearing at the place of Anna.


    As he reached her, he found nothing had changed since he left except for the fact she went to live inside the broken big mansion-like cart.


    "You seem quite exhausted," she said before adding, "and a bit injured, are you alright?"


    "I''m fine," he said before adding, "did you know that a master was here to supervise your trials?"


    "What?" she was speechless and he felt her surprise was genuine and not fake. "Who?"


    "Dunno," he shrugged before adding, "anyway I''m going to start looking for your rivals, and I suggest you prepare a nice place for them to stay."


    She glanced at him for a moment there before laughing. "I like this idea, thanks very much for giving me a notice."


    "No problem," he then vanished from the garden as he appeared at the cluster of the villages and towns while watching the others move inside.


    "Their numbers are great!" he muttered.


    ''Ding! I counted millions in, and there are still millions out!''


    "That''s¡­ amazing," he laughed before adding, "I want you to do an announcement inside my garden world."


    ''Ding! What announcement?''


    "Ask them if they saw a large cart with excessive guarding anywhere near here."


    ''Ding! Alright, give me a moment.''

 Chapter 403: A Scary Egg!

    The system then went silent while Arthur flapped his wings and started heading towards the distant lands and forests.


    He didn''t know the exact topography of this region, as the maps Olor provided only cared about the political lines and main grand geographical features. So when he crossed the forest and saw a large lake, he didn''t know where to go next!


    "Should I follow the giant mountains?" he muttered while glancing over the mountains at the far distance.


    ''Ding! I advise against that,'' the system suddenly spoke, ''Ding! Some already saw a cart so huge to be dragged by gigantic flying monsters around that lake.''


    Arthur smiled as he said: "Which direction?"


    ''Ding! Just cross the lake directly and you will end up meeting them.''


    "Over the lake?" Arthur was surprised.


    ''Ding! That''s what all agreed on; this cart never left the lake!''


    "Weird," Arthur muttered, "and suspicious!"


    He didn''t move out at once as he landed first and took out thirty corpses of the killed monsters. "Turn them into dragons," he muttered before touching each one for a moment there and turning them next to grand dragons.


    They looked strong, yet they weren''t close to the ten he got from the guards of Anna. "More reasons for me to hunt them down," he smirked before waving his hand and adding this new batch to his small army of dragons.


    "Time to kill some dark disciples," he laughed before flying above the lake heading towards the distant front.


    The lake was enormous, much vaster than what he initially expected. "It''s a small sea not a lake!" he reached this conclusion when he found himself flying on top of pure water everywhere he looked. "Sigh, please keep me informed about the direction, everything looks the same to me!"


    ''Ding! Rise higher then,'' the system said, ''Ding! But not too high!''


    "Hahaha, don''t worry, I won''t end up being sent to another region."


    He started to rise up but he didn''t delve deeply inside the cloud layer. He kept his place so high and his vision clear without many clouds blocking his eyesight. "that''s better," he muttered before he finally spotted a distant point that shone brightly under the scorching rays of the sun.


    "Found you!" he laughed before he started heading in that direction.


    ''Ding! Stop, there is something else there,'' the system suddenly said, stopping Arthur in track. "You used the scout ability?"


    ''Ding! Sure, and this isn''t a single cart!''


    "What?" Arthur was surprised for a moment there, "don''t tell me the two are already here competing together!"


    ''Ding! It''s as you just described, and so it''s better not to meddle in their fight for now.''


    "Hehehe," Arthur laughed while retreating slightly up. "I like your evil mind."


    ''Ding! Learning from the master.''


    Arthur laughed before staying there in the clouds, waiting for the fight to end.


    Yet things seemed not as simple as he initially thought!


    ''Ding! They are coming near here,'' the system said, before adding, ''Ding! They aren''t alone!''


    "There are more guards with them?" Arthur asked.


    ''Ding! Not guards, there is something else the two are fighting to obtain.''


    "A treasure?"


    ''Ding! An egg!''


    "Egg?" Arthur was speechless for a moment, "what that egg has to do with them?" he muttered, before adding, "and what''s wrong with an egg? Why do you seem skeptical and cautious about it?"


    ''Ding! This egg isn''t from this world,'' the system suddenly said, while Arthur realized the system was originally an old and mighty being of this world.


    "It''s something they brought with them then?"


    ''Ding! It''s probable, but I think they are fighting to obtain it; like they just found it here.''


    "Weird!"


    ''Ding! That''s not all, this egg can manipulate the waves and so they aren''t only fighting themselves, they are fighting the egg as well!''


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t know what to say except he shook his head. "An egg that''s fighting and causing them trouble? What''s inside it? A dragon!!"


    ''Ding! It''s still a possibility,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! But you need to be careful, this egg is dangerous!''


    "C''mon, it''s an egg!"


    ''Ding! See for yourself!''


    Arthur glanced at the rapidly approaching two gigantic carts and dozens of monsters guarding each cart while a strange shaped item appeared in front of his gaze. "What is this?!!" he asked in surprise and doubt.


    ''Ding! That''s the egg!''


    "This is no egg! No egg has such a gigantic body or that freak mouth!"


    Arthur glanced at the egg to see it was at least equal to the two gigantic carts together. What was weird wasn''t all these inscriptions over its surface, or the strange luster that covered it, but that widely opened mouth with long thick tongue protruding from within!


    ''Ding! That''s an egg! I confirmed it!''


    "This¡­" Arthur couldn''t believe his eyes. The egg was moving freely on the surface of the water, with its lower part being immersed in it. The water was stirred around the egg, forming giant pillars that stretched and danced in the sky.


    And their aim was the two carts and those monsters guarding them!


    "These water pillars¡­ they are strange," Arthur muttered while he noticed whenever the water pillar hit a monster, that monster would have his skin peeled off and die!


    Even when touching the strong cart, a large piece of the cart would instantly be smashed and disappeared the next moment!


    "Is this an eroding effect? With water?!" Arthur was surprised by his conclusion.


    ''Ding! It''s not burning, it''s decaying!''


    "Decaying? These monsters are aging?!!"


    ''Ding! Yes, and as time has no rival, you can''t handle these dangerous pillars no matter what. It''s better to retreat for now.''


    Arthur knew his system was telling what was safe for him, yet he felt something in him urging him to press forward and show himself up. "Why do I feel a link with that egg?" he suddenly asked.


    ''Ding! You feel something from that egg? That monster!!''


    "You can say that," Arthur didn''t know how to describe this feeling, "it''s like someone is calling for me to come and show myself up!"


    ''Ding! Wait a minute, I''ll scan you first,'' the system suddenly went silent for long minutes while the more the egg came closer to Arthur''s location, the stronger that feeling haunted him.


    ''Ding! Retreat! Fast! It''s a soul attack with such dominance I never saw before!''


    "Tsk," Arthur was already much annoyed by this. "I hate soul attacks!!" he cursed while he retreated fast, far away from that place. "That''s why these two are dead fixed on getting near that egg despite all their losses," he glanced at the two carts and those monsters around them falling one by one while sighing. "Scary!"


    ''Ding! I totally agree.''


    "What can we do now?" Arthur sighed, "can I have this egg?"


    ''Ding! Wanna make an omelette perhaps?''


    "Hahaha, funny," Arthur sarcastically said before reaching a safe distance. "Five kilometers radius, that''s a monstrous effect in any grand war!"


    ''Ding! I agree, but this...'' the system was skeptical about the crazy desire of Arthur.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not under the spell of that dark egg," Arthur reassured his system, "we just need to lay down the perfect trap, that''s all!"


    ''Ding! You have a plan, right?''

 Chapter 404: The Amazing Sealing Ability!

    Arthur laughed while saying: "Sure, we can use the pillars."


    ''Ding! Let me remind you, the pillars have limited energy at the moment.''


    "I know," Arthur nodded, "but that egg¡­ it seemed quite interesting to me."


    ''Ding! Sigh, alright, let''s do it!''


    "You lay the pillars and let me use the arrows from here."


    ''Ding! Let''s start!''


    The two cooperated and the next moment Arthur took out his bow and arrows while the system started to deploy the pillars.


    The sudden appearance of the pillars startled everyone down there, yet when Arthur launched his arrows, a strange thing happened.


    The pillars the system used were the ones being used before at the last fight with that parasite. The pillars once had experienced the tribulation and the combined attacks of the two masters with Arthur''s arrows.


    So when they appeared, they had a strange ball floating on top of each one, and when Arthur sent his arrows from far to hit them; these balls were ignited in a strange white and blue light!


    "What is happening to my pillars?" Arthur muttered as those hit with his arrows started to shine with a strange luster of white and blue.


    ''Ding! It''s a bonus from that fight,'' the system vaguely replied, ''Ding! Keep hitting them.''


    "Alright," Arthur wanted to ask more yet he knew there was not much room for that. He kept releasing arrows and when he hit over a hundred pillars, a certain change occurred!


    Each pillar released a giant pillar of light to the sky that coalesced together and developed a dome. It was giant enough to cover everyone underneath it, and when it did those inside started to feel fear.


    ''Ding! Keep hitting, we need one hundred more, that''s all.''


    "One hundred for what?"


    ''Ding! You''ll see and I bet you''ll be amazed!''


    "Tsk," Arthur hated riddles the most yet he kept firing his arrows non-stop. After ten times he managed to cross that threshold of a hundred pillars, and the pillars, the light emanated from them, and the dome started to show changed.


    "What the hell is that?" Arthur was speechless when he saw a giant phantom of three beings appearing from the dome.


    ''Ding! It''s your new sealing and attacking phantoms,'' the system said in a great spirit, ''Ding! You just need to activate them with two hundred pillars each time.''


    "And?"


    ''Ding! You''ll see yourself!''


    Just as the three phantoms took the shape of lightning power mixed with dark and pure light powers, they roared like being alive. Arthur was far, secluded from the dome yet inside the doom things were much different.


    Every single being inside was pressed on the surface created by the pillars! They didn''t just form the sky, they also formed ground, yet with the presence of water this ground was hard to see.


    All were pressed hard, even the egg!


    ''Ding! See? No matter who they are, they can be pressed and sealed like that.''


    "Is this¡­ does this have a time limit?" Arthur was shocked and he didn''t know how this occurred, but it seemed the three beings; the dragon, the bronzed giant, and the Golam had something to do with it.


    ''Ding! If left here, yes it has a time limit of a day perhaps,'' the system said before adding in a relaxed tone, ''Ding! The three phantoms will derive energy from your pillars until they are depleted! So the wise thing is to take them all back to your garden so they will use the endless power of it to seal these.''


    "Do you mean¡­ it could be eternal?" Arthur asked in doubt.


    ''Ding! Technically speaking¡­ yes.''


    "Wow!!"


    ''Ding! Don''t waste time and go and get them back inside.''


    "Can''t you do that?"


    ''Ding! I can do the free pillars, but these two hundred are now connected in a strange network that exceeds my current ability.''


    Arthur nodded while heading smoothly to the ground. As he approached the dome and pillars zone, everyone inside glanced at him in an obvious hatred.


    Even that egg!


    "Be nice and don''t act rampant," he smirked while touching the dome to feel some intimacy with it. "Wow, it recognizes me," he said.


    ''Ding! If you want, you can enter inside later and move freely there!''


    "That''s¡­ simply amazing!"


    He laughed and his laughs were mighty roars reverberating in this part of the great lake. Everything vanished into his garden while his system took care of the rest of the pillars.


    "I need more pillars," Arthur decided.


    ''Ding! You should be! Your reserve of pillars are limited right now!''


    "Sure," Arthur turned his gaze towards a certain direction, "as the mission of taking care of those dark disciples was done smoothly, I need to start handling this dark clan."


    ''Ding! You are way too far from their headquarters,'' the system said, before adding, ''Ding! And you are too weak to handle them alone.''


    "Who said I''m alone?" Arthur laughed before adding, "I have two stubborn masters eyeing my movements right now!"


    ''Ding! Wow, can you feel them?!'' even I can''t!!''


    "It''s not about feeling them" Arthur shook his head before adding, "I''m sure they are here, that''s all. Call it a hunch and a firm belief in their shamelessness!"


    ''¡­''


    Arthur then headed towards the shore of the lake, and when he reached there he canceled his transformation. "Masters, I need your help. Show yourselves, I know you are there!"


    He shouted and waited.


    ''Ding! Don''t waste your breaths, the two aren''t here!'' the system said after he shouted for the tenth time and waited there for half an hour.


    "Just wait, they are just feeling ashamed to show themselves," Arthur said before shouting, "I need your help. We need to cooperate to take down the dark clan here!"


    His shout reverberated in the empty place around, yet no one appeared.


    ''Ding! See? No one is here!''


    "Why are you shouting like a crazy kid, kiddo?" suddenly this voice came from above, making him laugh.


    "Welcome Amanda, I know you are here," he laughed before saying to his system, ''See? The two are here!''


    ''Ding! It''s just one!''


    ''Wait!''


    "Where is my sweet father-in-law?"


    "Don''t call him that! He is just your grandmaster!!" Amanda was instantly provoked by his words.


    "Hehehe, you are such a nice boy. I like you and I wait for the day to be my son-in-law officially."


    The words of Mr. E made the face of Amanda blush for a moment while she gave him a threatening glance. "What? Don''t look at me this way, I have a weak heart y''know, hehehe!"


    "Don''t call him that!" she threatened.


    "He is a nice kid with many surprises and great ambition. Isn''t he a perfect match for you?"


    "Don''t act like that!"


    "I''m just caring about your wellbeing," he laughed.


    ''See? Told you, hehehe!'' and Arthur just laughed on his system which just remained silent.

 Chapter 405: Heading to the Amazor Clan Base

    The two masters stood opposite to each other, one acting angry and the other was feigning ignorance. Arthur smiled watching these two fight about him before saying:


    "Masters I need your help to take down this dark clan."


    "Why?" Amanda was still mad as she turned sharply to glare at him. "What will we gain from destroying one big clan?"


    "It''s one of the biggest dark clans here, with many resources and population living under them as slaves. They lack any aerial support, as their monsters were all ground based. So, I believe we can take it down easily," Arthur tried to reason with her, yet she kept her groaning face up.


    "I like your ambition, kiddo," Mr. E laughed before adding, "let me help then."


    He turned to glance at his disciple who was more furious. "Why should we help him?" she asked.


    "He is my future son-in-law, of course I will vouch for him!" Mr. E laughed.


    "You two¡­" the corners of Amanda''s eyes twitched yet before she would refuse, Mr. E added: "This is for the academy as well. This world lies in a dark veil of dark clans, removing one of their tycoons will be beneficial to our future campaigns here."


    "Tsk," she wasn''t convinced with these words, yet she couldn''t refute them. "Alright, what do you need?" she aggressively glanced at Arthur before adding, "don''t dream about more pillars; I won''t give you anymore!"


    "I have no more pillars, but she does," Mr. E pointed in an innocent way towards Amanda who didn''t care about his action.


    "I¡­" Arthur didn''t know if he should laugh or cry, "I just want you to take me to the clan headquarters and keep their higher ups busy," he said.


    "That''s all?" Amanda was suspecting his motives, "you only need us to kill those stronger than you?"


    "Sure," he nodded, "I can deal with others."


    "See? Capable and self confident, what else do you want of your man? Huh?" Mr. E was in his own world of dreams, and his words turned the face of Amanda pure red.


    "I won''t interfere in normal fights then," she harrumphed before declaring her stance.


    "Don''t mind her, I know she cares much about you."


    "Master!!!"


    "Hehehe, alright, can we move out now?" Arthur was in a good mood, as gaining these two support would save him a lot of trouble.


    "Hang tight," Mr. E said in a better mood than Arthur, as he was literally enjoying his time here.


    The next moment Arthur felt like a great hand had grabbed him, and the next thing he knew he was thrown into the air to move at such a dangerous speed.


    "Ahh!!" he screamed in panic yet after a couple of minutes, he got used to this speed and strange grabbing force taking him forward.


    He glanced on his sides to find the two masters flying with him. Amanda was angry while Mr. E winked at him. ''Sigh, these two¡­'' he muttered to himself before his system said:


    ''Ding! What''s your plan?''


    ''I will go there, search for the pillars and take them all!''


    ''Ding! I will try to scan the place once I reach there. If there is a group of pillars, there must be another star map around.''


    ''Really?!'' Arthur was surprised before adding, ''that means we will find a gate to it inside the clan headquarter.''


    ''Ding! But we don''t know the map of that star map, so it will be quite risky.''


    ''Those monsters you mean?''


    ''Ding! Yes, so we have to think of something.''


    ''Do you know how long we will take to reach the clan''s base?''


    ''Ding! Around an hour.''


    ''Great!''


    The next moment he closed his eyes and delved inside his garden world. He aimed towards the mirror tree, yet as he entered the central part of his garden, he noticed the dome and two hundred pillars he used to seal those inside.


    There was a series of bangs coming from that place!


    "What''s going on?" he asked.


    ''Ding! That girl is trying to enter, dunno why!''


    "Anna?!!" Arthur was surprised and the next moment he changed his course and headed towards the ground. He silently watched Anna using a long stick taken from the wreckage of the cart and trying to break the dome.


    "What are you doing?" he suddenly asked, and contrary to his expectations Anna seemed quite collected like she was doing nothing at all!


    "I want to kill these two!" she replied in a very angry tone, "they are one of my sworn enemies. Very dangerous fellows, must die!"


    Arthur didn''t know if he should laugh or cry. "Stop, this dome is invincible," he laughed.


    "I want them dead!" she retorted back with a high angry tone.


    "Don''t worry, I promise I will kill them, didn''t I promise you that already?" he shook his head while she turned to him. "I want to kill these two with my hands!"


    "Well," he helplessly smiled, "I promise to take the two out, but not now."


    "Why?"


    "I''m going to look for more first," he lied, "so hang tight here and wait."


    The next moment he vanished while heading to the mirror tree. "Don''t take a long time, I won''t let these two live for long!" and he heard the sound of her pathetic stick hitting the dome.


    "She is crazy!" he laughed.


    ''Ding! Old history between them isn''t clear, but the two seemed to be a sour spot for her,'' the system laughed as well.


    "Alright, time to see Olor."


    ''Ding! Do you think¡­?''


    "If not, at least he would know a thing or two about it," Arthur nodded before falling in front of the tree and the mirror of Olor appeared with its branch the next moment in front of him.


    "Knock, knock, knock¡­"


    He kept hitting the mirror surface for ten minutes before the face of Olor appeared. "Sorry master, was busy tracking your amazing news," and he laughed the moment he appeared.

 Chapter 406: Attacking the Amazor Clan

    "You seem amused by what I''m doing!" Arthur smiled while adding, "I need to ask about something."


    "Anything, master."


    "When I first clashed with you, you had this strange map connecting all the pocket worlds with pillars with your main bases."


    "The magical map?" Olor said another name to it and Arthur didn''t bother to correct him as he nodded. "I want to know everything about it."


    "I thought you already had it!" Olor said in doubt, before his eyes shone brightly. "You are after the Amazor''s magic map!" he exclaimed in surprise before laughing.


    "Sure, do you know how to crack it?" Arthur asked.


    "It''s simple, each map we have here hailed from one copy came from one of the higher dark clans in higher realms. So, each map shares the same basic structure with each other," Olor said.


    "Meaning they are all the same?" Arthur was speechless for a moment as his next question jumped off his mind to his tongue. "Are they connected?"


    "Good deduction, yup they are all connected through their core. But¡­" he paused before adding, "I lack the knowledge to know how this connection works. I believe no one here has such knowledge."


    Arthur nodded while this was an opportunity and a risk at the same time. "Thanks, keep tracking my news. A big bang is going to happen soon," Arthur said before waving his hand and the branch retreated and the connection ended.


    "This¡­ can you find and secure that core?" Arthur asked.


    ''Ding! I know the core but didn''t know it was connected to others,'' the system said, ''Ding! Give me a couple of hours and you''ll hear good news.''


    "I care about the security of my map, if possible can you also change the layout of it?" Arthur was worried that an uninvited guest might pop up suddenly inside his precious map.


    ''Ding! That''s easy, don''t worry your star map has many upgrades than others. I will secure the core and do the changes,'' the system promised.


    "Great," Arthur smiled before finally leaning to the most important advantage he would gain here, "can you link the star map to others in this world?"


    ''Ding! Sure, that''s my plan, hehehe.''


    "Good system," Arthur laughed before checking on Anna who seemed quite fixated on breaking the dome and entering there to kill the two rivals of her. "Tsk, girls are really stubborn," he opened his eyes to find himself still flying on the side of the two masters.


    The journey took roughly an hour, and when they landed; he hit the ground massively in a very rough landing.


    "Can''t even land properly, what a lousy man you are," Amanda was still mad.


    "C''mon, give him some credit!" Mr. E said before adding with a loud laugh, "have you forgotten your first landing? Believe me, I can never forget that hilarious scene!"


    "Master!!!"


    "Intruders!"


    Suddenly this shout came from the high walled big town lying a couple of hundreds of meters away from the three. Arthur glanced at this majestic town and sighed.


    "Big clans are indeed great," he muttered while Mr. E laughed. "Don''t worry, we will break them in no time!"


    "will we summon others?" Amanda said while Mr. E simply waved his hand and a large group of people appeared here. "I have already contacted and gathered them."


    Arthur glanced at all those faces; most were known to him while few were familiar.


    "What are you doing?" Cesile came to him as she laughed, "I love when my hunch is proven right," she said while she glanced at the towering walls and strong looking defensive towers, "this fight is going to be fun!"


    "What''s the plan, master?" Slone moved to stand beside Cesile while glancing towards the town and the noise coming from inside told much about what was going on inside.


    "We will play freely here," Mr. E laughed, before adding, "they can''t fly, so we should use that for our advantage!"


    "Free style of fight, just my taste," Armondo appeared while brandishing his big sword while saying, "should we wait for these flies to gather or should we bang on their doors?"


    "Let''s start, I hate waiting," Amanda said, as she wanted to vent her anger on someone.


    "Alright, let''s start then," Mr. E laughed as he waved his hand, and the next moment ten gigantic monsters appeared on top of his head.


    He simply jumped over the flying lion''s back as he said: "Stay back until we make those stronger busy," then he turned to glance over everyone behind him. They all summoned their pets and the entire place turned to a grand zoo of gigantic flying monsters. "Let''s kill anyone here, and don''t keep your hands!"


    He then took out his golden spear before throwing it towards the nearby walls.


    "Boom!"


    The next moment this high and towering wall crumbled under his spear to be destroyed into dirt. An opening appeared, and with his attack, this war started!


    "Attack!" he shouted as he led those thousand or more of masters towards the base of the Amazor clan. Arthur stood on the ground watching this epic scene unfolding in front of his eyes. "I¡­ I still have a long distance to cross," he sighed while watching and listening to the mighty explosions occurring inside the Amazor''s base!


    ''Ding! You are already doing better than others!''


    "I know, but compared to them¡­tsk," he shook his head before adding, "how about the map? Have you cracked it? Have you secured it?"


    ''Ding! I have secured the core and changed the layout of it. Now, I''m linking many maps to it, and currently there are five stars linking it to five maps ready to use.''


    "Anyone belonging to this clan?" Arthur asked.


    ''Ding! I can''t tell that, you need to visit them and the one under this clan''s reign will show a change in its central star.''


    "Alright," Arthur nodded, "open a portal for me towards the nearest star map portal," he added and the next moment a portal appeared out of thin air and he entered it.

 Chapter 407: Uninvited Annoying Guests!

    The moment he appeared inside his garden, and just before he went towards the nearby portal; a sound appeared from his back startling him!


    "Wow, you have such a secret and didn''t tell me about it?" Amanda said all of sudden before laughing at the expression that Arthur showed when turned sharply to glance at her. "As your acclaimed future girl, you are treating me with unkindness and doubt, hiding things from me? That''s lame!"


    "What are you doing here?" Arthur''s corners of the eyes twitched, yet before she could answer, another one answered.


    "Wow, you are really great!" Mr. E laughed before appearing beside Amanda, "See? Master never treats you ill! The man I chose for you is such a grand and strong man! C''mon admit it!"


    "Never," she glared at him while shouting, "he is keeping secrets off me! How can I trust him with my body and life?"


    "Good point," he winked at Arthur, "you need to treat us with more honesty kiddo," he laughed before adding, "after all we two have our eyes fixed on you and you won''t be able to hide anything away from us!"


    "You two¡­" Arthur was surprised and amazed by their attitude, "why do you come here? Don''t you have a war to manage?"


    "A war?" Amanda laughed, "this isn''t a war! It''s a breeze for us with all those masters there."


    "We have nothing to do actually, so why not come with you?" Mr. E said before glancing at the portal leading to the star map. "Wow, such pure energy coming from the portal itself¡­ what lies behind? Huh?"


    He didn''t wait for Arthur''s permission as he went towards the portal to examine it closely. "Such a high portal and pure energy¡­ what secret lies behind it?" he smiled while adding, "I like you kiddo, except if you are more honest!"


    ''System?!!!" Arthur was enraged by this trespassing and his system delay in sealing the portal or alarming him!


    ''Ding! The two appeared the moment you passed the portal, I couldn''t do anything to stop them!'' the system defended, ''Ding! You have to accept their trespassing, I can''t even kick them off the garden now!''


    Arthur watched the two acting like they were inside their own home; Mr. E was excitedly examining the portal and even took out many items to check it!


    As for Amanda, she ran east and west, flashing around in great speed while soaring sometimes to the sky and checking the entire world.


    "Wow, you have such a grand world hidden? How do you do it?" she landed in front of him with a mocking smile over her face.


    She was enjoying this situation to the extreme, making her bad mood a moment ago vanish. ''This my retaliation for all the nasty things you said or did,'' she inwardly laughed while enjoying the helpless look over Arthur''s face.


    "This is my own world," he simply said, before adding, "can we stop fooling around and go inside? I have many things to do!" he moved without waiting for their agreement.


    "We need to come here later and have a picnic," Mr. E said and when Arthur glanced at him he added, "we also can make the wedding party here, I love this place."


    "Master!!!" and this time it was Amanda''s turn to glare at him.


    "Sigh, it seems I have no way to get rid off you two," Arthur shook his head while the two laughed and just nodded. "C''mon, we have a long war to fight," he said before vanishing inside his portal.


    "See?" suddenly Mr. E said, "I told you, that fight against the dark clan isn''t the real fight this kid is aiming for," he laughed before following Arthur. "I bet the other war is far more interesting than that one."


    He vanished leaving her alone. She glanced all around, with all the explosive sounds coming from everywhere. "Sigh, this Willy¡­" she couldn''t refuse the fact that Arthur was really a special man. "I need to further study and watch him," she decided before entering the portal and vanishing inside.


    Once the three appeared at the star map, Arthur noticed the new five stars appearing inside here. These stars were big like the one linking his garden to this map.


    But for the two others¡­


    "What is this place?" Mr. E muttered as everything around him veiled in fog. "I can''t see through this magic!" he confessed.


    "Me neither," Amanda said before turning to glance at Arthur, "what''s this place? It looks quite dangerous!"


    "Keep your steps after me and don''t go stray," Arthur said without answering their doubts, "if you fell off, I won''t be able to help," he added and he was just stating the truth.


    The two behind him kept following his steps while exchanging silent meaningful glances from time to time. "Sigh, it seems an entire lifetime since I entered a place I couldn''t see through," Mr. E sighed while Amanda just nodded.


    "You keep amazing me, kiddo," he said before adding, "not bad for my future son-in-law, hehehe!"


    "¡­" Amanda silently glared at him while every time he said these words she felt quite annoyed.


    "We will enter through here and please follow my lead and words to the letter," Arthur finally reached the first star and then he stepped on top of it and vanished.


    The two masters didn''t hesitate to follow, to be amazed when they found themselves appearing inside another map!


    "What the hell is this?" Amanda was getting annoyed, "is there one more of that weird and spooky place?" she added, yet Arthur closed his eyes, imagined the layout of the star map in his mind to make everything clear to him.


    "Wow, there is security here!" as he opened his eyes, he saw many silhouettes standing on top of the many stars there, and all were glaring at them while some started to move.


    "Who? Where?" Mr. E turned around as he could see a thing.


    "Take your spear, and throw it towards that direction, that one, that one¡­" Arthur started relaying orders as he pointed towards each place of those guards and Mr. E didn''t delay.


    His golden spears were might! They passed through the map in fast speed, killing all those Arthur pointed towards in amazing precision.


    "Good," Arthur nodded in content when everyone here was killed, "all are dead," he then turned and without saying much jumped to vanish from this place.


    "What the hell is wrong with him?" Amanda was speechless before she turned to Mr. E.


    "Just now I left a wisp of my will in the spears," he simply said.


    "And?" she asked for more.


    "There were many strong mages here, and they were all killed by my spears."


    "Not surprising," she shrugged.


    "You don''t get it," he said before heading to the star and jumping over it as he said, "this kid managed to see perfectly through the deadly protective fog here without any problem at all."


    He vanished, leaving Amanda alone there. "Tsk, he is getting mysterious," she muttered before laughing, "good for him I love mysterious men," she then jumped after the two, appearing at the first star map.


    "Follow me," Arthur said the moment Amanda appeared as he went towards the next star while the two behind him were glancing deeply at his back; as if they could unveil his mysteries just by looking.

 Chapter 408: The Oblack Academy Is Coming!

    The next couple of stars were the same as the first one, making Arthur realize what he previously did to Olor and his clan alarmed everyone.


    Despite that, he simply asked Mr. E to kill them all, and in the third star he met a group of monsters. He didn''t let them die for nothing as he took them all inside his garden for future use.


    "Oho, this is the one," the moment Arthur went to the fourth star, he found the central biggest one flickering in light, alternating between red and green.


    "This is the one you are looking for?" Amanda finally broke her silence, "what are you looking for exactly?" she asked.


    "The pocket worlds of the Amazor clan," Arthur simply replied before checking the star map in excitement.


    "Wow, never thought there is such a way to connect all the small worlds of one clan," Mr. E admired what Arthur just said.


    "Attack here, here, here, here¡­" Arthur started pointing out towards different directions and Mr. E simply followed by his golden spears.


    In less than five minutes, all those staying here on guard were killed and didn''t have even the chance to alarm anyone. Even if they did, Arthur was quite sure no one would answer their calls!


    "C''mon, we have five thousand worlds to conquer," Arthur laughed as he went towards the nearest star.


    "Five¡­ thousand!!!" Amanda was shocked, "are you certain?"


    "I think I might have counted them wrong," Arthur muttered before adding, "there are over five thousands here. C''mon, we have no time to waste."


    He reached the next small green star easily before jumping into it.


    The place he arrived at was inside a warehouse where two big portals appeared, one linking here to the main clan and the other to the star map.


    "Wow, this is a large warehouse," Amanda commented as she noticed the great space they appeared at with all the ores stored there.


    "Come out," Arthur waved and the next moment over a thousand warriors appeared out of nowhere. The moment they appeared, they saluted him in venerance.


    "Go and grab everything, make sure you leave nothing," he said before adding to his system, ''open many portals to my garden.''


    ''Ding! Done!''


    "Wow, you have such loyal subjects already," Mr. E laughed, "see? Your future man is quite domineering."


    "Tsk," Amanda was already sick of hearing the repeated metaphors of her master. "What should we do now?" she asked.


    "Outside this lies a great army of men and monsters," Arthur pointed towards the far exit of this warehouse, "you need to kill them," he added.


    "Nice, I need to vent out some steam," she moved fast followed by Mr. E who just winked at Arthur. When Arthur joined them outside, he was speechless to see them standing motionless in place, not doing anything yet.


    "What''s wrong?" he asked.


    "You liar!!" Amanda turned to him with glaring eyes, "you don''t aim for the worlds, you aim for the pillars!"


    "Hehehe," Arthur laughed before he hurried to say before changing to dragon form, "keep them busy for me, after all you two were the ones who jumped over my little war here."


    He moved fast towards the nearby pillar where the entire world was filled with dark monsters and many warriors. He knew most of these hailed from slavery, so he just hoped these two back there would keep their hands for a bit against these slaves.


    "Tsk, this Willy¡­" Amanda was already mad at him, "he is just a pile of lies!"


    "Hahaha, I like him," Mr. E said before waving his hand and his own army of over a hundred pets appeared behind him. "Go and kill every single one of those filthy dark mages," he said while adding, "and refrain from killing normal mages, my son-in-law seems to have an interest in them."


    He observed what Arthur did when he entered this world and he already knew about his care about normal warriors. Amanda just sneered before waving her hand and another one hundred pets appeared.


    "Go, kill everyone," she said in an arrogant and vicious tone, "that bastard¡­ I won''t let him have it all!" she promised in a strong tone and glaring eyes.


    "Sigh, he is your man! You are supposed to help him!" Mr. E lamented her for her actions.


    "He isn''t!!" and she yelled back at him.


    "He will, hehehe," Mr. E vanished as he avoided her wrath while attacking any strong looking warrior down there.


    ''Ding! They have started attacking,'' the system informed Arthur who just thanked his luck of facing a ground based clan like this.


    "Good," he smiled before taking his bow and arrows, "time to create a bang," he released three arrows and the next thing happened was for the pillar to explode and the great eye to appear.


    The moment this eye appeared, everyone stood motionless in place; including his two masters.


    "Good lad, it''s my turn then," the eye said, reminding Arthur of something that enraged him!


    "Master, may I trouble you to deliver a message to the first master I met?"


    "Oh, you mean Alfonso? Sure, say what you want."


    Arthur was the only one to move freely and his face showed how much angry he was. "Tell him he had a thing to deliver, and it''s better to deliver it before I see him again!"


    "Hoho, you are such a bold youth, hehehe. I like you kid, and I''m sure I''ll enjoy delivering this message," the master said in a great mood before adding, "I''ll reward you then with this tip¡­" he paused before he said in a deeper tone, "the Oblack academy got a wind of what you are doing here. They sent a team of experts that will arrive at your place in a week. Be ready for them."


    Arthur wasn''t that shocked to hear that, as he knew as long as that guardian dark master wasn''t dead, the academy would get news of what he was doing here. "Thanks venerable master for your guidance," he cupped his hands and respectfully thanked him.


    "No trouble for me, you deserve some help. Now go and claim this pillar from the filthy hands of those pathetic dark clans."


    Arthur nodded and the next moment he touched the pillar with his blooded claw. The pillar rumbled and Arthur hurried back to the portal.


    "Roar¡­ Roar¡­"


    He roared, yet their pets delivered the message. "He is asking us to retreat to the map full of fog?" Amanda was speechless there for a moment, before adding, "who do you think has those gigantic eyes?" she asked with a pale face.


    "Tsk," Mr. E shook his head before adding, "it seems I was so lucky choosing such a man to you as a husband," he laughed, not answering her question yet driving her mad again.


    "Roar¡­ Roar¡­"


    Arthur kept yelling at the two and their pets repeated the message. "Let''s go," Mr. E waved his hand and his pets disappeared the next moment while Amanda did the same before hurrying after him towards the portal.


    Arthur hurried after the two while he controlled the energy inside his body. This wasn''t his first time to take a pillar, and now he was quite experienced about what he should do.

 Chapter 409: Reinforcements

    Arthur appeared at the star where they just hijacked. "Tell me who was it?" Amanda said in an aggressive tone before adding, "was it this way with each pillar you gained? You spoke about other masters and that one seemed to recognize you," she added as if she was interrogating him.


    "C''mon, we have thousands yet to clear," yet Arthur totally ignored her, making her feel more mad at him!


    "I won''t move until you tell me everything!" she threatened.


    "Do as you wish, I didn''t force you to come in the first place," and he just shrugged while Mr. E laughed on the side, enjoying this little loveable debate.


    "Tsk," she sneered before watching the two disappear into the next star. "Damn boys and their manly arrogance," she shook her head before heading towards the next star following them.


    Arthur did the same at the next stars. With the lack of any support coming from the main clan, he was totally at ease compared with the first time he did that.


    In addition to that, he had two colossal powers aiding him from the side. He knew if he was alone he might have taken slightly longer.


    Yet with each time he had one pillar successfully, Amanda didn''t stop harassing him about the secrets of the master appearing each time!


    She had this innate fear knocking on her soul and telling her that master was dangerous. Yet she couldn''t believe how casual Arthur was dealing with him!


    As if the two were best mates! A master and disciple! Making her quite envious and mad.


    "I ain''t telling you a thing," he finally broke his silence as he added, "you already know too much!"


    "Isn''t she your girl? Won''t you trust her?" Mr. E acted to add more fuel to the fire raging between the two.


    "C''mon, she doesn''t even consider me as her man!" Arthur smirked before adding, "she had to accept this as a fact before I can trust her!"


    "Never!" she bellowed back while they entered the next star. "You have miles ahead to make me consider you as my man!"


    "Tsk, see? It''s not my fault, it''s hers!"


    "Sorry my future son-in-law," Mr. E shook his head in fake regret, "it''s my fault to raise her as stubborn as this."


    "Master!!" she shouted at him while Mr. E vanished the next moment escaping her storm. "Tsk, you two are bullying me!" she complained before hurrying after her master.


    "It''s you two who are bullying the poor me," Arthur helplessly shook his head before arranging his one thousand warriors in the place and made them start emptying all the boxes on the shelves.


    "Wow, these are all siege weapons," his eyes shone when he noticed the content of these boxes. "I love this clan, hehehe," he hurried after the two while his men kept working over the boxes. "Make sure these will be gathered in a special place," he ordered before vanishing as this was the first time to obtain such weapons for a long time.


    The fight in this world and the thousand more went smoothly without any surprises. It wasn''t until the star numbering two thousand when a change appeared.


    "Wow, this place¡­ it''s really crowded!" Mr. E glanced around to see the endless numbers of monsters appearing here, "and they have flying monsters as well, strange," he added.


    Arthur just joined the two to be surprised by this. "It seems they asked the help of other clans," he muttered as the flying monsters seemed a mixture between five different types of monsters.


    "That means¡­" Amanda went silent for a moment before adding, "the main clan war!"


    "That''s a possibility," Mr. E nodded, before adding, "let the boys have some fun before we show up."


    "You are finally leaving?" Arthur asked before hurriedly adding when the two gave him a serious glance, "I''m just worried over the other masters, that''s all."


    "Don''t worry," Mr. E laughed, "even after we leave here, we''ll come back to help you later."


    "Sure," Amanda nodded while laughing, "after all we know the link leading to the map from that clan base."


    Arthur planned to seal that entrance the moment they passed through it, yet he didn''t tell them anything. He just turned to a dragon and started raining the world with his arrows.


    "Wow, such nice bow and arrows you have," Mr. E laughed, "I have a master who is a genius in bows, do you want me to introduce her to you?"


    "Master!" Amanda shouted, "he is already overwhelmed with masters!" she added, yet Arthur sensed there was something deeper than this.


    "What? Afraid of her perhaps?" Mr. E laughed while he patted on the thick scales of Arthur, "don''t worry, Willy, I got your back on this."


    "Roar!" Arthur laughed and his laughs appeared as long roars.


    "Tsk, you two¡­" Amanda was much furious than the time when her master kept repeating this son-in-law and that son-in-law. "I''ll head first," she muttered before she summoned her own army of pets and moved to the front.


    "Don''t mind her, she is just jealous," Mr. E winked to him before laughing, "and you''ll greatly thank me when I introduce you to that master, hehehe."


    Arthur didn''t know why but his mind had instantly many dirty thoughts. He shook off these thoughts and hurried to rain the world with his arrows.


    The amount of monsters here was really insane, and it took the three hours to clear a path for Arthur to reach the pillar. Yet the moment he hit the pillar with his arrows, the situation changed and many of these monsters were instantly killed by the pillar''s energy.


    "What a might attack you triggered lad," the gigantic eyes appeared once more before the owner laughed, "Alfonso taught you well it seems," he laughed before adding, "I have a message from him by the way."


    "Really? Many thanks master for the trouble."


    "Hehehe, don''t say that. If you just saw his face when I told him, hehehe, that alone worth the praise!"


    Arthur smiled silently waiting for the master to explain. "He says he just forgot and will send you the package tomorrow at most," the master said before adding, "yet from what I know about him, it seems you pressed over a sore spot, hehehe."


    Arthur didn''t know if he should laugh or cry, yet he was glad he had finally found a way to corner that sneaky bronzed giant master. "Thanks a lot master for the trouble."


    "Don''t mention it," the master laughed, "if he didn''t honor the agreement, just inform me and I''ll gladly pursue him until he pays you, hehehe."


    Arthur laughed as this played perfectly for his benefit. "Thanks again master."


    "Go and don''t waste more time here, I reckon I had ten thousand pillars stolen from me in this world alone! Bring them back and I''ll provide a gift for you."


    Arthur was speechless at the large number of pillars this master was talking about. "I have only found five thousand of them, can master help and direct me to the rest?" he asked with no much hope regarding this.


    "Y''know the rules, can''t interfere too much," the master said before laughing, "but as I can''t interfere too much, then I can at least give you a guidance," he paused before saying, "you have your own map? That''s amazing! I will leave marks leading to the next five thousand pillars of mine. They are gathered at one location right now, so you''ll easily find them."


    "At one dark clan?" Arthur asked.


    "Yup."


    "Thanks master, I''ll get this one now," Arthur said before he went to grab the pillar like usual. The master didn''t vanish this time, and even after the world was integrated with his garden, the master kept there working on his promise.


    "Alfonso had such a gem and he dared to throw it away, tsk, that Alfonso is really stupid," the master muttered before laughing, "this kid is going to fall under my banner, fighting for me, not anyone other, hehehe."


    He then vanished after fulfilling his part while Arthur didn''t know about his real intentions behind helping him.


    Arthur was now standing inside the star map of the Amazor clan, leading the two master among the deadly fog towards the central star. "It''s here," he pointed to the star flickering in green and red light constantly.


    "Can you at least fake you are sad about our departure?" Mr. E sighed as he was annoyed by the wide smile over Arthur''s face. "We''ll be back later, y''know!"


    "Sure, sure, I''m waiting for your return," Arthur lied.


    "Tsk, a playboy and a liar, tsk," Amanda shook her head before adding, "let''s go, we have another war to fight."


    she jumped over the star after giving Arthur a long glance. "Take care of yourself," she muttered before vanishing from his sight.


    "See? She cares about you," Mr. E winked before jumping over the star while adding, "if a woman cared about you, that means she loves you."


    "Tsk," Arthur shook his head before adding, "Can you seal this damned portal now?"


    ''Ding! sure, give me five minutes.''


    "I''ll give you an hour even!"

 Chapter 410: Merging Two Star Maps Together

    The system took five minutes to finish sealing the star, and when it finished Arthur was finally able to be calm. "Those two¡­ it''s so nervous just being beside them," he shook his head before turning towards the thousands of stars remaining, "this will take a lot of time," he muttered.


    He selected the next star and jumped inside. The place looked calm as usual, and he simply summoned his warriors. "Clear this place for me," he said before turning into a dragon and heading towards the outside.


    The place was filled with many monsters on the ground and in the air. He didn''t delay to use his bow and released many of his arrows, setting the entire world under huge tsunamis of his devastational attacks.


    After five hours he managed to take the pillar. He didn''t exchange much words with the master, while he consumed hundreds of his arrows, making his stockpile of them nearly depleted.


    "I need to make more," he decided and then he made his mind to take a break after depleting half of his arrows, enough to free a thousand more of these worlds.


    The more he fought, the less hurdles he faced. The number of monster''s army varied in each world, making him take pillars in less than an hour, and others in five or six hours.


    "Time for some rest," he decided as he had one thousand pillars left and only a thousand arrows in his possession. He entered his garden world and went directly towards the lake of the Golam blood.


    The sky of the world was still dimmed, making him wonder when his garden would evolve and to which it would.


    "Sigh, making arrows became so boring lately," after spending hours in making over twenty thousand arrows, he muttered to himself while storing what he had made. "What is she doing now?" he muttered before closing his eyes and started to take a general look over his garden.


    The garden world right now was really majestic. The central part of it was quite peaceful and tranquil; only that dome and his sealing pillars were the only strange thing there.


    And Anna was there hitting with her might in the dome till now!


    "Tsk, she is quite persistent," he muttered.


    ''Ding! Her grudge seems deeply rooted inside her.''


    "I agree," he said before shifting his gaze towards the rest of his world. The sky castle stayed erect with its defensive isolated shield, making everything inside look dissociated from the world outside.


    "Thos kids," he muttered as he noticed the kids he gained from this world and yet he never used them. "I need to find a way to make them train in the academy and get stronger."


    He recalled the words of Mr. E about that bow master. "It seems I might find a suitable master for each one of them," he hoped.


    The rest of the garden was literally a gigantic battleground! Many pillars were having their dark energy exploding all the time under the mighty purifying effect of his garden.


    As for those monsters and warriors he gained from the recent pillars'' pocket worlds, most were slaves and stayed motionless in groups, while the low number of them were having brutal fights against his armies.


    He also noticed the presence of a huge number of population inside his garden; all built villages and towns and started to live normal lives there.


    His warriors were scattered all over the place; some were fighting off the added clans armies, some were stationed and waiting for further deployment, and the rest were guarding many portals where a flood of people were still coming in.


    "This¡­ it''s becoming more like a real world with every time I check it," he smiled in content and admiration. "I''ll depend on you to organize things here," he said.


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, just keep working hard outside and leave things here to me,'' the system promised.


    "Good," Arthur then opened his eyes and glanced over the last thousand here, "I need to finish off these before heading towards the next pillars," he muttered before asking, "do you know if the master did his part?"


    ''Ding! The portal to the next batch of pillars is already in your main star map.''


    "Great," Arthur nodded in content, "what about this star map? What will happen to it after taking off everything?"


    ''Ding! I''ll corporate it with your main star map, hoping to evolve it to the next level.''


    "I hope so too."


    Arthur then jumped off towards the remaining worlds as he started a spree of attacking monsters, taking all the resources stored inside, beside gaining more pillars.


    The first seven hundred worlds weren''t that much of a hassle for him, yet the remaining three hundred ones were that hard to crack.


    The number of monsters inside was really gigantic, and it seemed the more he killed, the more reinforcements to appear the next minute to replace the fallen ones.


    "They are really quite persistent," he shook his head while taking the last pillar here, "how did they manage to gain all these reinforcements?" he asked.


    ''Ding! There are many pocket worlds attached to the last ones you acquired,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! I''ve already deployed many armies to clear up those hidden worlds and make them integrate into your garden.''


    "Any pillars?" Arthur was greedy when it came to pillars.


    ''Ding! You''ve enough already! These are just normal pocket worlds with many populations living there as slaves!''


    "Tsk, at least I''ll gain resources and people," he helplessly smiled while adding, "make sure they will use the siege weapons we gained so far."


    During his clearing to the last worlds, he was quite lucky to obtain more than fifty warehouses filled with diverse types of these weapons.


    ''Ding! Sure, I''ll make them use these,'' the system promised. ''Ding! Would you continue taking down the pillars or you prefer to take some rest and return to the real world?''


    "Which world do you refer to?" Arthur laughed before adding, "I dunno how much time has passed in the city world."

 Chapter 411: Cooking the Golams Meat

    ''Ding! Time here flaws at a different rate than the two worlds of yours! Despite staying here for weeks, only a week passed in the city world, and a day at your academy world.''


    "Wow, I stayed here all this time? Never felt it!"


    ''Ding! You cleared thousands of worlds and each one took at least an hour to be cleared. It''s logical to stay here for weeks.''


    "You got a point here," Arthur smiled as he suddenly felt exhausted, "I need to make more monster meat. Do you have any suggestions?" he asked.


    ''Ding! I can give you some of the Golam meat, I believe its meat is the highest grade one you got so far.''


    "Good," he nodded before adding, "how is that world''s will doing? Never saw her in my garden so far!"


    ''Ding! She is residing in the heart of your garden, and she is still having a long way to finalize her evolution.''


    "Yeah, got a gem and can''t even touch it for now!"


    ''Ding! A gem is worth waiting for, right?''


    "I hope you are right," Arthur shook his head before he decided to go inside his garden world.


    As he went to his main star map, he noticed the presence of the new star there. Now his map wasn''t large as others, but he was quite sure it was far stronger and much advanced.


    ''Ding! The integration process between the two star maps is undergoing. You should wait inside your garden until this finishes.''


    "How long?" Arthur jumped towards the star leading to his garden where he appeared in the next moment.


    ''Ding! Couple of hours.''


    "Enough to make a good amount of meat," he smiled before adding, "give me the meat, c''mon," he was so eager to try this Golam meat out and see the results.


    "Boom!"


    The next moment a gigantic piece of meat, fat, and bone appeared in front of him. He glanced weirdly at this piece that looked like a hill for a moment. "I thought you said it was a small piece!" he muttered


    ''Ding! This is only a tiny part of what remains of the Golam,'' the system laughed while adding, ''Ding! Start cooking, and if you need more then tell me.''


    "Wow," Arthur chuckled before walking around the gigantic piece for minutes. "How should I cook you, darling?" he was excited to try its taste. "The normal cooking on fire without proper preparation doesn''t seem adequate," he then vanished while starting to check his vast garden and pick anything that might help.


    "This smells nice," ht epicked a triplet leafed golden flower with thick liquid like honey coming from its center. "It should taste good," he tasted a small drop to feel the enticing rich flavor in it. "Wow, not only sweet but has also a tinge of soreness at the end. It will do," he grabbed it and also a thousand of other flowers like it.


    "This bark¡­ it has a spicy taste," he grabbed a small piece of park with sticky liquid on its surface from a small tree. "This will be good," he loved spicy food and thus he started to take off the sticky pieces making the trees look naked after he finished!


    "This powder¡­ it''s like pepper," he muttered while grabbing a silver powder formed at the root of a normal green plant with many broad leaves. "I''ll take it all," he smiled as he started to take the powder with both hands, and the next moment he sneezed.


    "Damn! That powder is really strong!" he laughed as he continued to jump from one place to another, taking great quantities of everything he found useful.


    Sweet, soar, spicy, salty, and even those resembling his past seasoning tastes¡­ he kept taking them all with no reserve.


    "Now I should start cutting you to pieces and make the sauce enough to make each piece covered in it for a day!"


    He was so excited and the next moment he took out a normal sword as he started to cut this giant hill into pieces.


    "That won''t do," after an hour, he only managed to cut a small part of this gigantic meat, "move many warriors to help," he said.


    ''Ding! Or villagers?'' the system asked.


    "No, the meat is quite resilient and firm. Warriors are the perfect aiders to me."


    The next moment a couple of thousands of strong warriors appeared in front of him. "Orders, lord," one of them said in a harsh tone, seemingly their leader.


    "Take down your weapons and start cutting this piece of meat into pieces," Arthur said before taking out his cauldron and preparing to make the sauce.


    "What?!!" the warriors'' leader seemed quite puzzled, yet the look he received from Arthur made him start acting the next moment.


    They moved to cut the meat into smaller pieces resembling what Arthur did. Each piece could be carried by one man, yet it seemed big.


    "Try to cut them into smaller pieces," Arthur said after thinking about how he would cook them.


    He turned his attention towards the cauldron asking himself, "what should I use for the base of that sauce?"


    ''Ding! If you want my suggestion, then the purified lake is a good choice.''


    Arthur glanced at the direction of the lake. "Good choice," he said before vanishing with his cauldron to appear next beside the lake.


    "Time to start testing," he was very excited about this and he started by filling the cauldron to the brim with the green liquid before lighting up the fire and starting putting different amounts of the materials he gathered.


    He didn''t add them all at the same time, for instance he kept the salty ones to the last, and those spicy ones put them in the middle. He placed many fruits and seeds, letting them melt with the sauce and changing its color.


    "Water," he muttered when he noticed the amount inside his cauldron declined to less than half.


    ''Ding! The pond seems nice,'' the system said.


    "Great," Arthur vanished before returning with a large pot filled with water that he spilled inside the mix, turning it to bright silver color with faint green and redness sparkling from time to time.


    "Let''s taste it then," he put his finger in and tasted the sauce. "Superb!" he shouted in content while his body was refreshed the moment he tasted this drop of the sauce. "Only a bit of spices and little salt is needed," he added some more before tasting the mix again.


    "That''s pro, that''s what a pro sauce should be like!" he was much amazed by what he did and the next moment he vanished to appear back at the gigantic meat with his big cauldron.


    "Time to make the area ready to soak these pieces with my sauce," he muttered before adding, "Bring villagers, builders, and if there are any cooks bring them too!"


    ''Ding! How much?''


    "Tens of thousands," he laughed, "let''s have a giant party tonight."


    The next moment many started to appear, and in the next ten minutes around fifty thousands appeared in front of him.


    "Listen everyone," he shouted and his voice made everyone silent except for some who relayed his words voluntarily. "I want to build places suitable for hundreds of thousands of meat to be placed there. Use wood to do that, and also I want you to build tanks everywhere.


    For villagers, I want you to take the meat off there and place them on the wooden places, then soak them with the sauce in the tanks. Keep them wet all the time and don''t let any meat get dried up at all! Spare none of the sauce, and I''ll keep the supply constant."


    "Bring many trees from the newly purified worlds," Arthur muttered to his system.


    ''Ding! Alright.''


    As for the villagers, they all nodded and the next moment it was like a bee hive was in front of him. Everyone moved to do something; the lumberjacks started to work on the trees that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    Everyone was used to Arthur and his magical doings, so they weren''t much amazed by the sudden appearance of the trees, or when Arthur vanished with his giant cauldron the moment he emptied its content inside the wooden tanks.


    "Time to make more," Arthur started to make another sauce, and each time he did so he kept changing the recipe to make sure he would have more effects and diversity of flavors.

 Chapter 412: Im Not Your Food Delivery System!

    As he finished the second sauce, he hurried to empty its content in the new containers made by the lumberjacks. At the same time he started checking what his villagers were doing.


    "Amateurs, tsk," he shook his head after checking many samples.


    "Everybody pay attention to what I''ll do now," he suddenly shouted and instantly everyone stopped what they were doing. All eyes were on him while he took a long knife from one of the villagers before heading towards one piece of the meat.


    This piece was covered in the silver sauce, yet the sauce seemed to be dried up, forming a layer over the meat.


    "See this layer here," he cut a small piece of the layer and raised it high for everyone to see. "This is isolating the meat from getting all the great sauce you are sipping over. So," he threw this piece and then landed his knife over the meat like he was stabbing it.


    "You need to crack this layer all the time, also you need to create deep cuts in the meat so the sauce could reach deeper layers of it."


    He took one long spoon from another villager and started sipping the silver sauce inside the cuts he made. The sauce kept entering through the spaces he created before it filled them all and fell over the meat. "This way you will be sure every single piece of the meat will be properly seasoned."


    He returned the knife and the spoon to the villagers he took from. "Now go and do your best," he added while he vanished the next moment with his cauldron.


    After this time, the villager became much experienced in seasoning the meat. He also had one idea once, where he went to grab some sort of  plant he accidently stumbled upon.


    It had ten leaves, each leave had ten smaller ones, so he called it the magical ten leaf plant. When he stumbled upon it, the cauldron was about to be placed on the fire, yet some of the sauce fell over this plant and the plant soaked it and kept it inside its leaves while slowly ejecting it out.


    Arthur took a small bite of it and he was instantly amazed by the transformation that happened to this tasteless plant. "Great," he laughed before going on a spree to gather up a huge amount of it in an hour.


    "Just stuff it into the cuts you made and it will do the rest," Arthur showed the villagers what to do with this plant. This way he was sure the meat would be properly seasoned equally all the time.


    "Time to test one piece," he muttered after long hours of making sauce that was enough to satisfy the needs of his meat. "How should I cook you?" He took one piece and started thinking about how to cook it for a few minutes.


    "I''ll try the old method," he muttered before adding, "and I''ll try to cook you inside the cauldron with the sauce," he smiled as he wanted to see the end result of that sauce with the meat together. "It must be a great mix," he nodded while starting to build a fireplace with pieces of thick wood before making a long thick stick out of one wood and inserting it into the meat.


    Then he started the fire.


    "I want you to keep the meat rotating and the fire at this intensity," he said to a couple of villagers standing nearby. "As for these, I''ll gladly take," he took ten large pieces of meat before he went with his cauldron away.


    He put the cauldron on the fire before filling it again with the sauce. He waited a couple of minutes after the sauce was ready to make sure the new materials he added of leaves, seeds, and flowers would be totally integrated and melted with the sauce.


    "Let''s see how it will end," he started taking the meat pieces he took. Just as he placed half of them in the sauce he stopped. "What if I let the meat take a shock of fire first, intensifying the sauce inside and outside before putting it back on the sauce?" he muttered before he decided to make this his third dish.


    He took out a long piece of wood and started using it as a stick to mix the sauce and meat. He waited for two hours before he noticed the sauce was getting thicker and the meat started to show signs of being well cooked.


    "I should wait for another half an hour," he said. After half an hour he tasted the sauce first. "Superb! Only lacking a touch of salt," he took out a salty ore and crushed it with his hands and let the brown powder fall into the sauce.


    "What about the meat?" he took a piece of the meat and the moment he held it, it started to integrate into smaller ones. "Wow, it''s really well cooked," he laughed before holding a piece with one hand stained with the sauce before tasting it.


    The moment he did, he felt like explosions started to occur starting from his mouth down to his belly. "Wow!!" he simply was shocked with the instant and vigorous effects of the meat. "This meat¡­ it can turn a normal villager into a mighty warrior instantly!"


    He glanced at the meat and this time he didn''t eye it as a normal meat he was making for his daily usage. "I should start turning everyone here into a warrior," he laughed before muttering, "but will the meat be enough?" This was already an issue.


    Yet when he thought of giving each villager a tiny piece, he knew it would be enough to satisfy the needs of hundreds of thousands already. "I''m not stingy, but if a normal villager took a larger bite, he might die," he muttered while trying to reason his arrangement.


    "Can you distribute the meat to everyone?" Arthur suddenly asked his system.


    ''Ding! I''m not a food delivery system, y''know!''

 Chapter 413: This Meat Is Magical!

    "Don''t take it like this," Arthur laughed, "I just want everyone to be stronger."


    ''Ding! Make the villagers carry the meat themselves!''


    "C''mon!"


    ''Ding! I can bring delegations from each place and make them carry the meat back and forth. Like this you will deliver the meat to all as you want.''


    "Hmm¡­ nice idea," Arthur smiled before adding, "time to turn all the villagers into cooks."


    He then appeared next in the middle of everyone. "Stop what you are doing and start focusing here with me," he shouted and everyone let go what they were doing instantly and glanced at him.


    "I''ll start cooking the meat, in the meantime I want you to focus and try to memorize what I do," he said before noticing the lumberjacks. "They have no role to play, send them back and bring me blacksmiths and their tools and ores."


    ''Ding! Why not move you to a village and start doing what you want there instead?''


    "C''mon, this is more fun," Arthur laughed as he was already in a perfect mood.


    The system started moving back the lumberjacks while bringing forth the blacksmiths. One of them went towards Arthur as he saluted: "Lord, long time no see."


    "Agnus," Arthur smiled as he noticed his favored blacksmith, "I want to make giant pots like this cauldron."


    "In the same caliber?" Agnus examined the cauldron for a moment before realizing how high grade it was. "This is¡­ hard," he confessed.


    "I don''t want the same quality, but size," Arthur explained.


    "Oh, this would work," Agnus nodded before adding, "how many pots do you need?"


    "As many as you can get me," he replied while adding the materials to the sauce and waited for them to be melted with the sauce. "Go and start working now," Arthur said before turning to the villagers, "the sauce I''ll provide, but adding the materials and meat will be your responsibility."


    He knew making the sauce was quite an advanced skill for them to grasp. The villagers were crowded around him, watching what he was doing with utmost care.


    As for Agnus, he left to lead the army of blacksmiths taken from all over the villages and towns inside the garden world as he started explaining the mission to them.


    After two and half hours, Arthur finished cooking the meat and Agnus'' team finished making many pots already.


    "Now go and grab a pot, every group of ten will work over one pot for now. I''ll provide you with the sauce in the next hour, then I''ll supervise you to make sure you do it right. Then everyone might have his own pot," he said while emptying the content of his cauldron inside one empty wooden tank nearby.


    "May I ask, lord, what''s wrong with that meat?" one of the villagers asked while pointing towards the many fireplaces scattered everywhere around.


    "Nothing, it''s just a faster and different way to cook the meat," Arthur laughed before adding, "come, taste this meat for me," he took a small strand of the meat, not exceeding the length of a finger and with width like a straw.


    "This¡­" the man hesitated before he went to take the meat. His face told it all about what he was thinking already, yet Arthur didn''t change his smile as he was too confident in his meat.


    The moment the man ate the meat, his face changed abruptly and he hurried to sit on the ground. Wisps of energy started to leak out of his body.


    "Concentrate, don''t let anything be leaked out like this," Arthur commented before adding, "after all you''ll only get one piece of meat from me."


    The man nodded before closing up his eyes and these wisps started to show signs of decline, yet they didn''t vanish. "Sigh, it seems everyone has different affinities and potential after all," he muttered to himself while not hurrying to regret.


    He wanted to test the result of this meat over the man first.


    The villager who was in mid-twentieth stayed on the ground for almost ten minutes. This scene attracted the attention of everyone, even Agnus.


    "May I try one, lord?" he volunteered after a couple of minutes when he noticed the man down there was emitting a stronger vibe than before.


    "Sure, come and get this," Arthur took a slightly larger piece this time. It was ten times the piece he gave to the man.


    "This¡­" Agnus noticed the difference in one glance.


    "He is just a mere villager, not like you," Arthur smiled while reassuring him, "your body can handle more, I think," he added while Agnus didn''t hesitate anymore and trusted the instincts of his lord.


    The moment he put the meat in his mouth, he felt like placing a piece of fire in there. The next moment he landed on the ground and closed his eyes while no wisp of energy appeared out of his body after a couple of minutes.


    "Good lad," Arthur commended as he knew Agnus was different. "If you can handle more, just stretch out your hand," he added and Agnus really stretched out his hand asking for more.


    "Greedy one," Arthur laughed while placing another equal piece of meat in his hand, which stuffed it inside Agnus mouth instantly.


    Then the two men laid on the ground like this while everyone was focused over them.


    After ten minutes the first man opened his eyes, stood up while his body kept emitting wisps of energy still. "My lord, this meat¡­" the man paused, didn''t know how to describe his feeling. "It''s magical!" he finally said it.


    "I know," Arthur laughed before adding, "take a knife and try to attack that rock," he pointed towards a giant rock in the distance.


    The man nodded as he took a knife and went towards the rock. He just waved it, and the knife instantly shattered along with the rock after getting in touch with a big boom.


    "Amazing," Arthur laughed, "he is way stronger than the rest of the warriors here," he added.


    ''Ding! This is just temporarily, after all his body still has remnants of that energy.''

 Chapter 414: Agnus

    "I know, but even if he lost some, he still is strong," Arthur said before turning his gaze upon the distant warriors working on the meat before the man did that boom. "One of you, come down here to test the meat," he said and the next moment; all of them left the gigantic meat and went towards him!


    "Wow, you are all eager, hehehe," Arthur laughed and he just shrugged, "no problem, I need all of you to get stronger," he said while glancing over Agnus, "what will you turn into? A tiger? Or a dragon?"


    "Come, all will take this piece at first," Arthur took the knife of one villager while he started cutting a large cooked piece of the meat into small strands, equaling in size to the one Agnus took. "If you want more, just stretch your hands," he said as he started distributing these meat to his warriors.


    A thousand warriors took the meat in a long line before they all sat on the ground. Arthur kept cutting the meat while observing those warriors from time to time.


    This was so much fun for him, and he much anticipated what they would all end up to. "Some are better than others," he muttered when he noticed some leaked great amount of energy while others only lacked small parts.


    "Only a few managed to handle the energy well," he noticed that only a handful of them were like Agnus. "Those must be the seeds for future leaders," he said to himself while the first warriors stretched his hand, asking for more.


    Arthur started handling the meat personally to them in a scene that provoked the envy looks on everyone standing here. Some soldiers took one meat, fewer took a couple, and only five took ten pieces before they were saturated.


    "Wow, some are even much better than what I expected," he took note of those five before adding, "mark these five and track them all the time for me."


    ''Ding! Tsk, don''t you notice you are becoming more bossy lately?''


    "C''mon, you are my partner, who else I would depend upon for the big stuff?" Arthur smiled while adding, "These five need extra care and attention, and you know that!"


    ''Ding! That doesn''t mean to ask me to do everything for you! You have endless people under you right now!''


    "You can go and assign them missions," Arthur laughed before confessing, "I''m too lazy to do that."


    ''¡­''


    Arthur knew this batch would take a long time to wake up from their trance, so he turned to the others standing around. "Time to start working, I''ll make the soup and you prepare the meat and be ready to cook them," he suddenly vanished with his cauldron and didn''t appear until ten minutes later, with a cauldron filled with sauce.


    After the fourth travel, Agnus woke up. Arthur was making the sauce away, yet the moment Agnus woke up, the system informed him about that.


    "Wow, thanks for the tip," Arthur said in gratitude while he appeared the next moment in front of Agnus. "After all I asked you to watch the five, not Agnus included," he added with a grin over his face.


    ''Ding! To me, Agnus worth much more than them all combined.''


    "Me too," Arthur nodded while glanced over Agnus. The vibe coming out from him changed, and he seemed to be transformed to be a monster himself. "How do you feel?" Arthur asked.


    Agnus was checking his body and feeling his new energy with a frown over his face. "I feel my energy has increased, but there is something that''s holding me back from using it fully," he muttered, and his words were mysterious to Arthur but not the system.


    ''Ding! Choose a monster and make him couple with it.''


    "Wow, how could I forget that?!" Arthur patted his forehead and his words made Agnus have much expectations. "Does lord have a solution to this?" he asked.


    "Sure, just hang on a second here," Arthur said before pausing, "by the way, what''s the best monster to aid you in forging?" he asked.


    And his question made Agnus frown again. "Monster?" he muttered, as he never had this thought ever in his mind. "Well, anything strong and with a big build and flexible arms would do fine," he said, trying to answer the weird question of Arthur.


    "Nice," Arthur smiled before vanishing while adding, "wait for me here, I''ll come back in a minute."


    "I need a strong monster with arms that can help in forging," Arthur said to his system, "any suggestion?" he added.


    ''Ding! Your garden is full of many new species of dark monsters turned into light ones by your garden. They also evolved, but let me search for something unique.''


    "Alright," Arthur smiled while he moved in his garden like wind, checking the places that were purified and the monsters that gor changed.


    "These monsters¡­ they all had crowns!" he muttered when he noticed many of the monsters scattered on the ground.


    ''Ding! This is the evolved stage of some, while others went towards the higher grade,'' the system answered.


    "Which is?" Arthur was curious.


    ''Ding! Having a special ability formed to them,'' the system said, ''Ding! Most can speak and act wise like humans, only one step away to take the shape of humans.''


    "And the rest?" Arthur knew these monsters were taking the route that Tina took, the route he hoped his scorpion would take one day.


    ''Ding! Extremely rare number of them started to evolve towards the ancient beasts they hailed from.''


    "Like? Dragons perhaps?"


    ''Ding! You can say that dragons are one of those ancient monsters, but none here hailed from your bloodline,'' the system replied before adding, ''Ding! But some had the bloodline of Sara, showing signs of turning into winged tigers for instance.''


    "Wow," Arthur was surprised and delighted, "I want all to be like Sara," he laughed as he knew how strong these monsters would be.


    ''Ding! I found something that might be useful,'' the system suddenly said.

 Chapter 415: Forging A Spear

    "Take me there," Arthur vanished the next moment to appear in front of a group of giant weird looking monsters. They had the bodies of giant bulls with heads of tigers and four pairs of long cylindrical arms like humans ending up in strong spider legs like claws.


    "Wow, I bet he would be satisfied with those," Arthur muttered before he chose the grandest and with the biggest crown over his head. "This one would do," he smiled while appearing the next moment on the side of the monster then he and the monster vanished from the place, appearing just in front of Agnus.


    "Roar!" the monster roared, not in anger but to show his obedience to Arthur. "Wow, do you recognize me?" Arthur was pleased and surprised by the sudden reaction of the monster, and the monster roared while nodding his head like he perfectly understood Arthur''s words.


    "Listen, I''ll entrust you with one of my best men," Arthur said, "help him well and be sure to grow stronger together," he added while he noticed the shocked expression over Agnus'' face.


    "What¡­ is that?" he muttered in disbelief, and some fear.


    "He is your future pet," Arthur laughed, amused by the reaction of Agnus, "now stay you two here for a second," he then went towards a vacant space and started to take out the blood of the golam and some rocks that he started writing over, turning them into runes.


    ''Ding! You''ll need more runes to make this succeed,'' the system advised, and Arthur nodded in agreement. "You''ve a good point here," he muttered as he glanced again at that giant monster in the distance. " We will need folds of the usual runes," he started to work on making more runes before he scattered them inside the circle he made out of the Golam''s purified blood.


    "Come here," he waved and shouted, while Agnus came along with the monster; the two were stealing silent glances at each other from time to time.


    "You stand here, and you will be there," Arthur placed the two while he muttered, "repeat after me, let the contract start."


    Agnus muttered these words and the next moment the two were covered in a big bubble that shielded what was happening inside from the eyes of Arthur.


    "Let''s hope this will succeed," he muttered while in less than five minutes the contract ended and Agnus appeared alone with an excited look over his face.


    His strong hand covered with callus had now a tattoo of that monster standing on two hooves. "Wow, that''s¡­" he didn''t know what to say before he knelt to the ground as he added, "this generosity and kindness would never be forgotten by me and by the future generations of mine."


    Arthur smiled in content as he knew what caliber Agnus was made of. "Go and test your new powers and use the new pet you''ve," Arthur said before adding, "try to make me a weapon."


    "A weapon?" Agnus stood straight while asking with shimmering eyes, "what type? Name it and I''ll make it now!" he said with much confidence and such enthusiasm that made Arthur laugh.


    "Dunno," Arthur honestly replied, "let''s say¡­ I lack a good spear, can you make me one?"


    "A spear?" Agnus was surprised, yet Arthur nodded. Since the moment he witnessed the strong spears of Mr. E, he marveled and hoped oneday he would have his own army of spears like him.


    "I want a spear that would never be stopped no matter the distance or the foe. I also don''t want to throw and lose it somewhere. I want it to be endless, throwing it to have another right away to use," Arthur expressed what he felt out when he experienced Mr. E spears.


    And Agnus wasn''t shocked, or said it was impossible. He only nodded, as if this was something he saw normal, or something he thought his mighty lord deserved. "Give me a day and I will finish making it," he said before glancing around, "but I''m too far from my own pla¡­"


    "Send him back," Arthur didn''t wait for him to continue, and the next moment he vanished, to be sent by his system back to his home.


    "I hope he can make me something special," Arthur had great expectations for Agnus, "make sure anything he needs will be satisfied," he added.


    ''Ding! Should I move some of the purified waters and Golam blood to him? Maybe some advanced ores from the heart of the garden as well? Golam remnants and other good stuff?'' the system asked and his tone didn''t show he was joking around.


    "Sure, send him everything that might help," Arthur grinned, "I want to surprise Mr. E the next time we meet," he laughed when he recalled the two annoying masters of his. "I bet they are now gravely enraged by not able to come and harass me, hehehehe," he laughed and he was really enjoying this little trick he pulled on them.


    ''Ding! Don''t think they will let you have themselves tricked again by you!''


    "This time they forced themselves upon me," he shook his head before adding, "and they helped, but next time I won''t let them have their way here this easy."


    ''Ding! I hope so,'' the system said before laughing, ''Ding! After all they can threaten your group and know about the way to enter here through some portal scattered along the city world!''


    "What?!!" Arthur was shocked the moment he heard that, "I never thought of this, damn!" he cursed while he felt suddenly threatened and pressured by these two. "Sigh, I have to find a way to limit these portals then."


    ''Ding! Great trouble with no guaranteed results¡­ I don''t recommend it,'' the system laughed at his helplessness, ''Ding! You need to accept their presence all the time around you, hehehe.''


    "Why are you enjoying this?" Arthur was speechless there for a moment, "you should be on my side, not theirs!"


    ''Ding! I''m on your benefit side,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! Don''t you think having two strong aiders like these two is worth this small price?''


    "Tsk," and Arthur just shook his head while saying nothing back.

 Chapter 416: Giving Meat to All

    For the entire day Arthur kept making sauce and delivering it to his villagers. The gigantic meat was now easily cut by the upgraded version of his warriors.


    The piece that would take weeks to finish almost had more than half been cut already. Arthur had to ask his system to bring more villagers here to help in the work, while making the older ones their supervisors.


    This part of the garden turned to be a giant kitchen where piles of meat started to be cooked and placed neatly on special zones until Arthur came in and stored them all.


    "Is he finished?" At the end of the day Arthur still had his mind fixed upon Agnus. "Has he made the spear?"


    ''Ding! He had a problem and now is trying to solve it.''


    "What problem?"


    ''Ding! Dunno but he suddenly stopped working and started drawing blueprints about the spear,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! Each time he drew something, it seemed he wasn''t quite content with it. So his trash corner is now filled up with those failed drawings.''


    Arthur thought for a minute before saying: "I hope he makes me a good spear."


    ''Ding! I bet he will.''


    "Now back to work," Arthur took the cauldron back to his villagers and filled some empty tanks before glancing over the corner of the cooked meat.


    "By this rate, we might not need a week to finish," he muttered.


    ''Ding! I think they''ll finish in a week, but your sauce task can end in two days more.''


    "I hope so," he smiled before adding, "I stored all the meat in a place inside the central part of the garden. You can start distributing them."


    ''Ding! I told you, I''m not your food delivery system!!''


    "C''mon, who else will do such a task but you?" Arthur smiled before laughing, "you are my partner in the crime after all."


    ''Ding! Tsk, delivering food isn''t considered a crime at all!''


    "It''s your mission, and execute it the way you like," Arthur said, ending the debate about this issue, "I''ll keep making the sauce and you have to deal with those meat."


    ''Ding! Sigh, alright I''ll assign some to come and distribute the meat. Where do you want to spread them first? Your villagers or warriors?''


    "Warriors first," Arthur said before adding, "then spend the rest over my villagers."


    ''Ding! Good choice.''


    Arthur then spent the rest of the day and the other day making soup. His villagers became quite immersed in cooking the meat that he didn''t wish to see them stop.


    "Tsk, it''s bad I have only this piece of meat right now," he shook his head when he noticed his warriors had finished cutting all the meat into smaller pieces.


    ''Ding! There are more, but do you need more?'' the system asked before adding, ''Ding! I believe this amount is enough to cover up your whole warriors and a good part of the villagers.''


    Arthur thought for a moment there before saying: "Bring one more piece, this meat was supposed to be enough for me and my team. I need more of it."


    ''Ding! As you wish, it''s your meat after all.''


    The next moment another piece appeared in place of the first one and this one was slightly bigger than the first. "Go and cut this as well," Arthur shouted at his warriors who just laughed and went to cut the meat.


    For them this was considered as a fun sport.


    This added a couple more days for Arthur who worked diligently to finish his part. As for the new meat, they were cooked instantly with the army of cooks he created here and the system kept delivering them to his large population.


    ''Ding! All villagers got their shares except those cooks over here,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! The extra meat is left in place for further use.


    Arthur glanced at the meat which had more than two thirds untouched so far. "This is better than I thought," he laughed before adding, "spread the word, make those strong and eager to volunteer to make local armies and dispatch part of the warriors to aid in their training."


    ''Ding! Do you plan to turn them all into warriors? They are all strong and eager!''


    "Hehehe, if this is the case then yeah, why not?" He laughed before adding, "if I have the choice and time, I''d prefer to make every single one of them couple with one monster at least."


    He paused all of sudden before adding, "my main team didn''t have their pets upgraded after all this time. I should find some nice monsters for them."


    ''Ding! And for you.''


    "I''m considered a monster myself," he laughed, before adding, "and I have my little spider queen."


    ''Ding! You saw your masters, each one has over a hundred pets following them around! You should learn and gather more monsters,'' the system said before seriously adding, ''Ding! You also need to find strong monsters to absorb their powers.


    After all you have this free chance to upgrade your level a couple of times before other dragonair masters sniff what happened to their peers and come to retaliate.''


    Arthur had some fear towards what the system just said. "I thought they were all dead on the hands of that vengeful lady."


    ''Ding! The ancient world''s will? No, she only killed those responsible for the test, and those who attended it. As for the rest of your clan, she couldn''t touch them.''


    "Tsk, that''s a regret."


    ''Ding! It''s and it''s not. If she killed them all, then how come their lineage was passed down to you? Huh?''


    "Makes sense," Arthur nodded before hurrying to say, "alright, pressing issues first. Let''s get this soup done first. I think I need one more day to finish."


    It took him less than a day to finish his task. When he did, the first thing he asked about was Agnus, yet this genius blacksmith was still immersed in his dilemma.


    "Sigh, I hope he can figure it out soon," he muttered before adding, "or perhaps I might need to give him a little help and introduce him to Slone."

 Chapter 417: Returning Back to Hunt Pillars

    ''Ding! Good idea,'' the system said. ''Ding! What do you plan to do now?''


    "Hmm¡­ first thing is to go out there and claim all the pillars I could gather," he said before adding, "I will try to take as much as I could from everyone."


    ''Ding! That¡­ will take a while.''


    "You saw it yourself, these clans are already recognizing me as a threat and know my plans. This time they aren''t this prepared, but given them enough time and they will," he said before adding, "bring thirty corpses to me to turn into dragons."


    Each day he would use the dragomancer ability once. During the past week he stayed here, he managed to not skip a day and now his dragon army increased by two hundred and ten dragons.


    ''Ding! Here they are.''


    Arthur didn''t say anymore as he started touching them one by one, infusing his peculiar energy inside and turning their dead bodies into lively dragons.


    "Master," the thirty dragons stood beside him while giving him tribute.


    "Send them to their comrades," Arthru casually said, "and make them ready for the upcoming war."


    ''Ding! Do you want me to open a portal for you now?''


    Arthur was reminded of his star map. "Did it finish the merge? What new benefits it gained?" he hurried to ask.


    ''Ding! It completed it four days ago, and beside the normal function it can now help you in your raids.''


    "How?"


    ''Ding! It can attack the other maps directly and start swallowing them with their linked worlds,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! But if used alone, this might take a really long time to happen.''


    "Who said it''s alone?" Arthur smirked before adding, "Open the portal now, let it know it has such a kind and mighty master."


    ''Ding! Hehehe, alright.''


    The next moment a portal was opened in front of him. He simply tossed his cauldron inside his ring and thought of the need to obtain more rings in the future. "But I do have this amazing garden, what need is for a ring?" he laughed.


    ''Ding! Your garden can''t continue to grow up inside the tiny space of that necklace,'' the system suddenly said. ''Ding! A time will come when you''ll have to find her a better place.''


    "Like what?" Arthur reached his star map and then went over the new star added by the master.


    ''Ding! Dunno yet, but if you meet something interesting, I will instantly inform you about it.''


    "Alright," Arthur reached the next star map before closing his eyes for a second and reopening them.


    "Shit!" the moment he opened his eyes, he saw dozens of monsters moving fast towards him. There were already five monsters stationed on his star, and they were veiled in the dense fog.


    "Bring my dragons," he shouted as he took out his bow and normal arrows before ducking to avoid a lethal sword aimed for his head. "Take this," he instantly turned into a dragon and  launched five arrows to kill those five nearby and then aimed for those coming towards him.


    "They are well prepared," he complained when he saw the thousands upon thousands stationed only in the star map to guard it. "Told you," he released the arrows before taking more.


    ''Ding! They are fast.''


    "Sure, I''m sure they must have a meeting prior to me coming up here to discuss how to stop me," Athrur kept launching his arrows before adding, "Make my star map start assaulting this one."


    The area around him started to be filled with his three hundred dragons. Yet in front of all those enemies, this number paled a lot.


    So he needs help. After all he didn''t take all the trouble to create those dragons to lose them the next moment!


    ''Ding! It''s starting to hit here.''


    The moment the system said his words, Arthur felt a soft rumble all over the place. He and his dragons stood erect in their places while everyone of his enemy seemed to stand on soft sand; they started to tremble and even lose their balance.


    "Hahaha, my star map is just a monster," he laughed while aiming for those still standing, "follow me," he gave the order and started moving to the front while his dragons followed.


    Each time they crossed a couple of stars, Arthur set them loose over those fallen on the ground. The massacre continued for hours, and the main reason for this battle to take all that time was due to the constant reinforcements sent to aid this star map.


    Yet after ten hours of fighting, his star map finally took over this one.


    ''Ding! The star map has already crushed the will of this one. This star map is now yours to control and it will slowly integrate into your main star map.''


    "Great," Arthur laughed before adding, "make it seal the portals then. Only me is allowed to pass through."


    ''Ding! Done.''


    As he sealed the route of further reinforcements, he managed to clear all the hostiles here in less than twenty minutes. "Phew, this was intense," he sighed as he glanced over the huge piles of dead monsters lying everywhere.


    "It''s a loss to leave these here," he started to move and take them all inside his garden. "Go back," he said to his dragons and the system made them all return to his garden.


    "Give them some meat," he thought before adding, "they deserve getting stronger."


    ''Ding! This will make them take some time to evolve,'' the system warned.


    "Not an issue," Arthur sneered while taking back the normal arrows and replacing them with his deadly extermination arrows. "I plan to land upon them like death itself."


    Arthur then selected one star randomly and jumped into it. The moment he appeared there he found what he expected; the entire place was filled with monsters to the brim!


    These monsters had hyena''s heads with long slender bodies that had many thick scales and a lot of slim flexible arms. They had a tail with feathers, where these feathers kept spraying something in the air.


    "Tsk, new kind of monsters, what a nice welcoming party you are," he didn''t waste his time here as he moved his wings and directly exited through the central opening high in the ceiling.


    The world outside wasn''t any different than what he met inside the warehouse. "Let''s create some bangs," he laughed before releasing his arrows everywhere.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The entire world shook, and his arrows started a tsunami of destruction in a very large stretch of lands. This world was much bigger than usual, yet he managed to clear most of those standing between him and the pillar.


    "Kill them all!" Arthur released a couple of arrows towards the pillar, which started to resonate at first then exploded with a mighty and domineering aura.


    A total wipe out occurred to those around it, and Arthur just placed his blood over the pillar, making the eyes of the master show up.


    "Wow, you took a while to come here," the master said before glancing everywhere. "They seem so much excited to see you."


    Arthur laughed with the master before the master said: "go and grab the pillar, you still have thousands left." He paused before adding, "did Alfonso pay what he owes to you?"


    "No, he still didn''t," Arthur shook his head while recalling that sly master.


    "Hahaha, I just hoped you''d say so," yet the master seemed quite amused by this, "leave this to me, and I promise you''ll hear good news soon."


    "Thanks for the help, master."


    "Don''t bother, it''s what the master should do, not like that Alfonso, hehehe."


    Arthur just smiled as he started taking the pillar by channeling the energy towards his garden. He then retreated and when he entered the warehouse, he noticed it was totally empty of any resources.


    "Those stingy bastards! Did they empty the warehouse in each world?"


    It was Arthur''s five hundred worlds when he found the warehouse empty as well. He was enraged like never before, as he depended on those tiny resources to pile up to form giant mountains he could use later on.


    "Where the hell have they stored everything?" he shook his head when he appeared back in the star map. "Is it in the central star? That hyena clan headquarter?" he muttered before having some rationality back to him. "Tsk, I can''t attack that place alone right now."


    ''Ding! Told you, these two are handy,'' the system said.


    "and annoying as hell!"


    ''Ding! Nothing comes free in this world, right?''


    "Unfortunately you are absolutely right," Arthur couldn''t refute his system before adding, "to the next world then."

 Chapter 418: A Sense of Overwhelming Fear

    Arthur kept attacking the world until another change started to annoy him. It happened at world number two thousand and fifty-three where he didn''t find any pillar in his eyes.


    "Where is the pillar? Did they move it away?" he was surprised and this thought just popped up into his mind.


    ''Ding! No, the world contains the pillar,'' the system said, ''Ding! I can feel it already.''


    "Then where?"


    ''Ding! At the normal place.''


    Arthur squinted his eyes again, yet he didn''t see anything. "Are you sure?" he asked.


    ''Ding! Just go there and you''ll find a dirty trick for them for sure.''


    "But¡­" he glanced around before adding, "I have to clear this world first and that will take some time."


    ''Ding! You can leave them for later, just see what happened to the pillar.''


    "Ok," Arthur went directly towards the place the pillar was supposed to be. Just a couple of miles away, and after releasing over fifty arrows to clear his path; he finally spotted something on the ground.


    His arrows used to detonate and cause a mass destruction, yet at a specific area the destruction stopped abruptly, forming a shape that wasn''t strange to him.


    "A portal?" he muttered before adding, "a hidden portal?"


    ''Ding! That''s the scheme this time it seems,'' the system said, ''Ding! I can help you move the portal to your world, but if it has the pillar inside then I can''t do it without cracking the pillar first.''


    "I bet the pillar is inside that world," Arthur muttered before adding, "can you let me in?"


    ''Ding! I can use force to crack the seal over the portal,'' the system said while Arthur examined the portal after the subside of the destruction effect, ''Ding! But you''ll need to use an array for me to augment.''


    "Sigh, more time," he shook his head, "why are they doing that?"


    ''Ding! They seem to be waiting for something, or someone.''


    "Logical," Arthur then started to take out his own tools and started making some arrays to remove this seal over the portal. For his bad luck, it wasn''t just one seal but twelve.


    "Damn! They really are trying their best to delay me!" he complained and when he entered the new world, he found the pillar erected in the center of it alongside huge armies that took him a couple of hours to pass through.


    "Not only taking away the pillar to another world, but linking hundreds of normal worlds to it, tsk!"


    He was really irritated by this, and when he returned to the first world, he had to fight for an hour to return back to the star map while controlling the pillar''s energy.


    "This is ridiculous!" he shouted in a loud tone when he reached the three thousand world. He experienced this tiring arrangement of his enemies in all the worlds before this one, and so he was already exhausted and wasted much time.


    ''Ding! Do you need to rest?'' the system suggested.


    "Can''t," he answered, "I have to finish this task before resting for some time. These people¡­ I bet they are trying to fortify their main defenses at the main clan headquarter with all their might."


    ''Ding! I have a suggestion,'' after long hours of fighting and when Arthur returned to his star map, the system said.


    "No, I won''t call these two up to here again," he shook his head, as he knew what his system was going to say.


    ''Ding! But¡­''


    "No, I have to do this on my own like usual," Arthur said, "depending too much on others who don''t serve you is a mistake. What if I got used to this and they didn''t show up?" he said before shrugging, "I have to deal with every problem as if I was on my own and have only those who already serve me."


    ''Ding! Nice logic and a tiring one.''


    "Hehehe, who said life is a piece of cake," Arthur smiled before jumping towards the next world and started his massacre.


    This kept going on for days, and almost one month passed in his star map before he could finish everything. The time inside his garden was much faster than the time outside, and he was already inside the city world, making him not lose much time in the outside world.


    Since he started hunting these pillars down, only a couple of days passed in the academy world, and only ten days in the city world.


    As he reached the final hundred worlds, he had this nagging feeling of danger every now and then. He didn''t know what was going on, but every world he took down of these hundred had his feelings intensified.


    "This feeling¡­" he conquered the fifty world successfully, leaving only fifty remaining and the one related to the main headquarters of that clan. "I think it''s better to summon those two noisy people then."


    ''Ding! Good decision,'' the system also felt the same sense of danger and warned and asked him to do that for a couple of times already. ''Ding! I''ll look for them using the portal linked via your garden to the city world, hopefully they are next to one of them.''


    "If not then I''ll have to retreat and look for them myself," Arthur said before adding, "start with the city, I''m pretty sure they won''t leave it unwatched all the time."


    The system started looking for Amanda and Mr. E, and in less than five minutes it said: ''Ding! I really found them in your city.''


    "Good, make them enter here then."


    ''Ding! But¡­'' the system hesitated.


    "But what?"


    ''Ding! They aren''t alone, they have a lot of masters with them.''


    Arthur was speechless for a moment there before saying: "Are they hijacking my city? Curse these two!!"


    ''Ding! They have the power and authority to do that!''


    "Not here, not in my city! Damn it! It seems I have to go there myself then," Arthur was totally infuriated, yet his system tried its best to drive reason to him.


    ''Ding! I think the more the better.''

 Chapter 419: Go Back and Dont Come Inside for Now

    "What if there was a mole there? My garden and my star map are my top secrets!"


    ''Ding! C''mon, literally all the dark clans here are aware of you having access to the star map. There is nothing to lose by letting some know, while they are destined to know sooner or later.''


    Arthur paused and his rage calmed down while the system added:


    ''Ding! And I scouted your city as far as I can reach; they aren''t forcing themselves and taking control there. They are trying to help defend and secure your city and people.''


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur stopped entirely in his place while thinking about his system words. "Sigh, you are right," he shook his head, "sooner or later they will know about everything either from my masters or from others."


    He still hated the idea of being exposed like this. "Can you lead them directly to here?" he asked, "as they are in my city, they can use the portal to reach my main star map directly, right?"


    ''Ding! This I can do.''


    Arthur waited for couple of minutes before the system said again:


    ''Ding! They are on your main map.''


    "Good," Arthur moved towards the distant end of this map as he jumped through one big star to appear next at his main star map.


    As he reached there, he found a group of hundred standing together with the fear of moving a single step forward. "Should I scare them a little?" he thought to himself, yet he dropped the idea despite feeling tempted to do it.


    "Hi there," he suddenly showed up in front of them all. The group was led by Mr. E and Amanda plus all the other masters he had. There were also a handful of others that he didn''t know.


    "What is this place?" Cesile instantly shouted at him.


    "What took you so long to appear?" Mr. E said before Amanda jumped in:


    "You little rascal! You made me go away and sealed the door back! And now you''ve got the guts to call for my help?"


    "She missed you," Mr. E pointed to her as he said, before adding under her glaring looks, "a lot!"


    "Humph," she didn''t yell as usual as she wasn''t alone with the two of them. Arthur just smiled as he avoided explaining the nature of his star map as he said:


    "Follow me, and make sure not to wander anywhere I didn''t step at."


    "This place is even dangerous for its master," Mr. E said while his words and gaze conveyed a clear warning to others.


    Arthur led them towards a big star before appearing again at the other star map.


    "Wow, there is another one!" Otman muttered before adding, "I can feel this place is much more dangerous than the rest."


    Arthur turned towards the one hundred masters and said:


    "There are fifty pocket worlds remaining with the main headquarter of the clan owning these worlds," he said while pointing towards the direction of the deadly fog around them.


    "Do you want us to help you kill them all?" Mr. E said before adding, "why do I feel there is something more to this?"


    "Well," Arthur didn''t know how to best describe what he felt before adding, "I have this restless feeling about a deadly danger eyeing me there."


    He noticed that most of the master''s eyes met him in a strange way, yet Otman stepped in again to say: ''I also have this feeling, and you know me."


    Everyone glanced at Otman for a moment before Mr. E said:


    "Otman''s intuition is the best among us with no rival. If he also had such a feeling, then we should treat this as serious as we can," he turned towards Arthur as he added:


    "Do you need us to attack the main clan first?"


    "I think it''s better to gain more intel about this danger before heading there first," Otman was the one to answer as he started to grow restless as Arthur.


    "Alright, we''ll hit those fifty worlds first," Amanda said before adding, "are they all filled with pillars like the other ones?"


    "They are," Arthur nodded before adding, "yet this time they secured these pillars inside worlds that are sealed and connected to hundreds of others filled with endless armies."


    "Wow, you have your touch even on them boy," Mr. E laughed, while winking to Amanda. "Alright, let''s now waste time here, show us the way."


    Arthur walked and everyone recalled his and Mr. E''s warning, so no one followed his curiosity to see what lies behind this thick fog.


    Despite that, everyone of them had many questions regarding this map of Arthur.


    Just as they reached one of those fifty stars here, Arthur simply jumped and the next thing he did was to turn into a dragon.


    He got used to fighting alone for such a long time already, yet the next moment he saw a grand scene where all the masters appeared, summoned their pets, and started the fight alongside him.


    Each master had at least eighty pets, and most had over ninety with a handful having a hundred. Arthur knew at this moment what his system meant by the power of the allies, the power of his masters.


    The time he took to reach the sealed portal usually took three hours, but this time he managed to reach there in less than half an hour.


    Beside that, the rate he consumed his arrows obviously decreased than usual. "Sigh, they are really stronger than me," he sighed to himself while watching the brutal fights and destruction those masters did with their pets and weapons.


    Despite that, Mr. E didn''t use his strong spear attacks while Amanda refrained from using all her strength. "And they are holding back, sigh," he added.


    "Otman," when they reached the sealed portal, Mr. E shouted at Otman who nodded and moved without any further ado towards the seal.


    Arthur watched as the seal that took half an hour at least from him to be unlocked and might take an hour was instantly shattered using a strange long and slender staff with bells over its rounded and hollow end.


    Otman noticed Arthur''s fixed gaze upon his black staff, yet he just smiled and said nothing.


    "Let''s go, half here and half will go with us inside," Amanda shouted while Arthur went towards the world first.


    And just as he appeared there, he wasn''t that surprised to see something new there.


    The entire world was filled with flying and ground monsters leading endless armies of warriors surrounding themselves with defensive arrays.


    In the middle of that world, the pillar stood with its gigantic height and dark color.


    All looked the same at first glance, except for that dreadful feeling coming from one direction. He was forcibly changing back to human form out of his control, giving him a surprise. "So they have new reinforcements," Arhtur muttered.


    "Reinforcements from higher planes," Mr. E muttered while turning to Amanda, "is this the one?" he asked.


    "Not quite sure, but I think he isn''t," she hesitated for a moment before adding, "but I feel the same vibe coming from him."


    "Good," Mr. E laughed before glancing over Arthur as he added, "Wise decision to call for us or else you wouldn''t have the chance to do that if you entered here alone."


    His facial features changed to show his seriousness while he added: "Return back to the safer world."


    "But¡­" Arthur was about to complain yet Amanda interrupted him: "This level of fight is way above you."


    "It''s marvelous what you did so far, so retreat and stay back until we come out," Cesile said, trying to curry for his favor after noticing the strange intimacy he had with Amanda, "don''t come in no matter what," she added.


    "And don''t try other worlds for now," Mr. E said, "I can sniff the presence of a grand plot in these worlds."


    Arthur had no choice but to retreat. In fact he wanted to stay here, but he couldn''t summon his dragon form no matter how much he tried. "Send the others back, we might need them," Mr. E added before Arthur returned through the portal back to the first world.


    As he returned, he instantly changed back to dragon. "What''s wrong?" he asked and his system instantly replied:


    ''Ding! Even I was sealed the moment you entered there!''


    "What?!!" Arthur was speechless and this time he realized he really escaped a death trap.


    "Go inside, Mr. E wants your help at once," the next second he changed back to human, shouted at the masters nearby before turning back to a dragon as he added, "leave these weaklings to me."


    There were around thirty masters here led by Otman, who hurried to relay the orders and all didn''t delay to move inside the portal.


    As for Arthur, he simply took out his bow and arrows before returning again to his solo fight with these monsters.

 Chapter 420: George

    Arthur kept releasing his arrows and killed everywhere, yet his mind was busy by what was going on the other side of the portal.


    He knew his academy masters were strong, but their opponent had such a dreadful strength to them.


    After roughly an hour, the portal flared up while the masters appeared in batches.


    "What the hell just happened inside?!" Arthur was speechless for a moment while watching the tattered clothes and the tired faces of the masters. They looked exhausted, some even had many wounds while a couple of them were already supported by their friends; unable to walk alone.


    And some were missing from the count Arthur had in mind, at least his five masters and Mr. E were!


    "Kid, Mr. E is waiting inside for you," one of the masters said while adding, "They urge you to come fast."


    Arthur nodded and then went directly towards the next world. When he appeared there; the world looked greatly different from what he last saw.


    "Is the apocalypse landed here?!!" he was shocked to see all these huge and deep pits everywhere; even some places were so deep to reach the central lava of the world!


    "Come Willy," Mr. E shouted from one direction, "we can''t hold it more than five minutes, so you need to take the pillar within that time."


    Arthur turned to see his six masters with a couple others surrounding a group of a dozen black cloaked silhouettes who kept flickering; moment here and the next they weren''t.


    And a big bubble was surrounding this group of capped men.


    "Give me just one minute," Arthur realized what happened here and knew how grave the situation was. He didn''t hesitate and turned to the pillar while the army of pets helping their masters relayed his answer to all.


    In less than a minute he reached the pillar before placing his blood on it.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment two eyes appeared and when the master came to this world, he noticed the group of capped men trapped by the others.


    "Wow, you have the audacity to interfere in this lowly world by this number?" he muttered before adding, "this is the break of our sacred deal! Do you want us to interfere as well?" he added as if he was eager to do so.


    "Forget it," Arthur felt a sudden rise in the pressure exerted all around his body, while the next moment the sky of this world dimmed all of a sudden.


    "Boom!"


    A gigantic pillar of bronze descended from the sky, and the moment it touched the ground, another explosion erupted.


    "You broke the rule first, and I have the right to retaliate," he seemed like speaking to someone next to him. "Next time be more careful, or my little boy here will keep summoning me and I won''t be kind."


    The pillar started to pale and fade slowly until it vanished. When it did, the place it landed upon was now flattened with the ground. Those capped men were smashed into meat pulps; none remained alive.


    "How did you meet them here?" the master then released his pressure upon Arthur who finally had the chance to move freely.


    "They are targeting me," he answered.


    "You?" the master seemed surprised at first before laughing out loud. "This is a lowly world, you can''t attract their attention without proper reason, or make them so mad to break the sacred rules without a strong motive."


    "Well," Arthur seemed embarrassed before adding, "they sent many disciples of the Oblack dark academy here, and it happens that I was on the spree of hunting them down."


    "Wow, you have some guts," the master laughed and his tone told Arthur how much amused he was. "Tell me, how many did you manage to hit? One?"


    "Three," Arthur replied, "plus the guarding master sent here to protect these kids."


    "¡­"


    The master didn''t answer for a couple of seconds before he broke again into laughter. "Y''know, as a dragonair you should have joined that academy by bloodline. But here you are, turning to be a sore spot in the grand dark history of the dragonairs, hehehe."


    He was much amused by Arthur''s doing, then the next moment Arthur received a strange bronze stick that appeared out of nowhere. "As they seemed not to care about the universal rules of the mightiest, you should have this then."


    "What is this?" Arthur grabbed the stick to feel how light it was. He thought it would be so heavy, but now he had some doubts about this stick.


    "It''s the rule pillar," the master said before adding, "if you meet anyone that doesn''t fit into this world, use his or her strength freely without restraints; just take the pillar out and everything will be solved."


    "Is this legal?" Arthur muttered while he didn''t understand anything about that sacred rule the master spoke of. Yet he had some clues.


    "It is," the master answered, "it has no power anywhere except against those breaking the sacred rules. Believe me it''ll be a great protection for you."


    "Thanks master, I didn''t know what to do without your guidance," Arthur said in honesty.


    "By the way, Alfonso has eaten the whole thing and left nothing for you," suddenly the master said with a sneer, "but don''t worry; your master here has gone all the way out and he is now obliged to hunt down another monster and compensate you with its entire body."


    "Wow" Arthur was speechless there for the shamelessness of Alfonso and also touched by the deeds of this master. "May I know the name of the venerable master?" he asked.


    "It''s George," the master said.


    "I hope one day we can meet in person so I can learn under master''s guidance," Arthur said, expressing his willingness to be his disciple.


    "Good lad," George said before adding with a happy laugh, "very smart lad."


    "Thanks master for your support," Arthur stored the stick into his garden before adding, "I''m lacking forty-nine pillars, and I believe all of them will be filled with those dark masters."

 Chapter 421: Trying the Bronzed Stick

    "Don''t worry yourself about them anymore," George said before adding, "I got your back with the pillar you''ve got and whenever I appear I''ll make sure none of them will return home to tell the story."


    Arthur nodded in content before recalling something. "Won''t this cause the master some trouble?" he asked.


    "Nah, we and them are already at war ages ago," George said before adding, "but it''s a grander theatre that you''ll have a long path to cross first before joining it."


    "I hope one day I will," Arthur said.


    "I''m sure you will," George laughed before adding, "go now and take the pillar. I''ll be waiting for the others and be ready to kill those funny clowns."


    Arthur cupped his hands and saluted George before heading towards the pillar to take it. For others here, this conversation was better understood by them. After all they were already aware of many secrets Arthur didn''t know.


    When he returned to the star map again, he had to wait for ten minutes until most of them appeared. They had to take the way from the garden to here, and midway they had to amend their wounded masters.


    "It''s lucky to have such support from higher ups," the moment they appeared in his star map, Mr. E said with a helpless smile.


    "I don''t think I quite understand everything," Arthur muttered.


    "It''s too early for you to know these things," Amanda said while Cesile patted on his shoulders as she said: "But it''s quite admirable for you to attract all this attention," then she broke into laughter as she added, "from both academies, hehehe."


    He didn''t understand why she was laughing, but he noticed everyone else was smiling as well. "Sigh, I feel like being the only fool here," he said, shaking his head.


    "Don''t rush things, my dear son-in-law," Mr. E laughed and as he said this, Amanda returned to her usual self; glaring at him.


    "C''mon, we need to finish these worlds before they adapt to your master," Mr. E hurried to say, trying to escape the angry looks of Amanda.


    The next world they jumped into was the same as before. The world was filled with monsters everywhere; yet Mr. E wasn''t that much interested in these small flies.


    "Let''s kill our path to the portal and return to deal with them later on," he ordered and Arthur just felt how lucky he was to have those strong helpers on his side.


    During the path towards the portal he didn''t need to launch a single arrow at all. They all did the work, killing with ease and causing enough devastation that exceeded hundreds of his arrows.


    As they reached the portal, Mr. E turned to glance at Arthur with a serious face. "I''m not doubting your master, but if that stick didn''t work you''ll have to immediately retreat."


    "I understand," Arthur wasn''t so suicidal to begin with. He intended to do so if he couldn''t deal with the masters inside.


    "Let''s go, we''ll stick to our formation and tactic," Mr. E shouted before everyone nodded and they all entered the portal first then Arthur did last.


    As he appeared in the new world, he noticed the fight erupted much faster than he initially thought. There were tens of black capped masters fighting the almost a hundred of his academy masters.


    And the fight was such intense and mighty that he felt dreaded the moment he stepped there.


    "Let''s hope it works," he took out the stick from his necklace and held it with both hands. As he took it out, he realized he didn''t know how to use it!


    "Tsk, George didn''t tell me anything related to that," he muttered before adding, "was this done on purpose or what?"


    Just as he stood there for a whole minute, nothing changed in the stick or to those capped masters. Arthur started examining it closely, it had such a smooth outer surface with no single scratch or writing over it.


    "He didn''t call it a stick," Arthur was sure he missed something so he recalled the words of George to the letter, "he said it was a bronzed pillar."


    He raised his head to see the gigantic pillar in the distance. "So it should be activated the same way then?" he muttered, "which way is it? The arrow or the blood?"


    For him it was easier to use his blood, yet when he dropped his own over the stick nothing happened!


    "It''s the arrows then," he took out one of his arrows before muttering, "I should hit the arrow at it, or just touch the two together?" he placed the tip of the arrow over the stick yet nothing happened.


    "Alright, last chance or else I''ll retreat," he took a wide glance over the entire world. The fights were already everywhere and the intensity of these was really outside his own ability to handle.


    The next moment he threw the stick to the front while taking out his bow. "If this failed, make sure to grab it in time," he said to his system before releasing the arrow and not waiting for his system response.


    "Rumble!"


    Just as the arrow exploded at the stick, a faint rumble occured. Yet nothing more happened.


    "The same principle but more arrows," he didn''t hold back anymore as he started raining the stick with his arrows. Each arrow caused a stronger rumble, and with the tenth arrow the stick had a faint bronze aura surrounding it, suspending it midair motionless.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    He kept firing and the sounds of rumbles he caused attracted everyone''s attention. The dark masters seemed to shift their attention from their foes, from him, to that stick.


    And then their faces showed a scary expression.


    "Don''t let him activate it!" one of them screamed and the next moment all moved and attacked Arthur.


    Yet they were slightly few arrows late to do that.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    With the latest arrows, each rumble generated a pulse wave of bronzed color aura that moved away from the stick towards the world.

 Chapter 422: Using the Dragomancer Ability

    Anything that tried to harm Arthur or the stick was instantly negated, and even a couple of dark masters got involved in these pulses, and the next moment their body exploded.


    "Run!"


    Another shout came and this time the dark masters didn''t hold anything to run away.


    "Stop them, don''t let them run away," but Mr. E didn''t plan to let them escape this easily.


    He was worried if they retreated to regroup with other dark masters, forming a mighty force they couldn''t handle with their limited numbers and strengths.


    As he gave the order, the fight between the two sides turned upside down. One was running and the other kept attacking and trying to intercept them.


    Arthur was immersed in releasing his arrows, and suddenly when he reached the hundred one, the stick exploded releasing such a mighty wave that enveloped the entire world in less than a second.


    The world shone brightly in bronze color in front of him for minutes, before the light subsided to the stick again which lost all the aura holding it and hit the ground simply like a normal stick.


    Yet what it left there was a world without a single trace of any dark master! Even the portal these masters were trying their best to reach was shattered under that light.


    "Wow, so I know how to better use it," Arthur nodded in content while watching the amazed faces of everyone around.


    "You¡­" Mr. E paused, didn''t know what to say here, "you have such a good master up there."


    "Hehehe, it''s just my luck," Arthur laughed before adding, "I''ll go to get that pillar then we''ll have to clear the outside world."


    "Leave the outside world to us," Cesile said, "we can clear it in less than half an hour."


    "No," Mr. E shook his head, "we''ll do it in ten minutes." He turned to face his group before adding, "let''s go, we''ll go all out."


    Everyone nodded and moved towards the portal. "Give us ten minutes then take the pillar," Mr. E said before vanishing into the portal nearby.


    Arthur stood there all alone, while the entire world was now deadly silent. "Sigh, I still have so long road ahead of me," he muttered and his system spoke after so much silence.


    ''Ding! You aren''t bad either.''


    "I know," Arthur went to grab the stick before storing it with utmost care in his garden, "but it''s not near enough!"


    ''Ding! Don''t rush out things, give yourself a couple of years first.''


    Arthur glanced around and sighed. "It''s not me who is rushing, it''s them," he muttered before turning towards the nearest meat pulp in front of him. "Can I turn this one into a dragon?" he suddenly asked and this question made the system silent for some minutes.


    ''Ding! I don''t know the answer to that question,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! Theoretically speaking it should work, but as you can see; they are all in their human forms and their bodies are crushed.''


    "Let''s give it a try then," Arthur shrugged as he had nothing else to do beside that. "start the dragomancer ability," he said while putting his hand over the muddled body of that dark master.


    Yet after waiting for a couple of minutes, nothing happened except a faint tremble at first then the aura Arthur ingested inside the body didn''t make any other changes.


    "Is it a failure then?" he muttered.


    ''Ding! I felt a reaction for the moment there,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! May I suggest something?''


    "What?"


    ''Ding! I believe the level of this corpse is way higher than anything you dealt with before. I think you''ll need to use many attempts to make it work.''


    "You mean to let go a couple of times to summon one dragon?" Arthur said.


    ''Ding! That''s my theory.''


    "Well¡­" Arthur sighed, "let''s try it out then. After all I don''t think I''ll need the help of my dragons anytime soon."


    ''Ding! Alright, I''ll keep activating the ability until it works.''


    As the system started doing so, Arthur felt the pulses of energy emanate from his hand towards the smashed body. Each pulse created a stronger reaction, yet after ten times the body didn''t show any signs of turning into a dragon yet.


    ''Ding! Shall I stop?'' the system asked.


    "Keep pushing," Arthur said, "I want to see what this will lead us to," he glanced over the other dead bodies here. "I have around forty of them here and around a dozen back in the previous world."


    ''Ding! Don''t forget the others in the next worlds.''


    "Yes, and them as well," Arthur nodded as he added, "Give it all, use all the attempts I have one after another until this corpse transforms."


    ''Ding! Alright, all out then.''


    The system started to use the ability repeatedly. Each time the reaction to the pulse energy emitted from Arthur''s hands was stronger than before, yet it took twenty-five pulses to make the corpse suddenly tremble vigorously.


    "Stop," Arthur shouted before jumping backward. The next moment the area he stood at just exploded. Not only that location, but it seemed in a radius of fifty meters around the corpse; anything was smashed to nothing by strange oppressive pressure.


    And that pressure just came from the corpse itself.


    "Wow, I have big expectations for this one here," Arthur laughed as he watched the corpse parts start to coalesce and then change started to occur.


    It started by swallowing up, gaining more height and it kept rising until it reached a staggering height of one hundred meters.


    Then the corpse showed the characteristics of a dragon; horns, wings, long and heavy tail, thick scales, and very sharp claws.


    The changes kept happening for ten minutes before a gigantic form of a dragon started to stand erect.


    When it did, Arthur knew he got himself something different than he used to. The dragon had the height of one hundred meters while sitting on the ground, and when it stood erect, the height simply doubled!

 Chapter 423: Attacking the Pillar Worlds

    "Roar!" The dragon roar was enough to create a shockwave enough to throw Arthur''s dragon body hundreds of meters to the back.


    "Master, sorry, I was just excited by being born," the dragon hurried to speak in a strong and harsh voice. "I''m sorry," he said again, yet Arthur didn''t care about this as he wildly laughed.


    "I''m so damn lucky, hehehe," he was in a very good mood. "Tell me what abilities you can use?"


    "I can use fire, I believe my fire breath will be enough to cover this world instantly and kill anything in it," the dragon said before adding, "do you want me to try?"


    "Not here," Arthur laughed, "not now, but a time will come soon for you to shine," Arthur promised before adding, "do you have a name? do you still hold your memories of your past life?"


    "Name?" the dragon seemed quite puzzled for a moment before adding, "I believe it was Henry, but you can change it if you feel like it."


    "Henry is good," Arthur nodded before adding, "do you recall any memories of the past life you lived?"


    "I have scattered pieces here and there," the dragon replied.


    "Do you know where you came from?" Arthur asked, starting to interrogate the dragon.


    "The Oblack academy," Henry answered.


    "Good," Arthur just wanted to test his memories, "what about your mission? Your numbers?" he asked.


    "We came here to stop you, master," Henry said before adding, "and a thousand of us arrived here."


    "A thousand?" Arthur was speechless there for a moment. "But the pillar worlds here and there would only have a couple of hundreds of you," he suddenly paused before adding, "don''t tell me¡­ others went to guard the disciples?"


    "Not all of them," Henry corrected, "it''s just around a hundred disciple, each will have around two to three masters guarding him or her," he added and Arthur knew his guess was right.


    "That''s interesting," Arthur laughed before adding, "are there any reinforcements coming after you?"


    "No," Henry shook his giant head, "we came only after the families of those kids paid the right price to come here and break the sacred rules. I don''t think they have the means to hire anymore."


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly as he added, "you weren''t sent here by the academy then?"


    "Of course not," Henry strongly replied, "the academy is a dark one with no care for such things."


    "That''s a relief," Arthur laughed before adding, "do you know the places of those kids?"


    "Sure, all received a tool to always locate their places all the time in the world they are at," Henry said before he glanced around, "but¡­" he paused with such a loss look over his face.


    "But what?"


    "I think it''s destroyed," Henry said in an apologizing tone.


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head, "it''s me who smashed it," he added. "Can''t you know their location from the memories you have?" he asked.


    "They are constantly moving," Henry said, "the dark clans here received the words from these kids'' families; they will keep them moving and not stick to one location."


    "Expected," Arthur nodded in understanding, "but can''t they just send them back? This would be easier to save these kids from me."


    "They can''t," Henry answered, "after all the academy has the only authority to do that, and the academy wouldn''t go to such lengths for a handful of disciples."


    "It''s a real dark academy," Arthur sighed, "but this just plays perfectly for me," he laughed while adding, "you''ll wait here until I send you to meet other dragons later on."


    "Dragons like me?" Henry asked.


    "Smaller and weaker," Arthur said, "but don''t worry, I plan to turn everyone into dragons."


    Henry laughed and Arthur just had to take another shockwave of his roars before laughing as well.


    Arthur didn''t waste more time as he went towards the pillar and took it. As he exited the portal, he hurried to shout: "Everyone retreat now to the portal," and the pet monsters everywhere just delivered his message.


    As Mr. E and others said, they cleared all the world in these past minutes until there was none alive. Arthur didn''t care anymore about those lowly monsters; his gaze was sat upon those hailing from the dark academy.


    He wanted to build an entire army of their corpses and start having another mighty force to serve him.


    But he knew he had to wait for one thousand day at least to be able to turn them all.


    "From now on, the dragomancer ability will be exclusive only for those dark masters," he said as he appeared in his star map again and then he turned into a human.


    ''Ding! It''s your ability and you have the right to decide how to use it.''


    "To the next world then," Mr. E suddenly said before adding, "we have forty-eight left to conquer."


    "Wait a second," Arthur said, as he added, "when we reach there, I need to be guarded for a couple of minutes for the stick to be almost activated."


    "To save time?" Amanda laughed, "good move," she added.


    "Alright, we will push towards the portal then start fortifying the place there," Mr. E said before adding, "follow the words of Willy as he will inform you when to enter the portal."


    Everyone nodded before Arthur led them to the next star. They didn''t face any resistance until they stopped at the portal, where he took out his bow and arrows and started hitting the stick.


    The stick kept hovering midair, yet when he released the ninety-nine arrow he moved to grab it while shouting: "Move inside now!"


    The pets relayed his words to all masters while he grabbed the stick to feel a strange resistance at first. "Damn, don''t be stubborn," he gritted his teeth yet the stick didn''t budge.


    The masters already went inside the pillar world and he was certain that a great battle had already erupted inside and the masters were waiting for his stick.

 Chapter 424: A Dangerous Change

    ''Ding! Use your blood,'' the system suddenly suggested, ''it should follow the same principles of the pillars.''


    "Good point," Arthur hurried to let a drop fall over the stick, and the next moment he felt it shivering in his grasp before finally following his will and moving.


    "Tsk, they both are the same after all," Arthur moved fast towards the portal and the moment he appeared at the other end, he was met with what he already expected.


    A grand fight erupted in this world where almost fifty capped dark masters were fighting brutally with his academy masters.


    "Let it work then," he threw the stick high in the air before hitting it with an arrow.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment the stick was activated and the entire world shone brightly in bronze colors for a couple of minutes.


    As the light subsided, Arthur found no living dark masters anymore like before.


    "Amazing," Cesile muttered, "this stick is so domineering."


    "It uses the unavoidable laws of karma," Mr. E said, "I believe nothing can stop this stick no matter how strong it was!"


    "I agree," Slone said, "I can already sense the mighty karma energy from it."


    "Karma?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there. He wasn''t that oblivious to this term, as it was commonly known in his past life.


    Cultivators dreaded rare things, karma was one of them.


    "Yes," Mr. E said, before adding, "I know little about it as we are in this lowly world and have no right to peek at such great secrets."


    "Ok," Arthur just nodded, as he was quite familiar with karma and how it worked. Yet he didn''t tell them about it right away, after all he would do that in return for many things.


    "We''ll go and clear the world back there," Mr. E turned to the portal before adding, "give us ten minutes like last time."


    Arthur took the pillar after waiting there for ten minutes. During these minutes he tried to use the remaining five attempts he had to revive one of the corpses, yet he failed.


    "Tsk, the success rate didn''t change," he muttered.


    ''Ding! You need to turn at least a hundred masters to be able to level up your ability.''


    "One hundred days then¡­" he promised before heading towards the pillar and took it.


    Each world was cleared in less than a couple of hours, and when they cleared the twelve worlds, Arthur was able to use his ability once more.


    "Another grand dragon¡­ please," he prayed while placing his hand over the corpse which kept absorbing his pulses one after another with no end.


    When he hit the twenty-five attempt, the killed master''s body started to change, and Arthur just jumped back in time to evade the sudden oppressive force of that dragon.


    When the dragon was formed, it roared and Arthur was sent flying back like the first time. "Damn, you always be revived in such a lively way!" he stood up before he started to chat with that dragon.


    His name was John, and after chatting a little with him Arthur didn''t get anything new.


    "Wait here and in time I''ll send you to meet others," Arthur said before turning his attention to the pillar.


    "So I have to steal the tool from one master before using my stick," he muttered to himself while he appeared on the star map. Others just followed him as usual, and they kept hammering all the worlds until they reached the thirty five world.


    There, just as everyone entered it, they were welcomed with such a dreadful aura that emanated from everywhere around them.


    "What?" Otman muttered in surprise, "they are waiting for us here? And in such great numbers?"


    Everyone didn''t answer yet their faces changed abruptly as they were welcomed with two hundred capped masters while they controlled dozens of arrays already, surrounding the portal and the area around it for miles everywhere.


    "Shall we retreat?" one of the masters suggested, "they are well prepared for us."


    "I think the retreat route is sealed," Mr. E shook his head while adding, "Willy, start activating your stick and we''ll buy you sometime."


    Arthur was as shocked as the others especially with what he already knew. "Did they know about us killing them?" he muttered to himself before adding, "did they recall others from other worlds and gambled to trap us here or did they summon other scattered masters in the world?"


    He didn''t know the answer, yet he didn''t hesitate to take out his stick, bow, and arrows before raining his arrows over the stick without any pause.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moments were really stressful as these dark masters activated the arrays. Some were offensive, others were defensive, and one was a sealing array.


    Yet Arthur didn''t hesitate to use all his might to resist the lead-like weight exerted over his body to make sure the stick would be activated in time.


    As for other masters, he started hearing screams of pain plus many explosive sounds, yet he didn''t turn his gaze away from the stick until it was finally activated.


    "Rumble!"


    The stick started to aid others when he exceeded the seventy five arrow. The pulses erupting from it were enough to release the sealing pressure and destroy most of the offensive hits in certain radius.


    When the bronzed light subsided, the entire world ushered in heavy silence for long minutes.


    The capped masters were smashed into meat pulps while their arrays were destroyed. As for the monster army everywhere; none had the courage to go against the academy masters and Arthur, as they all stood motionless in place fearing even to make a sound.


    Yet this came with such a harsh price to pay!


    "Hurry, support Otman!" Mr. E shouted with such distress as half of his masters were heavily wounded while around twenty lied motionless on the ground with no life in them.


    Arthur watched Otman create a giant healing array while other healthy masters kept aiding him in this urgent healing.


    "Sigh, this can''t be considered a victory," he muttered in bitterness as he realized if he was delayed for more minutes, most of these injured here would have lost their lives.


    ''Ding! You can aid in their healing if you wanted,'' the system suggested.


    "Sure," Arthur went fast towards the front while his appearance startled everyone. Before anyone could speak, he had already splashed his fire over the healing array.


    "What are you doing?" One of the masters was so nervous and Arthur''s actions just enraged him more. "This is all your fault! Don''t you have enough deaths? Let us heal them in time," he shouted with such rude words that made everyone have different feelings towards Arthur.


    Yet Arthur didn''t stop his breath for a single moment there.


    "Stop, I order you to stop!" another master joined the other one in the rage storm over Arthur.


    "Let him continue," yet before things would escalate to a non-desirable end, Otman shouted all of sudden stopping these two from doing something stupid. "His fire is helping in the healing process¡­ somehow," he said without understanding how the corrosive fire of Arthur would have such a healing effect.


    "Really?" one of the two smirked, "this is the end of my help here. I will retreat back to the academy world after my friends get better," he said and his words gained approval of a dozen more around.


    "Do as it suits you all," Mr. E said to end this undesirable debate. "I''ll stay here and keep fighting," he added, clearing up his stand.


    "I will also stay here," Amanda joined her master in his stand, and the two gained the approval of around fifteen others.


    Arthur heard everything yet he didn''t speak. His aim was to help these masters to heal faster, as for those who decided to leave; he felt some anger towards them.


    "Tsk, I hope we don''t turn into enemies later on," he muttered to himself before adding, "or else I''ll find myself obliged to kill y''all despite the help and sacrifices you made so far."


    ''Ding! Do you want to kill them here?'' The system said.


    "How?" Arthur didn''t object, "and without making any noise."


    ''Ding! I can send them to a useless pocket world related to your garden, then can make the garden swallow it as a whole.''


    "Wow," Arthur was speechless for a moment before adding, "will this kill them all and leave no trace?"


    ''Ding! No one will ever know a thing,'' the system promised.


    "Alright," Arthur decided, "I''ll wait for their decision when they leave. If I felt any hostility from them, then they have brought this upon themselves."

 Chapter 425: Mr. Es Brutal Character

    Arthur kept spraying out his fire aiding in the healing process. With time, those inside started to show up signs of healing, while those outside kept whispering from time to time.


    In three hours, the heavily wounded stabilized and even were able to move around. As for those who were lightly wounded, they seemed to regain most of their strength.


    Arthur stopped firing his breath and retreated, calmly watching those outside who previously announced their desire to leave in such a rude way.


    "Are you going to stay or leave?" Mr. E calmly stood on top of his flying lion while asking those inside after coming out. He also glanced upon those who decided to leave.


    "We''ll stay," some announced, while the others kept their mouth shut.


    "And the others?" Mr. E asked.


    "We''ll leave," those who were already fixed on leaving didn''t change their minds.


    "Good," Mr. E smiled before waving his hand and instantly all his pets were summoned. "Kill those traitors," he gave the order and in the next second a battle erupted between his pets and the ten of those decided to betray him.


    "Master¡­" one of those who were wounded said in surprise, "they didn''t betray you," he added, "they are only afraid of their lives."


    "Afraid to fight the dark mages and clans?" Mr. E sneered before adding, "we aren''t on a picnic here. Everyone knew exactly what we would face and the dangers we might welcome. Even I can''t guarantee myself safety, yet I never thought of retreating or betray the academy."


    "Stop it," one of those fighting and was now cornered shouted, "I''ll stay and prove my loyalty."


    "Nonsense," Mr. E said in a calm and domineering tone, "you only want a chance to trick me again and find a better way to betray me," he added while pointing leisurely towards them, "kill them all, don''t leave anyone living behind."


    Arthur watched all this unfolding with surprise and disbelief. "That man¡­ he is really decisive," he muttered to himself.


    ''Ding! Don''t forget he might be doing this for you.''


    "For me?"


    ''Ding! Of course, aren''t you his son-in-law?''


    Arthur smiled and said nothing while he watched the last man falling under the attacks of the pets. "Those monsters¡­ they are much stronger than my top monsters," he muttered.


    ''Ding! But your last dragons are way stronger than his,'' the system said.


    "Agreed," Arthur nodded, "but considering the disparity in numbers¡­ tsk," he shook his head.


    ''Ding! In time you''ll have much more than him.''


    "I know that, but I have to wait for such a long time."


    ''Ding! Power doesn''t come easily or fast, right?''


    "Agreed," Arthur nodded.


    "Now," Mr. E smiled as if he didn''t kill nearly a dozen of his loyal followers just now, "we shall go to the next world."


    "This way," Amanda led them all towards the distant portal where they entered it first while Arthur waited with his stick starting to activate it partially just in case.


    "Nothing is inside," Cesile was the one to first come out to inform him, "be careful, some are discontent with Mr. E favoring you," she whispered and he nodded.


    "It seems everyone knew about the real motive behind his actions," he said to himself while he entered inside and stopped activating the stick.


    He stored it inside his garden and then went directly towards the pillar. "Go back and I''ll catch you," he said and when they vanished he started to take the pillar.


    Back there, the bodies of all those black masters were lying in wait for him to take. So when he retreated, he spent half an hour collecting their bodies, making his reserve of these escalate by hundreds.


    "I have enough bodies to make four hundred grand dragons, hehehe," he was so excited, yet when he appeared at the star map he found everyone was speaking and the moment he appeared they stopped.


    "What''s going on?" he simply asked as he turned into a human.


    "Nothing," Mr. E said, but one of the masters had the courage to speak up:


    "It''s about you," that slim master who used a couple of curved knives pointed towards him.


    "Me?" Arthur pointed to himself acting innocent, "what about me?" he asked.


    "You know," the man sneered, "those who died back there died just for nothing but to protect a weakling like you."


    Arthur noticed that many gave him this underestimating glance, and he understood perfectly their logic.


    "Sigh," yet he shook his head before adding, "do you think I''m too weak that much to lean upon my grandmaster to help?" he viciously smiled while glancing at the man in a defiant way. "What do you think? You and me, and no one interferes and let''s see who will kill the other."


    "Willy!!" Amanda shouted in obvious worry and fear, "he is a veteran master and a loyal one," she warned.


    "Yet he is so blind to see the strength of mine," Arthur retorted back, refusing to budge, "look around you, who gave you the chance to crush those dark clans and mages? Who had attracted the eyes of those living in the higher realms than us? It''s me!"


    His tone and attitude showed how arrogant he was. "I appreciate your help, but that doesn''t negate the fact that I''m strong. Asking for help isn''t a trait of weaklings, but the wise."


    His words landed upon everyone and coupled with his attitude they started to have another whisper among themselves.


    "Nonsense," yet that slim master was dead fixed upon his hostile stand. "I agree on your foolish challenge. At least what you boy has will reside finally in the hands of capable men."


    "Sorol!" Mr. E was the one to shout this time, but the slim master just bowed his head as he added, "everyone here is here for you, but that doesn''t mean we have to respect such a rude disciple even if he was a genius."


    "Let me teach them a lesson first," Arthur stopped Mr. E from reprimanding that master as he turned to glance at everyone, "is there anyone else who has doubts regarding me?"

 Chapter 426: The Seven!

    He stood his place motionless while pointing towards a distant star, "those who wanted to test my power can go there and see it themselves."


    "Humph," Sorol harrumphed as he went towards the direction Arthur pointed towards, "No one is obliged to follow me, I''ll kill this bastard and c¡­"


    "Roar!"


    Just as he was speaking, a mighty roar interrupted his words before he suddenly vanished in front of everyone''s eyes. The sounds that came afterwards were none other than chewing, and coupled with a splash of blood that appeared from the same direction Sorol vanished into, the entire place ushered under total silence.


    "Here I''m god!" Arthur declared it loud and clear to everyone to hear. "Defying me here has a much worse outcome than defying Mr. E himself," he added before turning his gaze towards everyone. "Anyone else want to test me out?" he simply asked and silence was the answer he got for a couple of moments.


    "Willy¡­ that''s enough," Mr. E said in a shocked tone, as he knew how strong was Sorol, yet such a mighty mage was instantly killed by a simple trick from this youth.


    "As you wish," Arthur shrugged, as he casually added, "but if you wanted to test me anytime, just say and I''ll prove myself every time to anyone."


    He turned towards the next star before adding, "you are free to stay here or follow me, but if you stayed here, I''m not sure about your safety."


    He took out his stick and turned into a dragon form while starting to hit it with his arrows. The booming explosions erupting form it dominated the scene before Mr. E shook his head as he said:


    "Let''s go boys, it''s not our trait to retreat in front of the dark mages."


    They passed Arthur while giving him a cautious glance. Some showed some hostility, but they kept their steps towards the star as they all vanished there.


    "Tsk, even in the good garden, some toxic plants might appear," he muttered to himself while keeping the stick hit by the arrows.


    ''Ding! You did it great by showing your strength to them,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! But beware¡­ your next days in the academy won''t be so nice anymore.''


    "I know," Arthur nodded before keeping the last arrow in his hand as he went towards the star, "and I don''t care."


    He needed the academy to train himself and his men to be stronger. But that didn''t mean he had to bow his head to anyone there. He wasn''t that weak, and he had himself proven here in this world.


    Even if he had to retreat and live here for some time, he didn''t mind that.


    "Like the last time then," once he appeared outside the portal, he was met with the same grand scene of hundreds of dark masters controlling the arrays to attack, seal, and defend against the academy masters. "Yet this time I came quite prepared."


    He launched his last arrow and instantly the stick was activated. The blind bronze light covered everything for a couple of minutes, and when it subsided, all of those masters alongside their arrays were shattered and smashed.


    And the endless army of warriors here paused in fear and didn''t step forward anymore.


    "By the way, use the ability to erase their tattoos," Arthur suddenly muttered to his system.


    ''Ding! What if there are some of the dark clans'' main descendants?''


    "Then release my two dragons to kill them," he shrugged as he casually answered. "Let the boys have some training, they need to stretch their muscles from time to time. But move the normal warriors away first, as these boys of mine are merciless."


    ''Ding! Alright,'' the system laughed and Arthur then moved with everyone else amidst heavy silence towards the distant portal.


    Inside there was no one like before, and he gained the pillar and the killed dark masters'' bodies before heading towards the next star.


    Until the last star, everyone kept their mouth shut. He already knew who was on bad terms with him, and their number wasn''t that much. Only seven were eyeing him with hatred, while others just decided to ignore him.


    After all they all knew he was trouble; either here or inside the city world or even at the academy.


    "What will you do now?" as the last star was the star of the dark clan headquarter, Mr. E planned to assault it with his army alone with no help from Arthur.


    "I will have to go back to the city and recuperate," he said as he understood the hidden meaning behind his grandmaster.


    "He should come with us, isn''t he the one behind all this?" one of the masters had it enough and spoke out loud. He was one of the seven who kept spreading hatred towards Arthur.


    And their gazes were obviously noticed by others.


    "Well," Mr. E said and before he could add anything, Arthur spoke first:


    "Sure, there is nothing to fear out there," he shrugged before adding, "c''mon, let''s go and crush those bastards."


    He went first and jumped over the star, while others kept exchanging silent glances between themselves and the seven just laughed in content.


    "Don''t do something foolish down there," Mr. E warned, and the seven just smiled and said nothing.


    In fact they already decided what to do a long time ago, and in their opinion Arthur just jumped off directly in their trap. "We won''t," one of them said, before jumping behind Arthur.


    "Amanda, Cesile," Mr. E said while turning to glance at the two.


    "I know," Amanda nodded.


    "Don''t worry master," Cesile laughed, "I won''t let any scum to touch my darling."


    "Oho, you''ve got a competition," Mr. E laughed before saying while jumping over the star, "and it''s a fierce one to be honest, hehehe."


    "Tsk," Amanda just shook her head but before vanishing in the star she gave Cesile a defying glance, while the latter smiled in greeting to this silent competition.


    As they all arrived in the city world, they found themselves standing outside a grand wall with many defensive towers and a huge army of monsters guarding the walls.


    "They are waiting for us," Slone laughed before adding, "shall we keep them waiting a little longer?"


    "Sure," Mr. E nodded before taking out a strange ball made entirely of silver ore and had many inscriptions on it, "let''s call everyone first," he muttered before making a simple wound on his palm and covered the ball with it.


    The next moment Arthur felt a strange aura dissipating from this ball. He noticed the tattoos everyone had of the academy shining brightly before Mr. E said:


    "Summon those in this world to my aid, let the dorgazire academy''s name resound everywhere."


    The next moment Arthur felt a dreadful aura coming from this small ball. Few minutes later, fog started to appear out of thin air, while shapes of masters started to form here.


    This kept going on for half an hour while hundreds of masters were summoned. The army of the dorgazire academy in this world was gathered one more time, and this time they would crush another big dark clan.


    "Summon everything you''ve got, let''s crush those bastards and annihilate them," Mr. E shouted and the next moment thousands of pets appeared crushing the trees around and causing enough ruckus for the dark clan warriors and monsters stationed here to notice them.


    "Attack!" The next order Mr. E gave was to start war, while Amanda and Cesile stood just nearby Arthur, protecting him from others.

 Chapter 427: Sudden Attack

    "It''s weird how allies turn into enemies," Arthur muttered to himself before glancing over the seven standing not far and fighting their way towards the depth of the base.


    The fight was brutal, as Mr. E wanted to destroy the base before any reinforcements arrived. The last battle showed to him how close these dark clans had become in this world.


    And that was a bad sign for him.


    "Won''t you go and aid?" Arthur asked the two beauties standing on his sides.


    "Not now," Amanda simply answered.


    "After the end of the battle," Cesile smiled before adding, "have you gone bored of us so soon?"


    "Hehehe, I''ll be tired of you two," and he playfully replied.


    "Watch out!"


    Suddenly Amanda shouted and the next thing happened was for the two of them to move their bodies to stand in front of a sudden rain of arrows that just came in hot from the middle of the air.


    And Cesile just pushed Arthur to the ground, sending him flying a couple of meters to the back.


    "Damn! Girls can be tough sometimes," he said while standing up from the ground and watching what was going on.


    "Who is attacking?" he asked and the wrong people answered.


    "Hidden enemy," Amanda said.


    "Stay behind and don''t move," Cesile ordered.


    ''Ding! I sense the presence of a hundred enemies hidden from the sight around you three.''


    The answer of his system was what he aimed for. "Watch out, there are a hundred of them," he suddenly said and the two girls were speechless for a moment there. "Trust me,'' he shouted yet it was too late.


    ''Ding! Ten are coming from your back, just aim your arrows and I''ll help you guide them.''


    Instantly Arthur took out his bow and normal arrows in front of the vigilant girls and turned to face his rear before launching dozens of them towards the air.


    For the girls, he was doing something crazy, but for him he trusted his system and his own scout ability.


    As he sent them loose, he started controlling them one by one. However his ability to control many arrows at the same time was limited to seven.


    So he hit seven, sending their bodies crashing like fallen rocks towards the surrounding trees. Yet he missed three of them!


    "Damn, there are three still coming," he inwardly cursed and the best action was to retreat towards the girls.


    But the three were faster than him.


    "Where do you think yourself going?" a sound suddenly erupted while a slash of sword hit the place the sound came from, instantly killing its owner.


    "We are just the messengers," another spoke and gained another slash of Cesile''s sword.


    "Go and meet the sender," the third just said and he had his fate not much different than the others, but the three did their job.


    And Arthur felt a strange suction force coming up the next moment, sending his body away through an instant portal the three summoned.


    "Hurry!" Amanda moved and also Cesile, yet the portal was meant to tolerate only one transfer. So it crashed one second before reaching it.


    The two girls stood in their place not knowing what just happened, or how they were outplayed like this.


    "Using our only combined weakness," Amanda muttered in extreme rage.


    "It''s strange," Cesile said before shaking off her head, "it''s like someone already very familiar with our style of fighting. It''s suspicious," she added, while glancing over the same direction like Amanda.


    "Let''s go," Amanda ruthlessly said, "we have traitors to interrogate, and  disciple to save."


    "A disciple?" Cesile chuckled before hurrying after her, "he is more than that."


    Arthur was sent flying for a couple minutes through a portal. "Can you ascertain my destination?" he asked, "is it away from this world?" he added.


    ''Ding! I can''t tell where you are going, but considering the small energy in this portal I can tell you can''t be moving outside this world.''


    "Great," Arthur smiled viciously as the picture of the seven appeared in his mind. "It''s not easy to fool the two masters of them; they are the culprits."


    ''Ding! What do you plan to do?''


    "Assemble the dragon army of mine," he said before adding, "and prepared a corpse for me to transform."


    ''Ding! It''s ready.''


    "Great," Arthur then closed his eyes and the next second he appeared inside his garden. He directly went towards the central part of it, to find his small and gigantic army of dragons waiting.


    And a single corpse was lying there with its body parts being smashed to many bits.


    "It''s impressive how you recognize all the pieces of one corpse," Arthur commented before landing directly over the corpse. "Use the ability in row."


    ''Ding! Done!''


    The sudden appearance of him with the pulses of energy he kept releasing attracted every single dragon''s attention here. They patiently waited for him to finish, and a third gigantic dragon appeared.


    "We''ll have a brutal fight soon, be ready to be deployed," he simply said those words before hearing the alarming sound of the system:


    ''Ding! You are almost there.''


    He didn''t say anything more as he opened his eyes and returned to the portal. In front of him, a small opening of light appeared that kept increasing in size rapidly.


    "It''s time," he muttered and the next moment he landed heavily on the ground. It was a dark cold ground made entirely of strange ore.


    "Welcome to your death arena, abomination," Arthur heard these mocking words coming from his back. He stood erect and glanced all around without any speck of worry or fear.


    He was in a huge arena that seemed too old to be recently built for him. "What is this place? A museum for weird creatures?" he laughed when he noticed the presence of a myriad of monsters in the ground and in the air.


    Plus a number of forty youths with their own team of monsters as their special guards.

 Chapter 428: Trapped!

    The moment he saw them, Arthur''s eyes shone brightly with joy. "Wow, never thought you''d save me the trouble and bring everyone here," he laughed as he pointed towards those forty like they were nothing.


    "It''s hilarious, I always hear when death approaches a man, the man will turn crazy. First time to see this truly apparent in front of my eyes."


    Arthur turned to face his speaker, it was an old man with many wrinkles all over his face.


    "Who are you?" Arthur asked while glancing over the long stick the man held.


    It was strangely familiar, but he didn''t know where he saw it before.


    "Me?" the man laughed before adding, "I have to thank you, as this soul was something I craved for for years, but couldn''t have it until you showed up."


    The words of the man made Arthur realize where he saw this stick before. "A dragonair''s soul?" he muttered in doubt, but his instincts told him he was right in his guess.


    "Good guess," the man nodded before pointing to the stick, "do you recognize this one? It''s said every single dragonair has innate fear from it, is it true?"


    "Ask yourself, aren''t you considered one now?" Arthur retorted back.


    "Tsk, I''m not considered pur one as the soul of that old dragonair was consumed by me," the man shook his head in regret before adding, "but I was told this stick can deal with you easily, just like this arena here."


    Arthur glanced all around, while wondering why this man was so generous to speak with him with such ease. "Are you trying to buy yourself time?" Arthur smirked, "do you think this old place can hold me?"


    "Sure," the man laughed, showing his fallen teeth, "this place was once the place of the dragonair''s prison. A place to deal with rogue dragonairs like yourself."


    "Wow, never thought the dragonairs had a code of honor," Arthur laughed before thinking about his system. ''Scout the place.''


    ''Ding! I did, there are buried pillars that resembled the stick in that old man''s hand. They have a suppressing aura, enough to deal with you.''


    ''Damn! Why didn''t you alarm me then to act?''


    ''Ding! Be calm, it''s not yet the time to act,'' the system vaguely answered before adding, ''Ding! Just trust me on this one.''


    ''Tsk, do I look like I have a choice here,'' Arthur inwardly sighed before watching the old man laugh all of sudden like crazy. "It''s done, your doomsday is here and those venerable guests will be the witness of your execution."


    "Humph," Arthur didn''t care about this threat as he glanced all around. "Around a thousand monster of this world, and another thousand of the outside world, hmm¡­" he muttered like he was counting his sheep not enemies.


    "Don''t mind them," the man laughed, "they aren''t here to fight you, your enemy will be the old curse buried here by your dear ancestors."


    The man ended his words by holding the stick by both hands and raising it high in the air.


    ''System!'' Arthur nervously asked as he felt a dreadful aura coming from the stick.


    ''Ding! Just wait!''


    "Boom!"


    The next moment the old man landed the stick heavily on the ground, causing old cracks that weren''t even seen to shine with golden light. "Let the forsaken golden dragons descend once more on these lands," the man shouted and the earth trembled of his mantra.


    "Damn! Golden dragons! What I miss here?"


    ''Ding! Just wait,'' the system looked cooler and far collected that Arthur who didn''t understand what his system was planning.


    Yet he trusted his system and knew it was up to something for sure.


    "Rumble!"


    Suddenly the world rumbled when dozens of gigantic golden pillars started to appear from the depth of the ground. The moment these pillars appeared, Arthur felt innate fear coming from the depth of his soul.


    ''Ding! Don''t panic,'' the system shouted, ''Ding! This is good for you.''


    "Say something else," Arthur smirked as he nervously tried to be calm.


    The old man retreated outside the zone of these pillars. They weren''t far apart, and they all created a huge circle with Arthur being in its center.


    "C''mon, tell me something nice," Arthur muttered nervously when he noticed the golden aura erupting from the apices of these pillars. The twelve beams of light coalesced together and formed a phantom of a dragon.


    "Roar!"


    The dragon roared, and the roar alone was enough to exert pressure over Arthur, making him lean on one leg. "Damn!" he cursed while trying to turn into a dragon, yet he failed!


    ''Ding! Don''t resist, it''s aimed only for you.''


    "C''mon, on which side you are on?!!"


    ''Ding! It''s you, of course!''


    "Damn! Why can''t I turn into a dragon?"


    ''Ding! It''s an old and incomplete sealing diagram targeting dragonairs,'' the system said.


    "Tell me something I don''t know!"


    ''Ding! It only can suppress one dragon at a time,'' the system added and Arthur didn''t need to listen to more.


    "Good, I like your plan," it was his time to laugh wildly, making everyone here glance weirdly at him. "When do you plan to act?" he asked.


    ''Ding! When the chains appear.''


    "C''mon, there are chains as well?"


    Just as Arthur exclaimed in discontent towards his system, the dragon waved its wings and moved fast towards his body, engulfing him. Arthur felt his body being burdened by a mighty weight that tormented his body and made him lean further to the ground. "Damn! Are these the chains you talked about?"


    ''Ding! It''s still coming.''


    "There is more?!!" Arthur was speechless and admired his system ruthlessness.


    ''Ding! You need to take the full toll of this old sealing array or else others won''t be able to help properly.''


    "Sigh, I hope my life won''t be in danger."


    ''Ding! Not directly,'' the system laughed before adding, ''Ding! But this will make you unable to move or summon your own dragon form. So others can easily kill you.''

 Chapter 429: Watching Others fight

    "Speaking as if I''m all alone," Arthur gritted his teeth and couldn''t even breathe normally when the ground trembled and golden chains appeared all of sudden, penetrated his body and fixed him in the air, suspended with no power to resist.


    "Hahaha, see? This is the boogeyman you all were terrified of? It''s lying helplessly like a sheep," the old man laughed while pointing in mockery towards Arthur. "Who wants to give him couple of slaps before we start killing him?"


    "You know you are such a lunatic," Arthur difficulty said while his body ached with pain in dozens of different places where these chains penetrated him. "And I promise you, you''ll be the last to fall."


    "Hahaha, yeah, will be the last to fall from laughter on your dead body, hehehe," the man was in his own delusional dreams, seeing Arthur already a dead man speaking.


    "We''ll see," Arthur just softly mumbled while he watched distant shadows moving towards him. "Anytime now," he said to his system.


    ''Ding! Patient, it''s not a virtue to be rash.''


    "When you are suspended in the air with these chains, surrounded by your enemies, and about to be mocked then be killed then it''s normal to be rash!"


    ''Ding! Wait until they gather closer to you.''


    "They are!!"


    He spotted many drawings near, walking leisurely while he even heard many laughs of mockery and amusement. "Anytime now!" he hurried to mutter to himself and to his system which started to get on his nerves.


    ''Ding! Wait.''


    ''Ding! Wait.''


    ''Ding! Wait.''


    In five minutes, the system repeated this sentence over a hundred times already, making Arthur more restless and nervous.


    "When do you plan to help, dammit!"


    ''Ding! Now!''


    Just as the system said these words, Arthur could see the faces of those forty youths so clear to him, plus those guards of them and the other monsters coming from many clans.


    Yet as they were about to sap his face, play with his thing, even some suggested to take some special mirror images with him being tormented, the entire place shrouded under huge pressure all of sudden.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    An army of hundreds of dragons appeared all of sudden, filling the entire arena and smashing many of the monsters and youths here into the ground.


    "What the¡­" the old man shouted while Arthur finally had the time to laugh!


    "Don''t worry," he laughed, "I promised you''ll die last."


    Arthur didn''t need to say anything to his pets, as the moment they appeared here and saw him chained; they roared in anger and instantly a grand fight erupted.


    His deadliest dragons were the three special dragons he summoned. One breathed fire, making everything around covered with fire no matter who or where.


    One breather wind, making the entire arena turn into a place of a storm, and the third sprayed ice spears that rotated all the way around, killing and hacking everyone!


    Those coming from this world couldn''t handle the combined three attacks of these dragons, yet those guards of the outer world were much stronger, and they resisted most of these hits.


    Yet they ended up being injured as well.


    "Kill him first, kill him first," the old man kept screaming while trying to run fast with the old body of his. Arthur just sighed before asking: "When these chains will be removed?"


    ''Ding! In an hour.''


    "An hour? That''s¡­ tsk, forget it," Arthur shook his head helplessly before adding, "make some protect me then."


    ''Ding! I''ve already done,'' the next moment one of the three dragons came to guard him, while the other two led his dragon army and kept killing everyone.


    Arthur watched the brutal fight between his dragons and the monsters here for a long half an hour. Some listened to the constant shouts of the old man and tried to kill him.


    But in the end they were all stopped by his dragons, and no one managed to bypass Henry, his first fire dragon.


    "Good boy," Arthur commended while he felt somehow bored. "It''s the first time staying behind and watching others fight for me," he muttered.


    ''Ding! They are all your pets, they should fight for you.''


    "Yeah, I know," Arthur nodded before adding, "but it still feels weird."


    "Kill him first, kill him first," the old man never ceased to shout, and Arthur had it enough of this whining old man!


    "Shut the hell up!" Arthur mustered all his strength to shout at the man, silencing him, despite all the pain he felt from doing that. "You''ll die last, so be calm and wait for your turn without making noise," Arthur added like he was reprimanding a child causing noise in the backyard!


    And these words turned the pale face of the old man even paler!


    In the next minutes, Arthur kept watching the fight with no interest at all. It wasn''t a fair fight as his three dragons were too much for everyone. "If they just brought out the men their families bought," he sighed, as that way he wouldn''t only get a victory, but more bodies to make grand dragons from.


    ''Ding! I think you already killed them all!''


    "Really?" Arthur was surprised, "I thought there are more!"


    ''Ding! Not in this world.''


    "Tsk," he shook his head before adding, "hopefully their families will be much enraged and send me more trying to kill me, hehehe."


    ''Ding! Your imagination is so wild,'' the system laughed with him, while the massacre continued.


    At the first ten minutes, the fight was slightly balanced with the great number of the enemies.


    Yet after the combined three attacks of the three gigantic dragons, these numbers decreased by more than half, making only some youths and their guards still standing.


    Arthur didn''t want to kill every single youth, as he wanted to interrogate some and might also turn some to his puppets. Yet he wasn''t in total control of the situation here, and thus he had to accept losing all of them like what just happened in the next thirty minutes.


    Just as one hour passed, the chains fell from themselves while Arthur finally had his body freed to stand on his own.


    But he was already feeling weak and sore all over his body. The wounds of these chains weren''t a joke. He also felt like they were draining from his energy during this hour.


    "Sigh, I feel very exhausted," he took out some of his Golam''s meat and started eating them one by one. Instantly feeling refreshed, he finally stood up and started walking leisurely in the area.

 Chapter 430: The Ancient Three Dragons

    The fight didn''t yet end but for him he wasn''t bothered by anything right now. He had all his attention on the place he was currently in. "What''s this place? And what''s about these chains and golden dragons?" he muttered to himself while heading towards the places these pillars were.


    The pillars were still erect, golden in color with golden lines connecting them all on the ground.


    "The light is¡­ fading," he muttered after moments of deep observation. "How can I connect to these pillars?" he stood against one of them, closely observing it.


    ''Ding! You can connect to them by your blood, I guess, but you have to be ready for a huge impact,'' the system suddenly spoke and Arthur just nodded.


    "I feel their oppressing aura shaking off my soul, but something kept telling me that I need to get these," Arthur said while stretching his hand to touch the pillar.


    The moment his hand touched it, a flash of many images appeared all of sudden into his mind. He couldn''t make sense of any of them, yet when he retreated his hand he had only one feeling that reached him.


    "Anger?" he muttered as he added, "you are feeling angry, right?"


    ''Ding! I observed the scenes you saw,'' the system said and paused.


    "And?"


    ''Ding! It seems a little chaotic, but the scenes contained three types of dragons; golden, black, and silver. The three seemed to live in harmony before a big war erupted and the dragons kept killing each other.''


    Arthur tried to relate what the system said with what he had in mind but he couldn''t. the scenes he saw were really fast and nearly merged together.


    "Are they angry at me? Of the black dragons? The dragonairs?" he asked while trying to find some sense in all this mess.


    ''Ding! Perhaps, but the scenes didn''t include anything related to who started the war,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! But the scenes contained mainy enmity towards your kin.''


    "I can guess that," Arthur nodded before adding, "but is it dangerous for me to take them inside my garden? To let them touch my soul?"


    ''Ding! This question I have not enough information to answer.''


    "But it''s possible, right?"


    ''Ding! Yeah, it''s possible.''


    Arthur touched the pillar once again, and this time he tried to withstand the pressure of all those images popping up in his mind. Yet after brief moments he couldn''t take anymore and had to take back his hand.


    "Did you find anything new?"


    ''Ding! All is about the war between the three dragons,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! There is a single scene speaking about this place here.''


    "Really?" Arthur was instantly interested, "what is it talking about?"


    ''Ding! It seems one of the great leaders of the golden dragon clan was buried here,'' the system paused before adding, ''Ding! Alive!''


    Arthur hesitated as he understood what this meant. "Is he¡­ still alive?" he asked.


    ''Ding! I can''t tell,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! But judging from things here, his body must be shattered but his soul is still there.''


    "Amazing," Arthur commented, "that adds more danger then."


    ''Ding! Afraid?''


    "Sure."


    ''Ding! Will you leave this place and leave?''


    "Without exploring that old golden dragon? Not a chance!" Arthur laughed before glancing towards the distant old man, "I believe that stick he had holds the great secret about this place."


    He smiled as he turned to walk leisurely towards the frightened man. "It''s time for you to die," he smiled while the old man was instantly terrified and had his body trembling. ''Stay away you monster," he shouted before waving the stick towards Arthur.


    Yet nothing happened this time.


    "It seems your little toy can only be used one time by you," Arthur laughed before whistling, "Boys, wrap things up and you come to kill that man," he said to Henry who nodded and went instantly to the old man, smashing his old fragile body to the ground.


    "Damn you, roar!" the old man turned instantly into a dragon, but it was such a futile attempt. Under the great wings and claws of Henry, the man stood no chance at all even if he turned into such a small dragon.


    "Tsk, just this size and you dare to act full of yourself," Arthur shook his head before laughing, "kill him, Henry."


    Henry received the order before he opened his mouth and sprayed such a concentrated fire over the body of the old man, turning it into a dragon torch for a few minutes before turning into ash.


    Taking such a hit from Henry from such a close distance and being so much concentrated was a death call for this man. Arthur stood on the side watching in cold blood the old man''s roars before they died down with him.


    "What is that?" Arthur''s eyes shone brightly when he noticed something. "Henry, keep spraying fire over that stick," he hurriedly shouted and Henry didn''t find it hard to shift the fire towards the long slim stick that was in the hands of the old man moments ago.


    As the fire touched it, a glittering light started to appear in its smooth surface. "Amazing," Arthur laughed before adding, "this stick can be activated using fire."


    ''Ding! But the fire of Henry seems insufficient.''


    "I noticed," Arthur didn''t hesitate to turn into a dragon before shouting, "anyone with fire breath come here at once."


    His shout landed and many dragons retreated from the scattered fight here and there before appearing beside Arthur.


    "Master."


    "Master."


    "Master."


    They all greeted him in veneration and respect. "All spray fire over this stick, let''s see where this will end up," he ordered before opening his mouth and starting to spray fire over the stick.


    All the dragons around him, numbering to one hundred and eighty-three, opened their mouths and started hitting the small stick with what they had.


    The stick kept shining, and even after the addition of all these dragons it didn''t show up much improvement.


    "What''s missing?" Arthur thought after minutes of constant grilling the stick.


    ''Ding! Perhaps the nature of the golden dragons isn''t just fire,'' the system suddenly said and as usual this gave Arthur great insights in the right time.


    "Everyone, kill whom you are fighting and stop toying with them," Arthur shouted before adding, "all come here and use their breaths."

 Chapter 431: Activating the Stick and the Pillars

    The dragons all roared and complied. They were toying with their residual enemies. Yet after taking the orders from their master they started killing everyone until none remained.


    Then all the dragons he had joined up in a great circle around the stick and all started firing their breaths!


    Fire, ice, water, earth, wind, and even lightning; all forms of breaths appeared together hitting the stick.


    And the moment this happened, the stick showed sudden transformation accompanied by¡­


    "Rumble!"


    The rumble didn''t originate from the stick itself, rather from the pillars and ground between the pillars. Arthur turned fast to see those dozen pillars starting to resonate with the stick.


    "Not enough," he shook his head, "we need to hit the pillars at the same time!"


    ''Ding! How can you do that?'' the system asked the logical question.


    "Hmm¡­ can you control the stick for me?" he asked.


    ''Ding! I can, but not for too long.''


    "Great," Arthur nodded before shouting, "be careful, the stick is going to move around the place. Keep up the pace and be sure not to miss it at any moment."


    "Alright master."


    He received the response from the dragons before he told his system about his little plan.


    ''Ding! This can be done, but if you need to hit all the pillars at the same time; this will fail,'' the system warned.


    "I know, but let''s try this first."


    ''Ding! Be ready, I''ll move it now.''


    "It''s going to move, be ready," Arthur shouted to his dragons and the next moment this stick lying on the ground started to vibrate for a moment before being tossed fast towards one pillar.


    "You said you can control it, not kick it!!" Arthur was speechless for a moment before hurrying after the stick. "Follow it, don''t let it escape your breaths," he shouted and this unpredictable move of the stick startled everyone for a moment there before they followed the instructions of their master.


    The stick hit one pillar and stopped calmly there before all the dragons formed a giant circle around both and started to rain the two again with their breaths.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    This time the rumbling came in sequence with increasing frequency with more breaths falling over the pillar and the stick. "It works!" Arthur laughed in delight before returning to spray his fire over the two.


    The pillar started to shine under the heavy lashes of all kinds of breaths. It first showed small shining inscriptions on its base, then the light started to expand upward until Arthur recognized the picture made out of those small alien letters. "A dragon?" he muttered.


    ''Ding! Not just any dragon, it''s a crowned dragon with two heads and two tails,'' the system corrected before adding, ''Ding! It''s the same as what you saw in the scenes. This is what a golden dragon looks like.''


    "I see," Arthur muttered before noticing the pillar had been activated, yet nothing happened afterwards even after ten minutes of showering it with breaths. "Move it to that pillar," Arthur pointed towards his right.


    ''Ding! Right or left?'' the system asked.


    "Right."


    ''Ding! My right or your right?''


    "C''mon, we are the same person, so my right is your right!!"


    ''Ding! Alright,'' the system laughed as it moved the stick all of sudden.


    "C''mon, just give me a head up before moving it!" Arthur hurried after the stick with his gang of dragons. As they started showering the second pillar, he observed the first one from time to time.


    "Great, the pillar didn''t lose its activation."


    ''Ding! Your plan is working.''


    "Yup, I can see that," Arthur nodded and then he had the worry of the end result of all this lingering again in his mind. "I just hope I''m not making a big mistake here," he muttered.


    ''Ding! Me too,'' and his system said.


    The next three hours, the system kept changing the stick to each pillar while Arthur and his dragons kept spraying their breaths non-stop. When they reached the last pillar, Arthur was much conflicted about doing it or cancelling it.


    "Damn, let''s do it then," he made up his mind. After all he didn''t fit in the black dragonairs, and if he had the chance to change his kin he would.


    He just hoped whoever would emerge from this place would be reasonable to speak with and not deal with him as an opponent.


    "Keep hitting it boys, we are almost there," Arthur said encouraging his dragons before muttering to his system, "at any sign of danger, move them first to my garden then move me the next moment."


    ''Ding! Won''t it be nicer to move you first? Or along with them?''


    "No, I want to see everything before deciding to retreat," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I have to get my hands on these pillars. Call it instinct, but I''m sure I have to do that."


    ''Ding! I hope your instincts aren''t leading you to your death.''


    "Nah," Arthur shook his head before wenting into a moment of silent contemplation. "I believe this is for the best of me. Whoever lies there will be one of my future greatest weapons."


    ''Ding! I hope so.''


    It took from Arthur and his dragons almost an hour to finish activating the last pillar. This pillar took nearly triple the time of others, and that made Arthur more anticipating what would happen after its activation.


    "Rumble!"


    As usual, the rumbling kept raging all over the place but this one was quite different. It was long, deep, and very strong, one that even Arthur the depth of his soul trembling under its effect.


    ''Ding! Be ready,'' the system warned.


    "You too," And Arthur smiled while watching the area around for any signs of change.


    "Boom!"


    It happened all of sudden, as the area all turned dim like all lights were stolen away. Then a mighty explosion happened.


    Arthur felt a mighty force hitting his body and sending him flying, yet once the changes occurred, he shouted to his system: "Move them inside, and give me that stick! NOW!"


    Just before he got hit, he had the feeling of the cold metallic stick in his hand. As his body moved with indomitable force, hitting the distant stony walls of this place, he felt his body being crushed again, but he didn''t feel despair.


    "I got it!" Arthur smiled as he knew the key to control this place, this buried dragon of ancient time would be through this weak seemingly useless stick.


    ''Ding! Link it with your blood, hurry!'' the system urged and Arthur didn''t need to do anything but to hold the stick with his bleeding claw, letting his blood flood it from his many wounds.

 Chapter 432: Old Stairs

    Arthur literally drowned the stick with his own blood, and waited. His body was ragged, full of many wounds all over it. He was exhausted more than before, but he just waited there anticipating the result.


    "How are my dragons doing?" he asked while coughing blood. The next thing he did was to spray fire over his body, and even his fire seemed weak and intermittent from his exhaustion.


    Yet the fire coming out did help him in treating a little of his wounds, making him able to stand straight after a couple of minutes.


    ''Ding! They are fine, just focus on what''s coming out of that hall,'' the system said.


    "What hole?" Arthur glanced at the front where only a golden aura appeared taking the shape of a giant ball.


    ''Ding! In the center of this golden aura, there is a big and deep hole stretching down to the heart of this world.''


    Arthur glanced all around, the rumbling never stopped and the quaking of the earth kept happening all the time. He wiped out a long trail of blood from the corners of his mouth before saying: "Be ready to move me away if things got ugly."


    ''Ding! Count on me.''


    Arthur waited for an hour, during this time his wounds were partially healed. He took out many meat and ate them without reservation, replenishing part of his consumed strength.


    "Any changes yet?" he muttered.


    ''Ding! Still nothing.''


    "Strange," Arthur was feeling weird, as minutes ago the trembling ceased and the golden aura started to show signs of calming down. Its surface was like boiling water before, and now it was turning into a still lake.


    "Can you scout the hole?" he asked, trying to find ways to understand what was going on.


    ''Ding! No, this golden aura blocks most of my powers,'' the system replied, ''Ding! I believe if I used the scout ability it won''t penetrate hundred meters even.''


    "Hundred meters is better than none," Arthur muttered before adding, "use it now."


    ''Ding! Alright.''


    The system then went into silence for couple of minutes before returning to say:


    ''Ding! I found something strange.''


    "What?"


    ''Ding! There are long stairs on the side of that hole, leading downwards.''


    Arthur paused before muttering, "asking us down? Instead of showing up? Weird."


    ''Ding! I suggest against going down.''


    Arthur glanced over the golden ball for a moment before muttering: "And leave all this after reaching so far and paying all this cost? Let''s venture there together."


    ''Ding! It seems awkward.''


    "Just chill out, you are here and you can move me any moment a danger approaches me," Arthur smiled before watching his body. "But my body is still weak, sigh," he shook his head before deciding to wait for a couple more hours.


    He recuperated as much as he could, dealing mainly with his depleted energy and most severe wounds. After all these hours of healing, his body was back to over seventy percent of his top shape. "Time to see what''s all this about," he muttered before heading towards the golden ball.


    He stood just in front of it while unable to see through. "Will this make a difference?" he raised the stick covered with his blood while glancing closely over it.


    He tried to use it many times, even repeating the same words that the old man used and mimicked the way he used the stick before; yet nothing happened.


    His system told him many times this stick was now connected to him, but it was dormant. Per system description, this stick was waiting for the right stimulus to be activated.


    And Arthur had this simple idea about such a stimulus.


    "Let''s hope my thoughts are correct," he pointed to the stick to touch the golden ball and watched closely for any changes.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment the stick touched the ball, a sudden rumble occurred in the entire place. He didn''t see any more changes than this rumble, yet his system gave him the answer after a couple of minutes.


    ''Ding! The ball is shrinking.''


    "What?" Arthur glanced again at the ball and added, "I can''t see that!"


    ''Ding! That''s because you are standing so near,'' the system explained, ''Ding! The stick is absorbing the golden aura, holding it still and waiting. This will take some time.''


    "Tsk, nothing happens fast these days," he sighed while waiting with the stick held in front of him. After an hour, he finally noticed the decline in the size of the ball.


    "Having such desire with slow actions, you should learn from me and be more aggressive," he muttered to his stick yet his words didn''t manage to change anything.


    He waited for four hours before the ball was finally absorbed by the stick. After the disappearance of the ball, he now could perfectly see the hole in the ground, and those stairs his system spoke of.


    "They are old," he muttered when he examined them closely for a while. "Very old," he added as he could see green color covering parts of it, and many parts were already lost from many stairs.


    "Is it safe using it?" he muttered.


    ''Ding! It seems not safe to enter this dark gloomy hole,'' the system answered.


    "Yet I''ll enter it, but¡­" he glanced again at the stick before adding, "this stick didn''t show any changes even after taking all these aura."


    ''Ding! It''s still linked to you, and that''s the most important thing.''


    "Tsk, linked and useless, what''s the point then," he shook his head before heading to the stairs. "Keep using the scout ability all the time," he said while carefully descending the steps.


    The steps were broad and thick, able to withstand his heavy dragon body. Yet he planned to cancel it and return to be human again if he couldn''t venture deeper.


    He thought of flying the entire way downwards, but the size of the empty area here didn''t match his big dragon body.


    So he refrained and kept descending for hours.

 Chapter 433: An Illusion

    "Sigh, this path¡­ it''s really long," he muttered while he was now walking inside the dead silence and pitch black atmosphere.


    If not for his stick that suddenly started to glow hours ago, he would be walking literally inside a black hole.


    ''Ding! The stairs go deeper than you think,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! There are more hours than you spent here.''


    "I''m already bored," he sighed as he helplessly kept descending in this place.


    After ten more hours, he finally heard something new from his system.


    ''Ding! It''s ending.''


    "Really?" he asked while taking a long deep breath, "why can''t I see anything then?"


    ''Ding! It''s still pitch black down there.''


    "Sigh, I should have used my fire then to illuminate the path."


    ''Ding! Your fire is corrosive in nature, you''ll risk having those old stairs eaten away.''


    "Tsk," Arthur knew his system had a point here, but he was very depressed by this gloomy atmosphere.


    "How long?" after ten minutes he asked.


    ''Ding! Half an hour more, be patient, you''re almost there.''


    "Found anything down below?"


    ''Ding! There is something jamming on my scout ability, like that golden aura.''


    "Golden and not even able to light a single candle light down there, tsk," he was complaining from this place and right now the idea of going down here seemed sillier than it ever was.


    "Finally," Arthur felt the ground under his legs when he reached the bottom. As his system described; there wasn''t a single light there except for a strange luster coming from the far front.


    "What is that?" Arthur muttered while pointing the stick casually towards the front.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    .


    .


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Suddenly two semi-circular rows of giant torches were lit up, each with a strong booming sound like they were exploding.


    The torches were arranged in five gian circles, and Arthur just stood in the interior of the first outer circle.


    "Wow, this place¡­ it''s a treasure hall!"


    The moment all the torches were lit, the gigantic space he was inside appeared to his eyes. He was standing on the edge of a giant hall filled with riches, littered all in gold color.


    ''Ding! Don''t!''


    The system only said this single warning, and Arthur paused. He was about to go there and check these things out, yet as his system warned, he stopped and muttered: "What''s wrong?"


    Yet only silence came to assault him. He glanced around while feeling suddenly vigilant. "Are you there?" he muttered again, and unlike the habit of his system, he heard nothing back from it.


    "Strange," Arthur said to himself before his mind started stirring against the normal flow of things. "Illusion, damn!" he cursed the moment his mind provided the most logical answer here.


    "When did I fall under it?" he muttered yet he had no time to waste, "I have to act fast."


    He wasn''t the expert in dispelling illusions, yet he had a trick of two to do so. "Pain is the first thing," he tried to take out his arrows and yet he failed.


    "Damn! This illusion is strong," he was pissed off and his intuition told him how dangerous his situation was. "If this fails, then clearing the mind helps," he sat on the ground and instantly closed his eyes and started contemplating.


    Yet the more he tried, the harder it got for his mind to be clear. "Something is wrong," he muttered, and then he suddenly had a stroke of realization.


    "It''s you¡­" he glanced over the stick in hand and without any hesitation he threw it far from him.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment he found himself standing again in front of the golden aura. He wasn''t deep inside the hole, or he was lying on its cold ground just now.


    The golden ball was there, and his stick was still touching it. "Damn you," he cursed before returning fast to the back, taking the stick away from this far dangerous golden ball. "It''s you, damn it!" he shouted in extreme rage while the second thing he did was to shout on his system.


    "Don''t bother," suddenly this cold tone came, not from the ball, not from the stick, but from his mind itself. "Your system is sleeping right now."


    "Fuck off," Arthur didn''t buy this nonsense before hurrying to shout, "is this illusion so strong? Damn," he sat on the ground and started calming his mind again.


    "Told you it''s pointless," the cold sound came again in his mind, "you''ve already come out of my illusion."


    "A sincere advice from a wolf," Arthur sneered while trying his best to calm down.


    "I''m no wolf, damn, this is the harshest thing I ever heard since I died!"


    Arthur didn''t follow his words as he kept meditating. "So you want to waste your time then? Fine, try to relax and do whatever you are trying to do. I''ll just be here waiting for you to end."


    The voice did really stop speaking, and Arthur managed to enter a meditating state of mind. He calmly stayed there for hours, as he never experienced such a feeling since¡­


    "Wow, I was cultivating just now!!" he opened his eyes and he was shocked by his realization. He glanced at his body, yet he didn''t feel any changes there. "Sigh, it seems I have a long road ahead of me before actually cultivating."


    "Have you finished your bla bla bla?"


    Suddenly the same cold voice that he last heard before entering into such a state came again making him startled. "Damn!" he hurried to stand up while glancing all around. The golden ball was still there, and the golden stick was in hand, and he was alone in between.


    "Tick tick," he threw the golden stick away as if it was such a cursed thing.


    "Don''t think throwing it away would help," the voice came again before adding, "it''s already connected to you, and you are connected now to me."


    "Who are you?" show yourself!" Arthur was furious and the next moment he took out his bow and arrows, even his bloodthirsty sleeping sword was taken at the next moment.

 Chapter 434: Im The Golden Dragon!

    "Oh, such a nice courageous sword," the sound laughed while adding, "send these toys away, kid, or else you''ll hurt someone, yourself, hehehe."


    Arthur was speechless for a moment there. "How¡­ how can this illusion be so thick?" he muttered.


    "It''s your head that''s thick," the voice said before adding, "plus what made you enter that peculiar state of yours wasn''t you, but me."


    "You?" Arthur wasn''t buying what the voice was saying, "where is my system?"


    "It''s¡­ you can say I was too heavy load on him, hehehe."


    "You¡­" Arthur was full from this voice, "show yourself to me, I dare you!"


    "C''mon kid, how can you ask someone already dead to show himself up? That''s lame!"


    "Dead? Dead and speaking? Dead and using illusions? Hahahaha," Arthur laughed as he didn''t know what else to do except bitterly and sarcastically laughing in this situation.


    "I''m not an illusion! This is the real world, dummy!" the sound shouted before taking a deep loud breath as he added, "I mean you no harm."


    "Really? And that illusion just now? What was it for?" Arthur pointed towards the golden globe in front of him.


    "I thought you were one of them, so I had to attack you first."


    "One of them exactly?" Arthur asked with amusement.


    "Dragonairs, black dragons who destroyed everything I once held dear and killed me," the voice said with deep enmity before adding, "you are one of them, but when I took over your body through the illusion, I saw what you already did to them. I like you kid, bold and unrestrained, loving justice above all and hating evil even if being your own kin. Thumbs up for you."


    Arthur was speechless again before muttering, "you preyed over my memories?"


    "I was already aiming to take over your body and crush your soul, humph," the voice said as if he just did him a favor. "Be glad I wasn''t so hurry in killing you and was curious to know the current state of the world."


    "Who are you?!!" Arthur''s patience drew extremely thin at this moment.


    "Me?" the voice laughed while adding, "I''m the one you sought to save and believed in your ability to help; I''m the one of the ancient and long gone golden dragons."


    Arthur''s eyes twitched before saying: "It''s easy for you to claim something like that. First prove this isn''t an illusion, second prove yourself to me."


    "Third, I''m not your sweet daddy who came here to grant you all wishes! I''m here to help me gain revenge over those bastards, nothing more!"


    "Still not believing you."


    "When your system awakes, you''ll."


    "Not enough proof for me. I still believe all this is just an illusion."


    "Sigh," the dragon sighed as he was already tired of Arthur''s stubbornness. "Alright, I''ll simply prove it to you. Isn''t illusion limited in place?"


    Arthur nodded as he said: "Sure, only the place inside the illusion won''t change unless the user is a very high level one, like yourself."


    "C''mon, you know I can''t mimic everything you know! For example your garden world is known to purify any evil, why don''t you use it to prove me right or wrong?"


    "My garden?" Arthur muttered in confusion.


    "You and your system are the two dummiest persons I''ve ever met! You tend to use such lousy tricks to break the illusion while you can simply do that by using the power of your garden."


    The words of the dragon made quite sense to Arthur, who suddenly felt how stupid he was for not thinking about this even once.


    "Summon your pillars kid, or go directly into your garden. If your soul is under any illusion, the illusion will instantly break," the dragon said in a tired tone from teaching such obvious things to him. "Damn, you really know shit about illusions!" he remarked.


    "Don''t be so mean!" Arthur warned, "after all if you''re right, then you are residing inside my body, my soul!"


    "A fragile thing that I can easily snap with a finger and take over your body and soul, hehehe," the dragon threatened back, "don''t use such tactics against me, I''ve lived longer and seen much more than you kid. Just listen to my guidance and you''ll have a golden chance to be a real power in this troubled universe."


    Arthur just heard the words and swallowed what he wanted to retort back with. The next moment he sat on the ground, closed his eyes again, and delved this time inside his garden.


    He appeared in the central place of the garden, the most purified place ever here. Once he reached the ground, he didn''t move and waited, impatiently anticipating the results.


    Yet nothing happened! The garden totally ignored him, and only the sounds of rumbling and the sounds of Anna continuing to hit the protective sealing layer of his pillars remained in this world.


    "Tsk, this dragon¡­" he moved his gaze towards the distance where Anna was shielded from him by the gigantic dome, "this Anna¡­" he shook his head helplessly before opening his eyes.


    "Satisfied?" the dragon said.


    "When will my system be awakened?" Arthur didn''t directly answer the dragon as he asked about his dear system.


    He felt like missing a limb here.


    "Give him a day and he''ll be fine," the dragon said before adding, "your system is more fragile than you. Couldn''t handle my soul force, hehehe."


    "Lame," Arthur muttered before glancing over the stick nearby. "What is this used to?" he asked.


    "This¡­" the voice of the dragon seemed unsettled for a moment there before adding, "this was made of one of my dear bones, the one closed to my heart. Those filthy dragonairs, daring to betray us and kill me. Not satisfied by that, they sealed my soul down here using my bones and used this to trigger my soul, curse them, curse them all!"


    Arthur glanced over the stick before his mind realized something. "Wait a minute, these gigantic pillars are made of your¡­ bones?"


    "Sure, any pillars in the universe are made of the bones of the deceased, only the powerful deceased," the dragon said before adding, "from where do you think your precious bronze pillars hailed from? Huh?"


    Arthur was shocked this time beyond description and his mind provided him with a more insane idea.


    "Yes, you are absolutely right," the dragon didn''t wait for him to express his thoughts loudly, "each of the masters you met hailed from one of those killed in ancient times and had their bones turn into pillars. So, each group of pillars are the responsibility of a group of their descendants, and you are just a mere tool to do a huge task off their shoulders."

 Chapter 435: Ill Wait For My System

    Arthur shrugged as he answered: "As long as I get benefit back, I don''t care."


    "You should," the dragona laughed, "you should ask for more benefits from them in return."


    "They can''t meddle in this world," Arthur argued.


    "Sure but they can send others who can," the dragon said in a sly tone, "Listen to your master, next time you should ask for reinforcements and supplies. Those up there are living a life you can''t even imagine."


    "Who''s my master?!!"


    "It''s me, I decided to take you as dear disciple," the dragon said in an arrogant tone.


    "Master with no body, only a voice in my head," Arthur laughed while sarcastically commenting over the dragon''s words.


    "A voice that can crush your soul instantly if he loved to," the dragon refused to show signs of weakness as he added, "with me I''ll guarantee to make your old soul be amended and complete, your past power to return and even be more than ever."


    "Empty words," Arthur sneered before pointing towards the golden globe while moving around, collecting every corpse here, "What about this? Is this your body remnants?"


    "Nah, they are my former power, partially absorbed and collected here to be used as a punishment to any who defies the black dragons."


    "Power?" Arthur glanced in greed towards the golden ball, "is this all you''ve got?"he asked.


    "Only a fraction, just a tiny piece of what I once had," the dragon bragged.


    "Tsk," Arthur shook his head before adding, "it''s a shame you have to leave these behind."


    "Who said?" the dragon laughed, "if you accepted me as a master, then this power will be yours."


    Arthur was tempted by the offer. "I''ll have to wait for my system to be awakened first."


    "Doubting me?"


    "I don''t know you to judge."


    "Tsk, that''s so mean," the dragon sighed, "I intend to help and yet you give me this cold shoulder."


    "Still will wait for my system," Arthur had made up his mind.


    "He will be awake in one day, will you wait that long doing nothing here?" the dragon asked.


    "Better than risking my life."


    "It''s a great chance in front of you. This power will dominate the little black dragon energy inside you. From now on, you won''t be threatened by the black dragons, only the silver ones are sneaky and dangerous for you."


    Arthur was much tempted by these words. He still had fear and doubt towards going back to level his dragonair power up. "Silver dragons? Didn''t they perish with you?" Arthur asked.


    "Perish? Pft, this the funniest thing I''ve ever heard since dying," the dragon laughed for minutes before adding, "those bastards are much slower than all the dragons together. They are strong against us, can''t be threatened and yet they bowed their heads to live."


    "If they are strong, why bow then?" Arthur muttered while taking more corpses into his garden.


    "They have innate advantage upon the two of us. We usually used to say that the black and golden dragons are like two brothers; fighting and competing on everything. Yet the silver ones are like the sexy girl flirting on both wings, with much advantage on both of us, yet they lack enough numbers to dominate even one race of us."


    "That''s¡­ inspiring," Arthur laughed before adding, "You should have won their heart and bodies before the others, hehehe."


    "It''s not about sex, it''s about strength and dominance," the golden dragon sighed, "having a silver dragon as your girl is the best thing you''ll ever experience in your entire life," he spoke with a melancholic tone, making Arthur understand more about him.


    "I hope to find one then, hehehe."


    "Don''t put your hopes high," the dragon muttered, "the black dragons already know how dangerous these silver ones are, yet they are also aware of their importance and role to aid their strengths. So, they kept them locked up in places hard to reach."


    "But I have you, my mighty master, who knows it all and will guide me to their locked harem and let me play to my fullest, right?" Arthur was sarcastically speaking, yet the dragon took his words for real.


    "That''s a promise if you took me as a master."


    "Wait for my system first," Arthur didn''t change up his mind.


    "Tsk, this is a desolate place, how can you tolerate spending a day in it without doing anything?"


    "You endured for hundreds of years here," Arthur replied.


    "I stayed here for tens of thousands of years, kid, not just a mere hundreds. Tsk," the words Arthur said seemed to get on the nerve of the dragons.


    "Where is this place anyway?" Arthur finished collecting all the corpses and then glanced over the place he was at, "I think it''s a room underground. But how can anyone access here and leave? There must be a way."


    "This is the heart of this world," the dragon said before further explaining, "here is the closest thing to the world''s altar, a very remote place from the surface."


    Arthur''s eyes shone as he asked the next instant: "Is this so deep to be near the great veins of the world?"


    "Well¡­" the dragon was speechless there for a moment, "sure it''s."


    "Great," Arthur laughed before closing up his eyes for long minutes. Then when he opened them, he waved his hand and a huge number of people appeared out of nowhere.


    "Your garden time difference is a blessing," the dragon laughed as he watched what Arthur did inside the garden. "But may I ask why are you doing all this?"


    "If this is the closest place to the greatest veins of this world, then it''d be a shame leaving all this wealth behind untouched," Arthur said before turning to humans and glancing over the tens of thousands he just summoned. "Go and start mining, I want this place to be swept clean in the shortest time possible."


    Once he shouted and gave his orders, everyone started to move towards the walls, the ground, and even the ceiling of this place and started mining.

 Chapter 436: Im Back!

    "Agnus is really a genius," Arthur commended when he watched the new ore crafted mining equipment in the hands of everyone. This wasn''t all, as there were many machines working on the power of fiery and watery ores to help in mining and lifting villagers to the ceiling to work.


    When he entered his garden world, he commissioned Agnus with this task which he gladly accepted. Agnus now wasn''t that lonely weak blacksmith he once knew; he was far stronger and had more authority over a large army of other blacksmiths who deeply admired him.


    So in the brief hours Arthur stayed inside, Agnus managed to produce enough gears to arm those villagers whom Arthur collected from all over his garden world.


    And there were still more pouring towards Agnus place, armed with his brilliant gear and inventions.


    "You¡­ you''re more shameless than I thought," the dragon sighed.


    "It''s not shameless, it''s wisdom."


    "Hehehe," the dragon admired the response and laughed in amusement while staying on the side with Arthur watching his army working. Huge amount of different ores appeared in the first hour, and Arthur just had to move around and take them all inside his garden.


    After six hours, his men managed to expand the size of this place, making him able to summon more.


    The mining process didn''t pass easily and safely like that, especially for those working on the ceiling. Many fallings occurred all of sudden, taking with them hundreds of lives and some machines.


    Yet he gained a huge pile of ores in return, and helped in further expanding the place. Arthur had to go inside his garden and gave instructions to Agnus and his boys to focus mainly on these machines.


    After all he was losing many of them with each passing hour, and they were really helpful in extracting the ores in a much faster and more efficient way.


    This kept Arthur busy for the entire day. During this day, his boys managed to unearth huge amounts of ores. Everywhere they mined, they gained more ores than dirt.


    "This place¡­ is simply a treasure mining trove," Arthur laughed when he examined the ores extracted by them. The ores were of the highest and purest quality he ever witnessed before.


    This made him quite excited and less reluctant to leave here.


    "Ding! I''m back!"


    Suddenly his system spoke and finally Arthur could heave a long sigh of relief. "Missed you, old buddy."


    "Ding! That dragon¡­ he just came uninvited and overloaded me with his enormous soul power," the system complained.


    "It''s you who is weak, don''t blame others for your own weakness," the dragon sneered and the system just ignored him.


    "The dragon¡­ is it safe?" Arthur finally asked the question he had in mind.


    "He is sly and greedy, yet he doesn''t intend bad for you," the system admitted before adding, "he has the power to crush your soul and take over your body, yet he didn''t."


    "See? Told you, but you still wanted to hear this weakling''s words, tsk," the dragon muttered and Arthur ignored him.


    "Why didn''t he take over my soul then?" Arthur asked his next far important question. "Isn''t it better for him to take over and be the main ruler and controller of my body?"


    "Ding! His soul has a seal, if he took over you then his former strength and knowledge will be wiped out. He will start weak and fragile, and he didn''t want to experience this."


    "Coward," Arthur muttered.


    "This coward has saved your life by not crushing it!" the dragon retorted in discontent.


    "Still a coward," Arthur laughed, "you''re afraid of being weak, while taking it full over others for being so. That''s so lame," Arthur shook his head while faking his disappointment.


    "You¡­" the dragon was enraged, "let''s see how far you can go, weakling," he harrumphed and Arthur just laughed.


    "He asked me to be his disciple and offered his former energy, or what''s left of it, to be wielded by me. Is this safe or has some tricky hand in between?" Arthur said as this was his third farmost important question in his mind.


    "Ding! He wants to use his former power to unlock the seal," the system simply answered.


    "Liar, I just want you to have my strength, turn into the golden dragon side. After all I can''t take over another golden dragon soul, right?" the dragon shouted as if he was busted in crime.


    "System?" Arthur didn''t hurry to answer as he wanted to hear his system''s opinion.


    "Ding! That''s also true, but that doesn''t negate the fact that he is doing all this for his benefit."


    "It''s an exchange, you''ll get much stronger way faster and I''ll gain my freedom back," the dragon said before adding, "plus this would take years to happen, why bothering about it now?"


    "What will happen after he breaks the seal?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! He can''t take your soul, I can sense another deeper seal in his soul preventing him from harming other golden dragons'' souls. Yet after he is free from the first seal, he might leave and look for a body to take over," the system said before adding, "Ding! Those close to you will be in danger by then."


    "Oh," Arthur nodded as he got the full picture now.


    "I promise I won''t hurt anyone close to you," the dragon hurried to vow the moment he felt the discontent of Arthur towards this part.


    "Words can be wiped easily," Arthur remarked.


    "Not my vow," the dragon said, "I can use my innate soul seal to be a witness on that vow, and your system can testify for the truth of my words."


    Arthur waited patiently, and leisurely for minutes. The dragon was already impatient, he wanted to guarantee his soul to be released from this humiliating seal he carried.


    And for his luck, the one holding the key to this seal is this dark dragon weak boy that he was stuck inside his body!

 Chapter 437: To Get It, Youll Suffer Pain!

    "C''mon, there is no risk in trying," he urged after ten minutes of complete silence. "With me you''ll reach more heights, and your fear from the dark dragons retaliation towards you will be gone!"


    "I can level up a couple of times safely now," Arthur argued.


    "And then? You''ll live your entire life afraid of making your rightful power grow stronger?" the dragon tried to reason with him, "this isn''t the best option, not after having a better and safer one at the reach of your fingers."


    "Tsk," Arthur sighed before adding like he was touched by the begging of the dragon, "make the vow and my system will judge."


    "I vow on my innate soul essence as witness that I''ll never touch anyone close or related to Arthur with any way possible, not now or in the future."


    The moment he said those words, Arthur felt his soul tremble. "Wow, did you take an oath on your soul or mine," he exclaimed in surprise before the voice of the dragon came weaker than before:


    "I just did my part, let your system testify."


    "System?"


    "Ding! He is valid," the system simply said before adding, "Ding! This oath is much stronger than you think."


    "Sure, I just felt the shock of it," Arthur smiled before adding, "alright, master, what do you want me to do now?" He finally acknowledged the golden dragon as master.


    "Phew, finally," the dragon heaved a long sigh of relief, "you got me worried for a second over there," he added before saying, "go and touch the golden energy with your entire body."


    He paused before adding, "your human body would only work. If you touch it with your dragon body, the aura will retaliate and you''ll have another illusion to assault you."


    "Wow, your energy is all about illusions then?" Arthur was speechless.


    "It''s not, but the strongest thing about it is the soul element, not just mere illusions," the dragon seemed to be discontent with Arthur''s shallow understanding. "Sigh, you really lack a lot in terms of soul matters."


    "I admit," Arthrur laughed before glancing over that golden ball for long minutes. "Will I be safe there?" he asked.


    "My energy is strong indeed, and considering having the opposing dark dragon energy in you, I can''t guarantee it would pass without great pain," the dragon said before adding, "but from golden fire you''ll emerge, this is the end of it. You won''t die, if that''s what you are concerned about."


    "Very reassuring," Arthur sneered before he went towards the golden ball while canceling his dragon transformation.


    "One tip," the dragon suddenly said before adding, "inside you''ll hear many callings to summon your dragon form. Don''t follow the voices no matter what! If you do, then your life will be in danger, and even I can''t save you."


    The warning made Arthur pause before nodding, "thanks for the tip," he muttered before raising the stick, "what about it?"


    "It''s the key to absorbing my energy safely, so keep it all the time within your hands," the dragon answered.


    "Alright," Arthur took a deep breath while trying to clear all the thoughts inside his mind, "let''s do this."


    He went directly inside the ball, and the moment he did he felt like someone had pressed the off switch of his life, and everything turned dark and scarily peaceful and silent all of sudden.


    He didn''t know how long he stayed there in this state, yet the first thing that alarmed him awake was this strange pain.


    "Damn!" he cursed while opening his eyes to see the pitch darkness he was inside. "You didn''t tell me it will be this severe, and assault my soul!" he complained.


    Yet inside this place, his voice was the only voice he received. "Sigh, alone once more," he shook his head before turning towards the distance.


    There, a tiny spark suddenly flashed like a dying star on the end of the universe. He focused his gaze again, as he didn''t see the spark once more. "Illusion? Or misconception?" he muttered yet he didn''t move his gaze away and waited.


    "Here you are," he smiled as he saw that tiny spark again. "You are golden, that means you are the power I''m seeking," he wanted to move towards that little far away spark.


    "Wow, I can fly!" he glanced over his body to see himself moving with great speed, silently without causing any sound. "My speed decelerated the moment I looked away from the star?" he muttered as he noticed once he observed his body moving around, the speed began to decrease.


    "Let''s test it then," he glanced over the direction of the spark, and he kept gazing at it for minutes before hurriedly glancing back at his body.


    "It''s indeed true," he muttered before returning to have his full focus over the tiny star.


    He didn''t know how much time passed but he was quite positive it was a lot. He moved inside this pitch darkness while the sparkling star kept being small and tiny.


    "You are really far away, hehehe," he laughed while keeping his gaze upon it. "Or do I miss something else?" he had this sudden realization that made him start to think differently.


    "Golden little sparkling star far away and I''m stuck inside this endless darkness¡­" he paused as his mind reached the answer at once, "this is me, this is the dark dragon energy I have."


    His words were cut abruptly as he started to consider another thing. "I can''t reach the golden star without abandoning the darkness first. But how can I abandon something that''s part of me?"


    Just as he said these words, a throbbing pain assaulted his soul, making him even scream. "What the hell?!!" he was shocked by this sudden attack of pain, yet this made him recall the words of the golden dragon.


    "I will have pain to achieve my goal," he muttered, "so I have to repeat what I just said."


    He took a long breath, preparing himself for what was going to hit him. "I want to abandon the dragonair''s black power!"


    "Ahh!!"

 Chapter 438: This Is My Will, My Intention, and My Fate!

    Just as he said these words, the pain came like a tsunami, not just a needle prick like before. He felt himself thrown inside a gigantic furious ocean wave amidst a ferocious storm, and he couldn''t swim!


    "Damn you!" he gritted his teeth while the pain started to slowly reside. "since day one I came to this world and you kept treating me like an insect! You damned black dragonairs! I want to abandon the black dragonair''s power."


    He went berserk as his mind was turned off and only his rage took over. He kept repeating the phrase, and the pain kept getting stronger, yet he didn''t move his eyes away from the little sparkling star except for brief moments when he screamed of immense pain.


    The little star showed significant changes with time; it grew larger as he drew nearer. Now he could see a full orb of golden fire in the far distance. "So close yet so far away, what else can I do to get to you?" he muttered to himself and then he found the answer the next moment.


    "I was saying it wrong," he laughed hysterically like a mad man, "I shouldn''t say I want, I should say I will¡­ I''ll abandon the black dragonair''s strength."


    This time he felt every single part of his body and soul being tortured in corrosive fire. The pain was so immense that he thought himself losing focus and might even die of it.


    "Damn you, cough," he coughed blood when the pain finally receded. He was totally wracked and he couldn''t even check his body without feeling sore everywhere.


    "Give up this impudence and return to the clan path!"


    Suddenly this majestic voice erupted in such an angry tone. Arthur raised his head with such a defying look. "Never! I will abandon the black dragonair and be a golden dragonair!"


    The wave of pain this time was so immense and prolonged that he thought it would never end.


    "Give up this defiled act and go back. This pain is your redemption and you won''t get rid of the black dragonair''s power no matter how much you tried!"


    The sound came again, and this time it was laughing at Arthur who saw the golden sphere getting closer and growing bigger; yet he was still apart from it.


    "Damn!"


    He gritted his teeth while the pain started to come in pulses, throbbing his senses and making his mind hazy. "I¡­ won''t¡­ succumb to this fate!" he said the ancient words he kept repeating to himself when he was a cultivator.


    Saying these words seemed to push some unknown strength inside his body, making him endure the pain better than before.


    "Give it up already, the black dragonair''s power is stamped over the soul you carry. You won''t be able to escape from it, this is your cursed destiny."


    Arthur wasn''t fazed by these words, yet he now understood the reason behind this bizarre situation. "That Willy¡­ he was cursed and useless when he was alive, and even after his death he kept annoying me with his weakness," he realized everything now, and as his mind started to think fast, providing an answer and a brilliant solution.


    "I will embrace the golden fire of the golden dragons and be a golden dragonair as Arthur."


    "Just give up, whoever you like to call yourself!"


    Arthur didn''t mind about these words as he continued:


    "And I will embrace the black dragon''s power as Willy, merge the two together and form a brand new dragon power. This is my will, this my intention, this is the fate I chose to walk upon. My will is the fuel, my choices are the path, and my intentions are the result that will come forth!"


    He said what he felt deep inside his soul without even thinking about it. The next moment the pain suddenly stopped, like someone just pressed the switch off.


    And the next moment that distant big golden fireball started to draw fast towards him. Its size kept getting bigger, and Arthur noticed anywhere it went to, the darkness receded like it was afraid of its light.


    He didn''t wait for long this time before the golden ball of fire appeared just in front of him.


    "Wow! So grand! So majestic!" he honestly muttered when the golden fire stopped in front of him. It was such a gigantic star that he never expected the tiny sparkling dot from before to be.


    Just before he could say more, the star didn''t stop as it suddenly hit his body, putting him in the center of it.


    "This boy is mine!" the familiar sound of the golden dragon master of his appeared all of sudden. It wasn''t less majestic than the sound of the black dragonair master.


    "He is ours," the black dragonair''s master didn''t budge and the next thing happened was for the darkness all around to condense all of sudden, forming such a gigantic black hole around Arthur and the enormous golden ball.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The entire world started to rumble around Arthur when the two energies started to collide together as an ancient enmity was destined to be fought once again here.


    "This isn''t right," he muttered before shouting out loud, "I demand the two powers to melt together and form a brand new power for me to wield!"


    His shouts in this place seemed like a heavenly decree.


    "Amen!"


    And this strange alien voice came to verify his demands, and make them instantly valid.


    Arthur didn''t know who was the owner of that new sound, yet he felt how authoritative this sound was. The two energies suddenly stopped fighting, and started melting, combining together to form a brand new power.


    "This is¡­ nonsense! I don''t agree on that, I reject, I reject, I reject¡­"


    The black dragonair''s voice kept repeating his rejection until his voice faded away.


    "I accept," as for the golden dragon master, he simply laughed as he agreed on Arthur''s choice. "When you go back there, tell what''s left of my soul to drop vengeance."

 Chapter 439: A New Dragon Power

    Arthur didn''t fully understand those words, yet he answered:


    "I''ll master, but your wisp of the soul is so restless to gain revenge."


    "It didn''t see what I saw here," the sound suddenly laughed, "my revenge is guaranteed on your hands, kid. No need for my soul to be restless upon something that will eventually happen."


    The voice faded away as well, and Arthur stood alone in the middle of a much bigger ball of fire that kept alternating between pitch black and bright gold.


    This kept happening for a long time, and as time passed the two colors started to show off less often.


    Alongside these changes, the size of the ball started to shrink, while returning to the normal size of the golden star.


    "What power will it end up with?" he muttered to himself and his waiting ended with an answer.


    "Blue?!!" he was surprised. He thought the mix of the two would end up to be silver, not blue. "What ability I will have right now?" he was curious, yet when the final color resided over everything, he felt such a deep pain in his soul, combined with a burning pain in his hand.


    The next moment he opened his eyes to find himself standing still in the last place he was at, just in front of the place of the golden ball. But there was no ball anymore.


    "What happened?" he was startled as he didn''t think he would be kicked out in such a way.


    "You say it, not us," the golden dragon soul said before adding, "strange, why do I feel another aura coming from you? It''s mine, yet it isn''t!"


    "Ding! You went inside and we couldn''t follow. The link between the two of us was severed and you were inside all on your own," the system explained in more words he could understand.


    "For how long?" he asked while glancing around to pause in shock. "Wow, did I go inside for a couple of days or something?!"


    The initial wide space he was inside got escalated by many folds now. Many were working everywhere with numbers exceeding what he initially left behind.


    "You stayed inside for an entire week kid," the dragon soul said before hurriedly adding, "tell me what the hell is wrong with my power? Where is my old power?"


    "Ding! While you were inside, I kept pouring out villagers to work. At the same time I kept storing all the ores inside your garden. There are mountains now made entirely of the same ore."


    "Agnus must be happy," Arthur laughed before he was cut by the shouts of the golden dragon soul: "Where is my old power? This power isn''t mine!"


    "Don''t shout," Arthur laughed before adding, "I''ll explain things later but first I need to check on something."


    He raised his hand, his right hand, and closely examined it. The last pain he felt came from it, like he was getting branded by the blue fire. "Why can''t I see any change?" he muttered while sighing, "I must have gotten insane at the last moment then."


    Despite saying that, he never believed in these words. He knew he was burnt there, yet for some reason he didn''t.


    "C''mon, stop mumbling nonsense to yourself and come to explain everything to me!!" the golden dragon was furious, and somehow Arthur felt another thing from his shouts.


    "Are you¡­ afraid?"


    "What?" no way!"


    "Ding! He is."


    Arthur laughed as he never thought of this. "Makes sense, so I''m now considered a higher version of the dragon than you, hehehe."


    "Stop fooling around and start explaining," the dragon soul jumped over the last issue and claimed a reason for all these weird changes.


    "Tell me first," yet Arthur enjoyed toying with him, "have you ever seen such a power like mine before?"


    "Well¡­" the question startled the golden dragon.


    "Oh, you''ve seen it," the eyes of Arthru shone, with strange blue light that he couldn''t perceive, "tell me all about it."


    "You tell me first!"


    "Nah, you say and then I''ll tell," Arthur smiled in amusement before adding, "after all I didn''t need your answer, yet you do, hehehe."


    The golden dragon soul couldn''t play anymore as Arthur was right. "Tsk, it''s not the exact energy to be clear, but it''s slightly similar to the feeling I had when dealing with those wicked silver dragons."


    "Oh," Again Arthur''s eyes shone briefly with bright blue light, "that''s interesting," he nodded as his previous guess proved to be right.


    "Now you tell, what''s this all about?"


    "Well, simply put I couldn''t abandon the black dragonair''s energy," Arthur said before his system asked: "Is it Willy''s soul fragment?"


    "Indeed."


    "If you didn''t abandon it, then why can''t I see it inside you anymore?" The golden dragon was quite impatient and slightly nervous.


    "Well," Arthur grinned before adding, "as I couldn''t get rid off that energy, and was about to lose yours, I had no other choice but to merge them together."


    "What?!!!" this time the golden dragon was shocked to the limit even Arthur''s soul slightly trembled. "Collect yourself, you are supposed to be my master," Arthur laughed before adding, "or let''s say a tiny fragment of a master perhaps?"


    "Ho¡­ How do you know that?" the golden dragon was more shocked while Arthur just laughed. "Long story, keep it for later."


    "C''mon, tell me everything."


    "Nah, not feeling to," Arthur amusingly smiled before saying, "besides you can read my mind and know everything that happened," he watched the strange silence that came from the two entities inside his head before adding, "are you?"


    "Ding! We regained part of the connection with you, but not over your thoughts and intentions."


    The simple yet clear response of the system made his eyes wider. "Amazing," he laughed the next moment while feeling blessed by this gift. "Even you, the experienced soul master, can''t sneak over my thoughts now?"


    "Tsk, don''t brag much about it, you still know nothing about soul stuff."


    "Hahaha," Arthur was really amused by such an outcome. "Alright, time for me to leave," he glanced around while sighing, "it''s sad to leave this treasure untouched."


    "Ding! I can link a gate here if you want."


    "Good choice," Arthur nodded before adding, "go and make a couple of gates here." He paused as he realized something, "won''t these gates be smashed the moment I leave this world?"


    "Ding! This is true indeed."


    "Then why not link my star map here then?"


    "Ding! Your star map has only one main outlet when you leave the world."


    "But it was upgraded not long ago, and supposedly it''s upgrading now, right?"


    Arthur left the final fight over that dark clan''s headquarters at the early start. He was sure the fight should have ended long time ago. "Go there and check it for me," he demanded and the system went silent for couple of minutes before saying:


    "Ding! You''re right, it has two more free permanent outlets now."


    "Great," Arthur''s smile grew bigger, "link one to here and one back to my city."


    "Ding! And the third one? You still plan to conquer the Amazor dark clan?"


    "Any dark clan must be destroyed," the golden dragon soul kept his silence all this time while watching the two chatting like old buddies. "Link it to that Amazor clan and let''s pump over them now!"


    "Ding! I don''t answer to you, I only answer to the master."


    "And I''m your master''s master!"


    "This is debatable," Arthur said with a laugh, "stop it you two, I plan to hit the Amazor clan first to use the chaos erupted from the destruction of the main base."

 Chapter 440: The Legend of Time and Place Clans

    "Ding! Your gates are ready in place," the system said before a portal appeared in the center of this place. "Ding! I linked your permanent gate with the place you conquered before."


    "People are still coming there?" he was surprised, as he left the place for over a week now.


    "Ding! They are still pouring but in lesser numbers than before."


    "I see," Arthur nodded before heading towards the portal. As he crossed it, he appeared again inside his star map.


    The star map expanded, and more stars appeared there. "Ding! The one to your left leads directly to the Amazor clan territory," the system said.


    "How much time passed out there?"


    "Ding! One week," the system answered, "Ding! After all you were inside the heart of this world, following the rules of this world."


    "I see," Arthur went towards the next star while the golden dragon muttered: "The place clan star fragment¡­"


    "What did you say?" Arthur asked as he jumped over the star.


    "Nothing."


    "Ding! He said the place clan star fragment and paused," the system didn''t forgive for the golden dragon what he did to him when he entered Arthur''s soul.


    "Place clan? Is this a mighty clan like dragons and bronzed giants?" Arthur asked.


    "They were¡­ legends said they once were one of the absolute rulers over the universe with the time clan. Yet the two clan perished long time ago, and no records of what they did remained till now," the golden dragon said before adding, "what remained from them were mere folk tales at night for the next generation rulers like dragons and giants."


    He paused and Arthur was curious to know the rest of the story. "And?"


    "Some of these legends spoke about the star of the place clan. It was said the place clan created the worlds we are currently aware of, while the time clan regulated it. The two used to supreme treasures which smashed for some unknown reason."


    The golden dragon paused before adding, "this star map of yours is just a tiny fragment of it. It''s said in legends that when the star map eats all the others, it will return to the previous glory it once had."


    "Wow," Arthur smiled as he passed through the star, "nice story indeed," he didn''t think much about it. "How many pieces are needed for a single star map to return complete?"


    "Many," the golden dragon said, "much over what you might estimate."


    "That''s¡­" Arthur didn''t know what to say, and when he appeared just outside the old building, he heard a loud ruckus coming from far. "Scout the area for me," he said.


    "Ding! There are three hostile armies marching towards here," the system said before adding, "Ding! They are stationed a couple of miles away, hunting down anyone daring to come here."


    "Oh, they are trying to stop my refugees?" Arthur smirked before his eyes shone brightly in blue color, "time to test my new power over them."


    The next moment he channeled his energy per usual, yet he didn''t transform into a dragon.


    "Ouch," he felt a sting in his right hand. He hurriedly raised it in reflex and what he saw there startled him. "I was right after all," he murmured when he noticed this blue tattoo of a dragon head on the back of his hand.


    "Is this new?" the golden dragon muttered before adding, "curse this energy, my soul is shivering from it."


    "Hehehe," Arthur laughed before glancing over his body. "I''m still¡­ human!" he was shocked before muttering, "I need to transform, system what''s wrong?"


    "Ding! That tattoo is controlling your energy now," the system said before adding, "Ding! you need to summon your strength through that tattoo."


    "Meaning?"


    "Ding! I don''t know what to do!"


    The swift and direct answer of the system made Arthur speechless. "This isn''t good," he muttered before adding, "do you have any clue?"


    "The silver dragons have some process unique to them," the golden dragon said before adding, "I once dated a silver dragon. Let me tell you, if you don''t pump into one, you''ve missed a new world my dear disciple."


    "C''mon, it''s not the time for you to tell tales about your past concubines!" Arthur was furious at what the golden dragon just said. "Just tell me what they do to activate their power."


    "Tsk, I have to lead you on the sexual path. You are still virgin!"


    "I''m not! And can we talk about this later?" Arthur heard the ruckus coming nearer to his place, "I need to go there and kill everyone."


    "You have warriors, summon them."


    "I want to test my power first!"


    "It''s you who is unreasonable," the golden dragon muttered in discontent before adding, "fine, they used their blood to cover up a certain place in their bodies. for you i thInk it''s this weird tattoo on your hand."


    "Give me a sword," he asked of his system and the next moment a sword appeared out of nowhere in front of him.


    He cut his left hand and passed the blood over the tattoo. The blood didn''t stain his hand as the tattoo absorbed it like it was a sponge thrown into water.


    The next minutes he felt some changes in his body, yet not enough to call it a transformation. "Ding! Use more blood," the system said and the golden dragon just harrumphed and said nothing.


    Arthur did as his system told him, and the more blood he poured over the tattoo the more it shone brightly in blue light. Arthur also felt the changes in his energy inside his body; it kept stirring up like being exploded.


    "Bang!"


    Suddenly he heard this soft explosion inside his chest, before his energy started to move slower than before. "This feeling¡­" he muttered in shock before adding, "it''s like breaking through a cultivation minor level."


    "Ding! I sense that your energy is getting purified and stronger," the system said before adding, "there is more there but I need time to assess."


    "Tale all the time you want," Arthur laughed while his body started to change, "I''m already a dragon!"

 Chapter 441: The Blue Dragon Is Born

    Arthur glanced at himself while feeling surprised by what he saw. "Wow, I got smaller, but¡­ I feel far stronger."


    He only could see the new smaller body that seemed not like his black dragon one, not massive with strong muscles. This body was slim, yet every muscle there was neatly arranged with others, forming a unison like a one big compact muscle.


    And he felt stronger just from seeing them.


    He also noticed the new faint blue scales covering his body now instead of those dark red ones. Each scale was smaller in size, yet it had sharp tapered ends like heads of arrows.


    His tail was more flexible, moving like a limb of his human body. At the end of it sharp long slender ends were lying calmly there.


    "I can¡­ control them too!!" he was surprised more when he tried to move his tail to feel his ability to move those slender ends. He formed a fist with them, a spear tip, and a fan. "Wow, I love it!"


    He wasn''t able to notice the two short horns over his head, or that stange blue part of a ball in the middle of his head. He got slimmer, more handsome in looking, yet he was far lethal than before.


    "What ability do I have now?" he thought about it for a second before turning his gaze upon the distant hostiles. "Time to put these in test," he laughed before flapping his two wings to soar instantly the next moment to the higher clouds with a very terrifying speed.


    "Holy sh*t! what''s with this sudden speed?" he muttered while pausing for a moment there, stretching up his wings and floating peacefully above everything and everyone on the ground.


    "Tsk, you remind me of those arrogant silver dragons," the golden dragon said, "they always were famous for their speed."


    "Am I now considered one of them?" Arthur asked.


    "No, you are blue, they are silver, you are worlds apart," the golden dragon laughed before saying in amusement, "but as you did something no one has ever done before, I''m curious what will happen if you manage to merge the silver dragon power with you."


    "Ding! He will be a supreme dragon above everyone else," the system confidently said, "Ding! That''s pure logic."


    "Logic doesn''t apply to what this kid here is doing!"


    "Stop you two," Arthur laughed and his laughs reverberated as silent roars. "Weird," he muttered as he laughed again, and again the silent roars appeared.


    "Damn! Can you stop it already!" the golden dragon complained.


    "Stop what?" Arthur was clueless here.


    "That weird sonic roars of yours, they are very painful to my ears."


    "I didn''t roar loudly, hell I didn''t cause any sound at all!"


    "You did, yet you are too weak to notice what you are doing."


    "Ding! Your roars came in such annoying super sonic waves that made even me uncomfortable," the system explained, "Ding! This might be considered a nice attack."


    "It''s one of the toppest soul attacks," the golden dragon said before adding, "you just don''t know how to control it yet. So refrain from annoying me until you figure out something."


    "Hehehe," Arthru smirked then he said, "I like this new body of mine."


    He shifted his gaze upon the small looking warriors in the ground below. "Can they be affected by these roars?" he evilly asked.


    "Sure, but as a piece of advice from your master, keep this for now."


    "Why?" Arthur said.


    "You need trump cards hidden from your enemies'' radar. This one can serve best for that."


    "Do you want me not to laugh?" Arthur was surprised.


    `No, I just want you to hold back for a couple of days before I teach you how to control this thing. Afterwards, your laughs won''t cause such impact unless you intend them to. Even your words, just you need to be taught first about basics of basics."


    "Tsk," Arthur shook his head before adding, "then I''ll use my breaths only."


    He was curious what breaths he had. The black dragonair form of his had corrosive and healing fire, while the golden dragon had golden fire. "Would I have what? Blue fire?" he muttered without believing this would be the case here.


    "Let''s put this into test then," he hurried downwards where tens of thousands of Amazor''s clan warriors gathered.


    His appearance wasn''t a surprise to them, as they already spotted him the moment he rose to the sky. They activated their defensive arrays, and Arthur noticed something different this time.


    "Defensive arrays got upgraded somehow?" he muttered as he noticed this strange foge dissipating from the semi-transparent dark dome above the warriors'' heads. "and their numbers expanded from ten thousands to fifty?"


    The array held usually ten thousand warriors, yet this one here held five times this number. "There is a soul arraya too, I can sense it," the golden dragon warned, "be sure not to directly hit these five arrays, or else you''ll be in a tough situation."


    "I have my own garden to help," Arthur sneered before adding, "and I have you."


    "I''m just a powerless soul with no ability to help."


    "Great you finally admitted you lowly place," Arthur sneered, teasing the golden dragon.


    "You¡­" the golden dragon was speechless, yet Arthur didn''t wait for him to speak anymore. He simply waved his wings and the next moment he appeared just on top of one of these arrays.


    "Wow, I need to get used to such speed," he muttered before opening his mouth and started channeling his energy out.


    The moment he did, a wide splash of fire erupted from his mouth. It was so big to cover literally one tenth of the entire grand array down there, which was something new for him.


    "Wow, what''s with this fire?!" he watched closely while hovering over the array with opened wings.


    The fire he sprayed wasn''t dark red, or gold; it was white fire with dancing of faint blue thunderous sparkles everywhere.

 Chapter 442: The New Fire

    The moment his fire touched the array, it started to emit a sizzling sound like it was eating the array away.


    "A¡­ purifying fire!!!" the golden dragon was more shocked than him, "this is rare, extremely rare."


    "What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked.


    "This fire of yours is the nemesis of all evils. It''s still weak, yet it can eat away anything blocking your path by the faint blue lightning. As for the white fire, it will add bonus effect against any dark clans'' techniques," the golden dragon amusingly said, "it''s not an overstatement to say you are now the nemesis of any dark clan no matter who," he laughed as he added, "my revenge is near, I can sniff it already."


    Arthur was reminded by the message the main soul of the golden dragon asked him to carry, yet he didn''t say anything. He closely watched the effect of his fire, seeing what the golden dragon just said be true in front of his eyes.


    The fire he sprayed started to cause holes in the mighty looking dome of the combined array. Once appeared, the fire started to fall upon those inside like melted iron, burning them away and melting their bodies where it touched.


    "Wow, this fire¡­" he was now aware of the strong changes he had as a dragonair. "I should be the purifying dragonair, the one causing fear and panic in the hearts of those dark clans," he laughed and when he did, he emitted silent roars again.


    "Don''t use that stupid roar again! I just warned you!!" the golden dragon was pissed off instantly, yet Arthur didn''t mind him at the moment.


    When he silently roared, he noticed the fire down there got suddenly ignited like splashing oil on fire. The moment his roars stopped, his effect on the fire diminished, yet never faded.


    "I can augment my attacks with my roars?" he muttered.


    "Hell yeah, but stop using this mighty weapon over those ants, over me!!" the golden dragon shouted in rage, "this roar of yours is so annoying to me."


    "Don''t be like a child, I''m just getting to know my new strength," Arthur smirked before hearing a sudden bang coming from a different direction.


    "What is this?"


    He saw the other four groups coalescing together, each group causing a loud bang when merging with others. The four arrays got strangely united to form a one larger and stronger array. "What are they trying to pull here?" he said before shaking off his head, "time to summon that impulsive girl to aid in wiping out those deep inside, come forth my scorpion queen."


    The next moment his long to be seen queen landed with her giant body on the ground through one of the holes.


    "damn you, getting busy with your hofey dofey dragon and tiger girls and forgetting all about me," the moment she appeared, she groaned in discontent, yet her complain stopped the moment she glanced at her body, at him, before hurriedly shouting:


    "Wow, you get sexier!!"


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t know how to respond on her except by saying:


    "Kill those here, while I''ll deal with the rest."


    She seemed absorbed in her own world of surprise when she glanced over the white fire with twinkling faint blue thunder that surrounded her entire body with a thin coat.


    "Wow, this new fire of yours¡­" she paused for a moment there before her eyes got widened, "they can boost my strength and make me closer to the next evolution!!"


    She glanced at him before begging, "Please spray more of your holy breaths over me, I want to turn into human and get laid with you dumbass."


    "¡­"


    Arthur was speechless again and this time he totally ignored her before waving his wings to disappear from her sight. "Damn boy, you run fast from your girl," she exclaimed in discontent and surprise.


    Her words reached his ears from this far distance, making him realize one more benefit for his new dragonair''s body.


    "Ding! Watch out, they are using a summoning array."


    Yet as he reached on top of the newly formed gigantic array, his system words made his pause. He turned around to finally see a small, hard to spot early, thick pillar in the center of everyone inside the array.


    "Can you see what this pillar is all about?" he asked while feeling a shift in the aura in the air, "they are starting to summon it already," he sighed before waving his wings to reach the higher clouds as he waited for more intel.


    "It''s those dirty titans," the golden dragon was faster than his system in answering his question.


    "Titans? Are they like bronzed giants?" Arthur asked.


    "They are different," the golden dragon sighed, "they are also known by the berserkers. Very crazy folks, love to fight and most of their top clans belong to the dark side."


    Arthur was silent for a moment as these terms were new on him. "Are they that bad?" he asked.


    "No, if you have a chance to know one of them truly well, he will be like a brother to you in arms."


    "That''s a paradox!" Arthur didn''t understand how these could be evil and trusted so much like brothers.


    "They love fighting," the golden dragon sighed, "and considering the fact that most of the light sided folks are peace lovers, they tend to lean towards the more brutal and far aggressive dark side."


    "Aha," Arthur understood while he added, "it''s a loss to have people like them belong to the opposite side."


    "It''s their nature, can''t be blamed though. One of them once said to me that without fighting and wars, the titans would feel lonely and devastated like having everything they held dear stripped away by others."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered before adding, "shall I stop them then? I hate to fight someone who isn''t truly my enemy."


    "Ding! The summoning process succeeded the moment the four groups merged together." The system finally spoke again, "Ding! The summoning seemed incomplete, making sense they lost one fifth of their entire forces just now."

 Chapter 443: The Berserker

    Arthur glanced at the nearby warriors who were under pressure from the brutal attacks of his queen. "Then I can''t stop the summon even if I killed them all?" he shifted his gaze back at the twenty thousand warriors gathered in one spot.


    "Ding! That''s not possible now, only summoning takes some time to occur, that''s all."


    "That doesn''t mean you shouldn''t kill them now," the golden dragon said before adding, "the less enemies the better, especially when they are using tactics you aren''t that familiar with."


    Arthur nodded as he waved his wings again, controlling his descent speed slightly. "I''m getting used to it," he muttered before channeling his energy and sprayed down his purifying fire.


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    The fire kept sizzling around the barrier, eating it away. Many holes started to appear after a couple of minutes. "This array got slightly stronger," he muttered before he noticed a strange wave of dark energy formed like a gigantic hand rose from the barrier.


    "It''s the soul attack, evade now," the golden dragon suddenly shouted.


    "Nah," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I want to test my garden over this."


    The next moment his body was engulfed inside this dark aura. The hand clenched at him like it was catching a fly, and Arthur didn''t intend to evade.


    The moment he got surrounded with darkness, he saw himself standing inside his mansion at the academy, surrounded by many beauties whose he knew well.


    "I''m too damn foolish to refuse you all this time," Amanda was wearing a short transparent wide dress with nothing underneath. Her perfect body appeared clearly to him, which made his heart palpitate.


    "This is an illusion," he muttered before sighing, "tsk, it''s such a nice illusion that I don''t want to break," he glanced over the girls around. Tina, Sara, Cesile, Amelia, and Amanda presented just as the reach of his hands. "Tsk, I have to leave you, but I promise this will occur for real later on," he swore to himself before closing up his eyes and entered the garden world.


    The moment he appeared there he was in his dragonair form again, surrounded with a thick veil of black fog that kept swirling around his body.


    "Purify me," he muttered and the next moment he felt a dominating force surrounding him, and he heard a sizzling sound just like his fire did but on a much larger and fiercer scale.


    "My fire can also purify this," he said before all the fog was destroyed by his garden. "Thanks," he said in relief before opening his eyes again, returning to the real world.


    "Satisfied now?" The golden dragon seemed pissed off at what he just did, "have you gotten the fun you wanted?"


    "Why are you angry about it," Arthur smiled before threatening, "don''t make me laugh or else¡­"


    "Tsk, I''m just worried about you. That titan is already here," the golden dragon said in a more lenient tone, making Arthur gaze around in a hurry.


    "Indeed he is," Arthur saw a gigantic swirl appearing in the middle of the sky. The size of it kept increasing exponentially while its black fog forming it kept thinning with time.


    "Ding! It''s here," the system said and the next moment the portal got smashed all of sudden with a strong aura while a gigantic black thunder hit the distant ground coming from it.


    "Kekeke, they sent me here to fight this weak lad? That''s strange," a loud and strong voice appeared amidst the dust and black fog covering up the entire zone in a large cloud that was getting bigger with time. "Lad, just tell me whom you offended and I''ll ask their forgiveness for you. It''s not fair fighting me with such a small body and weak power."


    Arthur was speechless for a moment there. "You really have a good heart as I heard," he muttered before adding, "sorry I''m dead fixed on my enmity with the dark clans," he added.


    "You seem to piss more just the dark lousy clans in such a lowly world," the owner of the voice said without any ill intention before the next moment he shouted, "Scram!"


    The cloud that covered him got smashed into nothing like having a second explosion of pure air in its center. Arthur watched the physique of this giant man, bare chested with bulging abs. "Tsk, you are really immersed in honing your body," Arthur muttered as all his body was formed of bulging muscles that seemed proportionate with his giant physique.


    His skin was faint red in color, and his hair was long, branched neatly to form a long three hair strands waving behind his back with many circular small metallic rings with luster.


    He held four giant swords in four arms, and other four carried four extremely long spears and his last two arms carried a drum.


    "Thanks for the compliment," the berserker said before adding, "but I got a reputation here to keep. I got paid and I have to see the mission completed. It''s just annoying to kill such a youth, can''t you reconsider?"


    Arthur glanced at the drum in one hand and that thick and short stick for the drum on the other before saying: "You seem to love making a good entrance."


    "Oh, I love making some noise while fighting," he laughed before adding, "c''mon kid, I really like you. I hate to see someone as good and has such a fine taste in music like you to die."


    "I''m sorry," Arthur shook his head, "I have blood enmity with all the dark clans in the universe."


    "Wow, such a young age and can say such mighty words," the berserker laughed as if he was amused with what he just heard. "C''mon lad, just lower your head this time and live to fight another day," he sincerely advised.


    "Can''t we solve this conflict in other ways than fight?" Arthur asked, hoping he wouldn''t fight this good berserker.


    "I can''t!"

 Chapter 444: Lets Be Friends

    "I can''t," the berserker shook his head, "I just told you, I have a reputation to keep and having a reputation in the dark world is very hard."


    "Why don''t you shift to the light side then?" Arthur proposed.


    "The pacifist side?" the berserker sneered, "no offense kid but the side you''re upon is really boring."


    "What about joining my side?" Arthur proposed again, in different and more clear words.


    "What do you mean by that? You are like anyone else on your side, a pacifist!"


    Arthur paused as an idea popped up in his head. "Can you travel across this world fast and check it out for me?" he said, without replying directly to the berserker words.


    "What do you aim to do with that?" the berserker doubted Arthur''s intentions. "Listen kid, if you think you can fool me and run away then you are dreaming. I already have your aura in my nose. No matter where you run to, even to a much lower realm, I''ll easily find you," the berserker threatened in such an angry tone.


    "I didn''t mean that," Arthur shook his head before adding, "what I did here made those up there annoyed. Imagine that, what would possibly be annoying from a kid like me towards those big names and clans up there?"


    The face of the berserker showed his puzzlement for a moment.


    "They aren''t that smart clans, don''t depend heavily on his mind," the golden dragon seemed to guess what Arthur''s wanted to achieve here, so he sincerely advised.


    And Arthur noticed from the trouble over the berserker face the true words he just heard. "I have made a lot of ruckus in this world. I''m not a pacifist, despite peace is my aim yet I intend to reach it through rivers of blood and storms of war," he directly said his intentions.


    "Storms of war and rivers of blood¡­" the berserker repeated Arthur''s words before adding, "good saying lad, it seems I need to go out and take a stroll first," he said before pointing out towards Arthur, "don''t try to run away," he warned.


    "I won''t," Arthur said before adding, "I promise. I''ll just keep my hands busy killing those weaklings down there," Arthur pointed his claw towards the ground where two hundred thousand warriors were holding their breaths waiting for the epic fight.


    "Oho, I like you even more," the berserker laughed before adding, "any clue where you want me to look at?"


    "Just take a stroll at the central zone where I established my city. I already conquered the middle sized dark clan nearby, raging wars at the moment inside their territories aiming for more people and resources," Arthur paused before finding it strange yet he admitted it, "and there is one big clan other than this one that I had just crushed. I dunno its name to be honest, as I don''t mind asking my enemies about their names."


    "Why is that?" the berserker asked in a very amused face and tone.


    "Because they will be dead the next moment," Arthur smiled and controlled himself from laughing out loud. After all this berserker didn''t make up his mind yet.


    "Kakaka, I like you more," the berserker laughed in a bizarre way while his body shook. "Alright, you keep toying here while I''ll take a full tour of the entire world."


    The next moment Arthur saw the berserker waving the sword while his stick holding hand started to boom on the drum, causing explosive sounds not anything related to music.


    "Swoosh!" the sword was so mighty enough to cleave apart the air and the next second a dark world appeared behind that rapidly expanding hole. "See you later," the berserker said before he walked along with his annoying booming drumming inside that hole before it closed as fast as it appeared.


    "Wow, that''s such a brutal foe," Arthur muttered in surprise.


    "You played him well," the golden dragon commended, "what do you plan to do next? Run away or stay and fight?"


    "I''ll stay for sure," Arthrur shrugged, "if I can gain such an ally, then I''ll be more at ease for now."


    "Ding! Your enemies are getting more restless, I recommend to consider the wise saying of that fool," the system said and this time Arthur couldn''t keep his laughs, and his silent roars made him about to die, fire getting wild again.


    "I know I should lay low," Arthur muttered before adding, "but first I need to take what I fought hard to get."


    "This clan''s territory and population?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Not just this one," Arthur shrugged, "that unknown clan that I just destroyed with masters as well."


    "Ding! There is a star connecting to their base inside your star map," the system said the good news before all of sudden Arthur had a piece of paper appeared out of thin air in front of him.


    "A bird''s wing?" he muttered before holding and unfolding it.


    "Ahem," he cleared his throat before shaking his head, "These two¡­ sigh."


    The bird''s wing was from Amelia, and she spoke about the presence of Mr. E and Amanda with many academy masters in the city for quite some time now.


    She complained of their thorough investigation in everything. Even some of the masters went with the armies dispatched to claim Olor''s agreed upon population and resources.


    "I have to accept that," he shook his head before muttering, "they should stay there until we return to the academy," he took the bird''s wing and reassured her long paragraphs of worry upon him after hearing what happened from Amanda and Cesile.


    He also told her to wait until they return to the academy and don''t inform the others about his whereabouts or even about this letter.


    He let the bird''s wing be burned away before he turned his gaze finally upon the two hundred thousand enemies down there. "Sorry I kept you waiting for long¡­ worthless sheep," he muttered before waving his wings and descending upon them like fate.


    He kept pouring out his fire until it completely covered the entire array. "Tsk, it''s really tough," he muttered as after long minutes of waiting, many holes only appeared and his fire didn''t manage to completely destroy the barrier. "I should go and help that explosive girl," he smiled before waving his wings again to appear over the smaller group in the distance.


    Then he opened his mouth and started coating the array with his fire.


    "Yeah, gimme more, the harder the better, yeah!"


    Underneath him, that queen kept jumping from a place to another, letting her body be covered with the fallen fire through the holes in the array.


    "Damn, this girl¡­" he helplessly shook his head, "I''m not doing this for you, just keep fighting and leave this for later," he shouted at her yet his words were wasted.


    She kept running after his fire like a little girl dancing under the rain. After a couple of shouts he gave up, while jumping from side to side, making sure his fire would stay ignited for as long as it took to burn away the inside defenses and these stubborn arrays.

 Chapter 445: Prove yourself

    Arthur kept assaulting the two armies relentlessly while his scorpion girl kept ignoring everything and focused on hunting down the fallen energy of his.


    This made the losses on her side mainly due to her stamping over many warriors along her way.


    As for the other side, Arthur focused mainly there as the array had annoying self regeneration ability.


    It took hours for him to finally crack this array. The other one cracked a long time ago and the scorpion just took as much as she could from his fire while the rest fell on everyone, killing them.


    The moment the array broke, Arthur started to have his way easily in killing his enemies. This wasn''t a surprise as the only barrier sheltering those weak warriors was gone.


    "That berserker," Finally when he killed everyone, he stood in front of the small pillar that they used to summon the berserker. "He said he would be here soon, yet after all these hours he didn''t show up," he expressed his complaints aloud.


    "I finished in the first half hour," the sound of the berserker suddenly came in while he descended slowly from the high clouds, "yet I decided to wait, watch what you are doing and make sure you are true to your words."


    Arthur was surprised by his sudden appearance and words, yet he collected himself fast. "And?" he asked.


    "You are really an admirable kid," the berserker laughed, "killing two big clans and making a medium sized clan bow their heads to yours is an impressive feat. Your city isn''t a place for prosperity yet for war. Armies sat off all the time, and you aren''t content with what you achieved so far, trying to harass more clans and cause more wars," the berserker said all those facts with a grin over his face.


    "And?" Arthur wasn''t surprised at all from all these words. This was his doings, his style and way of life here.


    He only cared about what decision this mighty man will make.


    "I acknowledge your way of life, it suits me the best. Yet, I need to test out something," the berserker said before suddenly vanishing from Arthur''s sight.


    ''Ding! He is coming from your back, evade!'' the system hurriedly said and Arthur didn''t have time to even think as he only flapped his wings and instantly vanished from his place.


    "Good reflex and intuition," the berserker knew nothing about Arthur''s system, so he wrongly thought this was all his doing.


    "What are you trying to do?" Arthur noticed that the place he was at previously was cut with a simple sword wave of that berserker.


    "Tsk, what? Don''t you love to fight like me?" the berserker said.


    "Sure, but should we fight to death?"


    "Hahah, you are a funny kid," the berserker laughed before seriously adding, "I tested the truth of your words, and they are valid. Now I need to test your potential."


    "My potential¡­ why?"


    "You are the type I admire and look for to work with, but¡­" the berserker paused as he turned around, waving his swords as he added, "this world and others around it are only low planes for me. There is no fun in killing ants."


    Arthur got the meaning behind his words. "So you want to see if I have the ability to rise up to your higher realms?"


    "Correct indeed," the berserker said before adding, "if you don''t have the potential to rise higher, you won''t be of any use to me."


    "Correct indeed," Arthur mimicked his own way of wording before adding, "so we need to spar?"


    "Sure, but as I already know how weak you are, I won''t stress much over you," the berserker said before adding, "you need to directly take one attack from me, before landing another one over me without defending. This way I''ll be able to test your strength and have a glimpse over your potential future growth."


    Arthur waited for a couple of minutes thinking deeply about this offer, and the berserker just stood his place without adding another word.


    "I suggest you accept," the golden dragon suddenly said.


    ''Ding! This is risky,'' the system stood opposite to the golden dragon''s stance.


    "I and you know perfectly well how far this kid can go. Gaining the trust and future support of berserker is something amazing. You shouldn''t let this rare chance slip, agree."


    Arthur waited silently before finally saying: "Will you use your full power?"


    "Not all, but I''ll use a higher form of energy than you know here in lower realms," the berserker replied before amusingly asking, "what? Don''t tell me the next warlord is afraid?"


    "I''m not," Arthur finally made his mind. This berserker was strong, impulsive, yet not that dumb at all. He also didn''t mean ill to him, and he trusted his abilities with no end. "Come, let''s do this."


    "Hahaha, that''s the way I like it," the next moment the berserker vanished to reappear before Arthur as he shouted, "be ready kid, here I come."


    The moment his sword moved, Arthur felt a sudden and mighty gust of wind coming from the sword. "This is only caused by his simple wave?!" Arthur glanced at the rapidly approaching sword and didn''t move.


    "He is holding back," he already saw how this man used his sword to cleave the air and vanish. This strength he used was far lower than the one he showed before.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment the sword hit his body, he felt like he was tossed by a mighty hand to fly, yet before his body was thrown away he flapped his wings fast, counteracting this force.


    This made his body under immense pressure, yet the next thing happened didn''t only startle the berserker, it startled him.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The place hit by the sword had all the scales under it be stimulated and be launched away. This didn''t only happen to these scales, but to a large number around them.


    The sword was pushed slightly away from his body releasing the mighty pressure he was facing.

 Chapter 446: Orlafs Golden Pointers

    Yet this wasn''t everything, as the other scales moved fast and the next instant they were inserted deeply inside the body of the berserker, releasing purifying energy inside his body.


    "Interesting," the berserker muttered while examining those scales inserted shallowly in his body, "you managed to hurt me while it was my turn to hurt you," he said and the next moment he laughed.


    Arthur watched his scales with a shock expression over his face. "Wow," he only said this and went to silence.


    "I fought many dragonairs before, black, silver, and other rare variations," the berserker amusingly said before he clenched all his body muscles, pushing the scales away, "yet I never met someone like you," he smiled while taking one of these scales, interestingly examining it.


    "Holds such massive purifying power in this tiny thing," he muttered after some minutes of silence and observation. "It''s good I wasn''t a real dark master, or else I would have deeper injuries."


    "Sorry, didn''t know about this," Arthur didn''t want the berserker to be mad at him, after all he was trying to befriend him.


    "Don''t be sorry, kid," yet the berserker laughed in an amused way, "this is really a surprise, a really interesting one," he then crushed the scale into powder while adding, "this time you proved your strength in defense. It''s your time to attack me."


    Arthur strangely glanced over the berserker before saying: "Isn''t this enough? Can''t you know my potential from this one?"


    "Indeed," the berserker nodded, "but I need to know more. I have the feeling you have more potential than I just felt here. Plus¡­" his face turned serious before adding, "I care about my words so much. I promised you a mutual exchange, and an exchange is what you''ll get."


    Arthur was about to argue with him, proposing to release the berserker from his words, yet he was stopped by his golden dragon at the last moment.


    "Don''t," the golden dragon said, "just follow along his request and use all your strength. Don''t hold anything back."


    Arthur was surprised yet he nodded. "Here I come," he said before channeling his energy and the next moment he sprayed his fire breath, covering the body of the berserker.


    "Purifying fire with such strong lightning?" the berserker seemed fine within the fire, "if you held this power now, what would happen when you manage to break realms and rise to ours? Impressive," he added, yet Arthur didn''t finish.


    "Use your silent roars now!" the golden dragon instructed.


    "Hahahaha," Arthur laughed, and the next moment his silent roar appeared. The fire suddenly surged and became fiercer, making the berserker pause in his own words abruptly while frowning.


    "A roar that augments the fire? Never heard of such a thing," he muttered before glancing over the distance, "and your fire can aid your pets to evolve, that''s amusing."


    Arthur stopped spraying his breath once he laughed, and after that he didn''t continue to attack. He didn''t want to do this in the first place, and now he patiently waited for the fire to die down and befriend this crazy berserker.


    Yet when the fire died down, he was surprised to see shallow lacerations over the body of the berserker. The berserker kept examining his body in silence before saying:


    "You managed to hurt me twice! That''s really impressive!" he muttered before adding, "never thought someone in such a low realm can even leave a scratch on my mighty body."


    Arthur didn''t open his mouth and waited for this crazy one to settle on a decision. He was nervous, knowing if that man in front of him wanted him dead then he couldn''t do anything to stop it.


    "That''s great, hahaha," the berserker suddenly broke into laughter, "you indeed have the potential to rise and be a great power in the higher planes."


    "So, are we cool?" Arthur didn''t mind all this praising yet he now mostly cared about his future with this berserker.


    "Sure," the berserker grinned, "and I''ll tell you a piece of advice, something not widely known here in lower realms I guess."


    Arthur smiled as he said, "I''m all ears."


    "It''s about the secret of how to break the lower realms shackles and rise up to the higher planes," the berserker seriously said before adding, "take it from me, Orlaf, if you didn''t start planning early you''ll lose a lot of precious time and might even fail."


    Arthur nodded as Orlaf continued:


    "To rise you can''t do it on your own. You need a group to depend upon. Up there everyone belongs to a clan or to academy for a reason. You can''t just rise up alone, can''t break the shackles of this world by your own powers only.


    You need to have a clan or an academy, helping anyone of those to truly dominate a hundred lower realm, then you can rise."


    "A clan or an academy¡­" Arthur muttered before adding, "I don''t have a clan," he sincerely said.


    "But you are lucky to have an academy," Orlaf said before adding, "you need to rise to be the dean of your academy, the absolute ruler. You have to work for the academy, grow the individual strength of their members and also the overall dominance of the academy to control the world you reside in and a hundred more worlds."


    "This¡­" Arthur paused while picturing the big shots in his academy, "I''m still a disciple there, a freshly joined one!"


    "I know," Orlaf nodded, "I have seen all the info about you, even about your golden lion weak clan," he added as he laughed. "Your choice to abandon your pathetic clan is indeed wise, and being a freshman in your academy is a blessing."


    Arthur was surprised that his life info was well known to his enemy in such a detailed way. "A blessing¡­ how?"


    "You''re still new there and can easily create a massive impact," Orlaf said before adding, "I read memos about your academy. Decent one in your low world, yet it''s not that best out there. Frankly, it''s just one of the lowest tier academies in your world."


    "That''s¡­ bad."

 Chapter 447: The Berserkers Pillar

    "No," Orlaf shook his head, "that''s good, it''s pretty good actually."


    Arthur glanced weirdly at him while Orlaf kept explaining:


    "A gem like you being in an already successful academy would need much work and effort to shine and dominate on internal things there. Yet in such a lousy academy, you only need to show them your real strength, aid them a couple of times and help in raising their status among other academies and they''ll worship you."


    Arthur understood the logic behind his words. "Being the strongest wolf in the wolf pack is much better than being a mere lion amongst lions," he muttered.


    "Yes, but you won''t be the strongest wolf," Orlaf laughed, "you''ll miraculously change all these wolves and turn them with you into lions."


    "Hehehe," Arthur laughed before adding, "alright, I like this plan."


    "And like you kid," Orlaf suddenly waved his swords to cleave the air before adding, "make sure you won''t die until we meet next," he passed into the opening he created, "at the higher realms with your mighty academy."


    Arthur watched the hole closing fast before swearing, "I promise you this is what will happen."


    He took a deep breath while his system muttered:


    "Ding! Change in plans?"


    "Sure," he nodded, "I thought this would be my own base and world to depend upon," he shook his head before adding, "yet this is nothing, sigh I need one hundred worlds to conquer and the hardest of all is that academy and its world."


    "Orlaf''s words are indeed right," the golden dragon said, "up there no one is alone ever. All belong to something one way or another."


    "Can''t I just prove myself worthy to any higher academy up there to adopt me?" he knew this new path was such a lengthy path for him. "I''ll have many troubles if I hit this road."


    "It''s a bumpy road, I admit," the golden dragon said before adding, "yet depending on lucky encounters with those high up academies isn''t a good thing. You need to rely solely on your own strength and on what you can guarantee right now."


    "Meaning I''ll have to follow this plan?" Arthur sighed before adding, "no other options here?"


    "Unfortunately nill," the golden dragon said.


    "Ding! Don''t worry, as that Orlaf mentioned, your academy isn''t that high and mighty. You''ll find it easy for you to make progress easily and prove yourself worthy."


    "Tsk," Arthur was still skeptical regarding this, "this isn''t about me getting their acknowledgment, it''s about me competing with those top masters out there and beating them all to be the dean."


    "Ding! You aren''t that weak either," the system consoled.


    "And you got the two of us behind you," the golden dragon said, "don''t worry much and trust more in your abilities."


    "Alright," Arthur had to accept this outcome, "saying this I have to focus more on building strong relations with everyone."


    "Ding! Not only that, you need to seek ways to help the academy grow and your deed to be well known to all," the system said.


    "You just need to ask for the toughest mission out there and complete it brilliantly."


    "Ding! Great advice."


    "You two¡­" Arthur had his eyes twitched from their words, "I''m not that mighty and invincible to accept such risky missions! Plus I still have this world to conquer."


    "Ding! You need to decrease your presence here and reserve your strength more."


    "Agreed, laying low now is important."


    Arthur understood their worry. "Afraid of facing other mighty bounty hunters?" he smiled helplessly and the silence he got back was enough as an answer. "Tsk, yet you have a point here."


    He glanced all around before sighing, "I planned to conquer this clan first."


    "Ding! You should do this before heading back to the academy. After all your time here is limited."


    "You''re right," Arthur smiled while he got his energy back, "I should at least garnish what''s mine here before going anywhere else."


    "But if you found any pillar like this ever again, run," the golden dragon warned, "not all are so nice as this berserker."


    "I understand," Arthur nodded before shifting his gaze upon the short pillar on the ground, "can I take it?"


    "Ding! Sure, touch it and I''ll send it into your world."


    "With my blood?"


    "Ding! In the usual way."


    Arthur went towards the pillar and the moment he left his blood mark upon it the pillar shone with blue light first before fading away.


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered, "what''s all this about?"


    "Ding! I believe your energy is something that the pillar recognizes," the system explained.


    "I¡­ have no link to berserkers!"


    "You don''t need to have a link to some clan to be recognized by their fallen ones," the golden dragon said before adding, "your level of energy is something the fallen berserker here acknowledged."


    "Interesting," Arthur smiled before putting his hand over it, "go inside."


    The pillar vanished and he glanced around. "Come back," he took the scorpion queen back while she had already killed her foes a long time ago and was now lying silently on the ground.


    "Now let''s clear this entire region clean," he smirked before flapping his wings and rising fast to the clouds.


    Despite his new gained speed, it took him days to just cover part of the vast territory of this clan. During these days he kept attacking everywhere he could reach, and his system helped in scouting the miles around him all the time.


    He didn''t see anything disturbing until five days later. It was a grand fortress that obviously belonged to the Amazor clan.


    "Another fortress," he muttered as this wasn''t the first one to meet. He wasn''t so enthusiastic about conquering these fortresses except for the stores they had.


    He had many riches gained from these stores, while he preferred to better get more population right now than resources.


    He planned to gain as many people as possible, allowing his young city to flourish and make the firm base of his future empire. Not this empire had another goal to aim at, which was to dominate the dorgazire academy.

 Chapter 448: The Golden Dragons Advice

    The more people he would have, the more talent he would obtain. These talents would work best to be one of his powers, adding more options for him to dominate the academy.


    If it was a clan, it would be much easier for him to crush them with his strength. But this was an academy, something he wouldn''t dominate with power alone.


    "Ding! Warning, a pillar appeared there," suddenly his system warned him from going there. "Ding! Retreat," the system added.


    Arthur paused while the golden dragon asked: "What''s the shape of that pillar? What clan does it belong to?"


    "Ding! There is a faint wolf inscription over its top," the system answered.


    "Damn!" the golden dragon cursed, "those folks are really vengeful and hard to deal with. Retreat kid, this place isn''t suited to be yours. Retreat before they spot you."


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to move away as far as possible from this stronghold. "What clan is it?" he asked when he was finally far away from their reach.


    "The werewolves," the golden dragon said, "they are a real trouble."


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head before adding, "this way of venturing here isn''t reassuring at all."


    "They seem to be very pissed of you."


    "The dark clans here?" he asked.


    "No, those you killed their offspring," the golden dragon corrected.


    "They have a point," Arthur laughed.


    "Damn kid, stop using this annoying strength of yours," the golden dragon was pissed off from his silent roars.


    "Sorry, can''t help myself here," he smiled while turning his gaze towards a distant cluster of towns and villages. "To the next target then."


    He kept moving from one location to another using the same tactic. First he let his system scan the area seeking for any Amazor clan''s remaining forces.


    If there was such, he would instantly target them then his system would open gates to the people here while he selected the highest place and cancel his transformation.


    He would speak a few words explaining the new situation here and his identity and deeds, asking those interested to be freed to join him before hurrying to leave again in his dragon form.


    Just as he delved deeply into the bigger territory of the Amazor clan, he started to meet more strongholds with pillars waiting for him.


    "Ding! Leave this one."


    "Ding! Hurry and retreat now."


    "Ding! This one is also a threat."


    "Ding! Pillar alert¡­ pillar alert¡­"


    The system kept warning him in increasing frequency while Arthur started to be annoyed.


    "Damn! Everywhere I run to now is risky!"


    He stood a couple of tens of miles away from a cluster of strongholds stretched right and left. They blocked his path forward, and if he wanted to continue advancing, he would risk being spotted by them.


    "Ding! You should retreat to the academy then."


    "Tsk, I thought I could take more," he sighed.


    "You took enough already," the golden dragon said before adding, "also this is a small lesson for you. Don''t try to hit someone you can''t afford his wrath."


    "Whose side are you one exactly?" Arthur smiled before adding, "or do you want me to laugh?"


    "Oh, stop, I didn''t mean anything mean to you," the golden dragon hurried to say before adding, "this is just for you sake."


    "I know what''s best for me," Arthur said before flying away, "anyone standing in my way is my enemy."


    "Tsk, stubborn kid."


    "Hahaha," Arthur laughed and the next moment the golden dragon kept asking for forgiveness.


    "Ding! The portal is ready."


    The system said, stopping the two bricking here. "Where does this lead to?" the golden dragon asked, "to his city?"


    "Ding! It''s to his star map, then to the academy world."


    "No, no, no, this is wrong," the golden dragon said.


    "What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked.


    "You are wasting a golden opportunity now," the golden dragon paused before adding, "didn''t that chick of yours mention they are in your city?"


    "Yeah, they are acting like they owned the place."


    "It''s great, go then to the city."


    Arthur didn''t get the meaning of his golden dragon. "I''ll meet them at the academy when I return," he said before adding, "I''ll fetch a bird''s wing to Amelia and make her gather everyone and move to the city. She will also inform them about my location like I was already there from the start."


    "Wrong," the golden dragon didn''t care about his logic as he added, "this is all wrong."


    "Ding! Can you elaborate further so he can get your point?"


    "Going back to the city and appointing those annoying masters of yours as guardians to the city is very important."


    "¡­"


    Arthur was speechless there and before he could say anything the golden dragon pushed even further in his imaginations, "no, the best is to appoint them as your imperial guardians."


    "You must be tired and grew senile, old dragon," Arthur couldn''t respond by anything but these words.


    "Just listen, this is for your own good," the golden dragon kept arguing.


    "How? They are already annoying! Appointing them even to my city with posts won''t bring but more trouble and noises to my little peaceful world!"


    "First of all, your world isn''t little neither peaceful; you are a warlord," the golden dragon sneered before adding, "as for them being annoying, you need to figure out a way to deal and tolerate this. After all you need their recognition in the end to be the dean and follow your commands."


    Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "what this has to do with appointing them as guardians? Huh?"


    "You are such a short sighted youth," the golden dragon sighed, "this way you''ll get them to start seeing you as their boss. It might seem a minute detail for you, but later on this small thing will grow up and make their minds and souls accept you as a leader."


    Arthur paused before his mind started to gain accustomed to the golden dragon''s logic. "You mean acting like their boss from here?"

 Chapter 449: The Grand City

    "Exactly," the golden dragon said, "here you have the credits to be their boss without many complaining, while back at the academy you are just a mere disciple."


    Arthur went to silence, seriously contemplating the golden dragon''s words. "Ding! I support this idea," the system suddenly said before adding, "you also need to pass from here before heading towards your city."


    "Alright," Arthur nodded before heading directly into the portal, "let''s do this."


    The next moment he appeared inside his star map where things were calm and steady. He glanced over the increasing number of stars as he muttered, "one for the Amazor clan, and the other one is for the clan my masters defeated, right?"


    "Ding! That''s right," the system said before adding, "Ding! That''s also in addition to a couple more worlds the star map connected to them."


    "From that old empire''s list of worlds?" he asked.


    "Ding! No, they are just new worlds the star map started to explore and link by itself."


    Arthur felt curious about this, yet he didn''t have time to go and play there. "Soon I''ll come here and explore all these worlds," he promised before adding, "after all I need a hundred worlds to be linked here."


    He glanced all around before muttering, "When did the star map have a link to my city?"


    "Ding! When you asked me to plant three doors before, forget?" the system laughed and Arthur recalled this minor detail before saying, "where is the star then?"


    "Ding! The big one on the right."


    Arthur easily recognized this star as it was the greatest star there. "Why does it have a bigger size?"


    "Ding! It''s your capital after all, so it''s like those clan''s headquarters you crushed before."


    "I see," he jumped over the star and the next second he appeared inside his city.


    The atmosphere here wasn''t as calm as the inside of his star map, as many people were moving right and left while many shouts came from everywhere.


    "Ding! Is it war?" Arthur squeezed his eyes while turning to be serious.


    "It''s a celebration," the system said before adding, "Ding! I can see many lanterns and decorations everywhere in the city."


    "A celebration¡­ for what exactly?" he was at a loss for a moment while his system added, "Ding! Just a notice for you, this city changed the last time you saw it."


    Arthur took a glance around before suddenly flapping his wings to rise high in the air.


    "Cling!"


    "Cling!"


    "Cling!"


    Just as he appeared on top of his city, he was welcomed with a gigantic scene that he didn''t expect and these bell sounds ranging everywhere. The city was so vast now, and many new parts appeared here while the walls of the city grew larger and expanded from itself to allow the city to grow.


    "They are in¡­ millions?" he muttered while glancing over his city in surprise and pride. "This is my city, mine!" he was excited the next moment, trying to remind himself that this grand place was already his.


    "Cling!"


    "Cling!"


    "Cling!"


    "What are all these noises?" Arthur sighed before adding, "are they celebrating from now?"


    "Ding! I believe these are warning alarms for your appearance."


    "Wow, do they plan to welcome me in arms," he joked.


    "Ding! This seems to be the case," the system agreed upon his joke, startling him, "after all you aren''t that dark red giant dragon they used to see as a lord."


    The words of the system alarmed him of the point he totally neglected. "Damn! I have to hurry and show them myself."


    Before he could even finish his words, he heard a sound coming from below while many arrays started to be formed while the wall defenses were activated just below his legs.


    "Impressive response," the golden dragon said before laughing, "now it''s your job to convince them that you are their lord."


    "This is easy," Arthur smiled while watching the incoming streams of people towards him. "Those masters are really energetic," he laughed and his silent roars annoyed the golden dragon and all the pets coming towards here in a grand array.


    "Who are you?" Mr. E appeared in front of him while glancing weirdly towards Arthur.


    Arthur didn''t hurry to respond to him as he waited leisurely until all the masters gathered around him. Their numbers declined more than the last time he saw them. "Lost around twenty?" he said to himself when he noticed their number didn''t exceed seventy.


    "Answer the question, reptile, or else I''ll slain you here."


    Arthur turned his gaze towards this strong tone and familiar voice. She was Amanda, and she seemed very dead serious in her words and threats.


    "Tsk, you are really a frightening loyal wife," the next moment he canceled his transformation, showing up his true human self before saying these words.


    His sudden appearance startled everyone, while he didn''t have time to spot their reactions well as the next moment his body started to fall.


    "Watch out¡­" Amanda and Cesile shouted both at the same time while he simply activated the energy again before the slender blue dragon appeared again in front of their eyes.


    "Hahahah, I told you, my eyes never failed me before. This man here is the best to match you my dear disciple," Mr. E laughed while Amanda''s face instantly turned red as she realized what she did just now was perceived directly by Arthur.


    Arthur just smiled before letting his wings stop moving and his body fell gracefully towards the ground.


    "Can you¡­" Cesile was about to ask, yet when she saw him passing through the strong defense barriers like they weren''t there, she added, "never mind."


    He glanced at her before nodding. He was the lord of this place after all, not just a mere visitor like them. "You know you are right in your advice," Arthur admitted it as the words his golden dragon said were starting to prove their worth now.


    As he passed through the defensive barriers, those down below of his team and the leaders of his city understood at once everything.


    Just as he landed, Amelia was the first to come towards him. She paused a few meters away from his body while marveling at his new shape. "You¡­ impressive," she couldn''t find the words to describe this while Amanda and Cesile both stood on two other sides glancing over his scales, horns, and everything.


    "You look smaller," Cesile muttered.


    "But much stronger," Amanda said.


    "Can you three stop eyeing me like I''m a freak?" he returned to his human form again while sneering. "C''mon, let''s go inside," he said, pointing towards the nearby palace of his. "Move the boys back to their stations, and thank them for me. They did brilliantly well in reacting to my sudden appearance."


    "You act like you intended all this!!" the golden dragon remarked.


    "Ding! Don''t bother, he is just a shameless one," the system laughed while Arthur silently sighed.

 Chapter 450: A Debate Inside the Palace

    Arthur went inside the palace while totally ignoring the harsh remarks of his two voices in his head.


    The palace wasn''t like the last time he visited it, where he had his intimate moments with Amelia. It was now completed with a grand looking three stories height, large garden, and big walls with three main gates.


    The garden wasn''t that much right now. He had the intention of bringing forth more to it from his own garden.


    "Sit as you pleased," he said to everyone in front of him while the eyes of the three girls were fixed on each other like three cats about to have a fight over one feather.


    The hall was grandiose with many golden seats in front of his throne. He sat higher than others, while following the advice of his golden dragon to the letter.


    "What happened after you disappeared?" Mr. E asked before adding, "we searched long and wide for you, yet no traces can be found here."


    "I was sent to a special place," he said honestly before lying, "and met a very strong foes there before finally managing to run away."


    "Oh," Mr. E showed his concern, "are you alright then?"


    "I''m fine," he smiled, "what happened to those traitors who sold me out?"


    "I killed them," Cesile said in an impulsive tone.


    "Not on your own," Amanda harrumphed in pride, "others also helped as well."


    Mr. E was slightly amused by this little conflict between the two girls. "They were ten, we killed six and four managed to run away," he said.


    "But it seems you lost four in return," Arthur remarked.


    "They were strong indeed," Slone said, "and they had many dark clan supporters."


    "It''s strange how they could have such support in rapid time," Otman showed his doubts, "I believe they were already working with them from the start."


    "We can''t rush to such a conclusion yet," Mr. E said, trying to end this debate, "we already have enough problems back home."


    "Speaking of home," Arthur finally found a way to start his grand plan, "I want to ask if the academy can use this city of mine as base in future expansion."


    "This¡­" Mr. E hesitated and Arthur didn''t give him time to object as he added:


    "This isn''t a mere city, it''s a capital for my empire."


    "Empire? Like those mentioned in old tales?" Cesile asked.


    "Sure," Arthur nodded before making his offer, "if you preferred to use this as your base, I can make you all into the esteemed guardian of the empire."


    Mr. E showed a troubled expression before honestly saying, "this world isn''t that important to us. If we were a mighty academy we would have accepted this. But the recent treasons and the inner conflicts around the great clans and guilds make me hesitant about this offer of yours."


    Arthur nodded in understanding. "That''s not an issue," he said before asking in a serious tone, "how can the academy reputation be pumped up in our world?"


    His question was answered by Amanda, cutting the path over Cesile from taking over every opportunity to speak by hurriedly saying:


    "The easiest way is through the grand competition held annually in the greatest academy in our world."


    "And the hardest way?" Arthur didn''t hurriedly take a decision now.


    "To crush every single academy out there and absorb more of us," Mr. E was the one to speak before curiously asking, "what''s wrong? Interested in helping the academy now?"


    "Well, to be honest the foes I met here made my plans in this world halt," he had to be slightly honest to gain their trust, "and many of the problems I got came from the current weakness of our academy. So, I plan to focus more on the academy in the next few months before coming here again and dominae this world."


    His words echoed in the hall and everyone glanced at each other silently. It was known that new youths were eager to test themselves in the competitions.


    Yet not many had the aspiration to help the academy grew; all cared either upon themselves or their clans and guilds.


    "What about your clan?" Cesile asked.


    "The Golden Lion clan?" Arthur asked before adding, "well I have no big plans for them now."


    "Well, I don''t want to say no to my future son-in-law, but I have to decline this."


    Arthur didn''t faze or be surprised that Mr. E responded, as he already anticipated it. "Reasons?" he calmly asked, acting again like what his golden dragon advised.


    "Just told you, we can''t divert our attention to anyplace outside the academy for now."


    "I can promise to support the academy," Arthur said.


    "With no offense," one of the masters sitting here said before adding, "your mere strength can''t even qualify you to even propose suggestions to the academy. You can''t help in the brutal wars between masters."


    "Leave the youth competitions to me," Arthur wasn''t offended by this master''s harsh words, "I''ll make sure the academy will reign supreme over all the competitions from now on."


    His words were met with many whispers and side talks. He patiently waited, as this matter didn''t carry low significance to him.


    Yet from their whispers he could see half was supporting him, and the others weren''t.


    "May I propose something?" Mr. E suddenly said, trying to end this state of debate inside even his closest and most trusted masters, "I know you see him as a freshman with no accomplishments at all, yet don''t forget his rank in the academy."


    Mr. E pointed to Arthur as he added, "he is in the seventh grade now, making him one of the strongest disciples we currently have."


    "Master is right, but he didn''t even have his classes started. How can we trust the fate of the next competition on him like this?" one of the opposing masters said in a calm and respectful tone.


    "Well," Arthur was the one to speak this time, "as you can see I was quite busy dealing with big dark clans here," he showed off some of his accomplishments here to remind them of who he really was.

 Chapter 451: A Challenge Is Issued

    "I know you did big deeds, but the competitions aren''t only about strength," the master argued.


    "That''s why I''ll leave here and focus entirely over the academy and its lessons," Arthur calmly said before adding, "but leaving the city in such critical moments while every dark clan is stirred against me isn''t wise."


    "So you want to appoint us as your city bodyguards?" another master said in a mocking tone, yet Arthur replied with calm smile before answering him:


    "It''s not to guard the city," he shook his head before pointing his finger up, "this city has the strongest defenses ever in this world. Not a mere dark clan army or armies can penetrate such defense."


    He wasn''t bragging without any ground. He knew during their stay here they must have noticed and thoroughly checked his walls and the mighty defensive shield in it.


    "A shield with no force to kill the invaders is useless even if it''s such a mighty shield," the master kept arguing with him.


    "I can''t agree more," Arthur nodded before adding, "so I want to appoint you here to help train my citizens."


    "For what?" another master said.


    "Don''t say the competition. We already have our team ready to go to the next competition in a month''s time," a third master bragged while cutting the road on Arthur to use this chip.


    As Arthur was thinking about offering some treasures to them, his golden dragon gave him the answer he was seeking.


    "I want to challenge them," Arthur followed the words of his golden dragon without hesitation.


    "What?" it was Cesile who exclaimed in surprise this time. "This team is already containing all the grade nine and eight disciples of our academy," she tried to push some reason into him.


    "I want to challenge them all, to prove to you my worth."


    "We already know your value," Amanda stood on the side of Cesile while adding, "but don''t rush things up. Take your time and train in a year or couple more before thinking of going to the tournament."


    "I don''t have such time," he bitterly admitted to himself before saying aloud: "Why wait when I can go now?"


    "But you lack a lot compared to them," Mr. E tried to make him drop this idea, "you need to compete with them in fight competition, forging competition, array competition, alchemy competition, and finally the most important of all; the unique talent competition."


    He tried to make Arthur realize how foolish his childish idea was, yet Arthur just smiled in confidence while saying:


    "When is the next competition being held?"


    "A month," one of the masters opposing his idea said, "do you want to challenge them in a month?" he laughed as he glanced all around.


    "Sure," Arthur nodded before raising three fingers in front of everyone, "give me three weeks and I''ll defeat them all."


    Everyone glanced at him like glancing at a maniac. Yet he had a good plan in his mind, and luckily all of his five masters were on his side.


    "I agree on this outrageous challenge," the master who laughed once laughed again, "this will serve as a good lesson to you kid. It''s great to have good strength, yet it''s bad to not properly assess it."


    His tone and attitude was mean, yet the words he said were honest. Everyone nodded in agreement while Arthur said: "Then is it settled?"


    Mr. E glanced around, and strangely they were all united by this strange challenge. He sighed, as only a small part of his top masters; Arthur''s masters, were opposing this madness.


    "Let''s trust you then," Mr. E finally made up his mind, "in three weeks time you''ll have your challenge ready."


    "Good," Arthur said before adding, "if I won you''ll become my city guardians."


    "What if you lost?" the annoying master asked, "what would we gain beside the lesson we''ll give to you?"


    "Well," Arthur hesitated for a moment before his system gave him the answer. "I''ll make you have this little one here," he waved his hand and the next moment a short thick pillar appeared; the berserker pillar.


    The pillar got slight changes since entering the garden. The aura of the garden helped it a lot, especially since it wasn''t a black pillar from the start.


    "This is¡­" Arthur was surprised to see the amazed expression over their faces, even Mr. E wanted to come and touch the pillar.


    Yet Arthur gave his system the instant order to retract that pillar, taking him away from the reach of his grandmaster. "Sorry, last time you took things from me with no paying back," Arthur said when he noticed the strict gazes of Mr. E.


    "Tsk, it was only a dragonair''s pillar. What''s the big deal on that little thing?" Mr. E sighed before pointing to the place where the berserker pillar appeared, "yet this pillar here, it belongs to the berserker clan, right?"


    Arthur didn''t expect them to know the identity of this pillar so easily. "They are really unfathomable," he muttered to himself, trying to recall his main goal here.


    He wasn''t aiming to be the top disciple, he aimed to be the top master and the dean of this academy. To do that, he must be better than them, all of them.


    "It was one of the foes I had to face," Arthur shook his head, while honestly showing how tense it was facing the berserker from before.


    "You¡­" Mr. E was shocked beyond belief, "you faced those fighting maniacs and managed to stay alive?!!"


    "It seems I''m," Arthur laughed before adding, "anyway this pillar will go to the academy as retribution for my loss."


    "What can we do with one pillar?" another master said, greedily thinking of more.


    "This pillar can help you contact berserker clans," Arthur smiled as he calmly said, "if you don''t want it, then I can replace it easily with the usual dark pillars in this world."


    "No, we need that one," Mr. E hurried to say while turning sharply to gaze at the arguing master, silencing him, silencing everyone with his firm look.

 Chapter 452: Arthurs Plan

    "Gosh, your weakness is the pillars," Arthur shook his head while muttering to himself.


    "Now, let''s go back to the academy," Mr. E said yet Arthur raised his hand to stop them. "All can go, but my masters will stay for some time here," he suddenly requested.


    His words were met with strange gazes from everyone, his masters included.


    "Alright, all leave first," Mr. E ordered before adding, "give me a couple of hours and I''ll be back to meet all of you."


    Arthur knew Mr. E stayed behind so he would know more about his intentions here. On the other hand, Arthur finally had a glimpse on how the academy could move to this world.


    Each master took out a small ball and crushed it. White fog dissipated from these balls before covering everyone up and the next moment they were all vanished.


    "Interesting," he muttered before turning his gaze towards the six masters here.


    "Tell me what do you plan to do, kid," Mr. E said before adding, "I believe you want to use this world''s shift in time to your advantage, right?"


    Arthur nodded and didn''t deny this. "Sigh, you are a newbie in the academy after all," yet Mr. E just sighed while shaking off his head. "This isn''t unique to you. In fact other disciples are training full time inside a higher time ratio than your world here."


    "How much different?" Arthur asked.


    "Three folds," Mr. E thought for a moment, before adding, "and all the masters here, except for Amanda, have a disciple or two in the eighth and ninth grade to tutor."


    Arthur got his meaning before saying: "I won''t take much time of them," he promised, "besides I have a better time ratio than others."


    ''How much?" Amanda asked, as she already knew what he was referring to. "Your strange map full of stars? Or the world we entered before that map perhaps?"


    He nodded while adding, "yes, it''s that world of mine."


    "How much time did that world have?" Cesile asked in interest.


    "Almost ten times," Arthur smiled before adding, "than the time in this world."


    "Wow," Mr. E exclaimed before adding, "this means¡­ around sixty times the normal time in the academy, right?"


    Arthur nodded. "Like this I won''t take much time off your busy schedule," he said, "I just want you to help me and my top people to develop."


    "Your people?" Otman asked before adding, "I met two interesting folks of them already."


    "And I didn''t meet any," Slone complained.


    "I have more than what you think," Arthur mysteriously said before adding, "now can we start working?"


    "There is just one issue left," Amelia who stood silently alongside his other top team members suddenly said, "Sara and Tina didn''t yet return."


    "Oh," Arthur completely forgot about those two, "just send someone with a flying pet to fetch them back."


    He paused while thinking of his options. "Also make them retreat through the safest road."


    "They cleaned many areas already," Omar said before adding in admiration, "the two combined forces together and crushed many bases of the dark clans at their side."


    "We also dispatched many armies to spread out towards places you mentioned before," Randy said, "they are moving fast without any resistance at all."


    Arthur nodded as he knew Olor wouldn''t betray him easily. "Keep them out, yet make them retreat at the appearance of any signs of trouble," he warned before adding, "gather up everyone worthy of teaching and bring them here in one hour."


    His words were instantly executed. As a bee hive his top members moved to gather their trusted followers, and the entire city bustled in great momentum.


    "What''s the celebration going on here by the way?" he asked Amelia who had no one in particular to recommend, so she stayed back and arranged some to fly over to fetch the two girls back.


    "It''s the Odenym day," Amelia said before explaining, "most of the villagers and warriors who joined us follow such a strange cult. This is one of their foremost important days."


    "Oh, I see," Arthur nodded before adding, "yet it adds more to the beauty of the city."


    "The main parts of the city are already completed. Now we only follow the guidelines pointed out by Deem and make sure we repeat the same procedure with each expansion of the city," Amelia said before adding, "Deem is just a genius. His way of expanding the city through his maps enabled the walls out there to expand accordingly."


    "Yeah, he is a great talent," Otman spoke in praise as he added, "his knowledge of the Ley Lines are unparalleled."


    Mr. E and other masters stood by his side watching his men moving around and bringing the news and orders everywhere. "Sure, he is one of the talents I''ll assign to master," Arthur nodded before Mr. E said:


    "You plan to have many learn from our masters."


    "Sure," Arthur laughed before adding, "it''s a waste not to use all the available talents when we have this golden chance here."


    "Do you intend to use them as well in the next competition?" Amanda was curious.


    "Not in that competition," Arthur shook his head before adding, "but all the other competitions that will come later on."


    "You have a big appetite," Cesile laughed before adding, "watch out, I have some disciples in the ninth grade."


    "So you can only trust and depend entirely on me," Amanda said in an arrogant tone, "unlike others here, I''m the only full time dedicated master to you and your men."


    Her words were harsh and made the other side glance at her, yet they didn''t say a single word back. They all knew she was speaking the truth.


    "Any help is appreciated," Arthur diplomatically answered.


    Everyone got silenced when some of his men came up with more behind. The first to appear was his own clan members, led by Ron.


    The face of Ron showed his discontent to what Arthur said earlier about his intentions to drop the clan from his plans.

 Chapter 453: Gathering All the Talents from Everywhere

    Ron knew his master was heading towards a far brilliant future, yet he and others coming from the clan couldn''t help but feel worried and sad.


    Arthur didn''t notice their change in mind, at least not now. Everyone waited for another half an hour until a group of five hundred men and women gathered here.


    "Alright," Arthur muttered before a portal appeared linked to his garden by the actions of his system. "Go inside and we''ll start talking there."


    He was the first to enter, and the rest followed. Unlike what the academy masters expected, he didn''t start to arrange things here. "Wait for me, I have more to gather," he said before he vanished from his place.


    The masters exchanged silent looks as they didn''t expect him to have more. "Five hundred is a great number to be honest," Armondo muttered, "yet this little monster here still has more!"


    "He is¡­ resourceful," Cesile nodded while adding, "I also feel curious about how much he will bring here."


    "wanna bet?" Amanda laughed excitedly before adding, "let''s bet on the number the closest ones to it will win."


    Everyone glanced at her in interest while Mr. E laughed. "Tell us first what we have to put on stakes here," he said.


    "The winners will gain more access to the pillar Arthur showed to us before," Amanda said before halting from saying more.


    "What about losing?" Slone asked.


    "Losers will have to dedicate double time here than out there with other disciples," she said and her words startled everyone.


    "This¡­" Mr. E muttered before grinning, "a good help for my future son-in-law," he laughed when Amanda gave him the usual reprimanding glance. "Alright, I''m in," he agreed to make her slightly satisfied.


    "Me too," Cesile refused to admit defeat to her, "I''ll win any way," she turned to glance around before adding, "having this number outside meaning he had a similar number inside. I''ll bet on five hundred more."


    "I''ll bet on three hundred more," Slone said.


    "One hundred," Otman said.


    "One thousand," Armondo gave such a terrifying figure, making everyone glance weirdly at him.


    "Two thousand," Mr. E was crazier than Armondo and gave such a high number.


    "Five thousand," yet Amanda was much crazier than them both.


    The others who followed Arthur all around and saw what he was capable of remained silent and only shook their heads. "You''re going to lose," Amelia laughed inwardly on their wrong expectations of his man before glancing over Amanda and Cesile.


    "He is already my man, and I''m his first woman to sleep with him,"she consoled herself with these words, adding more confidence to herself in this unfair competition. "Also that girl¡­" she paused when she recalled Iman. "Sigh, and also Noura¡­ that man has so many beauties around him!"


    As for Arthur, the moment he vanished from there he said to his system:


    "Spread the word, make anyone with outstanding performance come forth to have a test with the masters."


    "Ding! I''ll inform those self appointed leaders of the villages, towns, and armies here," the system instantly replied while the golden dragon asked:


    "Where are you heading this fast then?"


    "Agnus," Arthur smiled before adding, "and Nara and those in that place as well."


    He didn''t take much time to arrive at Agnus place. The village Agnus used to live in changed to be a gigantic town, filled with blacksmiths from all over the garden world.


    "Master," the moment Arthur appeared, Agnus noticed him at once and knelt on one knee to salute him.


    "Stand up and gather your top blacksmiths," Arthur simply said.


    "Another assignment perhaps?" Agnus asked.


    "Another opportunity," Arthur smiled before adding, "half an hour, be ready with those you select in half an hour," Arthur said before leaving. "Make sure they bring all their tools with them."


    "Sure," Agnus excitedly answered before hurrying to summon his top craftsmen here.


    Arthur then went towards a certain direction provided by his system. Nara went into this world and led his huge armies already to conquer many places. The last time he used her was when he attacked that stronghold he left for Sara to handle.


    "Hi there," the moment he appeared next to her inside that great army camp she noticed and saluted him.


    "Hey sweetie," Arthur teased her while noticing the faint blush over her cheeks.


    "Surely you didn''t come here to flirt with me, right?" she tried to get over this as she asked.


    "Sure," he nodded before adding, "select the top warriors here and be ready to move in half an hour."


    "A war?" she excitedly asked.


    "A chance to get stronger," he simply said before adding, "only bring your best of the best. Numbers don''t matter, talent does."


    He then moved with his fast speed while she watched the place he was standing at for a moment. The scenes of what he did with her imperial world''s will was still fresh in her mind.


    "Sigh, he is getting stronger," she muttered, "and hotter, hehehe," she laughed as she noticed the bulging abs muscles under his clothes when arriving.


    "Ding! I spread the news already."


    "Thanks."


    "Where are you heading next?" the golden dragon said before teasing him, "you are such a coward womanizer."


    "Coward womanizer? That''s a new term for me, hehehe," Arthur laughed while the golden dragon said:


    "You love having girls around you, yet you refrain from touching them, tsk," the golden dragon paused before adding," you should man yourself up and start having love with all of these beauties."


    "Good words," Arthur laughed, "but for later times."


    "Sex has no specific time," the golden dragon said, before laughing, "sex is all the time. Listen to your master and start pumping into each one of them."


    "Thanks," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I''ll have to pass on that offer for now."


    "Coward womanizer," the golden dragon sneered and Arthur just ignored him.


    "The next stop¡­ the sky castle," he muttered while heading towards the peacefully lying castle inside all the ruckus of his garden.


    Arthur went directly through the barrier while the next scene he saw was the youths inside training each on their own unique abilities.


    They formed groups of hundreds, each trying to get used to the time they were granted here without having a proper master.


    "You are working harder than I thought," he laughed the moment he appeared in front of them, just next to the closed door of the castle itself.


    His appearance startled them for a second there before they all knelt and said in unison: "Welcome back master."


    "Oh, I''m pretty sure that scorpion queen will be proud of your attitude here," Arthur commended while adding, "now all of you are ready to leave here."


    His words landed and everyone started to whisper instantly causing a loud noise. "Calm down, calm down," he waved his hands before adding, "I have found capable masters for you to learn from," he paused before seriously saying:


    "I can''t promise that all of you will be accepted. Not all the masters here are experts in your unique abilities, plus there are some tests to conduct first before deciding who is going to join the training sessions with them and who isn''t."

 Chapter 454: Anna

    The youths in front of him got instantly pumped up while they looked up to him like they were looking to a legendary man.


    "Be prepared then," he simply ended his words before adding to his system:


    "Move everyone I meet and choose the masters'' place."


    "Ding! I''m doing that, but frankly you overdid it this time."


    "Hehehe, I''m pretty sure masters will be amazed."


    "Ding! Shocked is the right word," the system said.


    "Terrified is the most suitable word," the golden dragon corrected, before adding, "and stop using those annoying silent roars of yours."


    Arthur didn''t answer as he simply chuckled. He was now moving in his dragon form, enjoying these moments of peace amidst his garden repetitive explosions.


    "Sigh, so much time went by so far and my garden couldn''t finish purifying everything," he complained.


    "Ding! You overloaded it repeatedly with new pillars, territories, and monsters."


    "Have you noticed you use the word over recently?" Arthur joked with his system as he added, "I won''t stop at anything to get more pillars and territories. Those ten thousand new ones will help in future battles."


    "Ding! Sure thing, but you need to be quite patient here."


    "I''m bro, I''m."


    Arthur kept his dragon body soaring above the central piece of his garden. "Is it me or this place got expanded by many folds?" he noticed despite his fast speed, it took him some time to travel from his castle to the place where he trapped many monsters and two of Anna''s rivals. "This girl¡­ she never gave up," he sighed helplessly when he noticed Anna still hitting the protective dome.


    "Ding! The central garden is part of the garden, so expanding the garden has benefits over it."


    "Who is she?" the golden dragon suddenly asked, "she is good."


    "She is a disciple coming from a higher realm," Arthur simply introduced Anna to him before landing just next to her.


    "Finally decided to show up," the moment he landed with his new body she said before adding, "having a new body already? Amazing!" She watched him change back to human while admiring the previous picture of his body.


    "It''s just a small benefit I got along the road," Arthur said before pointing out towards the dome, "this is unbreakable, stop wasting your time and effort."


    "Tsk, what else should I do then," she shrugged, "at least having this as a target won''t make me go crazy of this weird place."


    Arthur smiled before asking: "Do you have such a deep grudge against them?"


    The moment he said that, her face slightly changed. "My clan¡­" she paused for a long moment there before sighing, "it''s nothing. What''s the point of visiting me today? Or is it just a mere looking over like you did a couple of times already?"


    He smiled while being busted peeping on a girl. "I didn''t mean ill," he said before adding, "and I came here to ask you to change your coat."


    "You already have me here trapped and restricted by this place," she harrumphed in discontent.


    "I want you to be on my side, leave that dark clan world you lived in and live under my light sky."


    "Nonsense," she sneered before adding, "you have me as your prisoner, perhaps your slave as you wish to say, or your wifey thing you dream about. Yet you can''t make me betray my principles."


    "This girl is good, I like her," the golden dragon laughed while Arthur didn''t show any anger over his face. "Just think about it, the road to your world is blocked as long as you are trapped in here. You won''t return until I authorize for that, and I won''t do that except if you belong to me."


    "Never," she moved her gaze towards somewhere else away from his face.


    "C''mon, do you want to keep pumping your head in an impregnable wall like this?"


    "Better than betraying my beliefs."


    "Don''t you want your revenge?"


    "What do you know about me? Huh?" she harrumphed before adding, "just stop it, I would never betray my own path no matter what."


    "Then how about keeping your path and joining my path at the same time?" he proposed.


    "How can this be? We are on totally opposite paths!"


    "No," he shook his head before adding, "If you worked under me, then both paths would be the same."


    "A¡­ snitch?" her face grew redder and her eyes even bulged, "are you out of your mind?" she shouted and he just shrugged, not fazed by her stormy response.


    "Just think about it," he smiled evilly before adding, "after all I can easily kill you here at any time."


    "Threatening me? Temptation failed so you lean towards strong empty threats? Humph!"


    "I don''t need to lean upon anything," he shrugged before laughing, "I''m the supreme ruler in this place, don''t have any conditions or restrictions whatsoever."


    She didn''t respond as his words were correct. "Don''t try to force it out."


    "I''ll do, because I can," he smiled before snapping his fingers, "trap her."


    The next moment her body was crushed by immense energy coming from the garden. "W- W- What are you doing?" she stuttered while her face reddened more.


    "Nothing," he laughed before taking his tools out, "I''m just going to make you my slave."


    She glared at him with hatred, yet he didn''t mind that. He wasn''t that interested in her body despite being a beauty. He didn''t lack any at the moment.


    He took out his runes and started dying the ground by the purified blood of the Golam from the Golam''s lake. Once finished everything, he stepped inside the circle while saying:


    "Last chance, I don''t like enslaving someone."


    "Even if you enslaved me, you won''t get me as your snitch¡­ never!"


    "We''ll see about that," he laughed before adding, "I know people change under certain circumstances, so let''s hear your opinion when you know I can just think and a mere thought would kill you."

 Chapter 455: The Bet

    He turned his gaze upon the runes where he landed his blood over them. "Activate the slave contract," he muttered before he and the fiercely resisting Anna with no result were shrouded under a veil of dense screen.


    This didn''t take more than ten minutes, and when he appeared again he glanced over her in surprise. "So long to make you a slave?"


    "Damn you! Release me now!" she cursed out loud while her body twitched under the immense pressure of the garden.


    Over her shoulder, and rising up to her neck, a tattoo of a blue dragon appeared there, resonating with the tattoo he had on his right hand.


    He raised his hand to her face. "See that? I can easily kill you now."


    "Kill me then! I don''t want to live the life of a traitor."


    "We''ll see¡­" he snapped his fingers and the immense pressure over her instantly vanished.


    "I''ll kill you!" she shouted in rage before jumping over him. Yet another snap of his fingers made her slam heavily on the ground once more. "A fierce animal like you will be slowly tamed with strength," he calmly said before turning towards the dense shield nearby.


    "Feel free to go and pump your head onto this, and every now and then I''ll come to make you suffer, or¡­" he stopped as he turned to face her, "come with me and learn from my masters and be stronger to serve me better."


    "I would never be a snitch!"


    "We''ll see about it," he snapped his fingers before the next moment his body changed into the dragon form.


    "If not my real powers aren''t sealed, I swear I would easily have you crushed!"


    "Hilarious," Arthur laughed amusingly while his golden dragon complained again yet he ignored his remarks. "Ifs don''t work in the real world dear," he walked away from her while she kept standing in her place glaring fiercely at him.


    She watched him leave before she promised: "One day I''ll repay all this in folds!"


    "She is fierce, I like her," the golden commented before adding, "but there is something that bothers me."


    "Don''t say my silent roars again," Arthur was delighted by the result he just achieved. He now had two pawns in hand. Despite her refusal, he knew with time she would have her mind changed.


    "Your roars are a thing you shouldn''t mention or use for now," the golden dragon sighed before adding, "she has some sort of annoying power embedded deeply inside her soul. I can feel it, yet I can''t determine what power she has."


    "Like my roars?" Arthur was surprised to hear this knowledge, "is it a soul type attack as well?"


    "I frankly don''t know," the golden dragon said, "but from this aura alone I can tell she was someone strong back in the higher realms."


    "Good to have her sealed before coming here then," Arthur laughed as the stronger she was the better she would serve him. He wasn''t worried as he had his seal over her soul; a mere thought would kill her.


    "Stop using those damned roars!" the golden dragon roared in pain.


    "Ding! I''ve moved almost everyone, you are ready to go back now."


    "Thanks for the trouble," Arthur waved his wings to head directly towards the place where his masters gathered.


    Just as he got closer fast to it, he noticed the great numbers gathered there. "Wow, how much have you brought so far?" he asked in surprise as he never thought the numbers would be this large.


    "Ding! Aren''t you the one asking everyone to join?" the system was speechless as this was slightly lesser than what he initially expected.


    Arthur landed in the center of this big mess. The moment he arrived, everyone got silenced like they were dreading his presence.


    "Wow, you know you made all of us lose?" Amanda laughed the moment he landed and canceled his transformation.


    "Lose what?" he asked as he didn''t understand her meaning.


    "They had a bet," Amelia smiled before laughing, "a bet around how much you''ll bring with you."


    "And?" he curiously asked.


    "Just told you," Amanda laughed, "they lost, we all lost."


    "I''m glad you are happy in your loss," he smiled before asking, "but what does it have to do with me?"


    "Who said it has anything to do with you?" she teased him.


    "Your face told everything," he laughed as she wasn''t a bit sad or regretful about the bet, not like other masters around. "C''mon, tell me what was that all about?"


    "They lost, and they will aid us with double time than their disciples," Amelia said with a chuckle.


    "We can''t stay here forever," Slone groaned before adding, "we have to calculate it according to the time in this world," he added while helplessly shaking his head. "And what are those? Have you just put a prize over our head or something?" he added while turning around to glance over everyone here.


    "Hahaha," Arthur laughed on his comment, "master Slone, these are just the cr¨¨me of croup in my world here," he proudly said before adding, "plus I didn''t plan to make them all learn from you."


    "Thanks goodness," Mr. E heaved a long sigh of relief. "Then why did you bring all of them here? Trying to scare us?"


    "Wait a minute, if they won''t join us in the training, then we haven''t lost the bet yet," Otman hurried to say.


    "C''mon, don''t be this bitter over such a small loss," Amanda laughed while giving Arthur a glance to silence him.


    "They are here to take a test first," Arthur didn''t heed by her warning, "those capable enough to prove themselves to you will be selected."


    "Oh, you want us to be the judges, great," Cesile laughed before adding, "this bet is my win, not loss, hehehehe."


    "Don''t be so rash to jump to such a conclusion," Mr. E laughed as well, "I will put the harshest test ever for those boys here."

 Chapter 456: The Tests

    "Master!" Amanda shouted in sadness, "don''t be this stingy with my kid!"


    "He isn''t your kid, he is your man," Mr. E teased her before Arthur stepped in and said: "Alright, select the fairest tests ever you conducted."


    His words attracted the glaring gazes of Amanda, before he explained, "I don''t want to waste this precious chance over some losers."


    "You are wasting a great chance here," she sighed, "these are so shameless to help you more than the disciples they trained for years so far."


    "I will," Cesile hurried to raise up her hand, "I can spare more time for you, all the time you want my dearest disciple," she glanced over Amanda while saying these words.


    "I can spare all my time for him," and Amanda refused to budge while Mr. E laughed as he stood between the two kittens, "stop it already, we''ll start conducting tests and see."


    Arthur waited on the side waiting for each master to determine his standards. It didn''t take them long, as in just ten minutes everyone had already selected his own tests.


    Each master provided Arthur a piece of paper with the instructions of the tests required. Arthur glanced simply at these six papers before thinking:


    ''Distribute these to everyone here, tell them to group together to attend these tests.''


    ''Ding! Any specific locations for each master?''


    ''You set and then inform me later.''


    ''Ding! Done!''


    The next minute a great ruckus suddenly occurred. The masters glanced in surprise to all this before Mr. E asked in doubt:


    "What''s happening?"


    "They are going to be grouped according to each master''s test," Arthur simply replied.


    "How¡­ how on earth did they know?" Mr. E threw his next puzzling question.


    "Well," Arthur paused before shrugging, "this is my world, and I can do whatever I want in it."


    "Lucky you," Mr. E commended yet his gazed and other masters'' gazes told Arthur they didn''t believe him.


    Everyone was pretty sure now he had more secrets, yet to be unfolded.


    Arthur waited with others while everyone around kept moving in rapid steps. It took an hour for everyone to stand in six groups, while a seventh group stood there making everyone puzzled, including Arthur.


    ''Aren''t there only six tests here? What is this seventh group doing? Those who won''t take the test?''


    ''Ding! They are those who are confident enough in their abilities,'' the system briefly asked.


    "What is this group doing exactly?" Cesile pointed towards the seventh group with interest.


    ''More details please,'' Arthur urged.


    ''Ding! They are the ones asking to take two or more tests from masters.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur swallowed his throat and controlled his laughs while answering Cesile:


    "They are the ones taking two or more tests."


    "At the same time?" Otman muttered in surprise.


    "All of them want to learn from more than one master?" Slone asked in doubt.


    "Hehehe, that''s expected of my dearest disciple," Amanda laughed proudly, enjoying the shocked faces of others.


    "You only have one disciple!" Otman argued.


    "Don''t be this shameless!" Cesile shouted.


    "I really like this kid more," Armondo, who stood silently all this time, finally expressed his thoughts out, "so where is my group? Or should I start with this seventh one there?" he asked.


    ''Ding! His group is the one on the far left,'' the system explained before adding more instructions about other groups as well.


    And Arthur just relayed the info he received to the masters.


    As they all got their assigned groups, they all dispersed leaving behind only Arthur with the handful five hundred of his top men.


    "How much more do you believe they''ll pick?" Ron suddenly asked.


    "Around ten thousand perhaps," Arthur muttered while adding, "or even more."


    "I agree on more," Amelia laughed before adding, "they had all lower numbers as bets than ten thousand."


    "Hehehe, I love this bet. Whose idea was that?" Arthur asked.


    "Amanda," Lily responded, "by the way shouldn''t we take these tests?"


    "Nah," Arthur shook his head, "I know your abilities and know how far you can reach. Let they test those I don''t know."


    "But I''m dying to see those tests," Madly jumped from the middle of everyone, "please let us go and see. I want to see Master Slone''s test."


    "I want to see master Otman''s test," Deem suddenly said.


    "I want to see master Cesile''s test," Randy said.


    "I want to see master Amanda''s test," Amelia also joined.


    Arthur raised his hands before this became a scene. "Alright, go and do whatever you wish," he said and instantly all dispersed to each master''s group to watch the tests being conducted.


    "Ain''t you curious to watch?" the golden dragon asked all of sudden while Arthur stood alone in this place.


    "Nah," he shook his head, "I already saw their tests in the paper."


    "Some are strict to be honest on these kids," the golden dragon honestly said.


    "I know," Arthur shook his head before adding, "but this is a great chance to filter those not special enough to be nurtured by me."


    Arthur wasn''t that much interested, yet the tests took a long time to conduct. Slone''s test was the simplest, as he used a crafting test to judge over others.


    He asked his group to either make gears or build up defensive equipment or any sort of equipment that could be used in wars.


    Yet he wasn''t the fastest. The fastest test was from Armondo who simply asked his group to exchange swords with him for a couple of rounds before he judged over their strength and potential.


    That made him finish his group in less than two hours, before heading directly without any further instructions towards the seventh group to continue his tests.


    Mr. E asked for alchemy, while Otman asked for making arrays, runes, and Ley Lines. As for Cesile, she simply asked her group to use staffs and swords and launch offensive attacks against a gigantic hill made of a special type of ore she took out from her storage ring.

 Chapter 457: Cesile

    Lastly Amanda asked for a contest of abilities, which was the most unique and hardest test ever. She asked anyone with a special ability to use it, no matter what it was. and she simply stood there motionless asking some to perform the abilities again while using some ores, gears, or even special fog she dissipated herself to test them further.


    "Amanda is the most meticulous of all," Arthur commented when he finally decided to take a stroll after a couple of hours of doing nothing. "Yet Armondo is the fiercest," he nodded while glancing over the many injured disciples lying on the ground around that little monster.


    "I like him," the golden dragon said, "fast and efficient. No hasttle around the test. Only the strong wins."


    "The question is how many he will select?" Arthur stood by the side of the seventh group which had almost half of their tests conducted. "And among them no one had things outside these myriad of abilities?" he muttered as he initially thought most of the knock out would come from those not fitting into either of the six groups.


    Yet he was mistaken.


    "Ding! You only selected the best of the best."


    "At least those kids gave me a nice surprise," he referred to those coming from the castle of the sky.


    "Ding! They were selected by their empire a long time ago. I''m pretty sure they wouldn''t select just nobodies to send them all this way to here."


    "That makes sense," Arthur nodded before watching the fights against Armondo in silence for a period of time. "How is my greedy sword doing?"


    "Ding! It''s still sleeping," his system said.


    "All this time? How long did it pass since then? A month?"


    "Ding! According to the time in this world, it should be a couple of months."


    "Tsk," Arthur sighed before adding, "this sword and that sleeping beauty over there¡­ I don''t know, but I''m starting to feel odd. Like an old man gathering old antiques all around himself."


    "Don''t add me to this mix of old men," the golden dragon harrumphed, "I died in my young years."


    "You are the oldest one among them," Arthur laughed, "and sometimes you are getting more senile, hehehe."


    "Tsk," the golden dragon ignored his remark while his system kept teasing him by calling him: the old senile dragon.


    Armonda didn''t take more than one hour to finish his tests, yet he didn''t move back towards Arthur. He stood there closing up his eyes and seemingly marveling at something.


    Arthur watched him from far and didn''t interfere or interrupt him. He started to check over other places where Mr. E''s way of concoction attracted his attention.


    "He is making herbs into pills, not syrup," Arthur muttered as this was the closest thing to the way he used to make pills in his previous world. "Then he has the knowledge to make potions and pills, or just pills?" he muttered and despite the far distance between him and Mr. E, the latter turned and whispered one word.


    "Both."


    This was the simple and decisive answer of the master. Arthur nodded to him before continuing to check other masters.


    Armonda kept standing in his place for a longer time than Arthur expected. At first Arthur thought he was contemplating about the fights he just had, yet after all that time passed and Otman and Slone finished their tests already, Arthur started to think differently.


    "Did he gain an insight perhaps?" he muttered while passing by Cesile who just ended her tests.


    "Phew," she hurriedly jumped towards him, "you really brought a bunch of monstrous talents here."


    Arthur smiled in pride before saying: "They should be enough to make you all excited to teach us."


    "Sure," she nodded, "but I still have my own beloved disciples to guide especially at such critical times."


    "You seem to hold them high regarding the competition," Arthur laughed while she hit his shoulders as she said:


    "Don''t be naughty and greedy like this. They are my disciples like you''re."


    "I didn''t complain," he laughed again.


    "Yes you did, naughty little boy."


    He kept laughing while she followed him along his tour. Mr. E was the next to last to finish, leaving only Amanda the last one to finish her tests, and Armondo who was deeply immersed in his own world.


    "What do you think he is doing?" he asked while motioning towards Armondo.


    "He is reflecting on the fight he just had," Cesile simply answered before explaining, "he is just like this. Fight lover and always trying to find means of benefit to increase his knowledge in swords all the time."


    "Even from disciples?" Arthur was surprised.


    "He always says fighting discipline is the biggest gain he ever has, even exceeding his normal studies and research in new techniques."


    Arthur nodded before saying: "What about you?"


    "Me?" she giggled as she added, "I find teaching disciples very amusing and refreshing as a master."


    "You must be a beloved master," he commented.


    "Sure thing," she raised her chin high while adding, "I''m the most popular master out there."


    "And one of the sexiest," he joked and his words made her raise her chin even more. "I''m the sexiest, humph."


    He laughed while stopping at Amanda who was about to finish her tests. "She used a bizzare test to be honest," Cesile commented before adding, "you know from having zero disciple for years into having a bunch of tens or hundreds all of sudden is a big change."


    "I hope it would be for the better," he honestly said.


    "You seem to care much about her," she didn''t go along with his words and gave him an angry glance.


    "I care about the two of you," he grinned, before adding, "do you want to try my care close up? We still have time until these two finish."


    "No thanks," she laughed, "pass me this time."


    "Tsk, then I''ll have to ask her," he laughed, trying to tease her more.

 Chapter 458: Armondo

    She laughed louder while saying, "good luck with that. If she didn''t kill you, you''ll stay in bed for weeks. Believe me, she is as scary as that."


    "Don''t speak about others behind their backs like this," Mr. E suddenly appeared as he smiled in confidence, "I''m pretty sure this young man here is more than enough to crack the darkness around her heart."


    "Tsk," Cesile shook her head before adding, "despite hoping she would end up being better and happy, I still can''t bring myself to wish this via the man I chose."


    "The man you just rejected," Arthur teased her.


    "The vulgar man who doesn''t know how and when to ask a girl out," she stuck out her tongue before Amanda finally finished the tests and started to head towards them.


    "You''ve got a bunch of little monsters here," she said with a wide smile over her face, brightening up her beauty. "I would select at least half of them, and the other half aren''t that shabby as well."


    Arthur was happy more than anyone, like a father hearing praising words of his kids.


    "Can you leave notes for those who failed to pass the test so they can be better later on?" he proposed and she nodded as she instantly said:


    "I already left them some pointers, and will leave a couple of useful books for them to read and learn from."


    "Me too will do the same," Cesile jumped in the speech.


    "Hahaha, and me as well," Mr. E laughed before taking his glance away towards the distant Armondo. "This lad¡­ he never ceases to learn."


    "He is just like this for hours," Arthur said.


    "Don''t wait too much for him," Mr. E said before turning to walk towards Otman and Slone, "c''mon, this little master will take perhaps a day to wake up."


    "I just hope he didn''t forget the disciples," Arthur followed.


    "Don''t worry, this Armondo can''t forget a single fight he just had," Mr. E said before adding, "in fact the longer he contemplated the higher the number of interesting fights he had."


    "I hope he selects all," Arthur laughed.


    "I won''t be surprised if he did this," Mr. E laughed while the group finally gathered together with Arthur''s main team.


    "I have to say, those you brought here kid are really amazing," Otman said while Slone added: "Many talents undiscovered in this unknown world. There is a single one though, called Agnus, sigh¡­ he is simply a monster."


    "Hehehe," Arthur laughed before adding, "I already expected that."


    "Is he that good?" Mr. E was interested as he added, "many talents are worth nourishing, but I didn''t find a single outstanding one among them."


    "I found five," Otman laughed, "and strangely three of those five are the rare Ley Lines talents."


    "Wow, that''s impressive," Cesile commented before adding, "I didn''t find anyone in particular to be the most interesting.


    "I found many," Amanda laughed while her words attracted the attention of everyone. "In each talent I tested, at least tens appeared above average while a couple or more were really eye-catching with their performances."


    "Wow, that''s great news," Arthur smiled in content as he added, "are you ready to announce the results?"


    "I''ll write them down for you now," Amanda said before Mr. E warned:


    "Don''t be loose over them to make him win the bet."


    His words made everyone vigilantly look at her while she only chuckled as she nodded in understanding. Yet her smile made everyone here not comfortable with her choices, however they had nothing in hand to revise over her decisions.


    After all the area she selected was one of the toughest areas in the academy, one of the weaknesses there. Not many masters are that experienced in teaching this stuff, and only her and another one were considered top notch masters in this field.


    "Alright," Arthur said to end this about to erupt the debate, "write everything down and hand them over to me."


    "Fine," Mr. E said as he glanced warningly again at Amanda before every master took his paper and kept writing the numbers of those who passed before handing these papers to Arthur.


    "Two thousand disciples at Cesile, two thousand and half at Otman, Slone has three thousand, Mr. E one thousand and half, and Amanda¡­" he paused while glancing over her again before saying out loud: "Five thousand."


    "What?" as Arthur said the number, everyone had their gazed move towards her. "This much? Didn''t I warn you already not to be so loose?" Mr. E helplessly shook his head.


    "Who said I was?" she harrumphed before adding, "feel free to go and test them after me. C''mon, I''ll wait here for your final call."


    "Amanda¡­" Mr. E paused while Cesile helplessly shook her head, "you know we aren''t that high in this field. Wait a second, did you initially choose this so we can''t revise your decision?" she directly accused her of blaming glances and deep tone.


    Everyone understood what she did despite the fact that she denied this with her next answer: "I didn''t do that, and feel free to send someone to revise after me if you have such doubts!"


    Arthur smiled in amusement. "It''s great to have someone backing you up," the golden dragon said before laughing, "especially such a beauty."


    "C''mon, she is more than a beauty," Arthur joked with him while waiting for this little debate to finish.


    "We''ll wait for Armondo''s call then," Mr. E sighed.


    "Armondo won''t choose more than a hundred, I''m sure of this," Slone confidently said while others nodded.


    Arthur watched this little group of seemingly close ages to each other with interest. He never had such close friends before, only rivals or followers; nothing more.


    "Tsk, this life doesn''t suit me," he inwardly sighed.


    "When you become stronger, you''ll have some as your best friends," the golden dragon said before adding, "like that berserker."


    Arthur recalled Orlaf as he silently nodded. "You''re absolutely right, befriending a strong and clear hearted man like him is a blessing."


    "You''ll find more," the golden dragon laughed as he added, "many fools are out there to befriend."


    "Fools?" Arthur asked.


    "Those who love wars above anything else."


    "Ah, I see, weakling dead senile old dragon," Arthur teased him while suddenly Armondo opened his eyes and the next moment he appeared in front of the group with excited look over his face.


    "You broke through?" out of habit, Arthur said something of his past life.


    "What do you mean by this?" Armondo said in confusion.


    "Ah, I mean have you got good insights?" Arthur corrected his wordings.


    "Sure, I have found a gem, oh not only one, but a hundred."


    Slone laughed as he patted on Armondo''s shoulder while saying: "Good bro, see? I told you, he won''t select over a hundred, hehehe."


    Armondo glanced at him weirdly before saying, "who selected a hundred? I only spoke about those outstanding disciples here!"


    "What?" Slone moved to face him, "have you selected more? How much? Two hundred?"


    "Wrong," Armondo shook his head while a big smile appeared over his face, "I picked up seven thousands."


    His answer made the entire place dead silent before Amanda exploded in a wave of laughter. "See? C''mon, go on and doubt him as well, hehehe."


    Arthur was standing there with a big smile over his face. "That''s good," he muttered to himself before adding, "no that''s even great."

 Chapter 459: Amandas Class

    "Hehehe, you all lost, hehehe," Amanda laughed all of sudden while Mr. E sneered. "Don''t be so glad, we still have to adapt the time here with the time at the academy."


    "That''s not fair," Arthur spoke up before adding, "you should compare the time here with the time your disciples ate."


    Amanda gave him a thumb up before saying, "He is right, we should do that."


    "Don''t speak like you have other disciples," Cesile muttered before Slone added, "we need to balance things here and there. Our disciples are this close to be ready for the tournament."


    "As well as those here," Amanda said before adding, "I bet there are talents here worth nourishing."


    "Yeah, but we have not enough time to do that," Mr. E shook his head.


    "Leave the time issue to me," Arthur said again, "I just want a protocol for their training when you are away. I''ll make sure they follow it to the letter."


    They all glanced at him in different ways, while Amanda smiled in pride while adding, "you heard my boy, let''s not waste more time here and start selecting our disciples."


    She didn''t wait for them to say a word before she moved towards the front in great speed. "Tsk, I swear she is happy to put us in such a dilemma," Otman shook his head before moving after her.


    "Won''t you come?" Mr. E said towards Arthur and his five hundred main team.


    "Sure, we will follow behind," Arthur said before watching every master move to form his and her own group. "listen, we have six masters here. Divide yourselves and choose masters as you wish," he said before adding, "make sure to learn everything and ask any question you want. This chance might be hard to come by soon."


    They were already aware of this as they nodded before following after the masters, each going towards one master.


    As for Arthur, he decided to work under all of them starting with Amanda.


    Amanda took roughly ten minutes to select her group before she accepted Arthur, Omar, Randy, Ron, and a hundred more.


    "Are you ready for class one?" she seemed very excited before turning towards Arthur, "don''t worry, if they turned their backs on you I''ll remain and help your boys get stronger. After all I''m all rounded in everything."


    "Thanks," Arthur briefly replied before asking, "which ability will we start with?"


    "The basics of all," she answered before adding, "you all need to understand your abilities and how they work before starting to utilize each."


    She moved towards the front while taking a sword out. "They call me a genius in abilities, which is a weak field in our academy. That has a reason, as abilities need to be taught from scratch at a young age. The more you use your abilities the less room of growth you''ll have."


    She paused before adding, "as everyone using his ability from innate feeling has many mistakes in doing so. But I''m very optimistic by you today, as all of you are youngsters with no much time to use your abilities."


    Arthur and others felt her excitement while she started to explain how things work.


    "It''s a common belief that abilities stem from the inner demon, which is wrong. Abilities stem from the inner soul of each person, so the more you understand your souls the stronger your abilities will grow. Besides¡­"


    She waved the sword in the air before letting it go, yet it didn''t fall on the ground. "This is called control ability, something that helps me control nearby objects by will."


    She then waved her sword to the front and it followed her desire. It went towards a tree in the distance before slightly pausing a couple of meters away from it. "This is called remote control, which makes me able to control objects from far distance."


    She then snapped her fingers and the sword returned suddenly in no time to appear in her hand again. "And this is called instant recall, where I can recall any object that belongs to me with a snap of a finger."


    Arthur understood that his ability to control the thrown out arrows was like the remote control ability.


    "Now, can anyone tell me what is the common thing in all these abilities?" she asked everyone while waving her sword right and left in a way that made them feel she was used to doing that a lot.


    "They are objects?" one mage said.


    "Wrong," she shook her head.


    "You used your hand to control them," another warrior said.


    "No, yet this might be considered a weaker factor here," she said, "who else?"


    "They all belong to you," Arthur said as he understood the theory she tried to convey here.


    "Wow, right answer Willy," she said before adding, "do you know more?" she felt he knew more than this.


    "The trick lies in the energy of you linked to the sword. You control this like controlling a fishing thread with a fishing rod, while your hand is the rod and your energy is the thread," Arthur said before adding, "perfectly manipulating the energy results in these different forms of abilities, yet they are basically the same."


    "Impressive," she laughed before adding, "as you know all this, do you know how to increase the power of control over your energy threads?"


    "By repeatedly using it?" he asked as he didn''t know how things in this world worked. If he was a cultivator, he would definitely give an answer to this question with ease.


    "Wrong," she shook her head before adding, "by trying to minimize the amount of energy released and try to control more than one object at the same time," she said before turning to glance at everyone, "can anyone tell me then what''s the initial phase of learning these abilities?"


    She glanced over all, yet no one spoke. "Willy, do you know the answer?" she asked as she already expected his response.

 Chapter 460: The Brutal Way in Teaching

    "The first thing is to learn how to attach things properly and get familiar with the energy we release from our bodies connecting to such objects."


    "Great answer again," she smiled before adding, "it seems you know more than I expected. Alright, I''ll give you now a training first to get familiar with your energies," she said before turning to Arthur and adding, "as for you I''ll give you an advanced training."


    Arthur watched her giving them a simple training on energy control. She took out a special type of ore from her ring and gave it to everyone here. The ore had such a unique ability to absorb one''s energy and then she asked them to shuffle the rocks between each other many times then each one had to seek for his or her own ore.


    She asked them to do this over a hundred times correctly without any mistakes in between. A single mistake and they had to start over.


    "As for you," she smiled before asking, "tell me what your ability is all about."


    He didn''t speak in words as took his bow and a couple of simple arrows before throwing them all in the distance at the same time.


    He then started to control each arrow to twist and move in a curved direction before landing on the ground near the distant tree she once aimed her sword at.


    "Great control," she commended, before asking, "how many arrows can you maximally handle? And to what distance can you keep this?"


    He took nine arrows and released them all before controlling the nine for two minutes then he lost his control over them.


    "Hmm¡­ you need some tweaking," she muttered before taking out another ore as she said, "this one is called the heavy rock. As long as you keep injecting your energy at the same rate it will appear light. If you fail to control this, it will turn as heavy as a mountain and slam you to the ground."


    Arthur glanced at this little black stone before asking, "what''s the benefit of this? Shouldn''t I train in increasing the number of my controllable arrows?"


    "Do you know why you control arrows and no other weapons? Don''t glance this way at me, I saw your gazes towards my sword minutes ago; they were full of envy," she chuckled before adding, "because arrows are light and can be affected by your energy."


    She paused before explaining, "your issue isn''t to control many energy threads at the same time. You are very proficient at basics, yet a single basic was left over."


    "What is it?" he curiously asked.


    "The soul basic," she said before seriously adding, "just as I said before, these abilities stem from the inner soul. Without understanding how to control the energy emitted from your soul and regulate its flow, you won''t be able to perfect your abilities."


    "Yeah madam, he sucks at the soul matters, also at the matters of heart," the golden dragon said but Arthur totally ignored him.


    "And this ore here will help me do this?" he asked in doubt.


    "Forget to tell you," she said before smiling, "this ore won''t only affect your body with your weight, but also will give your soul a painful rebound."


    He glanced speechlessly at her while she laughed. "Don''t give me that look, training is doomed to be painful."


    He had no words to argue with that. He glanced at the ore in his hand before muttering, "let''s see how this will help."


    The next day he kept using the ore, and every few minutes he would fail and would slam heavily on the ground while groaning in pain.


    This attracted the attention of everyone, making them all speechless. Their mighty leader was devastated by this training more than they were.


    "Focus on finding the right ore that belongs to you," Amanda shouted before adding, "he is much more advanced than you are, and you still have a long way ahead before reaching his high stage."


    They started to concentrate more on their training while Arthur kept failing one time after another. As the third day passed, she came over to him stopping him from continuing.


    "Take out your bow and arrows and test the ability now."


    He was wrecked and very exhausted from this brutal training. During this he used a couple of meat while others used time to rest. He didn''t take a single break ever, trying to challenge himself over and over again.


    Per her words he took out his bow and nine arrows. "No, take twenty," she suddenly said.


    "Tw... that''s too much," he was shocked but she nodded.


    "Sigh," he took out twenty arrows and then released them all. He tried to connect his energy to the, and to his surprise he found himself able to do that with much ease than dealing with nine arrows from before.


    "This hot chick here knows her stuff very well," the golden dragon commended, before adding, "I can already sense your soul power to increase a little."


    Arthur nodded as he agreed with the words of the golden dragon. "See?" she proudly said, "like this you''ll have a stronger soul in no time. Just keep enduring the pain, as this is the most direct and effective method of training the soul."


    "Thanks," he honestly said, "let me try thirty," he suddenly added and before she could speak he already took thirty arrows and released them all.


    "Good, you can control them all," she laughed, "but the issue now is how long can you keep your control over them all."


    He waited for a single minute before losing all his control. "See? Now try using nine like before and see how long will they last," she said in strange confidence like she was already at his stage before and crossed it now by far.


    He listened to her words and released the arrows. They kept flying in the air for ten minutes before he willingly released his control over them. "I can control them for longer than that," he said.

 Chapter 461: Other Masters Classes

    "I sensed what you did," she nodded before adding, "that means the more weapons you control the less time you''ll have over them."


    "Agreed," he simply said before taking the ore out again from his ring, "I''ll keep training then."


    During the next three days he kept slamming the ground heavily while his soul ache from the backlash of the ore.


    "Try this now," she took a sword from her ring before handing it over to him, "try to control this sword as far as possible."


    He weirdly glanced at the sword in hand before sighing and then he connected his energy to it. He threw the sword far, and when he tried to control it, he felt like controlling a mountain.


    The sword followed his control for a couple of moments before falling heavily on the ground. "See?" she said with a laugh, "you used the lightest weapon ever and thought you were invincible, hehehe." She was amused by teaching him and giving him pointers.


    "How can I control it perfectly then?" he asked.


    "Use this ore then," she took another ore. It was fiery red and seemed glistering from time to time. "This is the soul ore, one of the most advanced trainings in the entire world," she said before taking one out as she added, "even I can''t endure it for more than one hour then I''ll be hit by its fierce aura."


    "How does it work?" Arthur asked after he closely inspected the ore, "it''s like any normal fiery ore out there," he added.


    "Wrong," she pointed her finger out to him, "this ore has a unique nature that only accepts and links to the soul energy from its own initiative. It wants to eat your soul energy up, so you''ll have to release as much and dense energy as possible all the time or else this ore will empty your soul all of sudden from energy and render you weak for a moment there."


    Her words couldn''t describe things well, so he just closed his eyes and started linking his soul to the ore. The next moment he felt like a wide mouth appeared around his energy, consuming it at a scary speed like it had no end to its hunger.


    "Damn, this is fierce," he wasn''t ready and he got his entire energy sucked away after five minutes of holding the ore in hand. The moment this happened, he felt so weak that his legs couldn''t bear to carry his body, and he slammed again to the ground.


    "Damn! Can''t there be a softer training that doesn''t include this embarrassed fall?" he groaned, yet she closed her eyes and started to train; ignoring his complaints.


    "Tsk, you sometimes seem colder than you really are," he shook his head before taking a single meat out and started his training again.


    This time he lasted for two days before he could break the falling record of his past thirty minutes.


    "Impressive," she commented before adding, "I believe you are miles far better than any other disciple in the academy."


    "Yet still lower to you," he bitterly admitted.


    "Don''t compare yourself to me, I''m older!" she teased him.


    "You are sexy, and hotties like you never get old," he joked and she just hit his shoulder with the broad end of her sword. "Stop fooling and go towards the next master to learn more," she said before adding, "I''ll stay with you until the challenge time. As for them, I''m pretty sure they will soon ask to leave."


    "I''ll go to Mr. E then," he said and his choice surprised her. "Why him?" she asked.


    "I want to learn his unique way of concocting pills," he honestly said as he wanted to compare between his own knowledge and Mr. E''s way.


    "Alright," she hit him again, "say hi for me then," she added.


    "Sure," he then moved fast before shouting from far, "take good care of them for me."


    "Tsk," she sneered before turning to glance over them, "they still need a long time to adapt and advance. It''s good we have enough time here."


    Arthur went directly towards Mr. E yet he took a quick glance over each master. Armondo seemed quite immersed in fighting with swords, as he kept fighting with one disciple after another.


    He arranged them in a long row before sparring with each one of them. Unlike the test he conducted, he didn''t stop the spar until he knocked the disciple on the ground.


    "He is really a fighting maniac," Arthur muttered to himself.


    "Like that berserker, right?" the golden dragon said, "I think if this swordsman can advance to the next realm with you, he would be the best friend to Orlaf."


    "Yeah, I can already imagine that," Arthur chuckled before turning his gaze upon Slone, who arranged everyone in gigantic circles arranged above each other while he kept moving in between them giving his pointers and corrections.


    "This looks nice," he smiled, before adding, "at least nicer and calmer than Amanda or Armonda''s classes."


    He turned to glance at Cesile, to find her giving others silent and calm lectures about how to attack, how to best utilize their powers and strengths to cause the strongest damage possible, and how to use spells for those with staff.


    "Wow, she is a pacifist in the lecture!" he was amazed and was really tempted to shift classes to study under her calm guidance.


    "Calm lessons won''t stick easily," the golden dragon said.


    "Yeah, tell me about it," Arthur sighed as he agreed with his dragon''s opinion. He knew just sitting there and listening to the words said wasn''t enough. One had to try everything on his own, fail endless time to learn from each failure and grew stronger eventually.


    Otman was standing in front of many poles and runes while having a nice long brush in his hand. He was explaining things while working. "He looks like¡­ an artist drawing a painting!" Arthur couldn''t describe it better than this, "weird," he muttered before finally reaching towards Mr. E class.


    He was standing in front of a small cauldron that was even smaller than Arthur''s. "Oh, you finally decided to come," Mr. E greeted him with a grin as he added, "tell me, how is she with you? Still stubborn?"


    "Don''t worry father-in-law, I won''t give up on her ever," he said while holding back his bitter smile from the painful experience he just had with her.


    "Oh, I like this spirit of yours," Mr. E laughed before adding, "come, sit and take out your cauldron to make pills," he said, "you have one, right?"


    "Yeah, I have this," he waved his hand and the next moment his cauldron appeared.


    "Not bad," Mr. E said as he examined the cauldron for a couple of minutes before shifting his eyes away, "but not enough. Remind me to ask Otman to make one for you later on."


    "He can make one of these?" Arthur pointed to the small cauldron of Mr. E.


    "Oh, this little one here is nothing. I just use it in lessons as it won''t need much cleaning and if it exploded I won''t be sad about it," Mr. E casually said before adding, "the one he will craft for you is at least triple the strength than this little one here."

 Chapter 462: Pills

    Arthur glanced at the smaller yet stronger cauldron and silently sighed. "Aright, go ahead and lit the fire, make a pill and let me see how you progress in it," Mr. E said while waving his hand, inviting Arthur to stand just beside him.


    "I know how to make potions," Arthur honestly said, "but not pills," he lied.


    He wanted to learn the way of this world to make pills as well.


    "Oh, it''s not that much different," Mr. E said before adding, "you can control your energy well enough, right?"


    "A little bit indeed."


    "Great, all you need is to use your energy in all the steps of the making," Mr. E said before adding, "see, making pills is different in this simple technique than potions. In potions you make a lot of fluid in the cauldron, but in pills you make only a tiny fraction of it."


    Arthur nodded in understanding before he asked: "I should integrate my energy inside each ingredient, right?"


    "Indeed," Mr. E nodded, "then you should manipulate the integration, and here lies the secret and talent. You can''t let your ingredients act as they like, you need to control every single bit of their energy and control their merge until you finally have total control over the initial version of the pill."


    "Then what?" Arthur got the main idea here yet he kept asking so he wouldn''t be too suspicious.


    "You will have to concentrate the final fluid then, condense it till it forms its own outer shell and viola, you have a pill," Mr. E seemed excited while he explained these steps to him.


    And Arthur nodded. "What about the recipe of making? What pill should I make and what ingredients should I use?"


    "First let''s start with something simple until you get a good grasp on things," Mr. E waved his hand and five different materials appeared in his hand. "Take these and use only water to mix," he said.


    Arthur took these five items and examined them. One was water based ore, silver leaf of some plant, a dark brown small bean-like seed, a small amount of sparkling brown sand, and finally a small thin branch of red tree with smooth outer surface and a thick translucent fluid oozing from its core.


    "These are used generally to make a healing pill," Mr. E said before adding, "you should mix the tree branch with the seeds first, make sure they are neatly melted and merged together before adding the sand, the ore, and wait for a minute or two before adding the leaf."


    "I''ll try," Arthur said before taking his cauldron to the side and started the fire. He didn''t take much of the fiery ore, as the amount in hand was scarce.


    "The idea here is slightly different from what I used to make," he silently muttered while recalling how he used to make pills in his past life. "I totally depended on my energy to control heaven and earth energy to control the fluid, enriching it, before condensing it into the final pill."


    He started putting the first two ingredients inside his cauldron before pouring a little amount of his purified water given to him by the system''s help. He waited and even took out a long stick from a nearby tree and used it to mix the melted branch and seed.


    "Sigh, the amount of energy here is scarce," he sensed the mix and even tasted it. He didn''t find a great energy influx per usual. "I should learn this way first before upgrading it," he decided while adding more ingredients and controlling everything with his energy.


    He didn''t face any difficulty at all even at the last stage where most people would fail in their first attempt.


    Mr. E stood carefully watching him from the side without saying a single word. He nodded in admiration when Arthur finally made his pill and handed it over to him.


    "Over average quality, good for your first attempt," he said before adding, "now try to make more than one pill with these," he took out ten folds of the previous materials he handed to him. "A great alchemist isn''t the one making a highly grade pill alone, but the one making many of these at the same time."


    Arthur nodded as he silently agreed with this theory.


    "You know I can help you boost this pill''s energy with mine if you wanted," the golden dragon suddenly said as it seemed this low level pill irritated him.


    "Do you use the same technique as well in making pills?" Arthur asked in curiosity.


    "Sure, but with the difference in injecting energy to refine the materials, not only to control it," the golden dragon said before adding, "the brightest alchemists in the higher realms are all depending on this to make great pills."


    "I understand," Arthur knew this was similar to the principle of his past life alchemy. "Except that the disparity between one''s limited energy and the endless heaven and earth energy is quite scary," he muttered to himself while trying to control ten pills at the same time.


    It proved to be slightly difficult for him, especially when he tried to condense all at the same time. "Damn, I wasted three of them," he inwardly cursed while he started to examine the other seven.


    "Not bad," Mr. E commented while standing beside him, "you learnt how to produce seven out of ten, that''s an impressive success rate."


    "What''s the standard rate then?" Arthur asked while handing the seven pills to his grandmaster, "and what is the assessment of these seven?"


    Mr. E didn''t hurry to answer before examining the pills. "Five are average quality and two are over average quality. That''s good," he said before adding, "the standard result is five out of ten, with four being average and one above it."


    "That''s better than average," Arthur noted before adding, "yet not enough."


    He had his own standards, and this wasn''t to be slightly over the usual results seen in this world. He aspired higher and Mr. E just sensed his burning desire.

 Chapter 463: The Tricky Sword

    "Indeed," Mr. E gave him the pills back, "compared to our top alchemist disciple, he can make eight to nine out of ten with three above average and one good pill."


    Arthur took the pills and said, "thanks for the instructions master, is there a manual to make pills I can study?"


    "Take this," he took out a small thick book full of many pages, "here are the main recipes conducted by the top alchemists in our world. Study them and try to keep producing the same result in them all and your ability will increase."


    Arthur took the book and opened it to see small lines in front of his sight. "Don''t think every pill is as easy to make as this one. This is considered one of the easiest pills out there. The higher the difficulty the lower the results and you need to maintain such results you have right now to have a good shot in the tournament."


    "Thanks," Arthur nodded before taking away his cauldron and the book, "I''ll go and see other masters then."


    "Take some rest," Mr. E suggested, "how is Amanda doing with you?" he suddenly asked out of the blue.


    "She is¡­ alright," Arthur embarrassedly laughed as he recalled the offer he gave to her to sleep together.


    "She is quite bold and thick headed sometimes, but she is kind and pure here," Mr. E pointed towards his heart before adding, "you have to put some effort to penetrate the thick veil around her heart and you''ll be surprised by what you''ll see inside."


    Arthur nodded before excusing himself away from this awkward conversation.


    "Don''t listen to him," the golden dragon suddenly said, "these are just trash pills in my opinion. Plus the test is done in a hundred for beginners like you or a thousand for msters like him."


    "Wow, this much at the same time?" Arthur said in faked surprise.


    "This is the standard, if we are talking about real geniuses then this is just a play for them."


    Arthur knew he was right. Back in his cultivation world, he used to control a thousand pills in one go and he wasn''t considered even to have good talent in alchemy.


    "Ding! Which master will you go to next?" the system asked after a long period of silence.


    "Slone," he headed directly towards Slone where he was making weapons with others. "I need to see if I can learn a thing or two of him."


    When Arthur appeared nearby, Slone smiled as he turned to him while pointing towards a certain direction, "this Agnus here is a genius, a monster in forging. How the hell did you find someone like that?" he shouted while Arthur laughed.


    "I just accidentally met him," he honestly replied, "and there are other good seedlings too."


    "Sure, sure," Slone nodded, "but this Agnus is in a league of his own," Slone laughed out of excitement before adding, "if I have a year with this kid, then I can turn him to our academy strongest blacksmith disciple and a fierce candidate to be a master."


    "We have much time, don''t worry," Arthur smiled before adding, "and I''ll make sure he would do whatever you ask him without slacking when you are away."


    "That''s great," Slone said before adding, "are you ready to start crafting?"


    Arthur nodded before listening to the next words of Slone and was slightly disappointed. "Can I make a higher version of this sword?" he asked while taking the product he had with slight disappointment on his face.


    The sword was short and thin, hardly can be called a sword. The technique he used was rudimentary to the degree he felt disgusted following Slone''s meticulous guidance.


    "Oh you need more difficulty then," Slone smiled before adding, "why not try to make this one then?" he took out a large mold where a cavity suited for a giant sword was present in the heart of this mold.


    "This looks promising," Arthur commented while examining the mold in hand. He was using his own equipment, the ones he took once from Agnus.


    "This one is tricky," Slone warned, before explaining, "you need to keep injecting your own power into it, or else the materials would crumble at the final stage," he took out a giant sword similar to the big hole in the mold as he added, "see this little berserk one here, if not taking days to forge and nearly consuming me to death, it wouldn''t have been made at the end and eventually recognized me as master."


    Slone handed the sword to Arthur and the moment Arthur held it, he felt a strong force hitting his body and soul. He staggered a couple of steps back while a thin line of blood emerged from his nose and that sword rang on the ground, falling off his hand.


    "Hahah, see? I made such a masterpiece yet no one else can use it. Sigh, this is the main drawback of being a mighty blacksmith."


    Slone went to take the sword while Arthur took the healing pills he just made and consumed them all to make his body return to its optimal state.


    "Agnus is also making this sword, here are the instructions about it," Slone said while taking away the sword and giving Arthur a large piece of paper with drawings and many writings in it. "As for materials, it''s best to select similar ones according to your own feelings."


    "Shouldn''t I stick with materials mentioned here?" Arthur was speechless for a moment while Slone explained, "this won''t do. Each sword is unique and this blueprint is just a general guidance left by the grandmaster who first made it."


    Arthur glanced at the paper to see materials drawn and described yet not given their names. "He made sure not to mention the names," Arthur muttered while adding, "thanks master. I''ll go to see others now."


    He took his equipment before moving away. Before leaving, he noticed Agnus was deeply immersed in making his sword. "You owe me a spear, kid," he muttered to himself before adding, "yet I think this experience will expand your horizon a bit."

 Chapter 464: Array Books

    The next one he headed towards was Otman. Frankly he wasn''t much interested in learning anything like arrays. Since coming to this world and experiencing many things, the concept of arrays he faced from his enemies made him fixed upon learning how to make great arrays of his own.


    "You know these five are simply amazing," Otman was excited, not less than Slone while pointing to Deem, Gor, and three more youths of the sky castle Arthur recognized by their clothes. "They are amazing¡­ amazing."


    Arthur smiled in pride as he said, "I''m glad you found some hidden gems here."


    "Tsk, only if I have enough time to teach them," he said the same complaint Slone expressed before, and he also got the same response from Arthur.


    "Good, tell me are you here to learn or watch?"


    "Learn," Arthur said before taking out his tools. "These are my tools to make the runes, can master give me pointers please?"


    Otman checked everything yet stopped slightly at the Golam''s blood. "Wow, such a highly refined blood, from where did you manage to get it?" he took the small pot and sniffed it. "Really purified and rich in energy. This can make many top notch arrays already," he said before greedily eyeing the pot.


    Arthur laughed, as this was from the purified Golam lake here. "Master can take it if he wants," he offered it casually before adding, "but can master give me some arrays for defense and offense? Also any guides on how to craft advanced arrays?"


    Otman smiled while saying, "big appetite you have here, don''t you?" he took out three books before adding, "this one is concerned with the basics. From what I can see you have enough experience to skip it. But take and read, it''s not a waste to revise one''s info from time to time."


    Arthur took this small and thin book before Otman added, "this one here is related to the strongest individual arrays, and this big one is considered the sacred book of all the group arrays."


    Arthur took a medium sized and a giant book before storing them away with the items he took before. "Take these as well," Otman took a hundred poles with a huge pile of runes grouped together in one hundred arrays, "these are one of the strongest offensive singular arrays I have ever made."


    Arthur received them impolitely while saying, "thanks master. I''ll go to check on master Armondo now."


    "Beware then," Otman laughed, "this dude is a fight maniac. Might just jump at you even without saying hi."


    Arthur laughed before leaving. He now had many books to read and some theories to put to the test. "I shall not depend entirely over the masters," he reminded himself that he should share what he achieved with his large army here. "These will be the base of my future academy," he muttered.


    He never thought of running an academy, but when he thought about it, he started to be more accepted to the idea. "The academy is just a sect, but with more commitment to teach disciples more than the sect," he muttered to himself while going near Armondo''s place.


    Armonda was just as Otman described, crazily jumping from a place to another, fighting disciples until they were already unable to move. "Long time to use a sword in a real fight," Arthur smiled helplessly while approaching Armondo.


    Since coming here he never used a sword the way he used to be before. He preferred bow and arrows, especially when he had fortuitous encounters with the different types of his arrows.


    Yet his soul deeply craved for swords, like what he used once to use.


    "Take this," suddenly Arthur heard Armondo''s shout that took him out of his momentary daze. He reflexively caught a long sword, before waving it right and left.


    "Quite balanced and not too light or heavy," he muttered while glancing at Armondo. "Sigh, Otman was right," he muttered when he saw the crazy master coming directly towards him with his sword in the air.


    "Use all might to defend yourself and try to hurt me. Don''t hold back!"


    Arthur nodded and the next moment the two swords clashed. Armondo came from high so Arthur needed to adjust his posture and lean on one knee even before receiving the blow.


    "Good decision," Armondo commented before he started to wave the sword right and left without any pause. "C''mon, show me your offense," he shouted while laughing, "your enemy won''t give you a chance to attack, you must create it yourself."


    Arthur was patiently receiving his blows while looking for his chance. "You are right," he said while laughing, "let''s have some fun then."


    The next moment Arthur ducked all of sudden, letting the sword in Armondo''s hand pass over his hair without blocking it. "My turn," unlike the first strike he received from Armondo, Arthur bent his knees to the max before releasing his body like an arrow while his sword moved to penetrate Armondo''s chest.


    "Good move," Armondo simply retreated while snapping his fingers letting his sword come again in his hand like it never left it from the start.  "But not enough," he added yet the next moment he was startled.


    Arthur was jumping up in the air, yet the next moment Arthur moved to appear on top of him with a sword aiming for his head.


    "Cling," this time Armondo received the blow to determine the strength embedded in it. "Impressive," he said, "you have such nice sword technique that I never saw before. What is it called?"


    Arthur just used a simple shifting technique of his which he rarely used in the recent fights. When he came to this world, he had to use this swift leg technique to compensate for his lack of strength.


    Yet such technique was mainly used by swordsmen back in his life. "A swift step," he muttered before changing his body position to appear just behind Armonda who turned to receive his attack.

 Chapter 465: The Crazy Swordsman

    "I like it," Armondo kept standing in place watching Arthur hitting him while only defending. He was observing every move of Arthur until after a couple of minutes his eyes shone brightly as he laughed, "I get it, it''s this simple then."


    Arthur was about to land another strike over his head, yet Armondo changed his place to appear just behind Arthur. "My turn now," he laughed, enjoying this feeling of freedom he just had.


    "Don''t try to play with the master of this technique," Arthur changed his body to appear beside Armondo who laughed and said, "it''s me who is your master, kiddo."


    Armondo and Arthur kept dancing around the place for five minutes before Armondo had it enough from testing this technique. "Time to show you the difference between us, kiddo," he turned suddenly serious when he noticed he couldn''t touch Arthur so far.


    He sensed the deep experience of Arthur and felt slightly challenged with it. So he started to be more serious, raising the level of difficulty of this training a bit.


    As he said that, he took a certain posture midair. To Arthur, he felt like Armondo changed to be a fierce eagle, eyeing him from high and waiting to assault.


    "Tsk, such a mid level technique in my days," he sighed but he knew his current human strength and body wasn''t enough to take such a hit directly.


    Armondo then moved, and his sword started to create a gale of wind around its edge. Arthur felt the strength of this attack. "Very dangerous," he muttered while the sword started to create more wind around it as it drew closer. "Even the air is locked under it, it''s slightly higher than what I used to see," he muttered when he tried to change his body using his swift legs.


    "Evasion is impossible, then let''s try defending," he muttered before taking another position where his legs were widely apart and slightly bent. "Best defense is a mighty offense," he clenched the sword with both hands while waiting.


    This stance was new on Armondo who started to feel more curious about Arthur. Yet Arthur didn''t move even when he got so near to him. "What are you waiting for?" he shouted while the distance between the two was simply lower than five meters.


    Arthur didn''t answer as the next moment he pushed his legs slightly upward, while no change occurred to his sword.


    Yet when his legs touched the ground again, he pushed them harder to the front and this time his sword lit up with strange blue light coming from his energy.


    The sword was like being on fire, and even the air around started to be heated up, rising to the higher altitude in no time.


    "A strange technique indeed," Armondo said as he stood on the ground after crossing swords with Arthur while contemplating over what just happened.


    When Arthur used that technique of his, and the two swords clashed, he felt a dominant force taking off his sword away from his hand!


    He never felt such a way before, yet he adapted and clenched the sword tightly with his energy, stabilizing it in his hand.


    But this created a disturbance in his technique. It wasn''t big enough to negate it, yet it was enough to make Arthur move and wave his sword, causing a small scratch on his neck.


    He touched his neck and felt his hot blood before examining it. "That kid¡­ I never was pushed this far by a disciple in the first meeting before," he said in low tone before adding, "if I didn''t adapt and let the sword go, I would be defenseless in front of his sword."


    His mind was processing the fight in a much faster way than normal mages. He had the slight moment of exchange repeated over and over again until he realized something.


    "It''s the air, he made the air push my sword higher with it," his eyes shone before laughing, "nice technique, kiddo, I like you more."


    Arthur wasn''t that excited about bringing back one of his old life techniques here this time. His body couldn''t handle this technique and his energy almost depleted.


    The moment he reached the ground he collapsed there. He had to ingest ten pieces of meat before being able to stand up once more.


    "It seems you only can perform it once so far," Armondo didn''t show his concern over what happened to him before adding, "you need to take care of your body much more."


    "I depend more on my dragon body," Arthur argued.


    "If you want to go and win the tournament, then you need to stop depending on your dragon body."


    Arthur didn''t understand his meaning, so Armondo explained further, "the tournament is mostly held under special circumstances where any transformation is sealed. You can''t use your dragon body except in two kinds of competitions. As for the rest, if you did then you would fail."


    Arthur understood his meaning, and just nodded in understanding. "I''ll try to focus on my body more," he promised.


    "Swordsmen are using their swords and body to drive the sword. Techniques such as the one you pulled or the one I used have great toll over our bodies. You need to make sure when hitting your foe to not be the first one to fall."


    "I want to use a strike that no foe will survive after," Arthur said.


    "That''s rare and risky," Armondo shook his head before adding, "you should be more realistic. What you said is the ultimate dream of any swordsman, but having a dream and reaching it are completely different concepts."


    Arthur understood and nodded before Armondo gave him a small book. "Take this, I wrote down all the major techniques I have ever learnt," he paused before laughing, "and your two techniques now will be added to them as well."


    "Thanks master," Arthur nodded before turning towards Cesile''s direction. "Sigh, she hasn''t finished the lecture yet."


    Armondo followed his gaze and noticed Cesile. "Hahaha, she is a lecturecholic kiddo, good luck with that. She won''t finish the lecture anytime soon."


    Arthur bitterly smiled as he thought to visit other masters and learn from them before heading to Cesile. Yet it seemed he underestimated her ability to give lectures.


    "I''ll  go then," Arthur said while Armondo shouted from his back, "we have to spar often, I''m sure you have more to show."


    Arthur was walking slowly towards Cesile''s direction while taking out some meat and kept eating them.

 Chapter 466: Giving Orders to Others

    "Finally you have to be totally focusing your energy in each single attack, dealing with it like it was your last attack in this life," Cesile said these words after ten continuous hours of talking after Arthur joined her.


    She spoke about many great battle tactics he knew of, and some he didn''t. yet the way she kept repeating her words over and over again annoyed him.


    He tried to escape midway yet she didn''t allow him to do that. She wanted him to sit tight and listen like anyone else here.


    "Now it''s time for you to train on your strikes," she said while taking out something small before letting a drop of blood touch it and turn it into a gigantic mass of green clay.


    "This is my training dummy, of course won''t be enough for all of you but currently I have only ten of them," she then kept making this huge hill of clay one after another until the place was filled with them. "Train on them for now until I send someone back with more."


    Arthur was sad for other masters to leave here soon, yet he wasn''t that sad when she said these words. He took a deep breath while standing up and stretching his body away from numbness.


    "Thanks for this precious lecture," he said before glancing at others as he shouted, "go now and train, I don''t want to see anyone slacking."


    "That includes you also," she said in a serious tone as she walked towards him, "my other disciples are monsters in their field, and the competition between the academies contains more monsters. You need to whip your lazy self hard and train."


    "I will," he nodded before adding, "yet I have to do other things."


    "Like what?" she stood in front of him while crossing her arms, "I already have seen you passing from one master to another until leaving me for last."


    "The last is the better, as it will remain forever," he joked and she just harrumphed before turning her face away and started to leave.


    "I''ll go back now chatty one, next time I come here I''ll personally test you."


    "I promise you''ll be amazed."


    "We''ll see," she said before heading towards the group of masters who just finished their lectures and tasks here. "Come and let us out, we can''t leave this place without your permission after all."


    He went after her and when he grouped with other masters they eyed him in sympathy that made him sigh. "Have you considered being my imperial guardians?" he asked and Mr. E nodded.


    "We discussed this matter and found that there is no harm to accept the offer."


    "Great," his face shone brightly before adding, "I''ll appoint you the moment I return to the city."


    "Alright," Mr. E nodded, "get us out and we''ll come in a week time of the academy time zone."


    "This is unfair," Amanda jumped at his neck at the next moment while adding, "you promised to give him more than that!"


    "Chill out lady," Mr. E laughed, "we''ll have one week without disciples and one week here. This is fair."


    "This isn''t!"


    "We have other responsibilities back at the academy," Slone said before adding, "at least I and Armondo have to go out first to arrange the place where we''ll stay at that academy."


    "Tsk," Amanda shook her head before Mr. E added, "we promised to give double the time we give to our disciples, not the entire time we spend in the academy."


    "One week is enough," Arthur said while nodding to Amanda. She did enough already and gaining him and his army of followers this time would be great.


    ''Open a path to the outside for them,'' he gave his system the order and the next moment a gate opened. "You can leave to the other world from here."


    "Thanks, and good luck," Mr. E said before moving with others towards the gate. Amanda went with them while saying before leaving:


    "I''ll go and make sure those guys won''t renege on their promises or cheat. If you want my help anytime, feel free to send someone to find me."


    "Alright," Arthur nodded while watching the portal close. "Fetch me Amelia, Randy, Omar, Agnus, Madly, Ron, Lily, Deem, and Gor."


    He said the moment they vanished as he turned to face the huge army of his followers standing there doing many things at the same time.


    "Things need to be organized here first," he muttered while in the next ten minutes, those whom he asked for appeared in front of him.


    "How was that experience?" he asked as they all came to him in one large group.


    "It was great," Amelia said with an excited face, "these masters are really something."


    "I got a lot of inspiration from Master Slone," Agnus said before adding, "I need to work on a sword before applying what I learnt in the spear."


    Arthur didn''t forget about his spear. "Great," he said before adding, "I want you to organize things among others. Divide all into groups and start training non-stop."


    He paused before adding, "from now on, I''ll bring many to cook meat for everyone. Also I''ll make sure to bring monsters here so they can absorb their organs."


    "This¡­" Ron''s face showed his hesitation before expressing his concerns, "are we now working entirely for the academy? What about the clan?"


    Madly and Lily nodded while Arthur inwardly sighed. "The clan is everything," he lied, "but focusing on it without strong backup will backfire upon us."


    He took a deep breath before saying, "I met some strange foes recently out there. My enemies have gone insane with me, even hiring up some unstoppable foes. Alone we can''t face them, and they already know where I came from."


    The faces of the three in front of him changed while he added, "don''t worry too much about the clan. My plan is to fool everyone and make them focus on the stronger academy not the weaker clan."

 Chapter 467: The Sacred Formation

    "But¡­" Madly paused, "I''m worried about grandpa Regil," she said.


    "I''m worried about everyone, you here included," Arthur replied before adding, "have faith in me. I know what I''m doing."


    The three weren''t that much convinced yet they all silently nodded. "Great, now I want you all to focus entirely on training and supervise upon others as well. I need to select the best of the best at the end of our stay here."


    "What about the city?" Gor asked.


    "Don''t worry yourself about it," Arthur smiled before adding, "I have one dragon and one tigress holding the fort for us. Plus I keep an eye over there all the time."


    He intended to bring the two girls here first, but now he changed his mind. He couldn''t let anyone leave here for the time being, and he needed someone he could trust to guard the city.


    "Now go, plan things here and make places for monsters and chiefs," he waved his hand and everyone left except for Amelia.


    He glanced silently at her before she embarrassedly asked, "are you going to leave me?"


    Her sudden question startled him. He didn''t speak in words as he went ahead and took her directly in his embrace. "Silly girl, you are my woman. I never leave my woman, ever," he said before painting a soft kiss over her sweet lips and felt her bounding heart in her chest with his fingers.


    "Alright," she nodded before he let her go and watched her body move in such a clumsy way.


    "You should take some rest with your girls, listen to me and grab her. She wants you in," the golden dragon said while acting wise.


    "I will treat them the way they deserve after wrapping things here," he promised before adding, "besides there is only one girl here that''s mine, not more."


    "That Lily one has feelings for you," the golden dragon said before laughing, "I can sniff far from here, hehehe."


    "Lily?" Arthur was surprised for a moment before turning to glance far towards the little girl working with others at the distance, "she is still young."


    "Then go for Madly."


    "Not my type."


    "Sigh, you let the sweetest beans slip away man, you shouldn''t let any girl move this far without making her full and satisfied."


    Arthur smiled and said nothing. He turned his gaze around, taking a deep refreshing breath before sorting out his thoughts. "Let''s do things in order, bring over all the chefs from before, plus many warriors."


    "Ding! Are we going to have a party now?"


    "The biggest party ever," he laughed before adding, "also arrange warriors to drive monsters to here. We have many to strengthen."


    "Ding! Don''t forget yourself," the system advised.


    "Of course I won''t," Arthur smiled before adding, "I''ll do everything in hand to make my body stronger."


    "May I ask what you will need the monsters for? That weird ceremony of yours perhaps?"


    "Weird ceremony¡­ that''s just a simple way to make people stronger fast," Arthur laughed shortly over the golden dragon words before correcting him.


    "If so then I have a suggestion," the golden dragon said before adding, "you are using light based monsters, not dark monsters, right?"


    "Sure, the garden purified the monsters and upgraded them," Arthur replied while watching the first batch of cooks to appear in the place with some warriors.


    They were the group he previously enhanced with his meat, yet this time he would need more of them for sure.


    "Then you should use the pillars you have collected here," the golden dragon said before adding, "I have a strong purifying diagram that can purify and upgrade monsters at least two ranks with the help of your pillars."


    "Two ranks?" Arthur muttered before adding, "does this mean a monster about to advance to be human can gain some benefit of it?"


    "Not to that degree for sure," the golden dragon laughed before adding, "at least this step would exhaust many of your pillars."


    "She deserves this," Arthur said before laughing, "they both do."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Nothing," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I can use this to enhance the monsters first, seeing how far this will lead us."


    "You won''t be disappointed," the golden dragon said in confidence, "but you need as many monsters as you can get. This diagram might take six thousands of your pillars at least and will cover a huge stretch of land and can be activated twice only. So, make sure to use every inch inside this diagram."


    Arthur nodded before asking in curiosity, "what''s the name of this diagram?"


    "The heaven defying diagram."


    "I like this name," Arthur laughed.


    "It''s only targeting monsters. A certain empire once had reached the peak with this diagram as it depended entirely on the upgraded monsters."


    "Reaching the human stage?" Arthur asked.


    "This stage is considered the basic stage up there," the dragon corrected before adding, "there are a long way ahead of them in upgrading."


    "Wow," Arthur commented before adding, "never thought there was a higher stage than being human."


    "There are, even humans have higher stages as well."


    Arthur felt this was something above his reach right now. "Alright, we''ll start with cooking first before enough number of monsters are gathered," he paused as he took a glance around, "prepare a place nearby for the monsters to be upgraded at and gather them there."


    "Ding! Inside or outside the center?" the system asked.


    "Won''t matter, but better to be outside the center," the golden dragon said before adding, "after all things got augmented by facing their nemesis."


    Arthur agreed by nodding while he waited for half an hour before all the chefs from before were moved here with a large army of fifty thousand warriors.


    Many battles and missions were now ended and that left those warriors having nothing else to do. The sudden appearance of all these startled everyone, yet Arthur''s top leaders worked their best to maintain the order and keep everyone focused on training.

 Chapter 468: Enormous Monster Gathering

    "It''s time to take out another meat," Arthur said before adding, "make it two pieces this time."


    "Ding! Your people here had already taken the meat once. Taking it twice won''t help except those with potentials."


    "I don''t intend to make them all eat the meat," Arthur shook his head before adding, "if the meat has such an effect on us, then it will also augment monsters as well, right?"


    His words and planning made the other two voices in his head silent for a moment there. He wanted to take advantage of his entire assets to the highest possible reach.


    "Ding! You are going to create a monster army, not just organ monster supply for your men!"


    "Hehehe, I want to have the highest organs that will transform everyone here," Arthur laughed before adding, "next time these masters come, I want them to be blown off with what they will see."


    "Ding! Alright, I will take out four pieces then," the system said before adding, "Ding! My estimate is that each monster requires more energy than humans, and to upgrade one level it would need much more."


    "Do what you see fit," Arthur nodded before heading towards the army of warriors and chefs up ahead, "I will focus on making the soup and leave everything up to you."


    Arthur entrusted his system with this task while he went to the chefs and warriors to give instructions to them. The system took out four gigantic pieces of Golam''s meat and Arthur just went towards his lake and started making soup.


    "Bring craftsmen, lumberjacks, and other villagers to cut wood and make places for the soup and meat to be seasoned, cooked, and stored."


    "Ding! Done, do you want Agnus to come and supervise them as well?"


    He thought for a moment before saying, "just make him give them pointers and check over their doing from time to time."


    "Ding! What about the ores coming from the heart of this world? The amount is growing non-stop and these ores are the highest ores you have so far."


    "Did the garden add its magical touch to them yet?" he asked.


    "Ding! Yeah, and some even started to coalesce again forming growing veins in the ground."


    Arthur was speechless for a moment before laughing, "That''s amazing. Let them be, I want them to produce more for me, hehehe."


    "Ding! As you wish."


    "Isn''t it better for your blacksmiths to use these ores to train? This will boost their training speed by miles ahead," the golden dragon suggested.


    "Nah, they''ll probably ruin many good pieces before gaining something decent," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I plan to boost their training by boosting their physiques and spirits. See agnus, he transformed after eating a single meal, what will happen if he absorbed monster organs? Have higher pets?"


    "Makes sense," the golden dragon said before adding, "yet leaving the ores to form veins seemed alluring, but you''ll need to excavate them again in the future."


    "A small hussle for a greater gain," Arthur remarked before returning to make his soup.


    He was starting to amass everything under his hand to make his chances in the academy world higher. He didn''t know how fierce the upcoming competition would be, yet he was anticipating it to exceed his expectations.


    So he needed to make sure he had a strong army under his disposal with many talents included.


    He spent the next couple of days making only endless amounts of soup. He delivered the soup to the working place of his warriors, chefs, and other villagers.


    The place transformed and expanded to even reach the edge of the garden''s heart. There was a huge place designated for storing his soup, a place to cut the meat, a place to season the cut pieces, and finally a cooking place.


    The entire region seemed to be a gigantic war camp with many people doing different things here. He glanced from time to time over everything, and he was quite satisfied with what his men had done so far.


    On the fifth day he managed to fill the entire wooden tanks prepared for his soup. "Phew, that was boring," he muttered when he filled the last tank with the last drop. "Now it''s time to check those monsters and start using that diagram."


    His body instantly shifted to a place outside his garden''s center. When he arrived there he felt speechless with the endless stream of monsters lying calmly there, doing nothing but rest.


    "Wow, all of these¡­ that''s huge!" he muttered while he kept moving around in his dragon form.


    "Ding! I gathered almost one third of the entire monster hordes inside your garden. According to the golden dragon, the diagram can hold them inside and level them twice if needed."


    "Do you plan to make them all upgrade twice?" Arthur asked.


    "If you want that then it can be done, but I personally prefer to waste some time and replace them with another batch," the golden dragon answered.


    "Ding! This will exhaust most of our entire purified monster stock so far," the system warned.


    "Didn''t we have more than these numbers still unpurified?" Arthur said.


    "Ding! We have five folds of the total amount," the system replied, "Ding! but this would take much time to purify the garden."


    "As long as we have more, don''t worry about our current usage then," Arthur said before adding, "I approve of the golden dragon''s idea, let''s do this."


    Arthur took another round to see the great amounts of monsters standing down below. "I believe we won''t need all this," he assessed before adding, "but having advanced monsters for later uses seemed amazing."


    He was imaging some future uses of this enormous army before adding, "what should I do now?"


    "I''ve explained things to the system," the golden dragon said before adding, "he will arrange pillars accordingly, all you need to do is to prepare enough arrows to activate them the same way you did before in the fights."


    Arthur understood the meaning of the golden dragon, and the next moment he returned to the ground, miles beside the place of monsters.

 Chapter 469: Hours of Enlightment

    He returned to his human shape and started working on the tools and materials in hand to make large batches of arrows. Just after minutes of beginning forging, he heard loud booming sounds coming from the direction of the monsters.


    "You''ve started," he muttered before returning to focus on the task in hand.


    It took him five hours to make twenty thousand arrows. His efficiency in forging was increasing with time, especially when he became so familiar with the arrows he was making.


    As for his system and golden dragon, they finished arranging everything in two hours and waited for him to finish.


    "I''m ready," he turned into a dragon and soared towards the monsters.


    When he reached there, he found the pillars surrounding the area of monsters with some scattered inside. From his high place he could take a glimpse over the shape of this arrangement.


    "A flower formation?" he muttered.


    "It''s the sacred flower formation," the golden dragon corrected before adding, "this formation is unique, yet it''s also quite taxing on your pillars. After two times the pillars would have minimal amount of energy left, and to compensate the loss a year is needed at least if not a couple."


    Arthur sighed. "Each time I gain pillars I find that I can''t get enough of them." He turned his gaze around for the last time before asking, "what should I do now? Which pillars should I hit first?"


    "Ding! Just hit the arrows one by one and I''ll guide your senses to hit their mark," the system said before adding, "this formation is quite complicated and needs each pillar to be activated in a specific way."


    "Alright, here I come," he took out his bow and arrows before starting to release them one by one. He kept controlling the arrows by his energy, and he felt the system shifting the direction to aim for certain pillars.


    As the system described, the way to activate this formation was quite complicated. Arthur tried to follow the arrows and create a pattern in his mind, yet after one hour of doing so he just gave up.


    "This¡­ it follows no pattern at all!"


    "Don''t try to break the formation down," the golden dragon laughed, "it''s quite complicated even for your well organized system."


    "Sigh, this I can already tell," Arthur shook his head before continuing to release his arrows.


    Each arrow hit its mark caused a rumble where the pillar released a sudden impulse of wave that met other waves from other pillars. Then the pillar would go silent, while Arthur noticed some shivering happening to these gigantic pillars.


    It took him roughly a day to finish hitting the six thousand pillars. When he finally finished, he noticed a flower-shaped dome of white energy surrounding everything down below.


    "What''s now?" he asked.


    "Drop a single blood drop from you over these energy waves," the golden dragon said before adding, "and be ready to toss away some of your arrows."


    "I''ll hit the pillars again?"


    "No, I said toss them, not release them," the golden dragon sneered before adding, "you''ll understand in time. Just let your blood over the energy waves."


    Arthur didn''t understand his meaning yet he used his claws to injure himself before letting the blood ooze towards the ground.


    The moment his blood touched the enormous dome it rumbled. The calm white energy stirred up and blue lines appeared interlinked with black, white, and golden lines in the dome.


    Then the doom started to change the surface. Parts started to elevate while others kept decreasing, until a gigantic true form of a huge flower with vast petals appeared in front of him.


    And at its center, the flower had a massive hole linked deeply even beyond the level of the surface.


    "See that hole in the middle? Go and let the arrows fall one by one, one per minute."


    "To how long?" Arthur moved his wings while he asked. "I don''t have many arrows now to last for days," he added.


    "Don''t worry, this won''t take longer than a day," the golden dragon reassured him, "what you have is already enough."


    "Alright," Arthur reached the top of the hole and glanced at it. "Wow, it''s an endless pit, where does it lead?"


    "No one knows," the golden dragon said, "no one ever entered it and returned to tell the tale."


    Arthur resisted this strange thought of going down there and checking this pit. "Don''t glare too much at it, it has some strange effect even on top ranked mages in the entire universe," the golden dragon warned when he noticed the strange silence of Arthur.


    "Sigh," Arthur took a deep breath before muttering, "this seems very dangerous."


    He took one arrow and then let it fall on the pit. The arrow fell normally until it reached the opening and then something crushed it and a huge explosion occurred.


    The explosion was controlled with invisible power that sucked dry everything in no time.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Arthur saw the gigantic realistic looking petals echoing with a rumble while they raised slightly above then landed heavily on the ground with a massive boom.


    Arthur was speechless for a moment, while the golden dragon had to jolt him awake: "Release another arrow."


    Arthur instantly let another arrow fall and the familiar explosion occurred while the petals kept ascending again, slightly higher than before and landed with strong momentum and loud booming.


    "Wow, I love it," Arthur shouted while releasing the arrows and the gigantic flower kept booming.


    He kept doing this while feeling too much excited without a good reason. "Sigh, this is a side effect of the shockwave of the flower," the golden dragon muttered, "you are still too weak to handle these waves."


    Arthur didn''t mind this, as during his strang euphoric state he had many things popping up in his mind. "This is¡­ just like enlightenment!" he was shocked when he finally realized what this familiar feeling was. "I want more, more," he kept throwing his arrows while his body and soul kept trembling out of excitement.


    What initially caused him to think much about the next plan of him and other top members of his team, was instantly solved in minutes during this stage.


    "I can help in erasing this shockwaves effect, or at least decrease them."


    "Ding! He seems to be enjoying his time, let him be."


    Arthur kept on this stage for hours. His mind worked from the old memories of his and started to analyze what he experienced here so far. In the end, a road map appeared in front of him, starting from this low place until reaching the top world in this universe.


    "Stop, the formation ended half an hour ago!" the golden dragon exclaimed in surprise as he repeated his words to Arthur for the tenth time, yet Arthur didn''t seem to hear him.


    "Ding! Let him be, he seems to be in a world of his own."


    "Damn this strange blue energy, blocking me reading his mind," the golden dragon complained.


    "Why are cursing my energy?" Arthur suddenly returned to his norm when the shockwaves coming from the petals faded away from him.


    "Finally," the golden dragon sighed before adding, "you kept throwing arrows like a machine for half an hour."


    "What?" Arthur turned around to find the place was void of the gigantic flower it filled here before, "it''s gone? This fast?!"

 Chapter 470: Devising New Theories

    "What fast?" the golden dragon sneered, "we took a day and a couple of hours in the next one to finish."


    "Wow, all that?" Arthur was shocked as he only thought he stayed only for an hour or a couple. "Sigh, this state¡­ I really miss it."


    "This is a delusion," the golden dragon said before adding, "some would even be crazed by this. You are lucky that you only kept laughing like an idiot for hours before finally becoming quite."


    Arthur knew this wasn''t the case, as he already was familiar with this moment of enlightenment. He didn''t speak about this anymore while checking the road map he devised just now.


    "Interesting," he revised what he planned and was impressed. "Like this I can be sure to have an invincible team," he muttered before adding, "at least not too much weaker than me."


    "Why are you so happy about these shockwaves?" the golden dragon noticed his strange mood and weird words.


    "Nothing," Arthur shrugged before adding, "how are the new monsters?"


    "Ding! See for yourself."


    Arthur turned to the ground below while watching the massive numbers of monsters moving towards one direction like a gigantic army of locust. "Where are they heading?"


    "Ding! I selected a place near the center of the garden to stay there," the system said before adding, "Ding! They will be replaced with the next batch. Give me a day until I finish organizing things here."


    "No problem," Arthur said before glancing over the monsters moving under him. "Impressive, their bodies at least are doubled and the vibe I''m getting from them changed," he muttered before adding, "and what is this small halo above their horns?"


    He referred to some monsters who started to show a small circle of light around the tip of the horn.


    "These are signs that these monsters are able to jump to the next level after gaining human form," the golden dragon said.


    "Aren''t they all able to reach higher ranks?" Arthur asked.


    "Of course not," the golden dragon instantly replied, "they are just like humans, only selected few of them have the potential to rise higher."


    Arthur was surprised to hear that. He thought every monster was able to reach higher stages, but it didn''t seem to be the case here.


    "Good, I noticed these halos early then," he said before adding, "separate those who have potential and send them to the heart of the garden."


    "Ding! Won''t you use them?" the system said in a surprised tone.


    "I thought you wanted to use all the strong monsters with high potential," the golden dragon joined the system.


    "That was true when I thought every monster can reach me towards the higher realms than here," Arthur shook his head before adding, "so I have to start preserving those unique monsters and try to care about them."


    "Ding! It''s your call, and I''ll execute what you asked me for."


    "Good," Arthur nodded before thinking about his next thing to do. "Let''s check over the cooking area," he flapped his wings and went directly towards the distance.


    In less than ten minutes he checked over everything there. As he left for over a day already, many piles of cooked meat started to appear. "Good, they will need five more days to finish that piece of meat," he muttered before moving to check the six groups of his top followers.


    They were so deeply immersed in training that no one noticed him. What he saw made him quite satisfied, and he had the thought of what he could do in this one day time his system asked for.


    He went towards the calmest place here in his garden; the sky castle. Once passed through the barrier, all the explosions ceased to disturb him.


    He sat in the vast, and now empty plaza before taking out the books he took from masters.


    "Time to read them," he said before opening the book about the basic principles of arrays.


    He needed two full days to study all of them. The moment he finished he closed the book in hand and glanced all around in silence.


    "Ding! For your knowledge the monsters are ready a day ago," the system reminded before adding, "Ding! I already told you and you asked to have more time studying these books."


    Arthur smiled before calmly saying:


    "Many things are different in this world." He paused before adding, "There is room to expand and advance these knowledge, and luckily I have time to do that."


    "Will you do this now?" the golden dragon was surprised.


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "I need that enlightenment to make me able to finalize the plan in mind."


    "Ding! I''ll move you there now."


    The next moment Arthur appeared above the endless sea of monsters. He changed instantly to his dragon form before taking out his bow and arrows. "I hope I can have great ideas this time," he muttered before starting to hit the pillars with the help of his system.


    His mind never stopped thinking deeply about what he read. Most of the knowledge here seemed strangely familiar, yet different from what he used to know back in his days as cultivators.


    Yet as he could determine familiar areas, he was able to pinpoint a rough path to evolve what he learnt from these books.


    "Alchemy, forging, sword techniques, and finally arrays¡­ all have room for improvement on a basic level," he muttered when he stood on top of the bottomless abyss in the center zone of the gigantic flower. "Time to think deeper then."


    He took out arrows and started releasing them one by one towards the hole. Each arrow exploded and caused the same reaction like before, and in less than one hour he was assaulted by the shockwaves and entered the stage of enlightenment.


    Through this peculiar and special situation, his mind was working hundreds of times faster comparing between the vast knowledge he had from his life as a cultivator with what he read here so far.


    His mind was like a machine working with much power than its usual, making him reach conclusions pretty fast and assess things in his mind like never before.


    He had also tried making things assumingly in his mind, while assessing the pros and cons, assessing failure and errors that he anticipated.


    Like this he stood in his place for a day and half this time, even after the end of the entire process and the vanish of the energy backlash. He kept himself with sheer will power and desire in this state for half a day before finally opening his eyes and a flash of blue light appeared in them.


    "This is amazing," he muttered while the next moment he laughed.


    "Finally you decided to come out of this weird state," the golden dragon said before adding, "the monsters finished upgrading hours ago and the system started directing them in batches towards the central part of your garden."


    Arthur glanced around, and as the golden dragon mentioned a part was missing.


    "Ding! The monsters are aligned in batches, waiting for you to start."


    "Oh," Arthur recalled what he intended previously to do. He thought he would go and try out what he had reached in thinking first, yet he realized he had to postpone this for later.

 Chapter 471: Modifications Upon the Absorption Process

    "Move me there now and inform Amelia and others to meet me."


    Arthur was moved by the help of his system to appear inside the central zone of his garden. The place he appeared at wasn''t this far from the place of the working villager on the meat or the hard training mages and warriors.


    He waited for minutes while thinking again about what he achieved. "The biggest advancements are in the sword techniques, then forging, then alchemy, and lastly at array making."


    He was mainly a sword cultivator in his past life. Despite rarely using swords here, he now had many things in mind related to this world''s techniques and also new ones to test.


    "Also the abilities in this world¡­ I can advance them by a notch," he muttered while not thinking he was exaggerating in his earlier estimation.


    He watched Amelia and others getting closer to him before he said:


    "I''ll start killing those monsters and give the vital organs to each person here," he said before adding, "let''s elevate everyone''s strength."


    They looked at the strong looking monsters standing no far from them.


    "Are we going to repeat the same thing like we did back in the clan?" Ron asked, and Arthur nodded. "Then we need more normal villagers to help in arranging things here," Ron added.


    "Nice idea," Amelia said, "we don''t need to make our mages and warriors stop training to arrange this."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll handle this," Arthur said and he didn''t need to inform his system about this task. The next minute a large number of villagers appeared while Amelia and others divided themselves into three parts, Ron and people from the clan went to explain things to the new villagers, while Omar, Randy, and others went to inform the trainees about what was going to happen, and finally Amelia stayed behind alone with him.


    "You wanted me to stay, missing me already?" she laughed while a tinge of redness appeared on her cheeks.


    "I miss you all the time," Arthur flirted before adding, "yet a time will come for the two of us to intimately discuss some new things," he winked and the redness on her face deepened.


    "What do you want me for?" she hurried to say while trying to cover up her embarrassment by glancing at the close by villagers.


    "I''m editing the techniques and instructions you all learnt from masters," he seriously said, instantly attracting her interest, "every time I test a theory, I''ll send a bird''s wing to you explaining everything in it."


    She understood what he wanted from her. "Are you sure you can edit these teachings?" she doubtly said, "as far as I recall, many seemed deep and profound, not easily grasped by any of us."


    "Leave this to me," he chuckled before adding, "I''ll test the theories and you need to make sure others will learn them when proven right."


    "I''ll make sure the right people will get to know about this in time," she said before adding, "but do you want us to ditch the old teachings then?"


    "Sure," he nodded, "my theories are much advanced and will produce greater results in a shorter duration."


    "Sounds like a good plan," she nodded before standing for a couple more minutes before Ron and others returned.


    "They are ready," Ron said before adding, "we''ll lead them first until they grasp things, then we''ll return to our training."


    Arthur thought for a moment before saying, "divide yourselves in batches, I''ll start with Amelia, you, and Omar. Others will come in batches as well."


    He, like others, knew once they absorbed these organs, everyone would enter a long sleep.


    "I''ll arrange that," Madly said before turning to Ouly and Lily, "you two come with me to make a time table for all of us."


    Arthur glanced at Lily before sighing. The girl seemed attached to him in a way he never noticed before. "Not now, maybe later," he muttered to himself while watching the three move away.


    "Go and bring me Omar," Arthur said to Ron before turning to Amelia, "be ready to absorb the organs."


    She glanced weirdly at him before saying, "isn''t it to just injure myself and absorb the organ?"


    "Nah," he shook his head as this was one of the benefits of his enlightenment. "You''ll need to first adjust your energy and then you will use one of your best techniques or abilities while touching the organ," he explained before adding, "and this time it will be done inside an array."


    "Array?!"


    "An augmenting array to make sure you all will get the most benefit out of this."


    In fact he also had in mind pill recipes he devised out of his old cultivation world pills to help, but he had no time to test making them or produce these in big batches.


    "This has to be delayed till the next time," he muttered as he planned to make them absorb three to five organs during their stay here.


    "What about you?" she suddenly asked, "won''t you absorb any?"


    "I will absorb many," he laughed and didn''t explain further. In fact he had set his target to be around dozens to two dozens of organs. His human body was his weakest point now, and if the warning signs he received from his master regarding the upcoming competition were true, then he was truly in great disadvantage.


    "Wait for a second until I prepare everything," he turned to a wide area here left by his system for the large number of his followers to absorb organs. As he went there, he took out his tools and started making runes.


    What he learnt from the basic book of array was the best languages used to make runes. The best was, surprisingly, the dragon tongue, and he had an ancient dragon soul residing in his mind and soul right now.


    "I''ve told your system everything regarding the dragon language and he learnt it quite fast," the golden dragon said.

 Chapter 472: Amelias Unexpected Gain

    "Ding! Just tell me the word you want to write and I''ll help guide your hand to write it down," the system said, with much confidence in his tone.


    "Alright, let''s start with these words; augment, absorb, purify, extract, amplify, seal, control, and store," he said as these were the line of words he decided to use in this array.


    "Ding! All of these?!" the system was speechless, "Ding! How many runes are you going to make in each array?"


    "Ninety nine groups, each consisted of ninety-nine ore," Arthur explained while adding, "each word will have either one, three, five, seven, and finally nine groups based upon the need of the word and the strength of the monster."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two sounds in his mind were speechless for a moment before the golden dragon said: "Don''t you think you are overdoing this? It''s just a small boost to their strength."


    "You are wrong," Arthur shook his head while adding, "this will be a miraculous change in everyone''s lives."


    He started to arrange the ink, which came from the purified water sea in his garden center. As for the blood on the ground, he used the purified Golam blood to do that.


    As he kept working diligently on making his runes, the system kept guiding his hand until he started to get familiar with what he was writing.


    Making all these runes took roughly half a day before he started to spill the blood over the ground to create spaces for the absorption process.


    Before he wasn''t that much caring about the shape of the blood on the ground, or the specific placement of the runes inside. Yet after studying and analyzing, he started to have some theories here as well.


    So he started drawing stars, nine headed stars with internal lines connecting them, turning this into much like a Ley Line diagram.


    Then he started arranging the runes inside the diagrams he created, making sure to put the augmenting runes more towards the place of the monster.


    "Bring one monster to me," he said to his system before waving to Amelia to come.


    Right now many were standing in line, waiting in patience and much anticipation to what their mighty lord was making.


    Amelia came and glanced at all his preparations. "Impressive, that''s more like the pet contract," she commented.


    "Go there and be ready to activate your energy and use your strongest ability, technique, or attack," Arthur instructed as this was the only way he could be sure their energy would be highly activated and circulating fast inside their bodies.


    "Alright," she smiled before adding, "can I later couple with one?"


    He nodded as he said, "you need first to strengthen your body and soul, extend your energy then you can have your share of these."


    She nodded and stood at the place he specified, while a monster came and stood calmly inside the diagram.


    The monster was giant, with a shape resembling a tiger with long sharp teeth and thick crown made of strange shaped bones, surrounding one central long horn in the middle.


    It looked majestic and strong, yet Arthur took out a normal sword and went towards it.


    Before he used to kill the animal and bring the organ to the mage or warrior to absorb, but this time was different. He first would augment the monster while killing and extracting the organ later.


    "Drop your blood over the arrow-like rune in front of you at my mark," he said before reaching at the monster and patting over its body. "Don''t worry, I''m pretty sure your contribution to my people won''t be forgotten or for nothing."


    The monster seemed to understand his meaning as it lowered its head and sat on the ground motionless, closing its eyes. "Now," Arthur said before holding the sword in hand, turning into a dragon the next moment, and waited.


    The moment Amelia put her blood over the rune, the diagram was activated and the next moment a thick veil of blood erupted the three of them. Arthur descended his sword to cause a fatal wound at the monster''s neck, killing him in one blow.


    Then he turned into a human gain before cutting the monster''s belly and started dissipating his energy inside.


    "Wow, so good I have prepared for such an outcome," he muttered while he felt the resonance of more than one organ inside this monster. "Advanced monsters have more than one vital organ indeed," he nodded before taking out one kidney and hurriedly threw it towards one side, a place surrounded with some groups of runes.


    Then he took the second kidney, lobe of liver, and finally a piece of the brain. He threw all towards the diagram before saying, "I''ll retreat now, you cut your hand and stain all the star-like runes around you in a circle."


    He didn''t wait for her to reply before turning to the dragon again and taking the dead body of the monster outside. He put the dead body on one side before turning his gaze towards the activated array. "I hope this works," he muttered as Amelia had to start absorbing four organs not one.


    His wait lasted for an hour, during which he didn''t move an inch from his place. He closely watched the array, looking for any changes and analyzing it.


    "Thud," this strange sound appeared before the entire array started to fade away. When he saw Amelia clearly, she was already passed out.


    He went to check her, while ingesting part of his energy inside. "Amazing," that what he muttered when he opened his eyes after a couple of minutes. "these organs are replacing her human organs and starting to strengthen her body."


    He stood up while glancing at her in a new light. "This¡­ it''s far beyond what I hoped for," he laughed, before waving to others behind, "come and carefully move her to the rest zone."


    Ron and others had already cleared a vast area to accommodate for the fallen out mages and warriors. Arthur watched a group of villagers carrying Amelia in a stretcher before he started to check his diagram. "Only part of its power was consumed," he was surprised before checking the runes.


    "Even the runes can be used for many times, that''s simply amazing."


    He stood up and as he didn''t need to waste more time in making more runes he waved at Ron, Madly, Lily, and others to bring people forth.


    Then he started to create his diagram on the ground before Deem appeared.


    "This diagram looked like a primitive Ley Lines diagram," he muttered, "I can help in making it if you want."


    Arthur glanced at him before nodding. "Here, take these tools and runes and start making one diagram in front of me."


    He handed him his own tools and stood by the side watching Deem making an exact copy of his diagram. "Good, even the runes were neatly arranged," Arthur said in content, "go and keep making them."


    Deem nodded while starting to call out on more aiders, people he knew from the teaching group with Otman. As for Arthur, he had one less task to be taken off his shoulders, and now he was able to fix entirely on processing the organ absorption.

 Chapter 473: A Special Diagram for Arthur

    Arthur kept being busy in preparing the organs for his followers. Each monster had at least two organs, and many had four. The number of his followers exceeded ten thousand by much, and that made him consume nearly one week in this.


    Yet when he finished he was excited to see the changes over the first people he gave organs to.


    As he passed through the place, he took a deep breath before muttering, "without Deem''s help, I might have spent more."


    Deem and his team were the last one to have organs. As for himself, he planned to kill two special monsters with halos on their horns and absorb their organs at the same time.


    "If each has five, then I will have ten in the end," he muttered before heading towards Amelia. She stood beside Omar, Ron, Madly, Omar, and Randy. All had already awakened and were now organizing who had woken up as well.


    "How are you feeling now?" he asked as he reached them. Each took roughly from five to six days to wake up, with Amelia one of the longest among them.


    "Fantastic," Amelia answered before Omar added, "I believe I never was stronger like this."


    Arthur nodded before asking, "have you any side effects?"


    "Nothing," Ron replied, "we just wasted much time here."


    "Valuable time," Madly corrected him, "besides we have much time already inside."


    Arthur nodded before adding, "now arrange those who got up and go back to training. I might be absent for a week before coming back with some theories for you to try."


    "Going to absorb your organs?" Amelia asked.


    "Sure, it''s my turn now," he laughed before adding, "being the last one isn''t a good feeling."


    They smiled and watched him vanish from this place. He was much different than them.


    According to the golden dragon''s words, there was a much better place for him to start his enhancement plan.


    He instantly appeared on top of the Golam''s lake, where he let his body be immersed in its waters. "Are you sure this is the best place to do it?" he asked before adding, "I can''t use my diagram here."


    "You can," the golden dragon laughed, "after all this entire lake is your diagram."


    Arthur was speechless for a second before asking, "how many runes can I use then? And how can I use them?"


    "Just stain the rune groups with your blood and let them all sink all the way down," the golden dragon said before adding, "use as much amount as you have. I believe you made so many already, right?"


    Arthur nodded as besides killing those monsters, he would take a break and start making runes. Despite the large demand over them, he managed to create a huge stock of them, considering the fact that each group could sustain up to ten attempts.


    "Alright," Arthur nodded before adding, "I''ll start doing this now. Bring the monsters to me."


    As he started taking out large amounts of runes and stained them all with his blood, he watched the sudden appearance of ten monsters at the same time, creating strong waves out of their giant bodies.


    "This¡­" he was surprised, "wasn''t I going to absorb only two monsters'' organs? What others are doing here?"


    "Ding! This is the instruction of the golden dragon," the system replied before adding, "Ding! he is quite sure you''ll need all of them."


    "You are going to use a mighty diagram inside your own garden. This is a chance you shouldn''t spoil," the golden dragon said.


    "Would I be fine?" Arthur wasn''t sure of this.


    "Don''t worry," the golden dragon laughed, "after all being a dragonair isn''t about transformation. Your dragon body is always there to support your human body at any time."


    Arthur felt doubts, yet he nodded as he said, "alright, I''ll do it your way."


    "You won''t regret it."


    Arthur took all the storage he made as preparations for the next wave of upgrades he planned to have. Yet he preferred to use them all now.


    He kept staining the runes with his blood while his system threw them all around the lake. Once the runes touched the lake surface, a small reaction occurred with some bubbles around the runes before they sank deeply in the bottom.


    In half an hour he was finished, and then he glanced over the ten monsters waiting for him.


    "Each one will have five organs at least, and each organ will only endure five minutes top," he thought to himself before adding, "so I have to be quick. System, golden dragon, how can I activate this strange diagram?"


    "Ding! I''ll do this for you, so just start and don''t worry."


    "Thanks," he took his sword before turning to the dragon and the next moment he started killing these ten monsters.


    Despite being killed, they didn''t instantly fall like they were supported with hidden energy. Arthur killed them all first, then started dissecting their bellies before cancelling his transformation and started to take out the vital organs.


    "Two kidneys, a heart, two lungs, four liver lobes," he took nine organs off the first monster while speechlessly glancing at them. "Are you sure I won''t die?"


    "Don''t worry, your dragonair energy is much higher than this," the golden dragon tried to reassure him, and he just sighed before heading to the next monster.


    Most had the same number of organs, while two had slightly different. One had ten with the increase of the brain, while on had only three; the eyes and one horn.


    "Strange," he put all the organs in front of him before adding, "this last one was strange."


    "It was special," the golden dragon laughed as he was currently in a good mood, "I can smell great soul powers inside these three organs. Don''t belittle them, they are worth more than what you collected so far, with the exception of the brain."


    Arthur had questions in mind, yet he knew there was no time to do that, "activate the formation," he said while causing a deep wound in his hand with the sword in the other.


    "Rumble!"

 Chapter 474: Which Dantian Arthur Will Have?

    The moment he did the wound, his system activated the grand formation making the entire lake be stirred up and rumble. Arthur felt the lake to be like a gigantic beast eyeing him in extreme vigilance.


    "Just ignore it and continue," the golden dragon said as he saw and felt this change in the lake. "It''s the remnant soul pieces of that Golam, it''s still vengeful of what you did to it."


    "It deserved it," Arthur shrugged before touching his hand towards every single organ floating over the lake surface around him. His energy was already stirred up to the maximum, yet he didn''t stimulate the transformation and thus it kept escalating inside.


    "Rumble!"


    The more he touched the organs, the more the rumble sound getting stronger and the aura around him to change. Without knowing it, with the last organ being touched and attached to his hand, he lost his consciousness while the system controlled his body according to the golden dragon instructions.


    His body floated peacefully inside the giant lake until he reached the middle, then he sank deeply inside the lake, until his body rested in the bottom.


    For those watching from far, a gigantic dome appeared all of sudden accompanied by the sounds of rumbling. "Is this his doing?" Amelia was speechless and extremely worried, even thought to go there and check the place herself.


    "Have some faith in him," yet the nearby Omar muttered while glancing again towards that dome and sighed. "This kid makes the old men like me ashamed."


    "Hehehe, he is extraordinary," Amelia laughed before adding, "don''t compare yourself with him. Now let''s go and continue training," she then turned to steal another glance over the distance, "I hope you are ok, dear," she thought to herself as despite her smile and laugh, she was still dead worried about him.


    Arthur was kept in this state for longer than he initially expected. He thought he would take a week yet in fact he stayed in the bottom of the lake for three.


    Just before he was awakened, the system took his body away from the depth of the lake and made it land on the shore.


    "Cough, cough, cough," he kept coughing and sneezing after he woke up for roughly an hour. "What the hell happened?" he asked yet when he just tried to stand up, a deep indentation occurred in the dirt around his hands and followed by a booming sound where his body was thrown to the air, violently hitting a couple of rocks and smashing them.


    Yet he wasn''t injured.


    "Wow," he stood up while examining his body without caring anymore about that strange taste in his mouth or the bitter smell of the air entering his lungs. "My body¡­" he clenched both fists feeling the massive energy running through his veins.


    "Congratulations, you are now having the right body of a dragonair," the golden dragon said before laughing, "despite spending over three weeks already in there, this time wasn''t wasted at all."


    "What?" Arthur was speechless and before he could add more, his system brought more good news.


    "Ding! Your energy has broken through a certain threshold. Your embryonic form of a universe is now starting to grow. From now on you can start your path of cultivation."


    "Wow, I can finally cultivate again?" he muttered before hurrying to close his eyes as he took regular deep breaths. "This feeling¡­" he paused while opening his eyes again and a wide smile appeared gradually over his face. "I miss this feeling, hahaha."


    He clenched his fists again out of his excitation. "I can cultivate, I can cultivate again, hahaha," he laughed while looking at the sky of his garden, "wait for my return, I won''t succumb to no one this time, not even heavens and its dirty machinations."


    He promised before calming down his thoughts. When he closed his eyes he finally could detect a faint trace of the spiritual energy around. Despite being faint now, he knew this wasn''t the issue of the world, but his.


    "I need to start cultivating," he muttered as he knew the early steps were the most critical and any single mistake here would take months of effort to correct.


    "Ding! Won''t you go and check on your followers? Start training and testing?"


    "Don''t worry," he smiled, "I trust they are doing good by now. Plus I have enough time to spend on everything. But these moments are the most precious of all," he sat on the ground while closing up his eyes.


    "Tina and Sara had already arrived outside," the golden dragon said.


    "Ding! Do you want me to let them in?"


    "No," he shook his head without opening his eyes, "just send someone from here with the instructions of staying guard there."


    Arthur started to contemplate on the steps he should start in his new path of cultivation. "I''m now at the early stage of the cultivation, the foundation establishment stage," he muttered to himself before adding, "first thing is to create a dantian and start opening my meridians."


    He inhaled and exhaled slowly and with regular rhythm while clearing up his mind of anything. "My cultivation path is the universe formation one. Such a rare and hard to develop path was something not common back in my world, yet luckily I have many info regarding it."


    He revised all the info regarding this path before adding, "the best dantian is the multi dantians like star dantian or black hole dantian," he paused while thinking deeply about this.


    "Ding! Your path of thoughts are correct, yet I would recommend you won''t forget your true nature as a dragonair in this planning."


    The words of his system were as usual golden to him making his thoughts paused before suddenly asking:


    "What''s the shape of the highest dragonair form?"


    "You mean physically?" the golden dragon asked.


    "No, on the soul level," he said before adding, "dragonairs have strong soul power like I could tell from your remarks. What is the shape of the soul in them when they advance to the highest ranks?"

 Chapter 475: Opening the Meridians

    "Well," the golden dragon paused for a moment before adding, "like an ocean of stars, each can provide you with enough energy to last a whole battle."


    "Ocean of stars¡­ hmm¡­" he thought deeply about the words of his golden dragon before muttering, "then it shouldn''t be a star dantian or black hole dantian, or even a constellar dantian," he paused before making up his mind, "it should be an entire universe, one of its own. But¡­"


    He stopped at this point while opening his eyes. "To do that I need a medium," he said while ceasing to say anymore.


    "Ding! What are you hesitating for?" the system suddenly asked before adding, "Ding! This is one of its functions and roles."


    Arthur nodded as he asked, "how can I absorb it then?"


    "Ding! It''s already inside your soul."


    "What the hell are you two speaking about?" the golden dragon said while feeling frustrated of being the only one without a clue.


    "Ding! I''ll explain to you," the system said before adding, "Ding! You can simply merge it with your embryo dantian by mere thinking of it."


    Arthur nodded as he closed up his eyes again and returned to his way of breathing.


    The first thing he did was to accumulate as much spiritual energy as his body could handle. Despite having a strong dragonair body and vast dragonair''s energy, his body was still weak in terms of cultivation.


    So he carefully stored up spiritual energy inside his body and it took him roughly an hour to do so. "I think I''m ready to hit the dantian and start forming it," he said to himself while feeling the small amount he accumulated during this hour.


    "Sigh, it''s really exhausting and frustrating seeing this minute amount and even my body can hardly handle it," he shook his head before starting to stir up this spiritual energy, moving them towards his dantian.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The moment the energy hit the fragile membrane of the embryo dantian, these booming sounds hit his body and soul, making him quite uncomfortable. "C''mon, penetrate it," despite being strongly shaken from inside, he didn''t stop hitting the membrane and pushing the energy deeper.


    Each time a booming sound assaulted him, his energy lost a portion of it. Yet when it finally entered his dantian, he felt a strange relief and a relaxed feeling that he only felt once in his past life.


    "This feeling¡­ is priceless," he muttered.


    "Ding! Hurry and think of it and start moving it towards your dantian," the system urged.


    "Calm down, I know," he confidently said before starting to wake himself from this mesmerizing feeling. The next moment he thought of one thing; his star map.


    The star map was one of his biggest assets, and it was the only thing he had right now to help him in what he wanted to do. Yet he was skeptical about using it, fearing to damage the map or even completely lose it.


    Yet after the reassurance of his system, he made up his mind and decided to use it. The moment he thought of it, he felt some connection with a mysterious place inside his body. "it''s there," he said before he tried to move it.


    The star map appeared like a tiny shining blue dot coming from far, like a small star walking slowly and crossing a small distance like it was so vast. He was patiently waiting while keeping his breathing rhythm and injecting the new energy towards his newly forming dantian.


    He knew this was the most important and very critical moment of forming the dantian. Any tiny mistake and the backlash would be severe and the damage might be severe enough to leave him crippled for the rest of his life.


    So he waited, and after three hours the blue star finally reached his slowly expanding dantian.


    "Rumble!"


    This time the entrance of the star inside the dantian caused a severe reaction that made him cough blood and his face turned ashen white; yet he didn''t open his eyes or even thought about anything except completing his dantian.


    "A dantian without meridians is simply a crippled dantian," he reminded himself of what he heard and told endless times to newly recruited disciples at his sect.


    As the star map entered the dantian, he knew the amount of energy stored in there wasn''t enough. Besides the size of this newly formed dantian wouldn''t suit the strong star map.


    So he had to act fast, and his steps didn''t show any hesitation while he endured the pain of opening his long closed meridians.


    Doing so made him feel like cutting his flesh with a blunt knife, tearing apart his body while he kept pushing the energy with utmost care towards the first node.


    This node rested in his pelvis, and he selected it first as it was the nearest and one of the most connected node to others in his body. "Just a little longer," after hours of trying he was almost near the node, and he tried to encourage himself more to endure the pain and wait for a little longer.


    "Swoosh!"


    The moment the energy penetrated the fragile membrane of the node, he felt like spilling water from a small pot into a vast container. "Phew, now it''s time to fill it," he made such progress yet he couldn''t even rest a second yet.


    He was so close to finishing up building his dantian and the first closed circuit of meridians and nodes inside his body. He continued to breath slowly and steadily while moving all the energy he inhaled towards his dantian then pushing it towards the node to fill both up.


    His dantian now looked almost empty like his node, and filling both up proved to be quite challenging and a long task that took roughly a day.


    When both were filled up finally, he started pushing his energy outside his node. The node had a complex network of meridians, and he aimed for one of those heading upwards towards his chest, neck, and head.

 Chapter 476: The Chest Node

    "Can I open another one?" he muttered as he knew this wasn''t up to him but to his body tolerance. "I hope I can," he prayed as opening up a network with two nodes in first training was something unique and great to his future.


    He kept inhaling and diverting energy towards his dantian, while pushing the energy inside the closed meridians to open them.


    He knew his meridians were weak at the moment, so overstressing on them would cause opposite consequences.


    And so he kept his patience as his greatest ally, and his endurance as his backup, while arming himself with hope to open two nodes this time.


    When he managed to reach his chest, he selected the central node there and headed directly towards it. "My chest in my machine, the place where I can absorb more spiritual energy," he muttered hoping opening this node would help in providing more energy during his breathing to sustain the node and not let it close on itself.


    If it closed then he would have failed this attempt and had to go and link the meridians together with his dantian. As he knew everything would be determined by this small step, his heart bounded stronger and faster the closer his energy opened the path towards the node.


    Just as he was about to penetrate the node he stopped and started to accumulate energy as much as he could until he filled up his dantian, node, and meridians.


    "Swoosh!"


    The moment the energy penetrated the fragile membrane he felt the same feeling he had in his pelvis node. Yet he wasn''t that happy yet. The amount of energy stored inside his dantian, node, and meridian was the most he could sustain in his body so far, yet the moment it entered this node he felt they were scarce.


    "Far from enough," he sighed and as he had bad premonition about this, the stap map suddenly shook inside his dantian and a sudden pulse of energy erupted to fill almost two thirds of his dantian.


    "Wow, impressive," he exclaimed in surprise and had many doubts yet he didn''t delay and pushed this newly created energy towards his meridians, up the way towards his node to almost fill it.


    "Almost done," he muttered while his heart was bouncing off his chest at this moment. He kept his regular breathing going on despite his worry and disturbed mind at the moment.


    It took him hours before he finally stabilized this relentless node. It was much bigger than his pelvis node, reaching almost triple in size. "Damn, that was hard," he sighed before smiling, "yet I did it, hehehe."


    He took a deep breath before knowing he wasn''t far from finished. "Should I aim for the third one?"


    In his past life, only the legendary cultivator known in his world was known to unlock three nodes at his first attempt. Everyone considered him a monster. "Ain''t I a monster myself?" he smirked before deciding to give it a go.


    As he started to breathe again, he felt the changes in the amount of energy entering his body and going towards his dantain. Before he had to inhale the energy then guide it towards his dantian, yet right now he felt a familiar traction force erupting from his dantian, taking charge of this task.


    "Finally¡­ it''s starting to beat," he bitterly smiled before setting his gaze upon the third node. "This one must be opened, after all it was the one responsible for the soul techniques and the hardest to open later on."


    He started to move his energy once more and the pain he felt this time was much worse than ever. His body was already exhausted, not in his best shape while he was aiming higher, heading towards the hardest node ever in any cultivator''s body.


    The mind node.


    As the name said, it was situated in the brain, situated deeply inside it and surrounded with a really complex network of meridians.


    The issue was that he had to open all these meridians first before finally entering the node. As cultivators grew stronger through their path, their energy would start to grow fiercer and such attempts to open a delicate and highly condensed network would result in failure.


    That was the main reason behind the rarity of someone opening this node in his past life, and his dedication to try this out this life.


    Going through the neck meridians made him quite suffocate of pain and exhaustion, yet when he reached the brain, he stopped.


    He didn''t plan to rest here, he planned to organize his energy and try to use a meaningless word that the legendary cultivator once said to one of his direct disciples.


    "Use the lowest amount possible of your energy, yet not too thin to fail," Arthur muttered these words to himself while contemplating deeper in the hidden meaning.


    He once thought about this saying and even tried some trials on himself and others while all failed. "Perhaps he meant the newly formed energy by his words," Arthur nodded as this was the only theory he had in mind and couldn''t test back then.


    Yet now he had the chance to try it out, and even on himself.


    "First I need to close the circuit," he sighed as he already did so much and took so long yet didn''t even finish. He left his energy high up there and shifted his attention towards his chest node.


    "I need to connect it again with the pelvis node before linking both with my dantian," he muttered, knowing this process would take long hours, much pain, and a lot of exhaustion.


    In fact it took him less than six hours to do so, yet the pain was the same and he was much more exhausted than ever. He was deeply immersed in his world, and didn''t hear the words his system repeated.


    "Ding! Try to eat a piece of meat! Your dragonair''s energy is hardly sustaining all this pressure."

 Chapter 477: Completing the Cultivation Training

    He didn''t hear a thing while he only put in his mind the goal of opening the three nodes with the precious and extremely rare mind node.


    As he managed to link the two nodes together, he started to link each to his dantian to strengthen the circuit. "The more meridians opened and linked the dantian and nodes together, the stronger I will become in the future," he said these words, encouraging himself and trying to cross his limits.


    Doing so wasn''t that hard, and he started to adapt to the pain of opening his meridians. When he finished doing this, he started to see slight gain at the moment in the form of increasing the amount of spiritual energy his body absorbed.


    "Good, now I have to wait to fill them up before heading to hit the mind node," he muttered before suddenly recalling the words of that cultivator, having a sudden enlightenment about these. "or I shouldn''t do that¡­" he paused before assessing his energy remaining inside his upper meridians.


    "They are indeed weak, yet not too weak to fail in opening these meridians¡­" he thought to himself before finally deciding to give it a shot.


    The moment he pushed his energy inside the closed meridian network inside his brain, he felt such an excruciating headache that was enough to make him scream under normal circumstances.


    Yet he gritted his teeth and kept his breathing normal despite his body kept shivering out of extensive, unbearable pain.


    He was astonished to see his energy opening up the collapsed meridians and slowly filling the network.


    "Wow, so that was his meaning after all," he muttered in surprise and delight, overshadowing all the exhaustion and pain he was feeling so far. "It''s filling them like water filling small dried up field canals."


    He waited, patiently enduring this severe headache that kept escalating with more meridians being opened. After sometime, he lost track of how many meridians he opened, yet he knew he was making unexpected progress and that alone was enough for him.


    "Just a little longer," he patiently pushed the weak energy residing in his meridians towards more meridians while setting his gaze upon the grand prize.


    "Shall I take more energy from below or this would be enough?" He was in this dilemma before he decided to follow the guidance of that figure and keep using his weak, almost exhausting energy.


    When he reached the mind node finally, his energy was so thin that he doubted its ability to even cause a reaction at its surface. However he didn''t hesitate and pushed the energy forward, crossing the last step towards the great milestone.


    "Impressive!'''' The moment he stirred up his energy in the meridian closest to the node, suddenly all the energy inside the opened complex network around the node stirred up as well.


    For him, he felt like a giant wave was coming, from all the meridians he opened, gathering up weak streams of energy to form a mighty wave that took over the node instantly without any resistance.


    And then he felt all weak, enlightened, frail, and excited at the same moment.


    "I need to replenish energy, fast," he knew exactly where the weakness and fragility came from. His energy was getting diluted among a great network of meridians and the newly opened great node.


    If he didn''t hurry and resupply them with more energy, he would be doomed to fail.


    Yet when he just controlled some spare of the dantian''s energy to move up, he had a strange discovery that made him more amazed.


    "No fucking way! The node is acting like a dantian and producing energy from outside! How come!!"


    Just as he was trying to rescue his gains, he found a wisp of energy produced all of sudden inside his mind node. This little wisp startled him, and in no time another one appeared, then another.


    "The headache is gone," he muttered to himself when he calmed down his racing thoughts and started to assess the situation under new lights. "and I have this strange thought in my mind, confidence in my ability to succeed in anything I want."


    He was astonished beyond belief when he felt this strange thought that kept increasing with time. His doubt and worry were all gone, and now only one sense of confidence overwhelmed him.


    "Is this the effect of the mind node?" he muttered while watching the miraculous wisps of energy produced from his node. "The energy itself looks a little different," he tried to feel the wisps that started to move outside and fill his weak meridians.


    The energy wasn''t filling them, instead he felt the wisps were a little more solid than normal energy. It was as if a giant spider was weaving its web network inside his meridians, controlling them.


    "So it''s going to control all of these meridians with these wisps of energy?" he thought while seeing the color of these wisps getting more blue. Unlike his energy inside his dantian, pelvis and chest nodes, and all the meridians he opened so far, these wisps looked more blue than transparent.


    "I''m exhausted," he said to himself before adding, "but I''m almost finished. I can''t stop training now. I need to fill up all my two dantians before calling it over."


    He kept breathing calmly while waiting in his place for a couple of days more. His dantian was filled at the early hours of the third day, yet his mind node wasn''t.


    "This node¡­ it''s a monster," he shook his head while feeling more puzzled towards the way it was absorbing energy from the world. "I''m pretty sure now it doesn''t follow the normal way of breathing like my dantian," he thought before deciding to end his training here.


    The moment he opened his eyes, he breathed a long blue breath that extended for a couple of meters. "It''s really refreshing after breaking through," he muttered while feeling his body brimming with energy.


    He clenched his fists and examined his body before the system spoke:


    "Ding! Finally you are awake!"

 Chapter 478: The Difference Between the Two energies

    "Does something happen?" he hurried to ask, "how much have I been training?"


    "For two weeks now," the golden dragon sighed as he added, "you stayed longer than I expected and made me quite worried for some moments there."


    "Oh," Arthur smiled before adding, "two weeks might seem long, but in the future I might take years to train," he helplessly smiled as this was the nature of the cultivators.


    "Boring," the golden dragon commented.


    "Ding! You should have used meat to supplement your lost energy."


    "Meat?" Arthur asked in doubt before adding, "I doubt it will provide me with anything."


    "Ding! Your meat is specially made from the Golam. They surely are filled with energy."


    Arthur thought for a moment before muttering, "might be true," he then moved his attention towards something else. "Do you have any clue about my mental node?"


    "Are you asking me?" the golden dragon asked in doubt. "I know nothing about this bizarre way of yours to train."


    "It''s the node responsible for the soul cultivation path," Arthur said before explaining everything he went through during his cultivation.


    "Dummy head, it''s a mind node and it works by using your mind, not calmly sitting doing nothing at all!" the golden dragon laughed before adding, "use your mind to solve problems and difficult situations so it can work better and form its entire framework."


    Arthur gave it more thought and finally he shrugged. "Can''t tell without trying," he then glanced over the distance where his followers were working, "how are they doing?"


    "Ding! Training on the old ways of the masters."


    "Time to try my ways then," he muttered before taking out a normal sword he had before adding, "I''ll try my new energy first to solidify my energy."


    The next moment he started moving his hand and when he did, a strong backlash assaulted him, making him stugger a couple of steps while his sword fell from his twitching fingers. "What the hell¡­?!!" he exclaimed in shock while glancing all over his body.


    "Ding! You used both energy together, making them clash."


    "Aren''t they my energies? How can they clash together?!"


    "The dragon energy is arrogant, can''t deal with those lower than it," the golden dragon harrumphed.


    "Then should I wait until my energy became stronger?" Arthur asked in doubt.


    "Nah, that will instigate the competitive nature of the dragon energy in your body," the golden dragon laughed before seriously adding, "the only way is to make both energies equal all the time."


    "Equal?" Arthur muttered before shaking his head, "that''s strange, how can I assess both then?"


    "Simply by using the same technique by each energy separately, not combined, and assess the difference in the result," the golden dragon spoke about it like it was something basic.


    "Sounds logical," Arthur nodded before grabbing his sword again, "let me try a simple wave of the sword with both and see the difference," he went towards a nearby rock before focusing on his dantian alone.


    He stirred up the energy inside his dantian before waving his sword. The sword caused sparkles when it touched the rock, leaving behind a shallow mark over it.


    "Let''s see how my dragon energy will cause," he stopped stirring the dantian''s energy and waited for a couple of moments for it to calm down before stirring up his dragonair''s energy.


    "Boom!"


    When he waved his sword, the entire rock exploded and its pieces went to hit nearby rocks and trees, smashing all of them into pieces.


    Arthur stood with numb scalp glancing at this great disparity while not knowing what to say.


    "See? It''s a difference of heaven and earth between the two," the golden dragon laughed before adding, "you have a long way to make both merge together."


    "I agree," Arthur sighed before waiting for his dragonair''s energy to calm down with a single thought in his mind. "Domineering!"


    "But I only sensed one source of energy inside your body being stirred earlier," the golden dragon said before adding, "if you have two places then trying to merge them first will be the right course."


    Arthur had sudden enlightenment from these words before he closed his eyes and tried to do the same.


    Yet when he tried to push his dantian''s energy upward, it seemed there was some sort of barrier preventing that. When he tried harder, his lower meridians sored, and he instantly stopped.


    "Even my mind node doesn''t want to merge with my energy," he opened his eyes as he said in bitterness. "Is my dantian energy this low?"


    He didn''t need an answer for that, as he already knew how low his current level in the cultivation ladder was. He was now in what was known as the foundation establishment stage one, the most basic and lowest of all.


    "I need to wait until I gain signs of breaking through," he shook his head as he had to wait until his energy got purified and condensed inside his dantion before thinking of advancing again. "Time to test my own theories then."


    He took a deep breath and arranged his thoughts. He now had many things to try, and the first he did was crafting. "I need a good sword," he told himself while taking the mold and other tools from his ring.


    "Ding! You already have one."


    "That bastard is sleeping so far, now even showing any signs of waking up so soon," Arthur recalled his bloodthirsty sword and felt some helplessness there. "It''s strong yet these long naps of his must be cured first."


    He then took the book of crafting that he received from Slone and started to revise it.


    "They use the basic concept of merging one''s energy into the materials and during the crafting process," he muttered before glancing all around, "despite this being a nice approach, this amount would pale in front of the endless heaven and earth energy."


    He knew the concept was right, but the problem lied in the approach. "I can deal now with heaven and earth energy, but what about them?" he thought for this dilemma for so long until he reached a conclusion.

 Chapter 479: Making Gloves

    "I need to make something that will serve as a medium for them," he thought and the thing he had in mind was nothing else but the tools in his hand.


    "I need to find an ore and modify it so it would be suited to make these tools by them," he muttered before asking, "how are the ores coming from the deep mine we control doing?"


    "Ding! Many had already formed growing veins inside the ground."


    "Good," he nodded before adding, "take me there."


    The next moment he vanished to appear above giant hills and mountains occupying a great stretch of land in his garden. The place he appeared at was part of a purified world.


    The ores extracted were all gathered here, collected together to form these hills and mountains. Arthur glanced at this scene and smiled, as it wasn''t an exaggeration to say the ores nearly took an entire world so far.


    "And the veins?" he asked while glancing all around.


    "Ding! They are deeply rooted under all these."


    Arthur''s eyes corners twitched before he said: "I want a vein of them, how can I get it now?"


    "Ding! It''s easy, everything here is following your will," the system said in a chuckle before adding, "Ding! Where do you want this vein?"


    "Bring it back with me towards the Golam lake."


    Arthur appeared next to the lake accompanied by a gigantic long arm of twisted shining green ore. He glanced at the ore in content while nodding.


    "What are you going to do with that?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Y''know, one day back in my life as a cultivator we woke up on a strange disease hitting out weak disciples."


    "In your clan?" the golden dragon asked.


    "It''s called a sect," Arthur corrected before adding, "and no, it wasn''t only limited to my sect. all the sects in the world were affected that day."


    "It was a disease then?"


    "Might be," Arthur shrugged before adding, "all we were sure of that day was that any disciple at and below the core formation stage was affected."


    Arthur took out his cauldron before adding, "they became so weak in absorbing heaven and earth energy, and even weaker disciples became unable to absorb any."


    "Sounds bad."


    "Bad? It was terrible! Imagine cutting off the next offsprings for generations to come," Arthur said, trying to explain the magnitude of that disaster, "but a solution was rapidly found."


    "Which is? A potion?"


    "Nah," he shook his head, "it''s a medium to help these kids absorb the energy of heaven and earth, acting as outer artificial dantian."


    "And you plan to make it?"


    "Making it is tough," he shook his head before adding, "but these boys here don''t need a very pure artificial dantian, they only need any dantian to help."


    He then lit fire under the cauldron before muttering, "is there unpurified blood left in the Golam''s body?" he asked.


    "Ding! There are many," the system said before adding, "Ding! Do you need some?"


    "I need many," Arthur nodded before adding, "fill this cauldron to two thirds with this blood."


    The next moment a green fluid appeared inside his cauldron. He glanced at this sticky blood before sighing, "the garden really did a great job purifying this filth."


    He then cut his hand and let his blood be mixed with the Golam''s blood. He stirred up his energy inside the dantian, and thus his blood contained pure spiritual energy.


    "Take blood samples of everyone now," he hurried to write this to Amelia in a bird''s wing before adding, "observe and make sure to take note of those you took their blood."


    "Ding! And what?"


    "Bring them to me one batch at a time," he said before adding, "the best gear everyone would use would be a glove." He then turned towards the mold and started playing with it. He created a hundred pair of glove spaces inside his big mold before adding, "it''s ready."


    "Ding! Bring the blood now?"


    "No, just wait," Arthur then went towards the ore vein. This vein was kinda special, as it was so pure and had the gains of his garden. "This should be enough," he said to himself before turning into a dragon and started hitting the vein with his sword using his dragon energy.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The sword was ruined after a couple of hits where its sharp edge turned blunt, filled with many gaps and indentations. Yet Arthur didn''t stop as he kept hitting the vein until he broke enough of it into smaller pieces.


    Arthur already planned to make himself the best sword he could craft with his current powers.


    He went towards the oven and started heating it up before saying, "bring me those ores in batches."


    The system worked as his aider, bringing pieces of ores he cut before to be melted inside the oven. He then worked on the melted ore and hit it constantly with his hammer until it became purified as possible.


    "Time to add the final touch," he muttered.


    "Will you put the blood inside the mix?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Nah," he shook his head before going towards the concentrated blood mix of his and Golam''s blood and added, "I''ll add some of here towards the melted ore, and add each person''s blood in the molds."


    He took a metal spoon where he took a sample of the blood from the cauldron and went back to spill it over the melted ore before returning it again inside the fire.


    "Hammer it again?" the golden dragon asked.


    "No, it was hammered enough," Arthur shook his head before adding, "drop each person''s blood over one pair of the gloves. Make sure you won''t mix them up."


    "Ding! Don''t worry, I can do this."


    Arthur waited until all the glove holes in the mold were covered with fresh red blood, then he took the melted ore with a cover of his and Golam''s blood and filled the mold carefully.


    "Why not use the purified Golam''s blood?" the golden dragon asked.

 Chapter 480: Making the Sword

    "Because it will have less heaven and energy," Arthur said before returning again to make more of the melted ore, "besides it''s a known fact that dirty elements have good ability to absorb heaven and earth energy."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, all the heavenly treasures started first with a piece of dirty thing that no one would ever care about," Arthur said while adding ores inside the oven. "Bring purified blood and put it over the mold," he said to his system which did what he asked for.


    "Sizzle!"


    The moment the purified blood touched the mold, it didn''t fill on the sides yet it accumulated over the gloves like being attracted by something to it. The sizzling sounds kept happening while Arthur patiently waited. "I hope this works," he muttered before going on and taking one pair to examine it.


    "Incredible," the golden dragon commented, ``I can sense the influx of a new energy through this piece of crap."


    "This is a low version indeed," Arthur nodded, "my own energy is the factor limiting it. Sigh, even after using the Golam''s blood it didn''t help much in supporting my energy."


    He paused thinking for a second before sighing, "nah, I can''t waste time waiting for my energy to break through all the minor stages up towards core formation."


    He shook his head before saying, "take these and distribute them to their owners."


    "Ding! What about explaining things to them?"


    "Not now," Arthur shook his head before adding, "let them discover the value of these gloves by themselves."


    He then went ahead and kept making these gloves for three days. When he finished, he received at least dozens of bird''s wings from Amelia asking about those miraculous gloves and how they worked.


    Yet Arthur completely ignored her. For him this was just the first step in changing the entire concepts of many techniques known in the academy world.


    "They don''t need to learn the secret," he muttered, "it''s too complicated to explain and they won''t understand a thing."


    He let go of another bird''s wing he just received before turning around. "As I started with forging, I should get going doing it my way then," he read the booklet Slone gave him a couple of times until he memorized it.


    He knew what he would need to make this sword. "Take me to the extracted ore mountains and hills again," he muttered and the next moment he appeared there.


    He didn''t hurry in making a decision while moving around and examining the ores here. He had already made himself a pair of gloves, aiming to augment the amount of energy absorbed by his body.


    Once wore these, he felt the rate of absorbing energy to be tripled, making him delighted by this. "I should make an entire body armor using the same principle," he muttered, yet his main goal now was to test his past world techniques here.


    "This will do, take some of its veins and put them next to the oven," he pointed to a faint red hill after testing its ore. The ore seemed to have extra durability that other ores he tested so far, making it suitable to make his sword.


    "This one, this one, and that one," he kept selecting ores until he selected a group of twenty kinds then he ended his tour here. "That''s enough, I hope," he smiled faintly before adding, "take me back."


    When he returned, he didn''t hurry and start making the sword. "The top technique back in my days was to mix alchemy with forging," he muttered before turning to his cauldron where only a small amount of the mix of his and the Golam''s blood remained there.


    "Should I make it aiding in absorbing energy as well?" he muttered before thinking of other options. "Adding strength and increasing sharpness, speed, and durability are all fine, but to me this won''t make much difference," he sighed.


    "All I need now is something to help increase the energy entering my dantian, so I can be able to upgrade faster," he decided and he didn''t intend to only make the sword, but other things as well.


    For the sword he had the mold of it ready to use, so he didn''t need his mold to make a sword. Instead he started reshaping the mold, creating spaces for arm guards, leg guards, boots, chest plate, and helmet.


    These were the basic things he had in mind that could augment his energy absorption rate. "Hopefully this could result in more energy influx," he muttered.


    "Ding! Hopefully your body won''t explode," the system cracked a joke and he just smiled as he said: "My dragonair body will support me here."


    "True," the golden dragon agreed with his remark.


    "Now," he turned towards the piles of ore surrounding him and muttered, "should I work on them before melting, or after melting?"


    "Ding! During melting, it would be easier."


    "Before melting, this would yield stronger results."


    Arthur laughed, "It''s funny how you two seem quite wise and experienced about something you didn''t know before now."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    He laughed on their reaction before adding, "I will do it before melting the ores." He went towards his cauldron before thinking deeply about how he should use it to augment the ores'' energy and traits.


    "Take me to the densest place of herbs here," he muttered and then he was transported to an area close to the place of his sealing pillars and the angry Anna.


    "Tsk, she is stubborn," he shook his head when he heard her continuous assault on the protective dome.


    "Some people seem not to learn from their lessons," the golden dragon sneered.


    "Ding! Agreed."


    "Sigh, she is just carried by her vengeance," he shook his head before moving his gaze towards all the plants and flowers around him. "This would do," he started examining each carefully and taking what he needed.


    He slowly crossed a large distance before finally feeling satisfied. "Take me back," he said with a wide smile over his face.

 Chapter 481: Making Chest Plate

    What he felt from the plants, roots, seeds, fruits, and even flowers made him quite excited about his next experiment. "It has been long since having such a feeling," he was so excited that even laughed while examining the cauldron.


    "Add some of the purified Golam''s blood and water to here please," he said to his system, while he took out samples of what he plunged and started to carefully think about how to use these to the best.


    "Using them in such raw form won''t do," he decided before taking the broken sword again and started smashing everything, squeezing their inners out while throwing them into the nearby cauldron.


    "You look like a chef cooking a meal not a mage making potion!" the golden dragon wasn''t convinced with what he was doing.


    "Making potions is an art that''s not that much different from making a meal," Arthur smiled before laughing, "both need love, hehehe."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    He kept working diligently before he finished the amount he took. "Now it''s time to wait," he muttered before taking a long stick and started mixing everything inside the cauldron.


    While doing that, he kept releasing his energy from the dantian through the gloves in hand. Sometimes he would immerse the gloves into the mix to make sure they gained more energy from him.


    The gloves worked their magic and he felt the amount of energy absorbed and emitted to increase exponentially than using his bare hands.


    He did test that as well.


    "Now, time to make these ores more powerful," he went towards the ores with the large metallic spoon in hand. He immersed each ore for a couple of minutes before taking them out to dry.


    "Why not immerse them all into the cauldron?" his golden dragon became bored from what he was doing.


    "I don''t have enough potion to use," he muttered before taking down the ore in the spoon and taking another. "I just need to assess things now, later I can make more especially when I reach the core formation stage."


    "Whatever," the golden dragon wasn''t that familiar with the terms he kept saying, and Arthur didn''t have the time or mind to waste on explaining things that would be apparent later on.


    It took him a couple of hours to finish his preparations. He waited another hour for the ores to absorb all the fluid over them, while he took what remained from the cauldron and soaked all the ores using the spoon.


    "That''s perfect," he smiled when he examined one ore. "The energy conduction got enhanced while the purity of energy itself became higher," he nodded in content before recalling the way of making the sword.


    According to Slone''s instructions, he had to separate them into ores used to make the hilt, the shaft, the tip, and the edge of the sword. "That''s a weird way to do it," he muttered before adding, "a sword should be made entirely as one whole unit, or else it won''t be that strong."


    He started to put all the ores inside the oven and waited until they mixed together. He didn''t plan to use the mix only for the sword, but for his other items as well.


    While waiting for the ores to melt, he went towards the two molds on the ground and made sure every gap in there would be stained by his blood.


    "Time to make this even purer," he smiled while taking out the melted ore and waited for them to slightly cool off while putting other ores inside the oven.


    "Dang!"


    "Dang!"


    "Dang!"


    He kept hammering the melted ore with his hammer using his dragonair''s form and strength to make sure no impurities would remain. Dark sparkles kept flying off for ten minutes before he returned them inside the oven, took the melted ores he put before and kept hammering over it.


    Like this he kept working for six hours. In the end he reached a level of purity than with each strike only golden and bluish sparkles would appear, with no black at all.


    "Good," he nodded in content before taking the first batch of his melted ore towards the sword mold. "It will need the other one," he returned to grab the other purified melted ore and added them in the mold, finally covering its surface up.


    "Bring purified Golam blood from the lake," he didn''t wait for the mix to cool off while he gave this order to his system.


    The moment his system did that, a large cloud of mist appeared, yet he wasn''t yet finished.


    He took the sword towards the fire again, not waiting for it to absorb all the Golam blood and left it inside the oven for minutes before taking it out and started hammering again.


    "Isn''t it ready?" the golden dragon speechlessly watched his actions while asking in doubt.


    "Nah, it''s just the first stage of making," Arthur said while gritting his teeth, remaining the hammer hitting the sword while he kept releasing his dantian energy, "the first stage was to make the first version of the sword, and the second stage is to make the final version of it."


    "There are no impurities!" the golden dragon argued, "why wasting breaths then over it to gain nothing?"


    "It''s not nothing," Arthur returned the sword once more into the fire before wiping out sweat over his forehead. "Using the hammer with my human body is really stressful," he muttered while explaining, "the sword made it look grand and majestic, yet it''s not durable. The ores used in it should be well mixed or else it would be end in destroying the sword."


    "Whatever," the golden dragon seemed not to be convinced by his logic, yet he knew what he was doing.


    It took him more hours to finally be satisfied with his new sword. The sword lost part of its mass after all this hammering, yet Arthur didn''t seem sad or annoyed by this.


    Instead he held the sword and examined it in content and admiration. "It''s the best piece I could do right now," he muttered while taking a bird''s wing and started writing orders and modifications in it.


    He asked Amelia to deliver this to Agnus and make him relay his orders to others. He then started to examine something else.


    "The amount of energy added to me isn''t that much," he was surprised by this as he thought the sword would greatly augment his absorption rate. "Or will it help in something else?" he thought before going towards a nearby rock and simply waved his sword using only his dantian''s energy.


    "Boom!"


    The effect wasn''t compared to his dragonair''s energy, but at least he managed to chop the rock into two halves using his weak dantian''s power. "Expected," he nodded in content while putting the sword away.


    "Strange," the golden dragon muttered, "your energy is the same, yet its effect was multiplied by five folds at least."


    "It''s the effect of the sword," Arthur muttered before returning to his oven and ores, "it augments the energy passing through it by using the energy of heaven and earth."


    "Impressive," the golden dragon said.


    Arthur then started to melt two batches of the ores again before making them cover the chest plate and two arm guards. He kept hammering over them and infused his energy along the way like he did with the sword.


    "Finally," he wore the two where they had dark red color with some green, silver, and golden lines and a faint blue halo. "the energy absorption rate exceeds my current stage by miles¡­ I believe it''s already about to reach the core formation stage."


    Once he wore the two gears he made he felt the instant upgrade in his absorption rate especially from the chest plate. "Like this I might be able to upgrade a stage per day," he laughed while thinking how dumb he was not using such a way before.


    "These items would sustain me until I reach the core formation mid-stage," he thought before adding, "then I''ll have to replace them."


    He glanced over the remaining gears to make while smiling, "I should make a cape as well."


    "A cape is made of clothes, not ores!" the golden dragon said.


    "I''ll do one with ores, watch me," Arthur laughed as he knew how crazy this was. Yet when he thought about the great boost he got from the chest plate due to the wide surface of it, he decided to go crazier and make a big cloak for him.


    "It will push my energy absorption by miles," he excitedly laughed while playing with the mold, making space for his strange idea.

 Chapter 482: Making A Helmet

    As he finished, he glanced at the mold that he nearly damaged most of it to form this double layered cape.


    "Y''know this might seem to be a bad idea," the golden dragon said.


    "I need to try," Arthur smiled, "I''ve a great feeling about it."


    "Tsk."


    Arthur had made the mold into double hollowed layers to make the cape. He had to just put the melted liquid in the space before covering the upper and lower surface with the liquid.


    "This way I''ll have triple the surface I need," he excitedly laughed while the system and the golden dragon shared their pessimistic opinion regarding this.


    "Ding! What about the weight?" the system asked while Arthur was filling the space with the fluid after hammering it for hours.


    He had prepared three times the size of the fluid he normally used.


    "What about it?" he asked.


    "Ding! Your body won''t tolerate all this weight."


    "My human body perhaps."


    "Do you intend to cover your elegant dragon body with this sh*t?" the golden dragon was speechless.


    "I intend to be able to absorb energy all the time," Arthur finished filling the space in his mold before carefully laying it on the ground and started covering up one side. "In fact being in dragonair form is much longer than being in human form."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two couldn''t refute his logic, yet it seemed bizarre even to his system.


    "You are a crazy dragon, y''know that?" The golden dragon wasn''t pleased by these plans of him.


    And he just ignored these complaints while working diligently over his cape.


    "I can''t hammer the middle part," he muttered to himself before adding, "but I can hammer the upper and lower surface."


    He waited for the layer of hot fluid to cool off before turning the cape on the other side to cover it as well. When he finished, he took the cape and felt its weight while putting it inside the over again, then he started hammering it.


    "Ding! I still believe this is a bad idea."


    "I''m with you."


    "Can you two stop it already? The cape is almost finished," he smiled in excitement while putting the cape of the ground before adding, "take it and immerse it deeply in the lake."


    "Ding! Do you want me to let it sink there forever?"


    "Funny," Arthur then went to make more melted ore for the remaining gears he had. He still had a helmet, two boots, and a pair of leg guards.


    The leg guards were the simplest, so he let them for the end. What he took quite some time to make was the helmet and boots.


    The helmet covered his head and face with T-shaped space left for his eyes, nose, and mouth. What he was thinking about wasn''t the helmet size, yet its elasticity to accommodate him turning into a dragon.


    He knew the gloves and boots might not suit his dragonair transformation. The chest plate, the arm and leg guards were kind of suited to his huge dragon body to some extent.


    Yet he planned to make his body covered with the triple layered cape and the ferocious looking helmet.


    "I need to make it elastic somehow," he thought before taking the ores and examined them again. "None of them had the elastic nature," he muttered before recalling something.


    "Bring me clay from the bottom of the Golam lake," he suddenly said as he recalled seeing clay beside the shore.


    "Ding! What for?"


    "Just bring them and you''ll see."


    ''The endurance of your helmet will decrease much," the golden dragon warned.


    "I''m a dragonair, I don''t need armor or a helmet to protect me," Arthur said with a big smile over his face, feeling good to repay the words of the golden dragon back to him.


    "What''s the need of making all this rubbish?"


    "Deterrence," Arthur simply answered, "I want to turn into a symbol of fear."


    "You are already a symbol of fear."


    "But with these, I''ll turn into a real monster."


    "Whatever," the golden dragon replied in a tone to end this pointless debate in his opinion.


    Arthur waited for his system to bring clay. The clay was dark green in color, filled with water from the lake. Arthur took his spoon and then put the clay over the melted ore and started mixing them using his anvil and forks.


    Then he started hammering the mix from time to time.


    "Perfect," after half an hour of doing so, and before finishing his preparations he assessed the mix and was quite satisfied. "The clay added the elasticity I need, plus increasing the amount of energy inside the mix."


    He then turned towards his mold and started filling the space between the helmet mold carefully. After he finished, he did the same as his cape and covered the entire mold from inside and outside with the hot liquid.


    Then he started shaping the inner surface carefully with the forks until it was kind of smooth and equal.


    "Time to make it stronger," he started hammering on it and put it back into the oven until he was satisfied with the result.


    As he did with the cape, he used the anvil and made some marks over its surface. It had the initial letters of his name, his real name, plus a shape of a dragon.


    Or that was what he tried to draw.


    "You suck at drawing," the golden dragon groaned, "this isn''t a dragon, it''s a stupid lizard with pale wings!"


    "Ding! Can I lead you in drawing then?"


    "Can you both stop it? I''m already content with this result."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    Arthur wasn''t affected by their words while putting the helmet on the side as he added, "take it to the lake as well and leave it there for hours."


    He then went to make his boots and leg guards in the remaining hours before he finally finished.


    "Bring everything here."


    The system brought his helmet and his cape. The color of both changed after cooling off to have some green stains alternating with blue and red on the back of the silver and white surface.


    It looked weird, yet Arthur loved it.

 Chapter 483: A Crazy Thought

    "You have a very weird taste in colors," the golden dragon wasn''t satisfied even with the look of the gears.


    Arthur went to the cape and started taking the mold out slowly and did the same with the helmet and boots. When he finished, he started wearing them.


    Adding the pair of leg guards and boots to him made the energy absorption rate soar for a level higher. When he put on the helmet, he felt he had gained two levels at least, yet the weight on his head was much worse than he anticipated.


    "Time to test that cape, hehehe," he held the heavy cape which had a curved upper end suited for his neck and shoulders. The moment he put it on his body, he felt a great gush of energy assaulting him, making even his soul shudder.


    "Damn! It''s at least five to six levels higher," he heavily breathed while assessing his dantian and meridians. "my energy is all condensed and thickened. I need to break through now."


    He didn''t waste time and sat on the ground. As his cape wasn''t that flexible like his helmet, he had to lay on his back, on it, so he could start his cultivation breakthrough.


    "You are such a mad dragon!"


    "Ding! A mad mage."


    "Shut up," he started to clear out his thoughts and delved deeply towards his dantian. These things looked much better than before. The star map was already like a shiny star in the middle of the ocean.


    His energy all revolved around it. with the denser amount he had right now, it proved how much strong this star map was to help in moving all his energy, forming a giant whirlpool.


    "How should I advance?" This was a dilemma he needed to fix rapidly. His absorbed energy became more intense with all his gears and now he started feeling pain coming from his meridians.


    "The easiest way is to let my dantian absorb all these energy, refine it and make a new level of energy circulating in my body. But¡­" he paused as this was once the classic approach he even used before in his cultivation days.


    He moved his attention up there, where his mental node was calmly controlling his brain meridians. "I now have such a gem, why use something common while having something special?"


    He moved his gaze towards the node and a crazy thought popped up his mind at the moment. The quality of energy there seemed a lot higher than the amount of energy in his dantian. And after all this thinking and innovation, the amount got pumped up as well.


    "Having two separate energies isn''t fun, I can''t even use the mental node to its fullest potential in such a situation. I need to change that," he decided and the next moment he started regulating his breaths, took out many pieces of meat and stuffed them into his mouth.


    "I hope I won''t die of this," he prayed before starting to hit the breakthrough.


    The trigger was to start manipulating the energy to stop moving. Stillness might seem bad, yet any progress always started after stillness.


    Yet to affect all this energy and make what he wanted was a risk. He started controlling his spiritual energy inside his meridians first, as these were the easiest to control.


    The moment the energy stopped moving rapidly, decelerated to a low speed, he started moving to his next phase.


    He controlled the energy inside the dantian to move slower. He didn''t make it stop completely, yet this took some time and proved to be challenging even for him.


    "Finally," as he reached a very low speed, he took a deep breath, preparing himself for the next wave of pain he would face.


    "Move!"


    As he started to act on the next stage of his plan, he started pushing the small star map out of his dantian. This proved to be more challenging, and very painful.


    Each inch the star map crossed caused him severe pain more than what he felt when he opened his meridians for the first time. The issue wasn''t in the size of the star map, but the quality of it.


    It was too much domineering on his dantian, not even his meridians. And he pushed it forwards outside his dantian to his meridians, then upward towards his mental node.


    "What is this crazy dragon doing?" the golden dragon asked in doubt.


    "Ding! From his actions, I believe he changed the center of his dantian to be in his mind."


    "Is this good? Or bad?" the golden dragon asked, "I know nothing about this bizarre way of using power."


    "Ding! I also frankly dunno the answer to that," the system honestly replied before adding, "Ding! And from his memories from before, I doubt he even knows the answer too."


    "Mad dragon, he is a mad dragon."


    Arthur was in his own world where his body was assaulted with an endless wave of pain. He knew if he stopped pushing the star map for even a second, his meridians would be severed and his dantian would be damaged.


    It was a one way risk, and he knew the consequences before taking such a crazy step.


    Yet he still took it.


    "C''mon," he gritted his teeth while his breathing started to be difficult to maintain. He didn''t know that, but his human body was now vigorously twitching on the ground.


    He was in severe danger, yet he only focused on one goal.


    "C''mon, you''re almost there."


    He tried before to push his energy into the brain meridians, and failed. This was due to the high disparity between the two energies in quality. And that was what he was betting on now.


    His star map was the highest thing right now in his dantian, nodes, and meridians. So he bet the mental node and its meridians wouldn''t decline it joining them.


    And the gains? He knew he would gain so much if he succeeded, yet he might lose everything if he did any slight error and failed.


    "Almost there," he was using all his will to push the star map towards the last inch, breaking through the invisible barrier of the mental node.

 Chapter 484: A New Dantian

    With this little push all he heard was a little thud sound before an avalanche occurred. The moment his star map entered his mental node, the mental node suddenly shook vigorously and started to expand.


    For him, he never saw a node expanding up like this even when he was breaking through major milestones in cultivation stages.


    Being faced with uncertainty, he decided to keep pushing and trusting his instincts, supporting the growing node with everything he had.


    At these brief minutes, the node and the adjacent meridians which were resistant to accept any other form of energy before started to allow the bigger and weaker energy from the dantian and lower nodes and meridians to come in and mixed with his higher form of energy there.


    As for his star map, it kept moving slowly like a king passing through his own armies. It slowly moved to the center of the node before starting to rotate the entire energy there, helping in more mixing with the rest of his body energy and rotating them in an increasing momentum again.


    Arthur didn''t interfere this time and waited. After all he didn''t know what this would yield. So, he decided to wait and keep his breathing regular, hoping the monstrous influx of his energy with the help of his new gears would help.


    Just as he hoped, the energy coming from outside barely kept the consumption of the star map and the newly expanding node going on normally.


    The star map kept circulating energy, yet he noticed something else. The star map wasn''t just moving energy or mixing the energies together; it was refining them on a small yet visible to naked eye speed.


    "Interesting," he muttered and then he went to his dantian to test things there. "Amazing, it''s turning to a normal node," he muttered when he noticed the energy didn''t stop there or regenerate from it.


    The old dantian turned slowly into a normal node, only storing and organizing the flow of the energy around his body.


    "Then¡­" he paused as he returned to his mental node and started seriously observing changes there. The node grew from its normal size to exceed the size of his old dantian by three folds.


    The meridians around it got thickened, being strengthened by the flow of energy caused by the star map.


    Inside the node he felt more changes occurring. The star map didn''t only refine the weaker energy to the quality of energy inside his mental node from before; it started to also upgrade both.


    "Will this be my breakthrough way?" he said to himself while watching all this slowly unfolding in a synchronized way.


    When he assessed the strength and the quality of his mental meridians, he was sure these weren''t the meridians of foundation establishment stage one, or even the foundation establishment stage at all.


    "It''s like the core formation stage meridians¡­ the late stages as well," he reached to this conclusion after rechecking the meridians more than once.


    "It''s also affecting other meridians," he noticed that once the energy strengthened and modified his mental meridians, it kept spreading to his neck and chest meridians, changing them as well.


    He watched, hardly doing anything apart from regular breathing, while his entire meridians and nodes system was getting upgraded.


    For him this took a little amount of time, but actually it took him a week just to change his entire meridians and nodes in this way.


    Once his energy finished changing his meridians and nodes system, he checked them to confirm his previous theory.


    "They have reached the late core formation stage quality," he muttered before assessing his slightly darker blue energy inside these, "and the energy quality can be matched with the mid core formation stage."


    Just as he went upside to check on his mental node, he found the star map shivering faintly on regular rhythm. The rhythm started apart, and switched time it kept getting closer until the star map kept trembling all the time.


    With each tremble, a pulse was emitted and his entire body and soul shook. After a couple of minutes of these, he started hearing booming sounds coming from his mental dantian.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    With each explosive sound, the energy inside his meridians and nodes keeps condensed by a strange form of force, then it would be unleashed towards the nearby tissues and muscles; reforming them.


    "Amazing," he was simply amazed by this unique way of breaking through. For him, first he needed to breakthrough his dantian and energy inside his meridians and nodes before taking care of his body in the next days to weeks, or even months.


    Yet at this moment, his star map was doing what he should be doing in the same moment of breaking through. He watched with interest and amazement while the star map kept doing its job without pause.


    The energy kept penetrating his body, strengthening it with every booming. Arthur hoped this would last forever, yet after an hour everything calmed down again.


    "What now?" he muttered, as he felt this sudden calmness to be the one preceding great changes.


    When the star map didn''t make a sound for an hour or so, he started to check his meridians and nodes to find the energy quantity there are fewer than before.


    "Did my body absorb so much energy?" he asked himself and the next moment he focused more on getting more energy to his body.


    In the outside world his body had already stopped seizuring days ago. And now his body was covered with a strange thick layer of filth that stood between him and his gears doing their function properly.


    "I believe what his body just secreted is getting in the way of his gear function," the golden dragon said after long days with little progress.


    "Ding! I have a solution for that."


    The next moment it looked like a fountain of purified water emerged all of a sudden above his sleeping body on the ground. All the filth was washed away and just as this happened, his gears kicked in with full force again.

 Chapter 485: Strange Fog

    Arthur suddenly felt his energy absorbed to grow larger and this wasn''t a delusion of his. "This amount¡­ they rival the early core foundation stages," he muttered while watching the great amount of energy going directly towards his mind node and star map there.


    "At this rate, this little monster should be saturated soon."


    As he expected, the star map finally showed another change the moment his energy swelled up inside his nodes and meridians.


    It started to shake, yet this time he noticed it wasn''t rotating the energy or compressing it; it was absorbing the energy at an alarming rate.


    "Sigh, it''s the old way of upgrading after all," he sighed, yet when the star map finished absorbing his energy to the last drop, no changes occurred to it for hours.


    He doubted there might be something missing when he started to notice something.


    A veil of cloud started to appear around the mind node. At first it looked like the early morning mist, with long separated wisps of faint white fog.


    Then it started to condense until he couldn''t see his mind node at all, and the fog turned from pure white to pitch black.


    "What is going on?" he muttered while he tried many times to spy over his mental node and star map with no results for hours.


    Until a new change appeared. Among the center of this strange cloud of fog he started to see some clarity. At first it wasn''t that noticeable except for his sharp senses and his focus on this area, or else he wouldn''t be able to detect it.


    Then the area there started to grow cleared until the mind node began to appear once more, and for a finger breadth around it all the fog dissipated.


    "Rumble!"


    At this moment he felt this loud rumbling coming from his mind, and the next moment a strong gush of blue energy appeared inside his meridians and nodes, filling them instantly.


    It was like a dam was broken and all the water inside went to flood his body. If not for the previous changes the star map did to his nodes, meridians, and body he was quite sure they wouldn''t take all this gush.


    Yet in the next hour he felt the energy got depleted again.


    "Is it trying to breakthrough once more?" he was speechless yet he had no control over any of this at the moment. So he waited patiently for more hours until all his energy got sucked dry by his star map.


    "Rumble!"


    Again another finger breadth of the fog was cleared around the mental node, and another flood of energy assaulted his meridians and nodes.


    This kept repeating for eight more times before the energy got sucked dry and didn''t replenish for an entire day.


    "Is it saturated?" he muttered before thinking of the more logical conclusion here, "or is it about to breakthrough a major milestone now?"


    He sighed, as despite this was something great in theory, in fact he knew this wasn''t much blessing. "Rapid breakthrough would largely affect my body in the next months to come," he sighed helplessly again as this decision wasn''t up to him to take.


    "I just hope what it did to my body was enough to endure the aftershock," he prayed, and he knew this wasn''t a logical way of thinking.


    "I need to think of a way to repair my body once finished," he had his mind working on a different matter now. He didn''t need to wait for the results of this weird silence, he was pretty sure of his conclusion.


    His star map went crazy and was going to make him enter the core formation stage directly.


    "To form a core, I need to condense my energy and leave it there to mature into a core," he muttered to himself before adding, "a core has many forms, starting from linear, triangular, square, or even a circle. I just hope forming these won''t damage my body greatly."


    The highest form of core he knew of was the ball core, where the core would be formed from a huge number of circles intertwined together to form a ball. The more the circles formed, the stronger his core would be at the end.


    Yet to form just one circle, he just didn''t need to condense his energy. His energy needed materials from his body, muscle strands, fragments of bones, and even pieces of his organs to use in forming these circles.


    So the higher the number of circles, the more damage his body would receive.


    "If it was up to me, then I won''t be this nervous," he sighed as he knew his star map was something he couldn''t reason or control right now.


    "I need to deal with the fact that my body might get badly hurt at the end of this," he took a deep breath feeling more helplessness towards not even being able to check on the changes his star map was currently doing.


    "So¡­ in theory the larger the body the better the odds, right?" he finally reached this conclusion before taking a long deep breath. "I hope a backlash wouldn''t occur at this bizarre moment."


    He shifted his attention away from his meridians and nodes towards his blood vessel. His blood carried his blueish strands of energy, and the next moment he started to slowly stir it up.


    "Slow and steady," he muttered to himself like he was disarming a bomb, trying to be extra careful, not to make any harsh move or a rash decision here.


    In the next hours, his dragonair energy got all stirred up and finally he started to feel the old feeling of growing into a dragon. "Let it be then," he let the energy go towards all his body parts to change them into parts of a dragon.


    In the outside world, a giant dragon appeared laying strangely on his back, closing his eyes and there was a faint trace of blood coming from his nostrils.

 Chapter 486: His Arrogant and Domineering Dantian

    "Sigh, I swear to the dragon ancestors that this kid is going to kill me!" The golden dragon heaved finally a long sigh of relief.


    "Ding! At least he isn''t overwhelmed with the breakthrough feeling and still has some sanity in him."


    For the two, they sensed the damage happening to his body without a reason. All of sudden all his body started to get strange self inflicted wounds with no apparent reason.


    At first it only started sporadically, yet on the course of the past day these kept increasing in frequency until the two were convinced he was going to die if this kept going on like this.


    But Arthur stepped in when he stirred up his dragonair''s energy. The energy itself had a self healing power, and stimulating it at this perfect timing helped to decrease the severe side effects of his core formation.


    Yet for Arthur he was much frustrated by his lack of knowledge of what his star map was doing inside this veil of fog.


    "Damn! This is my first time hearing of a cultivator breaking through without even being able to assess the process," he cursed out loud when two days went by and even his dragon body started to show signs of weakness and injuries.


    When the third day was almost over, he finally started to get a progress from all this secrecy around his mental node. "Finally! What is this fog inside my node? Damn!" he finally could see inside the mental node, and what he saw was a thick cloud of fog that was getting fainter with time.


    The fog inside his mental dantian was strangely blue in color, not white nor black. "So what is the end result after all this?" he sighed in frustration while waiting for the fog to be dissipated.


    The good news was that the damage he received was stopped the moment he was allowed to enter his montal node. On a side note, his dragonair energy started to heal all the damage his entire body was suffering, making him feel much better in less than two days.


    Yet the fog took roughly five days to be thin to allow him to see his star map and his new core formed by it. "Damn! You deserve to be called a greedy monster little one," he was shocked the moment he spotted the core floating peacefully inside his dantian.


    It wasn''t a ball, it was a ball inside a box with a pyramid in the core; it was a triple core of the strongest forms ever he heard of. "Damn!" he cursed out of his excitement and couldn''t control his joy, "you worth each moment of pain I suffered for, little one."


    He started to assess his core, and as he expected it was out of his league. "This core¡­ it''s much more advanced and pure than the highest cores I''ve ever heard of," he muttered to himself after long hours of testing. "Now how will you control this beast?"


    Having a strong core was something rare, yet it wasn''t necessarily a blessing. He personally saw a couple of cultivators get astray in their dealing with their super cores and eventually they hit a solid wall in their cultivation path.


    Ending up being nothing wasn''t the best thing in the world. He didn''t seek momentarily success, but something solid to build strong foundation upon.


    Yet when he tried to interfere, linking the core with his scarce amount of energy, his star map shook and the next moment all his control vanished.


    "C''mon!" he shouted in anger, "can''t you appreciate a little help?" he was speechlessly watching the star map covering the entire core with an invisible coat that prevented him from interfering.


    He watched with no power at all, feeling more doubt and frustration while the fog finally got cleared. "What are you going to do now, sneaky little bastard?" he muttered in anger and loss of patience towards the rude behavior of his little star map.


    The star map seemed to hear his words as it shook, and the next moment the core itself shook with it.


    Then Arthur felt a sudden gush of energy coming from the outside. During all the past days, he felt the energy absorption diminished by a lot, which wasn''t alarming for him.


    During great moments, it was usually a fact that the outside world wouldn''t interfere, giving the cultivator a chance to control everything.


    Yet Arthur couldn''t benefit from this at the moment. However when the switch was flipped, massive amounts of energy entered his body like the energy he should be absorbing all the past days were reserved to him by the world and was granted at these few hours to him.


    And despite all these energy influx, he felt it wasn''t enough to satisfy the needs of his little map. "I''ll give you a hand then and trust you on this," he helplessly muttered as he had nothing in hand else to do but that.


    Again his regular breathing returned and the amount of energy kept increasing with time. After five more days the energy finally reached a level inside his body to make him feel he could explode if he absorbed more.


    "Rumble!"


    This didn''t come from his star map, but from his newly formed core. The core rumbled and strangely it began to shine in faint blue light before it started to radiate long rays of light that penetrated all his meridians and nodes.


    "Strange, they are following the meridian path," he noticed that these rays of light weren''t moving normally, as if they were long thread weaved by a spider and controlling them. "What do you intend to do?" he muttered while watching both his mental dantian and these rays of light.


    "Wow, they are merging with the meridian walls!" at first it was hard to notice this, yet he kept having signs from many places until he became sure of this conclusion. "What are you aiming for, little core of mine?"

 Chapter 487: The Dragon Strike Technique

    This continued for days, and finally when all of his opened meridians and nodes became fortified by the rays, the core rumbled again.


    "Are you not satisfied with my little meridians now?" he laughed when he noticed more meridians were now opening by force, getting expanded and strengthened by his energy, before they got support from the rays as others.


    This time his legs had meridians being opened. It all started from his pelvis node and went downwards towards his two legs until they opened a long line of meridians towards the toes.


    During this, the two nodes at his ankles got opened and strengthened as well. He couldn''t assess the benefits fully, yet he was pretty sure his new meridians were all on par with the end core formation stage and with a little push they might even be compared with an early nascent soul stage.


    "Now what?" he watched his self depending star map and cores opening more meridians, extending from his chest node this time. "Oh, it''s the turn of my arms then," he smiled while watching the meridians get opened in both arms while opening the two wrist nodes.


    "Y''know there are two nodes at the arm you missed, one at the shoulders and one at the elbows. You also missed the nodes at the thighs and knees," he sarcastically commented, acting like all experienced and high masters here.


    Yet his star map and the new core didn''t care about his remarks. When the meridians in the hand finished opening and strengthening, everything went to stillness all of sudden while the previous coat of protection started to disappear around his core.


    "Rumbl!"


    This time the rumble literally shook his body and made the twitches from early on come again to his real dragonair body. As the rumbling kept occurring for minutes, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain while watching what was happening inside his new dantian.


    "This is all you aimed for from the beginning then¡­ interesting," he muttered in surprise when he realized those rays from before weren''t rays but real threads, all connected to the core, connecting it to his entire node and meridian system.


    "This is worth the pain and humiliation to be honest," he muttered to himself while watching his new core getting finally to work. With all these extensive networks of threads connecting it to his meridians and nodes, Arthur was pretty confident in his ability to go even higher than he went before in his past life.


    "Sigh, I need to stabilize things here first before calling it over," he sighed before thinking about his next tribulation. "My first one was weird, I hope this one will be more classic."


    He started to regulate his breathing while inhaling more energy. He wanted to fill his entire meridians and nodes, especially with the new addition his energy was almost enough to keep things running.


    It took his couple more days to finish doing this. And when he opened his eyes, he thought first of the tribulation, and second of the time spent here.


    "Any updates?" he asked while standing and checking his body to make sure everything was ok before returning to be a human again.


    "Finally," the golden dragon sighed, "you gave me a scare for many moments there kid. My old heart can''t take all this worry, damn!"


    "Ding! You took two weeks at least to finish training this time."


    "Wow, all this time¡­" Arthur paused before adding, "what about others?"


    "Ding! They are training, and your new gloves are doing miracles to them," the system said in a delighted tone, "Agnus seemed to have insight over your project and he finally made them."


    "The spears? At last," he muttered before adding, "bring me my sword please."


    The next moment his sword came flying from nearby where he had his other gears thrown off after he transformed into a dragon. "Bring me others as well," he muttered and then wore the boots, the gloves, and the guards before turning to inspect the sky.


    "Strange¡­" he muttered, "no tribulation yet."


    "Ding! Your tribulation is selected and it will appear after some time."


    The system said these vague words which made Arthur''s heart clench. "What''s it then?" he asked with bad premonition.


    "Ding! It''s regarding the next competition," the system said before explaining further, "Ding! You will meet with unfortunate circumstances there and you need to crush them all."


    "Why do I smell something bad here?" Arthur shook his head while muttering, "I didn''t even plan to have such a bizarre way of tribulation. What does that even supposed to mean?"


    "Ding! This is what I got from the world''s will, and I don''t know any details about it, sorry."


    "Never mind," Arthur waved his hand, "it''s not your fault," he sighed while seeing the bright side in this. "Then I can use and upgrade my cultivation base without any worries."


    "Ding! Just don''t hit the next major one, or else more challenges will occur to you."


    "As if I have a saying in that," Arthur bitterly laughed as he recalled what just happened during his breakthrough.


    "What''s all this fuss all about?" the golden dragon said before adding, "your dragonair''s energy is the only supreme energy in the entire world!"


    "Sure, that''s why you died early, old man," Arthur sneered before holding his sword and his face changed. "Watch me."


    Arthur was new in this world, with many yet to learn and much more hidden from him. Yet what he never forgot were the techniques he once prevailed with in his past life.


    His body, his lack of cultivation limited him a lot, but now everything changed. He was now having a core formation base, with meridian and node system on par with the highest stage in it.


    And his energy was far superior to real monsters in legends back in his world.


    Right now, he was a brand new monster creating his own legend.


    "I''ll try a small technique¡­ like the dragon sword," he muttered to himself before his body started to take the old stance he used a long time ago.


    His two legs were slightly apart, bent and his waste retreated backward for a bit. His sword was held by both hands, put on the side of his right shoulder.


    His eyes were focusing on a hundred meters away from a large piece of rock.


    "Ha!"


    He gritted his teeth and this muffled cry came from him before he finally moved. He stirred up all the energy inside his dantian and the next moment he was shocked to see himself appearing next to the rock, covering the entire distance in one jump.


    "Boom!"


    The moment his sword hit the rock, a shadow of a faint blue dragon covered it and hit the rock massively; smashing it into pieces.


    This didn''t end here, as his sword dragon phantom slightly roared before exploding, sending even Arthur flying backward.


    "Dummy dragon," he cursed, "I''m your master dumbass!"


    He stood up while watching the devastation caused by this technique. Everything in the radius of fifty meters got smashed, like a gigantic hand just crushed anything in this area just now.


    Even the ground of his strong garden got depressed by five meters.


    "Amazing," the golden dragon muttered, "I like this dragon."


    "Shut up," Arthur was annoyed by being hit by his own technique. "That means I lack control over my energy properly, a side effect of leveling up so fast," he shook his head while checking the damage.


    "This power¡­" he paused while lost in his thoughts. "it''s not that different from a full strike of a nascent soul cultivator."


    "What are you talking about?" the golden dragon was immersed in his joy, "this dragon rocks! You don''t need to complicate things, and try to enjoy being strong."


    Arthur bitterly smiled while picturing the scene of him getting hit by his own sword. "This isn''t right, things need to be understood and properly analyzed for me to learn, adapt, and upgrade."


    "Such sophisticated needless words, tsk. We dragonairs only care about one thing¡­ power. As long as you have it, just cherish it and don''t complicate things like that."


    Arthur didn''t heed to the golden dragon''s words as he kept analyzing the strike before he checked himself. "I got a slight backlash too," he sighed when he noticed some organs were hurt during this throw. "But to stabilize my power I need to regularly use it."

 Chapter 488: Making Pills

    The issue he had now was time. He wasted so much time already in his cultivation. For him this was nothing, as he used to take years to upgrade just one minor base.


    Yet he had now another goal to achieve. He tested his theory at forging and right now he had more theories to test as well. "Alchemy should be next," he muttered before glancing again at his body. "And I need to do it while training with the sword."


    It was his luck to use such a low technique, or else the backlash would be much stronger. He went towards his cauldron and started thinking.


    "They just use the personal energy to refine the items used in potions," he thought to himself before adding, "but this isn''t that good compared to my previous world''s techniques."


    He decided to use his cultivation energy and test some potions and pills first. The issue here was that he couldn''t fully control his power now.


    "I need around one week to control my power, but I need to match the two together if possible," he muttered before taking the booklet of potions he received from Mr. E and opened a page of a strengthening pill.


    "This is one of the best pills here," he said after reading the description of how to make one. "I need to upgrade this and use it on my top team to increase their strength."


    He closed the booklet and stored it before going on a stride inside his garden.


    Despite having some remaining herbs he collected before, he needed some extra. The herbs he was looking for were those containing massive amounts of energy; the higher the better.


    "This one will do," he grabbed a thick purple root with some red lines over it and stored it. "The energy stored in it is aggressive," he nodded in content before collecting hundreds more of such roots.


    Each herb he collected he made sure to leave some seeds behind for more to grow, especially to those he grabbed their roots and killed them.


    He spent hours collecting different kinds of herbs, and when he got back to his cauldron, he didn''t start at once.


    He spread samples of the herbs he gathered on the ground and then he glanced silently at them. "Time to test my ability then," he muttered before grabbing a root and starting to infuse his spiritual energy in it.


    "Boom!"


    The next moment the root was blown to pieces from the uncontrolled gush of his energy. "Sigh, this won''t work," he shook his head before glancing over the area around, "I need to spend some time with my technique first.


    He wasn''t that pleased with such a result, despite it being the most logical one he anticipated.


    "Time to get this energy tamed," he started training with the sword while jumping from a place to another. After a couple of hours, the area around him was filled with indentations, and his energy was almost depleted.


    "Sigh, even with my gears I can''t keep using the sword like this," he sat on the ground while closing his eyes and regulating his breathing.


    "I need a spiritual energy refreshing pill," he muttered after being like this for six hours straight. "If I was in a fight, I can''t last for long this way," he sighed.


    He knew this was mainly due to the rebellious nature of his energy and the subsequent level up of his base.


    "To make this pill, I''ll need to tame my energy to half at least," he thought before adding, "I once heard of a way to use untamed energy to form a pill¡­ what was this way again?" he thought deeply, searching his mind for this info for half an hour before his eyes shone brightly with blue color.


    "I knew it," he smiled before laughing, "despite the result being unpredictable, all the results will be much better than the initial pills," he said to himself before smirking, "besides this is also considered a legal way to tame my energy. Perfect, just perfect."


    He stood up and went directly to his cauldron before thinking about this pill. "I can use it to tame my energy first, then I can make other pills," he muttered before thinking about the components and what he could replace these with.


    He started taking some of what he gathered and put them inside the cauldron. When he finished he started the fire and the next thing he did was to hold the cauldron with both hands.


    "I have to endure the high temperature first," he muttered while thinking about the small trick here.


    Instead of supplementing the herbs with his energy, he would infuse the cauldron with the energy itself. As the cauldron being sturdier, he was sure it would hold his berserk energy and help to refine the herbs inside.


    "Ding! Do you want water? Blood?" the system asked.


    "No, this is a pill not potion," Arthur shook his head before adding, "in pills we tend to dry up the herbs and condense their energy to form a smaller form of a pill. In potions we do the opposite, using water and blood to make the herbs diffuse their energy inside the medium."


    "Ding! Seems the total opposite of each other."


    "Why bother with pills while you can do potions in greater amounts and in a shorter time?" the golden dragon said.


    "Pills are far stronger than the normal potions," Arthur explained while starting to endure the burning pain coming from the heated up cauldron, "besides so many effects can''t be gained by potions, like the energy replenishing pill I''m now making."


    "Why is that?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Simply because this needs a concentrated amount of energy to be released, not a diffuse form of energy," Arthur explained yet the golden dragon seemed not to get the meaning as he replied:


    "Whatever."


    Arthur kept enduring the pain until there was no increase in temperature. He then started to infuse his energy inside the cauldron fixedly.

 Chapter 489: Sending Instructions About Concocting Pills

    He didn''t hold back, and used all his energy to enter the cauldron, even changing its color to blue.


    He kept doing this for ten minutes before the herbs inside got concentrated into a small amount of fluid. He didn''t hurry to end the process, as the only side effect of this was to take much longer than usual.


    "Time to turn it into a pill," he muttered when he glanced at the fluid which changed from dark red to dark blue color. He closed his eyes and then instigated his energy to the max, while raising his hands off the cauldron and putting them horizontally over the opening of it.


    The next moment his energy dissipated violently and touched the cauldron which reverberated again. Yet when it touched the fluid, the fluid flew up following his will, and he just took it at a level above the cauldron before opening his eyes.


    "Condense," he surrounded the fluid with both hands while trying to crush it with his energy. The next minute the fluid kept trembling inside, shrinking in size until finally a pill was formed.


    "Good," he took the pill and examined it before putting it in his mouth. The moment he took it, he felt a sudden gush of energy and his depleted energy was regenerated with much more amount than before.


    "The quality¡­ it isn''t bad," he assessed the pill, knowing he made something suited for nascent soul stage cultivators not just the core formation stage.


    "Time to go on full power here," after he assessed the pill with this trial, he started to massively form pills. He didn''t hold back anymore, as he started making tens of pills in one go, while taking just one to replenish his depleted energy from time to time.


    This kept going for hours, and when he finished he had a huge stock of pills that exceeded a thousand. "This should be enough," he muttered when he glanced inside his storage ring.


    "Ding! How did you condense the pill without using the cauldron?" the system asked as he compared what Arthur did with what Mr. E did before.


    "I used the energy of mine to communicate with the vast energy of heaven and earth here," Arthur explained and the golden dragon just said:


    "Whatever, what are you going to make now?"


    "A strengthening pill," Arthur muttered before adding, "I hope my energy will be more contained."


    Before he wasted any more herb he went to the side and tested out his sword. He found that the backlash was much lower than before, yet it still existed.


    "Not enough, huh?" he muttered before continuing to use the sword technique to train and to tame his energy for a couple more hours.


    "Nearly sufficient."


    When he felt a minimal amount of backlash he stopped and went towards the group of herbs he laid before on the ground. He picked a seed this time and tried to infuse his energy in it.


    And the seed barely took the pressure.


    "Good," he nodded before taking all the herbs in hand and infusing a portion of his energy to them. When he finished, he went towards the cauldron and put the ingredients there.


    And he waited.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The first five attempts were all failures. The herbs exploded under the massive energy of his, ruining everything.


    His face turned ashen black from the explosions yet he never ceased to try until on the sixth attempt he finally succeeded.


    "It''s a nice pill to be honest," he examined the pill before taking it into his mouth. The moment it entered there, he felt his body getting stronger fast under the effect of the dissipated energy.


    "Good, now I have to try to raise the success rate," he started to make pills in great batches. Sometimes the herbs would explode, ruining others in the cauldron, yet most of the time he started to have success.


    His control over his energy grew stronger with time, and on the third day he was able to make pills without losing any more ingredients.


    "Finally, phew," he wiped the sweat over his forehead before taking an energy replenishing pill to regenerate the energy lost.


    "Ding! Why not take many at the same time to break through?" the system asked.


    "That would be a huge mistake," he shook his head, "after all this pill had more filth than benefit to me. I only need them to replenish my energy in a short time span, to make up for the lack of time I have."


    He then took out a bird''s wing and wrote the instructions other alchemists should follow before leaving a side note over the usage of the body strengthening pills he made.


    Then he sent the bird''s wing to Amelia while pointing to the hills standing not far from him. "Move these to Amelia, she knows what she should do with them," he said and his system complied.


    "Now it''s time for me to test the arrays."


    He never was this excited about his theories as he was right now. Since coming here to this world and arrays formed a huge puzzle for him. He wanted to crack these for so much long time, and now he had the ability to do so.


    He took out the booklets he received from Otman and started reading them again. He wanted to be sure he didn''t miss anything there, and for that he wasted half a day in reading until he was ready.


    "So the secret lies in the language used to write the runes, plus the words used to make these," he muttered.


    "You can depend on me for that," the golden dragon said with much confidence, "I told the system about dragon language and he can now guide you like before."


    "I know," Arthur nodded while his mind was busy with something else. "I need to make flags first."


    The secret lying between the dark arrays and normal arrays lied in this small thing he totally missed; flags.

 Chapter 490: How To Make the Ancient Arrays?

    Dark arrays rarely use flags, while normal arrays depend entirely on them.


    "I should have noticed this a long time ago," he shook his head in regret, feeling blamed for this silly mistake of observing this obvious difference.


    "You need flags to control arrays, that''s a well known knowledge about normal arrays for sure," the golden dragon said in such an excited way. "Just use my own advice and cover the flags to the brim with the words you''ll use in your runes."


    Arthur thought for a second there before nodding. "I also want to use the trick we used before," he added.


    "Which is?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Ding! Using heaven and earth energy to form the array, like what we did back at the petals."


    "That ancient array is unique," the golden dragon argued, "you can''t easily imitate it. many tried and failed."


    "They don''t have my own vision about heaven and earth energy," Arthur argued back while adding, "I''m pretty sure I can do it."


    "Then give it a try and waste your time doing the impossible."


    Arthur wasn''t fazed with the mockery inside the golden dragon''s words. He had his eyes fixed upon his goal, and he knew he could do this.


    What he needed to consider now was to inject the energy inside the array while making, or only in the flags controlling it.


    Arthur waited patiently for a couple of hours thinking deeply about this. After all this time, another dilemma appeared which, in time, solved the other dilemma he had.


    "So I shouldn''t take this approach and think more revolutionally," he muttered to himself before adding, "That array when activated controlled the heaven and earth energy inside a certain space, I should mimic that."


    His previous dilemma was about whn he should infuse his energy inside the array making, yet when he revised his experience with the ancient array he found something different.


    That array was made by simple runes, yet it used pillars to control the heaven and earth energy inside. "Instead of pillars, I should use flags," he decided before thinking about another dilemma.


    "What makes the pillars special?" This was what he started to think about.


    The pillars were one of his old assets, yet up till now he didn''t know much about them. And that simple realization startled him at this moment.


    "Can you tell me how the pillars are made?" he suddenly asked his golden dragon who simply answered:


    "What? Are you planning to make pillars out of normal monster''s bones?"


    The instant and casual reply of the golden dragon was really helpful more than the obvious mockery in it. Arthur''s eyes shone brightly as his mind totally flipped as he hurried to ask: "Can I?"


    "In theory¡­" the golden dragon was taken aback with the answer of Arthur before he added, "you can do it, but the energy stored inside can''t even be compared to a one hundredth of that''s inside the pillars you have."


    "But it''s much better than nothing for others," Arthur shouted in excitation, making both the golden dragon and his system puzzled. "Can you tell me the way?"


    "It''s simple¡­" the golden dragon paused before adding, "what do you intend to do?"


    "You''ll see soon," Arthur laughed as he added, "tell me what I should do and then you''ll find out."


    "Alright¡­" the golden started to explain, and the more he talked, the more Arthur was surprised.


    "Is it this¡­ simple?" he asked after the golden dragon finished speaking.


    "Sure, the trick isn''t in the technique, but in the quality of the monster you are using the bones from," the golden dragon said before stressing again, "just remember you''ll need the long bones to be turned into a pillar. A humerus, a femur, and a tibia are all considered best, and other bones can be used to make the pillars stronger."


    Arthur nodded before he thought. "Bring me a monster," he said to his system.


    "Ding! A horn with a halo?" the system asked.


    "No, just a normal horn monster."


    The next moment a normal monster of those he killed before to make others absorb their organs appeared in front of him. Arthur didn''t hesitate to kill it with his sword, then he started to skin it and take the bones out of its fresh corpse.


    "Don''t waste more time, you need to start working on the long bones fast," the golden dragon stressed, "you only have ten minutes after each monster''s death."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur gritted his teeth as the task of taking the bones out of the corpse proved to be much more difficult than what he initially thought.


    Yet in less than three minutes he had the long bones lying on the ground.


    "System, bring me the unpurified Golam blood," he said before taking out his tools, "I trust you on making this fast."


    "Ding! Don''t worry," the system said before adding, "Ding! You don''t need the purified blood?"


    "No, bring me that spiritual energy rich blood."


    The next moment a large container appeared from the side of his followers, taken by the system. The next moment the container was filled with green blood with a horrible smell.


    "Now," Arthur then immersed his brush inside the container before taking one bone and started writing. He didn''t know what he was writing, as it was all in dragon tongue.


    But he knew the meaning; strengthen, condense, absorb, light, purify, and pillar. These were the main words he had gotten from the golden dragon, specified that this is meant for the light based monsters.


    As for the black monsters, a couple of words would be slightly changed. Arthur''s writing speed was superb, and with the guidance of his system he didn''t commit any mistake.


    Yet he knew for his followers to learn this skill they would have to learn these dragon tongue words first. A task that would have many mistakes for sure.


    "Nevertheless those who will learn this would make it much easier to gain more stronger arrays," he nodded and when he finished with the long bones in hand, he had less than two minutes remaining.

 Chapter 491: Let There Be Fire... Let There Be A Bang!

    "Thus not only a single person should work on a single monster''s bones," he decided as his mind started to form a set of orders for others to follow. "A group to kill and others to skin monsters, plus a group to write the bones, and then finally those who are going to strengthen the bones and turn them into pillars," he thought as he decided this would be the arrangement of doing so.


    "At least twenty mages are needed," he thought, "or perhaps a little more."


    "Now, you need to start making runes of these other bones," the golden dragon said before adding, "you have a wider window now, around thirty minutes, no more."


    "Good," Arthur then used the sword to cut the bones remaining into smaller pieces, cleavage and cleanse those smaller ones attached to the flesh.


    "The trick is to try and make all look similar in size," the golden dragon said.


    "What about the skull?" Arthur asked.


    "It''s too complicated to turn it into a pillar," the golden dragon said before adding, "leave it for now. When you have a grasp of what you are doing, we can talk about it."


    Arthur nodded and then started to write over the similar pieces of bones in front of him. Only two words were written there; pillar and transformation.


    When he finished, it almost took him thirty minutes. "Sigh, more are needed to do that," he muttered before adding more to the initial estimation of his.


    "Now equally distribute the smaller bones around those long ones. You need to arrange the smaller ones in a twelve heads star formation with the long bone in the center."


    "And then?" Arthur asked.


    "As I told you previously," the golden dragon sighed, "you''ll need to drop a strong blood over them all before leaving them to fester and turn into a pillar under the effect of the surrounding energy."


    "So slow," Arthur muttered before asking, "how much time would that take?"


    "Roughly? From a week to a month."


    "Too much," Arthur shook his head before deciding to go crazy, "I have a better idea."


    "You don''t intend to use your energy and that heaven and earth thing to make it, right?" the golden dragon seemed not to fully understand the spiritual energy and how it worked.


    "Why not?" Arthur shrugged while starting to arrange the bones in the way the golden dragon told him but he had another arrangement to it.


    "You are the only one who can use this bizarre energy."


    "You are mistaken," Arthur smiled before glancing at the four group of bones in front of him before adding, "bring me three more monsters."


    "Yeah, go and bring him the entire forest," the golden dragon smirked, yet the system followed the orders of Arthur silently.


    The next couple of hours, Arthur kept turning the three monsters into the four groups of bones, the precursors of his pillars.


    He then started to arrange these groups carefully in a wide twelve headed star, while in the center he made flags and runed with the dragon tongue in the way he planned before.


    "What the hell are you doing?" the golden dragon had a crazy thought in his mind and wanted to be sure he was wrong.


    "I''m using everything at the same time to make pillars and a single array," Arthur said while he kept working diligently over his runes and flags.


    "Crazy," the golden dragon muttered, "pray this won''t explode and kill you in the process."


    His words didn''t stop Arthur from making what he intended previously. He arranged the flags and runes so there would be two groups of them, one in the center and one in the twelve apices of this giant star on the ground.


    When he finished half of the day was gone. "Drop the blood over them all," he muttered while putting a single drop of his upon the central flags to control the entire process.


    "Let there be fire," the golden dragon was so pessimistic about the entire process, but Arthur wasn''t.


    The idea in his mind was fresh and untested, yet he felt very positive about it. "For me I could do even better," he muttered while watching the green blood covering the bones,flags, and runes all around. "But I need to consider my team first."


    "Rumble!"


    A faint rumble occurred the moment everything was covered with blood. "Wait," he suddenly got another inspiration, before hurriedly asking, "do you have a strong form of Ley Lines diagram in dragon knowledge?"


    "Well¡­" the golden dragon was surprised by this sudden question, not knowing what it was for, "there are many," he answered without telling anything useful.


    "Something that resembles the twelve star?" Arthur asked again.


    "There are some who can be used in what you desire," the golden dragon paused for a moment before adding, "but what for?"


    "Just tell the system about them," Arthur said before adding, "you need to use the simplest one and stain the ground with the Golam blood accordingly."


    "Ding! Alright," the system then took a couple of minutes before it started to work again. For Arthur he could now start forming the array if he wanted, but he didn''t.


    He had sudden inspiration, where he could make the best use of the amazing diversity of talents in his army of followers. "More are needed now, sigh," he shook his head while watching the system laying the Golam blood in layers, each had the shape of the twelve star shape.


    "Is this the simplest?" Arthur watched with doubt while his system was about to finish his task. The final shape looked like a spider web, while the golden dragon said in pride:


    "This is one of the simplest Ley Lines diagrams in our dragon empire in the past. See how majestic it is? Feel how grand our late civilization was?"


    "Yet it eventually crumbled and went to the ashes of history," Arthur teased back, and the golden dragon just harrumphed before coldly saying:


    "Don''t forget you''re one of us."


    "One who isn''t planning to repeat your old folks mistakes," Arthur grinned while the last drop of blood fell on the ground.


    "Rumble!"


    It was followed by a loud rumble and Arthur''s soul and body even shook from the massive influx of energy. "Damn! No one can tolerate such impact," he coughed some blood before adding, "more are needed to control this berserk array."


    "Are you still hoping to try it out?" the golden dragon said, "it''s best if you ditch the entire idea, it''s too risky."


    "Just shut up and watch," Arthur didn''t care about the opinion of the golden dragon as he took out one healing pill and one replenishing pill and consumed them both, making his body return to its top shape.


    "Let''s cause a bang," he muttered with a wide smile, mimicking the way his golden dragon spoke about his array formation process. "Activate!" he simply muttered, and the next second the entire world changed.


    Heaven and earth shook, and the color of the sky changed. It dimmed and Arthur felt like a mighty aura was now gathering around him and his array.


    "Sigh, more is needed to make this array complete, far more than I initially thought," he sighed while observing the state of things around him. "Heaven and earth are restless, the same feeling of the tribulations."

 Chapter 492: Making the First Supreme Array

    These changes kept escalating on a terrifying speed, and in less than a minute he could almost taste the presence of the tribulation here.


    "Will this cause a tribulation?" he muttered before finally sensing something different.


    "It''s not a tribulation, it''s directly assaulting me!" he felt the energy accumulated to be stirred against him directly through the array. "Should I face it?" he thought before another idea popped up his mind.


    "No, no, no, I shouldn''t do that," he smiled bitterly before adding, "this array is really greedy. It wants to absorb the entire energy and store it. then I should help in controlling this energy there until it absorbs it."


    He started to test his theory by pushing his force against the mighty force of heaven and earth. When he did that, he found that his small energy was supported by the array, turning into a tsunami to crush the heaven and earth energy inside the array.


    "So you want my help to condense the energy and absorb it," he muttered before adding, "that means you''ll need more than a bunch of five or ten people to make you done," he sighed before he decided to wait for the final result to judge perfectly.


    His wait reached to a length of one hour while he kept releasing energy non-stop. Even for him, this proved to be quite challenging. He even took energy replenishing pills three times so far.


    "Finally you ended your meal," Arthur took a deep breath when he noticed the amount of energy stirred around was getting thinner. In less than ten minutes, everything calmed down and the array started to coalesce together.


    "What about the pillars?" he glanced over the twelve pillars he made and at this moment they were also changing. The small bones were attaching themselves to the long ones, and finally twelve pillars appeared.


    "This isn''t the end, right?" he calmly watched these changes while eating another replenishing pill. "You should merge together now," he muttered and waited, and during an entire hour nothing else changed.


    He kept assessing the array and felt any changes in it. he even once tried to push his energy there with no result. When he was about to consider this as a failure, the array finally started to move.


    The pillars started moving like they were attracted by hidden threads. When the pillars finally gathered in the central zone with the other runes and flags, a shining light emerged, shielding everything from the eyes of Arthur.


    "System, scout the array for me now," he hurried to say as he didn''t want this moment to pass without exactly knowing what was going on.


    "Ding! They are merging together," the system simply answered.


    "The pillars and the flags?" Arthur asked for more details here.


    "Ding! Everything including the runes and the blood marks on the ground."


    Arthur glanced at the ground to see the diagram there was gone. "Damn, I didn''t notice when it moved," he muttered in faint anger.


    "They moved when the energy was receding," the golden dragon said before adding, "damn boy, I believe you''re actually about to make it."


    "Hehehe," Arthur laughed before adding, "who said I can''t? huh?"


    "Whatever."


    Arthur was in a good mood while waiting for the merge to finish. In less than ten minutes, the shining light started to disappear, exposing one single long flag and a group of twelve runes around it.


    "Is it done?" he asked, and the system replied:


    "Ding! It''s completed. Congratulations, you managed to completely make the impossible."


    "Thanks, hehehe," Arthur was in a great mood while he jumped towards the array and started to examine it. "Wow, all this energy¡­ that''s a killer!" he was shocked by the amount of energy stored inside this simple long flag and the runes around it.


    "I believe it will create a miniature death zone that might last for days," the golden dragon was also surprised by the might of this small thing in Arthur''s hands.


    "That''s great," Arthur laughed before adding, "if I can make others learn to make this, then the array competition will be ours no doubt."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two beings in his mind were speechless from his words. They thought he would use these arrays in war, not in just a silly competition.


    "Move me towards them," he stored the array before asking his system. The next instant he appeared in the heart of everything, where he glanced all around to see thousands of hard working citizens of his own empire, all were training so hard.


    Some were trying to forge, others were making pills. Some were fighting with swords, while others kept moving around using abilities they learnt from Cesile.


    "Great," he nodded in content before noticing a large group using strong attacks on clays all around them. "This Amanda¡­ she is really strange," he muttered but when he watched calmly for a couple of minutes there, he was content with what he saw.


    "Bring others to me, I''m at the heart of your gathering," he took a bird''s wing and sent it directly to Amelia.


    In less than ten minutes, everyone of his top followers gathered around him.


    "Agnus, how are you and others doing in the new way of crafting?" The first thing he asked for was to check upon the blacksmiths.


    "They are¡­ doing better than ever," Agnus smiled before taking out a long thick golden spear and handed it over to him. "This is the thing you wanted me to make for you."


    Arthur took it and glanced briefly before saying, "Is it just one spear?" he thought there would be a large amount of spears.


    "Just link it with your blood and energy and then throw it," Agnus smiled in a mysterious way before Arthur followed his instructions, dropping a blood over the spear and infusing his dragonair''s energy in it.


    The next moment the spear hummed, yet nothing else happened. "Are you sure of it?" he glanced over Agnus who just nodded. "Just throw it and see," Agnus said.

 Chapter 493: Arranging Teams To Make the Array

    "Alright," Arthur shrugged before throwing the spear away towards one of the distant clays.


    The moment he threw the spear, a phantom was born out of it, moving fast to the clay and hit it before vanishing the next moment. "Impressive," Arthur commended while checking the spear in hand, "nothing happened to it yet the force it dealt was good."


    The clay was shocked and thrown hundreds of meters to the back while the place it landed at created a deep crater in the sturdy ground of the garden. "Not bad," Arthur nodded again in admiration of this spear. "It''s just as I imagined, thanks."


    He stored it inside his ring before turning to Deem, "gather all the elite ones knowing how to make Ley Lines diagrams."


    "Now?" Deem asked in surprise.


    "Yup, now," he nodded before turning to Gor, "gather everyone who showed great skill in making arrays."


    "Alright," Gor nodded in strange excitement over his face while Arthur turned to Amelia and added, "gather me all warriors and mages who had exceptional strength and use strong attacks."


    "How many?" she asked.


    "All of them," he said before adding, "Also gather the elite chefs and make them come here."


    "They already finished cooking the meat you asked for," Ron said.


    "Good," Arthur recalled the meat before adding, "make the rest of the chefs distribute the meat into small strands and give these to everyone."


    "Only small strands?" Omar asked.


    "They are more than enough, believe me," Arthur smiled before turning towards the rest, "you can stay and watch, or go and continue training. It''s up to you."


    Everyone just exchanged silent glances before they all stayed behind. They sensed how important and big their leader was trying to do right now, and so they all waited patiently to watch.


    "I want you to make me draw the dragon words used and also the diagram as well," Arthur didn''t stand doing nothing as he took out his tools and looked at Omar and others as he asked:


    "Bring me many papers."


    "Take, I have many already," Madly and Lily took out a lot of papers while others took some as well.


    "Great," Arthur took them and started drawing the letters under the guidance of his system.


    "Ding! I finished writing the words, and you know what each represents, right?" the system said after a couple of minutes.


    "Good," Arthur nodded, before adding, "let''s draw the diagram then redraw all of these from the beginning."


    "Ding! Again?!"


    "Sure, my array creators won''t work only with a single copy, right?"


    The system answered back while he kept guiding Arthur to draw many copies of the same thing. In an hour, a large group of people gathered around him, numbering in thousands.


    "Amazing," Arthur smiled before adding, "Alright, here is the deal. I want you to be arranged in different groups," he stopped what he was doing, as he had already made a lot of copies, and started arranging his men.


    "A group of you who can draw perfectly come to this side," he pointed to his left before adding, "the group with a skill in Ley Lines diagrams please come to this side, the group with explosive attacks come to here, and the group of chefs can go there. As for those who excel at making arrays, please stand here."


    He arranged everyone and when they finished arranging themselves the way he wanted, he started to walk around and discuss things with each group.


    And he was followed like an immortal walking on these grounds by the top of his team, watching each single step he made, and listened carefully to each word he said.


    "Your task is to train on drawing these weird letters. Make sure you master write them perfectly in the shortest time possible, ok?"


    "You''ll have to study and memorize this diagram. I want you to draw it on the ground perfectly without a single error, alright?"


    "Your task is to make runes and flags accordingly from these ores. These are the letters needed to be written on each rune. Please train diligently and try not to make a single error in them. Use this blood in doing so."


    "Your task is to kill and skin monsters. What I want is the femurs, the tibias,  and the humerus bones to be skinned clean in the fastest time. I also want you to take out other bones and divide them on equal sizes, and I need you to do this in the shortest possible time. So, I''ll bring you some monsters to train upon."


    "Your task will be to infuse energy in the array when it''s about to be done. So, I want you to eat meat and reserve your energies for now. Use your gloves to perfectly release more energy."


    Once he finished his tour, he stood patiently watching every group working.


    "This letter isn''t the same as this one, the curvy nature of the letters must be mimicked exactly as it''s presented at the papers you have."


    "These runes¡­ sigh, they are useless. Throw them away and start over again."


    "There are some remnants of flesh around the bones. And I said equal sized pieces, not some rectangular and others are triangular. I want exactly the same size and shape."


    The diagram looks smaller, I want it bigger. Work on wider areas please."


    He moved around while giving pointers all the time while his main team was following him silently, while some tried to learn from what others were doing.


    Deem went to study the diagram, while Gor went to help the array making group. Amelia went to check with Lily those butchers cutting meat, while Ron went to check with Omar those working over the letters.


    As for Randy and Ron, both went to check upon the group of warriors and mages doing nothing at this time except eating meat and resting while watching others work.


    The more hard others worked, the more pressure they felt. After all Arthur''s words were clear, their task would be the last one.

 Chapter 494: Making the Pillars Ready

    This meant they might screw things up, ruining everyone''s hard work if they committed a single mistake here.


    Everyone worked for long hours while Arthur never stopped his tour or his pointers to them. At the end of the day, everyone had already mustered their tasks, and they were now efficient in doing it.


    "The show time," Arthur muttered to himself while feeling much excited about this.


    He went towards an empty region while asking others following him, "make those cooks and their aiders to come, also send for those writing letters all day to come as well."


    He was now ready to start step one in making the array; the pillar formation.


    This seemed to be one of the hardest steps, as it was a race against time. His only hope was for the team he selected to be ready to work efficiently together as one hell of a giant team.


    "Bring a batch of monsters," the moment the two teams gathered, he said to his system.


    As his system brought over a hundred monsters he agreed with in the area, Arthur turned to glance seriously at the two teams before speaking out loud:


    "What I need from you is to work as one coherent unit, without timely working together then everything will be ruined," he pointed towards the monsters before adding, "the first thing is to take the long bones out in as little time as possible. This will be your first task to do," he pointed towards the team of cooks and their helpers of warriors.


    "At the same, each single long bone cleared from a single monster must be worked upon by one of you. If more can work at the same time on the same bone, then it''s fine."


    He pointed towards the next team where one asked:


    "What letters should we write there?"


    "For the long bones you''ll need to strengthen, condense, absorb, light, purify, and pillar. As for the short bones, you''ll need to write transformation and pillar only."


    They glanced at each other while Arthur didn''t know what was wrong in his words.


    "Ding! They can''t tell the difference," the system finally spilled it out, making him realize his silly mistake.


    "Alright," he went towards a group of copies held by one of them before taking the papers, taking his brush and started writing the meaning of each symbol. "Now you can tell what I meant, right?"


    They all nodded as they took the copies and translated the other copies in the same way while they wrote in other papers the arrangements he just said.


    "Now," he turned to the two teams before adding, "we need some to kill the monsters."


    "We can do it," Amelia who came with others when noticing he was about to start doing his grand project said.


    "Oh," he noticed them before nodding, "alright, first arrange yourselves into smaller teams, each contains a group of chefs and warriors, and enough to write letters."


    In a couple of minutes, fifty groups appeared in front of him. "Alright, we''ll start just with three for now," he said before adding, "others watch and learn. Next time you''ll all do this together."


    He didn''t want to divert his attention over many groups, especially when this was their first time doing so. "Kill three monsters," he said to Amelia, who went with Randy and Omar each to one monster to kill.


    Once the monsters were killed, he shouted at the three teams, "go and skin them fast, you''ve only two minutes to do so."


    His shout made everyone move at once. He noticed how nervous they were, yet with their large number working on the single monster, he was sure they were more than enough to make it by time.


    "Go, write over the bones with the blood," he shouted the moment the first long bone appeared. The system had already bought three big containers and felt them all with the green blood of the Golam.


    Arthur watched them working while feeling more nervous than all. In less than five minutes, the three long bones were skinned and covered with letters.


    "Great," he commended before adding, "go and work on the shorter bones now. Any ready bone delivers it to the writing team to work on it. you''ve got half an hour to do so."


    This time they worked with less pressure, and in less than ten minutes they all completed their tasks.


    Arthur didn''t hurry to comment as he moved first to observe the bones and the writings over them. "Nice, not a single mistake, and from the first time. It must be beginner''s luck," he laughed when he found nothing was off here.


    "Alright," he then turned to other teams before loudly asking, "any questions?"


    "What are we making, lord?" one of the warriors asked.


    "Not that one," Arthur laughed before adding, "Seeing it is much better than explaining in plain words. I meant any questions regarding the making process so far?"


    Each one went silent and no one spoke for a whole minute. "Good, you can start killing fifty monsters now for them to use."


    Amelia led everyone on her side to kill monsters while the fifty teams started to work. Arthur stood in the middle, giving some directions every now and then. When the fifty teams finished, they only took less than quarter an hour to finish the task, much faster than him.


    He checked the bones and was quite satisfied with them. "Good, we can proceed with the next step," he muttered.


    "There are more steps?" Madly asked in surprise.


    "What are you making here exactly?" Amelia asked with more surprise.


    "You''ll all know in time," he just mysteriously laughed and didn''t explain anything more to them. "Go and bring me those array making teams, and the diagram team as well," he said before adding, "know what? Bring everyone here, it''s time to make the other team ready."


    He waited patiently on the side for ten minutes before the other three teams came to stand there. They watched with puzzled looks the two previous teams got mixed up and formed new fifty teams.

 Chapter 495: The First Supreme Weapon Is Ready

    "Now, it''s your turn," he said before pointing towards another empty region, "we''ll work there. For the warrior team they have to move the bones in groups, each group contains the three long bones and the smaller bones ready to use."


    He paused before stressing, "don''t mix things up, make sure you take the same bones belonging to the same monster, alright?"


    He then led the other two teams towards the empty area. "We''ll start working here," he said before another container appeared filled with green blood, "and we will use this blood in everything."


    "What will we do?" one of the array making team asked.


    "First," Arthur said while taking the first batch of bones and went to a place as he added, "we''ll arrange the short bones in this twelve star formation around the long ones."


    He started placing the long bone in the center, and then distributed the smaller bones around it in a twelve star formation.


    "We have three long bones of each monster, so four monsters are needed to make a big twelve star formation," he added while going towards another spot and started arranging the bones there. "Make sure each single monster''s short bones are equally distributed among the three long bones. Now go and start making the formation," he said while finishing placing the second bone and then he started observing the others.


    As he was working in one array, they finished everything in no time. "Move this group silighty to the north, yup that''s good," he gave some pointers here and there before everything was done the way he wanted.


    "Now place the flags and runes in the center, also place a flag and a group of runes just next to each single bone formation," he moved to the next point.


    "Arrange them around the bone in twelve formation also?" one of the array team asked, making him realize a new area to upgrade this array. "Sure," he nodded before watching everyone working fast.


    When they finished, he glanced over the diagram team. "Now use the blood and move to draw the diagram on the ground," he then turned to the array team before adding, "also cover the bones, flags, and runes with this blood."


    This didn''t take longer than five minutes, and everything was finally over.


    "Great," he finally turned towards the warrior team, "your turn is up."


    The moment he said this, their faces clenched. They all knew how big this responsibility was, to be the one to determine the success and failure of everyone''s efforts.


    "Don''t be this nervous," he laughed before adding, "this isn''t that big of a deal after all. All I need from you is to exert enough power using your gloves towards the array, alright?"


    He then turned to face the array team before adding, "I also want an equal group of you to control the array."


    "How much, lord?" one of the warriors asked.


    "Hmm¡­" this was a tough question to ask, "let''s start with fifty from each group and see the result."


    At once fifty volunteered from each group. They were arranged in a big circle around the array. "Now each go inside and leave a blood drop over the central flag," he said before adding, "also leave blood at outer flags."


    He just wanted to be sure things wouldn''t go out of control here. His one hundred man team moved inside and did exactly as he said.


    When they returned to their places, the entire world around ushered under heavy pressure. Everyone was glancing here, watching what their lord was doing in such a complicated way.


    "All listen to me, say this simple word and be ready to push your entire energy out¡­ Activate."


    "Activate!"


    The next moment hundred voices came in at the same time saying the same word, and as they said it things started to change like before.


    For him he wasn''t surprised, yet for others they were greatly startled. Especially those already stressful fifty warriors from before.


    "Focus, this is normal, not a mistake," Arthur noticed their reactions and shouted at them, "start feeling the link with the array, and infuse energy to that link."


    He waited patiently for a couple of minutes before a crushing force appeared inside the array, making him quite relieved.


    "Ron," he suddenly shouted, "go and bring some meat to them, and arrange some to help provide them with meat if they needed it."


    "Right away," Ron took Madly, and Ouly with him, while the others stood silently watching in amazed glances what was going on here.


    "Impressive," Gor was the first to speak after five minutes, "the entire array is absorbing the energy and storing it."


    "The Ley Lines diagram is activating the absorption and storing process in such a unique way, that''s a great concept!" Deem muttered after more minutes.


    "This energy¡­ it can produce a devastational attack over anything," Amelia was the first to comment over the strength of the array.


    "I''m sure even those masters won''t survive a single hit of such monstrous array," Randy muttered before adding, "no one can stand this array, not a single foe, hehehe."


    He was excited as others were by the tyranny of this array. Arthur stood on the side glancing and observing everything, and from their words he managed to crack many secrets of this array he innovated.


    Yet his main focus was over the one hundred group and their reaction with the array. It took them one hour to complete the array, and they needed to eat meat twice in this time.


    "Sigh, I can''t decrease their numbers," he muttered as this seemed the optimal numbers to be used to control such a monstrous array. "Then¡­" he turned to glance at the others standing behind, "only three to four more teams can be formed¡­ not that bad actually."


    He glanced at others and laughed at their shocked expressions. The array was now in the stage of transforming, and that made others standing on the edge of it feel strange.


    "Is there something wrong?" Amelia asked what others had in mind, as he once wrongly thought.


    "No, everything is fine," he smiled before adding, "it will take another hour to be completed. So, we need to keep making more."


    "More of this?" Randy pointed in disbelief towards the array, "can we really make more?"


    "Hahaha, just glance around, I''ve already planned to make as many as possible of this array," he said before adding, "come, or do you prefer to stay here?"


    "We''ll stay here," Amelia said as everyone nodded in unison.


    "Sigh, I need more to kill these monsters then," he muttered before turning to leave while assigning this little task to his system.


    He retreated and started arranging others to make more bones, runes, and start forming more arrays before the first one was finally completed. Everyone was so much interested in testing it, yet he denied.


    "This isn''t a toy," he stored the array after assessing its quality, "this isn''t bad everyone, but next time try to exert more energy. The ratio will be two thirds warriors and one third rune makers. This way we will make sure to contain as much energy as possible, alright?"


    Everyone nodded, while five teams started working on this mighty array, while his top team kept watching in daze every time the heaven and earth stirred with the array.


    And since this moment, the first supreme weapon he and his empire had was born in this place and in such a way; one of many that would help to shape his legendary future from now on.

 Chapter 496: The Berserker Sword Technique

    Arthur stayed behind for a couple of days before everyone understood their roles very well and started to work efficiently without the need of his intervention.


    "What''s the total power of this array?" Amelia asked the question which many wanted to know the answer to.


    "Frankly I dunno," yet he shrugged before adding, "this is done to prepare for the upcoming competition. We need to crush everyone and be sure we won''t fail."


    "But the masters might learn our array and go to tell their kids about it," Randy said in discontent and doubt.


    "That''s a good point," Arthur nodded before adding, "so we''ll just stop making this array, and any other thing I edited when they are here."


    "You plan to surprise them?" Ron laughed as he loved the idea.


    "We need to," Arthur smiled helplessly, "and if we don''t need to use any of this during the competition then we won''t."


    "Are you afraid of other academy spies?" Amelia muttered before adding, "that''s a possibility."


    "Indeed, after all this selection test is something other academies must be aware of," Arthur said before adding, "your role is to ensure to select only the best in our people to join our final competition team."


    "Is there a number limit or something?" Lily asked.


    "I dunno the answer of this question yet," Arthur faintly smiled before waving his hands to them, "go and do your job, we are running out of time here."


    "We still have plenty of time," Omar said.


    "Not if we are preparing for the war in this world," Arthur laughed, "did you think I''m just making these arrays, gears, and pills for the competition only? We have a war to win in the city world, and the more we prepared the better our odds will be."


    He vanished the next moment from their sights while they thought deeply about his words. So far the city had no attacks coming at it from the clans in the world.


    Yet Arthur wasn''t sure if this would continue. He had many enemies, including those strong ones from the outer worlds, and he had to make much stronger weapons to kill them.


    "Now I have many things done," he returned to his work place beside the Golam lake, "but there are still many yet to do."


    He thought for a couple of minutes before adding, "Bring me many halo monsters here."


    "Ding! What for?" the system asked.


    "I''ll absorb more organs and strengthen myself."


    "Isn''t it better for you to start upgrading your blue dragonair rank?" the golden dragon suggested.


    "It''s the next step after I solidify my cultivation base more," Arthur answered, "but first I need to make sure my human body is stronger than ever."


    The next week he was totally lost in absorbing the organs while his body got strengthened the way he wanted it to be. "This power is much greater than what I used to have by at least fifty percent¡­ not bad," he checked his body and strength after the process ended.


    "How do you plan on solidifying your cultivation base?" the golden dragon asked.


    "I''ll train on the sword, and this is the only way to make my energy stabilized," Arthur replied while taking off his sword and started to contemplate his past life techniques.


    "The myriad of sword strikes was my strongest attack back then," he thought to himself before adding, "but I couldn''t train in it before reaching the immortal stage, sigh. I need to replace it with the weaker version; the berserker sword."


    The berserker sword was such a strong attack which was considered one of the highest sword techniques below the immortal stage. "Lucky for me it needed the energy and physique of a nascent soul stage, but my current body and energy is slightly below the requirements. I have to test it to know if I can do it or not."


    Despite being in the core formation stage, he knew his energy quality and strength of his body right now wasn''t on par with the normal core formation cultivator.


    He stood erect while holding the sword vertical in front of his face and waited. He kept stirring up his energy while diffusing it to his sword, waiting for the sword to issue the old familiar hum.


    This was the first and hardest step of the technique. The sword needed a huge amount of energy to be activated, and if his energy fell short, then he would have to keep depending on his dragon strike technique.


    He waited roughly for an hour. "Sigh, the first time is always the longest," he muttered to himself while patiently waiting for another hour.


    "Buzz!"


    The sword finally showed a sign of its activation. When it just buzzed, Arthur didn''t delay moving it horizontally before running to the front with his greatest speed.


    "I just need to activate you once, and then you''ll be always activated," he kept running while continuing to pour his energy to the sword.


    "You should use that pill of yours," the golden dragon advised after a continuous run for three hours all around the place with no response from the sword.


    "Can''t," Arthur was exhausted to explain much right now. He knew the drawbacks of this technique, it couldn''t be activated without his pure energy.


    Despite no changes appearing on the surface, his energy entering the sword started to be met with growing resistance, a very familiar resistance regarding the activation of the sword. And this resistance made the task of infusing more energy harder.


    "Just a small step further," he kept encouraging himself after six more hours. He was tempted to use his dragonair form to replenish his exhausted stamina, yet he feared for the two energies backlashing at him at this critical moment.


    So he kept moving around with sheer will and hope alone. After another couple of hours, he wasn''t accepting his resignation. "C''mon you bastard! I can hardly inject any more energy in you,'' he gnashing his teeth while cursing at his sword.

 Chapter 497: Failing to Use the Activated Sword

    In his long experience with this technique he knew the sword should have been activated a long time ago. The sword''s inner energy was so massive to resist his own right now, and things should have developed in different ways than this.


    "What''s wrong here?" after another hour, even his sheer will failed to keep his body moving. So he stopped and started to examine the sword with a frustrated look on his face.


    His energy was almost depleted, and his body ached everywhere. All the bonuses he had from the organ absorption were gone at this moment, and he felt he was like a helpless leave amidst a storm, a simple hit would make him lose balance and even consciousness at this moment.


    "Ding! I feel the urge of the sword to your dragonair''s energy," the system suddenly spoke.


    "Impossible," Arthur couldn''t speak much, as he panted and struggled just to say this single word.


    "Ding! I''m not wrong, it''s craving for your energy and seems like waiting for it. What are you going to lose if you try? After all you theoretically failed to do whatever you wanted to do, right?"


    Arthur kept racing to take his breaths while examining the sword. As his system told him, the sword didn''t release its energy despite ending the technique abruptly in the middle.


    "Let''s¡­ give¡­ it¡­ a try¡­" he was so exhausted to argue anymore, and the system''s words made quite sense.


    The next moment he started to stir his dragonair''s energy. The moment the energy moved inside his veins, his fatigue was instantly gone, and he just waited for his body to change.


    Yet nothing happened.


    "Amazing," he muttered while sensing that his immense dragonair''s energy was getting sucked at a growing rate by his sword.


    "You can deal with my dragonair''s energy as well?" Arthur was speechless for a minute there before he kept stirring up his energy and this time the sword started to vibrate vigorously under the baptism of his energy.


    "Time to run again," he laughed before holding the sword vertically then horizontally and started running.


    This time he didn''t take much time to run before the sword shone brightly with blue light. "Finally, I nearly lost hope on you buddie," he muttered while stopped running and waited for the sword to end its transformation.


    The sword kept shining while he held it horizontally and kept it there while watching the sword shining from its innate energy and refusing to accept more of his dragonair''s energy.


    "Almost there," he muttered when the sword reached its maximum activation and the light around it started to recede until it only kept a faint blue layer around it. "Time to test you now."


    Arthur then stood again erect and silent, while holding the sword with one hand vertically in front of his face. Just as he did this, he felt the weight of the sword get more terrifying, falling from his hand the next instant on the ground.


    "How can you be this strong?!" Arthur muttered in shock, "how can you turn even heavier than my dragonair''s energy?!!"


    He glanced at the sword like looking at a little monster.


    "What''s wrong?" the golden dragon asked, "the energy in that little toy of yours is getting scarier the moment you raised it high."


    "It''s the way it''s supposed to work," Arthur sighed before adding, "but I''m a little surprised that its energy is far higher than mine, despite me being the one giving this energy to it."


    "Ding! Probably it mixed both of your energies together, so you should do the same first."


    Arthur thought for a moment there before nodding, "makes sense," he said. "But to do so, I can''t guarantee success."


    "You can only stir a small amount of your dragonair''s energy and raise it gradually to match your other one," the golden dragon suggested.


    "Can I do that?" Arthur was speechless there for a moment, "how can I do it? is there a secret technique to do this?" he asked.


    "Hahaha, you already know how," the golden dragon laughed before adding, "it''s by using your dragon breath thickhead."


    Arthur was hit by the idea for a moment before he realized what the golden dragon meant. "Sure, this might work," he was astonished not to think about this approach before. "I need to have some rest and clear my mind. Things like these began to slip off my tired brain out of late," he softly whispered.


    "Don''t worry, we got your back here," the golden dragon said before adding in interest, "c''mon, let''s do this. I''m anticipating the final outcome of your energy after you succeed."


    Arthur smiled while he revised what he needed to do. He left his sword on the ground before stirring up his dragonair''s energy again.


    He transformed into a dragon, and yet he kept stirring his energy inside his body and started releasing his fire breath.


    The blue fire with lightning arcs dancing around its course appeared again. He kept releasing his energy for half an hour until he felt the energy inside his body decreased in amount and reached a tolerable level.


    "I should try it now," he took out a couple of healing pills and one replenishing pill before starting to stir his spiritual energy inside his mind dantian.


    The moment he did so, he felt a strong hit coming from both energies clashing at each other. He even had a long trail of blood at his mouth while he waited, patiently enduring the pain he got.


    "I need to make this happen," he kept stirring up his energy while releasing his fire. After some time, he stopped stirring his dragonair''s energy when he felt this wasn''t working.


    As he stopped, and the fire breath kept happening, the amount of his dragonair''s energy started to decline at an alarming rate.


    "Rumble!"


    Yet at some point, the two energies finally reached a middle ground where both could co-exist together and not try to crush each other.

 Chapter 498: Merging the Two Energies Together

    The moment this happened, a faint rumble occurred for brief moments before his dragonair''s energy got sucked dry and his dragonair''s breath ceased to exist.


    "Damn! That was close," he cursed loud out while he stopped his unsettled spiritual energy and started to examine his body.


    "Nothing in the end," he sighed.


    "Ding! You are mistaken," the system suddenly spoke, "Ding! I felt the spark of the two energies coming together."


    "I Also felt it," the golden dragon joined the system.


    "I too felt it," Arthur took a deep breath while taking a healing pill first, "but what''s the point in having it for brief moments and then vanish?" he muttered in disappointment.


    "You are absolutely wrong," the golden dragon said.


    "Ding! That spark is still there, faint and weak yes but it''s still there," the system added.


    "What? Where?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! Too faint for you to notice," the system said.


    "Your strength is weak, you won''t be able to notice it now. Yet it exists and I recommend you repeat what you just did now."


    Arthur had finally his silverlining hope. The next moment he took a piece of meat to replenish his dragonair''s energy before he restarted the process again.


    And again.


    And again.


    Each time he did it, he felt the sparking moments getting longer. And finally after dozens of tedious trials, he started to have a small tingling feeling about this spark.


    "Here you are, little one," he felt inside his previous dantian, the one that turned into a big node now. There, just in the heart of this node he felt the presence of something.


    It was so tiny to notice well, but he was pretty sure there was a vein coming out from nowhere, penetrated the node and connected to this small spark inside.


    "Ding! Told you," the system said.


    "You just need to keep that process many times for it to grow," the golden dragon instructed.


    "As long as there is a result, I won''t hesitate in pressing forward," Arthur smiled as he took another meat and a healing pill before facing a small problem.


    "I need to make a healing pill first," he muttered before checking his meat storage. "It''s enough," he nodded.


    This process put much pressure over his dragonair''s energy and his body. His spiritual energy here acted passively, so he didn''t lose much even after all these attempts.


    He went to his cauldron and started making healing pills. The pills he made were much higher in quality than the ones he took from Mr. E.


    After some hours, he finally finished making the pills and was ready to continue.


    "Let''s do it," he was in a great mood. He tried to hold the sword again yet miserably failed, and the sword fell again on the ground.


    "Still too early to try this little monster here," the golden dragon said.


    "Ding! You need to expand this spark to be able to handle this sword," the system added.


    "You both are correct," Arthur sighed, "it''s just frustrating having something special like this sword and can''t use it right away, tsk."


    Arthur then started to repeatedly merge his both energies into the new one. What he noticed was that with each twelve tries his new energy would slightly gain more size.


    "So you grow on a dozen basis? That''s interesting," he muttered while eating a piece of meat and a healing pill of his own making. "These pills are awesome, and I''m sure when I got the new energy I''d be able to make much higher forms of it."


    Despite gaining progress steadily, he had to take a long time to finally be able to achieve his desired results. It took him two weeks there to finally turn the minute spark into a big ball the size of a tennis ball.


    "Sigh, I can only achieve this after so much time," he sighed while examining the new energy with interest. "Getting yourself attached to both my old dantian and my body veins to connect to both energies is a brilliant move," he said before thinking about another issue.


    "How can I use you then?" this was a problem. He tried to instigate the ball directly yet all he got was a humming from it, nothing else.


    "Ding! This energy is still rudimentary, you can''t use it directly for now," the system said before adding, "Ding! You need something to attract it so it can be used."


    "Like what?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! The sword you got, the pills you make, and even the runes you developed."


    Arthur nodded in understanding, "so it''s like a supporting energy now?" he asked.


    "Ding! Sort of," the system simply answered.


    "Go and grab that sword, a good horse must be tamed first before riding," the golden dragon was more excited than Arthur about this.


    "Why do I always end up with messed up things?" Arthur shook his head before heading to the sword and then held it.


    The sword still had its faint blue aura covering it till now. Arthur knew that once a sword was activated in this way, it would remain activated for a long time.


    And the more he used it, the more this energy inside would get replenished, meaning the sword would never have its aura extinguished at all.


    "Let''s see how you''ll do, buddie," he muttered before holding the sword again vertically then horizontally and started to wait. The sword got heavier, yet the moment this happened, he felt the small ball of blue red energy inside his old dantian move.


    "Finally," he sighed while watching a long wisp coming out of the ball, not following the course of any meridian or vein, creating a brand new course for the energy itself before ending up with the hand holding the sword.


    And as this happened fast, the sword''s growing weight suddenly paused, and it began to be lighter.


    "Hohoho, you met your master boy, hehehe," Arthur was very excited and the next moment he held the sword horizontally and started to run.


    This time the running added more energy to his sword, the sword started to develop a phantom that kept growing in size until it reached a terrifying degree.


    "What the hell is wrong with this toy?" the golden dragon muttered in disbelief.


    "It''s my little toy," Arthur laughed before finally jumping off the ground, holding the sword with both claws as he roared.


    The moment he hit the ground with the sword, the entire world shook. A gigantic phantom of a sword emerged all of sudden and landed over a large piece of land here, crushing everything and creating a really deep crater.


    The extent of this damage reached a terrifying length of two miles length and quarter width. Arthur stood with numb scalp in front of all this devastation while the golden dragon muttered:


    "Scary!"


    "Ding! Indeed, and this isn''t the full threat of it. The air all around is compressed and if there are any enemies there, I''m positive they would have been instantly crushed."


    "I agree," the golden dragon nodded, "this attack can hurt those coming from higher planes. Congratulations kid, you finally got yourself a poisonous thorn against those mercenaries."


    Arthur laughed wryly before the next moment he fell on the ground, helplessly sleeping there as he had both his dragonair''s and spiritual energies depleted at the same time.

 Chapter 499: Start Coupling with A Monster

    The next time he opened his eyes, an entire day had passed. Arthur tried to stand up, yet he felt his whole body ache.


    "What happened?" he asked while assessing the damage.


    "Ding! You depleted your energies with that simple attack," the system explained.


    "This attack is good, but if you''ll lose your consciousness for one day each time you try it, then you can''t use it now," the golden dragon said.


    "You have a point," Arthur nodded before sighing. Even after one day, his energies weren''t recovered to the point to make him even move well. "My dragonair''s energy was the first to crash, right?" he asked.


    "Ding! Strangely yes, despite your cultivation energy lasted longer, yet both were depleted in matter of seconds apart," the system replied.


    "I need to level up both," Arthur muttered before taking a deep breath. "How are things on the other side? How is my city doing?"


    "Ding! The city is fine up till now, and your army of followers are training hard at the moment," the system answered.


    "No news from masters?"


    "Ding! Not a single word."


    "Sigh, it seems they have run away, even Amanda," Arthur shook his head before thinking about it. "But you know, this is for the better. Next time they come they will be amazed," he smiled while taking a piece of meat and a replenishing pill and chewed them both.


    "Why don''t you try to use pills and meat with the sword strike?" the golden dragon asked.


    "They aren''t enough," Arthur felt some power finally in his body to stand, "I need to raise my base strength first before anything else."


    He paused as he took another pill and meat before adding, "bring me the highest horned monster here with halo."


    "Ding! Going to absorb organs again?"


    "No, I''ll hit the higher level in my dragonair path," Arthur said before adding, "hopefully I won''t meet with those elders of the black dragonairs."


    "I believe you won''t," the golden dragon said, "those silver dragons always spoke about their unique way of leveling up."


    "Like what? Any clue?" Arthur was curious to know more about his future path.


    "It''s not like I went there and saw everything myself," the golden dragon laughed before adding, "they told me once that they were transported into an ancient battlefield against weird monsters and were asked to kill or capture them all."


    "Wow, are you sure of this?" Arthur''s eyes shone brightly with blue light.


    "I told you never saw the thing myself," the golden dragon said.


    "Alright, I''m very excited now," he turned towards the monster the system brought to him. It was such a gigantic monster with two horns over its head in the center of the crown.


    And double halos were there over each horn. "That looks strong," he commented before sighing, "Is there anymore like it? I feel regret already killing the only unique monster we have."


    "Ding! Don''t worry about it, the garden is developing more of such high monsters as we speak."


    Arthur nodded as he went to grab his berserker sword. The moment he held it, he found the sword humming, like a baby crying for milk. "C''mon, I can''t feed you now or else I''ll pass out," Arthur laughed before pointing towards the monster, "we have to make some preparations first, so be ready, we will fight a lot later on."


    Arthur started to make preparations to couple with this monster using the Golam''s blood and runes. This time he even used another strengthening array to upgrade the monster and another array to absorb the heaven and earth energy from around.


    "Ding! You plan to advance on both?" the system was speechless while watching Arthur using the unpurified Golam''s blood in one array.


    "I need to upgrade both energies as fast as I can," Arthur didn''t deny it, "all I need is to make the best use of the time I have before the masters appear."


    "I think they won''t appear until the next test is about to happen," the golden dragon said.


    "Ding! I think so too," and the system agreed.


    "That''s for the best," Arthur said while adding the final touches on the runes before finalizing everything. "Let''s start," he pointed to the monster to come and stand in a specific location.


    The monster complied, and Arthur just needed to mutter the magical word, "Activate." And the coupling process started right away.


    Arthur felt the familiar traction force taking him the next moment to travel to another dimension. Once he reached there, he was met with a scene that wasn''t that much different than what his golden dragon told before.


    He stood on top of a giant hill, with green grass covering every inch of it and extending to curtain the entire world around. The world seemed vast, with no end in any direction he glanced at.


    And this world was full of monsters, all resembling the tiger headed monster he just coupled with.


    The monsters were gigantic in size, with bodies resembling bulls and four strong legs of a lion. Each monster had two horns with halos, and he even noticed some with three and four horns there.


    "Kill or capture, do anything you can in one week. This world must be cleared and according to your performance, your advancement will have the appropriate boost accordingly. You have one minute to prepare."


    Suddenly this majestic neutral voice came from the skies, like a god supervising what was going to happen here. Arthur smiled and the next moment he said:


    "System, golden dragon, are you two here?"


    "Ding! We are."


    "What do you need?"


    "Nothing much," Arthur smiled greedily before adding, "it''s just a waste to kill all those strong monsters, don''t you think?"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "Open portals all around, and lets have all of these monsters enter my garden."


    "Ding! Are you sure?" the system asked, "Ding! I assume there are endless monsters here."


    "No problem in that," Arthur laughed, "the more the better, I need those strong monsters to work for me. It''s simply a waste of time, effort, and opportunity to kill them."


    "Ding! As you wish."

 Chapter 500: A Special World

    Just as the system spoke, the one minute ended and all the monsters in this world became aware of his existence.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "C''mon boys, let''s kill this intruder!"


    Suddenly a strong harsh voice appeared all of sudden, startling Arthur who glanced at the direction of it.


    "It''s time for another meal boys, let''s show these higher ups our worth to be advanced."


    Another voice came from a different direction. Yet Arthur managed to spot both. They were slightly smaller in size than the other monsters, with another difference between them and others.


    They had their faces to be more human like, not just tiger heads like other monsters. "There are some unique monsters here," Arthur muttered.


    "Slightly advanced monsters," the golden dragon said, "these monsters are higher than the human stage I spoke about before with you," he added, and Arthur realized how hard this fight would be.


    And how special this opportunity was.


    "I want them all," he laughed before waving his sword as he added, "the sword won''t be suitable to make them mine," he put the sword away before taking his bow and arrows the next instant. "Time to cause some explosions. Open the portals everywhere, let those hit by the shockwaves enter my garden."


    "Ding! That''s cheap," the system complained.


    "That''s a good strategy," the golden dragon laughed.


    "This is war," Arthur simply said before taking a dozen of arrows and the next moment he let them all loose, heading towards a certain direction before turning around and launching another hit. "Just make sure to move the portals to the highly condensed places."


    "¡­"


    "C''mon, don''t waste the chance when it''s ripe," Arthur laughed as he noticed the effect of his arrows which made him pause all of sudden. "The arrows¡­ they aren''t causing even one tenth of their usual effect here," he muttered.


    The arrows exploded and caused a strong devastation, yet the area they covered wasn''t more than half a mile in radius. He watched for a moment in daze while the golden dragon explained:


    "This might be one of those special worlds left behind by the ancient beings."


    "What do you even mean?" Arthur overcame his shock and started to release more arrows all around.


    If the arrows were weakened to such extent, then he would prefer to use numbers to compensate for this. Luckily he had a large storage of arrows right now to use, plus some other tricks to add in the mix.


    "This universe¡­ it has many more secrets than you think," the golden dragon said before adding, "we aren''t the only ones inhabiting it. Many runes were found all over the universe indicating the presence of a much higher civilization that was much stronger than us. This world is one of these ruins, where our energy will be considered insufficient to portray its full strength."


    "Have they died? Where are they now?" Arthur asked while throwing as many arrows as he could accommodate while his system started to move around portals everywhere.


    "No one knows," the golden dragon said, "but we used to call them the originals, and so this is called the original world."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered before focusing totally on using his arrows.


    "Come forth," despite the combined efforts of his system and him, many monsters finally started to climb the hill. The next moment his three pets appeared for the first time since long.


    "Don, take these ores and use them to throw over these monsters," Arthur waved and the next instant the old and unused for long explosive ores appeared again.


    "As for you," he turned to his rhinoceros, "you have to hit anything coming near me and make it drop off the hill."


    He then turned to his scorpion as he added, "you can move freely and do as much as you want."


    The three monsters nodded and they started working at once.


    "You know what, this place can help them advance," the golden dragon suddenly said.


    "How?" Arthur was so busy that he only asked with one word.


    "This place''s rules are different from any normal world. Here monsters can grow stronger by killing other hostile enemies, either monsters, humans, or any other race."


    "That''s interesting," Arthur muttered before adding, "system, keep an eye for me on the three monsters and tell me if there are any changes at all."


    "Ding! Alright, but you need to release more arrows."


    "I''m," Arthur gritted his teeth as he kept releasing arrows as much as he could. After ten minutes he couldn''t keep up with the high influx of monsters, even his portals couldn''t cover everywhere at the moment.


    "Turning into a dragon is a must," he channeled his energy and when he waited for his dragonair''s form to appear; nothing happened.


    "What the hell¡­?!!" he was shocked and his golden dragon said:


    "It seems you are forbidden to turn into a dragon here."


    "How come?! Isn''t my trial to advance my dragonair''s energy?"


    "Dunno actually," the golden dragon sighed, "but this is the only possible explanation here."


    Arthur didn''t know what to say, and he realized he was forced to fight in such an adversary environment against this huge flood of monsters. "I need to turn more serious then," he clenched his fists as the next moment he took the arrays his followers made.


    Before coming here he asked his system to grab everything useful; pills and arrays included. Just as he took the array out, he simply ran to the edges of the hill and scattered the array there.


    He also throws a bunch all around, without any care about their landing.


    "Rumble!"


    This time the moment the arrays hit any monster, they were activated. The world rumbles all around him and the explosions that followed were much stronger than what he caused by his arrows.


    "Better than the arrows indeed," he nodded as he watched huge areas being cleared of monsters, ranging to a five mile radius, and the shock wave alone cleared another five all around.

 Chapter 501: Fighting Monsters with Monsters

    Those hit by the arrays directly lost their lives in the process, while those who were sent flying mostly entered into his garden by the timely actions of his system.


    This trial jumped straight up towards the higher level without warning, and Arthur was now using all the arrays he had to crush those monsters.


    "One week? Huh, I can''t even stay a single day here," he helplessly muttered as he knew the stock of his arrays wouldn''t sustain him all this long. "Let me try this spear then," he glanced all around and was slightly content with the devastation he caused here.


    In the area he could reach with his arrays the monsters were literally in chaos. The attack of his runes had another advantage over the arrows; they lasted longer, for hours, before their energies were depleted.


    That made him throw the arrays and cover as much area as he could, then he started using his spear.


    The moment he threw his spear for the first time, the shadow only moved to hit a far group of monsters, exploding there and clearing a small area not exceeding a hundred meter radius.


    "Weak but I can use it all the time without any pause," he assessed his spear, trying to reach a perfect strategy to kill those monsters.


    He kept releasing his spear in places his arrays didn''t cover. Despite his fast attacks, he couldn''t cover everything alone.


    Some monsters managed to slip by this tight area of devastation and portals, to reach his hill finally. Yet when they did, they only came in scattered groups, making it easier for his three pets to kill them.


    This made not a single monster able to attack him, or even touch the top of the hill even after an entire day passed.


    During this day, he exhausted many arrays, arrows, and also tricks to maintain his advantage. His system had already absorbed endless numbers of monsters, and at the middle of the second day, it became clear he couldn''t keep this rhythm for much longer than a couple more days.


    "I need a solution fast," he said to his system and golden dragon.


    "Why not try to run away from this hill?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Going where?" Arthur shrugged, "everywhere around is just plains, I''m already in the best location here."


    "Ding! You can summon the vast armies in your garden to help."


    The moment his system said this, Arthur suddenly paused. "Is it possible to do that?"


    "Ding! I believe it''s possible, and not only warriors, you can also bring normal monsters here to help them advance," the system said before adding, "Ding! Your three pets have already killed many of these monsters, and they started to show signs of advancements. This place has such unique rules, they don''t need to take time to advance, they actually are advancing as they fight."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered before adding, "and worth a shot. C''mon, bring monsters here."


    "Ding! What about warriors?"


    "No, leave them for now," Arthur shook his head before adding, "those warriors can die and gain no benefits in return of killing monsters here. Not like my garden monsters."


    "Ding! Alright, I''ll bring a batch of thousand to test."


    "Sounds great to me," Arthur then waited, while launching his arrows to cover areas wide enough between his arrays to let many monsters to pass safely from.


    The system took a couple of minutes before he finally brought a batch of a thousand monsters. They were all double horned with halos, making Arthur realize why he took all this time in doing that.


    "Make them attack those monsters and see," Arthur was excited, as this was such a turning point in this trial.


    The monsters received the orders, and like obedient pets they moved fast to the base of the hill, killing any other monster in their way.


    The fight suddenly got intensified, and after an entire hour the system started to report.


    "Ding! They managed to absorb energy from those monsters they killed. They are evolving, yet needing more monsters to kill."


    "Hahaha, so this is all about," Arthur laughed while recalling those special monsters who spoke when he first got here. "it''s not me against these monster hordes, it''s me against those special monsters with our armies fighting for us."


    He finally realized what this all was about. "Bring everything inside my garden, even those newly added monsters provided that they will be controlled by my garden, me, and you."


    "Ding! Any monster entered the garden has its soul branded by the garden. So don''t worry about them not following orders, they are officially your monsters now."


    "Amazing," Arthur laughed again, "send them all, let''s clear this world and start exploring it."


    Knowing the hidden trick behind the trial here made him confident in his victory at last. He heaved a long sigh of relief when his system moved endless hordes of monsters, which moved to face the incoming enemies.


    "I don''t need to over exert myself now," he smiled while stopping any kind of attack from his side, leaving the stage clearly to his monsters.


    He stood patiently, waited for the monsters to evolve and assess the value of this place.


    The first one to advance was Don, which had suddenly grown larger and started to grow more normal horns over his head with time. His rhinoceros was the second, as it started to obtain more horns,and finally it had a crown taking shape.


    As for his scorpion queen, she kept fighting with much pleasure and excitement for two days before she showed signs of evolution.


    "Wow, I should have brought Tina here," he muttered before adding, ''can you bring her to this place?"


    "Ding! I can''t," the system answered before explaining, "Ding! I can only bring those you have in the garden, nothing more."


    "Can''t the garden connect to the outer world?" he asked.


    "Ding! Unfortunately no," the system answered.


    "Tsk, what a bad luck this little dragon is," he shook his head before thinking about something, "I can come here again and bring her later with me."


    "You can, but not this time," the golden dragon said, "you will waste one week here, already months back in your garden. Your time won''t suffice for another visit here."


    Arthur realized this matter which made him greatly startled. "You are right," he muttered, "I just hope we won''t stay here longer than expected."


    As he had nothing else to do, he started to think about something else. "I''ll train on my cultivation path, to wake me if things got out of control," he said before sitting on the ground and starting to regulate his breathing.


    To his surprise, the moment he did so he felt a strange influx of pure spiritual energy coming from this world to his dantian. "Impressive, I can raise my cultivation by a couple of small bases during this week."


    Despite having such good news, he wasn''t that excited really. He knew he would stay here for a single week, yet he would have wasted months back in the garden world.


    This wasn''t a fair trade to him, yet he was trying his best not to waste any minute without getting stronger.

 Chapter 502: The Sexy Queen

    Arthur stayed his place for days while absorbing everything he could from this world and hitting the bases higher constantly.


    "My old core formation stage had around nine stages, but I think my core is different. It''s three cores not just one after all," he thought after raising a couple of bases already and feeling himself getting stronger.


    The number of stages in each major base was universal back in his days, and that was thanks to the fixed nature of every core of each base. For example, the current core formation stage had nine stages in it based on the shape of the core and the time needed to condense and purify it.


    To transform the core into a nascent soul it took around nine steps before the final jump in the end. But right now he had three of the top cores he ever heard about, and so he hypothesized his own core formation stage would contain more minor stages.


    "At least fifteen, maximum is twenty I guess," he thought again when he hit the fourth base, "but leveling up here is monstrous, I had only trained for four days and reached stage four. If I have a month here, I would be able to exceed the nascent soul base or even higher."


    He inwardly sighed before focusing again in training. Disturbing thoughts were something detrimental to any cultivator, and he needed to use this rare chance to accommodate for the shortcomings of being here.


    "Ding! We found something interesting," the system suddenly said in the early morning of the seventh day, "Ding! It''s a relic it seemed."


    "A relic?" Arthur opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath of air mixed with his faint blue spiritual energy. He just broke through the seventh base, making him slightly content so far with what he accomplished.


    "It''s a place where each original world held its greatest secrets," the golden dragon said before adding, "and also an opportunity according to those who reached that place and successfully explored it."


    "Opportunity, huh?" Arthur stood up before asking, "which direction? Guide me there."


    "Ding! It''s a long way there," the system said, "Ding! I recommend taking back the scorpion queen and summoning it again. You''ll be surprised by her now."


    "Really?" Arthur smiled before adding, "what she ended up to be then?"


    "Ding! Let it be a surprise."


    "Alright, come back," Arthur then called his queen before the next moment he added, "Come forth."


    The scorpion tattoo in his hand shone brightly and strangely it made his dragon tattoo resonate and shine as well. Arthur glanced at this before the queen appeared next in front of him.


    "Wow, you finally decided to take a look at me," the moment she appeared, she jumped at once to hug him with her sexy human body.


    Arthur pushed her slightly away and feasted his eyes upon her sexy grown up human body. She turned to a stunning beauty, one that could easily rival Amanda and Amelia, making his heart palpitate and his desire burn.


    "What?" she winked before acting shy, "do you like what you see?"


    She had a crystal green skin, a strange skin with luster and sparkles all over it. the sparkling tight and long green dress she wore added more to her alluring figure. Her eyes were dark green and her hair was black, thick and long, reaching her back and wasn''t grouped together, falling over her forehead and face with many slightly curly strands that made her look like a girl waiting for him in the bed with shyness.


    And this image made him swallow his throat, feeling much heat inside his body right now.


    "You are¡­ sexy."


    "Hehehe, I know, right?" she laughed as she jumped around while spinning around herself to show him more of her figure. "Like it? wanna a bite?"


    He swallowed his throat again before saying, "later, we have many things to do."


    "Yeah, that relic, right?"


    "You saw it?"


    "It''s an old fortress I guess," she mimicked a deeply thinking childish reaction over her face, "but I felt a strong aura coming from it, so I didn''t venture there."


    "I will go and discover it," he said before asking, "can you transform to your monster shape? Take me there?"


    "Hehehe, you''ll be surprised more by my monster shape," she laughed before the next moment her skin gleamed in green light and then she changed.


    Before she was a gigantic scorpion, two tails and a very strong body. Yet when she changed, she ended up in a much smaller body. She had soft green scales covering her body, one curved tail, and two wings!


    "A flying scorpion!" he muttered in surprise, "this time I''m really much surprised," he added.


    "I know, right?" she laughed before adding, "come, let''s go there and see what that forretress is hiding."


    Arthur jumped over her back while she warned: "Hang tight, I fly fast."


    He couldn''t hold himself with anything but those five curved horns in the middle of her head. They looked like smaller versions of her tail, and the next moment she flew up.


    "Wow, you are really fast," he exclaimed in surprise as she moved in a speed that was even comparable to his own. Just a flap of her wings forward and both ended up tens of miles ahead.


    "We are getting closer," she said while he was busy examining the ground.


    The fight was still going on everywhere. Any place he spotted had a group of his monsters fighting a group of the hostile monsters, yet the advantage here lied in the hands of his side.


    "It''s over there," she said and Arthur looked to the horizon to see another hill from far. "It''s like my own starting point," he muttered before asking, "have you found any more hills here?"


    "No, there is only this one and yours," she answered.


    "Have you met any strong monsters there?" he asked again, while trying to make sure of his own guess.

 Chapter 503: A Mysterious Ancient Fortress

    "I never met any higher monster than those weaklings down below," she said before flapping her wings for a minute and landed on the ground, just half a mile away from the hill. "See? There is the fortress," she turned into human form and pointed towards one side of the hill.


    There was a collapsed line that was covered in dirt. Behind it Arthur could see a wide deep gap, with darkness prevailing there and no light to see anything.


    "It''s like a destroyed rudimentary stronghold," he muttered.


    "Try to sense its energy then."


    When Arthur tried to spread his cultivation energy to that stronghold, he felt a strong resistance coming from inside, and some pain. "Damn, it''s really strong," he held his head for a moment as he felt like a sharp long thorn just touched his mind dantian, making him feel a moment of excruciating headache.


    "Told you, this place isn''t simple," she laughed while adding, "I tried to send some monsters there, but no matter how much I sent, none came back even after days."


    "I need more intel," he muttered before adding, "Scout the fort for me."


    "Ding! There is a strong blocking force field around that spot," the system said after a couple of minutes.


    "You have to get inside and overcome anything you meet there," the golden dragon said before adding, "this is the only way."


    "You are right," Arthur nodded before turning to the queen, "What shall I call you from now?"


    "the queen is fine, I love this name," she giggled while he laughed, "I''m the king, and I have many girls to my side. You can''t take their spots like that."


    "Hehehe, I''m confident that I can," she giggled and he just sighed.


    "Alright queen, lead everyone to crush all the monsters here," he started to move towards the fort before adding, "we have less than a day, don''t mess things up."


    "What about you? Are you going in alone? Don''t need my help?"


    "I need your help here, not there."


    "Oh, you''re worried about me," she laughed and he just shrugged and said nothing back, "very romantic of you."


    He ignored her remark as he didn''t do this for her sake, but his. He didn''t know if he could beat whatever was lying in wait inside, or even this was part of his trial or not.


    So he needed to make sure he had crushed every monster here while he tried his luck inside.


    He stood in front of the fallen walls and finally spotted a crumbled old gate made of a metallic ore that became rusty ages ago.


    And the opening of that gate was almost covered up with dirt. "Sigh, I need to crawl then to enter," he muttered before taking out his sword as he added, "or I should clear my way through."


    "Bad idea," the golden dragon suddenly said, "you shouldn''t meddle with the already crushed fortress or else you''ll risk a landslide here, blocking any path to the inside."


    Arthur paused before shaking his head as he said, "you''ve a point."


    He then climbed the hill and when he reached the fifty meters high gate, he crawled to enter it. The moment he passed under the gate, he felt like he penetrated an invisible barrier, and the next moment he entered into a strange world.


    There he found himself standing on top of the hill he was on right now, yet the world around looked extremely different. "What''s that?" he asked, yet no answer came from his system or golden dragon. "Sigh, an illusion? And strong enough to block even my system and golden dragon, tsk," he wasn''t worried at the least while the next moment he closed his eyes and tried to enter his garden.


    Yet a strange opposing force prevented him from doing that!


    "You are afraid of my garden, right?" he sneered as he sensed his connection with the garden was there, but extremely weakened. "If I can''t go in, then I can at least bring things out. Come forth my dear pillars, let this illusion rumble under your mighty force."


    The next moment he felt a strong blocking force against his will, yet his necklace shook strongly and shone with pure milky light and the next thing happened was for this opposing force to shatter.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Hundreds of pillars appeared the next minutes accompanied by the rumbling of this illusion. When his pillars exceeded five hundred, and some were completely purified ones, the illusion broke up and the real world appeared in front of his eyes.


    "Get the hell away from me," as he crushed the illusion, he saw a strange creature formed entirely of black fog floating in the air in front of him. Its body was enormous, with many thin arms like tentacles extending and dancing slowly from its body.


    And some of these arms were surrounding Arthur, yet when the pillars broke his illusion, they also burned down these tentacles.


    "Hurry and use your arrows to activate your pillars, hurry," the sound of the golden dragon came in such an urgent way that made Arthur realize how dangerous his situation was.


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    The next moment he took his bow and arrows, and started launching them to hit the pillars without stop.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Each arrow activated the pillar and caused a rumbling shockwave of white light that was instantly blocked by the massive energy and body of that strange monster.


    "Keep hitting them, don''t stop," the golden dragon screamed in panic before adding, "Summon more, help him and surround this bastard with twelve arrays. Hurry!"


    "Ding! Can you explain why you look like a frightened little girl?" the system complied as he brought out many pillars.


    "This isn''t something we should meddle with, this is the soul sucker. A monster lives entirely on eating others'' souls. We need to hurry and seal it before it turns serious."


    The words of the golden dragon told Arthur everything he wanted to know for now. He also started to get more serious, and instead of hitting a dozen arrows in one go, he started to release twenty arrows at the same time.

 Chapter 504: The Cat Is Trapped

    Arthur didn''t want to risk fighting this bizarre monster. "Screw soul attacks, I really hate these," he cursed out loud while he finally managed to activate five hundred pillars in a record time of thirty seconds.


    This was simply unbelievable even for him!


    Just as he exceeded this threshold, the pillars finally managed to link their attacks together to form a gigantic bubble of milky white energy, compressing over that monster and breaking all of its tentacles without exception.


    "More, press more, activate more," this time the golden dragon seemed more excited than scared.


    "You know you look funny when scared," Arthur laughed while releasing more arrows.


    "This mother*cker is the one who killed me back in the days. I can''t let it live, I can''t let you fight it, no one can tolerate its full power."


    Just as the words of the golden dragon fell, the monster trapped inside seemed to be alarmed by Arthur''s retaliation. Suddenly an endless number of creepy eyes opened all over its body, and it seemed like it was gathering up its energy.


    "More, hit more," the golden dragon shouted before laughing, "curse you sucker, you are trapped now and won''t be able to break free, hahahaha."


    Arthur didn''t comment on this bizarre attitude of the golden dragon, yet he understood why he was acting in such a way. As for him, he kept activating the pillars while his system kept releasing more.


    Then it was time for the monster to retaliate.


    The first thing the monster did was to start expanding, banging hard on the outer shell of pillars'' energy.


    Yet these attacks didn''t manage to break Arthur''s bubble, as he kept strengthening it while activating more pillars.


    After long hours, and the activation of over five thousand pillars more than thrice, the monster finally gave up on smashing the bubble while it started to use another type of attack.


    "What is it doing?" Arthur asked in doubt when he noticed the monster''s tentacles getting together and forming long and thick spears.


    "It''s trying to absorb your energy," the golden dragon muttered before breaking into a wave of laughter, "yeah, go, do it dummy."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "At my mark I want you to move the pillars, the bubble, and the monster inside into the garden," the golden dragon said in such a domineering tone.


    "Ding! Watch out, you aren''t my master!"


    "Arthur?" The golden dragon wasn''t in the mood to argue with the system.


    "Sigh, just do as he asks," Arthur sighed, "let''s see where this all will end."


    "Don''t worry," the golden dragon excitedly said, "I promise you will be satisfied with this."


    "I hope," Arthur muttered while releasing more arrows towards the pillars.


    The monster took ten minutes to form out his new spears. They weren''t endless like the number of his tentacles, yet they were in hundreds.


    "Steady¡­ wait¡­ it''s coming¡­ just hold for a minute¡­" the golden dragon kept muttering this like he was speaking to himself.


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The moment the monster sent its spears to hit the bubble around, Arthur noticed these spears weren''t acting to penetrate the bubble, instead they were trying to merge their tips with it.


    "What is it trying to do?" Arthur muttered in doubt.


    "Trying to link itself with your bubble''s energy, then to your pillars to control them," the golden dragon said.


    "Wait a minute," Arthur suddenly shouted, "you don''t want to do that?"


    "Hehehe, it''s the case indeed," the golden dragon laughed before adding, "be ready system, the fat cat is about to fall in the trap."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The next minutes more of the spears got attached to the bubble and merged slowly with it. When all the spears were linked with the bubble, the monster seemed like it was hanged in the middle of the air with hundreds of thick arms.


    "Now, send us in now," the golden dragon shouted, and the next moment Arthur was sent inside his garden.


    "This is the outer region of my garden," Arthur recognized this place at once while adding, "isn''t it better to enter the heart of the garden?"


    "Ding! It''s not my decision," the system said before adding, "Ding! The garden decided this, not me."


    "Any place is useful," the golden dragon laughed before adding, "now hurry, link the pillars deep to the garden."


    "Ding! They are linked already."


    "No, not enough," the golden dragon hurried to add, "you need to make them literally deeply rooted inside the garden."


    "Ding! To take them under the surface perhaps?"


    "Directly towards the end of the garden, hurry."


    "Ding! I''ll try, but the garden has its own will now," the system said.


    "Don''t worry, the garden is much wiser than you."


    "¡­"


    Arthur stood patiently watching everything unfolding without moving a finger. Just as the system started to push the pillars deeper, the entire garden rumbled and the next thing happened was for everything here to instantly vanish.


    "What''s just happened? Where are my precious pillars?" Arthur hurriedly asked while turning around to inspect the area with no clue about his pillars or the captured monster.


    "Hahaha, the cat is already trapped, and now your garden will grow nine lives to it, hahaha."


    The golden dragon words didn''t make any sense at all to Arthur.


    "Ding! The garden swallowed them all and now they are being condensed deeply in the heart of this area," the system finally spoke after long minutes of silence.


    "Is it turning now like the Golam?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! No, it''s growing into something entirely different," the system answered before pausing for more minutes, "Ding! The garden wants to be linked directly to your soul."


    "To my soul?" Arthur muttered before adding, "isn''t it already connected to my soul?"


    "No kid, this is totally different," the golden dragon was in such a perfect mood that he even spoke with laughter, "your garden is evolving like nothing before. Do as it asks, and you''ll be much surprised."


    Arthur shrugged as he said, "alright, what does it want?"

 Chapter 505: You Need To Act Fast

    "Ding! It wants you to let her enter your pearl."


    "My pearl? What does this even mean?" Arthur asked in confusion.


    "Ding! I also don''t get what it wants, after all it speaks in a hard way to understand."


    "Can''t you ask it to send a picture to his mind? It is connected to his soul superficially so far," the golden dragon said before adding, "I believe it can do it."


    "Just try and let''s see if this works," Arthur said.


    "Ding! Alright."


    This time it took roughly half an hour before Arthur felt a strange presence inside his mind. It appeared faintly and swiftly left something there before it totally vanished the next instant. "Is this the garden''s aura?" he muttered before examining what it was left for him.


    "This¡­" when Arthur saw what was left, he was startled at first. It was a piece of a memory, a memory about the moment when he combined his two energies and formed that new form of superior energy inside his old dantian. "You want to merge yourself with this berserker?!!" he muttered.


    "Ding! It says yes."


    "¡­"


    "This garden of yours is interesting," the golden dragon laughed, "I like its appetite and great aspiration. Selecting the highest form of energy inside your body to merge with, that''s impressive."


    "It''s greedy, that''s all," Arthur sighed before adding, "can it merge with this small piece of energy now?"


    "Ding! It says this needs to be doubled, and this has to be done fast."


    Arthur was speechless for a moment there. "How fast exactly?" he asked.


    "Ding! Like in a day or two at most," the system said before adding, "it says it will help you in cultivating the spiritual energy when coming back, so you can break through faster."


    Arthur didn''t know what to say for a while.


    "You should aim for that chance buddie, it''s a very rare chance without doubt," the golden dragon spoke in such a strange wise tone.


    "Can you just tell me what''s the benefit of all this?" Arthur said before adding, "at least knowing the prize will make me exert more effort, right?"


    "Honestly I don''t know exactly the end of this," the golden dragon said these shocking words which made both Arthur and the system exclaim in shock. "All I know is this monster''s energy is very beneficial to spiritual items, even turning a speck of dust into a dragon."


    "Really?" Arthur was speechless there for a moment, "this is too much exaggeration, old dragon," he doubtedly added.


    "This is an underestimation of what will truly happen," the golden dragon didn''t mind the skeptical tone in Arthur''s words, "just try to achieve this requirement and you won''t be dissatisfied."


    "Tsk," Arthur shook his head helplessly while adding, "it''s not just about leveling up my cultivation base. You saw how much time and effort it took for me to reach this small piece of energy, right?"


    "Ding! It says don''t worry, you can start merging inside the trial world you are in. the circumstances there will help you a lot," the system suddenly conveyed this message.


    "Sigh, even if I did that, I have little time remaining outside."


    "Ding! It says don''t worry and just return and start."


    "Tsk," Arthur just shook his head before adding, "take me out, let me see what miracle is waiting for me there."


    The next moment he was sent outside to appear again inside the desolate place of the fortress. The place was abandoned, destroyed, with nothing intact in there.


    "Scan the area and see if there is anything useful there," Arthur muttered while waiting for his system to return with news.


    "You know the sucker monster that killed me served the black dragonairs," the golden dragon suddenly said before adding, "it was rumored it was under the service of the silver dragons, and now I can tell these weren''t just rumors."


    "But I didn''t control the monster or made it my pet!"


    "Hahaha, you''ll soon figure out everything," the golden dragon mysteriously said.


    "Why don''t cut the chase and directly say everything you know?" Arthur was annoyed with the golden dragon secrecy and attitude.


    "Where is the fun in that?" the golden dragon laughed before adding, "besides all I know is just rumors of old times. I''m just hypothesizing they aren''t all rumors."


    "I''m not buying this," Arthur sighed.


    "And I ain''t telling you a thing," the golden dragon stubbornly said.


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t speak again with his golden dragon even when the dragon kept harassing him about the knowledge he had.


    "Ding! There is a strange egg inside this place," suddenly the system said, making Arthur surprised. "An egg?" he muttered, "like the one we got from the hands of those two disciples?"


    "Ding! I believe so," the system said and his swift answer made Arthur curious. "What''s all about these eggs?"


    "Ding! I recommend we use the pillars again to seal it, but¡­" the system suddenly paused.


    "But what?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! The garden refuses," the system said before adding, "Ding! It says something like it''s already hard to keep one egg in check."


    "These eggs are new even to me," the golden dragon muttered before adding, "can the garden link itself to this world? Or at least absorb it?"


    "Great idea," Arthur''s eyes shone before adding, "can it do that?"


    This time the system took a long hour of silence before finally speaking, "Ding! It says after dealing with that enormous monster inside, it will be able to absorb this world. But this will take a long time."


    "Then it can link a portal to here, right?"


    "Ding! Correct."


    "That''s its plan then," Arthur finally began to read the garden''s mind, "Like this I might be able to raise my base fast."


    "Ding! It also agrees."


    "It can hear us now?" Arthur was speechless.


    "Ding! Anything related to your soul can hear you all the time," the system laughed like Arthur realized this a bit too late.


    "Alright," Arthur smiled as he went outside, "let''s leave this egg for later then."


    As he went outside the fort, he was met with a brutal scene of fight everywhere. "These monsters¡­ they must have portals somewhere to add all those numbers without showing any losses at all," Arthur sighed before heading towards the top of the hill as he added, "I don''t have time for that. Send the word to the queen, make her look for those portals and try to seal them."


    "Ding! I strongly recommend against this," the system said.


    "Aiming to take them all inside our garden in the future?" Arthur understood his system''s aim, "not bad. Alright, leave them be, and eventually they''ll all belong to me."


    When he reached the top of the hill, he noticed how similar it was to his. He sat there cross legged and started his training again.


    Time flew quickly, and the end of the week came swiftly when he just broke through the eighth base.


    "Rumble!"


    The entire world shook, driving Arthur out of his training.


    "Is it time already?" he muttered as he stood up and glanced all around. "Tsk, I couldn''t clear all the monsters here.


    "The trial is over," just before his system could respond, the majestic voice came again while adding, "no one managed to reign supreme over the other. So, the judge will be based on who killed much more than the other. The fighting shall stop now, and the results will be announced shortly after."


    "Damn, I didn''t know it would turn out to be a causality contest," Arthur wasn''t satisfied with this.


    "What else did you think it was about?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Territory control," Arthur said, "I thought whoever gains more territory will win."


    "It''s not much different though," the golden dragon laughed, "your monsters killed more than your enemies did. Don''t worry, you''ll win this."


    "I hope so," Arthur muttered as he impatiently waited for the results to be announced.

 Chapter 506: The New Biased Test

    Arthur''s wait didn''t exceed five minutes before the voice came again:


    "The two sides did poorly in the test. The dragonair managed to suppress and defeat the ancient monster left by us here, which makes him higher in the final evaluation. Still this isn''t enough to be a victor."


    The words of this mysterious being started Arthur and made him frown. "All these are not enough?" he muttered.


    "A second and final round is going to start now. The duration is also one week. This time make sure to completely kill your enemy, or else the dragonair will be the final winner."


    Arthur felt some bias towards the monsters here from that being, yet he couldn''t refute this arrangement. After all he needed more time here to complete his training.


    "One week is good, but does this mean I''ll be under constant pressure from those monsters?" he thought before the sound came again:


    "You have five minute to prepare. Good luck."


    Arthur sighed as he glanced all around. "Are there more monsters inside my garden?" he asked.


    "Ding! There are much more than those appeared here yet," the system answered, "Ding! Do you want me to summon more?"


    "Summon every single monster here," Arthur nodded, "this isn''t about upgrading the monsters, we need to crush those enemies to secure the win."


    "Ding! You''re already winning, you should defend."


    "Defense is for weaklings," the golden dragon said, "Offense is the proper action now."


    "Just summon monsters, and keep absorbing more into my garden."


    "Ding! As you wish."


    Arthur then sat on the hill while adding, "I''ll start training now. Prepare the strongest monsters to stand as my dharma protectors."


    "Ding! Will do that, don''t worry."


    Arthur then closed his eyes and started regulating his breathing. His aim now was to rise in bases until he completely reached the pinnacle of the core formation stage.


    He wasn''t deluded by desire, as he knew how hard it was to break through this base to the nascent soul base.


    His three cores were advancing like his past life, each core was attaching itself with more meridians, creating a giant network around it, while it kept strengthening itself and condensing into smaller and purer form.


    Despite this was the general theory, having three highly ranked cores like these together put more pressure on him. The process of upgrading each core seemed to take longer, as each core had to synchronize itself with the other two.


    "I have to advance the three at the same time," he finally reached that conclusion after half a day. During this time, he managed to breakthrough three more bases, approaching the tenth base.


    Yet he knew this was far from over. According to his observation so far, he had over thirty bases ahead to breakthrough if he kept doing things cautiously like this; upgrading one core at a time.


    "I need to be bold," he encouraged himself and the next thing he did wasn''t to separate the three cores from each other and deal with each as a single entity.


    Instead he started to deal with the three combined as one big core. This change in his approach started to make his meridians unsettled, yet he didn''t hesitate in pushing forward, strengthening the mega core of his and hoping his meridians would suffice.


    "The energy absorbed can satisfy the needs of this core, but my meridians are weak," after an hour of experimenting, he managed to break through three more bases. Yet he wasn''t that happy.


    Rapid ascension in bases didn''t come without any cost. His meridians were now severely stressed and if he pushed any further, they might tear apart.


    "I need to take care of the meridians first," this was the only solution he had. "To do that, I need to circulate my energy for a long time, focusing on strengthening them as much as I can."


    He sighed, as this process would take more time for him.


    "Ding! The garden advises you to start combining the two energies together," the system said, "Ding! This will help in solving your current problem according to its words."


    Arthur was surprised at first before he realized how logic this was. "If I need to circulate my energy to strengthen the meridians then doing this while forming this higher energy form seems much better."


    He stood up and the next moment he started to circulate his dragonair''s energy. "I hope the backlash won''t be strong," he prayed while he watched the two energies competing against each other the next instant.


    Yet at some point, the two energies were finally moving along nicely. The small ball pearl of energy inside his old dantian started to grow, slow yet it was growing.


    Then the backlash occurred, even his body ached and he had a long trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Damn! Still have to suffer this damage," he cursed as he examined his body, assessing the damage.


    "Many organs were hit, but¡­ good," he nodded in content when he noticed his meridians got some benefits from this short clash with his dragonair''s energy.


    He took out a healing pill before he started to repeat the process again. Each time his body would be left in agony and suffering multiple injuries, yet he wasn''t that sad anymore.


    After a couple of hours he sat again, closed his eyes, and regulated his breaths. "Time to raise more bases," he muttered before he started to hit the next base.


    His meridians sustained his rise in five more bases, then he had to stop. He kept repeating this process for the rest of the day, and when the next day started, he had reached base twenty already.


    The pearl inside his old dnatian grew slightly, but not enough for his needs. "Sigh, this is taking much longer than expected," he was frustrated as this was the farthest he could reach with his current weak levels of spiritual energy.


    "How long do I still have?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! It says you have until the end of the trial," the system suddenly said.

 Chapter 507: Starting To Breakthrough

    "Wasn''t it a two days period? What happened?" he asked in surprise and much doubt.


    "Ding! You didn''t leave the world yet, so it can still deal with the monster as easier now using this world''s energy to suppress it," the system said before adding, "Ding! These are just my speculations, not its reply."


    "And its reply?"


    "Ding! Ahem, it says why are you complaining of having more time when you really need it?"


    "¡­"


    "This garden¡­ hahaha, I like it," the golden dragon was very amused by this answer.


    "Alright," Arthur helplessly shook his head, "how about things here?"


    "Ding! The monsters are now dominating their enemies, but¡­"


    Arthur understood the point, "they can''t totally exterminate them, right?"


    "Ding! Yes, that''s the case."


    "Send for the queen and make her start hunting the portals," Arthur said before adding, "make her seal them using these arrays," he took out many sealing arrays he had in his ring before adding, "and let the garden try to absorb the worlds attached to the sealed portals."


    "Ding! The garden says it can''t do this on a large scale now."


    "No problem," Arthur nodded, "any help is appreciated."


    "Ding! There is one more issue."


    "What?"


    "Ding! I can relay your orders but can''t deliver the runes to her."


    "Sigh, come back," Arthur then canceled the summoning of the queen before adding, "come forth," and then he resummoned her.


    The moment she appeared, she angrily looked at him. "Why did you call me back? I was having so much fun!"


    "Listen then to have all the fun you need," he helplessly smiled as he recalled how brutal and sadistic this queen of his was. "Take these arrays, find the portals leaking all those monsters here and seal them."


    "Isn''t it better for me to enter those portals and clear the worlds inside?" she asked.


    "It''s indeed better, but we don''t have much time here to waste," he shook his head before adding, "we have less than six days now, so don''t hesitate to use any means to crush those monsters by then."


    "Tsk, if only you agree to bring those armies of warriors from inside," she groaned.


    "They won''t do any good here," he stayed on his past decision, "just use all the monsters I send your way to upgrade and strengthen them."


    "Alright," she went to the arrays then added, "give me a ring then."


    "Here," he casually threw her one.


    "Oh dear, my first ring ever came from you¡­ that''s so sweet my love," she playfully said while he gave her a reprimanding look. "Don''t play around, we need to crush everything here before the deadline."


    "Acting like you are the one on the shorter end of the rope here," she muttered, yet he heard her perfectly.


    "Don''t underestimate them," Arthur warned, "these monsters are somehow related to that mysterious voice. I''m pretty sure their top fighters haven''t shown themselves up yet."


    His words didn''t make her frown in worry, instead they made her quite excited. "Are you sure? That would be great! I''m sick already of fighting all those weak monsters."


    He didn''t say a word while watching her take all the runes and leave. Before she went away, he gave her some arrays he took from the castle of the sky underground storage. "Use these to accelerate your kill," he instructed, and from her reaction he knew she wouldn''t do as he wished.


    "She won''t use them," the golden dragon stated the obvious.


    "Sigh, I just hope she won''t throw herself in deadly situations with her thick head," Arthur shook his head before returning to combine his two energies together.


    This time he wasn''t pressured like before, and it seemed his lack of this kind of stress was beneficial to him.


    He felt more ease at merging the two energies together. His absorbed spiritual energy flew smoother than ever, and he started to rise more bases in a shorter time.


    Before the end of the third day, he managed to rise up all the way to the pinnacle of his core formation stage.


    "Sigh, seeing me level up like this makes me wonder what the hell I was doing back in my previous life," he amusingly muttered when he examined his condensed mega core, ready to break through to the next big stage.


    The core was now like a shiny star, rotating slowly and connected to all his body meridians like a spider queen on top of her own spiderweb kingdom.


    He focused more on merging the two energies in the past two days, and yet he wasn''t quite satisfied by his gains so far.


    "I need to breakthrough to the next base," he thought to himself before asking, "if I level up again, reaching the nascent soul stage, will I have another tribulation test?" he asked.


    "Ding! I don''t have a concrete answer for that, but I believe you''ll get one tribulation test, or even having the first test harder."


    "Harder¡­" Arthur hesitated before sighing, "no problem then, I need to deal with the urgent things I have in hand right now."


    He then took a deep breath, calming down his stirred up thoughts, before returning to train again.


    This time it took him one day to condense enough energy inside his meridians to be enough to jump this milestone ahead. "Time to form my nascent soul," he muttered while recalling the best process for that.


    The core was considered like an outer shell for the soul, and the soul formed here was taken from his own. A strand that was tiny yet would make a huge difference in his future path. Yet the price of taking it was severe.


    "To do that," he took a deep breath, "I''ll need to cut down part of my soul using the great cleavage of heaven and earth."


    He knew this sounded simple, yet the pain and weakness that would follow such a process was still lingering in his mind from his past life experience.

 Chapter 508: Arthur Is in Critical Condition

    "Damn, even after all those years I''m still afraid of such a step¡­ I need to do it now or else I would lose my chance," he muttered to himself.


    The first step in doing that was the normal step of any major breakthrough. He stirred up his spiritual energy and made sure it would pass all the time through his condensed core.


    After doing this for hours, the core started to show signs of transformation. The light coming from it began to dim a bit, and the energy entering it started to be stored, not coming out again.


    "Good, the next step is all on you little one," he said while keeping his energy moving around his meridian system and finally resting in peace inside his core.


    The higher the amount of energy entering the core the stronger his nascent soul would be. Also the quality of the core would play a role in this, as a low grade core wouldn''t be able to store much energy compared with a higher one, like his one.


    He waited for more hours before his core absorbed all his energy in his meridians so far. "Wow, even after all this you still want more?" he was surprised and the next moment he kept breathing in and out regularly, while directing all the absorbed energy inside his core.


    After six more hours he had enough of it, and started using replenishing pills. He knew this wasn''t the best way to breakthrough, yet he was worried of wasting more time here on the count of his ultimate goal of doing all that.


    Using these pills aided greatly in filling the core with spiritual energy. After four hours and over twenty pills, the core finally had enough of its absorption, and the next step kicked off the moment after.


    The core shook a couple of times and Arthur felt a wave of energy emanating from it. it was like a call, a calling for a higher being to descend and examine him.


    He felt an invisible gaze examining him for long stressful minutes. He knew this was the heaven and earth vast energy assessing to see if he was worthy or not.


    Some cultivators were rash and rushed up the process before making their core ready. This made them fail, eventually turning into crippled ones, with fixed weak bases that would never grow.


    The result of this test came swiftly after when Arthur saw this enormous sword, made entirely out of milky white spiritual energy; the purest form of spiritual energy ever.


    "Embrace it," he encouraged himself when the sword simply fell on top of his head, penetrating his body like it wasn''t even there. It didn''t leave a single scratch on his body, yet his soul suffered a great blow at this brief instant.


    "Ahh!" he even screamed out of this deep pain that assaulted his soul and made him feel he was dying. He tried to control his pain, endure it while observing this tiny sparking dot that appeared suddenly inside his mind dantian and rested instantly inside his core.


    Yet another strange thing happened at this moment. The core shook again and the sword that just was rising fast in the sky paused, then descended once more over his head.


    "Screw you! What the hell are you doing?" he cursed as he screamed out in more pain while another tiny sparkling dot appeared and entered his core.


    "Shook!"


    The core wasn''t satisfied yet, and it kept shaking off one time after another until he finally had twelve dots of his soul integrated inside the core.


    Arthur wasn''t in the best shape ever. He lay on the ground motionless while his body had no wound at all, his soul littered in deep multiple wounds from this brutal hacks of the heaven and earth great cleavage.


    "Hurry and take replenishing and healing pills, your soul is getting weaker," the golden dragon hurried to shout, and Arthur didn''t have the mind to think.


    "Help him," the golden dragon nervously shouted at the system, and the next moment two different pills appeared the next moment on the tip of Arthur''s mouth.


    All Arthur did was open his mouth with much difficulty while the pills found their way inside his body.


    "Not enough," the golden dragon groaned loudly before adding, "bring more, give him more."


    "Ding! His body needs to handle these pills first," the system warned.


    "He doesn''t have enough time for that," but the golden dragon didn''t agree. "I''ll try to support his body with my residual energy, you just keep these pills flowing to his mouth."


    "Ding! Are you sure of this? This might make you sleep for a long time or else¡­"


    "Kill me?" the golden dragon sneered, "if this kid died, we would all die with him. Don''t waste time, bring more pills now."


    The system complied and Arthur only heard these words and couldn''t even make much sense of them at the moment. Having the soul severed once was such a hard price over anyone, yet he had to experience this for twelve successive times without any rest.


    "Ding! Wait¡­" just after using half a dozen of pills, the system suddenly shouted.


    "What?"


    "Ding! The garden is asking for help," the system said before pausing for a couple moments, trying to make sense of what the garden was conveying to him, "Ding! it will make the pearl inside him help."


    "Any help is appreciated," the golden dragon said in honest gratitude.


    "Ding! It asks to stop the pills for now, then we alternatively will use them with its aid."


    "Let it move," the golden dragon said before warning, "if she can''t do it, we''ll resume the previous step then."


    Just as the system and the golden dragon stopped, the garden started to act. The moment the small pearl inside his dantian was stirred up, its energy had such a miraculous effect on his soul, healing it.


    Yet the issue here was the amount of energy the pearl contained; it was smaller than the needs of Arthur. The garden tried to use the pills and the stirred up dragonair''s energy inside Arthur''s body to merge them together and replenish the exhausted energy from the pearl.


    Yet this wasn''t much helping, and after five minutes it had to stop.


    "Ding! It''s our turn now," the system said, "Ding! It needs ten minutes to replenish the energy, and we need to stabilize his status at least during that."


    "Leave it to me," the golden dragon was dead fixed on using his energy to help Arthur.


    After ten minutes, the garden stepped in again. This kept happening for three hours, and after all this effort, they finally managed to heal a good deal of Arthur''s soul injuries.


    "Ding! Stop," the system suddenly said.


    "But the garden is still recovering," the golden dragon said in a much weaker voice than before, "and he is still injured."


    "Ding! It says he has already passed the danger," the system explained, "Ding! All he needs now is rest, and his soul will be healed in one day."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Ding! It''s the garden''s words, not mine."


    "And your opinion?"


    "Ding! I can''t tell exactly how much time he needs, but I can tell he is improving," the system paused before adding, "Ding! And our help is putting too much pressure on his body. We can''t cure his soul and devastate his body in return. Plus¡­"


    The system paused and the golden dragon understood his meaning.


    "I know, I know, I need to rest."

 Chapter 509: The Merge

    Arthur was in a world of his own, not aware of anything that happened outside. Despite the pain and fatigue he had, he was super focused on the mission in hand.


    "Just a tiny bit," he tried to push the breakthrough forward using only his sheer will.


    Cleaving his soul for twelve times wasn''t something he counted for, yet it wasn''t ever heard in his past life. Despite reaching this far, he knew he couldn''t close his eyes and rest, the breakthrough wasn''t over yet.


    So he tried to stay conscious while waiting impatiently for his core to finish dealing with those dots.


    "Forming the nascent soul of one soul speck takes almost an hour, but now I can''t even tell how much time I have," he muttered and as he waited, the effects of the combined efforts of his three aiders started to show some results.


    "How could I heal this fast?" he mumbled when he noticed the status of his body. He didn''t expect his body to heal this soon, especially when the damage touched his most precious soul.


    Wounds of the soul always were hard to heal, taking much time and effort to accomplish that.


    "Anyway it''s a good news," he shook his head when he couldn''t find a suitable explanation. "I need to focus entirely on that disastrous core of mine."


    He turned his attention fully to the core, observing any changes occurring there.


    After five hours of nothing, the core started to finally show signs of transformation. "The cores back in my days used the soul speck to transform, turning into a small soul particle like a star. What are you going to turn into?" he thought to himself while watching the core changing.


    The first thing happened was for the core to have twelve projections, forming something like a twelve point star. When this happened, the core changed from three combined cores into this big star inside his mind dantian.


    This took six hours to conclude. When it finished, the new soul started to link to the meridian network that was previously attached to the core.


    Yet the meridians and energy got attached only to the twelve heads of this star, as for the body it kept shining from time to time.


    "It''s like a heart beating on its own," Arthur muttered when he noticed the end form of his nascent soul. "Can I still call it a nascent soul? Or a star soul to be more exact?"


    As he was wondering about this, the new soul shook and suddenly all the spiritual energy inside his body started to go towards the star and vanished there.


    "It''s about to end¡­ finally," he sighed while watching the last amount of energy entering into his star and vanishing there.


    "Rumble!"


    The next instant the star shook, and he felt the shaking hitting his soul. "Damn! You aren''t satisfied with the damage you caused so far?" he cursed when he felt immense pain from this mere shaking.


    His soul was literally amended on the surface, yet most of his wounds were still live and kicking. With this shaking, his soul regained most of the previous injuries, destroying all the hard effort of the three from before.


    Just as everyone was panicking, the new soul inside his dantian shone brightly all of a sudden. The light that bathed each inch of his body and soul started to miraculously heal him at a fast rate visible to naked eye.


    "Wow, it''s healing me," Arthur muttered before smiling in content, "you worth all the pain I suffered so far."


    Arthur didn''t wait long this time, as the light only shone for five minutes and then it started to recede fast back into his dantian. His body was cleansed from all impurities and outside he exerted offensive sticky black secretion that surrounded his body like a small pool of filth.


    "Ding! Again? This is ridiculous!" the system mumbled before he brought a fountain of purified water from the nearby lake and cleaned Arthur with it.


    "It seems a usual step when he grows stronger," the golden dragon said.


    "A very bad step indeed," Arthur opened his eyes finally while laughing, "thanks for the help. I needed a shower to be honest."


    Inside his dantian, the soul started to shine in pulses like beating. With each pulse, a new form of spiritual energy was pumped into his dried up dantian and meridians, giving him more energy to move.


    The new energy was dark blue in color, with strange white luster in the form of short irregular lines. Arthur never saw such a scene in the nascent soul stage. For him, this was a stage beyond immortal stage.


    "We tried to help heal you," the golden dragon said in much better tone, "but your injuries reopened all of sudden and then recovered on its own. Bizarre if you want my opinion."


    Arthur understood what happened while the system added, "Ding! It''s not just the two of us who helped, the garden also helped a lot."


    "Thanks," Arthur honestly said before adding, "how much time passed?"


    "A day and half so far," the golden dragon said.


    "And the war?"


    "Ding! The queen is sealing many portals around. It was just as you expected, and some of these worlds were getting absorbed by the garden, but not all of them."


    "Great," Arthur nodded in content before adding, "time to get the mission of the garden done."


    "Won''t you rest?" the golden dragon asked.


    "No time for that, I need to finish this as soon as possible."


    Arthur then sat on the ground for hours before his spiritual energy was restored. Then he started merging his energy again.


    His breakthrough into the nascent soul base made the amount and duration of the merge increase significantly. "According to what I saw so far, this is almost triple the previous merging time and the total energy produced exceeded five folds," he muttered after multiple attempts to merge the two energies together.


    The size of his pearl kept increasing faster than before, and in just two days he managed to finally double the initial size he started with.


    "Ask it if this is enough or not," he muttered while taking a healing and replenishing pills. He tried to decrease the replenishing pills as much as he could, but he couldn''t keep on like this without consuming some.


    "Ding! It says this is enough."


    "Great," Arthur laughed while standing up in great spirit, "now let it start merging with my pearl. I''m eager to see the end result."


    "Ding! It also asks to connect to the soul you just produced," the system suddenly said.


    "My nascent soul?" Arthur was surprised before he realized something. "The map¡­ it''s all happened because of my star map!" he finally realized how special his little map was.


    "Ding! Yes, it wants to be linked to the map inside your soul. It says this will help both of them to grow with you as you grow."


    "This garden is ambitious," the golden dragon laughed, "I really like it."


    "Alright, what does it need?" Arthur asked.


    "Ding! It speaks about another breakthrough¡­" the system paused before adding, "Ding! It describes something similar to a small breakthrough of yours."


    Arthur exclaimed in realization, "Ah, it wants me to raise my base by one minor stage, right?"


    "Ding! I think this is what it wants."


    "Good," Arthur sat directly on the ground, "make it ready to act, I believe I need less than half a day to break through."


    Arthur''s prediction was off this time, as he completed the next upgrade in less than three hours.


    "Impressive, the place here seems to help me the higher my base is," he muttered before his energy was getting denser.


    "Let it start," he opened his eyes and said to his system before returning to his own cultivation world.


    The next moment the pearl inside his old dantian shook. It then regained its calm before shaking up again, and again, and again.


    "What are you trying to do?" he muttered while patiently watching on the side, doing nothing.


    Just after a few minutes of this, he sensed the soul in his mind dantian starting to resonate with the pearl, shaking with its rhythm.


    "Is this what you meant by merging with the map?" Arthur was astonished to see the pearl sending off a separate long thread, heading directly towards his brain, and resting finally inside his nascent soul.


    The moment this happened, Arthur thought everything finished, yet he was mistaken.


    "Another one?!" he was surprised to see another thread sprouting fast from the pearl towards his mind dantian.


    This kept happening for an entire hour. After this, the space between his mind dantian and his old dantian in his belly was now covered by thick layers of threads connecting the two together.


    He couldn''t sense the threads well, yet he felt a great deal of energy travelling between the two. "It''s not high and pure like the energy generated by the merge¡­ this is like a weaker form of it," after some time he finally reached this conclusion.


    "Now what?" he muttered, and the next thing he received as an answer was this soft feminine voice coming weakly inside his mind: "I''m done, you can open your eyes, master."

 Chapter 510: Gege

    Arthur was taken aback all of sudden when he heard this voice. "Who are you?" he asked despite already guessing the answer.


    "You know who I am, don''t you?" she chuckled as if enjoying this childish act of him. "I''m your garden."


    "You can read my mind?" This was a second surprise for him.


    "Sure, after all I''m the one truly connected to your soul from the beginning. As for these two, they are just two intruders, a parasite attached to your soul."


    Arthur took a deep breath, trying to accept that his garden was this sexy seemingly shy female speaking in his mind now. "What about you? Your body¡­ I mean you, you know," he didn''t know what to call or describe her.


    And this made her chuckle.


    "You can easily access me anytime you want," she playfully said, with a strange shyness in her tone.


    "Ahem, I didn''t mean that," he felt weird, yet he added, "but I want to make sure everything will be like the way it was."


    "Darling, we are destined to be together for eternity. Everything will be much better than before."


    "¡­!!"


    He didn''t know how to respond to this, and this awkward moment of his made her laugh. "Don''t worry, the portals are working fine, and your pillars are getting purified faster. There are only two things we need to settle on."


    "What?"


    "First of all you need to tell those two in your head to stay away from my body!"


    "¡­"


    "Don''t act innocent, you are my master and you''ve the right to do whatever you want with it. but them¡­ sigh, they should feel ashamed of eyeing just a beautiful body of mine and playing there like it was theirs!"


    "But I need the help of my system there," Arthur helplessly said.


    "Not an option," yet she was strangely stubborn at this, "if you needed anything, just come to me darling and I''ll satisfy your needs."


    "I believe you got my meaning wrong!"


    "Anyway, the second thing is my human body," she said before adding, "I need to build a human body for me."


    "What does this have to do with me?" Arthur didn''t understand her meaning at all. "Do you need to evolve to get a body or what?"


    "No, I need something different, something you already have."


    "Really?" Arthur didn''t get yet her meaning, "what is it?"


    "That nasty egg inside me. You planted the seed there and left it to fester. I need that egg to hatch."


    "Why do your words have hidden meanings?" Arthur was speechless for a moment, "you mean the egg I sealed with the other two disciples inside you?"


    "Yeah, that egg," she answered, "I desperately need it."


    "Then take it," Arthur didn''t have any issue about that. "It''s already there, you can simply have it."


    "I can''t," the garden shook her head before adding, "I need your help in that."


    "Tell me what you want," Arthur said before adding, "I just have a war here, so after returning I can help you."


    "I''m looking forward to it. all I need from you is to feed it with your blood, that''s all."


    "My blood?" Arthur didn''t know why but he felt things were much more complicated than that.


    "Yup, I need your powers to merge deeply in me. I want your power to hack me from within, and bring forth a nice human body that will make you allured and aroused all the time."


    "¡­"


    This time Arthur had to escape this awkward moment by opening his eyes.


    "Ding! How things went?" the system asked.


    "We were suddenly shut out of your mind, strange," the golden dragon said.


    "Well¡­" Arthur paused before explaining things to them.


    "She is a girl? And you say she is asking us to stay away from her body?" the golden dragon muttered in surprise before laughing, "this girl is exactly my type. I loved to peep over girls like her, hahaha."


    "Stay away from my body, you perverted old dragon!" the next instant her angry and strangely sweet voice erupted all of a sudden inside Arthur''s mind.


    "This is getting out of control¡­" Arthur helplessly shook his head as his mind now was bustling with quarrel between three voices at the same time.


    He tried to neglect them by checking the entire world around. "Tell me, princess Gege, can you absorb this world now?"


    Her name was Gege, as she just said in amidst one of her rampages.


    "I can, but will need more time to do that," she took a deep breath before adding, "I need at least one month, and this is calculated in your academy time, not my own time."


    "One month¡­ looks like you''ll finish it after the competition," Arthur thought before asking, "how are my queen doing?"


    "Ding! She is on the rampage, killing and sealing. Your forces are triumphing over others, but they still can''t clear the entire world."


    The system''s tone showed how frustrated he was, and Arthur just ignored this. "No problem, our aim is to keep pressuring them and prevent any surprises from happening."


    He then turned around before adding, "How much time do I have?"


    "Less than a day," the golden dragon said.


    Unlike the system, this old dragon was enjoying toying with Gege. He was a pervert, and Gege happened to be his type.


    "I took longer than expected in leveling up," Arthur sighed before sitting again as he added, "I''m going off to train, make sure to sort things out between the three of you. I don''t want you to be enemies, I need you to find a way to work together without affecting my interest."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "They just need to stay away from my body!"


    "It''s helpless," Arthur helplessly sighed before closing his eyes and started his training.


    He knew he just jumped many bases in a short time, so he intended when coming back to start training using the sword techniques. He still had a myriad of techniques to use, and all of them were strong and helpful in future battles.

 Chapter 512: Using Everything to Win

    "Alright, let''s start," Arthur then took a deep breath before starting to channel his energy inside. He noticed that his energy could reach everywhere in his body, except the area these monsters invaded.


    They were now resting inside his back, around his spine. Such a place that was away from his dantian, and his dragonair''s energy seemed to be weak to stand alone against them.


    "You are right," he muttered when he stirred his dragonair''s energy to max, "my energy is hardly doing any damage to them."


    "Keep pressuring them first," she harrumphed, "I know I''m right, but we need to divert their attention."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smirked as he kept rotating his energy and tried to hit the place of these twenty orbs non stop. Each time a clash happened, he felt sore in his back, yet he never stopped attacking.


    It took him four hours to finally make them really restless. They started not to defend, but to attack and hunt his energy down.


    At first this didn''t result in anything but crushing part of his energy. However with the subsequent hours, the clash between the two energies escalated. Each time they hit together, a bang uprooted and he felt his body being torn between the two brutal forces.


    "Isn''t it time to attack?" Arthur was much more restless than the monsters, as he realized how hard it was to crush them.


    Having such cancerous beings inside wasn''t the best thing ever.


    "Just a little more, we need them to act rash first, believing themselves to be winning," Gege said.


    "Damn! I didn''t go to that world and upgraded my powers to end up in this dilemma!" he cursed out loud.


    "Your energy hasn''t evolved yet," the golden dragon corrected, "you need to crush them first to complete your evolution, or everything will be for nothing."


    Arthur wasn''t pleased to hear that yet he didn''t have anything in hand to do but to try his best and crush those insects. He kept warring with them for one full day before his dragonair''s body started to falter.


    "Isn''t it time yet?" he impatiently asked.


    "It''s about time for them to attack, then we can move," Gege calmly said.


    As she just described, the monsters didn''t take more than two hours and their fierce attacks came swiftly against his body and soul. They expanded their reign, and the areas they controlled started to ache badly, making Arthur feel more uncomfortable and enraged.


    "Keep resisting their advance," Gege said in strange excitation, "it''s now our time to barbecue these monsters and eat them for dinner."


    "Just attack," Arthur gritted his teeth while he desperately tried to overcome their assaults everywhere, losing every single encounter with them.


    "Now," the moment Gege said this, his pearl resting peacefully inside his old dantian shook. This caused the threads linking it with his mind dantian to vibrate, and the next moment his cultivation energy was stirred up by hidden force.


    "Use your cultivation energy to create deep gaps inside their territory," Gege said in an excited tone. "I''ll be right behind you, don''t worry my darling."


    "Tsk," Arthur sneered before controlling his spiritual energy and diverted it towards the inner demons. He didn''t hit them wide open, he followed the instructions of Gege and created twenty long thorns that hit the twenty demons'' energy all of sudden.


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    Each encounter with his spiritual energy ended up in a loss for the inner demon side. His spiritual energy moved smoothly like a knife in a butter, creating twenty deep grooves inside the inner demons'' territory and reaching all the way towards its core.


    Yet when the energy neared the core, it was met with harder resistance that started to delay his spiritual energy advance. "They are trying to divert energies from other fronts," the golden dragon hurried to say.


    "Keep pushing your dragonair''s energy and don''t let them rest," Gege hurried to say before adding with a loud laugh, "hahaha, they are trying to be smart, yet you are doomed you fools."


    Just as Arthur stirred up his dragonair''s energy and pushed hard on the inner demons'' gained territory, his pearl shone brightly all of a sudden, radiating long threads, twenty in number, all went directly towards the twenty grooves created by his spiritual energy.


    Despite the threads seeming much weaker than those created before to link between the pearl and the map, they were fast to enter the grooves and be layered and protected instantly by his spiritual energy.


    As such his spiritual energy got a massive boast, and it started to gain momentum once again.


    "Keep pushing with your dragonair''s energy," the golden dragon said before adding, "it''s only your dragonair energy that can crush them totally and absorb their powers."


    "The pearl also can do that!" Gege hurried to say.


    "It can?" Arthur asked.


    "It''s made partially of your dragonair energy, so it can," Gege explained.


    "It''s best for him to absorb all of their energies," the golden dragon argued.


    "These are twenty inner demons, not just one. He can''t tolerate their energies and won''t be able to completely crush them. Besides his pearl is also his strength," Gege was more fixed on her plan as she argued back.


    "And it will also help you," the golden dragon sneered.


    "What''s wrong with that? After all with his dragonair energy alone he wouldn''t be able to reach this far, or even be able to absorb their energies and annihilate them totally!" she wasn''t fazed by the hidden accusation in the golden dragon''s words.


    "Stop you two," Arthur finally spoke, "it''s not time for you to quarrel. We need to kill these demons no matter what."


    His words silenced the golden dragon while Gege chuckled. Arthur ignored her as he completely focused on pushing his dragonair energy to reach the core of the inner demons fast.


    "Now we separated them," Gege finally heaved a long sigh of relief despite her previous collected attitude, "now send in your dragonair energy to absorb as much as it could, and I will start absorbing some with the pearl to help."


    "Tsk," the golden dragon was still angry at her greedy nature, yet when Arthur tried to absorb the first demon, things started to appear the same as Gege described.


    "This energy¡­" the moment Arthur''s energy surrounded one orb and started to invade it, the orb shuttered all of sudden, releasing a sudden gush of enormous pure energy that overwhelmed him. "I need some time to digest it."


    "Humph," Gege harrumphed while muttering, "and you thought I was greedy, huh?"


    "¡­" the golden dragon didn''t speak again for a while. Arthur then started to circulate the newly added energy around his body. The energy started to cleanse his veins and muscles, strengthening his organs and outer dragonair body. "I believe this will make my human body evolve to higher heights," he said as he thought about the other nineteen orbs waiting for him to absorb.


    "Yet this is time consuming," he sighed as fully absorbing one orb took one day, and he needed a half day to rest and stabilize his newly evolved energy.


    "I can absorb one orb in four days, so I can help to slightly shorten the time," Gege said while adding, "part of energy will go to the pearl, part to your map, and the remaining will go to support me."


    "No problem," Arthur laughed before adding, "this is a grand feast. Anyone is welcomed to have a share."

 Chapter 513: The Final Team

    Arthur then totally got absorbed in dealing with his inner demons. This proved to be a hard task that took more than he expected, yet he was winning each counter with these demons.


    At some point, when the number decreased to less than ten, the remaining demons tried to coalesce together. They moved to stand near each other which created a stronger defense against Arthur.


    Yet the trump card of his pearl energy was decisive in this fight. Despite taking one week more, he managed to finally break their defenses and start absorbing them one by one.


    "Phew¡­ finally finished," he muttered tiredly when three weeks passed already. "This took much longer than expected."


    "But you managed to absorb them all," the golden dragon said, "and Gege got four orbs alone."


    The golden dragon never ceased to mention this point over and over again.


    "I should have absorbed five, not just four," Gege replied in a strong attitude.


    "Stop it already," Arthur helplessly interfered to stop this clash, "I still need to deal with that massive energy inside my body."


    "You should just use your breaths to stabilize it," the golden dragon simply said, "also if there is a fight it would be much better."


    "I know," Arthur nodded as this was simply the case like dealing with his cultivation energy. "How much time do I have until the challenge at the academy?"


    "Ding! Less than a month time here," the system said.


    "What about the city? Any attacks there?" he realized it was a long time since he went to the city and checked on it.


    Leaving it defenseless like this for a long time annoyed him.


    "Ding! Nothing in particular happened. And those masters just sent a word a while back, they apologize for being busy and Amanda is angry about that."


    "She didn''t come either," Arthur sighed.


    "Ding! She was sent by the academy to supervise the preparations of the main contest, she sent these words with deepest apologies."


    Arthur shook his head, as he was slightly disappointed.


    The next thing he did was to start flying around, going on a wide tour inside the garden world, using his breaths all the time. From time to time, residents in his garden world would see a flash of light passing over their heads without telling what was that.


    The amount of dragonair energy inside Arthur''s body was immense. It took him two weeks to finally stabilize it.


    "I have over triple the power I once had," he muttered before adding, "now it''s time to stabilize my cultivation base."


    He paused for a moment before asking, "What about the tests at Amelia''s end?"


    "Ding! They are still doing the tests thoroughly. They need at least one week from now to end their selection."


    "Not bad," he nodded before taking out his sword. "It''s time to train with you mate."


    The next moment Arthur landed on the ground, just next to the Golam lake like before. He then started to use his spiritual energy and pearl energy to use this berserker sword.


    Each technique he had once learnt or heard about at the nascent soul base or lower was tried out by him. He was like a living encyclopedia, and in the next week he used over fifty sword techniques and mastered them.


    "Impressive," Gege muttered, "you know how to hack a girl''s body."


    "¡­"


    Arthur was speechless but he knew he did quite the devastation here. Among his fifty sword techniques, only five hailed above all in strength and might.


    These five were basically considered the pinnacle of techniques in the nascent soul stage. He managed to perform them perfectly fine, without any error at all.


    "Time to go to the academy then," he muttered, "what about Amelia''s end?"


    "Ding! They are ready," the system answered, "but the results you might not like."


    ''Why is that?" Arthur muttered in doubt.


    "Ding! See for yourself."


    "Stop touching my body!" Gege shouted the moment Arthur was transferred by the system towards the place of Amelia and others.


    He ignored Gege''s remark as he glanced over the number of people standing with Amelia.


    "Finally decided to come back," Amelia complained, "I thought you forgot about me."


    He helplessly smiled as he was driven from one encounter to another, solving problems that kept popping in front of him. "Sorry, I''ve been busy lately," he said before glancing at those standing around her, "where are the final team of us?"


    "We are," Amelia smiled proudly as she pointed towards the ten standing behind her and added, "they are the cream of the crop."


    "Only those¡­" Arthur was speechless for a moment before adding, "they are few."


    "They are the top," Amelia explained, "you only want the best, right?"


    "Indeed but never thought they would be this short."


    Arthur glanced at the small team of eight with many familiar faces. There were Deem, Gor, Agnus, Omar, Tarry, and Madly of his old team. Tarry and Madly were the ones that surprised him to be here, and Madly seemed to notice his gaze.


    "What? Surprised for me and Tarry to be present?" she chuckled before adding, "I have a great breakthrough in forging, and Tarry was praised by Amanda when she taught us about the special abilities. She said he will be the biggest factor in our winning in the future."


    Arthur smiled as he said, "That''s a good news. I still remember the fiery girl from before."


    "Humph, this girl is still fiery as ever."


    Arthur sighed before glancing at the fresh faces. "Who are they?" he asked.


    Amelia glanced at the three whom moved fast to bow to Arthur as they said:


    "Hello esteemed lord, I''m Longman, a potion and pill maker."


    "Hello esteemed lord, I''m Sherry, a defense specialist."


    "Hello esteemed lord, I''m Noh, a marksman and a bow fighter."


    Arthur glanced at the three where two came from the castle of the sky and one was from the people he rescued from his city world.

 Chapter 514: Returning to the City World

    Amelia noticed his doubting gazes and the next moment she moved to stand beside the three youths as she said:


    "Longman had shown a great talent in making pills and potions. In fact your own theory of making pills and potions was mastered with perfection by him. He managed to make a great amount of pills and potions in the least amount of time."


    She then patted the girl''s shoulders and added, "Sherry is really remarkable. She isn''t only an array master, she also can build defensive towers in a short time. She is impressive, a fierce sword fighter that beat many warriors in the tests as well."


    Arthur glanced at Sherry with her dark skin, long black curly hair, and small figure. She had such nice intelligent eyes that told him she wasn''t a weak little girl as she appeared.


    "As for Noh, he beat Lily and other batsmen in the tests. He also has some skills in forging and making arrays, plus he is a good knife fighter as well."


    "Good," Arthur nodded, and he regretted not being around during tests. "I''ll trust your judge then," he said before turning around. "Spread the word, they will stay here and train until we finish our two contests."


    "They won''t come with us?" Omar was surprised as he added, "many are eager to see us competing and beating others."


    "I know, but who knows. We might need more help in the future," Arthur said before adding, "after all we still don''t know how strong our enemies are. We need to test the waters first, then decide what we should do later on."


    His words convinced everyone, and Amelia just went with Madly and Omar to others to tell them about Arthur''s instructions and logic. In less than an hour, everyone was ready to move out.


    "Alright, we will first go to the city then we''ll move from there towards the academy," Arthur said and the next moment a portal was opened.


    "I will kill you!" the moment he went outside the portal, this angry shout from Tina rang all across the city. "You dare to leave me behind all this? You cold hearted dragon, I hate you!"


    She threw herself over his human body without care. He just managed to turn into a dragon and took the fall in time before he would be crushed under her dragon body.


    "You are a cold dragon, very cold," she cried while she kept rubbing her head on his chest in a weird way.


    "C''mon, I left you to have fun here," he lied while trying gently to push her away.


    "Liar, there was no fight at all here," she complained, "you must have many fun fights inside, right? Admit it!"


    He knew she would have enjoyed the test he had, and also got her evolution done. "We were just training, asking them to verify my words," he lied again, yet when she noticed them nodding to her, she bought his lie this time.


    "But I won''t forgive you though," she said while moving away from his body.


    "You seem to have fun inside," Sara said before adding, "even your power has evolved a lot. You can now speak in human tongue while being in dragonair''s form. That''s quite an achievement."


    Sara''s words made him notice what he missed. When he just spoke with Tina, others really reacted and understood his words perfectly.


    ''This seems an effect of my upgrade,'' he muttered.


    "How is my city going?" despite knowing the answer, he figured to ask.


    "We sent many armies to subdue other territories," Tina said before adding in obvious discontent, "but not a worthy foe appeared anywhere."


    "You sent armies out?" Arthur was surprised as he stated clearly not to do so. "Was there any accident? Like losing entire armies or something?" he hurriedly asked.


    "Nothing," Sara said.


    "It''s like a deserted place out there," Tina complained, "even those big clans seemed to retract their forces far away from us. Our armies never faced a single fight or resistance whatsoever."


    Arthur was surprised by that, and the next moment he realized he left this world for so long and didn''t know the latest news.


    ''I need to speak with Olor then,'' he said to himself, as he decided to know what was going on behind the scenes.


    "But we gained in exchange of losing not a single warrior, many people and rich resources," Sara said with a chuckle as she knew this was something that would stir Arthur.


    And as she expected, his eyes shone when he heard that. "How much?" he asked.


    "Millions," Tina said in strange excitement, "the city was already crowded, so we had to build another one nearby."


    "Another town?" Amelia asked in doubt.


    "No, no, we built a city," Sara laughed before pointing to a direction, "we used the same principles of this city to build. Many builders who participated in making this city grand did the job brilliantly."


    "Did?" Arthur muttered, "is the city finished?"


    "Sure, you took so long to come here," Tina complained again, "we already are building the third one."


    Arthur turned to Deem who nodded and said, "I will go and check their blueprints now."


    "I''ll come with you," Gor said before adding, "building a city with weak defenses is catastrophical."


    "Don''t worry about that," Tina proudly said, before adding while raising up her head, "I''ve already selected hundreds of thousands of the three cities dwellers and turned them into mighty warriors to defend here."


    "You formed armies?" Madly asked with disbelief.


    "Sure, how can we get all these populations without great armies?" Tina answered with puzzlement, "and as we speak, more are still out there gathering population and resources from everywhere."


    "That''s great," Arthur said before adding, "Now I''ll stay here for a day. I want to check on the new cities and then I''ll return to the academy world."


    "We''ll go back to the academy?" Tina said before laughing, "I miss that great dude who was vigilant of me."


    "You mean Slone?" Arthur smiled, "well I won''t be there for fun. I want you to stay here. I might need your help quite soon."


    "A war?" Tina''s eyes shone brightly, "I miss wars so much."


    "You can say that," Arthur laughed before he started taking a tour inside his three cities.

 Chapter 515: A Talk with Olor

    "What do you think?" Arthur sat on top of his throne, while everyone was now standing in front of him.


    "They did a good job so far," Deem honestly said, "I don''t have any recommendations or adjustments."


    "Good," Arthur nodded before moving his sight towards Gor.


    "The defenses aren''t on par with the main city, as the walls there are rudimentary and weak," Gor said before adding, "if we can extend the walls to cover the three citiies or mimic the wall in the main city then no danger can touch them."


    Arthur sighed. He knew about this problem before Gor spoke about it. "This has to be postponed until we return," he said.


    To extend the walls towards the other two cities, he needed to sacrifice some pillars in the process that would take more time. He didn''t want to be distracted by anything, and also feared for this to attract unneeded attention.


    "When will you leave?" Sara was standing just below him.


    "Now," Arthur decided, "I''ll leave the city for you to manage," he said before adding, "also be on alert, I might need your help at any moment."


    "I depend on that," Tina mumbled as she was still skeptical about letting him go alone to the fun world of the academy.


    "Sorry," he said to her, "I need to keep part of my cards hidden."


    "Humph," she wasn''t satisfied by this reason.


    The next moment a portal opened and he went directly towards it. "C''mon, we still have an academy to check upon," he said before entering the portal, appearing inside his map world again.


    This time the map seemed a bit different than before. It got expanded, and he felt like it was breathing. The number and quality of monsters got a pump up, making him wondering if he could use their help outside this place or not.


    "Follow my steps," he said as he moved directly towards a distant big star which was the one leading to the academy.


    They appeared inside his mansion, just outside the great tree. "I need to speak with Olor, but I have to finish the contest here first," he muttered before turning to Amelia. "Go and see other masters. Gather all the intel about the contest here and out there, also try to have some info about our contenders."


    "Alright," Amelia said before adding, "but this might take the entire day."


    "No problem, I''ll be busy doing something during this day," he said before watching them disappear from his eyesight.


    "Time to go back to Olor," Arthur then passed again through his tree gate and appeared next inside his star map. "Tell me, can I use the monsters here to fight outside the map?"


    "You can, but you need to give time for the map to evolve," Gege said, "she is getting many benefits by being inside your dantian."


    "So it''s possible."


    "Yes, but not at the moment."


    "Then when?"


    "Soon."


    "When is soon?"


    "Couple of hours, and maybe a year," Gege chuckled, "don''t be this anxious, you are a monster yourself. And you surround yourself with a bunch of monsters."


    "Tsk," Arthur didn''t like this kind of vague answer, yet he had nothing in hand to do but to go back to his city world.


    When he appeared there he didn''t stand a moment before entering his garden world. "It''s time to see this Olor and understands what''s going on in this world," he muttered before adding, "Gege, move me towards the tree of mirrors."


    "Thanks for not letting these two mess with my body," she said before moving him the next moment to stand in front of the giant tree.


    He didn''t waste time and started hitting the mirror of Olor when it descended to him. In less than five minutes, Olor appeared in the mirror with a wide smile over his face.


    "Master, you finally remembered me," he said, and Arthur was sure he wasn''t that happy to see his face again.


    "I was kinda busy," he simply said, "what happened in the world when I was gone?"


    "You were gone for such a long time," Olor sighed, "many things happened. First the clans from higher realms went angry over the clans here for not finding you. They thought this was slacking from our side, and as a result many hits were done to many clans here, including mine."


    His face showed how bitter this experience was, but Arthur wasn''t that interested in that loss of him and others. "At least many clans were weakened, right?"


    "Sure, many top clans were demoted to middle sized clans. Only two clans went safely through this process, as they still held the kids of the higher clans safely there."


    Arthur''s eyes shone as he asked, "there are still survivors?"


    "Indeed," Olor nodded, "more than a hundred. Most came from smaller clans, while less than ten came from big clans."


    "That''s¡­ a big number of survivors," Arthur was astonished at this mislep of his.


    "They didn''t follow the orders of the big clans to come and witness your execution from before. In fact their cowardice looked much wiser now than others bravery," Olor said while helplessly smiling.


    "What about those mercenaries?"


    "They retreated," Olor said, "they are waiting for you in the other world."


    "The academy?" Arthur suddenly felt threatened.


    "The academy and the clan of yours," Olor said, "this is the only thing that stopped the massacre that happened here. Yet all the clans are now afraid, amassing their powers and locking them up inside their forts."


    "That''s the reason why the world looked desolate," Arthur muttered.


    "Yeah, that''s a reason, and there is another one," Olor paused before seriously adding, "there is such a big contest going on inside your world. Rumors said you will participate there, and so many higher clans ordered us to send out elites to make sure you won''t win."


    Arthur was surprised for such info to reach the ears of those higher up clans. "Aren''t they satisfied by sending their assassins there?" he said.

 Chapter 516: Grave Incidents

    "You don''t understand the significance of this contest," Olor sighed, "this isn''t a mere contest between academies and clans in your world. I heard many representatives of higher clans and academies will be present there, scouting for talents."


    "Your meaning?"


    "Those assassins will be helpless there," Olor said, "the chances of them attacking you in the contest is so miniscule."


    "If so then why were they sent there?" Arthur asked for more info.


    "They thought you were hiding inside your academy. I even heard they attacked it once, searched far and wide there with no result."


    Arthur nodded as he realized everything now. It was good luck for him to stay inside his garden all this time.


    "Do you have a map of the weak places with no guards inside your world?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    "This¡­" Olor seemed to be hesitant.


    "What? I thought we got over the part where you were still loyal to the dark world here," Arthur sneered.


    "You misunderstood me," Olor sighed, "the entire world is vacant of any guarding right now. If you wish, you can send off your troops east and west and accumulate all the resources and people you desire."


    "Is this true?" Arthur asked to make sure he wasn''t exaggerating.


    And Olor simply nodded with a bitter smile over his face. "I can tell you if you moved now, you''ll be able to rise beyond any control. This world will be yours eventually."


    "It was initially mine to begin with," Arthur laughed before adding, "I''ll keep in touch with you from time to time. If anything happens, you should hurry and deliver me the news."


    "I will."


    Arthur then moved outside his garden before standing inside his city once more. "It''s a rare chance then¡­ I shouldn''t let this golden egg roll away from my reach."


    He then went around the city in his dragon form, attracting the attention of Tina and Sara in no time.


    "Wow, you came so fast," Tina laughed.


    "What happened?" Sara wasn''t like Tina, she felt something was off.


    "I have a tip," he said, "the entire world is now without any guarding."


    "I told you," Tina excitedly said as she guessed what she would say next.


    "Meaning?" Sara asked.


    "We need to send more armies out and claim all the riches we can have."


    "We already sent everyone," Tina said.


    "There is none more to send," Sara sighed.


    "Leave this to me."


    The next moment many portals appeared around the three cities while large armies of warriors started to show up. Before coming here, Arthur asked his system and Gege to arrange everyone, even the normal villagers who can withstand travelling and some fight to come to this world.


    He planned to move everything he had and try to seize this rare opportunity with all his effort.


    "Wow, all of these¡­" Tina was astonished before she went and took a wide tour around.


    "Many aren''t warriors," Sara noticed this, "can they fight?" she asked.


    "There is no fight out there to begin with," Arthur smiled before taking out some maps, the ones he drew before from Olor. "Take these, they are the detailed maps of the entire world. Send convoys everywhere, I want our messengers to reach every corner of this world."


    "No war?" Tina came fast with a frustrated tone, "can''t we hit those clans then? They must have many riches within."


    "The priority is to annex the population and resources, then if you have time and manpower then sure. Go towards many clans and harass them for me."


    "Kekeke, this a plan I like," Tina laughed.


    "But the three cities won''t hold all these numbers," Sara pointed out the flaw here.


    "Build more then," Arthur simply said, "those living here and those coming from far can work together to expand our small number of cities into a huge empire, right?"


    Sara nodded while Tina pledged, "Don''t worry, I won''t leave a single inch here untouched by us. Even those weak and clumsy clans won''t be safe from my breaths, hahaha."


    Arthur sighed before he waited there for three days until everything was settled. The number of his villagers inside the garden world was astronomical, enough to build five more cities and might need more.


    "Alright, you have a general grasp of things now," he said as during the past days he revised the plans of moving out, war, and how to expand and where. "Just remember, there are two clans still having their full power untouched. Be sure not to stir them up please," he stressed before adding, "I won''t have time to come to your rescue. Plus there is a huge war about to erupt in the academy world. So I need you to wrap things up here fast and be ready to move out at any notice."


    "Don''t worry," Tina said while Sara helplessly sighed while glancing over her. "I''ll try to keep her in check," Sara said.


    "Keep who in check? I want to vent out my suppressed fighting spirit!" Tina exploded at Sara who just answered with a helpless sigh.


    "Just be safe and make sure not to drag things for too long," Arthur said before vanishing inside a portal and returning again to his mansion at the academy world.


    The moment he went outside the tree gate, he saw his team standing there waiting for him, with bitter expression over their faces.


    "What happened?" he asked with a smile as he already guessed many of the things they knew.


    "The clan¡­" Madly suddenly said with tears welling up in her eyes, "It''s¡­ destroyed."


    "What?!!" Arthur was shocked to hear that. "What happened? Are you sure? What about our people there?" he asked, with a tone full of grief, yet his soul wasn''t.


    "It''s those mercenaries," Amelia said, "They landed here and caused enough devastation in the academy and the clan."


    "And?" Arthur asked, "any survivors?"


    "Many escaped," Madly sadly said before breaking out in crying, "but grandpa Regil stood by to defend the clan base and¡­ he¡­" she stuttered and couldn''t speak before breaking in a long weeping while Amelia held her in her embrace.


    "They were looking for you," Omar said in a low tone, "they thought you were hiding here or at the clan. The academy was breached and Mr. E was gravely wounded."


    "What the hell?" Arthur was enraged this time. "And others?"


    "They are also wounded, but not that severe," Deem said before adding, "but we lost one master of ours."


    "Who?" Arthur had bad premonition about this.


    "Master Otman paid his life in return for holding the defenses for long," Amelia said before adding, "and Amanda was taken hostage with Cesile."


    "What?!!!" his rage swelled up to a terrifying level, "do you know where those bastards are?" he asked, and when no one answered he added, "is there anyone knowing their place?"


    "What can we do against them?" Omar said before adding, "even our masters were hit this severe, taken hostages, and died."


    "Mr. E suggests we return back and drop this competition," Amelia said before adding, "most of the disciples participating were greatly injured or died in the assault. It was a massacre and if not for someone''s timely help, they would have killed everyone like they did with the clan."


    "Damn!" Arthur''s body trembled as he knew this wasn''t far from the truth. He was weak, so much weaker compared to those assassins. "We won''t drop this competition," he said before decisively adding, "and I won''t rest until I take my revenge on them¡­ all of them," he vowed in front of his team despite him only caring about his two masters.


    For him, he considered them his girls, not just masters.

 Chapter 517: Ill Participate in the Competition

    "You what?!!!"


    Arthur went next thing towards the big mansion of Mr. E. there he found many masters gathered, and the atmosphere and morale were very low without doubt.


    "I want to participate in the competition with my team," Arthur restated his demands loud and clear while pointing to himself, "I caused this, brought all the destruction and losses to the academy. The least thing I do is to step forward and take the responsibility of this competition on behalf of the academy."


    "The least thing you should do is go back and hide," Mr. E said with a shocking look over his face, "they have assassins from higher realms. No one stood a chance against them, even if the academy dean was here he wouldn''t be able to do a thing against them either."


    "I know."


    "If so why then being so stubborn and mindless like having a death wish?!!"


    "It''s not being suicidal," Arthur shook his head firmly before adding, "I know what I''m doing."


    "Kid," one of the masters standing here spoke up, "it''s my first time seeing you despite hearing a lot about. You should heed Mr. E advice. The competition means nothing now for the future offsprings of the academy like yourself."


    Arthu glanced at this man. He was bald with sharp eyes and fierce look. "Thanks master for his consideration," Arthur said before calmly saying, "but this is a personal feud between me and them. I have to show up and win this thing, not only for me but for others."


    "Don''t be childish," another master said, "you should at least understand how risky it''s to go there."


    "I know my odds," Arthur simply answered, "and I won''t die this easily on anyone''s hands."


    "Does that venerable master propose to aid you?" The look over Mr. E''s face showed how desperate he was.


    And Arthur had to lie at this moment. "He does," simply by saying that, the look over Mr. E''s face showed how relaxed he became.


    "If so then no worry for you."


    "E, he is a kid! He can''t face them!" another master spoke, someone that wasn''t too much older than Mr. E and seemed to have a good relationship with him.


    "Don''t worry, G, he has the backing of a venerable master like us," Mr. E said before adding, "that makes one master here to defend the academy and one master there to protect him and others."


    "Others?! What others?!!" Mr. G hurried to speak with a shocking look over his face. "You must have lost your mind to think about that!"


    "As long as the master of his is there, no harm will touch any of them," Mr. E said, before turning towards Arthur as he added, "Willy, can you speak to your master on our behalf and ask to extend his protection with the surviving teams of the academy?"


    Arthur didn''t know this little lie would go this far. "Sure," he simply had to go along his lie to the end, "leave this issue to me."


    "Good," Mr. E heaved a long sigh of relief before turning around to add, "go back and continue your tasks. The academy was hit, but it still is striving. Also prepare the teams to move out, we''ll go on the road in three days max."


    "But¡­" Slone spoke up, but the look of his master silenced him and others as well.


    "I hope you know what you are doing."


    "Foolish kid."


    "Just learn how to lay low from time to time."


    These and other remarks came softly when others were exiting the hall. Arthur stood in the wide hall alone, as his team members were asked to leave politely by Mr. E.


    "I know you were lying out there," Mr. E sighed.


    "Why did you go along with my lie then?" Arthur helplessly smiled, as he couldn''t get away with his lie in front of this man.


    "It''s not only me," Mr. E sighed, "everyone here must have felt your lie."


    "Impressive," Arthur honestly remarked, "why then no one said anything?"


    "I supported you, and that''s enough for them," Mr. E said before seriously adding, "besides I intend to turn this lie into a truth."


    "How?" Arthur was curious to know what was in Mr. E''s mind.


    "I have this item," he waved his hand simply and a strange mirror appeared next. It was a giant one that even broke the ceiling the moment it appeared. "Don''t mind it, it''s quite berserk as it came from another world."


    "A higher realm?" Arthur asked.


    "Indeed," Mr. E nodded, "it came from the venerable master that hails from an old clan up there."


    "Why not ask him to help us more?" Arthur asked, "like asking his friends and family members to give hand."


    "He can''t do that," Mr. E shook his head, "his clan was long ago destroyed and he is now considered a rogue master up there."


    "He is alone then," Arthur helplessly sighed before pointing to the mirror as he asked, "how can this thing connect me with my master?"


    "It''s simply a trans universal connection tool," Mr. E explained, "all you need to do is to use something to trigger the connection with your master."


    "Like my pillar?" he asked.


    "Something like that indeed," Mr. E nodded, "but the thing you''ll use each time will be ruined by the mirror. So don''t put high hopes in getting it back."


    Arthur smiled in silence as he already had a huge pile of pillars inside his garden. "I''ll take it then," he said.


    "Wait," Mr. E stopped him, "you should use the pillar here."


    "Afraid I''ll take it away?" Arthur laughed.


    "You are my son-in-law," Mr. E nodded, "as your grandmaster and father-in-law, I have to be prepared for your greed."


    "I''m not greedy."


    "Yes you are, as I''m and my daughter-in-law is," the moment he said that, his face changed abruptly and went into heavy silence.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur said, while pointing to himself, "I plan not to let my future girl be lost like this."

 Chapter 518: George

    "But the ones who took her and Cesile are strong. I doubt your master will agree to help here," Mr. E helplessly shook his head, "my master said I should drop this. After all, each war must have all types of losses."


    "I said I got this," Arthur confidently said, "but in return I want this mirror."


    "No way."


    "C''mon, don''t be stingy."


    "Don''t be greedy."


    The two glanced silently at each other before they both broke in laughter. "Yeah, you are truly my son-in-law, hehehe."


    "Alright, I''ll start," Arthur turned towards the mirror with the metallic outlining before adding, "but this¡­ your mirror destroyed your roof, any pillar can destroy your entire mansion."


    "Nah, you can''t summon it here," Mr. E hurried to stop him.


    "Then how am I supposed to do it?" Arthur weirdly asked.


    "Just place your hand inside it and throw your pillar there," Mr. E casually said like this was a normal thing to do.


    "Simply like that?"


    "Yeah, go ahead and try."


    "What if I lost a pillar for nothing?"


    "Damn kid, you can''t do anything with a loss!" Mr. E laughed before adding, "losing one pillar means I''ll have to compensate you with another."


    "Only one?"


    "Don''t ask too much, you mostly will lose one pillar while trying."


    "Tsk, cheap father-in-law," Arthur shook his head while placing his hand on the mirror surface, "you should act more magnanimous and give me a hundred in return."


    "A hundred? Do you think these pillars are what? Wilderness weeds or something?"


    "Stingy old man," Arthur muttered and Mr. E just shook his head while watching him placing his hand on the mirror surface.


    "Just push it deeper," he instructed.


    "Deeper?" Arthur tried to push his palm yet he met strong resistance. "It refuses to let me in."


    "Use your blood," Mr. E sighed, "forgot you are still new here."


    Arthur did as he was told, and the moment his blood fell on the mirror, the resistance once there was gone. He pushed his hand inside, and a refreshing cool feeling from the depth of the mirror met him.


    ''Select one pillar with the lowest energy and send it to me,'' he said to Gege and the next moment he felt something was taken off his hand and was sucked away.


    ''I selected one which linked to that master of yours,'' Gege said.


    "You can retract your hand now," Mr. E said, "it should take some hours for the mirror to find him, maxim¡­"


    He was midway in his sentence when the mirror suddenly shook and interrupted his words. The surface of the mirror changed, like a lake had a stone thrown over its calm face.


    "It responds quite fast," Mr. E muttered, "strange."


    "He might be easy to reach or just happened to be nearby," Arthur said before the face of his master appeared again.


    "Master George," Arthur said in deep respect welcoming the master, "sorry to call you on like this."


    "Finally kid, I was about to decide to send envoys to your world," George suddenly heaved a long sigh of relief.


    "Is there something wrong, master?" Arthur didn''t expect such an answer from him.


    "Wrong? Everything''s wrong! You killed many sons of big dark clans here, and they are all furious. The entire world is brimming with rumors and gossips about you and your war with them."


    "Hehehe," Arthur helplessly laughed, "I can''t let them live after coming here."


    "I like this attitude of yours," George smiled before adding, "but the consequences on you are severe. Tell me, have you fought with any of their mercenaries yet? Have you met any?"


    Arthur realized what Alfonso was worried about, and this made him quite relieved about what help he wanted to ask from him.


    "I already met some," he honestly answered.


    "And still alive? Impressive, you seem more resilient than I thought," George laughed while shaking off his head. "Oh my¡­ It seems I worried over nothing then."


    "Well¡­" Arthur faked hesitance, "I only managed to live because I escaped to a place they can''t reach."


    "A place these mercenaries can''t reach? No way, what is it? another realm or another dimension?"


    "It''s something that belongs to me," Arthur vaguely answered before returning to the main topic, "so when I vanished they came to my world, killed my entire clan and nearly destroyed my academy."


    The look on George''s face changed as he hurriedly asked, "they killed your clan? Your family?"


    "And took two of my girls away as well."


    "Things seem far more serious than I thought," he muttered to himself, "I just got the news late it seems. From what I heard, they should have just arrived at your world a couple of days ago."


    Arthur turned to Mr. E who just sighed and said, "venerable master, I''m Mr. E, the acting dean of the Drogazire academy, living under the protection of master Steve."


    The words and attitude of Mr. E showed how much more respectful he was towards George than Arthur. He even moved from his bed and bowed his head in a sign of his respect.


    "Steve¡­ wait a minute," the eyes of George shone brightly before hurriedly adding, "you don''t mean Steve the brutal?"


    "It''s indeed him," Mr. E nodded while keeping his head and gaze slightly lower.


    "Impressive," George whispered to himself before loudly saying, "I heard he lost everything because of a struggle upon a minor academy in a lower realm. Never thought it was this academy."


    "That¡­ It was such an unfortunate event back then," Mr. E''s face changed and Arthur noticed the disturbance in his tone.


    "I heard he had a lover from your academy, the previous dean, right?" George asked, seemingly quite interested in knowing more about this.


    "That''s true, venerable master," Mr. E said, before adding, "she was taken hostage in the end, and the war master Steve raged for her and ended up losing everything."


    "But he got her in the end," George said in a smile before adding, "such a brave man. I always admired him. Alright, if he is here to help, then I think my presence isn''t required."


    He glanced over Arthur who hurriedly stopped him, "master, it''s quite the opposite."


    "What do you mean?" George asked in doubt, "was Steve injured? That''s unlikely to happen! Many good masters piled at him and are hunting him for so long and he is still fine. He is a monster in his own regard."


    Arthur didn''t know his academy had such a hidden backing, and he was also curious to hear more about that strange love story between a venerable master of higher realm and a mere dean of a weak academy in a lower realm.


    But he had to wrap things up here first, and this could be waited for another time.


    "It''s not that," Arthur shook his head before adding, "there is this grand competition here that I want to take part in."


    "In this time?!" George was also surprised by Arthur''s words before his eyes shone brightly the next instant, "wait a minute, isn''t the scout competition in lower realms is about to start? You mean this?"


    Arthur didn''t get his meaning perfectly, yet he didn''t risk asking for more right. "It''s a competition that every academy here in my world will take part in. It has a high standard and prestige, and I want to win it under the name of my academy," he said.


    "It''s the scouting competition venerable master," yet Mr. E simply spoke with Alfonso in the same tongue, making Arthur realize he knew more than he initially thought.


    "Aha¡­ so¡­" George glanced deeply at Arthur before muttering, "losing your clan and the next thing you do is to insist on fighting for your academy in such important competition? I got your aim kid, and I''ll support you in it."


    Arthur inwardly sighed helplessly when heard these words. ''Damn! I can''t even hide anything from those higher than me,'' he knew what George was referring to, as this master realized what he planned to do.


    He cracked his plan to rule over the academy and use it to upgrade to higher realms later on in an instant. ''Scary,'' he sighed while saying nothing back to his master. He didn''t want to speak about this, so Mr. E wouldn''t notice anything.


    And yet...


    "What aim?" Mr. E asked the question Arthur didn''t want to hear.

 Chapter 519: The Godfather

    The question Mr. E threw was like a ticking bomb for Arthur, so he just smiled as he turned towards him and said: "I''m just trying to find myself a new home."


    His look, his tone, and his fake tinge of tears in his eyes fooled Mr. E. he tried to be sure not to lie, or else this old fox would sniff that easily.


    So he said the truth, without blinking, directly lying by using a truth statement and simple facts like this.


    "Oh," and Mr. E had his face slightly changed, "you are most welcomed to consider the academy your home."


    Arthur nodded as he turned to face George. The look over his face instantly was wiped out to be replaced by a warning glance.


    "I want your support to protect me from the strong enemies eyeing me here," he said, jumping over the past matter.


    And George just smiled for a moment, as he read his disciple''s mind without any difficulty. "I can help in that," he said before adding, "provided that you achieve first place in that contest."


    "This is my aim," Arthur answered.


    "I don''t mean for you to aspire for something high, I need you to achieve it," George said before adding, "this will help you a lot to gain more attention and helpers. After all you created a long list of enemies that I alone can''t stand against on my own. Plus you need to create a name for yourself up here," he paused for a few moments before adding, "and this will help your academy to get more support and protection as well."


    "I understand," Arthur got the hidden message in his words. "I''ll make sure to nail my name and the name of the academy in everyone''s mind out there."


    "Great," George laughed before adding, "I want to be your Godfather, this way I can protect you with all my power."


    "Godfather?" Arthur asked in doubt, but the next instant Mr. E shouted from behind, "Accept the generosity of the venerable master, kid."


    Arthur turned to him before he saw Mr. E nodding with a wide smile over his face, a comfortable smile.


    "Godfather is what you call here as master. From this moment on I''ll be your godfather, and as such I can break the rules freely and send my elite guards to secure you and your team," George said.


    "That''s really generous of you, godfather," Arthur smiled and agreed on the proposal.


    "Good, you just need to leave a drop of blood over this pact," the next moment a parchment appeared in front of Arthur. It carried the title of godfather contract.


    Arthur first read the contract and he found nothing disturbing about it. ''What do you think, old dragon?'' he asked and the next instant the golden dragon laughed as he said:


    ''This is an authentic and old contract that we used to use back in my days. Go ahead and sign it kid, this bronzed giant will be a good master for you.''


    Arthur then didn''t hesitate anymore and left a blood drop over the parchment which had already George''s blood.


    "Great," George seemed in a good mood, "from now on I''ll be your godfather. I''ll send an elite team of my personal guards. No one can touch a single hair of you anymore," he then paused as he moved his gaze upon Mr. E, "I''ll also leave a team to guard the academy on one condition."


    Mr. E was in much better mood than George right now. "Anything a venerable master asks for will be delivered."


    "I want to meet him," George said with shining eyes, "we are now allies. Dark times are looming in the distance. We need to gather all and be ready for the next storm."


    Despite the vagueness of his words, Mr. E nodded as he promised, "I''ll contact his venerable master right away and make sure he will seek you out."


    "Make him come to the lost jungle, there no one can track him and he can safely travel to anywhere he wants without any problem," George said before pausing, "I''ll gather up my friends as well. If he has any allies, ever helped or rescued someone, did a favor to a person or a clan, then this is the right time to summon them all."


    The serious look over George''s face told Arthur and Mr. E a lot. "I''ll make sure to deliver the message appropriately," Mr. E simply said.


    "Great, we are done here then," George said before recalling something, "have that prick delivered what he promised?"


    Arthur realized he was referring to the cunning old master of his. "No master, not yet."


    "Great, I''ll use this as a leverage to bring you more helpers," he laughed before seriously adding, "despite being weak right now and living in such a low realm, what you do is pretty important to all of us up here. Make sure you won''t rest or drop your guard. Even after winning the competition, don''t relax and be intoxicated with glory. After all, glory only lasts for a moment, and a defeat''s bitterness only lasts forever."


    "Thanks for the advice, godfather," Arthur said before watching George vanish and the mirror returned to its calmness again.


    "That''s a good result indeed," Mr. E said before laughing, "it''s much better than I initially hoped for, hahaha."


    Arthur turned to him as he said, "now I can go to the competition, right?"


    "Sure, but we have to wait for the guards to arrive first," Mr. E said before adding, step aside kid, I have to contact the academy godfather."


    Arthur simply moved to the side, but the look of Mr. E didn''t change. "Go out, it''s the academy secret," he waved his hand towards the exit of the hall.


    "C''mon, you spoke with my godfather. Can''t I speak with mine too?" Arthur teased him in return.


    "Kid, go outside and stop playing fool."


    "I want to stay."


    "Grow up, you aren''t a kid anymore."


    "I want to stay."

 Chapter 520: Assessing the Damage

    "Damn! If you won''t leave, I''ll simply kick you out," Mr. E threatened with a wide smile over his face as if he was already enjoying doing so.


    "Harsh and cold hearted father-in-law," Arthur shook his head in fake disappointment, "it''s just not fair y''know."


    "I can live with it," Mr. E said before waving his hand again. "Go and prepare, the moment the guards arrive you''ll leave."


    "Tsk," Arthur sighed as he moved outside with slow pace. The next moment Mr. E summoned a gale of wind that really carried Arthur away from the hall before the door was shut behind.


    "That kid¡­ he is really amusing," Mr. E laughed from inside the hall and Arthur heard these laughs before shouting, "I won''t forget this."


    And his shout made Mr. E''s laughs be louder.


    Arthur went outside the mansion where he only found his team waiting, beside Slone and Armondo who was wrapped totally in white bandages.


    "How did it go?" Slone hurriedly asked when he spotted him.


    "We''ll go to the competition soon," Arthur briefly said before adding, "are the other teams ready?"


    "In fact they thought we were dropping this time," Slone sighed before pointing towards Armondo who had his face only free from wounds and bandages. "Even Armondo here barely lived from this attack."


    "Don''t point at me," Armondo said before adding, "I was attacking everyone, but you stayed behind your shields and didn''t attack much."


    "Who can attack those freaks?" Slone shook his head, "you are lucky you weren''t killed or taken hostage."


    "It wasn''t luck," Armondo sighed, "they targeted Amanda and Cesile from the start. Someone must have spread the news of how close the two were to Willy."


    Arthur listened to their little fight and said nothing. He agreed with what Armondo said. "I''ll go to prepare," he excused himself while moving towards his mansion.


    "Don''t get out of the academy on your own," Armondo suddenly said before adding, "there is a time where you have to fight, and another where you have to endure."


    Arthur paused for a moment before saying, "thanks master for the precious advice. I''m not that thick headed or a fool to go to my enemies'' trap head on without preparing."


    He then continued to walk with his tema behind. The two masters watched him leaving while sighing.


    "He will go after them," Slone helplessly sighed.


    "You can''t blame him for that," Armondo muttered, "youth are blessed with the fire of desire, and have luck on their side all the time."


    "I hope you are right," Slone shook his head, "I can''t tell lies here, but this fight is a loss for anyone seeking it from our side."


    "Who knows," Armondo said as he turned to glance at the Mr. E mansion, "the master holds high hopes for him, even playing along his lies. If I''m sure about something then it would be in the master''s decision and vision."


    "Yeah, that''s something I can''t refute¡­ stil¡­" Slone sighed again and said no more.


    Arthur went towards the mansion of his but he didn''t follow the direct route towards it. He took a long detour while thinking about what happened inside Mr. E mansion, the words of his godfather and also he wanted to assess the damage here.


    "This¡­ it''s a total devastation," Arthur couldn''t help but mutter when he saw the destruction everywhere. Many buildings were raised to the ground, and there were a lot still standing with gaps and missing parts everywhere.


    As for the masters and disciples he met, they were all wounded, or burdened with such a heavy glance and sorrowful look.


    "Even the shields are inactive now," he muttered when he noticed the previous protection shield standing at the inner academy zone was gone. "It seems the loss of Otman was so big," he sighed.


    He turned around after seeing enough and during all this time his team was silent. The loss of here and back at the clan was heavy, and the ongoing threats in this world still left their shadows over them.


    Arthur went to the mansion, and the first thing he did was to commence a meeting inside it.


    "What happened here is now apparent to you, we are targeted by a very strong bunch of mercenaries. Many of our enemies are acting to help them, and any single mislep will cause us more damage."


    He said before glancing at Madly, "My condolence to you for your loss. Grandpa Regil was someone dear to me. And the clan¡­"


    He faked difficulty as he paused, took a deep breath before saying, "we have to stay away from the clan for now. Even staying here might look safe, but I believe this protection will only be temporary."


    "I need revenge," Madly said in choked words. "Grandpa Regil sacrifice can''t be for nothing."


    "We''ll have our revenge," Arthur promised, "but in time. We need first to prepare and be ready for the competition."


    "Are we really going to participate in it? despite all the odds?" Omar asked.


    "We have to," Arthur firmly said, "this competition is far more serious than you might think. We need backing, strong and real dependable backing. I made a deal with someone to help, but through this competition we can all have masters to sponsor us. This way we can be ready to take our revenge next."


    "But¡­" Madly was persistent on taking revenge now, but Arthur stopped her by his hand. "We can''t let Grandpa Regil''s sacrifice be wasted. What good will happen if you threw out your life like this? We are weak, let''s face it and don''t delude ourselves with any other facts. We are vulnerable, and we need to plan things right and be very careful or else we won''t get nothing but death."


    His words silenced everyone, and he just sighed before adding, "I''m not in the mood to lose any of you. You are the future of my clan, a real powerhouse. You only need time and proper guidance to reach your goals."


    "When can we leave then?" Amelia asked.


    "Is it safe to leave?" Gor asked.


    "It''s not safe yet," Arthur admitted, "but soon strong guards will arrive and secure us all. They will accompany us to the place of the contest."


    "Seems a bit risky to me," Omar sighed.


    "Can''t we look for direct transportation there?" Deem said before adding, "I believe this isn''t hard for the academy."


    Arthur thought for a moment there before saying, "there must be something blocking such technique, or it might have been destroyed. You saw the masters, their reaction meant there is no other way but going there on foot."


    Everyone sighed, as thinking about directly moving towards the location of the contest was appealing to all. "Is it safe there?" Deem asked again, "at the contest location?"


    "As far as I know it''s alright," Arthur said before adding, "we can get more info from masters here. Spread up and gather more data regarding this contest and the location and protection there before leaving."


    "Leave this to us then," Amelia said before adding, "you need to rest. My condolence for the loss of the clan."


    Everyone repeated her words, even Madly, who seemed distracted in her personal loss.

 Chapter 521: Imans Mysterious Fate

    "So the competition is going to be held in the mightiest academy here, the Locek academy? And the competition is all arranged under a special suppressive environment except for the fighting arena?" Arthur asked after his team gathered up again in the next morning.


    He rested, for one rare moment since coming to this world. He had his mind clearer and his thoughts much organized than before.


    "Yes, and that means no one can transform to any monster from there," Amelia said before adding, "but pets and special abilities are allowed."


    "Good," Arthur noted this before adding, "we have an advantage upon others then. Did you know the themes of this contest? Its main teams?"


    "Many rumors are there," Omar sighed, "but from what we heard, this would be a fierce competition."


    Arthur had no doubt in this. He already realized this was his own tribulation in this world. These assassins, these limits to his own powers were all part of his tribulation no doubt.


    Coupled with the loss of the clan, the loss in the academy, and the biggest challenge wasn''t in winning the competition but to rescue his two girls, he realized things wouldn''t go smoothly as he expected.


    ''They''ll try to use the two as a pressing card over me,'' he muttered to himself, reminding himself of the importance of relieving this threat. ''But the issue isn''t to rescue them, but primarily to find these two.''


    For him, he had the pillar he got from George from before and the guards sent by him to protect his safety. ''He won''t complain if I used them to do a couple more things for me,'' he thought, and reaching this far he realized the main hurdle now was to find those enemies first.


    After he found out their location, things would turn out to be much easier to plan a trap for them.


    "By the way, teams are ready to move on," Deem said, "but they are still waiting for you."


    "Let them wait then," Arthur sighed before returning his head to rest over the seat, "let''s enjoy a moment of peace, a rare one, as long as we can."


    Everyone exchanged glances before Madly directly asked with red puffy eyes:


    "What do you plan to do with those invaders?"


    "What are you going to do with Amanda and Cesile masters?" Amelia asked with a hesitant tone apparent to everyone.


    "I intend to kill them all," Arthur simply stated.


    "But¡­" Madly paused, as this seemed quite heavy on her to say, "they are strong. Losing our lives won''t be the best thing, won''t be the thing Grandpa Regil wanted."


    Arthur gave her a calm smile before saying, "don''t worry, I won''t move until I became sure of our victory. But I won''t let them be at ease. At least they won''t leave us alone."


    "Aren''t there guards coming from higher planes to help us?" Gor said before he hurriedly explained when he noticed the stern look of Arthur, "rumors are spreading all over the academy about this."


    "They are coming," Arthur slowly said before adding, "but this doesn''t mean we are totally safe."


    He noticed the weird glances of everyone here. He sighed as he knew they were just green offsprings in this world, not like him. "There are many ways you can''t imagine away from fighting to make a man fall," he simply said and didn''t explain more.


    Yet his words left a profound impact in their souls. "Now, ask someone to deliver food to us. We didn''t eat anything normal for so long," he said with a smile over his face.


    A smile that told them all one thing; he wasn''t a bit worried about the terror everyone was afraid of in the near future.


    The morning went peacefully as he ate his breakfast with others. "Sigh, the last time we had this was back at the Nystic clan¡­" saying this made his pause as he suddenly recalled those seemingly far memories.


    "How is Rayan doing? Noura? And Iman?" he asked while moving his eyes between his old mates who attended these events with him and knew them.


    "I met Rayan once," Omar said, "he is greatly wounded, but he is surviving."


    Arthur sighed, before turning his gaze to his team again. This time only silence was what met him.


    "Noura? Iman?" he asked.


    "We never saw them," Amelia said before adding, "we can go out and ask directly about their whereabouts."


    "Good, send someone to do this then," Arthur said before he glanced over the clear sky from the window of the hall. "I have a bad premonition about this."


    He waited for the rest of the day before he finally received news about the two. Noura was injured as well, lost in coma and was now healed by the best mage in the academy when others realized she was related to him.


    As for Iman¡­ things were a little more complicated with her.


    "No one saw her after the fight?" Arthur asked to make sure he got it right. "She wasn''t killed, yet nowhere to be found?"


    "Masters here said the place was chaotic. Many were lost after the fight and were nowhere to be found," Madly said, "they believe they died."


    "Died¡­" Arthur mumbled before losing himself in thought. "I don''t think so," he firmly said. He didn''t think Iman would fall without a proper fight, and if that was the case then everyone would have noticed her.


    "She might have run away," Deem said, speaking about something he totally didn''t know.


    "No way," Arthur firmly shook his head before adding, "Iman won''t do that. Something else must have happened to her."


    "Kidnapped as well?" Madly asked.


    "Perhaps," Arthur sighed, "as they reached my clan and destroyed it, they must have learnt much about my deeds and relations here. Iman was with us when we went to the Nystic clan, and we have many enemies there."


    "It''s possible," Amelia said, "but if so then we have three to rescue."


    "And we don''t know the place of any of them," Omar sighed, "I asked around, and no one has any clue about where those invaders are. They all said they instantly vanished, instantly teleporting away."


    "Rumble!"

 Chapter 522: Doaf

    Hi, it''s me ranmaro. Sorry to disturb your reading but I have to remind you about my discord server. Anyone who bought my highest privilege has the privilege to join the discord server and be a VIP member there. I have many projects going on and need your opinions about.


    To join just check the synopsis for the link. Also post a chapter comment here with your ID so I can enable the VIP role for you.


    Thanks for the support so far, and please continue reading :D


    ____________________________


    Just before Arthur could speak, a sudden rumble occurred just outside his mansion. The sound in this late hour of the night was loud, echoed in the entire academy and alerting everyone.


    "Another attack," Arthur hurried to his feet as he ran directly towards the outside. The team moved after him, with dignified looks on their faces.


    They weren''t a match to these invaders, the academy wasn''t, no one was here.


    As they all reached the bottom, they were stupefied when they saw the scene that welcomed them.


    Large bodies, strong auras, bald heads, and bare chests. An entire legion of giants stood in front of them, waiting in front of the doors of their mansion.


    Each one of them looked so giant to rival Arthur''s mansion. Despite that, they all stood in calm, not causing any ruckus, and Arthur noticed the unified bronzed scarf wrapped around their necks.


    "They are finally here," he laughed before moving towards the outside.


    "Wait¡­" Amelia tried to stop him with hesitance, yet he didn''t listen and went outside.


    Just as he reached them, the legion had already arrived. Numbering a five hundred giant made this part of the academy like it had grown hills all of a sudden.


    "Are you young master Arthur?" one of them ignored the masters and disciples who hurried to this place as he turned his gaze towards Arthur and asked.


    "Are you the ones my godfather sent?" Arthur asked with a wide smile over his face.


    "Yes," the giant said before shouting in a loud shout, "legion¡­ assemble."


    The next moment the giants all moved in unison, like doing something they all trained on for so long. Then they put their hands over their bare chests as they descended on one knee. "We salute the young master," they all shouted in one voice that echoed around the academy, even shaking some of its buildings.


    "Oh, I like that," Arthur laughed before turning towards a certain direction. "Mr. E, glad you came. I was just about to send someone to you," he said when he saw Mr. E appearing with an amazed look over his face.


    "Your orders, young master," the first giant to speak spoke again, "our grandmaster ordered us to follow you and die if needed to. Just snap your fingers and we will make sure to crush any enemy you desire."


    Arthur smiled before moving towards the still half kneeling giant as he patted his leg, the only place he could reach even in such stance, and said:


    "I''m grateful for my godfather to send such capable warriors," he paused before adding, "and make sure I won''t just throw you to lose your lives for nonsense. I consider you my own team now, and I won''t let my team down," he said it loud and clear, stating his own vision to those who were new to him.


    "That''s great," Mr. E arrived at this moment while moving his glance over the giants, "damn, if they were here much earlier, those bastards wouldn''t have dared to touch the academy."


    "You''ve a point indeed," Arthur nodded before adding, "now isn''t the time to say such things. We need to make preparations and be ready to move the first light in the morning," Arthur said.


    "As you wish, young master," the giant said before adding, "grandmaster told us you''ll need some to stay behind. Do you want to do that?"


    "Let''s not talk this serious just when you arrived," Arthur laughed shortly while hinting that this wasn''t the place to talk about such things.


    "My name is Doaf," the giant said as he was now sitting inside the most secured hall in the entire academy; the dean''s mansion.


    Mr. E arranged things for the entire legion to eat and rest before taking Arthur and Doaf towards the dean''s mansion. The mansion was the most giant building in the entire academy, with a hall that was able to contain the huge body of Doaf.


    "Listen Doaf," Arthur seriously said while the plates of food in front of them were empty, "it''s not polite to say to someone in his home his food sucks!"


    "But young master this is the truth," Doaf was stubborn, "this food didn''t make my stomach even feel anything."


    "Sigh," Arthur stole a side glance over the dark face of Mr. E. "This is the most precious food we ever had," he muttered with a shocked tone and deep sorrow.


    "Alright, taste this," Arthur waved his hand and the next instant a large pile of meat appeared.


    "That looks promising," Doaf cracked a smile when he sniffed the aroma of the meat. "It''s not made by any low being here," he turned to glance at Arthur, "may I ask from which it was made?"


    "Just taste it and stop making a scene," Arthur helplessly smiled while watching Doaf put a small piece in his mouth.


    And the next instant his eyes shone. "A Golam''s meat! No way!" he instantly recognized the nature of this meat, and Arthur was simply surprised by this as he raised one eyebrow in response.


    "Don''t be surprised, young master," Doaf hurried to eat more meat as if he was afraid anyone would come to compete him on it, "it''s not easy to find a Golam to cook these days," he embarrassedly laughed after clearing up the pile Arthur just took. "May I ask if the young master has more?"


    "C''mon, you ate my meat and didn''t tell me how you feel about it," Arthur laughed.


    "It''s great meat, even for us up there this would be a nice meal from time to time," Doaf honestly said.


    "Then let it be from time to time for you too," Arthur evilly laughed and hurried to say before Doaf could speak, "don''t worry, I won''t mistreat any of my followers," he promised first before adding, "now it''s time we discuss serious matters."


    "Young master can order and I''ll execute your wishes," Doaf said in strange excitement, which made Arthur sigh. He never thought such a giant man would be tempted by this piece of meat.


    Yet he recalled his first master. ''Wasn''t he also so excited by hunting that lizard?'' he thought to himself before giving Doaf a side glance, ''are all the bronzed giants this hungry all the time? Do they live inside a desert or something?!''


    "Ahem," Mr. E cleared his throat as he jumped over his awkward moment from before, "I think we need at least a hundred protectors here."


    Arthur glanced at him silently before thinking this old fox was trying to start the negotiation early. "First we need to know the number of our enemies here," Arthur said before adding, "you met them, can you tell us about their estimated numbers?"


    "Around a thousand," Mr. E said with a dark face.


    "A thousand?!" This number greatly exceeded the number of guards sent by George.


    "Don''t worry, we are much stronger than them," Doaf noticed the stern look over Arthur''s face so he stepped in to clarify things.


    "How much strong?" Arthur asked.


    "Like one of us can deal with ten of them," Doaf said before adding, "we have the absolute advantage, don''t worry."

 Chapter 523: A Plan

    "One can handle ten, are you sure about that?" Arthur didn''t want arrogance to stand between Doaf and the right assessment here.


    He wasn''t considering only his own safety or the academy''s, but the other task he had in mind.


    "I''m not exaggerating," Doaf proudly declared, "my men are the elites our grandmaster has. We can''t be compared to some rogue assassins. Don''t worry young master, your safety is in good hands."


    "Good," Arthur nodded before adding, "then fifty stationed here will be enough."


    "F- Fifty?!" Mr. E hurried to interrupt, "but this is far from enough."


    "They are able to handle five hundred enemies," Arthur helplessly said, "do you think more will come at the academy?"


    "I think we should station a hundred," Mr. E asked again about the same number in mind.


    "If the young master allows me to speak," Doaf cleared his throat while glancing over Arthur who just nodded, "we can leave a hundred of our fresh recruitment here. They are strong but they aren''t like the veterans of our legion."


    Before Mr. E could object again, Arthur hurried to say: "Agreed. Leave a hundred of them here then, and let''s prepare to leave."


    "Now?" Mr. E was surprised, "it''s already dark."


    "We have to hit the road early and not waste a minute," Arthur said.


    "Don''t worry, night or day we can protect our your master," Doaf promised.


    "What about the other team?" Mr. E asked, "we have five more teams ready to join you there."


    "Send them to the gate of the academy now," Arthur just shrugged, without caring about these teams anymore, "they will be secured by Doaf and his men as well."


    Doaf nodded to confirm the words of Arthur. "Alright, I''ll fetch someone to them and make them move out now."


    Mr. E took out five bird''s wings before sending them off.


    "Let''s go."


    Arthur was now standing in front of the academy gates. The five teams Mr. E spoke about were already there, and each had twenty members at least.


    Doaf and his team surrounded everyone, while Doaf walked with Arthur at the rear of the march.


    As for Arthur''s team, they were already marching in the center.


    Mr. E stood on top of the tattered walls of the academy with many of his masters. Some proposed to accompany them, but Doaf refused.


    "The safety of our young master is our responsibility," he said.


    The caravan marched with great speed towards the front. Doaf let part of his team move around as a scout while he let another group lead the team towards the front.


    Before leaving, he made sure to have all the maps about this world memorized by his team members. Now they knew what lied ahead and how much distance it was between them and the Locek academy.


    Dorgazire academy lied on one side of the world, while Locek academy was in its center. The distance on the maps didn''t seem big, but according to Mr. E words it was vast.


    At least ten days are required to travel on foot, but Doaf wasn''t in a hurry as the competition would be held in two weeks at least from now.


    "Tell me, how much can we spare?" Arthur suddenly asked in a soft tone after one day of march without any rest.


    "Do you want to dispatch part of the legion?" Doaf asked with some curiosity.


    "I have another mission to handle," Arthur asked, "we have four hundred now, and we might spare to lose one hundred, right?"


    "In theory yes," Doaf was feeling odd, "but for what? That will leave us vulnerable and might lead our enemies to attack."


    "Didn''t you say one against ten?" Arthur said.


    "I''m not talking about that," Doaf shook his head, "what I meant was the total number of enemies here."


    "Aren''t they a thousand?"


    "I believe they are more," Doaf sighed, "our grandmaster used his connections before sending us here. As far as we know there are at least two thousand mercenaries who accepted the call."


    "Two thousand¡­ not bad," Arthur nodded, "I just don''t like this prey feeling. I want to be the predator."


    Doaf gave him a long glance before muttering, "want to lure them out?"


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded before adding, "I want to let them attack us then retreat."


    "Retreat?!!" This time Doaf was taken aback by what Arthur intended to do.


    "Here is what I want you to do¡­" Arthur then explained things to him. After he finished, Doaf took a deep breath before expressing his thoughts.


    "To be honest, this plan is sinister in its core," he paused, "I heard the young master belongs initially to the dark dragonair clan. Is this true?"


    "Indeed," Arthur didn''t try to coat things up, "I''m a dark dragonair who decided to stand against them."


    "Personal feud?" Doaf asked.


    "Not that," Arthur shook his head, "in fact I hated being the bad guy here. I''m a nice dragonair, why should I be on the side of those evildoers?"


    Doaf didn''t buy this reason, but for Arthur this was enough as one. He wouldn''t speak about his origin, or how he came to this world.


    ''I might have a personal feud with them,'' he thought to himself when he recalled the past events that started with that weird doctor and ended by trying to absorb his soul, ''but I''m a good guy from the beginning,'' he said what he really felt.


    "Alright," Doaf nodded, "we''ll use this plan of yours and hope it will work."


    "It will," Arthur smiled in confidence, "they are the restless one right now, not me."


    "Because of us?"


    "Locek academy has its own backing," Arthur simply said, "they won''t be able to handle us properly there without causing many problems to themselves."


    "Do you know which clan they have their backing?"


    "No clue," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I just know they have someone''s support, and that support seems to be strong enough to scare those assassins."

 Chapter 524: An Attack

    "Interesting," Doaf muttered, "alright I''ll spread the news to boys. I bet they''ll be much excited about moving up their muscles for a bit after all this march."


    He laughed while waving towards a nearby giant and told him about the orders. The eyes of the giant shone brightly as he nodded and went to deliver the news.


    The next hours more of the giants went missing until there were only a handful of a hundred securing the caravan. "The trap is laid young master," Doaf said, "all that''s left now is for the prey to take the bait."


    Arthur nodded, yet the wait lasted for two more days. The time when the giant numbers decreased, everyone here noticed this and became a bit worried.


    As time went by, and nothing happened, they all started to get used to this. They thought others were scattered around protecting them, and so no danger ever occurred to them so far.


    During their march they passed through many lands that belonged to different sized clans and guilds. The first thing they crossed was the great sea forest outside the academy, which took roughly two days for them to reach its end.


    Then they had to meet many patrolling teams of clans and guilds. They were eyed by many, but no one was brave enough to get near this terrifying group of mages with those giants supporting them.


    The giant gave off a dangerous vibe that even a kid would feel. So, during their four days march, not a single time they were stopped by any team, or even tried to ask them to stay.


    They also took a general road where it went away from any big clan headquarter or guild base. This helped in evading many troubles, as Arthur didn''t want to create more ruckus to the academy; his academy.


    Besides he saw all of them as his own subjects, yet they didn''t know that.


    "We have company."


    At the mid-day of the fourth day Doaf suddenly whispered. "My scout team has found many strangers coming towards us," he added.


    "Strong or weak?" Arthur simply asked.


    "Strong indeed."


    "Good, the fish took the bait then," Arthur laughed while glancing all around, "everything is settled?" he casually asked.


    "They will be trapped here, don''t worry young master."


    "I''m worried your boys might overdo it," Arthur smiled as he helplessly glanced at the hundred giants scattered all around.


    "This is something I stressed over many times already," Doaf also sighed, "but my boys are hot blooded, especially when meeting anyone from the dark clans."


    "They are from dark clans?" Arthur wasn''t that surprised to hear this.


    "Sure, everyone belonged to one weak clan or a lost clan. Yet they can''t be underestimated."


    "I depend on you then," Arthur smiled before inwardly saying, ''be ready, I might need your help at any moment.''


    ''Don''t worry, I''m now part of your soul and linked to your mind dantian,'' Gege said before adding, ''no illusion can work on you easily anymore.''


    ''I hope you are right,'' he inwardly sighed. During these days he had many discussions with the voices in his head. They talked about the nature of those assassins and the magnitude of their threat.


    The only disturbing thing Arthur had was the soul based attacks, and with the presence of Gege here he was now slightly relieved of such worry.


    Gege excelled in breaking any soul attack coming from the dark side. She also spoke many times about his mind dantian and how it was helpful in defending against such attacks.


    Arthur knew she wasn''t exaggerating. After all the mind dantian was always linked to soul attacks in his past life.


    It didn''t take longer than one hour before the enemies started to attack. The first came from the rear, where Arthur and Doaf were there.


    A group of hundred werewolves appeared all of sudden with their big hairy bodies and sharp claws. Just as they roared while running fast towards Arthur, Doaf simply took out a large stick, made entirely of bronze, and then he simply waved it.


    "Rumble!"


    At this moment Arthur knew that Doaf wasn''t exaggerating when he spoke about their individual strength.


    When he waved his stick, a rumbling occurred faintly around him, and a wide pulse wave erupted from the tip of the stick, heading directly towards the incoming enemies.


    Some moved to evade it just in time, while others weren''t that lucky. With this simple attack of Doaf, thirty-five of the werewolves were killed while leaving another seventeen heavily wounded on the ground.


    "Good," Arthur smiled in excitement while another idea popped up his mind, "I can have more capable soldiers then."


    Doaf didn''t realize his meaning, but the sudden eruption of the fight made the entire caravan stop.


    And then more attacks came from all sides at this moment.


    "Rumble!"


    "Stay in the center."


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Arthur noticed that everyone of the giants held a bronzed stick and used it the same way Doaf did. Yet not many of them were strong as him, and that made him realize that Doaf was their strongest.


    The surviving werewolves didn''t stop their charge, yet more giants appeared in front of Arthur to attack these. The fight was intense from the start, and in no time many started to roar in pain while others lost their lives.


    "Stay here young master," Doaf suddenly said while he vanished the next instant from Arthur''s side.


    "Sure, I''ll heed by your words," Arthur smirked as he took out the pillar he once took from George and his bow and arrows.


    He didn''t hesitate to hit the pillar with arrows while he kept a vigilant glance around.


    Everywhere there were teams of dark assassins hitting them, yet they were all stopped by the giants. The one hundred group of giants seemed small, but they were so much organized and far stronger than their enemies.


    They got divided into ten groups, each had ten giants. Each group took the mission to protect one side of the caravan, while three groups acted as jokers; jumping from one fight to another, helping their comrades.

 Chapter 525: Taking Hostages

    And two groups stayed behind, one to secure the kids in the middle, and one was around Arthur right now.


    And Arthur wasn''t that much interested in them as he was busy in activating the pillar.


    "Taking one hundred hits to be activated is so much troublesome," he sighed while watching many werewolves, vampires, and hyenas trying to sneak between his giants in futile attempts.


    In the next five minutes, more enemies showed up, turning the fight more disadvantageous on paper on the giants.


    Despite that no one of them ever managed to break through the tight defense of those bronzed giants.


    ''Can you handle one of them if I sent him inside?'' Arthur was about to activate his pillar when he suddenly asked Gege.


    ''I can handle anyone,'' she arrogantly said, ''but I can''t affect their souls. They aren''t monsters, but mages.''


    ''Leave this to me,'' Arthur evilly sneered, ''I just want you to fix them in place motionless.''


    ''This I can do.''


    ''Great,'' he then launched the last hit towards the pillar before muttering, "keep up with me boys."


    Then he moved.


    This sudden move startled everyone while his ten guards tried to stop him, he didn''t listen to any calling.


    He moved in the middle of the fight with his pillar emitting a large energy pulse. The energy hit everyone, and yet his guards weren''t affected unlike the others.


    Any hostile enemy that was hit by this pulse wave was sent flying instantly backwards with many injuries.


    "Damn, it seems they are stronger than the ability of the pillar to handle," Arthur sighed when he noticed the energy pulse coming from the pillar became slightly weaker with time. "I need to hurry then."


    The next instant he turned into a dragon, and then moved like a bolt of lightning to the front.


    Just as he returned back again, the pillar seemed to die off. "Only last this time¡­ weird," he was surprised to see that before he cancelled his transformation.


    "What the hell did you think yourself doing?" The next instant the angry voice of Doaf appeared next to him.


    "I just wanted to check on something," Arthur pointed to the pillar as he added, "I received this from my godfather."


    "This won''t work on them," Doaf sighed, "they have the perfect counter this time to minimize the damage of the pillar. They came prepared, learnt from the past mistakes."


    "I thought this pillar was invincible," Arthur muttered while watching the pillar returning to its previous introverted state.


    "That''s true," Doaf sighed, "but they used an array to magnify the expenditure of the pillar. Yours can''t handle all these numbers for a long time before exhausting its energy."


    "So I need to activate it again?"


    "You''ll need time for that," Doaf seriously said, "and your enemies won''t give you this privilege if you were alone."


    "I understand," Arthur nodded in fake regret, "I won''t act rash from now on."


    "Good, I''ll go to keep killing and chasing them around," Doaf then vanished the next instant while adding, "keep him safe or else I''ll personally punish all of you."


    His ten giant guards trembled faintly under the vision of Arthur when he heard these threatening words. They moved to surround Arthur while one of them pleaded:


    "Please young master, don''t make things hard on us."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled in real content, as he already got what he aimed for.


    Despite the weakness of that pillar right now, it served him right and bought him enough time to take in twenty injured werewolves who were now imprisoned inside his garden.


    ''Gege, keep them restricted,'' he said while watching the fight all around in such a relaxed attitude.


    ''Bad news,'' all of sudden Gege spoke, ''they are committing suicide right now.''


    ''What?!!'' Arthur was speechless for a moment before glancing all around, ''all of them?'' he asked.


    ''Up to now half already died, and the rest I think will do the same.''


    ''Can''t you stop them?''


    ''I''m restricting their movements, but can''t deal with their self-destruct methods.''


    The helplessness in her voice told him everything he needed to know. ''Damn! When I thought everything was fine,'' he sighed while glancing at everyone around, ''there are some wounded, but this method is a pain.''


    He thought of going out again and taking some back, but he hesitated. This weird method of suicide was something he couldn''t deal with at the moment.


    He had to helplessly watch those wounded commit suicide in front of his eyes. Despite using simple techniques such as cutting their throats, he still felt quite pained.


    The hostiles were driven back by the reinforcements that appeared all of sudden from nowhere. Around two hundred giants added more pressure on the enemies, making them retreat.


    "The plan is a success," Doaf appeared next beside Arthur and noticed his change in mood, "what happened?"


    "They committed a suicide," he pointed towards the dead bodies all around of the previously wounded enemies.


    "You wanted to interrogate them?" he was speechless there for a moment, "they would prefer to die than to tell you anything."


    "Tsk, they are dark mages, don''t they value their lives?"


    "It''s not that," Doaf shook his head, "They have trained from little to not disclose any secret to anyone. It''s nearly impossible for someone weak like you to try and interrogate them," he said before hurriedly adding, "even me is too weak to do that. This is a task left over for masters like ours."


    "Tsk, am I not a young master?" he bitterly joked before speaking to Gege, ''How many are still alive?''


    ''Seven and the number is rapidly decreasing.''


    ''Move them apart from each other, and spread a rumor about someone of them willing to sell them out.''


    ''This is unlikely to work.''


    ''Just an attempt,'' he inwardly sighed.


    "I''ve sent some after them," Doaf said before adding, "shall we move out now?"


    "Sure."


    The caravan moved out while Arthur took in every single corpse here. From time to time he would close his eyes, enter into his garden and summon his dragons using dragomancer ability.

 Chapter 526: Gaining Valuable Intel

    Every single hostage he had killed themselves with no exception. His little trick failed to make anyone hesitate, yet he never lost hope of gaining some answers.


    ''Gege, interrogate those dragons for me,'' he said while hanging his last hope over this.


    The news he got wasn''t that much. Most of his dragons had their memories fuzzy about what happened to their past lives.


    Yet he got two important infos.


    The first was that the base of this group operation was inside a deep mountain, just near the location of the academy.


    That meant he could send out his giants to scout the place around the academy once reaching there.


    And the second info was regarding their numbers. As Doaf said, they were slightly over two thousand, almost reaching two thousand and half.


    From the last battle alone, this number decreased by over sixty percent, leaving only slightly less than a thousand alive.


    There was other info like the presence of some traitors inside the Locek academy who worked for them. But there were no more details about their IDs.


    He also gained valuable information regarding the contest itself. It seemed these assassins already contacted all the big dark clans in this world, and also summoned others from other worlds to take part in this.


    The main goal here was to make him fail, then try to kill him in the process.


    "They think I''m that push over," he helplessly smiled before adding, "I want to see their faces when I win the entire contest then."


    The march then went peacefully for the rest of the journey. Doad decreased the number of guards to be less than fifty at some point, but nothing enticed the deeply wounded enemies to attack again.


    They walked for days among many regions, crossed many forests, mountains, and wilderness. During this long travel, they trespassed over many lands of other clans and guilds, yet all acted blindly towards them.


    After five more days, good news started to come in batches.


    "We have located the Locek academy base," Doaf suddenly said before adding, "the scouts upfront just delivered this news."


    "How far?" Arthur was exhausted, not only from the travel but from the tension of waiting for something to happen.


    "Only less than four hours march," Doaf said before adding, "they are waiting at the welcoming party of the academy."


    "Great."


    "There is one more news," Doaf whispered after an hour of silent march, "we have located some bases of the enemies."


    "Some?" Arthur was surprised as during the past days he kept summoning his dragons until they became almost two hundred in number. They never said anything new or different, all repeating the same words from before.


    "Yeah, some went to rest in the wilderness, others went to a small hill, and the last group went towards a lake nearby."


    "No mountains?" Arthur asked while waiting for the right answer he waited for.


    "Mountains?" Doaf glanced weirdly at him, "only hills out there."


    "No mountain around?" Arthur was surprised to hear that.


    "Only two," Doaf said, "and the two are inside the academy itself."


    Arthur had his eyes shone brightly as he started to link the dots. This response of him alerted Doaf who instantly asked:


    "Is there anything you know and I don''t?"


    Arthur laughed as he mysteriously answered:


    "How can I be your young master if I don''t?"


    "Impressive," Doaf laughed, "you are acting exactly like my grandmaster."


    Arthur laughed and during the rest of the march he kept thinking about what he learnt from Doaf.


    ''If so, then the danger lurks inside,'' he muttered to himself.


    ''Don''t worry, you got us,'' the golden dragon confidently said.


    ''Ding! I''ll always keep scouting things around.''


    ''As long as you deliver me someone, I''ll make sure he or she either be your prisoner or self explode.''


    Arthur smiled as he knew they were his main backers, the ones he could depend entirely from.


    ''Listen, I want you to scan the academy once we enter,'' he said to his system, ''I don''t want to be left in the dark while my enemies are getting too near.''


    ''Ding! I might alarm some strong individuals though.''


    Arthur was surprised to hear that. ''First time for you to speak about something like that,'' he said.


    ''Ding! It''s not my fault you stayed at a weak place,'' the system complained before adding, ''Ding! This academy already has many powerhouses. I spotted a couple passing by during the past hour alone.''


    ''Passing by?'' Arthur muttered, ''never felt anything.''


    ''They seem to be like your giant,'' the golden dragon said, ''they are strong beyond this world''s limit. It''s not the issue in your academy, but in your world.''


    ''Anyway just keep an eye over the area around me,'' Arthur wasn''t in mind to think about these issues for now, ''I don''t need anyone to come near me without knowing.''


    ''Ding! As you wish.''


    Arthur wasn''t afraid of stirring up trouble here, after all he had the protection of Doaf and his strong legion.


    When they approached the academy, Arthur saw a giant gate attached to a giant wall up in the distance.


    And when they approached it, the rest of the legion assembled once more around him.


    "Impressive," he went forward to stand with the rest of his team when Omar muttered in surprise. "All of them will take part in the competition?"


    During the march, the five teams from the academy stuck to their silence. They watched everything that happened, and after the fight they had reached one conclusion.


    It was better for them not to be enemies with Arthur and his team!


    They weren''t stupid to stand on other side than the side of Arthur at this point.


    So when Omar said these words, one of the disciples, who seemed in mid-twentieth, volunteered to say:


    "This is normal, after all this contest is something even external worlds with no recognition from the official tournament would take part as well."


    "Aha," Omar nodded before he started to chat a little with this disciple.

 Chapter 527: The Two Mountain Peaks

    As for Arthur, he already had the info about this. He also knew not all who came here belonged to light side clans and academies; some came from dark ones and they all were targeting him.


    "This is interesting," he smiled while waiting in a long line to enter the Locek academy.


    When it was their turn, Arthur noticed the identity of those standing in front of him. There was a group of a hundred mage, led by another group of five masters and dozens of strange shaped guards who gave the same dangerous vibe as Doaf.


    "Lycans," Doaf muttered when he saw them.


    "Lycan?" Arthur muttered before something flashed in his mind.


    "They are a bunch of crazy folks up there," Doaf sighed while one of those guards with pale bodies and red eyes noticed him.


    "Isn''t it the bronzed giant elite squad? What a nice turn of events to meet here in such a desolate lowly world," the lycan said while moving with wide steps to stand in front of Arthur and others.


    He glanced at them slowly while saying, "which academy had the privilege of the renowned bronzed giants?"


    "The dorgazire academy," Arthur spoke on behalf of everyone.


    The moment his words were heard, the faces of everyone changed. "The cursed ones," the lycan muttered before laughing, "interesting. I heard this all was caused by a single rogue dragonair kid who stood against his clan and chose our side. I bet he is out there hiding, shaking in fear from what lies await for him in this world."


    He laughed as if he cracked a joke, and before Doaf could answer, Arthur was much faster when he said with pride:


    "This rogue one is standing directly before you, yet you didn''t recognize him. What a shame!"


    The eyes of the lycan shone brighter while he gave Arthur a deeper glance. "No way, I can''t sense any filthy dragonair energy from your body kid."


    "He is our young master, Ralin," Doaf had to step in to prevent any further escalation of such a meeting. "He is heading to participate in the contest."


    "Then welcome," Ralin made a theatrical move which made Arthur know his real stance from him.


    Arthur moved to the front where the team of masters waited for him to take his data. "A tip for tomorrow kid, keep your low and stay hidden. You aren''t safe even with those giants around," Ralin smirked before turning around and gave Doaf a silent warning long glance. "This is my grandmaster beloved academy, don''t ruin things here please."


    "I promise you''ll always be busy and entertained," Doaf smirked back while moving to stand just behind Arthur.


    "You name," the mage asked in respect while he knew his place was so low in such a high level argument.


    "Willy, golden lion clan, Dorgazire academy representative," Arthur said with a calm tone.


    "Please take this and wear it all the time," the mage wrote something in his sheet before handing over a necklace, "this is for your protection."


    "Thanks," Doaf was the one to speak as he received the necklace and hid it away.


    The mage glanced at him and couldn''t open his mouth. "Next," he said, moving his attention to do his duty without any undesired problems.


    Arthur waited on the side until all of his team were checked in. all the necklaces they received were left untouched by Doaf, which made Arthur wonder why he did that.


    "Go in, there is a team to help showing you around," another mage said when all the teams from the academy signed in already.


    "Why did you take the necklace?" Arthur asked while passing through the gigantic gate towards the inside.


    "This is a tracking device," Doaf simply said and Arthur didn''t need to hear more.


    "Interesting," Arthur laughed before asking, "do you know that lycan?"


    "He and I exchanged sticks together many times," Doaf simply said but Arthur realized things were far deeper than that.


    "I feel he isn''t the nice guy he seems to be," Arthur said, testing the waters.


    "He is¡­ ok," Doaf sighed, "at least he is on our side."


    Arthur nodded and said nothing more. He got a glimpse about the nature of that lycan, a dirty one it seemed.


    "Welcome my lords to our academy," one of the disciples who came to welcome the entire group said. He was acting polite for fear of Doaf and his giant team, but his cold gazed told Arthur everything about his real opinion about them. "Follow me, I''ll take you around the academy towards your place of residence."


    Arthur wasn''t interested much in that tour, yet what made him interested were the two distant mountain peaks here. "May I ask what are those mountains for?" Arthur interrupted the blabber of that disciple about the history and majesty of this academy than others.


    His arrogant tone and attitude were expected by everyone, but Arthur didn''t care much about all that. For him, this academy and others weren''t just rivals, they were his future target to rule over the entire world.


    They would eventually serve him, but they didn''t yet realize this.


    "That peak over there is the one where our core disciples live alongside the masters of the academy," the disciple pointed to one peak then he pointed to the other, "as for that, it''s where the tournament will be held."


    Arthur glanced at the two while thinking about one thing only. ''It''s hard to infiltrate both without causing a ruckus.''


    ''Ding! There are many eyes focusing over you,'' the system warned.


    ''I also felt some hidden evil intentions from some,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Master, bring them all inside and I''ll handle properly with all,'' Gege arrogantly declared.


    ''You guys¡­'' Arthur inwardly sighed, ''we are the center of attention and many will be hostile to us. I don''t care about those in the academy, I only care about those who seem to be not fit in.''


    He wasn''t delusional to consider everyone here his enemy; they were just his rivals at the moment.


    As for his real enemies, he already had the info about them being in one of the two mountains.


    "May I ask if outsiders can invade the academy?" he suddenly asked and the disciple had to stop his blabber to add more with pride:


    "Our academy is unique than any other ones here in this world. We already enjoy the protection of the lycan clan for thousands of years. No one can dare to step inside the academy without our permission, including those hailing from higher planes," the disciple seemed a little off board but Arthur ignored his talk and asked:


    "And who exactly gave this permission?" he then had to add, not to make the kid be wary of him, "are you able to do that?"


    "No, it''s the main masters responsible for the academy admission," the disciple was already feeling weird about such a specific question.


    "Like those masters we met at the gate?" Arthur kept pressing on this issue.


    "They are part of the team," the disciple nodded and Arthur just went silent for a long time.


    Gradually he retreated to the last of the group, and Doaf was simply following his steps. "What bothers you?" he asked.


    "Those responsible for admission," Arthur whispered, "part of them are already traitors."


    Doaf gave him a silent glance. "Won''t you tell me what you already know?" he asked.


    "In time," Arthur muttered, refusing to say.

 Chapter 528: A Difficult Situation

    The tour took roughly two hours before they reached a wide open space where many small houses were aligned together.


    "Here you are going to stay," the disciple named John said before glancing over Arthur standing at the end of the group with an arrogant gaze , "if you needed anything, just use these wings to reach me."


    He threw a bunch of bird''s wings stacked together to Arthur. But Doaf was the one to catch them while Arthur never moved a muscle. "Thanks," he simply said without really meaning it.


    "Whatever," John said before moving away in his usual arrogance.


    "He is just a prick," Doaf said as he mistook Arthur''s silence as being upset about John.


    "I know," Arthur shrugged, "let''s go inside. Every team will find himself a nice place to rest."


    He didn''t enter the house as his mind was still busy by these two mountains and the threat in there. He stayed in the garden lined by a simple wall, giving the small plants around and the simple house a very contradictory image of what he enjoyed back at his academy.


    "What is bothering you?" Doaf came near him as he whispered, "if there is anything you want from us, just ask."


    "These two mountains," Arthur simply said while motioning his head towards the direction of the two distant mountains.


    "These¡­" Doaf realized the issue related to the two mountains weren''t that simple as he initially thought. "What about them?"


    "I need you to send your best men to scout them," Arthur said before stressing over, "make sure to send only the best, or none will return."


    The eyes of Doaf shone brightly as he said, "Do you want me to go in person?"


    "No," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I don''t want to risk losing you."


    The look over Doaf changed as he felt Arthur''s sincerity here. "You are speaking like these two mountains have great armies of higher planes," he muttered in a dignified tone.


    "That¡­ might be the case here," Arthur said before adding, "just make sure you won''t send much and their loss won''t affect us."


    "Are we fighting the academy here?" The look over Doaf''s face changed to seriousness, "if so then I might go and ask for more reinforcements from my grandmaster."


    Arthur thought about it for a minute. "Won''t do any harm to have more backup," he said before pausing, "also inform him to be close to interfere personally if needed."


    "This..." Doaf was surprised to hear Arthur''s words. "It won''t be easy for any master from up there to come down here y''know," he tried to understand more of the current situation, but Arthur only bitterly smiled.


    "Better be prepared than sorry, right?" he simply said before taking a deep breath. "Just go and send your boys out. Let''s hope I''m mistaken."


    But what happened during the next couple of days proved his wish to be wrong.


    First thing that happened was the inability of Doaf to contact George. He tried using many things, but none worked. He even went outside the academy, thinking there might be something wrong due to the protective shield here and restrictive measurements of the academy.


    But in the end he failed.


    "Sorry young master," the look over Doaf''s face was very heavy. He was standing in front of Arthur while eating pieces of Golam''s meat, while Arthur was sitting in his private room, tapping on the arm of his chair. "I couldn''t even let a single message pass through."


    "Can the mirror work?" Arthur simply asked, as he tried to find a solution rather than lamenting his own bad circumstances.


    "Well¡­" Doaf hesitated before saying, "that mirror is something higher than what I have. But the distance from here to your academy is vast. We can''t make it in time I suppose."


    "Are you afraid of someone hunting down your men?" Arthur read Doaf''s mind as he added, "have you gotten any news from the scouts you sent?"


    "Not a word," Doaf sighed, "this isn''t their nature. I sent a group of five of my most trusted men, and they never failed me even once. They lived with me through many battles, and only death would prevent them from reporting back."


    "My condolences to you," Arthur said in a faint tone, "I know this must be a heavy loss."


    "The loss is in the way they died," Doaf took a deep breath before adding, "they should have died in an honorable way, not be killed by sneaky bastards lurking in the shadows."


    Arthur thought for a moment before asking, "what about the teleportation ring here? Our ring at the academy should be repaired by now."


    "I doubt those in charge here would agree on letting us use it," Doaf said the truth, "also asking about this would attract more attention to us."


    "We need to do something," Arthur spoke out his angry thoughts.


    "There is only one way left for us," Doaf said in obvious hesitation.


    "Say it," Arthur sighed, "but don''t tell me to go to war here."


    The face of Doaf changed to show this was exactly what he was thinking of. "C''mon, we are outnumbered, living in the heart of our enemies'' den. We can''t overcome them."


    "But we can run safely, right?" Doaf tried to persuade him.


    "Not a chance," Arthur stood up from his chair and went to the small window in the room. "I didn''t come all this way to just try to run away with my life."


    He paused while his eyes shone brightly with blue light, "I came here to survive. Tell me, won''t many masters be observing our competition in four days?"


    He turned to Doaf and asked. The notification about the contest start time was delivered to them this afternoon on the hands of John.


    "My master didn''t apply for that," Doaf said, "he was never interested in recruiting from this lowly world. Only you attracted his attention and made him make an exception."

 Chapter 529: Trying to Connect with George

    Arthur smiled before saying, "I''ll try to contact him using my pillars," he returned to his chair, "but if I failed, I hope he would be curious enough to come and watch me fighting."


    "If so¡­" the eyes of Doaf shone brighter as he didn''t add more. Arthur got his meaning as he nodded before adding, "make sure others are training well and don''t let your guard down. This place looked peaceful yet it''s super dangerous for us."


    "I know," Doaf then exited the room while eating the last piece of Golam meat Arthur gave to him.


    "Can I do it?"


    The moment he opened his eyes inside the garden he asked Gege about this.


    "In theory you can," she said before adding, "but the pillar is limited in power, and you will forcibly try to make it link to your master."


    "You mean it might fail?"


    "The pillars related to your master are already exhausted. If you need higher chances of success, then go ahead and try purifying another pillar."


    Arthur understood the logic behind her words. "This way I''ll have to reach out for other masters, right?"


    "They are of the same clan, right?"


    "Probably," Arthur muttered, "dunno if they are on good or bad terms with my master."


    "No dire in trying."


    "Ding! I agree with the lady."


    "Don''t judge on something before trying it out."


    "Stay out of my body you two damn hasslers!"


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head before adding, "alright, I''ll follow your words then. Take me towards one of those pillars."


    "There are still large groups of unpurified ones. I''ll move you towards a pillar that holds the most darkness inside."


    "Got it," Arthur then vanished to appear in front of one giant pillar. It was pitch black, with no speck of light on it. "This is really dark," he smiled.


    "This is the best option we currently have. I''ll also separate it from my control for a second. Be sure to hit your arrow fast before I regain my control over it."


    "What will happen if you don''t?" he was curious.


    "It will try to break away from here," Gege sighed, "it won''t be able to do that, but it will cause enough damage to me and in the end it will eventually turn into nothing. You don''t want to lose one of your precious pillars, right?"


    "Or injure you babe," Arthur said with a playful tone.


    "Don''t try to play with me," she laughed, "I''m not that easy to reach. I need to have a human body first, then you can do whatever you want with me."


    Arthur laughed before taking out his bow and dozen arrows. He didn''t know how much arrows he would need to activate the link with outside. "Let''s begin," he muttered and the next instant Gege said:


    "Throw them now."


    He didn''t speak as he released the string and the dozen arrows went fast forward to hit the pillar. Just moments before they hit it, it trembled all of a sudden and started to float in the air before it was mercilessly hit by the arrows.


    And then pulse waves erupted all of a sudden.


    Arthur waited, patiently observing the pillar and the area around it.


    "There is someone coming," Gege suddenly said in an exhausted tone, "his force is weak, so hurry and tell him what you need. Don''t waste time."


    Just as she said these words, a small eye appeared in the sky observing everything.


    "It''s you again, but this one is already purified," the owner spoke in a deep tone that reverberated all around.


    "Sorry to bother the venerable master, but I have an urgent message for master George," Arthur hurriedly said before noticing the eyes were fading away slowly. "Tell him the contest is breached by dark clans and academies of your planes. He needs to send reinforcements, and be nearby for assistance."


    His last sentence was lost as the two eyes vanished. He didn''t know if the master already heard his words partially or totally or none at all.


    "Damn, that was fast," he gritted his teeth.


    "Do you want to try over another pillar?" Gege said, "but others have weaker energies than this one."


    Arthur took a deep breath. "I won''t have enough time to alarm master this way," he shook his head before adding, "I just hope this master heard me or master would be curious to watch me in play."


    "Ding! Why not consider Doaf''s suggestion?"


    "Waging a way and running away isn''t a bad deal."


    "Shut up you two and get out of my priceless body!"


    Arhur helplessly shook his head before saying, "this isn''t an option for me. I came here to win, to kill all of my enemies, and free my girls. I won''t accept any solution that won''t help me achieve these goals."


    He didn''t stay inside anymore as he exited to the room again before sitting on the ground and starting his cultivation.


    During these days he never stopped raising his cultivation base. He was now at the sixth stage of the nascent soul stage, and he had a plan of the next path of his cultivation.


    But there was a single issue he needed to solve later.


    ''Ding! Your soul needs to be cleansed first before stepping further forward,'' these were the words of his system about his next ascension. ''Ding! Your soul is still tarnished. Getting away from this stage requires pure soul as I felt. Your soul can''t be cleansed upon itself.''


    "I know," Arthur muttered, "but doing so requires me to kill stronger monsters than mine. I don''t have the mind to do that right now, or the power."


    ''Ding! You''ll have such an opportunity during this contest,'' the system said, ''Ding! But this is also part of the solution.''


    "What do you mean?"


    ''Ding! You need to solve a little problem.''


    Arthur didn''t understand his meaning until the golden dragon said it clearly.


    ''You need to tell everyone about your real identity.''

 Chapter 530: A New Rule just for Arthur

    "This¡­" Arthur was hesitant about this. "This will cause many problems I suppose."


    ''Ding! You can''t advance with an impure soul. You need to deal with this first.''


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head before closing his eyes again, "I have little time left for the competition. Let me train and see if I can reach stage seven before the contest," he paused as he was reminded by something, "Gege, how is the absorption of that original world going?"


    ''I''m still absorbing it,'' she replied before adding, ''it will take more time to finish.''


    "Sigh," Arthur didn''t say anymore before returning to his cultivation again.


    Time passed fast and before he could reach the seventh base, Doaf came to interrupt his training.


    "It''s time," he simply stated.


    "So soon," Arthur bitterly smiled.


    "Six days have passed since coming here. It''s almost time for us to go and attend the initial opening."


    "Any news?" Arthur stood up as he asked.


    And Doaf simply shook his head in response.


    "Sigh, alright lead the way," Arthur then followed him to find his team was waiting for him along with the five other teams of the academy.


    "?Are you ready?" he asked as he went ahead towards the gate.


    "We are," Amelia said before pausing with a dignified face.


    "What''s wrong?" he asked.


    "This ceremony will have a competition for weak academies to prove their worth in joining," she said and didn''t add anymore.


    Arthur nodded in understanding. "Looking down on us?" he muttered.


    "But they chose a strange academy we never heard of before," one of the five teams spoke. He was in his late twentieth, seemingly one of those rank nine at the academy.


    "Not from around here?" Arthur muttered before asking, "did you collect any info about them?"


    "We did," Doaf was the one to speak this time, "we tried to investigate it but have nothing in return. No team knew about this academy before."


    "Interesting," Arthur realized it was a dark clan or academy. "Have you gathered any info about their teams?" he asked.


    "Just a little info about some of their teams," Doaf answered again, "they have six teams like us."


    "Trying to crush us on the first encounter," Arthur muttered before asking, "what are the rules?"


    "Each team for himself," Amelia said before adding, "and the themes of the contest are the same like the themes in the main one."


    "Which are?"


    "Forging, potion and pill making, arrays, abilities, and fight," Amelia said before adding, "and fight is divided into personal fight and group fight, with personal fight preceding the first and at least half of the initial team must be alive before the group fight."


    "They are aiming to kill us all," Arthur laughed before glancing at the five teams as he added, "if you can''t do it, just surrender and don''t endanger yourselves."


    He didn''t see anything bad from them during the short dealing with these teams. This was simply a sincere advice as he didn''t want them to throw themselves for nothing.


    "We will compete," another disciple said in a prideful tone, "we won''t accept such injustice. These rules are new, never been before in any contest."


    "They did this specifically for us," another disciple complained.


    "The reason doesn''t matter, only focus on winning," Arthur sighed before turning his gaze up front.


    The road to the place of the competition was easily recognized as everyone was heading there. Arthur and his academy teams moved towards the forefront, penetrating a large audience that crowded around large platforms that floated in the air.


    And beside this, there were five towers representing the five great powers observing this contest. The towers reminded him of the pillars, grand and majestic.


    And they floated in air too, while their peaks were linked to the sky, creating five portals there.


    "Do you recognize any of these five powers?" Arthur whispered to Doaf while passing through the crowd.


    "None is considered a friend to grandmaster or his clan."


    "So we can''t infiltrate these towers," Arthur asked to confirm.


    "We might try," Doaf said before adding, "but I doubt we can do anything."


    "Then don''t," Arthur sighed before reaching the front with others.


    There was an empty region marking the area of the contest. There he was checked by some of the disciples of the Locek academy under the supervision of many masters.


    "They seem to hate us," Deem muttered as they stood now in wait for all teams to assemble and the ceremony to start.


    "Don''t mind them," Arthur said, "we are here to crush them all, not to make friends."


    Arthur''s words made everyone change their mindset. He was right to state this, as they were all stressed before by the cold shoulder they all received and gazes filled with hatred.


    They didn''t wait for so long before all the teams assembled. "There are many," Arthur muttered, yet before anyone could answer him a group of flying masters appeared from far.


    They wore golden capes and looked dignified. The moment they appeared, a cheer erupted from most of the audience here stating clearly their high status in the academy.


    "Welcome to our humble academy everyone," the eldest man spoke as he stood in the middle of the air without any help from any pet. "I''m happy to announce that the third thousand and two hundred and fifty-three tournament to start now."


    The man waved his hand and fireworks appeared around the hanged platform in the air before adding, "as you all have been informed, the contest this year is slightly different.


    We received many unknown teams from many academies in our world and worlds around us. So, we will do a vetting competition first to filter all these numbers under the eyes and witness of our venerable guests."


    The dean of the academy bowed in respect to the towers around. "Now each team participating in this vetting will have a number. These numbers will be randomly shuffled and picked by our esteemed guests to ensure the fairness of this."

 Chapter 531: The First Round in Vetting Competition Is Forging

    Arthur turned to Doaf who just shrugged and said nothing. Before Arthur could ask more, a disciple appeared and handed a number to him.


    "Twelve," he muttered before smiling, "a lucky number indeed."


    The other teams of the academy received their numbers as well before the man suddenly said:


    "Now let the selection start."


    Arthur noticed the portals shine brightly before numbers started to appear in big fonts made of white and silver fog just next to each tower.


    "We are matched with team number fifty-three," Omar muttered, "it''s the same team we learnt about facing them from before, suspicious."


    "Don''t stir unneeded trouble," Arthur smiled before adding, "this is the best for us."


    As the numbers kept appearing in pairs, a master next to the dean was writing them down.


    "Now, let me state the rules," the dean said, "we will announce each two competing teams and they have to ascend here on the stage right after. Not showing up means failure. Each team has only to win once to qualify, while the losers from the first round will be matched again to have another chance."


    Arthur smiled and shrugged as he stole a silent glance at Doaf. He knew this wasn''t made for their benefit, instead to make sure the losing teams wouldn''t have the strength to defend themselves later on when leaving the academy.


    "What am I thinking about? I''m going to win this," he muttered to himself before the dean waved his hand and all the numbers in the air shook before two moved to stand on top of the stage.


    "Wow, we will be the opening teams," Amelia laughed before Arthur said:


    "Let''s go, we have to do our best," he said before adding, "but also try to hold back some of your powers."


    "What if we lost?" Madly asked.


    "We won''t," Arthur confidently said, "I''m here, and I''ll shoulder you all."


    His words made everyone pretty confident. They knew how strong their master was, and if he was to use all his powers then none would stand against him.


    As they reached the edge of the high up stage, they found a ladder leading to the stage where they ascended to reach there. Arthur was astonished to see the stage wasn''t as small as he expected, and he had to pass through a shield to enter it.


    "It''s like the one back at the Nystic clan," Madly commented and Arthur just nodded.


    As they arrived there, he was surprised to see the opposing team was considered of a hundred members. "Impressive, they are going all out for us," he laughed and his comment was meant to be loud to be heard by everyone standing on the stage or watching it.


    The dean gave Arthur silent long glance before finally speaking up:


    "The rules are the same as the official tournament. We will ask from every team to send five members to compete in the forging, pill and potion making, arrays, and abilities. Then the last will be individual fight then group fight."


    The dean said before pausing for a moment as he glanced at the two teams, "as there are many more members in one team than the other then we will follow a new rule. Each member has to be tested, so the other team can send members more than once."


    His face changed to be serious as he added, "inside here you won''t be able to use your special transformation, but you can use anything that you hold, even summoning the entire army if you wish for. Just don''t try to force using your transformations or else you''ll be disqualified."


    Arthur simply sneered and said nothing. He knew such new rules were induced to tire them up before the final group fight.


    "Let the vetting competition start," the dean shouted and in the next instant a group of five masters appeared in the middle between the two teams.


    "As you heard the rules, don''t try to be funny or smart. Don''t try to cheat, and the final winner of each team will be decided upon the highest gear, pill, array, and the most unique and strongest ability any member of your teams have. Now, we will start with the forging competition. The participating members step forward."


    One of them spoke and Arthur simply pointed to Agnus as he said, "go and dazzle them."


    "What about others?" Amelia asked.


    "I will be enough as backup," Arthur said before moving forward with Agnus towards the front.


    "Where is the rest of your team?" the master who spoke before coldly asked with much arrogance.


    "We are enough," Arthur simply answered with a shrug, "you don''t need to destroy the world to kill a fly."


    The master glanced at him before looking in the dean direction. And the dean simply nodded.


    "Alright, you got your suicidal wish," the master coldly sneered before stepping aside and letting the space for the two teams to compete.


    The other team all wore dark cloaks that hid their faces as well. "Let the first round start," the master loudly shouted and the next thing happened was for everyone here to take out their tools except for Arthur.


    He simply stood there, cracking a mocking smile over his face while crossing his arms in front of his chest.


    "Won''t you start kid?" another master asked in doubt.


    "I don''t need to," Arthur said then he turned his gaze to watch Agnus using the gloves he made him to start forging. "I should see what they are up to," he moved his glance over the next team and watched their performance.


    "They are good," Arthur commented before shaking his head, "unfortunately they met my Agnus, sigh. I thought I could use the chance to make more arrows, but it seems my help isn''t needed."


    Arthur waited on the side while Agnus made another spear like the one he made for Arthur from before. This seemed to be his highest creation, and Arthur was sure this was going to win.


    Until he suddenly saw one of the five started to use a strange aura, an aura he felt strangely familiar.


    "Is it allowed to use aura of masters from higher planes?" Arthur pointed to that member as he said these words out loud and in a strong tone.


    "He didn''t do anything wrong here," the lead master coldly said and gave Arthur a challenging glance.


    "Alright," Arthur laughed before he waved his hand and the next thing appeared was his forging tools.


    He knew the spear Agnus was making would be enough, but if that was an honest competition.


    Using a higher mage''s aura to boost the end product made the competition unfair. He knew this would be much appreciated by the masters up above, and so he had to step in.


    For him, making arrows was a piece of cake. He had already mastered making large numbers of them in a short time.


    So he started working over his arrows in front of the watching gazes of everyone. They wrongly thought he would never finish the gear he was making in time as he was the last one to start.


    Yet in less than one hour, he finished making a large number of arrows. This made him the first to finish among everyone here.


    And as everyone thought he would stop, he started to make more of these arrows. He started to look like a machine, working non-stop until the master finally announced the end of the round.


    "Please provide your makings for the venerable guests to assess," the master said while giving Arthur a side glance. Beside Arthur lied thousands of his arrows of extermination.


    Arthur simply picked one arrow and gave it to Agnus who delivered it to the master. The master glanced at the arrow with a mocking smile over his face before he received all the gears made and then handed them to another master.


    "Please wait," he said, "shortly the results will be announced."


    Arthur didn''t care about that as he simply started to pack up his stuff inside his garden. As he finished packing, a rumbling sound appeared in the sky up above.


    "The results are out," the master said before he turned to glance at the distant dean.


    "The assessment is over," he said before he said, "please venerable masters give us the winning team and the winning gear."


    "Do you think we will win?" Agnus whispered while leaning towards Arthur, "or they will try a useless trick?"


    "They already pulled their move a while back," Arthur sneered before adding, "they won''t be able to beat us."


    "I hope," Agnus prayed while he waited for the final winner to be announced impatiently.

 Chapter 532: Making A Legendary Pill

    The entire place ushered under dead silence while each tower emanated a fog from its top. The fog coalesced together and finally gave up a number and a name.


    "Wow, we won," Agnus was speechless there for a moment before glancing at the place where his spear was taking just now, "I thought I would be the one to bring win to us."


    Arthur turned to him and smiled. "Don''t be so heartbroken, you did brilliantly out there. But don''t forget I''m still your master."


    Agnus laughed with him while shaking off his head. The other team glared in fiery eyes while one of them moved to the front all of sudden. He bowed to the towers before saying:


    "Venerable masters, I ask for your guidance to show us the difference in items we made."


    The entire area glanced at him while that cloaked man stood there without straightening up his back until the portals shook violently and the next second two items appeared there.


    It was Arthur''s arrow and the other was a huge sword that youth made. Arthur calmly glanced at this scene amusingly and said nothing. He was sure of the reason behind his win.


    "Lord, they are objecting," Agnus whispered in stress.


    "Watch and know why I was the one to win."


    The next moment fog dissipated from two towers, one formed a shape of a giant hand that held the sword with much ease.


    Then it waved it.


    A phoenix shadow appeared all of sudden from the tip of the sword, spreading its wings and heading towards Arthur''s arrow.


    Yet the other fog took the form of a bow and held the arrow before simply releasing it.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment the two hit each other the world rumbled and a bright light appeared there like it was the end of the world.


    "The devastational arrows of lord¡­" Agnus muttered in shock, "it''s my first time seeing it in flesh after hearing all these marvelous legends about it."


    Arthur smiled and said nothing while watching the sudden appearance of fog from a third tower to help shield the entire blast with the other two towers'' fogs.


    What was going inside was shown clearly for everyone down there. The arrow of Arthur explodes to form a gigantic image of a dragon mixed with a bronzed giant pillar where it devoured the weaker image of the phoenix with so much ease and then kept raging havoc there for long minutes.


    "You got your answer," the master leading the judge team here on the arena said when everything finally settled. "This is the last warning for your team, no team shall question the wisdom of the venerable masters."


    The youth bowed again to express his sorrow before turning around and gave Arthur a long glance. "Impressive," Agnus muttered, "that sword just now had given me more insights."


    "Then make sure to go back and train more," Arthur muttered, "this competition is filled with crouching tigers."


    "And a dragon," Agnus laughed while pointing at him, attracting the attention of the judges nearby.


    "Both teams withdraw now and please send your representatives for the pill and potion making," the lead master said.


    "Go back and send Longman to me," Arthur said while standing in his place motionless watching everyone else moving away.


    "What''s wrong kid? Intoxicated with your current victory to forget to step down?" one of the masters sneered while pointing at him while others laughed.


    "No, I''m here to compete," Arthur politely responded, and his calm answer just startled the masters.


    "What do you mean?" the lead master vigilantly asked.


    "I''ll compete in the next competition as well."


    They glanced at each other before sighing. Arthur didn''t need their pity or advice, he knew what he was doing.


    "Let the best pill and potion win," the lead master said when the two teams were assembled here. He didn''t ask again like the first time about the short in Arthur''s team.


    After all this short team just beat the full number opponent team.


    "What do you want me to make, lord?" Longman seemed quite nervous standing on this stage and facing such a crowd. He was one of the two who came from the castle of the sky, never tested life yet.


    "Make your best creation," Arthur said before adding, "don''t worry too much, I got your back here."


    Longman nodded as he just saw what Arthur pulled at the last second there. Arthur watched the ongoing competition without moving a finger.


    "Again?" he noticed the aura one of the contesters used in making his pill or potion. "Sigh, they never learn their lessons, right?" he waved his hand and the next instant his cauldron appeared again.


    The moment this happened, every single person in the area glanced over him to see what he was trying to do.


    "Let''s go slightly off charts here," he muttered before asking, ''Gege, can I use your pearl in this?''


    ''Sure, but it''s better not to consume it too much. You still have to fight ahead.''


    ''Ding! Two actually.''


    ''Don''t you two worry,'' Arthur smiled, ''I''ll only do a pill from my old life. Gege you can read my mind, I''ll picture the items and you try to grab things similar to it.''


    He suddenly closed his eyes and contemplated there motionless. His stance was weird yet no one even thought of mocking him.


    They saw what this little leader of this team could do, and they only watched and waited to see the result.


    "Let''s do it," Arthur then opened his eyes before the next moment he lit up the fire under the cauldron using a nearby torch and then he kept waving his hands for many materials to fall inside.


    Sometimes he took some materials and smashed them together, other times he would squeeze the fruit and even seeds to get the core juice from them.


    But most of the items were thrown into the cauldron without consideration to the time. This move seemed strange to everyone, but what he did next startled the entire audience here.

 Chapter 533: An Offer For the Pill

    Arthur put both hands over the extremely hot cauldron, not worrying over anything he kept them there for long moments.


    ''Now,'' as he started to accommodate the high temperature of the cauldron, he gave Gege the signal to start.


    Next moment he felt two threads moving from his pearl heading towards the hands of his. Once they reached there, they started to go out, merging with the cauldron in no time.


    And the cauldron just shone brighter with every passing second all of sudden.


    This strange technique of his made everyone gasp from shock, admiration, and envy. They didn''t know what he was exactly doing, but from the look of things here was doing something big.


    ''Gege, the Golam blood now,'' he inwardly shouted after five minutes while the content of the pill was about to be formed already.


    ''On the way,'' she answered and the next moment a small amount of the filthy green blood of the Golam suddenly appeared on top of the cauldron.


    Just as everyone thought the blood was about to fall, the opposite happened. The content inside the cauldron floated midair to reach the Golam blood and merge with it.


    "My turn," Arthur then took off his hands, ''Keep pushing the energy out, we are almost there,'' he stressed over Gege so she won''t fail him in this precise moment.


    ''Don''t worry.''


    ''Ding! Won''t this deplete your energy?'' the system suddenly asked.


    ''No time to answer,'' Arthur only said that before his sword suddenly appeared and the next instant it cut both hands from the wrist.


    His blood came out like a fountain, yet it didn''t splash everywhere like usual but it was being sucked by the pill forming slowly in midair.


    For others this was like a magic show, but Arthur knew the real trick here. ''It''s not absorbing it, it''s me pushing the blood forward, using it as a medium to transport my energy to it,'' he inwardly muttered while patiently waiting for the moment where the two blood lines would connect his two hands with the pill.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment his blood touched the pill materials, a faint rumble occurred while he felt slightly shook in his body. ''Damn, I thought it won''t have such an impact on me,'' he muttered while a thin line of blood was emitted from the corners of his mouth.


    Yet he didn''t stop there despite the pain he was feeling all around his body. He started to move his hands according to what he recalled from his past life.


    His fingers moved, his hands moved, and his arms moved as he looked like someone playing a symphony and not making a pill.


    His moves didn''t seem connected but he was following a certain pattern in his mind. He closed his eyes so he could be super focused while he imagined the pattern of moves from his past life inside his mind.


    "Become!"


    He suddenly opened his eyes as he clasped both hands firmly together, cutting off what he was just doing. The moment he did so, a pulse wave erupted from the clasp and it moved along the two thick blood lines that looked firmer now like ropes.


    The moment his shock wave touched the pill, it shook and started to miraculously condense in speed visible to naked eye. The outer soft shell initially had started to be thickened while his two blood ropes were cut fiercely from his wrists and started to coil back towards the pill, forming the outer shell.


    In less than a minute, the pill finally was formed. The moment of its creation, a shock wave erupted all of sudden, spread all over the region and hit everyone with a strong gale of wind.


    "Damn, the purification pill is always berserk no matter what stage you make it at," Arthur shook his head while moving to grab it in front the amazed gazes of everyone, even his opponents.


    "Lord¡­ this pill¡­" Longman was so nearby and managed to see closely what Arthur just did. When Arthur turned to him, he noticed his eyes were shining strangely with faint green light making him smile and nod in content. "Indeed those coming from that castle are all monsters," he said to himself before taking his cauldron back.


    Then he calmly waited.


    From beginning to end, he didn''t take more than half an hour to make such pill. Another speed record that would add more to his fame and legend.


    As for him, he didn''t care about all these matters. If not for the other team to use that higher energy, he wouldn''t step in or move a muscle.


    His silent stand here alongside the moment of illumination the nearby Longman had gave a very stunning impression to everyone about this team.


    "It''s a team of monsters," that was what everyone had in mind at this moment.


    "Please provide your pills and potions to be tested," the lead master said in no enthusiasm at all. It was apparent who would win this round.


    "We won," Longman suddenly opened his eyes on the scene of the fog showing off the number of the team and Willy''s name. "I¡­ I¡­" he hesitated as he glanced around.


    "Don''t worry too much," Arthur patted on his shoulder, trying to encourage him. "You had a moment of inspiration, go back and contemplate deeper and train harder."


    Longman just nodded as he truly knew how vast was the distance between him and Arthur.


    "Let the two teams retreat, and send back the array masters please," the lead master glanced over Arthur while saying these words.


    And as he expected, Arthur just smiled at Longman as he said, "Send Deem, Gor, and Sherry here."


    Longman just nodded before retreating. The silent and collected stance of Arthur there all alone said everything about what would happen in the next competition.


    Arthur planned previously to send in only one person of his team and leave the rest hidden for now. But after seeing Longman trembling out of nervousness he changed up his mind.

 Chapter 534: A Tie

    "They need to toughen up a bit," he inwardly sighed before adding, ''Gege, try to replenish yourself fast.''


    ''I''m trying my best,'' she said, ''for the arrays?''


    Arthur went silent for a moment there. He glanced at the other team and he noticed their obvious debate between themselves. ''I might not need that now,'' he said before adding, ''after all I can do arrays normally with my energy.''


    ''Then for the fight?''


    ''Nah, for the ability test,'' he muttered, ''this is the only place I feel I slacked at before coming here.''


    He helplessly shook his head in disappointment that seemed quite strange for the leader of the team who had two winning streaks so far.


    "Willy, our venerable masters want to ask about your pill just now," suddenly the dean himself spoke up from high up, "they want to know what it''s used for."


    Arthur cracked a smile before faking honor to be asked such a question from them. "Esteemed venerable masters," he slightly bowed while adding, "this pill will help in cleansing anyone''s energy and make it much purer and stronger."


    "Will it work over those coming from higher planes?" the dean asked.


    "A venerable master can take it and see for himself how mighty my pill is," Arthur replied, veiling his arrogance under the sweet words he just used.


    The look over the dean''s face showed how much he wasn''t glad of what Arthur just did, but he couldn''t show this clearly except through his cold gazes.


    And Arthur just waited there patiently without saying a word or even expressing his discontent. "This is my win, foolish dean," he inwardly sneered.


    After long minutes of waiting, the face of the dean slightly changed before it returned to its normal look. "The venerable masters are asking if you are willing to make more of these pills and sell them."


    Arthur cracked a smile while ignoring the dean as he turned towards the portals above the towers. "Esteemed venerable masters, I can produce only a handful amount of this pill per day and right now I''m participating in the contest. I hope you send one of your trusted subordinates and I''ll arrange future deals with them."


    "Granted," the dean said in such discontent while he nodded to those down there to start the next step of the contest.


    Arthur stayed behind and this time he didn''t intend to participate. Winning two so far gave him more room to relax. "I have to retain some of my cards for future contests," he muttered to himself while watching the opponent team making arrays using the higher energy again.


    "They never learn," he shook his head but this time he stayed all silent and didn''t move a single muscle. Everyone was waiting for him to act at the last minutes like usual but they were doomed to be disappointed.


    He didn''t move until the end of the competition.


    "A tie?" Deem muttered in discontent, "I used my top knowledge about Rey Lines and no one can compete with me here!"


    "Don''t object," Arthur patted on his shoulder, "a tie is also a good result. After all we have two wins against nothing."


    Deem wasn''t pleased by such a result, but he couldn''t speak anymore after what Arthur said. He just sighed and dragged his legs away while Arthur just stood his place silently waiting for the next contest to start.


    "Are you going to take part in this as well?" the lead master asked while he inwardly knew the answer.


    "Sure," Arthur smiled, "I will only move away if I get defeated in a personal fight."


    "Are you planning to fight them all alone?" this time the lead master was shocked more so when Arthur just nodded.


    "Crazy," he simply muttered before returning to his silence and Arthur totally ignored his remark.


    The next competition had only Tarry to step forward. On the other side, five were there.


    "Show us your abilities and explain what they are," the lead master said while glancing over the five opponents of Arthur first, nodding to them to start.


    The first one to step forward was such a giant youth, even his cloak was shorter than his giant physique, only reaching for his knees.


    He stood there before saying: "My ability is to suck energy from the universe and turn it into a mighty wind attack."


    The next instant he took a really deep breath. The air sucked like being hit by a storm. Then he breathed out wind again and this time it was so strong and strangely it was aimed directly at Arthur and Tarry.


    Arthur didn''t stand silent when the attack came closer to him as he stepped forward and simply took out his sword. A single wave of his sword augmented by his spiritual energy dissected the gale of wind and turned it into nothing.


    "Be sure to aim better next time," Arthur sneered, "this was like a kid''s hit for me."


    "Tsk," the youth only sneered as he returned back.


    "Next one," the lead master said while not commenting on such an attack just now. "What''s your ability? And please demonstrate it properly this time," he said while trying to fake the shape of being fair here.


    Yet Arthur knew deep down that he wasn''t fair at all.


    "I can use any ore to provide me with energy," he said before taking a fiery ore and the moment he touched it, it was sucked dry and turned to ash. The next instant the body of this youth was lit in fire, and the fire just went berserk, hitting everywhere even his mates.


    They were kind of prepared as one of them just cut his hand and let his blood fly. He manipulated his blood to form a whirlpool that turned the air into mist then water enough to stop the fire attack over the team.


    As for Arthur, he simply moved towards the fire and when it touched him, it acted in docile nature.

 Chapter 535: What Will We Have On Dinner?

    "Playing with fire against me? Hahaha, that''s hilarious," he laughed while shaking off his head in disappointment. "Take your fire back, please," Arthur simply waved his hand and the next instant the fire moved towards the youth and burnt his dried up flesh.


    The youth simply fell on the ground dead with long screams of agony. His team member controlled water trying to interfere, pushing the water over his body yet the fire never died down.


    Instead the water seemed too weak in comparison, acting as tonic instead of a poison to fire, making it rage wilder and finally killing the youth.


    "This is a clear violation to the rules," one of the team suddenly shouted in anger while pointing at Arthur, "he did that on purpose."


    The lead master didn''t speak while turning his gaze towards Arthur who just sneered. "Losers," he simply said this simple word and instantly the entire team was lit on fire and was about to come to attack him.


    "Stop right there," the lead master couldn''t stand still anymore, "we will ask the guidance of our venerable masters on this," he turned his gaze towards the dean who nodded and simply waited.


    But then his face changed again before returning to its calmness. "not guilty, the other team member attacked him first," the dean said.


    "He only demonstrated his ability and that bastard just acted beyond his limits! He should be expelled and never allowed to continue in the contest."


    "Who on earth do you think yourself to question the venerable masters'' decision?" The voice, tone, and words of the dean showed his anger, yet his calm gaze and body gave Arthur the impression of the opposite.


    He was sad about letting such a golden chance slip by without expelling Arthur. "So you don''t have the full support of masters here after all," Arthur inwardly sneered as this showed that at least three of the five masters were neutral. "But who are they?" that was the puzzling question.


    The other team members looked resentful as such result, but the threatening words in the dean declaration just now made them all silent.


    "Continue," the lead master simply said and the next three members just showed some fighting skills that were nothing for Arthur.


    "Your turn," the lead master said.


    "I''ll first go," Tarry said as he stepped forward. "My ability is to absorb the hit of any monster and turn it defenseless," he said before turning his gaze towards Arthur who simply summoned one of his advanced monsters.


    A gigantic monster with the head of a snake and body of a leopard appeared all of sudden in the arena, causing quite a stir there. It was a haloed monster, and the moment it came Arthur simply pointed to Tarry as he ordered, "Attack him with your fullest power."


    The monster roared and the next instant it moved. Its speed was too much to follow by naked eyes, and when it appeared later it was hitting Tarry strongly with his long and curved horn on top of his head.


    The horn shone brightly with dark brown color while the crown around the horn shone as well. Yet, Tarry stood there, only pointing with one hand, holding the horn simply with it, stopping this mighty charge and merciless attack of the monster.


    "That monster is faking it," one of the other team members suddenly shouted, "I can defend this with my defensive ability and k¡­"


    He didn''t continue speaking as the monster suddenly moved to hit him directly in the chest. The moment he spoke, Arthur gave the order for his system to interfere, silently ordering the monster to attack this bragging useless youth.


    The youth was fazed for a moment there when the monster suddenly disappeared, and the next moment he activated his ability.


    But this didn''t help him at all. He was carried in the air by the long horn of the monster that penetrated his chest and then threw it away like a sack of garbage.


    He lay on the ground dead, while other members just sucked the cold breath of air.


    "Don''t eat what you can''t chew kiddo," Arthur spoke lightly like he didn''t do anything big just now.


    The three remaining team members glanced at him with burning gazes yet they didn''t speak. they silently glanced at the lead master, who glanced at the dean, who glanced shortly up above then he returned with a disappointed shaking of his head.


    "Continue," the lead master said as he turned finally to Arthur. "What''s your ability," he said while sighing.


    Arthur was thinking to use his two abilities here, but he had already shown some of his cards to his enemies. "I can use fast step ability," he said while asking Gege to slightly support him.


    Just as he pushed himself to the front using the long unused steps he found himself moving at a speed that was so much exceeding his expectations.


    He moved like lightning, appearing everywhere and suddenly his after images started to show more figures of him around.


    He kept moving for a minute like this before finally stopping. The after images slowly vanished and those with weak observational skills couldn''t tell where his real body was or even if he stopped using the ability for a few seconds there.


    "Wait for the results," the expression over the lead master told Arthur everything. "I need to hone my step moves further," he said to himself, inwardly sighing that he neglected such a useful ability for so far amidst all his upgrades.


    "We won," Tarry was so excited before turning towards Arthur as he laughed, "and it''s my win."


    "Hahaha, you deserve it," Arthur wasn''t surprised by the call of the masters up above. After all compared with the speed moves of Arthur, Tarry''s ability was considered a war change ability.


    "It''s now obvious who is the final winner," suddenly the dean spoke while adding, "if the other team wants to retreat, then it''s fine."


    Arthur raised one eyebrow when he heard this. "Since when you were a generous sly fox?" he inwardly sneered while watching the other team shaking their heads as they asked silently to continue.


    "Next is a personal fight," the other sly master spoke, "send one person at a time. For Willy''s team, they can rotate their members in fights until all the other team members are tested."


    Arthur glanced at Tarry as he loudly said, "go and tell the boys to have some rest. And see what we will have for dinner."


    Tarry glanced at him in a strange way before nodding and retreating.


    "Tsk, you are really an arrogant fool," the youth who moved to face him sneered before adding, "there is another stage of the competition idiot called team fight."


    Arthur laughed while pointing to his monster to come to his side. "If you are all dead, who will we fight then? Your corpses? Hahaha," Arthur laughed while patting on the calf muscles of the gigantic monster as if he said something normal just now.


    "Idiot, you''ll have to pass me first," the youth was totally enraged and the next instant he took out a big bell that reminded Arthur of the one Mr. E once used.


    Just as Arthur stood there waiting for him to attack, the golden dragon suddenly warned: ''Watch out, this is a cursed bell from the higher planes. It uses sound waves as a soul based attack and it also leaves a nasty curse over the body of the target. You''ll need to hurry and find a way to protect yourself from it.''


    ''A curse¡­'' Arthur thought before asking, ''What curse?''

 Chapter 536: Fighting A Lycan

    ''If you were affected by the bell, you would be taken inside an illusion where whatever you will suffer will linger in your mind and soul forever. Some even had the curse of being dragged in that illusion every once in a while.''


    Arthur didn''t expect things to be this bad. He glanced vigilantly at the bell while the system said:


    ''Ding! I think you can use Gege''s garden to stand against this attack.''


    ''I can''t defend against it all alone,'' Gege said before adding, ''but there is one sort of energy inside your body which can help in defending.''


    ''The pearl?'' Arthur asked.


    ''No, the dantian up there in your head,'' Gege said.


    Arthur knew what she was referring to, but he had no time to test out her theory. ''Are you sure?'' he asked.


    ''It has much purer soul based energy. After breaking through the nascent soul stage, this became your strongest defense.''


    He nodded and didn''t hesitate to instigate his spiritual energy and start circulating it. he started to concentrate everything over his dantian, while watching that cloaked youth holding a long stick and started to hit the golden bell with it.


    The moment the bell rang, even the youth seemed to be affected and swayed his body a little in response. "At least you didn''t yet control this thing," Arthur sneered before being hit by the sound waves of the bell.


    "Such strong words from a dead man," the youth laughed while stabilizing himself, "first live through it then mock me."


    Arthur was hit massively by the waves. Each single wave felt like someone had taken his soul and threw it deeply inside a bottomless ocean.


    Yet the moment he was hit, his mind dantian shone brighter while his energy there started to cleanse his body and soul from any effects of this bell.


    "Is this what you called a mighty attack? It''s like an insect bite to me," Arthur opened his eyes and said in a loud laugh while watching his enemy''s body tremble.


    He couldn''t see the face of that youth, but he knew he must be shocked at the moment.


    "How can this be possible!" the youth shouted in disbelief before the next moment he started hitting the bell strongly without pause.


    Arthur was hit by the waves, but he now was much reassured about not being affected anymore or cursed. So he started to walk steadily towards the youth.


    The youth had it worse than him, being affected clearly with each strike by the bell. "I want that bell," Arthur declared while moving towards the youth, "if you give it up voluntarily then I won''t kill you. If not, then I will get it from your corpse."


    "Keep dreaming traitor," the youth finally revealed his true colors, calling Arthur the same nickname his enemies of dark clans usually used.


    Yet Arthur moved simply towards him while taking out his sword. Each hit on the bell caused more damage to the youth than for Arthur who seemed totally unfazed by it.


    "What the hell¡­?" Just as Arthur was so close to hitting the youth, the youth suddenly had his body twitched and he shouted in extreme pain before he fell on the ground motionless and the bell was gone.


    ''Track the bell, don''t let it leave your senses,'' Arthur hurriedly said for the voices in his mind.


    ''Ding! It went to one of the towers,'' the system said after a few moments of silence.


    ''I sensed the bell energy and can tell if this energy is nearby at any time,'' Gege said.


    ''This aura¡­ it''s the same as that lycan rude kid from before,'' the golden dragon muttered.


    ''Do you mean Ralin?''


    ''Can''t recall such a weakling''s name,'' the golden dragon sneered and Arthur just rolled up his eyes.


    ''But this means the academy guardian is directly involved in this,'' Arthur thought while seriously seeing the bright matter in this discovery. ''Only one out of the remaining four is collaborated with the lycans.''


    ''One out of four isn''t high percentage,'' the golden dragon said, ''but guessing it wrongly will cause severe consequences, so don''t be tempted with such statistical result which life doesn''t give sh*t about.''


    ''Oh, why are you being pumped up all of sudden?'' Arthur inwardly sneered while waving his sword high in the air, waiting for the next opponent.


    ''I hate math!''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur didn''t know what to say. He just moved his gaze upon the next opponent, who seemed to be so confident in himself like the previous one.


    "I bet you have a smug smile over your face," Arthur said while cracking a faint smile, "but I hate to play with weaklings like you. Can you go back and send me your strongest? I didn''t even warm my body in the last fight."


    "Hahaha, you are so full of yourself being lucky to defend against soul attacks," the youth yelled back while the next moment he waved both hands and two big curved swords linked with long chains appeared while he started to move them in circles.


    The swords hit the ground, leaving deep grooves there while the youth moved like he was holding a stick of wood in hand. Arthur glanced at him while muttering:


    "Using direct flight to settle this? Just my type."


    "I can wait to erase this irritating smile over your face," the youth shouted with a short laugh, "it''s time for you to die."


    The next instant the youth vanished and appeared just above Arthur''s head. Arthur simply used his steps to evade, circle around the youth and his two strong swords, and then moved to hit him from behind.


    But the youth seemed to be aware of his moves as he vanished the next instant then appearing behind Arthur with his swords aiming for Arthur''s head.


    "Tsk, you move fast," Arthur simply evaded while thinking about using one of his strong techniques to kill him.


    ''He doesn''t worth using such an attack to kill a fly,'' the golden dragon sneered before adding, ''just use your weakest strike¡­ that bull''s horn or something.''


    ''The bull horn strike?'' Arthur muttered before nodding, ''it''s the weakest of my techniques. Let''s see if it will kill him.''


    Arthur kept jumping around but he refrained from attacking for a minute.


    "What''s wrong mighty dragonair? Weren''t you supposed to kill me? Hahaha!"


    Arthur ignored him while focusing his spiritual energy around the two nodes in his shoulders. ''The bull horn strike needs both arms to move in strong momentum, charging at once with the maximum force from the start,'' Arthur muttered to himself before simply feeling content with the level of energy inside his nodes.


    He could raise the energy there more, but he didn''t think that weakling needed more than that.


    "Die," Arthur simply evaded another attack before he held his sword with both hands and the next instant he slashed it strongly towards the enemy''s chest and torso.


    Arthur simply waved his sword once, but the force coming forth from the tip of his sword seemed endless for a few seconds. It created a large horn shadow that was casted upon the cloaked youth and instantly devoured him.


    The youth tried to evade per usual but the strike kept tracking him like its shadow. Finally he was consumed by the strike, leaving only a burnt corpse behind.


    "Next!"


    Arthur simply declared and the opponent never stopped sending off his members but they changed their strategy.


    They sent one close range fighter one time after another, and this managed to attract Arthur''s attention. ''Are they trying to exhaust me?'' he thought before he glanced over the less than forty remaining enemies up front.


    ''They are mistaken if they thought your energy can be depleted this way,'' the golden dragon laughed.


    ''But your spiritual energy is stressed for so long now, you need to replace it or else it will be hard to use it for stronger attacks later,'' Gege warned.


    ''Thanks, I know this already,'' Arthur smiled before taking out a replenishing pill and consumed it, ''so I can now fight for another round without worries, right?''


    Arthur kept fighting and killing everyone they sent. He was challenged by weapons, techniques, abilities, arrays, illusions, and even spells. No matter what they sent at him, he managed to dispel, defend, or evade before using his sword and kill the enemies using his bull horn strike.


    This scene kept repeating over and over again until finally there were only three members left.


    "So you are the final bosses of these minions?" he said with high spirit while pointing his sword at them, "send me any of you three, and I''ll smash him like I smashed everyone."


    The three didn''t speak as they suddenly moved in unison, heading towards him. "Oh, you plan to fight me three on one? Is this even allowed?"


    He turned to the lead master who had long lost hope in defeating him in this contest. "The three are one person with three bodies," the master said while his eyes shone slightly as he thought there might be a chance to kill him here.


    "Three?" Arthur turned to glance at the three coming at him, "as one person?" he tried to see the trick here but he couldn''t.


    ''What is going on?'' he asked.


    ''It''s the lycan special ability,'' the golden dragon sneered, ''this man isn''t from here, he is from a higher plane, the plane of lycans.''


    Arthur was speechless for a second before asking, ''Can I kill him?''


    ''His energy isn''t that high,'' the golden dragon said, ''but he isn''t the usual foe for you.''


    ''Ding! You should object on this.''


    ''And if he does, who will listen to his whining?'' The golden dragon said, ''Besides this is a good opportunity for him to have a taste of the power of those high up.''


    ''So I should try to fight three on one now?'' Arthur sighed before adding, ''and against such three coming from higher planes?''


    The golden dragon ignored his questions as he said, ''I want you to closely inspect the three, have you seen the lag?''


    Arthur glanced again at the three before muttering to himself, ''What lag?''


    ''Ding! There is a fraction of minute lag in the three movements,'' the system said, trying to help.


    ''Your meaning?'' Arthur still couldn''t get their meaning.


    ''It''s one soul jumping between the three bodies at the same time,'' Gege finally said it, ''if you managed to take him inside, I can easily trap his soul and leave the three bodies dead the way they truly are.''

 Chapter 537: A Man Returned with Bad News

    ''I can''t guarantee doing that,'' Arthur glanced at the incoming three bodies while inwardly sighing, ''any weakness I can exploit?''


    ''Ding! Speed is this race weakness,'' the system said.


    ''Fire has no effect literally over them, but you can use your spiritual energy and see what the result would be,'' the golden dragon advised.


    ''Take him in and leave his soul to me,'' Gege was still fixed on her demand.


    "It''s the dragon descent strike then," Arthur made up his mind as he held the sword vertically in front of his chest.


    "I have a message for you," the youth spoke in such a deep tone before adding, "if you managed to defeat this useless body of mine by any miracle, know that I''m the one holding your little dolls."


    Arthur''s eyes shone brighter in faint blue light before he controlled his emotions perfectly. "I never thought the lycans were after my girls," he simply muttered while he rotated his energy inside his body, "but if that was the case then I won''t stand at anything and come directly to kill you."


    "Humph," the three youths harrumphed at the same time while the next instant they suddenly waved their hands. Each one summoned around a hundred monsters.


    Arthur glanced at the newcomers. They all shared the same gigantic bodies and ferocious nature with gigantic heads of wolves and two long and curved tusks that made them look more brutal.


    Their bodies were covered with long and silk like brown and silver hair. Arthur glanced at their big claws and the saliva drooling from their opened mouths without blinking. "Do you think they are enough to stop me? Hahaha," he laughed while the next instant he instigated his pearl energy while running forward.


    He leant the sword horizontally and his enemy moved as well with his summoned army of monsters.


    The two sides crossed paths. The world seemed to freeze at this instant where Arthur''s sword hummed and then a giant sword shadow descended to cut everything in its path.


    Monsters and bodies; both were cut clean by the sword. Arthur stood motionless watching the devastation his sword created. "Sigh, I only hoped it would only cause little damage by activating the pearl energy late," he inwardly muttered while watching the great damage that happened just now.


    "It''s my win," he muttered before turning towards the lead master of the competition. "At least for now," the lead master said those words before Arthur turned around and retreated to his team.


    He moved in front of everyone here like a ferocious beast that was about to jump at anyone here. His single performance made this competition more challenging for teams, more interesting for the audience, and much harder for his enemies.


    "Let''s go," he said once reached his team, "have you decided what we will have for dinner?" he laughed loudly and his words seemed to be heard by many, especially masters and other teams here.


    "Move out kid, you need to clear a path for other teams to compete," the lead master shouted in a neutral tone, yet Arthur was pretty much sure he was deeply frustrated.


    "Let''s go," Arthur turned and moved down the stairs towards the ground. Doaf was waiting for him there, and the moment he reached the ground he said:


    "Marvellous performance, but we need to speak at once."


    Arthur nodded as he also had some things to tell him. He now determined the location of the lycan tower, and only one enemy was yet to be determined.


    "Omar go and see if we have other matches today or not," Arthur said to Omar who vanished into the crowded team area.


    "We have matches in two days from now," Omar said once returned, "it will be the official matches of the tournament."


    "Yeah, we will crush them all," Madly raised her fist high in the air while shouting this declaration to everyone. Arthur just smiled and leaned towards Amelia, "let''s go to the mansion, leave behind Omar and Deem to scan for other teams."


    She nodded and then Arthur went away leading his team and Doaf and his giant guards. Their small entourage looked intimidating to many, and they had the path in front of them cleared by other teams or the outside crowd who came to watch the competition.


    "What happened?"


    Arthur leaned his back on his seat while Doaf stood kind of restless in front of him. "Have you managed to contact my godfather?" he asked while his mind had this as an explanation for the restless Doaf right now.


    "No, but I found out something," he paused and Arthur just motioned to him to continue, "One of those I sent before finally returned."


    Arthur instantly got himself straightened up over the seat as he hurriedly asked, "and? Where is he?"


    "He¡­ is dead from deadly wounds," Doaf sighed before adding, "but this isn''t the most serious problem we have."


    "The news of the place he was at, right?" Arthur asked.


    "That mountain peak¡­ the place of the competition¡­ it''s all a trap."


    "Trap?"


    "The mountain peak isn''t a peak, it''s a portal."


    Arthur''s eyes shone at this moment while turning his head towards the direction of the two peaks as he asked, "which one? Where does this portal lead to? Tell me everything."


    What Doaf said made Arthur feel threatened. He glanced at Doaf while asking, "Are you sure about this?"


    "My man can''t lie, I know him for a lifetime and he won''t tell lies."


    "Damn," Arthur squeezed the arms of his seat before muttering, "we need to start moving fast."


    "How?" Doaf said before adding, "if I''m allowed to participate with you then I won''t be that restless."


    "There is a way," Arthur simply nodded before adding, "but first we need to take a risk. Have you figured out the identities of those tower owners?"


    "Not yet," Doaf shook his head, "I was slightly busy by what I learnt from my man and didn''t have any clue about these towers so far. But my men are still eyeing those towers and trying to decipher their origins."

 Chapter 538: Thinking of A Counter plan

    "Don''t bother," Arthur said, "I have already cracked the general layout of the tower powers and determined the place of the lycans."


    "The one backing the academy?" Doaf hurried to ask, "but there are still four more."


    "Four including three allies and one enemy," Arthur said before narrating what happened and then he pointed towards the tower of the lycans as he said, "Away from this one here, we need to start visiting the other four."


    "Didn''t you say there is one enemy in between?"


    "I know," Arthur sighed, "but if things are bad as you described we need to make hasty moves here."


    "That''s not hasty¡­ it''s risky."


    "It''s the same for me," Arthur shrugged before adding, "Also start scouting the two mountains thoroughly. We need to see if there is a way to deactivate this portal."


    "Or reach grandmaster," Doaf sighed, "if he was here, I wouldn''t have been so worried at all."


    "Me too," Arthur muttered before taking a deep breath, "go and send envoys to the four towers. They asked for my pill. Just use this as an excuse and try to gather more info."


    "What if they truly asked for your pill?"


    "Invite their envoys here then. If we can''t decide who is with us and who is against, we have to go bold and directly speak with them about that portal."


    "Do you think they can help stop this scheme?"


    "At least they will form some sort of pressure over the academy," Arthur decided to go and continue his training as he sat on the ground. "Go now and come back with good news."


    "I hope so," Doaf moved next to the outside, leaving Arthur all alone.


    ''This is kind of bad news for you,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''your allies are weak, and your enemies are much stronger. You need to be sure you won''t go into that portal.''


    ''I know,'' Arthur sighed, ''but if I didn''t go, I would lose the contest.''


    ''Ding! Losing a fight is better than losing a life.''


    ''Guys¡­'' Arthur took a deep breath, ''we need to think about this as if we can''t escape. Also there is a possibility that the kidnapped girls of mine are there inside the portal.''


    ''You need to let them go if you want to survive,'' Gege said, ''living another day to fight is much better than fighting and losing everything today.''


    ''I agree with lady garden,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''It''s Gege!''


    ''Whatever.''


    ''Alright¡­ let me train and you three keep chatting about this. I need options and solutions away from just running,'' he closed his eyes and started regulating his breaths.


    His mind was filled with many disturbing thoughts, but he eventually managed to calm it and started his training.


    ''Being weak is the reason for all this, I need to grow stronger. Far stronger than anyone can handle,'' he muttered to himself before deeply immersing into training.


    As for his current team, they felt something was off when Doaf appeared with such a nervous look over his face. They thought of going inside and speaking to him, but Amelia asked them to go in their rooms and train.


    Arthur kept trying to break through the sixth base but he was destined to be interrupted later by Amelia.


    She came in and started to gently shake his body. Once opened his eyes, she noticed the blue glow in them before hearing his voice, calming her fear: "What happened?"


    He knew something bad must have happened for her to interrupt his training like that. She took a deep breath before handing a piece of paper to him as she said: "This came a couple of minutes ago."


    He took the paper and there he found a bold declaration of challenge. The owner of this paper didn''t bother to write his name or refer to anything by his identity.


    He only wrote this short message:


    "All the other teams of the weak Dorgazire academy have been killed. Now you are the only surviving ones. Your girls are in my possession, and if you didn''t show up in the final test, I''ll make sure for them to suffer before they die."


    Arthur softly read these words while his face kept his calm. He knew that his enemy realized the escape of Doaf''s man, and so he assumed for Arthur to learn about the truth.


    "They are so restless then," he put the paper aside before glancing over Amelia. "Don''t worry yourself, go back and train."


    "Why do I feel things aren''t that good?" she asked before hesitating, "you should tell me the truth."


    He glanced at her while she nodded, waiting for him to tell her everything.


    "All you need to know is that the next competition is very dangerous," Arthur opened his mouth and said this before caressing her cheeks with his hand, "but don''t you worry, I''m here and I won''t let anything to harm you."


    She knew he was lying, and only he lied to protect her from worrying and fear. She just nodded with teary eyes before standing up as she wiped her tears. "I''m sure you won''t renege on that promise then."


    "I won''t," he promised before watching her leave.


    "Things are getting more complicated," he muttered to himself while clenching his fists, "I need to be more prepared for that fight. Have you found anything?"


    He asked his three voices and the answers he got didn''t appeal to him.


    ''Run?!'' he inwardly bitterly laughed, ''this is all you can say for me?''


    ''Fighting there is very disadvantageous to you,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''you don''t have any aiders strong enough to protect you there.''


    ''But I won''t be alone inside, other teams will be there as well,'' he said.


    ''But you will be the focus of everyone there,'' the golden dragon said before the system warned:


    ''Ding! Going inside without any plan or strength to back up this plan won''t be good.''


    ''hmm¡­'' Arthur thought for a long time before he said, ''I can have backups there, but the main help must come from outside.''


    ''What do you mean?'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Being there will make me able to contact my godfather easily,'' Arthur said before adding, ''Gege, once inside I want you to hurry and take a group of pillars out. We need to get in touch with George as soon as possible.''


    ''This isn''t even considered a plan!'' Gege remarked.


    ''This is a very bad plan!'' the golden dragon said.


    ''But this is the only plan,'' Arthur sighed, ''if they think I will sit back and watch them killing me or my girls then they are mistaken, plus¡­'' he sneered before adding, ''I want to take a glimpse on things in the higher up planes.''


    ''You¡­ are crazy,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    ''I''m just being stronger than ever,'' Arthur cracked a smile before adding, "strong people don''t run from challenges, instead they run into it."


    His mind started to devise a plan, a plan that would serve best as the counterplan, a surprise from him to his enemies.


    "You want to hunt me? Hahaha, I''ll hunt you down instead. Time for me to taste the monsters'' meat of the higher realms."

 Chapter 539: Lets Ask Them To Come

    Arthur kept himself in this state for the entire day. When Doaf returned again, he found him sitting in his place while his eyes were shining from time to time, pulsating with blue light.


    "Are you alright?" he asked as he moved to check upon him.


    "I''m good," Arthur was distracted from his state of deep thought. "Tell me, have you found anything useful?"


    "My men managed to determine two races who aren''t enemies with my grandmaster or clan," Doaf said before adding, "but the remaining two towers had such tight security that we couldn''t penetrate them at all."


    "So things were down to only two towers," Arthur smiled before adding, "can we negotiate with the other two then?"


    "I''ve already sent messages to the two towers, asking for them to send envoys to here."


    "Perfect," Arthur smiled before adding, "I want you to be ready to fight with me inside that mountain."


    "Is this¡­ permitted?" Doaf was surprised before adding, "I think those in the academy won''t agree on such a thing."


    "Let them be," Arthur simply shrugged, "they decided to stand on the opposite side and it happens that I needed to destroy one big force to demonstrate my real power in this world."


    Doaf glanced suspiciously towards him before asking, "may I hear out your plan?"


    "Not now," Arthur sighed, "you''ll know it just in time."


    Doaf was still skeptical but suddenly his face changed.


    ''Ding! There are a group of strong individuals coming towards here,'' the system suddenly warned.


    ''Great, the two towers move fast,'' Arthur smiled but the next response of the system startled him.


    ''Ding! There are teams coming from each tower, not only two but five!''


    Arthur heard the words of his system and instantly turned to glare at Doaf. Doaf seemed to receive the same message as his face changed.


    "Sorry young master," he apologized, "it seems the news spread and the other towers appeared as well."


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head before adding, "no problem, but I need you to be alert. If I called someone as my dear friend you know he is our enemy. If I called someone as being just a business partner then I might consider him being on our side."


    "And those who are on our side?" Doaf said.


    "C''mon, we have already one tower that''s against us and two that''s with us. Only this applies to the last two, alright?"


    Doaf nodded before he asked, "where do you want to meet them? Here?"


    Arthur glanced around before deciding, "not bad actually. Send them all up."


    "Alright," Doaf moved before pausing at the door, "I''ll send for all my men to surround the room first. We need to properly secure you."


    "Do as you see fit," Arthur simply waved his hand as he wasn''t interested in this.


    His enemies already had their trap ready and they were so much sure about the success of it. all they needed to be sure of was that he didn''t run away and take part in the competition, even if using force and threats to make that happen.


    And Arthur knew maintaining such an image was for the best for him. He wanted to make them deeply intoxicated in their confidence to crush him and not be slightly alerted by any other possibilities.


    Like the one scenario when he would come to their throats and slain them all in retaliation.


    He sat leisurely on his seat while giving around orders.


    ''I want to scan every single one of them and try to make a rough assessment of their powers,'' he said before adding, ''I also want in the middle of the meeting to make my ring shine.''


    ''Ding! Your ring?'' the system asked.


    ''I can do that for you,'' the golden dragon muttered before adding, ''but what for?''


    ''Just trying to deceive them,'' he simply said before adding, ''this is a very important thing. Don''t miss your timing.''


    ''Don''t worry,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Also I want to take a pillar out when the ring shines,'' he said after a moment of thought.


    ''One pillar?'' Gege asked.


    ''Yeah, the one linked to my godfather,'' he said before adding, ''coordinate with the golden dragon. I need the timing of both the shining of the ring and the appearance of the pillar to be perfect.''


    ''Ding! I think you should give them a signal to do so then,'' the system suggested.


    ''Fair enough,'' Arthur muttered before adding, ''when I say I''ll take the pillar out, then you can both move.''


    ''But under what reason will you bring the pillar out? And for what?'' The golden dragon was still skeptical about such a move.


    ''Didn''t he say it''s for the deception plan of his?'' Gege was the only one who could actually read his mind. ''Just trust him and do as he says.''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    The system and his golden dragon didn''t respond while he waited calmly until Doaf appeared again.


    This time he was surrounded by a group of his men, leading a group of strong looking people inside the room.


    And one of them was known for Arthur. Arthur just nodded in salute while they entered his room one small group after another.


    "I never thought the weakling from the nameless academy in the wilderness will create such ruckus already," Ralin laughed while glancing at others around him as if he just cracked a joke.


    "If you think you come to a circus then turn around and leave. I''m not interested in negotiating terms with morons or foul mouthed people," but the swift answer that came from Arthur made him and everyone here be startled.


    "Kid, don''t cross your boundaries," Ralin glared back as he threatened.


    "Or what?" Arthur sneered before glancing at Doaf as he added, "take this one out. I''m not interested in speaking to those who don''t appreciate my art."


    "You¡­" Ralin''s face changed as he came here to do a specific task for his master. He didn''t come for the pills, despite being a great thing, but he had another mission far away from obtaining the pills.

 Chapter 540: Flirting with Reem

    "Master Willy, please accept our apology on behalf of our master," another giant spoke while he gave a small box covered in red silk to Arthur.


    But Arthur didn''t accept it directly as he simply waved to Doaf to take it instead. "Thanks, at least one lycan who knows the proper manners of trade," Arthur smiled as he said these hidden words to Ralin.


    But it seemed Ralin learnt his lesson as he didn''t open his mouth to speak back.


    ''Seems they aren''t here for the pill,'' Arthur thought while turning his gaze between the other envoys.


    And Doaf just did the introduction.


    "This is Mr. Sam, he is the envoy from the esteemed black hole clan," Doaf pointed towards one giant with a dark cloak covering his body from head to toe, hiding his facial features before Doaf added:


    "And this is Mrs. Reem, the envoy from the esteemed golden raven clan."


    Arthur saw a direct contrast to the image of Sam. She was a long slender girl, wearing only two small pieces of what seemed like a remnant of a cloak to cover her sensitive parts. She had such a double pupil eye and a golden feather in her fiery long and thick hair.


    "This is Mr. Antony, he is the envoy of the esteemed vampire clan. This one is Mr. Goden, the envoy of the esteemed silver cauldron clan. And you know of Ralin, and this is Mr. Dolan, the main envoy of the esteemed lycan clan."


    Arthur moved between them all and nodded while he already had guessed which one of them were on good terms with his grandfather. ''Indeed the black hole clan and the silver cauldron clan,'' he thought.


    ''Wrong,'' suddenly the golden dragon spoke before adding, ''the golden raven clan is so friendly with the bronzed giant clan, alongside with the silver cauldron clan. As for that big dark dude, he is very dangerous and dark.''


    ''He is from a dark clan?'' Arthur was speechless there for a moment.


    ''In the world up there, boundaries between good and evil aren''t that distinctive like they are down here at your lowly worlds.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur didn''t say anything back while he smiled warmly and faked his enthusiasm as he said:


    "I welcome you all to join me in this little meeting about the pills. I apologize for bringing you all together, it seems my butler had made a mistake and instead of arranging a series of meetings he asked for you all to come here at once."


    Arthur tried to show them that he knew some came uninvited, but this wasn''t a big of a deal for him. He faked his intention to invite all of them on waves, and that meant he wasn''t even in the wrong here for anyone to try and exploit such a point.


    "Oh, Mr. Doaf just did a good job asking us to come then," Sam laughed before adding, "in fact we heard the news from others and thought this might be a good chance to gather here and discuss openly about such a deal."


    "I want to know how many pills you can make on a weekly basis," Antony said in such a domineering tone like someone who used to conquer others and order everyone around.


    "Well," Arthur didn''t show any discontent from such a direct question as he added, "I just have to ask about which quality you are asking about so I can properly answer."


    Just his answer made their eyes shine while Reem chuckled while asking, "do you mean you can make various versions of such a strong pill?"


    "For you my darling I can make a special pill for you alone," Arthur winked his eyes and the next instant Reem laughed as she turned to Doaf and said, "your young master is funny. I never thought to be eyed by someone from such a lowly plane."


    "He is that unique, or else how can my grandmaster set his gaze upon him?" Doaf answered and Arthur noticed the tinge of respect in his words.


    ''You are right golden dragon, she is our ally.''


    ''Yeah, lucky for you as she seems out of your league,'' the golden dragon laughed and Arthur simply chose to neglect his remark on her.


    "I''m pretty sure the next time I meet George, I''ll make him pay a good price for such low flirting abilities of his disciple," Reem said in a bright smile as if she was already tempted by the price she had in mind for that, "but you know the price this kid here offered isn''t bad either."


    She turned her gaze towards him while Goden interfered as he simply laughed. "I''m also tempted by this offer."


    "C''mon, you are an old man and I''m such a young sexy mistress who is eyed by this greedy boy here," she pouted her lips while mimicking the reaction of a little girl.


    "Reem, just stop pretending please," Sam laughed before he added, "everyone here knows exactly how old you are."


    "Sam!" she turned to him before adding, "don''t start a thing you can''t tolerate its consequences!"


    "Ahem," Arthur had to stop them as he cleared his throat, "let''s first settle on the grades of the pills you want."


    "In comparison to the pill you used," Antony said, "are the others weaker or stronger? And how many versions can you make?"


    Arthur felt the coldness in that vampire''s words and tone, but he didn''t hurry to judge based on this alone. He needed concrete proof to make sure which one was the real enemy here, the vampire clan or the black hole clan.


    "On comparison with the one I made at the competition," he faked thinking before adding, "I can make three more versions and they are all much higher than the one I made in the test," he said before turning to Reem as he added with another wink, "and that''s not considering the special pill I can make for you, my dear."


    "Stop it," she laughed while others just shook their heads.

 Chapter 541: The Price Is So Cheap

    "It''s your fault to release your sexy aura this strong in front of such a weak will kid," Sam shook his head while Reem only harrumphed and said nothing.


    "So you can offer four versions of the same pill," Dolan who was still silent all this time finally spoke, "may I ask about their effects and prices? If they are so pricey we might withdraw from this trade."


    Arthur glanced at him as he calmly smiled at this old fox.


    "They all have the same effect in theory, but the strongest one can make someone get past the next level in strength in no time," he said before turning his eyes around everyone here as he added, "even if he is a master or a grandmaster¡­ all can get this benefit from it."


    Arthur noticed everyone''s attention towards his words, but Dolan wasn''t. "And the price?" he simply threw that rock to stir up trouble here.


    "It''s cheap for the first batch of pills," Arthur shrugged before casually saying, "I learnt of a grand plot aiming to take my life during this competition. The price for ten highest grade pills is to ensure my life is safe from the start to the end of this competition."


    He paused as he cracked an amusing smile towards Dolan as he added, "what do you think? I believe there is no cheaper price than that, right?"


    And the face of Dolan changed while Ralin on the side of him was shaking out of anger.


    "This is just a silly joke," Reem laughed as she added, "I''m pretty confident that the security here is tight. No one can touch a strand of anyone here in the competition, right Mr. Dolan?"


    She turned to gaze at Dolan who simply nodded while returning the calm of his face. "I can assure him that no one can touch him inside the walls of the academy."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur acted like being hesitant while Sam said:


    "I don''t have any issue in securing you during the competition, but I can''t let my men participate in it on your behalf."


    "Sure, the competition needs to be fair after all," Goden nodded.


    "Provided that you won''t use my men in the competition for your sake, I can agree to your offer," Antony said in a cold tone.


    "What if there was a breach in the competition? Someone who is crazy enough to crush all the rules to kill me?" Arthur wasn''t fazed by the sudden turn of the talk to this undesired direction.


    "If there is such a case," Reem started to take things more serious as she added, "then all the men I''ll provide to you will be at your disposal to secure your safety."


    "Mine too," Goden added.


    "And I don''t have a complaint regarding that," Sam said, and only Antony was the only one left.


    "I don''t see anything like that happening," he simply said before adding, "so I don''t find any harm in agreeing on such terms. My men will arrive at your mansion and be at your disposal until the end of the competition."


    Arthur nodded as he turned finally towards the real enemy here. "What is your say about that?" he simply asked and Dolan simply gave him a silent and deep gaze.


    "As others don''t see a problem accepting this¡­" he said while Ralin was glancing weirdly towards him, "so on behalf of my master I agree."


    "Great," Arthur clapped his hands as he added, "now I''ll start working on the pills once the competition is over. I do believe the large disparity in powers between me and anyone of you is the main guarantee to keep my words."


    "That''s fair," Reem smiled as she added, "but I''m curious about the news that reached your ears. May I know more about it?"


    Everyone moved their gazes upon Arthur who simply smiled mysteriously as he said:


    "These are just rumors, so don''t bother with them."


    "But for you they seem true," Goden said.


    "I''m weak," Arthur bitterly said, "and so any slight rumor would make me extremely worried."


    His logic was flawless but everyone knew deep down that there were more he didn''t speak about.


    "But I need another help then," he suddenly said before adding, "I''ll take this pillar out and I hope if anyone can tell me of a way to activate a connection within it."


    The next instant the ring in his hand shone and a gigantic pillar appeared the next instant crushing the roof and headed towards the distant sky.


    Arthur wouldn''t be surprised if the pillar smashed the entire mansion he was staying currently at.


    "This¡­" Ralin''s eye shone with bright light, "a bronzed giant pillar," Goden muttered before turning to Arthur as he said, "do you want to connect with your master?"


    "Yes," Arthur nodded before adding, "it''s weird that since coming here I lost all contact with my godfather."


    "Godfather?" Reem''s eyes shone brighter as she added, "never thought he will select you as his direct disciple¡­ interesting."


    She then turned towards Dolan and said nothing. Her eyes carried clearly the question she had in mind, and Dolan had to sigh before explaining:


    "This is meant to protect the participants in the contest."


    "From what?" Goden asked.


    "If you are ready to pay the price, I can connect you with your master," Sam suddenly said.


    "Don''t bother," Reem casually said, "I''ll do it for you for nothing. Tell me what do you want to say to him?"


    Arthur smiled as he watched the face of Ralin getting darker. "Just tell him I need him to be here in the last competition," he paused before adding, "and it would be nice if he brought everyone here as well."


    "It''s like you are waging a war!" Ralin couldn''t stand silent anymore as he hurriedly shouted.


    "A war?" Arthur simply smiled before adding, "If you considered the brutal celebration that will erupt after me winning the grand prize then yeah, call it a war."


    Arthur''s face showed his laugh, but his gaze showed his serious and domineering stand against Ralin who replied with the same challenging gaze.

 Chapter 542: I Want A Seal

    Everyone here noticed this sudden change in atmosphere and their minds started to interpret it in the same way.


    ''There is something wrong with this competition,'' that was what others had in mind right now.


    "Alright, I''ll take my leave then," Reem said before adding, "I''ll send my own guards to be stationed here. I hope you will take good care of them," she addressed Doaf who bowed his head as he said, "I''ll do my best to ensure their comfort."


    She then gave Arthur a silent glance before nodding slightly and left.


    Everyone then moved out while they kept saying similar phrases to Doaf, all except Ralin and Dolan. The two just waited to be the last one to leave and when the room became vacant from other powerhouses, the two of them changed their faces and showed their true colors.


    "Don''t think this will save you," Ralin simply threatened and Dolan harrumphed before they left the room.


    Arthur glanced at Doaf before laughing. "I couldn''t decide which one of the two were the hidden enemy," Arthur shook his head.


    "Oh, do you already guess the identity of the two on our side?" Doaf amusingly said.


    "It''s obvious," Arthur leaned his back on his seat before adding, "they are Reem and Goden."


    "Amazing," Doaf nodded in content before adding, "but you should have shown much respect to them. After all we need their help to pass the storm."


    Arthur knew he was referring to the instance where he didn''t move from his seat from the beginning to end. "They also need me," Arthur said before taking a deep breath, "this seems to be a very hard fight after all."


    "What about the agents sent by the lycans? What do you plan to do with them?"


    "We''ll leave them here hopefully they will rot," Arthur said with a short laugh. "The main problem is the identity of that enemy¡­ it''s so risky allowing his men to come with us."


    "Do you have a way to make everyone come with you at the next competition?"


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled before adding, "just go ahead and start preparing places for our guests to stay at."


    Doaf glanced at the damaged ceiling and the pillar that stood there before sighing. "You shouldn''t have taken it out like this."


    "It was a must," Arthur said, "after all we now have a way to contact my godfather."


    "Yeah, but this¡­" Doaf sighed, "you''ve directly challenged the lycans. I think it should be better to try to force them to change their plans."


    "If I did so," Arthur said while patting on the arms of his seat, "then they will try to aim at me while returning to the academy, or worse directly attacking the academy."


    He didn''t need to speak further as Doaf realized this would be a much worse situation than the one they would face right now. "It''s both bad, but at least now we have some helpers."


    "Are they close to their masters?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    "You mean¡­ Reem?" Doaf asked before laughing, "c''mon, she has an innate sexual aura that can torment any man. Believe me I have been there."


    Arthur bitterly smiled as he didn''t feel such a way towards Reem, at least not that enchanted like what Doaf thought. "They are all indirect disciples of their masters," he said before adding, "but they are considered one of the oldest, like myself."


    "Then their words¡­"


    "Don''t worry, their masters will honor their deals."


    Arthur nodded and then Doaf was left to handle the new reinforcements.


    ''Ding! I still see this is pointless,'' the system said, ''Ding! It''s better for you to retreat, regroup with your master and then hit anyone that comes your way.''


    ''My godfather isn''t free to babysit me,'' Arthur sighed before adding, ''plus this is my tribulation, remember?''


    ''¡­''


    The system couldn''t refute his words and Arthur wasn''t prepared to drop off his tribulation at this point. "Heaven never gave me something that I couldn''t beat, it''s only the mindset of those eyeing the challenges that''s all," he muttered to himself before closing up his eyes.


    ''Are you going to train again?'' the golden dragon said, ''won''t you go down and inspect the new arrivals?''


    ''Nah,'' Arthur shook his head before adding, ''I''m just trying to think of a way to keep them fooled until I go inside the trap they prepared for me.''


    ''You mean the ring?'' Gege was able to read his thoughts, ''do you seek for some sort of seal to protect it from their eyes?''


    ''I know I can''t stop them from opening it,'' Arthur said, ''but I want to buy some time, at least a couple of minutes enough for me to step into the mountain and start the fight.''


    ''I know of a way that won''t only make your ring hard to crack, but it will also frustrate them,'' the golden dragon suddenly said with a big laugh.


    ''Really? That would be great,'' Arthur sneered before adding, ''tell me what should I do then?''


    ''Will you seal one ring or all of them?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''Hmm¡­ let''s seal all, but one ring will have weaker sealing than others.''


    ''For what?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''Oh boy, you have such a dirty mind indeed,'' Gege laughed while she read what was inside Arthur''s mind at this moment.


    ''Listen, here is the plan¡­''


    Arthur then started to tell them everything he had in mind.


    ''Oh, you are really a back dragonair descendant,'' the golden dragon muttered before laughing, ''but I love this plan of yours.''


    ''Ding! It''s indeed trickery, and I hope it will succeed.''


    ''If I managed to seal the rings this way, then it will succeed,'' Arthur smirked while adding, ''now what should I do to seal the rings?''


    ''It requires my energy to seal them,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''but once sealed you can''t access the ring except by breaking it.''


    Arthur understood his meaning. ''Can you seal them fast?'' he asked.


    ''In less than five minutes.''


    ''Good, then you''ll seal them on the way towards the contest tomorrow,'' Arthur decided before adding, ''do you need anything in particular?''


    ''He asks for many materials and plants from my body. Should I give him these?'' Gege asked and Arthur had to helplessly sigh.


    ''Yes, please give him what he needs. We are in the same team after all.''


    ''Tsk.''

 Chapter 543: All Go Inside My Rings

    Arthur then started to train again. For him, time was of golden essence and he couldn''t even risk wasting a single second without training.


    The system kept updating him on the news happening around him. He learnt of the reinforcements that arrived at the mansion, and also of the more eyes and strange people who kept checking over the mansion all day.


    Arthur expected such a thing to occur, and he even thought of the potential of the presence of some assassin in the group that came to honor the deals.


    ''If anyone of the new group tried to move near me, just make sure to directly alarm Doaf.''


    ''Ding! This way he will know of my existence.''


    ''I can use any excuse to justify this,'' Arthur muttered before sighing, ''but the most important thing is to make sure no one is to touch me before going to the test.''


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, keep training and leave things out to me.''


    ''To us,'' Gege hurriedly said.


    ''Ding! To us.''


    ''Hehehe, alright.''


    Arthur then passed the next day training while not being disturbed by anyone. Luckily his enemies weren''t that desperate to try something like sneakily attacking him.


    For them, they had the confidence in dealing completely with him.


    "Alright," Arthur moved outside his room with Doaf standing on his side. "How many of the reinforcements arrived?" he asked despite knowing the answer already.


    "Each master sent a hundred, but Reem''s master sent double," Doaf said before adding, "and Reem just sent a word hours ago, her master has sent a message successfully to the grandmaster. So, don''t worry. You just need to hang on there as long as you can."


    "Do you know how the final test will be done?" Arthur nodded as he reached the bottom. The mansion was now like a warring fortress with many giants and different races standing in line waiting.


    "According to the news spread from the Locek academy, the test will have the same themes of the test you passed through. You have to fight up the ladder until you reach the top five contestants then you will have a big war up ahead."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur simply knew that the last step was the one where he would have to face the challenge in the higher plane. "I will try to take as much time as I can," he said before Doaf passed something to him.


    "What is that?" Arthur muttered before he paused. "How did you get your hand over this?" he hurriedly asked with a serious look over his face.


    "This¡­ this was inside the box we got from the lycans," he said before adding, "I saw it after you closed up for training and thought not to disturb you by that time."


    Arthur held the ring that Amanda used to wear and clenched his fist tightly on it. "Thanks," he muttered before wearing the ring over his hand, "I will never rest until I get them out of there, either now or even after a century."


    "¡­"


    Doaf didn''t know what to say while Arthur took a deep breath. "Summon everyone here, I want to say something."


    Doaf nodded and moved to the outside while Arthur stepped to the outside of the mansion. There he found his team standing in wait while the garden there was filled with silhouettes of different races he didn''t see before.


    "They are all gathered up," Doaf said while Arthur glanced at everyone and his team moved to stand behind him.


    "Thanks for coming to support me," he said before adding, "as you know I have to deal with your masters. I won''t ask your help until there is a threat outside the normal rules of the tournament."


    He waited for a few moments before adding, "Now I''ll take you inside my rings. Don''t resist and stand still until you are inside."


    His words seemed so sudden to them. They never thought this would be the case.


    "We will need to ask our masters first," suddenly one lycan spoke up and Arthur simply smiled. "Go ahead and do, but don''t take much time."


    "We won''t," the lycan smirked while other races started to do the same.


    "Is this¡­" Doaf came and whispered softly to him.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur casually said, "let them take the permission from their masters."


    Doaf just glanced at him before sighing and shaking off his head. Arthur wasn''t a single bit worried as everything was happening the same way he pictured.


    Arthur didn''t wait for so long before the answer came one after another.


    "Rest assured," he said to answer the common condition their masters all gave in advance, "I won''t use any of you at the competition."


    "Great," one vampire said before adding, "let''s get this done. I hate to babysit someone like you."


    Arthur smiled as he muttered: ''Do as we agreed.''


    Then he started to take them away by simply touching their bodies. He took roughly an hour before he took everyone away, including Doaf and his team.


    "Just leave those outside to help," Doaf was worried by this arrangement, but Arthur refused such a precaution. "Don''t worry, if anything happens I''ll take you all out."


    Doaf simply sighed before he accepted the arrangements of Arthur.


    "Great," Arthur finally heaved a long sigh of relief, "let''s go," he said to his team who just kept their silence all the time.


    They didn''t say a single word despite they all knew Arthur wouldn''t simply ask for something like that without a hidden and profound purpose.


    "We heard some rumors about the teams out there," Amelia said while they were heading towards the big arena direction, "some are really troublesome."


    "In what way?" Arthur wasn''t that much interested in any team. For him, he was pretty sure his team was the strongest out there.


    "For a start the academy had over dozens of teams participating in the competition. They all participated directly in the competition without being vetted like us."


    "I don''t care," Arthur shrugged, "I just care about our next opponent and how to crush them."


    "But¡­"

 Chapter 544: The Stele

    "Don''t worry," he grabbed her hand while walking, a move that made her body tremble faintly, "I''m pretty sure we are going to crush them all."


    "Hmm¡­" she nodded while everyone else kept walking behind their leader with strong confidence of their win.


    Once they reached the place of the arena they found it more crowded than before. "Wow, it seems last time only part were interested in attending the matches," Madly sarcastically said.


    "I heard they sell tickets to see the matches to various clans and academies," Omar said and everyone nodded in agreement as they also heard such rumors.


    Arthur simply ignored all this. His mind was only revising various scenarios of the final encounter, feeling there was some hidden factor he didn''t count for.


    And when he reached the front of the audience he was suddenly hit by this realization.


    "Damn it," he muttered, "those five powerhouses had their youths to take part as well?"


    In front of him there were many giants standing in small teams around the arena like other teams. Everyone felt doubt when they saw such a scene and before they realized it, the dean appeared once more with his entourage from far.


    The moment he appeared on the top of the arena, everyone started to grow silent. He glanced over everyone before speaking in loud and domineering tone:


    "Today will be the start of the tournament. As you noticed, this year we have added another rule to make things interesting. Our five powerhouses here had agreed to make their weak youths take part in the matches. But to make sure things won''t be one-sided for many, we decided to reserve them for the later matches."


    He paused before pointing towards a giant stele that suddenly descended from the clouds. "This is a rare treasure given to us by the esteemed cauldron clan. We will use it to record the achievements of each team and assess every single individual performance."


    The stele stopped nearly a mile above the arena but for everyone down below, they could easily see the writings over its black surface in golden color.


    "The competition will continue until only five top teams are left. In the middle, and if any team crossed the half threshold of the stele, the teams from the supreme powers can announce a challenge to the teams. Refusing the challenge meant expulsion. Two defeats under the hands of the supreme power teams means expulsion as well."


    "Damn," Omar whispered, "they are trying so hard to make us fail."


    Arthur only squeezed his eyes and didn''t say anything. ''The worst is yet to come,'' he muttered to himself and his hunch was on the mark.


    "At the final stage of the competition, each powerhouse can select two teams of theirs to participate as well. To make things fair, the number of each team can''t exceed five members, and they have to be as young as our boys, not exceeding twenty-five years old."


    The dean stayed silent for a while before some arguments and complaints started to rise from many teams and their representatives.


    "Stay calm," he simply sneered while adding, "it''s not our fault your teams are weak. Our boys are up to the challenge. And yes, if one of the supreme powerhouses had a team to win the competition then the team will be announced the champion and all of us here will be considered losers."


    He then laughed before adding, "but up to my knowledge my own boys managed to defeat most of the teams coming from above. Don''t be sad when my boys win this, hahaha."


    "This¡­" Amelia muttered and paused from anger.


    "He is so biased towards his teams!" Madly was already on her wits and before anyone could shout or do anything stupid, Arthur raised his hand high up in the air and simply stood there in this stance, attracting the attention of many.


    He let only his index finger stretch in the air. The dean noticed this and simply sneered.


    "Let the competition start with the shuffle," the dean said before turning towards the towers as he respectfully said, "may the venerable masters choose the teams and let the best win."


    Arthur just kept his hand up in the air and didn''t descend it. the dean gave him a cold glance but he didn''t descend it.


    "Have we got our number changed?" he simply asked and his team was just feeling more confidence from this simple move he did.


    A simple hand, a simple finger expressed their defiance to everything this biased academy and its dean was trying to do. For Arthur he was just challenging the enemies of his directly, as he wasn''t afraid of them so why should he be cowering away from them?


    "We still have the same number," Amelia said, "I suppose as no one came to give us any number like most of the teams around."


    "Good," Arthur smiled before he watched the fog coming out from the towers. "Oh, they seem to like us," he laughed when he saw their number was the first one to appear, "I want you all to do your best and don''t worry about anything."


    "Are you going to smash them again?" Deem laughed before adding, "last time was epic."


    "And this time as well," Arthur smiled before adding, "but I won''t participate until I found something suspicious was going on."


    The team already figured out about what happened after speaking with Doaf and his giants after the last fight. They knew the aura coming from the higher realm could turn dirt into gold, and make the entire difference in any assessment.


    So, they now realized why their leader participated in that way before, and they were sure he wouldn''t delay in stepping in again to amaze and crush anyone if they tried to cheat.


    "The first match is Our own team, team seven, against the Dorgazire academy lonely team, team twelve," the dean''s distasteful voice came while trying to belittle Arthur''s team as he added, "let the two teams ascend the arena and start the fight."

 Chapter 545: The Dirty Scheme

    As Arthur and the others ascended the arena, the sound of the dean came again announcing three other matches.


    "Wow, we are going to fight in batches now," Tarry laughed while others only glanced at this arrangement with much doubt.


    As for Arthur he simply sneered.


    "Try whatever you want," he muttered, "in the end you will lose and I will emerge victorious."


    Despite reading the scene, Arthur moved with strong steps towards the arena and never paused. His team members moved after him, and when they reached their place in the arena, they spotted dozens of special rings where other teams were about to compete.


    "Listen up," the lead master of the contest said to all the teams here, "you know the rules, so don''t try to be funny and break them. We will start the contest in the usual order, and our esteemed masters will have the final right to decide the winner. Their decisions are final, so try to save yourself an embarrassment and accept the results."


    Arthur smiled as he moved his eyes towards the other contestants. "We will compete the same way," he said as he started to walk towards the front to take part in the first contest.


    Like before, he was the main participant and gave his team victory up till the individual fight. There he stood alone while the opposite one hundred team members were vigilantly glancing at him.


    "You''ve already lost," he said addressing these blue cloaked youths, "spare your lives and admit defeat."


    "Never," one of them moved to the front while he removed the cloak. He wasn''t too much older than Arthur, only nineteen or twenty in years. Arthur smiled while he glanced at the surrounding rings where other teams were already going neck to neck with their opponents in team fights.


    "They are surely faster than us," he smirked before taking out his sword and added, "c''mon, let''s end this quick. I don''t plan on wasting my time here."


    The moment the opponent moved to attack him, Arthur started to evade using his fast steps. Arthur could easily kill him, but that would take some time and effort as this kid used two gigantic shields that looked unfit for this world.


    ''They have an aura of the higher planes,'' the golden dragon warned, ''try not to get hit by them, or else you''ll lose your balance for some time.''


    Arthur didn''t intend to do that, not because he was afraid of the two shields, but he had something else bothering him.


    "What''s wrong? Are you going to keep running around?" the youth laughed yet Arthur didn''t answer back. He simply kept evading for a couple of minutes until he heard a sudden cry from the side and the next instant one of the opponents in the nearby ring was smashed like cannonball towards him.


    He evaded that, but the next moment another one was thrown from a second ring, then a third and so on. While he kept avoiding those useless youths, the entire arena shook when every single team moved from their rings and started to aim towards him.


    "You finally moved," he smirked and wasn''t fazed as he was waiting all this time for this to happen.


    "Master, this is cheating!" Amelia suddenly cried out towards the lead master who simply scratched his head as he said: "In which way? Please enlighten me."


    All the team members were instantly enraged, yet when they were about to move the lead master threatened: "Don''t break the rules and wait for your turn. This is still an individual fight."


    Before anyone can do anything stupid, Arthur''s voice came from the upfront where he was literally surrounded by over a thpousand player:


    "Stay back."


    His simple shout made everyone hesitant, yet when they saw him jumping high in the air, taking out his bow and one single arrow they all hurriedly retreated, ran fast and far away from here, running for their lives.


    "Let''s hear you scream," he laughed while sending off the arrow towards one side before he jumped again on the air, using his steps in a total new level.


    Moon jumping.


    "Rumble!"


    The next instant the arrow broke into a loud booming and explosion that started to create a massive devastation here. Everyone glanced at this gigantic bronzed giant body and head and wings of a dragon before they were massively hit by such a brutal attack.


    Arthur was also hit and sent flying further away, but he was totally prepared as he channeled his three energies and tried to endure such a close hit.


    "Damn," he stood up from a deep crater where his body was severely wounded, "even after using all of my energies together this arrow damage went beyond my expectations."


    He stood up, simply took out a healing pill and used it. He also took a replenishing pill while waiting for the massive destruction of the arrow to subside.


    Even the masters standing in the arena were hit by the blast, and all were sent flying away. Some were heavily wounded, and others were slightly wounded.


    But there were no dead or untouched, making the impact of such an attack memorable in the minds of everyone standing here.


    "I object," suddenly one voice came from down below followed by the sudden appearance of a group of masters belonging to the Locek academy. "Dean, this kid used unauthorized force to kill every single one in the arena. That''s against the rules. This isn''t a group fight, but an individual fight. He should be banished instantl¡­"


    The master was in the middle of his words when a loud bang came from the direction of one of the towers. A silhouette instantly appeared in front of the master, simply slapped his face and the next instant that master was sent to the ground again, to rest inside a deep crater with a devastated body.


    "Don''t worry," Reem turned to glance at the dean, "my master ordered me not to kill him. Just he needed a lesson so he won''t be so impulsive and arrogant next time."

 Chapter 546: Another Scheme

    The dean''s face changed and he was angered, but he kept his silence as he turned to glance at the direction of a single tower.


    "The man didn''t say anything wrong," the next instant another silhouette appeared from that tower, "my master says the kid should be punished."


    It was Dolan, but when he just reached Reem, three more shades moved from the remaining towers.


    "Not guilty," Anotny said.


    "Not guilty," Goden said.


    "Not guilty," Sam said.


    Reem cracked a wide smile as she turned to the dean and said:


    "The masters said their decision¡­ the kid isn''t guilty."


    The dean couldn''t resist the forces of four masters combined, even if had the backing of one master. "He isn''t guilty," he had to say these words.


    "Great," Reem chuckled before pausing, "my master also wants to convey a message¡­ stop manipulating the contest, or this will have very serious consequences over your academy in the near future. Consider this as a promise not a warning please."


    She then turned to nod to the other three and totally ignored Dolan before returning to her tower.


    Each one moved the next instant to vanish from the sight of the dean who simply sighed.


    "This is team twelve victory," the dean shouted before adding, "next teams please move to the arena."


    Arthur watched what just happened and he had to sigh. "You are damn fixed on hiding yourself till the bitter end," he inwardly sighed before walking towards his team.


    His injuries were healing fast, but many still remained even after descending the arena.


    "This isn''t a fair fight," Madly was already pumped up in rage as she clenched her fists, "I need to vent some anger. Next time I''ll be the first to start the fight."


    "Just stop acting like a child," Arthur couldn''t help but shake his head, "this isn''t a game, and it''s expected for them to try not to abide by the rules."


    "But¡­"


    "Just don''t try to make things more complicated," Arthur had to stop her while sighing, "there will be a time where every ounce of your strengths will be needed. So please reserve your powers and try to clear your minds and prepare for the worse."


    His words came to make them realize that a huge fight was going to happen. They all nodded and Amelia whispered:


    "Is it that bad?"


    "Indeed," he nodded before glancing over the dean in the high point in the sky, "he won''t rest until we all are dead."


    "More reasons to prove him wrong then," she chuckled and he simply patted her shoulders as he said, "Don''t worry, I won''t let anyone harm any of us."


    "I hope¡­ you will be alright at the end of this."


    She wasn''t worried on herself but on him. He simply smiled and said nothing while watching with her in his embrace the fights going on.


    Nothing like what happened before to his fight happened again, and he doubted the dean would be crazy enough to try the same approach again.


    Arthur could deal with them in many ways, but he preferred to use the most simple and shocking way¡­ the brutal way.


    Like this the dean and others behind him wouldn''t try this approach again or else they would end up losing many of their teams with no result at all.


    He took another healing pill before ten rounds of matches ended and it was their turn again.


    "So we have one hundred and twenty teams right now. Long way to reach top five," he sighed while ascending the stairs and thinking about the previous tactic of his enemies. "It''s not that bad actually," he inwardly sneered as now he just hoped they would reuse that tactic again.


    "Like this I won''t take long to reach the top five."


    He stood in the arena where dozens of rings were there. The lead master was the same from before, and he had a scratch over his forehead.


    When he saw Arthur, his eyes shone with deep anger, but Arthur just ignored him. "You play with fire, what did you think you''ll get in the end?" he inwardly sneered while the master issued the signal for the next round of contest.


    Arthur and his team kept crushing any team standing before them without any suspense. Arthur kept interfering roughly all the time. "It''s weird all the teams we met so far had aura from higher planes," he was astonished to notice that, "and only the teams facing us used this trick."


    He noticed other teams while resting, none used the aura of the higher planes ever in their contest. It seemed like those coming up to face them had this supplement at the last minute, making him speechless at the effort his enemies were doing to crush him.


    Round after round the contest continued. Each round of contest took roughly from three to ten hours to conduct, and Arthur had to give meat to his team and himself from time to time.


    "They need to be best in shape," he muttered to himself when descending from the last fight.


    The number of teams now diminished to reach only twenty-four. "Next the number will decrease to twelve, then six, and finally the top five."


    ''Ding! Something is about to happen.''


    Just as he was about to reach the ground, his system alarmed him. ''What?'' he simply asked.


    ''Ding! A team of five are going up to the arena.''


    The words of the system made Arthur instantly glance at the stele. ''Wow, I made it to that height already!''


    There was a very big transverse line in the stele where the name of his team, team twelve, shone in bright gold color. But, his name was much higher than the team, almost reaching the top one fourth section of the stele.


    ''So they are going to challenge my team¡­ interesting,'' he sneered while waiting on the last step of the stairs as he didn''t take the last one down.


    "Is there anything wrong?" Gor asked as he was the one directly behind Arthur.


    "I think we might be summoned up there soon," he smiled as he pointed towards the stele.


    "The stele¡­" Sherry muttered.


    "We are already past the midline," Omar said in excitement, "and we are the only team to do that!"


    "Don''t be celebrating too soon," Amelia warned, "now we can be challenged by those higher planes'' teams."


    Her words managed to quench the excitement fire inside everyone as they realized the risk they were facing right now.


    "What should we do?" Tarry asked with obvious nervousness.


    "Nothing," Arthur shrugged before laughing, "we''ll crush them the same way we crushed everyone else."


    They all glanced at him weirdly before the dean suddenly spoke:


    "The next contest is an interesting one," he said before turning to the stele in the air as he added, "as you can see, team twelve and their ace, Willy, are both shining proudly in the stele above the midline."


    The eyes of all standing here glanced for the first time at the stele to notice this. The team heard loud exclamations of shock and admiration while the dean added:


    "So a team hailing from the lycan great clan has issued a challenge¡­" he paused as his face showed an interesting smile, "Willy, the ace of team twelve is challenged by the team Zero of the lycans. Please ascend the stage and let the challenge commence."


    "What?!!!"


    Everyone in the team exclaimed in shock while they all turned towards Arthur who bitterly smiled. "You think so low of me old man," he sneered before adding, "let me correct this misbelief of yours and crush all you send towards my way."

 Chapter 547: Summoning A Cauldron To Forge!

    Arthur moved up without hesitation while everyone on his team was feeling dazed and amazed. "Are you going up there?" Amelia hurriedly shouted at him while he only raised one finger high in the air.


    He wasn''t suicidal, in fact he was extremely excited about such a challenge. "I wonder how people up there train," he muttered while he climbed the stairs in a calm manner.


    He had in his mind a plan formulated. "They have already tested my arrows and my pill. I wonder if they intend to rival with me on these two or they will just ditch them aside."


    In his opinion they might aim towards having the individual and group fight to be their win and leave him with two wins at alchemy and forging. That would leave only special abilities and arrays hanging as neutral zones.


    "I believe it''s time for me to use my special array formation," he smirked while stepping in the arena, "but as for the special ability¡­ I think I should show more if needed."


    He didn''t mind losing one or two encounters but won the entire contest. He had already shown the fast steps ability and he still had the higher remote control ability of his.


    "I have to admit¡­" the moment he went up into the arena, one of the five lycans sneered as he added, "you are courageous, foolish and courageous. I like that so I won''t make you feel much pain before dying."


    He laughed and the other four around him laughed as well. Arthur was about to speak back but the golden dragon suddenly said: ''They are dangerous, especially this arrogant one.''


    Arthur swallowed what he wanted to say before muttering: ''Explain further.''


    ''This one has energy almost double yours and with quality that rivals your blue dragonair''s energy. He isn''t just a lycan, he is also a special lycan just like you.''


    ''A variation?'' Arthur thought before asking, ''have you seen such variation before?''


    ''To be honest lycans were considered lowly being when we were in power,'' the golden dragon cleared his throat first before answering his question.


    ''You don''t know, right?'' Gege laughed before adding, ''Don''t worry yourself, just take him inside and I''ll properly handle him.''


    ''You vulgar lady, it''s not that easy to take anyone off their will inside your body,'' the golden dragon sneered.


    ''What did you just call me?''


    "Shut up!" Arthur suddenly shouted in extreme anger and his shout just attracted everyone''s attention.


    "Oh, you are also a moron, that''s amusing," the youth said with a laugh, "anyway let''s get this done through. I hate being in the open for so long."


    Arthur completely ignored him while shouting at those inside his mind: ''If you don''t help then don''t make things worse for me!''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    The three remained silent and no one spoke to him until the lead master said:


    "This is a special form of the contest, so to be fair it will be held one versus one. The other team will choose only one representative for each theme of the contest. The themes will be like the normal contest. Please begin."


    Arthur waited as he knew this useless talk about being fair is nothing but a show to keep their faces no more. He crossed his arms while watching one of the lycans moving towards him.


    All of the five were giants to him, but this one here was the tallest of all. He had bulging muscles and strong physique, something worthy of a blacksmith.


    "My name is Doron, and I''ll be the one teaching you how to forge."


    Arthur sensed his confidence while he kept his silence. "The best thing I made was that sword, should I make another one?" he thought to himself while contemplating what he would do.


    As for Doron, he just took out his tools and started to forge like he was doing breakfast.


    "Just a reminder," the lead master suddenly said while he noticed Arthur wasn''t moving a finger for an entire hour, "each theme has a time limit of six hours. So don''t waste your time."


    "What if I wanted more?" Arthur suddenly asked, and the lead master was about to refuse when Doron suddenly spoke:


    "Allow him, I don''t want him to say I wasn''t fair when I crushed him."


    The lead master didn''t hurry to confirm as he moved his eyes towards the leader of the lycan team who simply nodded, then he glanced at his dean who also nodded. "Alright, you got your wish. Let''s see what you will do."


    "Hahahaha, I''ll do something that will make you all run after me to buy it," Arthur laughed all of sudden like a maniac while everyone around was feeling weird towards his sudden behavior.


    Yet the next instant he didn''t take out his forging items, but his cauldron.


    "Oh my mighty lycan, he is retarded," the leader of the lycans laughed while pointing towards him, but Arthur didn''t care.


    What he did next was something totally odd. He took out fiery ore and then filled the entire cauldron with the purified blood of the Golam''s lake before he cut his wrist and left a few drops of his blood fell over the fluid.


    "Willy boy, this is a forging contest. Alchemy contest is next," the lead master couldn''t help himself to call upon him and the next moment many laughed including the audience down below.


    But Arthur simply gave him a glance before he took out his sword and then muttered: "Bring them forth."


    The next moment an entire legion of huge monsters appeared to fill the entire arena. Their sudden appearance startled everyone, but the next thing Arthur did made them all more puzzled.


    He took his sword, and started killing all the monsters around without any pause.


    ''Keep me updated with time,'' he simply muttered to his system.


    ''Ding! Five minutes remained from the first killed batch. You need to hurry and process them fast.''


    ''I said keep me posted with time, not to warn me to do what''s obvious,'' Arthur was already extremely focused on the task, ''just alarm me every thirty seconds and keep track of those I killed earlier than the rest.''


    ''Ding! As you wish.''

 Chapter 548: Getting A Special Gigantic Cauldron

    After one minute he already killed hundreds of monsters.


    "What the hell is he doing?" the leading lycan muttered while he felt Arthur wasn''t the fool he felt he was. "Can anyone tell me what the hell is he doing?"


    "I bet he lost his mind," one of the lycans in the team said, but the leader wasn''t satisfied with such an answer. "No, he is definitely doing something."


    This wasn''t only the feeling of that lycan, but every single higher being here, including the dean. Everyone stayed sharp while trying not to miss a single thing he was doing.


    Yet the next thing he did made them all startled.


    ''Ding! Two minutes and thirty seconds for the first killed ones.''


    ''Good, direct me towards them,'' Arthur suddenly stopped his killing spree before heading towards the first killed monsters.


    He then leaned over their bodies, opened their bellies, and started taking out organs in large batches.


    He threw these organs towards the cauldron while even not looking but not missing a single time. He kept clearing all the monsters he killed before the cauldron started to emit explosive sounds.


    "It reached his limit," Arthur stood there motionless before raising up his head while shouting, "anyone up there can lend me a gigantic cauldron? I promise half of what I make will belong to the master who helps me."


    "Kid it''s forbidden to even speak to the venerable masters in such a rude way!"


    "Boom!"


    The next moment a gigantic cauldron descended from the sky cutting the words of the lead master of the contest and making his face suddenly change.


    "My master says it will be a real shame to let anyone else give you a hand. We are the silver cauldron clan, and my master is eager to see the link between cauldrons and forging."


    Arthur glanced at the direction where the familiar voice of Goden came. "Thanks a lot for master''s kindness and I promise he won''t be dissatisfied."


    Arthur didn''t waste anymore second while he moved with his highest speed to put a huge amount of fiery ores around the cauldron before finally letting all.


    ''Pour it with Golam''s lake,'' he muttered before hurrying back to his killed monsters.


    ''The liquid requires time to be heated enough,'' the golden dragon muttered.


    ''Ding! And I need your blood,'' the system said.


    ''I''m filling the cauldron now,'' Gege added.


    ''Take my blood,'' he cut his hand and let his blood splash out of his veins. But the next moment all the blood vanished and appeared miraculously above the cauldron.


    Arthur then started to throw organs again, and despite the presence of such gigantic cauldrons, his throws never missed.


    ''These will be mostly lost before the liquid reaches the optimum point,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    ''At least I won''t let them rot here,'' Arthur simply said before asking, ''how many more do I need?''


    ''At least two more batches like this one.''


    ''Sigh, no time to waste then,'' Arthur then went on a spree of killing monsters and taking out their organs.


    And he kept doing this for two hours before he finally cleared all the monsters here.


    "What is he going to do next?" This was the question everyone had, but the next thing happened was for him to wave his hand and another batch of monsters appeared again.


    "¡­"


    Everyone was speechless while watching him killing and taking out the organs from the bellies of these monsters. He took around two hours to finish, and then he did the same and took another two to clear everything.


    On the side, Doron already made his sword and shield while waiting silently for Arthur to finish.


    "Are you going to be a cook after we defeat you?" he sneered and the leader seemed to love this joke as he kept repeating it until Arthur finally finished clearing the third wave.


    "C''mon, kill more, we need to feast on your defeat tonight, hahaha," the leading lycan laughed out loud while everyone on his team laughed with him as well.


    But next Arthur stopped, waited for a few minutes in his place motionless while waiting as he closed his eyes.


    ''Tell me when you are ready,'' he said.


    ''I need five more minutes,'' Gege said, ''I think you should start making it while I finish preparing.''


    ''No, he needs to use the mix in each step or else it would be weak,'' the golden dragon said. He was the owner of such an idea, calling it the old relic lost since the ages of the golden dragon era.


    And he just was so excited about it that he even proposed lending Arthur part of his own limited energy.


    But Arthur refused, as this would let him enter into deep slumber for a long time. He would prefer to make a weaker version now, especially when he planned to use his blue dragonair''s energy which wasn''t any much inferior to the golden dragonair''s energy.


    He waited, and when Gege gave him the sign, he jumped up there until he reached the top of the cauldron.


    "Great," he muttered when he saw the golden liquid mixed with some blue in some places inside the cauldron. He didn''t expect it to be so strong, that even standing there right now made him feel much intimidated.


    ''You are sure about its safety one me?'' Arthur had to ask, as he felt just touching this liquid would result in killing him.


    ''It has your blood, so don''t worry. You are secure, but if anyone else tries to be funny¡­ hehehehe,'' the golden dragon evilly laughed while Arthur simply smiled.


    ''Next step then,'' he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before channeling his two energies inside his body at the same time.


    ''Didn''t you say you are going to use only your dragonair''s energy?'' the golden dragon hurriedly asked.


    ''It''s best to go full out, right?''


    ''Ding! But you might exhaust your energy in this way!''


    ''I have replenishing pills with me, plus I don''t need to make such an effort at the next contest.''


    ''Why?'' Gege asked.

 Chapter 549: The Heaven Is My Hammer, The Earth Is My Anvil!

    ''I plan to take that time to recuperate. If they didn''t agree on me doing this, then I have no choice but to win one and lose the other.''


    ''That''s¡­ unfair,'' Gege was frustrated.


    ''I know, but I''m not the one to say the final word here,'' Arthur shrugged before he finally opened his eyes, ''Give your energy in pulses, make sure it won''t deplete until I finish forging, alright?''


    ''Don''t worry.''


    Arthur then put both hands over the cauldron and started injecting his energy at once. He didn''t aim to tolerate energy first, as this time he wasn''t aiming towards increasing the level of the liquid.


    The liquid was already extremely high in grade. He only needed to condense it as much as he could.


    The first few minutes nothing happened on the surface despite his face twitched and his skin was covered with layers of heavy sweat.


    Then¡­


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The cauldron started to rumble and explode faintly from within before its surface started to shake off like it was made of water not sturdy ore. "C''mon, endure!" he gritted his teeth as he shouted with his loudest voice as he tried to keep his energy at its highest threshold all the time.


    But it seemed his shout was misinterpreted by others.


    "Don''t worry kid, this cauldron is my making and it would endure much more force than that!"


    Suddenly this majestic voice came all of sudden from the direction of the silver cauldron tower. Arthur simply wasn''t in the mood to check over there now, but he nodded trying to respond to this unneeded answer.


    He wasn''t doubting the cauldron, he was trying to instigate his own power.


    ''Ding! Your spiritual energy is getting thinner.''


    ''The dragonair''s energy is getting shorter.''


    ''My energy is barely enough for forging.''


    The three voices suddenly came in succession making him open his eyes before cutting his hand again and then he muttered: ''Guide my hand."


    The next moment the system made his hand move to write the old golden dragonair''s tongue words over the cauldron. Arthur didn''t take more than one minute to cover a large square of the cauldron by his blood before he kicked himself away and landed hardly safe over the ground.


    And the next instant he waved his hand to take out his forging materials.


    "Watch and learn you morons," he glared at the opponent''s lycans before laughing out loud.


    They all expected him to lit up the ores below the oven, take the forging materials and start forging, but he didn''t.


    The first thing he did was to continue to write over the over and anvil and the rest of his tool with his blood using the old gold dragonair''s tongue.


    "Now!" Arthur finally stopped and then he clasped both palms against each other hard while muttering, "Come for me, come and obey my command."


    The next instant something strange happened. Everyone thought that he was calling over the cauldron, or the mix inside it.


    But the ones that responded to his calling weren''t any of the two, but the endless corpses scattered all around the arena.


    They all moved in unison, headed towards him in large numbers. "Let the sky by my hammer," he raised one hand high in the sky while holding his hammer. He channeled his spiritual energy, or what was left in it, to make his words echo in the sky.


    "Let the ground be my anvil," he then pointed his other hand towards the ground where both hands formed a straight line before closing his eyes and muttering: "Heaven and earth forging technique sacred move five¡­ let the world be my hammer and anvil, let my body be the power to control all."


    The next moment the entire world changed as black clouds were instantly gathered up above and the ground of the arena started to shake. An immense pressure suddenly erupted all of sudden where it kept all the flying bodies in their places.


    "Come!"


    The next instant Arthur shouted while he raised the lower hand up and lowered the hammed down to fall upon his hand. He didn''t feel any pain, and his hand didn''t receive any damage.


    But the one which was really affected was the entire world inside the arena. A very majestic hammer sound erupted while the bodies of all monsters crushed the next instant.


    They all turned into shreds, but the next instant the world was filled with droplets from the cauldron mix. The drops got mixed with the remains of the monsters and started to coalse together.


    ''Hurry, you need to form something to contain them,'' the golden dragon shouted.


    ''Don''t worry, I just have the perfect thing for them'' Arthur then kept moving both hands up and down before landing towards the oven. ''Take out the ores and start the fire,'' he simply said while he spread out the mold on the ground.


    It was the mold of the arrow heads he usually used to form his arrows.


    ''Are you going to¡­ you must be out of your mind!'' the golden dragon couldn''t help but scream in shock.


    ''Didn''t you say they will form mighty explosive projectiles? The most useful projectile I have is the arrows. Why are you so shocked about this?'' Arthur kept moving both hands up and down while everything around him was getting smashed and reformed at a fast pace.


    ''This¡­ it''s best to be used in defending the main fort or trying to claim your enemy''s!''


    ''For me I can use the arrows to make that happen, right?'' Arthur didn''t see any point in making a new thing only for that.


    ''Sigh, you are thick headed like any dragon.''


    ''Hahaha, sure old man, I''m actually one.''


    ''tsk.''


    Arthur then stopped over the oven where materials were thrown in batches using his legs. He didn''t ever miss, and this was all due to his system''s help.


    The next thing he did was to move part of the liquid from the cauldron and mix them with the melting ores inside the oven.


    ''How many times should I keep hitting them?'' he asked after half an hour and the golden dragon answered:


    ''Until you hit them and they never smash again.''


    Arthur watched all around while the monster-liquid mix was getting denser and fewer with each hit. ''They are shrinking,'' he muttered.


    ''They are getting purified and condensed,'' the golden dragon said, ''don''t expect this to contain much impurities.''


    ''Sigh,'' Arthur shook his head, ''I just hope my energies will be enough until the end.''


    ''It will be,'' Gege was the one to reassure him, ''I won''t let my power be depleted before finishing this and see what it''s all about.''


    ''Ding! I''m also curious about the end result.''


    ''Me too,'' Arthur muttered.


    ''I assure you all will be amazed by the end result,'' and the golden dragon just laughed as he was much more excited than three of them.


    Arthur then kept using the heaven and earth to purify the particles in the air. With time the sizes of these particles started to grow smaller and then they coalesced together to grow again in size and be fewer in number.


    And then he used what was left in his attention to make the melted ore fall into the mold and waited for it to be cooled down.

 Chapter 550: Making The Special Arrowheads

    Arthur was orchestrating something amazing in front of everyone''s eyes. Despite no one understanding what he was doing, with the passage of time they all had this vague feeling that something big was about to happen.


    ''It''s ready,'' suddenly the golden dragon muttered after hours of repeating the same thing over and over again. ''The material is ready, I just hope your low arrows will be enough to contain them.''


    ''They will,'' Arthur smiled before finally asking, ''what should I do now?''


    ''Just control each particle to descend inside your arrow and then use the hammer and anvil of yours to seal them together.''


    Arthur nodded this idea came initially from the golden dragon but he was speaking about using the normal hammer and anvil but Arthur decided to up the game and use one of the highest forms of forging from his past life.


    The next instant he glanced over a nearby particle. It was like a tennis ball in size, shimmering with blue and golden light all the time. "Come!" he simply muttered before he made a gripping motion with both hands and then he felt like a rope was there in his hands.


    Then he started pulling this particle towards the arrow mold on the ground. Once the particle touched one of the arrow heads, both flew up in the sky and Arthur shouted: "Heaven is my hammer¡­ the earth is my anvil¡­"


    His both hands kept moving like before while the arrow head and the particle started to show signs of merging together.


    ''Focus¡­ don''t let it release its energy now,'' the golden dragon warned, ''this is the most important moment¡­ don''t lose focus now.''


    ''Shut up and let me concentrate,'' Arthur shouted as the words of his golden dragon weren''t helping.


    Arthur kept hammering the two together for five minutes before he felt the particle already vanish inside the arrow head which showed changes than usual.


    The head was now longer, more tapering, looking sharper and much deadlier than ever. It got enlarged in size and Arthur was pretty much sure it had a groundbreaking change in terms of lethality.


    "Perfect," he shouted in joy, "one down, still many left."


    He turned his gaze next to another particle, then a third one, and so on. He kept repeating the same process over and over again and despite each particle only taking five minutes each, their high numbers made him take the entire day to finally create almost three hundred arrow heads.


    And then the particles were consumed and there was none.


    "Phew," he exhaled a long breath out of his exhaustion. "This¡­ it took much longer than I thought."


    He didn''t see himself now, but his chest was racing up and down and his clothes stuck over his body out of extensive sweating he had.


    Yet he wasn''t even interested in checking his current state. He went to hold one of the arrows while marveling it in sparkling eyes. "This¡­" he sensed the energy inside the arrow head and the next instant he broke out in wild laughter.


    "You finished at last," the leading master said in obvious boredom, but before he could say anything a silhouette suddenly appeared in front of Arthur descending from above.


    "Impressive," Goden smiled while glancing over the arrowheads as he added, "you promised half, right?"


    Arthur suddenly felt pain when he recalled his previous word. "Sure, do you want me to make the arrows complete or you can do this task yourself?" he casually asked while pointing towards the arrow heads on the ground.


    "We''ll take care of that," Goden laughed in excitement before he took one arrow head and seemingly tested it with his power. "Amazing¡­ this little one here seems to be so deadly."


    "Thanks," Arthur was feeling more exhausted with each passing second. "Here, take this. It will help replenish your lost energy," Goden suddenly took a small round pill and gave it to Arthur.


    "This¡­" Arthur glanced at it as he felt the dark energy stored inside.


    "Don''t worry, it''s a pill specialized for the black dragonairs. It''s known to have a very good effect in replenishing dragonair''s energy."


    Arthur bitterly smiled as he understood why his soul shook the moment he took this pill. "Thanks," he stored it away while Goden raised an eyebrow when he saw Arthur doing that.


    "I''ll use it in a better time and place," Arthur simply winked, but in fact he didn''t intend to use it at all.


    His energy was now much different than the known black dragonairs.


    "Can you finish one arrow?" Goden suddenly said before laughing, "you are still in a competition."


    Arthur took a deep breath before nodding. "See you around, kid. I believe our paths will cross someday. And take the cauldron, it''s a gift from our master for your outstanding performance."


    "Thanks for master''s generosity," Arthur politely said before Goden vanished in the next instant with half of the arrow heads scattered around.


    "Sigh," Arthur felt pain again but he went to make the arrow shafts. This process didn''t take long, but he was already feeling tired despite taking multiple healing and energy replenishing pills.


    "I''m done," he turned to face the dark faced lead master who just nodded as Arthur handed the arrow to him. "Careful or this little one would kill us all," Arthur warned and his sudden words made the master feel quite nervous.


    "I''ll handle it," the dean suddenly appeared as he took the arrow and went to the air towards the five towers. "This is the second participant crafted item," he said as he left the arrow in the air above the stele while Arthur noticed the two gears his opponent made before were there.


    Arthur watched the three gears vanishing in the sky above the stele.


    The waiting lasted for an entire hour before sudden flashes of light descended from four towers at the same time.


    "Willy boy, our master is willing to strike a deal with you right now about these arrow heads of yours," Sam was the first to speak up but Reem standing next to him laughed as she said:

 Chapter 551: Argument

    "My master said he is willing to give you a chance with me if you agreed to make a deal with him."


    Arthur''s eyes widened the next instant before laughing. "Alright, I don''t mind doing that but¡­" he paused as he turned his gaze towards the fifth tower where the lycans were. "you know, I''m not still finished here."


    "Master is promising you his full support and protection," Goden said before suddenly turning to the fifth tower as he loudly shouted, "if anyone is targeting our Willy here, then he or she will be the direct enemy of our entire clan."


    This bold declaration made Arthur''s heart palpitate, but the next thing he heard was a loud sneer that came from the fifth tower. "There is still one hidden enemy in them," he reminded himself so he wouldn''t lower his guard, "this hidden assassin is the most dangerous foe right now."


    He moved his glance between the two he suspected most, but he couldn''t see through the perfect acting of that enemy.


    "I hope you can wait until after the competition," he said before Antony arrogantly said:


    "The silver cauldron clan has already many arrows. They should be the last ones to receive their offer."


    His words made Goden sneer as he said:


    "At least we are the ones holding Willy''s safety with quite sincerity."


    "We don''t need to speak and declare that to anyone," Atnony sneered back as he glanced at Arthur and added, "our red vampire clan is an ally all will crave to ally themselves with. I know Willy will realize this fact and will appreciate this stretched hand of us."


    Arthur couldn''t say anything but to nod in response while glancing over the rest.


    "Our clan will protect you as well," Reem simply said before laughing, "after all my master is trying to make us be one big happy family."


    "Using such undertactics isn''t nice, y''know," Sam said in an irritated tone, "but we won''t delay in supporting him if anyone was foolish enough to try and harm him."


    "Thanks for your support," Arthur said in courtesy, "I''m just a bit tired and need some rest before continuing the competition. I''ll make sure to meet after it ends to speak further about the deals in more detail."


    "Ahem," the dean suddenly appeared beside the giants, "the next contest round will have to start instantly. We can''t waste more time."


    "I don''t mind dropping this one," Arthur sighed, "Despite having a great pill in mind, I can''t simply make it with such condition."


    "Great pill?" the eyes of Goden shone brightly then he turned his gaze instability towards his tower. Arthur didn''t see anything, but Goden seemed to receive some instructions before he nodded.


    "My master asks for the next round to be delayed until Willy takes some rest," he turned to the other three around while expressing his thoughts.


    "But¡­" the dean was about to speak when Reem sneered and interrupted him. "Don''t misunderstand my words here, but this is a place that you have no saying at."


    The dean''s face changed before he turned his gaze towards the fifth tower, the lycans.


    "We don''t accept such a thing," the next instant a silhouette appeared while saying these words in a strong tone. He was Dolan, and Ralin also appeared the next instant behind him, silently gazing at other envoys with vigilant eyes.


    "And the threat we just heard we prefer not to comment on. our competition is known since ages to be fair, and we won''t accept any breaking of the rules in this one for anyone."


    Arthur inwardly sneered as he knew this was simply claiming the higher morale grounds while doing the bad deeds in the shadows.


    "The Silver cauldron clan approves of such modification," Goden didn''t budge an inch while stating the clear stance of his clan.


    "Our red vampire clan only is concerned about the time lost here," Atnony said before adding, "if the other contests can continue at the same time then we won''t disagree with that."


    "The golden raven clan approves of that," Reem simply said.


    "The black hole clan approves of the red vampire clan stance," Sam said while Arthur moved his eyes silently between the two, feeling much puzzled.


    ''The two are always mimicking each other,'' he muttered to himself, ''which is the ally and which is the enemy?'' he was more puzzled the more he got to know the two clans and experienced their stances.


    "We can accept that," Dolan simply said as the four towers united again against him, "but we need to hear the final judge about this round first."


    The four envoys exchanged weird glances before laughing. "It''s Willy''s victory of course," Goden laughed before adding, "isn''t it obvious?"


    "The rules must be respected and the results should be publicly announced," Dolan didn''t show any weakness as he sternly said.


    Yet the next instant fog came out of five towers where the name of Willy emerged as the victor of this round.


    "My master is patiently waiting for your next brilliant performance," Godan said before vanishing while others vanished with him while Reem winked before disappearing.


    Arthur only remained where Dolan, Ralin, and the dean stayed eyeing him.


    "Don''t count too much on your luck kid," Ralin said before sneering, "soon it will run out."


    "Humph."


    Arthur watched the two giants vanishing while the dean retreated to the high sky. "Let other matches start," he shouted from high up before suddenly his face changed. "This¡­" he turned to glance towards two towers while a deep voice came from one of them:


    "Did you think the lycans are the only ones interested in this ridiculous rule of yours?"


    Arthur retreated after collecting everything he made and the tools he had. He went to the cauldron while his attention was attracted to the dean and his dark face. "He seems a bit pissed off, hehehe," he laughed amusingly before putting his hand over the cauldron to take it in.


    "Wow, it''s still¡­ hot!" the moment he touched it he felt a stinging pain and the next moment he retracted his hands.

 Chapter 552: Starting Second Round

    ''Ding! There is liquid still inside,'' the system suddenly said. ''Ding! I can take it in if you want but¡­''


    Arthur understood his meaning but he was interested in something else. ''Is there enough?''


    ''Ding! For the pills? Sure, at least one third is there in the cauldron.''


    ''Good,'' Arthur nodded, ''Gege, let him access your body.''


    ''Master!!'' she exclaimed in discontent but he simply sat on the ground, closed his eyes and started regulating his breaths. ''Just let him in, there is no point in arguing if you can''t take it yourself.''


    ''¡­''


    While he sat there, the gigantic cauldron vanished the next instant while he started replenishing his spiritual energy slowly.


    He wasn''t only doing this for his spiritual energy, but also for the dragonair''s power as well. From time to time he would open his eyes, take a couple of replenishing pills and eat pieces of meat before returning to training again.


    When he first did that, he realized the reason behind the change in the dean''s face. "These two¡­ they are really on my side," he smirked while watching two of the academy''s teams being challenged by two teams of giants; one of the silver cauldron clan and the other was of the golden raven clan.


    This made Arthur not in a hurry to finish his training. In less than ten hours his energy was replenished, but he only kept himself there while enjoying the fight of the other two academy teams against the giants.


    "It''s really funny how life is so short," he laughed while he opened his eyes to see the two teams being crushed and lost the contest against the giants.


    The dean''s face was very dark and the only two teams of his academy who just crossed the midline were crushed so easily in front of everyone, making them descend again below the line.


    And this put much pressure over him as these teams were now threatened to lose the race in the competition if they were challenged once more by any of the higher clans.


    "Let''s start," Arthur said in a good mood while standing off the ground. "I''m ready for the second round."


    His words were directed to the dean who just sneered and said nothing. He was already burdened by the sudden loss of his two brightest teams just now and he had to think how to make them not cross that midline again.


    "Let the lycan team send their representative," the lead master shouted as he also had such a dark face like the dean.


    Arthur watched a short one coming towards him. Despite him being the shortest, he seemed huge to Arthur.


    "Let''s compete fairly and have fun," Arthur said trying to start a talk with the giant lycan who just sneered and looked towards the lead master and said:


    "Let''s start now."


    "Start," the lead master said while glancing at Arthur.


    In fact he wasn''t the only one glancing at him at the moment, but everyone else here was.


    Arthur had already thought of the pill he next would make. "Let this one be much bigger than the last pill I made," he simply muttered before waving his hand and the next thing appeared was the gigantic cauldron with the raging fire still underneath it.


    Since getting inside Gege''s garden and the fire kept raging there while he instructed Gege secretly to add more things to it.


    "I don''t accept this," the lead lycan suddenly shouted from far, "this isn''t allowed. He should make everything from scratch and not use a ready mix."


    The leading master was about to speak before Arthur laughed out loud as he said:


    "If you want to waste more time in making the mix I already made before in front of everyone then fine. I just didn''t want to waste more time on this round."


    The innocent look over his face and his pure words made the lead master unable to say anything for a few moments.


    "It''s allowed," the dean simply said, "let us finish with this contest fast."


    Arthur only smiled while he was inwardly sneering at the dean and others. ''You are really sad about that loss of yours, hahaha,'' he inwardly laughed as he didn''t think the simple blow the two clans did to the dean and the academy was so painful.


    Arthur then turned his attention towards the pill he was thinking of making. "As last time I used heaven and earth to forge, then it''s fair to use them now to concoct the pill."


    He then started to move his hands making some symbols while muttering:


    "Heaven and earth are the furnace and my body is the pill."


    He kept muttering these words while a strange aura appeared around him forming a big ball of invisible energy that only grew thicker in time. He kept doing that for an entire hour before he finally opened his eyes and pushed both hands towards the cauldron as he shouted:


    "Come!"


    The cauldron shook, and then the fluid inside started to move like a long snake towards Arthur.


    Two long ropes appeared formed of the fluid inside the cauldron and Arthur simply touched each snake with one hand before rotating them as if he was rolling the ropes over a wooden wheel.


    ''Be ready,'' he muttered, ''I''ll need a strong throttle of your energy in the next few minutes.''


    ''Don''t worry,'' Gege simply answered while he kept channeling both energies inside his body while injecting each in one hand and then towards the fluid.


    The two fluids formed two big masses which started to grow bigger and become transparent with time.


    ''Now,'' he gave the signal when he finally stopped pulling the fluid and the next moment the two long snakes of fluid became released from his hands and twisted in the air.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    When everyone''s attention was over the two free snakes, Arthur hit both hands together with the two giant balls of fluid wrapped around them.


    And each hit caused a loud bang while many sparkles went off the two gigantic fists and the fluid started to grow clearer and more transparent.


    ''Keep pushing,'' Arthur shouted at Gege, ''We are almost there.''


    He was hitting both hands fast and fiercely while Gege kept pushing her energy at the time of both fists touching together.


    He kept doing that for five minutes before he felt extremely exhausted. In these five minutes he exhausted his vast energies without reservation.


    "Come!" and he shouted again as he suddenly threw the two balls in the air, releasing them from his fists.


    And as he called, the two free and about to act berserk snakes moved towards the two fists like two hungry beasts, even pushing each other along the way.


    Arthur squeezed his eyes while keeping his fists clenched, waiting for the moment where the two snakes were about to touch the fluid before he hit two punches in the air as he shouted:


    "Now¡­ Become!"


    The first shout was for his system who just took the cauldron back into Gege''s garden. The second was for the two suddenly cut snakes which lost their base all of sudden and were hanged in the air motionless for a moment there.


    Then everything happened in a miraculous way when the two huge fluids turned to eat the two snakes, wrapping themselves with the snakes in layers upon layers, forming thick shells gradually.


    "Coalesce!"


    Arthur clapped both palms against each other and while doing that, the two huge balls up above moved to hit each other at this moment.


    He felt strong resistance in between the two palms. "C''mon," he gritted his teeth as he exerted every ounce of strength he had at this moment to crush the last bit of resistance in between his palms, in between the two gigantic balls of energy up above before they both united together and formed one gigantic pill finally.


    "The last touch," Arthur cut his hand with a sword before splashing his blood over the gigantic, and about to be formed, pill to have it shook suddenly, then it broke out like an exploded balloon into thousands of smaller pills.


    The pills fell above Arthur''s head like snowballs, but the next instant all those reaching the ground vanished by the help of his system.


    As for Arthur, he couldn''t stand up as he fell on his knees, gasping for breath. He didn''t feel comfortable until he laid on his back and then he started to laugh while watching the scene of the sky with the stele and five towers around it in delight.

 Chapter 553: Reems Offer

    Arthur was tired but he couldn''t succumb to rest especially now. ''Take everything and leave only five pills out there.''


    ''Ding! Five? Not one?''


    ''Nah, five is a good number,'' Arthur laughed while pushing his body with some difficulty to stand. He didn''t want to receive the praise and success he just worked so hard to achieve while being on the ground like this.


    "The pill is ready," he said before waving his hand and the next instant all the pills disappeared and only five appeared in his palm.


    "What''s the name of this pill?"


    This was the question Reem asked when she descended again after a few minutes of receiving his pill.


    She wasn''t alone as the other three envoys were there. Only the lycans'' envoy wasn''t.


    "What do you think of it?" Arthur didn''t directly answer the question as he asked with some pride over his tired face.


    "It''s¡­ simply amazing," Goden laughed before adding, "the only issue here is the form of energy used to make it. if you are willing to hand over the formula, then our master is preparing something huge to suit your taste."


    Arthur laughed while saying, "What? Is he planning to invade the world and crush anyone against me here?"


    "If you want so then he simply can do that," Goden was speaking out of complete trust while Arthur didn''t speak but moved his gaze towards the fifth tower.


    And Goden didn''t change his words or even glance at the lycan tower.


    "The formula?" Antony suddenly muttered, "that''s interesting. Sure having the formula will allow us to upgrade it and do it more properly. Our master also extends his offer for the formula."


    "My master too," Sam said.


    "And of course my master is participating," Reem chuckled before adding in a playful tone, "do you want to be my direct disciple? It''s a privilege that will get you access to the higher realms instantly."


    The other envoys turned their gazes instantly towards Reem while Goden objected:


    "You can''t do that, it''s against the rules."


    "Only if I take him as a lover will it work, right?"


    The eyes of everyone here got widened while she laughed as she added, "it''s a privilege of being a girl and single y''know, hehehe."


    "Oh I''m honored for that," Arthur suddenly spoke, "but I prefer to earn my place with my two hands, even you."


    He winked and his words made her face stiffen up but the next moment she shook her head while saying, "it''s a long road, a pumpy one ahead of you to achieve that."


    "I know," he simply said, "but if I wasn''t strong enough to be up there and protected with strong backing, then I shouldn''t be."


    "The kid is speaking good words," Antony suddenly laughed, "I like you kid. This is how a man should behave."


    Other two envoys only nodded before Reem sneered as she said, "Then how do you plan to make a deal about the pill?"


    "Like the previous deal," Arthur smiled, "all will be done after winning here."


    "Winning?" Dolan suddenly appeared while sneering, "you can''t be dreaming of achieving such a thing. Our top teams are still out there untouched yet by you."


    "Humph," Reem answered with an arrogant glance over him while adding, "your teams who were crushed by ours? Do you want them to exit the competition?"


    Dolan sneered and turned his face towards Arthur before saying, "I came just to deliver one message¡­" he paused before pointing towards the ring in Arthur''s hand as he added, "did you like our ring?"


    Arthur felt a wave of rage welling up inside him but he maintained his outer calm as he cracked a smile and responded:


    "I love it, just can''t wait to collect my other things as well."


    "Then you should try your best," Dolan laughed before glancing at others, "as no one will be able to help you in this."


    The next instant he vanished while Reem and others felt there were hidden things they didn''t know about going on. "What was that just now?" she asked and Arthur simply smiled.


    "It''s just an old unfinished business between me and the lycans," Arthur said before adding, "thanks for your support so far, your generosity and support won''t be forgotten by me."


    "At least you have some consciousness for a lower plane kid," Antony said before he left and others followed as they nodded to Arthur and Reem winked at him.


    "I''m so tired," he muttered before sitting on the ground and watching the fog coming out of the gigantic five towers writing his name big and clear.


    "Next is the array test," he muttered before thinking about his odds there. "I can simply crush them there and then recede the special ability test."


    ''Ding! This way you''ll have three wins and one loss,'' the system said.


    ''Are you planning on winning the individual fight and winning the challenge?'' the golden dragon muttered.


    ''Sure, it''s simply foolish to waste more energy here while winning.''


    He then closed his eyes and the lead master didn''t speak again until he opened his eyes. The other normal teams continued to battle and he only remained for the second day in his challenge with those lycans.


    He took pills and ate meat in the process. Despite regenerating his energy fast, he didn''t hurry to start the next round.


    ''Let me waste one more day,'' he muttered to himself while continuing to train his cultivation energy. ''I still couldn''t feel the aura of the tribulation around,'' he thought before adding, ''the real test hasn''t started yet.''


    After the passage of day two he opened his eyes and went again on foot to continue part three of the competition.


    "Finally ready," the leader of the lycan team sneered as he moved to face him, "this turn will be my win."


    "I highly doubt it," Arthur simply stated what he believed and strangely everyone who heard his soft answer didn''t have a doubt in his words.

 Chapter 554: The Array Round Of The Competition

    "Humph," the lycan shook his head while adding, "in my clan, I''m called the genius for my arrays. Let''s see how you fare against my best creation."


    "The same for you too," Arthur turned as he raised one finger in the air, "I''ll be number one in this competition, and not even you can stop me from achieving that."


    "Humph, we''ll see."


    The two started the round so intense from the start with this declaration. Arthur was hesitant about doing his big array, but if things reached such a state he had to use it now.


    "Let''s start then," the lead master seemed quite excited as he was slightly confident in the win of the lycans in this round.


    Arthur''s first thing to do was to wave his hand and summon his monsters. Just as he did so, he noticed the other lycan was doing the same, but he brought higher forms of monsters to the arena.


    "Oh, you are trying to make the same thing," Arthur muttered but he noticed the lycan only summoned two monsters not four like him. "lesser than me, but their grades are higher," Arthur felt the challenge which made him contemplate on how to upgrade the old recipe into a higher one.


    ''How can I advance it?'' he muttered before thinking about using his three energies as well.


    ''This won''t help much,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''he is using much better monsters.''


    ''I can give a hand for you here,'' Gege suddenly said, ''there are some bones of the Golam left, but can you handle them?''


    Arthur was hesitant for a moment before sighing, ''at least these bones are much stronger than his. Bring them over and take the monster away.''


    ''Ding! I think you should leave them here.''


    ''What do you mean?''


    ''He wants to dilute the higher energy of the Golam by using lower monsters¡­ it''s a nice idea indeed but still the Golam is still too much for you to handle.''


    ''At least I won''t die of this,'' Arthur bitterly smiled, ''Alright send the bones over.''


    ''How many do you want?'' Gege suddenly asked, ''and how size are you looking for?''


    Arthur waited for a moment as he thought about the process of making the array. ''Bring me twelve similar bones, choose the shortest and thinnest please.''


    ''Alright.''


    Arthur had a vision in his mind that he wanted to test out. But the next instant twelve long and gigantic pieces of bones appeared like huge pillars around him.


    ''This¡­'' he was startled, ''didn''t I ask for the shortest ones?''


    ''These are the shortest,'' Gege laughed, ''or do you want me to bring the big ones instead?''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur had his scalp numb just from seeing these bones. ''Damn, this is going to be tough,'' he shook his head while the moment he brought these bones the lead lycan stopped what he was doing.


    "How come you have such high grade bones?" the lycan shouted in shock, "he is cheating! No way such bones will be in possession of someone in low planes!"


    "Good question," the dean was the one to speak while moving his gaze up to the towers, "may I ask for directions from venerale masters?" he turned his gaze instantly towards the towers.


    And the lycans didn''t hesitate to send their envoy towards the ground. "What''s your reason for this?" Dolan sneered as his face told everything he was up to. "Which one of the other towers helped you with this?"


    Arthur bitterly smiled as he pointed towards the bones and said: "I hunted it myself."


    "Liar!" Ralin hurriedly appeared beside Dolan before the other envoys appeared as well. "There is no such monster in the lower planes, that''s impossible."


    "Yeah I know that," Arthur acknowledged this simple fact under the curious gazes of others, "but this monster was the guardian of a big dark clan, a clan I once destroyed their main army on the walls of my city."


    "Lies," Dolan sneered, "all are lies and baseless claims. What evidence do you have on your words? Huh? Do you have such loyalty to the tower which cheated and gave you such bones?"


    Dolan pointed his finger towards the other four envoys who simply sneered as Antony said in arrogance:


    "Stop acting like a fool or else I wouldn''t mind teaching you a lesson here."


    "Humph," Dolan sneered as he turned his gaze towards Arthur, "It''s best for you to tell who helped you or else the consequences won''t stop at simply losing the competition."


    Arthur waved his hand and the next instant a big drop of unpurified Golam''s blood appeared in the air to fill it with its filthy smell. "And what do you say about this one? Did they also gave me the blood as well?"


    They all glanced at the big green drop while Reem sneered. "My master is waiting for a direct apology of yours," she said that before nodding to Arthur. "Never thought you can pull something like this¡­ amazing for such a kid from a low world."


    "I''m not a kid," he teased her with a wink that only got a faint smile from her beautiful face.


    "This isn''t over," Dolan shouted but no one gave him any heed. Only Sam sighed before saying, "If your master has any objection he can go to my master and speak with him face to face. My master won''t tolerate such impudence coming from mere henchmen of other masters."


    Dolan stood with Ralin all alone as everyone else vanished. Arthur only sneered and then he took the blood away before turning towards the twelve huge bones of the Golam.


    "Stop there, you aren''t allowed to continue!" Ralin shouted in rage.


    "Said who?" Arthur turned to glance with defiance to the two enemies of his, "the other four masters didn''t agree on your objection. Didn''t you hear what Sam just said? Or do you want me to repeat his own words in the letter again?"


    Arthur gave a soft laugh before shaking his head and heading towards the bones. "Your girls will suffer¡­ I can promise you that," Dolan threatened before vanishing and Arthur simply sneered.

 Chapter 555: The Godfather Is Near

    "They have to endure until I reach them," he simply muttered before turning his gaze towards the bones and the monsters around. "Four aren''t enough," he sighed, "bring ten times, no a hundred times this number. Let''s make it big."


    During this small conflict the leader of the lycan team continued to work without much interest in what that would result at. Arthur didn''t care about that, as in the end the round wouldn''t be finished until he ended his array.


    The next moment a huge number of monsters appeared. ''Let me remind you that the long bones need your care within the first five minutes of the monsters'' death,'' the golden dragon warned.


    ''I know,'' Arthur nodded, ''that''s why I won''t kill all at the same time. I will take my time gradually with no haste.''


    ''This¡­'' the golden dragon paused before laughing, ''you will take at least two days to finish this one.''


    ''Add two more for me to rest,'' Arthur stretched his body before adding, ''I''m not in a hurry. Each day gained is important for my godfather to come.''


    ''He shouldn''t take this long,'' the golden dragon muttered, ''something must have stalled him.''


    ''Sure,'' Arthur moved his gaze towards the lycan tower, ''this is expected after all.''


    He then turned his attention over the monsters here. His initial layout of the array was to have one long bone surrounded by a group of smaller ones.


    However as he was dealing with the giant bones of the higher grade monster he had to improvise and add more layers of the layout he initially used.


    So he decided to make the initial twelve bones as one unit, then he would make twelve units of these around each giant bone. "I hope this would work," he muttered when he finally finished preparing all the units around the giant bones.


    "Now it''s time for writing over these bones," he sighed while the golden dragon muttered: ''It''s best for you to use your blood and energy to do that.''


    ''This¡­'' Arthur glanced again at the twelve bones before sighing, ''might kill me.''


    ''This is the only way to protect you from the backlash of these bones.''


    Arthur thought about it and found the golden dragon might have a point here. ''If so¡­ then I''ll need to waste a couple more days to finish this.''


    Despite him seeming to be regretting doing this, he was smiling. He aimed to buy more time for his godfather to arrive before reaching the final stage which was just close by.


    All the other teams finished their matches and the final four were determined already. Only him and a couple more teams remained, as they were the ones designated to face him.


    "You surely are taking your time Willy kid," the lead master sighed after the passage of two more days. Arthur used his blood to write the dragon''s ancient language over the bones while taking long periods of rest to eat meat and pills and replenish his lost blood and energy.


    "I have to rest," Arthur wasn''t faking weakness at the moment, "after all I''ve lost much blood and energy."


    "No one is using the weird way of yours to make the arrays," the lead master muttered, "be sure to speed things up."


    "Why?" Arthur casually asked, "I''ll take all the time I need to complete this masterpiece of mine."


    His simple answer seemed not to match what the lead master had in mind. He turned his gaze to the dean who just nodded and had a slight change in face.


    ''Is master nearby?'' Arthur couldn''t find another explanation for that, and that made him more eager to waste more time here. ''Should I take a nape?'' he considered this but the golden dragon laughed as he warned him from doing such a thing.


    ''Don''t go to such lengths, after all they might lose their patience and kill you while sleeping.''


    ''Can they?'' Arthur was speechless before laughing, ''I dare they will.''


    He dismissed the thought of sleeping here and just tried to waste more time as he delayed taking the meat and pills and prolonged the intervals between them.


    "It''s ready," Arthur finally finished the final bone on the third day. "It''s time to finish my special array."


    He moved towards the bones he once created and started arranging the units around the giant bones. Once finished he started to draw the Ley Lines diagram using the blood of the Golam this time.


    He used a mix of both unpurified and purified Golam blood, while adding some of the mix remaining inside the gigantic cauldron and some drops of his blood every now and then.


    He was like an artist drawing a painting, and most didn''t understand what he was doing except those coming from higher planes and were diverse in arrays and Ley Lines diagrams.


    "It''s showtime," he muttered before taking a deep breath. ''Are you ready?''


    ''Start and I''ll support you,'' Gege said, ''but first use your other energies to control things.''


    Arthur nodded as he first used his blue dragonair energy to stimulate the formation. The next moment the entire diagram lit up while the bones shook slightly.


    "Damn!" he felt a great backlash from the bones and the diagram that made him even cough blood. "I didn''t think it would be this fierce," he didn''t lower his energy, and instead started to add his spiritual energy to the diagram.


    His body shook vigorously from the inside but he never stopped providing his energy to the diagram. The diagram kept shining brightly while the bones began to shine gradually from the bottom.


    "I think I need to light the letters first," he muttered while trying to endure the severe backlash, "then you will act."


    ''Agreed,'' the golden dragon muttered.


    ''I can act now if you want,'' Gege proposed, ''my energy can satisfy the needs of the diagram and sustain for a longer time.''


    "Not now," Arthur wasn''t in the mood to speak up and explain things now. He tried his best to maintain his focus here, and the most important thing of all was to try to heal up his inner wounds using his dragonair energy.


    He endured and kept injecting both energies inside the array and diagram, litting more letters on the bones while every now and then a mighty shock would assault his body.


    He kept pushing himself with pure will until all the writings over the bones were successfully lit.


    "Damn¡­ that was hard!" he coughed again before a thin line of blood emerged from the corners of his mouth before smiling. "It''s time¡­ Become!"

 Chapter 556: All Teams Surrendered

    Arthur didn''t hesitate to activate the array. The moment he did, Gege stepped in and injected her energy in full waves.


    "Damn! Even after using my pearl energy, controlling that thing is still a nightmare!"


    Arthur felt his body and soul being assaulted by strong and dominating waves of force coming from the twelve bones. He gritted his teeth and decided to carry on until he ended that pillar.


    He kept injecting his energy inside the array while a faint glow of light started to appear gradually. He was pushing with everything he had with only one goal in mind; to make this pillar completed.


    He didn''t feel time passing but he took almost three hours until the full array was filled with light and nothing appeared from within. At this point he was almost depleted of energies, and if a single wave of wind blew him he would lose consciousness and fall.


    ''Almost there,'' the golden dragon tried to encourage him but Arthur was now so weak to even reply to him. He was just trying to keep himself standing with great difficulty while the light in front of him was getting smaller and smaller.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment the array was formed, the entire world around him shook and then a giant single flag pole appeared with thin filaments formed what can be considered a flag. He only saw this for one second before his body fell on the ground and he struggled to take his breaths.


    "Finally¡­ I did it."


    He said it with much difficulty and then he started to recuperate. He took out pills and meat to replenish all his depleted energies while Gege muttered in weak tone:


    ''I need to rest for a day before you can use my pearl energy again.''


    ''No problem,'' he muttered before taking another glance at his array. ''Damn, that was nearly impossible to achieve.''


    ''Ding! But this array is worth its weight in gold.''


    ''Is it that strong?'' Arthur muttered.


    ''It is,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''I''m pretty sure it isn''t that far from the stick you had from that master of yours.''


    ''Wow, that strong?'' Arthur was now much eager to take it in his hand but just as he was about to move, he felt great pain all over his body to stop him.


    And then the array suddenly vanished from his eyesight.


    "What the hell¡­?"


    "What?" the lead master said in an aggressive tone, "the array should be tested and evaluated before the final result is given."


    Arthur felt greater pain when he heard these words.


    ''Don''t worry,'' the golden dragon suddenly laughed, ''no one but you can use that pillar and array.''


    ''Really?''


    ''Ding! The array is filled with your blood, no one can tame it as it already acknowledged its master.''


    ''Phew,'' Arthur heaved a long sigh of relief and then he stayed there eating pills and meat while waiting for the final decision of the towers.


    "Boom!"


    Suddenly this loud explosive sound came from high up where the towers were. Arthur turned his gaze to see a long trail of smoke getting out from the towers and getting near him at extreme speed.


    "Boom!"


    The next instant the array appeared again beside him before the five envoys appeared again with twisted faces and weird reactions over their faces.


    "What the hell did you just make?" Goden hurried to ask before bitterly laughing, "this berserk beast didn''t allow even our masters to prey on it."


    "It''s considered a high array then," Arthur laughed before standing with much difficulty.


    "This is something we can all agree upon," Reem said before adding, "but we need to know its effect. Can you show it to us?"


    Arthur shook his head as he honestly said, "I just created it on a whim, I don''t know what its effect would be."


    The five glanced weirdly at him while Dolan laughed and said:


    "Anyway it''s your win. Be ready to start the final test now."


    "The fight?" Arthur muttered before asking, "the special ability test is still ongoing."


    "You mistook me kid," Dolan shook his head while a vicious expression appeared on his face. "our team has surrendered and all the teams that will face you surrendered. You are a winner by default and now the five final teams are ready to start the final test."


    "What?!!"


    Arthur was shocked by these words but his mind provided him with the perfect explanation the next instant. "I need time to recuperate," he said while his eyes showed his defiance to this obvious trap.


    "Rejected," Dolan shook his head before adding, "it''s not single fights but teams, so your status can''t affect the course of the competition."


    Arthur turned his gaze towards his allies, but he found Reem and Goden sigh while shaking off their heads.


    "Sorry Willy we were outvoted," Reem apologized.


    Arthur was just surprised by this as he turned his gaze towards Sam and Antony as both just nodded to confirm what he thought.


    "C''mon, don''t waste more time," Dolan laughed before adding, "the test will be conducted at that mountain."


    Arthur followed his finger as one of the two mountains was pointed out by Dolan. He simply waved a goodbye to him before vanishing from the place.


    "Sorry Willy," Antony said, "the lycan master just gave an offer that can''t be refused by any master."


    "No problem," Arthur shrugged as he touched the giant pole and held it in hand. Strangely it was lighter than he thought and he felt some intimacy with it like holding an old friend.


    "Take care of yourself," Reem said before adding, "very well as it seems hard times are waiting for you there."


    She was the last to leave and Arthur simply took another pill and piece of meat before smiling in confidence. "Let''s see what''s all this about," he muttered before turning his gaze towards the dean up there.


    And the dean simply had a smirking smile over his face.

 Chapter 557: Moving To the Portal

    "The lycan team has surrendered," the dean suddenly said and his words caused quite an uproar amidst the audience down below.


    "and all the other teams who were supposed to challenge team twelve has surrendered as well. Now the final five teams are ready and we can commence the final test."


    The dean waited while the audience turned from the loud uproar to a deafening silence. These sudden changes meant only one thing; a big thing was about to happen.


    And Arthur knew what this big thing was.


    "The final test will be conducted in a pocket world the lycan esteemed master bestowed upon us. All the five teams will be sent inside and have only one mission; to thrive."


    The dean then glanced at Arthur while his face showed how much amused he was. After all the hustle that happened, Arthur finally was about to fall in their trap.


    "Each team will land inside a very weak academy. The mission given to them is to help the academy control that world, and in one month time here, one year there they had to either control the entire world or be the strongest force at the end of the test."


    The dean then sneered before taking out one ring of his hand as he added, "all the rings are forbidden to be taken there. Only things participants can hold on their bodies are allowed to go with them inside that world¡­" he paused as he glanced over Arthur as he added, "that''s for fairness of the competition of course."


    Arthur inwardly sneered but he faked the look of panic over his face when he heard these words. For him, this was something he long anticipated and prepared much for.


    ''Have you finished sealing them?'' he muttered.


    ''Everything is in place,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''only those knowing my lost golden dragon''s old tongue might have a chance to crack the seal in a short time.''


    ''And the special ring?''


    ''It''s done in the weaker form of a seal as requested.''


    ''Great,'' Arthur was now feeling more confident in his chances to win this trial. ''Gege, send someone to the city world, let Tina and Sara come inside you now.''


    ''Now?''


    ''Now!''


    Arthur suddenly had this thought once he heard the conditions of this trial. ''You are trying to make me taste the same bitter cup I made those dark clans taste before, hahaha.''


    He laughed on their naivety, thinking he would be this vulnerable and weak.


    "All teams shall come to the arena now. A portal will appear here to transport everyone to the lands of the trial," the dean said before pointing towards the same mountain Dolan mentioned before, "the world lies in the body of that giant mountain, which acts as the main gate for the pocket world. It will stay there in front of everyone''s eyes to maintain the fairness of the competition."


    Arthur only stayed motionless in his place while his mind was speculating every possible dark scenario he would face when getting inside the world.


    ''I think they will send a giant army to kill you once reached there,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''you should be ready for a full out war.''


    ''If these are just normal mages then there is no threat at all,'' Arthur muttered, ''but if I faced those assassins from higher realms, then things would get ugly.''


    ''Ding! You have your master''s pillar and your array.''


    ''Don''t forget Doaf and others as well.''


    Arthur heard the opinions of his system and golden dragon without commenting. His mind was filled with many scenarios where the highest danger came from the two questionable forces by far.


    ''Gege, I want you to seclude the four forces to stay away from each other.''


    ''I''ve already done this.''


    ''Good,'' Arthur muttered before adding, ''inform Doaf then to be ready. Also inform those belonging to the golden raven and silver cauldron clans to be ready.''


    ''Alright.''


    ''What about Tina and Sara?'' he asked while turning towards the edge of the arena as his team was ascending the stairs and getting over it.


    ''I''ve sent someone to the city world, I believe they will be back in a short time.''


    ''I need them to come before entering the world,'' he said before adding, ''I''m pretty sure we won''t be able to contact anything outside once entering that world.''


    ''Will send another one to make them haste in return.''


    ''Good.''


    Arthur then waited before his team arrived beside him. Their faces told him everything, as they all felt something bad was about to happen.


    "How can we deal with this?" Amelia simply asked while everyone had their focus on him.


    "Just give everything we have to them," Arthur shrugged before adding, "and be ready for a full out war."


    "This¡­ are you sure?" She seemed hesitant but his calm smile made her and everyone around be sure their leader had other plans in motion already.


    "Deliver your rings to the masters at the arena," the dean said before he took out a ball and threw it towards the center of the arena. The ball fell fast, and it gor enlarged while getting closer to the arena until a gigantic whirlpool of darkness appeared.


    "Strange," Arthur muttered as he suddenly felt some sort of familiarity with this ball.


    "What?" Amelia asked while gazing upon the gate in the distance, "I don''t have good feelings about this."


    The masters suddenly appeared forming a long line between the five teams and the portal. Arthur noticed that three of these teams belonged to the academy and only his and another team seemed to be from outside.


    "Do you recognize them?" Arthur motioned to the fifth team without moving any step towards the portal unlike other teams.


    "They use strange fog attacks and techniques," Deem said before adding, "I think they might be a dark clan member."


    Arthur noted that as he glanced over the one hundred members in that team as they wore brown cloaks and moved towards the portal.

 Chapter 558: Wasting Time and Playing Others

    "Team twelve, move out now," the dean shouted from above, "stop wasting anymore time. The portal will be closed in a short time if you don''t move now."


    Arthur just sneered as he stretched out his arms as if he was just waking up from bed. This action made the dean glare at him, but Arthur knew perfectly well he wouldn''t close the portal.


    After all this entire show was made just for him.


    He then moved in very slow and casual steps towards the line of the masters. There were ten masters dedicated only for his team, and the look on their faces was like someone seeing dead men walking on earth.


    "Give everything you have," one of the masters said in an arrogant tone, "and don''t try to be smart and hide anything from us."


    Arthur handed his rings while others did.


    "Hide them well," he suddenly whispered to Agnus and his whisper was instantly picked up by the masters.


    "Stop here," two masters instantly moved to surround Agnus who had a surprised look over his face.


    "I didn''t do anything," Agnus defended but the two masters didn''t listen to any of his words as they took out a strange staff with a white orb in its top and pointed it towards him. "Don''t move a muscle," one threatened while the other kept rotating around him.


    "Hide it well," Arthur suddenly whispered to Deem and again two masters moved and did the same with him.


    Arthur kept doing this for the entire team until the dean shouted with impatience from above:


    "Don''t waste time on them, he is just trying to fool around."


    Arthur raised his head and simply laughed over the dean''s words. Right now everything was revealed and he didn''t need to show and fake respect or courtesy towards anyone.


    "Go then," one of the masters groaned while the others stopped checking Amelia and Gor.


    "Hide it well," Arthur didn''t stop as he whispered again and this time to Madly who simply winked back with a chuckle on her face.


    "You stop there," and such action made the masters restless. "Scan everyone and don''t leave a speck of dust unchecked," another master said while the dean shook his head from high above.


    Arthur was simply standing in place while watching the masters call upon others to come and help them check everyone. For his luck, that staff took longer to check than he expected, and Madly simply moved her hand and played with her hair making the test unvalid.


    "Just stop moving!" one of the masters ordered in anger and impatience while Madly simply shrugged as she laughed, "what? Can''t you tolerate my beauty?"


    "Stop moving!" another master shouted while the test was redone again from the start.


    "Humph."


    And the test restarted again while everyone simply laughed on this, making their test restart over again.


    "Just let them in," the dean said, unsightly, "they won''t have anything big to help anyway. They are just bluffing!" he shouted and his masters had already reached this conclusion already.


    These kids were simply toying around with them.


    "Stop wasting much time and go inside," one of the masters shouted in discontent while Arthur just ignored him as he turned around and loudly asked:


    "Have you hidden everything well and neat, boys?"


    "Yes boss!" and everyone just played along with him.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes boss."


    "Hahaha, alright, let''s go boys," Arthur then turned to the portal before pausing. "Are you sure you hid them deep and safe?"


    And his team just laughed after him while he moved finally towards the portal with serious steps.


    He stopped at the portal before one master gave him a medallion. "This is the leading medallion of the Hor academy. You''ll go inside and take charge of it."


    "Thanks," Arthur said before Amelia took the medallion.


    "Let''s go," Arthur moved towards the portal while the others went after him, vanishing from this world and entering inside a portal that resembled the one Arthur tasted many times while upgrading his dragonair power.


    "Strange¡­ this aura¡­" Arthur muttered while glancing all around.


    ''I can smell the dirty smell of the black dragonairs from this far,'' the golden dragon suddenly said before adding, ''prepare yourself Arthur, this world seems to be one of the properties of your main clan.''


    "Damn!" Arthur cursed while waiting for the portal to end. "Let''s see my dear family once more, hehehe."


    The portal kept twisting as he and the rest of his team took roughly half an hour until they finally reached the exit.


    ''Ding! I sense the presence of many strong creatures,'' the system suddenly spoke just before he reached the exit, ''Ding! transform, it''s recommended you transform now!''


    "Alright," Arthur didn''t delay as he released his dragonair energy and the next instant his dragon form appeared. He felt like forever since the last time he changed like this.


    "Boom!"


    The next instant he exited the portal he slammed hard against the ground. The impact created a massive cloud of dust but he didn''t feel any pain or have any injuries.


    "Damn, all this is waiting for me?" he glanced around to see an entire army of black dragons surrounding the place he just landed at. "Time to say hello," he simply flapped his wings and the next instant he vanished from the sight of his enemies.


    "Follow him."


    "Don''t let him escape your sight."


    "Kill him now, don''t give him any chance!"


    Shouts started to come from many directions while he went to the sky. He glanced all around with a panoramic view from his high position. "At least hundred thousand dragons are here, but they aren''t that high or strong," he muttered before he flapped his wings and moved towards one direction.


    "Time to cause a bang," he opened his mouth and then started to spray his fire breath over his enemies. His speed was much faster than what they expected and even before they could turn to see him, his shadow would have passed past them and his fire would have assaulted them successfully.

 Chapter 559: Crushing The Dragonairs Army

    But he didn''t enjoy such free fighting before the dragons started to rotate in the sky, forming meat shields around themselves and creating gigantic balls of dragons that kept getting larger in no time.


    "They are really serious at fighting me," Arthur muttered while noticing distant ruins for what could be called a city. "So they destroyed the base academy I was supposed to start at, hopefully those useless disciples and masters have retreated safely away or else¡­"


    He didn''t delay anymore as he took out his bow and a couple of arrows before sending them flying towards the dragon ball.


    "Rumble!"


    The arrows hit the ball creating soft explosions that didn''t cause the usual damage he used to see. "Oh, this world has such oppression against my lower form of energy¡­" he muttered before shaking off his head. "At least they can cause considerable damage."


    ''Do you want me to summon more fighters?'' Gege suddenly said and he recalled something. ''Bring my dragon boys here, it''s time to make them stretch some muscles.''


    ''Alright.''


    Arthur kept firing up his arrows while shouting: "Retreat and take cover, this isn''t your fight."


    His shout was meant for the team members of his. They were strong in their own terms, but not that strong to be able to rival the strong army of dragonairs up ahead.


    ''By the way you were right,'' Gege suddenly said.


    ''About what?''


    ''Coming here has caused any connection through the star map to stop.''


    He paused for a moment there before muttering, ''And the girls?''


    ''The three of them returned safely now.''


    ''Three?'' he muttered in a strange tone before smirking, ''good, that queen would love this fight then.''


    ''She is so eager to come out,'' Gege said before adding, ''Also Tina is quite restless. Do you want me to take them out as well?''


    Arthur glanced at the gigantic ball of dragons before muttering, ''leave them be for now. I feel this fight isn''t that simple.''


    ''Your call,'' Gege compiled before the next instant his three hundred dragons appeared with the leading gigantic dragons he summoned from the bodies of those who came from the higher planes.


    "Lord," they all said in unison the moment they appeared.


    "Stay around me," he stated before adding, "and kill any dragon coming near us."


    They roared in unison and like this the fight between the dragons started intense from the start.


    Arthur kept his distant firing of arrows despite them lacking most of their devastational effect. With time the ball seemed to grow larger and not smaller.


    "Go and hunt those scattered dragons," Arthur suddenly instructed, "and try to lure some of that ball out."


    His dragons moved in unison before they branched into smaller groups, each targeted a smaller group of scattered dragons. This sudden attack helped to decrease the number of those replenishing the dragon ball, making the ball starting to show some damage at some places.


    And under such provocation, some dragons left the ball to go and hunt down Arthur dragons.


    "Good," Arthur then started to shift his aim towards those leaving the ball, helping in killing many of them while the rest were small enough to be dealt by his dragons.


    This kept going for an entire hour before those inside the ball decided to shift their tactic and head directly to solve the main problem¡­ him.


    "Finally getting serious," he smiled bitterly when he saw the ball explode all of sudden and all the dragons moved to target him.


    "Catch me if you can," he didn''t wait any longer in his place as he flapped his wings and instantly vanished to a distant place.


    Yet his arrows never ceased to hit those dragons, causing more damage than before as the dragons were now in chaotic formation.


    They tried to corner him but their speed was like a snail compared to him. They never got a glimpse of him, while he kept jumping over from one place to another.


    As for his dragons, they got some hits but most managed to escape this wrathful charge of the black dragonairs.


    "I have to admit that intel can sometimes deceive us," suddenly this loud and majestic sound appeared from inside the ball which reshaped again. It was much smaller than before, as Arthur kept hitting as many astray dragons as he could with the help of his scattered boys out there.


    "You can hide behind the meat shield of your men and wait¡­ I''ll make sure to peel them off slowly until I finally get you," Arthur shouted back as he knew this was the leader of this army of dragons.


    "Humph."


    Arthur prepared for a brutal fight but what happened next startled him.


    "They are¡­ retreating?" he didn''t believe they came all the way here only to leave. "Or going to get more troops?" he had this sudden flash of thought to make him press hard over the retreating enemies.


    "Wait," he shouted when he reached so near to the ball and then rained it with as many arrows as possible, "are you trying to leave when I just arrived? Where is your hospitality? Where is your famous generosity?"


    His words didn''t manage to make them stop but his arrows did. He was causing more damage while they did nothing to him.


    And the next instant the ball exploded again but he was ready as he went high up in the sky and kept roaming left and right over them while his arrows exploded more everywhere.


    Then the dragons started to regroup again before retreating. Yet this time he was standing in front of them, blocking their path of retreat and making sure to cause more damage while keeping his distance fixed with them.


    "Damn boy, can''t you fight fairly?"


    "Fairly?" Arthur sneered before laughing, "how can this be even fair? You have tens of thousands and I''m just alone. C''mon, this isn''t even close to being just."


    "Screw you," the leading dragon seemed to be very pissed off at him, "go and get me his head. Don''t stop until he is dead."

 Chapter 560: Bring The Cavalry

    The next instant the ball exploded again and Arthur evaded and attacked the dragons.


    "Trying to make a diversion?" he noticed that a small group of dragons kept flying forward in great speed, "but who said you can escape?"


    He used his speed to his advantage, hoping the leading general of those dragonairs would be among this small group.


    Just as he passed over their heads he noticed a pillar in the middle of those dragonairs. This pillar was strangely similar to the one he once got from Sara from the lake. "It''s that pillar," he muttered as he lost it before for Mr. E for nothing.


    He released more arrows towards the group but strangely the group was surrounded by a thick shield of defense that protected them from his arrows.


    "Immune to my arrows? Then what about my fire?" he didn''t want to let this chance slip by especially when noticing the reaction of other dragonairs here.


    He was now sure that the leading general was among this small group of dragons.


    "Sizzle!"


    The moment his fire breath touched the shield, he heard a sizzling sound as it was eaten away by his fire. He didn''t stop and hurriedly turned again and splashed another breath over the shield.


    He kept doing that for a couple more times before the shield grew extremely weak. "Let''s see how you can stop my arrows then," he hurriedly aimed dozens of his arrows at no time and directed them all towards the shield from such close range.


    He got hit by many fire breaths coming from those inside the shield or some dragonairs nearby. His body withstood much of these attacks and despite having some wounds, his scales erupted all of sudden and went to hit everything around him.


    ''Laugh!'' the golden dragon suddenly said, reminding him of his best weapon.


    His arrows exploded and consumed most of the remaining shield energy, but the shield was still there.


    "Hahahaha!"


    Arthur laughed all of sudden and his laugh from this close created a shock wave hitting the souls of those inside and closely around, making them all lose balance and focus for a few moments.


    And those moments were all he needed. He threw his arrows fast and the shield was now in its weakest points after losing its controllers focus over it.


    "Rumble!"


    The arrows exploded after penetrating the shield and hit those inside. The explosions took them by surprise and they weren''t yet super, making them all fall from the sky with deadly wounds.


    "Won''t let you get away this easily," Arthur laughed again while flapping his wings and appeared just next to the fallen dragonairs.


    "Sizzle!"


    He used his fire breath from such close range and the next instant all those fallen were eaten alive by his fire. They went dead the next instant while he waved his hand and took the pillar away.


    ''Seal it,'' he inwardly shouted before turning to the sky again, trying to escape the thick network of the angry dragonairs.


    Losing their head caused them to lose their perfect organization from before. Arthur just managed to breakthrough with some wounds but eventually he wasn''t sad or depressed by such a result.


    "Now it''s the turn of these useless flies," he smiled evilly before adding, ''Take out the ladies, let this end in a full out bloodbath.''


    The next moment a dragon, a tigress, and a flying scorpion appeared around him.


    "Finally you remembered me," Tina screamed in anger before turning around and seeing all the dragons around. "Wow, I love you so much."


    She vanished the next instant where she appeared far away and started to attack everything moving. "This girl¡­" Sara shook her head before glancing around, "where are we? This isn''t anything like the world of the city or your academy."


    "You never been to the academy world," Arthur said in curiosity.


    "I heard everything from Tina," she said that before flapping her wings, "we''ll talk later."


    The queen laughed shortly before she moved as well to attack the dragons.


    "These three are really impulsive," he shook his head before turning to attack other dragons around, "just the perfect type for this kind of war."


    He knew the three of them wouldn''t be enough to instantly devastate his enemies, but their addition created more pain and headache to them. The four of them dispersed and kept attacking in different four directions, making the dragons unable to gather or regroup again.


    Losing their head and mind made them aimlessly fighting. In time their numerical advantage started to dwell until they became scattered all around in small groups.


    Easy targets for Arthur and his small army of elites.


    The fight was getting easier with passing of time, and despite losing almost one third of his dragon army, Arthur wasn''t dejected by that.


    After all he was pretty sure his enemies were so full of themselves to crush him here. Winning was what mattered most, and this loss he intended to compensate later on the next days.


    "Hahaha, those dragonairs were really fools after all."


    Suddenly this loud shout came out of nowhere making Arthur pause and glance towards the direction it came from.


    It was from a far distance, but Arthur felt like the sound just spoke next to his ears. He squeezed his eyes and from such a far place he spotted a large number of enemies coming.


    "They thought they could kill him using numbers, they didn''t listen. See my brother, they all are dead or either about to be."


    Arthur this time was pretty sure the voice came so near than those distant enemies. He raised his vigilance and glanced all around until he finally spotted the source of these two voices.


    They were hidden behind clouds in the sky, but their gigantic tails revealed them.


    "He saw us lil bro," the first voice spoke again, "he isn''t that bad."


    "If he wasn''t that bad then he wouldn''t have been targeted by the dark side, hehehe."


    Two gigantic monsters appeared slowly from the clouds. The two took the form of werewolves, and Arthur felt sudden danger coming from them.


    "Assassins," he softly muttered but the two managed to perfectly hear him well.


    "He is smart too, lil bro."


    "If so then he should be running away now not standing like an idiot waiting for his death."


    Arthur glanced again towards the distance. "The incomings are also assassins," he softly said before sighing, "I thought they gave up on me."


    "We didn''t, it''s just those dragonairs thought themselves high and mighty to ask to be the ones to kill you," the smaller werewolf said before pointing towards the other one, "we thought alike but they didn''t listen. So now we can kill you with ease."


    ''Gege¡­'' Arthur instantly said to himself.


    ''Here.''


    ''Bring the cavalry¡­ being Doaf and everyone. This is going to be quite challenging.''


    "They thought he would be vulnerable after stripping him off all his rings and precious items lil bro," the bigger werewolf said while laughing, "but it seems they underestimated this little one here."


    "But we won''t," the smaller werewolf viciously smiled, "we searched long and far for you. We even crushed your pathetic little clan of yours and that weak academy but in the end we didn''t find you anywhere. This time you won''t be able to run anywhere, little one, and your rich bounty will be mine."


    "Keep dreaming," Arthur sneered before the next instant many flashes of light appeared all around, "it''s time for you to pay for your crimes against me, my clan, and my academy."

 Chapter 561: Getting A Glimpse Of The Higher Realms Power

    "I have to admit¡­ you are really brave," the biggest werewolf sneered while descending in leisure steps from the sky, "You see us and not think even of running away. Amazing, right lil bro?"


    "This isn''t bravery," the smaller one shook his head before adding, "it''s foolishness."


    "Hahaha, as if he tried to run he could outrun us, hahaha."


    "Indeed big bro, you are always right."


    "Humph."


    This sudden sneer didn''t come from Arthur but from a giant shadow that suddenly appeared in front of him. Doaf glanced with a mocking smile over his face while sneering:


    "Werewolf assassin clan, indeed famous for your foul mouths and low deeds."


    "How come¡­" the smallest werewolf had a sudden change in his face.


    "You should¡­ weren''t all the rings taken away from him? What did these losers fuck up at?!!" the biggest werewolf didn''t hesitate to turn around as he hurried to say: "Run."


    "Run to¡­ where exactly?"


    This calm question came from another giant shadow of a female mage holding a long spear in hand and wearing a silver helmet. "I just had the chance to get out and stretch my body and you want to leave the party early? C''mon, there are pretty girls here."


    The look over the two brothers'' faces changed and the next thing they glanced at was the direction of their so close by reinforcements.


    "Don''t bother with them," a gigantic black crow with half of his body''s feathers ending up in gold color, "our boys are just giving a warm welcome to yours."


    "Damn it," the bigger werewolf cursed, "those in the academy screwed us over."


    "What the hell did they do back there?" the lil bro screamed before taking out two sharp claws and wore them as gloves like the elder bro did, "we have to fight our way out from here big bro."


    "It will be ugly," the bigger werewolf muttered.


    "I can only agree with you in that," Doaf smirked before the next thing happened was a brutal war that erupted between the five giants here.


    The first hit came from the spear girl where she stabbed the spear with incredible speed in the big werewolf shoulder. The werewolf moved barely in time to evade a lethal hit but he was wounded non the less.


    And the girl then turned around and gave him a strong kick that smashed his body high in the clouds.


    "Going up?" Doaf laughed as he appeared the next moment just above the big werewolf and slammed with his sword towards his skull.


    "Big bro," the smaller werewolf tried to move to assist, yet he was stopped by the gigantic crow who breathed fire towards him.


    The fire engulfed the entire body of the werewolf but in front of Arthur''s eyes he moved out of it unscathed like it was nothing.


    "Oh," the crow muttered, "you are slightly better than I expected."


    The crow didn''t hesitate to fire another fireball and this time the color was silver white. The werewolf didn''t try to be courageous and take this hit head on as he tried to evade but Arthur watched how the crow controlled the fireball to change its path and head directly towards the werewolf and hit him.


    "Howl!"


    The werewolf howled and the bigger brother of him howled back. Both were now experiencing deep pain and much agony while Arthur watched how brute force could decide this encounter with simple exchanges.


    "Amazing," he muttered as this slight fight was such an eye opener for him, "Don''t kill the two, leave one alive," he suddenly shouted and Doaf only nodded as he refrained from killing the big bro using his sword.


    "This one is known for his cowardice," the girl nodded in agreement, "he will be the one to live. Kill the other one," she turned her spear and threw it fast towards the other werewolf.


    The spear changed in front of Arthur''s eyes to take the shadow of a cauldron before it penetrated the body of the lil werewolf and suddenly stopped there motionless.


    "C''mon Amera, I want to play a little with him," the crow complained while the spear started to eat away the body of the werewolf from inside out, burning his flesh and turning it into ash in no time.


    "Their henchmen are still there, feel free to play with them," she chuckled while going at a small pace towards her spear.


    "They are weak, can''t even stand a single fire of me even if I used my weakest one."


    Arthur had to shake off his head helplessly while watching those three giants treating what was a life and death situation like it was a play for them.


    "I still have long road ahead of me," he muttered while Amera took her spear from the what remained in the smaller werewolf corpse before turning to him and said:


    "We are obliged to assist if there is such an attack on you, but don''t count too much on us."


    "I know," he nodded as he realized she was trying to give him advice here, "I will try to reach your levels fast."


    "Speed isn''t the issue," the crow changed into a bare chested giant middle aged man, "your affinity and ability to reach there is what matters."


    "Don''t worry about that young master," Doaf came while dragging the big werewolf from his neck, "my grandmaster is someone known for his piercing gazed and superb assessment. As long as he chose you then you have it in you."


    "Thanks," Arthur nodded in content before turning his gaze towards the petrified werewolf, "Tell me everything you know or else you''ll die."


    "I''m going to die either way," the werewolf laughed bitterly before coughing out blood.


    "Well, consider yourself lucky to die in a merciful way then if you spoke the truth," Doaf threatened while Amera took her spear and pointed it towards the werewolf''s neck.


    "I can let you live," Arthur suddenly said before adding when everyone glanced at him like he was crazy, "considered that you will become my slave."

 Chapter 562: Getting A Werewolf Slave

    "That is an interesting offer," the golden crow man said while giving Arthur a questioning gaze.


    "I need someone to give me answers," Arthur simply said before adding, "and also someone from the deep lines of the enemy will be a good asset to me."


    "Good point," Doaf supported his young master''s vision.


    "We are helpers after all," Amera sighed, "a good werewolf is a dead werewolf, that''s my opinion."


    Arthur just nodded to her but he didn''t change up his mind. He needed as much intel as he could, plus this werewolf wasn''t bad considering his awaiting challenges here. "I need to start forming my higher forces for the future," he muttered to himself while seeing this as the first step in forming his own power for the future path in the higher planes.


    "A slave? Hahaha," the werewolf laughed before coughing again, "I can''t see myself acting like that. I prefer death than saying a single word and live in shame the rest of my life."


    "Then kill him," Arthur didn''t hesitate to say as he shrugged, "it seems I was so soft with you. Kill him and let''s check others from his large army. I believe many will be willing to follow me."


    "But they don''t know what I do," the werewolf hurried to say.


    "At least they will say something, right? And they will serve me better for the future," Arthur turned his back to the werewolf as he added, "kill him and let''s go towards who remained in his army. I hate dealing with stupid loyalists."


    "Wait," the werewolf shouted before hurriedly adding, "can we negotiate on terms at least."


    Arthur simply waved his claw while flying slowly in the air by spreading out his wings. "Alright¡­ stop it I concede."


    When the spear was about to penetrate his throat he had to surrender. Arthur knew this dark mage was simply trying to bargain with him, as if he had the capital enough to do so.


    "Young master," Doaf shouted at Arthur who sighed and turned around. "He is ready to be your slave."


    "Are you?" Arthur turned to gaze at the werewolf before adding, "what makes me take you and not one of your henchmen?"


    The situation became much complicated for the werewolf as he hurriedly said:


    "I know many secrets¡­" he paused when he saw Arthur was turning again to continue flying away, "I know all the secrets about those who came here to kill you. I also have some loyal group that can follow me and serve you."


    "Group?" Arthur turned towards the distant battle, "do you mean this dead group?"


    "No," the werewolf hurriedly shook his head before coughing again, "my group is much better and stronger."


    "And?" Arthur paused, showing up his slight interest in the offer.


    "A¡­" the werewolf hesitated before the girl pushed her spear over his neck. "Alright alright, I can give you my riches," he said before hurriedly adding, "one tenth¡­ one fourth¡­ wait half, I''ll give you half."


    The werewolf changed the offer every time he saw Arthur move away from him. "I don''t want your riches," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I want you to attack other lairs and get their riches for me."


    "L¡­ Lairs?" The werewolf was astonished to stutter.


    "Sure," Arthur shrugged like he was asking something normal, "did you think you will stay on guard and act like my bodyguard? I won''t let you live this simple and easy life."


    "B- But¡­" the werewolf seemed to be terrified as he didn''t know what to say.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur spoke in an evil tone, acting like a close friend to the werewolf, "I won''t let you go on your own, right?"


    "My group¡­ they aren''t that strong," he sighed.


    "Not your group," Arthur laughed and his laugh turned into roars that irritated every giant standing here. They glanced weirdly at him while he neglected their questioning gazes, "I will make sure to for an elite task force of those sent here to kill me. After all I suppose you all are one of the best out there, right?"


    The werewolf seemed to be surprised by the greed of Arthur who simply added, "bring him down before the slave contract is done. Then I''ll entrust him to you to interrogate."


    "Leave this to us," Doaf laughed.


    Arthur then went down the ground and started the slave array and finished it smoothly as the werewolf wasn''t objecting. He was now in a very bad situation and he couldn''t even object at all.


    "Strange," Amera muttered from the side, "as far I know it''s logically impossible to turn someone from higher planes into a slave for someone from lower one."


    She glanced at the other two as the golden crow shrugged and Doaf smiled as he said: "If he isn''t special my grandmaster wouldn''t set his gaze upon him."


    "I can''t say anything but your master is really lucky."


    "I can''t disagree with that," Doaf laughed as he seemed to be in a good mood after hearing all such praise about his master.


    "It''s done," Arthur glanced at the tattoo at his arm, "This one is quite special, if you tried to backstab me at anytime anywhere I will know instantly and before you can take another breath you will be dead," Arthur casually said before tapping on the small werewolf tattoo over his arm, "no place can restrict my slave tattoo so don''t be too smart and turn into a dumb."


    Arthur''s threat wasn''t groundless as he used the ancient golden dragonair''s tongue to craft the writings over the runes of this contract. He followed the instructions of the golden dragon and his hands were controlled by his system to write the letters right.


    "Don''t worry too much young master," Doaf stepped forward as he pointed his sword towards the werewolf as he added, "leave this big bro to me and others. I''ll gladly squeeze each info from him willingly or not."


    "I prefer not," Amera chuckled before turning to Arthur, "send us inside the marvelous world of yours. By the way, what ornament does this world attach to? I can''t seem to notice any on your body."


    "It doesn''t," Arthur simply answered before waving his hand and the next instant they were all taken inside. The fight in the distance was finished a short period ago and so he took inside all the legions before glancing all around. "It''s a loss to leave such good corpses here."


    He moved to grab every single corpse around while his own dragons were taken back inside his garden once more to recuperate and get stronger. "Where is my team?" Arthur turned around after taking everything.


    ''Ding! They are two miles to the south,'' the system said, ''Ding! They seem to explore the ruins of that city, and they have company.''


    "Company?" Arthur muttered before turning into a dragon. In the next moment, "Good or bad?" he muttered while turning to his three girls at the distance as he shouted, "follow me."


    ''Ding! I think they are survivors.''


    "Good news," Arthur smiled, "it''s time to figure out what is really going on here and what this entire world is hiding for me."

 Chapter 563: Lie An

    "Tell me everything you know about this world."


    Arthur stood in front of a group of a thousand survivors of the academy here. Their faces showed how much pain and agony they just went through, and Arthur could clearly see the deep hatred and seeds of vengeance inside their eyes.


    "My name is Lie An," one of them, a middle aged man with strips of whiteness among his black hair said, "I¡­ I was the dean of the Hor academy or what once was."


    Arthur nodded as he felt sympathy towards them but he didn''t want to waste time here on exchanging useless words. "And?" he asked.


    "This world was once ruled by dark clans ages ago but the clans moved to higher realms and used here as a stop station for the next generations before coming to the higher realms," Lie An said before adding, "that was the case until two days ago. Suddenly we were invaded by legions of higher realm clans and they killed and devastated our academy for no reason."


    "Your academy was that special?" Arthur wondered.


    "We were good, but not that good to be honest, "Lie An said before taking a deep breath, "there are far stronger academies than us. We can be considered as a lower academy here."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered before adding, "then if so why targeting you?"


    "We produced some strong mages in the recent centuries whom went up there and caused some ruckus as far as we know," the face of Lie And showed his hesitation before adding, "other than standing against the remnants of the dark clans here in our world, and those sporadic cases of strong mages we produced over long time; we have nothing else to think of."


    "This¡­" Arthur paused before sighing, "not enough reason to devastate you."


    He glanced around before asking, "here was the main base of the academy, right?"


    "It is," Lie An answered.


    "What about other survivors?"


    Lie An sighed before saying, "we sent as much as we can towards the highly secretive sanctions."


    "Where?"


    "Well¡­" Lie An showed his hesitation and at this point Arthur took out the medallion he received before coming here. "I was told by this I have the right to rule over you."


    "The¡­ The ancestral medallion¡­" Lie An and the others around showed shocked expressions over their faces before they showed strange anger the next moment. "You thieves¡­ it was you who stole it from us a decade ago!"


    Arthur didn''t know if he should cry or laugh. "First of all," Arthur had to state things clearly and obviously here for the survivors to understand their current position, "if I wanted you all dead then I can simply do that. As you can see, I have a strong army that answers to my call and even those coming from higher realms can''t stand a chance against me."


    His words came with such a domineering attitude before he added, "and I came here to lead you to conquer this entire world and serve under me. If you don''t show the proper answer I expect now, then I will ditch you all here and go and seek another academy to work with."


    "B- But¡­" Lie An didn''t know what to say as he exchanged silent glances with those around, "this medallion is a sacred treasure left by the founder of our academy in the past. You should give it to us first before talking about other conditions."


    "Sigh," Arthur helplessly shook his head before taking away the medallion, "it seems you still do not fully understand your situation. Let''s go everyone, this is a hopeless place to start at."


    Arthur then turned into a dragon the next instant, clearly startling others around. His team didn''t speak or hesitate to move behind him, heading far towards the distance.


    "Hey, wait¡­" Lie And suddenly shouted, "Isn''t it best to negotiate and not leave empty handed like that?"


    "The only one leaving empty handed here is you not us," Madly suddenly sneered, "our clan head is generous enough to speak casually with you like this. However after seeing your daring attitude, it''s logic for us to leave and seek other places. After all we are the ones who others would dream of working under."


    The words of Madly stopped Lie An in his tracks. His face told her and others much about his feelings.


    "He is still living the delusion of his destroyed academy''s glorious moments," Amelia softly chuckled, "it''s best to let him live this dream."


    "We will go on a tour in this world," Arthur sighed, "I hoped to get more data from them but it seemed they were beyond saving."


    "We can just go and annex any clan or academy here," Tina said in excitement, "we aren''t weak or few."


    "I know," Arthur knew she was referring to his stored up towns and villages inside his garden world, "but I wanted to depend on this world''s resources to build another city here."


    "We can build our city ourselves my lord," Deem said before Gor added, "All we need is a perfect location and to annex some workers then building the city won''t take long."


    "We need resources and intel," Arthur muttered before turning his gaze towards the distant Lie An and his group who were now in hot debate, "let''s keep walking then and give them more time to think."


    "How much?" Sara asked.


    "A day is enough," Arthur thought before adding, "but you three should go around and scout the area. I need more intel and data."


    "We can get Lily and her flying squad from inside," Madly suggested.


    "We can bring everyone out," Omar added.


    "In time," Arthur simply nodded as he added, "we first need to know where we are and if there is a better place than here nearby."


    "Ok," the queen excitedly flapped her wings before adding, "leave this to me. I''ll make sure to bring back some survivors."


    Arthur gave her a helpless glance as he knew she referred to her survivors not the dark clan''s attack survivors. "Don''t over do it, alright?" he stressed and she simply chuckled, giving him the impression that she wouldn''t listen to any of his words.

 Chapter 564: A Crack In Time and Space

    He waited for a couple of hours before Lie An came from far away running towards him.


    "He seems restless," Amelia sneered while everyone just laughed shortly before he reached them.


    "What?" Madly was the one to ask, "anything you wanna say?"


    "Ahem," Lie An cleared his throat before saying, "I just want to make another offer for Mr¡­" he glanced at Arthur and paused but Arthur didn''t speak back.


    "And?" Madly crossed her arms before the nervous dean said:


    "I¡­ We agree on the idea of you leading us, but we need a reassurance you won''t use it to steal away our heritage."


    Arthur lifted one eyebrow in surprise while others just glanced weirdly towards the dean. "What heritage?" Madly said before adding, "we came here to take everything in your world, including your pathetic academy heritage."


    "What is your hardly thought of guarantee?" Amelia asked after a few moments of silence to let the words of Madly cause the proper effect.


    "I¡­ we suggest that I will stay the de¡­ the vice dean of the academy while Mr¡­ will be the dean."


    "Denied," Arthur simply said before turning to leave.


    "We just want insurance."


    "The insurance you seek should be towards your lives not the academy," Madly sneered before moving away from here following Arthur''s steps.


    "They are hopeless," Deem sighed.


    "It''s a waste of time staying here anymore," Omar added.


    "Let''s go and discover the surrounding area then," Arthur went into silence for brief moments before the next instant Lily appeared alongside a small group of a hundred.


    "Phew, finally letting me out to play," Liliy took a deep breath before glancing all around, "this is a brand new world, right?"


    "Take your birdy and start scouting the area with others," Arthur simply said before turning to a certain direction as he added, "we will gather again here if we didn''t find anything."


    "What if we do?" Lily asked.


    "You have my bird''s wings," Arthur smiled before rising to the sky, "Don''t slack, we need to find ourselves a good place to start at."


    "What place?" Lily turned to Madly as she asked.


    "Will tell you everything on the way," Amelia said before she turned towards the rest, "take out your pets, we need to start moving instantly."


    Arthur headed towards the direction he felt most ominous about. Since clearing all the hostiles here and starting to wait for the Hor academy''s response, he sensed like someone was watching him.


    ''Can you scout the area again?'' he said while feeling more puzzled after arriving at his destination.


    ''Ding! I''m scouting the area around me all the time. There is no living thing here.''


    ''Are you sure?'' Arthur turned around again before adding, ''I have the feeling something seems off here.''


    ''Ding! There is nothing suspicious here except you.''


    ''Gege,'' Arthur thought of something all of sudden, ''can you tell if I''m inside an illusion?''


    ''You are absolutely fine,'' Gege simply said, ''there is not even an illusion nearby you.''


    ''Are you sure?''


    ''¡­''


    She didn''t answer and he just sighed. "Then why do I have this bizarre feeling?" he turned around again before rising to the sky and taking a wider tour here.


    He was at a small hill that was covered with grey sand and some sparkling dirt that seemed strange. The hill was small, with no cavities or caves for anyone to hide.


    He turned around it dozens of times before succumbing to the facts he was seeing. "Alright let''s see the distant area then," he moved towards the horizon where he started scanning the area for any living people or good places to start his city.


    The initial search gave out excellent results. In the next ten hours he kept receiving data from all search teams where they reported about many villages and towns here.


    But there was a single report that came after twelve hours and it was delivered directly by Tina.


    "There is a big city already established nearby," she said while motioning towards a certain direction, "they are strong. Big walls and high towers plus many armies stationed in and out the nearby castles surrounding the city."


    "Castles?" he asked.


    "Yup, big castles connected together by great walls."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered. "Where are Sara and the queen?"


    "They both are there observing and scouting the regoing around," Tine smiled viciously as she added, "can we hit them now? It''s a ready city with no need for us to start from scratch."


    "What about citizens?" he asked.


    "I didn''t see much," she thought for a moment, "all I saw were those armed soldiers and some flying monsters."


    "Strange," Arthur paused for a moment before deciding to go.


    He took a bird''s wing and sent a rough route from the place of their arrival towards the city to Amelia and other teams. He asked them to keep searching but to gather there at the city later on.


    Arthur then went directly towards the city and castles. The flight took four hours until he finally reached the outer region of that city.


    What met him in the distance was a gigantic city that had extensive buildings, long towers, and strong sturdy walls. He also noticed the castles and the castles formed angles for a seven headed star.


    "They are arranged on a diagram," he noticed that it wasn''t only the castles, but the walls, towers, and even the buildings inside the city were all arranged in specific order that formed many seven headed star diagrams everywhere.


    "I thought this was for decoration purposes," Tina chuckled before adding, "can we attack them now?"


    "Just wait a bit longer," he muttered before taking a wide tour on the outer perimeter of the city. "The more I looked the more puzzled I become," he muttered to himself before adding, ''Can you tell me anything from scouting the area?''


    ''Ding! There is something that interferes with my scout.''


    ''Gege?''


    ''I sense the presence of a weak illusive aura, but not too much to cause a real illusion.''


    ''I know something is weird here,'' Arthur muttered before suddenly hearing the voice of the long silent golden dragon:


    ''This is a military base of an ancient clan.''


    ''Ancient clan?'' Arthur muttered before glancing all around, ''but I can''t see any symbol or flag of anything.''


    ''Because what you are seeing just now is a crack in time and place.''


    ''¡­''


    ''This isn''t real,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''It''s not an illusion,'' Gege stubbornly said, ''I can sense a weak illusive aura but it''s not that strong or apparent to cause such a grand illusion.''


    ''Sigh, it''s a crack in time and place darling.''


    ''Can you explain in plain words?''


    ''Ding! It''s something that was here but not anymore. A glimpse of a past moment but it''s not present.''


    ''This is something that happened in the past?'' Arthur shockingly asked.


    ''Indeed,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    ''How come?'' Gege was also speechless.


    ''I don''t know why, but I heard stories about such things from many resources when I was alive,'' the golden dragon said, ''its mark is that you feel an illusion force but not too strong enough to make an illusion, and there is also one more important fact.''


    ''Which is?''


    ''They can''t see you, so even if you stood inches away from them, they won''t react to you as if you were a ghost.''


    ''But they are the ghosts!'' Gege shouted, while Arthur ignored her remark as he asked:


    ''What would happen if I went directly towards them?''


    ''This peculiar moment will cease to exist,'' the golden dragon said, ''some said these moments happen for a reason, like some force wants to deliver a message to those experiencing these moments. Some gained wisdom and others gained access to ancient buried treasures, while it''s not rare to come out without getting anything.''


    Arthur thought about his words before deciding, ''Let''s wait then. I''m curious to see what this will end up at.''

 Chapter 565: Taking A Glimpse On An Earth Shattering Secret

    Arthur retreated towards where his other girls were and waited there patiently. He was lucky that none of his girls were impatient to try out the city up front.


    "Are you saying this is just an illusion?" Sara asked in doubt.


    "I know it seems weird but that''s what I know for now," Arthur simply said while watching the normal day of this piece of the past.


    He stood there for hours before his team joined him while watching with him in silence and anticipation.


    "Are you sure this is something important?" Tina was already restless, "can''t we just go in and ask them directly?"


    "I told you this isn''t real," Arthur took a deep breath but before he could even say anything more, something developed all of sudden in the city.


    Something appeared high in the sky before descending like a meteor towards the center of the city.


    "What is that?" Amelia muttered.


    "It''s¡­ a dragonair''s pillar," Sara instantly recognized it while Arthur just gave her a side glance.


    "Take cover!" suddenly Tina shouted while everyone around didn''t need her warning to hurry and retreat.


    All but one¡­ Arthur.


    He remained in his place watching this silent devastational explosion that erupted from the heart of this city. It all happened when the pillar hit the ground, causing a massive cloud of black light that expanded massively to engulf everything in his sight.


    "Amazing," Arthur muttered while the pile of dust and ruins stopped just tens of meters away from him. "I swear this looks almost real except for the lack of sound."


    Arthur noticed the silent explosion and that made him just more confident in staying behind. He kept his attention focused entirely over the city that was now under utter devastation.


    "What do you want to show me?" he muttered before the next moment he heard a roar.


    "What the hell?" he turned around but there was no dragon there. "This¡­" he turned again to see a black shadow of a dragon appearing from the middle of the explosion.


    The black dragon moved slightly up in the air while he faintly roared as his eyes moved to glance directly towards Arthur.


    "Can he see me?" Arthur was hesitant as he muttered softly.


    "Sure my boy, I can perfectly see you."


    Arthur felt like his soul was being squeezed under a silent pressure. He felt like being gazen upon a higher being and he was simply¡­ an ant.


    "Oh¡­ you have done many things lad," the black dragon sneered before turning around, "you can see this piece of time and space despite being too far in the future. Interesting¡­"


    The black dragon then roared faintly while breathing out a vast cloud of smoke. "Look well distant kid from the far future, this is how all the black dragonairs are born, and this is why no one can even stop us."


    The dragon then roared a mighty one, but Arthur didn''t hear the voice this time. It was like that memory in past time returned to function normally.


    By the long and deep roar of that dragon shadow, the entire explosion died out. Everything was pushed by this single roar to show off what lay inside.


    And what Arthur once saw before as a mighty and strong city and castles turned to a stretch of runes.


    All the armies stationed there were killed, and no one appeared to be alive at all.


    "How can this devastation be caused by that pillar?" he muttered to himself in doubt while the next thing that happened made his scalp numb.


    From the ashes and piles of ruins, from all the burnt dead bodies down below¡­ sudden moves started to happen.


    Arthur had to close his eyes once before reopening them just to make sure. In front of him he saw many dead corpses standing up, getting bigger and deformed before black dragons appeared lively and vibrantly roaring down below.


    "How can this be¡­?!!!" he was shocked beyond description and the next thing he had in mind was just¡­ his system.


    "See boy?" the memory got distorted again while the dark shadow of the dragon rose higher as it stood high above him. "This is our way of creation¡­ our sacred moment that no one had ever laid an eye upon before and stayed the same¡­"


    The shadow went silent for a moment before muttering, "I don''t know what fate wants from you, but heed my advice and amend your own crimes. You did so many to stop us, your own family, and now you must realize how foolish this dream of yours is."


    Arthur experienced the same pressure again but this time he had a slight change over his face.


    "Who are you?" he asked with quite vigilance and seriousness over his face.


    "I''m the father of all black dragonairs," the black shadow said, "It''s me who started everything, breathed every single life inside the dead bodies of all and turned them into my big and mighty family. No one can stop me, no one can stop us, even some weak and foolish piece of my soul who suddenly grew conscionse."


    Arthur suddenly had a moment of enlightenment. "Never thought¡­" he muttered while his eyes shone brightly blue light all of sudden.


    And his body started to emit faint blue light as well.


    "Who are you?" this time the black dragon muttered before adding, "You¡­ you can''t be allowed to live anymore. I''ll seek you in every era and won''t stop until I get your mind out of your worthless skull and will turn you into one of my loyal pets."


    "Humph," Arthur harrumphed as the next instant the memory took over again as the shade started to fade until it dissipated.


    Arthur glanced at the dragonairs filling the entire world in front of him before the memory started to fade away.


    And the real world reappeared again where only a stretch of ancient runes covered with tons of dirt remained.


    "This¡­" Amelia came from behind before adding, "is this what remained after such an explosion?"

 Chapter 566: Lets Find That Pillar

    Arthur turned to her and asked: "Did you see what happened after the explosion?"


    The questioning gazes he got from everyone made him realize that whatever he saw was meant only for him and only him. ''System, have you seen what happened?''


    ''Ding! Explosion and devastation, nothing more.'' The system answered before adding, ''Ding! Why?''


    ''He¡­'' Gege muttered.


    ''System, I have a question¡­ are you the only system out there?''


    Arthur''s question seemed to be unexpected by the system who remained silent for a longer period.


    ''He already met another user,'' Gege simply said before adding, ''he deserves to know more.''


    ''What you two are hiding from me?'' Arthur instantly asked.


    ''I know nothing,'' Gege said before adding, ''but from what I saw in your mind just now I knew the system has more than he tells.''


    ''Ding! It''s too early,'' the system said.


    ''I''ve met someone¡­ some being like me.''


    ''Ding! Not enough,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! Some secrets can''t be revealed until you have enough power to support them.''


    Arthur went silent while ignoring the questions his team was showering him with. ''I want to know a way to increase the power of my dragomancer ability.''


    ''Ding! This is an interesting choice,'' the system suddenly laughed, ''Ding! To do that you either need to advance your dragonair rank or advance me.''


    ''How?''


    ''Ding! The usual stuff¡­ I assign missions for you and you complete them.''


    ''Then assign me missions about my dragomancer ability.''


    ''Ding! Only it?'' the system asked in a mysterious way.


    ''I want to form my own clan,'' Arthur suddenly said, ''I''ve seen someone using mere pillars to turn the entire world into his dragon pets. I wanna do that.''


    ''Ding! There is a way to do that,'' the system said, ''Ding! And there is a way to do something else.''


    ''What?''


    ''Ding! Turn those dragons summoned by such ability to be your pets.''


    ''Scary,'' the golden dragon suddenly spoke for the first time since seeing the explosion, ''you two are such scary beings.''


    ''Hahaha, I''m just trying to get stronger and have much fairer battles against my enemies,'' Arthur said before suddenly pausing. ''Tell me, old dragon, have you become like this the same way as well?''


    ''I¡­ frankly don''t have any recollection about what you are speaking about.''


    ''He is lying,'' Gege suddenly said.


    ''Ding! I can sense his nervousness.''


    ''C''mon,'' Arthur inwardly sneered, ''you are just a soul and I won''t be able to do any harm to you.''


    ''Humph, as if you can,'' the golden dragon sneered.


    ''Then tell me the truth.''


    ''Your system is wise, some secrets can''t be told to weaker beings.''


    ''Liar,'' Arthur inwardly laughed, ''you are just trying to use any excuse.''


    ''I can''t tell you anything that will bring destruction upon you,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''if time comes when you are strong enough then I won''t hesitate to tell you.''


    ''Then just tell me if the plan of the system can work on all the dragonairs out there,'' Arthur asked his most important question right now.


    ''It does,'' the golden dragon sighed before adding, ''what you seem to have seen was some sacred moment that not many had the chance to experience. Don''t tell it to anyone, as just speaking loud about it would create disasters.''


    ''Don''t worry,'' Arthur smirked, ''I want to know how to use your way then,'' he said to his system.


    ''Ding! It''s simple,'' the system said.


    ''Missions, right?''


    ''Ding! Yeah, but you have one more condition to fulfill.''


    ''What?''


    ''Ding! You need to be a member of a higher realm with energy much purer than the one you currently have.''


    Arthur went silent for a period as he started thinking about the words of his system. ''You¡­ you have even plans for after ascending up, right?''


    ''Ding! I''m with you along your path, hopefully it will be long enough to see a bright end.''


    ''Alright,'' Arthur took a deep breath, ''as this won''t be accessible to me anytime soon, I want to have missions regarding my dragomancer ability.''


    ''Ding! That''s important, as your dragomancer ability must evolve beyond a certain threshold.''


    ''Alright give me missions then.''


    ''Ding! I need to first contact the will of this world,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! After which I will assign missions based on the thoughts and desires of this world''s will.''


    ''The world''s will again!''


    ''Ding! Consider them as the heaven powers in your previous life,'' the system said, ''Ding! Without their support, me as your system can do nothing at all.''


    ''Alright,'' Arthur knew this seemed a bit complicated for him to understand for now, ''just don''t take long.''


    ''Ding! I won''t.''


    Arthur then was free to consider the stressful train of questions his team members rained him with.


    "Hold on for a second here," Arthur raised his claw before adding, "this place is just ruins. We won''t find anything special here. Let''s spread up and start amassing a population."


    "From the villages and towns we spotted before?" Lily asked.


    "Sure," Arthur nodded, before asking, "have you found any special place to establish our city?"


    He directed his question towards Gor and Deem. The two shook their heads which indicated their response. "Alright, you two will be on a special search mission. Look all around and try to find a good place, easy to defend and have many resources accessible all around."


    "Understood," Deem said while Gor only nodded.


    "What about you?" Sara suddenly asked.


    "What about us?" Tina asked.


    "I''ll stay here while you three will go to help subdue these towns and villages," he said before adding when he noticed the excited look over Tina and the queen''s faces, "but restrain your powers as much as you can. These are helpless villages and towns with no much power to challenge us."


    "Ahem," Tina cleared her throat before adding, "we should get going then, c''mon big sis," she then went to the sky while Sara only sighed and followed her.


    "I''ll try to restrain her," Sara muttered before flying away.


    "Try to restrain both of them," he hurriedly shouted before waiting in his place alone after everyone dispersed.


    ''Gege,'' he suddenly said, ''the dragonair''s pillar inside¡­ seal it.''


    ''The same way you sealed that egg?''


    ''Yes.''


    ''What about the pillar remaining here?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''That''s why I remained behind,'' Arthur softly muttered before turning his gaze around this stretch of ancient ruins. ''It''s strange how such prosperous place turned into such desolate area in no time.''


    ''It happened over long years and centuries,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''It all happened in just one instant,'' Arthur disagreed before adding, ''I recall the pillar descended at the center. Let''s go there and look.''

 Chapter 567: Meeting The Lions

    Arthur walked amidst the ruins while feeling conflicted inside. "Such a strong city was simply destroyed by the pillar," he glanced at the sky where his mind still had the picture of it being penetrated by the pillar fresh like it was still there.


    ''There must have been something we missed,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s not normal for just the pillar to be activated from its own will.''


    ''We already saw two pillars before,'' Gege added.


    "I think these two were depleted from their inner energy," Arthur muttered while heading towards the center of this place, "and that means we are in grave danger if we get hit by such a pillar."


    ''Your city is protected by strong walls,'' Gege said, ''the walls are fortified by bronze giant pillars.''


    "I doubt that would be enough," he shook his head, "I must seek another way¡­ system, do you have any solution for this?"


    ''Ding! Up till now no,'' the system said the truth, ''Ding! But as long as you continue to upgrade your power, I''m sure you''ll find something in the future to safeguard against such an attack.''


    "I hope so," Arthur sighed before he finally reached the place where the pillar landed. "It should be here."


    ''There is a huge amount of dirt under your feet,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Should you use the arrows to clear the dirt?'' Gege asked.


    "No, bring all the miners and villagers available to work here," Arthur muttered, "this place must be excavated with utmost care."


    ''Alright.''


    The next half an hour a huge number of villagers appeared with their axes and pickaxes. Arthur just cleared the path for them to work after marking the area he wanted to excavate by flying over it in a big circle.


    The villagers started to work under his instructions. He kept his vigilance as he was still in such unknown territory. "Those idiots from Hor academy¡­ they should have agreed on cooperating without being so high and arrogant like this."


    He was still skeptical of losing his starting point like this. He was starting below the level of zero, with no proper guidance or even the basic info regarding this world.


    As he stayed in the air, his villagers started to take huge amounts of dirt faster than he thought. Before ten hours passed, they already excavated a large area that made the place look like a bottomless pit was there from the start.


    "Keep looking," he wrote this in one bird''s wing as he replied to Lily''s message. This wasn''t the first message he received about them finding a small number of villages and towns, and he always wrote to keep looking.


    He also sent one bird''s wing to Sara, giving her instructions about the newly discovered villages and towns. "I hope they will get enough numbers this time," he muttered before turning his head towards the villagers, "sigh, I can use them but that would be like cutting a hand to replace a missing leg."


    He watched his villagers work for a couple more hours before he spotted distant shadows coming fast towards him.


    ''Ding! There are a group of five intruders coming towards here fast,'' the system said.


    "Thanks, I already noticed them."


    Arthur went towards the edge of his villagers while he kept himself flying in the air and his gaze turned all over the place. "Only these five?" he muttered as he noticed their shape. "Aren''t they¡­" he paused before he muttered, "interesting."


    He watched those flying lions coming so fast towards him. Each one wasn''t any less than him in size, with scaled armored skin with scales that looked more like short thick feathers.


    "Stand down and retreat at once or else you will face the wrath of the entire clan."


    This sudden and loud shout came from the middle lion, one that had two curved horns above his head unlike the one horn others had.


    "Clan?" Arthur muttered before laughing, "I don''t mean disrespect here but there is a weapon left by an enemy of mine and I have to take it away."


    "Weapon?" one of the lions muttered while the middle one shouted: "He is lying, there is no such weapon here and he has no enemy at all."


    "Really?" Arthur sneered while the five lions stood tens of meters away. "Retreat before it''s too late for you and your weak peasants."


    "Or I will face the wrath of the clan, right?" Arthur cracked a vicious smile before adding, "alright, go and bring me this clan of yours."


    "What did you just say?" one of the lions exclaimed in surprise.


    "Like what you just heard," Arthur simply said, "I want to see this clan of yours. If I like them, then you can all work for me."


    "Work for you?" the middle flying lion said in a faint anger but before anyone could say anything more, one of the villagers down below shouted:


    "Lord, we found what you are looking for."


    This shout made the faces of the lions change while Arthur turned to them and said:


    "Excuse me, I have business to do. After I take that weapon you can choose either to stick to the devastated land of your ancestors or come to work for me and have a chance to retaliate against those who caused this to you and your clan."


    Arthur then turned around and let his body float in the air by spreading out his wings. He seemed leisurely flying and casually heading towards the pit, like he didn''t even care about those lions.


    "Stop right there," one of them shouted.


    "Stop or else¡­"


    "Or¡­ what?" Arthur turned slowly midair before he added, "I respect your clan and the prosperous city and force they once were. But don''t test my patience so much, or else you''ll see my wrath."


    "Lies," the leading lion shouted, "you are a dragon, just like those who were mentioned in the old legends. The one who came, invaded our world and caused great stories of pain and agony."

 Chapter 568: A Soul Scale

    "Sigh," Arthur knew the lion had a point here before he added, "I''m not one of them. I''m an enemy, the arch enemy of all those dragons and dark clans. You can go and ask around, I have just slain part of such forces in areas next to here."


    Arthur then dived towards the bottom of the hole while totally ignoring the empty words of threat coming from these lions. He didn''t know everything about them, but he was totally confident of one thing.


    They were alone!


    "It''s the pillar," Arthur muttered when he reached the bottom. The villagers managed to excavate a big part of it but the rest was still immersed under the dirt. "Gege, it''s your turn."


    ''Just touch it and leave the rest to me.''


    When Arthur touched the pillar, he felt an ominous aura, the same aura he felt pressuring over him and his mind suddenly thought of something.


    ''System, can you scan my body and see if there is any strange thing there?''


    ''Ding! What do you mean?''


    ''Something¡­ like a part of soul or strange aura. It might be deeply hidden and can''t be discovered easily.''


    ''Then I will help as well,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Me too,'' and once the pillar was gone Gege said.


    ''No problem, all search deep and slow and don''t leave a speck unchecked,'' he said before flapping his wings and went directly high in the sky.


    The five lions grew in number to reach one hundred, yet still he wasn''t pressured at all.


    "Got what you want?" the leading lion spoke while he glanced all around, "satisfied now? The clan is angry and they sent their elites to take you down."


    "Why not stop this useless show?" Arthur smiled before simply adding, "I know your clan was hit massively by the black dragonairs and you are only the lone survivors on the long period since that accident."


    "H- How did you know that?" one lion shouted in surprise.


    "See? I told you he is already part of them," another lion shouted while Arthur simply shook his head.


    ''System, take them all back,'' he calmly muttered. The next instant the entire place had many portals appearing around while Gege said:


    ''It''s me who is controlling your portals, not the system.''


    ''Thanks,'' he shortly answered trying to escape the wrath of this fiery girl.


    "What are you doing?" the leading lion asked while the rest seemed quite restless.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled as he added, "I said I came here only for that nasty weapon and now I have it. I''m taking away in preparation to leave this area¡­"


    He paused before asking in serious tone:


    "I don''t like some courageous clan to be left unguarded. How many times did you dream about getting revenge? Come and join me, work under me and I promise one day your vengeance will be quenched and leave you more satisfied."


    "Humph," the leading lion instantly harrumphed, "a dragonair is telling the impossible."


    "I''m not," Arthur said before adding, "I''ll wait here for two days. Feel free to check the area around and ask about my fight against the dragonairs and their dark clan aiders of werewolves."


    Arthur then turned around while the area was now void of a single living villager, "Don''t take much long. I''m still looking for those who can support me and provide me with precious intel. Lose this opportunity then your value to me will diminish to be nothing but a pile of worthless lions from the old era."


    Before anyone could speak, Arthur flapped his wings and the next instant he vanished from the front of them to appear miles away.


    ''Do you think they will believe you?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''I don''t care,'' Arthur shook his head, ''I already have many inhabitants of this world. All I need is to interrogate them and I will get what I want. They will only save many days for me, nothing more.''


    ''I''m speaking about the Hor people,'' the golden dragon said, ''they won''t tell anything good about you.''


    ''I don''t care either,'' Arthur shrugged before turning around, ''it''s time for me to regroup with everyone.''


    He took out a bird''s wing and sent it towards Amelia and asked her if they found a good spot to establish the city.


    And after a few minutes he received the response from her as she told him they were comparing between four places and will decide in less than one hour.


    "Good news indeed," he muttered before finding himself not having anything to do during this period, "I should fly aimlessly until they decide."


    Just before half an hour passed, the golden dragon suddenly spoke:


    ''I found something nasty.''


    Arthur had a bad prominition when he heard these words. ''What?''


    ''There is a soul scale inside your soul,'' the golden dragon muttered. ''It''s something very ancient, even older than me.''


    ''And?'' Arthur didn''t want to hear more but he had to ask.


    ''It''s mainly part of a very strong black dragonair''s mage. It takes the form of a scale and it camouflages itself inside your soul sea. Very hard to detect and harder to deal with.''


    Arthur took a deep breath before saying:


    ''What are the effects of this? Can it affect me?''


    ''Nah,'' the golden dragon said, ''the good news is that it''s used only for tracking purposes. But the bad news is that no matter where you are, the owner will have general guidance towards your place.''


    ''He¡­ is still alive?'' Arthur asked to make sure.


    ''Indeed he is.''


    ''Damn!''


    ''Ding! I can''t detect it!''


    ''Neither do I.''


    ''I''ll make it flash for a moment,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''but doing so will cause severe pain to you.''


    ''Just do it,'' Arthur gritted his teeth before adding, ''I need all the info possible from all of you.''


    ''Alright, hang tight.''


    The next moment Arthur felt a tsunami of pain assaulting his body without any mercy. He roared out of extreme pain and he hurriedly kept his consciousness as he lost his balance and went directly crashing on the ground.


    Arthur hit the ground like a rock descending from the sky, causing severe shock waves and creating a deep crater in the ground while his body rested motionless there without any sign of being awake or alive except for the hot fog coming out from his nostrils.

 Chapter 569: Lets Build Three Cities Then

    "Damn! That was intense," Arthur cursed out loud while standing out from the depth of the crater. The next moment he took out a bunch of healing and replenishing pills and consumed them in one go.


    ''That was much worse than I expected,'' the golden dragon apologized.


    ''Ding! I found the scale.''


    ''Me too.''


    "Good," Arthur flapped his wings before he reached the surface. There he sat on the ground while resting for a few minutes, waiting for the effect of the pills to kick off.


    ''Ding! This scale is very hard to deal with,'' the system said, ''Ding! I tried to test it but the next instant it camouflaged itself inside your soul like it was part of it.''


    ''I think the only way to sacrifice it is by cutting part of your soul.''


    Arthur felt some pain from this mere suggestion. "C''mon Gege, what have I done for you to treat me this bad?" he sighed as he already was aware of how painful and detrimental such an act would be.


    ''Don''t worry, I have another way around,'' the golden dragon said, ''but it won''t like you either.''


    "Why?" Arthur asked with much curiosity, "will I die for it to succeed?" he sneered but the silence that followed made him stop smiling. "C''mon, don''t be ridiculous!"


    ''Well, it''s in theory not like that indeed,'' the golden dragon cleared his throat before adding, ''but to succeed you must evolve your energy once more by absorbing a silver dragon essence and evolve your power once more.''


    Arthur understood his meaning before saying: "Keep on¡­"


    ''During the past evolution, your soul was opened and magnified. Anything that''s alien there can be found¡­ and hunted down.''


    "You want me to rage a war inside my soul?" Arthur was speechless there for a moment before adding, "this might¡­"


    ''Kill you, of course, but temporarily.''


    "Damn!" Arthur cursed again before he felt some power regenerating inside his body, "alright, this plan will take much time to accomplish. Let''s put it on hold for now, ok?"


    ''As you say,'' the golden dragon said, ''also if there is a much better plan than this then we can use it.''


    "Indeed," Arthur didn''t put much hope on that alternative. First of all he wasn''t very deep in the soul matters, and it seemed from the silence of the other two in his mind that they didn''t have any clue about what to do.


    "Let''s¡­" he paused before shaking off his head to shake off this thought, "let''s go first and find ourselves a good place to establish a city."


    He flew in the sky and sent a bird''s wing to Amelia. She informed him that they had found three suitable places but couldn''t decide which one would be best.


    "Let all gather at this one," he sent back while selecting a place without thinking much about it. "Last time I started a city, this time let''s start three."


    He reached the place where Amelia and others were waiting for him. He glanced at the place, it was slightly resembling the city he established before; lying under the mountain.


    "Is this the place?" he asked while glancing all around.


    "No my lord," Deem politely answered, "it''s there," he pointed towards the great mountain lying behind.


    "The mountain?" he glanced weirdly at Deem and he nodded. "You must be crazy, right?" Arthur smiled before turning into a human as he glanced deeply towards the mountain.


    "There are two other locations he also chose," Amelia said before adding, "but they are also like this one here."


    Arthur glanced in a much weirder way to Deem who embarrassedly laughed. "If it was up to me, I would rather select two mountains to build our cities there."


    "Why is that?" Arthur asked with a calm smile over his face.


    "These three spots are the three angles of a giant Ley Lines map. This map is naturally formed and it''s like a big natural diagram. Can you imagine how such a diagram would be if used properly and activated for defense and offense?"


    "You are crazy indeed to think this way," Arthur sighed before suddenly laughing, "but I''m much crazier than you."


    "My lord''s meaning¡­" Deem asked while he hesitated to believe what his mind told him.


    "We will establish three cities here," Arthur simply said before adding, "let''s establish a mighty base for us here and turn this place into such an invincible fort that no one can incade or shake no matter what."


    "But¡­" Amelia was about to object but the next thing happened was the approach of the three flying girls along with a long army of villagers following them on the ground from far.


    "This is only the beginning," Arthur said before turning towards Agnus, "I believe your men can build us advanced tools to use in making our three cities faster, right?"


    Agnus nodded with a serious look over his face. "Great," Arthur clasped his hands before adding, "let''s start building then. I''ll take out everyone inside and with those from this world we can hasten building the cities, right?"


    Amelia hesitated and Deem only nodded before he heard the most troublesome question from Arthur. "How long will it take?"


    "I¡­"


    "Just give me a rough estimation," Arthur said when he noticed how startled Deem looked when he asked him this one.


    "Roughly one to two months."


    "Agnus," Arthur turned to Agnus before adding, "I''ll depend on your brilliant mind and great inventions to shorten such time into one to two weeks top."


    Agnus felt the great pressure over him already but he only nodded and said nothing back.


    "Brilliant," Arthur then turned to the three girls with the large army of villagers on the ground, "I''ll keep myself and the girls busy to scout the area around and bring forth anyone of help."


    He then turned to Amelia as he added, "I''ll entrust defending here to you, alright?"


    "If you brought those legions up, then I can do it," she simply answered and he only smiled and nodded.

 Chapter 570: Intel About The World

    Arthur didn''t hesitate to agree on Amelia''s request. After all he had all the connections with the city world severed for now and those portals scattered around the garden world became invalid.


    No more wars were there and the duties of the warriors inside were now shifted to be mainly for this world.


    Arthur then entrusted the mission of taking out everyone to Gege while he stayed with Deem and waited for him to finish drawing the maps of the three cities.


    "This¡­"


    The moment Arthur saw what Deem drew he was speechless.


    "This is the best design for the three mountains," Deem proudly said.


    "Don''t you think you slightly overdid it?" Arthur glanced at him deeply while Deem shook his head, "from what I know we are going to stay here for a long time, right?"


    "Sigh, but this¡­"


    Arthur pointed towards the drawing which included three distant mountain peaks as angle heads of a gigantic triangular formation of a vast single city. "I thought we are going to build three not four."


    "Technically it''s only one," Deem pointed towards the triangular city before adding, "however if you mean the phases of building it¡­ then yeah we are going to build four cities to be merged together and form a mighty huge one."


    "This¡­ sigh, you are far crazier than me," Arthur bitterly laughed before adding, "alright, I just hope this won''t take much longer than two weeks."


    "T¡­ Two weeks?" Deem had his turn to be speechless, "I thought you meant the three angles."


    "No I want the entire city or four cities to be completed within that time," he patted his shoulders before adding, "don''t belittle Agnus and his team. These men are¡­ freaks."


    Arthur''s expectations were met during the next few hours. Agnus had already gathered up an army of blacksmiths and other craftsmen and started making huge machines to excavate earth and rocks in a strong and efficient manner.


    "See?" Arthur stopped in front of a huge spear machine which used gigantic spear made entirely of sturdy ore to hit the mountain and penetrate it.


    The machine was helped by another which helped to set fire on the mountain rocks and melt them slightly to facilitate the work of the spear machines.


    "Yeah, you were right as always my lord," Deem stood there shocked by the efficiency of Agnus'' creations.


    The mountain was excavated in depth reaching half mile in less than ten hours. For Deem this was some kind of a miracle. "If this could work on the ground, then we can finish laying out the foundations in less than five days."


    "Here?" Arthur glanced at him before giving the solemn looking Ron behind a silent glance.


    "Everywhere," Deem was ecstatic, "if he can increase the number of these machines then we can extend the work to cover the entire grand city. But there is one issue¡­"


    "The population," Arthur nodded before adding, "don''t worry, I''ve already scattered my girls and now I''ll go as well."


    He patted the shoulder of Deem one last time before moving towards Ron.


    "Don''t give me that look," Arthur said while taking a deep breath.


    "This crime¡­" Ron paused as his entire body vibrated.


    "We were weak," Arthur moved to stand close to him. He looked directly in Ron''s eyes before adding, "and we are still weak."


    "So we will let them move away with this crime without proper response?"


    "No," Arthur firmly answered, "I''ve already killed many of them, and I won''t stop until I kill all of them," he then turned around as he added, "and this¡­ this isn''t for the academy, this is for me, for the clan, for all those who died so their death won''t be in vain."


    Ron glanced longly at Arthur while his face showed how much disturbed he was. since he knew about what happened to the clan and this was the face he held and never changed it.


    Arthur sighed. He tried many times to relieve his oldest friend''s pain without any success. "One day you''ll understand what I''m doing," he said while turning to a dragon next, "I''ll leave here under your care."


    Ron didn''t respond while watching him flying away from the place and leaving behind the clouds.


    "One day you''ll have to explain everything to me¡­ proclaimed young master," Ron clenched his fists hard before turning around and started to help others in ruling over everyone here.


    Arthur didn''t care much about Ron''s feelings as he had more stressing issues to handle right now.


    According to Deem''s diagrams, the current number of workers weren''t nearly close to half what was needed to finish the building process, or at least the foundation phase of it.


    The machines Agnus made required strong mages and warriors to operate them. Normal villagers couldn''t be of much help here. The newly joined villagers from this world had base strength higher than his own villagers.


    He left Amelia and others to debrief them for the entire day before they provided him with basic intel regarding this world.


    And this place where he appeared wasn''t only in the weakest academy ever in the world, but also lying in a small oval area in the center of four strong academies and ten big clans.


    And the bad news was that these clans and academies were all belonging to the dark side.


    "It''s amazing how the Locek academy and its dean found such a dark world to utilize in their test," he muttered to himself before heading towards the direction provided by these villagers.


    "According to them this place held a huge amount of villagers," he muttered while he already wrote instructions for the three girls using bird''s wings to warn them from the current status of this region of the world.


    "The best approach is to maintain calm until we build the big city, then I can start my open wars without any problems."


    He intended to use the same method in defending the city¡­ his pillars supporting the walls.


    He kept flying towards his direction for two days. During which he saw some small villages and towns scattered all around the place but he didn''t care to descend and annex them.


    "I''ll get them while retreating," he thought to himself while he finally spotted the large constellation of towns and villages which reminded him of a scene he saw before.


    "I hope these villagers weren''t lying," he muttered, "scan the area and tell me if there are any hostiles here."


    According to the intel, this world was considered a mid world between the low planes and higher ones. Mages and warriors came to this world if they had enough power to rise, but didn''t have backing.


    "It''s a fortune for me to know about the condition of rising up early," he muttered these words when he first heard about the status of this world.


    So basically the inhabitants of this world were all strong, not yet enough to endanger him but at least they had enough strength to crush his other forces.


    "I have to use this place and form my strong army then," he saw this as not a challenge but an opportunity. After all he was still bound to the lower realms he came from and using such strong armies from here would definitely help to secure his overall plan.

 Chapter 571: Meeting Rivak

    "Stay your hands away from here dirty dragonair."


    Just as Arthur went closer to the huge cluster of villages and towns he heard this angry shout from one side before the previous one hundred group of lions appeared once again.


    "C''mon," Arthur shook his head before adding, "Believe me I don''t want to kill you."


    "As if you can!" the leading lion said while the one hundred group was backed up by five hundred coming from different places and it seemed more were about to appear in the near future. "This is my home, my base, scram or else¡­"


    "Or what?" Arthur shouted as his patience was starting to get thin, "I''m here not to kill but to help everyone to thrive. I''m planning to build a mighty city, one that can rival the one your ancestors once had."


    "I don''t care about all these lies," the leading lion said in an aggressive tone, "I''ve flown around and heard and seen everything your armies are doing. Death and slavery¡­ just the same old days are looming in the horizon under your wings. Go away, there is nothing for you here."


    Arthur took a deep breath and glanced all around. The one hundred lions grew up to exceed one thousand for now and if he waited more he knew this number would increase by folds.


    "Don''t forget you are the one to ask for this," Arthur roared faintly before he muttered, "bring my boys out, let''s crush those weaklings and grab the rest."


    The next instant he was surrounded by his army of dragons. Their shape and vibe made the army in front of them be startled. "Last time my friend, I''m not here to kill you but kill my enemies."


    "I''m¡­" the lion glanced all around before shouting at Arthur, "you f*cking enemy¡­ charge!"


    "Sigh," Arthur sighed before adding, "go and f*ck him up. Try not to overkill as others seem to be driven by his lunatics.``


    Despite the obvious disparity in numbers, Arthur didn''t step in as he was pretty confident in his dragons'' strength against those hesitant lions.


    As Arthur thought, only the first hundred he met before were strong and managed to rival his army for a couple of minutes before that impulsive leader jumped directly towards him.


    "Tsk, asking to die on my hands?" he muttered before taking out his spear and the next instant the spear penetrated the leader''s body. "Not even taking one hit from me¡­ that''s not a good sign."


    Arthur thought the lions were strong, so he aimed not to kill all of them but he was surprised to see their weak bodies and low strength compared to his and his dragons.


    ''Ding! I think they are malnourished.''


    ''I agree too,'' the golden dragon said, ''I believe they lived only on barren lands, exiled from the good food and prosperous lands.''


    "I hope you two are right," Arthur had his eyes shine, "If this is true then I should take good care of them."


    He didn''t mean those lions fighting his army right now and were devastated by the easy kill of their mighty leader, but the villagers on the ground. "This might be a treasure trove, hehehe."


    ''I can help nourishing the bodies of monsters,'' Gege suddenly said, ''but not normal villagers and humans.''


    "Don''t worry, I can best nourish everyone in my own way."


    Arthur wasn''t the bit worried about this, as he already knew how to turn a piece of rock into a shining diamond.


    He didn''t wait for long before all the remaining lions announced their surrender to him. He glanced at the defying leader and the rest of the killed lions of the strongest hundred army. "Let''s use the dragomancer on them."


    ''Ding! There are the bodies of those coming from the outer worlds.''


    "Nah, these here are much important to me," he muttered before adding, "I need to kill the rebellion against me and make this rejection turn into a dying loyalty."


    Arthur didn''t stay there motionless as he went directly towards the bodies of the leading lion and others before turning them into his loyal dragons.


    What happened happened in front of everyone''s eyes. This made everyone unable to believe themselves and the moment when the dragon who was previously their leader knelt in front of Arthur, a shock wave erupted in everyone''s soul.


    "Lord," the thirty dragons said as they knelt in front of Arthur.


    "Go and stabilize this place. I want all to be my subject, loyal and eager to do his and her best to serve me."


    "At once, lord."


    They moved instantly towards different directions before they started to talk to the villagers and try to convince them to join Arthur. Arthur watched from the side while his new dragons tried to convince the villagers to follow him.


    In less than two hours, some legions already were formed from villagers with some military aspiration. They all went towards Arthur and knelt, asking to be his loyal servants.


    "Rise up," he simply said, "gather everyone and let''s move. This place isn''t suited for your powers."


    Arthur then turned into the sky as he shouted: "Follow me and I promise each one of you will have a chance to turn into a mighty lion, like those mighty ancestors of the old times. Follow me and you''ll have glory and pride, and above all your ancient hatred will be paid without doubt."


    He flew two rounds before leaving the stage for his small army of dragons and surrendered lions to start spreading the promise.


    "How can we trust someone resembling the ones who killed our ancients and destroyed our old empire?"


    Suddenly a youth moved from the crowd of people and spoke these strong words. Arthur glanced at him before calmly descending in front of him. "What''s your name?"


    "I''m Rivak," he said, "I''m the acting civilian leader of the combined lions clans."


    "You," Arthur didn''t speak to convince him as he turned towards one of the surrendered lions and pointed to him to come.

 Chapter 572: The Work At The City Is Going Smooth

    The lion descended and from the struggling expression over his face he realized how deeply respected Rivak was among the people here.


    "Eat this," Arthur took a large piece of meat and threw it as if it was nothing to the lion who held it with his paw before glancing again at Arthur in question.


    "This is a special meat my villagers created from the body of a gigantic Golam I killed. This Golam is something legendary in the higher realms and I managed to slain it with the help of my loyal armies."


    The words of Arthur were met by mocking glances even from the lion himself. "Wait¡­" Arthur stopped him before warning, "eat it small piece at a time, it holds a great amount of nutrients and I don''t want your body to explode."


    The lion glanced at Rivak who nodded. Arthur felt some annoyance from this motion but he didn''t show this upset and waited. "Soon you''ll all be mine," he muttered, promising himself that this fate would be the proper retaliation for such a mocking attitude.


    The lion first sniffed the piece of meat before sneering as if it was some kind of a silly joke. He ate a big bite of it for his eyes to bulge in the next instant and his body started to turn red.


    His scales started changing, like it was under great heat all of sudden. It turned from orange into red then pure white before it shone brightly like each scale contained a tiny version of a star.


    "Amazing," Arthur muttered while the change in the lion extended to his energy. The next instant a shock wave erupted all around him, knocking down everything in a radius of one mile except for Arthur and his dragons.


    "Interesting," Arthur said before laughing, "I never thought your clan had such potential buried underneath this weak form of your."


    The lion couldn''t answer him as the next moment a cocoon was formed around him and he slept. "And you are going to evolve, I like that."


    The eyes of Arthur shone brighter in blue light while he turned around to face Rivak who was just standing up from the ground. "Quite satisfied now?"


    Rivak pointed in shaking hands towards the meat as he asked in choked voice: "What the hell is wrong with this meat?"


    "It''s only¡­ meat," Arthur shrugged before laughing, "but it contains a huge amount of energy that your bodies lack. And now¡­ are you willing to follow me willingly or should I use force?"


    "Oh, mighty lord you are so generous and wise," the tone and attitude of Rivak suddenly changed before adding, "we all swear allegiance to you," he then turned around as he waved his hand to everyone who could see him before he knelt to Arthur announcing his loyalty.


    And then every single one in this entire region knelt in response. "Amazing," he muttered, "tell me what abilities do you have?"


    Rivak seemed hesitant for a moment before saying, "I¡­ have no special talent."


    "How come?" Arthur was surprised, "as far as I can see, you are well respected and very trusted by your people. You can''t have any ability at all."


    "I¡­ I failed in all the tests before."


    "Weird¡­" Arthur was curious more about Rivak, "c''mon, eat a small piece of this meat."


    "This¡­" Rivak had a sudden change in his face. He struggled as if he was trying to resist the deep urge in his soul that was craving for such a chance.


    "What?" Arthur sneered, "don''t tell me you are afraid of such small meat? Afraid of your own destiny?"


    The words of Arthur made this young man get full rounded eyes as his face turned to show his firm belief. He moved towards the meat and instead of eating a small piece of it, he ate it as a whole.


    "C''mon, don''t be ridiculous," Arthur shouted before hurrying towards him, "take him inside, and try to support him."


    ''With what?'' Gege asked.


    ''Ding! The purified Golam lake is a perfect place to control his evolution.''


    "Alright take him there."


    Arthur didn''t object on that and what just happened here didn''t escape the watchful eyes of curious villagers. The instant reaction of Arthur made them all feel some warmth deep inside their souls.


    At least he wasn''t that cold hearted dragonair or dark as they feared.


    "Alright," Arthur stood straight before shouting, "let''s move, we have a long way to reach your new home."


    Arthur left the mission of arranging the migration of all this number to his dragons and now much excited and very loyal lions.


    The march was slow, and during this he met with many villages and towns and he managed to subdue them without any fight.


    Who was stupid enough to stand against such force? Even the look of Arthur in his dragonair form leading this endless march of villagers made anyone hurry to surrender and announce their loyalty.


    He took four days to return again to the place of his city construction. This time he found more people there as the three girls managed to send many villagers to here.


    He wasn''t doubting the fact they used pure strength to achieve this goal but he wasn''t disapproving of this. After all if people weren''t tempted to join by honey, a stick should be used to convince them.


    "This is getting more interesting," Arthur laughed the moment he flew above the grand space of his city between the three mountains.


    "Agnus¡­ he did a marvelous job as usual."


    Agnus didn''t only make drilling machines to excavate mountains, he also made many to cut deep into the earth. This made the task of digging the land to lay the essential Ley Lines diagram much easier. "They managed to overcome this much in these mere days¡­ amazing!"


    Arthur was pretty much satisfied with this and he was curious about what the end result of his city would be.


    "I bet you are restless now, hehehe," he laughed while moving his gaze towards four different directions. "It''s time to make preparations for the big war to defend this city."


    He wasn''t delusional to think his city would be built without any great war. His enemies wouldn''t stand still watching him overcoming the hurdle they put him in and let him establish his city the way he wanted.


    "No matter what, I''ll make sure when the time comes they will be much amazed by the numbers and the power of my armies. I promise no matter who is coming at me, I will crush you all."

 Chapter 573: New Development

    Arthur kept himself busy roaming around and bringing all the population he could reach. The place of his landing was inside a very poor place but despite that he managed to gather one million from here.


    "That''s getting somewhat in shape," he took a wide tour over his city as he marveled the construction going on everywhere. The barren lands turned into mere seven days into such a majestic city.


    And what he cared about was the defenses, and they were neatly built as the first thing to be done in his city.


    "Alright, I think I can start linking my walls to my pillars."


    ''You''ll need a strong source of energy to do that,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! The last time you managed to pull that feat only because of that Golam. Other than this, the walls might not have been integrated with the pillars.''


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t doubt my enemies will do everything to crush me this time," he muttered before he cracked a smile over his face, "and I totally depend on that to make my city more powerful and much secured."


    ''You know sometimes you make me wonder if you are sane or not,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''but one thing is for sure, you carry the stubborn crazy genes of dragonairs in your blood.''


    "Humph."


    Since seeing the moment of creating the black dragonairs and he started to have other thoughts about being a dragonair. He only felt lucky that he managed to break free from the shackles of old times dragonairs, but he still held doubts towards the entire dragonair race.


    "Do you have a minute?" suddenly Rivak appeared in front of him. The old Rivak was gone and now this young man became a talking legend in Arthur''s new city.


    The one who didn''t have any talent before cracked open a myriad of talents. First his fighting abilities soared when he managed to chance into a gigantic lion, with a body rivaling that of the Golam Arthur once killed.


    Arthur knew there was more space to grow for this little man, and he didn''t hesitate in nourishing him with everything he got. He also used a slave contract to ensure he wouldn''t turn against him, as he did so with most of the warriors he gained from this world.


    The second trait this young man had was a vision one. He could now dream of things before it happened and all of his predictions were correct and on the spot.


    The third and foremost important to Arthur was his planning mind. This young man developed an exceptional planning ability and great mind in devising plans and planning tactics, both for war and for peace.


    "Sure," Arthur smiled as he warmly welcomed the lion and landed with him towards the ground. "What''s bothering you? Have you gotten a vision?"


    "My lord is always right."


    "Is it a good one?" Arthur asked despite already getting the answer from the stern look over Rivak''s face.


    "It''s¡­ not that good."


    "Tell me then."


    "I saw¡­ great armies marching at us in great speed and momentum. I saw fractions of bitter fight while our entire city would rest in flames. I saw¡­ defeat."


    Arthur nodded with grave face while asking: "Any info about that invading army?"


    "It''s four," he corrected, "four coming from the four big dark academies on our sides."


    "That''s expected," Arthur said before asking, "and about their forces?"


    "I saw millions running towards here. Many great forces are gathered and in my opinion our city can''t hold back such offense."


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded before glancing all around as he asked, "have you seen any giant monsters?"


    "By giants you mean like mine?" he bitterly smiled before shaking off his head, "there were at least a hundred of them, plus many legions coming from higher planes," he paused before adding, "I saw my own falling, I even saw yours."


    "Interesting," Arthur wasn''t a bit scared by this vision, "do you have a time frame for that?"


    "Five days from now they will arrive."


    "That''s good time," Arthur nodded before turning around and then turning again into a dragon.


    "Do you want me to devise an escape plan?"


    "No, I want you to devise a fight plan."


    "F¡­ but that''s impossible."


    Arthur was already midair when he turned around as he sneered, "you don''t know how much I love to break that impossible. I''ll go and reduce our enemies by one less army."


    "But¡­"


    "You just make sure all the defenses are completed and preparations for war are properly done. Also make Deem and Gor build more towers and try to make Agnus craft something good for killing."


    Rivak watched the shadow of Arthur flying far from his sight before sighing.


    "Are we going to war?" Tina excitedly asked.


    "Are they strong?" the queen asked in no less excitement than hers.


    "I believe it''s not a good fight for us," Sara sighed as she noticed the look over Arthur''s face.


    "We are going to do something crazy," Arthur laughed before adding, "let''s pick up speed. Our target is supposed to be only two days on flying, but I need to reach there one day less."


    "Who are we going to fight?" Tina asked with much anticipation.


    "The Rorad academy," Arthur sneered before adding, "we are going to smash them into shreds."


    ''I still think this is a bad plan,'' Gege said after constant flight for a day.


    ''C''mon, we are going to have the fun of our lives here,'' Arthur laughed before adding, ''system, show me the info about the quest for upgrading my dragomancer ability once again.''


    ''Ding! The dragonair is mighty and you have a very special ability that can be upgraded. The dragomancer ability is in the form of evolving, and you need to supplement energy for it to grow.


    Quest condition: kill at least one million strong men either by yourself or by using your armies under your command. Each killed soul will be absorbed, refined, and help in upgrading the dragomancer ability. Killing more will make your ability grow more.''

 Chapter 574: Attacking The Rorad Academy

    ''That''s such a perfect quest,'' Arthur inwardly laughed before setting up his gaze towards the front, "We are almost there."


    The three girls spoke a lot about this plan of his as they saw it as lame. "Being lame isn''t bad, right?" he kept repeating this answer for endless times now and they never got satisfied by this.


    "You hide something," Sara directly said and her words made him laugh, "I don''t care about your plans, what I do care about is for you to not cause our deaths."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur laughed, "I''m not that suicidal."


    "We''ll see," Sara gave him a suspicious glance while he inwardly laughed on her. He was indeed having another plan in mind, one that would make his enemies unable to fight him properly.


    What he told them was that they would evade the main army heading towards his city and aim for the academy base. This way he would be able to conquer the main base and turn those arrogant bastards into nameless fighters.


    They didn''t understand the benefits behind this but he had ulterior motives here. "Let''s see how you can handle me," he inwardly sneered while he finally reached the outer borders of the academy.


    According to Rivak the four armies would each march for a space not too far from his city before they all hit the city hard.


    And Arthur managed to bypass them as he already had these four locations from his mighty foresighter.


    "The academy walls are there," Tina suddenly shouted, "should we say hello?"


    "Sure," Arthur laughed before taking out his bow and sending a couple of arrows instantly towards the academy. "I just did."


    Tina glared at him angrily before she harrumphed and moved faster towards the front. "Always taking all the good stuff for yourself¡­ that''s not fair!"


    "Wait for me," the queen hurried after her while the arrows of Arthur just landed and exploded behind the walls.


    The academy stretched till the horizon even from their high altitude. It had great walls and many towers, but it seemed their defenses were slacking for a bit.


    "They weren''t expecting us," Arthur sneered.


    "No one would be as crazy as you are," Sara mumbled while Arthur laughed at her comment. "C''mon, let''s get ourselves inside the academy before they wake up and activate the shields."


    "Tsk, not going to tell me your real plan?"


    "In time," Arthur smirked, "everything will be known in time."


    "Humph."


    They both hurriedly landed on the ground of the academy just behind the walls.


    "These two¡­ they are really on fire," Arthur laughed and his good mood made Sara more suspicious.


    "You seem like going to a garden walk not to war in the base of your deadliest enemies."


    "C''mon, the main army is way far from here and as you can see those left behind are lazy and not even efficient. If this happened in my city then the defensive shields would have been risen long before the arrows hit the ground."


    "Still you can''t be this carefree without good reason."


    He only laughed and then flapped his wings to fly a few meters above the ground. "C''mon, let''s have some fun before these two maniacs would take everything for themselves."


    "Tsk."


    He went directly towards the center part of the academy. He knew this was considered the outer academy, and the real deal would begin when stepping inside the central zone.


    "Stop right there."


    "Intruders."


    "Kill them all."


    Suddenly many shouts started to appear from everywhere, but that didn''t even stop Arthur in his tracks. He kept flying in his superb speed towards the front and Sara was just left behind in the dust.


    "Damn, I never thought you were hiding your true speed all this time," she mumbled while she watched him disappear into the distance. "Sigh, I should stick with these two then, hopefully they won''t pump into deadly foes."


    She had to change her mind as she initially planned to stalk Arthur until she found out his true plan.


    Arthur was racing against time here as shouts just kept increasing. "This academy is much bigger than the Dorgazire one," he muttered as he took roughly an hour of his top speed flying before finally reaching the inner part of the academy.


    "Managed to raise your shields now? Not bad," he laughed before taking the pillar he once made at the competition and then patted slowly at it. "My new friend, let''s cause some ruckus here."


    ''Just use arrows to activate it,'' the golden dragon said, ''I believe this one will be enough to crash that shield.''


    "I know," Arthur simply threw it like he was throwing a spear then he took out his bow again and started raining the pillar with arrows.


    During his stay back at the city he only did two things besides amassing population; cooking meat and crafting arrows.


    ''It will need at least five hundred arrows,'' Gege warned.


    "I can release that in less than five minutes."


    He wasn''t exaggerating as he was now using three dozens of arrows in each hit. The pillar was near him and he was only needed to aim and let the string loose before the arrows hit the pillar.


    Each hit towards the pillar kept it shimmering more while some deep markings started to appear on its top. With more arrows hitting it, a miniature image of the Golam appeared on top of the pillar and when Arthur crossed the five hundred arrows this image started to gain life.


    "Roar!"


    The miniature Golam roared at Arthur making him pause. "It seems quite carrying some hatred towards me," he sneered while the Golam lost all the resistance while the pillar finally smashed over the shield.


    "Crack!"


    The shield cracked open like it was made of egg shells.


    And the damage didn''t end up here, as the image went through and exploded massively inside the shield, causing enough devastation not lesser than what his arrows were used to do.

 Chapter 575: The Main Army Arrives

    "Amazing, I like this little one," he laughed while taking the pillar away. His plan didn''t depend over the pillar to cause a difference, he only used it to crack a hole inside this tight shield and create more chaos.


    "I hope this will be enough," Arthur muttered while entering inside the inner zone of the academy. The area he breached was now filled with fire, explosions, and death.


    Many grand buildings were now turned into a pile or rubbles. He walked alone for quite some time before he finally spotted the first response from the academy.


    "Another shield?" he was surprised to see another shield in front of him.


    ''This means they want to stall for time,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! There is no one outside this shield. I suppose everyone is inside that bubble and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.''


    ''Let''s crack it then,'' Gege laughed.


    "No," Arthur shook his head while turning around to leave, "they aren''t the target."


    ''One way or another it''s all about them,'' Gege stubbornly said.


    "But not now, the time isn''t right."


    Arthur returned to the inner academy zone again before he found nothing worth destroying or killing before returning to the outer zone again.


    There he found a huge battle going on between the three girls and a huge number of disciples and masters left behind by the army and the higher ups of the academy.


    In front of him his three girls were quite pressured by the enemies. "It''s time for me to wrap things here," he muttered before adding, "summon the dragons."


    The next instant over five hundred dragons appeared around him. He didn''t stop using his dragomancer ability during the past days, and his small dragon army just got a slight increase in number and massive increase in strength.


    He used the corpses of those coming from higher realms to form his new dragons. He still had thousands of them inside his garden and he planned to turn them all into dragons as soon as possible.


    "Attack," he simply gave the order before he flew directly towards a nearby flying disciples and masters where he landed upon their heads with his superb speed and rained them with his fire breaths.


    "Sizzle."


    "Sizzle."


    "Sizzle."


    No one managed to take a hit and lived to even scream. He kept firing his breaths everywhere, causing chaos and spreading death among the dense lines of his enemies.


    From time to time he would receive some hits where he felt only tingling from them. His scales retaliated and plunged at his enemies to kill them all in an instant.


    Simply he was like a moveable death scythe, claiming lives all the time without even getting much wounds.


    "They are stubborn," Sara muttered in discontent while releasing her wind attacks towards a group of disciples. "Are they waiting for someone?"


    "Probably the army they sent to attack my city."


    "Impressive," she turned to him before adding, "I mean your calmness towards everything happening like they are moving the way you wanted."


    He only smiled before hitting another group with his fire and killing them. "Keep killing them, the more we killed the better."


    "For making those incoming restless and agitated?" she said in a meaningful tone.


    "Perhaps," he only winked to her before flapping his wings and disappearing somewhere else where he landed over another group of enemies.


    He kept moving everywhere using his speed while no one managed to stop his fires or scales. He didn''t even need to take out his bow or use his spear and sword.


    "They are so much weaker than I imagined," Arthur sighed while moving his gaze towards the safe and sound inner zone of the academy. "I should go there and cause some ruckus then."


    ''I told you, they are the ones you need to kill first,'' Gege harrumphed while saying in a high tone.


    "Tsk, but my aim isn''t them."


    ''Your goal is to kill all,'' she simply replied and he just shrugged before heading towards the central academy, leaving this easy fight to his girls and dragons.


    His dragons were more than enough to deal with these enemies. His gigantic dragons caused more damage than any of these three girls, and he had at least two hundred of them.


    "Let''s see where you will hide next," Arthur smirked while releasing the final wave of arrows towards the pillar. The next moment the shield cracked open and he jumped inside.


    "Wow, I didn''t think you would be preparing such a party for me," he laughed the moment he entered as he was met with thousands of monsters of the same shape waiting for him alongside many masters and seemingly special disciples. "Kneel and declare loyalty to me and your lives will be saved," he shouted while the next instant his enemies moved, totally ignoring his offer.


    "Indeed foolish," he simply sighed before the next instant he flew up high and went above those monsters.


    He selected this academy first to hit as they had one simple and fatal weakness¡­ they couldn''t fly high. These monsters were like hippos, giant bodies and short wings that couldn''t withstand flying these bodies for high altitude.


    And so Arthur needed only to stay high above them and rain them with his fire breaths while they could only throw long attacks which mostly weren''t effective against him.


    His speed was unique and he totally depended on that to evade and attack. During the next ten hours of fighting here, he only had one deep wound and dozens of superficial ones.


    As for his enemies, most were already killed and the few remaining were those who developed thick skin to protect them enough from his fire.


    "I like your defenses, why not call it a day and stop the fight?"


    "Never," the one who seemed the leader of this group shouted with much hatred.


    "Sigh, don''t be stupid. I killed most of you and can kill you in the next hour. Just surrender and live, fight with me and show the world your true worth," Arthur tried to crack their hatred and stubbornness while adding, "is your life worth this little?"


    "Don''t listen to him," another master shouted, "our dean and others are just a few minutes away."


    "Really?"


    This time Arthur''s happiness was much bigger than the time he dominated this academy. "I should go and welcome them then," he flapped his wings to rise higher in the sky before adding, "if I were you I would stay here and observe the fight. Joining me while you still holding your lives isn''t a bad thought."


    He then left towards the distance where he spotted a group of faint brown monsters coming fast towards him. "They seem quite agitated," he laughed as he went towards the devastated walls and towers of the academy.


    "I swear to turn your beloved city and academy into a much worse state."


    As he just drew nearer, a loud shout came with deep hatred and much anger from a giant hippo running fast despite his body at the lead of this gigantic group.


    Arthur only sneered as he knew this must be the dean. The group coming at him wasn''t a joke. At least a hundred thousand strong mage and monster were heading towards here, but Arthur didn''t care about them.


    "Where are my beloved enemies?" he muttered while moving his gaze between the ranks of the angry monsters until his eyes shone with bright blue light. "Here you are, you got me scared here for a second y''know."


    He laughed wholeheartedly while watching a group of thousand monsters in the middle of the sea of enemies. These monsters were special, as their bodies were at least five folds of the body of the dean himself and their skin was covered with a thick layer of scales that made him realize how hard it was to cause a wound there.


    "Are they ready?" he softly muttered.


    ''They are,'' Gege simply answered.


    "Good," Arthur smirked before adding in a vicious tone, "Bring in the cavalry, let this fight end fast so we can head towards another academy."

 Chapter 576: The Second Enemy Is Identified

    Just as he stood up in the air, the legions of monsters and masters arrived first at the walls at the academy.


    The walls had big holes now and many parts collapsed as collateral from the brutal fight ongoing inside.


    "I won''t let you die an easy death," the dean promised the moment his eyes laid down on the damage extending everywhere inside the academy.


    "But we will kill you swiftly."


    The next moment Doaf appeared alongside his men. He wasn''t alone as Gege brought in the other three legions as well.


    "This¡­" the faces of the other legions changed when they spotted the large number heading towards them. "Can''t you be more merciful to us?" Amera softly whispered while the new comer giant stood silent for a moment with a disturbed look over his face.


    "We are obliged only to help against them," he said while pointing towards the group of mages coming from higher planes.


    "Feel free to do whatever you wish," Arthur didn''t directly answer his question and rather gave such a vague answer.


    "Alright it''s time for my boys to stretch a little," Doaf smirked before shouting, "all forward, kill anything in your way."


    "Attack," the crow shouted as he moved towards a direction far from the masters on the ground.


    "Don''t let them steal all the fun boys," Amera laughed before giving the giant of the vampire forces who simply sneered before moving forward as well.


    "At least I knew who is the bad weed here," Arthur muttered to himself as the second hostile force against him was clearly the vampires.


    He didn''t hurry in attacking as he watched the four small armies engage with the gigantic army. Numbers were a major factor in wars, but not on the expense of individual strengths.


    The gigantic army lacked massive elites, and no one could even stand against the incoming tsunami of attacks from the three groups who landed over their heads.


    As for the fourth group, Arthur made his full attention over them. "I''m afraid they might backstab me at any moment," he muttered as this was one of the reasons for his stay back there.


    Or the main reason to be more specific.


    He waited, watched the fight with cold blood while screams of agony and pain before dying prevailed everywhere. The fight continued to rage wildly for hours, but he noticed the vampire group was slacking.


    "They are waiting for me then," he sneered before taking out two pillars; the one he made and the one he received from his master from before. "Then I shouldn''t let them wait for long."


    The next instant he flapped his wings a couple of times to get closer to the main battlefield before throwing off the two pillars. "Let''s have some fun," he laughed as he timed the two pillars to be activated at the same time.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Once the last needed arrows fell on the two pillars they both were activated. The miniature Golam image appeared again while the other pillar created a shock wave that swept clean everything around.


    "Damn," Arthur cursed as he was hit by the shockwave and his body felt slightly uncomfortable, "it''s quite berserk this time."


    ''Ding! The pillar resonated with something buried deeply in the heart of this world,'' his system provided him with such a vague answer that made him only speculate about the nature of such a thing.


    Yet before he could have enough time to think, the two pillars kept killing those coming from higher realms without mercy. The vampires seemed quite agitated by this and the giant leader of them turned his gaze towards Arthur before spreading his wings off and went directly to him.


    "Oh, he is quite restless," Arthur didn''t take this any lightly as he added, "bring Doaf here."


    ''Ding! I informed him already.''


    Arthur stood calmly on the surface while the giant vampire reached him. "What is that pillar?" he asked.


    "Which one?" Arthur tried to buy himself quite precious seconds here.


    "That one," the giant vampire turned and pointed towards the pillar he received from George.


    "He is from my godfather," Arthur said, "it''s a gift, what? Is it forbidden to get gifts from my godfather?"


    The look over the giant vampire''s face changed slightly before a long spear made entirely out of bones appeared in one of his claws. "Be polite kid, I''m not your servant."


    "I didn''t say anything wrong to you," Arthur didn''t show weakness while inwardly counting the seconds before Doaf''s arrival.


    ''Ding! Stall for more time.''


    "What do you have with that pillar anyway? Do you like it? do you want it?"


    The vampire stood silent for a few seconds before sneering, "If I wanted it I could simply go there and grab it."


    "Be my guest."


    "But first¡­" the vampire paused and Arthur had every single muscle in his body clenched, "you need to be eliminated first."


    "Keep your filthy hands off my young master!"


    The next instant and just as the vampire vanished from the sight of Arthur, Doaf shouted this from just tens of meters behind. He was slightly delayed and Arthur had to take this hit so Doaf could help him.


    "No option then but to use it," Arthur smiled before suddenly breaking up in laughter.


    The next moment the vampire appeared just above him, with his spear a few inches away from his head. The vampire was hit with the sound attack of his laugh and he couldn''t help but pause and grit his teeth in discomfort.


    And the next instant Arthur flapped his wings using this miraculously created window to escape the on doorsteps death jaws.


    "Traitor!"


    Amera was the first to reach the vampire, even faster than Doaf himself. She hit him with her spear before Doaf joined and the crow appeared later and the three started a brutal war against the vampire.


    "Retreat," Doaf hurriedly shouted.


    "Never," Arthur wiped a faint blood line that strangely appeared from his mouth. Despite escaping death at the last second, the spear shockwave managed to create some damage in his body.

 Chapter 577: Summoning A Majestic Dragon

    His answer was followed by another ruthless action. He turned around, took out his bow again and started hammering the two pillars with arrows.


    "Stop there you dirty dragonair!" the vampire shouted in a threatening tone as he realized what Arthur intended to do.


    But the next instant he was hit strongly by the crow who didn''t show any mercy to the giant vampire.


    And the other two just jumped in and started hitting the vampire, cornering him and preventing him from taking any action towards Arthur.


    As for his attack, the three of them noticed this attack from before but never thought it was so deadly. Or else why that vampire was so restless by seeing Arthur using it again.


    "Hahaha, I will never stop and I will never show your men any mercy," Arthur viciously laughed as he kept firing his arrows. This time he activated the pillar from his godfather first as the vampire seemed quite unsettled towards it.


    And when he started activating the other pillar of his, the shockwave hit again and this time it was much stronger than before. "Damn," Arthur had to withstand another hit while his body suffered more damage, "I never thought the second activation would be this mighty."


    Just as he stabilized himself and before sending off anymore arrows he watched almost half of the vampire legion get burnt down and the other half sustained severe injuries.


    "Hahaha, that''s why you were afraid of it," Arthur laughed before focusing his arrows again on the activated pillar, "let''s have another round of it then, shall we?"


    "Damn you, I''ll kill you myself and no one will ever stop me!"


    The next instant the vampire went suddenly berserk and managed to push the three foes behind before moving so fast towards Arthur.


    "As if I will let you stop me," Arthur was much prepared for this as he moved towards the pillar while launching the last arrows towards it.


    The next thing he did was to laugh again and this time the vampire didn''t pause like he did before. "Trying to resist my laughs, interesting, hahaha."


    Arthur didn''t stop his laughs while moving with his fastest speed towards the pillar.


    "Die you cursed traitor," yet the vampire appeared suddenly in front of him blocking his path towards the pillar.


    "Rumble!"


    Luckily the pillar got activated and the shockwave hit everyone around. The vampire got hit massively by the shockwave and he couldn''t help himself but roar out of pain.


    But he wasn''t dead¡­ not yet.


    "Damn you," he cursed before holding tighter to his spear as he tried to overcome the feeling of pain. "If it meant my death, I won''t hesitate to take you down with me," he threatened as he tried to move again towards Arthur with a rattled up body in wounds.


    "As if we will let you do that," Amera was again the first to arrive at him and she just hit him hard, stopping him in track.


    "Move away," he shouted yet he was met instantly by the combined attacks of the crow and Doaf.


    And this time he was truly cornered.


    "Hahaha, I promise to kill everyone before the two eyes of yours," Arthur was crazy at this moment as he ditched away everything regarding his safety and only kept firing up his arrows like a loose cannon.


    "Move away now!!" the vampire bitterly shouted but he was already in a helpless situation. Those three weren''t any less powerful than him and he was already heavily wounded plus the continuous laughs coming from Arthur that kept haunting his sanity and making him dizzy.


    "Die you traitor," Doaf was very mad at this moment as he kept pushing the vampire down towards the ground while hacking his body with his sword.


    Arthur didn''t stop until he activated the pillar for the third time and this time a mighty explosion occurred, sweeping everything in its path and ruthlessly hitting everyone, including himself.


    He landed on the ground creating a deep crater, but he never regretted doing that. "I bet they''re all dead," he laughed while coughing up blood and standing weakly from the pit in the ground.


    "Damn."


    The scene that met him made him slightly helpless. "I never thought this would be such devastation from it," he muttered while glancing over the entire battlefield where almost one fourth of it was consumed in the explosion and the rest got knocked down under the effect of the violent shockwave.


    "Are you alright?"


    Doaf appeared the next moment while he wasn''t excluded from wounds as well. "I''m fine," Arthur simply stated before adding, "let''s push onward. Our victory is in reach."


    "Indeed," Doaf glanced all around before adding, "this is the wisest decision."


    Arthur didn''t follow him or the other two. Instead he went back towards that vampire and didn''t hesitate in turning him into a dragon.


    "Master."


    A very majestic dragon appeared in front of Arthur with two heads and three tails. He looked no less than the Golam he once fought in size, and the vibe he emitted made Arthur threatened.


    "Amazing," Arthur muttered while glancing over those spear shaped scales covering the body of the dragon in layers, "damn, now I feel like killing those three for more dragons like you," he laughed while turning towards the battlefield up ahead.


    "Go and kill everyone of my enemies."


    "Your words are laws my master," the dragon calmly answered before instantly vanishing from the sight of Arthur. "Damn, this is good," he laughed before turning his gaze towards the disarrayed enemy, "it''s time for me to fight."


    He went first to grab the two pillars as he stored them inside his garden. Then he went towards the frontlines and started fighting brutally using everything he had.


    The enemy lost their leaders, their trump card, and their hidden supporters. They were now like a gigantic beast without a head, or even a thorn.


    Their defeat was only a matter of time, and this battle stretched to the early hours of the next morning before the few survivors ran away for their lives while the lots surrendered to Arthur and his mighty army.

 Chapter 578: Two Armies Combined

    "What do you plan on doing to them?" the crow asked while glancing over the huge number of disciples who were numbered in tens of thousands.


    "I''ll take them under my wing," Arthur simply answered.


    "Not afraid of their betrayal later on?" Amera asked with much interest.


    "In the future the entire world will be ruled by me," Arthur simply stated what he saw as a mere truth, "they won''t find anyone to serve by their betrayal. Besides¡­" he paused as he glanced over the three teams of these forces, "I have you watching my back."


    "Tsk, he is already acting like those stingy dragonairs," Amera laughed while Arthur only smiled warmly to her as he said:


    "If you give me the chance you''ll know I''m not that stingy at all."


    "Humph, keep dreaming boy," Amera sneered before Doaf finally spoke:


    "This army seemed quite strong and prepared to do something."


    "Sigh, they were aiming to crush my city," Arthur sighed while shaking off his head, "so I decided to come and pay there''s a visit first."


    "Yeah, he is much like those dragonairs," the crow laughed before adding, "I''m waiting to see how you will do against those old folks up there."


    "I promise to keep you amused," Arthur laughed, "now go back and wait for the next fight."


    "You are going to attack another academy?" Doaf speechlessly asked.


    "There are four around here," Arthur simply said, "one down and I have time to crush two more."


    "And the last one?" Amera amusingly asked.


    "I''ll keep it to train my troops back at the city," Arthur evilly grinned and his answer made the three laugh wholeheartedly.


    After he took everyone inside, he turned towards his three girls who looked quite astonished in his ability to pull such a victory despite all the odds.


    "This plan of yours¡­ is impressive," Sara admitted while smiling faintly.


    "I got to fight to my heart''s content," Tina laughed before adding, "anymore fights?"


    "We won''t have anything but wars for the time being," Arthur laughed before turning around and headed towards a certain direction, "c''mon, the second academy is just half a day fly from here."


    "We are going against another academy?" the queen said in such an excited tone, "oh how much I love you now."


    Everyone laughed as they flew towards the direction Arthur memorized in his mind before setting off here. In his plans he wanted to devastate two academies and now he could topple more if he wanted.


    "If the second war is as easy as this one then we can hit the third academy before the war," he muttered while thinking deeply about his odds here.


    He wanted to decrease the number of hostiles reaching the walls of his city. The flight took roughly ten hours from them while he had to leave sooner and fly faster as he wanted to crush the third academy in time.


    Just as he arrived at the second academy he was met with more prepared walls and towers. They were filled with disciples and masters, flying monsters everywhere and the entire academy had its defensive shield activated.


    "They are quite prepared for me," he laughed before taking the pillar he once made and then he threw it towards the shield, "let''s say how you will do against my thing."


    He didn''t hesitate to activate the array using his arrows. The pillar did the usual and punched a hole inside the shield, damaging many towers and a great part of the wall.


    "Come forth my dragons," Arthur excitedly summoned his dragon legion and the next thing happened was a brutal war of few bullying many with the large disparity in strength.


    "Another shield?" just as he passed an hour inside he met another shield blocking his path. "Are they trying to delay me? Is their army coming soon?"


    This wasn''t even a bad news in the slightest for him, instead it was a good news. "This way I can shorten the time needed to conquer this place," he laughed while excitedly taking out his array and started to hit the pillar with his arrows once more.


    "Another shield? The main army is drawing near no doubt," he was astonished to see another shield just half an hour after crushing the second one.


    And then he met another shield, and another until in four hours he finally heard the shouts of war coming from far.


    "They finally arrived," he was much thrilled by this as he moved at once towards the walls, leaving the rest of the academy intact. "My war isn''t against you here," he muttered while feeling how much lucky those inside the shields were.


    As he drew near the walls he spotted a grand army drawing fast towards the academy. "Yeah, it''s them," he laughed while he moved his gaze to spot a larger number of higher realm fighters in this army.


    "Strange," he thought to himself, "this number seemed double the past number of outsiders. Did they have more reinforcements or they did something else?"


    He didn''t know what was going on but this didn''t stop him from summoning his three helpers.


    And at this moment the three girls were already inside the academy attacking everyone and having less fun as the shields stood erect between them and many of their prey.


    "Can we fight here instead?" the queen hurriedly flew towards him while shouting from far.


    "Hahaha, feel free to do whatever you like," he was in a good mood and he let the three girls join the current massacre.


    His army of dragons were unstoppable, and alongside him, the three girls, and his helpers no one managed to stop them at all.


    "It''s strange," he muttered, "this army looked more grandiose than the first one."


    ''I think this isn''t just one army,'' the golden dragon said, ''there are two types of monsters here.''


    "Do you mean they brought the other army as well?" Arthur was happier by this thought.


    ''Or they brought the three armies together to crush you here,'' the golden dragon said another possibility.


    "I doubt that," Arthur shook his head, "the third academy is just one day''s flight away from here but the fourth lies on the opposite side from this place. I doubt the forth academy would be so generous and come all this way to here to save others."


    ''I''m with master,'' Gege said, ''the fourth academy would ditch others and head directly towards the city.''


    "Good point indeed," Arthur smiled before adding, "that means my city is going to face the next challenge sooner than planned."


    ''Ding! Are you nervous?''


    "Me?" Arthur suddenly laughed before adding, "This isn''t bad. After all those new recruiters need some training to get stronger."


    ''Ding! And the losses will be high.''


    "This war," Arthur simply shrugged, "casualties happen in any war nonetheless."


    ''Good mindset,'' the golden dragon said, ''try to wrap things here fast then as there are those higher realm fighters in that army.''


    "Oops," Arthur muttered, "I forgot about them."


    He had a sudden worry over his city and mages there. If the opposite army was simply made of these weaklings then he wouldn''t concern himself much about it.


    But he totally forgot about those coming from higher realms. Those would be enough to crush a hundred of his city and forces without breaking a sweat.


    "Summon those new surrendered forces," Arthur suddenly said, "it''s time to face an army with another."

 Chapter 579: Winning The Battle

    "This is getting much better," Arthur stood high in the air while observing his armies moving towards the front one. "and much faster as well."


    ''Ding! But their strengths are slightly equal,'' the system warned.


    "Don''t worry my old friend," Arthur spread his wings and flew to the front, "I don''t plan to make them fight all by themselves."


    He took out his bow and started raining down arrows from the air on the ground. Despite the fact that his arrows lost much power in this realm, they still showed a good deal of damage against his enemies.


    And he just targeted the lines lying behind the frontlines of his forces. Like this he kept raining everywhere, not leaving a place without hitting it with his arrows.


    He spread damage and explosions to everyone, and that helped a lot in rapidly reducing the numbers of his enemies or shaking their tight formations.


    "Damn you," suddenly a loud and angry voice erupted all of sudden, "I won''t stop until I kill you."


    Arthur turned his head to spot a really hideous looking monster coming towards him. "Hmm, that reminds me of Olor''s monsters," he muttered before simply sneering. "Thinking I''m here all alone without protection? Pathetic!"


    "Hahaha, your guards are entangled with my men down there. You are all alone, no one is coming to help you."


    The monster laughed in a very funny way that made Arthur laugh as well. "Come, let me show you how silly you are."


    "Humph."


    "Bring my werewolf now."


    Arthur waited until the monster was almost upon him when he gave the order to Gege. He wasn''t that fool to come this deep in enemies'' ranks without a reassuring card.


    "Master," the next moment the werewolf appeared with a conflicted look over his face. "It seems Doaf and the others did a great job with you," Arthur nodded before adding, "well done. First go there and kill those annoying flies."


    Arthur casually pointed towards the incoming monster alongside his growing entourage of other monsters. There was another deformed monster kin joining the group, and their numbers just crossed a hundred.


    "In a minute," the werewolf suddenly disappeared and the next instant he appeared in the middle of the group.


    He howled and then the group was instantly hacked with his claws or got bitten by his strong jaws.


    He was like a real wolf let loose on sheep. Arthur watched the great disparity in strength between those hailing from higher realms and those from this realm once more.


    "Tsk, I need to finish the ascension requirements so I can join the fun up there," he muttered to himself while watching the wolf killing everyone without any resistance at all.


    Some tried to escape, and most tried to fight back but none managed to cause a real damage over his body. The fight didn''t take five minutes before it swiftly ended and the werewolf came again to stand politely beside Arthur with head bowed slightly down.


    "Impressive," Arthur said, "Doaf did a marvelous job in teaching you manners."


    The werewolf didn''t comment on this as he asked: "Do you want me to hit anyone else?"


    "No," Arthur shook his head before adding, "just follow me along. You are my first bodyguard."


    "First?" the werewolf muttered in doubt.


    "Sure, I plan to form an elite force from those hailing from higher realms to be my personal guards," Arthur said before excitedly adding, "I will create miracles alongside you all."


    "I''ll always be there to help you, master," the werewolf promised and Arthur then took out a large piece of cooked Golam''s meat and threw it to him. "this is your reward."


    "Such a fine piece of meat," the eyes of the werewolf changed the moment he spotted the meat as he didn''t hesitate in swallowing it in five big bites. "Thanks master, this is just one of the best meals I have ever had," the werewolf said in a mouthful of meat.


    "Serve me better and you''ll have more of such precious things."


    The werewolf smiled viciously while Arthur turned around and continued releasing his arrows once again.


    And the entire battlefield started to shake again from explosions coming from his arrows.


    The fight at first seemed unbalanced, but with the massive difference in force between his higher realm helpers and those from this realm, alongside the army he summoned and the arrows he kept releasing ¨C the fight started to be a crushing victory for him.


    It didn''t take long before some started to run, some started to surrender to him, while the rest were being massacred by the combined forces here.


    It was such an epic battle and if not for the large number of the enemies the fight should have ended long time ago.


    "This is really tiring," Arthur was panting while watching the remnant battles scattered everywhere, "but the gains are massive."


    His eyes shone brightly while glancing over the islands of mages scattered everywhere in the battlefield, doing nothing but kneeling on their knees and bowing their heads to him.


    Their numbers were high, exceeding a hundred thousand at least. "That makes me wonder how many initially came to attack here," he softly muttered before turning his gaze towards the remaining fights. "It should be over soon. No time to waste and rest then."


    He turned around and headed towards the scattered groups down there. He took out a piece of meat and ate it to replenish his consumed strength while the werewolf only followed him like his shadow.


    "Bring them in," he landed in front of the first group and softly muttered.


    Ding! I''ll move them in now,'' the system took the mission to grab every single one in this group before Arthur headed towards the scattered bodies all around and said, "Take them as well."


    ''Ding! Alright.''


    He then flew again and headed towards the next group. He kept jumping from one place to another, leisurely like a crowned king walking among his victorious army and defeated foes.

 Chapter 580: A Massive Attack On The City

    ''The werewolf followed him while secretly admiring his efforts. "I never thought someone from the low realms would be this diligent in getting stronger," he said while Arthur was halfway through collecting his loot.


    "I''m strong, but can I win wars with my own strength alone?" he said before turning around and flew again towards another group, "a real monarch should exert more effort than his subjects."


    The werewolf silently nodded as this was a mindset worth admiring. "If not you belong to the light side," he muttered and his casual remark made Arthur laugh.


    But he continued to do his task without saying anymore.


    "We are done here," Amera were the fastest again to reach him first, "are you planning to press for the third academy?" she asked.


    "No, this won''t be a wise move," Arthur smiled, "these lands are there and won''t fly, but my city is at a grave risk. I doubt the army galloping the earth right now towards it would be this easy to conquer."


    "Don''t worry," the crow reached second, "we got your back."


    "This should be my line," Doaf finally arrived while shaking off his head, "he is my young master."


    "And my friend," the crow stubbornly said.


    "And my ally," Amera added.


    "Only an ally? Not something else?"


    Amera sneered, "you need to cross many heavens to reach me boy, stop daydreaming will you?"


    Arthur laughed before ending this light talk, "we need to move now, go in and I''ll bring you once I reach my city."


    "Alright, take good care of yourself young master," Doaf said before Arthur took the three leaders and their legions inside.


    Despite all this fight, the losses of them were only less than fifty so far. "Good specimens for my dragomancer," yet Arthur was much excited about this as he took in all his dragons and turned thirty into dragons before storing the rest of those precious bodies inside his garden.


    "Time to head to the city," he was all alone in this battlefield, surrounded by nothing except ruins and destruction. He spread his wings and flew fast towards the direction of his city, not giving the academy left behind without any proper defenses or strong mages anymore without giving it a single glance.


    "I''ll come for you later," he softly muttered while flying alone with his fastest speed. The last time he had to slow down a bit to match the speed of the three girls, but now he was all alone.


    So he pressed forward with his highest speed while consuming meat and replenishing pills at a regular pace.


    "This¡­ looks quite bad."


    The distance from the academy he just devastated and his city would take at least a day from him to cover. Just as he crossed half of it he received a distress message from Amelia asking for immediate reinforcements.


    She described the situation there as being disastrous. "Damn, I should find a way to cover large distances in no time."


    ''Ding! There is such an ability but isn''t yet available for you,'' the system suddenly said, providing timely ideas as always.


    "Can you use it for me this time?" Arthur was already deeply worried over his city. Knowing there were higher realm fighters out there made him quite restless.


    ''Ding! I can use it for you this one time,'' the system said the great news, ''Ding! But you will lose the chance to unlock it in your next upgrade.''


    This was slightly bad for him. "How efficient this ability would be?" he first asked to know what he was sacrificing here.


    ''Ding! It can link you to a place you were before. So basically you can arrive in your city the next moment.''


    "Damn," Arthur cursed before shaking off his head in regret, "I can''t risk losing my city right now. Use it and hopefully I can upgrade fast this time."


    ''Ding! Alright, hang tight as this would feel quite uncomfortable for you.''


    "Prepare the others," Arthur had only the time to say this before he suddenly felt every organ in his body being twisted by a mighty force. "Damn, this was tough," he groaned the moment he landed, hitting the ground massively and creating a deep crater there.


    ''Ding! Sorry this is a rude ability as I forced its activation.''


    Arthur stood up from the ground and hurriedly took a couple of healing pills and five pieces of meat while watching everything around him. "Damn, they are unstoppable!"


    Everywhere around him was ushered in destruction and runes, a similar scene to what he left just behind at the two academies. "They are hitting the defensive shield, perfect."


    The place he landed at was just outside the walls, separated from the main battlefield by miles. He was literally in the middle of the enemy ranks, and everywhere around him he spotted oceans of enemies flooding towards his city in great momentum.


    And despite being surrounded by the army he landed in, he wasn''t worried over his safety. "Bring forth my cavalry," he only said those words before flapping his wings and soaring fast to the sky evading endless streams of attacks barely by mere seconds.


    And then the entire place was filled with his mixed army. They suddenly landed over their enemies like thunder and he didn''t hesitate to take out his sword and raise it high in the sky: "Kill them all! Don''t show them mercy!"


    His words just landed and a massive battle outbroke all of sudden. The werewolf moved himself without the need of Arthur to tell him anything while Arthur only glanced all around.


    "They killed a good part of my forces here," he spotted a great number of flying lions bodies scattered alongside mages and monsters of his own forces. "Good I selected the right choice here."


    He spotted up at front the leading force that led this army. They were formed of five thousand higher realm fighters with around one hundred thousand elites from this world.


    "It''s time to knock some senses in the lot of you," he used his sword to unleash some attacks before storing it and taking out the two pillars of his.

 Chapter 581: A Very Brilliant Trap

    He didn''t delay to throw them off towards the front with all his might before taking out his bow and started raining both with arrows.


    "Let''s see how you will fare against this," he sneered while watching the forefront forces stop attacking the shield of his city and turned around to face his sudden appearance.


    Just as they were about to get here, the two pillars suddenly were activated at the same time and a mighty attack erupted.


    "The first attack is a success," he muttered before viciously adding, "it''s now time for my second hit."


    He kept firing his arrows towards both pillars but many managed to survive the first attack and weren''t fools to stand again around the two pillars to receive the second hits.


    However Doaf and the other two led their forces to corner many of those scattered forces and let them take the second hit of both pillars.


    They roared in pain and agony while most lost their lives on the hand of the second brutal attack. "Third attack is coming," he shouted, "hit the two pillars towards the others."


    Amera didn''t hesitate to use her spear to hit the two pillars, sending one to the right and the other to the left. "This¡­" Arthur was speechless of her actions before sighing, "I can hit only one pillar at a time like this."


    He selected the pillar he received from his godfather. After all it was much stronger than his array and it only required one hundred arrows to be activated.


    "Rumble!"


    The third activation caused a massive explosive wave that took away roughly one tenth of the entire army around Arthur. He didn''t delay to keep activating the pillar once more.


    ''Ding! It seems the fourth one will be the hardest,'' the system warned.


    ''And it might cause the pillar to be depleted,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "Fine by me," Arthur simply said while firing his arrows towards the pillar without any pause. Just as the final arrow descended over the pillar, Arthur felt heaven and earth grew suddenly restless.


    "This isn''t looking good."


    He didn''t have time to complete his words before a massive light pillar descended from the sky and hit the ground massively in no time.


    The path of this pillar of light created a massive hole in the sky and turned the clouds into shreds. The moment it touched the earth, the ground vibrated violently before a massive shock wave erupted in the form of a gigantic ball of bronze and white light that kept growing and spreading everywhere until it engulfed Arthur in the middle.


    "Unguilty," Arthur faintly heard this soft murmur before he found himself tossed on the ground with a massive force until he hit the ground, again creating a deeper crater.


    "Damn," he coughed up blood before wiping two long lines of blood emerging from the corners of his mouth, "this happened and I wasn''t guilty, what if I was?"


    He turned around to see a horrifying scene. Everywhere people and monsters were either tossed to the ground like him or being crushed by a mighty hidden force and being turned into shreds instantly, dying without resistance and in no time.


    "This is¡­" he couldn''t describe what he was seeing but in the end he couldn''t help but laugh, "it''s great this is on my side, or else¡­"


    Everyone of his forces wasn''t crushed, only tossed violently to the ground if they were flying or being smashed to it if they were walking on earth. "But it only affected those coming from higher realms more," he noticed that the mages and monsters in his enemies weren''t smashed into nihility like those coming from the higher realms.


    They were just tossed and dealt slightly greater damage than himself and his own forces. "Attack," he didn''t hesitate to take more healing pills and meat before screaming this shout.


    Then he flew up again where he started to rain everywhere with his arrows.


    "Hit the city," suddenly amongst this chaos and slightly turning tables point, a loud shout came in from the heart of the enemy armies.


    "Damn," Arthur noticed that everyone totally ignored him and his team and went towards the city direction executing the order.


    ''That''s such a perfect counter,'' the golden dragon muttered in admiration, ''brilliant move.''


    "I know that already," Arthur was just restless as he turned around and headed directly towards the city, "Any brilliant ideas of your side?"


    ''Just defend the city and don''t withdraw any of your forces to defend it,'' the golden dragon said, ''this action was done to force you to withdraw everyone back inside the city and lose this golden opportunity in smashing more enemies.''


    Arthur simply nodded as he swallowed his bitter saliva along with the thoughts he had in mind. Just like the golden dragon said, he was about to call others to retreat and defend the city. "But the enemy numbers are just too much," he muttered while getting closer to the city.


    ''The shield is still up and the towers are still functioning,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''you have a lot of warriors inside. Just defend longer and buy more time until your main forces crush the heart of this army and turn them all loose.''


    ''Ding! Nice strategy.''


    ''I like such ideas.''


    "Sigh, it seems this won''t end smoothly just as I imagined," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh.


    As he drew closer to the city, he spotted the huge numbers of his armies stationed already over the walls and towers. "The towers are silent," he noticed this, "and the walls aren''t attacking back¡­ something seemed off here."


    Arthur''s hunch told him bad things happened in there. He didn''t wait to reach the city walls before taking out a bird''s wing and sent an urgent message to Amelia asking about updates of the attack.


    "We were hit by a strange monster that resembles the Golam monster," she simply wrote to him before adding, "we are inside a frozen piece of time, can''t get out to help but outsiders can get in to attack."


    He suddenly stopped moving towards his city while gritting his teeth. "Damn brilliant play indeed," he muttered while glancing over the city walls and towers before turning his gaze towards the inside.


    Everything there looked strangely fine without a single damage at all. "Can they pass the shields? Can you hold the city on your own for now?" he wrote back as it seemed the bird''s wings could find their way through such strange technique.


    "They can bypass the shield but can''t escape the fires of our forces stationed on the walls and the heavy attacks of the walls and towers," she sent back before finally writing, "go and don''t mind us. We can hold as much as you want. Go and smash those bastards and kill every single one of them without any mercy."


    He smiled before sending the final bird''s wing to her, "I promise I''ll do exactly that way."


    He then turned around as he was only less than a hundred meters from the shield of his city. "Great trap, luckily I acted in time and unveiled it." he then turned around and started to rain down arrows once more, "let''s see who is going to win first, me and my army here or your forces battering the sturdy rock I prepared for you inside my city¡­ fools."

 Chapter 582: A Very Intense Fight

    Arthur turned around and observed the army stretched in front of his eyes. "This one¡­ this academy¡­it looks a bit different," he muttered while feeling there was someone with a dirty smart mind in the ranks of his enemies.


    "But it''s the more I like it," he kept hammering everyone with his arrows non-stop while flying everywhere. The small army of his had already conquered a large area, turning this piece of land into their fort.


    "Send the word to Doaf and inform him about the current developments," Arthur said before adding, "tell him not to press forward as he had to strengthen his defenses there. This fight will be won not by offense but defense."


    ''Ding! But they are standing open in the air,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! If we have some workers to build some defenses it would have been awesome.''


    Arthur felt regret about taking out everyone from the garden. "Is there anyone left?" he hopelessly asked.


    ''There few,'' Gege said, ''but they aren''t that diverse in anything to be honest. I only selected those capable of helping in building and defending the city.''


    "Bring them out," Arthur moved instantly towards the location of his army, "any hand will be useful here."


    ''What do you want them to do?'' Gege asked.


    "Hmm¡­ let them build normal walls," he said after giving the matter some thought, "let them bring ores from inside out."


    ''If so then I''ll have to leave some inside to do this,'' Gege sighed, ''but don''t put much hope on them, mostly are women or elderly and children with little benefit.''


    "Any hand will count," Arthur was already fixed on using them. He moved towards the army of his while the army stopped his aggressive move all around, retreated and started to organize its lines. "He is acting fast, impressive indeed," he muttered.


    As he reached there, he landed on the ground in the center of his forces before ten thousand elders, women, and children appeared out of nowhere.


    "Sorry to bother you with this," Arthur said before pointing towards the distant city, "but everyone you know is already imprisoned inside the city and on the verge of death if we don''t hurriedly act."


    He tried to give them proper reasons to work harder for him. He knew he could easily order them to do what he wanted, but it would be better if they believed in his cause.


    And the next instant the look of doubt, fear, and lack of trust vanished before a determined look appeared on their faces. "Great, now you know what to do and I''ll be here to help."


    "Lord, you can go back to fight and leave things here for us," a very beautiful young lady said while turning to everyone around where they all nodded.


    "You need ore," Arthur said, "and proper protection."


    "They can protect us," the lady stressed before adding, "and the ores we have is enough to build walls for hours. Lord can go and fight during this time before coming to give more to us."


    Arthur took note of this girl which reminded him of someone he didn''t see for such a long time. "Where is Nara?" he asked while returning to the fight where he flew all over the area and started sending his deadly arrows once more.


    ''Ding! She is inside the city with the forces there,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! She is a good fighter to be honest.''


    "Indeed she is," Arthur simply nodded before noticing a group of monsters broke free from the fight with his forces and turned their arms towards him. "They have greedy eyes on me," he sneered, "bring my werewolf here."


    The next couple of minutes he kept flying around using his speed advantage to keep the distance constant with this group of monsters. Just as he kept the distance wide, another group rose suddenly from the ground to target him.


    "More enemies? Interesting," he didn''t delay taking out his pillar and then started to activate it with arrows. Just as he was midway doing that, the werewolf suddenly appeared beside him.


    "Master, you words," he respectfully said.


    "Go and kill those pathetic enemies," Arthur only motioned towards the two groups hunting him persistently without rest.


    "Right away," the werewolf turned to attack the two groups while Arthur paused the activation of the pillar to be only lacking the last arrow. "I should be more careful," he muttered while he took the second pillar out and started activating it.


    He also left this array lacking the last arrow to be activated while flying everywhere. Just as he feared, more enemies started to show up from around while the werewolf was still busy far away dealing with the first two groups.


    "This won''t end," Arthur sighed while watching around five different groups coming hot after him, "I should gather everyone then first before hitting them."


    He didn''t hurry to activate his two pillars as reactivating them would take more time plus the more enemies they hit the better.


    So he kept pushing forward depending on his superb speed to keep the distance wide as long as he could.


    However with the passage of time, the number of enemies grew to a number he couldn''t evade like this. "It''s time then," he hurriedly launched the last arrow to activate George''s pillar while keeping the second one for later.


    "Rumble!"


    The pillar was successfully activated. Taking such a hit from such a close distance wasn''t pleasant. "Damn, it''s getting fiercer," he stood out from the crater he created in the ground while watching the current devastation caused by his pillar.


    "But it did the job," he nodded in content while taking a couple of healing pills and some meat pieces before returning to fly again.


    His system retrieved the two pillars before he summoned them again. He started activating George''s pillar while more enemies started to regroup again and continued assaulting him.


    "They never learn," Arthur sighed while he was already cornered. "Let this shake some logic in their thick heads," he released the final arrow to activate George''s pillar before being sent again to the ground from the shockwave.

 Chapter 583: Another Severe Injury

    "I''m getting tired of this," the fifth time he did so he felt sour inside his body. The damage he received this time was stronger than before. The werewolf kept hitting enemies everywhere, but he alone wasn''t enough to crush all of them.


    ''I believe you should retreat,'' the golden dragon advised, ''your body is about to reach his limit and that pillar is just keeping getting fiercer with each activation. Give it time to rest as well and break the chain or else¡­''


    "I still can take two more hits of it," Arthur didn''t accept the advice as he kept flying and activating the pillar while his enemies returned to hunt him down once more.


    "Damn, they never learn," he took the seventh hit and this time his body had deep wounds everywhere, "sigh, this is my current limit it seems," he regretfully turned around and started to aim towards his army while taking as much healing pills and meat as possible.


    "You won''t be able to leave here alive," one of the monsters blocking his path roared but Arthur didn''t bother to answer in words.


    He simply threw the array he had and finally released the arrow to activate it. he still had George''s pillar ready to be activated by a single arrow missing but he preferred to use his array instead.


    The image of the Golam appeared once more and it roared violently before it turned around and exploded at everyone else. The shockwave wasn''t that brutal like George''s pillar and he didn''t receive much damage.


    But he felt like his soul was being tortured by this hit. "I need to rest," he muttered bitterly while flying again aiming towards his army group.


    "Send the word to Doaf," Arthur tiredly muttered while noticing more enemies were blocking his path, "let him arrange a rescue mission," he sighed while he held George pillar in hand as the last measure to be used if his life was in danger.


    "You will fall here," another monster roared from far front while blocking his path towards his army. Arthur didn''t answer and he only threw the pillar with what strength left in him while wishing he wouldn''t die of this shockwave.


    "Rumble!"


    This time the activation was so intense that made the entire sky change color to be in bronze. "Damn, this doesn''t look good," Arthur didn''t wait for the shockwave to reach him before taking many pills and consumed it at once.


    "Boom!"


    His body smashed towards the ground like a ropeless kite. He felt every single piece in his body to be smashed and broken, but he withstood everything as he took more pills to heal his body at once.


    Then he stood up, threw the array in hand as far as he could before trying to focus with tired eyes towards the array. "Let this work," he prayed before releasing the arrow towards the array and all he heard was another roar and rumble before another shockwave hit him.


    This time he felt he lost consciousness for a second, but when he opened his eyes he found himself inside his army, surrounded by Doaf, Amera, and the crow with disturbed look over their faces.


    And this look instantly changed to show up excitement. "You are fine, hahaha, you are such a badass young master," Doaf laughed wholeheartedly while the other two only heaved long sighs of relief.


    "What happened?" Arthur tried to move but an intense pain assaulted him, forcing him to return to the ground again and drop the idea for moving for now.


    "Lay down," Doaf hurried to say, "your body took severe injuries in the last hours."


    "Hours?" Arthur speechlessly muttered. "How long have I been unconscious?"


    "A day and half," Amera smiled while adding, "we thought you were going to¡­ anyway you are fine now."


    "Were you worried about me?" he jokingly said.


    "Stop it," she chuckled before adding, "who said anything about being worried about you? I was just with others, concerned about your safety and health that''s all."


    "Concern is also a form of affection."


    "Keep dreaming," she laughed while adding, "damn, even when on the death doorsteps you won''t stop joking around and daydreaming."


    "Everything starts with a dream," Arthur simply stated the mere fact before adding, "how is the battle going? How well are we faring?"


    "We are holding this area," the crow was the one to answer him, "thanks to your loyal and very devoted workers, our forces are now fighting inside fortified walls and towers."


    "That''s¡­ reassuring," Arthur heaved a relieving sigh before adding, "I hope we have better and far more workers, but our main forces are trapped inside that strange¡­ thing."


    "That''s indeed weird," Doaf said while adding after exchanging glances with the other two, "we discussed it and only few of those old monsters up there have such power to seal a space like this."


    "Old monsters?" Arthur muttered in doubt.


    "We also doubted this," Amera sighed, "but there is no other one out there who could do this trick but them."


    "Do you mean we are fighting an old dude?"


    "It''s not that," the crow shook his head, "most probably he created some kind of weapon to be used to activate his ability and sold it to these enemies."


    "That''s not reassuring," Arthur muttered, "but at least we aren''t fighting one of them."


    "That''s the best news we have for now," Doaf sighed, "our losses aren''t that much but as we can''t replenish the dead, we are in a worse situation."


    "We should force our way towards that city," Amera suggested.


    "Bad idea," Arthur shook his head, "if they wanted to lock us there then they have another hidden trap to be used on us next."


    "Then what should we do?" the crow asked, "like this we all will die."


    "Sigh," Arthur didn''t want to lean to such an option but he finally was able to move one arm. He was surprised to find himself in human form but he had zero energy to transform now.

 Chapter 584: The Underground Secret Room

    He only took a few pills and stuffed them one by one inside his mouth. "We can retreat," he suddenly said what others had in mind but didn''t dare to say it.


    "But¡­" Doaf paused.


    "The city¡­ your people¡­ this entire war¡­" Amera was speechless for a second there.


    "We aren''t ditching them," Arthur finally felt some strength inside his body as he kept eating pills and meat, "we are going to build our armies first and come here later."


    As everyone didn''t get his idea he started to further explain:


    "We have three unguarded academies waiting for us to reap their population and resources. We will go and target them first."


    The three exchanged worrying gazes before Amera stated what they were worrying about: "Won''t this put your city in danger?"


    "Nah, I doubt that," Arthur was confident, "the city is in another dimension now. If they went crazy and sent their entire forces in, first they would be crushed by my forces inside. Besides I totally believe they have undermined hands hidden yet to be revealed. If they went inside, they would be more like idiots who fell for their own traps."


    "It''s¡­ quite risky," Doaf said.


    "But I like it," the crow supported Arthur, "if we managed to build a grand army fast, we can come back here and attack them."


    "Let''s have one week of preparations then," Arthur stated the timeline, "after this we will come back for war."


    "Can you move?" Amera asked.


    "Still worried about me," he sneered before turning into a dragon the next instant.


    "Who said that? Humph," she turned her face upside down before adding, "let''s go, he is very well and capable of moving."


    She moved in angry steps while Doaf glanced at Arthur for a long moment. "I''m fine," Arthur flapped his wing before adding, "I''ll take all of you within my world now."


    He didn''t do much as Gege created many portals here while everyone just entered without further ado.


    "Don''t get yourself into more trouble," Doaf said before moving in the portal.


    "Not you," Arthur stopped his werewolf from entering there, "let''s go together."


    "As you wish, master."


    Arthur turned and used the few moments needed for the enemies around to cross the hastily built walls and flew into the clouds in no time.


    His body wasn''t yet fully recovered, but he couldn''t risk losing more time here. He went directly towards the closest academy to his city, the first academy he targeted.


    As he flew along the way he met some villages and towns scattered all over the regoing of the academy. He totally ignored them as he would first head towards the fat sheep¡­ the academy itself.


    "Take a group of surrendered mages from here out please," Arthur landed on the ruins of the empty academy while muttering this to Gege.


    In front of Arthur a group of ten mages appeared with a scared look over their faces.


    "Lord, we didn''t do anything wrong," they all hurried to speak with pleading voices while Arthur stood there speechless for a moment.


    "Ahem," he first cleared his throat before adding, "I brought you here to know more info about the academy."


    They exchanged silent glances for a moment before one of them spoke in utter confidence:


    "Lord can ask anything and I will make sure to provide the answers."


    Arthur weighed him, he was a middle aged man with a strong body and white silver hair. "Were you an elder here?"


    "I was once an outer disciple master," the man said, "my name is Sany."


    "Alright," Arthur nodded, "I want a detailed map about the area around. Every single clan, village, or town under Rorad academy control must be highlighted in it."


    The man looked hesitant for a moment before suddenly turning towards a certain direction. "If I''m not wrong, there was such a map already in the dean''s building."


    "That might be damaged by now," Arthur sighed, "can''t you draw it by memory?"


    "Would take much time to do that, besides," Sany smiled in confidence before adding, "this building can''t be destroyed easily. It''s hidden deep underground after all."


    "Impressive," Arthur was surprised to hear that before he motioned to Sany, "lead the way then."


    Sany led him and others towards the central area of the academy. The devastation there was pretty much severe than the other areas they passed by so far.


    "Are you sure it''s still intact?" Arthur asked in doubt.


    "Follow me lord," Sany moved towards a huge pile of rubble before adding, "the entrance should be just below this."


    Arthur didn''t speak as he just turned towards his werewolf who moved and used his superior strength to throw this pile far away with a simple punch of his claws.


    And such scenes made everyone''s scalp numb.


    "Is it still accessible?" Arthur asked while Sany returned to reality once more.


    He went to check the ground where a deep crater was there. Arthur knew this was caused by one of his arrows, or a couple of them.


    "It''s still working," Sany excitedly laughed as if he just brought victory to Arthur, "follow me my lord," he simply put his blood over a small piece of ore plate.


    The next instant the ore shone brightly in dark green color before it exposed an opening so deep in the ground. "You didn''t lie," Arthur helplessly said while he was descending the long spiral stairs around a single colossal pillar, "this room is indeed very deep."


    Arthur kept the werewolf by his side all the time, just in case someone tried something funny.


    "We are here," Sany panted while pointing in shaking hands towards the end of the stairs where a gigantic door stood there, "the secret room should be this one."


    "How do we open it?" Arthur asked as he observed this gate with admiration. It seemed quite sturdy with many inscriptions that he was pretty sure to be mainly offensive if activated by any intruders.


    "This¡­" Sany showed a struggling expression, "all I know is the dean is the only one who can enter here."


    "Let me try," the werewolf suddenly moved to the front, "retreat to a safe distance first," he paused as he turned and gave Arthur this advice.


    "Alright," Arthur ascended the stairs until the gigantic werewolf of his seemed like a tiny dot from his place alongside the gate.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Just as the werewolf stepped forward, the inscriptions got activated and many machinations started to work simultaneously.


    Endless attacks fell upon the body of the werewolf causing such loud explosions that were heard perfectly by Arthur and his group from this far.


    "Damn, that dean of yours is quite ruthless," Arthur muttered in worry, but when he spotted his werewolf standing there fine and without any injuries he felt relieved.


    "This room is supposed to be inherited from the first dean," Sany said, "it''s said the most precious treasures and darkest secrets of the academy are hidden there."


    "I''m not interested in any secrets," Arthur muttered, "but these treasures are something I might aspire to get."


    "You won''t be disappointed my lord, I can guarantee this to you."


    Arthur simply nodded before turning his gaze towards his werewolf who kept getting hammered by all kinds of techniques and attacks.


    "It''s a blessing to have a bodyguard like this," he inwardly sneered before adding, "keep my dragons ready, if anything happens just bring them forth."

 Chapter 585: Another Heavenly Garden Is Found

    Arthur stood patiently watching his werewolf battering the gate while taking all kinds of attacks. "This is a bit too much to be honest," he sighed when he saw all the attacks his werewolf endured so far.


    "It''s a blessing to have him though," he had to admit as the werewolf took a lot of damage off his shoulders. If Arthur was there, he was pretty much sure he wouldn''t manage to evade or endure all these attacks.


    "Cling!"


    Finally the gate got broken down and a sound of a rang occurred as if it was a bell. Arthur didn''t watch the gate but Sandy who seemed a bit restless and slightly overexcited.


    "C''mon," Sany said, "we need to go down there and explore things fast."


    "Why?" Arthur moved after him while asking in suspicion.


    "This room is very sacred, I believe some even said it was linked to the guardian clan of the academy."


    Arthur understood what he was pointing to. "They will send reinforcements?"


    "I suppose," Sandy said, "or these might end up as mere fairy talks."


    He laughed but Arthur didn''t believe in such a scenario. "Those from higher planes will arrive here," he muttered to himself before hurrying downward to reach the gate in no time, faster than Sany.


    "What is that?"


    The moment he reached there he found no room inside but an entire world. "Is this¡­ a pocket world?"


    ''Amazing,'' Gege suddenly said, ''it''s something similar to me!''


    ''What?'' Arthur couldn''t believe himself, ''is there a guardian to kill as well?''


    ''I¡­ can''t sense anything protecting or shielding this place,'' Gege said in an excited tone, ''Amazing, you can let me absorb it, please.''


    Arthur stopped while an evil smile appeared on his face. Just as he was about to think about some evil requirements, the system suddenly acted and brought forth his dragons.


    ''Ding! Watch out! That Sany is attacking you.''


    Arthur turned around to see Sany had already changed into a gigantic monster. He wasn''t anyway less than his werewolf in size or the vibe he emitted. "Who are you?" he calmly asked while watching this enemy in his true colors.


    He was a giant hippo with long wings and a group of horns in front of his head. He had scales covering every single inch for his body, and two long and curved fangs.


    "I have to thank you," Sany laughed in vicious way, "for me I can''t crack open this place as I was bound by some stupid ancient seal. But you cracked the gate open and now I can easily enter it¡­"


    He paused before a vicious expression appeared on his face, "but first let me properly thank you by sending you on your way¡­die!"


    The next moment Arthur felt the entire world around him shook as the rock started to change. They melted down like being exposed to high temperature and the melted fluid just gathered together to form different sizes of thorns.


    "You seem pretty confident," Arthur smirked as he simply snapped his fingers. ''What do you need to absorb it?'' Arthur said to Gege before adding, ''but you need to pay the corresponding price for that.''


    ''My body is already yours,'' Gege said in an excited tone, ''and also my soul. You can''t dream of anything better, right?'' she paused and when she noticed the expression of Arthur she hurriedly added, ''all I need is a drop of your blood containing my pearl''s energy.''


    ''Got it,'' Arthur then stimulated his pearl energy and his body shone brightly in golden color.


    "Trying to fight me?" Sany laughed in mockery, "you are too early to fight me kid. And your annoying guards from higher worlds are far from here. Before they could arrive here I''ll be inside the world and already ruling it. no one will ever be able to touch me inside. Hehehe, I''ll be god!"


    Arthur didn''t speak as he took out his sword and cut a deep wound in his palm. ''The blood is all yours.''


    ''Thanks,'' Gege said in an extremely happy manner, ''my lovely system, can you please help me and move this blood inside?''


    ''Ding! Alright, provided that Arthur agrees.''


    ''Granted.''


    Sany watched the blood moving from Arthur''s palm towards the garden. "What are you trying to pull? Sigh, like this I''ll have to kill you fast and not toy a little with you."


    Arthur didn''t speak as the werewolf stepped forward and shielded him. "You won''t touch him."


    "Scram you pathetic worm," suddenly Sany appeared just next to the werewolf where he took out a giant club and hit the werewolf hard with it. The werewolf took the hit and the next instant his body flew like a broken kite to hit the nearby rocky walls.


    "Your turn kid," Sany turned to Arthur but the next moment he found no one there. "Where are you little kids? Don''t tell me we are going to play hide and seek, hehehe."


    "I''m here," Arthur appeared just at the place where the gate was, inside the garden world. "Come if you dare," he provocated Sany and the latter never thought anything might happen as he moved fast towards Arthur.


    "Boom!"


    Yet the next instant Sany''s body hit an invisible wall and got entangled there. "Damn you, how could you fix the sealing wall so soon?" Sany was shocked and a look of fear appeared on his face, "please spare me, I can help you a lot. I¡­ I can be even your slave, loyal and helpful. I won''t break a single command from you, just let me go, please."


    Arthur didn''t know how this shield appeared but just as the werewolf was hit, Gege''s voice came to tell him to enter the garden and stand at its entrance.


    ''You did a marvelous job,'' he said before adding, ''can I enslave him?''


    ''I don''t recommend this,'' the golden dragon said, ''this treacherous guardian waited all these years to backstab the academy. Once a backstabber always is a backstabber; just kill him and be free from the worry and trouble he would bring forth.''


    ''Ding! I too agree on the golden dragon''s point of view.''


    ''And me too.''


    ''Sigh,'' Arthur shook his head before glancing at Sany, "Sorry man, I tried," he simply said that before the next instant the invisible shield turned solid and the fearful look on Sany''s face got intensified.


    "Please, I''ll be your slave, your loyal dog. I won''t betray you, please save me, ple¡­"


    His pleading shouts were cut in the middle by the shield which engulfed his gigantic body and the next instant the entire world got into deafening silence.

 Chapter 586: The New Heavenly Garden

    "Gulp."


    Suddenly this sound came from the depth of the garden and that startled Arthur. "What was that?" he hurriedly asked.


    ''Hahah, it was the belly of the garden,'' Gege said before adding, ''this little one here is a little savage. Hahaha, I wonder how I will end up after absorbing it.''


    "You didn''t fully absorb that original world from before," Arthur teased her, "you now have two huge meals to swallow."


    ''This one here is different,'' Gege laughed, ''it''s just a similar piece of me, a fragment from the original garden. I can absorb it in less than a day.''


    ''Original garden¡­ what is that?'' Arthur asked in curiosity.


    ''I and this garden here are just mere pieces of many. The original garden is something I know a little about, only know that it was shattered eons ago and we all know what it was left from it.''


    "Like the star map?" Arthur asked, "you also hailed from the time and place clans?"


    ''I believe so,'' Gege only said that much, ''Now you can leave and let me absorb this naughty one here. Damn¡­.''


    "What?" Gege''s scream made Arthur''s heart clench, "What''s wrong?"


    ''Nothing,'' Gege laughed, ''this glutinous one had an army of monsters eaten inside its belly without proper use,'' she laughed while adding in an excited tone, ''be ready to have more meat, higher and much more valuable than the Golam.''


    "That''s what I call a real treasure," Arthur was excited too, "are there any clans living inside? Any monsters I can use?"


    ''The garden is full with many humans and monsters,'' Gege said, ''but I can''t control them now until I absorb this one here.''


    "Alright," Arthur stepped forward while the werewolf just stood up from the ground with many wounds all over his body, "I''ll leave this place to you then."


    "To me?" The werewolf suddenly asked in a weird expression over his face.


    "Not you," Arthur laughed, "you''ll come with me but have these first."


    He took out a large pile of meat which made the eyes of the werewolf shine. "Thanks master, you are really kind hearted."


    "It''s just for celebration."


    "Of what?" the werewolf asked in a stuffed mouth.


    "Never mind," Arthur gave the garden a final glance before starting to fly up towards the ground, "come, we still have many things to do."


    Arthur went to the surface with a better mood than before. As he reached there, he found the entire world silent and looking quite desolate.


    "Bring everyone up," he muttered and the next instant large number of his followers appeared, including the dragons.


    "Are we in the first academy?" Amera glanced all around before her face suddenly changed as she turned her gaze towards the direction of the pit. "What happened down there?"


    Arthur was speechless but the crow and Doaf had similar expressions over their faces. "Nothing," Arthur simply said, "it was some hanging up matter and I resolved them."


    The three glanced weirdly at him before Doaf sighed ."It seems our young master here has his own secrets, sigh."


    "Alright, let''s divide and start annexing everything," Arthur clapped while starting to form the teams.


    He used his surrendered armies as the search groups, and each group had a couple of higher up guards to lead. As for his dragons, he sent them under the leadership of the three girls alongside some of the surrendered mages.


    "Now I have to go out as well," he remained there with fifty of his dragons and his werewolf. "Let''s go this way then," he selected the way he knew many populations were located.


    He took everyone inside except for the werewolf who possessed an equal speed to his or even better. The journey didn''t take a couple of hours before he met the first cluster of villages and towns.


    "Go and surround everyone," he took out his dragons and then added, "make everyone ready to move in these portals with everything they had."


    The system opened many portals while Gege was still busy absorbing the garden. Arthur stood in the air watching this flood of people who had no way but to obey his orders.


    They were always weak and helpless, following the orders of those higher and stronger than them. From the academy to Arthur, they had no opinion in that.


    But for Arthur he knew they would have a major turn over in their entire lives. From being slaves into mighty warriors and active citizens in his growing empire, this was the future he knew they would have.


    "And I think it''s a better future than the past they lived," he muttered to himself while flying away, leaving this stretch of villages and towns desolate.


    He repeated the process for many settlements he faced. For the next day he kept himself busy doing the same thing while he was sometimes lucky to just find camps of the academy forces or some clans with decent mages.


    He didn''t reject anyone, and in front of those fighters he had to kill part first to demonstrate his superiority. Eventually everyone would accept the truth and kneel to him asking for forgiveness.


    ''It''s ready,'' suddenly Gege said this while he was heading towards a distant stronghold that belonged to some kind of a big clan here it seemed.


    This stronghold was different from other places he visited so far, reminding him of the old castles he attacked before at his first city world.


    "How did things turn out?" he asked with much curiosity.


    ''Well, this garden is much more primitive than mine,'' she sighed before adding, ''I had to kill its soul and absorb it to nourish myself. No other way around, she didn''t give me any other options here.''


    Arthur inwardly sighed as he didn''t know if this was the truth or Gege just got greedy and decided to eat the other garden for her own benefit.


    ''Don''t think like this about me,'' she suddenly shouted in a bitter tone, as she managed to read out his thoughts, ''no two gardens'' souls can reside in one place without a fight; that''s the rule.''


    "Anyway how is the new addition for the garden world?" he asked what he cared most about.


    ''Go inside and see for yourself.''


    "One sec," he landed first on a small hill before sitting on the ground, closing his eyes, and entered the garden world.


    "This¡­ is quite impressive," he couldn''t control his excitement when he spotted the new version of his garden. The initial vast garden got its size tripled at least with another center that looked exactly like the center of his old one.


    The new territory was much more peaceful than his old garden as it didn''t have any pillars or absorbed dark worlds inside. There were a huge number of clans, towns, and villages inside with an endless number of mages and strong villagers there.


    "This is¡­ a treasure trove," he laughed as now he could summon armies in millions if he wanted to and there were many folds of such numbers inside as working villagers.


    "Spread the word," he opened his eyes before adding, "let them be the new boss in the world."


    ''Alright,'' Gege excitedly laughed, ''any special requirements?''

 Chapter 587: Nicole

    "Just make them form grand armies and wait for my orders," he said before adding, "also make the villagers ready to work and build defenses. I''ll need some help to build new walls and towers when we return there."


    He was now feeling much more confident. He planned to go around the other two academies and annex their population, but now he didn''t need to do that.


    He didn''t know how many people would the other teams bring, but with his current power he could easily crush those despicable enemies and win the war.


    Arthur didn''t return though as he headed directly towards that stronghold. The moment he got near it, a gigantic defensive shield appeared covering up the entire castle that resided on top of a small hill.


    "Surrender and I won''t mistreat you," Arthur was in a good mood and he didn''t want to fight and spoil that for now.


    "Who the hell are you? A dragonair?" one of the leaders of this place spoke in much arrogance before adding, "we don''t answer to no one but the clan and the academy."


    "The academy I just ruined," Arthur simply said, "as for your clan if you want to wait until I crush it as well and join me then it''s fine."


    Arthur was speaking casually like he was chatting on a normal sunny day with a friend. The man had an instant shocked expression over his face as he softly muttered; "So it''s true then¡­"


    "Indeed," Arthur replied, "I killed the academy of yours and will kill anyone standing on my way. You either be on my side or be killed¡­ choose."


    The man seemed quite hesitant before replying the best answer his mind could provide to him at this stressful moment, "let me check with the clan first."


    "Alright, I''m waiting," Arthur said before waving his hands casually and his army of dragons appeared beside his werewolf, adding more pressure over those inside, "but don''t take too long or else my patience might run out."


    "D¡­ Don''t worry sir, I won''t take much time," the man tried to be as respectful as he could.


    Despite the low number of fighters beside Arthur, he wasn''t doubting the real strength of the young man standing before him. Arthur managed to destroy the academy, everyone thought it was heaven itself, and so it wasn''t wise to stand against Arthur or his forces.


    But the man couldn''t take such an important decision himself. So he went back and started contacting his clan via bird''s wings.


    In less than ten minutes the man returned with a bright face. The shield went down when he reached Arthur as he politely said:


    "The Lord can enter and claim the entire place for himself. My clan is also awaiting for the lord to give us the honor of visiting us."


    Arthur nodded while he wasn''t that much interested in visiting a lowly clan that would be one of his servants in the near future. "Alright, make your men ready to move inside these portals."


    He pointed towards the portals his Gege summoned while adding, "and you''ll stay behind to accompany me towards the clan of yours."


    It didn''t take long for the entire castle to be emptied. Arthur admired their discipline and their numbers were decent as well. He gained slightly over one hundred thousand mages from this castle alone, and he was pretty much sure they were elites.


    "Lead the way then," he went to the sky while Remond turned into a hippo and ran on the ground. Despite his big size and inability to fly, his speed wasn''t that bad.


    They took five hours to reach the clan headquarters and during the way Arthur noticed many emptied villages and towns. According to Remond, the clan summoned everyone to their base as a gesture of their good will to help.


    "Welcome my lord to our modest clan."


    In front of Arthur a stunning beauty stood in front of a large number of people. She wasn''t that much older than him, and she seemed to be a daughter of some big shot in the clan.


    She seemed to dress up with only one purpose in mind, to dazzle him. Her hair was long and not organized, scattered over her bare shoulders and upper chest. There was a small nevus just below her lower lip, giving her rosy face a sexy touch.


    For a lady she was simply perfect, and Arthur had an instant desire ignited deep within him while feasting his eyes over every inch of her curvatures.


    "Our Higor clan is warmly welcoming you mighty lord. My name is Nicole, and I''m glad to be your escort today."


    "I''m glad to meet you," Arthur simply answered while moving towards the front, "I see a lot of people here."


    "We summoned everyone who lived under our protection," Nicole said with a warm smile before she suddenly leaned herself over his shoulder as she added, "and many beauties are waiting for my lord inside, waiting for a move of your fingers to please you."


    "I''m only content with you," Arthur politely rejected as he wasn''t that lewd lord after all. But for Nicole, he made an exception. "Tell me, can you fight?"


    "Well¡­" the look over her face slightly changed before returning to normal, "does lord prefer fighters?" she asked in a dejected tone.


    Arthur gently touched her bare waist while glancing over her beautiful blue like a vast sea of eyes, "I prefer those who are useful to me."


    "I can cook," she suddenly said, "I''m good at potions and arrays as well, but my superiority is to use these two in making special kinds of meals."


    "Special meals?" Arthur laughed before adding, "It seems I was right to choose you Nicole, hahaha."


    "Lord seems to like special meals," Nicole laughed in content as she was scared for a moment just now.


    "Welcome our mighty lord in our clan," an old man suddenly popped up in front of Arthur, "I''m Gedo, the clan head and Nicole''s father."


    Arthur sized up the man in front of him for a second. "You have a good clan and extraordinary daughter."


    "Hahah, I just hope you like her my lord."


    "We''ll see," Arthur smiled before adding, "I don''t plan to stay here for long. I''ll leave behind some portals for the people you amass to enter there. If you can lead armies outside and bring forth more people then do it. After all, I intend to make you part of the upper echelon in my empire."


    "E- Empire?'''' The face of Goden lit up as his gamble brought forth more success than what he initially hoped for. "At once my lord, I''ll send all my forces around to bring more people to you."


    "Good," Arthur said before turning to Nicole, "is there any private place where I can taste your¡­ cooking?"


    Nicole lewdly laughed while she winked to him and took him away from the clan base towards a nearby hill.


    "Sigh, women have really an extraordinary power even on extremely powerful men," Goden sighed before turning around and started to give orders to his elders and leaders of the clan''s forces.


    ***Note: Next chapter will be a R-18 chapter. So if you don''t like R-18, just skip the next chapter.***

 Chapter 588: R-18: An Unforgettable Love - Part 1

    "This is¡­ such a nice room."


    Arthur stood in a room that had nothing else but a gigantic bed and many red roses everywhere. He glanced at everything here while feeling this might have been this girl''s secret lair.


    "This was for¡­ a friend of mine," Nicole''s face showed a disturbed expression all of sudden. Even when she was anxious and worried she looked amazingly pretty.


    "Bad memory?" he asked while going to the bed and sat on its end. There was no other place here to sit at except this and she just followed suit with a long sigh.


    "She was¡­ like a little sister to me," she said in a deep tone while her eyes were fixed on a certain spot in the room, "this room was filled with many things but one day something bad happened to her and only this bed remained."


    "An accident?" Arthur asked.


    "I dunno," she shook her head before turning to him and smiling with a beaming one, "we aren''t here to chat about the past."


    "Then why are we here?" he winked to her while pushing away some long strands of her hair that got over her face.


    "We are here to have some fun," she lewdly laughed before she stood up and was about to undress.


    "Wait," Arthur stopped her with a gesture of his head, "come here, I''ll show you how this is done."


    Arthur only closed his eyes for a moment before taking out a silk ribbon that was like a rope. "Come here," he turned her while taking her hands over her back and then tied them together, "this is much more I like," he laughed before standing up and turned to face her.


    Her breaths raced in a way that made him ask: "First time?"


    "In fact¡­ yeah," she nodded before adding, "I kept myself for a worthy man."


    "Is this man¡­ me?" he asked in a playful tone and she wanted to punch him but she couldn''t.


    "Alright¡­ slowly and nicely we''ll have our first time together then," he winked while getting much closer to her. She wasn''t that much taller than him, and her breaths weren''t any much lesser in hotness than him.


    But he was more collected and stable while she was slightly nervous.


    "Close your eyes and feel," he whispered in her ears while getting her body inside his arms. His breaths over her ears jolted her a little but she controlled herself and did as he asked.


    Once she did that, he leaned over her neck while pushing the messy hair off her neck, exposing her sweet and smooth skin.


    Passing over her skin with his breaths, he slowly started to move his head up and down while refraining from kissing her.


    And this simple and gentle move made her body a bit softer but he supported her to stand while digging his head deeper, opened his mouth slowly and took a small bite off her skin.


    He pinched her skin within his lips. Stretched the skin out slowly and nice while letting what he bited fade slowly within the two lips of his, making her breaths start to get deeper and faster.


    He then turned to the other side where he did the same to her neck. After the fifth time, her neck had bite marks from him, leaving soft red drawings of his lips over there.


    Then he started to slowly kiss her, soft and short kisses where he descended slowly from her neck to shoulders. There he turned her fast as he painted a soft kiss over the back of her shoulder then he took a simple bite then a deeper and longer one.


    And his hands started to work and untie her dress up. Just before it would fall, he gently turned her again, supporting her dress from falling he let her body fall.


    She landed on the bed softly and her body was starting to have internal fire and slight numbness.


    "Time to tie you up," he evilly smirked while taking the long ends of the silk ribbon he purposely left behind and went to the end of the bed. He grabbed her body slowly until it was fixed in the center then tied a strong one in the bed.


    Then he took his time circling around her, feasting his eyes over her sexy body. "Your eyes¡­" she softly muttered in a way that seemed too hard on her to do so.


    "What about them?" he playfully and evilly asked while her face was almost rivaling a strawberry. "They are hurting me."


    "In a good way?" he kept circling in slow moves around the bed while feasting over her body, and she couldn''t speak again.


    He moved towards her, softly entered his hands under her dress while he kept moving his body over her, exposing more of her sweet skin down below.


    When he reached her bare waist, he stopped and leaned slowly while his eyes were fixed over hers. "Stop¡­ this¡­"


    "What?" he evilly asked while he painted a soft and short kiss over her skin, invoking an instant weak tremor in her entire body that he perfectly felt, "your body''s callin for more."


    "I¡­ know¡­" she seemed embarrassed and hesitant, afraid of what would happen next.


    "Don''t be nervous, I''ll be gentle¡­" he painted another soft and short kiss over her skin, "I promise."


    She nodded, like an obedient girl while his hands kept touching her skin slowly with the tips of his fingers. Each touch was like a torch lit with fire, and the fire just burnt the spots he only touched down there.


    Then he descended once again, where he covered his head with her dress and started climbing up.


    She clenched both of her feet together so tight that he had to slowly use force to move them apart. His hot breaths, soft touches, and the strange feeling of his hair touching her skin make her body jolt more than once while her breathing starts to grow faster.


    And he didn''t stop there.

 Chapter 589: R-18: An Unforgettable Love - Part 2

    As he parted her legs slightly apart, he put his head in between and started pushing his way up. He gently kissed her skin and slowly took a soft bite over it before he finally reached the top where he was met with a soft and thin piece of cloth.


    "P¡­ Please¡­ be gentle," she tried to stop him but he only laughed a muffled one while he held her waist with his arms, grabbed her slightly down and adjusted her body to suit his.


    And then he pushed his head again where he opened his mouth and ate the clothes with the soft things underneath it.


    He moved his lips first to softly bite while moving his head slowly up and down. Eventually his moves started to be faster, his bites became stronger and he even used his teeth to grab the clothes and the soft and bulky parts of her while stretching them out.


    And suddenly she issued a soft moan while he felt some wetness coming from down there.


    Yet none of that stopped him as he kept his rhythm as slow and controlled as possible for long minutes until that piece of cloth became so soaked with his mouth and her water.


    Then he withdrew slowly and moved to be over her body, squeezing it under his while dancing slowly over her.


    And strangely this one move made her moan again.


    "You like it slow and firm then," he laughed before holding her body in his arms and slipped the dress all over her body.


    He only left two pieces of clothes out there, one was totally soaked and the other one was about to get exploded by her full rounded hills.


    He leaned her body softly over the bed while he also leaned with her. He rested his head over her chest where he started biting slowly each part of her twin hills and his hand was softly touching the soaked cloth.


    He caressed it with the tip of his fingers before slowly bypassing the useless protection of the cloth. The first thing he touched was a small soft part where he held it between two fingers and started exerting a minimal pressure over it.


    "Ah!"


    She couldn''t keep her moans inside anymore and a soft and long scream escaped her clenched teeth. He loosened his grip all of sudden while firmly biting over the small tower over her hill.


    "Ah!"


    And she couldn''t control herself again with another hot and long scream coming out from the depth of her. Her body was now boiling like a heart of a burning star, and also she felt her soul sipping away from hers as if she was about to lose consciousness.


    But she didn''t.


    He exerted more pressure with his fingers while loosening his bite over her pyramid. He alternatively kept her drowned while he smartly kept his moves organized and collected.


    She was in a world of dreams, just on the door steps of it right now while he was only cool and collected, calmly watching her face and enjoying her moans and screams, her twisting body under his.


    And he didn''t stop there.


    He moved his hand behind her back where he slowly removed that piece of cloth, exposing her in front of him.


    He didn''t hurry to act, only gazing fixedly at her while his face showed lewd expressions.


    She was too weak to speak, too restrained to resist, and all she could do was to use what strength left in her and try to push her body away, twisting slowly under him.


    And this move made the fire inside him simply¡­ fiercer!


    His hands moved slowly to grip the two soft cushions on her chest while the two tips of these were boldly standing up, calling for him to devour them.


    His touches made her feel more hot and drowsy, but his next soft bites and slow gentle moves of his lips and cheeks made her drown.


    He sucked her dry while her chest kept heaving up and down with his moves. His hand found her way at her back, slowly pushing her chest against his lips and making most of her hill vanish with the hurricane inside his lips.


    And his other hand moved down below, finger found their place under the poor piece of cloth before moving slowly up and down, slowly caressing everything down.


    At this moment¡­ she lost any connection with the real world and all she could feel were pulses of shocks with waves following after.


    He let her helpless body loose and finally removed the final piece on her. He also removed all his clothes and stared slightly at her body; twisted, full of red bite marks, and parts of the bed were already stained with many spots here and there.


    He moved her twisted legs wide open while gazing for a second at her rosy little part in between with so many soft and neatly formed pieces there.


    "This is¡­ just perfect."


    He couldn''t help but to dig his head up her body and start to soak her with his lips and tongue, softly biting and stretching everything he could reach.


    And at this moment, she returned to moan softly and scream frequently while twisting as hard as she could, trying to escape his grasp.


    But everything she did only helped in making things far better for him and much violent and earthshaking for her.


    Eventually her power faded away while she couldn''t scream anymore. She started to give soft and muffled weak cries every now and then while her body lied helplessly, announcing her surrender to him.


    He was content with his piece of art as he raised his head, sat on the bed, grabbed her from her thighs where his fingers got deeper in her soft skin and then¡­ he dipped his long and stretched shaft slowly inside hers.


    He felt a tuck sound accompanied with a sudden jolt of her body, but it instantly got more softened. Like a knife cutting butter he kept moving, like a fire eating the world, he sat her body ablaze.


    She was like a clear page where a brush moved, drawing curvy and repetitive strikes. She was so devoured like the deepest hour of the night when the early light of the day arrived; slowly yet domineeringly prevailing her in every possible way and place her body and soul had.


    His body kept lashing hers in slow and controlled moves while soft sounds of the two bodies touching each other started to rang softly in the empty room.


    Only her muffled screams interrupted this¡­ only her twisting body over the sheets of the bed added some extras.


    He gently held her above him where she felt a new experience, a feeling that she never knew before it existed but now.


    He was playing an orchestra while she acted as instruments and he was the musician. Flipping her from place to place, from position to another, from soft and slow to firm and rapid; they kept making love for hours without pause.


    The entire room stood witness over their deep and everlasting moments while their bodies were entangled together like a tango dancers, jumping from one spot to another, leaving their love marks everywhere.

 Chapter 590: Suspicious Activity

    "We¡­ need some time."


    Arthur stood in front of the old man, Nicole''s father, with the elders of the clan. They looked in pride to Arthur while a huge number of people were coming from everywhere to here.


    "I''ll have to move on," Arthur helplessly smiled, "you keep amassing a population here and when you are done, just enter inside as well, got it?"


    "Moving out so soon?" the old man looked hesitant, "I thought you''ll stay a couple of days here."


    "I don''t have time for that," Arthur smiled before adding, "when Nicole comes back, tell her I''ll wait for her after this is all over."


    The face of the old man beamed with joy while Arthur turned into a dragon and left the place in a hurry. "It''s enough so far," he muttered, "I hope they have amassed enough population as well."


    He didn''t proceed forward anymore. After all, the number of people amassed by Nicole''s clan seemed more than enough. He had much confidence in the forces he gathered inside his garden.


    Plus his garden was special in everything, so he was pretty sure those living there now would gain many benefits for themselves.


    ''I''ll leave the portals here until no one enters anymore,'' Gege said while her tone showed some envy and disturbance after the night that just passed.


    "Good," Arthur nodded, "I want you to relay my orders inside¡­ any mage should train and any villager should start working on collecting ores and building defensive and offensive gears."


    ''War preparations¡­ got it,'' she said before the golden dragon said:


    ''What about that chick?''


    Arthur felt he wasn''t asking out of pure will but he was trying to tease Gege, and he succeeded.


    ''Humph, I''ll go inside my body and supervise everything while you three can continue your dirty talks.''


    ''Hahaha,'' the golden dragon laughed before adding, ''I told you, she is totally in you man.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur refrained from speaking until he returned again to the desolate academy grounds. There he found the place changed dramatically with a huge number of mages and people filling what was vacant before.


    "Finally you came back," Amera sighed the moment she spotted him from far before she appeared with her fast speed in front of him. "We have been here for one whole night now."


    "Impressive," Arthur glanced all around before adding, "I believe this will be enough to stop that army."


    "Not even close," Doaf appeared with the crow before adding, "in numbers we have the higher forces, but in reality these can''t win that army."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled, "I''ve gathered far more than these."


    "More?" the crow asked in a strange tone, "we went everywhere and amassed all of these only. How come you bring more?"


    "It''s my secret," Arthur laughed before waving his hand and the next instant large number of portals appeared, "make them all enter. We will head directly towards there."


    They glanced over the portals that appeared out of nowhere and sighed. "This¡­ you have more tricks than I guessed," Amera couldn''t help but say.


    "I have much more if you want to see," he playfully said while she only sneered. "Keep dreaming kid, I like your spirit."


    Arthur only smiled and said nothing. He waited patiently for a couple hours before deciding to move all alone forward.


    He left the portals there as he calculated they would take more than one day to finish entering his garden.


    This time he didn''t fly alone as he had his werewolf beside the other three as well.


    "Do you think they have cracked the city by now?" the crow asked while they were getting near the location of the battle.


    "I don''t think so," Arthur sighed before adding, "I believe if they did then I would have gotten a word for that."


    "We should have left some eyes there," Amera said, "at least we wouldn''t be left in the dark like this."


    "Next time," Doaf said and when Arthur glanced weirdly at him he added, "you don''t think this would be the last battle here, it''s just the beginning of the big war."


    Arthur nodded as he understood what Doaf was referring to. In half a day they managed to finally reach the outer region of the battle.


    "They¡­ strange," the first one to speak of them was the werewolf who rarely opened his mouth during the flight.


    "I can''t agree more," the crow glanced in a serious way, "they didn''t even try to attack the city¡­ very strange indeed."


    "I told you," Arthur sighed, "this technique isn''t the only trap they prepared for us."


    "Wise decision indeed," Doaf said, referring to the decision of leaving the place and not entering the city as he and the others suggested.


    "Let''s take our time and investigate them then," Amera was feeling nervous as she added, "I don''t like it when my enemy has many secrets I don''t know."


    "Let''s spread out then," Doaf said, "I''ll go this way," he pointed to a direction far from their current location.


    Everyone turned around and went to a different direction leaving Arthur behind with his werewolf. Arthur only stayed there and didn''t move.


    He kept watching the city standing erect with that strange shield around. The enemy forces surrounded the city half a mile away while not stepping towards it or trying to attack those inside.


    "Are we going to do nothing?'' the werewolf asked.


    "No, we are going to collect valuable first handed information."


    The werewolf didn''t get his meaning until he saw Arthur taking out a bird''s wing. Arthur sent a message to Amelia, asking her to debrief him of what happened since he left.


    "They tried to attack a couple of times but they were repelled. Since then they only camped outside, strangely waiting."


    Amelia''s answer came swiftly to him while he didn''t get any useful info from her so far. "Any suspicious moves other than this?" he wrote to her.


    "They kept digging the ground. Things were buried deep and then the holes were closed with dirt."

 Chapter 591: Gathering Intel

    Arthur glanced all over the place but he couldn''t spot anything matching her description. There were no holes or even piles of dirt from the ground.


    To him¡­ the ground looked perfectly fine.


    "Strange," he muttered, "this must be something related to their preparation for my move. Did they get a wind of what I was doing?"


    He didn''t delay to ask for more intel about this and Amelia wrote a long letter to him.


    "The holes they dug had an array formation of nine headed stars. According to Deem, these follow the Ley Lines in the area. They dug all over the place, any spot they stood upon could have one of these holes.


    What they buried wasn''t clear to us but it looked like a short version of pillars you usually summon. They used other fluid and ores with these, but no one here could recognize what they were using or doing."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered while rereading the letter again before letting it burn in his hand. "So they are using a pillar formation from god knows where," he thought before turning to the werewolf and asked:


    "Do you know of a nine star formation that follows the Ley Lines arrangement and used buried pillars under the ground with some ores and blood?"


    He knew the liquid was some monster''s blood, but he couldn''t tell what it was.


    "I¡­ dunno anything about it," the werewolf said after long moments of deep thinking.


    ''I think I might know a couple of such arrays,'' the golden dragon suddenly spoke, ''but these are such high arrays that can''t be used by those weak mages here.''


    ''You do?'' Arthur was surprised as he hurriedly asked, ''Tell me more about these arrays.''


    ''They are summoning arrays,'' the golden dragon said, ''and I think they are used to summon those ancient bastards of old times.''


    Arthur didn''t get his meaning as he asked, ''what bastards?''


    ''Just ask your chick if anyone saw them drawing something on the ground,'' the golden dragon didn''t hurry to answer.


    ''Draw? Using what¡­ blood?''


    ''Exactly,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''But I can''t see any drawing here.''


    ''These drawings will vanish the moment they were done. They would be done also in places with no holes, preferably in spaces between holes.''


    ''I''ll ask her then,'' Arthur muttered as he took out a bird''s wing, ''such a thing should be noticed by them for sure.''


    "They did that, how did you know?" she sent this bird''s wing first before sending another one, "they didn''t draw anything clear, it was like strange lines and Deem thought this might be some kind of a letter from an alien language we know nothing about. I''m letting Deem now drawing this shape to you, hopefully it will help."


    ''It isn''t a drawing, it''s a writing,'' Arthur said to the golden dragon.


    ''It''s a letter of course,'' the golden dragon muttered, ''they are really using this¡­ are they crazy or what?''


    ''Why?''


    ''This array requires a lot of energy no one here can handle. Are they going to commit suicide here or what?''


    Arthur paused for a moment here before saying: ''They might have some hidden forces from the upper realms. We fought some of them here in the first fight.''


    ''And most perished, and the remaining can''t sustain such an array,'' the golden dragon argued, ''they might have a hidden force or another trick we know nothing about. Ask her if there was any other suspicious act from their side as well¡­ I''m pretty confident they had another trick we know nothing about.''


    Arthur didn''t speak as he took another bird''s wing and asked for more intel. He waited for ten minutes before two bird''s wings arrived at the same time.


    One with a strange writing over it, looking like intersecting curved lines with no recognizable pattern for Arthur, and the other was a simple answer.


    "Some saw them sending off small teams away from here, but we dunno where they went or what they were doing. The remarkable thing here is these teams didn''t come back up till now."


    Arthur put the drawing aside for now as he asked: "How many members were there in each team?"


    "A thousand," Amelia replied, "and from what I saw, they had at least a couple of giant mages in each team."


    "Interesting," Arthur turned around as he found no sign of life away from here, "I didn''t meet anyone from the direction we came from. Did we miss them or they didn''t send anyone in this direction?"


    He was feeling more doubt the more he thought about all this. "what can a bunch of teams do all alone?" he couldn''t help but decide to have a look around. "Come with me, we might have a nice warm up."


    The werewolf nodded and moved behind him. Arthur didn''t have any instructions about these teams'' locations or the direction they went through, but he flew high up in the air while glancing all around.


    ''Make those three teams ready, I might need their help,'' he said to Gege who delivered his message instantly.


    As for him, he kept his eyes vigilantly over the ground down below. ''Scan the area and tell me if you find anything suspicious.''


    ''Ding! I''m already on it.''


    ''Good,'' Arthur then started to fly for a few minutes in one direction. "Should I keep on?" he muttered.


    ''I believe you should take a circle first,'' the golden dragon said, ''if they wanted to form a secondary supporting array to the first one they couldn''t do it so far, right?''


    ''Good point,'' Gege said, ''and if we didn''t find them in this area then we have to assume they took a long road and we might not be able to catch up,'' she added and her words were logic for Arthur.


    "Alright, let''s go in a big circle then," Arthur said to his werewolf while he changed his direction to circle around the city and the hostile army stationed around.


    ''Ding! I spotted a group not too far to the east,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! But they aren''t a thousand.''


    ''More than a thousand?''


    ''Ding! No, they are only ten, and they didn''t have anyone from higher realms at all.''


    ''Suspicious,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''They might not be our team,'' Gege thought.


    ''Or they moved and left those here as a bait for us,'' Arthur didn''t know what to do except to head down there with the intention of interrogating them.


    After all, amidst everyone here these pathetic groups of ten mages had the information he required.


    "If you don''t speak up, I''ll just kill you and know the answer from your corpses," he threatened while the ten mages stood with defying looks over their faces.

 Chapter 592: Geges Impossible Solution

    Arthur didn''t hurry to kill them as he knew his dragomancer technique wasn''t flawless. Yes the dragons would retain some of their old memories, but they still remain only scattered pieces and small fragments.


    "We won''t tell you anything."


    One of the group replied in extreme arrogance and determination that made Arthur sigh. ''Is there a way to force them to speak?'' he asked his three beings inside his mind.


    ''As far as I know there was once a potion for that, but I don''t know the formula for it,'' the golden dragon was the first to let him down.


    ''I know nothing as well,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! There is a technique but it requires a high level of mine to be unlocked,'' the system said.


    ''Can''t you unlock it for me?''


    ''Ding! Sigh, I can''t. not every technique is possible to be used or else why are there many levels in your evolution path?''


    ''Sigh, it''s a regret then,'' Arthur was dejected that he didn''t move to kill them himself. "Kill them," he simply said to his werewolf who viciously smiled as he muttered, "my pleasure."


    "Wait, I don''t want to die!"


    After the death of five members suddenly one of the remaining got cold feet and hurried to shout.


    "Good boy," Arthur commended, "tell me everything you know then."


    "We¡­" just before he could speak the other four instantly moved to silence him by death. "Save him," Arthur shouted and his werewolf wasn''t stupid to stand there and watch this happen under his watch.


    In an instant he showed these lowly beings how big the difference in strength was between the two sides. He killed the other four even before they could touch a single hair of the informer.


    And that youth who was almost twenty-five years old collapsed on the ground with a shaking body and pale face.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur moved to his side, "I won''t let anyone hurt you."


    "Thanks," the youth said in honest gratitude before Arthur glanced at his werewolf in a meaningful way.


    "I''ll watch the area around," the werewolf said before turning and vanished from the area.


    "Now," Arthur turned to that youth, "tell me everything you know."


    "We were ordered to leave the army towards the outside on a mission of making arrays," the youth said, "but in the middle our group was asked to be left behind to act as a delaying decoy for you if you came looking for them."


    The face of the youth turned ruthless, "as if I would accept being killed and sacrificed for something I hardly know! This is ridiculous, right?"


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded, "do you know what array they were trying to create? And where are they going to do that?"


    "We made a grand summoning formation back at your city," the kid said what Arthur already was aware of, "and to activate it we need a large army from higher planes to do that."


    "They are going to summon the army here?" Arthur muttered in disbelief.


    "No," the youth shook his head, "they are going to establish a link, a portal between the two worlds so those up there ready to act would start their business without the need to come down here."


    Arthur''s face got more dignified when he heard these words. "Where are they? And do you know how many units are out there doing this?"


    "We left the army in thirty-six groups each headed towards different directions," the youth said while he seemed to recall what happened in his mind, "we are going to establish three arrays at the same time."


    "Summoning three armies?" Arthur was speechless. He never thought his enemies would be so ruthless.


    "We won''t do that, they hardly amassed one army enough to activate this summon," the youth said, "they are using a failsafe by this way, acting on guard in case you showed up and ruined one or two arrays."


    "Hmm¡­ interesting," Arthur muttered while deeply thinking about this plan, "interesting mindset¡­ who is the leader of your army by the way? Someone from this world or outside?"


    "The one leading us is from the higher worlds, I suppose he is a dragonair like yourself."


    "Interesting foe," Arthur muttered, "a formidable one that I never faced alike so far."


    "Yeah, he is such an interesting youth," the youth said.


    "Youth? He is young?"


    "I believe he isn''t exceeding my age."


    "Impressive," Arthur commended, "that makes me crushing his scheme has much better feeling," he laughed before asking, "so they are going to establish three twelve star arrays to establish this link. Do you know how long they need to do that?"


    "Not much I think," the youth replied, "they had many energy ores with them. Things from higher up planes I suppose."


    "Then I should start moving," Arthur waved his hand over the youth head, "go inside, you have done your part of the deal."


    The next moment the youth vanished and the werewolf came flying from far. "Are we going after them?" he asked.


    "Sure," Arthur turned into a dragon once more, "let''s see how they will react after crushing all their plans."


    "Sounds like a good plan to me."


    Arthur went towards the direction he felt his enemies would be at. "If they need little time to activate their arrays then I shouldn''t waste time looking for them one by one," he muttered while adding to Gege:


    ''As that youth more about the directions of these teams. If he knew these then it would be better. Also bring forth all the higher plane armies inside plus the dragons. It''s time to send many teams out.''


    Gege instantly did what he asked for. ''He said he knew some routes, but not all of them. Plus he only knows the directions the teams took from the city, not their final destination.''


    ''Any news is good news,'' Arthur muttered, ''bring forth everyone after informing them of the mission and destination.''


    The next moment a large number of his elite forces appeared all around him.

 Chapter 593: Finding The First Team

    "Go, there are sixty-five targets you should look for and destroy," he said before adding, "if you found them in the return route then kill them and start digging for the places in the array."


    "Alright," they all said in unison before diverting into thirty-five smaller groups. Each group headed towards different directions while some knew their targets and others just went around looking for theirs.


    "I hope they could find them in time," Arthur muttered while he wasn''t feeling much pressure yet. "Destroying one point would make the array lose much of its power. Destroying up to one fourth of it will render it useless."


    This was his reassuring point as that youth already knew the routes of at least fifteen of these teams.


    ''Be aware that one array might escape their grasp,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''You are correct, I should think about a counter measure then,'' Arthur sighed, ''how can I kill such a monster if he was brought forth to this world?''


    ''This¡­'' the golden dragon was hesitant, ''as far as I know being here is too much over the entire world. I hope the world will be ready for such a scenario.''


    ''Ding! I''ll try to convey this message to the world''s will.''


    ''This is a good move,'' Arthur said before adding, ''but it''s not enough. I need  a weapon or a way to kill that beast.''


    ''I believe no one here has such power,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''if your godfather was here then we might stand a chance against such an ancient beast.''


    ''George¡­'' Arthur softly sighed, ''from the beginning I tried to reach him with no avail.''


    ''Ding! I hope he will come here to watch this competition,'' the system said, ''Ding! After all this world isn''t much protected like the world of the academy I think.''


    ''I hope so,'' Arthur said, ''but away from that, there is no other way around, right?''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''I have a way,'' Gege suddenly said, ''but you won''t like it.''


    ''Really?'' Arthur sighed, ''c''mon tell it to me. I have a feeling it would be very bad.''


    ''It''s¡­'' Gege herself seemed quite hesitant before adding, ''You know about that egg inside my body, right?''


    ''The one I snatched before, what about it?''


    ''I planned to use it to build up my human body,'' Gege sighed, ''this egg contained a massive amount of energy that would be more than enough to evolve me a couple of times more.''


    ''Do you want to use it to kill the beast? How?''


    ''Not using it alone,'' Gege said, ''I have to step in to control the egg.''


    Arthur felt more bad about it. ''And?'' he asked.


    ''I''ll start my evolution and use the beast as another source of energy.''


    ''Where is the bad news then?'' Arthur didn''t believe this was everything.


    ''Well¡­ I will have to go into deep slumber for a period of time.''


    ''How long exactly?''


    ''One year.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur was shocked even though his flying paused for a moment before he returned to fly again. ''This¡­'' he didn''t know what to say.


    ''And you already aware I''m connected to your energies and dantian,'' she didn''t stop spilling more bad news, ''you won''t be able to upgrade them at all during my slumber plus the access to the star map will be severed.''


    ''This can''t be done,'' Arthur didn''t even hesitate to decline this option, ''If I do this I might escape the attack of the beast but won''t be able to survive here for so long.''


    ''Ding! One year is really a long time,'' his system agreed on his decision.


    ''Is there a way to shorten it?'' his golden dragon tried to find a mid solution for this crisis.


    ''Well¡­ if we managed to find another source of energy to support me, then yeah this period can be shortened.''


    ''How much?'' Arthur asked.


    ''According to the type of that treasure,'' Gege said, ''if we are speaking about the egg for example, then this period can be shortened not to exceed three months.''


    ''Even this¡­'' Arthur sighed, ''Didn''t we find an egg inside the origin world I once went to? You are absorbing it too, right?''


    ''I didn''t finish absorbing it yet,'' Gege sighed, ''I need more time to do that.''


    Arthur thought a bit about this dilemma before adding, ''what if you absorbed it during your slumber?''


    ''It''s a slumber¡­ my conscious won''t be there to do that!''


    Arthur felt every possible way was blocked in front of his face. ''I can''t risk losing you for such a long time my dear.''


    ''Oh, and here I thought you already forgot about me,'' she chuckled while trying to crack a joke.


    ''Let''s hope this scenario will never come,'' he had to end the discussion here while his mind was troubled heavily by this disastrous situation. ''We need to make sure the three arrays are damaged or else¡­''


    He didn''t need to speak more as everyone inside his mind was already aware of the grave results for such a fate.


    ''Ding! There is a group to the north east from here,'' the system suddenly spoke after a few hours of flying, ''Ding! They match the group we are looking for.''


    ''Are they going or returning?''


    ''Ding! Still going.''


    ''Damn¡­ flying for five hours and still moving forward¡­ Was that dude so afraid of me figuring out his plan and ruining it to such a degree?''


    He turned to his werewolf and motioned to follow. The werewolf knew something was up even before seeing the group of almost a thousand up front of them.


    And they were running with their fastest speed towards the front but their speed was much lower than Arthur''s speed.


    "Got you," he said before adding, "don''t kill them all. We need more intel about the other groups."


    "Sure," the werewolf simply said before the two of them descended upon the enemies like an apocalypse.


    The first he used was his arrows as he launched dozens of them even before reaching the running group.


    "Watch out!"


    "Intruders!"


    "Scatter fast!"


    Shouts started to erupt as some spotted Arthur and his werewolf coming towards them. Yet they were slightly late to act as Arthur''s arrows landed fast and killed a good number of them.


    Then Arthur started spraying his fire breath over their heads while the werewolf jumped from a spot to another, harvesting lives without much hurdle.


    The fight wasn''t balanced from the beginning, and Arthur and his werewolf managed to kill most of the group in less than half an hour without having a single injury.


    Only a handful of a hundred remained, including the boss of this team.


    "Speak and live, keep your secrets with you then I promise they will take you to your graves," Arthur stood in the air a few tens of meters above the surviving group.


    His words and tone were so cold and direct that everyone knew he wasn''t bluffing.


    "We won¡­"


    One of the group was courageous enough to speak up expressing his refusal, but Arthur was much faster than him as he used a normal arrow and killed the mage before he could even finish his words.


    "Anyone foolish enough to die for nothing?" Arthur turned his gaze around before adding, "one way or another one of you will speak making those who died look more foolish than ever."


    "Kill!"


    Just as he ended his words, a group shouted and instantly a fight erupted between themselves. Arthur didn''t need to tell the werewolf what to do, and he also stepped in using his arrows to kill those who were trying to kill the others.


    But he couldn''t save everyone as in no time everyone was either trying to attack or defend, while both were aiming at each other''s napes of the neck.


    "Sigh, only twenty now remains," Arthur glanced over the scattered dead bodies underneath him. At some point he had to let those fighting each other alone while protecting those who were innocent here.


    "Speak," he didn''t need to threaten them anymore as he perfectly knew this little group was cowards.

 Chapter 594: The Two Mysterious Groups

    "So you know the location of only twenty-five groups?" Arthur asked while those standing in front of him nodded. "Great, take these papers and draw to me the directions they went from the city."


    He took out enough papers before waiting for roughly ten minutes to get his hands over twenty-five repeated maps.


    ''Scan them and make sure you make a single map containing everything,'' he said to his system.


    ''Ding! I have created the map you need.''


    ''Good, control my hands then and guide me to draw it.''


    Arthur held a brush and a large piece of paper where he started drawing a big map. After he finished he found a map with twenty-five directions.


    "Good, you can go in now," he just waved his hand over their heads and everyone vanished from his sight. "Now all I have to do is to copy this map and send them to everyone."


    He started drawing this map over and over again while he handed each finished one to one dragon and let him go towards one of his teams to deliver.


    "I hope we won''t be too late," he muttered as he collected everything and Gege took in everyone here, "it''s time for me to head towards the next point."


    He knew that ruining twenty-five points out of thirty-six wasn''t enough. He needed to ruin an additional couple of points as well. ''Keep scanning the area, and try to come up with the approximate distance they crossed so far,'' he said as he flew towards the east hoping to find a group outside of this map.


    He met five groups alone where he kept killing most of them and interrogated the survivors. Learned his lessons from the first group he made sure to not gather up everyone at the end, and this led to increasing the number of survivors to reach fifty at least.


    "One more group is revealed, I need another one to be reassured," he muttered to himself while adding the new group path revealed by the last team he crushed into his grand map. "I should head for that one then," he decided before the golden dragon suddenly said:


    ''From these points you can roughly draw the three diagrams and find the other hidden ones.''


    ''Great idea,'' Arthur laughed before he added, ''try to make up with a rough drawing of these arrays then.''


    ''I''ll tell them to the system.''


    ''Works for me.''


    Arthur waited for a couple of minutes before he felt his hands move again to draw things over the giant map in front of him. Rapidly the map was completed and the assumed locations of the other points were determined over the map.


    "There is something wrong here," he muttered to himself while glancing again over the map. "What do these two points stand for?"


    In front of him three diagrams were formed but there were also two paths he learnt from the people surrendered to him before with no relation at all to the diagrams.


    ''I¡­ dunno about them actually,'' the golden dragon said, ''it might be a mistake or some decoy sent to distract you.''


    ''Ding! I agree with the golden dragon''s view. This new enemy of yours is really cunning.''


    Arthur glanced over the map again before saying what he was thinking about. "I''ll go to these new points and also will go and try to get more intel from these two groups."


    He changed his flying direction towards the other points his golden dragon discovered. In less than two hours he met the first group, and that was a simple confirmation over the golden dragon''s assumptions to be valid.


    "Great, we got another story about these two mysterious groups as well," Arthur didn''t let down, interrogating some of this group and from what he heard he was totally focused on these two groups.


    "I need to go and check them now," he muttered.


    ''But you''ll lose much time doing this,'' Gege said, ''at least move according to the map and one of the two groups can be met in six hours.''


    ''She is right,'' the golden dragon said.


    "I know," Arthur sighed, "I just wanted to know what they are doing."


    ''Ding! They are decoys,'' the system said, ''Ding! And their purpose is to cause the exact confusion and restlessness you are feeling right now.''


    "But there is a possibility they are up to something else."


    ''Two groups?'' the golden dragon sneered, ''what two groups can actually create? I doubt they are able even to cause you any harm.''


    "Sigh, I hope you are right," Arthur started to fly out again towards the next point, then the next. He kept interrogating the survivors and all of them agreed on the same path of the two groups.


    And finally it was the turn of the first group.


    The moment he moved towards them he was so anxious to reach there. Just as he saw the group from far he was so impatient to call out for every dragon he had before attacking the group.


    "This time keep as much alive as possible out of them," he ordered and his werewolf and dragons just followed his orders.


    In no time the group was devastated by his small army. His arrows took many of their lives but in the end he managed to keep two hundred alive.


    "C''mon, tell me everything you know," he demanded and they started speaking.


    "The same bulls*t," he was enraged as he didn''t get any useful intel from them. Everything they said was already known by him, and about the purpose of their group they just said different stories.


    Some said they came here just to walk into that direction without stop. Others said something about the presence of a hidden agenda for this group, but they didn''t know what it was.


    Arthur stood there in front of the emptiness thinking about what he just heard. He just took in everyone as promised yet his mind and soul didn''t feel any much better.


    ''See? This what I was talking about,'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    "What do you mean by that?"

 Chapter 595: Destroying More Array Points

    ''You¡­ you are restless and anxious,'' Gege said, ''that foe is really formidable to make you feel this way.''


    ''Ding! I agree.''


    "Sigh¡­ you guys¡­ can''t you put another scenario for things?"


    ''A darker scenarios? I doubt it, this is the darkest one here,'' the golden dragon said, ''this foe wants to disturb your mind and make you hesitant about what you should do. In my opinion you should aim towards the already known risk and ignore these useless decoys.''


    ''Ding! I agree too. You need to focus on the three arrays more than you think about other things.''


    "Alright," Arthur nodded but inwardly he wasn''t that much agreeing with their thoughts. Something kept bothering him, telling him he was missing something major here.


    ''What are you doing?'' the golden dragon asked.


    "Collecting the rings off their bodies," Arthur said, "if there is nothing in then you are right."


    ''Ding! Still distracted by your enemy''s trap¡­sigh.''


    "Just make sure to scan them all and find out what they had inside."


    Arthur didn''t stop collecting the rings off the dead bodies while the werewolf stood on the distance watching him in silence. His face told Arthur he was also thinking the same way as the three inside his head.


    But Arthur decided to trust his instincts and try to find more about the hidden trap his enemy was waving for him. Or he would find nothing and he would be proven wrong.


    After collecting everything he went to the air again and headed towards the next group. According to the map, the rest of the groups were scattered along a gigantic circle around the city.


    And the last mysterious group lied just at the end of his journey.


    "This¡­ they are heading back already!"


    When Arthur met the next group he was surprised to see them returned towards the city. This meant only one thing¡­


    ''I told you, this enemy wants you to waste time,'' the golden dragon said.


    "But the rings are much protected and can''t be opened easily even after the death of their masters," Arthur argued, "they must contain some sort of protection like the one you used over the rings of mine."


    ''Probably it''s just the true owner is still alive back there inside his army and laughing right now on you,'' the golden dragon was rude but Arthur ignored him.


    "Keep trying to crack them, I want to know what they have," he then started the fight against this group and after interrogating the survivors he had to go on the front, seeking the array part they buried in the ground.


    He took with him three of the survivors who turned into one ground hippo and two flying eagles. Arthur was surprised to see these monsters as far as he knew these were part of different clans here.


    "Are you from different academies or clans?" he couldn''t help but to ask one of the two eagles. As for the hippo, he simply called him inside his garden as he would have delayed his trip by his low speed.


    "We were summoned from many clans," one of the eagles said, "and as far as I know more armies are heading towards here in the next couple of weeks."


    "Who arranged this?" Arthur asked while already knowing the answer.


    "Some dude from the dragonair high up clan," the second eagle said, "he is the mastermind of everything and the absolute ruler over all the forces in this world."


    "Ruler of all forces?" Arthur was surprised to hear that.


    "At least the dark clans and academies here listen to him," the first eagle said, "he came a couple of days ago and in no time controlled everything. Everyone is answering to his call, and no one is brave enough to argue with him."


    These words made Arthur have more doubts towards the true intentions of that dragonair. "Is he that strong?" he asked.


    "He isn''t," the second eagle sighed, "but he came with a strong entourage and many letters from higher up clans that ruled and protected every single clan and academy here."


    "He also brings threats," the first eagle sighed, "for example at our clan he brought the head of a mighty mage who ascended high up in the past decade."


    "Interesting," Arthur muttered before adding, "after getting in I want all of you to tell everything you know about this world and this dragonair."


    "No problem," the two eagles said in unison before Arhtur went to silence and never asked them again.


    ''I told you,'' the golden dragon suddenly said, ''your foe isn''t simple at all.''


    ''You need to focus on the mission of ruining his best weapon here,'' Gege said before adding, ''then you can mind other things like those incoming armies in the future.''


    "I just hope to be wrong," Arthur honestly said, "but something keeps bothering me."


    ''Ding! Just ignore it for now, not everything one feels is proven to be right.''


    Arthur didn''t speak with them about this until he reached the place where the group buried the runes and the flag of the array. "Take them out," he simply said to the two eagles who instantly complied.


    "Won''t you destroy it?" one of the eagles asked in surprise when he saw Arthur taking away everything they took out.


    "I will," Arthur lied, as he wanted to further study this rare array and get some knowledge from it. "Go in now," he took the two eagles before heading towards the next group.


    "I wasted more hours, sigh," after the third group he muttered to himself. Each group he met was now returning towards the city and so he had to return and look for those buried array pieces again and take them all.


    "I just hope they will make it in time," he thought of his scattered groups out there and prayed they could ruin these array pieces in time.


    ''Don''t worry, after all you only need to ruin three points to demolish the array,'' the golden dragon said, trying to reassure him.


    "I just want to be sure," Arthur sighed, "dealing with this dragonair''s youth had to be decisive."


    ''Still worried about these two groups yet?'' Gege sighed, ''If I were you I would have been comfortable about what I did so far. After all you alone destroyed enough runes and flags to render the three arrays dysfunctional.''


    "I won''t rest until they all are ruined," Arthur didn''t want to have any risks, "have you cracked more rings yet?" he asked.


    ''Ding! I cracked almost a hundred so far and let me tell you I''m not that much excited about cracking the rest.''


    ''They all have useless things,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s a waste of time and effort. I totally agree with the system, he should stop doing that.''


    "No," Arthur firmly shook his head, "you need to keep cracking them until the last one."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 596: A Race Against Time... The Portal Array Is Activated!

    Just as he was about to continue his hunt the entire world turned upside down all of sudden.


    "What is going on?" he paused and turned towards a certain direction, the direction of his city. "Damn, I was too late," he was shocked to see the sky over the entire horizon turn dark all of sudden like it was night time.


    ''Ding! I sense a special kind of power.''


    ''It''s the power of the higher realm,'' the golden dragon said, ''that''s impossible! How can they start the array without proper flags and runes?''


    Arthur''s face changed as he deeply muttered, "I told you¡­ this foe of mine isn''t simple."


    He took a deep breath and tried to calm down his disturbed thoughts, "What can I do now to stop it?"


    ''Either find the array and destroy it or go to the controller and kill him,'' the golden dragon gave him two choices.


    And Arthur knew which one he should select.


    "Summon my dragons," he muttered, "I have to spread the word to every single team now."


    ''Are you going after the arrays?'' Gege asked.


    "After the one controlling them," Arthur ruthlessly said before turning around and headed straight towards his city. "It''s time to cut the head of the snake and get rid of these problems in one go."


    ''But¡­'' Gege hesitated.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur muttered, "I won''t take such a route until it''s too late to save everything."


    He knew she was worried about that monster coming to this world. He just hoped he wasn''t too late to stop it.


    The next moment his dragon army appeared and he sent them all with one message: Go back to the city where the final battle would erupt.


    The distance between him and the city took roughly four hours to cross. During this many of his scattered forces appeared and joined him.


    "Have we failed?" Doaf asked in a dignified tone.


    "Unfortunately yes," Arthur sighed, "all we can do now is to crush that army before that beast arrives here."


    "Sigh, we should have done this from the start," the crow said.


    "I just hope what we did so far would have an impact over my enemy''s plan," Arthur muttered before adding, "now prepare everyone for a brutal fight. We are fighting against time here."


    They all nodded before relaying orders to everyone around. Just when he reached the outer parameter of the city his forces were gathered at last and he was ready for the next brutal fight.


    "How do you want to approach this army?" Amera asked with a puzzled look over her face.


    In front of them at least one million mages and monsters stood between their weapons and their target.


    "With a big bang," Arthur evilly smiled, ''Prepare my army inside, make them ready for a full out war.''


    ''Will I summon them here?'' Gege asked.


    "Will we start our full out war from here?" Doaf asked.


    "We will penetrate as deep as we could first," Arthur answered both of them before laughing, "let''s ignore the gigantic body of this snake and cut off its tiny dragonair''s head."


    "This¡­" Amera wasn''t the only hesitant one here.


    "If we don''t do the impossible we all are going to die here¡­ this is what I can guarantee to all of you," he turned to face the three leaders of his forces before adding, "make sure to penetrate as deeply as you can before I summon the rest."


    "Will they be enough?" the crow sighed, "they are many in number but low on power."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur said, "but I''ll need you to lead them in the next offensive and defensive fight."


    "Defensive?" Doaf asked with a loss, look over his face.


    "This is my plan¡­"


    Arthur told them a brief of the plan in his mind before they all had a change in their faces for the better. "We might stand a chance this way," Amera admitted.


    "I hope so," Arthur said before turning to his foe and great forces, "let''s just hope time won''t let us down¡­ charge!"


    He didn''t hesitate to move first to the front. The small elite force moved after him, forming a small wedge shape that looked strangely tiny in front of the ocean of enemies up front.


    And these enemies were already ready for Arthur and his small team. That didn''t startle anyone of them, after all they kept hunting down all the teams for an entire day now.


    That dragonair and his forces would have gotten a wind of their actions, plus many intel about the size of their forces and their current strength.


    Yet this was another factor Arthur decided to bet on¡­ the surprise which he would bring by his hidden forces and true plan.


    The first thing he did was to use his strongest weapon early from the start¡­ his pillar and array.


    Just before covering up the distance between him and the enemies, the array given to him by George was activated.


    "Rumble!"


    A familiar explosion erupted that swept away a good number of heavily dense enemies along with it. Just before the activation of the pillar, Arthur went to a side away from his forces so they wouldn''t be severely hit by it.


    As for him, he was thrown back like a rock to hit the ground before standing up again. "Damn, it''s getting more ruthless," he cursed out loud before turning to the sky again and headed towards the gap he created.


    And he wasn''t alone.


    His force moved earlier and started to kill, expanding the gap in one direction¡­ the center of this gigantic army.


    Just before they started moving they discussed among themselves the places where that despicable dragonair would be at. They selected two spots where the forces there looked uniquely stronger and denser.


    If he was at any place then he would be surrounded by strong fighters to protect his safety.


    After all this entire war would be determined by who would succeed in their mission first, him summoning the beast or them killing him.


    "Take cover," Arthur shouted when the pillar was again activated. The pillar needed only one hundred hits of his arrows to unleash its power. Despite moving in different directions before its activation, he knew they would be hit nonetheless.


    And he figured out to warn them ahead of the impact.


    "Rumble!"


    The second activation was much more violent than he imagined. He stood up from the crater his body created on the ground before coughing up blood. "Last time it needed four hits to cause me this damage¡­ I need to find another way to use it."


    Arthur flew to the air again and this time the gap went wider after that devastational effect. His forces were hit but they were much prepared thanks to his beforehand warning.


    "Charge," Doaf roared while he led with the two others everyone to the front. As Arthur went to the sky he glanced at the rear to find the gap was already circled by the enemies'' forces.


    They were now totally surrounded from all sides¡­ no way to retreat except by advancing... no way to live but by killing.


    "Take cover!"


    Just as the second pillar was about to be activated he shouted in warning. This time he tried to use another way to do it.

 Chapter 597: A Brutal Tactic and A Hard War

    He attached the pillar to an arrow before launching it far to the front. The pillar got activated and caused a rumble before an explosion came forth sweeping away a good part of the hostile army.


    The second pillar created devastation enough to expand the gap in front of everyone. Arthur was just hit with the shock wave of that explosion and he didn''t fall like before.


    Only lost balance for a moment before stabilizing himself in no time.


    "There is such a difference between the two¡­ that one George gave me is really brutal," he muttered before pushing forwards towards the gap, trying to keep the advantage present.


    ''Can you bring it to me?'' he muttered and his system controlled the pillar to return back to him.


    ''Ding! Don''t count me too much for that,'' the system warned, ''I have a limit to control your things and this costs a lot of energy as well.''


    "I need you to do this for me," Arthur muttered, "the shock wave of these pillars is really violent."


    ''Ding! I''ll try my best.''


    Arthur pushed forward before activating George''s pillar using the same technique. Despite throwing it far away from him, the hit he got was still painful and he ended up in the middle of a deep crater.


    "Damn! How further should I throw this bastard?!"


    Arthur returned to the sky and pressed forward again. Despite his efforts, the gaps he created were rapidly filled with more enemies and soon his pillars didn''t manage to help in advancing them at all.


    "Sigh, this the farthest I can go then using these two," Arthur muttered to himself in regret, "I hoped to reach further," he glanced at the still far away target of his.


    "Bring forth everyone," he said, "after the activation of this pillar."


    ''I''ll do it, just be sure not to get severely wounded,'' Gege said while referring to his numerous and deep wounds covering all over his dragonair''s body.


    "Don''t worry, just don''t miss the timing," he threw George''s pillar once again and this time he threw it far to the distance before releasing another arrow to catch up with it and activate this beast.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment it was activated he was hit with much violent shockwave and ended up in the same way as before. But¡­ this time the gap was filled not by enemies but with his own people.


    And the moment he got himself up, he was marveled by their efficiency.


    "Gege¡­ you did a great job telling them what to do," he said with a big laugh as he was pretty content with their actions.


    ''I revised the plan with the other two here and relayed the instructions many times to everyone. Don''t worry, they won''t disappoint you.''


    "Great."


    In front of Arthur, and in the big gap created with his pillar''s explosion, his people started placing huge rocks that were strangely fitting to each other.


    In no time, a huge wall appeared with many towers and great defensive tools. Arthur was astonished, as he never thought of using such a tactic before.


    They used some material to glue the rocks together, plus they already had intersecting pieces that fit each other. So despite hastily built, this wall and these towers looked strong and sturdy enough to sustain the damage.


    "Take the walls," Doaf''s shout came from high in the sky all of sudden, "use everything to kill."


    "Good reaction," Arthur smiled as he watched his large number of mages moving towards the walls and towers while more mages and villagers kept popping up.


    And now it was the issue of their ability to sustain the first impact.


    As for him, he hurriedly went over the current area surrounded with walls and started using his arrows to cause some damage over the suddenly crowded enemies hitting their faces towards the suddenly amassed walls.


    The walls were taken instantly with his mages, and the next thing happened for a massive and violent encounter to take place in an intense way from the first moment.


    Everything depended entirely on the results of this clash, either his men would sustain the pressure and hold their grounds or they would be crushed and he would lose everything.


    "I won''t let that happen," he swore before flying like a mad dragon all over the battlefield and using everything in his disposal¡­ arrows, pillars, breaths, and even his scales and tail.


    He didn''t stop at anything to help his mages stand their grounds, and for Doaf and other elite forces he had, they started a rampage as well.


    And the enemy didn''t stand silent as they sent huge numbers of flying monsters to crush the fort from the air.


    Their ground forces were met with a strong resistance. If they continued their regular way of fighting they wouldn''t manage to prevail.


    So the incoming flying monsters aimed to crush those mages from the air, yet they underestimated Arthur and his newly appearing forces.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Suddenly all the towers were activated alongside many defensive shields. Huge number of explosions erupted all over the place as these towers rained many attacks over the heads of those flying monsters.


    Many were killed in the first wave of attacks and their domineering momentum was crushed with the incoming attacks, creating wide gaps between their ranks and leaving behind many dead and wounded monsters.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Many of the explosions echoed wildly at the entire battlefield from the tower''s attacks, yet there were some muffled ones caused by the brutal clash between these monsters and the invisible defensive shields.


    Arthur and his elite teams found the enemies in tattered shape, and that helped a lot in killing the monsters near the walls much easier than before.


    After half an hour, things started to stabilize as the first clashes all ended in Arthur''s army''s crushing victory.


    "Be ready," Arthur shouted, "we''ll move to phase two now."


    If not for the stressing danger of that beast summoning he would have preferred to keep himself and his forces here.

 Chapter 598: Phase Two Of The Plan

    Being confined inside these walls and defensive shields didn''t seem a bad thought. Kiting this enormous number of enemies over the walls and the towers of this fort was the best plan.


    But it wasn''t the safest plan to adopt.


    The next moment he launched his two pillars up to the forefront before finally activating them.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The world echoes with two rumbles before the two pillars create a big gap just adjacent to the fort.


    "Now!"


    It was Amera who shouted while Arthur was deeply planted in the depth of the crater he created by his fall. Just when he stood up, the two pillars were already summoned back by his system.


    But he didn''t give them any heed, as he watched a more amazing scene in front of him.


    "You are really quite capable," Arthur commended Gege for her efforts.


    ''I made them train over this scenario for days inside my body,'' she proudly braged, ''if they didn''t pull this perfectly then I should kill them myself.''


    He laughed with the three others in his mind while moving fast to the front trying to catch up with his forces.


    The moment his two pillars exploded, all of his flying forces entered inside his fort''s defensive shields. The shockwaves were stopped abruptly at the edges of these shields.


    Then a miracle happened.


    "Move faster!" the crow shouted, "don''t let them fill the gap, hurry!"


    He led the elite forces to the forefront where they started a massive wave of attacks that helped in expanding the gap a little. The ground army was already in a bad shape, and after these explosions and coupled with the hits coming from the towers; the gap kept expanding at a slow rate.


    But there was something else moving on a much slower pace¡­ the entire fort itself!


    The moment Amera shouted, the fort as a whole got uplifted for a few tens of meters of the ground as gigantic wheels appeared all of sudden from its bottom.


    All the standing silent villagers inside the fort had large tools that contained a seat, two small pedals, and a large pyramid shaped lower part that contained the mechanism connecting with the wheels.


    They all started to move the pedals as hard as they could, and in return the wheels started moving.


    "This is so slow," Arthur watched this from high in the air before shouting, "all the mages who can be spared listen to me¡­ go down there and replace the villagers."


    He knew the main issue rested in the weak bodies of these villagers. Despite the magical effects of his garden over everyone, they didn''t live there for enough time to gain such benefits.


    The next minute a large number of mages descended from the walls and towers, moved from the back of the walls as they were stationed as reserve forces and went all over the fort.


    "This much better," Arthur nodded in content when he noticed the obvious increase in speed this time compared with before. "I should keep myself inside then," he learnt from what happened to his elite forces and decided to stay inside the defensive shields while activating the pillars.


    "Go inside now!"


    Just before unleashing the two pillars to the front again he warned. All his flying forces retreated all of sudden before the next explosion occurred.


    "Damn¡­ this looked much better," he laughed as he didn''t get any hit from the two mighty shockwaves this time. "I should have done this from the start."


    Just as his forces started to implement their tactic, the enemy showed a disarray. They were shocked by this plan, and it seemed that the mighty and cunning foe of his wasn''t prepared for such a scenario.


    "You thought I would either attack recklessly or defend stubbornly, don''t you?" Arthur laughed before starting to activate his pillars again.


    And now he wasn''t only creating gaps to be filled with his enemies, he had a gigantic fort that crushed anyone on its way¡­ a beast marching on the ground on wheels that couldn''t be stopped.


    "He seems restless," Arthur noticed the sudden appearance of a large aerial force gathered up from the entire army here, "so you knew the ground fight is lost, and decided to crack my shields? In your dreams¡­ hahaha."


    Arthur wasn''t that much confident in his shields, but his enemy missed one simple thing.


    "Let''s see how good you will do against my pillars mighty monsters," Arthur sneered before launching his two pillars again and this time he didn''t throw them to the ground but high in the air.


    The moment these two pillars penetrated deeply inside the ranks of the flying monsters, Arthur started raining them with his arrows.


    The thing was that throwing his pillars so far away while being surrounded by a large number of enemies meant many of the arrows would be lost.


    Despite controlling the arrows he launched, he took roughly a minute to finally hit the two pillars after many monsters committed suicidal defensive moves.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Almost half of the entire army flying forces were swept by these two explosions which created a vast gap inside the sky. The remaining forces didn''t escape unscathed as many were hit by the shockwaves and got planted deeply in the ground.


    "Take a bitter taste of what I suffered so far," Arthur laughed over their fate while Doaf shout reverberated in the entire fort:


    "Launch all the towers¡­ kill those still standing."


    "Follow me," Amera shouted as well while taking the charge personally with her superb speed to hunt down the disarrayed flying monsters scattered all over the sky.


    Then it was simply a massacre not a fight anymore.


    Yet Arthur wasn''t feeling content. He knew the victory of this war wouldn''t be decided by these fights¡­ but with the summoning array.


    He turned his gaze towards the rapidly approaching fist fortified point of his enemy as he muttered, "I hope you are in there, or else I would have to crush everyone here to kill you."


    The fort kept moving to the front while he kept supporting it with his pillars. At some point, he didn''t need to use his pillar anymore as the enemy started regrouping and rearranging his forces to form a stronger meat shield in front of the first point.


    "Trying to defend yourself?" Arthur muttered, "or trying to buy as much time as you could until the array is activated?"


    His mind leaned towards the later scenario as he knew if he was in the place of this foe he would prefer to put a hard rock after another in front of his path.


    And also that meant another thing.


    "You bastard aren''t here in this spot!"


    Arthur turned his gaze to the darkened sky before muttering, "Can anyone tell me if the summoning array is complete or not?"


    ''I believe it is still amassing energy,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''What you caused by the damage out there is the only reason why it isn''t activated yet,'' Gege said.


    ''Agreed,'' the golden dragon replied, ''and I believe this is just the portal array. They need to fully activate it before starting the real summoning array.''


    "So we still have time," Arthur heaved a deep sigh of relief, "do you know how much I have?"


    ''I can''t precisely judge,'' the golden dragon hesitated as he knew his answer would bring disaster if he was wrong, ''but I think we still have six to twelve hours ahead.''


    Arthur turned his gaze around, checking over the armies still standing in his enemy''s camps. "Six hours aren''t that bad," he sneered before turning his gaze to the first heavily fortified point here, "it''s your bad to not work on fortifying this place with walls and towers like I did.


    It''s a shame you underestimated me¡­ it''s a grave mistake to underestimate me bastard, a mistake you''ll atone by paying your head for it."

 Chapter 599: The Enemys Fierce Retaliations

    The fort kept moving and nothing stopped it at all. The enemy started to use different methods to stop the fort, even using violent explosive arrays and ores and various strange techniques but all failed.


    It wasn''t due to the strength of that shield, but it was thanks to the mages activating more shields to replenish those damaged from the persistent attacks.


    "Don''t stop there, go and crash some of those bastards!" Doaf knew the mages down below were doing a great job but he doubted they could sustain the pressure for a long time.


    So he pushed his elite forces outside the shields to start targeting those using these attacks.


    In no time the pressure exerted over the fort''s shield and the mages controlling them decreased by obvious margin.


    Arthur didn''t stand still as he used his arrows to respond over these kinds of attacks. He tried to target anyone using such attacks, but he alone wasn''t enough to stop them all.


    In addition to them, another wave of attacks came from underground all of sudden.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The fort started to strongly vibrate while the wheels were attacked by all kinds of techniques.


    "Targeting the base? Interesting thought," Arthur muttered before laughing.


    ''Don''t worry, the shields cover the wheels like a sturdy curtain,'' Gege said, ''they won''t be able to crack it.''


    "I know," Arthur knew such a possibility would never bypass the three scheming minds of those in his head. "I just marvel at this enemy¡­ trying everything to drag me down but yet failing."


    Arthur then turned his gaze towards the front where he kept helping the army to clear a path.


    In less than half an hour, the fort finally reached the first fortified spot.


    "Building a wall?" Arthur was speechless when he noticed the wall that started to appear at the second fortified spot in the far distance, "you are learning from your mistakes but¡­ it''s too late," he laughed as he knew his villagers and mages took days inside his garden to prepare such a defensive mechanism.


    And that was thanks to the time difference between his garden world and here, or else achieving such a feat would never be feasible.


    "Ready for the impact," Amera suddenly shouted and Arthur was distracted from his thoughts. "Damn!" he cursed before hurrying back inside the shield before a massive explosion erupted.


    Just as Amera warned in a thundering shout he spotted a large pillar descending from the sky and targeting the fort.


    The pillar appeared all of sudden and the moment it hit the shield, the entire fort trembled to the degree that Arthur thought it would be destroyed.


    But after many explosions and rumbles, the pillar leaned on one side before falling over the ground crushing an endless number of the enemy forces.


    Then a mighty shockwave erupted all of sudden.


    "Damn!" Arthur felt the fort being pushed back, "he is even sacrificing his forces in this region just to send me back!"


    The fort movement was halted when the pillar hit it. like a hammer hitting a nail, then a fan blowing violently toward a feather the fort started to move backward in accelerating momentum.


    And this didn''t affect the fort alone but all the forces around the fort in a radius of one mile at least got affected and were thrown in the air.


    But Arthur didn''t care about them, he only cared about his fort.


    "Any brilliant ideas?" he asked, but he got no response. "Sigh, I should nullify this then. At least this shockwave will act in my favor for once."


    He didn''t hesitate as he threw the two pillars to the back. Once exited the shield, the two were taken by the shockwave to fly at a very fast speed.


    "Activate now!" Arthur knew this would happen so he threw the last two arrows the next instant. He didn''t let his control over the arrows loose, and despite the pressure exerted by their unbelievable speed, he finally managed to hit the pillars.


    "Rumble!"


    The first pillar got hit was his own array. The explosion it created helped in negating the effects of the shockwave, and that helped Arthur to guide the second arrow to hit George''s pillar.


    "Rumble!"


    As the second one exploded the entire shockwave crumbled like a frozen lake facing a hot sunny day.


    "It worked," Arthur heaved a sigh of relief before hurrying to check the damage. "We were pushed this far in such a few minutes?!"


    He was speechless to see the long distance the fort covered under the effect of that mighty shockwave. "I underestimated you, but that won''t happen again," Arthur clenched his fists as he flew high in the air, "Rise, rise and start working now. The war isn''t over."


    "How come a sacred pillar be here in this world?" Amera cursed while appearing in front of him, "this pillar isn''t a toy for some kids to play with!"


    "It''s also so expensive," the crow sighed as he appeared next, "I believe the dragonair''s clan is backing this army up."


    "That''s the only explanation," Doaf appeared last, "I doubt other clans would spare such effort and expenses to crush you."


    Arthur sighed as he knew this was absolutely correct. "No time to waste," Arthur said while gazing up at the air, "who knows what else they would use against us."


    "I''ll keep watching the sky," the crow said.


    "I''ll leave some watching the ground," Amera added.


    "And I''ll make sure the distance we were pushed will be covered in no time," Doaf moved to start relaying orders to the entire army inside the fort.


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I thought I was about to crush him."


    ''Don''t be dejected, after all you are facing the dragonair clan head to head now,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''and I''ll try to help.''


    "How?" Arthur received the two pillars before working fast to activate them. He knew that these two were the best weapons he had against any attacks coming from the higher up realms.


    ''I''ll tell Gege,'' he laughed, ''but we might need some of your extra villagers here.''


    "Take them all," Arthur shrugged before adding, "just don''t play too much. We are at war."


    ''Who said anything about playing? Hahaha,'' the golden dragon''s answer didn''t satisfy Arthur''s doubts.

 Chapter 600: A Surprise Attack

    Arthur didn''t know what the golden dragon was up to but he watched many portals appearing around the fort while the system informed those free to enter.


    "Incoming!"


    Again Amera shouted and this time Arthur didn''t need to check out what was coming at him. He knew it was that distasteful pillar and the next moment he threw the two pillars backward as hard as he could along the arrows to activate them.


    "Boom!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Swoosh!"


    The moment the gigantic pillar hit the shield, the two pillars Arthur threw were activated. Three shockwaves hit each other while the fort trembled and swayed under this mighty clash before finally stabilizing.


    "It took some damage," Arthur sighed when he spotted the small lines of cracks over the ground formed of ores. "I hope they can fix it."


    He glanced over the villagers before he had an idea. "All the villagers leave the machines and start repairing the fort. All the mages over the walls move towards these machines and start working hard over it."


    After the first pillar''s shockwave ended, the region''s shape drastically changed in front of his eyes. Most of the enemies who fortified the first spot were crushed by the shockwave, either smashed to death or sent to fly far in the distance.


    And he doubted they would emerge unscathed from such brutal hit or rough landing.


    So he figured that he didn''t need all those mages on the walls. Not when the enemy was using everything he had to delay the fort advance.


    The addition of mages and the diligent work of the villagers proved to be a very perfect combination at this urgent hour. Arthur watched the fort moving at a higher speed than ever, while the cracks created by the mighty clashes between his pillars and the enemy''s were all dealt with timely and rapidly by his army of villagers.


    "Good, we can survive this," he nodded in content before glancing finally over the distance, "just wait, shave your head clean for me to cleave it."


    Arthur stood in the air like a warlord while his army of mages, villagers, and elites were working hard to keep things in bait. He observed the rapid movement of his fort until a large group of enemies got dispatched from the second fortified spot.


    "They are switching gears," he sneered before shifting his gaze up, "I believe you won''t be crazy to send your men to their death for nothing."


    He knew his enemy wouldn''t use the pillar attack for now, yet the violent techniques kept raining down the shield non-stop.


    If not for this elite army aided by his towers the shields would have fallen long time ago.


    "Go back to the walls," Arthur gave the order with a loud shout, "all villagers return to the machines."


    The shift happened swiftly and just before the new enemies approached, his mages were stationed once more over the walls.


    And another wave of violent fight erupted where his army had the superior hand over their enemies thanks to the shield and various defensive tools scattered all over the walls.


    And Arthur started attacking using his deadly breaths to hunt down strong looking monsters and mages from his enemy''s side.


    As for his elites, they kept those from higher realms in check and prevented any considerable damage to come to the shields.


    "Almost there," Arthur could see the fortified spot clearly now from his place high in the air. The spot turned into a weak version of his fort, with low walls and some hastily built towers.


    "Where are you bastards?"


    Arthur saw a large number of strong looking mages and monsters gathered in the heart of this small fort. He couldn''t tell who was the leader, who was his real enemy, who was the head of the snake.


    "Lacking confirmation about your identity means I have to kill them all," he sneered before heading towards Doaf and others. "See that group over there?" he pointed towards the direction of this strong core group of his enemies, "we need to crush them first."


    "They use strong defensive shields," Doaf said after a few moments of observation, "this will take some time to crack."


    "Then start attacking now," Arthur didn''t hesitate to say, "leave some behind to guard against any from higher realms and start raining that damn shield with your strongest techniques."


    "Leave this to me," Amera smiled before she turned around with her spear and then she launched it while flying fast to the front.


    "Wait for me," the crow shouted before Doaf helplessly shook his head, "these two¡­ sigh," he didn''t stand there as he moved after arranging the forces.


    Small part was left on top of the fort while the rest followed the three leaders to the nearby enemy shield.


    "I also would help," Arthur didn''t take the same route as he flew first around the location of his sealed city. This took roughly an hour before he finally spotted the remaining enemy forces gathered around the fortified fort of theirs.


    "Focusing on the front is your biggest mistake here," Arthur sneered before he released his almost activated two pillars using arrows towards the shielded fort.


    Then he launched two arrows to activate them.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The two pillars attack came unexpectedly to his enemies who were very busy dealing with the tough attacks from his elite forces. The next instant the shield started to crack while the shockwave hit everyone around without exception including his task force.


    Despite that Arthur was content with the result. "Couple more hits and it will crack open," he laughed before starting to activate the pillars again.


    As he knew his enemy wouldn''t stand silent he targeted George''s pillar first. It had such a brutal effect plus it only needed fewer numbers of arrows to be activated.


    Just as the enemy started to react and send a large group of flying monsters towards him, the pillar was ready.


    "Die!" he simply threw it using one arrow while sending another arrow towards it to be activated.


    "Rumble!"


    "What the hell¡­?!!"


    Just as the shockwave erupted, Arthur suddenly felt danger approaching fast before he turned his gaze to the sky and watched this gigantic pillar descending precisely over his head.


    "Sending one pillar to kill me? Damn, you are such a ruthless foe," Arthur didn''t hesitate to move with his fastest speed trying to evade the deadly hit coming from high above.

 Chapter 601: Things Got Bad All Of Sudden

    Arthur''s speed of flight wasn''t slow by any means, so he managed to escape the descent of that pillar barely by hair breadth.


    But the shockwave that followed after threw him far away.


    "Damn, I was lucky nonetheless," he moved from the deep crater he created after falling and glanced at the gigantic pillar which leaned on one side and fell on the ground.


    Luckily the pillar didn''t fall upon his head.


    But just before he could catch his breath, another pillar descended!


    "Not giving me a space to breath? Let''s see how you''ll act then," Arthur''s foe was ruthless, but he was much more ruthless than him.


    This time he didn''t evade far away, but moved directly towards his enemy while gulping as many healing pills as he could.


    "Rumble!"


    He managed to escape the attack of that pillar but was thrown like a feather inside a tornado directly towards the enemy fortified point.


    "Not like this," he knew if he continued on this path he would end up hitting the shield and that would be much more brutal than falling to the ground.


    After all the shield wasn''t all defensive, he was pretty much sure of this.


    "Neutralize my fall damn it!" he threw all the arrows he could in these mere seconds towards the distant pillar of George.


    "Rumble!"


    Just barely before he would hit the shield, the pillar''s shockwave hit him with the explosion that managed to crack open the shield.


    Yet his body was torn severely under the two opposing mighty forces and ended up landing in another deep crater with many deep wounds and exhausted strength.


    "Not yet," Arthur didn''t lean towards resting for a few minutes there to catch his breath. He knew his enemy wouldn''t hesitate to use the pillar to crush him as long as he wasn''t so near from him.


    And he was absolutely correct.


    "Another one? Bad for you I''m already this near and the shield is broken."


    Arthur moved at a fast speed as usual while consuming meat and healing pills like breathing air. He didn''t take much time to reach the camp, entering through one of the many holes in the shield around, and finally he was inside the fort.


    And he wasn''t the only one who managed to reach there.


    "Use everything¡­ kill everyone¡­" Doaf''s scream came to Arthur even before bypassing the shield.


    His elite forces were already so near by, and when the shield was broken they didn''t hesitate to move, not wasting their young master''s hard efforts.


    Arthur didn''t delay to use his strongest attacks; his breaths, his arrows, and his pillars as well.


    "Watch out!"


    This shout didn''t come from any of his men, but from the huge army stationed inside the fort. Once entering there, a very brutal fight erupted and Arthur had all his focus on evading all kinds of attacks coming at him.


    He didn''t neglect healing up his body or replenishing his exhausted energy. But when he heard this shout, a very bad premonition came to his heart.


    "Damn! You tried to kill me and ended up killing everyone!" Arthur was shocked to see the gigantic shadow of the pillar descending towards them as if the sky itself was falling. "Retreat¡­ Retreat!"


    He didn''t hesitate to ditch everything behind and turned around and started flying fast while shouting at his men to disengage and retreat.


    "Keep them in bait, don''t let them retreat!"


    Suddenly this strong shout came from the middle of enemy ranks while the next instant the disturbed army of the enemy started organizing themselves.


    "Is he crazy?" Arthur was hit again with a dense curtain of attacks which managed to stop him in track. "Does he have a suicidal wish?"


    ''Most probably not,'' the golden dragon said in a dignified sound, ''he must have an escaping ticket he would use now.''


    "Damn!" Arthur evaded with all his might while he glanced around. All of his elite forces were entangled in brutal fights, unable even to take a breath! "I can''t lose them," he muttered.


    ''He isn''t the only one with an escape ticket,'' suddenly Gege said, ''hang tight, I''ll summon my portals just before the clash.''


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly in blue light before viciously laughing. "Gege¡­ I love you girl, hahaha."


    ''You are such a heartless one y''know,'' she complained before adding, ''and I love you brick headed dragon.''


    "Hahaha," Arthur laughed before glancing over the falling pillar, "I have less than a minute," he turned his gaze towards the source of the previous shout where he finally spotted his enemy.


    To be honest he was inwardly shocked by that dragonair. He wasn''t any much older than him apparently, yet he was standing there in the middle of all this chaos and death while being collected and calm.


    "He¡­ isn''t a simple one at all," Arthur felt a deep threat coming from this man, "I need to try."


    He didn''t hesitate to turn around and start to move towards his deadly enemy. "System, control my two pillars, let them be just on top of his head when activated."


    ''Ding! Roger that.''


    Arthur knew his window was very slim but he didn''t want to leave here before trying. It was just one shot and he decided to make it right.


    So he just faked trying to escape again while getting closer to his enemy under the concentrated fire from everyone.


    "Kill him, or don''t let him escape," the youth shouted again and Arthur wanted just to curse him and his entire family for this.


    His enemies didn''t need any instructions to attack him more. "Are you worried about me? You better do," Arthur inwardly sneered while he started to take many hits from everywhere.


    ''Ding! Twenty seconds,'' the system warned and Arthur didn''t stop launching arrows towards the two pillars.


    "Trying to stop heaven itself from crushing you? Hahaha, you are really funny," the youth seemed amused while watching Arthur using his entire power to activate the two pillars.

 Chapter 602: A Silver Dragonair!

    Yet Arthur didn''t speak back as his focus was entirely over his two pillars and his own bow and arrows.


    ''Ding! Five seconds,'' the system warned.


    ''Now!''


    Arthur gave the signal and all of sudden two things happened. First many portals appeared all over the place which, strangely, weren''t directed only towards his men.


    Arthur didn''t have any time to ask about this, as the next second he turned towards his enemy and gave him an evil grin before launching many arrows towards him.


    And his grin was welcomed with a laugh, and his portals were met with another one, only for that youth, only one for him and nothing for his army.


    But just before he could move a muscle towards there, the two pillars suddenly appeared on top of his head.


    The entire place ushered under deep darkness and all the sounds seemed to be sucked dry by the mightiness of this fall. Yet Arthur managed to spot the face of his foe, a beautiful face that showed a horrified expression at this moment.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    And the two pillars exploded the next instant creating mighty explosions and a massive shockwave.


    "Im¡­ impossible!"


    In front of Arthur''s eyes, as the two explosions and shockwaves coalesced in no time to sweep away everything in their paths; a gigantic silver dragon appeared holding a big fan in his claw which created a sudden tornado of violent wind.


    And then the dragon moved inside the portal while taking a lot of damage from Arthur''s attack.


    "Damn!" Arthur didn''t have time to act or do anything more, "bring them inside," he shouted while stepping finally inside the portal just before the pillar hit the ground and devastated the camp into shreds.


    "How can this be possible?!!" Arthur was inwardly shocked, but his rage was much stronger than his shock.


    ''He¡­ no, it''s a she,'' the golden dragon said, ''she is a silver dragonair, a special kind like yours. I told you about this race before¡­ cunning and not easy to handle.''


    "You didn''t say they are strong!" Arthur was deeply frustrated. His sneak attack succeeded, but his enemy seemed much stronger than what he expected. "And his tone, he was a man, I was sure of it!"


    ''There are many ways up there to turn a woman into a man,'' the golden dragon laughed.


    "Are you laughing?" Arthur shouted in extreme rage, "I was this close¡­ this f*cking close from killing that bitch!"


    ''Ding! Calm down, you have escaped unscathed with your army.''


    The words of the system made Arthur recall something. "Why have you opened portals to her army? They are loyal to her! They even were ready to die just to follow her commands!"


    ''First,'' the golden dragon answered instead of Gege as he didn''t mind taking this rage storm of Arthur, ''they had no choice¡­ they are slaves. And second, you can already guess this point on your own.''


    "¡­"


    Arthur tried to calm himself for a bit as he understood what his golden dragon meant. He glanced around where he found himself standing nearby the Golam''s lake. "Where are them? Where are everyone?" he didn''t spot anyone for a long distance everywhere.


    ''I took them somewhere else,'' Gege finally spoke in a hesitant tone, ''they are at the place your men once trained.''


    She went into silence for a moment before adding, ''and don''t ever shout at me like this! I hate being shouted at!!''


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t answer her as he checked his body first. Everywhere there were deep wounds that even some revealed the deep bones of his. "Sigh, it was a brutal fight," he muttered, "it''s a fortune I escaped with only such wounds."


    He started to heal himself while replenishing his energy as he flew fast towards the place of his armies. "Give the orders for everyone to stop fighting," he said.


    ''I''ve already done that, but¡­'' Gege paused.


    "What?"


    ''Ding! The slavery army is the one fixed on fighting ours.''


    "Then trap them in their places, you can do that, right?"


    ''I will,'' Gege simply answered and then went to silence again as Arthur''s rage didn''t die yet. Arthur didn''t ask to be transferred now as he also didn''t like himself being in such rage.


    He knew perfectly well that rage was a poison to mind and will, so he decided not to reach there in such a state.


    "Wow, you managed to pull everyone inside."


    The moment Arthur went there he spotted a large group of monsters and mages trapped inside a large bubble.


    ''I couldn''t let anyone escape,'' Gege said, ''it would be a loss for you.''


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded in content while he approached there.


    "Phew, I thought you couldn''t escape."


    The moment he got near the place Amera moved first to reach him before others.


    "Was worried over me?" he laughed in return while her face changed slightly before pouting, "c''mon, don''t be ridiculous!"


    "Hahah, she was very worried about you," the crow said before Doaf appeared as he laughed as well.


    "I too can see this," Arthur laughed with them while Amera had her face change to soft redness before harrumphing. "It was a close call," Doaf said before adding, "it''s good we managed to escape this disaster."


    "Your portals¡­ they are very handy," the crow commended, "I envy you for having such a technique even before stepping in the higher up worlds."


    "It was just mere luck," Arthur said before adding, "but our enemy is still out there healthy and loose."


    "But his techniques and traps were all damaged," Amera suddenly said.


    "How come you know that?"


    "His minions here spitted everything," she sighed, "they were hot headed at first, mistaking that we took them here to kill them all."


    "It''s great you trapped them, as this way we managed to reason up with all and push some sense inside their thick heads," Doaf said before adding, "but they all are slaves."


    "Don''t worry about that," Arthur said in a confident tone.

 Chapter 603: Amassing The Pillars

    "It''s a big deal," Amera seriously said, "if we didn''t erase these slave marks off them then that bastard would simply activate them and kill everyone!"


    "Don''t worry," Arthur wasn''t worried at all as he already gave his system the signal to go and erase every single slave mark. "We need to go out there and check the status of my city."


    "Don''t worry, everything was buried under the fortified spot the pillar just crushed," the crow said, "at least the mechanism would be damaged or left empty for us to destroy."


    "I hope so," Arthur said before adding, "prepare everyone to move out now."


    "What about them?" Amera pointed to the large army trapped, "are we going to leave them behind? Or take them with us?"


    "They will stay here for now," Arthur replied after a few moments of pause. He asked his system about the time needed for the marks to be erased.


    It would take at least a week to erase everything as these marks were much enhanced than the ones he dealt with before. One week here was simply less than a day outside, and so he wasn''t worried and decided to go back and check things there.


    He was still worried over his city''s safety, also worried about that silver dragonair.


    "By the way," Doaf suddenly said, "our enemy is a girl of the silver dragonairs."


    "I know," Arthur sighed, and the gratified expression they held over their faces told him everything about how bad the current situation was.


    "This clan¡­ sigh, they act cocky and they deserve their reputation in gold," Amera sighed before adding, "I believe it won''t be easy to conquer this world. The silver dragonairs are all cunning bitches who are very hard to deal with."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur said again, "I have you, and I won''t stay silent. We bested her once, and we can conquer her many times already."


    They didn''t say a single word as Amera and the crow went to relay the orders of leaving while Doaf stayed behind.


    "Want to say something to me?" Arthur had the feeling that Doaf didn''t stay back to watch the scene around.


    "We need to get in touch with the grandmaster," Doaf said before adding in a serious tone and attitude, "we need more reinforcements."


    "More than what we already have?" Arthur was speechless.


    "We need not only more here, but we need also some actions up there," Doaf said and Arthur understood what he was hinting at.


    "That world the silver dragonair girl tried to connect with us?"


    "Yes, we need to crush it," Doaf sighed, "this time we managed to stop everything barely at the last second. It was a lucky time and I doubt we would be this lucky everytime."


    Arthur understood his meaning and he agreed totally with his vision and plan. "What do you need?"


    "Lacking proper gears to use we have to use the same technique that girl used."


    Arthur''s eyes shone as he muttered, "that array?"


    "We need every single ruin and flag of it so we can mimic it," he said before sighing, "unfortunately none of us here are well diversed in matters of arrays or else we could have created it on our own."


    "I have who can do it," Arthur confidently said while thinking about Deem and Gor and others, "but the array¡­ I think it was destroyed by the pillar."


    "I hope it isn''t," Doaf said, "at least not completely. We need part of its main components to mimic."


    "Let''s see things once we got out," Arthur couldn''t judge now as he didn''t know the real situation outside.


    "We are ready," Amera said as she appeared with the crow. The werewolf of his also appeared with the two, and he was glad to see his personal guardian still alive.


    "Stay here," he said to his werewolf, "once the marks are erased the shields would be dropped instantly. Lead this group and train them well. I want them to be the first guards I have under your leadership."


    Arthur''s words to the werewolf made the latter beam with a bright smile. "Don''t worry master, I won''t disappoint you," he simply said with a grin that made his face look more vicious than before.


    "Sigh, it''s like you said," Arthur said the moment he went outside and headed to the sky, "the arrays and traps were all damaged, but¡­"


    He glanced over the place where the arrays were buried, "this pillar¡­ it''s really massive."


    "We can destroy it," the crow suggested.


    "I doubt we can," Doaf objected.


    "We can try to push it by sheer  force," Amera suggested.


    "This¡­ we don''t have enough manpower for that," Doaf also objected.


    ''Simply take it inside,'' Gege suddenly said, ''just drop your blood over it and touch it to be taken.''


    ''Can I take them? Really? Like the bronzed pillars?''


    ''You can take them in, but I doubt you can use any,'' Gege said before adding, ''but I can.''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to move down towards the pillar. "Stop, this pillar is controlled by that girl. You can''t¡­" Amera shouted at him but when she saw the pillar vanish the next instant, she swallowed what she was about to say.


    "What were you just saying now?" he returned to her with a big grin over his face.


    "Don''t act cocky because you took it," she harrumphed, "you two¡­ dragonairs are a really unpredictable race!"


    "C''mon, don''t put me with them," Arthur laughed, "I''ll go to take the pillars and you¡­" he gazed at her, "take the lead of the elite forces and scan the area around us. I don''t want any army to jump all of sudden at us."


    "I doubt she will come here soon," Doaf said.


    "It''s not her," Arthur shook his head before telling them what he knew about the armies heading towards here from the previous prisoners.


    "Damn! That girl is really ruthless," the crow sighed, "I will go with you too."


    "No, you will lead the forces here and go back to the city," Arthur stopped him before adding, "you''ll be the leader of the defenses there."


    "D¡­ defense? I don''t excel at any defense! Take Amera instead!" The crow seemed scared from the mere idea of staying behind and doing nothing but preparing the defenses.


    "Me? C''mon, talk only about yourself," Amera hurriedly shouted at the crow, "I have my own task, don''t throw orders around like you are the boss!"


    "I''ll do it," Doaf had to step in to stop the about to occur fight between the two, "you two go now and make sure to scout everywhere."


    The three glanced at Arthur who had no option here but to nod.


    "First," after the two left in a hurry fearing Arthur would change up his mind, "we need to get those buried down there," he pointed towards the large smashed area of the ground which now had a deep and long groove that resembled the gigantic pillar.


    "Leave it to me."


    "Gather everything and give them to a mage called Deem in the city," Arthur said while he started moving towards the next pillar.


    "Wait," Doaf stopped him, "are you planning to leave or what?"


    "I have something to do," Arthur vaguely answered as he wanted to enter his garden world and start studying those pillars.


    He knew Gege could benefit from them but he also was pretty sure as a dragonair he could also use them in some way. He didn''t believe such mighty pillars had no power or use for him at all.


    "Be careful then," Doaf mistook his answer and intentions for one of his unexpected crazy adventures. "take the werewolf out then."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur was tired already from repeating the same thing, "I won''t easily die."


    "I know," Doaf said before adding, "good luck young master."


    Arthur felt like he was saying goodbye to him as if he was going to his death! Speechlessly he moved towards the pillars and started gathering them all one after another.


    "They seemed more confident in my enemy''s victory odds than mine¡­ sigh," he helplessly muttered while flying towards another pillar.


    However his plan to gather everything and go inside was interrupted all of sudden by the approach of his friends. He knew they were worried, anxious about what happened.


    "Sigh, if I was inside and watched this brutal fight while doing nothing but pray then I would be very much agitated like them," he softly muttered while deciding to put his plans on hold... for now.

 Chapter 604: Taking Amelia On A Ride

    "How is the city?"


    As the leaders of his team reached him he asked after checking at their doings.


    "It''s¡­ not that bad," Amelia hesitated before adding with a soft sigh, "but we lost many of the villagers and mages."


    "Really?" Arthur was too much immersed in his fight here and didn''t know things were that bad inside, "didn''t they stop attacking you a while ago?"


    "No," Ron shook his head, "they sent a large army and it managed to crack open the shields of the city. After that it was a simply brutal fight."


    Arthur''s eyebrows were raised before muttering, "I''ll go and take a look."


    He suddenly recalled something. "Deem, I want you to study something¡­ Wait for Doaf, he will brief you with everything."


    Deem nodded while Amelia asked, "won''t we go together?"


    She noticed he was about to turn into a dragon and suddenly he had an amusing idea. "Come, hop over my back," he said while turning into a dragon, "let me take you for a ride¡­ but hold yourself quite well."


    "Hmm," she nodded before jumping in obvious embarrassment over his back. For her he was her man, and riding over him like that made her face blush.


    "Comfortable?" he asked.


    "Y...Yes."


    "Great," Arthur smiled before adding, "be ready."


    The next moment he simply flapped his wings with his weakest strength, however the next instant he vanished to the middle of the sky.


    "Ahhhh!"


    Amelia screamed and her scream made him unwillingly laugh. He stabilized himself as he reached a suitable height. "Are you ok?" he checked on her.


    "Damn¡­ that was crazy!" she shouted in mere excitement in contrast to what Arthur thought she would feel.


    "Oh, you seem to like it," he laughed, "take a good look around."


    "Impressive," she admitted, "even on the flying bet this scene looked paler."


    "Hahaha, you naughty girl just liked being on top of me," he playfully said and his sudden remark made her face turn rosy again.


    "I bet your face is sexy right now."


    "Stop it bad boy," she hit his scales and felt sour over her hand. He only kept laughing before spreading out his wings and floating in the air. "Amazing," she was taken hostage to the beauty of the scene over his back.


    And he only kept smiling and said nothing.


    When he flew over the city he spotted the damage caused there and sighed. "It can''t be helped," he muttered.


    "I will push everyone to work harder," she said trying to console him, "at least we won''t start from the scratch."


    "Barely," he muttered while thinking of the large armies heading towards here and the cunning enemy coveting his head. "I need to do something."


    ''I can teach you some strong attacks of higher planes if you wanted,'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    ''I think this might be a good idea, but not the needed solution for this crisis,'' Arthur said while expressing out his thoughts, ''I''m not the only one here in this world under the pressure of those dark mages and outside dark invasion.''


    ''Your point?'' the golden dragon asked in a harsh tone, while his pride was hurt by Arthur''s refusal to accept his offer.


    ''He wants to start a resistance,'' Gege suddenly spoke, ''and the funny thing is that I can help in that.''


    ''Really?'' Arthur was surprised to hear that and instantly got hyped up, ''what do you have in mind?''


    ''Let me prepare things first,'' she said before adding, ''at least you will need a day here to organize this tattered city of yours.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur didn''t know why Gege acted in such a way but the two voices in his mind already knew the reason.


    ''Ding! There is also something very important you need to take care of it fast.''


    Arthur felt the urge in his system of voice. ''What?'' he asked while flying leisurely on top of his destroyed city while not caring about it now.


    ''It''s about calling George,'' the golden dragon said, ''you need to hurry in doing so.''


    ''What for?'' Arthur knew these two wouldn''t agree on something that was simply coincidental.


    ''Ding! Those coming from high up might grow restless and impatient if you kept defeating them like this.''


    ''Do you ask me to be defeated?'' Arthur was speechless.


    ''No, it''s not that,'' the golden dragon hurriedly said, ''but if they went impatient then they would do something very reckless¡­''


    ''Like?''


    ''Destroying this entire world!'' Gege said before sighing, ''C''mon boys, he is a grown up man and can handle such news.''


    However Arthur felt instantly shocked and frightened. ''Can they do that?'' he asked before adding, ''how?''


    ''By many ways,'' the golden dragon ignored Gege''s remark, ''the simplest way would be by inviting a berserk monster to eat this entire world as a whole. These monsters¡­ they are always hungry.''


    ''How can we stop them?'' Arthur was speechless there for a moment before thinking about a solution.


    ''Ding! You can''t,'' the system said, ''Ding! You need the help of your godfather.''


    ''So I need to contact him¡­ I got it.''


    ''He is needed to seek for that planet full of ready to act dark mages. He must be aware of such big moves high up there, but we also need him to gather his forces and protect this world,'' the golden dragon said, ''even if he couldn''t fully protect it, then at least he would stop any calamity on a scale big enough to consume the entire world.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur went into silence for minutes before saying, ''Leave it to me,'' he then turned to his intoxicated girl with this ride, "Hold tight, we are going down now."


    "Is there something wrong¡­ Ahhh!"


    He didn''t even wait for her to continue talking before he fell rapidly from high up to the below ground. "Hahaha, sorry, I love to hear your screams," he said while spreading out his wings before stopping in an empty space in the outer region of his city.


    "You¡­" she hurriedly jumped with shaking legs while Arthur laughed. "You are the one who said who loved it," he teased her and she only pouted her lips to look even more alluring.

 Chapter 605: The Tree Of Mirrors

    "Alright," he simply replied, "summon Doaf here at once."


    She glanced silently at him before taking out a bird''s wing and sent it to one of her aiders. In less than ten minutes, Arthur spotted Doaf coming fast along with some of his trusted subordinates.


    He seemed to mistake the summon as a calling of distress!


    "You know this hurts," Arhtur couldn''t help but mutter.


    "What?" Doaf asked before turning around, "is everything alright?"


    "This¡­" Arthur pointed at Doaf''s entire body, "this lack of trust you have towards me¡­ c''mon, I''m not that weak!"


    "Well," Doaf hesitated before saying, "I know you aren''t but most of your strongest attacks are weakened greatly here," he said before sighing, "and things would only go south if you met an elite force like ours."


    Arthur knew he was telling the truth but his pride was still hurt nonetheless. "I wanted to talk about how to summon my godfather."


    "As I said," Doaf said in a strange way, "didn''t we agree previously over this?"


    He stole a glance at the nearby Amelia mistaking this was for her to know what was going to happen.


    "I want another approach," Arthur said, "a faster one," he added while his face showed how serious he was.


    "This¡­" Doaf seemed a bit hesitant before saying with an expression of loss over his face, "there might be another way but we need something to use to contact him."


    "Like my pillars?" Arthur asked.


    "I doubt they might be useful," Doaf sighed before adding, "you tried it once and what''s the result?"


    Arthur knew he was correct again, yet before he could say another idea the golden dragon suddenly said:


    ''Use the pillar George gave you.''


    The eyes of Arthur suddenly shone brightly in blue light before he waved his hand and the next instant the short pillar appeared. "What about this?"


    "This¡­" the face of Doaf changed before adding, "but using it will deplete most of its energy¡­ I doubt it will be usable again!"


    "If we don''t summon my godfather here soon, I doubt we''ll live enough to use it as much as you think."


    Arthur''s response was decisive and he didn''t leave any room for discussion. "Are you sure?" Doaf asked, "once done this can''t be retrieved again!"


    ''I can recharge its energy again,'' Gege suddenly said, ''or I can absorb what remained inside¡­ either way it won''t be left unusable for us.''


    "Just do it," Arthur threw the pillar towards Doaf before adding, "How long will this take?"


    "I need to prepare everyone in here first," Doaf glanced over the pillar before sighing, "throwing off such a pearl like it was a mere rock¡­ you are really something."


    Arthur only smiled before adding, "make this your top priority."


    "I will," Doaf promised before asking in much curiosity, "may I know the reason behind such action?"


    "Just in case," Arthur shrugged, "we need to get in touch with my godfather soon, right?"


    "Indeed," Doaf didn''t seem to buy such a reason but the next moment he retreated with his entourage fast. "You also go back," he said, "I''ll have something to do inside the garden world."


    "Be safe," she typically said.


    "Hahaha, it''s my own world. What can go worse there?"


    He then vanished inside a portal before her eyes while she only sighed and left back to the city to rebuild.


    As for him, he had another plan ongoing in his mind. "Alright Gege, I''m now all yours."


    "How lovely," she said before adding, "I hope you mean it."


    "Hahaha, sure," he didn''t get why she was groaning like this, "now where should I go?"


    "To the mirror tree," Gege said, "it''s time for you to start unleashing its true power."


    "Alright," Arthur didn''t ask her to move him directly as he flew over the garden taking a big tour there. He checked over his werewolf and found him strictly training his newly gained guards.


    "They will be just the beginning," he promised before heading towards the mirror tree.


    "How can I use it?" he asked before adding, "is it still connected with Olor?"


    "Any connection with the outside world is severed," Gege answered.


    "Then what am I doing here exactly?" he asked with much loss over his face.


    "This tree isn''t designed only to link to people you know," she said before adding, "it can also help in linking with everyone provided that they are in the same world as yours and have the same beliefs and desires as you."


    "Like the desire to kill those bastards of dark clans, right?"


    "Indeed, but there is a catch," she sighed, "it''s very energy consuming to use it this way. Besides, you need to activate it first to be able to unleash its full strength."


    Arthur didn''t doubt this would be a challenging task to do. "How can I provide energy to her?" he asked first to better understand the monster he was about to awaken.


    "Not much," Gege said, "one pillar every one hour at least."


    "W¡­ What?!!" Arthur was inwardly shocked, "this is¡­ just outrageous price!"


    "But the return will dazzle you," she laughed before adding, "don''t be stingy. You need to pay some to gain more, right? Besides, their pillars have not much use now."


    "But¡­"


    "Just try it for one day, if you aren''t satisfied then you can stop it."


    "Hmm¡­ sounds fair," he muttered as paying twenty-four pillars was nothing for him, "how can I activate it then?"


    "This is quite tricky," she honestly replied, "you need first to gather your blood."


    "My blood?!" he was taken aback, "how much are we talking about here?" he had such a bad premonition about her quest.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s see¡­ at least the size of your old cauldron."


    "This¡­" he was speechless out of shock, "it might kill me!"


    "If you used your human form then yeah," the golden dragon suddenly said, "but using your dragonair body will be more than enough."


    "Still it''s too much!"


    "Ding! You can use meat and healing pills to replenish your loss," the system stood on their side before adding, "Ding! You need this tree to be awakened and this is just the first step in doing so¡­ getting her to be familiar with you."


    "There are more violent steps like this one?!!" Arthur bellowed in disbelief while his face showed how deeply shocked he was.

 Chapter 606: The Greedy Tree

    "Hahaha, indeed there are more steps," Gege amusingly laughed, "but not as harsh as this one."


    "Phew," Arthur heaved a sigh of relief as he didn''t know what else he could pay after¡­ his flesh?


    "Ding! Stop wasting time and start," the system laughed and Arthur only bitterly shook his head. "Bring me the old cauldron then," he said and the next moment the cauldron appeared in front of him.


    The next hour he started injuring himself and letting his blood drip over the cauldron. He didn''t stop consuming meat, or taking healing pills while the cauldron was slowly being filled with his blood.


    "Done," once finished he hurried to ask, "what should I do now?"


    "I''ll bring the pillars needed first, hold on," Gege said while the next instant he was taken aback with the massive number of pillars appearing around the tree.


    "This¡­" he didn''t know what to say while the corner of his eyes twitched.


    "What? It''s needed to activate the tree," Gege laughed, "c''mon, it''s only one thousand pillars, nothing much stingy dragon."


    "Sigh," he paused for a few moments before saying, "alright, what should I do now?"


    "The system will guide you to dig the ground," the golden dragon amusingly said.


    "Dig¡­ what?" Arthur asked, "do you want me to dig what? Why not bring my villagers here then?"


    "First," Gege spoke while controlling her laughter, "this must be a top secret. Not too many should be aware of this tree and its location. And second, you need to do it yourself to deepen the bond with the tree."


    "Why not bumping her then?" Arthur bitterly jokes.


    "It might work¡­" Gege said before laughing as the face of Arthur showed a strange look, "don''t worry, if she had a human body then yeah you could have done that naughty boy."


    "¡­"


    He didn''t speak as he glanced all around. "What should I use to dig then? Bring me something!"


    "This is another requirement," the golden dragon said, "you need to use something that belongs to you."


    "I¡­ only have weapons!"


    "You have your sword and also that good looking spear. Use them," Gege said while the system added:


    "Ding! You only need to move around and I''ll control your direction. But¡­ don''t move too fast."


    "¡­"


    Arthur thought and took out his spear. After all he treasured his sword more than this golden one. "Alright, I''m ready," he said while starting to move around.


    Once moved he felt the system controlling his legs and directing his steps. "Ding! Start, you are at the right spot," the system said and Arthur didn''t hesitate to point his spear to the ground.


    And like this he started excavating earth while moving in circles around the pillars.


    It took him one hour to finalize the task. "Now what?" he asked while glancing all around, "damn, I feel like a farmer preparing his ground for seeds."


    "Hahaha, you are really amusing," Gege laughed, "now you only need to wait aside and we''ll do the rest."


    "Finally," he sighed in relief while watching his cauldron moving on its own. The blood inside started to drip over the grooves he made, and in less than half an hour the entire ground around the tree looked like a ground irrigated with his blood.


    "Stand back," the golden dragon said, "it''s time to start the array."


    Arthur flew to the rear while asking, "what should I do? Do you need runes?"


    "No the pillars will do fine," Gege said, "now start hitting them with your arrows to be activated. Don''t stop until I give you the mark."


    "Ding! I''ll control the bow so don''t worry too much about the arrows," the system said.


    "Let''s start," Arthur took his position before releasing his arrows. He felt the system controlling his hands to direct the arrows to their marks.


    As for the pillars, the moment they got hit with arrows they rumbled but they didn''t cause the same effect he used to see.


    "Are they¡­ alright?" he asked, as he felt something was odd.


    "The tree is absorbing the pillar''s energy," Gege said, "keep firing at this rate, I believe it will need roughly four hours to six for it to be satisfied."


    But she was wrong, as the tree didn''t stop absorbing the energy of the pillars even after ten hours.


    "This tree¡­ she is really greedy," Arthur bitterly smiled while watching Gege replace the already depleted pillars with another batch.


    "I hope she gets satisfied with this much," Gege said before honestly adding, "I don''t want to make you bleed once again."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t speak as he prayed this wouldn''t happen. Luckily the tree got satisfied after fifteen hours and after depletion of nearly one tenth of his arrow reserves along with two thousand pillars.


    "Swoosh!"


    The tree started its awakening with this soft sound that was clearly heard by Arthur. "Is she ready?" he hurriedly asked.


    "You can stop now," Gege said before adding, "luckily another batch of pillars and blood isn''t needed."


    Arthur stored away his bow and watched the tree glowing in faint blue color. "What''s going to happen?"


    "Just wait," Gege said, "soon she will act."


    "To do¡­ what?" he asked while watching the light coming off the tree intensified.


    "You''ll see," the golden dragon laughed, "this is going to be interesting."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t know why but he didn''t feel any good coming from such remarks. He watched for ten minutes the tree glowing until a new thing happened.


    "Damn! Let me off the crazy tree!" he shouted in shock as he was taken by surprise¡­ a branch of the tree erupted all of sudden from the ground in front of him and it started to wrap around his body in no time.


    "Don''t struggle," Gege laughed, "it will only cause more pain if you do."


    "What the hell is happening?!" he watched another branch piercing the ground and surrounding him, and then a third one and a fourth until his body was completely covered by these branches.

 Chapter 607: The Resistance Broadcast Is On

    The blue light glowing off the branches suddenly got brightened before it all dimmed. He felt as if some kind of energy was now penetrating his body.


    "Ding! It''s her will, let it be," the system warned as he felt Arthur''s intention to struggle.


    "It''s¡­ going inside my golden pearl!" Arthur didn''t act and kept watching the alien energy until it reached his old dantian. There it got absorbed by the golden pearl and Arthur started to feel some connection with the tree.


    "She selected me to be connected with," Gege laughed while adding, "she hates you two, hahaha."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The energy kept entering his body for a long hour before the entire tree lost its blue luster and the next moment the branches seemed to grow weaker, letting his body loose as he fell on the ground like a rock.


    "Now what?" he shouted in such an aggressive tone.


    "Wait," Gege said before adding with a chuckle, "she is almost finished."


    Arthur took a deep breath while glancing over the branches that surrounded him from before. "They are dying¡­" he muttered while watching them shrink and dry up at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    "She is evolving," Gege said, "I think she would take a day to finish. You can train or do whatever you wish until then."


    Arthur didn''t have a choice except to train. He took out his sword as he muttered, "it''s time to use you buddie¡­ I need to vent out some steam."


    He started jumping around while using different kinds of sword techniques. His moves weren''t smooth as he had to adapt using his dragonair body.


    "Ding! You know you can do much better using your human body," the system said after a few hours of training.


    "I know," Arthur jumped again while using another sword technique, "but I need to be able to fight while in the dragonair form."


    "Tsk," the golden dragon sneered, "a dragonair with a sword? That''s just hilarious."


    Arthur ignored his remark while focusing entirely on his training. The usage of his sword techniques to his spiritual energy forced him to take some rest every three hours.


    "She is ready," after almost fifteen hours Gege spoke in an excited tone, "the tree is ready."


    "I heard you first time," he laughed before storing away his sword and wiped his sweat off his forehead. "What am I supposed to do now?" he asked.


    "Check on the golden pearl first," Gege said while adding in a sweet laugh, "I''m sure you''ll be amazed."


    He didn''t know why she was this excited but he followed her instructions nonetheless.


    Once he started to check his looking normal golden pearl, a sudden sting happened and he felt an immense pain deep down his soul for one moment before everything vanished.


    He wasn''t checking his body anymore, instead he was standing in front of a gigantic mirror with no reflection of him on its surface like he was a ghost.


    "I''m under your command, master."


    The voice softly whispered in his ears while he noticed the smooth surface of the mirror vibrated faintly for a few seconds.


    "So this is what she meant," he cracked a smile while asking, "tell me how do you work?"


    "I''m deeply rooted inside the world you are in," her soft voice whispered softly again while the surface of the mirror trembled, "I''m connected to the souls of everyone living in this world. As such whatever you wish to say I can deliver to everyone in no time."


    "Impressive," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly while he added, "deliver this message then¡­"


    "Please wait master," the mirror''s voice came again to interrupt him before adding, "I can''t deliver written messages."


    "Then what?"


    "I''ll record you saying whatever you wish and then I''ll spread it to every corner of this world."


    "Impressive," Arthur commented, "if so then let me think for a moment."


    He closed his eyes and contemplated what he should say.


    "What do you think?" he suddenly said while opening his eyes, "do you have any suggestions? Guys? Gege?" he felt weird as no one answered him.


    "Master, this is inside me and no one is allowed to be in me except you," the tree of mirrors'' voices came again which made him realize what was going on.


    "Sigh, I''ll work with what I have then," he said before adding, "I can always come here and edit the message, right?"


    "Of course you can record a new one and ditch the old, but can''t edit any," she said.


    "Fine by me," he paused, "what about the energy needed? How many pillars do you need for each message to be delivered?"


    "For the first time, I''ll need one fifth of what I consumed to start the connection," she said before adding, "but after that delivering and receiving messages from them will only need a very low amount of energy."


    Arthur got a scare hearing the needed number of pillars for each message to be delivered. But soon he realized this was for the first time only. "You can send and receive messages?!" he exclaimed in surprise.


    "Sure, as long as anyone wants to say something to me via the connection then I can receive it," she said before adding, "but I won''t bother mastering all messages. I''ll just filter and group them together and let my big sister deliver them to you."


    "Gege you mean?"


    "Yes."


    "Alright," Arthur took a deep breath as he organized his thoughts, "Let''s start our fighting back broadcast."


    The next moment his picture started to appear on the surface of the mirror while the soft sound whispered in his ears, "start whenever you are ready."


    "My fellow mages and citizens of this world, I''m Willy. If any of you haven''t heard about my name yet then I should first introduce myself.


    I came from another world, chased and schemed by those dark clans and forces which invaded your peaceful lives and spread chaos everywhere.


    I''m calling you all to deliver two messages, one for my future allies and one for my current enemies¡­ I''m going to resist!


    I won''t stand still watching the dark clans getting their victory and ruin this world. I only have one response to all my enemies¡­ Death awaits you on the doorsteps of my empire.


    I call everyone who shares the same view and beliefs¡­ let''s stick together. Fighting alone against such a brutal enemy isn''t wise. We need to gather, arrange our forces and be ready for the epic war that will erupt soon.


    I won''t rest until all the dark clans in this world is gone¡­ this my pledge to all, foes before friends.


    If you want to find me, search for the former location of the Horas Academy. My city is built there, and my forces are growing massively there.


    Join me, join us, join the resistance and start doing something that truly matters against those filthy clans.


    As for my enemies¡­ you got my address, don''t be late to come here and die."


    He paused for a few minutes before whispering, "I''m done."


    "I know, just processing everything and I''ll go live in few minutes."


    "How was I?" Arthur was strangely nervous.


    "Fabulous," and she only whispered this before announcing, "done... now I''ll have to send you out master and start the broadcast at once."

 Chapter 608: Do You Want Me To Strip Off For You?

    "Thanks for using my service," the soft sound whispered in his ears, "I''m now broadcasting it all the time to anyone with the same goals as you."


    "Thanks," Arthur said before adding, "keep me posted if something interesting happened."


    "Speaking of which," the soft voice paused, "there is something that you might like."


    "What?"


    "Someone is asking to be connected to you," the voice whispered, "do you want to receive the call?"


    "Who is he?"


    "It''s a she," the voice said, "and she says she is your current enemy."


    The eyes of Arthur shone brightly for a brief moment before he nodded, "let her through."


    The next moment a very stunning beauty appeared on the surface of the mirror. It wasn''t like what he experienced while calling Olor, as this time the quality was so real that he thought she was really there in front of him at first glance.


    "Hahaha, you are really amusing," suddenly that lady laughed while her chest rose up and down, "amusing¡­ really the most amusing enemy I''ve ever fought and I fought a lot."


    "What do you want?" Arthur smiled and didn''t show his discontent, "why did you ask to meet me?"


    "In fact I was slightly curious about how this works," she said as she glanced all around, "so anyone can get in touch with you¡­ interesting," she laughed before adding, "it''s amusing to know you''ll be very busy in the upcoming days answering everyone here."


    "That''s none of your business," Arthur sneered, "and you didn''t say why you wanted to see me."


    "I want to make an offer for you," she said while her eyes were feasting over Arthur''s body, "in fact you can consider it a token of my appreciation for what you''ve pulled there in your city."


    "What offer?" Arthur didn''t comment on her strange attitude or his hidden praise.


    After all, praise coming from an enemy wasn''t a good thing.


    "I want you to work for me," she said, "I''ve many black dragonairs under my command, but you are special."


    "Sorry, I only hire people who don''t work for them."


    "Oh you want to hire me then?"


    "If the offer is on the table, then I can simply snatch it."


    "Hahaha, very amusing," she laughed as if she just heard a joke, "do you even know who I am?"


    "A silver dragon," he simply answered and his words made her face show a surprise expression.


    "Interesting indeed," yet she regained her previous attitude before adding, "I''m curious how someone hailing from such a low world would know about my race?"


    "You are famous," Arthur jokes.


    "C''mon, we both know I''m not that famous for you to hear about me."


    "Consider me knowledgeable," he shrugged, "I don''t mind being informed with things up there."


    She kept glancing at him for a long time before she sighed, "I hope you can consider my offer."


    "I won''t."


    "I''ll give you one week to consider."


    "I reject it now."


    "C''mon, it''s not that bad to serve me y''know," she winked before adding, "if I ever found someone amusing I won''t hesitate to ride him."


    "Sorry I only ride girls."


    "Liar," she laughed, "I saw you give that girl of yours one hell of a ride."


    "Oh, you were nearby then," he was startled by this info, "tell me your location so I can pay my tribute to you."


    "No thanks, it''s not polite to ask a lady about her residence."


    "Then come and live with me," he winked.


    "In your dreams," a sweet laugh emerged from the rosy lips, "in fact I''ll destroy your little city of yours and take you as my hostage one way or another."


    "Keep dreaming," he sneered while glancing at her before adding, "I''ll give you one week to consider my offer."


    "Stop mimicking me!"


    "I''m not," he laughed, "it''s you who is doing that."


    "Liar," she laughed before suddenly asking, "what''s that all blue thing about you?"


    "It''s rude to ask others about their personal things."


    "C''mon, I''ll let you see me naked for that."


    "¡­"


    He was really tempted, as her curved and strangely perfect body was calling up for him. However he restrained himself and didn''t speak better than saying something he would regret later.


    "I''m not that bad," she laughed before touching her naked shoulders while pushing the thin silk there to fall over her arms which were holding her two crystals, "am I?"


    "I''ve things to do," he said before evilly smiling, "but if you''ll get stripped for free then I can delay my things for you."


    "Bad boy," she pouted her lips in a funny way, "all black dragonairs are cold hearted like you, tsk."


    She raised the silk again over her shoulders before adding, "I''ll keep calling you to see if you agree over my offer."


    "Don''t bother," he shrugged, "I doubt I''ll be free to answer you again."


    "Tsk, no harm in trying."


    "See you in the battlefield," he laughed before turning his back and walked while whispering, "cut the connection and take me out."


    The next moment he appeared inside his garden again. Yet his face showed how serious he was.


    "What happened?" Gege noticed his change.


    "I met your silver dragonair," he said while adding, "and she isn''t easy."


    "I told you to watch out of her," the golden dragon said, "did she offer you herself?" he laughed as if he could already read through Arthur''s thoughts.


    "She did," he sighed, "and she seemed not startled by my actions¡­"


    "Ding! She has something up her sleeve."


    "Indeed," the golden dragon said.


    "I need to hasten things then," he clenched his fists, "the pillars are out of option now. They aren''t that strong anymore and now I need them for the mirror tree to function," he turned to glance at the giant tree in the front, "I''ll leave things here up to you. Move me towards the Golam''s lake."


    Gege moved him and then he took out his sword, "it''s time to regain my former reputation," he sneered before the golden dragon stopped him after few hours of training and said:


    "Your energy level is too low to cause much difference."

 Chapter 609: Starting To Merge Sword Techniques

    "I know," Arthur didn''t stop training though, "but this is the best I can do right now."


    "Why not use the pearl''s energy?" Gege suggested.


    "Too thin to withstand a drawn out fight," Arthur shook his head while performing one of his sword techniques, "I can''t risk getting weaker in the middle of the fight."


    "Then work on your energy," the golden dragon said, "you have two forms of energy¡­ try to raise them then to strengthen your attacks."


    "Maybe later," Arthur simply said, "I need first to regain my former familiarity with the sword."


    When he started training he could tell how far he was from his past self. His energy expenditure was terrible and his moves were clumsy.


    He needed time to adapt his dragonair body to perform these sword hits. "The main problem is that the single hit techniques are far better than the wide range attacks," he muttered while watching the tornado of swords he sent just now after using one of his techniques.


    "Ding! That''s because you can''t properly control your energy," the system said.


    "Or your levels of energy are low," the golden dragon said.


    "And your control sucks," Gege said.


    "Guys¡­ I''m aware of all that, thanks," he was annoyed by their remarks which he already knew, "I just want solutions."


    "Raise your energy then," the golden dragon said.


    "I want shorter paths."


    "Ding! There is no shortcut for hegemony," the system advised, "try to get better using the time difference up here."


    "Tsk," Arthur didn''t agree, "the world I''m in right now is very suppressive to me.  I can''t just raise my base for a few smaller steps¡­ I need a bigger one."


    "Then do it," Gege said, "I believe you can do it in less than a week period here, right?"


    "That''s correct."


    "then what''s holding you back?" the golden dragon asked in loss.


    "If I did that," he softly said, "then the tribulation that will come will affect my next encounter with this silver dragon."


    "Oh¡­" the golden dragon finally realized the reason for his hesitation, "you are worried about her?"


    "I''m worried about the tribulation," he sighed, "you saw how difficult it was to cross the past two. They, combined, made me face a very hard contest and ended up here like that."


    "Ding! But that wasn''t all the tribulation fault."


    "It''s," Arthur firmly said, "you just don''t know how ruthless the heavens can be."


    He wasn''t exaggerating. He was a living witness on how cunning and cold hearted the heavens could be. "I don''t need to add more variables to the game¡­ not until I gain some firm ground here first."


    "Well¡­ if you say so then there is only one solution then," the golden dragon paused before adding, "it''s to combine those sword plays you are performing to form something great."


    "Fusing the techniques?" Arthur asked with a surprised look over his face, "damn, how couldn''t I think about this before?"


    "Just thank me later then," the golden dragon laughed, "now do you have an idea or you want me to give you some suggestions?"


    "Give me some," Arthur knew the general concept of merging techniques. It wasn''t that easy to pull, but if done successfully then the result would be something strong.


    "I saw you perform all of your sword plays¡­ honestly you lack a deep understanding of the toy you are holding in your hands."


    "The sword?" Arthur asked in surprise as this was one of the rare moments where someone would give him a lecture on his sword techniques.


    "Indeed, you move it like you are moving a stick," the golden dragon sighed, "despite not a fan of using anything while fighting, as dragonairs are invincible with their own bodies and assets they got inside, but as you want to play with that toy then you should do it properly."


    "Old man, stop fooling around and just get to the point," Arthur didn''t like this long introduction. He didn''t like the whole idea of someone giving his pointers over his sword techniques.


    "You move the sword like¡­ a human," the golden dragon said before further explaining, "You don''t use your strongest assets as dragonairs¡­ where is the crushing strength of the dragonairs? Where is the fire breath of yours? The scales are doing nothing, and even your tail isn''t helping in adjusting your body to perform sword attacks stronger."


    Arthur had to admit to himself that all the points this old dragon gave in such a rude way were correct. "Any suggestions?" he asked while patiently controlling his temper.


    "You need to insert everything in the heart of your sword plays," the golden dragon said, "don''t just wave the sword, move your entire body and try to mix everything you have with these plays you perform."


    Arthur suddenly had a moment of realization and the next instant he closed his eyes. He stood there silent for the entire five hours before he opened his eyes once again.


    During his hours of enlightenment he pictured himself doing multiple techniques and trying to merge them. The theory of merging techniques was to start with some moves of one and end with moves of another.


    This was easier said than done, as usually when trying to interrupt the technique it would fail. He knew better than others about this, yet his mind kept giving simulations about merging not two, but three and even five of his techniques.


    "It all depends on my body," he laughed before adding, "Thanks old man, you just gave me inspiration moments ago."


    "What moments?" the golden dragon said, "you''ve been standing there motionless for hours!"


    "The hours of enlightenment pass like breeze of wind over anyone," Arthur grinned before adding, "yet thanks anyway."


    "Tsk, let''s show how well you''ll perform."


    Arthur inwardly prayed as he knew interrupting any technique in the middle had such a hefty price over the one performing it. "I should be ready for many wounds then," he tried to prepare his mind before starting to merge three techniques first.


    "The sword fire, the sword epic, and the sword dance are the three fitting to be merged together," he muttered before taking the position of the sword epic fire technique.


    And he took a deep breath.

 Chapter 610: Augmenting The Sword Fire Technique

    The sword fire technique was a one that would enable fire to be formed around the sword. The sword epic was a technique which would turn the sword gigantic by creating shades around it to increase its size, as for the sword dance it was one that would create a massive attack using sword strikes to cover large distances and travel far.


    He aimed to merge the three together, but first he would use his own powers here to augment them as much as he could.


    Each technique required a certain set of steps. "I''ll first perform each one separately and try to think of ways to augment it," he muttered before starting to move his body to perform the sword fire technique.


    He first arched his back and waited, while the sword was held in one hand and the other stopped a few inches away from the blade.


    He then started to move, taking short steps where he danced with his legs in a very swift way. Just in less than five seconds he gathered enough spiritual energy over his free hand, and then he started moving the hand up and down while keeping the distance fixed.


    He repeated this for a few seconds before the entire sword shone brightly in white color. It was like a sword which just got out of the oven, and then he stopped.


    The sword vibrated the next instant, releasing a big pulse wave before tongues of fire started to dance over it.


    "Now what do you think how to strengthen this technique?" he asked while gazing calmly at the sword on fire. "Should I use my breath to augment the fire?"


    "Not enough," the golden dragon muttered before adding, "what if you used your pearl energy at this step?" he suggested before explaining, "I noticed you only used a small amount of energy from your body while your body absorbed much of it from the outside world."


    "Ding! So you won''t deplete your energy so much."


    "You guys don''t understand," he sighed before he casually waved his sword. A giant sword strike erupted in the form of a curved fire wave which moved to a far distance.


    The fire on the sword got weaker, and his energy was largely depleted. "The strike would deplete my energy no matter what," he said before taking a replenishing pill and then the fire regained its former glory. "I can''t replenish the pearl energy yet."


    "Well," Gege suddenly said, "I can help with that."


    "You¡­" he paused before adding, "how?"


    "I''ve got many upgrades, remember?" she chuckled before adding, "my own energy is now very abundant. I can support you with some."


    "But this won''t be my own energy," he rejected at once.


    "What are you talking about?" she said in an angry tone, "aren''t we all part of you? Plus I won''t replace your energy."


    "Go on," he didn''t hurry to object this time and asked her to continue.


    "I''ll work over your pearl energy. Consider me like those replenishing pills you are consuming like candies. They aren''t even part of you, not like me."


    He thought for it for a while before she added, "I won''t replace your precious pearl energy, but I''ll help in rapidly refilling it."


    "I think what she is offering is a nice one," the golden dragon stood on her side on a rare occasion.


    "Alright," Arthur softly muttered, "let''s try it out and see."


    He knew theoretical thinking might be perfect, but when implying it many mistakes would pop up ruining everything.


    He let the sword down and the next instant the sword returned to its normal state; cold.


    "Be ready," he said, "I''ll use the energy first but it won''t be depleted. When I launch the strike, it will get instantly depleted."


    "Don''t worry," she chuckled, "I got your back."


    "Won''t you stop before releasing that shot?" the golden dragon asked.


    "No," he shook his head while his body started to take the right position, "I just did that so you can analyze it better. In fact everything will be connected at the same time and the strike would be launched the moment the sword was ignited successfully."


    He then finished taking up his position before he warned, "be ready, it''s one second difference but it will make all the difference."


    "Depend on me."


    "Now," he shouted before he moved again. When he started his short steps, he started to control the small pearl inside his dantian and drove the energy out of it towards his hand.


    Just taking a few steps made his body feel pain. He was surprised as this wasn''t his weak human body but the sturdy dragon one. "What will you end up with?" he was curious and greatly anticipated the end result.


    Just as he barely finished the moves he moved his free hand a couple of times over the sword and a new thing happened.


    Instead of shining in white color, the entire swords buzzed all of a sudden while a long beam erupted from it. the white color changed into golden blue one, while the size of the sword got enlarged just like he was using the epic sword technique.


    "Wow," he only muttered before shouting, "be ready," he held the sword high as he jumped tens of meters high in the air. From far he looked like a tiny creature waving a hill over his head, and the next instant a mighty sword strike erupted that cleared everything in its way with big explosive sounds.


    And he clearly felt his entire body ache while his energy started to get depleted like running water.


    Yet the next instant he felt a refreshing feeling as Gege pushed her energy inside the pearl to replenish it. The sword''s violent aura was getting weaker on rate visible to naked eye before the sword buzzed again and the previous mighty aura appeared once more.


    "Success," Gege shouted in excitement while Arthur only landed while glancing in daze towards the still flying sword wave and the sword in hand.


    "Impressive," the golden dragon praised, "at least your strike got one thousand addition in power. Like this it can really threaten those coming from higher realms."


    "Indeed," Arthur honestly commented, "but what about your energy expenditure? How many times can you sustain it?"


    "As much as you want," Gege laughed before adding, "it felt like a needle prick for me."


    "Perfect," Arthur laughed before adding, "one technique is down, another two are left to augment."

 Chapter 611: Deep Thoughts About Sword Fire Technique

    Arthur didn''t hurry to let the sword down. He closed his eyes and started to feel his energy consumption while holding the sword.


    "The consumption is strangely low," he softly muttered while opening his eyes, "but the consumption rate gets much higher when releasing the strike¡­ or should I wait for a while before striking to stabilize the connection?"


    He was puzzled now, and as the technique was already active he didn''t want to discard it before testing everything out. "Be ready for another strike," said.


    "Bring it on," Gege laughed as if she was very excited about joining him in the fight at last.


    "Here I come," he jumped high in the air before releasing another strike. The first sword wave was about to die, and when he released the second one, strangely the two got synchronized together.


    "Unbelievable," he landed while watching the first wave getting more lively and continued to wreak havoc for a longer distance.


    As for the second strike, it kept following the footsteps of the first one while apparently it didn''t lose much of its strength with time.


    "And the energy needed from me this time wasn''t that much either," Gege was already aware of his line of thoughts and so she gave him the answer he thought after.


    "Was it because of the first sword strike?" he didn''t jump directly to conclusions as he thought of another possibility.


    "Why are you acting like you don''t know your techniques?" the golden dragon muttered.


    "I know the old one, but this berserk evolved strike is totally alien to me," he muttered before adding, "Gege, we''ll have one more strike once the two die."


    ''Any time," she simply answered and they all waited for a couple of minutes before the two strikes died together. The first one didn''t grow weaker but slower with time until the second strike reached it and merged together to form a brand new one.


    And this one needed five more minutes to die.


    "So roughly ten minutes," Arthur muttered before adding, "let''s see how well a single strike will perform then."


    "I''m ready," Gege said, "let''s do it," she was too excited to make him suspicious.


    He simply ditched these thoughts especially when she could read his mind. She only laughed on his reaction and doubts, and that made him sigh before he launched another strike.


    And this time he felt a greater depletion of his pearl energy more than the second strike, but not even compared with the first one.


    Yet the end result was the same, and he waited for almost three minutes for it to die down.


    "So I can decrease the energy expenditure if I just waited?" he softly muttered, "and also releasing more waves won''t only elongate the time for the strikes, but also would get them much fiercer."


    "Exactly," the golden dragon said in an excited tone, "like this you can be a real thorn to your enemies."


    "Indeed," Gege laughed, "and like this I don''t need to push much energy at once. Works best for me."


    "Alright," he let the sword fall before waiting for a couple of seconds for the aura to die down. "Second strike then¡­ the epic sword technique."


    "Ding! What''s this technique about?" the system asked.


    "I will also draw the spiritual energy from the entire universe around, but this time I won''t store it inside my body but inside the sword," Arthur explained.


    "So you won''t be using any of your energy?" the golden dragon asked.


    "Any technique can''t be activated or used without my energy," Arthur corrected, "but the way to use it is different according to each technique."


    "Let''s see then," Gege laughed before adding, "I want to help in this one too."


    "Ding! What does this technique do exactly?" the system asked.


    "It will turn my sword gigantic."


    "Like what happened in the previous one?" Gege asked.


    "No," Arthur laughed, "that one only created a great aura of fire around the sword which made it look bigger. This one here would turn the entire sword gigantic by creating a giant shadow of a sword around mine."


    "I think the two are the same to me," Gege didn''t get the difference.


    "No, the first one only makes the sword look bigger," the golden dragon explained, "but the second one will make it stronger and sturdier, right?"


    "I''m impressed," Arthur laughed, "the old dragon knows something about my techniques."


    "It''s common knowledge kid," the golden dragon said before shouting, "and stop calling me old dragon!"


    "Hehehe," Arthur only laughed before starting to take the position of the strike. "I''ll use my energy normally and you keep watching. Try to find the best thing to do to evolve it," he instructed before taking the position.


    This time he held the sword in both hands before he leaned to his right side.


    "What are you doing?" just before he could move, Gege exclaimed in a funny tone that was able to make him laugh.


    "Please," he controlled himself again, "stop interrupting me and let me focus."


    "You didn''t answer me!"


    "Techniques in my world are classified either to right, left, or straight direction ones," he said while taking his position again, "and the first technique was a straight one, but this one is a right sided one."


    "What''s the use of all this," she mumbled and this time he was ready for her funny comment and didn''t even react.


    As he took his position he started to move. His moves this time were slow, looking like he was stamping heavily on his feet and not normally walking. Each move hit the ground massively while a small tremble occurred on the sword.


    Just as he took five like these steps he moved one hand over the sword edge and caused a shallow wound there. The entire blade was covered in his blood rich with spiritual energy, and then the sword started to hum and the blood soaking it started to get absorbed fast in less than few seconds.

 Chapter 612: Evolving The Epic Sword Technique

    The next instant a white shadow started to appear from the sword like a dense fog. It started to take the shape of the sword until the entire sword was gone, and only a very long and broad sword was there.


    Only the helmet piece remained normal, and it was landing peacefully in Arthur''s hands.


    "Let''s see you scream once more," he laughed before jumping in the air and the next moment he waved the sword to the front.


    The area was already devastated by the first fire sword strikes, but when he waved the sword, a very gigantic sword wave moved to even cause a shallow groove over the ground anywhere it went.


    "It''s not bad," the golden dragon said while Arthur took a replenishing pill, "but there is room for improvement."


    "I can help," Gege shouted at once, "let me help."


    "Ding! I think this time your precious pearl energy won''t be of good use," the system replied while Arthur kept his silence while waiting for their debate


    "How come?" and as he expected, Gege didn''t accept the system''s remark.


    "I agree with the system," the golden dragon said, "there is another form of energy that can be used better."


    "Nothing is better than my little pearl''s energy" Gege stubbornly said as if she was a little girl.


    "Ding! No, this time the trick lies in the blood, and guess what''s energy is using blood vessels in his body?"


    "My dragonair''s energy," Arthur muttered while his eyes shone brightly, "indeed it''s the best here."


    "Humph, even you¡­ you men are just jealous of my pearl," Gege complained, making Arthur laugh for a few moments.


    "Alright," he took a deep breath, "let''s try it using my dragonair''s energy."


    "Who is going to replenish your expenditure smart?" Gege hurried to stop him.


    "This will do," Arthur smiled widely before taking out a small piece of his special Golam''s meat, "this one is very helpful to replenish my lost dragonair''s energy."


    "You are mean," she shouted before adding, "I won''t ever help you making such meat ever again, huh."


    "¡­"


    The corners of his eyes twitched while he only constrained his laughs. "C''mon, you are my precious one, who is my precious girl?"


    "Liar," she softly muttered, "if I was then you''d have let me play with you in all your tricks."


    "Baby," he did his best to restrain his laughter but a smile erupted nonetheless, "I aim to merge the three techniques together."


    "So?"


    "In the final technique you''ll be participating in it," he said before hurriedly adding, "in fact you''ll be the main player and the one I depend entirely upon."


    She didn''t say a thing for a few moments. "Promise?"


    "Promise."


    "Sigh, alright I''ll help you to make the Golam''s meat and other kinds of meat as well," she said while he only smiled and returned to take his position.


    Before starting he controlled his dragonair''s energy and let it run rampant inside his body. The dragonair''s energy took from his blood vessels home since the first day it entered his body, and now he could use this to augment his technique.


    "Let me hear your scream again," he muttered before moving on the ground in the same heavy pattern as before.


    Just when he cut his hand and let the blood soak the sword, he felt a violent trembling occurring all over his body all of sudden.


    Yet he didn''t halt his steps.


    He continued the strike till the end, and when the sword exerted its fog again, it wasn''t pure white like before.


    It was dark blue this time, and the size and breadth of the sword grew to be of a very frightening degree.


    "Damn," he didn''t hurry to use his technique. Learned from the evolved fire sword technique from before he knew he should give time for his energy to stabilize and for the consumption to grow weaker.


    "This¡­"


    Just as he waited, the sword evolution didn''t stop there. Just one shadow wasn''t enough for such a violent strike, and instead of the fog sticking to the sword, it broke off and flew to stand behind Arthur''s back.


    "One shadow, two, three¡­ twelve¡­ twelve sword shadows! That''s OP!!"


    He exclaimed in extreme shock while watching the swords over his back floating like giant hills there. Each sword shadow was ideal to the others; all showed the detailed surface of his sword with the color of faint blue.


    "This¡­" he suddenly thought about his third strike, the sword dance, and he couldn''t help but laugh. "This is simply amazing!"


    He knew these shades would be perfect to be used in performing the third technique. "Now I can''t wait to see the final result of the three," he muttered before glancing at the shadows again in pride.


    "Let''s see how you''ll perform," he casually waved his sword to the front while not moving his gaze off the sword shadows.


    The moment he did so, the twelve shadows raced up in great speed while they broke off into sword waves one after another.


    It wasn''t like the first sword strike he performed of this technique. He glanced over them and felt a threat when he thought himself the one being hit by these.


    Like a golding machine gun and releasing a sudden burst of bullets at the same time, the sword waves all moved in domineering momentum while they raced one after another with short intervals.


    And the good thing was that they stretched out to cover a wider distance than the first strike.


    "Damn," he laughed, "this is simply epic!"


    "It is now worth the name," the golden dragon agreed.


    "Ding! I believe the issue to merge the three techniques would be in the form of unifying the energies together," the system said before adding, "Ding! And here comes the pearl''s energy and its importance in doing that."


    "I know my pearl is this important," Gege boosted while Arthur ignored her remark as he asked:


    "Are you afraid of the overconsumption of its energy?"


    "I can replenish any amount without any problem," Gege hurried to say.


    "Ding! I''m not worried over the amount, but the rate," the system said before adding, "Ding! I''m afraid Gege''s replenishing ability is still limited, and if your consumption rate was higher, then¡­"


    "Stop your jynx month old system," Gege instantly bellowed in rage, "I don''t allow you to talk about my relationship with my dear pearl in such a way!"

 Chapter 613: Merging The Three Sword Techniques In Theory

    "Hahaha, he didn''t mean any harm," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh before adding, "but he has a point here."


    "Don''t¡­" she warned.


    "Just think of ways to strengthen your relationship with the pearl," Arthur smiled as he added, "I don''t want for the final technique to fail because of that."


    "Humph," she only harrumphed while he let the sword fall on the ground before picking it up again. He already was eating meat to replenish his consumed dragonair power.


    He glanced over the deep grooves his last evolved technique left on the ground before smiling.


    "It''s time for the last one," he muttered before holding the sword with one hand and the other just moved at his back, stretched there as far as it could reach.


    "Are you dancing?" she said in a tone that told him that she was still mad.


    "I''m doing the technique if you may," he softly said before he stood over his toes.


    "Yeah, you''re dancing."


    He ignored her remark and then started to run. He was moving on his toes, jumping over them, taking wide strips in each step.


    Then he suddenly moved his back hand and moved it parallel to the hand holding the sword while he jumped high in the air. The next moment he waved the sword over his head and the two hands created a small sword image in between before it was launched like an arrow fast forward.


    The image kept increasing in size rapidly, then it broke up into smaller ones while ending by forming a shades of five swords which went to devastate the ground.


    "This is the poorest skill you had so far," Gege said and he didn''t take her remark down to the heart.


    "I don''t mind it being weak," he muttered before adding, "but each sword would explode now."


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Just as he said, the sword images exploded all of sudden creating severe shockwaves that increased the lethality of it exponentially.


    "See?" he laughed, "this is the true form of my strike."


    "Still weak," the golden dragon said, "you need a stronger one."


    "Any suggestions then?" he asked.


    "Ding! Dunno, but the way you used your energy seemed perfect."


    "Yeah, I feel the same," the golden dragon said.


    "You need to use my pearl energy then," Gege said in a light tone, "it will increase the strength of this technique."


    Arthur went into silence for a moment there before saying:


    "If I did that then we add more pressure over your pearl," he paused for long minutes before adding, "I don''t see this is needed. After all we will merge the three techniques together."


    "You need one weak one to shoulder the others," the golden dragon got what he was aiming at.


    "Precisely true," Arthur agreed, "I just need a technique to make the balance between the other two."


    "You won''t need my pearl energy?" Gege asked in a low tone.


    "I''ll need it," Arthur said before adding, "but at the right time."


    "Ding! That would be great."


    "I too agree on that."


    "I don''t see how this would be useful," she sighed, "the first technique will have all of the pearl energy, not this poor one."


    "Don''t forget the three will merge together to form a single technique," Arthur said before adding, "so any addition to one equals helping all."


    "Exactly."


    "Ding! This is true."


    "I still can''t see what you guys are saying or agreeing at," yet she kept her low tone, "you are all cold hearted with no care for my precious pearl."


    Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, "don''t worry, your precious pearl will have her time to shine."


    "Empty words."


    "You''ll see," Arthur seriously said, "soon enough you''ll see with your eyes."


    "When?"


    "Soon," he laughed before adding, "I still need to think of ways to unify the moves of the three."


    "You can just use the third technique moves," Gege casually said, "after all you move in it in a very amusing way."


    "It''s not about the shape of the moves," Arthur deeply sighed, "the first technique uses small steps to gather energy, while the second one uses the strong impact on the ground to awaken the sword, as for the third¡­ well the fast moves are required to create the phantom image and create momentum."


    "Ding! I believe you should break them down to the fundamental moves," the system suggested.


    "Explain."


    "Ding! Your view of the moves is depending on the old not the new techniques. For example, the first technique doesn''t need the slow moves anymore. After all you take the power directly from the pearl energy and it''s enough."


    "I agree with the system," the golden dragon said, "as for the second move you don''t need those heavy steps anymore. I believe the power your blood holds is enough to awaken any sleeping beast."


    "See?" Gege laughed, "only the dancing moves on your toes are needed here."


    Arthur didn''t hurriedly answer before asking, "In which pattern and order do you think I should use the techniques?"


    "First you need to use my pearl power," Gege hurriedly said and Arthur just ignored her.


    "Ding! First create these sword shadows," the system said.


    "Then use your fire sword technique and end it all with the last one," the golden dragon said.


    "This¡­" Arthur hesitated as his mind started thinking deeply about all the scenarios he could have if he used their order, "it won''t work," he sighed, "the fire sword technique is so brutal. It must be the last one to be used, not the first."


    "But it takes quite time to activate the sword fire," the golden dragon said.


    "Then I should start it early and not use it until I finish everything else, "Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before adding, "I''ll first create the sword phantom using the third technique, then start using the fire technique before stopping when the sword and the phantom are covered with fire¡­"


    "And?" Gege was very impatient.


    "Then I''ll create the sword phantoms before moving in the same way the sword fire technique is required before finally releasing the three techniques combined," he excitedly said while the blue flash in his eyes was clearly evident.


    "Ding! You won''t have time to replenish all of your energies at the same time," the system warned.


    "I don''t need to," Arthur laughed, "as during moving I can eat some meat and consume some replenishing pills to replenish the usage of my dragonair and spiritual energies. As for the last strike¡­" he paused and the next instant Gege jumped to say:


    "I''ll do it, don''t worry¡­ depend on me on this. I promise no matter how much the pearl energy was depleted I''ll replenish it fast."


    "Are you sure?" Arthur asked before stressing over this matter, "the window we have will be very short, and if you screw up I''ll helplessly fall on the ground motionless for a few minutes."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll make sure I can inject an enormous amount of my energy to the pearl."


    "How?" the golden dragon asked with much doubt.


    "I can use a tree," Gege suddenly said before adding, "after all she isn''t just here for transmitting your words to others. She can connect my energy with the pearl in a better way than it already is."


    "Great," Arthur had an excited look over his face, "arrange things with her first before we start our trials."


    "Give me a minute."

 Chapter 614: Obstacles On The Path Of The Ultimate Sword Technique

    Gege didn''t take long to arrange everything. In mere ten minutes she said:


    "It''s done, now we can start."


    "Good," Arthur smiled as he was as excited as her regarding this. "I''ll start now, but it''s not a rule to succeed at first time."


    "Ding! Have a little faith in yourself," the system said, "there is still beginner''s luck."


    Arthur smiled before starting to take his position. His body started to move fast, moving like he was dancing while his hands took their position.


    He used his normal spiritual energy to form a sword image in between his arms. Once there he didn''t proceed as usual but started to slow down a bit while his body arched and he started to draw the pearl''s energy.


    Just as he did so he felt a great resistance forming in between his hands. The phantom started to rebel against his pearl''s energy, yet after a couple of seconds and trembling of his body; the phantom was covered by his pearl''s golden energy.


    He already was feeling a great pressure doing that, yet he didn''t stop there. The sword fire technique launched by his pearl''s energy was truly domineering compared with his sword dance technique launched by his spiritual energy.


    Just before he could do anything else, the brutal energy of his fire technique crushed the phantom image and he was sent flying by the explosion.


    "Damn," he stood up while feeling sore all over his body.


    "At least there are no visible wounds on your body," the golden dragon said.


    "But¡­ this doesn''t feel good," he sighed before taking a healing pill, "the evolved sword fire energy is too much to handle."


    "Ding! What if we controlled it?" the system suddenly suggested, "decreasing the flow rate so you can activate it and at the same time it won''t be this domineering."


    "I can''t do that," Arthur honestly said, "not with my current strength."


    "I can do it for you," Gege said, "I have total control over the pearl."


    "Then the question is¡­" he paused before thinking about this, "how much energy needed for the fire sword to be properly activated?"


    "You can''t know without trying," the golden dragon said.


    "Let''s try it separately then," Arthur decided, "after we got a good grasp on the amount of energy needed to activate it then we can proceed with the merge again."


    "No problem for me," Gege said.


    Then Arthur stayed there for hours testing everything related to his sword fire technique. Achieving the amount of energy needed to activate it wasn''t a problem, the real problem was the amount of energy needed to maintain the fire.


    Just as he succeeded in determining the lowest amount of energy needed after many trials, he was surprised to discover that his sword fire technique required more energy to stabilize.


    Or else another form of explosion would erupt and he would end up in the ground once more.


    "Phew," he heaved a deep sigh of relief, "finally we managed to know the amount needed."


    "That was¡­" Gege paused as she was exhausted by all these trials.


    "I know," Arthur nodded, "but at least we managed to know how to stabilize it for minutes."


    "Ding! You should be able to use the other techniques during these three and half minutes," the system said.


    "That''s the challenge," Arthur sighed, "I still dunno if other techniques would require more preparation before the merge or not."


    "The question isn''t about the sword dance technique, but the other one," the golden dragon said.


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded, "so we need first to merge the first two and see what will happen in the end with the third one."


    He took a deep breath and didn''t yield to rest. He was short on time, as he was pretty much sure that sexy opponent of his wouldn''t stay silent for too long.


    As he formed his sword phantom in between his hands, he started to move slower while his body arched again. This time Gege injected the amount of energy needed to activate the fire, and the next thing happened was out of their entire expectations.


    The two energies didn''t compete, instead the fire started to coat the sword phantom like it was caressing it.


    "Amazing," Gege remarked while Arthur only watched in surprise as well. He checked, and outside this mere coat of his fire there were no other changes at all.


    "I didn''t think they would work in harmony in such a way," the golden dragon commented.


    "Ding! Maybe the golden pearl''s energy is the key for the success of this merge," the system said before adding, "Ding! After all it was formed out of the merge of the two energies in your body."


    "You don''t mean¡­" Arthur''s eyes shone in excitement before the golden dragon said in a harsh tone:


    "Focus¡­ you only have three minutes to finalize everything."


    Arthur was jolted awake and the next instant his body started to move heavily stepping on the ground.


    The sword image started to vibrate slowly before he cut his hand and let his blood filled with his dragonair energy soak the real sword.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment his blood touched the sword it started to move in unison towards the sword image. It was like there was a hidden attraction force that kept the blood going at the sword image and left the main sword.


    And the moment the blood touched the sword image, a mighty explosion erupted that sent him further behind while his body was tattered with wounds.


    "This was too much¡­" he muttered while standing on his feet, "the third energy needs refining as well," he remarked before taking out his healing pills alongside the meat to replenish his depleted energies.


    "The merge was too violent for the sword image and other two energies to handle," the golden dragon said.


    "I can''t control your dragonair energy," Gege said while Arthur smiled while chewing over the piece of meat in his hand.


    "Don''t worry, I can do it myself," he said while waiting for a couple of minutes before his wounds healed up.


    Then he started experimenting again over his third technique.


    "This is really good," he sighed, "I missed this feeling a lot."

 Chapter 615: The Final Sword Technique Is Ready

    He excelled before at experimenting where trials came with much joy with their failures and journey to success. He missed this after coming here to this world, and now he had this old feeling resurface again as he tested the merge of his three techniques.


    "You are weird," the golden dragon commented.


    "Ding! No one would find joy in failing time over time like you do," the system said.


    "I see this interesting and amusing," Gege had a different opinion, yet Arthur knew she was just trying to back him up.


    "Testing is the evidence of being smart," Arthur only said that before laughing, "only fool dudes will give up after one or two failures."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "That''s my man!"


    "Hehehe," he laughed before adding, "as we have everything set, let''s see how this technique would end up to."


    He then started the merging process again. This time he was ready. Gege knew how much pearl energy she would provide to him while he knew the amount of his dragonair energy needed to activate and maintain the third technique.


    And yet¡­


    "Boom!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Boom!"


    Everytime he tried he failed miserably one time after another.


    "What''s wrong?" he finally lost his patience.


    "What''s up smart man? Didn''t you just boost a couple of hours ago about the benefit of testing and failing?" the golden dragon sneered while Arthur totally ignored his remark.


    "Is there a problem with the energy flow rate?" he asked, trying to find the sore spot hidden from his keen senses.


    "Ding! Everything goes fine until the three energies try to merge then they explode," the system said.


    "Is the problem in the amount of energy needed from the sword epic or what?" he muttered, "or the issue lies in my spiritual energy?"


    "I think the problem happens when the three energies try to form a new energy together," Gege suddenly said a very wise remark, "the final energy can''t be stabilized and it will explode."


    "But we already have the pearl''s energy as the merge of the other two," the golden dragon said while trying to be wise as well.


    "You both are correct indeed," Arthur suddenly shouted before yelling, "yes, it''s this issue then."


    "What issue?" Gege was lost even when she read up his mind.


    "We shouldn''t let the three energies merge," Arthur said with a shimmering eye, "instead we should let them merge together under the umbrella of the golden pearl''s energy."


    "Ding! What''s with that logic? Why do I feel I didn''t understand a thing?" the system asked in loss while the other two kept their silence.


    "Let''s try and you''ll see for yourself," Arthur laughed as if he already succeeded in his trials. "Gege, when the third technique merges, increases the amount of the pearl''s energy to maximum."


    "Are you sure?" she hesitantly asked.


    "One hundred percent positive," he laughed before adding, "let''s finish this technique now and go out to test it in that world."


    "What''s with the world outside?" Gege asked in a loss.


    "Ding! Have you forgotten? It''s a higher world with more restriction over his energies," the system said.


    "He won''t be able to exert even one tenth of the final technique''s power out there," the golden dragon explained further and she only mumbled something Arthur couldn''t get.


    "Alright," he was so excited now, "let''s do it."


    He started to take the position required to activate his sword dance again before hastily jumping around. The sword phantom was successfully created and then coated with the fire.


    "Here I go," he warned, "be sure to increase the energy flow by maximum once I finished performing the technique."


    "Just focus," Gege sighed while he started to move to activate his sword epic technique. The steps he took were heavy and in less than a few seconds the sword was covered by his blood.


    As usual the blood seeped towards the phantom image to start integrating into it. "Now," he shouted and the next instant he felt his golden pearl shook inside his dantian to release its full power at last.


    "It''s working," he laughed while watching the blood being coated with golden aura that started crushing it into minute drops. Each drop of his blood was now coated with golden energy, and looking from his spot he felt he was looking at a bloodbath scene.


    "Swoosh!"


    Suddenly the many blood droplets started to rotate around the phantom sword taking it as its axis. The sword inside was calm at first, yet with the increasing speed of the blood rotation it started to get restless while it became slightly hazy.


    Then everything started to grow bigger. His phantom sword kept enlarging while being coated with the blood that started to dissipate inside it, and finally everything was covered with the golden blue fire.


    "Boom!"


    The sword image suddenly exploded, causing a muffled explosive sound before it vanished from his sight. "What''s happening?" he asked.


    "Ding! The three techniques merged successfully," the system said before laughing, "Ding! Congratulations, you managed to create the ultimate technique."


    Arthur didn''t hurry to celebrate as he started moving this gigantic and heavy looking sword of golden blue fire around. "It feels light despite looking so heavy on first glance," he muttered before glancing towards a distant spot where a small hill was standing in the far distance.


    "Would it reach it?" he muttered before taking the small steps of the fire sword technique once again as he added, "would it destroy it?"


    "Hahaha, you''ll only know if you try," Gege was already in a good mood.


    "Release it kid," the golden dragon said in excitement, "let''s see what all these hours'' effort will bring at the end."


    "Watch then," Arthur smiled before finishing his moves. Once he did, the fire sword he was now holding with his other hand vibrated softly as if it was announcing to the world its birth.


    Then he jumped high in the air and released the sword strike towards the hill.


    "¡­"


    A heavy silence suddenly emerged while a small sword strike moved in great speed towards the hill. Arthur felt like the entire world''s noises here got crushed under this strike, and he felt great threat and nervousness from it.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The strike then started to cause explosions one after another. With each explosion it got bigger and its speed grew fast until it moved like light.


    "Boom!"


    And when it hit its mark, it broke off to cover the entire hill with a layer of golden blue fire before the hill collapsed in front of Arthur''s eyes, turned into a pile of dust.


    And even the dust didn''t last for a few seconds before it was burnt away into nothing.


    "Damn!" he shouted in amazement, "this is really cool!"


    "Hahaha, this is amazing," Gege laughed, "I loved it!"


    "You finally had a weapon to fight against those of higher planes, "the golden dragon said, "but we need to test it first."


    "Ding! Should I call Doaf and others?" the system asked.


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "I need to get familiar with this technique first," he paused before muttering while closing up his eyes, "how is the golden pearl''s expenditure?"


    "Under control, sir," Gege laughed, "I managed to replenish the lost energy in no time."


    "Great," he reopened his eyes after checking over his meridians, dantian, and dragonair''s energy status. "Now the question is how much can I last with it in a war?"

 Chapter 616: Geges Jealousy

    "Ding! This will need you to test it first."


    "And I will," Arthur firmly nodded before he started to wave his sword over and over again. He didn''t use the sword in his right hand, his usual one. He only used that gigantic sword in his left hand.


    "Can I use it without the other sword?" he muttered after a couple of minutes before he threw the other sword away and the next instant that sword image vanished.


    "You can''t do that," Gege complained, "c''mon, I was just getting in a good mood while keeping your pearl energy stable."


    "I had to test it," he sighed before taking the sword, "I can fight with one sword in hand, but two? That''s challenging!"


    "You need to train more on two sword styles of fighting from now on," the golden dragon simply said.


    "Easier said than done," he sighed before adding, "at least I know now which hand should that useless sword be."


    He was good at using his right hand, but his left was always left to punch others in the face. He started to activate his new technique while keeping the sword in his left hand.


    When he finished creating his sword phantom he didn''t hesitate to wave it with his right hand.


    "Ding! Better?"


    "Much better," Arthur nodded, "now I can fight without any problem."


    He then started to launch his sword attacks everywhere for nearly one hour. Just as he was so near from that benchmark, his spiritual energy failed him and the next thing happened was for the entire technique to explode.


    "Damn!" he cursed before standing from the deep pit he landed at, "this explosion never gets easier with time!"


    "You can handle more than that," the golden dragon laughed, "but the image of you throwing off like a bunch of rock sacks is funny."


    "Ding! It indeed is."


    "I didn''t find it amusing at all!" Gege said before adding trying to console him, "at least you know your limit now."


    "And that limit should be broken," he took a few pills and chewed on some pieces of meat while adding, "at least I have a final escape weapon I can use when things go out of control."


    "That''s¡­ true," Gege didn''t know what to say.


    "Let''s keep trying it for a few more times," he moved after replenishing his depleted energies and healing up his wounds. He kept smashing into the ground mercilessly with each explosion, yet after a couple times he started to anticipate this and that helped him in landing in better shape.


    But the time remained the same, which was something that started to irritate him.


    "Let''s go outside then," after one day of trying and ending up in an explosion he decided to go out there and try the technique.


    "There is something," Gege suddenly said.


    "What?" he asked, "is the city alright?"


    "It''s not the city, it''s the tree," she said before adding, "the responders to your calling¡­ impressive¡­ just impressive!"


    He paused in track while muttering, "are there this many?"


    "Many is an understatement to be honest," she said in pure admiration, "she kept sending them to the city, giving them directions all over the way."


    "She can do that?" he was surprised by that.


    "Of course she can," Gege laughed, "she is connected to the entire world now and can easily scan it."


    "Can she search for someone?" he asked in an amusing way.


    "She can, but you need to be more specific about the description of this person and¡­" she paused for a moment before adding, "you also need to narrow her search. After all, giving a general guide to those connected to her is much easier than looking at a needle in a haystack."


    "I know everything about that person," Arthur laughed, "she saw her, just tell her to scan the area around the city for as far as she can go."


    "Near the city?" the golden dragon was surprised to hear that.


    "She gave a note about a thing I did back there," Arthur evilly smiled, "and it''s fair to believe she is still stalking my own city."


    "Alright, I''ll tell her that."


    "Take me outside," Arthur said in a very amusing tone, "it seems I had a lot of fun waiting for me up there."


    Arthur moved to the outside in an instant. The city was now recuperating from the recent war and everywhere he spotted workers doing their best to repair the damaged buildings and defensive facilities.


    He spotted from far the movement of the mages over the already fixed walls. ''Amelia is doing a great job here,'' he inwardly commended over her efforts before turning around towards the heart of the city. ''I''m sure this place would turn over to be a very bustling one soon.''


    ''The tree says this will happen in the upcoming days,'' Gege said.


    ''Any news about that silver dragon?''


    ''You didn''t tell me she tried to seduce you!!'' instead of answering she directly attacked him.


    ''Hahaha, this is nothing worth mentioning,'' he tried to escape the answer to this question while the golden dragon laughed as well.


    ''Silver dragons are a very interesting race indeed,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Oof, even you as well!'' she exclaimed in shock while her tone told Arthur how frustrated she was right now.


    ''Don''t worry my dear,'' he tried to comfort her, ''she didn''t manage to move anything in me.''


    ''Whatever playboy,'' she said before adding, ''she is still looking¡­ damn, I wish I had a real body now so I can teach her a lesson!''


    Arthur and the other two refrained from saying a single word while leaving her to relax.


    ''Ding! What should you do now?'' the system asked, ''Ding! Starting to test out the technique?''


    ''First I need Amelia,'' he took out a bird''s wing and called up for her.


    In less than ten minutes she appeared as a distant spot in the sky over the back of a flying pet. "She came with Lily," he muttered as all he could see was a small dot from far. "They are coming from outside the walls."


    He noticed the direction they were flying from.


    ''Maybe they were scanning the area,'' Gege muttered in a low tone.


    "No," Arthur sighed, "they should stay in the city and focus entirely on fortifying it¡­ something must have happened."

 Chapter 617: A Hidden Threat

    "Finally you are here!"


    The moment that pet landed, Amelia hurriedly jumped off its back while saying these words. The pet had Amelia and Lily over its back, and also many of the mages who seemed a bit nervous.


    "Fight or something?" he asked as this was the only conclusion he had in mind.


    "Many groups are coming to attack us," she said before adding, "just after you left, news of those small armies came from the scouts."


    "Strong?"


    "Many," she sighed, "some even have those hailing from the upper worlds and Doaf is currently dealing with them."


    Arthur wasn''t angry or even annoyed. He needed something to test his new technique upon. "Where are the attacks coming?" he calmly asked.


    "From that way," Amelia pointed towards the direction she just came from, "for a radius of a hundred miles we have many skirmishes going on right now."


    "Alright," he said and just before he would continue Gege spoke.


    ''She found her, it''s in the total opposite direction from that one.''


    Arthur stiffened at the moment he heard these words. ''Are you sure?''


    ''The tree is sure indeed,'' Gege answered.


    ''Is she alone?''


    ''Yes.''


    ''Suspicious!''


    Arthur thought about it for a few seconds. ''How far is she?''


    ''Not more than one hundred miles.''


    ''hmm¡­'' Arthur knew there was some scheme going on here. He expected his enemy to act, but this arrangement looked like a trap.


    ''She is waiting for me to leave," he muttered.


    "Pardon¡­ what?"


    "Nothing," he said to Amelia before saying to Gege, ''place a well hidden portal here.''


    ''Planning to come the moment she intrudes the city?''


    ''I have to see what she is planning,'' he thought before adding, ''plus I need to test my technique on someone that''s not her.''


    ''Leave this to me,'' she confidently said, and he stressed again, ''hide it well.''


    ''Don''t worry, just focus on testing the technique.''


    Arthur nodded before saying to Amelia, "Lead me there. By the way are the numbers here enough?"


    "Very."


    "Good," he jumped over the back of Birdy while greeting the stern looking Lily. "They are coming from everywhere," she said.


    "We''ll crush them all!" he paused before turning to Amelia while birdy took them over the clouds, "send a word to Amera and the crow¡­ also for Doaf."


    "About what?"


    "We''ll have many supporters soon in the next few days."


    She and Lily glanced weirdly at him for a second. "Supporters you say?" Lily asked, "how can you even get them?"


    "It''s my secret," he laughed, "just make sure they won''t mistake them as enemies."


    "Sigh," Amelia took out three bird''s wings and wrote to the three, "that might be challenging with the constant stream of enemies."


    "We''ll kill them all before our supporters come," Arthur muttered, "they are trying to cut the supporters from us¡­ indeed a nice trick."


    He knew there was more than this to his enemy''s trap. He turned his gaze to glance at the opposite direction, where his city turned smaller from his spot. "Sigh, I hope nothing bad will happen," he prayed.


    In less than five minutes he managed to spot on a very wide spectrum below the fights going on here. "This¡­" he was surprised to see many groups fighting each other, with one mile difference between one another.


    And on the far distance he spotted the giants fighting together; those hailing from the higher realms fighting Doaf''s team.


    "I didn''t think they would be this many," he sighed as he knew now how hard it was to crush them all.


    "We thought of drawing them to our city walls," Amelia said, "at least we''ll gather them in one spot not scattered like this."


    "And?"


    "Doaf objected," Lily said, "he was worried something else was going behind the curtain."


    "He is totally right in his hunch indeed," Arthur softly muttered yet the two girls next to him managed to perfectly hear his comment.


    They had questions popping up from their faces, yet he didn''t answer any. He wasn''t even sure about what lied in the dark waiting for him and his forces and city.


    All he was sure about was that his enemy wasn''t doing this for only preventing the reinforcements from reaching him.


    "Land us there," he pointed towards the far distance where a large group of enemies, rounding up to ten thousand, were coming fast towards the city.


    "Ok," Lily said before speaking up with her birdy.


    "Are you alright?" Amelia asked in obvious concern.


    "Never been better," he smiled and confidently answered while patting over her shoulder, "don''t worry over me."


    "I¡­" she paused and her rosy face made him grin.


    ''Make the tree follow that bitch''s steps,'' he thought.


    ''She is.''


    The moment he landed a few hundred meters away from the incoming enemies, he took out his sword. Amelia and Lily glanced weirdly at this, as they used to see him use his bow instead.


    "New way of fighting," he said, turning into his dragon form before taking the position for his technique.


    "Spread out and protect him," Amelia shouted and interrupted his focus.


    "Don''t," he simply stated, "fly higher and watch."


    "But¡­"


    "Just do it," Arthur took the position of his new technique before starting to move. First he created his phantom sword image before coating it with his fire. then he used his epic sword technique and merged the three together while Gege let the pearl''s energy flow unhindered through his body.


    "The strength of the technique is greatly weakened," the first thing he noticed was the size of that gigantic sword¡­ it got shrunk down to a smaller version of it.


    It was still bigger than his normal sword, but it felt as if he was holding a broadsword not a giant one.


    ''This world¡­ it''s so suppressing to your lower realm''s aura,'' the golden dragon muttered.


    ''Ding! I doubt the sword could unleash its full potential here¡­ at max you can only throw a hit travelling tens of meters in distance.''

 Chapter 618: Trying The New Technique In Fight

    ''I doubt this can be done easily,'' Gege sighed, ''the expenditure rate of the pearl''s energy is already taking out all my focus and energy.''


    ''What about my spiritual energy and dragonair one?'' Arthur hurriedly asked as if this was true, then fighting continuously for one hour was just a dream.


    ''Ding! They are on a higher consumption rate than before,'' the system answered after a moment of pause.


    ''How much increase?''


    ''Ding! At least three folds, even four.''


    ''Damn!''


    Arthur ran the calculations fast in his mind, ''so I can only fight continuously for a quarter at top.''


    ''You can use your pills and meat,'' the golden dragon suggested.


    ''Then I''ll have to find time to make more,'' Arthur sighed, ''I made them to aid me in training, not fighting.''


    ''At least you have enough to sustain you for days now.''


    He knew the golden dragon was correct in his thinking, but he didn''t want to fight only for days¡­ he wanted to fight forever!


    ''Ding! No shortcut for power Arthur,'' the system said, ''Ding! You need to raise up your energy levels¡­ at least your spiritual one.''


    ''I have no other choice then,'' he muttered while watching Amelia and Lily taking everyone else over birdy and soared to the sky. ''Let''s test my technique here first.''


    He changed his gaze to fall upon the incoming enemies. ''It''s time to use my swift steps¡­ it seems ages ago since the last time I used them.''


    He didn''t plan to unleash his strikes like he did inside his garden. After all he was sure just using one strike would deplete all of his energies.


    And the gain was quite questionable.


    "Let''s see how well you''ll do my baby," he muttered to his flickering sword in gold and blue in his right hand before moving instantly fast towards the front.


    Despite his giant dragonair body, his moves looked nimble and fast. The moment he reached the first enemy, he felt his heart bounding restless inside his chest.


    He was nervous about the effect of his new technique here.


    His enemy was a giant bull like monster, with many curved horns over his head that seeing his face seemed impossible. The monster was running in great momentum when he noticed Arthur''s intentions, yet Arthur managed to easily evade his charge with his steps.


    "Swoosh!"


    He simply cut the body of the monster with his sword, but there was no wound mark left there on his body. The sword moved unhindered, like cutting butter not strong skin and intense muscles.


    Yet the next instant a coat of fire erupted around the monster, starting to rapidly consume it. the monster even didn''t have time to scream, as the next moment he was turned into a pile of ash and the fire died down.


    "Impressive," he couldn''t help but remark in joy, "this way I can really be invincible!"


    ''You''ll need to first hit the enemy,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "Fine by me," he sneered before turning his gaze upon the other monsters and mages around, "you forgot? I was a mighty swordsman before. Fighting close hands with swords and sparring neck to neck until I kill my enemies is my turf."


    He didn''t stop for a single second as he started jumping from one spot to another. His enemies tried everything to stop him, weapons, techniques, even tails and claws were used.


    Yet he managed to evade most, and those landing on his body didn''t leave a significant mark there.


    But fighting ten thousands alone in such a way isn''t practical. He knew his technique would only last for fifteen minutes at most, so every couple minutes he would consume a pill or two, chew a piece of meat before reaching his next target.


    "How is the pearl''s energy?" he suddenly asked when he was about to reach the fifteen minutes mark, "how long can you sustain it?"


    ''As long as you didn''t increase the expenditure anymore then I can keep it running for as long as you need,'' Gege said while he noticed some weariness in her voice.


    "Alright," he jumped at another enemy before turning him into ash, "I''ll depend on you for this. How about my other two energies?"


    His hands were pretty much tied by the dense enemies around and the intense fight with them. So, he couldn''t even take a single peep over his body to check over his two energies.


    ''Ding! They are in a safe zone for now,'' the system said.


    "Keep an eye over them for me, I can''t make time to check them."


    ''Just focus over your fight kid and we''ll get your back,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''As if you do anything here old man,'' Gege joked while the golden dragon only sneered and said nothing.


    Arthur kept hitting and chasing his enemies until all of sudden another thing popped up that he never thought of¡­ his stamina!


    He was overusing his swift steps ability with no rest at all. For such ability he rarely used or honed, it was too much to use it in such a way.


    "Damn!" he cursed the moment his steps failed him all of sudden. Luckily this didn''t happen while an enemy was aiming for his neck. "I need to get some rest of it then," he glanced around and another idea popped up his mind.


    ''Crazy one,'' Gege read his thoughts and realized his intentions at once.


    "I have no other choice, right?" he sneered before laughing, "and it seems fun."


    ''What are you two talking about?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''You''ll see,'' Gege chuckled and didn''t explain further.


    Arthur glanced around before selecting a spot very dense with his enemies. "Let''s try this on you," he suddenly arched his back and bent his wings. His face was pointed to the direction he selected, then he moved.


    His wings flapped with the small jump he did, making him fly like a loose cannonball towards his enemies.


    A bomb erupted in their faces, that was the simplest explanation to what happened there. He didn''t take even half a second to reach them using his insane speed, and as he put the sword up front, anything he touched was cut by his sword and turned into ash.


    And Arthur simply moved through burnt bodies of his enemies, not feeling much pressure except from the first impact only.


    ''Damn¡­ that was cool kid,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''you should''ve added a fire breath touch and this would''ve been epic!''

 Chapter 619: Unique Approach From The Silver Dragonair

    This was indeed cool, as Arthur only had to flip his wings and move using his speed and his enemies would all be burnt to ash.


    He didn''t keep his hand anymore and replaced his useless foot work with his wings. In no time he managed to delve deeper inside the army facing him, and from high above Amelia and others were just speechless of what he was doing.


    "He really doesn''t need our help," Lily sighed, "I thought he was simply bragging."


    "He is¡­ getting stronger," Amelia clenched her fist while she kept observing Arthur''s new style of fight with disturbed thoughts.


    Away from this place, another development happened. Luckily Arthur asked for his enemy to be closely watched by the tree.


    So when she started to act, Arthur instantly got the news first handed.


    "You say she is coming towards the city?" Arthur asked just to make sure he heard her correctly.


    ''Yes, that''s what the tree told me,'' she said before adding, ''hold on a second¡­''


    ''What?'' the golden dragon was curious as much as Arthur.


    ''She says she changed her physique and became another girl,'' Gege said before adding, ''she says she is becoming hotter.''


    "Interesting," Arthur smirked before adding, "make the tree stalk her. I don''t like my deadliest enemy to breach like this inside my own turf."


    ''Consider it done.''


    ''Ding! Are you planning to let her do as she wishes?'' the system asked.


    ''You should go and fight her,'' Gege said in excitement.


    ''It''s too early to fight her,'' the golden dragon warned, ''also I never heard the silver dragonairs hold such technique.''


    "She might have acquired it from the black ones," Arthur simply muttered while flying in his insane speed all over the place. "I''ll wrap things here first before going after her."


    ''I''m curious to know her objectives,''Gege said.


    ''Not nice one indeed,'' the golden dragon said, ''dealing with the silver dragonairs is much harder than dealing with fox clans.''


    "We''ll see," Arthur smirked, "just don''t let her escape the tree''s surveillance."


    ''She won''t escape for a second.''


    "Also tell me if there are any suspicious actions from her."


    Arthur tried to increase the speed of his flight so he could finish here faster. He was also curious to know her true objectives. ''Is it the portal to summon that monster again?'' he thought to himself while killing his enemies like they were made of wood.


    Ash filled the entire world around him while his mind was busy thinking about his enemy wandering inside his city now.


    According to the tree''s words which Gege delivered to him just now, she entered the city easily and even some recognized her.


    And that made his mind spin fast over why his people were welcoming such a witch.


    Yet the number of his enemies here was just overbearing. He took around an hour before he heard another interesting piece of intel.


    ''She is coming here.''


    Gege''s words made Arthur more restless as he hurriedly asked, "alone?"


    ''No, a group of your high up personnel are escorting her.''


    ''This is¡­ amusing,'' the golden dragon laughed.


    "I''m curious to see her," he laughed.


    ''Ding! Will you fight her at once?''


    "And spoil the fun?" Arthur laughed again and his laughs left many around restless from his roars'' effect.


    ''But she is like a snake,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "Tell me if I fought up with her right now, will I succeed to kill her?" Arthur simply asked.


    ''This¡­'' the golden dragon hesitated, ''I can''t really tell.''


    "I doubt I can," Arthur sighed, "the best will be injuring her before she manages to escape. She has this portal in her possession and I can''t seal the area now."


    ''You can use a certain array,'' the golden dragon suggested.


    "Not ready right now my friend, besides¡­" Arthur headed towards another group before adding, "keep you friends close, but keep your enemies much closer."


    ''Ding! I believe this line should be said by her.''


    "She doesn''t know I exposed her already," Arthur laughed, "and this alone is considered a big step ahead of her. Besides I have my secret weapon."


    ''Your new technique?'' Gege said in an excited tone.


    "Nope, it''s the tree," Arthur said while adding, "she doesn''t yet know about her full potential. Even being spied upon won''t cross her mind. But if I attacked her now then she might suspect that."


    ''Good point,'' the golden dragon said, ''but you need first to know whose identity she is taking.''


    "We''ll see," Arthur flew towards another group of enemies while turning them all into ash, "soon we''ll know her fake identity."


    The answer to his curiosity came in less than ten minutes when a group of flying pets approached this place fast.


    "They are here," he muttered and from this far he could spot Ron, Madly, Deem and other faces around.


    And there was one face who seemed familiar.


    "No f*cking way!!" he was instantly shocked when he spotted that familiar face. "She took her identity? Really?!!"


    ''Ding! Hahaha, she is really good,'' the system laughed.


    ''In fact she selected one that won''t be suspected by any, and would make her move freely and gain the trust of everyone,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''You should fight her now,'' Gege said in anger, ''you should expose her!''


    "No," Arthur helplessly sighed, "I can''t, I need to keep her around. I was lucky to expose her dirty scheme here, yet my luck might not help later."


    He sighed while turning around and kept fighting those enemies on the ground.


    "Willy, come here fast," Ron suddenly shouted in a very joyful tone, "see who returned? C''mon, leave those weak flies for later, we can handle them."


    Arthur sighed knowing that she must be convincing to make even his oldest friend not to doubt her. "Just a minute," Arthur shouted while flying towards the densest part of the enemies.


    He needed to adjust his mood so he wouldn''t arouse suspicions inside his enemy. "You walked to me thinking you already fooled everyone¡­ hahaha, let''s see who will win in the end."

 Chapter 620: Like It?

    "She escaped."


    The moment he finished killing the main bulk of the enemy forces and returned to the spot where his main leaders of his city were there, Lily shouted in great excitement.


    And Arthur just tried to keep his smile valid over his face, hoping she wouldn''t see through.


    "Welcome back master," he said while approaching the group but he didn''t cancel his transformation or hide away his sword. "Are you ok?"


    "I''m fine," she answered with a tired look over her face, "just exhausted from fighting and running."


    "That''s expected," he simply said, "do you know where you were confined? Did you see the other two girls as well? Do you have any info regarding the true forces of our enemies?"


    He tried to seem concerned about his enemies and her info, yet her response was swiftly said like she also thought about this.


    "Interrogating me kid? Hahaha, alright I''ll try to answer what I can," she smiled before adding, "I was imprisoned in a dark place, a cave I suppose. However something major happened and they were forced to move me around. I escaped during this, but I recall being alone with no other girls around."


    He glanced silently at her for couple of moments before saying:


    "It''s good to have you back," he lied, "we need any capable hand to face this hard enemy of mine."


    "They seem to be wary of you," she chuckled, "but from what I saw, you are doing great yourself."


    She glanced then over the sword in his hand, "what is this technique? I never heard about it before."


    "This is something I came up with to face my enemies," he simply answered without giving much details about it.


    "Oh, you found yourself another capable master then," she laughed, "who is he? Is he one of your new supporters from higher planes?"


    "You can say so," he didn''t give her a definite answer, "Do you have any more info we can use? Like hearing any side talks between your guards about their direction?"


    "Sigh, I''m a tired kid," she said before adding, "can you come and show me the road? I want to have a long rest before getting back in shape again to fight."


    Her eyes turned serious as she added, "all I know is that they won''t stop attacking here no matter what."


    He nodded before turning to his group, "I''ll leave here to you," he said to Amelia.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll make sure to get rid off them all before the reinforcements arrive."


    He nodded before moving beside the fake Amanda with his dragonair form and sword in hand. If she tried to act funny, he wouldn''t hesitate to fight seriously with her.


    Yet her scheme was far off that conclusion of his.


    "What reinforcements?" she asked while walking beside him and getting near the city.


    "Oh they are nothing," he lied, "just  a bunch of scattered villagers from here and there."


    "How did you get in touch with them?" she asked and after realizing she said something out of context she hurriedly added, "I see that your hands are fully occupied with all these fights."


    "It''s just coincidence," he simply answered and her eyes glanced at him in doubt and discontent.


    ''So she is after the tree after all,'' Gege muttered while the two walked silently shoulder to shoulder.


    ''She must come for something big,'' the golden dragon said, ''or seeking just more than just one thing.''


    ''Ding! I think she is here for the tree, after all she saw how capable this ability was.''


    Arthur heard them and didn''t answer any of their doubts. He also was asking himself these questions.


    "You seem to love cities," she suddenly said, "built one here and one back there¡­ how did you get such knowledge I''m curious?"


    "Master," he glanced over her as he marveled the perfect effect of her technique. She was exactly looking like Amanda, except for her attitude and behavior seemed a bit off, "you already asked me this before," he lied.


    "Oh, did I?" she laughed while adding, "why don''t I recall this? Then what was your answer back then?"


    "It was a mere stroke of luck," he simply said and like this she couldn''t get a satisfied answer from him. "What happened after the fight at the academy? Can you tell?"


    "Sigh, I told you they took me to a dark place and I knew nothing after," she also refused to give him any answer.


    "Here we are," he stopped suddenly in front of a two stories building with a small garden and a low leveled wall, "you can stay here."


    "And you?"


    She moved all of sudden to give him a hug from his back. Her hands moved swiftly to touch his scales and try to massage his neck, "don''t you want to play a little with your master?"


    Her attitude was totally off, and her actions were out of Arthur''s expectations. Yet he controlled himself and calmly pushed her away as he turned to face her. "Sorry master, I have other things to take care of."


    "Oh, leaving me in such a sorrow state," she said while pushing down her gown a little revealing her white shoulders and perfect uppr shape of her chest. "I''m full of bruises and wounds. Your master needs some special care, and I want you to help me with this one."


    Arthur had to swear he was tempted with this alluring offer, but he still rejected it with a calm mind. "Sorry again, I have many things to do."


    "Cold hearted one," she sneered, "this won''t take long y''know."


    ''She is after you boy,'' suddenly the golden dragon laughed, ''don''t tell me she came here just for that?''


    ''I want to kill her more now,'' Gege bellowed in rage, ''I want to make her suffer.''


    ''Ding! You need to move away, kid, refuse her offer now,'' the system advised.


    "I''m sorry to disappoint you," Arthur smiled as he faintly added, "we never had such a relationship before."


    "Nothing is late then," she chuckled, while entering into the small mansion and stood a few meters inside the opened door.


    Then she pushed off her gown to fall totally and reveal her perfect figure. She wasn''t wearing anything of mention except a very soft silk short dress that was transparent enough not to hide anything off his eyes. "Like it?" she said when she noticed his fiery gazes over her body, "wanna come and take a sweet taste of it?"


    "Ahem," he cleared out his throat before hurriedly adding, "I just recalled I need to be somewhere now. You go inside and rest."


    He didn''t give her any room to say anything as he just kicked the ground and soared higher in the sky before vanishing from her sight.


    "Tsk, you are acting like a hard rock," she muttered before sneering, "but the harder you are the more interesting it becomes."


    She laughed before turning inside and closed the doors off.

 Chapter 621: The Fight Got More Intense

    ''Keep an eye on her twenty four seven.''


    As he moved back towards the location of the fight he hurriedly said these words to Gege.


    ''She is keeping a constant surveillance on her,'' Gege said, ''don''t worry yourself about this for now. There are far more stress issues now.''


    ''What?'' Arthur asked before adding, ''the incoming mages and villagers of this world?''


    ''Indeed,'' Gege said, ''the armies of this witch are constantly arriving. Also some of them started to force a blockade around the city.''


    ''Really?'' Arthur was interested at once, ''give me direction to this blockade.''


    ''Do you plan to go there alone?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''I have to,'' Arthur sighed, ''I can''t let my future people be separated or killed like this.''


    ''Ding! You need some help for sure.''


    ''Should you summon your dragon army?'' Gege suggested.


    ''No,'' he shook his head, ''I''ll use this to train.''


    His words made everyone silent for a while. Except for Gege who started to give him general directions from time to time, the other two never spoke again.


    Arthur wasn''t concerned about them. He knew the two wouldn''t do him any harm at all. In an hour he managed to cross over the main bulk of the hostile army, and finally reached the blockade region.


    In front of him, two gigantic mountains appeared. One in the east and the other in the west. In between them a large army was stationed there, fortifying the region and turning into a good fort.


    "They won''t be able to come this way," Arthur sighed as the blockade he just spotted was indeed good. The enemy used this terrain to their advantage, and it was like a narrow neck where they could squeeze anyone coming here.


    Except for him.


    "It''s time to cause some bang," he smirked before diving down from the clouds and descended upon this large stretch of enemies down below.


    ''What do you plan to do?'' the golden dragon asked in concern.


    "You''ll see," he smiled and started to channel his dragonair energy before spraying out his fire breath over the enemies below.


    His sudden appearance came swiftly, unexpected by them it seemed. Before they could even rearrange their lines he started causing havoc amidst their ranks.


    His fire was strong and corrosive. The moment it touched anyone down there it caused instant burns over their bodies, and many died out of it.


    He kept flying unhindered for a couple of minutes before the ground army started to send off many flying monsters. Also an endless stream of arrows of many sizes rained over his head.


    Yet this didn''t stop him at all. He didn''t even think of evading these weak arrows and let his scales do the task of shielding his body and retaliating over those down below.


    As for those flying monsters, their numbers kept growing fast yet he wasn''t concerned yet by them. He used his speed to outrun them while he kept firing his breaths over those down below.


    But after an hour, the entire sky turned into another form of the fortress down below. Anywhere above the devastated ground army was now filled by these flying monsters.


    "Sigh, I have to fight them," he muttered before turning his gaze around. His actions here attracted the attention of many groups far away, and during that hour constant reinforcements kept pouring here, turning this spot into such a mighty battle.


    ''Worry not my dear,'' Gege suddenly said, ''reinforcements are on the way.''


    "Oh," he wasn''t too surprised by that, "how did you manage to pull this?"


    ''I used her help,'' Gege laughed, ''she isn''t only capable of linking to those outside your city you know.''


    Just as she said those words, he noticed a big cloud coming from the sky up above all of sudden.


    "Doaf!" he smiled before laughing, "you even brough Lily and the flying squad."


    ''Not only them,'' the golden dragon laughed as well, ''there are also ground armies forcing their way hard and fast towards here.''


    "And the city?" he was concerned about his city, "and her?" he also worried that his enemy might pull a trick here.


    ''We left enough behind,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! Believe it or not she came to help,'' his system suddenly said, startling him.


    "Interesting," Arthur laughed in amusement before adding, "will she kill her own army?"


    ''You underestimate the silver dragonairs too much kid,'' the golden dragon said in a serious tone, ''if they have to kill their kin to reach their goals then they''ll gladly do that.''


    "Amazing," Arthur was surprised to hear more about the silver dragonairs.


    "You are really lame," Amera was the first to arrive at him while saying these words with a chuckle, "taking all the fun for yourself¡­ you are really stingy."


    "You should have called us earlier," the crow appeared next with Doaf and his werewolf next and the rest of their forces behind.


    "They are trying hard," Doaf glanced around before adding, "never imagined they would do that. If so we would have come here and cleared them all."


    "It''s not yet late to do that," Arthur said before watching Birdy stop a few tens of meters away. He glanced over a single person there. ''She is really here.''


    ''You doubted us?'' Gege laughed while the other two kept their silence.


    "What''s the plan?" the fake Amanda said while glancing over the grand army below, her own.


    "We''ll kill them all," Arthur simply said, "swift and clean, no one is allowed to run away."


    "I thought we are here to create a path," Amelia said while others glanced at him, waiting for his answer.


    "I planned to do this alone," he shrugged before adding, "but as long as you''re here we shouldn''t just be content with such a low goal."


    His gaze was upon the fake Amanda and her face never changed. ''Ruthless,'' he inwardly sighed. "Let''s go, we need to kill them here and then span out and kill the rest."


    "Intending to turn this into a neck point for them?" Amera said before laughing, "I like it."

 Chapter 622: More Complications

    Arthur didn''t speak again as he turned around, took out his sword and decided to try and activate his technique in middle air.


    He knew this might fail, especially the epic sword technique part. That technique needed to impact the earth for the vibrations to carry the energy towards his sword.


    However unlike his expectations he managed to swiftly activate it.


    And he was alert to the focused gazes of his arch enemy.


    And in return he kept an eye over her, as he took the technique as an excuse and delayed himself while all moved in a big momentum towards the flying herd of monsters.


    "Stay behind," Arthur said to his werewolf, preventing him from moving forward with others.


    ''You can fight to your heart content,'' Gege said, ''I''ll keep an eye over her using the tree''s help.''


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, I won''t let her escape your scout,'' the system added.


    ''I doubt she would pull something here,'' the golden dragon said, ''she is aiming to look for the tree.''


    ''To do that she has to enter my world first,'' Gege said.


    ''I''m sure she is doing all this just to enter your body,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''I bet she had already scanned all the memories of the three girls, and the only place you can hide something big like the tree and not be seen would be easily guessed.''


    "If so," Arthur started to fight, while he still kept a hidden glance over her, "then she is destined to be disappointed as I won''t take her in."


    ''I''m sure she''ll figure out a way to force you to do so,'' the golden dragon seemed pretty much confident in his assumptions, and that made Arthur frown.


    "Can you handle her?" he asked while killing more enemies without getting hit much in return.


    ''Anything inside my body is controlled by me,'' Gege confidently said.


    "Are you sure?"


    ''Just let her in,'' Gege evilly laughed, ''this witch¡­ I swear to tear apart every single scale off her body!''


    Arthur didn''t doubt her words, and that was because he knew the garden was already Gege''s body. Who would have a stronger authority than her there?


    "Alright," he simply said, "you''ll get your wish soon."


    He kept moving while watching the fight of Amanda from time to time. The fake Amanda kept using her swords and strong techniques and never summoned her pets or even used anything that was remarkable about the real one.


    But he knew no one would notice the difference as she was simply crushing her foes like fire crushing dried weed.


    The fight was so brutal, and Arthur got severe wounds over time but he simply kept healing using his pills. "I''ll need to make more," he muttered while knowing his own reserve of the pills and meat was about to be depleted on such a high consumption rate.


    ''I can''t help you with that,'' Gege sighed, ''I know nothing about potions.''


    ''I can teach you sweetie,'' the golden dragon flirted.


    ''Stay your filthy scales off my body,'' she harrumphed while Arhtur only laughed. He wanted to say he was just a mere piece of soul, not a real dragon or something.


    But he kept his mouth shut as in the far distance a thin black line appeared at the horizon, just appearing under the dying sun of the day.


    ''They are here,'' Gege said.


    "I know," Arthur sighed as this fight took longer than he expected. Despite the arrival of his reinforcements, more reinforcements kept pouring from his enemies to replace those falling on a rapid pace.


    So even after six hours of constant fight he and the others couldn''t even manage to clear a path through the two mountains.


    ''Should I use my portals?'' Gege suggested.


    "Leave this as the last resort," Arthur thought for a moment before deciding to go full out. "Take out thirty corpses, I''ll turn them into dragons now."


    ''In front of her?'' the golden dragon was surprised and Arthur simply smiled before adding, "Ok take me in and I''ll turn them there."


    The next moment a portal appeared and Arthur vanished inside. "Keep this safe, no one is allowed to come in," before leaving he left these instructions to his slave who simply stood by and guarded it.


    "If she came, seal the portal," he said as he doubted the fake Amanda would do such a reckless move now.


    Inside he turned thirty dead bodies of higher realm into gigantic dragons. "Time to cause an impact," he turned to enter with his small army through the portal before adding, "summon all my dragons, we are going to create a path down there."


    The fight was mainly focused over the aerial forces up to now. From time to time some might get a chance to attack the ground forces, but this wasn''t common.


    Yet Arthur decided to leave the air to his forces and focus over the ground. ''Ding! Give me a minute,'' the system started to relay his orders while Arthur started to move fast towards the other end of this neck passage.


    And the thirty dragons followed him with his werewolf, creating an impact at anyone seeing him.


    And in the next minutes, many dragons just arrived as they followed him silently while they all moved forcibly towards the front of this blockade.


    There his enemies even built a long wall that stretched all the way between the two mountains. Watching towers, and even traps were laid everywhere making it slightly hard to bypass here without getting hit.


    But Arthur intended to change everything here.


    "Henry," he shouted while addressing one of his earliest grand dragons, "lead a group of a hundred and turn this useless wall and towers into nothing," he said before adding, "the rest come with me. We''ll sprout breaths over the ground and turn all the traps useless."


    Part of his forces went towards the walls and started their devastation there, while Arthur led the rest and started to splash his fire over the ground traps, destroying them in batches.

 Chapter 623: Securing A Path To The City

    They didn''t take much time to turn the entire ground into a wasted land. All kinds of breaths were used here, and in the end every single trap in front of the passage was destroyed.


    As for the walls they didn''t take long to be destroyed, then Henry led the group and dived deeply inside the enemy forces.


    "Follow me," Arthur shouted while turning around, "let''s clear all the enemies and create a path for others."


    He knew he couldn''t kill everyone in the short time left for him. Leaving the reinforcements also in the open wasn''t an option, as the entire army at the ground was able to kill hundreds of thousands in a short span of time.


    He didn''t know if the incoming reinforcements had any mages inside or not, and he couldn''t tell if they would be depended upon.


    So he decided to take the worst option; they were useless and he had to act this way.


    Just clashing over the ground forces turned the entire area there into a bloodbath. His dragons weren''t any less strong than him, and even some showed some strong breaths enough to threaten his life if he stood against them.


    They moved, first creating a gap then expanding it fast. Any place they went to was totally devastated and nothing stood in their way. As for the aerial army, they tried to interfere, but Arthur left a group of fifty dragons led by Henry to meet them.


    And his other forces up there were already too much and didn''t let much room for those flying monsters to act as they liked.


    The ground started to erupt running rivers of blood while the track they created was literally covered with dead bodies of their enemies.


    Arthur was in the lead, using his technique all the time while consuming pills and meat from time to time. He was like the tip of the spear, cutting and burning his enemies bodies into ash without any suspense.


    As for his enemies, they tried to crush them, fill the gap they created and try to block their path of retreat.


    "Turn back," Arthur didn''t hesitate to issue the order for half of his forces to turn around and go to face those hastily assembled enemy forces inside the wide track they just created.


    Like an automated saw, Arthur''s forces kept reaping and lived back and forth while he slowly expanded the gap towards his city.


    ''This is taking longer than planned,'' the golden dragon muttered, ''the reinforcements are here. You should seek their help to fortify the path and let others pass.''


    "I doubt they can help," Arthur was too busy to think about this again.


    ''I''ll contact them,'' Gege said, ''I doubt all of these people and no decent mages are among them!''


    Arthur didn''t speak, as if this was true then this fight would shift to a better state.


    After a few minutes he got the answer he looked for.


    ''Many can fight,'' Gege said in excitement, ''and many of these fighters are strong enough to hold the path.''


    "Great," Arthur heaved a deep sigh of relief, "send them towards the path and let my dragons retreat."


    ''On it,'' Gege was so much excited about the fact she was helping him effectively in this fight.


    Despite her using the tree''s help, she considered her as part of her assets. After all she was already part of her body, and she was the one who helped Arthur to activate its true potential.


    The next minute Arthur waited for the frontlines of his reinforcements to come and take charge. Despite this, he didn''t hurry to fasten his steps forward, as he patiently waited and watched what those reinforcements would do.


    "They are¡­ good," he muttered when he noticed how they handled the pressure. At first they were pushed slightly inside, narrowing the path a little but later they managed to hold their grounds, and even started to push the line back, making the path wider.


    "On me," he didn''t have anything to worry about right now as he turned his focus entirely towards deepening the path. "Let Henry watch the path from the air¡­ make him interfere if things need his aid," he said while pushing forward in great momentum while his dragon army was moving in no less speed than him.


    The system relayed his orders to Henry, and from time to time he would spot him descending to some point and then return to the sky.


    After the passage of an entire hour, Arthur started to be relieved totally about the state of his path. Things were getting under control, and as they started to delve deeper inside the enemy lines, they started to be covered by their aerial forces there.


    And that helped greatly in relieving the pressure over Henry and his team, and also some of those up there descended from time to time to help clearing more enemies from their path.


    Gradually Arthur started to run, and after three more hours and when the night started to get much deeper he finally started to fly fast. The dense numbers of his enemies started to falter, as finally after all this kiting they started to show lack of reinforcements.


    This made Arthur and his elite army of dragons able to move faster. As for his other forces on the ground, they started to expand the path easier while moving forward towards the city.


    Yet there was still one third left there, and he wasn''t too much reassured to his victory so far.


    "How about the distance from here to the city?" he suddenly asked as the main forces of his were stationed either on the city walls or fighting brutally here.


    ''There is nothing there,'' Gege replied after a couple of minutes.


    "Are you sure?" Arthur stressed again before adding, "not even scattered enemy forces anywhere from here to the city?"


    ''There are indeed scattered forces,'' Gege said, ''but they are scattered on a grand scale. I doubt they can pose any threat.''


    "Let enough forces be left in the city enough to sustain any sudden attack," Arthur didn''t take her words to his heart as he decided to be more cautious, "and let others come here to guard our incoming people."


    Time told that he had a point in worrying from those scattered forces. Just as he and his elite forces crossed the reign of the enemies, the incoming weak villagers moved towards the city.


    And in the middle, those scattered, unorganized groups started to target them.


    If not for the already arranged guards from the city, those trying to reach it from all over the planet would have been killed here without any proper chances in surviving.


    "See?'' Arthur smiled before adding, "Send more to them, I don''t want them to be killed."


    ''But the city will be vulnerable that way,'' Gege objected.


    "Alright, leave this to me," he then flew high in the air before shouting, "half stay here to help, while others come with me."


    He was already winning this war, and so he wasn''t so much worried about any hidden weapon his enemies would show up at the last minute.


    If they had anything up their sleeves then they would have used it when he was creating that path from before.


    As he neared the city, he started to descend and help in some fights. He spread out his small army of dragons, yet each single one of them was now tyrannical, couldn''t be stopped even with an army.


    And despite those groups converging here to attack those villagers, they didn''t have the time to really unite and form a bigger group. So the fight was like attacking smaller groups, endless in number but they were so weak.


    And like this the fight here was easily concluded in less than a day. Arthur stood high in the air while gracefully flapping his wings and glancing over the horizon.


    Many were still coming, and his only concern was that his enemies might try to attack them far from here.


    ''Ding! Don''t worry too much, it''s really harder to attack them from far,'' the system tried to reassure him, ''Ding! After all they all came from everywhere and it would be really impossible to block all.''


    ''Even if some were lost, most will arrive safely here,'' the golden dragon said.


    "You are right," he muttered before turning to glance at his stand tall city, "I believe it''s time to expand."


    ''Building more cities?'' Gege asked in an excited tone.


    Since this fight erupted she was in a very great mood. She finally found a place fit for herself and she just wanted more of such feelings.


    "Yeah, it''s time to expand," Arthur nodded, "but I need first to handle some stuff."


    He turned his gaze towards the distant army of his. After winning this war, part was selected to clear the battlefield and the rest started to supervise over the huge influx of those supporters.

 Chapter 624: Deciding To Expand His Dominion

    Their number was just getting bigger with each passing hour. Amelia took the charge of handling their roles inside the city, while the fake Amanda took the mission of guarding here as precaution of any future attacks.


    And Doaf led the others and started their patrols again. This time they were in much higher spirit, all of his forces were. The consecutive victories made them feel invincible, and Arthur felt this.


    And this slightly worried him.


    After all his enemies didn''t use their full force, and even his nemesis was now walking leisurely inside his city and forces with no speck of worry over her face.


    ''Don''t worry, she won''t make a rash thing now,'' the golden dragon said.


    "I''m not worried about her," Arthur muttered, "I''m just trying to think about her big goal here."


    ''As long as the tree is inside me, she can''t access it unless she enters my body,'' Gege chuckled, ''and if she does so, then consider her already dead.''


    ''Turn her into a slave instead,'' the golden dragon suddenly laughed.


    ''You¡­'' Gege''s tone was shaking while Arthur laughed, "Alright, stop it you two. Keep the tree watching her," he turned to go back to his city while taking one bird''s wing and wrote something to Amelia.


    As he returned to the city, he found things there were quite chaotic. Despite the hard work of Amelia, Omar, Randy, Ron, Lily, Deem, and others, the number of the incoming villagers was simply unbelievable.


    And this was just the tip of the iceberg.


    "Hello lord," Deem moved to him once saw him coming from far, "Amelia told me you asked for me."


    "Come," Arthur kept his dragonair form as he moved towards the central palace of his grand city. "I want you to expand the city," he said while walking towards the palace.


    "I also thought so," Deem sighed, "but to do that we need to use the underground Ley Lines. Frankly¡­ the diagram has already reached its best potential and couldn''t be exploited any further."


    "I didn''t mean that," Arthur shook his head before adding, "even if we expanded a little, the number coming here is simply outrageous! We need another solution."


    Deem was smart and knew Arthur had a plan in his mind. "Anything my lord wants, I''ll fulfill."


    "I need you to build me more cities," Arthur suddenly said and his words made the face of Deem paler for a brief moment. "For me, I''ve no objection to that. But¡­"


    "Don''t worry about our forces," Arthur knew what his trusted city builder was worrying about, "those coming here aren''t all villagers."


    "I know," Deem was already aware of this but he didn''t continue to express his doubts.


    Arthur knew this was normal, especially when they were still in a shakable position here in this city. But he had to do that, expand the conflict and make his weakness not concentrated over his heart, but over the wide and spacious armor of his.


    Even if he lost some cities later on, at least his capital and main base would be still peaceful. He saw it as gaining shield for his city until it grew strong enough to shield other cities as well.


    And now his main concern was related to how many cities should be built and where.


    Once entered the palace, he went towards a side room where he started his long meeting with Deem.


    A big map was drawn by him, under the control of his system and the guidance of the tree with the help of Gege. He drew a huge map where the main terrain of this planet appeared and also the major forces.


    "This¡­" Deem was surprised to see such a detailed map, and Arthur was also sharing the same surprise but he controlled it deep within.


    "Don''t ask," Arthur simply avoided any unneeded questions by this, "now as you can see we have cleared a large area around where these academies were stationed."


    He pointed to the five places of the five academies he just crushed. "Each contains great treasures and big fortunes. People, clans, mages, and even ores¡­ everything there must be ours."


    Arthur pointed towards a small circle over the big map. Even if he was speaking about a huge stretch of lands here, it was just a small piece compared to the gigantic lands of the planet here.


    "But doing so will put us in front of these forces," Deem pointed towards a group of around nine academies and dozens of big clans which would surround the new territory of his lord.


    "You worry about how to build these cities and leave the fighting to me," Arthur said before adding, "I want you to start expanding outwards, and during this I need you to make use of a grand diagram."


    "What diagram?" Deem was surprised and his interest was instantly piqued by the last words of Arthur.


    "This diagram," Arthur then took out another paper and started to draw over it. This time the system was following the words of the golden dragon, as he was the one who suggested this.


    "This¡­" yet Deem was shocked the more he drew. "I never thought of such a diagram before," he started to be restless even before Arthur finished.


    "What''s it used for?" the moment Arthur ended the drawing, he hurriedly took it and started studying it so deep.


    "Hahaha, first tell me your thoughts," Arthru said while he himself didn''t know all the details except for the general uses of the diagram.


    "It''s brilliant," Deem honestly said, "even I wouldn''t think of using the grand terrain in this way."


    "Use this as the base then," Arthur pointed to the triangular drawing, "this will be the template used for building any further city."


    "I understand," Deem said, "but are you sure it''s compatible with the Ley Lines in this world? I lack further info regarding the entire Ley Lines here."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur relayed the answer he got from his golden dragon, "the Ley Lines follow the same grand diagram everywhere. All you need to do is to unlock it at some point and then repeat it afterwards."


    "Wise words," Deem nodded, "when do you want me to start?"


    "Now," Arthur said, "I''ll go out and secure the places with my army, and you just use the grand people we have in something useful."


    "I will."


    Arthur then let him leave before writing a simple letter to Amelia telling her briefly about the plan. He hesitated before warning her to tell anyone outside her and Deem of this, as he wanted this to be his grand secret.


    He knew the plan of expansion would be known to his enemy lurking here, but he preferred for the entire diagram concept to remain hidden.


    ''She will discover it eventually,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "At least not now," Arthur sighed, "I hope we can get more intel from her."


    ''I''m keeping an eye over her,'' Gege said, ''also I left a hidden portal here so you can come here in mere seconds if things happened.''


    "Great," Arthur was now flying away from the city, "have you relayed the news to Doaf and others?"


    ''I used the tree to do so,'' Gege sighed, ''you should use your bird''s wings instead for such things.''


    "I would next time," he apologized, "are they near?"


    ''They are now expanding around the area you marked with Deem,'' Gege replied, ''they are now divided into smaller teams, each is heading to secure one location.''


    Arthur arranged a dozen of places for twelve cities to be built first. "What about the enemy?" he asked.


    ''Most of places are void of any,'' Gege said, ''but nearby there are a good number of enemies they had to clear.''


    "Good, relay this info to them so they would act instantly."


    ''I did.''


    Arthur then headed with his dragon army and werewolf towards a certain direction. In his diagram there were fixed points acting as the axis of it. he didn''t tell Deem anything about these points, as it would be better to keep this hidden.


    Striking down these points would render the entire diagram paralyzed. He didn''t want to see that. In addition to this, this point had the densest enemies so far, strangely like they knew the importance of it beforehand.


    In less than half a day ''s flight they arrived there. "Amazing scene," he muttered as a gigantic lake with white beach and nearby forest welcomed his eyes when he got near that place. "We will build the city on the lake, right?"


    ''Indeed,'' the golden dragon said, ''the scenery here is priceless.''


    "I agree," Arthur nodded before turning his gaze to spot the large number of mages and monsters on the horizon where they surrounded a large camp. "They are planning to take this place as their stronghold."


    ''This is just the remnants of the last academy forces,'' Gege said before adding, ''and this place acted as the main base of operation for the army which came to attack us before.''

 Chapter 625: Building A Lake City

    "I understand," he then turned to his army flying silently behind, "we''ll go there and clean this place up. Don''t show any mercy, and try to clear everything within one day."


    He knew Deem wouldn''t hesitate to send off the workers once more reinforcements arrived at the city. That meant they only got one day or two at max, and during which he needed to make this place ready to construct his grand city.


    The next thing happened for him to activate his technique and descended like thunder upon his enemies. Despite their large numbers, they seemed quite disarrayed, as if they lacked any suitable general or any kind of decent leaders.


    And this made the task of Arthur and his elite force easier. In less than half a day they managed to clear the place, while most of the survivors ran off, seeking refuge at the nearby forest.


    "Go there and scan that forest," Arthur ordered before adding, "don''t delve deep, I only want this place to be secured."


    The army of dragons nodded before he took out thirty corpses and turned them into dragons. He selected the bodies of those hailing from higher planes and formed thirty mighty dragons to add to his small army.


    "In ten days I would have double the current number of my dragons," he muttered to himself before landing over the white shore and glanced over the lake silently.


    He was lost in thought, as he realized he crossed a huge road before coming here. His life was so epic and full of turns, yet he was satisfied with what he did.


    "I''ll train," he decided, "this place has strange tranquility over my soul."


    ''I''ll keep watching then,'' Gege said, ''if anything happened, I''ll inform you up ahead.''


    He sat on the ground and started his training. During the next day nothing much happened that was worth disturbing him.


    Those runners came back with larger forces, and this time they were led with some capable generals. Yet they couldn''t bypass the tight security of his dragon army, or even rival their strength.


    They came in large numbers and during an entire day only massacre erupted among their forces until they finally retreated with bitter defeat and great losses.


    When Gege interrupted his training, he was so close to take a small step in his cultivation. "The forest¡­" he was surprised to see the vast sea of trees be mostly gone from his sight, and only long tongues of smoke rose from everywhere.


    ''A war erupted while you were training, kid,'' the golden dragon said, ''this is just a normal collateral damage.''


    ''Ding! The enemy gathered great forces and ended up defeated.''


    "Good," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "I just wanted this forest to act as a source of wood for the city. Anyway it provided more room for the city to be built along the long shore of this lake."


    He glanced again at the lake while picturing the amazing scene of his city. "This place would be really special," he already could feel that. "Are they here?"


    As there was no threat worthy of disturbing him, he knew the workers were about to arrive.


    ''Indeed they are,'' Gege replied, ''you should watch their work initially and give any instructions if needed.''


    Arthur flew to the air to spot a long line of villagers coming from the direction of his base. "They are in large numbers," he said in surprise as he thought Deem would send only a few at first.


    ''Those answering the call are growing in size in each hour,'' Gege proudly said as if this was her own achievement.


    "It seems the case," Arthur sighed before he spotted someone who surprised him.


    "What are you doing here?"


    He went directly towards Deem who smiled as he said:


    "I asked around and knew the direction you went to. Roughly put I guessed the location you''d be there and decided to come and supervise over the building here."


    Arthur glanced suspiciously at him as he added to explain himself more in a whispering tone:


    "I figured this might be an important place or else you won''t go here in person."


    Arthur inwardly sighed as this man''s brilliant mind was something that he didn''t account for. "Alright, I want you to start building the city here," Arthur pointed to the shore as he added, "and I want the city to open up at the lake."


    "No walls there?" Deem asked in loss.


    "And ruin this amazing scene?" Arthur laughed, "our villagers need to learn fishing and start using this lake via the port you''ll build here."


    "I guess this would require extra work then," Deem seemed quite excited, "Any more requirements?"


    "Not anything special outside the norm," Arthur said while thinking deeply about the image of the city in his mind. "Send some to salvage any usable wood from there," he motioned his head towards the forest before adding, "also send scouts to search for ores."


    "We brought enough with us," Deem confidently said, "we already excavated many ore mines around the big city and carried them inside storage rings."


    "Also search for some here," Arthur said, "as for the security, I''ll guarantee no one will disturb you."


    "Good," Deem rubbed his hands together, "I''m so much excited about that port. Do you want a military one too?" he asked.


    "Sure, why not," Arthur muttered before adding, "I recall there''s a river branching from it on the other side. I believe it goes deep inside the planet, linked to other rivers and ending into the ocean. We can use that to move our warring ships anywhere we want."


    "Good point," Deem nodded, "I''ll try my best then. I didn''t make ports before, nor ships."


    "You can ask around," Arthur glanced over the great army of workers pouring towards here, "I doubt we won''t find anyone with such experience amongst them."


    Deem nodded before going up ahead and started organizing teams.


    Arthur stayed in the air observing his workers dispersed into many smaller teams. Some went to the devastated part of the first to salvage the wood, while others went beyond that towards the intact forest to cleave the trees.

 Chapter 626: The Scent Of Originals

    Some teams started to work over the ground to prepare the foundations of the city, while others started to wander aimlessly everywhere, seemingly looking for ores.


    There was a series of hills and mountains on one side of here, away from the lake by tens of miles. Arthur went there to check on things, and he only found some wild monsters taking from these harsh environment places to live.


    "Sigh, it was such a long time to get some decent pets," he glanced over these strong looking monsters and thought not to kill them.


    ''I can help with opening portals everywhere,'' Gege said, ''and inside me I can nourish them and turn them stronger.''


    ''But this would take much time,'' the golden dragon seemed not to support the idea.


    ''Ding! You and your men are in desperate need of strong pets,'' the system supported Gege''s idea.


    "Let''s do it on Gege''s way," Arthur decided to get his hands over this missed treasure trove.


    Gege spread out a huge number of portals all of sudden all around the series of hills and mountains. "Your strength grew," Arthur noted and she only chuckled. ''It''s not my power, it''s the power of the star map,'' she said.


    "Does my training in the cultivation realms help her?"


    ''Indeed, and the golden pearl energy helps as well,'' Gege thought for a moment before adding, ''I don''t know what is the end of the map evolution, but I hope she can gain sentience like me.''


    ''I think she is destined to be a great ally for you in the years to come,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''after all she is a relic of those ancient clans.''


    Arthur nodded while glancing over the restless monsters down below. The sudden emergence of these portals startled them, and that helped in making them move in a chaotic way, leading many inside the portals.


    "Can you control the portals? Move them around?" he asked as he expected that after some point many monsters would escape the reach of the portals.


    ''I can''t,'' Gege said, ''but I can recall and redistribute them.''


    "Good," Arthur smiled, "make sure not to let a single one escapes."


    ''Don''t worry,'' she confidently said, ''but this might take some time.''


    Arthur glanced back at the city as he spotted deep grooves on the ground starting to appear like long and thin dark lines from his place, "no problem, I''m not in a hurry."


    Arthur waited for the entire day and had to change his location several times already. Each time he would stay there for a few hours before nearly all the monsters would be taken inside his garden before moving to another location.


    He kept doing that until he finally reached a place with no monster. "Strange¡­" he muttered as he moved fast over many mountain tops and couldn''t spot any trace of monsters here.


    ''I can''t sense anything here via the tree,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! Neither do I!''


    ''That''s weird,'' the golden dragon muttered, ''either monsters here heard about your doing and decided to run away before you arrive or¡­''


    "There is a hidden treasure here or a special monster," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before deciding to search deeper along these mountains.


    He wasn''t in a hurry as he knew building his city would require a long time already. The nearest places of this mountainous series were now void of any monster, safe for his workers to look for mines.


    And so he started to dive lower and scan every valley and big cave here.


    "There is not a single trace of any monster living here," after hours of searching he reached this conclusion.


    ''That''s even weirder,'' the golden dragon said, ''according to Gege, this mountain series stretches deeply inside the lands of this planet. If there are monsters living at part of it, then it''s normal for monsters to take this place as their dwelling.''


    "Can you ask the tree to run another scan here?" Arthur was still unsettled about this situation.


    And he was right to ask for another search from his tree.


    ''There is something,'' Gege suddenly said, ''I believe it''s some sort of a garden or a relic of the ancient races.''


    "The originals?" Arthur asked in urgency as he was already curious about anything related to them.


    ''I think so,'' she muttered before adding, ''according to the tree, there is a spot with strange fluctuations that resemble defensive shields but slightly different.''


    ''In which way?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''I dunno but she already is aware of the defensive shields as she saw them around the city before,'' Gege explained before adding, ''but she said these fluctuations weren''t like these shields.''


    "Which way?" Arthur didn''t want to waste more time here and decided to go and see that place by his own eyes.


    ''I''ll guide you,'' Gege then started to relay directions towards the spot. Arthur wasn''t too far away from it, and when he got near there he was stopped by the amazing scene he saw from far.


    "Damn! All these clouds and lightning!" he cursed out loud when he spotted those dense clustered dark clouds and thick tongues of lighting raining over a large piece of the ground down below. "They look like the old tribulation clouds and lightning of mine."


    This scene brought back many memories where he triumphed over all the tribulations except one challenge; the last challenge.


    ''Are you sure you want to go there?'' Gege was the one able to read out his mind among the others, and so she knew his intention about going there.


    "I came all this way here not to retreat now, right?" he smiled before flapping his wings and heading towards the front, "I survived the old lightning of mine, and I can survive this."


    ''But¡­''


    ''What the tree told you?'' the golden dragon seemed hesitant as well.


    ''She can''t spy over the center of this place,'' she said before adding, ''but she is quite sure these lightning and clouds are only an outer shell to what''s inside.''


    ''Ding! Are these clouds and lightning the fluctuations she talked about?'' the system asked.


    ''No, she says the fluctuations are still deep inside.''


    ''I don''t like this,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''I can already smell the scent of those originals here.''


    ''Ding! I think it''s best to avoid this place,'' the system said, ''Ding! Always trust the primitive instincts of the monsters. If there is any absolute danger here then they won''t hesitate to run far away.''


    ''I think they have a good point here,'' Gege also objected.


    "What''s wrong?" Arthur laughed, "are you worried I won''t survive this?"

 Chapter 627: A Mysterious Voice

    Despite feeling the same doubt and fear like them he didn''t retreat but advance. He wanted to know what lies inside, and something deep within his soul told him he should be there.


    The moment he became near these thick clouds and dense lightning he started to have more doubts about this. The lightning kept falling nonstop, while nothing appeared from behind this thick curtain of it.


    ''You shouldn''t do that,'' Gege muttered but he clenched his two fists while muttering, "This has to be done."


    He started to move forward while he started activating his ultimate technique.


    ''Are you planning to fight this?'' the golden dragon was speechless.


    "My old friend, fighting tribulation isn''t about enduring the lightning," Arthur muttered before throwing himself inside, "it''s all about fighting back with it."


    The next moment he started to wave his sword high above his head. Each wave created a strong shock as the sword was hit with a lightning thick tongue.


    Yet the technique he was using now helped in negating the lightning brutal attack and he started to fly fast towards the front. If anyone saw him from far he would see only a dragon being bathed with lightning while holding a sword and constantly waving it above his head.


    And that sword was constantly hit by lightning, but all that resulted was a gigantic wave of sparks that started to form a fascinating bubble around him.


    And Arthur kept moving forward while he was immersed in doing this. "This brings back sweet memories," he suddenly laughed as he had a melancholic moment just now.


    He used to fight heavens head on. Despite this wasn''t the only guaranteed way to overcome the tribulation, it was more fun in its essence.


    Plus those fighting the heavens ended usually in better form that those surrendered and only defended.


    ''Shouldn''t you defend?'' Gege was very concerned about him, and her way of thinking matched many of weak souls back at his past life.


    "This lightning isn''t just a punishment, it''s a blessing as it will help in honing my technique," he tried to explain to the three inside his mind the logic behind what he was doing.


    After all he wasn''t taking all this risk for nothing in return.


    This kept going on for hours, during which he kept replenishing his energies and Gege helped as well. After the passage of five long hours he finally spotted a change up front.


    It was like he was passing through a waterfall covering a cave, or a world. The moment he broke through he was fazed by the beauty of this place.


    "This¡­"


    He stood there mesmerized while the obvious contrast between the intense lightning behind and the tranquility of peace and beauty inside the world that he just entered was too much to grasp in mere moments.


    After five minutes of glancing all around and examining this piece of heaven he asked:


    "Is this another piece of garden?"


    "It''s not."


    The answer didn''t come from the three inside his mind, but from a totally different voice that appeared all of sudden like his owner was speaking in front of him.


    And from just these mere words Arthur realized the owner of this voice wasn''t someone normal. He felt a strange feeling, like he was facing some divine being of some kind.


    "Who are you?" Arthur asked while clenching over his two swords.


    "First no weapons are allowed here," the voice said, like his words were a form of doctrine edict in this world. The next moment Arthur felt he was holding nothing.


    "This¡­" he frowned when he noticed the absence of his sword.


    "Don''t worry, I''m too old to care about those who are too young," the voice sighed in a tiring tone, "this place holds a significant meaning for me, so please accept my rules and you''ll gain my hospitality in return."


    Arthur didn''t have any option but nod. "May I know your name, venerable master?"


    "I''m master of none," the voice said, "and my name is too old for you to recognize."


    "Are you¡­ one of the originals perhaps?" Arthur wasn''t satisfied by this vague answer so he tried to seek another route.


    "Oh, a young human kid with dragon powers knows about our ancient existence!" The sound seemed quite surprised and his words gave Arthur the answer he needed.


    "I just went to a place where you once lived¡­ I suppose."


    "An original world? Or is it a simple piece of it?" the sound said and Arthur had a frowning look over his face, "of course it''s just a piece. There is no way a complete world would still be intact."


    Arthur noticed the bitter tone of this voice. "Master, are you guarding this place?"


    "Guarding?" the voice suddenly laughed, "It''s the opposite human dragon kid, I''m confined here, imprisoned for eternity."


    Arthur''s eyes widened instantly. "Can I help?"


    "Please," the voice said in a calm tone, "with no disrespect but if you aren''t much stronger than me then you can''t."


    "I bypassed the lightning," Arthur tried to argue.


    "These aren''t lightning, but mere sparks coming from the main lightning prison that holds me," the voice sighed, "everytime I tried to escape, I would be cooked alive with that lightning. Don''t underestimate the lightning, as it would only react and show its true face if I or anything related to me tried to go out of here."


    Arthur glanced around and the beauty of this place still dazzled him. "It''s a piece of beauty, right? At least they still have some respect for me and didn''t throw me inside a deep pit or something."


    "Who did this to you?" Arthur was very curious now to know about the identity of them. For him, and for many others living even in the upper realms those originals were some sort of gods.


    And now he was facing an imprisoned god.


    "That¡­ it''s best if you don''t know that info," the old voice said before adding, "you are too weak to even hear their name and live the next second."


    "¡­"

 Chapter 628: You Cant Leave

    Arthur didn''t know what to say except being silent. "May I ask about my friends?"


    "Those weak wisps of soul inside your mind?" the voice asked, "they are too weak to cross the barrier and sustain the superior world here, so I decided to isolate them and protect their beings inside your mind with my power. I hope you don''t mind that."


    "But I''m standing here perfectly fine," Arthur checked his body and didn''t find anything strange about him.


    "That''s a question I dunno the answer about," the voice said before adding, "and I don''t care. Despite being the first to come here but I''m not that excited about that."


    Arthur knew the voice wouldn''t be warm welcoming to anyone except if he or she would be really in a place to help him. "Can''t I take you with me? I mean I already hold many souls inside."


    "Mine is a different kid," the voice said, "and this place is held in position by using a special method. Without it I would eventually die."


    "Dying doesn''t seem that awful," Arthur honestly muttered.


    "But this has nothing to do with my opinion," the voice said, "I can''t come near that thing or else I would have preferred to die a long time ago."


    "Thing?" Arthur asked while adding, "I thought it''s an array or something."


    "It''s an array indeed, but it uses the item buried here to provide everything with energy," the voice sighed, "the prison can''t sustain itself much without it, and if it was destroyed I might gain few last minutes of peace and freedom."


    "Can I see it?" Arthur asked, "I might be able to help."


    "Don''t bother, you are too weak."


    "Trying won''t hurt, y''know."


    "Hope does," the voice seemed not welcoming to this thought, "but you came here and won''t be able to leave soon so you can waste some time here digging for it."


    "What?!!" Arthur was shocked, "can''t I leave?"


    "Hahaha, this part of the space is locked inside a special mechanism. You can enter but leaving will take a long time to do¡­ at least one week here."


    "One week!!!" Arthur was totally shocked by this and now he regretted coming here.


    "That''s in the best case scenario," the voice laughed as if he was amused by Arthur''s current trap here. "But for your knowledge time passes much faster than outside."


    "So it''ll be less than a week outside, right?"


    "A day or two in max," the voice said after a moment of pause, "I dunno precisely how much as I lost track of such useless things."


    "Time?"


    "The outside world."


    Arthur took a deep breath, "alright, show me where that thing is buried. At least I can vent some frustration now."


    "Go to the front for a hundred mile," the voice laughed first, then said, "then you''ll have to dig at least ten miles deep."


    "How big is this world?"


    "Very," the voice said in confidence," after all my soul can''t be attached to anything small."


    "Is it a garden? Like mine?"


    Arthur started flying and despite everything, the place here enjoyed special tranquility which started to seep deeply inside his soul.


    "That low garden of yours? C''mon, it''s a weak relic of the space clan."


    "Weak¡­ if Gege just was here and heard you," Arthur laughed and the voice laughed with him.


    "This is just the mere truth. For example this garden here is much stronger and way advanced than yours."


    "Does it have any sentience?" Arthur simply asked.


    "No, but¡­"


    "Does it have a soul? Aims to have her own human body?"


    "No, but¡­"


    "Then it''s nothing compared to mine," Arthur proudly said, refusing to admit defeat here.


    "Sigh, things aren''t calculated in such a way."


    "I weigh things in this way."


    "It''s a narrow way to live, kid."


    "At least I''m living."


    "¡­"


    Arthur smiled as he was enjoying his little victory over the voice about this matter. In fact he knew this garden had much more advantages to him than his own, but as long as he had other advantages so why not show off a little?


    "It''s here," the voice suddenly said after an hour of flying, "what will you use to dig?"


    "You took my sword away," Arthur complained.


    "Weapons can''t be used here, I said that and executed instantly."


    "And you sealed my own helpers too."


    "I hate crowds."


    "I need something to dig with then," Arthur stood in the air while slowly flapping his wings, "this way I won''t be able to find this item."


    "It''s you not me who wants to see it by the way."


    "And it''s you, not me who took away everything off mine."


    "This is my house."


    "And I''m your guest, not enemy."


    "But you aren''t a friend!"


    "I''m not an enemy either."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two kept their silence for an entire hour before the voice sighed, "alright, can you dig using your sword?"


    "I can use my technique and attack the ground," Arthur thought out loud.


    "The ground here is sturdy," the voice warned.


    "Then my sword will be enough."


    "It might break," the voice warned, "and if it does I won''t compensate you with anything."


    "My sword can''t break, it''s my sword!"


    "We''ll see," the voice said that and then Arthur got his sword back. Like it never left his hand, the two swords appeared, each in one grip. "Show me what you are bragging about kid."


    "You''ll see," Arthur held the hilt tighter before flapping his wings and violently divided towards the ground.


    "Boom!"


    A loud explosion occurred and the ground trembled before a crack appeared. It wasn''t a pit, or a hole, just a crack.


    "This is what you were talking about? Really hilarious!" the voice laughed in amusement as if he already anticipated such a result.


    "Humph," Arthur turned to the sky again before falling and hitting the same spot once more. The crack got wider, appearing like a spider web from above.


    Yet it didn''t create enough gap to call a hole.

 Chapter 629: The Secret Of The Eggs

    Arthur wasn''t dejected or hesitated as he rose again high in the air and landed over the same spot over and over until the crack turned into a crater wide and long enough to be proud of.


    "This is what I was talking about," Arthur said in an arrogant tone before rising high in the air and descending once more.


    This time the ground underneath the surface didn''t show him the same resistance like before. He kept getting deeper at an accelerated pace while the voice kept his silence and never spoke for a while.


    Until a day passed and Arthur was replenishing his energy using his pills and meat.


    But with the absence of Gege he had to stop what he was doing every couple of hours and recuperate through meditation.


    "This world¡­ is simply amazing," as he moved from his place he couldn''t help but remark, "I wish I could take it with me."


    "Hahaha, nice dreams kid," the voice laughed and spoke after long hours of silence.


    "I really mean it," Arthur wasn''t dreaming, he really hoped to find a way to do that. This place was simply a heaven, filled with pure forms of energies his body contained and even other forms he never felt before.


    Training here for a day was equal to training a couple of weeks outside, or even months.


    "Stop talking about the impossible and go there and crack the last shell off that item," the voice said as if he was talking to a real kid, "after you see it you''ll understand how impossible it is to get this place for yours."


    "Do you want this place to perish with you old man?"


    "Who is the old man?!" The voice seemed agitated, "I''m a young man!"


    "Alright young old man," Arthur laughed, "I just wanna know if you hold this place dear to your heart and won''t agree for me to take it away."


    "Humph, if you can do it this it''s all yours."


    "Great," Arthur''s grin was now from ear to ear while flying fast high in the air as he activated his technique.


    Then he dived down to travel the depth he excavated and finally hit the ground with his sword.


    "Rang!"


    This time it wasn''t a booming sound, but like his sword his something metallic. The hit cleared one hundred meters down below the level the pit was before, and now Arthur could see great chains made entirely out of silver white ore that sustained his hit without any damage.


    "See?" the voice laughed, "you can''t even leave a scratch!"


    "This¡­" Arthur was speechless, but not from the chains. "I know this¡­" he paused as he hurried to the sky and then landed once more towards a different position to clear more dirt off this item.


    "Y''know what?"


    "That item of yours," Arthur rose up again and this time he seemed quite excited, "I''ve got a similar one inside my garden."


    "You¡­ what?!!" the voice seemed shocked, "I can''t believe it, you can''t even know what this is."


    "I really dunno its identity or value," Arthur honestly said before diving once more in great momentum, "yet I now know it''s such a rare treasure."


    "Nonsense," the voice bellowed in disbelief, "I can''t buy what you are saying."


    "It''s an egg, a very violent and repulsive one," Arthur cracked a smile over his face before adding, "I too used a technique to seal it. despite I only used low leveled pillars in comparison to these strong chains, but at least it''s under control."


    "Bullshit," the voice didn''t accept any of Arthur''s words.


    "If you let my Gege come in, I can show you," Arthur couldn''t help but calmly reply to the shocked voice.


    "I can''t do that, she will die the moment she appears here."


    "Then I can''t prove my words and you have to believe me," Arthur shrugged while diving once more to the depth of this pit and cleared another part of the dirt. "I don''t gain anything by deceiving you."


    "How could someone so weak and living in such a miserable realm gain such an item? I can''t believe that¡­ they became so careless about their belongings."


    "Who?"


    "I can''t tell."


    "Can''t you write it for me?"


    "¡­"


    Arthur kept clearing the area down there around the egg until he created a great cave down below. The egg was identical to the one he had before, and this time it was restrained by these long and giant chains.


    "Is it the same?" the voice asked.


    "It is but¡­"


    "What?"


    "It''s much more aggressive than the one I had," Arthur deeply muttered, "I''ve met two eggs before, and none had the same dreadful aura or gave me a threat like this one."


    "You saw two before?" the voice was speechless before adding, "strange, did they really fall?"


    "They might have," Arthur smiled, "after all the entire universe is ruled by humans and mages."


    "They might just have retreated and went into hiding," the voice didn''t think his enemies were dead, "anyway what you have seen or acquired is just a dormant version of these eggs."


    "Dormant?"


    "Indeed," the voice said before explaining, "these eggs need to be activated to show you their true terror."


    "Are they this dangerous?" Arthur recalled the time bomb he held inside his garden.


    "They aren''t dangerous, they are coveted by many and that''s where the risk lies," the voice said, "they act as a mighty source of endless energy, and the type they emit isn''t that weak form of energy you know¡­ it''s the original energy, our energy."


    The voice seemed quite proud of this, yet Arthur noticed something else. "These eggs came originally from you? Are they like¡­ pillars?"


    "They aren''t formed by our bones kid if that is what you mean," the voice said before adding, "they are our babies, the ones who carry our siblings to the world."


    "You¡­ hatch eggs?!!" Arthur was shocked to hear that, even his mouth was wide opened.

 Chapter 630: The Sin Of Arrogance

    "What''s strange about it?" the voice laughed, "but don''t worry, the eggs who failed to produce our kids are the ones turning into the source of energy."


    Arthur understood his meaning. "So they don''t contain any living form of you, right?"


    "Indeed, but this turns them into a source of endless energy."


    "That''s why Gege coveted it," Arthur understood now why Gege sat her gaze upon the egg inside his garden.


    "Any egg can turn a mere wild monster into one with a human body and immense strength. Our eggs have great abilities that you can call magical."


    "Indeed they are," Arthur muttered before glancing over the egg down below, "how can I turn it off then?"


    "You mean¡­ deactivating the egg?" the voice asked in doubt.


    "As there is a way to activate it, there must be to do the opposite, right?"


    "And why would we think of deactivating this?"


    "Don''t tell me¡­ you never thought of this situation before?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there before adding, "sigh, I have to find a way to deactivate it."


    "I think it''s impossible," the voice said, "after all you''ll need an equal form of energy to deactivate it in theory."


    "I know," Arthur understood the meaning of the voice''s words, "but I already have an egg inside my garden, and another one connected to it through a portal. I can simply activate the one inside me and let its energy deactivate the one here."


    "They will just explode together and you won''t gain anything in return," the voice sighed, "this already happened many times before."


    "I''ll find a way," Arthur said before adding, "but tell me how to activate the egg and through that I can hypothesize about the way to deactivate yours."


    "You are really stubborn."


    "I just want to set you free," Arthur said, "don''t you want your freedom?"


    "I want¡­ to die," the voice suddenly said, "if I was let loose then they would come down and kill you before imprisoning me again."


    "You don''t know that," Arthur argued.


    "I''m pretty much sure of that," the voice sighed, "just¡­ drop this off and don''t bring calamity for you."


    Arthur glanced at the egg which looked like a trapped beast. "Just tell me how to activate it."


    "You¡­ sigh, humans are always hard to deal with."


    "Hahaha, you are right."


    "It''s your life anyway. To activate it you''ll need to establish a certain array where you will feed the egg with energy constantly," the voice said.


    "What form of energy?"


    "Any form is fine," the voice answered, "but the higher the form of energy the better, as the time needed will be greatly shortened this way."


    Arthur thought and the first thing that came into his mind was the golden pearl energy he had. But he dropped such thought fast, after all his golden pearl''s energy was scarce to begin with.


    "Can you teach me about that array?" he asked while flying to the surface once more.


    "I can draw this one for you," the voice then paused and Arthur saw the earth below show markings like a gigantic stick was excavating the earth.


    "You¡­" Arthur''s corner of the eyes twitched, "you could help but you didn''t!"


    The voice laughed before saying, "I told you, you are the one asking for that not me."


    "¡­"


    Arthur watched in silence the drawing that showed the steps of how to create that array. "Forty-nine grand array¡­ this is something new to me," he muttered while memorizing what the voice drew for him.


    "This is just a simple array for us," the voice said before adding, "back in time we could make arrays out of thousands above thousands of angles."


    "This¡­" Arthur was truly surprised this time, "how could you control it?"


    "I told you kid," the voice laughed, "our form of energy is just higher than what you think. Plus we used the eggs in many ways, one of them was to provide such arrays with their great limitless energy."


    Arthur nodded as many applications for the egg started to appear in his mind. "Do you know how many of these are out there?" he asked while pointing towards the deep pit in the ground.


    "When I was out there, we had an endless supply of eggs before our world was shattered and we lost everything," the voice seemed to recall unpleasant memories as he paused for a long time. "Sigh, if we knew losing our world would have such a detrimental effect on the war we wouldn''t have let anyone touch it!"


    ''It''s a known fact that your base is your strongest defense against your enemy," Arthur stated the obvious for himself, "I think you lightly dealt with such grave matter."


    "We were¡­ kind of arrogant," the voice sighed, "anyway you''ve got what you wanted and now let me live my life in peace."


    Arthur felt that what he just spoke with the voice owner stirred up deep and bitter memories.


    "It''s a sad thing to see strong people fall due to the simple sin of arrogance," he muttered before glancing again over the drawings on the ground and made sure he memorized them right.


    Then he went down and sat there, silently closing his eyes and started to breath calmly and regularly while cultivating.


    His cultivation base was stagnant still at the nascent soul stage six. He didn''t have time to upgrade it, yet during that time he managed to properly strengthen his base.


    And now he could safely hit the higher bases without any problem at all.


    "Above the nascent soul is the earth, heaven, and star soul stages. Then I can finally hit the immortal stage," he muttered while arranging the path lying ahead of him.


    Each contains nine stages, and that meant he still had a long way before finally breaking through the immortal stage, the real powerful stage he aspired to reach.


    Last life he was at the pinnacle of this grand stage. It was common knowledge that the stage below the immortal stage was called the man stage, or mortal stage as some preferred to say.

 Chapter 631: Reaching The Pinnacle Of Nascent Soul Stage

    Above the immortal lied the real and rare hegemony stage. As for the legendary sovereign stage that was just a mere fantasy to achieve it.


    "Step by step," he reminded himself as just thinking about this long road made his soul restless, "I''ll achieve a much higher pinnacle than the one I once did¡­ just I need time and patience."


    He returned to his regular breathing while time passed fast here. This world was really unique and he started to reap the benefits of being here just a few hours after starting his training.


    "Nascent soul stage seven," he muttered before continuing his training, refusing to celebrate now.


    "Nascent soul stage eight."


    "Nascent soul stage nine."


    "Nascent soul stage ten."


    Finally and just less than a day before he could leave this world he managed to reach the pinnacle of the nascent soul stage. He didn''t stop training though he knew breaking through this would be quite risky.


    "Tribulation¡­" he sighed while opening his eyes as the voice alarmed him, "I need to consider this while choosing the right time to break through."


    He now wasn''t in a good position in the outer world. His forces were still weak, his base was fragile, and his enemy was still mysterious and unfathomed to him.


    Adding more variables to the game would turn things to the worse for sure. So he decided to refrain from breaking through now.


    "You can leave if you wish," the voice said.


    "I''ll come back," Arthur went towards the place he came from before turning to glance aimlessly, "I promise."


    "Sigh, just be safe and don''t get yourself killed kid," the voice seemed to like Arthur but the latter didn''t put these words in his mind as he took his sword and activated his technique once again.


    Then he moved through the membrane like shield and re-entered the lightning world once more.


    From peace and tranquility into the heart of the fire Arthur moved with a sudden shocking change in the scenery.


    Yet he was well prepared. He never let the calm atmosphere inside to fool him or dull his senses and the fighting soul was still ignited as sharply as ever.


    He kept waving his sword and he felt slight improvement in the strength of his attacks, but not big enough to cause a big difference.


    So he had each time to receive the thick lightning tongue just a few inches above his head. Failing meant instant death, he was pretty much sure of this.


    Yet he never thought about anything, just waving his sword, just anticipating the next strike to defend.


    And finally after hours of flying this way he managed to exit this horrible place without a single scratch.


    ''C''mon, tell me what happened!''


    Since the moment he exited that heaven prison he wasn''t welcomed with lightning and dark clouds alone, but with the shouting voice of Gege who tried to check over him and understand what happened.


    And he simply chose to ignore her until he exited that restricted zone.


    "Can''t you calm down until I get out? Do you want me dead?!!" he was finally able to vent over her and his bellow of rage didn''t manage to stop her.


    ''Cold dragon! I was so much worried about you during the past day and the first thing you say is to shout at me? I hate you!''


    "Sigh," Arthur couldn''t help but stay silent while the golden dragon said:


    ''You suddenly disappeared and we couldn''t connect to you in any way. Plus there was some kind of strange aura¡­ it was something I never saw before.''


    ''Ding! What happened?'' the system asked, ''Ding! Is there any form of energy that blocked us?''


    "Just wait in line and I''ll tell you what happened," Arthur couldn''t help but shake his head before glancing around, "wait a minute¡­ this isn''t the place I came from, right?"


    ''Humph, as if I would ask the tree about that,'' Gege was still mad.


    "C''mon my dear, you can read my mind and already know what happened," Arthur faintly smiled as he stopped flying before turning to glance at that enormous zone covered with black clouds and thick lightning.


    ''Humph, I''ll do this for you just for this time only,'' Gege''s rage became softer while adding, ''you exited in the opposite direction of the one you came from. Plus she has news about your beloved girl.''


    "That Amanda?" he hurriedly asked, "c''mon, tell me what happened?"


    ''Nah,'' Gege said in a teasing tone like a little girl, ''first you tell and then I say.''


    "Gege, this isn''t a time to play and fool around," Arthur hurriedly turned around and started to fly around the cloud in a very long journey to go back.


    ''I won''t speak until you say everything.''


    "She might have done something bad, do you want me to suffer?"


    ''It''s your fault to fall for pretty wicked girls, and this news isn''t bad but something good for you.''


    "Oh, are you saying you are a wicked girl?"


    ''I''m not!'' Gege shouted before realizing something, ''wait, do you mean¡­''


    "Hahaha, sorry I only fall for wicked ones, hahaha," it was his time to tease her.


    ''Stop flirting with you two little birds,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''c''mon tell us what happened first and then we can discuss Amanda''s matter.''


    Arthur started to narrate what happened while flying back towards the direction of his nearby city.


    "Now you know everything that happened, what about the fake Amanda?"


    ''We found out what she is trying to do there,'' the golden dragon confidently said and his tone told Arthur there was more than this.


    "And?"


    ''Ding! We also found out one weakness about her.''


    "Weakness?" the eyes of Arthur shone brightly before adding, "Oh tell, I always say I would never be defeated having you by my side."


    ''Liar, you never said that!'' Gege laughed.


    ''You never did,'' the golden dragon agreed.


    ''Ding! Don''t try to coat your words with us, we know you better,'' the system said in a harsh way.

 Chapter 632: Returning To The Lake City

    Arthur only smiled as he said:


    "You are my three big pearls and treasures¡­ tell me what is her goal and what''s her weakness?"


    ''Should we exploit him for more benefit?'' the golden dragon ignored him as if he was speaking to himself.


    ''He should grant us our wishes first.''


    ''¡­''


    Arthur was speechless there for a moment before laughing, "Alright, if you don''t do that I''ll make sure you won''t get any single benefit from me," he shook his head in disappointment before adding, "I''ll create another technique where I won''t need your help in it."


    ''Don''t you dare!'' Gege shouted in panic while Arthur laughed. "Just be a good girl and tell me everything."


    His thoughts told her he was already thinking about creating another technique. ''Alright, I''ll tell but don''t create another one without me, please.''


    "Say and I promise I won''t," he said while waiting for his answer.


    ''She is trying to relay pillars around your city,'' Gege said.


    "She wants to summon that beast once more?" Arthur asked.


    ''I doubt that,'' the golden dragon said, ''according to the description of the pillars she planted around the city in the past day she is trying to start a portal connecting to a higher realm.''


    "And?" Arthur didn''t get his meaning yet.


    ''Ding! She is trying to connect that upper realm whose responsibility was to summon the beast with your city.''


    The system said it loud and clear making him realize the threat he was facing right now. "So she is ditching the plan to summon that beast and instead she is calling more reinforcements? Interesting¡­ what about our efforts to connect with George?"


    ''Deem is busy building the cities and Doaf is busy securing the borders,'' Gege said.


    "No this won''t do," Arthur shook his head, "send a word to Doaf, let him come here alone and leave others back there to secure the borders."


    ''Come here?'' Gege asked, ''you mean that city?''


    "Sure, we need the two to work together fast and also not to hinder the work going on here."


    ''I''ll relay the orders now,'' Gege hurriedly went to the tree and told her about this request.


    "What about the weakness then?"


    ''She comes from the higher realm,'' the golden dragon didn''t directly answer the question, ''so to keep her former powers intact in large portions she needs to consume a potion every couple of hours.''


    "A potion?" Arthur muttered before adding, "if so then she must have a large quantity in her ring, right?"


    ''Ding! That''s what we figured out as well,'' the system said, ''Ding! So in order to snitch her storage away we need you¡­ ahem, to sleep with her.''


    Arthur''s face changed while an evil smile appeared over his face. "Are you sure it''s safe?"


    ''She is a witch,'' Gege returned with a rage of anger of her own, ''I don''t like this plan.''


    ''This is the only plan, or else how could he snitch her rings?''


    ''She must aim for something, like planting her aura inside him or damaging his own energies or anything like this!''


    ''It''s not a safe thing, but it''s the only approach we have,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! If you have a better solution then bring it on,'' the system said.


    "Alright, I''ll think about this for now," Arthur stopped the about to erupt fight between the three, "but for now send a word to Amelia and let her know about these pillars'' location."


    ''I''ve already asked her to take away all the pillars inside your city,'' Gege said in a strict tone.


    "Didn''t she ask anything?" Arthur asked.


    ''She¡­ trusts you wholeheartedly to not ask anything about your demands,'' Gege sighed, ''the tree told her this was your words and she accepted the order without any hustle.''


    "Good girl," Arthur nodded, "also warn her of Amanda, so she won''t speak anything in front of her."


    ''I''ll inform her now,'' Gege went to silence once again while Arthur kept flying towards his new city.


    Arthur went directly to the city where he found the building was still focused on the infrastructure. He didn''t look for long as he found Deem easily standing in the middle of the top aiders of his.


    "Lord," the moment Arthur descended Deem hurriedly greeted, "I''ve been looking for you," he said.


    "Me too," Arthur said before adding, "speak first, what did you want to show me?"


    Deem smiled in an embarrassed way as his thoughts were already revealed to Arthur. "I just wanted to show you the city so far, and take your opinion about the walls."


    "Build them as usual," Arthur casually said.


    "Not higher?" Deem asked, "don''t you want it to have more towers?"


    "We are building a city, not a fortress," Arthur laughed before adding, "but speaking about that it would be nice to build a nearby fortress to serve as a strong point of defense."


    He paused for a moment there before saying, "also do this in the main key points in the entire diagram."


    "Key points?" Deem muttered before realizing the importance of this place, "alright, I''ll make sure the fortress here would be the crown jewel of my creation so far."


    "I depend on you for that," Arthur smiled, "also I''ve another thing to discuss with you," he then glanced at the surrounding workers who got dismissed instantly by Deem.


    And the latter nodded as a motion of his readiness to listen.


    "Doaf will come soon," Arthur said, "I want the two of you to start the grand array of connecting here with the upper realm."


    "This¡­"


    "I didn''t come here for the sightseeing y''know," Arthur winked before adding, "this city lies in the heart of the entire diagram, and it''s the most suited place to build such a thing among other cities."


    Deem knew how hard it was to do such an array, and also knew how far important it was. "It might take a long time," he muttered preparing an excuse in case he failed.

 Chapter 633: The Shocking Truth About This World

    "I don''t accept that," Arthur strictly said, "this is the main defense against our enemies. Without it we are doomed," he stated the simple and harsh truth, "so do your best and try to finish it in the shortest time."


    "I¡­ will do my best," Deem didn''t want to promise something he couldn''t afford.


    "Doaf will help," Arthur said to reassure him, "after all he came from up there and knows advanced things we don''t. try to ask him all the time and learn any of his knowledge and wisdom."


    "Thanks for the teachings lord," Deem respectively said before Arthur said:


    "Go now, arrange things so your absence won''t delay things here."


    "I will."


    "And try to make the fortress impregnable, after all this connection array is our best weapon."


    "I will build three," Deem promised before retiring.


    ''You were somehow harsh on him,'' the golden dragon said, ''he seemed quite unconfident in doing the task.''


    "He is my best man in arrays," Arthur sighed, "if he couldn''t do it, then no one could."


    ''We can try to ask the help of the tree,'' Gege suddenly said.


    "She can?"


    ''Well, she is able to connect to every corner of the world here, and so she can do that¡­ I hope.''


    Arthur knew Gege was just speculating here. "Go and ask here, if there is a way she can help then it would be great."


    ''Ding! What are you planning to do now?'' the system asked.


    "Do you have a suggestion?" Arthur knew his system was asking to give him something in return¡­ a mission or a task.


    ''Ding! If you are free you can either advance your dragonair''s grade or work on your dragomancer ability.''


    The eyes of Arthur shone brightly as he said:


    "The dragomancer ability for sure. What should I do? Just tell."


    ''This won''t appeal to you,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    "What?"


    ''Ding! It''s a mission that''s hard to achieve,'' the system said before sighing, ''Ding! It''s related to that world.''


    "The original soul world?" Arthur was speechless there for a moment, "don''t tell me you want to help release him."


    ''Ding! The opposite.''


    ''He wants you to kill him.''


    "For what?"


    ''It''s the request of the world''s will,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! The world will change its requirements. She wants you to help and kill him.''


    "That¡­" Arthur paused before adding, "sigh, I have many things to care about. Enemies to deal with, a quest to win over, and a world to conquer."


    ''Ding! The rewards can be negotiated with the world''s will if you want,'' the system suddenly said.


    "Like?"


    ''Ding! The connection you seek¡­ I can ask for her help.''


    "That¡­" Arthur was really allured by that offer but he also was sane enough not to agree at once. "Let us wait for the efforts of Doaf and Deem. Also Gege went to the tree, she might come back with good news."


    ''Sorry,'' suddenly Gege said, ''she can''t do that with her current state.''


    "She wants to evolve?" Arthur somehow expected such a result.


    ''In fact that''s normal,'' Gege sighed, ''I even offered her to use my energy and yours, but she said this isn''t something we can achieve. If it was your world then we can, but the upper realms have some sort of blocking barrier that would prove to be hard to crack.''


    "Sigh, then we got only Deem and Doaf," Arthur turned his gaze around, "I hope they succeed."


    ''Ding! If they failed?'' the system asked.


    "Alright," Arthur sighed, "go and negotiate the terms with her. After all I need a back up plan ready to be executed."


    ''Ding! Give me a minute.''


    The system seemed quite excited about this and Arthur noticed that but didn''t speak. for the next hours he kept himself inside the city, walking and observing the hard work of his men.


    He was pleased by what he saw, and he knew this city would be such a magnificent place.


    During this time Doaf returned and spoke with him, and he explained what he wanted to do. Doaf then went to meet Deem and Arthur just waited.


    ''Ding! She finally agrees,'' the system came suddenly to speak after a long time of silence, ''Ding! She wants you to do that the next day, or else the deal would be off.''


    "This¡­ one day only?" Arthur was speechless, "why is the hurry?"


    ''Ding! This is frankly something I don''t know, but she stressed on the timing,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! I tried to elongate the time, but she said something about the constellation position and the weakness of the chains during this period.''


    ''The constellation curse? No f*cking way!'' the goden dragon suddenly exclaimed in shock, ''are we inside a constellation set?!!''


    "What are you talking about?" Arthur didn''t understand like the other two beings inside his mind who stayed silent, waiting for the explanation of the golden dragon.


    ''Damn! Those higher up clans are really ruthless,'' the golden dragon cursed first before adding, ''we need to fulfill this role at once, or else we can''t go back ever.''


    "Can you slow down and explain in plain words?"


    ''The universe is built over many planets, but some worlds are unique. We used to call them the sky graves, as whomever sent there can''t live enough to return back.''


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t get yet what the golden dragon meant, so he added:


    ''This place¡­ this part of the universe isn''t built over a normal planet, but over a group of planets where they intersect from different dimensions.''


    "And?"


    ''Ding! We aren''t only living in our time, but also can live inside other time periods,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! This explains why that being is still alive after all this time¡­ it''s not confined in a prison of his own, he is already living inside a grand prison¡­ this world!''


    "I swear I don''t understand a single word out of what you two just said!!" Arthur''s patience was running thin.

 Chapter 634: The Graveyard Of Stars And Planets

    Arthur realized something was wrong, a grave danger if he prolonged his stay here but he didn''t understand fully the scope of such danger yet.


    ''This place is the graveyard of stars and planets. Over time an endless number of planets entered here, crashed and merged together under the help of the time and space distortion unique to this zone.''


    ''Ding! So we aren''t actually living inside one dimension, at any time this dimension we know might swap and another dimension would appear out of nowhere.''


    "And?" Arthur didn''t know what was so grave about this.


    ''If you moved inside another dimension, how can you even return to your home?'' the golden dragon said in some panic, ''if another dimension came out of nowhere then you''ll lose your way home.''


    "I should wait until the dimension swap with this one, right?"


    ''Ding! Wrong!'' the system sighed, ''Ding! There are many dimensions here to even count!''


    Arthur suddenly got the idea before two things popped up inside his mind. "That being is already trapped inside another dimension¡­ that''s why he prevented you from entering, and was surprised to see me there," he muttered while many ideas popped up in his mind at the moment.


    "Damn! That girl¡­ she isn''t trying to summon those of higher realms, but another dimension here!"


    This hit him and others like thunder in the middle of a clear sunny day, silencing them all in a very gratifying way. Arthur couldn''t think that his enemy was so ruthless to send himself and hers inside such a nightmare.


    "No," he suddenly shook his head, "she must have a way to escape¡­ that portal she once used¡­ it''s not opening in this world but another one!"


    ''Ding! I bet it''s,'' the system said, ''Ding! You need to use her to your advantage.''


    "Her weakness," his eyes ruthlessly shone before adding, "I need to move against her then."


    ''You¡­'' Gege was instantly enrgaged but he totally ignored her.


    "We need to organize our priorities," he muttered before adding, "we need more intel. Please go and ask about more data from the world''s will."


    ''Ding! I will,'' the system knew how critical their current situation was. without any data then they would stay here without knowing when the danger would strike them.


    ''Why not kill her?'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    ''It''s a very nice idea,'' Gege agreed, ''invite her inside and let me play with her.''


    "You two¡­" Arthur could only sigh, "if I can do that then why would I take all the trouble to just make sure she wouldn''t stay off my sight? Do you think I want to pump and ride her? She is my deadliest enemy, the hardest I met so far to deal with!"


    ''But¡­''


    "We can consider that after stealing her potions," Arthur decided, "as she wouldn''t let this matter pass by simply without a proper fight."


    ''Then you should lure her inside me first,'' Gege was fixed over letting her in.


    "Y''know saying it this sounds weird," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, "anyway let''s just organize things¡­ First we need to start that grand array inside you. How is the egg?"


    ''It''s still locked in place,'' Gege said, ''and that crazy girl of yours still pumping the shield so far.''


    "This¡­" Arthur suddenly recalled Anna, "Thinking of her¡­ she seems quite suspicious now."


    ''She just wants to eat the egg, like me,'' Gege said like it was a normal thing.


    "But she lied to me," Arthur said.


    ''She didn''t say anything except what you offered as an explanation,'' Gege said, ''in fact I see her actions normal.''


    "You knew?"


    ''From day one,'' Gege laughed, ''you are the only oblivious one here.''


    "Just keep an eye on her," he said before adding, "and drive her away from the egg. I don''t want any problems at the last minute."


    ''Done.''


    ''What about the array?'' the golden dragon said, ''it requires a lot of energy. Using only yours would end up in prolonging the process.''


    Arthur paused for a moment before saying, "Can you provide me with an energy absorption array?"


    ''Like this one?'' the golden dragon muttered, ''it''s simply impossible! That array is way too advanced for my old brain to comprehend.''


    "I didn''t mean that," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I wanted something alike but much simpler."


    ''For what?''


    ''He wants to use the monsters inside and harvest all their energies,'' Gege said before remarking, ''cold hearted dragon.''


    "That''s the fastest and most feasible way here," he helplessly smiled before adding, "if you have a better idea then please provide it."


    ''¡­''


    She didn''t speak and Arthur only sighed, "the problem now is to determine if the number of monsters inside is enough or not."


    ''Also you''ll need more workers,'' the golden dragon said.


    "That one day¡­ It''s simply too hard to do it within this short time!"


    ''I think there must be something related to the dimension that old dude is sealed inside,'' the golden dragon said, ''and if that''s true then it''s of our best interest to turn that dimension off before it becomes a disaster.''


    "Let''s wait for the system then," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "we also need to gather more people. How are those coming here? Are they increasing or decreasing in number?"


    ''They are increasing for sure,'' Gege confidently said, ''but the ones arrived at your place are still few.''


    "This¡­" Arthur couldn''t help but pause, not only from this important lack of workers but also because Doaf and Deem moved towards him with dejected looks over their faces.


    "Failed?" he asked as he was much prepared to hear that now.


    "We tried¡­ everything," Deem sighed.


    "There is something strange here," Doaf remarked, "every time we locate the higher realm of grandmaster everything we do simply crashes down."


    His face told Arthur they tried this many times already and in the end they all failed. It was obvious to these two that this world had something to interfere with their scanning arrays.

 Chapter 635: Setting A Plan

    "So there is no other way to contact him?" Arthur asked just to make sure he didn''t neglect anything.


    "As long as this issue in this world remains, we can''t do anything from here," Doaf said in an apologizing tone, "and the worst thing is that we don''t know what is causing all this."


    Arthur inwardly sighed while his face didn''t show anything to these two. "Alright, go back then and continue your work," he said before stopping Doaf, "can you go back and gather all the extra villagers and mages."


    "Here?" Doaf asked in doubt while the face of Deem showed more doubt than him.


    Deem already knew the vision of his lord towards the significance of this place. "But this might affect the building process ongoing everywhere," Deem had to speak up as he didn''t want his lord to be dissatisfied with him over this matter.


    "I don''t care," Arthur said it clearly, "also spread the word, tomorrow we need to be cautious¡­ extra careful."


    "The enemy is planning an assault?" Doaf couldn''t think outside this.


    "You¡­ can say that," Arthur didn''t give any lead to the two before adding, "I want everyone who can be spared to be sent here tonight."


    "I will spread the word," Doaf promised before moving in great speed while Deem returned to his duties.


    "I hope they bring sufficient numbers," Arthur prayed.


    ''At least one problem is down,'' the golden dragon said, ''what remains now is your desired array and the one you need to build.''


    ''And the egg itself,'' Gege suddenly said.


    "What about it?"


    ''Activating it would release an enormous amount of energy,'' she said before adding, ''I doubt I can handle it in such a state.''


    "Your meaning?" Arthur felt a bad premonition about that.


    ''You need to take it out just a moment before activating it.''


    "This¡­" Arthur was hesitant towards such a suggestion.


    ''Either way you needed to take it out to crash that egg inside the world,'' the golden dragon muttered, ''and you can''t take us with you inside, so the timing should be right before you cross that barrier.''


    "Why do I feel things are getting more complicated?" Arthur sighed helplessly, "alright, let''s think about this for later. Now do you know of any energy absorption array?"


    ''Sure I know some,'' the golden dragon said, ''but all are limited to a certain radius.''


    "So we need to build many, right?"


    ''And that will take time and also resources.''


    "Gege¡­"


    ''I will handle the materials needed,'' she said while Arthur nodded in content. "Good, we have a plan then. Gather up the monsters and tell me if they are sufficient."


    ''If not?'' the golden dragon asked.


    "Then we can use a long unused tactic of mine," he said while his eyes shone brightly as he recalled distant memories of his after coming here to this world.


    ''Ding! I have good news and bad news,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! Which one do you want to hear first?"''


    "Hit me with the bad news," Arthur didn''t hesitate to say.


    ''Ding! Like we expected, that remnant soul of the original being is locked inside another dimension, and it''s drawing closer to us each minute,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! If we failed to destroy it in two days we would result in entering that dimension and be lost.''


    "We already deducted that," Arthur sighed.


    ''Ding! Oh really¡­ I didn''t know that,'' the system seemed conflicted before adding, ''Ding! Then I shall say the good news.''


    "Speak then."


    ''Ding! After this dimension is over, we''ll have a peace period of five months here before another one hits us.''


    "So we have five months to take control of this world and escape," Arthur muttered.


    ''Ding! This is something I can say holds a great opportunity for us.''


    "How come?"


    ''Ding! The world''s will is asking us to take away this world and relieve her of the pressure,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! She doesn''t refuse either merging with Gege or to be sent into the star map and be integrated with it.''


    "This¡­" Arthur paused before the system added:


    ''Ding! If you agree then she will interfere with the next dimension intervention and blocks it, buying us more time here.''


    "I''m not against that," Arthur hurriedly said, "but to integrate an entire world with Gege is something I can''t decide alone."


    ''Don''t worry,'' the golden dragon said, ''mostly she''ll ask to be evolved once more to be able to do that.''


    "And I don''t have the means to evolve her."


    ''Hahaha, c''mon we are speaking about causing two ticking bombs to explode on each other''s face.''


    Arthur paused for a moment before muttering, "you don''t mean¡­"


    ''Indeed, she can absorb the energy coming out of such an explosion and get all the benefits she wants from this.''


    "We need to ask her then," Arthur didn''t hurry to approve this plan.


    ''Ding! Where is she? The place looks quite without her around.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but smile. "She is arranging things inside."


    ''I''ll tell you everything,'' the golden dragon then started to narrate things with the system while Arthur only thought about how difficult things here were heading to.


    He initially thought his enemies were naive, but now he knew he was the naive one here.


    His enemies were cunnier than what he initially thought, and now he had to exert more effort and do nearly the impossible to achieve his goals.


    And turn the table over them in the meantime.


    ''Ding! I doubt the monsters inside are enough,'' the system sighed before adding, ''Ding! We should move now if we want to catch up with our deadline.''


    "Should we move tomorrow? Can''t we postpone it for the next day perhaps?" Arthur wanted to take each second and minute possible for his preparations.


    ''Ding! We have exactly fifty-five hours from now, so we can move anytime and finish the task before it.''


    "Then let''s set the deadline at forty-eight hours then," Arthur decided, "now we need to find ourselves a good place to hunt."

 Chapter 636: Going Out To Hunt Monsters Once More

    ''The forest here?'' the golden dragon suggested.


    "Not enough," Arthur shook his head, "I doubt even one location can be enough."


    ''Ding! Do you have what you''ll use to allure them?'' the system already guessed his way to take monsters in custody. ''Ding! Any treasure from your lowly world won''t work here y''know.''


    "I have a better way," Arthur cracked a wide smile and before he could add anything, Gege finally arrived.


    ''It''s as the wise system thought¡­ we need more, much more monsters than the ones inside.''


    "Indeed," Arthur muttered before adding, "can you ask the tree to scan for locations with many monsters?"


    ''Nearby?''


    "Anywhere is fine."


    ''Alright,'' she said before pausing, ''by the way, what will you use to allure them?''


    "The meat," Arthur smiled widely before adding, "a raw Golam''s meat or any other higher monster''s meat. These will drive them crazy."


    ''You¡­'' the golden dragon paused before laughing, "are very savage my dear dragonair.''


    "Hahaha, just learnt from the best," Arthur winked before adding, "let''s wrap things here. We have many tasks in hand. Just ask the tree about these locations, and the system will help to deliver."


    ''Ding! Me?'' the system was taken aback.


    "Hahaha, don''t be startled like this, I didn''t mean you by you," Arthur laughed while the system kept his frowned silence.


    "I''ll ask you to ask her to help," Arthur winked again and this time his system got the message.


    ''Ding! The world''s will¡­''


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded, "as long as we are going to help her to break free from here, she has to help as well."


    ''Ding! So you''ll accept her conditions?''


    "Gege, what do you think?"


    ''I can do it,'' Gege excitedly said, ''but I''ll need first to evolve.''


    ''Hahaha, we thought you''d say so,'' the golden dragon laughed and she didn''t object this time.


    After all she seemed not to need that evolution but asked for it as a bonus.


    "We''ll see about that," Arthur smiled before adding, "Now prepare a large number of small pieces of these meat and bring me a list of places with monsters and give them to the system."


    ''Right away,'' she said before complaining, ''why do I feel like acting as a postman here?''


    Gege didn''t take long before she returned with a long list of places. She also stacked large amounts of meat pieces of Golam and other monsters inside the garden.


    ''Ding! She agreed,'' the system said after an hour of silence, ''Ding! She didn''t want to do so, but after long negotiations she agreed.''


    "Alright," Arthur rubbed his hands before the system added:


    ''Ding! But she asks for you to be moved around.''


    "Me?" Arthur muttered in surprise before laughing, "no problem, I''ll just write bird''s wings to everyone then we can move."


    ''Ding! Alright, I''ll inform her to be ready then.''


    Arthur wrote letters to Amelia and Deem, also to Doaf and others distributing their tasks. He put the priority of securing his new cities and bringing more refugees to be on the top of the list.


    He also asked Amelia to keep sending more reinforcement to this city while asking her to be quite cautious about Amanda. He asked her about the runes he asked to be extracted and she wrote back saying she did the job already.


    "We are ready to go," Arthur said after receiving Amelia''s letter, "let''s go."


    ''Ding! Hang tight, this might be quite uncomfortable.''


    Arthur felt a strong traction force which pulled him forcibly and  moved him at great speed. "Sigh," the moment he landed he stood up from the deep crater while adding, "it has been so long since feeling such force."


    ''Ding! You are now in place one,'' the system said, ''Ding! What do you plan to do?''


    "Gege¡­ spread out as many portals as possible," he said before closing up his eyes and ventured deeply inside his garden. The next moment he waved his hand and a few pieces appeared.


    "Make sure to surround this place tightly with portals," he said while hearing massive roars coming from all over the hill he was standing upon. "Let''s go, let them come and have all the feast they dreamt of," he sneered as any monster would be strangled by his tight network of portals that Gege just deployed.


    And then he felt the same traction force once more before violently crashing.


    "Damn! This isn''t getting any better," he cursed while standing up from the deep crater and ingested couple of healing pills.


    ''Ding! She can''t control her powers properly.''


    ''She is intentionally doing this!'' Gege exclaimed in anger.


    ''She is just too strong and you are too weak,'' the golden dragon sneered.


    "Alright, stop wasting time," Arthur decisively said while ignoring this embarrassing topic, "Gege¡­ spread the portals like usual."


    He was standing on top of a gigantic mountain, surrounded by many peaks which penetrated the clouds. The moment he took out the meat pieces mighty roars erupted from all over the place.


    "Also add more portals in the air," he said while glancing over the thick cloud of dark color that erupted all of sudden from a distant peak, "make this place an impregnable fortress."


    ''On it,'' Gege hurriedly executed the order and Arthur noticed the sudden appearance of many portals to surround every single space around the peak.


    "Great, take us to the next location," he said and the next moment he moved fast to appear at another location.


    He kept jumping and relaying the meat everywhere. Some places were on top of mountain peaks, others were deep down bottomless pits, while some were on the surface and others were on hills.


    Yet after a hundred jumps he met something he couldn''t deal with.


    "This¡­" he gulped for air after falling deep in the middle of a raging ocean.


    ''Ding! This is one of the places the tree provided,'' the system reasoned as he didn''t know this location would be in such a strange place.


    "Anyway," Arthur sighed as he tried to stabilize himself before adding, "Gege¡­ take out a large piece of land to act as an island," he said before the next moment an island appeared that stretched for a couple of miles. "Let''s see if this would work."

 Chapter 637: A Fight On Top Of Clouds

    He took out the meat and then he saw a tsunami coming forth from all directions. "Damn! Spread out the portals to cover the entire island," he hurriedly shouted.


    ''Where should I let these portals open?'' she hurriedly shouted, ''there is no ocean inside the garden¡­ only lakes!''


    "It''s time to have an ocean then," he laughed before adding, "select a free location and excavate earth there now. Do it fast."


    ''Screw this! I should have a warning before doing this!''


    She seemed in urgency while Arthur only laughed. "C''mon, this is fun," he watched the gigantic waves coming towards the island before enormous monsters started to appear one after another from the middle of water.


    "I never thought about getting aquatic pets," he muttered before laughing, "but this is a great opportunity to gain some."


    ''It''s ready,'' Gege said, ''I hope.''


    "Alright, let''s wait here a little more."


    Arthur stayed there for an hour as he watched those endless streams of monsters coming forth in non-stop waves towards the island. With no exception all of them were absorbed inside the garden along with the giant waves they brought with.


    And when he checked the garden, a large pool of water was formed there which was getting larger with each passing second.


    "Move us now," he finally said after making sure there was nothing wrong here.


    And then he was moved fast towards the next location.


    After fifty times, he finally was sent to a place he didn''t know how to deal with.


    "This¡­ how am I supposed to attract those monsters then?"


    He was in the middle of the sky, many miles above the cloud line. Around him he saw many flying monsters using the clouds as their nests, yet when he tried to stand over them he was sucked directly underneath.


    ''We can use some sort of flying ore,'' Gege said after long minutes of thinking.


    "Flying ores?!" Arthur was speechless, "is there even something like that?"


    ''They are¡­ quite rare and very precious,'' she said in hesitation, ''but aside from these I can''t think of anything else that might help.''


    "Alright," he decided to get them, "take it now and let''s see."


    The next moment he spotted a flat piece of pink ore that appeared on top of the clouds. ''It''s there,'' Gege said in a bitter tone, ''it''s the largest piece I have.''


    "Don''t worry," Arthur laughed, "after all you''ll get it back."


    ''¡­''


    She didn''t speak and Arthur didn''t hurry to descend on it except after observing it for minutes. It was like a raft over water, calmly lying over the clouds and not even sinking.


    "Let''s test it then," he hurriedly descended upon it and strangely enough he felt firm ground underneath his legs but that piece wasn''t affected by his weight. "This¡­ is kind of miraculous to me!"


    ''It''s very rare,'' Gege stressed over this point as she became frightened Arthur might ask for more later.


    "Hahaha, I know," Arthur only said this before adding, "surroung it tightly with portals, you don''t want to lose this precious ore for some dumb monster."


    ''Tsk.''


    He only laughed while watching the place get overcrowded with semi-transparent portals. "Alright, move us now," Arthur teased her more and she only ate the bait as she instantly shouted:


    ''Wait¡­ let''s wait here for an hour or two first.''


    "Hahaha, one hour is enough," Arthur laughed as he added, "let''s wait then."


    ''Ding! Shouldn''t we move on fast?'' yet the system didn''t intend on letting her off this easily.


    ''We need to kick on the road, there are still a lot of places to visit.''


    ''You two¡­ fine, I won''t forget that!'' she bellowed in suppressed rage while Arthur and the other two only laughed.


    "You reap what you sow," Arthur said before taking out the pieces of meat, "alright let''s see how this weak looking piece of ore would do."


    The moment he took the pieces out, every single bird around changed direction like being possessed and the next moment the entire world ushered under heavy silence.


    "Oh¡­ this is new," Arthur laughed, "it seems we''ll get many elite forces this time."


    ''Tsk,'' Gege was still mad and didn''t like what he said.


    The next minute mighty roars started to echo in the space. Suddenly the air turned dark as dense numbers of flying monsters with different shapes and sizes appeared like a flood; all falling directly over the small piece of ore in the middle of the clouds.


    And yet that weak looking piece managed to sustain all the pressure exerted upon it.


    "Increase the number of portals," yet the extensive number of the monsters made Arthur slightly worried.


    ''I''m doing that already,'' Gege said as if she was gritting her teeth before muttering, ''I won''t let you dirty monsters get a hand over my precious!''


    In the next half an hour Gege was forced to keep increasing the portals to match the sheer number of monsters moving here. "What the hell have the tree chosen?!" Arthur was speechless as after an entire hour the monster''s herd never showed any signs of even stabilizing.


    ''This seems to be the center of many flying monsters'' lairs,'' the golden dragon was amused by this scene, ''at least you''ll get from here enough flying monsters for your entire army.''


    "Agreed," Arthur nodded before deciding to wait another hour here. After the passage of four more hours he was finally relieved to move on despite the wailing pleads of Gege to stay behind.


    "We can''t depend entirely on them," Arthur decisively denied all her pleadings, "we need all monsters we can get before moving to attack that egg¡­ move me now!"


    The next instant he moved from the place while Gege''s tone changed to be more savage, ''I swear if anything happened to that ore¡­''


    "Don''t worry," Arthur sneered, "after we are done I''ll take it from you and do some experiments."


    ''¡­''


    His words silenced her totally while he only laughed. He was pretty curious about this ore and planned seriously to study it.

 Chapter 638: Amandas Disappearance

    As Gege could read his mind she knew he wasn''t bluffing or teasing her like always.


    And so she stuck to silence, hoping that he might drop this matter later on.


    After that nothing much happened. He was thrown a couple of times in the middle of oceans or just above the cloud line. Yet he was totally ready to deal with all these situations.


    And in less than a day and half he finally managed to take a full tour over the entire world here. "I have to say," he shook his head while returning to the city once more, "this world is much larger than I initially thought."


    ''The grave worlds are always gigantic,'' the golden dragon stated, ''and now you can''t even rest, oh boy!''


    The golden dragon was referring to the immense number of villagers who were now filling the entire space around the village. "Great, their numbers are enough¡­ I hope," he flew up in the air again and took a grand tour around the entire zone.


    "They are at least one million," Arthur muttered before adding, "Gege¡­ take them all inside."


    ''I''m not talking to you anymore,'' she said in a bitter tone as Arthur took more of her beloved and highly treasured ores during this long journey.


    "C''mon," he laughed, "if you don''t do it then I''ll ask the system to do so. And y''know, he is eager to lay his hands over your sexy body."


    ''Screw you all!'' she bellowed in rage before she harrumphed and the next moment many portals appeared out of thin air. "Good girl, now it''s time to give them the signal," Arthur stood in the middle of the air before taking a deep breath.


    "Listen up, I''m Willy, your new lord. You answered my call and I''m very grateful for you to do so, but I have something I have to do now. Beside all of you are portals, just enter and I''ll continue to discuss everything with you inside."


    Just as he finished talking an earth shattering cheer erupted all of sudden like these people were eager to lay eyes over him.


    Arthur was speechless for a moment before laughing while watching them entering through the portals into the garden.


    ''There''s something you need to know,'' Gege suddenly said in a low and dejected tone, ''she isn''t in your city anymore.''


    "What?!" Arthur instantly got alerted, "what happened?"


    ''It seems she realized what Amelia was doing,'' Gege said before adding, ''she opened a portal a couple of minutes ago and vanished through it.''


    "And the tree?" he hurriedly asked, "Can''t she look out for her?"


    ''She is doing that at the moment, but till now she couldn''t find her anywhere.''


    "Damn!" Arthur clenched his two fists while thinking about this hard to deal with enemy, "I can''t expect anything else except she would initiate the portal anywhere in this world away from the city," he muttered before finally deciding, "make the tree scan the world up and down. Don''t leave a single rock untouched."


    He paused before adding, "make her also look for any portal being initiated and inform me at any moment she detects it."


    ''I will¡­ but the world¡­'' Gege hesitated.


    "I know it''s so large, I''ve already experienced that myself," he sighed before adding, "Go and ask the world''s will for help. We need to find her as soon as possible."


    ''Ding! I''ll try my best,'' the system said before entering into a long period of silence.


    During this Arthur kept flying in the air restless and concerned about his enemy. He was trying to crash the source of this dimension, but he wasn''t too sure his enemy wasn''t aware of his plan yet.


    Also the biggest threat was that if she was trying to pull another dimension, not the one he was going to smash.


    "This is just getting more complicated," Arthur muttered while he watched the last villager entering his garden world. "Any news yet?"


    ''She has no trace at all,'' Gege sighed, ''after searching for hours, the world seemed to be void of any existence of her.''


    ''Ding! The world''s will couldn''t find a trace of her.''


    ''She might just have retreated away from here,'' the golden dragon said, ''after all there is only less than one day before the other dimension crashes here.''


    "Possible," Arthur muttered, "but keep tracking her and if you spotted any existence of her just inform me," he said in a serious tone before adding, "bring a portal to me now."


    He passed through the portal and entered the garden. He waited for a few hours until all the villagers entered here and during these he kept exchanging letters with Amelia, Doaf, and others.


    He kept asking about Amanda, if any saw a trace of her. He also asked about her last hours behavior, words she said, and even her general appearance and attitude.


    Yet he couldn''t reach a satisfying answer.


    So he entered the garden world and was heavily burdened by this mysterious disappearance of his enemy. Inside he appeared just on top of the sealed egg while Anna seemed to be far away now.


    "Alright," he took a deep breath before adding, "let''s start by relaying orders to everyone. You know the array, just make them memorize it and take their places."


    ''Should I arrange it around the egg or beside it?'' Gege asked.


    ''Around it,'' the golden dragon answered, ''after everyone takes their position you should bring monsters in batches.''


    ''Alright,'' Gege started to relay orders and organize things. The system and the golden dragon kept helping her with orders as the three broke down the array into pieces easy to execute.


    As for Arthur, his mind kept spinning about his enemy and her whereabouts. He was only concerned if she decided to go berserk and crazy and summon another dimension here.


    "Sigh, I can only depend on the world''s will last act if things went south," he couldn''t help but shake his head and return to reality once again. "How far are we doing here?" he asked.

 Chapter 639: Amandas Return

    ''Almost done,'' the golden dragon spoke on behalf of the very busy Gege.


    "Good," Arthur glanced around and took a tour over the villagers before saying, "Great work."


    ''Thanks,'' Gege said in a tired tone and even before Arthur could ask her about his enemy she added, ''and the tree is still looking.''


    "Oh¡­ alright, let''s start here then."


    ''You''ll have no role here until the final array starts,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''we will drive energy to a certain spot beside the egg and when we accumulate enough we''ll inform you to start the array that the original soul gave to you.''


    "Sounds like a plan," Arthur was still burdened by the issue of his enemy and his tone said everything he was feeling at the moment. "Start," he gave the signal before watching a great number of monsters appearing all of sudden in many places in this gigantic array.


    It wasn''t an exaggeration that this array covered a great piece of the garden itself. In fact it wasn''t just one array, but many combined together to drive energy from the monsters and store it in one place.


    And the next moment the villagers activated the arrays and Arthur watched all the monsters being covered in thick veils of energy resembling the one happening when absorbing the vital organs of them.


    These curtains of energy remained for ten minutes before dissipating and revealing only bones behind. As for the energy absorbed from all these monsters it was controlled and moved towards a certain location before Arthur spotted a change there.


    A giant bubble started to take shape, originally started as a faint halo but later it started getting thicker and corporeal with more monsters slain here.


    And this continued for an entire day where he used the advantage of time difference inside the garden than the outside world for his advantage.


    "We are getting closer to the limit I think," Arthur said when the energy ball turned opaque and he couldn''t see anything through anymore.


    ''Just couple of hours more,'' the golden dragon said, ''but generally we are almost done.''


    ''The number of monsters here is really big,'' Gege said in a tired tone, ''we only used less than one tenth of the number we are driving inside.''


    ''Ding! Should we stop the portals outside?'' the system asked.


    "No, keep them flooding here," Arthur muttered before adding, "after all we lack good pets and my army is just getting bigger without limit."


    ''Alright,'' Gege said before adding, ''and no news yet.''


    ''Ding! And no news from me as well.''


    "I¡­ didn''t ask anything," Arthur was speechless before sighing, "I''m not that distressed anymore. Most likely she escaped fast to be safe."


    ''I told you so,'' the golden dragon said.


    "Anyway let''s start our final preparations," he turned his glance over the egg before adding, "move extra villagers here to take the position of the last array."


    ''But I don''t know the layout of the array,'' Gege said.


    "C''mon, you already read my mind," Arthur smiled faintly, "if you don''t recall it I can remind you of it."


    ''Hahaha, sorry was joking, forgot about that,'' she laughed while Arthur only smiled.


    His mood was totally ruined by that sneaky enemy of his.


    As time passed fast, the final batch of monsters was slain and now all that remained was for the final team to activate the array and drive the energy towards the egg.


    Yet there was only one problem.


    "I don''t know how long the egg would take to be activated," he muttered while thinking about this issue.


    ''Should you go inside and ask that master?'' Gege proposed.


    ''I doubt we have time for that,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''didn''t he enter the last time and took over one day to come out? We can''t risk doing that!''


    "Alright," Arthur sighed, "I''ll go there and try to withstand the lightning as much as I can."


    ''Ding! This will be hard,'' the system sighed.


    "But no other option here, right?" Arthur muttered before adding, "after all if the egg would take a long time to be activated then it''s fine, but if it''s just a few minutes then we will be in trouble."


    ''I can try and contain it,'' Gege said.


    "I doubt you can," Arthur sighed before adding, "let me out, I need to go to that place now."


    Arthur went outside to the real world once again. The first thing he did was to take a fast tour in the city and check things there in a rush before heading directly towards the mountain series.


    However¡­


    "A bird''s wing from Amelia?"


    Just as he left the city he got a bird''s wing ignited in front of him. He stopped in tracks and held the paper before rereading its content for more than once.


    ''This is¡­ weird,'' the golden dragon muttered.


    ''Ding! We have little time here,'' the system warned, ''Ding! Fifteen hours no more!''


    "Gege¡­ move me back to the city now."


    ''Shall I leave a portal hidden here?'' she asked and he instantly nodded.


    The bird''s wing contained a simple phrase: "Amanda is back and she is saying she is the real one."


    Arthur didn''t know what was going on and he just wanted to see if this Amanda was the real one or not. The next moment he was teleported to his city where things looked greatly different from the emptiness his new city was.


    "Meet me at the palace," he sent towards Amelia using the bird''s wing before flying fast towards the palace in the heart of the gigantic city.


    The city was now almost completed in the central zone. It contained various districts with three to five story buildings most. Some places contained even higher buildings but most of these in this zone were low leveled one.


    And the touch of elegance and beauty was apparent everywhere. The streets were wide and clean, while paved with a special kind of ore that turned the ground smooth and not too slippery.

 Chapter 640: Putting Her In Custody

    The palace was now guarded by a group of strong and veteran mages who came from the garden. Arthur went directly to the base floor.


    And he found Amelia was already there, alongside Ron, Madly, Omar, Randy, and Amanda.


    For the first glance he found the same Amanda he knew for long, and the same one he met just recently. From the surface he couldn''t tell, and so he decided to be vigilant and maintain his dragon form.


    ''Be ready to deal with her inside your garden,'' he inwardly muttered to Gege who just laughed viciously as she waited for this moment for a long time.


    "Welcome back," he said while standing in the center of this big hall of the throne. "How are you now?"


    "I''m good," she simply said before glancing at the nearby Amelia and others as she added, "but I''m not in a good mood after hearing what they said."


    "Which is?" Arthur faked ignorance.


    "Someone impersonated my identity," she said while glancing at him, "they said you knew this all along."


    "Let''s first talk about something else," Arthur didn''t follow her steps as he added, "tell me how did you escape? Where were you confined?"


    "I was locked in a dark cave all the time," she said before adding, "and recently they moved me here and I managed to escape during the transport."


    Strange enough she gave the same explanation as the other Amanda and she noticed the weird glances of Arthur so she added, "They loosened the security over me and so I managed to escape. I believe they wanted me to escape."


    "Do you know why?"


    "I¡­ frankly dunno," she shook her head before sighing, "the last thing I saw in the real world was the academy and the brutal assault on it. after being kidnapped I didn''t see the sun except for now."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur glanced at her before thinking to ask her of memories they only shared but¡­


    ''Don''t,'' Gege suddenly stopped him, ''the golden dragon said before she could read mind.''


    ''Indeed she can,'' the golden dragon confirmed, ''perhaps she retreated to gather more info from the real Amanda and then come here to fool you.''


    ''For¡­ what purpose?'' Arthur was still hesitant about believing either side.


    ''To delay you of course,'' the golden dragon said, ''she wants to waste your time. Don''t fall for her tricks.''


    Arthur glanced deeply at Amanda who said:


    "I can tell you things the two of us only know."


    Her words made Arthur lean towards the point of view of his golden dragon. "No need for that," he calmly rejected, "I have something major to do now. If you don''t mind I''ll take you inside my garden world."


    "What for?"


    "For custody," he said, "after I finish what I''m doing we can have a nice chat."


    "Tsk," she shook her head in disappointment, "from all the people I never thought you would doubt me."


    "Sorry," he honestly apologized, "but there are two of you now, and I can''t tell which one is the real Amanda I knew of."


    "Sigh, that makes sense but¡­ it still hurts," she helplessly sighed before waving her hand, "alright, take me in and do whatever you want inside."


    She mistook his meaning and he didn''t correct her. He simply let Gege bring forth a portal and she entered it. he closed his eyes to see her confined with pillars inside a similar impregnable prison like the one the egg was confined inside.


    And she was now far away from the location of the events in his garden, just near to the confined Anna.


    "You seem to love holding girls in custody," Anna laughed sarcastically when she saw his phantom and the nearby Amanda.


    "Mind your own business," Arthur coldly said before turning to Amanda and added, "sorry this is for the best of all."


    "I¡­ understand," Amanda seemed bitter and dejected with his actions but she couldn''t argue with him.


    She heard slightly about what happened from the other one, and if she was him she wouldn''t only be content with locking her up.


    Arthur could only leave her behind and return to the real world. "How is she?" Amelia asked with much concern over her face.


    "She is¡­ not a danger for now," he simply said with a distressed expression over his face.


    "It''s really hard," Ron sighed, "we now can''t even differentiate between a friend and a foe."


    "This isn''t her fault," Madly defended her.


    "We can''t jump to a conclusion that she is really her," Omar sighed, "even I thought the first one was real, and now I can''t tell anymore."


    "Alright you go back to do your business," Arthur said before turning around.


    "Do you want our help?" Amelia asked, "you said you are doing something important."


    "I have to deal with it alone," he said before vanishing from the place and returning to the city under construction once more.


    "This is getting out of hand," he took a deep breath before turning his gaze towards the direction of that lightning clouded zone, "let''s get it done."


    He flew fast while letting his system and Gege continue looking for the fake Amanda. He was now puzzled, as this move of releasing Amanda was something he never saw coming.


    As he reached the location of that lightning cloud in a few hours he didn''t hear any good news from the two.


    ''You should focus only on the next fight,'' the golden dragon warned, ''it''s going to be intense.''


    "I know," Arthur took a deep breath and tried to calm down his mind. "Let''s do it."


    He took out his sword and started activating his ultimate technique. After doing so he moved instantly towards the lightning storm, welcoming the descending lightning with his sword.


    His strength slightly grew after his consecutive breaking through, but it was still far from making him relaxed.


    He started fighting intensely from the beginning while his sword never stopped moving, welcoming all the lightning with equal brutality.

 Chapter 641: Dealing With The Egg

    And he kept flying for an hour inside this death zone until he reached the membrane of the world.


    "Start activating the egg now," he hurriedly shouted before standing motionless in place and defending himself.


    ''Wait a minute,'' Gege muttered before adding, ''it seems to take longer than expected.''


    "How long?" Arthur hurriedly asked, "I''m not in a position to wait for an entire day here!"


    ''Few hours,'' she muttered, ''four at maximum.''


    "This¡­" Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "I should retreat then."


    ''Ding! Staying here would be futile, replenish your energy and exit this place for now.''


    Arthur went outside after another hour of stressful fighting. Once exited he closed his eyes and started scanning everything inside his garden.


    There the egg kept twitching and shining like it was a beating heart. The energy stored beside it seemed to grow fainter in speed visible to naked eye.


    "It''s absorbing energy fast," he muttered.


    ''This is just the initial phase,'' Gege sighed, ''despite absorbing the energy at a fast pace, it''s not showing any major changes yet.''


    "But she might explode all of sudden and be activated in no time," Arthur was hesitant, "should I return back then?"


    ''I¡­ frankly dunno,'' Gege muttered, ''but from this rate I believe it would take hours to be activated.''


    ''Once the energy is absorbed you should return back to the membrane,'' the golden dragon suggested, ''after all this is something I never experienced before.''


    "Sigh," Arthur glanced at the egg once more before adding, "alright, let''s see what will happen once consuming the entire energy."


    He paused for a moment before adding, "can you plant a portal in there?"


    ''You mean at the membrane?'' Gege thought for a moment before adding, ''I might use the tree help to do that, but it will be risky.''


    "For me?" Arthur laughed, "I can handle it. just prepare things first."


    ''Leave it to me.''


    Gege went to silence as she returned to speak and arrange this with the tree. Arthur kept himself there watching the egg gluttonously absorbing the energy with no signs of stopping.


    "Will this energy be enough?" he suddenly asked.


    ''I believe so,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''this amount of energy can turn your Gege into a sexy girl instantly.''


    "Hahaha, I might consider doing this later on then," Arthur laughed trying to lighten up the intense mood.


    But he miserably failed as a heavy silence prevailed next for the next ten minutes.


    ''It''s ready,'' Gege returned to say, ''once done you can instantly move to a spot nearby the membrane. The tree couldn''t precisely teleport you under the heavy lightning, but roughly you won''t be far from the membrane.''


    "It worked fine for me," Arthur muttered, "can you check the remaining energy and see how much time remained?"


    ''Half an hour,'' she said after a moment of pause, ''and this egg is still absorbing the energy with no sign of awakening.''


    "I hope the energy is sufficient for her to be awakened," Arthur honestly prayed.


    ''If not then we can still salvage more energy at once using the ready to be used arrays,'' she said, trying to reassure him.


    "Hmm¡­" he nodded before returning to gaze upon the egg once more. During the next half an hour nothing new happened but for the egg to shine brighter nothing else.


    ''She absorbed the entire energy,'' Gege suddenly said and Arthur could see the dense sphere of energy nearby went into nothing by now.


    "And?" he urgently asked.


    ''I believe it''s getting into a hibernation,'' Gege strangely said, ''all the signs of life inside is getting weaker now.''


    "Strange," Arthur muttered.


    ''Ding! It''s the calm before the storm¡­ I hope,'' the system said while the golden dragon kept his silence.


    During the next half an hour the egg continued to be more silent, even the light emanated from it grew weaker with time.


    "Don''t tell me it''s going to sleep," Arthur said in disbelief while recalling the time limit he had, "damn! We need to find something to instigate her if this happened."


    ``We need to just wait,'''' the golden dragon said, ``I doubt she is going to stay silent for a long time.''


    His predictions proved to be correct during the next ten minutes. Suddenly the egg shook and the part of the garden around it rumbled. Arthur saw with his own eyes the entire ground trembling like an ocean surface filled with wild waves.


    "Savage," Arthur muttered while the trembling kept happening in increasing pace now. "Are you alright? Can you still handle it?"


    ''I can,'' Gege said in a tired tone, ''but the worst seems not to come yet.''


    "Damn!" Arthur cursed the moment the egg broke free from the pillars'' prison and rose high in the air before landing massively on the ground. "Contain it!" he shouted while Gege shouted back: ''I''m trying!''


    ''She can''t contain it alone!'' the golden dragon shouted before adding, ''use my energy, try to make it stabilize¡­ fast.''


    The situation escalated in a flashing pace and there was no time to argue. Gege instantly used part of the golden dragon''s energy before managing finally to stabilize the egg tens of meters off the ground.


    And the terrain around it started to change drastically like never before. There were deep holes everywhere and Gege seemed quite hurt from these short moments of rampage.


    "Is she activated yet?" Arthur said in a gratified tone, "if so move me now towards the membrane."


    ''Not¡­ yet,'' Gege was gasping for air, ''There is still more to come.''


    "Damn!"


    Arthur didn''t wait for long before the next phase of awakening hit the entire garden world with a mighty shockwave that sent his phantom even flying and hit the ground massively, feeling immense pain.


    "Screw it! this egg is just a mere savage beast!" he cursed out loud while ascending from the deep pit he fell inside and glanced at the egg.


    It was now shining in bright light that hurt his eyes. The egg released a gigantic pillar which connected the ground and sky together while the entire world started to vibrate massively like it was the end of it.

 Chapter 642: Anna

    "Gege¡­" Arthur screamed before adding, "move me to the membrane, you can''t control it!"


    ''If taken outside,'' Gege struggled to speak with a very faint tone, ''you won''t be able to control it anymore. You can''t move it outside until it''s fully activated.''


    ''She is¡­ right,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    ''Ding! I''ll activate the energy arrays here and use the energy to remedy her,'' the system said and Arthur instantly agreed. "Do it," he said while Gege didn''t complain this time about this.


    The next minutes went hard over everyone. Just after the activation of the arrays and concentrating another ball of energy, Gege managed to use this energy to repair herself and stabilize the trembling world here.


    And Arthur could see clearly the long and deep cracks all over the garden being healed and got thinner in rate visible to naked eye.


    "Keep doing it," Arthur ordered, "it''s working."


    ''Ding! I hope we can survive the next wave,'' the system helplessly said.


    "There is another wave?!!" Arthur was speechless and Gege explained:


    ''There is another step of awakening¡­ I can feel it coming and this would be the last.''


    Just as she finished speaking, something strange happened!


    Another pillar of light erupted, far from their place, where Amanda was confined. "Damn!" Arthur cursed before adding, "what is that fake Amanda doing?"


    ''It''s¡­ not her,'' Gege paused before adding in surprise, ''it''s the other girl!''


    "Anna?" Arthur said in doubt, "what is she doing? What''s happening?"


    ''She¡­ is transforming into something,'' Gege was as surprised as Arthur, ''She is growing in size and her energy is just transforming into something¡­ not from this world!''


    Arthur''s eyes turned towards the direction of that gigantic light pillar before muttering, "move me there¡­ now!"


    ''Ding! Are you sure?'' the system hesitated as he added, ''Ding! This might be dangerous. It''s best to eject her outside.''


    ''I can''t do that!'' Gege suddenly said, ''something is interfering with my control over this world.''


    "What?!!" Arthur was speechless for a moment before adding, "is it the egg? Is it her?"


    ''It''s neither,'' Gege said before hurriedly adding, ''there is someone activating a portal here!''


    "That silver dragonair¡­ can she do this while being confined inside the array?"


    ''It''s not!'' Gege corrected him, ''the array is activated away from that place.''


    "Are you sure?" Arthur''s gaze turned colder while he muttered, "can you pinpoint her location now?"


    ''I''m trying,'' Gege shouted.


    "Alright, move me to Anna first," Arthur said before adding, "I''ll deal with her before dealing with the other one."


    The next instant he appeared just miles away from the place of Anna and Amanda. Amanda was still inside her prison with a conflicted look over her face.


    And Anna was now bathed in black light while her body started to grow continuously with no stop.


    Yet the pillar prison around her was doing its task and continued to lock her up.


    But Arthur was quite sure it wouldn''t be able to sustain for much time.


    "Hurry and let me out," Suddenly Amanda screamed from inside her prison, "she is the same elder I once fought before and got me heavily injured!"


    Her shouts hit Arthur like lightning and his mind started to understand everything.


    ''So it''s that damned elder who came with the disciples from the higher worlds!'' Gege said in deep hatred and anger.


    ''It explains everything,'' the golden dragon muttered, ''so she was staying here looking to get the egg for herself!''


    ''Ding! But why does her energy soared up in this way?''


    ''It''s because we changed the world,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''we aren''t anymore in a low world, but in an intermediate one. So she can exert a higher form of energy and use a great deal of her true power.''


    "She¡­ can''t be allowed to transform," Arthur ruthlessly said.


    ''Release Amanda now!'' the golden dragon shouted, ''we need all the help we can get!''


    ''Are you sure? She might turn out to be that fake one,'' Gege argued.


    "No time for that," Arthur sighed, "after all we just took her in and you said it yourself, the array came from a far place than here."


    ''Tsk,'' Gege sighed before releasing Amanda from the prison, ''I hope you are correct.''


    The next thing happened was for Amanda to take out a gigantic sword and summon a large army of her pets. "Good call," she shouted before pointing towards the array, "is this a sealing one like the one I was confined in?"


    "Yes," Arthur answered with much relieved state of mind as the pets she summoned were exactly similar to the ones he saw previously with the real Amanda.


    "Alright, go and fortify the array," she shouted while Arthur watched the hundred pets move in unison and surround the pillars forming another array.


    And then they started injecting energy inside the array from their own.


    "We need to raise the energy to match hers," Amanda said before adding, "once we nullified her I can start attacking her."


    ''Gege,'' Arthur didn''t answer Amanda as there was no time for that, ''bring forth as many villagers as possible¡­ let''s start the previous energy extraction array here around this bitch!''


    ''Shouldn''t we only use the energy directly?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''Not possible,'' Arthur denied, ''after all we need this energy to heal and strengthen Gege, plus we can deal with this in the shortest span of time.''


    ''Ding! I''ll move two thirds of them,'' the system suddenly said.


    ''I''ll give you access to move even the entire ground if you wanted,'' Gege ruthlessly said while giving it all.


    "Don''t worry," Amanda suddenly said, "I''ve dealt once with her and can deal with her again."


    "It''s not¡­ only her," Arthur sighed while she glanced weirdly at him.


    "What the hell happened for you to attract those damned enemies to you?!!" she bellowed in disbelief before adding, "who else?"


    "The one who faked your identity."


    "She¡­ is here?" Amanda was speechless for a second, "is she strong?"

 Chapter 643: Calling The Elites Out

    "I think she is as strong as this one," Arthur muttered, "or even stronger."


    "Damn kid! This is getting harder!" she couldn''t help but shake her head, "do you have any more helpers?"


    Her words made Arthur recall the helpers he missed while being in a hurry and distressed. "Screw me, I totally forgot about them," he said before hurriedly adding, ''contact Doaf and others, make them come here instantly.''


    ''I''ve informed the tree now,'' Gege said.


    ''We¡­ were totally focused on things at hand and neglected our own allies,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    ''Ding! It''s not too late,'' the system added, ''Ding! They will help stabilize the two threats for us.''


    "What are you doing here exactly?" Amanda suddenly asked, distracting him from the voices in his mind.


    "It''s¡­ a long story," he sighed.


    "Make it short then."


    "I''m trying to save the world," he said before turning towards the direction of the savage egg, "and save our lives in the process."


    "Quite reasonable for me," she chuckled, "alright you go and deal with whatever you want and leave this one for me."


    Arthur glanced at the direction of Anna while a large number of villagers were now surrounding the pillars and the army of pets before they started to activate the array.


    And large batches of monsters appeared the next instant to be covered with the thick veil of energy again and this time all the energy claimed from them went directly towards the pillar prison.


    "I''ll have to wait anyway," he shrugged, "let me wait with you then."


    "Oh¡­ missed me already?" she said with a soft smile and he only smiled back.


    It wasn''t the time to say anything about this, but during this moment of despair he couldn''t help but glance at her eyes¡­


    And feel relaxed and confident.


    ''They are here,'' Gege suddenly said before many portals opened and a large number of amries appeared off them.


    "What the hell is going on here?" Amera shouted in shock the moment she sensed the atmosphere around, "why are we inside a higher world now?"


    "What?!!" Arthur was shocked before Doaf nodded as he added:


    "It''s indeed the aura of a higher world. How can you have a link to such a place?"


    "Oh¡­ that bitch!!" Arthur clenched his fists before adding, ''Have you found her yet?''


    ''She is hiding so well, but I''m tracking her control over the portal array,'' Gege said while the crow pointed to Anna as he said:


    "She is from the higher world as well¡­ but using the full force here isn''t good in this world."


    "I also think the same," Amera nodded before Doaf explained:


    "This world isn''t part of the higher one, right?"


    "It''s a normal low world," Arthur agreed.


    "Then if we let her release all her energy then this world would be deeply hurt and if we wanted to fight her then we wouldn''t be able to do that without smashing this world of yours into pieces," Amera said while Doaf asked:


    "Do you want to keep this world or sacrifice it? it''s up to you¡­"


    "Of course keep it!" Arthur instantly answered without a moment of hesitation.


    "Then we should help in suppressing her," the crow said.


    "But¡­" Arthur stopped them as he added, "she isn''t the only one here from the higher world."


    The three exchanged glances together in doubt while the egg suddenly rumbled, going berserk once more and attracting everyone''s attention.


    "What the hell¡­?!!" Doaf was stupefied before hurriedly pointing towards the egg and added, "what''s the egg of annihilation doing inside this world of yours?!"


    "I''m activating it!" Arthur simply said.


    "Are you out of your mind?!!!" Amera wasn''t the only one shocked by his actions, "this egg is a beast, a beast you can''t even dream of getting it not even activating!"


    "It''s here to save us," Arthur sighed before adding, "can we postpone this for later? I''m running low on time here as you can see!"


    "You¡­" Amera paused and couldn''t find the right words to express what she was feeling at the moment, "I always heard dragonairs are crazy, but never thought they were this crazy!"


    And the golden dragon laughed in pride and joy from her words as if they were a praise not a complaint.


    "We can''t let it be activated here," Doaf seriously said, "or else we all are going to die!"


    "Don''t worry," Arthur confidently said in a seriously equal tone, "this isn''t meant for any of us here. I only need help to contain this one and the other."


    "Who is that?!" Amera bellowed in extreme nervousness.


    "She is¡­ that silver dragonair," Arthur said before adding before anyone could speak, "no time to explain¡­ she is set loose already and I''m trying to pinpoint her."


    "Then let''s suppress this one here first," Doaf glanced at Amanda before asking, "are you the real one?"


    "Do you know me?" Amanda asked in doubt.


    "Yeah, she is the real one," Amera said before sizing her up. "Watch out not to fall behind," she winked to her in a meaningful way while Arthur could only sigh.


    "I''ll lead my team to suppress her," the crow finally said something real and related to the task in hand, "and you two must go and lead others to suppress the other one."


    "Is she sealed?" Amera asked.


    "She is loose," Arthur constrained his frustration, "how the hell can I suppress her?"


    "Can you do it if we found her?" Doaf ignored her remarks as he knew she was trying to tease him.


    And it wasn''t time for the girls fight or jealousy here.


    "I can," Arthur didn''t wait for the answer of Gege as he instantly nodded.


    "Great," Doaf waved to his team to move and join him while flying in the air, "we''ll try to look for her. I can smell and sense anyone from the higher world and so I can easily detect her."


    "Wait for me," Amera suddenly put her fingers in her mouth before a very sharp whistle was birthed for a couple of moments before her team appeared around her, "I also can sense her."

 Chapter 644: The Plan To Get The Silver Dragonair

    "Once we found her, we''ll try our best to constrain her before you act," Doaf said before adding, "or else this world would be gone."


    "Wait," Arthur hurriedly stopped the two before adding, "she is the one summoning the portal to the higher realm to here."


    "That makes finding her much easier," Amera smiled in a vicious way, "c''mon boys, the first to find her will stay the night with me," she loudly said that while Arthur lifted an eyebrow in response.


    "Sigh," he could only shake his head before turning towards the crow. He was leading a team of a couple of hundreds and they all moved to surround the about to go berserk Anna.


    They started to summon their pets and Arthur honestly admitted¡­ they had such strong ones here. Each one wasn''t only gigantic in size, but only its presence here gave Arthur a dreadful feeling.


    And all of them didn''t have only a couple of horns, but their entire bodies were covered with sharp horns while some even had halos around them.


    "I don''t care which world or clan you came from¡­" the crow suddenly had his entire body ignited in bright orange color before adding, "but I promise you won''t live to leave here."


    "On my dead body!" Anna suddenly spoke in a deep and strong tone that made Arthur''s soul shudder.


    "I''ll gladly accept the offer," the crow laughed before he suddenly released his energy in waves to hit the pillars and turn them instantly into golden fire. "I''m not that weak mage from a low world¡­ I''ll kill you here."


    "Humph, we''ll see," Anna seemed quite confident and not startled by his threats.


    And one answer jumped instantly inside Arthur''s mind at this moment. "That bitch," he clenched his fists before glancing over the egg in the distance, "Come with me now!"


    He shouted towards his elite teams led by the werewolf as he moved and went directly towards the egg.


    He could feel their hesitation, as it seemed this egg was something so dreadful and terrifying. Yet he didn''t care.


    ''Any news?'' he asked.


    ''We are still scanning for her,'' Gege sighed, ''she must use a concealing array or technique, to mask her aura for us to not find her.''


    ''Damn!'' Arthur cursed before thinking deeply, ''like this neither us nor them would find her¡­ that''s why Anna isn''t fearing the crow threats.''


    ''She knows the portal will succeed,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! If we don''t act fast this world would be buried under an endless stream of higher world mages,'' the system warned about the obvious, ''Ding! Or else the worse might happen and they would use their full strength, shattering the garden world into shreds.''


    ''I won''t allow that,'' Arthur clenched his fists while thinking deeper about an answer. ''I once heard of a way to detect someone concealing his energy,'' he suddenly said, ''the idea of sealing differs according to the method used. Can you tell which method she uses?''


    ''No,'' Gege bitterly said.


    ''No problem,'' Arthur ruthlessly said, ''the aura is formed of two components; the energy wave and the aura strength,'' he said, explaining the theory he was aware of, ''so to conceal the energy some might use a technique to suppress one of the two.''


    ''Ding! And we can detect the person using the other component, right?'' the system said.


    ''But which component would she be covering up?'' Gege asked in loss.


    ''It''s easy to guess,'' Arthur said.


    ''She masks the aura strength,'' the golden dragon said, ''as those hailing from the upper realms would excel at detecting this, and so she would focus entirely over this.''


    ''Then¡­ how can we detect the energy wave?''


    Arthur smiled as he turned around and glanced in a certain direction, ''we can use many methods to do so. The theory is to sink the entire world under some form of detectable energy and then we can measure the fluctuations there.''


    ''I swear I didn''t get anything!'' Gege sighed.


    ''Either cover the entire garden with the array of the golden dragon,'' Arthur said before adding, ''or sink the entire world with a massive wave of the Golam''s lake.''


    ''But¡­'' Gege paused as she checked the lake, ''the size of it can''t cover every part of the world here!''


    ''That''s why we will use that,'' Arthur smiled and Gege could finally read his thoughts and reached the conclusion he had there.


    ''Oh¡­ this might work,'' she muttered, ''but we would lose the lake.''


    ''A cheap price to pay,'' Arthur shrugged before adding, ''and we have more monsters buried underneath you.''


    ''They have low levels of blood inside their corpses,'' Gege warned.


    ''I don''t care,'' Arthur decisively said, ''let''s find this bitch.''


    ''I''ll need help,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! I''ll support you,'' the system instantly volunteered, ''Ding! I''ll track the energy and determine which isn''t from this world.''


    ''It''s a plan then,'' Arthur smirked before adding, ''warn everyone, they need to prepare for the impact.''


    ''On it,'' Gege hurriedly shouted, ''give me five minutes.''


    ''I hope you move sooner,'' the golden dragon warned, ''that egg is entering its last stage of activation and soon we''ll have to throw it outside.''


    ''I''ll try my best,'' Gege promised, ''this portal is also interfering with my ability to send things out, so we need to negate it first.''


    ''More reasons to hurry then,'' Arthur stressed, ''go and don''t waste time here.''


    He stood a couple of miles before the egg which was now moving up and down like a restless beast. He glanced over her while the sense of danger started to dissipate slowly from his heart.


    "Soon¡­ everything will be over soon," he softly muttered while knowing that the real fight wouldn''t end by spotting the silver dragonair.


    After all there was dimension drawing closer to them in the next hours.


    ''I''m ready,'' Gege returned in less than four minutes before adding, ''Hang tight, the wave will start now!''


    Just as she said this, Arthur saw a miraculous scene taking form in front of him.

 Chapter 645: Things Deteriorated At A Fast Pace

    In the distance, two gigantic bulks of fluid moved from the ground and rose high in the sky of this world.


    They came from the Golam''s lake and the recently formed ocean. The two merged together to form a more gigantic mass of fluid. In the next minute the two kept merging together while the sounds of their merge erupted in the form of explosive sounds.


    And Arthur wasn''t the only one seeing this, but everyone here in this world.


    Just to make sure not a single word would be leaked to the enemy Gege listened to the guidance of the golden dragon to keep this knowledge limited only to the elite teams here and the trusted personnel only.


    As for the villagers here they were considered as collateral damage.


    After all the risk of warning them made Gege listen to the words of the golden dragon.


    And Arthur kept an eye off this as he only cared about the final result.


    Just after one minute the size of that merged fluid was getting out of hand before it started to fall over the ground. Arthur watched in silence as the fluid crashed over the garden''s ground like being a violent waterfall.


    And then a massive wave started to be formed, sweeping everything in its way like a real tsunami.


    And Arthur stood in the air with his team witnessing the devastation caused by this wave.


    And this wasn''t even close from over.


    "Rumble!"


    The fluid kept merging and then another waterfall erupted, then a third, and a fourth, until fifty waterfalls were formed before the merging process stabilized.


    ''Don''t lose her track,'' Arthur shouted while stressing over this.


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, I''m on it!''


    In just mere minutes, the waves traveled east and west, north and south; covering up every single inch of the garden close to the center.


    And then the waves started to move at an indomitable speed towards everywhere.


    In the air only those coming from the higher realm or his men were there. The ground was submerged with the fluid and the egg seemed to be arrogantly not caring about this wave as it kept its routine of ascending and descending while forming a protective energy shell all over it.


    "Where the hell are you?" Arthur muttered while he was deeply observing everywhere until¡­


    "There!" suddenly he spotted a very tiny dark spot flying all of sudden from the ground hundreds of miles far from his spot. He couldn''t tell precisely the appearance of this person, but his heart told him it was her. "Scan it now, fast! Inform others¡­ hurry!"


    Arthur didn''t stand in his place as he started to move in his fastest speed towards that direction. From his position he could spot everyone else moving in fast speed towards the same direction.


    It seemed like a herd of hungry sharks finally smelled a drop of blood far away and they were all converging with all their might towards it; all hoping to be the one to take the first bite.


    ''Ding! It''s her,'' the system finally confirmed Arthur''s guess, ''Ding! Hurry, trap her, do anything to stop her from running or activating her full strength,'' the system urged and Arthur could spot an endless amount of pillars falling like rain drops over that distant dark silhouette.


    And this sudden move and attack did the task to delay her from escaping fast, and also prevented her from using her full power as she knew what these pillars could do.


    And she would never reside to be trapped inside a prison like Anna.


    So she fought, used many techniques to block the pillars and try to not be surrounded by them.


    And as she started to widen the gap with Arthur, she was suddenly hit from behind by a massive strike of a spear.


    And the next thing happened was for another silhouette to appear, blocking the path over her.


    "Amera," Arthur shouted before hysterically laughing, "I love you girl, kick her ass!" he shouted in a very loud tone while he was pushing forward using every ounce of strength he held.


    Yet he wasn''t the first to arrive at the neck to neck fighting duo, as the crow arrived first, appearing out of nowhere coming from far behind to help.


    Knowing how critical the situation was, and realizing the real plan executed by the two girls here, the crow didn''t hesitate to move the moment the silver dragonair was exposed.


    And Arthur just felt great appreciation for his decision and swift action.


    The third to reach there was Doaf, then things started to be under control especially when Gege started to arrange the pillar descent with the three using the system.


    And Arthur was already getting much closer with each passing minute.


    "Don''t let her go off," he shouted while adding, "and don''t let her use her full power."


    His words weren''t needed as the silver dragonair was really suppressed by the growing number of the higher realm fighters.


    And just before he could reach her, things were finally stabilized and the prison was activated at last.


    "Roar!"


    She turned towards Arthur while roaring in anger and extreme hatred while trying her best to unleash her full strength.


    But it was too late to do that.


    "Don''t struggle," Arthur said with a very loud and irritating laugh, "doing so would only make it more painful."


    "Damn you! Let me out you coward and I''ll show you your worth!" she shouted in rage but Arthur totally ignored her.


    "She is here, and the location she was hiding in isn''t so far," he pointed to the direction he spotted her flying off, "go now and extract the array."


    "I''ve a better use for that," Doaf sneered while turning around towards the silver dragonair who kept releasing her full strength, trying to crush the pillar prison, "go and secure this array now."


    His team moved and Amera only motioned to hers to move as well. As for the crow, he retreated without saying a single word.


    After all he wasn''t needed here anymore.


    "I''ll go with you," Amera said to Doaf and the two moved towards the direction where the silver dragonair was hiding.


    "Don''t forget," yet Arthur shouted at her, "you promised to stay the night with me."


    She turned to give him a silent glance before returning to glance ahead, and Arthur only laughed.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    Just amidst his laughs the egg decided to intercept his laughs and go berserk while Gege suddenly shouted:


    ''It''s about to be activated!''


    "Take me out¡­ hurry!" Arthur shouted in urgency while activating his technique at once.


    ''I need time¡­'' she paused before adding in a distressed tone, ''they need to deactivate the portal first!''


    Just before she finished her words the sky changed color and suddenly long trails of many personnel appeared all of sudden inside the garden world.


    "The portal¡­" Arthur muttered in shock, "it''s activated now!!"

 Chapter 646: Sealing The Portal

    Arthur watched those long black tongues of smoke descending from the sky like ravens of death. He swallowed his throat and felt instantly threatened.


    "Rumble!"


    Just as he was shocked by this development, the ground suddenly shook as Doaf and Amera managed to finally find the portal array and started to destroy its components.


    And the next moment those coming from above started to show signs of reduction like an invisible gigantic hand was squeezing them.


    ''Ding! You should act fast,'' the system urged, ''Ding! The egg is already about to be activated!''


    ''I can''t handle all those higher ups'' energies at once,'' Gege screamed, ''Please do something!''


    Arthur clenched his hands while a crazy idea popped up in his mind. Despite the efforts of Doaf and Amera, the portal wasn''t totally sealed by now.


    "Bring it on," Arthur suddenly muttered, "it''s time to fight as crazy as my enemy does."


    ''This¡­'' Gege was able to read his mind and she was startled by the thought in his mind for a moment before the next she added, ''What do you need?''


    ''Move it with me,'' he said, ''and prepare all the pillars here, bring everything.''


    The next moment he flapped his wings and started to rise fast, heading alone towards the thick tongues of smoke which started to twist around themselves while heading directly towards him.


    And all of sudden he was surrounded by his own pillars, heading alongside him towards the sky.


    The two sides kept getting closer faster while they looked like two gigantic pillars heading towards each other.


    "Now!"


    Arthur suddenly shouted the moment he was so near his enemies.


    "Swoosh!"


    Without any warning the egg appeared all of sudden in front of him. It was broken free from the prison Gege was hardly maintaining by her energy, and now it shone in bright color while Arthur moved his activated technique and hit it.


    He felt his entire body shudder under the immense pressure from this sun-like small egg, but in the end he managed to crash it fast upward while he crashed down below.


    "Keep them up," he shouted while trying his best to stabilize himself while the egg swept the enemies like they were mere flies standing in her way.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The sounds of explosions kept raging wild from up there and the egg kept crashing into the descending thick tongues of smoke, killing anyone inside them without reservation.


    "Trap anyone escaping," Arthur shouted again while moving fast, heading back towards the wild egg as he ingested many pills and meat, "don''t let any run away!"


    ''I won''t,'' Gege said, ''after all my life and whole existence depend solely on this.''


    He knew she could be depended upon, but he didn''t want anything to happen. "Support her," he said and his words were meant for the system.


    Aside from her, the system could help in controlling these pillars while the golden dragon couldn''t do anything but to supplement her with energy if needed.


    Getting closer to it, he didn''t hesitate to crash his sword once more to add more momentum to the rapidly decelerating egg.


    And again it moved fast towards the sky, crashing more enemies in the way.


    As everyone already was aware of its devastation, they suddenly broke free and started to run freely, trying to escape with their lives.


    Yet anyone who did so was instantly surrounded with the pillars, forming a prison that was sturdy enough to contain them for now.


    And those who seemed quite dangerous were thrown the next instant in the path of the more ruthless egg.


    "Again," Arthru went for the third time to hit the egg and this time he managed to clear most of the hostiles, while the rest were confined inside their prisons.


    "Rumble!"


    At this moment Doaf and Amera finally managed to nullify and damage the portal array enough to cause it to go dysfunctional. This was accompanied by a massive wave of energy that hit even the egg and made it descend fast towards the ground with the heavily injured Arthur.


    "Move us out now!" yet his mind was clear and very focused on everything going around. As the portal array was damaged and there were only a handful of external invaders loose, he wasn''t needed here anymore, neither was the egg.


    Plus this massive fall made it clear if the egg crashed into the ground then a brutal explosion might erupt that wouldn''t let Gege escape unscathed from it.


    The next moment he vanished from this world to appear in a world full of lightning. His sudden appearance there was welcomed by violent hits from the lightning, as if it knew what he planned to do.


    Yet he was totally prepared. Even before stabilizing his body he moved his sword hard and fast to welcome any descending pillars of lightning and rapidly negate it.


    "Make Doaf and Amera lead a team to hunt those survivors down," he gritted his teeth before noticing the egg appearing all of sudden before him, "and help to pinpoint them with pillars."


    ''I''m on it,'' Gege said in a very distressed tone, ''Sorry I couldn''t move you directly at the membrane, but it''s half a mile to your right.''


    "No problem," Arthur defended another tongue of lightning before adding, "you''ve done enough already. Leave the rest to me."


    He didn''t have time to think and as he glanced over the egg, he found it doing great alone by resisting the falling lightning.


    And that made more lightning to converge upon it, surrounding it like a shell of deadly lightning.


    And Arthur just needed to go there and do his magic to take it towards the membrane nearby.


    "No time to care for safety then," he gritted his teeth and started moving fast towards it, "Sorry, but I''ll need to kick your ass this time as well," he didn''t hesitate to hit the egg with all his might to send it flying towards the direction he wanted.


    And this wasn''t easy, considering he was being hit mercilessly all the time with the lightning.

 Chapter 647: Severely Injured

    But he managed to pull that move as he had to, or else he would be stuck here forever!


    Luckily the egg was now busy with the lightning, trying to reach a middle ground with it. so the egg didn''t release its full strength yet, and so this one hit managed to help the egg cross half the distance at least.


    "One more," he shouted to encourage himself while ignoring the pain and wounds created by the short encounter with the egg before flying towards it like a rocket.


    The lightning didn''t give him anytime to even heal, and he didn''t plan to do so now. He was totally worried about the egg, fearing it would explode and go berserk at any moment.


    If it did so, he wouldn''t be able to stand a chance against such a beast and sending it towards the membrane would be mere fantasy.


    This hit didn''t manage but to send the egg almost near the membrane, but not through it. "Damn! It''s getting more violent," he cursed while being thrown back like a broken kite while he tried his best to defend against lightning.


    But he got hit a couple of times, feeling like his soul was being fried at this moment.


    "Ah!"


    He shouted while moving again like a meteorite towards the egg. The egg started to regain its former glory, shining all around and started to spin.


    ''Ding! It''s trying to escape!''


    ''Hurry!''


    "I''m f*cking doing that!"


    The words of the system and the golden dragon didn''t help at all as he was already exerting more than what he could. Moving with his supreme speed, he decided to ignore the lightning when he got so close to the egg.


    After all, most of the lightning in this area was attracted to the egg and focused on bathing it.


    "Go inside goddammit!" as he moved his sword to hit the egg he didn''t wave it like he was striking the egg, but he was literally crashing with it, taking advantage of his gained momentum and great speed to crash with the egg over the membrane.


    "Rumble!"


    "Boom!"


    The next moment all he could hear was sounds of explosions and rumbling echoing everywhere. The scene changed and instead of the blue and black of the lightning and clouds, he was now seeing a green place with warm colors.


    And he simply crashed inside this magnificent piece of heaven in such an indomitable way.


    "You!"


    Suddenly the voice of the old man reverberated in his ears in extreme shock.


    "No time for that," Arthur screamed, "excavate the ground now, expose that damned egg with chains now!"


    His words echoed in the world but melted away instantly under the violent explosions of the egg that seemed to be free from the lighting and now it was planning to go berserk.


    And Arthur knew he had little window here to act, even with his tattered body that was now filled with deep wounds and even holes!


    "Hit it kid," the voice laughed like he was finally about to be free, "hit it with all your might and I''ll do the rest."


    "Here I go old man!"


    Arthur didn''t know from where he managed to collect such strength but he managed to finally hit the egg once more.


    And this time the recoil was so savage that he was tossed on the ground, rolling up and down over it for miles before finally resting motionless over the ground.


    A pool of his blood started to be formed slowly, while drenching everything around with it.


    "Sorry kid," the voice muttered, "my hands are all full with that egg you brought¡­ all I can help with is this."


    The next moment the ground started to move, like they were hugging Arthur''s dragonair''s body. In no time his body vanished from sight while the ground over him was now filled with green plants that kept growing in speed noteable by naked eyes.


    "Where am I?"


    After an unknown period of time Arthur opened his eyes to see only darkness all around. "What happened?" he felt so weak.


    ''Ding! Don''t move, your body is barely hanging on,'' the system shouted in a very tired tone.


    ''You kid overdid it this time,'' the golden dragon said in a much weaker tone, ''but everything is going the way you wanted.''


    "What happened to the egg?" Arthur''s mind started to regain its clarity slowly, but he instantly recalled the last scenes that happened before he lost consciousness, "is it a success?"


    ''Ding! The two eggs are now batting their heads together,'' the system said, ''Ding! You just need to keep yourself confined here and wait for this clash to be over.''


    "Wait a minute¡­" Arthur regained more of his mind''s clarity, "how can you two speak to me right now?"


    ''That being¡­ he simply ejected you outside the world for you to heal.''


    "What?!!" Arthur was speechless for a moment.


    ''Ding! It''s not a total ejection to be honest, he just cocooned you with the earth and you are now considered half in and half out.''


    "That''s why your voices seem weak?"


    ''No, it''s because we worked our asses for you to heal during the past hours,'' the golden dragon sneered.


    "Oh," Arthur muttered, "thanks, but what about Gege?"


    His words fell and didn''t meet any answer, "What happened to the garden?" he asked in extreme seriousness.


    ''Ding! As far as I know the fight inside is still raging,'' the system said, ''Ding! But¡­''


    ''Kid, she is part of you, and as you went unconscious she also went to slumber,'' the golden dragon said. ''We tried many times to wake her up but failed.''


    "Will she recover when I heal?" Arthur was extremely worried, "what about those inside her?"


    ''We can pray over the garden world from time to time,'' the golden dragon said, ''the situation inside is slightly under control.''


    ''Ding! She did her task brilliantly before going to sleep. All those coming from the higher worlds were now either killed by Doaf and Amera''s teams or restrained by the prison pillars.''

 Chapter 648: I Wont Mind Company At My Last Hours

    "Phew," Arthur heaved a long sigh of relief, "then it''s about to get over¡­ I hope she gets better soon," he honestly said before adding, "can you get inside the garden or it''s risky to do so?"


    ''Ding! I can still control things inside,'' the system said, ''Ding! But I refrained from doing that, fearing this might increase the risk over her recovery.''


    "Good choice," Arthur nodded weakly before sighing, "so I''m now confined inside a piece of dirt?"


    ''This ground had strange healing abilities,'' the golden dragon said before sighing, ''honestly I thought you are done with and nothing we can do can help.''


    "Aren''t you a bit pessimistic?" Arthur couldn''t help but exclaim in doubt.


    ''You didn''t see yourself,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''your entire body was filled with holes, and even your neck was mostly gone. It''s a miracle you are still alive.''


    "It''s good to be alive," Arthur laughed, "alright, can you take some meat and pills for me then?" he said to the system which hesitated before taking out some meat and pills, stuffed them inside his mouth and he only needed to chew.


    Yet doing so seemed so tiring and took longer than it was supposed to. Arthur realized how devastated his body was, and he was gladly appreciating the old man''s act at the proper time.


    If he was left out there with such wounds¡­ it wasn''t an exaggeration to say he would die.


    Arthur took his time taking the pills and meat yet he didn''t feel great as he hoped. "Damn! My body is really in a mess!"


    ''Ding! Like the golden dragon said it¡­ you are just lucky to be alive.''


    "Sigh," Arthur couldn''t help but add, "gimme more then."


    He stayed inside for an unknown period of time before he finally could control his body. His energy wasn''t still fully recovered, but he was sure he wasn''t in danger anymore.


    "Can you take me back?" he asked, "I''ve got rewards to reap," he laughed as he wanted to go back and end what he initially started.


    ''Ding! The fight is already massive and brutal,'' the system warned, ''Ding! Are you sure you can sustain it?''


    "I need to move fast," he muttered before firmly adding, "I need to add this piece of heaven to the garden."


    ''I hope that old man can help,'' the golden dragon said, ''after all with the absence of Gege and shielding us out, you are totally on your own.''


    "Don''t worry, just send me back," Arthur clenched his fists to feel strength running through his veins once more.


    His body was ejected up slowly before the light of the world replaced darkness and caused blindness to his eyes for a long time.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "What brought you up kid?" the old voice came with sweet laughter, "you aren''t needed here anymore."


    Arthur started to regain his eyesight slowly and what he saw was a total contrast to the peaceful and prosperous image he had about this world.


    "Damn! I didn''t imagine the two eggs would be this savage!" he exclaimed in shock while everything around him was filled with holes and depressions like a great war just erupted here.


    "You should see the rest by yourself," the old man laughed, "the entire world is covered in scars, deep beautiful scars, hahaha."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t comment as he knew this wasn''t the old man going insane. He was restrained and tortured by being here for this long, and now he could have finally the rest he dreamt of.


    But Arthur knew this meant that this world was getting closer to its end.


    And this was happening faster than he expected.


    "I''m happy for you," Arthur said first before adding, "may I ask about the dimension here? Is it about to be broken?"


    "Indeed it is," the old man said, "don''t worry, I''ll send you out just before this happens."


    "I''m not asking about this," Arthur shook his head, "I want to take this world and merge it with my garden."


    "This¡­" the old man seemed to be hesitant, "if the world remained, then I''d also be living and couldn''t die!"


    "This¡­" Arthru couldn''t help but frown, "isn''t there any other way?"


    The voice took some minutes before returning to speak again, "If you take your move just before the world crashes to pieces then this might work."


    "But¡­" Arthur paused as the only drawback of this was obvious.


    At this time he wouldn''t be here, and also if he stayed to the last moment he couldn''t pull this feat alone. "I''ll need your help¡­ you see my garden''s soul is deeply injured and now in slumber."


    "I''ll gladly accept that," unlike his expectations, the voice laughed in joy, "after all to do so I''ll need to consume what''s left of my energy to maintain the world pieces intact and not turn into nihility. Like this I can drive them to merge with your garden and at the same time I''ll consume what''s left in my soul."


    "Works best for the two of us," Arthur smiled as this man was about to commit suicide, but he didn''t dare to argue with him.


    After all living such a life was a real torture he knew it could drive anyone crazy.


    If he was in the shoes of the old man, then he wouldn''t hesitate to take the same path.


    "Alright," the old voice came again, calmer this time, "I can predict that this world is having only a few hours before crashing to pieces. You can rest and train here, but I advise against it."


    Just as the words ended, the two battling eggs passed above Arthur''s head in the sky above with extreme speed and great momentum.


    And the world around was rained heavily by the falling burning meteorites that made Arthur jump at once, hurriedly activating his technique and crushing all those falling on top of his head.


    "Nice sword," the old man commended before adding, "that''s why I think it''s best if you stay back and heal inside that cocoon I made personally for you."


    "No, I''d prefer to stay here and train," Arthur didn''t like that dark and desolate place, "after all I need to be here at the last moment."


    "Suit yourself then," the old voice laughed, "I have only a few hours left before dying and I don''t mind some company."

 Chapter 649: The End Of Book 2

    Arthur''s stay there wasn''t peaceful at all. At first he remained sitting idle while training and using this amazing world to augment his cultivation speed.


    However just after the passage of the first hour, the two eggs kept passing over his head frequently while showering him with their collateral attacks.


    And he had to interrupt his training from time to time and defend himself using his sword.


    To do that he had to keep half focus on training and half over his surroundings. He didn''t aim to train seriously for now, as he was already at the peak of the nascent soul stage.


    And getting any more towards the next big stage would be accompanied by a tribulation test, something he refrained from and tried to avoid as hard as possible.


    "It''s almost time," the voice suddenly said after the passage of seven hours and half, "be ready, the world is about to shutter."


    "What should I do then?" Arthur asked.


    "Just drop your blood here and let me do the rest," the voice said, "give me half a liter and I can use this."


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to injure himself with his sword. He previously had to bleed for hours and this was nothing in comparison. As he formed a small pod of blood, the voice said:


    "I''ll eject you outside the same way I did before to heal you," the voice said before warning, "but beware¡­ this time the lightning would be more violent and I don''t guarantee your safety inside that pocket."


    "Then make it wider, old man."


    "This isn''t my point," the voice corrected, "what I care about is that the lightning would take you far away from my reach and so I won''t be able to merge the world here with the world inside you."


    "Oh," Arthur muttered before adding, "don''t worry too much, I will always be nearby."


    "Good," the voice said in strange excitement, "be ready, I''ll throw you off now."


    The next instant Arthur felt a strong hit to his body that was like a mighty wave. His body flew, uncontrollably hitting the membrane in the far distance before he exited it.


    In fact he didn''t totally leave, as his body was enveloped with a thin membrane of the same type that surrounded the world here.


    "So you''ll use this membrane to link the worlds together¡­ impressive," Arthur muttered while examining the membrane that now covered his entire body.


    ''Watch out!'' Yet the voice of the golden dragon erupted in a sudden shout that made him jolted awake and realize that the fears of the old man weren''t groundless.


    In front of him the world was lit up in blue white color while the sound of lightning hammering this place started to bang louder with each passing second.


    He was inside a small place with a low ceiling. He knew he was inside part of the ground of that world, and now that lightning was trying to crash inside.


    ''Ding! The lightning outside is going berserk, be careful,'' the system warned.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll handle this," Arthur clenched his sword before activating the technique, "how is Gege doing?"


    ''Ding! Still sleeping like a lazy baby,'' the system said.


    ''She won''t be awake soon I guess.''


    "I hope the opposite," Arthur muttered before he saw a crack appearing in the small place he was confined in, "after all the entire world here is going to merge with her body in the next hours."


    ''Really? Without her being awake?'' the golden dragon was surprised.


    ''Ding! If she gained this, then she can recover faster using this new blood of energy,'' the system said.


    "That''s what I hope," Arthur narrowed his eyes before he saw the world all around being covered in dense cracks like spider web, "keep an eye over her condition, my hands will be fully occupied here."


    The next instant a hole appeared and a thick tongue of lightning crossed the distance in no time and landed upon his head. He was prepared and hastily welcomed it with his sword phantom, defending and deflecting this attack.


    Then a second hole appeared, a third, a fourth, and rapidly more holes were formed in no time.


    And Arthur only kept waving his sword, creating a dead zone for all lightning that dared to get near him.


    "Damn!" just as he kept doing so, he noticed he was gradually being pushed away from his location, "that old man knew his enemy well," Arthur sneered before he flapped his wings and returned instantly to the place he previously occupied.


    It seemed this move of him enraged the lightning as it started to rain more furious over his head, however Arthur deflected them all.


    He kept exerting his utmost strength using all his concentration for hours. During this he kept replenishing his energy whenever he got time. Eating meat, consuming pills, he didn''t hesitate to replenish his energy in all ways except for one.


    "I hope this won''t take much longer," Arthur knew he could replenish everything yet the golden energy. "Or else my technique would deplete and I''d be naked in front of this infuriated lightning."


    He glanced around to see another wave of lightning gathering so near his head. "Damn, you never get tired," he cursed out loud before hurriedly asking, "how is the merge going?"


    ''Ding! Large pieces of lands already were formed inside,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! And I can feel her condition improving fast.''


    "Not fast enough," Arthur gritted his teeth before waving his sword and welcoming the incoming lightning before deflecting them successfully, "I have little time left for my golden energy."


    ''I can help,'' the golden dragon said, ''but I might go to slumber later if you took much energy from me.''


    Arthur hesitated before sighing, "sorry my friend, there is no option here but this."


    ''Don''t worry,'' the golden dragon said, ''I believe she will be awakened soon before I sleep.''


    "I hope that too," Arthur then turned towards another spot where more lightning was formed and started to take the shape of the head of a monster. "Is this¡­ a dragon?" he strangely muttered before laughing, "this lightning¡­ it''s very funny."


    ''Hahaha, he thinks himself a dragon, damn!'' the golden dragon laughed before Arthur hit that wave and deflected it once more.


    Just after ten minutes, Arthur started to feel his golden energy getting weaker. "It''s now or never my friend," he said and the golden dragon didn''t speak as he injected his energy inside the golden pearl of Arthur.


    And then the about to die technique regained its former glory. "Damn! Even I feel much more powerful after using your energy!" Arthur exclaimed in surprise before hitting another lightning wave that got so near his head.


    ''My energy isn''t that trash of the lower world''s energy you knew of,'' the golden dragon said in a weak tone before adding, ''I can''t speak again¡­ let me focus all over replenishing your energy. You got ten hours this way.''


    "I''m sure either the world integration would be over by then, or Gege would be awakened."


    Arthur wasn''t off the mark this time, as just after the passage of six hours the two things happened simultaneously.


    ''Wow, I slept for too long it seemed!''


    All of sudden Gege''s voice appeared which brought much joy to Arthur. "Welcome back," he said before hurriedly adding, "hurry and replace the golden dragon to replenish the pearl."


    ''Oh,'' she muttered while noticing what was going on, ''leave it to me.''


    The next moment Arthur felt his energy and technique going slightly weaker, which meant Gege regained control again. ''Sorry old dragon, I overslept this time.''


    ''It''s¡­ alright,'' the golden dragon said in broken tone, ''I need to rest¡­ wake me up when you finish.''


    He went to silence and Arthur just felt bitter inside his heart. However he knew this was something he couldn''t evade, or else he would have been long cooked by this lightning.


    "Kid," less than an hour later, the voice of the old man rang inside his mind, "the last pieces of the world are about to be merged with your precious garden. It will be the last time I see this world, and I''m very grateful for you, so let me gift you this last aid before I die."


    Arthur didn''t know what the old man meant, but suddenly the entire lightning around got all sucked inside a very dark spot that suddenly appeared miles away from him.


    "These lightning will go all over this world and punish anyone that holds ill intention inside his soul for you. I won''t guarantee to kill them all, but at least your enemies will be decreased by a large chunk. Besides¡­"


    The voice paused and Arthur saw a gigantic pillar of lightning erupting from this dark spot, heading directly towards the sky, "I know how desperate you are trying to connect to the higher realms. I''ve already sent a signal to the person you are seeking, and he will come here soon to answer your call."


    Arthur was speechless. This old man was so scary and freakingly strong! That was what he thought of while the old man said his last words:


    "It''s sad how the matters of the universe ended up in such a way. When you reach the pinnacle and be strong enough, go and seek all the original pieces scattered all over the universe and merge them together. The truth of this world would appear to you by then and I trust you''ll make the right decision. Good luck blue dragonair, might your will and spirit remain igniting fiercely like this forever."

 Chapter 650: After One Month

    It was finally a calm and peaceful day after all the last epic events that happened everywhere he knew of. Arthur stood on top of his lake city walls while overseeing the lake and its beautiful scenery there.


    "It was tough these days," Doaf walked to stand beside him with his huge body while sighing, "even I got overwhelmingly tired from all this."


    "But you did a great job," Arthur turned to him, "the borders now are clear and all the lands inside are secured."


    "Still a lot of work," Doaf wasn''t satisfied with Arthur''s words, "I need to rest."


    Arthur only smiled as he knew in the past month he kept pushing everyone around him until the brink of collapse. Knowing this yet he didn''t regret any of his doings.


    After all he aimed higher, wanting to expand his territory here using the last crushing victory over his enemies.


    "Still didn''t speak yet?" Amera appeared all of sudden while her spear was shining brightly under the sun.


    "Not a word."


    Since the last fight, Arthur kept the main head of his enemies captive alive while asking her everyday about any info she could provide.


    He didn''t think for a moment to release her, but he faked his intention in doing so. But his wicked enemy was too cunning and cautious, doubting his sweet words and promises all the time.


    "Sigh, if she just spoke up," Amera shook her head, "then we wouldn''t have gotten this hard to secure the lands here."


    Arthur nodded while totally agreeing with her. He knew the main problems came directly from the remaining hidden pockets of his enemies in these areas.


    They kept harassing his men and attacking his newly built cities ferociously during the first week, but thanks to these two and the crow alongside them the situation got finally under control.


    "We came through a long way," he sighed as he already knew how much price he had to pay to secure this victory.


    The golden dragon was severely wasted and now resting and sleeping for unknown time. Even Gege didn''t regain her former power, and needed to sleep long hours from time to time.


    As for his forces¡­ he lost almost one third of them out of the brutal fight that erupted inside the garden.


    The last hours where Gege went asleep were disastrous as she lost control over the pillars and many managed to break free from the prisons.


    Even his silver dragon enemy, Jackline, escaped and was so close to run away except for the intervention of Amera.


    It seemed she had a deep grudge against her, as according to the words of others she valiantly fought her in a very disadvantageous fight and she was persistently chasing her until Gege regained her consciousness again.


    "Have you decided what to do with those prisoners inside?" the crow descended while playing a little with his golden feathers, "they are ticking bombs y''know."


    "I just hope to make them shift to the other side," Arthur sighed as he desperately needed their help in the battles yet to come.


    "Take this advice from me kid," the crow seriously said, "no one will accept serving who is weaker than him."


    "But I did!" Doaf felt annoyed and instantly spoke up.


    "Under the words of a mighty being," the crow calmly commented and he referred to George.


    "Speaking of which¡­" Amera turned to gaze upon Arthur, "is there any news from him?"


    "Sigh, not a word."


    "Are you sure that you sent the message?" Doaf asked.


    "As you can see, our enemies had great losses out of nowhere," Arthur calmly said, "so there is no reason not to believe he did."


    "But he took too long to come," the crow sighed before playing with his feathers once more, "I doubt he received it or else he would have been here a long time ago."


    "Something must have happened," Doaf''s eyes shone as he nodded, "I''m sure he was delayed for a good reason."


    "All we have is to wait," Arthur said, "and try to keep our advantage over our enemies."


    The three glanced at him at the same moment while Amera said, "I don''t like this tone."


    "Me neither," Doaf nodded.


    "Each time he said that he would follow with a quest or a hard mission," the crow complained and their words just made Arthur helplessly smile.


    "C''mon, if I don''t depend on my friends, on whom should I depend on."


    "I''m not your friend," Amera retreated fast as if he carried a contagious disease.


    "Me neither," the crow hurriedly flapped his wings and went off the distance too fast. And Amera followed the next moment.


    "These two¡­" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh while turning to glance over Doaf who had the corners of his eyes twitching for moments now. "Don''t give me this look," he said.


    "What look?" Arthur laughed before adding, "I was just about to invite them to the big barbecue party I''m going to hold tonight."


    "Oh this is even worse than I thought," Doaf hurriedly jumped off the walls while Arthur ran to the wall edge while shouting, "it''s not that bad¡­ it''s a simple quest that''s all."


    "Then do it yourself," Doaf vanished using his inhuman speed, leaving Arthur behind feeling quite restless and annoyed.


    "Damn, then I should find the two girls and try to lure them to do the task," he rubbed his chin while he started to face this trouble lately.


    After all everyone was stressed out and needed time to rest, yet ruling over this empire wasn''t ever that easy. "Or should I seek the help of him?" he thought of his werewolf before shaking his head, "he is busy securing the northern borders and attacking some clans there."


    He sighed as he was puzzled as to send whom for that mission.


    "They ran off again?"


    He turned around to see Amanda walking in a very tight dress, slowly walking until she reached him. "They need some rest and you too," she leaned over the edge of the walls while showing off her physique.

 Chapter 651: The Loving Couple

    "Sigh, I didn''t have time for that," he wasn''t polite to feast over her curves with his daring eyes.


    "Don''t look at something you can''t afford," she turned around while standing with her back to the walls, "you promised not to touch me until we return, right?"


    "Then why are you playing these games with me?" he bit on his lower lip while trying to control himself.


    After the end of the entire war, Amanda learnt about what he said and did in order to retrieve her. What he did back there touched her deeply and since that moment she agreed for him to be her man.


    Yet she asked to wait until that shameless master of her to be around to witness their union.


    For Arthur this was resembling official marriage, and he didn''t mind that. After all he was already establishing an empire, and according to Sara he needed a queen and line to the throne to inherit his legacy.


    "It''s just funny to see you like this," she chuckled before adding "sorry but last time I loved someone I ended up being so deep in pain."


    "Y''know I won''t do that to you."


    "I know," she sighed, "but old habits die hard, besides¡­" she laughed, ''it''s really fun teasing you like this."


    "Watch out," he winked, "I might lose control one day and eat you a whole."


    "Hahaha, and renege over your words? C''mon, you can''t do that."


    "Why not?" he shrugged while she paused in her laughs as she muttered, "damn! Are you serious?"


    "I''m."


    "Sigh, then let me tease you less then," she winked before moving away while swaying her curves right and left, "c''mon, the entire council is waiting for you."


    "At this time?" he glanced around as the sun was about to set off, "it''s too late."


    "Nothing is late in your kingdom," she said while reaching the stairs and paused, "aren''t you coming?"


    "Go ahead, I''ll fly directly there."


    "Won''t you let me try that?" she glanced with some expectations but he couldn''t help but let her down. "Told you, she deserved that ride at that time."


    "Tsk, and me don''t deserve it¡­ so cold of you," she faked being sad and went down the stairs fast while he only shook his head.


    That incident which he let Amelia ride over him seemed to be quite popular among his close circle. Once Amanda heard about it and she never stopped asking to try it out.


    But he always let her down, and even sometimes asked for her in return for that ride. Yet she refused.


    "You acted stingy with me and refused to sleep with me for one night, so don''t expect me to give you a ride over me," he turned to a dragon before hearing a loud shout from down below. "I heard that!"


    And her shout made him laugh before flying directly toward the big palace in the heart of this city.


    "You came fast!"


    The moment he reached the palace, he descended over the garden just where a large oval table was situated on one corner of it.


    "I came once I heard about the council meeting," he answered Ron who just smiled and glanced around, "others didn''t come yet."


    "Fine by me," Arthur returned to his human form before sitting over the biggest seat here, "what is this meeting for by the way?"


    "A sudden development," Ron''s voice seemed quite excited.


    "It''s a good thing it seemed," Arthur noted.


    "I won''t tell," Ron raised both hands in the air before adding, "or else Amelia would kill me."


    "Oh¡­ it''s that important then," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before adding, "what is it? c''mon, tell your oldest friend here."


    "I can''t," Ron retreated to sit on a distant seat, "see where your oldest friend sits? You should have let me sit beside you."


    "And be surrounded by your face instead of my loveable beauties?" Arthur laughed, "in your dreams my friend."


    "Sigh, you never valued me greatly anyway," Ron faked being annoyed and only served to make Arthur''s laughs even louder.


    "Stop teasing my man," Madly suddenly appeared and pumped over Ron where the two exchanged deep kisses in front of Arthur.


    "I didn''t do a thing," Arthur shrugged.


    "Liar, my man won''t be this sad except for you," she pulled the seat next to Ron and sat over it.


    During the last war, something happened to the two that Arthur couldn''t yet figure it out. Some said Madly was about to die under the constant assault of some mages. If not for Ron she wouldn''t be here now.


    But she refused this story as she persistently said she had a crush over him since she laid her eyes over him at their lost clan.


    As for Arthur he didn''t care about the reason as he cared about the degree of change Madly had since then.


    "Stop looking at me in that way," she seriously said while glaring deeply at him.


    "Which way?"


    "That one¡­ the one on your face!" she shouted and hit the table in anger before Ron held her hand and the next instant she got changed like being under magic.


    "Damn! You can either be tough or soft¡­ not both like this!" Arthur couldn''t help but express his thoughts and she only turned to glare at him before returning to exchange kisses again with Ron.


    "They are in it once again?" Lily came with a soft laugh as she sat a couple of seats away from Arthur. "We should try that sometimes, right Omar?" she turned to Omar who came from behind her in slow steps.


    "Sorry, not interested."


    "Then with you," she turned to Arthur and he had to shrug. "Y''know I like you, but you also know I''m surrounded by an army of girls who won''t hesitate to eat you alive if we did that."


    "I''m hopeless," she turned to glance at Madly and Ron, "even her¡­ the ironclad hearted girl got herself a boy and I can''t."


    Her tone made Arthur sigh, but before he could speak up a manly voice came to make him silent.


    "Let me be your man then," Randy said while jumping over the seat next to her in agility, "I promise you won''t be disappointed."


    "Humph, I don''t like you," Lily let him down yet he wasn''t even dejected and kept trying with her.


    "Hahaha, these two couples really makes me laugh," Amelia finally showed up while dressing up in a similar form of tight dress like the one Arthur saw Amanda wearing. "What? She is the one who copied me," she raised her chin before sitting on the seat to his right.


    "As if I would do that," Amanda appeared all of sudden as she grabbed the seat on his left and sat on it.


    "Can the two of you stop meeting up and fighting each time?" Tina finally came while jumping like a little kid before resting over the seat next to Amelia.


    "Humph, and the man behind all that is sitting like a king in between all of you," Sara came and sat over the seat next to Amanda.


    "Calm down girls," Arthur had to speak up before this all would end up over his head, "now we only miss¡­ Deem and Gor, right?"


    "They are busy," Amelia said before adding, "they won''t make it."


    "Alright, tell me what you called me here for then?" Arthur leaned to his seat while resting his hands over Amelia''s and Amanda''s shoulders.


    And the two didn''t feel it weird as this was one of his recent habits with the two.


    "I wanted to tell you about our newest discovery," the eyes of Amelia shimmered in excitement before adding, "we finally managed to crack a technology breakthrough and are about to build the first ever human machine¡­ I''d call it¡­ mecha!"

 Chapter 652: Nara

    "Mecha?" Arthur was oblivious to this word and then Amelia started to explain.


    "Deem used the knowledge he deciphered from the arrays and pillars he studied so far before creating a revolutionary concept."


    She pointed to Madly who simply touched her ring and a circular device appeared next on the table. It was almost one meter in diameter and was made out of ore.


    The color of the ore was golden with pieces of red forming a circular collar with a central orb of silver energy that kept dancing all the time.


    "What is that?" Amanda asked while Arthur and others had the same question in their mind.


    "This is the power orb," Amelia got the chance to enjoy bragging over her main rival here, "It''s a very strong array embedded on the collar while salvaging the energy from inside a pillar."


    "This contains¡­ a pillar?" Arthur asked while Amelia nodded.


    "Don''t belittle this small baby here," Madly laughed, "This contains energy enough to destroy the entire lake city and kill everyone inside."


    Everyone gave her doubting glances but Arthur had his eyes shine brightly out as he realized something. "This is the reason for all those explosions lately."


    "Indeed," Amelia nodded, "we had to test it, and so many explosions had to occur."


    "And how is this related to the mecha you are speaking of?" Amanda asked.


    "Madly," Amelia didn''t directly answer as she asked Madly to take out the giant mecha from her ring. It was giant, not less in size than Doaf and others.


    "This¡­" Arthur felt instant threat coming from this mecha as he stood up while going up front to examine it, "where is this energy coming from?"


    "From this power orb," Madly answered, "it''s used to fuel the mecha and provide it with enough energy to move around and fight."


    "Impressive," Arthur muttered while touching the outer shiny metallic exeleton of this mecha. "How strong is he?" he asked.


    "We¡­ didn''t try it out yet," Amelia sighed, "every time we did, the user couldn''t handle its pressure for a long time to show off its abilities."


    "Really?" Arthur was speechless before asking, "if we can''t use it then how can it be valuable?"


    "We need to use the special army to test it," Madly hurriedly said, "after all they are the ones who excelled during the past wars and gained the highest benefits of your training."


    Arthur returned slowly to his seat and didn''t hurry to give his agreement on her request.


    That special army was considered the future of his empire. Formed mainly out of those who managed to use the spiritual energy and started to unlock their cultivation bases.


    For others they were monsters, able to exert both magical power and cultivation techniques, yet for Arthur they were still newbies. He knew they still had a long road ahead of them, but at least he was able to put them on that road.


    Unlike others who trained over the concept of spiritual energy since their preparations inside the garden before the start of the contest, this army of no more than fifty thousand mages was considered the crown jewel of his entire forces.


    "Are you sure they can handle it?" Arthur said after long minutes of pause.


    "C''mon, don''t be this protective over them," Amanda laughed before adding, "if they failed to give results then you can cut many resources off their department. After all, I heard it takes a lot of resources that we scarcely have."


    The face of Amelia and Madly changed but Amelia hurriedly nodded, stopping the impulsive Madly from ruining this golden chance.


    As for Arthur, he didn''t care about any resource consumption. He only cared about the results. After the last war he knew that using numbers alone wasn''t enough to secure his empire and dreams.


    And so he started to revolutionize the thinking of everyone, opening up the entire garden resources to anyone having any idea that might help to strengthen the empire and their military abilities.


    Despite him not expecting such results, but at least if the mecha failed that power orb could be used already in wars.


    Such devastational effect would be alluring to any, including himself. He wasn''t thinking about the mecha as he knew nothing about it, but his mind was filled with thoughts of testing such power orb over those coming from the higher realms.


    If it worked, then it would be great to use them as a weapon in times of need. Unlike what Amanda was aiming for, even in case of their failure Arthur decided to increase the size of his support exponentially to Amelia and her team.


    "Alright," he nodded, giving his consent to Amelia, "you are free to select anyone to test it."


    "Hehehe," Madly couldn''t help but chuckle in strange confidence, "we already selected our mage."


    Arthur glanced at her in doubt before a familiar face appeared coming from far. "Oh, you selected her?" he was surprised to ask, yet Madly and Amelia only smiled and said nothing.


    He watched Nara, the one who hailed from the Trokas empire, walking in a stiff way towards them. "That reminds me of her," he muttered while recalling the world''s will events that happened in that world.


    And thus he recalled the world''s will girl sleeping till now inside his garden.


    "I was summoned," Nara said in a strict tone before doing a small salute where she hit her chest with a closed fist.


    "You know what to do," Amelia said before adding, "and you agree to perform the test."


    "I agree," Nara said while evading any eye contact with Arthur who inwardly sighed.


    This girl was already such a fierce leader and after meeting him he led her on the path of a fighter instead.


    Yet she held strong abilities as a leader, a thing he started to consider investing in.


    "Go and show us how this thing works," Arthur said while she gave him a short glance before turning around and started to climb the mecha.

 Chapter 653: A Metallic Dragon

    "She knows it," Amanda commented, which was obvious to all.


    "I let her study it for a couple of days now," Amelia chuckled, "after all, operating this beast requires much training."


    "I hope she succeeds," Arthur honestly wished her luck while Amanda only harrumphed. "What will happen if she fails? Will that mecha explode?" Amanda asked and her question raised a wave of concern to others here.


    "Nothing will happen to the mecha," Amelia answered, "but for her, I can''t say the same thing unfortunately."


    Arthur felt a sting inside his heart but on the surface he remained calm. His mind was full of many events that were so short yet intense, events that happened with this girl.


    "I''m ready," Nara shouted as she opened the hatch of the main capsule of this mecha. The mecha resembled a human yet in giant form, and inside its head a capsule with semi-transparent fortified glass resided there.


    "Proceed," Amelia gave her the order and she moved calmly towards the capsule and rested there comfortably well. The hatch closed before a soft rumble occurred as she operated the beast.


    And in the places of the eyes those two elliptical golden red ore started to shine gradually while more energy dissipated out of it.


    This intimated everyone sitting there.


    "It''s vibe is getting scarier," Arthur couldn''t help but comment while he was the only one sitting his place without a move with Amelia and Amanda.


    "It''s normal," Amelia said, "after all what you all felt before was the passive energy leak coming during its rest state."


    Her words let others realize the reason for this aura that was getting more terrifying with each passing minute. However no one returned to his seat while they took more steps backward, away from that monster.


    "It usually failed at this point," Amelia softly whispered.


    "What point?" Arthur asked with much curiosity as from the current threshold of energy alone, this beast seemed something able to to rival those from the higher realm.


    "The transformation stage," Amelia muttered, "this isn''t the final form of the mecha¡­ in fact it''s just the weakest form of it."


    "Really?!" Arthur exclaimed in surprise as he never thought of this, "and what it will transform into?" he asked with much curiosity now that made Amanda glare in discomfort towards Amelia.


    She knew Arthur very well by now and from his tone she could tell his interest was piqued by this machine.


    Yet she remained silent as everything depended over the next move of this mecha.


    "If succeeded," Amelia said, "I guarantee you will be truly shocked."


    Her smile told Arthur how much confident she was in her creation. He turned to glance with extreme focus towards that mecha while Nara started the transformation process.


    Instantly the entire giant body of the mecha lit up with many hidden lines forming a spider web appearance all over it. The lines were the first step before the entire mecha was surrounded with a thick veil of bronzed energy.


    "You used a bronzed pillar, right?" Arthur asked as he instantly recognized the bronzed aura dissipating from this mecha.


    And Amelia only nodded while being totally focused on this critical step.


    The cloud stayed alive for a few minutes while she exchanged silent glances with Madly before her stressed face relaxed and a big smile replaced her worried expression. "It''s a success," she couldn''t help but mutter softly first before shouting, "it''s a success!"


    "How do you know?" Amanda asked but the answer didn''t come from her rival, but from the machine she created.


    "Swoosh!"


    The next moment the entire cloud of energy exploded and moved in a shockwave that was strong enough to take away the table and all the empty seats around.


    As for the three sitting there they were pushed meters backwards while their hair was disheveled with this sudden gust of wind.


    "This¡­" Arthur was truly surprised by what he was seeing right now. Instead of that strong and giant mecha, a dragon appeared in front of him.


    Its scales were made out of dark red and golden colors while he had two pairs of overlapped wings which appeared to be formed of a semi-transparent ore.


    And its head was the same head Nara sat inside.


    "Are you alright? Feeling any bad?" suddenly a large number of people appeared running from one direction while they all shared the same blue outfit.


    "Who are they?" Amanda asked with doubt.


    "The people who invented this beast," Amelia laughed shortly while her mood was already reaching the far clouds, "they need to test it before moving on to the next stage. After all, we have never come across such a length before."


    "What is the next stage?" Arthur turned to her and was already guessing the answer.


    "Fighting one of the three supreme leaders we have," Amelia answered and he nodded in agreement. This nickname was already spread widely across his kingdom, calling Doaf, Amera, and the crow by such a special name.


    And the three were already welcoming such special treatment and appreciation.


    "Did you tell them already?" Amanda laughed, "our boy here made them run for their tales minutes ago."


    "Hahaha, they ran because they knew about this test," Amelia laughed in amusement, "and you need to stop pushing them in every single problem you face."


    Arthur sighed in front of her wink as he already had no option before to solve his problems. His hands were tied down by the lack of options and variabilities under his disposal, but now¡­


    He had a new weapon he could support and in a short time he could let these supreme leaders rest.


    The people who appeared in hundreds started to surround the entire dragon. The dragon wasn''t any less in greatness than Arthur''s dragonair form himself, and he felt the same intimidating aura he felt from the Doaf and others.


    These people started to test the dragon for an entire hour. During which the others regained their calm and worked to retrieve the table and seats once more before all sat around the table once more.


    And none spoke a single word while keeping their breaths and waiting for the final result.


    "It''s a success," Amelia laughed when one of the team members turned to her and gave her a thumb up signal. "I knew it, hahaha," she laughed and she deserved all the joy and pride she was feeling just now.


    "Now what?" Amanda asked in irritation from this unexpected result for her.


    "It''s time to put it to the test," Amelia said while waiting for the entire army of her scientists to retreat far away before taking a bird''s wing and writing something there. "I selected Amera for that test, after all she is known to be the fastest and the strongest in far attacks."


    "Are they going to fight here?" Arthur asked in doubt, "this is still inside the lake city."


    "Don''t worry my love," Amelia leaned over him while laughing to tease her rival next to her man, "we''ll conduct the test outside the city."


    The team moved under the lead of Amelia and Madly, while Nara flew in the air fast, in a speed that rivaled Arthur''s.


    "She is fast," he couldn''t help but mutter in surprise.

 Chapter 654: All Are Complaining

    "We can conduct it here, right?" Amelia stood on top of the grand wall overseeing the stretch of lands outside the city.


    "Well¡­ as long as they don''t have to fight on top of the city then it''s fine," Arthur said before turning around, "but where is Amera?"


    "She is coming," Amelia smiled before the next moment a ray of light came from far in the distance.


    "Sigh, this girl really runs too fast," Arthur sighed while glancing over the distant place she came from, "all this because I asked for a little help."


    "Your little help is a real mess to others," Amelia laughed, "I won''t forget what you asked me and other old squad to do, and in the end we had to stay one week outside fighting non-stop and amassing people for you."


    "And he was only resting and playing here," Madly gave him a deep glance while the memories of that mission were still lingering in her mind.


    "C''mon," Arthur weirdly laughed, "it''s not like the task wasn''t on par with your strength."


    The two girls gave him a threatening glance and he had to change the topic fast. "What are the abilities of this mecha?"


    "Humph," Madly harrumphed.


    "It can fly fast, use fire breath like any dragon, plus some interesting arrows that resemble your old version of arrows," Amelia said.


    "You even upgraded the arrows?" he was surprised.


    "Not me," Madly shook her head, "it was Agnus."


    "Oh," Arthur nodded, "by the way where is he?"


    "He is busy experimenting something," Amelia mysteriously said.


    "I''m ready," Amera suddenly said while standing in the air a couple of hundred meters off Nara," Let''s see how this thing will do against my attacks."


    "Please start," Amelia said.


    "Don''t damage the city," Arthur hurriedly shouted and many laughed at his remark.


    "Don''t worry big dragon, I won''t touch your beloved city," Amera sneered before she moved fast using her speed at a test.


    And Nara moved as well, surprisingly keeping up with her supreme speed.


    "Interesting," Amera said, "the speed is really superb, slightly subar of mine but it''s top notch nonetheless."


    Her remark was recorded by the large team of scientists standing on one side and recording this entire experiment with many strange devices they held.


    "Let''s test the defensive abilities then," Amera said before creating a distance from Nara, "here I come," she warned before moving fast with her spear directed at the dragon.


    Nara controlled the dragon and suddenly the two pairs of wings changed shape and started to cover the dragon forming a big ball. The spear hit the dragon and sent it flying backwards, but obviously only a small scratch was left over the defensive wings.


    "Impressive," Amera commended, "you took a direct hit from me and still stands still¡­ really sturdy defense."


    "Thanks," Nara simply said before adding, "can I switch to offense then?"


    "Sure, give it all and let''s see how strong this toy can be."


    "Here I come," Nara warned before the wings retreated swiftly to their initial position. The next moment a part was separated from the belly of the dragon and in front of everyone a metallic sword appeared the next instant.


    "Here I come," Nara held the sword with two claws before the lines over her dragon shone brightly and then the dragon jumped like a missile towards Amera.


    And she only welcomed this attack with her spear, yet her body faintly trembled and retreated a couple of meters to the back.


    "Strong offensive power, I like it¡­ again!"


    Amera seemed a bit excited and Nara kept pushing forward, hitting her with the sword at a superb speed. Amera was constantly on the defense, retreating backwards until she crossed an entire mile already.


    "Enough," Suddenly Amelia shouted, "this is already beyond the time allocated to you."


    "What''s wrong?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "We need to conduct tests first," Amelia said as she knew from the surface everything seemed fine. "The lines over the dragon''s body are getting fainter. This is an indicator for the energy depletion."


    "And?"


    "We need to know how long the mecha could stay operational in a constant intense fight," Madly said, "but as this is our first and only functional mecha we can''t risk losing it here."


    Arthur nodded and just as he glanced over the distance he found no trace of Amera. "Sigh, that girl really runs fast."


    "What are you talking about?"


    Amera''s sneer came from behind, startling him. "Ahem, I said nothing," he smiled in a way to cover up what he just said, "how was that fight?"


    "I can say for sure if you can mass produce it then you won''t need any of my team services," she said before glancing at Amelia, "great invention, never heard of before but I''m sure it would become very popular up there."


    "Thanks," Amelia said in gratitude, "but it still lacks a lot."


    "As a start it''s a great success," Amera said before adding, "I''ll go to rest now," she turned to Arthur and warned, "don''t disturb me for a couple of days¡­ I''m warning you!"


    "Why do I feel so much hated recently?" Arthur couldn''t help but complain while watching her vanish.


    "Because you are such a cold blooded master asking others around."


    "Sara," Arthur turned to face this beautiful lady who appeared coming from the stairs on one side, "you missed a great show," he hurriedly said.


    "Don''t try to trick me here, I''m here to start a fight with you," she came towards him in wide steps while her face showed how angry she was.


    "What did he do this time?" Amanda couldn''t help but laugh.


    "He¡­ you left everything to me for a couple of days and vanished¡­ what the hell were you doing?"


    Arthur smiled innocently while rubbing the back of his head, "I was just taking a day off here in the city."


    "A day? That was three days, not a single day!" she bellowed in rage before adding, "do you know how things are when you aren''t around¡­ how can I take decisions about things that need your opinion? Huh?"


    "You can just send me a bird''s wing," he joked and none laughed at his remark. "Alright, I''ll be more responsible from now on."


    "Humph, the vicious wolf is promising to be a vegetarian," Tina laughed as she ascended the stairs and joined the party as well.


    "C''mon, I didn''t give you a hard task lately, right?"


    "You only gave the two of us the most boring stuff amongst all," the scorpion queen joined as well while laughing, "go there and stand guard for a couple of days¡­ fortify the city as there will be an attack coming soon¡­ all are boring stuff and I didn''t even taste the sweet blood for weeks now!"


    "Hahaha, I was just overprotected by you," Arthur tried to escape this combined attack and tried to move towards the stairs but Amelia stopped him.


    "You need to organize things better," she said with a smile, "Giving hard tasks to those who want some rest and giving rest to some ferocious girls¡­ c''mon, even if you asked for it don''t be this dumb."


    Others laughed at her remark and Arthur could only smile helplessly, "alright, the next fighting task will be given to you," he promised.


    "Sara?" Tina didn''t believe him as she turned to the tigresse on her side. "There is a threatening army coming towards the recent group of cities we are building to the south," Sara said before adding, "can you handle it?"


    "We can handle anything," the scorpion queen hurried to say, "send us now."


    "And your armies?" Arthur asked in doubt, "you need first to amass them."


    "Don''t mind that," Tina said in pride, "our armies are always ready to be summoned and move on."


    "Alright then," Sara smiled, "this task is for you."


    "Hooray," the queen laughed before hurrying to fly away with the dragon next to her while Arthur stood beside Sara. "Are you sure this is a wise decision?" he muttered, "the last time we sent them on such a task a disaster occurred and we got nothing back."


    "Who said I sent them to a real fight," Sara evilly smirked, "I said there is a threatening army, not a real army attacking our cities."


    "Hahaha, you are cruel," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh while the others around sighed.


    It was famous how the couple who just left now were so brutal in dealing with things. Before things got this far here, Sara had time to control them but now they were totally on their own.


    They didn''t lose a fight, but the win they brought was void of any taste of victory as well. Not only did they keep losing large chunks of their elite armies, the gains they acquired were scarce as well.


    They never stopped attacking the enemies even when they were showing signs of surrender, creating a paradoxical situation where desperate enemies were forced to fight until the last man.


    And this ended every task they got in a disastrous closure.

 Chapter 655: She Knows Something

    "Long time no see."


    ''I was just sleeping a lot out of late, sorry.''


    Arthur was standing inside a grand city inside his garden. Since the last battle over a month ago Gege was always sleeping many hours per day.


    His mind seemed quite peaceful lately. The system was never a talkative being, and Gege was the main instigator of all debates and discussions inside his mind.


    Yet after that battle she seemed more calm and silent. Even when she was awake she rarely opened her mouth to speak except when Arthur started asking.


    "No need to be," he sighed, "It''s just too bizarre out of late," he muttered while moving his glance around. "This city is getting more prosperous with time."


    ''Ding! The time difference here made it like this.''


    "It''s still impressive," he smiled, "I hope my other cities will grow at the same speed."


    ''Ding! What about those prisoners?''


    "They are just a pain," Arthur complained while turning his gaze towards a certain direction, "some believe they won''t succumb to me."


    ''As you much weaker than then?'' Gege said.


    "Oh, you were listening."


    ''Hahaha, I just love to rest but that doesn''t mean I lost my love to eavesdrop.''


    He smiled before glancing at the city again. "How many cities do we currently have here?"


    ''Twenty so far,'' Gege said, ''If I was more awake then I could have easily doubled this number.''


    "Don''t stress yourself," Arthur said, "this number is great."


    ''The thing is they are almost about to be totally full.''


    "This fast?!" Arthur was surprised. Since the fight he started to take half of the population he gained into his garden world to strengthen it.


    The last fight highlighted a very crucial issue he had here¡­ this place was defenseless. He thought that if those who came here had connections to other worlds like his, then this garden could easily be swarmed with massive enemies with nothing to stop them.


    "Let''s go," he turned into a dragon before heading fast towards the direction of the grand prison. "Have you found anyone worthy to nourish from here?"


    ''I honestly didn''t have time to do that thoroughly,'' Gege said, ''but don''t forget we are talking about middle world residents here. They have many powers that go beyond what your army initially had.''


    "You are right," Arthur nodded, "that''s why we need to find a way to expand here."


    ''Expand?!'' Gege was surprised by his greed.


    "We will stay here for months and so if we can extend our reach to other places then we can also gain more people," he explained before adding, "your new body had grown beyond my expectations even. The total size of the garden world is at least ten times larger than it was before the war."


    ''Do you plan to make my body this crowded?'' she teased him and he laughed as this was a faint glimpse of what the old Gege was like.


    "Why not? You said it yourself, they are much stronger than us. If I manage to form a grand army or two from them then the task of controlling ten worlds won''t be a problem."


    ''Ding! You already control three.''


    ''Don''t forget me old man!''


    ''Ding! I''m not the old man,'' the system said with a laugh, ''Ding! Your old man is in deep slumber.''


    ''I miss him to be honest,'' she said, ''he had something that always got on my nerves.''


    "And you missed him because of that?" Arthur laughed, "I can let the system make you crazy all the time if that is what you need."


    ''Nah, he is too cute to act like that old pervert,'' she said and Arthur and the system laughed.


    Yet this nice and rare conversation with her had to stop here as he arrived at the grand prison.


    It wasn''t correct to call it a prison as from far it appeared more like a forest of pillars. "One thousand prisoners and zero info¡­ sigh," he couldn''t help but shook his head in sadness.


    After all he got all these enormous sources of valuable info but he couldn''t crack into it yet.


    ''Why not try and turn them into slaves? Like that werewolf?''


    ''Ding! We discussed this while you were sleeping,'' the system said, ''Ding! Each one of them had greater power than the werewolf, besides the werewolf was beaten near death already and was forced to accept the slave contract and not resist.''


    "And there is also the issue of my strength being too weak compared to them to hold them in check all the time," Arthur said before landing just in front of a special prison.


    Inside, a stunning beauty stood with much pride and with her head raised high like she wasn''t affected by this bitter fate she was now living in.


    "Hi there," he greeted, yet the lady only sneered.


    "Aren''t you tired of coming here my dear nephew?"


    "Your dragon head is still thick as usual I see¡­ how are you doing Mera?"


    The silver dragonair glanced in an amusing way to him. "I''m confined inside this cage, what do you think I''m feeling right now?"


    "Secure?"


    "Enraged!"


    "Comfortable?"


    "Bored."


    "You can get out of here and live freely as you like," he said while referring to his offer from before.


    "You can take that offer and shave it into your sweet blue dragonair ass!"


    He wasn''t enraged with her rude remark, as he knew the only person here that was too valuable to lose was her.


    She was the leader of his enemies, and knew everything about their current and future plans. All he needed to do was to force her to speak and then a flood of priceless knowledge would drown him.


    But he lacked the right means to do that. And that was the reason he kept coming here one visit after another.


    "Don''t you want to hear about the news of the outside world?" he calmly said while waving his wings slightly in the air, "did you miss this feeling?"


    "I miss the taste of crushing you one time after another."


    "Yeah, as I''m now your prisoner not the opposite," he sneered and she also sneered.


    "I won''t be left here forever," she said, "my people would destroy planets to set me free."


    "It''s a waste of hope to put your freedom on deeds of others y''know," he said before adding, "plus no matter who they send after me, I promise you I''ll kill them all."


    "War isn''t always about fighting and killing stupid nephew."


    He glanced silently at her while he got the feeling that she knew about something that would soon happen.


    "We''ll see about that," he flapped his wings slowly and rose slightly off the ground, "flying here feels much fun¡­ sigh it''s a regret you can''t enjoy it."


    "Soon I will," she ruthlessly said with glaring eyes, "soon my dear nephew¡­ I promise."


    Arthur had no other reason to stay here as he flew in the air while her last words rang inside his mind. "She knows about something," he muttered.


    ''Like what?'' Gege sneered, ''All she can know about is the coldness of the pillar prison she lies in.''


    ''Ding! I totally agree with Arthur¡­ that silver girl definitely knows something.''


    ''How?'' Gege argued, ''she is confined in the prison with no connection whatsoever with the outside world. Hell she can''t even know a single word of anything happening outside her prison!''


    "Are you sure?" Arthur asked, "after all she had the ability to shapeshift and might others have it."


    ''You don''t mean¡­'' Gege was taken aback from this theory.


    ''Ding! We can never know,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! After all, we don''t possess anything to detect or expose that technique.''


    "We need to seek such technique," Arthur coldly said, "after all having traitors inside the close circle of you isn''t a good thing."


    ''Ding! I lack any knowledge about such a dilemma.''


    ''I think the old man can know a thing or two,'' Gege said, ''but he is still sleeping.''


    "We need to find another way then," Arthur thought deeply and inside his mind a vague piece of info appeared inside his mind. He once heard about such a technique back in his cultivation world, but he didn''t recall he ever learnt it.


    ''Speaking about cultivation,'' Gege could read his mind and so she knew what he was thinking, ''when do you plan to advance your base? It has been a month since you trained your cultivation power.''


    "It''s called spiritual energy," Arthur corrected, "and I won''t do it here. Not while I''m still facing strong foes and such adversary situations."


    ''Ding! He is hesitating because of that tribulation test,'' the system explained.


    ''But isn''t crossing the border to the next stage would make you stronger?'' Gege asked in doubt, ''you don''t want to become stronger anymore?''


    "I never stopped training my other power," Arthur said, "but this cultivation one is so tricky. I need to be extremely cautious, until I can rest assured that no one would come and kill me out of the blue."


    ''Then you are going to wait for a long time,'' Gege sneered.


    ''Ding! He is waiting for his godfather to come,'' the system said, ''Ding! He awaits his backing to advance.''


    ''He isn''t here yet?'' Gege was surprised, ''Damn! I slept too long and thought I missed his visit.''


    "He didn''t show up yet," Arthrur glanced at the distant city before adding, "I''m sure something big has happened for sure, and that''s a reason to make me refrain from advancing my cultivation."


    ''It''s your decision,'' Gege sighed, ''I''m just trying to help here.''


    "I know," Arthur muttered, "but playing with the heavens isn''t a wise thing to do. Heavens are ruthless and cunning. If one isn''t extremely cautious he might end up losing much more than he would gain."


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 656: A Dilemma

    "An urgent summon signal?!" Arthur was speechless for a moment there, "Is there an army attacking the capital city?"


    ''Ding! I don''t sense any aura of an army there,'' the system said, ''Ding! But the emergency portal had Amanda there trying to come here and she looked quite distressed.''


    "Alright, send her in," Arthur simply said while waiting for the answer to his puzzle.


    In less than a minute, Amanda appeared in front of him. Before she could speak he instantly noticed how distressed and unsettled she was.


    "What happened?" he asked first, "is there a disaster befalling us or something?"


    "They sent an envoy to our capital minutes ago," she hurriedly said and her words only made him more puzzled.


    "An army you mean?"


    "No, it''s a diplomatic envoy," she stressed, "and he is waiting for you in the central palace."


    "Then¡­ Why do you look this pale?" he couldn''t tell the reason behind all her distress and anxiety.


    "He came to speak about terms to retrieve that silver dragonair," she said before hurriedly adding, "they are putting Cesile and Iman in return for her."


    Arthur''s eyes widened instantly realizing the reason behind her intense reaction. He hurriedly turned to glance at a certain direction, the direction of the prison.


    "So she knew," he softly muttered.


    "What?" Amanda asked before shaking her head, "forget it, we need to hurry back and accept their terms."


    "Why?" Arthur glanced at her and his answer made her stiffen.


    "You¡­ you can''t risk our sisters for that bitch!!" she shouted in extreme rage but he remained as calm and collected as ever.


    "I can retrieve them," he simply said, "I didn''t join this contest and take all this trouble for just building some cities. I did it for you, for all of you."


    "And now there is a chance to retrieve them without the need to fight!"


    "I doubt this would end well for us," he took a deep breath and tried to reason with her, "the only reason they didn''t attack us is her. If we lose our most valuable asset then what prevents them from destroying us?"


    "We faced them more than once already," she tried to make him change his mind, "and in the end we won. We paid a hefty price for that, and risked our entire annihilation during that but in the end we won. We won once, twice, and we can keep winning!"


    "That''s¡­ not guaranteed," he sighed, "listen, why not leave here and gather everyone? Let''s hear others'' opinions about this."


    "I only care about you," she had a shocked expression on her face, "how can you let this chance slip off your hands like this?"


    "I believe we should hear others'' opinions," he firmly said, "such a decision isn''t only related to the two of us, but to everyone. We need to put that into consideration."


    "¡­"


    She didn''t speak yet her eyes told him how angry and shocked she was from his stance. He could only ask for the system to take them out towards his capital city, and then he headed to the central palace while sending bird''s wings to all.


    During this Amanda kept her silence and didn''t speak at all. Arthur also refrained from speaking again, after all he made up his mind.


    Why would he sacrifice his biggest protection for some gains he was quite sure to obtain oneday?


    In the next half an hour, many appeared in the palace. Arthur waited inside a side hall, while leaving that envoy rotting inside the main throne hall.


    Everyone seemed to get wind of what happened already, as all came with such serious looks over their faces. Arthur waited for another half an hour before the entire leaders of his empire were present in front of him.


    His old guard, all the friends whom he knew before going to the academy were together under the lead of Amelia and Ron. The team of his garden people were led by Agnus, Doom, and Dor. The group from the castle of the sky led strangely by the scorpion queen.


    As for Sara and Tina, both stood alone while three groups were there from the higher realms led by Doaf, Amera, and the crow in order. As for his werewolf, he stood silently beside his small throne while everyone was glancing fixedly towards him.


    "You know why I gathered you all now," he said before pointing to the direction of the main throne hall, "there our enemies sent an envoy asking for their leader to be released."


    "In exchange for what?" Amera asked while no one else dared to speak.


    "Two kidnapped masters from my academy," Arthur said.


    "Two girls of his own," yet Amanda interfered and spoke in a nervous way, and he only gave her a side glance before nodding.


    "And they are two girls of mine."


    "Only the two of them?" the crow asked, "are you sure there is no more to that?"


    Amanda was the one who received the envoy, yet her face told them that she didn''t know the proper answer to that.


    "Even if they offered only these two," Doaf said, "we should aim for more."


    "Like what?" Amelia asked.


    "Like asking them to go the fuck out of here and leave this world decided by the hands of their own people," Doaf said and his words were warmly received by many.


    Yet Arthur could tell from the faces of his old guard that they weren''t happy with such a suggestion.


    "We should accept the offer," Ron suddenly said, "after all we raged this war to retrieve them all."


    He glanced at his master, his friend, at Arthur in a meaningful way. "I won''t accept something that is already in my hand," Arthur stated his opinion out loud to them, "I raged this war and came all the way here to retrieve them."


    "Then we should accept this offer," Madly said, "after all this would end our war with them, at least we will emerge winning in the end achieving our goals."

 Chapter 657: Meeting The Envoy

    "You are wrong," Sara had to step in as she read what this situation was heading to, "the enemy now is like a headless beast. It''s still dangerous and quite ferocious, but it won''t be like that when we allow the head to return to it."


    "But we have a chance to save the two sisters of us without any fight," Amelia said and her words told Arthur her opinion already.


    "Then what?" Doaf calmly said, "after agreeing then we will be attacked with all their might. We had one month, during which we kept expanding and our forces were exhausted after the fight they had to do in order to secure the empire."


    He turned to Arthur before adding, "however our main enemy was resting, recuperating and amassing his new forces. Who knew what she could be able to do, we all saw what she alone did to us. I see we can''t allow them to stay a single second in this world, or else this deal will be cancelled."


    "I disagree with that!" Amelia stepped in and announced her opinion clearly and loud.


    "And I do the same," Amanda also shared her opinion with others.


    "And me."


    "And me."


    Many spoke and stood with the opposing side, however their numbers and influence was quite limited.


    After all, the current stability and growth of Arthur''s empire was decided mainly by the forces coming from the garden world and the higher realms.


    Only the old guard and Amanda agreed to the offer of the envoy, as for the rest they didn''t agree.


    "Why don''t we hear him out first?" Deem asked, trying to act as a middleman between the two sides, "at least we can try to ask for more benefits and assess the response ourselves."


    "Good point," the crow said while giving his two friends a silent glance. "We should hear him out first and start negotiating."


    "What if he was stubborn and refused to add any benefits?" Arthur strictly asked the question that many tried to avoid right now.


    Yet the heavy silence he got back told him about how hard it was to reach a decision to please everyone here.


    "Alright," he finally said after moments of deadly silence, "let''s go and hear him out first then we can come back and discuss our options."


    They all nodded despite the fact that they all had already made up their minds. According to the general view of it, most of them were opposed to accepting the offer as Amanda described it.


    "You need to act tougher here," just as he was leading them all towards the next hall, Amanda moved to him and whispered to his ears. "I promise to sleep with you after that."


    He glanced at her and said nothing. He wasn''t now acting as a lone wolf, but a man who was responsible for a large number of beings.


    He could risk an open war for his girls, but at least he would fight it doing his best to make his enemies weaker.


    Giving Mera back to them would be like giving wings to a great serpent and turning him into a mighty dragon.


    Besides he didn''t believe he wouldn''t be able to handle the issue of the girls on his own later on. He was already strengthening his base here, and in mere months he would be able to expand his reach to the entire world.


    After all, his tree was still broadcasting his message and a large number of people kept flooding his cities despite his enemies'' efforts.


    As he entered the throne hall, he found a small group of ten mages with a single one leading them with a giant body.


    He wasn''t any lesser in size than Amera, Doaf, and the crow. Arthur could feel the same dangerous vibe coming out of him, making him sure he was one of those hailing from the higher realms.


    "Speak," Arthur said once, resting on his throne and surrounded by his people, "what''s your business here?"


    "I''m here to make a trade," the man said.


    "So you are a merchant then," Arthur faked ignorance yet that giant smiled as he calmly corrected him: "I''m here to make a trade between hostages."


    "Hostages?" Arthur glanced around, "Do we have any living hostages still?"


    Doaf smiled while Amera couldn''t control herself and laughed a short one. "We have some still alive¡­" the crow said while pausing as if he was trying to recall a very hard piece of memory, "perhaps ten or twenty¡­ I dunno how much is left exactly."


    "Humph," the giant responded before adding, "I know how many you still have inside that worthless piece of world."


    Arthur didn''t have his face changed but he was now certain of the presence of the traitor. The question still lied inside who he or she was.


    "If you can reach such info then why didn''t you try and release them?" Arthur said before adding, "with force I mean."


    "Force isn''t the only thing to solve things in war," the giant said and his words were strangely similar to Mera''s from before.


    "Then what are you here to offer?" Arthur directly asked.


    "Just a simple trade," the giant waved both hands before adding, "our girl for your two girls."


    Arthur went to silence as if he waited for more but the giant also went into silence and said nothing. The two kept exchanging glances for a long minute.


    "This offer can''t be accepted," Arthur said and his words attracted the attention of the opposing camp, "if you want your girl, then you have to pay her weight in gold not in rocks."


    "From what I heard the two girls are already your women," the giant said before turning to Amanda and pointing to her, "she is also yours I think, right?"


    Arthur didn''t answer while the giant kept talking:


    "I can let you think for one week before I come to receive the answer," he said before pointing to his head, "but don''t try to stall or negotiate. In fact our leaders got tired of feeding two useless mouths and decided if you don''t cooperate they will dispose of the three."

 Chapter 658: A Plan

    "Three?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yes, did you think we let your little doll here leave without leaving an insurance inside her?" the giant laughed and his words held only one meaning.


    And Arthur turned to glance at Amanda whose face didn''t show any of her true feelings at the moment.


    "We will need a month," Arthur turned to him, "or else kill them all now and I''ll make sure your beloved girl will die instantly."


    "You can''t kill her," the giant''s face changed slightly, "she is too important to you."


    "So do the three girls," Arthur said before leaning over his seat, "and also all the things I possess here and anywhere else."


    "This¡­" the giant paused as he sensed the seriousness in Arthur''s words, "you can''t kill her, she won''t fall without a fight."


    "You are terribly mistaken," Arthur calmly said before snapping his fingers and the next moment a head of a giant prisoner he once held inside his garden appeared rolling over the ground of the hall. "I can kill her with just  a snap of a finger."


    The two kept glaring at each other. "What do you think will keep me from killing you right here right now?"


    "Empty threat without any backing," Doaf sneered while Amera took out her spear as she said while moving her hand over its shaft:


    "Give me the word and I''ll let his dirty head roll over the ground here like that useless trash."


    "I dare you come at me," the giant said in a very calm tone, "and I promise you won''t live the next moment to see the head of your leader rolled over the ground here."


    "Enough!" Arthur''s shout stopped the two sides from harassing each other. He was pretty much sure this man wasn''t alone, and with one way or another he would have a means to summon a large army to his aid.


    And Arthur wouldn''t risk an open war just now.


    "One month and return," Arthur gave the order, "or else let''s see who has the biggest sword here."


    The giant glanced at him. "I didn''t agree."


    "My word is final," Arthur stood up before adding, "anymore and I won''t hesitate to turn this place into a bloodbath."


    He didn''t wait for the giant to give his answer as he moved down the throne and walked towards the door he just came from. The giant kept glaring at his back and finally turned around and left.


    "One month then," he only spoke when he was at the door and Arthur didn''t even react to his words before vanishing behind the door.


    "Why ask for one month when we could kill him right now?" Amera was already fired up and she only wanted Arthur to give her the permission to act.


    "Things are more complicated than you think," Arthur sat over his throne before turning towards Amanda, "are you ok?"


    "I''m¡­ fine," her face finally relaxed and showed a white ashen expression over there.


    "We need to scan you first," Arthur turned to his men, "anyone able to do it?"


    "I can build a machine to do so," Agnus said, "but I can''t promise to build a thing to dispose of anything planted inside her."


    "I bet whatever they planted it''s at the soul level," the crow said in disgust, "their ways with the soul are really diverse and unlimited."


    "I too feel the same," Doaf nodded, "if the black dragonairs were behind this, then we can''t exclude this possibility."


    "I¡­" Agnus stagnated there and couldn''t say anything.


    "No problem," Arthur calmly said as if he was accepting such a theory, "we will deal with this problem once and for all."


    "Are we going to war?" Tina asked in excitement.


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded, "we need to be ready for a full out war during that month."


    "What''s the plan?" Doaf asked as he didn''t think Arthur would go for such a war without proper ideas.


    "We''ll lure them out," Arthur said before adding, "then kill them all."


    "What if they tried something?" Madly was worried over Amanda and the other two.


    "That''s why when we strike, we need to crush them without giving them any chance of retaliation," he said before turning to Amelia, "your mechas¡­ can you hasten their making during this month?"


    "One month?!" Amelia was hesitant, "I¡­ dunno but I''ll try my best."


    "You ought to," Arthur nodded, "any amount is good, but the more the better."


    "I might need to expand the number of workers then," she muttered softly as if she was talking to herself.


    "See what you need and I''ll comply with all."


    "What about our biggest problem?" Amera suddenly said and Arthur understood her meaning alongside very few here.


    "What do you mean?" Tina couldn''t help but ask.


    "She is talking about the traitor inside our ranks," Sara calmly said.


    "A traitor?" Tina glanced all around before adding, "do we have a traitor? Who is he? Show yourself a bastard!"


    "You¡­" her reaction made Arthur sigh, "are really hopeless."


    She glanced at him while not getting the meaning of his words. "Extracting that traitor is much harder than the mission itself," Doaf said, totally ignoring Tina and her silly words.


    "It will be hard," Arthur admitted, "but we need to act against him or her."


    "It could be anyone here," the crow turned around before adding, "how can we be sure whom we will trust and whom we can''t?"


    "It''s not only limited to them," Arthur hurriedly said as these words were so dangerous if left untouched, "I believe anyone inside my garden world can be a suspect."


    Everyone understood his meaning, yet the words of the crow were still lingering in the back mind of everyone. Arthur glanced at this scene and wondered if the aim of that envoy and Mera from the start was this situation.


    "Anyway I''m now putting her under strict observation," Arthur suddenly said, "so anyone getting near her without my permission will be dealt with without showing mercy."

 Chapter 659: The Trusted Small Circle

    His words managed to clear most of the bitterness left by the crow words. "Now all leave," he said, "you, you,¡­ you, and you stay behind," he selected Sara, Amelia, the three leaders, Agnus, and Deem to stay behind.


    Amanda gave him a silent glance yet he didn''t explain himself to her. She nodded and left with others while he watched her back getting far while sighing.


    He wasn''t sure if they only planted a bomb inside her. To be safe he decided to seclude her from the crucial parts of his plan.


    "What''s the real plan then?" Amera asked the moment the place became void of others.


    Strangely those he selected, or most of, were aware of his real intentions. "Do we have another plan?" Deem asked in surprise.


    "We won''t wait for a month," Arthur glanced at them, "starting from now we are at open war with them."


    "We were already at an open war," Sara said, "the war never stopped."


    "But it became less intense after the fight," Doaf said while stretching out his body, "I planned to take a week off, but it seems even my enemies are more eager to meet me."


    "We have to act now," the crow said, "and fast, but where will we strike?"


    "Everywhere," Arthur took out a grand map of the entire world here. He let the map be unfolded by Agnus over a nearby table, "starting from now we will be the supreme council of this war," Arthur said before stressing, "no one, and I mean no one, outside this group should hear a single word of what we will discuss."


    They all nodded in unison while understanding how important this warning and such secrecy was.


    "Starting from today you''ll move inside my garden world," Arthur turned to Amelia, "the time difference will work for our benefit. In addition to that I''ll scatter many portals all over the world."


    "Are we going to fight everywhere?" Sara asked in doubt, "we don''t have enough manpower to do so."


    "We can deal with any army," Amera said in confidence, "no matter who we will destroy."


    "Hold on there," Arthur stopped this useless conversation before going south, "we will play according to other rules."


    "Like what?" Doaf asked.


    "Like us they are limited in their manpower," Arthur said before pointing to certain places on the map, "besides they only have the support of the dark clans and academies in this world, while we have the support of others."


    "And?" Amera asked, "where will we strike then?"


    "It''s not only about strike," Arthur shook his head, "this plan has three phases, phase one we will scatter along places we already have support there. Phase two we will start hitting their weak forts and make sure none is alive."


    "And step three?" Sara asked.


    "We will hit their lairs and clean this world of this filth once and for all."


    They glanced at the map as Amelia asked:


    "So we have around one week to each phase?"


    "No, we will start phase one and two immediately," Arthur said, "I''ll first roam the world and scatter portals everywhere. You need to prepare your men and armies. Deem¡­" he turned to his man who nodded.


    "I need you to amass workers very experienced at building cities," Arthur said, "inside the garden world you''ll find a huge number of citizens. You are authorized to recruit and take whoever you wish with you."


    "To do what exactly?" Deem was still at a loss here.


    "To build cities of course," Arthur said before adding, "places where we already have their support would be a waste to not build our cities there. It''ll be your task and you need to understand you''ll be asked to build a large number of cities in the shortest span of time."


    Deem understood his role and he got how hard it would be. He realized why his lord asked him first to gather those with vast experience in building cities. "I won''t fail you," he said and Arthur smiled.


    "And we will have to hit their weak spots, right?" Amera asked.


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded, "plus take any population you can get and sweep these places clean."


    They all glanced at him in amazement while he said it clear, "leaving these places with potential resources to rise up again is a mistake. We will deal with our enemy as if we are biting them one piece at a time. And that bite needs to be deep and leave nothing behind."


    They got his meaning and understood what this plan was built on. "What about phase three?" Amelia asked, "when will we start it?"


    "When they lose their calm," Amera laughed, "after all we can''t risk a direct clash with their heavily fortified forts."


    "Amera is right," Arthur said, "we''ll have to leave the timing of this phase to our enemies to decide."


    "But¡­"


    "Don''t worry over them," Arthur tried to reassure Amelia, "they wanted their girl more than I wanted mine."


    She could only sigh and trust him while he turned around to the three leaders. "You need to act swiftly, be brutal, and even unleash all forms of energy as you desire."


    "But the world won''t sustain it," Doaf warned.


    "Well a small increase will be enough if used for a short time," Arthur said while the memory of many enemies of the higher realm using their powers all together for a short time before being trapped and imprisoned jumped into his mind.


    If his weak garden world managed to sustain their pressure for this short time, then this stronger middle world here would definitely sustain it for even longer.


    "Also you''ll have to scout the areas first before attacking," he stressed.


    "This¡­ so we can''t bring the crazy two with us, right?" the crow asked and Arthur understood his meaning.


    "You can bring them with you," Arthur thought for a moment about Tina and the scorpion queen, "but unleash them when the fight starts, not before."


    "We''ll try our best," Amera sighed, "these two are really¡­ crazy."


    "Hahaha, they only love fighting," Arthur said, "now you know what you have to do. Keep this secret and don''t tell anyone about it."


    "What about me?" Agnus suddenly said.


    "I want you to move as well with Amelia," Arthur answered while glancing at his girl, "isn''t he part of your team?"


    "He is part of everything," Amelia said with a helpless smile.


    "I can help with building war machines," Agnus suddenly said, "I excel now at them and have many ideas that can be useful to accelerate any fight, especially on small scales like the ones we are going to have."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur paused while Doaf expressed his support:


    "Let him be, after all we lack a lot of war preparations and tools here in this world."


    "Alright," Arthur waved his hand, "you got what you desire."


    "Yes," Agnus was excited about this.


    "Go now and be fast and secretive. When I''m ready I''ll send a bird''s wing to you."


    "What about me?" Sara asked as she was the only one here without a task.


    "You?" Arthur muttered in a strange way, "you''ll be the mind and heart of my empire. Keep it running and make sure to organize things at the newly established cities far off here."


    "Oh," she seemed to regret asking and he laughed at her obvious discontent from her hard and boring task.

 Chapter 660: The Dilemma Of The Traitor

    ''Ding! Do you know this might make a lot of risks to the world here,'' the system said while Arthur entered his garden, ''Ding! I doubt the world will accept that.''


    "Just go and ask her," Arthur didn''t care," we were forced upon this. One way or another a fight between those coming from higher worlds will erupt in this world. We need to limit our opponents'' abilities and this is the only way."


    He paused before muttering, "I hope she can understand that, after all, her standing beside us is much better than opposing our plan."


    ''Ding! I''ll try my best.''


    ''What about me?'' Gege yawned, ''You know I''m this close to my nap time.''


    "You nap more than a lazy bear," Arthur laughed.


    ''It''s not my intention you know,'' she instantly defended.


    "Alright, I want you to talk with the tree," Arthur said before adding, "Also try to pass the control of the portals through the star map to the system. After all this will take much time and most of it you will be¡­ napping."


    ''Humph,'' she seemed not to take his light remark that light, ''what do you want me to talk with the tree about?''


    "Draw a detailed map of places of our supporters and places with our enemies," Arthur said, "I''ll target those allies before enemies at first."


    ''May I ask how you will do that?''


    "By the same old way of course," Arthur smiled, "I''ll just have to fall."


    ''Ding! But this is a random way to teleport,'' the system warned.


    "That''s what I want the world''s will to help at," Arthur said, "just go and speak with her before I move."


    ''Ding! Then why are you here?'' the system was puzzled, ''Ding! Shouldn''t you be out there overseeing the latest preparations and giving your final orders?''


    "I need to meet her," Arthur muttered, "just go and do your tasks and I trust they will also do their part."


    The system and Gege went into silence while he kept flying towards the direction of the prison.


    The issue of that traitor was still bugging him. He wanted to know for sure if that traitor met her or not, if there was a traitor in the end or not. However he also was aware that knowing such a thing wasn''t easy, especially if his enemy''s aim was to cause such a dilemma to him in his top ranks.


    The moment he got near her cage, he noticed a calm smile over her face¡­ a smile of victory.


    "Why are you here?" she asked with a wide smile over her face like she was already free from here.


    "I''m here to tell you I rejected their offer," he calmly said and the next instant that irritating smile over her face froze.


    "What the hell are you talking about?" she exploded and this was the first time he saw her like this.


    "Like you heard," he calmly said, "I won''t trade you with any treasure in the world."


    "Humph," she kept her silence for long minutes before harrumphing, "you are crazy, y''know that?"


    "Thanks for the compliment."


    She gave him a deep glance and he didn''t speak. "Do you plan to turn me into your woman?" she said in a lewd tone while moving her hands over her body, "do you like what you see? Or dream about what you¡­ can''t?" she decreased the edge of her gown while showing off her shining white smooth skin of her shoulders.


    "If I wanted you then you would have been my woman a long time ago."


    "For what?" she stopped her moves and her expression turned instantly vicious, "to be captured and let down by you?"


    "You are more valuable than any girl in the world."


    "Weak dragonair," she said in disdain, "you are a true disgrace over the entire race! Any dragonair won''t hesitate to accept that offer and save his girls."


    "Oh," his eyes shone, "so you devised this plan based on¡­ assumptions alone?" he laughed and his laughs made her more furious.


    "I swear one day I will feast over your corpse, arrogant bastard!"


    He kept laughing. "You need to get out of here first to do that," he sneered, "but before that would happen I would kill you even before your sweet legs would step outside this cage."


    "As if you dare," she seemed quite collected from the outside but he kept saying to test her:


    "Despite being in this cage is so alluring to me¡­ damn, I should build cages for my girls as well."


    "Why not bring them here and let them be confined here with me? I won''t mind any company."


    "You don''t need to," he grinned, "I intend to keep you here for eternity and make you an example for all my girls to follow."


    "If you want me¡­ then come and get a bit," she tried to seduce him.


    "Thanks, I would have to let this offer down, just like I did with that one."


    He turned around and started walking away. "Damn you Willy! I won''t forget the humiliation you caused to me here! I will get out, get out despite your dirty planning and arrogance! I will come out and capture you, confine you in a similar cage for eternity."


    "Just save your words," Arthur sneered, "they won''t let you get out of here y''know."


    "We''ll see," she strangely said in some confidence, "sometimes words are much more effective than the mightiest weapons."


    ''So you got what you wanted from her?'' Gege asked while he was flying away.


    "I believe¡­ the traitor thing is just a bluff," he muttered, "they are depending over suspicion to cause strife in my ranks."


    ''They brilliantly managed to do that,'' Gege said with a chuckle.


    "Not too much damage has yet happened," Arthur said, "but I shall also not drop the thought of the presence of such a traitor. After all, the means of her knowing about such an offer isn''t clear."


    ''She might have planned this beforehand,'' Gege said, ''like having everything ready before even coming here.''


    "Planning this far ahead?" Arthur thought about this possibility, "but that doesn''t explain why they waited all this time to act."


    ''Who knows, she might aim to cause a conflict inside your ranks from the start.''


    "Hmm¡­ despite this seems a bit logical to explain everything but I still doubt she even considered herself losing and being captured from the first place," he said, "I''m positive she has a means to connect to the outside world, but that doesn''t mean that was done via a traitor."


    ''I''ve already informed the tree to keep a constant observation here as well¡­ yawn, I need to take my nap now.''


    "Wait," he hurriedly stopped her, "what about the map?"


    ''She will deliver it in a few hours,'' Gege yawned, ''just come back after four hours and she will deliver it to you at her place.''


    "And the star map?"


    ''Yawn, you ask for too much y''know¡­ yawn, I want to sleep now.''


    "Just tell me this and sleep."


    ''The system can''t control the star map directly, so I prepared a large number of portals ready to use here inside this world,'' she took a very long yawn, ''can I sleep now?''


    "Good night sweet princess," Arthur joked and she only yawned and went into silence without saying a word.

 Chapter 661: Setting Plan Into Motion

    "This map¡­ it''s simply epic!"


    Arthur glanced at the map he received from the tree while standing inside the tree space. "Thanks for the trouble," he said while rolling the map carefully and stuffing it inside his ring.


    "You''re welcome," she said, "I''ll keep track of you. Gege is sleeping right now but I can contact you vaguely. I hope he can understand my words if something bad happens."


    "Thanks for that," Arthur said before asking, "how is the broadcasting going?"


    "Fantastic," she answered, "at least many people are answering the call and after that battle things became quite easier to gain more support. The issue is the path from their places to here is quite harsh and risky."


    "I know," Arthur nodded, "that''s why I''m taking my empire to them."


    "Good luck."


    He exited the tree space and then started to fly around.


    "Have you gotten an answer yet?"


    ''Ding! Still waiting.''


    "I hope she can help," Arthur sighed.


    ''Ding! By the way, many are now crowded around the portals here.''


    "Have they arrived here yet?"


    ''Ding! Awaiting your permission.''


    "Let them come to an empty place," Arthur said, "Wait!" he stopped his system before adding, "don''t let them gather in one spot."


    ''Ding! I got it.''


    Arthur kept flying until he felt a sudden traction and the next moment he appeared on top of a large crowd.


    "This is¡­ simply great," he smiled in content when he saw the large number of workers gathered here.


    ''Ding! Y''know you can move and they will keep coming through the portals, right?''


    "I know, but I lack the support of the world''s will."


    ''Ding! I''ll go and ask again.''


    "I hope you succeed."


    "Lord," Deem suddenly came from far, "I brought all who can help."


    "Good job," Arthur landed before him, "make them start preparing the tools and anything they can make beforehand here."


    "I might need the help of Agnus for that," Deem said the thing he wanted to ask about, "but I couldn''t find him anywhere despite entering here with me."


    "He is nearby," Arthur only said this, "I''ll pass the message for him. Also you can use bird''s wings as well."


    "Sure, I''ll send him one right away."


    Arthur nodded and then soared again in the air before his system got back.


    ''Ding! She said she will try her best but she won''t guarantee to land you precisely over the places you selected.''


    "Why is that?"


    ''Ding! She said something about her energy depletion and her focus over something going on or something she was preparing,'' the system paused before adding, ''Ding! I frankly dunno the answer as I couldn''t understand her words clearly.''


    "Sigh, at least she''ll help," Arthur glanced at the direction of his tree before adding, "She will contact you if anything major happened."


    ''Ding! I''m keeping an eye here over everyone,'' the system said, ''Ding! So don''t worry about that.''


    "Good, take me out."


    Arthur appeared the next moment inside his lake city. He didn''t wait for a single moment there and started to fly fast to the clouds.


    "I should fall, and she should direct my fall then," he said, "make her direct me towards a place of our allies¡­ I''ll start with them first."


    ''Ding! I already told her that.''


    "Good¡­ let''s start then."


    He reached the level of the clouds already and now all he needed was to fall. The fall was certainly harsh and despite gaining all this strength he landed heavily, creating a deep crater and feeling immense pain all over his body.


    "Damn it!" he cursed while standing up from the deep pit. "Where am I now?" he asked.


    ''Ding! Let me check with the tree,'' the system vanished for a couple of minutes during which Arthur started consuming his upgraded version of his potions and ate the advanced meat he made during the past month.


    If anything he did during that time aside from sending armies and interrogating Anna was to make potions and cook meat.


    ''Ding! You landed ten miles to the east from an allies settlement on that map.''


    "Good," Arthur swallowed what was chewing, "let''s go then. Alarm Deem and make him ready with others."


    He soared to the sky and moved fast. The distance of ten miles was crossed in less than five minutes and when he got near that place, he was totally astonished.


    "That''s¡­ a gigantic cluster of towns and villages!"


    In front of him lay a small hill with a stretched place of land all around. The place was totally covered in buildings, and if not for those weak walls everywhere separating every town and village he might mistake it for a city like his own.


    ''Ding! At least you can use their help to accelerate the build,'' the system said.


    "I hope they can do it," Arthur muttered, "Tell the tree to deliver a message to people here and in areas around. Only for our allies, stress strongly over this."


    ''Ding! One sec,'' the system took a minute while Arthur''s sudden appearance in the air attracted many eyes and all of sudden the distress bells started to ring everywhere.


    "They are acting fast," he said while glancing all over the ground where a large number of mages started to gather. "And they have their own army¡­ interesting."


    ''Ding! She will spread the word now,'' the system suddenly said and Arthur only smiled and waited.


    ''Ding! She says she delivered the message already.''


    "I can tell," Arthur didn''t need his system words as he already noticed the ruckus happening down below where many normal villagers started to come out and all glanced and marveled at him.


    "It''s time to descend," he grinned, "they are waiting for a long time already."


    He flew calmly another round before clenching his wings and letting his body descend fast to the ground.


    "Hi," he said the moment he landed with his giant body, "I''m Willy, the one who asked for your help. It''s nice to meet y''all."


    "Lord Willy¡­ is that really you?" A robust man moved from the frontlines. He seemed like the general of this army and from the deep mark over his face Arthur realized he wasn''t a push over or a newbie in wars.


    "Indeed it''s me, didn''t you get my message just now?" Arthur calmly answered.


    "We did," the man said, "but¡­ we know you are far, far away from here, right?"


    "This is something that has nothing to do with you," Arthur said before adding, "and I''m here not to move you on to my cities."


    The man glanced in doubt at him. "What''s your name?" Arthur asked.


    "Goffrey," the man answered.


    "Listen Goffrey, I have little time to spend here unfortunately but I''ll try to make things clear to you and everyone. I''ll build a group of my cities and forts here for you to settle in."


    "A group of cities and forts?!!" Goffrey seemed shocked before the next moment he watched a large number of workers appearing out of nowhere with many strange tools and ready blocks to be amassed together.


    "You''ll work with them to turn this place into a mighty stronghold, safe for you and everyone else. Do you understand?" Arthur calmly asked and Goffrey nodded like being enchanted.


    "Great," Arthur turned to spot Deem coming towards him. "Lord," Deem greeted formally before adding, "we are ready to start."


    "Good," Arthur turned to Goffrey, "this is Goffrey and he will help in gathering up more workers to aid you in your work here."


    "That''s a relief then," Deem said before nodding to Goffrey, "let''s start with letting everyone know about our business here."


    "Fine by me."


    "I''ll leave now," Arthur said before heading towards a nearby building and touching it. "This will be the main portal," he said to Deem who nodded and waved from afar while watching his valliant lord fly high towards the clouds before totally vanishing from his sight.

 Chapter 662: Bad News and Worse News

    Arthur jumped from one place to another guided with the help of the world''s will. He kept appearing everywhere and anywhere he went he did the same as before.


    He first used the tree to spread the news locally before getting to know who was in charge in each settlement and then took out his own workers.


    This seemed amazing at first, smoothly done within a couple of hours. But later he was faced with a problem.


    ''Ding! There are not enough workers inside to come out,'' the system said just after Arthur finished taking his workers to a big settlement and was about to head to the next location.


    "You gotta be kidding me!" Arthur stopped in tracks, "how come there is not enough inside? I saw a grand army of workers before starting!"


    He was surprised to hear that yet the system could only sigh in response.


    ''Ding! You distributed twenty-five groups so far. This is already a big number.''


    "But¡­"


    ''Ding! The number of workers Deem brought is really big, but it''s limited.''


    Arthur understood his meaning yet he wasn''t that acceptable to this situation. "We are just starting and I can''t wait for the cities to be built to move on. My enemies will surely get wind of what''s happening here and crushing this small number of cities isn''t a big deal for them."


    ''Ding! What do you want to do then?''


    Arthur paused for a couple of minutes while he was considering his options. "Let the tree connect to Deem and the main leaders of these twenty-five group."


    ''Ding! And?''


    "Let them leave only a small group of workers to supervise over the building process," he said, "the others shall retreat into the garden world and be ready to be deployed once more."


    ''Ding! But this would make the building process quite longer!''


    "No other option then," Arthur took a deep breath, "Do it now. I''ll get to the next spot and it''s better to have them in the garden by then."


    ''Ding! Can''t you wait for a couple hours? At least for Deem and others to settle things!''


    "I can wait," Arthur said, "but my enemies won''t. make them leave their trusted personnel and let the rest retreat. We need to expand many folds than this meager number to make our enemies paralyzed."


    ''¡­''


    "Just go, we have little time to spare here."


    Arthur started to fly high up again while thinking of this dilemma. "I never thought of this¡­ damn! I should think of a way to solve this in the long run."


    It didn''t take long for him to reach the next location. "Are they ready yet?"


    ''Ding! Give them ten minutes and they''ll be.''


    "Can you ask the tree something for me?" he suddenly said while landing peacefully on the ground.


    ''Ding! Why am I so worried?''


    "Hahaha, it''s a simple favor if she can do it then our problems will be solved."


    ''Ding! Alright, spill it out and I''ll deliver the message.''


    "I want Deem to use her as a control center," he said, "to supervise all the workers in all the cities we are building."


    ''Ding! Sounds like a nice idea,'' the system said, ''Ding! But dunno if she can do it¡­ let me ask her first.''


    "I hope she agrees."


    Arthur waited in his place while the system went to discuss the tree. "Ten minutes then I can go and resume my plan," he muttered while knowing this was like a temporary remedy for the main problem.


    "If she agrees then I can go full out without any problems," he took a deep breath and decided to fly in the air and breathe the fresh air.


    And yet¡­


    "What the hell is that?"


    As he rose high in the air he was met by a large black dot appearing on the horizon. It was small, yet he was sure it was getting slowly and steadily bigger. "Is it¡­ an army?" he narrowed his eyes while thinking of this option.


    "What is an army doing here? Is it a coincidence?" he muttered but he couldn''t tell until he got engaged with them.


    "I can''t risk using my technique now," he sighed, "Gege is still sleeping and my technique can hold for no more than one hour and half. I should call them then¡­"


    He didn''t hurry to move and scout these invaders as this might alert them. He preferred to take them off swiftly and nicely without any troubles.


    ''Ding! She says she can do it but with the help of Gege,'' the system came back after a couple of minutes.


    "Can you scan that incoming army?" Arthur didn''t feel rejoiced about this answer and didn''t even consider it for now. He had far stressing issues to handle at the moment.


    ''Ding! This¡­'' the system was surprised for a moment, ''Ding! They are an army of more than two hundred thousand mages.''


    "Are they coming because of my plan?" That was what Arthur cared about for now.


    ''Ding! This¡­ how can I even tell?!!''


    "Alright," Arthur shook his head, "Have Doaf and others come in?"


    ''Ding! They have been sending their men for hours now.''


    "What about the three of them?"


    ''Ding! Still outside in your city.''


    "Notify the army then," Arthur didn''t think he would need their help for this, "and ask the tree about the origin of that army."


    He wanted to gain more intel about this army as this didn''t seem like a small army coming to just subdue a settlement. "I''m sure a big clan lies nearby," he muttered and if there was a big clan nearby he might refrain from interfering here.


    After all this would be a huge alarming signal for all his enemies if he crushed that army here.


    ''Ding! I have bad news and worse news, which one do you want to hear first?''


    "No good news?" Arthur was speechless for a second.


    ''Ding! The bad news can be considered good news then,'' the system joked with him.

 Chapter 663: Summoning The Army

    "Alright, tell me both then," Arthur took a deep breath while standing in wait for his system.


    ''Ding! The first bad news is that this army is coming to assault a very big base nearby.''


    "I already figured that," Arthur said.


    ''Ding! No you don''t understand,'' the system explained, ''Ding! According to the tree this settlement is a special one. It contains at least ten fold the number of villagers and mages we have gained so far. Plus their villagers aren''t ignorant; they are very experienced at defense.''


    "This¡­" Arthur suddenly felt tempted, "and the worse news?"


    ''Ding! This isn''t a safe spot, but we are at the border of a group of six dark clans and one strong academy that supports them.''


    "Hmm¡­ I already figured this out," Arthur muttered, "but this settlement¡­ it''s bad to let it fall."


    ''Ding! They already announced their allegiance in public to you,'' the system said, ''Ding! According to the tree a couple of days ago they even raised a flag with a blue dragon drawing on it as a signal for following you. This seemed to instigate the wrath of the nearby clans so they formed a coalition army and came here on a punitive quest.''


    "They are courageous," Arthur nodded, "I like that. More reason to stand beside them."


    ''Ding! But the plan¡­''


    "Sometimes plans don''t proceed as we initially devised," Arthur said before adding, "let''s retreat. According to the tree''s words they must have strong defenses, right?"


    ''Ding! That''s what she said.''


    "Alright," Arthur turned to the opposite side and started to fly fast, "make her keep an eye over them. I want to know their numbers, approximate estimation of their power, and if they have any outsiders with them or not."


    ''Ding! As you wish,'' the system said before asking, ''Ding! What about the army inside?''


    "Make them prepared, we are going to war soon," Arthur turned his gaze towards the back where the enormous army was crawling non-stop, "very soon."


    He took a flight of less than three hours to reach the outer region of the settlement. "This¡­" he hovered in the air while glancing over the grand walls, the huge towers, and those seemingly sophisticated defensive tools.


    A grand and strong looking shield was activated above the entire cluster of towns and villages. "If they removed these walls inside then it can be easily called a grand city," he muttered while noticing their arrangements and the large number of mages who stood erect over the walls.


    ''Ding! Where are you going?'' the system suddenly asked in puzzlement.


    "I need to see their effort," Arthur said as he went to the clouds and vanished there, "plus I need to select the most appropriate time to appear, right?"


    ''¡­''


    "A king shouldn''t be treated like a normal peasant," Arthur grinned, "and I have a perfect chance to make a legendary entrance, why would I spoil this?"


    ''¡­''


    The system kept his silence while Arthur kept hovering over the clouds while sneaking over the settlement underneath from time to time.


    ''Ding! They are here,'' the system said after twelve hours, ''Ding! I believe we should have used this time jumping to another place instead.''


    "C''mon, these people are so brave to act this way," Arthur was already happy with their actions, "if I didn''t show up to support them, then I would be like letting them down."


    ''¡­''


    Arthur knew his system wasn''t accepting his logic but he changed his mind already. Having such a wedge deeply inside his enemies would act as a distraction from anything else.


    Despite this, the place was simply perfect! With some renovation here and there, this settlement would turn into a mighty city in one night.


    The moment the army arrived at the grand walls and the strong shield they started their assault at once.


    ''Ding! There are many outsiders here,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! They were perfectly hidden but they appeared now.''


    "How many are there?" Arthur calmly asked, "and what are they doing? Trying to crush the walls?"


    ''Ding! There are around five thousand of them,'' the system said, ''Ding! And they are dealing with the shield.''


    "So they will leave the walls for later," Arthur muttered, "make the army ready."


    ''What I missed? Yawn¡­'' all of sudden Gege appeared as she just woke up.


    "Welcome our sweet lady," Arthur laughed, "it''s a perfect time to wake up."


    ''Oh¡­ is there a fight or something?''


    Arthur knew she loved fighting and supporting his technique during it. her excited tone went to another level when she got what was happening from the system.


    ''It''s a war¡­ marvelous,'' she shouted in joy like a little child, ''C''mon, let''s descend and teach these bastards a lesson.''


    "First we''ll summon the army," Arthur muttered, "bring everyone¡­ let''s join this war in big bang!"


    ''Ding! Leave it to me,'' the system then started to summon the army stationed inside and the first he summoned were the three supreme leaders.


    "Oh¡­ you managed to catch up," Arthur exclaimed in joy.


    "We got the wind of what was going on," Amera said before turning to see beyond the clouds, "it''s a good place, they have strong walls and very decent defenses. Is this a city of yours?"


    "Will be," Arthur said before adding, "the enemy has many mages from the higher realms. Your task is to deal with them swiftly before we summon the rest of the army and crush them."


    "Are they coming from somewhere?" the crow suddenly said, "I feel like their bases are near."


    "I also got this feeling," Doaf also said.


    "Goog guess," Arthur laughed, "there are six big clans and one academy nearby."


    "Then this is a good place for us to show up," Doaf laughed in excitement, "I thought you brought us to the middle of nowhere."


    "Yeah, we can settle here for quite some time and teach those bastards a lesson," Amera said before turning to him, "when should we move?"


    "After me," Arthur didn''t delay and started to activate his technique.

 Chapter 664: Joining The War

    His three leaders were already with him for such a long time already. They all knew what he was doing and realized what he was aiming for.


    And so they all stood by and watched in silence while he activated his technique.


    "Follow me," he shouted while raising his phantom sword in the air and the next moment he waved his wings and penetrated through the clouds.


    The sudden shouts that followed after added more to his sudden appearance. To those fighting on either side on the ground, it was like a dragon just cracked the sky and descended followed by a mighty army.


    And they were moving in very fast momentum that was aided by gravity.


    "Kill them all!"


    It wasn''t hard to detect those coming from the higher realms as their bodies were already much bigger than the others. Also they stood in the air, hundreds of meters off the ground while trying to crack this sturdy shield down.


    Arthur didn''t give his enemies any chance to absorb this shock and regroup as he headed directly towards the densest cluster of enemies followed by the three supreme leaders and their three armies.


    "Die!" he simply waved his sword and it instantly released a slash that penetrated through many enemies and started to burn their bodies instantly, turning them into ash.


    He didn''t stop there as he shouted, "branch out, make sure none escapes!"


    He heard the three spread his orders to everyone behind. He wanted this battle to be a sore mark in the history of his clashes with his enemies just like the one he just had over a month ago.


    ''Keep killing them¡­ hahaha, I love this!'' Gege was already in a world of her own but she didn''t slack and did her task brilliantly.


    The first clash caused severe losses to the ranks of the enemy, however Arthur soon realized that the number of his enemies was simply too much to crush on a single charge.


    He and the others managed to kill around two thousands, but over three still remained intact and they were now regrouping far from here.


    "We need to prevent them from regrouping," Amera shouted all of sudden, "all my valiants¡­ follow me!"


    She moved all of sudden using her high speed and moved directly towards a large group of enemies.


    The enemies weren''t yet regrouped but this attack looked slightly suicidal.


    "Doaf¡­ go and help her," Arthur couldn''t risk big losses so he instantly shouted.


    "Don''t worry over her," Doaf said before he and the crow each led their armies to two different directions, "we aren''t that weak y''know."


    His words made Arthur helplessly smile. He was slightly overprotected, like a father over his kids. "Sigh, I totally forgot they were elites coming from the higher realms," he said to himself trying to make that worry vanish.


    ''Ding! You should target another group to help,'' the system said to distract him from these useless thoughts.


    "Good suggestion," Arthur turned around before selecting his target. They were a group of a couple of hundred mages who were spread over a large piece of the sky.


    They were trying to regroup together and move towards the bigger army up front. "Let''s go there," Arthur flapped his wings and moved with fast speed that made him reach them in mere moments.


    "Kill him," a shout came all of sudden from one at the up front, "don''t make him come near!"


    This shout was strange and the next moment he saw every single one of those enemies turn around and try to stop him. "Who is he?" he muttered as that order wasn''t just from some mere mage, but seemed like from one with higher authority.


    ''Ding! Might be a general in the army,'' the system said and Arthur nodded in agreement.


    "Mark him," he said, "I''ll have to kill him next."


    He had to stop as the number coming at him was simply too much. He waved his sword and each slash caused the body he hit to be instantly burnt down.


    Despite all the efforts they tried to stop his sword they couldn''t. He was such an excellent swordsman before and sparring was a thing he was familiar with.


    "Just step out of my way," despite him killing all, he wasn''t excited about it. he sat his gaze upon the rapidly retreating enemy and he felt like he was letting a big fish slip by.


    "Keep an eye over him," he stressed over this while resisting the failure in catching up to him now.


    ''Don''t worry I asked the tree sister to tag him,'' Gege said, ''just keep killing those weaklings. No one can oppose our sword, hahaha.''


    Arthur knew she was just over exaggerating here. His sword was strong but he couldn''t rival those strong ones from the higher realms.


    He was just lucky to be met up with small fries it seemed. The fight there took ten minutes before he finally killed most and the rest managed to escape and retreat to the big group.


    He looked at the distance and saw Amera, Doaf, and the crow each leading their armies and hunting down their enemies.


    "Ding! Another group perhaps?'' the system suggested.


    "Sure," Arthur nodded, "let''s hunt this one over there," he directed his gaze towards a group lying a couple of miles away and were only a hundred of less.


    He reached them fast and started to massacre them easily. Yet his mind was thinking about that man and he blamed himself not to be able to pass through their tight encirclement at that time and go to kill him.


    "I shouldn''t kill him," as he killed two more groups, there was no more to fight except for the main group, "I should capture him."


    ''Ding! What for?''


    ''You already got that bitch!''


    "I dunno¡­" he paused, "but I feel like he is someone important."


    ''Ding! He is weak!''


    ''I agree!''


    "Strength has nothing to do with this," Arthur sighed before noticing the three armies were regrouping. "They plan to hit the group directly," Arthur muttered, "but they are outnumbered!"


    Their numbers slightly exceeded a thousand and their enemies were three fold their forces. ''Ding! Don''t underestimate them, I doubt their opponents are enough to make them exert their full strength.''


    ''They are just weak flies, not like the ones who attacked us before.''

 Chapter 665: Chasing The Young Master

    ''He is on the run!''


    As the three supreme leaders combined their elite forces together, the battle started to head towards his victory. The next was for the system and Gege to summon the rest of armies inside the garden.


    And this demarked the start of the crushing victory of him here.


    Just as he was flying over the entire battlefield, spraying his fire breaths nonstop, this warning suddenly came from Gege.


    "Are you sure?" Arthur asked as he knew whom she was referring to.


    ''Ding! He is indeed trying to escape,'' the system confirmed, ''Ding! He is surrounded by a group of two hundred elites and is moving fast opposite to here.''


    "It''s time to get him captured," he muttered before stopping what he was doing. "They don''t need to be here at the moment."


    He wasn''t underestimating his enemies but as soon as the fight went intense, those inside the shielded settlement had the courage to step outside and join the war.


    This helped a lot in stabilizing things and drove a lot of enemies to despair.


    ''Don''t worry,'' Gege said while he was flying fast towards the direction of the escaping enemy, ''I''ll keep an eye over here using the tree.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded, "now it''s time to hunt that runner."


    ''Ding! Beware the group surrounding him isn''t a weak one,'' the system warned.


    "Bring me Doaf, Amera, and the crow with some of their elites now," Arthur didn''t hesitate to order.


    ''Ding! And your werewolf?''


    "Leave him down there leading the ground forces," Arthur didn''t hesitate to let his werewolf down there. After all he doubted he would make any difference besides he was already calling his most lethal forces here.


    The distance between him and the running small group was getting shorter, yet Amera was the first to reach them even before him.


    "Don''t kill him," he shouted and hoped for Amera to hear his warning.


    ''Ding! I''ve already informed them of the situation,'' the system reassured him, ''Ding! They know what you are seeking and would follow suit.''


    "That''s great," Arthur then watched the three supreme leaders of his clash on the small group forcing part of them to detach and fight them.


    Yet as he got himself there the fight expanded and most of the runners had to turn around and try their best to stop them from getting close to that young man.


    Yet Arthur was the first to penetrate all of these clashes and got so near from that young mage.


    "Stay away," the mage suddenly screamed in panic, "someone please stop him!"


    "Stay back!" one of the four last guards moved to intercept Arthur. "I won''t let you get to my young master!"


    The shout and the rage in his tone told Arthur very much about the true identity of that young man. "More reasons for me to get him," Arthur laughed before he waved his sword and clashed with the big hammer that the giant monster held.


    All the ones Arthur fought with so far were crushed by his sword attack, except this time. The sword barely stopped the hammer which was very heavy. Arthur felt a crushing weight pushing over his body from his sword and he had to break free of this exchange while evading the falling hammer by hair breadth.


    He turned around and directed a horizontal blow to his enemy, yet his sword was stopped by the broad segment of the hammer before he was pushed back by it.


    "Damn!" he gritted his teeth as he never expected to meet such a hard rock here. He glanced over the distance where his desired goal was running fast while the three guards were now entangled with the three supreme leaders themselves.


    "No one is coming to save you now brat," the monster laughed, "it will be me, Fretus, to have the final honor in killing the one who stirred up all this trouble."


    The hammer suddenly shone brightly by dark brown light that made Artrhur feel dreadful. "I can''t get hit by that," he muttered, "and I can''t let him escape!"


    "Leave him to us," suddenly this shout came while a group of five mages appeared all of sudden and started to fight that monster, making him quite busy.


    "What are you waiting for?" another one shouted, "go and get him now¡­ hurry!"


    "Thanks," Arthur expressed his gratitude for those five mages who belonged to the three supreme leaders'' forces. He broke free at last and moved in extreme speed, heading directly like a meteorite towards his goal unhindered at last.


    "Someone help!" As Arthur started to draw closer to this mage, he started to wail like a widow crying over her late husband. "Someone help!" he kept screaming in panic while Arthur totally ignored his screams.


    "He is too noisy," he muttered while drawing closer with each minute. The mage wasn''t slow, yet he wasn''t using his monster transformation which was something that puzzled Arthur.


    Arthur was pretty much sure if this mage turned into a monster then he would face a dilemma at catching up to him. This was obvious as the speed of the human form of the mage wasn''t too much inferior to his.


    And that made him even more persistent at ending this chase faster if possible.


    "Can you summon the gates?" he asked as he didn''t want to wait any longer.


    ''I can,'' Gege said, ''but he would escape them easily.''


    ''Ding! It will help in delaying him,'' the system could guess what was inside Arthur''s mind.


    "Try to scatter them to block any path forward," Arthur stated, "he has to pause or take a longer turn to evade these portals."


    ''Aha, I got your point,'' Gege said, ''leave it to me.''


    The next moment a dozen portals suddenly appeared just in front of that scared mage. The path in front of him was totally blocked and so he was forced to fly higher to evade the portals.


    Yet this decreased his speed by much.

 Chapter 666: A Sudden Army Approaches

    "Wrong choice mate," Arthur sneered as he simply passed unhindered through the portals which vanished to continue appearing in front of that mage.


    "Damn you!" the young mage cursed in extreme rage, "go away you losers."


    He didn''t realize they were brought by Arthur and that made the latter laugh.


    ''Ding! It would have been great if he was in a monster form right now,'' the system said, ''Ding! This way your laughs would work on him.''


    "One way or another he will fall in my hands," Arthur was confident in his win and the lousy decisions of that mage made him more confident in that.


    "Stay the hell away!" the mage shouted before turning to the side, taking a longer curve to avoid the cluster of portals Gege summoned.


    ''Oh my gosh¡­ I love this game,'' and Gege was already having fun here, ''can we let him run and I can play this game with him for a longer time? Please!''


    "No," Arthur didn''t lean in front of her pleading, "I can''t risk this."


    ''Then can I play with him inside my body?'' she changed her request, ''he won''t be able to run away inside and I can have all the fun I need. He is really amusing.''


    "Sigh, fine," Arthur couldn''t help but agree, "but we need to first catch him."


    ''Alright, watch this then,'' she laughed while the next moment a large group of portals appeared all of sudden to block all the paths in front of the young mage except for a few.


    Gege arranged the portals in the shape of honeycomb, and that left some spaces here and there.


    "Screw you," the youth shouted before passing horizontally from one space at the last second, "humph, you can''t catch me."


    ''Oh my gosh he can be more amusing than before,'' yet Gege laughed as she was very amused by what happened just now.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur''s tone changed to be so serious, "finish this silly game now."


    ''Why?'' Gege was still immersed in her laugh.


    "There is a large army coming towards here to help him escape," Arthur pointed towards a distant direction where a large dot of blackness was getting rapidly near here.


    ''Damn them! Do they want to take my toy away?'' Gege instantly was enraged and the next moment she started to deploy a very dense net of portals.


    And the young mage who was drunk with his last useless achievement was shocked beyond belief when he saw that. The next instant he ended up passing through one of them.


    ''Mission accomplished,'' Gege proudly said, ''the toy was secured and now confined for further games in the future.''


    "¡­"


    ''...''


    Arthur was speechless from her attitude, yet he wasn''t free to reprimand her. "Deliver the message now, let everyone retreat inside the shield," he turned around and didn''t delay in ordering his system to spread the news.


    And his system was aware of the danger approaching that he hurriedly delivered the message first then said:


    ''Ding! They are from the higher realms!''


    "I know," Arthur turned to see their fast speed, "they are travelling faster than me¡­ I doubt they are even flying at speeds comparable to Amera."


    ''Won''t we fight them?'' Gege was in another world of her own right now, ''they look fun.''


    "¡­"


    ''¡­''


    Arthur kept speeding up back towards the settlement. He knew the walls there were sturdy and coupled with the shield no one would be able to stop them.


    But when he got near there, he spotted a problem.


    "They are trying to delay our retreat?" he was surprised to see the army that was already on the back foot, trying to escape with all means was now turning around and engaging fiercely with the combined armies of him and the settlement.


    ''Ding! We have no choice but to ditch part of the army behind to secure our retreat,'' the system said before hurriedly adding, ''Ding! And this should be done now!''


    "Sigh, spread the news then," Arthur said before thinking about something.


    ''I''ll see if they are ready,'' Gege finally returned to herself and as she read his mind she took the initiative to go and check things inside the garden.


    "I hope not too many of them are lost here," he stopped on top of the masses fighting underneath before opening his mouth, "at least this is all I can do to help."


    The next moment he started to spray his fire breath trying to create a long line behind his retreating army and separating them from the hot pursuing enemies.


    His last minute act helped a little in reducing the losses here, but it wasn''t enough to change the tide in the vast battlefield.


    ''Ding! They are here,'' the system suddenly warned, ''Ding! Retreat now!''


    "What are you still doing here?" Just before the system could finish his warning, Amera suddenly appeared next to him, "Retreat now! Hurry!!"


    He turned to spot a large army formed of monsters and mages wearing black cloaks coming fast towards here. They were less than a couple of miles away, a distance that was so easily crossed in less than a minute.


    He glanced below to see a lot of his army still unable to retreat. They were heavily entangled with the enemies who were now acting like hungry wolves, or resentful monsters.


    "Sigh, I did what I could," he only muttered before turning around and entering the shield.


    Then he watched around ten thousand of his best men and the allied forces of this settlement being slaughtered by the combined forces of the enemy.


    "We managed to save most of our forces," Doaf noticed his dejected look so he had to say, "at least our losses aren''t that bad, not like them."


    "¡­" Arthur didn''t speak while clenched his fists and kept watching. It was a very bitter feeling to stand there without anything in hand to do.


    And the men slaughtered here were one of his elites, the ones he spent many battles and long times nourishing.


    "Who is the leader of this damned place?"

 Chapter 667: Dealing With A Berserker

    Suddenly a robust man appeared as he spoke with a deep tone. Arthur glanced at him and from all the scars he held over his face and bare upper half he knew this man was a fight maniac.


    And also he realized his race.


    "A berserker?" he softly muttered while he felt the nervousness in the atmosphere coming especially from the three supreme leaders of his.


    "Who is that damned person? Show yourself up and kneel for mercy now," the mage shouted again and his face veins bulged from his rage.


    "It''s me," Arthur simply flapped his wings and flew a couple of tens of meters in the air to be seen clearly by everyone.


    "Who the hell are you?" the mage seemed quite puzzled, "I never heard of a dragon being here leading this forsaken place."


    "Your intel is wrong," Arthur calmly said, opposite to the feeling prevailing now over his three supreme leaders.


    "Intel?" the mage asked in surprise, "what a weak kid like you can possibly tell about me?"


    "A berserker," Arthur simply said, "one who doesn''t feel right or bad, or believe in any but war and fight."


    The mage raised an eyebrow before Arthur added, "and you came here hired by those dark mages to join the war. It''s only fun, not business to you."


    "It''s business!" the mage bellowed in a loud tone, "and I''m here to crush the entire planet and make it all belong to the dark side."


    "Nonsense," Arthur wasn''t fazed by the domineering aura of that berserker, "you only care about fight, and another thing."


    "Oh," the mage muttered with shining eyes, "the kid can keep his calm in front of my shout¡­ impressive." He glanced deeply at Arthur before suddenly asking, "this¡­ isn''t the first time you see one of my kin, right?"


    "Berserkers are smart as I know of," Arthur smiled.


    "And you lived after¡­ how come?"


    "Why did you assume I was the target, not the client?"


    "The client?" the berserker laughed like he heard an amusing joke, "c''mon, you aren''t just weak but also poor and don''t have any connections of any kind to hire one of us," the berserker glanced in serious way, "you were a target and your presence here meant you killed my brother."


    "Oh do you know him?" Arthur suddenly had his hopes elevated by a mile.


    "All berserkers are brothers in arms," the giant berserker calmly said, "and if you laid a finger on one of my people then wiping all of your people shall be the appropriate response."


    "What if he was a friend of mine?" Arthur didn''t risk delaying to expose his relationship with Orlaf.


    "A¡­ friend?!!" The berserker in front of him was instantly shocked before he laughed, "c''mon, if you planned to fool me then you should use a better excuse than that."


    "Then how can you explain him letting me off?"


    "You killed him," the mage said, "it''s this simple and easy conclusion."


    "A mage from a lower world with no backing and no power killed a powerful berserker?" Arthur said with a grin, "c''mon, be more realistic."


    "It''s your words," the mage said, "and I''m just explaining them that''s all."


    "Then explain them in a logical way, not in such an impossible way."


    "Befriending one of us is more impossible than killing us!"


    "It''s not like you are that kind of a race so hard to get along with."


    The mage glanced deeply at Arthur before suddenly asking:


    "Give me the name of that fellow and I''ll see if I know him or not."


    "What guarantee you won''t sell him out?" Arthur calmly responded while not showing any sign of agreeing to that request.


    "He is my brother, how can I sell my own brother?"


    "It''s not enough," Arthur shook his head.


    "Then what do you ask for? To come and fight for you?" the berserker laughed.


    "I can handle my own matters here," Arthur confidently responded, "but I need another thing, so easy and can reassure the safety of my friend."


    "Tell them."


    "Your word."


    "Hahaha," the berserker laughed, "this is the silliest joke I''ve ever heard. You want this useless thing as a reassurance for your friend?"


    "Your words meant everything to you," Arthur simply said, "if you gave me your word then I''ll be relieved to sleep at night without worrying about my friend''s safety."


    The mage kept glancing deeply and silently at Arthur for long minutes. "It seems you put that fellow in high regard."


    "He is a friend," Arthur casually said, "and for me I would never betray or cause anything to harm my friends."


    "Humph," the berserker harrumphed before adding, "alright, you got my word. Whoever my brother who befriended you is, I won''t tell anyone and keep this as a secret for his safety."


    "Are you sure you can hold yourself to this promise?" Arthur didn''t hurry to celebrate the success of his plan.


    "Sure, as you know words for us are very sacred," the mage calmly said before adding, "come, tell me the name privat¡­"


    "It''s called Oralf," just before he could finish his request to know the name in private, Arthur hurriedly shouted this name out loud, making his face change.


    "You¡­" the berserker hurriedly turned around while muttering, "sh*t!"


    "Sorry my friend''s brother," Arthur cracked a smile, "I had to make sure you won''t end up killing me."


    "I will kill you now for this," the face of the berserker was unsightly yet Arthur didn''t feel any threat at all while even laughing.


    "It''s not the time to threaten your brother''s friend," Arthur said as he pointed towards the grand army behind the berserker, "we have an army to slay here."


    "But¡­" the berserker hesitated.


    "We won''t tell anyone about this secret!" Suddenly another giant appeared from the back of the army as he hurriedly shouted with some fear in his voice, "this is my word to you. Plus you already gave us your word to help."


    "A dead man is the best man to keep a secret," Arthur sneered before adding, " and you can''t feel any guilt here, right? After all you have two words here and you have to choose one."


    "You are such a dirty dragonair," the berserker was too frustrated at the moment of Arthur, "I can''t believe my brother really befriended and told you his name!"


    "C''mon, I''m the weakest person among you all," Arthur didn''t even feel a threat here, "you are all giants and I''m just a mere dwarf compared to you."


    "Not an excuse to fool us!"


    "I didn''t," Arthur shrugged, "you gave me your word and I answered your question. Now you have to help your brother, or do you perhaps prefer an outsider of your own kin?"


    The words of Arthur made those behind the berserker pale. "We can pay double," another giant monster hurriedly said, "no triple¡­ wait I can pay ten folds the amount we promised you."


    The berserker didn''t say a word while Arthur only laughed. "You are fighting a losing war already my friend," Arthur said, "if I were you, I would start running now before it''s too late."


    Those standing behind the berserker glanced in doubt towards him while he kept his silence. It was obvious by now what side he would select and what word he would stick with.


    "Kill him!"


    The last monster suddenly shouted, "we are strong as well and we outnumber him. He won''t be the first berserker to be killed anyway."


    The words of that monster came at the right time to make the berserker take the last step and decide with clear heart and mind to support his promise to Arthur.


    "Who said he is alone?" All of sudden Amera appeared to stand beside the berserker before the other two came along and stood beside him.


    "A friend to our friend is our friend," the crow said.


    "Just try to touch a single hair of him and I''ll show you how mighty the bronzed giants are!" Doaf didn''t hesitate to declare his stance and support to the berserker who was glancing in a weird way to them.


    "They are nothing," the monster returned to speak his nonsense again, "they are much fewer in number compared to us. Don''t falter and all move forward, we have a berserker and his dummy friends to kill today."


    The war kicked off highly intense from the start as a very brutal myriad of attacks started to appear everywhere around the shield.


    And just before Arthur could move out and join this war, Gege returned and said all of sudden:


    ''They are here.''


    "How many?"


    ''Over five thousands so far and counting.''


    Arthur glanced at the army reaching twenty thousand and smiled, "just in time¡­ bring them in now. Let''s show our new friend what I can do for my friends."

 Chapter 668: The Problem of Resources for Mechas

    "Bring them on," Arthur moved fast, getting outside the protection of the shield, "it''s time to take revenge over my dead army."


    He was still bitter at the loss he suffered minutes ago. The mages he lost were elites and took him a lot of time and effort to raise properly up to this point.


    ''I''ll summon them now,'' Gege then started to show hundreds of portals all over the place before huge metallic dragons appeared all of sudden.


    "We are under your service my lord," Nara said in a loud shout the moment everyone assembled.


    "Go there and help the others," he hurriedly pointed to the massive fight ongoing above the clouds right now. "Also there is a  berserker that might be interested in testing you out. Just tell him you fight for me to avoid his annoyance."


    "At your command," Nara led her army and moved in a grand move towards the clouds.


    Then more loud bangs erupted from there while the sudden addition of his mechas created enough chaos among the enemy lines.


    "Now it''s time to take my revenge," Arthur didn''t plan to join the brutal fight up above. His only aim was to crush the large ground army into shreds and take revenge for his army.


    And the next moment he started to fly over their heads and spray his deadly corrosive fire over them.


    "Advance!"


    Just as ten minutes passed, the army stationed inside the shield started to move out. "Let''s kill them¡­ follow the lead of our mighty lord."


    Shouts started to come from several places while a large number of mages poured out the shield in swift manner. Arthur was excited to see that and now he was more confident in defeating this army and annihilating his enemies.


    His elites were fighting up the clouds alongside the berserker while he was fighting down on the ground with the army of mages aiding him.


    Winning this fight wasn''t a surprise at all, however that berserker seemed to be enraged by the scheme Arthur planned for him.


    "I can''t believe how one of my brothers fell for your dirty plays!" After the fight ended and only a few scattered forces remained, he moved towards Arthur and stood tens of meters away.


    "Saying it this way makes me look bad," Arthur smiled and his smile seemed to irritate the berserker even more.


    "I still can''t believe it," the berserker shouted in anger.


    "C''mon, you helped a friend of your brother¡­ you should give yourself credit here."


    Arthur''s words made the berserker stand his place motionless for a long minute and Arthur just stared back and said nothing.


    "We killed everyone," Doaf suddenly came with Amera and the crow, "what should we do now?"


    "Station yourself here," Arthur simply said as if the berserker wasn''t here in the first place, "from this moment on this will be your future base of operation."


    "Roger that," Amera said before adding, "what about the locals?"


    "I''ll take Deem out now to arrange the transformation of this place into a mighty stronghold," Arthur said before adding, "also select whoever can fight properly or help in the defenses of the forts here to aid you from now on. The rest will come with me."


    "Are you planning to leave the mechas here with us?" the crow asked while Nara approached with her army of mechas. They suffered losses in this fight.


    However, considering the enemies they slain, losing a couple of hundred was just a breeze.


    "Who are they?" the berserker suddenly asked, "they are¡­ dragons?"


    "They are mechas," Arthur said, "one of my elite warriors."


    "Is it a species or what?" The berserker seemed interested in the mechas and Arthur only smiled.


    "I can''t share this with you," he simply said, "I only share my secrets with friends."


    "Not even brothers of your friends?"


    "That doesn''t make you my friend either," Arthur shrugged, "either be my friend and I''ll warmly answer whatever question you have or I can''t say anything."


    The berserker seemed quite annoyed by this answer, and he wasn''t welcoming the idea of befriending Arthur. "Alright, I''ll leave now," he said before giving Nara''s dragon a long glance and then moved fast and vanished from sight.


    "He didn''t leave," Doaf whispered, "once the interest of a berserker is piqued, he can''t leave without satisfying his curiosity."


    "I entirely depend on that," Arthur laughed, "and hopefully his sturdy skull won''t be that resistant to befriending me."


    "It''s remarkable though," Amera suddenly said, "you know how to deal well with those war maniacs."


    "Because I''m a warlord myself," Arthur laughed, "now go and control this place at once. We have a lot of things to do."


    "And armies to kill," Amera said with a chuckle.


    "And clans to invade," the crow added.


    "And academy to ruin," and finally Doaf left his mark before the three moved towards the settlement and started talking to those leading it.


    "Bring Deem and his men out," Arthur simply said before turning to Nara, "you''ll station yourselves here, but if I need your help anytime I''ll summon you."


    "We''ll keep defending the place then," Nara understood his meaning before leading her army towards the settlement.


    "Two days¡­" he muttered, "only two days and we got this number, what if I waited for a month?"


    ''Ding! The issue will be the resources,'' the system suddenly said.


    ''Yeah, even inside my vast body they needed a lot of rare resources that I can''t supply for too long.''


    "Resources¡­ hmm¡­" Arthur turned around and glanced at the world, "why not start using this world then? It''s the highest world I currently have and we can find many of these rare resources or even better."


    ''We don''t have a map for the resources of this world,'' Gege sighed, ''I already tried to ask the tree to do it for me and she couldn''t.''


    "What about her?"


    ''Ding! The world''s will?!!'' the system seemed shocked, ''Ding! We are already asking too much of her.''


    "Just ask," Arthur smiled, "I only need places of resources like ore mines and herb gardens and other things around the cities I''m building."


    ''Ding! I doubt she will accept that!''


    "Just ask and see if she accepts any price," Arthur said before hurriedly adding, "but that''s in case she refused."


    ''Ding! I see¡­ let me speak with her and return back to you with the news.''


    "I hope she accepts," Arthur sighed, "if not we''ll have to use the old way."


    ''Sending our villagers out to scan for resources?'' Gege asked.


    "No, bribe those dwellers here to give us everything we want," he turned to the settlement, "but I prefer not to pay a thing for such info."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 669: Finding A Sect

    "Your orders my lord."


    The moment Deem got out with his men he saluted Arthur in deep respect.


    "See this settlement over there? Do your magic and turn it into a city."


    "This¡­" Deem was quite hesitant before asking, "do you mean to build another city beside it?"


    "I doubt you won''t like this settlement," Arthur laughed, "just take a stroll around and figure things out."


    "I will," Deem said before expressing his doubts, "but what I''m worried about is the layout itself. My lord knows we build cities based on the Ley Lines diagrams."


    "Oh, you mean that¡­" Arthur paused before nodding, "then feel free to demolish any buildings to lay down the foundations."


    "This might be quite complicated," Deem sighed, "but I''ll take a look first and decide later."


    "Good, I''ll be waiting for your decision then."


    Arthur stood back while watching the forces led by the three supreme leaders gaining full control over the settlement. At the same time the mecah legion led by Nara was already hovering over the sky, adding a nice intimidating touch to this place.


    "I doubt they can touch here with weak forces," he smiled before noticing a group of ten moving in haste towards him.


    They were the original leaders of this place and he guessed the purpose of their coming.


    "My lord," they all kneeled on the ground in salute, "we are very thrilled to have you here. My name is Torkey, and I was the previous leader of this place."


    He was an old man that reminded him instantly of Grandpa Regil. Arthur took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts before saying:


    "Relax and tell me more about this place."


    "It''s a place of an ancient strong academy that once were destroyed by the dark forces here," Torkey explained before adding, "we hailed from the survivors of the clans that supported the academy and since that ancient times we stationed ourselves here."


    He pointed towards the great walls before adding, "we used the old knowledge passed down by our ancestors and started improving it. This place always represented a sour spot in the entire world of darkness here. Many times they came and all of them were defeated."


    His face and tone told Arthur these glorious moments of the past didn''t come without a hefty price to pay. And that led Arthur to ask about his next concern.


    "Are there any settlements, villages and towns, or even clans living nearby that support you?"


    "We have some," Torkey seemed hesitant as this seemed a secretive topic inside the settlement higher ups even, "do lord need them to come as well?"


    "I want all," Arthur said with a wide smile, "I want everyone and anyone you can bring from all over the place."


    "But¡­ we might face a little problem regarding the capacity of the place," one of the middle aged men standing behind Torkey said.


    "Don''t worry about that," Arthur waved his hand casually, "I''ve already sent my top architect to renovate your settlement into a big and strong city."


    "We heard," one man said in a tone that revealed his annoyance from that, "but this man asked for some buildings to be removed and another giant one asked for the civilians to prepare and leave. We didn¡­"


    The man didn''t continue his words before Arthur vanished and appeared the next moment with his sword cleaving that man''s head.


    "Anyone have an opinion he likes to share with me?"


    His tone while standing there with the fall of the helpless body of that man made everyone swallow anything they wanted to ask about.


    "This is war, and I came all the way here to conquer this place, these dark forces, and rule over the entire world," he declared before adding, "what I and my top men ask of you can''t be negotiated. I won''t tolerate any hesitation or disobedience anymore. Are my words clear?"


    "Yes lord," the remaining nine men hurriedly said with some fear in their tones. They weren''t weak despite being old, yet they never saw Arthur moving or saw his sword cutting the head of their friend off.


    "Good," Arthur nodded, "go back and do as my top men said. I''ll take all the civilians away and this place would be only left for mages to live."


    They had many doubts and questions yet they now regretted waiting to meet him and ask. At least those folks underneath him weren''t that harsh in their reactions and were chatting nicely with them.


    Arthur watched them retreat before saying to Gege:


    "Ask the tree to track these nine and inform Doaf if one of them tried to do something funny."


    ''I will,'' Gege said before the system suddenly returned.


    ''Ding! The world''s will agreed to help,'' he said and paused without adding more.


    "In return to what?" Arthur took a deep breath and prepared himself for an extravagant price this time.


    Despite him knowing that, he didn''t hesitate to talk to her first. He knew whatever she would ask wouldn''t be much different from what he was planning to do here.


    Only he had to rearrange his priorities and put what she needed before anything else he had in mind.


    ''Ding! She asks you to go to a place and do the same thing as you did here.''


    "A place¡­" Arthur muttered in doubt, "what is special about that place?"


    ''Ding! It lies in the heart of this world.''


    ''You don''t mean¡­ that surrounded little dot that was on the map!'' Gege exclaimed in shock while Arthur didn''t get their meaning.


    "What point? What do you two speak about?"


    ''It''s a place lined by huge mountains from every side,'' Gege said before adding, ''yet it''s protected well, it''s also secluded from the world and surrounded by a dense cluster of dark forces.''


    "And she wants me to liberate that place?" Arthur asked in shock.


    ''Ding! She said ''take over it, crush those around and build cities over their ashes.''


    "¡­"


    ''This is an impossible task to do, especially now,'' Gege sighed.


    "We can postpone it for later then," Arthur sighed, "I''ll have to pay the ones living here and hopefully they can give valuable information."


    Arthur knew that taking info from those living here was nothing like gaining it from the mouth of the world''s will. She was aware of every single speck of dust in this world and so she can give reliable and priceless intel about all ores and plants¡­ even monsters.


    But taking this info from the mouths of those living here would mean he had to try and see if these ores and plants were worth his time and effort or not.


    Which was something paled in comparison with the world''s will help without doubt.


    ''Ding! No we can''t,'' the system suddenly threw the bomb he held so far, ''Ding! She said there is a punitive force that isn''t less weak than the one we fought here and it''s drawing near that place.''


    "You gotta be kidding me!" Arthur couldn''t help but remark, "what''s so special about that place anyway?"


    ''Ding! She said it was a sect,'' the system threw another bomb and this one made Arthur''s heart pound massively in his chest, ''Ding! She said it''s an ancient sect that one man established in the past and left unattended for the one coming generations after¡­ it''s a sect for you to lead!''

 Chapter 670: A Change In Plans

    The words of the system left a deep bang inside Arthur''s mind. "I have to go and save them," he muttered before glancing around, "but how can I do that?"


    ''Ding! She said you''ve only five days at max to go there then the punitive army will invade the sect.''


    "I can''t let that happen," Arthur said in determination, "and five days are a lot of time to me."


    ''What do you plan to do?'' Gege asked, ''use my own place to boost your army strength?''


    "Indeed," Arthur said, "but first we need materials, all the amount we can get."


    ''Ding! So you''ll accept this?''


    "I''m," Arthur said, "tell her I need all the high leveled resources near this city to excavate."


    ''But extracting these mines would take a very long time,'' Gege was worried about that. ''My own resources can sustain the manufacture of that mechas for a couple of days at most, that is if we were talking about going full out and using all the hands we got.''


    "We need to," Arthur muttered, "we have to, plus we have here."


    ''What do you mean?'' Gege asked in doubt.


    "System, you go first and deliver my message to her," Arthur said before taking out a bird''s wing and writing something to Doaf and the two others.


    In less than a couple of minutes they appeared in front of him with his werewolf.


    "What do you need to talk about?" Amera said as she already guessed there was some big event or else he wouldn''t hurry to summon them.


    "We have a big war," he said, "much bigger and far more important than the one here."


    "And?" Doaf calmly asked without being too excited.


    "I''ll vanish and go on many places but I''ll leave many portals behind," Arthur explained his plan, "I want you to ready up your men, when it''s time I''ll let you know and all you have to do is move the armies in the portals."


    "What about here?" the crow asked in doubt.


    "That''s why I''m telling you this in advance," Arthur smiled, "Deem will turn this place into a mighty stronghold but we need more mages, so search far and wide for more reinforcements."


    "And our enemies here?" Amera asked.


    "If you can then go and kill a bunch of clans in the meantime," Arthur said with no care at all as if he was speaking about a walk in the park.


    And the three of them understood his meaning.


    "We are talking about a surgical strike here, right?" Amera asked just to make sure she understood it right.


    "You can use the mechas here," Arthur said as he read up her doubts, "I''ll leave my instructions now for Nara to be ready to aid you at any notice."


    "That''s better," Doaf smiled, "these machines are really something."


    "Be sure to be here in less than one week from now," Arthur warned, "don''t delay or else the loss will outweigh our gains here."


    "Don''t worry," Amera said, "we all love great fights."


    The three vanished and he went to look for Nara. She was standing on top of one of the towers where she was distributing the duties of her men.


    "My lord," she saluted in respect the moment he drew near her from the sky.


    "Relax," he muttered, "be ready to move to help the supreme leaders if they asked you to."


    "What about here?"


    "Don''t worry about that," he said, "also be ready for a gigantic war in less than one week from now."


    "We are always ready for a good fight," she said and Arthur nodded in content before taking a bird''s wing and wrote to Deem to meet him at the main gate of this under renovation city.


    "My lord, you summoned me?" Deem said when he arrived at the main gate alone.


    "I need you to build a group of forts around here," Arthur pointed to five points before adding, "at least they will form a five star diagram with the city in the center."


    Deem nodded, "I understand but this would take longer than expected."


    "Use all the labor here," Arthur changed the plans from before, "I''ll leave half the population for you to use."


    "It will greatly help," Deem nodded.


    "Also be ready to be redeployed at another location soon," Arthur gave him a hint beforehand.


    "When is it soon?" Deem asked, "I need to supervise things here most of the time."


    "You need to improvise and adapt," Arthur muttered, "after all the number of such places are too much for you to be present at each one and directly supervise the work."


    "This¡­" Deem looked hesitant before sighing, "then I''ll take the advice from before and use the broadcast ability of yours."


    "It will help you a lot," Arthur said before patting his shoulder, "you know how important it is to have a strong base behind in each place we conquer, right?"


    "Don''t worry my lord, I already am aware of the importance of this task."


    "Good," Arthur smiled before pausing as the system just returned with the good news.


    "I''ll need you to send some to these places," Arthur took out a piece of paper and started to draw a map guided by the assistant of the system. "These locations contain great mines, we need to excavate them."


    "This might need the help of Agnus'' machines," Deem said, "that''s to fasten things here."


    Arthur recalled the marvelous creations of Agnus and smiled. "I''ll make him come and help with his crazy machines then," he said before flying towards the sky as he was heading towards the next location to conquer.


    "Make sure she sends me to a safe place," Arthur said, "and the more mages there the better."


    ''Ding! She already proposed to help you with a similar opinion,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! You just need to fall and she will direct you to more places.''


    "Good, Gege, we have a change in plans."

 Chapter 671: Being Followed

    ''No more city building?'' Gege read his mind already and could get what he was intending to do.


    "We have no time to waste for these now," he nodded while penetrating the sky, "let''s take all the population in. leave the fighting mages together to train and the rest make them learn from Deem''s and Agnus'' men or help to make the mechas. Also send part here to help in building the forts and the city."


    ''That''s¡­ a lot of preparation,'' she sighed, ''is this sect that important to you?''


    "Far more important than you think," Arthur decisively said, "let''s hope I can find something familiar out there."


    Arthur was moved towards a new location, and this time the world''s will seemed to pay more attention to him as he appeared just next to a very large settlement.


    "This¡­ sigh, this world''s will really has temper," he muttered before moving towards the place, "there''s a great disparity between here and the last place."


    ''Ding! The last place was much more organized and looked slightly prepared for war than here,'' the system said.


    ''Should I notify them about your presence?'' Gege asked.


    "Indeed, let''s get the operation of army gathering started."


    Arthur''s arrival was already revealed by his flying dragon body. With the help of the tree, everyone here rejoiced to know about his identity.


    Without further ado they agreed to join his forces and he simply left dozens of portals here before jumping to the clouds.


    "Next," he muttered before reaching above the cloud layer and then let his body fall.


    For two days he kept jumping from one place to another, amassing a really considerable army of mages and villagers.


    Each place he visited he would leave behind dozens of portals for the dwellers to pass through and enter his garden world. He also left instructions for them to spread the word and let as many as possible to join him.


    Once entered his garden world Gege would take the responsibility in dividing them either as fighting mages or workers. Those mages were now numbered in hundreds of thousands already.


    As for the workers, part was given to Amelia to make the mechas, part was given to Agnus to craft different machines, part was asked to build cities here and live inside them under the supervision of Deem''s men, and the last part was sent to the war city where they would help in either various construction projects or go out to explore the mines and extract ores.


    Yet at the beginning of the third day a new development appeared.


    ''Ding! The world''s will is warning you,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! You''ve been followed.''


    "Oh, they are fast to catch up," Arthur smiled in curiosity, "who is following me?"


    ''Ding! From the description of the world''s will it''s the same giant that visited your palace before you started all this.''


    Arthur''s eyes narrowed as that folk seemed a bit dangerous without doubt. "is he near?" he asked, "can the world''s will interfere to delay him?"


    ''Ding! She tried but he is using some gear to interfere with her powers upon him,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! And according to her he is getting so close to you. All she could do is to delay him, no more.''


    "Gege," Arthur didn''t hesitate to take this matter so seriously, "use the tree and send a message to the supreme leaders of mine."


    Gege didn''t need to hear anymore as she already read what he was thinking about. Leave it to me,'' she said, ''And I''ll leave dozens of portals here connected directly to the portals I left there.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded, "let''s hope they arrive at the appropriate time."


    ''Ding! Will you use them to deter him?'' the system asked, ''Ding! As far as the world will say he is all alone.''


    "It won''t harm to have some bodyguards, right?" Arthur smiled before adding, "I also doubt he will act if I have some company but there is also a possibility to have a gear to bring an army here."


    ''This is a very realistic possibility,'' Gege said, ''and the funny thing is that you also can do the same.''


    "I know," Arthur laughed before turning around and glanced at the settlement he just appeared next to, "let''s subdue this place first and wait for my dear visitor later."


    Arthur dealt with this place as he did before and then he waited this time and didn''t hurry to leave. He stood a couple of miles away from the portals and the settlement before the system suddenly said: ''Ding! He is here.''


    "And them?"


    ''They are already inside my body.''


    "Good," Arthur didn''t ask to bring them as he wanted first to know what this envoy wanted to do.


    "It seems I underestimated you," the envoy didn''t take longer than five minutes to appear in front of him and say this with a faint smile over his face.


    "I didn''t know you were trying to train your body by running around the world," Arthur smiled back as he calmly said.


    "You are funny," the envoy laughed shortly before adding, "but it''s a given that you have some courage. I don''t know how you managed to know about my arrival but I have some guesses already."


    "And?" Arthur didn''t follow his line of talk as he coldly asked.


    "I''m here to understand more about your intentions," the envoy said, "if you wanted war from the start then we can satisfy you without the need to jump all over the place like a monkey."


    "Oh, you can tell jokes¡­ amazing," Arthur sneered, "but what''s that had to do with you? My war with you is on hold, or do you want me to go to your armies and hunt them down now?"


    "I bet you dream about that," the envoy laughed, "but you don''t dare to do that."


    "I dare to do whatever I like," Arthur shrugged, "but I can''t see why you are here though¡­ Are you lost or something? Need a lift? A guide?"


    The eyes of the envoy became cold as he suddenly asked in threatening tone:


    "What prevents me from going up there and cutting your heart from your chest?"

 Chapter 672: We Need To Hurry

    "Nothing," Arthur smiled, "but I dare you to do it."


    The two kept glancing at each other but that envoy didn''t move. He already was aware that this world''s will was on Arthur''s side plus the confidence and calmness of Arthur made him sure those annoying mages from the higher realms are still here.


    "I heard you spoke with one of our agents," he suddenly said, "what did you do to make a berserker betray his code of honor?"


    "Nothing that might be of your business to know," Arthur calmly replied while feeling weird about this question.


    "All I got was that the entire army was wiped out," the envoy said, "and this is considered an act of war¡­ a betrayal to our deal."


    "Our deal still has a month to be active," Arthur smiled, "and if you feel so bitter about those weaklings then come, let''s see if you are like them or not."


    The envoy seemed to be about to move yet he stopped the next moment. "It''s too early to fight you seriously kid," he said, "but I can give you a slight warning."


    He took out a small staff before pointing it towards the distance. The direction he aimed for was that place where the settlement was situated. "Watch and learn how big the heavens are," he sneered before a pillar of thick red light suddenly engulfed the entire settlement.


    "Rumble!"


    The entire world ushered under a strange silence at first before a mighty rumble occurred followed by a violent shockwave. Arthur felt a cold hand clenching his heart as such an attack was so brutal, even the sturdiest defenses at that war city might not sustain a couple of such attacks.


    "See the result of your arrogance kid," the envoy waved his staff the next moment and it appeared like a tornado appeared silently over the place of that pillar before clearing everything in no time.


    "This¡­" Arthur''s eyes widened before he hysterically laughed, "is this the might of you? C''mon, even a kid could leave a scratch over there."


    Instead of a big devastation, ruins filled with corpses, and ground drenched with rivers of blood the settlement looked quite healthy and intact.


    "Impossible," the envoy couldn''t believe his eyes before the answer suddenly presented itself to him. "That girl¡­ she is going overboard here!"


    Arthur got also the answer at the same time from his system; this was all the world''s will doing. "You should be more respectful," Arthur calmly said, "after all you are just a mere ant inside her world."


    "Humph," yet the words of Arthur seemed to get on his nerves. The next moment a very giant sword appeared all of sudden that was at least ten folds the size of that giant envoy.


    "I''ll teach you a lesson then myself," he gritted his teeth  and moved with extreme speed towards Arthur.


    Yet Arthur calmly took out his sword, drew back to create more distance with him before taking the steps needed to activate his technique.


    Then the two swords linked together and he felt a deep shock deep down his body. "Gush!" he vomited a mouthful of blood the next instant and even his inside organs shifted out of such a brutal attack.


    Yet he managed to stop the mighty strike despite his opponent taking the lead to attack him first.


    "My turn," Arthur viciously muttered before waving his sword and strongly pushing aside the other one.


    "You are too young to dream about facing me," the envoy sneered and then he waved his sword towards Arthur''s head.


    Yet the next instant a pillar of light penetrated his right shoulder all of sudden forcing his move to halt. The next instant two more attacks arrived, and he could only block one before the other severed parts of his thigh muscles.


    And then Arthur''s sword reached him and he barely moved in time to evade the hit over his head and let the sword cut half meter from his left shoulder down to his chest.


    And that made a thin line of blood to come forth from the corners of his mouth.


    Then he vanished, retreating fast to evade more brutal attacks from the three supreme leaders before he stopped a couple of miles away from them.


    "This isn''t fair!" he shouted in anger.


    "Fighting a kid from the lower realm using bits of your higher realm''s energy isn''t fair as well," Amera sneered while touching the tip of her spear, "your blood is filled with darkness that my spear needed only to touch you and wither many of your muscles away."


    The envoy''s silence told Arthur he was really hurt, and that made him quite happy. Yet he glanced at Amera and wondered about what she just meant now by her words.


    "Shall we kill him here?" the crow said, "he blocked my attack, I need to taste part of his strength as well."


    "What do you say?" Doaf turned to Arthur and that small talk made the envoy angrier.


    "Screw you all," the envoys cursed, "if you were beside one of my bases then we can have another result."


    "Nonsense," Amera sneered, "bring whomever you think and let''s screw you and them together."


    "I haven''t used my full strength yet," the envoy threatened.


    "Neither did we," the crow said, "I regret not using a bit of it to hit you or else your dirty tongue would be severed long ago and you wouldn''t even dare to speak any of these useless words."


    "Let''s kill him," Doaf turned to Arthur and asked while the latter kept waving his sword right and left as if he was training.


    "I don''t know if killing him here without an audience would be good," Arthur said, "after all a pig should be sacrificed in a big ceremony, right?"


    "Indeed."


    "You are always correct."


    "He is a pig, I can give him that credit."


    The three laughed and said these comments while the face of the envoy looked darker.


    "I won''t forget what happened here," he turned around and started to fly fast, "I swear soon you''ll regret this."


    "So the deal is off? Can I screw that chick inside my prison then? She is so sexy to be left untouched y''know."


    "F*ck you," the envoy only cursed from far before finally vanishing.


    "Hahaha, he was fun," Amera laughed before suddenly turning serious, "but also very dangerous."


    "Even the three of us combined can''t restrain him," the crow sighed, "I used part of my supreme force and he managed to block my attack."


    "Don''t give him more credit than he deserves," Doaf had another opinion, "after all we came in haste and didn''t plan the fight properly. Next time he wouldn''t be able to sustain our barrage or even escape."


    "At least he is severely wounded," Arthur said, trying to make this tense atmosphere more lighter.


    "He will need around ten days to heal," Doaf muttered.


    "I''d give him a week at most," Amera said, "especially if he used our higher healing techniques."


    "Did you see his staff?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    "It''s a very hideous one," the crow said in disgust, "it needs millions above millions of souls to be activated. That attack he just used was derived from many massacres he committed against endless people."


    "This¡­" Arthur was shocked as he thought about obtaining or mimicking such staff. But after hearing these words he refrained from thinking about that and totally dropped the idea.


    "Don''t worry we can antagonize it," Amera took his silence as a fear of this staff, "after all this isn''t the strongest dark item up there."


    "Indeed, it''s a common one," Doaf nodded, "slightly strong but considered as a common item up there."


    "If he ever used it again we''ll be there to stop his attack," the crow added, "despite I doubt he can use it soon."


    "Indeed, he just threw away what he previously prepared before coming here," Amera agreed.


    "But he can still kill people here and recharge that staff, right?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    "He can do that," Doaf nodded, "but I doubt even if he killed the entire population the staff could be recharged. The staff requires souls from the high realms, not from intermediate or low ones."


    "Sigh, I hope you are right," Arthur said.


    "Rejoice, after all this is good news for us," Amera suddenly said and when Arthur glanced at the question she added, "for our next mission he won''t be able to make it."


    He got her meaning and in fact he felt relieved to get rid of such a threat temporarily. "You are right," he nodded, "but we need to hurry then."


    "He will take at least a week to recover," Doaf said.


    "But the closer it is to that deadline the more powerful he will become," Arthur muttered, "let''s move out in two days from now, I believe our forces now can handle that fight properly."


    The three shrugged. "As you wish, after all I''m all curious to start this fight," Amera said.


    "Me too," and the crow nodded while Doaf agreed as well.


    "Alright, you can go back and prepare," Arthur said, "make everyone ready, in two days we will go to war."


    He watched them go inside the portals and vanish. "System, go and have a word with the world''s will," he suddenly said out of the blue.


    ''Ding! About what?''


    "How to restrict the powers of those coming from the higher worlds," he said before adding, "and if there is a way to augment her role here and aid her in intervening then don''t hesitate to listen to it as well."


    ''Ding! Give me an hour then,'' the system then vanished while Gege said:


    ''What about the plan? Will we keep jumping and amassing people?''


    "We will," Arthur said before clenching his fists, "we have to, after all the war is drawing nearer than I anticipated."

 Chapter 673: Getting Ready To Move To The Sect

    The answer to his question took much longer than he expected. After the passage of an entire day and adding more than dozen places under his reign, the system finally returned.


    ''Ding! She gave me an answer,'' the system said and paused.


    "And?"


    ''Ding! She says the true path towards achieving that starts from¡­ you.''


    "Me?" Arthur was surprised. He glanced around the settlement he just added to his empire and the long lines in front of the portals preparing to leave. "What should I do?" he asked with a loss.


    ''Ding! She says only a person who can transcend the natural laws of the universe can wrap rules and bend reality,'' the system said in a tone that told Arthur he didn''t get anything from these words, ''Ding! This is what she said to me.''


    "Hmm¡­ so she implies that I must break through the cultivation realms?" Arthur asked in doubt, "doing such a thing now would be suicidal!"


    ''Ding! She said if you have any questions she is happy to answer.''


    "Then ask her more details," Arthur sighed, "I really can''t tell anything from this profound statement of hers. Ask her if I need to elevate my cultivation base and to which degree."


    ''Ding! I''ll be back soon.''


    "And I''ll keep jumping around then."


    Arthur jumped to a couple more places before the system returned once again with an answer.


    ''Ding! She says you need to upgrade your cultivation base to transcend heavens, and that must happen alongside the dragonair power you have.''


    "Transcends heaven¡­ that''s a concept generally known for the bases starting from the Immortal base¡­ that''s still too far to achieve," he muttered before adding, "and that dragonair condition¡­ I don''t have any issue now as the last time was a really fortunatus encounter but it took a lot of time to be honest."


    ``Last time you took so long to come back, over two weeks as I recall,'' Gege said before adding, ''and if my memory serves me right, I believe you also took the same for the other trials as well.''


    ''Ding! Then we can''t use it now, we have no time to waste. But after that sect mission is completed I believe you should aim towards leveling up both as fast as you can.''


    "I have no issue regarding the dragonair''s energy," Arthur seriously said, "but raising my cultivation base is something else. It''s risky, far riskier than you think."


    ''Ding! She warned me of something,'' the system seemed hesitant before adding, ''Ding! She didn''t give me full insight about the matter but it seemed when we returned back a very big incident and a gigantic multiverse war was going to erupt.''


    "What did she say in the letter?" Arthur didn''t hurry to jump to any conclusion.


    ''Ding! She only said that, and also inclined that more answers will be found inside that sect. getting that sect will play a crucial role in winning this entire war and serve you for your goals.''


    "She knows about my goals?!!" Arthur was surprised, "what does she know?"


    ''Ding! She didn''t say but from her words I can tell she knew what you wanted to do in general,'' the system said before adding with a long sigh, ''Ding! I believe each world''s will has some sort of special ability or power. This one isn''t strong or tyrant, but I guess from all her words and quests that she has something to do with foreseeing the future.''


    "A foreteller?!!!" this time Arthur was totally shocked as this possibility never crossed his mind before. "If she is one like that, then I have to take her words more seriously¡­ can you return and ask her directly?"


    ''Ding! Do you think she''ll answer me?''


    "No loss in trying, right?"


    ''Ding! Sigh, alright I''ll go and ask her again.''


    As he went silent Gege asked in curiosity, ''I wanna know where he goes every time to meet the world''s will.''


    "I believe he might go to a secret place or perhaps connect to the world''s will via secret way¡­ I dunno, you can ask him when he returns," Arthur wasn''t much interested in knowing the current location of the world''s will.


    ''I will ask him for sure,'' Gege said while trying to remain silent about the blizzard of thoughts Arthur was having right now inside his mind.


    He knew what a foreteller''s words and warnings meant. A foreteller was someone blessed with a huge talent to spy on the future, and that gave the foreteller a very prestigious position among everyone.


    "I once was told by a foreteller that my future path would be bumpy if I sought power and prestige, but I never listened," he softly whispered before turning his gaze to the sky, "less than one day remains¡­ Let''s do our best and add more to my empire."


    Arthur started to run like a madman, jumping from place to another. He didn''t take the task of telling everyone about his deeds here and let the tree inform those he appeared next to their settlement about what to do.


    He only jumped, made sure the place was secured, and then let Gege spread the portals before jumping to another location.


    During this fervent jumping, the system returned and he only said the world''s will remained silent for hours and yet to respond.


    "Sometime silence is the wisest answer," Arthur softly muttered, "alright, until it proves otherwise I will deal with her as a foreteller," he glanced at the sky before adding, "and if my guess was true then that sect contains more foretellers as well¡­ I want them all."


    Time passed fast and the next morning came swiftly without any hindrance. "It''s time to go to that sect," Arthur said before asking, "can you ask the tree about the condition of my cities so far? The capital of my empire? About Amanda and others?"


    Despite him being so busy he never dropped the eye over Amanda. Each single action she did was delivered timely to him, and so far she never did anything suspicious.


    Another one enjoyed the same treatment which was Anna. Her cage was closely watched by the tree and yet no one dared to come near her. He hoped that after his fight with that envoy a traitor or two would show up themselves yet no one appeared.


    And that kind of made him doubt the effectiveness of the prison over mind telepathy abilities.

 Chapter 674: The Weird Sect

    ''The cities are all fine. Some skimriches here and there but nothing to be worried about,'' Gege said before adding, ''as for your capital it''s still peaceful like a heaven. And that chick is doing nothing suspicious so far.''


    "Good, I hope she continues to be a good girl then," Arthur smiled, "let''s finish here before going to that sect."


    ''Ding! Are you ready?'' the system asked the moment Arthur finished controlling the current settlement.


    "Let''s see the preparations first," Arthur said, "how about my growing army? The mecha army?"


    ''The army inside my body is really majestic,'' Gege laughed, ''As for the mechas, in these days over ten thousand were made, hopefully that can help.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded in content, "considering I limited the time we have then it''s a great result without doubt¡­ tell Doaf and the others to get ready."


    ''They are already stationed inside my body,'' Gege said, ''alongside the mecha legion.''


    "Any suspicious move around the capital?"


    ''Nothing.''


    "I hope things remain the same after we start that war," he prayed, "after all it''s hard to fight on two different fronts."


    ''Ding! I doubt they have the manpower or mind to pull such a feat,'' the system said, ''Ding! But you need to prepare part of the army to go at any time to help.''


    "That would be wise indeed," Arthur nodded, "alright, let''s go and secure that sect for us."


    He started to fly, heading towards the thick layers of clouds in the sky. As he soared higher, he felt his heart bouncing more vigorously inside his chest out of his excitement.


    After all, this sect was the first real thing he found so far related to the world of cultivation after dealing with the world''s will.


    "Time to fall."


    Arthur said it like he was celebrating a victory or a breakthrough. Once he fell from the clouds the scene changed and found himself hovering over a stretch of gigantic mountains filling the entire sight around.


    "This place¡­" he couldn''t help but marvel at this scene. "What army can possibly penetrate such a place? What army can possibly aim to win a fight here?"


    It was obvious from the few minutes he spent here that these mountains were really like a natural guardian to whoever living here. And as he kept flying around he was faced with a puzzle.


    "Where is that sect?" he couldn''t help but mutter after ten minutes of continuous flying.


    ''Ding! I''ll ask her,'' the system said.


    ''And I''ll ask the tree,'' and Gege also volunteered.


    The answer came faster from the system.


    ''Ding! The sect lies inside a group of those mountains,'' the system explained, ''Ding! You need to go south and you''ll find the sect.''


    "Inside the mountains?" Arthur''s interest was instantly piqued, "Alright, let''s see this sect."


    ''The sect lies to the south indeed,'' Gege said before sighing, ''and there is a grand army drawing near this place.''


    "From the sky?" Arthur couldn''t find any other route other than this.


    ''No, they are coming from the ground,'' Gege said before pausing. ''The tree spoke about mountain destroyer techniques that clears the land, but I didn''t clearly get her meaning to be honest.''


    "Mountain destroyer?!!" Arthur was shocked and when he thought more about this he found such a brilliant way to solve the natural obstacles here in front of that army.


    "Even clearing a mountain or two might clear a clear path to here but won''t help much in conquering the sect," he muttered before his eyes squeezed, "unless there is something wrong with the sect itself."


    ''Ding! The world will never mention anything wrong with that sect.''


    "We''ll see," Arthur muttered, "how long before I can arrive?"


    ''Ding! She said you have around five minutes or so.''


    ''The same period the tree mentioned.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded, "now let everyone be ready, and try to scan the area using your scout abilities and the tree. I want to select the best places to be used as an ambush. Also give me concrete data about the incoming army."


    ''It''s huge,'' Gege answered.


    "I meant in numbers," Arthur explained further, "I want to know how many there are. Do they have any outsiders? Also any special gears or equipment they are using¡­ everything, I want everything you can get."


    ''Alright, give me five and I''ll return with news I hope,'' Gege said while the system remained calm as he started to do his task.


    Arthur flew for five minutes in the same direction before he spotted something flashing under the sun rays up ahead. "A defensive shield? Or an invisible shield?" he muttered before heading directly towards that invisible bubble with his fast speed.


    "Boom!"


    The instant he got in touch with it he felt great force being forced upon him. He was repelled a couple of meters backwards yet he kept flapping his wings and eventually he managed to break through.


    "Such a low shield can''t stop me," he muttered and the next moment the scene in front of him totally changed.


    What was a normal stretch of mountains changed to show a giant sect. The slope sides of the mountains up ahead were remodeled to accommodate many buildings, and the most important feature there was the lack of any wall or anything that had to be related to the defensive buildings and towers of this world.


    "There are five peaks here," Arthur noted that from the first glance, "welcome home Arthur," he softly sighed as if being here was like awakening from a very long and tiring dream.


    "But¡­" he paused the next moment before adding in puzzlement, "where is everyone? Where are the sect disciples, elders, and sect head?"


    He was standing high and exposed in the air while the alarming sirens kept ranging loudly all over the place. In any sect, even those meager weak ones, once an intrusion occurred and the main alarming bells were issued then the entire sect would be summoned in a grand scene.


    And now Arthur stood there for a couple of minutes without being able to see a single soul.


    "Are they dead?" he couldn''t help but think about this shocking realization.


    ''Ding! I¡­ don''t know anything about this,'' the system stuttered before adding, ''Ding! I''ll go and ask her then.''


    "You should," Arthur nodded before starting to head towards one of the peaks, "this place doesn''t look like a sect, but a grave."


    The system went silent while Arthur started his investigations. When he flew over the mountain side he spotted many empty buildings with no signs of any life whatsoever.


    "That doesn''t bode well," he muttered and he feared to be tricked by the world''s will to come here.


    "Nah, I don''t think she did that to trick me," he shook his head, "this is clearly a sect. but the question is where is everyone?"


    Just before he reached the first peak, the answer came from the system before his eyes proved his words right.


    ''Ding! They are here¡­ but all poisoned.''


    The moment the system said those words, Arthur reached the first peak and there he found the entire top of the mountain being filled with helpless bodies of tens of thousands of disciples wearing all grey linen clothes.


    "All of them?!!" Arthur couldn''t help but ask in shock, "what was it? wait a minute¡­" his mind instantly provided an answer to him, "a poisonous gas!"


    ''Ding! It was indeed a gas,'' the system confirmed his guess.


    "That''s why she asked me to come? The sect looked strong and had enough people to properly defend him."


    ''But they all look dead to me,'' Gege suddenly said, ''and if we didn''t get their help then that incoming battle will be challenging even for us.''


    "What have you discovered?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask in doubt as he feared to hear bad news now.

 Chapter 675: The Brought Giants!!!

    ''They got giants with them,'' Gege said before adding, ''real giants, not just five or tens meters tall, but some even reached fifty meters.''


    "Giants?!" Arthur exclaimed in shock, "from where did they bring these?"


    He turned around as he softly added, "and why are they using such force to crush those here?"


    ''I¡­ dunno anything about this,'' Gege sighed, ''according to the tree that appeared out of thin air after starting to crush mountains.''


    "They crushed the mountains without the aid of the giants?" Arthur asked in doubt.


    ''They use some sort of a fiery ore that has an explosive nature. The moment that ore was touched by fire it would explode.''


    ''Ding! That''s not good,'' the system said, ''Ding! You need to awaken them.''


    "I was sent here to do exactly that," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "bring forth everyone, let them scatter along the entire place and get familiarized with it¡­ damn that world''s will, why didn''t she explain things much clearer before?"


    He was slightly annoyed by the attitude of the world''s will. If she knew all along about what happened here then why didn''t she warn him from the start?


    ''Ding! At least you have some experience in dealing with such toxins,'' the system tried to reassure him.


    "I''m not worried about finding a cure," Arthur sighed, "I''m just afraid to discover it too late."


    ''I''ll take them out then,'' Gege said and started to open portals all around the place.


    ''Ding! I''ll return to the world''s will and ask more about what happened here and how.''


    "Thanks, any clue would be priceless to us at this stage."


    ''Ding! Leave it to me.''


    Arthur then watched the large armies appearing on the foot of the mountain. Only his three supreme leaders and their armies appeared in front of him, alongside his dragons and werewolf.


    During the past days he kept summoning dragons using his dragomancer ability. So the number of his army grew from being a few hundreds to reaching two thousands now.


    "What happened here?" The moment the armies were summoned, Doaf couldn''t help but ask.


    "I guess it was a poisonous gas," Arthur said before starting to explain the current situation for them, focusing mainly on the enemy''s large numbers and special techniques and units.


    "This¡­ are you sure they brought giants?" Amera seemed to be slightly shocked by this.


    "That''s what my intel told me," Arthur helplessly said, "and I trust my intel with my life. Do you know these giants?"


    "They are a special task force," the crow said, "belonging to one of the most hideous of all dark forces¡­ the red giants."


    "Are they like the bronzed giants?" Arthur tried to understand more about this new enemy.


    "They are in theory hailing from the same bloodline," Doaf said, "but in fact both are different. Those red giants consume souls since their birth and their bodies grew over the souls and blood of the killed foes. They are so dark, very sinister, and can''t be underestimated."


    "They are strong," Amera warned, "and our only advantage here is being neutralized by this strange ore¡­ we need to devise a good plan to make this ore useless."


    "You mean a hit force to go and destroy the ores?" Arthur said before shaking his head, "seems like a suicidal mission with no result to me."


    "It''s the only hope we have," the crow said, standing beside Amera and supporting her idea.


    "That''s not feasible," Arthur again refused, "losing you out of all people isn''t a good thing at all. Besides, who can tell for sure they have no other reserves of this ore?"


    "This¡­" Amera struggled to answer.


    "Do you have a better idea then?" Doaf asked to drive this talk into a more productive path.


    "I do," Arthur nodded before pointing towards the sleeping men and women over the ground, "they are our hope."


    "The intoxicated people?" Amera asked in doubt, "I don''t think anyone can help them now and nullify that toxin."


    "You don''t understand how vicious and hard that toxin is," Doaf said in a dejected tone, "it''s something even my master and his friends found a great trouble dealing with."


    "But I already dealt with it once," Arthur revealed this shocking piece of information, "yet it was a much milder form of it, but I still can deal with it."


    "Are you sure?" The crow couldn''t help but ask, "dealing with this poison is very risky not only for them but for you as well."


    "Just buy me time," Arthur moved his eyes to fall over those looking dead people down below, "enough time for me to crack the antidote and save them."


    "And?" Amera couldn''t help but ask, "even if you saved them they would still be very weak to fight."


    "Don''t you find it strange?" Arthur suddenly asked, "bringing such an unstoppable force to here and leading such a majestic army to crush this weak looking place and yet they acted using their strongest poison to make sure these people would be dead when they arrived here?"


    "Your meaning?"Doaf asked and didn''t hurry to jump to conclusions.


    "They have some sort of a weapon," Arthur paused before adding, "perhaps a grand array that would change the entire war. Something that even those giants and fiery ores would pale in front of."


    "Hmm¡­ sounds logical," the crow said.


    "But it''s still a bet," Amera said.


    "It''s the only hope we have here," Arthur sighed, "after all if we can''t figure out a way to deal with such a force then forget about winning this competition¡­ even getting out of here with our heads on shoulders would be mere dreams."


    The three went to silence before nodding. They understood his meaning and fears, and now they were more agreeable to his plan.


    "Alright we''ll buy you all the time you''ll need," Amera promised, "but we might need more defensive equipment¡­ I doubt we will be able to use anything here."


    "This place¡­ it looked grand from far but so old and tattered from close up," the crow said.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve summoned Agnus and his men¡­ these maniacs will craft amazing things for us to use. Just speak with him and take him on a tour and I promise you will be amazed."


    "Let''s hope we can do this before the army arrives," Doaf sighed.


    "I''m still hoping to send out a task force," Amera said before hurriedly adding, "at least to delay them for a bit."


    "Then we need a flying unit," the crow said, "hit fast and withdraw faster."


    "It''s best if they drew them far away from here," Doaf thought for a moment before adding, "like spreading them away from the main army."


    "And then we can lie many ambushes and kite them down slowly," Amera''s eyes shone brightly and Arthur realized he couldn''t stop them at this point.


    "Alright," he helplessly said, "go and make sure you won''t get yourselves killed."


    "Don''t worry, it won''t be the first time to fight those demons," Amera clenched her fists, "I never thought coming to such a lowly place would be so amusing and challenging¡­ damn, it''s like fighting at the grand battles up there."


    "Indeed it''s weird," Doaf said before laughing, "but it''s all thanks to our little master here. If not for him we wouldn''t have seen even a glimpse of a giant for years."


    The three laughed and Arthur only glanced at them without saying a word. He watched them move away to arrange things here before he turned to the sleeping people underneath.


    "At least the poison isn''t spreading around like before," he muttered and then started to move down towards one of them.


    The moment he reached the ground he didn''t hesitate to check the status of each one around. After ten minutes he opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "They are deeply hurt already and that toxin¡­ it''s really savage."


    He used his dragonair energy to spy over the bodies of those around. Every time his energy went inside it got instantly attacked by a brutal force of dark green gas that strangely eroded away his eroding energy.


    "I believe if not for my corroding natured energy then I couldn''t even go this far deep inside."


    He managed to reach the soul of each person and see how they were eaten away at a frightening speed. What he discovered wasn''t only related to this toxin, but also related to the mages lying around.


    "They have a pure form of soul, so pure and strong that even after days of being intoxicated their souls were still there standing their grounds and fighting with all their might."


    ''Why not try to input a high amount of your energy to heal them?'' Gege suddenly asked.


    "It''s not feasible," Arthur shook his head, "I doubt I even could heal a single one with such a way, plus I need to heal tens of thousands on this peak and similar numbers or even more at the other four peaks."


    ''It''s really too much to ask,'' Gege sighed, ''but how about you use your golden energy?''


    "Hmm¡­ let me try," Arthur thought and decided to use that energy, "I hope it can affect the poison."


    He then closed his eyes and stirred his golden pearl. The next instant his golden energy passed through his arms and entered the body of that sleeping mage.


    The next moment the body started to violently convulse, yet Arthur wasn''t caring at this but all his attention was focused over what was happening inside.


    "It''s a war!" he couldn''t help but exclaim in shock, "it''s a brutal war! That toxin seems to be on par with my golden energy."


    "No, the golden energy is slightly superior,'' Gege refused to accept such result, ''But the amount you are using is too low to crush the toxin.''

 Chapter 676: Im Feeling Sleepy Already

    "So I need to crush the toxin using more golden energy?" Arthur couldn''t help but exclaim in doubt, "but how can I do that?"


    ''I can supplement any consumption,'' Gege simply said.


    "I''m not speaking about that," Arthur shook his head, "I mean what about everyone? How can I apply this to cure everyone?"


    ''This¡­'' Gege couldn''t give an appropriate answer and he just sighed. "It''s a hard problem, but we must work to solve it."


    ''Ding! What about making potions?'' the system suddenly returned.


    "Won''t be able to store a lot of energy inside," Arthur instantly rejected the suggestion. "What happened to the world''s will? Why did you come so fast?"


    ''Ding! She said it was a gas spread out by some traitors,'' the system said before sighing, ''Ding! And other than this she didn''t give anything else.''


    "She doesn''t know anything at all?" Arthur was feeling suspicious here.


    ''Ding! That''s what she said in the letter; you are on your own in this quest.''


    "Damn!" Arthur couldn''t help but curse, "then we have to find a solution to this gas toxin."


    ''Then how about we develop our own gas?'' Gege suggested, ''as they got sick inhaling that toxic gas we can use the same way to heal them.''


    "How can we do that?" Arthur knew it was a good point, but it was just in theory and he doubted he could apply it.


    ''Well¡­'' Gege staggered and couldn''t continue.


    "It''s a good theory," Arthur said, "but to apply it now¡­ it''s simply impossible."


    ''Ding! Why not test the theory of your golden energy being able to crush the toxin?'' the system suggested, ''Ding! After all if this works we''ll have to squeeze all of our brains and try to find a solution. I might even go to the world''s will and ask her.''


    "She won''t help," Arthur said, "don''t put any hopes on her. She said it herself, ``we are on our own in this quest."


    ''That''s a bit weird,'' Gege said, ''after all this sect is supposed to be related to her, right? Then why did she decide to abandon it?''


    "I¡­ dunno," Arthur honestly said, "but we need not to think about that for now. This is our problem and we have to solve it."


    He leaned upon the same person he previously tested his energy upon, "prepare to inject your energy to replenish mine, and I''ll use all the golden energy I have at once."


    Arthur closed his eyes and put his hands over this young man''s head and belly before injecting his golden energy in full force. His golden energy went inside the man''s body and that docile shimmering energy started to turn berserk and got ignited like it was on fire.


    "Keep it up," Arthur couldn''t help but shout as he felt some progress already, "it''s already crushing that energy."


    ''Just focus and leave this to me,'' Gege said and her tone alarmed Arthur all of sudden.


    She was getting weaker, and that meant that she would have to sleep and rest sooner than before. "Damn! I hope you don''t sleep fast this time," he prayed and she didn''t answer him.


    His golden energy was like a tsunami of fire eating away all the dry weeds inside that man''s body. The process didn''t take more than a couple of minutes before his golden energy entered the soul of that person.


    And the moment that happened Arthur was faced with a dilemma.


    "Killing that toxin inside his soul would burn away his soul as well," he refrained from pushing his energy further as he noticed what happened when the first wave of the golden energy entered the soul sea.


    ''Ding! You need to crush it now or else that man won''t be awakened.''


    "I know," Arthur took a deep breath, "Gege, stop supplementing my golden energy and start controlling it."


    ''How?'' she weakly asked.


    "Just control it to emit a low amount first," Arthur thought before adding, "make it a whisp, like a long needle."


    ''Like a whip?''


    "Yeah, like a whip," Arthur nodded before closing his eyes again and this time he tried to focus over the places where that toxin invaded the man''s soul.


    The soul sea was like a large milk white matrix with dark holes here and there. These dark spots were the places infected by the toxin, and to reach these he had to penetrate that man''s soul and crush that toxin.


    To do that he would eventually burn that man''s soul to shreds, leaving nothing behind. He would end up killing him instead of saving.


    "Slow and steady now," he calmly controlled the wisp of his golden energy and let it penetrate the soul of that person and burn away a very minimal space as possible.


    When he reached the first spot he moved the whip to lash out that dark spot. "It worked!" he instantly rejoiced when he saw that dark spot being purified into nothing.


    "The next one then," he kept his calm and control over the golden energy before lashing out the next spot, and the next. He kept moving from one place to another, retracting his whip whenever he got a shorter path to these spots.


    This process took roughly half an hour yet he felt it was like a whole year. When he finished clearing everything, that soul sea started to look like a matrix being cut with a sword, filled with longitudinal holes.


    Yet most of the soul was intact and that meant that person''s life wasn''t in danger.


    ''He isn''t awakening,'' Gege said in a weak tone.


    "Give him some time to recuperate," Arthur said, "after all his soul was already exhausted and now it has more wounds to heal."


    ''Ding! But it succeeded,'' the system said, ''Ding! And now we need to know how to implement this on a wide scale.''


    Arthur took a deep breath while feeling exhaustion. He ingested a piece of meal and when he took a healing pill he frowned.

 Chapter 677: Making Pills

    "This pill¡­" he paused while something was starting to shimmer inside his mind.


    ''What?'' Gege yawned, ''I''m feeling already sleepy.''


    ''Ding! This soon?'' the system was shocked, ''Ding! We only healed one person!''


    "Leave her to rest," Arthur softly muttered, "when she wakes up next time she will be amazed by our solution."


    ''You¡­ yawn¡­ got a solution already?''


    "A theory," Arthur said, "but I''ll have to test it first before putting it into practice."


    ''I''ll¡­ yawn¡­ go to¡­ yawn¡­ sleep then,'' Gege said before her tone vanished all of sudden, a sign of her entering her long daily slumber.


    ''Ding! What''s the theory?'' The system couldn''t read his mind and he was already curious about Arthur''s solution.


    "I''ll make a pill," Arthur said while clenching the healing pill in hand before throwing it into his mouth.


    ''Ding! But you said it can''t carry a lot of energy.''


    "It''s the potion, not the pill," Arthur corrected, "the pill has this big advantage over the potion."


    ''Ding! Which is it?''


    "Potions are already the final product of any formula, yet the pill is the midway form of this formula."


    ''Ding! I couldn''t get your meaning.''


    "Hahaha, it''s a very profound concept," Arthur was in a good mood as his mind was already forming the formula needed, "but there is a catch here."


    ''Ding! I didn''t get the theory to know the catch.''


    "My dear system¡­ let''s see if we compared a pill to a potion of the same formula then the final result of the potion would be much weaker than the pill. In addition to that, changing a simple thing in the pill would result in a big difference in the end result."


    ''Ding! Meaning?''


    "I''ll make a pill, using some ingredients that are all bathed and filled with my golden energy," Arthur further explained in detail, "and when the pill is ingested, these ingredients will merge together, combine and release a mightier wave of golden energy than what a potion can carry."


    ''Ding! A catalyst? Is that what you think of doing?'' The system was surprised when he got Arthur''s meaning, and Arthur simply nodded with a big smile over his face.


    ''Ding! But to make such a catalyst pill you need all the items to be soaked deeply with the golden energy. Also you have to make sure the components won''t antagonize each other or weaken the golden energy.''


    "Don''t worry my dear system," Arthur said in confidence, "I already have a formula that can explode anyone''s strength."


    ''Ding! The one from the contest?!!'' the system was surprised, ''Ding! Damn! I didn''t think about it before.''


    "Hahaha, don''t blame yourself," Arthur said, "But there is a catch to this theory."


    ''Ding! The soul portion, right?''


    "You are smart indeed," Arthur agreed, "so I either have to make two pills and that would be unrealistic and would consume a lot of energy and materials, or I upgrade my formula and make something truly revolutionary."


    ''Ding! Like what?''


    "Like a two phases pill," Arthur said with a blue light in his eyes, "this way the pill will have two steps of activation; one when it enters the body and one when it reaches the soul."


    ''Ding! But¡­ how will you control such a thing?''


    "That''s the catch I mentioned," Arthur took a deep breath, "but I''ve already the feeling that the answer is straight in front of me but I can''t yet see it."


    ''¡­''


    "I''ll start revising the formula now," Arthur said, "keep tracking things happening outside the sect."


    ''Ding! Finally something I can truly understand.''


    Arthur ignored the system''s last remark before starting to revise the process of making a formula in his head for hours.


    "To make two stage ignition I''ll need a trigger," he finally opened his eyes after hours of lying on the ground, "no matter how I tried, to control the second ignition I''ll need to have something to flare up the second activation or else the entire process would fail."


    He already figured out how to make the two separate ingredients inside one pill without affecting each other. For him this was simply done by using two sets of materials that couldn''t integrate with each other at all.


    "One active and an introvert," Arthur muttured, "and to trigger the second ignition I''d have to use something to attract the second set towards the soul sea, make it diverse all over the sea and get attached to places with that toxin."


    He turned around towards the one he saved. "He is still sleeping after all this time¡­ sigh, the soul damage isn''t easily treated and it''s not my fort."


    He knew he was very weak in terms related to the soul. That made him envy those dark mages, as no one he met before and wasn''t quite knowledgeable in matters of soul.


    "Sigh, I first need to prepare the two patches of materials then," he didn''t hesitate to close his eyes and enter his garden in sou form. "I already miss Gege," he took a deep breath before moving up front and started his search.


    "This might work," he found a fire based flower with rosy petals and a red center. "And this¡­ and this¡­ and this one as well¡­"


    He kept wandering around the very vast central part of the garden. After the last time of Gege''s upgrade the space of this place got expanded to a large extent.


    And that didn''t only affect the space, but also the diversity and quality of the plants and ores here.


    "Now it''s time for the longest part," he put a large group of materials in front of him before taking out his gigantic and small cauldrons. "It''s a blessing I have two at the moment," he smiled before starting to put the first set of materials in the big one and the second set in the smaller cauldron.


    He lit the fire before starting to contemplate what he was going to do.


    "Making the first set of pills isn''t hard," he softly muttered, "but the tricky part relies on the second set¡­ I first need to make them introverted."

 Chapter 678: Soaking Materials With His Energy Potion Fluid

    To turn any material into an introvert state he needed to use something stronger to compress their aura and turn them inactive. To do so he simply used his dragonair energy to suppress the materials directly, and that worked.


    "But that means to reactivate them I''ll need my dragonair energy as well," he sighed as this seemed quite easier said than done. "Considering the huge number of people out there it''s quite a challenge."


    He could easily pass over them and exert his dragonair''s energy, but that wasn''t practical considering tens of thousands or even more. "I need something easier," he didn''t think too long before he found the answer.


    "A potion!"


    His eyes shone brightly before adding, "a potion will be made using my energy to reactivate the second set¡­ but I''ll need to adjust the timing or else I might ruin everything."


    To make this potion he only needed the Golam''s purified blood. He went to the lake and got a large amount that was enough to fill the big cauldron after emptying it from all materials he previously threw in.


    Then he stood on the side of the cauldron and used both hands to insert his energy all over the cauldron.


    The cauldron''s heat kept rising yet he endured. This process took longer than he expected, yet when he heard explosive sounds inside the cauldron he knew he succeeded.


    "This is a much concentrated form of my energy," he examined the liquid that took only less than half of the cauldron now, shimmering in dark blue light, "even I can get benefits if I drank this potion."


    He tested it over himself and was astonished to discover this. "Alright, time to store it," he didn''t hesitate to move towards the place where his army once trained and brought a group of the wooden containers left behind.


    Then he filled them with the potion liquid before saying:


    "Find Agnus and make him craft small bottles of glass for me."


    ''Ding! How much?''


    "As much as he could make," Arthur said, "preferably enough for everyone."


    ''Ding! Alright.''


    "Any news from outside?"


    ''Ding! Still quite peaceful,'' the system answered, ''Ding! But a couple of minutes ago in the outside world time the three supreme leaders moved out with their armies.''


    "They are starting their plan," Arthur sighed, "it''s a regret I can''t watch this fight through the tree."


    ''Ding! We''ll have to wait for Gege,'' the system said, ''Ding! And you have a lot to do.''


    "I know," Arthur turned to his empty cauldron, "now let''s try to soak those with my energy."


    ''Ding! Do you plan to use that potion to do that?'' the system suddenly asked and Arthur paused in his tracks.


    "Y''know you are a genius!" he couldn''t help but say.


    ''Ding! Hahaha, that''s a given fact.''


    "Don''t get overboard," Arthur laughed, "after all you said something you aren''t aware of."


    ''Ding! It''s a fact,'' the system laughed as well, ''Ding! But what do you mean?''


    "I planned to inject my energy all the time to the two cauldrons," Arthur smiled before adding, "but now all I need to do is to create another type of potion using my golden energy and the purified Golam''s blood before soaking all the materials in."


    ''Ding! I''m glad I helped.''


    "Hahaha, you seem like you don''t know how you did that."


    ''¡­''


    Arthur returned again to the Golam''s lake before filling the two cauldrons with water from the lake then he started to inject his golden energy to the smallest one.


    The moment his energy touched the cauldron and the water inside, he felt like the water was boiling.


    Yet he didn''t stop injecting his energy until almost half of the water was vaporized and that didn''t take longer than a couple of minutes.


    "Damn! I didn''t imagine the difference between the two energies is this big," he couldn''t help but exclaim in shock while turning to the materials and threw them all inside the smaller cauldron.


    "Your turn now," he started to inject his energy inside the big one. This time he took roughly half an hour and when he finished he examined his energy.


    "Almost took one third of the golden pearl''s energy," he muttered, "not a big loss indeed."


    He then threw the first set of materials inside the cauldron before starting to wait.


    ''Ding! How long are you going to wait?'' After four hours the system couldn''t help but ask.


    "Until they absorb all the potion," Arthur said.


    ''Ding! I doubt they can do that!''


    "Then I''ll have to bring more," Arthur turned around and started another spree of search for these materials.


    This time his search was more productive as he didn''t waste time examining the plants and rocks. He knew what he needed and all he did was to just look for them.


    Yet he took roughly one day until he finished his search. ''Ding! Don''t you think you slightly overdid it?'' the system couldn''t help but say, ''Ding! I doubt Gege would be happy with that!''


    "It''s my garden," Arthur shrugged, "and it''s not my fault for her to sleep this long."


    He took this time to pass over the entire garden. He didn''t leave a single material he needed back there and now his storage rings were all crowded with dense and vast amounts of materials.


    "You were right," as he returned again to the two cauldrons, "they couldn''t absorb the liquid entirely."


    ''Ding! That''s quite predictable,'' the system said, ''now use more.''


    "What about the news from outside?" Arthur started to take out materials from his rings and put the corresponding ones to each cauldron. He didn''t forget to suppress the second set using his dragonair''s energy while the system answered:


    ''Ding! No news yet.''


    "No news is good news."


    ''Ding! Or bad news.''


    "Don''t say that," Arthur paused before adding, "you should hope for the best for me."


    ''Ding! I''m just saying the odds.''


    "I don''t want to hear the odds," Arthur returned to deal with his materials, "either say something good or don''t speak at all."


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 679: Failure Always Has Bitter Taste

    Arthur waited on the side of his two cauldrons for hours until all the materials were soaked with his concentrated potion fluid and totally absorbed all the fluid.


    The materials swelled up and filled the entire cauldrons and even bulged a little above it''s top.


    ''Ding! These materials look really different than before,'' the system couldn''t help but say when Arthur started to evacuate the two cauldrons out of the materials.


    "They got changed thanks to the fluid," Arthur said while starting to group the materials in large groups, "and that will make them quite strong and able to release my golden energy in high concentrations."


    ''Ding! Then how do you plan to make that trigger?''


    "By making a potion," Arthur said, "the same potion here I''ll use for each person."


    ''Ding! This will need a large number of people.''


    "That''s a given," Arthur smiled, "when Gege comes back I''ll ask her to spread the word, we need many villagers and I think those living here are enough."


    ''Ding! But that man you saved hasn''t woken up yet.''


    "Let him rest," Arthur smiled, "I''m not in a hurry."


    ''Ding! The war is drawing near.''


    "I''ve a plan," Arthur just said before adding, "And I''ll need Gege for that as well."


    ''Ding! She will be excited by that overwhelming work¡­ in fact she gives me the vibe of a little girl.''


    "Me too," Arthur laughed before clearing all the cauldrons from the materials. "Will they be enough?" he couldn''t be satisfied yet as he knew he needed to make the pills for a really large number of people.


    ''Ding! Make more than,'' the system laughed, ''Ding! Your rings are full to the prim with materials now.''


    "You are right," Arthur closed his eyes for a brief minute, "the golden energy regeneration rate is really slow but what I have now can be enough to sustain three more tries."


    Arthur then started to fill the cauldrons with water. To do that he held the cauldron and flew directly to the lake before drowning himself deep under the water for a few minutes before flying away.


    This way he made sure each cauldron would be filled to the top with the purified Golam''s blood.


    He first used his energy to form his potion liquid before he threw a large number of materials into each cauldron.


    After long hours of working and waiting that extended beyond two days he finally had enough materials to be used to make the pills.


    "It''s showtime," Arthur rubbed his hands before revising the formula one last time.


    ''Ding! Are you sure these materials won''t interact together?'' the system asked in doubt while Arthur started to use the small cauldron for his first test.


    "I''m using two different sets of materials, one is active and the other is introverted. Until I release the trigger the odds for the two materials to interact together are low."


    Arthur then started to mix the materials of the first set together first. He used the Golam''s purified blood for now and even injured himself and let a few of his blood be added to the mix.


    Once the materials got mixed well and became slightly concentrated he started to put the second set and then waited.


    "Rumble!"


    All of sudden the cauldron rumbled before flying to the sky like a rocket. Arthur speechlessly watched it rise to a very high altitude before slamming down the ground causing another violent explosion.


    "Is it fine?" Arthur hurriedly ran towards the cauldron and luckily this sturdy little one didn''t have any damage.


    ''Ding! I told you,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! Materials can''t be predicted.''


    "I agree," Arthur held the cauldron and returned to the fire place, "but this isn''t something I can control from the first try."


    ''Ding! Then what are you going to do now?''


    "I''ll analyze what happened first," Arthur found a small amount of materials burnt at the depth of the cauldron. "What happened to you?" he muttered to himself before taking a small part of these materials and tasted it.


    "Damn! It''s so spicy," he even coughed and sneezed for a dozen times before he could control himself. "These materials ignited mightier than I expected¡­ I need to decrease the amount of the active form and increase those introverted ones."


    ''Ding! I still say it''s too soon to predict something good.''


    "I agree," Arthur nodded, "but with each failure we grow, right?"


    Arthur then washed the cauldron first before adding another batch of materials. This time he didn''t put in too much, only enough to make a dozen pills at most.


    "Let''s see what you''ll do this time," he put the two sets in ratio one to two, and waited.


    "Boom!"


    This time the explosion wasn''t massive like the previous one, yet all the materials inside were burnt down and released a dense tongue of black smoke.


    ''Ding! Told you.''


    "Just shut up!"


    After twenty times of trials and failing all, Arthur''s patience was already running thin. "What''s wrong here?" He deeply contemplated these failures, recalling what happened and what he modified each time.


    It wasn''t easy to predict what the materials would react as the system kept warning him all the time. But he hoped to manage to crack the solution this way, or else the time needed to make the right pill would take much longer.


    "Sigh, no option then," he looked at the cauldron before adding, "I need to make the two pills first before breaking them down and mixing them together."


    ''Ding! You can do that?!'' The system was surprised. ''Ding! I thought once you make the pill you can''t return it to the material phase.''


    "I''m not aiming to make them return to the material phase," Arthur shook his head, "I''ll break them by melting them down and mix the end results together to form the final one."


    ''Ding! Will you succeed? Can you control the end product?''


    "I¡­ dunno," Arthur flew and took the large cauldron to the Golam''s lake, "but I won''t stop trying until I crack a solution here."


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 680: Testing The Pills

    Arthur then filled the cauldron with the lake water before forming his potion liquid. He then started to make the two forms of pills and finally managed to make the two after many times of failures.


    ''Ding! Why not use the two separately then?'' The system was puzzling.


    "The amount of energy stored in the two aren''t sufficient to take down that toxin," Arthur said, "so using the two meant only failing to exterminate the entire toxin. I need the two to integrate together and be a unified pill or else the energy they would release won''t mix together and boost each other''s effects."


    ''Ding! Very complicated concept,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! It''s good you understand what you are making.''


    Arthur just smiled and then cleared the small cauldron of the last batch of the second pill before he threw in ten pills of the first set of materials and twenty of the second.


    ''Ding! Why this ratio?''


    "It''s the most applicable one I have so far," he calmly said before taking a small amount of his potion and leaving it in the small cauldron, "I hope they will melt and merge succ¡­"


    "Boom!"


    Just before he could continue, the two pills exploded and even his face got stained with black smoke.


    ''Ding! It''s a failure.''


    "I already know that," he shouted in frustration, "damn! Why can''t I control the two sets correctly?"


    Suddenly his eyes flashed with a realization. "Ah¡­ how stupid I was! I need to inject them with my energy and control their merging with each step."


    ''¡­''


    For the system, Arthur was just moving from being crazy to getting crazier!


    This time Arthur put a large number of materials and started forming the two pills once more. But he didn''t stand idle and watch in silence, as he touched the cauldron and started injecting his dragonair''s energy.


    His dragonair''s energy was the most abundant form of energy that he could use without limit. He thought of using his spiritual energy yet refrained from doing that after some thinking.


    After all, the time needed to replenish his spiritual energy was much longer and a little trickier than the dragonair''s energy.


    "I''ll leave traces of my energy inside," he didn''t forget to leave part of his energy in each pill so he could use these as markers and aiders to help him control the merging process later on.


    "Let''s test them now," he started to melt the two pills together. This time no explosion occurred as he totally was in control over the release of energy coming from the pills.


    And he realized the main reason for the explosions so far.


    "So the energy released from the active materials activates the introvert ones¡­ interesting, then I should coat those introverts with a layer of my energy to protect them."


    This took much longer time and he even returned to make the second pill once again, ditching all he made so far.


    After adding this little detail the merging started to proceed smoother. "C''mon," he calmly waited and kept releasing his dragonair''s energy and even his forehead was filled with his sweat perspirations.


    "Finally," he heaved a long sigh of relief when the pills were mixed together and formed a final form of pills. The final number strangely was a bit over triple the initial number of the pills he put inside, which made him wonder where the additional pills came from.


    ''Ding! How is it?'' The system wasn''t any less curious and anxious than him.


    "I need someone to test upon," Arthur couldn''t tell from the shape of the pill in hand, "I''ll move outside."


    The next moment Arthur opened his eyes and spotted the area around. "This one will do," he moved towards a big body man and leaned over him. "I hope this pill will succeed," he prayed as he wasted too much time, resources, and energy over making these pills.


    "What the hell are you doing?" Just as put the pill inside the lips of that man, a shout of scare came all of sudden from his back, "who the hell are you? Stay away you dirty dragonair off my brother!"


    Arthur suddenly felt a strong wave of energy slashing over his back making him feel extreme pain. He even coughed blood before turning around towards the one who he saved his life hours before.


    "It''s me you damned disciple," Arthur screamed in rage, "I''m the one who saved your life and now going to save others."


    "Stop fooling around and stand back now!" in front of Arthur that man grabbed the air like he was holding a whip before slashing once again towards him.


    "Damn it!" Arthur tried to control his rage and pain as much as he could, but this wasn''t the right time to be distracted. "Take him inside!" he ordered yet he instantly was reminded by the absence of Gege the next moment when that man didn''t vanish and he was hit again with that whip of air.


    "Damn you," Arthur didn''t hesitate to move his tail and heavily slammed that man directly in the chest, sending him flying tens of meters to the back.


    "Summon all the forces inside who can help to restrain him," Arthur spat blood over the ground before giving that man his back and started to assess the work of his pill.


    "Stay your dirty hands off him now!" The man screamed in extreme pain and rage yet the next instant over a thousand heavily armed mages appeared the next instant out of thin air.


    "Easy now," one of them tried to reason with that mad man, "he is our lord and he came all the way here to save you."


    The system already informed all of them about what was happening outside. Inside the garden were many forces of mages who weren''t that strong to take part in the about to erupt huge battle.


    Yet with their number the system hoped to contain that man, but he was mistaken.

 Chapter 681: Testing The Pill

    "Get the hell out of my way!" the man shouted in extreme rage and the next moment he started to use his whips to slash everyone.


    ''Ding! They won''t contain him,'' the system warned, ''Ding! Should I bring the mechas?''


    "Bring them," Arthur was already immersed in observing the changes inside that man lying on the ground and didn''t want any disturbance at all. "Bring everyone."


    ''Ding! Alright!''


    The next moment a group of two thousand mechas appeared all of a sudden in dragon form flying in the air around the man.


    "What the hell are you?" The man was shocked when he saw them.


    "Just chill out and leave our lord alone¡­ he is trying to rescue your friends after all."


    "I¡­" the man gritted his teeth and his face showed how agitated he was, "I can''t let any harm touch them again¡­ all the mages¡­ all those filthy dirty tricksters must be killed!"


    The next moment the man''s aura changed and a layer upon layer of white fog appeared around his body.


    "Be ready," the leader of this army shouted in warning, "he is up to something."


    "Can we kill him boss?"


    "No, the orders are clear¡­ we need to restrain and not kill."


    "Sigh¡­ it would be much easier to just burn him alive."


    "Roar!"


    The next moment the man turned into a true giant, one that was formed entirely of ice.


    Arthur wasn''t aware of this, yet even with this scary transformation and the brutal force that giant had and the special ability to deliver ice attacks through wind he couldn''t manage to lay a single finger over the mechas.


    After all, he was overwhelmed by their great numbers and couldn''t even break a single defense of them.


    "Great job guys," the leader said in content when he noticed not a scratch remained after such a brutal attack, "just let us contain him here until our lord finishes his business."


    "Damn you¡­ damn you all¡­" the man was already insane and couldn''t be reasoned with. So the mechas kept their tight formation, preventing him from even stepping a single step outside their confinement.


    As for Arthur, he was deeply absorbed in observing the changes inside that man''s body and soul. "The first ignition was a success, but the second is yet to occur."


    He raised his hands off the man''s chest and closed his eyes. The next moment a bottle filled with his liquid appeared and just before he could make the man drink it, a mighty roar came from behind.


    "Stay your dirty hands off him!"


    "What the hell¡­?!!" Arthur turned to glance for the first time at that gigantic monster made entirely of ice. He was like a giant gorilla, and the fur was entirely pure white. Even his eyes, face, and hair were white in different degrees.


    "Humph¡­ saving your ass and this is you thanking me for that¡­" Arthur sneered before returning to the man and then made him drink a small sip of the bottle.


    Then he returned to examine him.


    "Damn! The potion activated the second pill and caused it to explode outside the soul without being able to cure his soul.


    Yet as he was regretting not using the potion first, and reminding himself to correct that mistake for the second test subject, the dark poison appeared all of sudden coming from the soul invading the body.


    "It''s feeling threatened," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before he kept his attention over the man and the fight inside, totally ignoring the fight raging outside.


    "It''s not possible to burn them all," after ten minutes Arthur muttered, "but what if¡­" he didn''t hesitate to take another pill and stuffed it inside the mouth of that unconscious man.


    He ignored the useless roars of that mad man and kept checking the status of the man. "Not enough?!" he frowned as from the face of it the second pill didn''t cause much of a difference.


    "Or perhaps because it didn''t have time to be ignited?" he thought of another possibility before giving the man another sip of his potion.


    Just as the potion fluid entered his body, the second pill exploded with extreme force and brutal energy, swiping away everything that was related to the toxin and even entered the man''s soul and replenished it.


    "A success!" Arthur couldn''t help but raise both hands in the air before clapping in content. "I can now start testing my second theory," he stood up and took a moment to glance over the madman who was still trying to break through the tight defense of the mechas.


    "Sigh, I just hope he didn''t get himself killed," he shook his head before heading towards another man and this time he started with his potion.


    "It has entered the soul¡­ but that toxin seems to be vigilant to anything that might threaten it," Arthur muttered after five minutes as the toxin started a fierce war at his potion, "so I have to increase the dose then," he simply shrugged and give the man double the amount he gave before.


    This time the toxin needed a longer time to eat the potion away. "Let''s see how well you''ll act," Arthur didn''t wait for it to destroy all his potion and calmly gave the man his pill.


    This time the first pill ignition was amplified by the few amounts of potion inside his body. The toxin inside the body already was fighting in brutality the potion, and the first activation of the pill came to dominate it and start winning this fight.


    "The main battle will be inside his soul," Arthur thought before he waited for his inactivated part of the pill to enter the soul. "They need something to draw it there," he was thinking about this when his potion suddenly attracted the remnants of the pill directly to the man''s soul.


    "It works!" Arthur saw the pill remnants moving fast towards the man''s soul before getting in touch with the potion.


    And there a muffled explosion occurred before the soul of the man was covered entirely with golden blue fog, obscuring the vision of Arthur.

 Chapter 682: The Three Supreme Leaders Are About To Be Wiped Out

    "What happened?" Arthur was still unable to see anything even after the passage of half an hour. He was deeply observing the soul when the answer came from another direction.


    "Are you the venerable master who saved me?"


    Suddenly this young voice came to startle him and make him stand abruptly off the youth who was opening his eyes and looking perfectly fine to Arthur.


    "Amazing!" Arthur couldn''t help to mutter before hurriedly asking, "are you alright? What do you feel? Can you move?"


    The youth smiled before clenching his fists and the next moment he stood up like he had never been poisoned. "I''m¡­ feeling much better than before," the youth said before cupping his hands in deep respect and bowing his head, "my life was saved by the master, and it''s yours to command."


    Arthur laughed before saying: "I''ve a mission for you."


    "Anything the master asks, this Lobin will do."


    "See that mad man out there? Go and make him return to his sanity or else he might hurt himself."


    Robin''s eyes shone brightly in surprise before nodding in understanding. "Master must not be from these areas, right?"


    Arthur smiled as he only said, "bright kid, just go and do as I told you."


    "Thanks master," Lobin bowed again before hurrying towards that man and started shouting at him.


    "Now it''s time to mass produce this and save everyone," he turned to glance at the tens of thousands lying on the ground, and thought of the more lying on the other peaks and muttered, "I''ll need more of my potion this way."


    He turned towards the distance where the three supreme leaders were fighting at the moment with their strong enemies, "I hope this won''t be too late for them as well."


    He closed his eyes and entered his garden world before starting to work like crazy towards making his potion.


    "The good thing is that this way even the damaged souls would be repaired fast," he thought about this while waiting for the potion to be ready, "and that means I can have an instant army the moment I distribute the potion."


    ''Ding! But we need to train our people to know what to do,'' the system said.


    "I''ll leave this task for you and Gege then," Arthur shrugged, "I believe she will be alive again in a couple of hours."


    He missed her contribution to the team. Her absence in this delicate moment made him lose a lot of his power.


    And that thing alarmed him.


    "I''ll need to look for something to cure her injuries," he decided once ending this fight he wouldn''t hesitate to seek anything to help her recover.


    ''Ding! What about that talkative lewd dragon?''


    "He is just all talk and nothing else," Arthur sighed, "sometimes he helped with his opinions but it''s not that effective like Gege. I have to heal her first as a top priority before him."


    ''Ding! I understand,'' the system said before warning in a vage tone, ''Ding! But you''ll have to heal him before your final moments of ascension.''


    "Why is that?" Arthur felt weird from these words.


    ''Ding! Consider it as insight to the future.''


    "Or something you know and don''t want to share," Arthur couldn''t help but sneer, "c''mon, tell your oldest friend what you hide from him."


    ''¡­''


    Arthur tried to push over the system to talk a couple of more times but he failed. So he dropped the topic for now and focused over the potion making in hand.


    "I believe this amount will suffice," he thought to himself when he filled a large number of containers.


    ''What I missed?''


    All of a sudden Gege''s voice came again and that made Arthur laugh. "Just in time," he said, "I want you to contact Agnus and see if he made enough bottles for me or not."


    ''This is easy,'' she chuckled.


    "Also I want you to contact the tree, spread the word over the cities and places I have people there, let all the extra mages and spare people come here to help. Also bring me the news of what''s happening between Doaf, Amera, and the crow with the opposing army."


    ''Wow, I slept to return with a sh*t load of tasks," despite her complaining words she was really laughing and looked happy.


    "Also work to replenish my lost golden energy. It''s time for us to start healing everyone."


    ''Right away sir.''


    ''Ding! Told you she will be happy by these tasks,'' the system couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Hahaha, yeah I agree with your point from before," and Arthur laughed while understanding the meaning of the system.


    ''What are you two talking about?'' Gege asked in suspicion.


    "Nothing," Arthur shrugged while trying not to think about this so she wouldn''t read his mind, "go now and bring me the news fast."


    ''Alright, gimme five.''


    Arthur didn''t wait for long as she returned in less than a couple of minutes.


    ''Bad news,'' she suddenly said, ''the three are chased by a large number of enemies.''


    "That was their plan from the start," Arthur simply said, "how can this be bad news?"


    ''They endured losses,'' she said, ''at least one third of their numbers were killed and the way their enemies are chasing them means they will be surrounded soon and get wiped out.''


    Arthur''s mind froze instantly before hurrying to ask: "How long do they have?"


    ''The soonest will happen in less than two hours,'' Gege said, ''and that''s in real world time.''


    Arthur clenched his fists before he decided to go all out. "Alright, bring every single villager our cities can spare. Send them out there and make them move everyone here."


    ''Are we going to heal them here?''


    "We have no other choice but that," Arthur said before asking, "where are the bottles?"


    ''I''ll bring them now.''


    Arthur then turned to his small cauldron before muttering, "It''s time to go wild in making these pills then. Bring some villagers to help here¡­ leave the task for the system to manage."


    ''¡­''


    She didn''t object and yet didn''t look happy with this arrangement. Yet she went to do her tasks while the next moment a large number of villagers appeared next to him.


    "See these tanks? Fill the bottles with the fluid inside," Arthur hurriedly shouted while starting to use the mountains of the prepared materials on the side and threw them in the two cauldrons.


    "But¡­" one of the villagers was about to ask about the bottles before a rain of bottles fell just in the area next to them.


    "Don''t stand there, move now, move fast!" Arthur shouted while he started the process to make a large number of pills in the two cauldrons.


    After all his process of forming the final pill would take two steps to be done, more time and he didn''t have that much.


    "System, go to the world''s will and make her mark the three locations of my armies to help me move there."


    ''Ding! I hope she won''t refuse like last time.''


    "Do anything and make her agree," Arthur gritted his teeth, "after all I''m already saving her people here at the expense of mine... she needs to pay a price for saving her folks too."

 Chapter 683: Moving Out For Rescue

    Arthur started his work to make the pills without any rest. He was pushed to the limit by the little time he had.


    "Keep an eye over them for me please," he said to Gege before adding, "and keep an eye over the main army as well."


    ''The main army needs four to six hours at least to come here,'' she said without delay, ''and from the shape of things almost half of the army is now chasing the three forces.''


    "At least they managed to pull that move," he muttered, "How about the aiders? The villagers and mages?"


    ''I spread the word and a large number is already gathering up. I''ll start moving them in less than one hour here.''


    "Great," Arthur thought before adding, "keep track of time for me. When an hour passes in the outside world, notify me."


    ''You will move this early?''


    "I don''t guarantee to save them in time," he said, "after all I have to kill that army chasing the crow forces before heading to the other two as well."


    She didn''t say anything as she realized his words were very logical.


    Arthur started making the two pills first. After a couple of hours he managed to amass a large number of the two pills before he decided to go full out.


    "I have to make the final pill as well as making the two other pills as well," he started to fly in the air between the two cauldrons creating after images sometimes.


    He selected the big cauldron to make the two pills, one at a time. As for the final pill he used the smaller cauldron as it was much easier to control.


    As time passed, and he started to produce large amounts of the pills his speed and efficiency started to rapidly increase.


    ''There is less than a quarter of an hour now,'' Gege suddenly said, ''the main army is still advancing while the three armies are getting near to being surrounded.''


    "No problem, notify me when that quarter passes."


    ''Those villagers and mages are now gathered here,'' she added, ''and they are now moving the sick people here.''


    "Good."


    ''They ask how to heal them.''


    He paused for a moment before turning towards the large hills of potions stored in one place around. "They first will give them this potion," he said, "two sips at first, then wait for five minutes then they will give them the pill and wait for another five and then give them four sips¡­ no make it five sips of potion."


    ''This is for each person?'' she asked just to make sure she would deliver the instructions right.


    "Yes, this is meant for each one," Arthur nodded. "At least a potion for three people, and one pill for each."


    ''Alright, I got it,'' she said before adding in strange excitement, ''I''ll make sure they will start now. We have little time left here anyway.''


    "I doubt they would be ready to help in the fight to save the three armies," Arthur muttered, "but I want them ready for the final battle."


    ''I''ll make sure they got these instructions and will keep you updated.''


    "Thanks," he said before recalling his system, "did she respond yet?"


    ''Ding! Not yet,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! I told you not to count on her.''


    "That''s why I''ll move earlier than I supposed to," Arthur took a deep breath, "anyway I have to go in time to save them."


    For the next hour and half he kept making pills like crazy while Gege kept moving the potions and the pills to the places where those sick people were gathered.


    ''It''s time,'' suddenly she said, ''and there is another army approaching from the east.''


    "Foes?" Arthur was startled by this, "or friends?"


    ''The tree couldn''t tell,'' Gege sighed, ''but she believes they are hostile forces.''


    "How many?"


    ''Their number isn''t the issue, but their ability to fly.''


    "They are¡­ flying monsters?" Arthur was speechless for a second, "anyone recovered from them had to come out and help in securing the sect against these flying monsters."


    ''But they need at least five hours to arrive,'' Gege said in a doubt.


    "I''m sure they will arrive earlier," Arthur muttered, "they are the hit force of the enemy, and I doubt they are weak."


    ''As you wish.''


    "Also prepare some mechas to defend and alarm the army outside as well."


    ''Consider it done.''


    "Alright," Arthur took a deep breath as he finished the final batch of his pills, "take me outside then,"


    A portal appeared next and he simply passed through. "Any news from her?" he asked.


    ''Ding! Not a single word.''


    "Alright then," Arthur flapped his wings and soared to the clouds at a fast speed, "which way?" he asked.


    ''Go slightly to your left,'' Gege said, ''keep moving there straight and you''ll arrive first at the crow forces.''


    "And the main army?"


    ''It''s slightly to your left,'' she said, ''don''t worry, I''ll keep an eye over them.''


    "Great," Arthur then focused entirely on reaching there in time using his fastest speed.


    Yet it seemed there was a traitor in his ground forces, or perhaps just bad luck to be spotted by a scout team of his enemies as he didn''t fly for more than ten minutes and Gege returned with the bad news.


    ''The main army is changing its direction.''


    Arthur''s heart clenched the moment he heard her words. "They are coming to me?" he asked while already knowing the answer.


    ''It seems so,'' Gege sighed, ''this way saving the crow team itself would be challenging.''


    Arthur paused before saying, "can he join the other two?"


    ''Well¡­ let me check with the tree first,'' she didn''t give a definite answer except after a couple more minutes. ''He can join Amera, but Doaf is slightly away,'' she said before warning, ''but this would take him away from you and closer to his enemies.''


    "No problem," Arthur decided to take the risk after a minute of thinking, "tell him to move and tell the other two about the entire plan and me coming to their rescue."

 Chapter 684: The Enemys Plan Is Revealed

    He knew leaving them out there without any hope was bad. Besides they were already getting trapped and might not be aware of that.


    ''I''ve informed them,'' she said, ''and they promise to resist as long as they can.''


    "That''s a relief," he heaved a long sigh of relief, "also tell the tree to keep giving them directions to aid better in their escape."


    ''Ding! Any minute is priceless,'' the system muttered, ''Ding! And I''ll ask the world''s will again.''


    "Keep bothering her," Arthur said in some anger, "after all I''m much annoyed with her passive attitude."


    The system didn''t speak or express his opinion. For him the world''s will wasn''t in the wrong here. After all, she warned him that he would be all alone here in this quest.


    As the system predicted, the world''s will refused to help and expressed clearly that he had to save his trapped forces and save the sect on his own, or else why would she ask for his help in the first place.


    And Arthur only shook his head while flying with his fastest speed.


    "How is the situation now?" After half an hour he asked to check on the state of all forces.


    ''The crow is now fighting his way towards Amera,'' Gege said before adding, ''and Amera is also aiding him to break through with the least losses.''


    "And Doaf?"


    ''The tree is guiding him through his escape,'' Gege answered, ''he won''t be fully trapped except after two to three hours at least.''


    "That''s great, how about the distance between the two?"


    ''Another half an hour.''


    "Sigh, so long," Arthur couldn''t help but helplessly shake his head, "and the main army?"


    ''It needs at least two hours to catch up with you,'' Gege said, ''but they sent some elite teams to try to catch up faster.''


    "They are trying to delay me," he muttered, "but they won''t make it in time¡­ I hope."


    ''Ding! Me too,'' the system said, ''Ding! But this way you''ll have more corpses for your dragomancer ability.''


    "It''s still a loss in the short term," Arthur muttered, "a big loss indeed¡­ by the way how is that flying army doing now?"


    ''They are accelerating now,'' Gege said in a low tone, ''they might arrive earlier than I guessed.''


    "I saw it coming," Arthur said, "and the sick people? Have enough numbers been rescued?"


    ''They villagers are doing their best,'' Gege said, ''almost ten thousand are saved and others are about to be saved soon.''


    "Move them to the sect then," Arthur ordered, "and make them activate the defenses and prepare for the fight."


    ''I''ll make them try to buy as much time as possible,'' she said, ''after all it''s easy for you to return there once the fight here finishes.''


    "If we can deal a good blow to the main army then we will easily win this war," Arthur thought out loud, "but if we didn''t then we''ll have it hard back there."


    ''Ding! At least they will need hours to reach the sect,'' the system said, ''Ding! During this you''ll be able to save more.''


    "I hope they have some sort of a weapon to kill those bastards," Arthur muttered, "after all I doubt our current forces would be equal to those higher realm fighters."


    ''The giants were killed,'' Gege suddenly killed, ''at least most of them, and that''s the reason why they are moving at a slower speed and couldn''t catch up to you fast.''


    "Good job," Arthur praised as this was the purpose of the entire suicidal move of the three supreme leaders of his, "at least they lost a great weapon early on before the final war erupts."


    Arthur kept flying as fast as he could. In less than half an hour he managed to finally spot the army hunting down his two supreme leaders.


    "This¡­" he was speechless at first, "they have a large number¡­ much bigger than I thought!"


    ''There are roughly ten thousand hunting each army,'' Gege said, ''forgot to tell you that.''


    "That explains everything then," Arthur could only shake off his head, "alright, make the army inside be ready¡­ it''s time for our counter attack."


    ''By the way those elite groups are drawing faster than I thought.''


    Arthur wasn''t surprised by that as he simply asked: "How long?"


    ''Half an hour at most,'' Gege said.


    "No problem," Arthur glanced at the giant army stretching over the ground and added, "I''ll make sure to rescue them in less than that. Bring everyone out, let''s start this fight with crushing victory from the start."


    The next instant a large number of portals appeared before an army of mechas appeared first in the air before a large number of ground forces started to kick in.


    And the sight of this mountainous place was now changed to show entire mountains covered entirely with his mages.


    "Attack!" Arthur didn''t hesitate to issue the order while taking out his sword and started to activate his technique. "Don''t forget to replenish my golden energy," he said and Gege only laughed in excitement.


    As the forces up front were all ground forces, his first charge with the mecha army was so overwhelming and his enemies were killed like flies.


    "They aren''t that strong," Arthur muttered before asking, "where are the elite ones?"


    ''Do you mean the ones sent by the main army?''


    "I mean the ones chasing the three leaders."


    ''They are¡­ all of them are like these ones,'' Gege seemed quite hesitant as she returned to the tree to make sure she answered right.


    "This¡­ damn, they are so weak to be handled by my great army!" Arthur was slightly disappointed, "but at least there are a large number of them here."


    ''Ding! Number is also another facet of power,'' the system said such profound saying in the inappropriate time.


    "Make the army fan out," Arthur ordered, "let them kill as much as they could before the elites arrive."


    He then turned around and shouted at one mecha fighter, "tell half the mechas to come with me and the other half will remain here."


    He didn''t wait for the mage inside to deliver his words before heading directly straight away from the army down below. "Where are they?" he asked.


    ''Go to your left for ten minutes and you''ll meet them,'' Gege said before adding, ''the tree has informed them already of your arrival and is guiding them now to here.''


    "Good," Arthur said, "fighting here is just a waste of our time. This army is worthless for our blades and I''m sure it was spread here as a trap to lure me out."


    He now realized the main aim of the large army and its leaders. "Make the army ready to retreat the moment I tell you so."


    ''R- Retreat?!!'' Gege was speechless for a moment there.


    "Indeed, I won''t stay here and wait for the enemy to catch up," Arthur said, "I''ll regroup with Amera and the crow before heading directly to save Doaf."


    ''And the army here?'' Gege asked, ''and the elites coming after us? We can handle them easily and hunt them using our number advantage.''


    "I doubt things would be this easy," Arthur sighed, "if they aren''t that confident in their ability to stop us here they wouldn''t have started this plan in the first place."

 Chapter 685: Arthur Was Right

    Arthur was feeling more unease towards this situation the more he thought about it. "Leaving behind all these weak mages to just create a false image of being in desperate need for help is a very good move to be honest," he muttered.


    ''But they can be easily wiped out,'' Gege was still unconvinced by his logic, ''what''s the need to retreat then? Even the incoming elites are grouped into many smaller teams that we can hunt with much ease.''


    ''Ding! You are still young,'' the system finally stepped in, ''Ding! This is clearly a trap. They want us to stay behind, stay away from the sect either to kill us or to kill them.''


    ''What can they do to us? To them?''


    "I dunno," Arthur honestly said, "but I won''t stand here and watch my enemy complete his masterpiece without stopping him."


    ''You two¡­'' Gege was frustrated and thought they were just being over worried and slightly afraid.


    "Where are they?" Arthur shifted the topic back to what he cared much about.


    ''They are up front,'' Gege said.


    "But why didn''t they come here to meet me yet?" Arthur asked before being vigilant all of sudden, "where are they exactly? Ask the tree."


    ''One sec,'' she went to silence before returning back fast, ''they are two miles directly upfront.''


    "Two miles are nothing for Amera," Arthur muttered.


    ''Ding! And the crow,'' the system added, ''Ding! Except if they are being hunted down.''


    ''There is not a single enemy chasing them,'' Gege shouted in impatience.


    "We''ll see," Arthur clenched his sword before adding, "Be ready to pull all the mechas from there and send them here."


    ''And those large numbers of enemies?''


    ''The ground forces can deal with them," Arthur said before he started to watch the surrounding area in extreme caution.


    He was flying in the middle of large mountain peaks at the moment with the thick line of clouds above.


    These mountains blocked his vision and prevented him from being able to see through the short distance of a few miles ahead.


    "Anytime now," he crossed two miles already and just one mountain peak stood between him and the two leaders and their forces.


    "Up there?" he suddenly heard the sound of fighting coming from up above, "follow me," he ordered the mecha army following him, "and be ready, we''ll have a bitter fight now."


    ''There''s no proof of that!'' Gege was so defensive yet the moment he penetrated the thick coat of clouds, she was stupefied by what she saw.


    "This¡­" Arthur also froze there for a moment before his face turned savage, "all on me, don''t break off," he shouted before leading the mecha mages towards the five thousand enemies hunting down his almost five hundred higher realm forces.


    An intense fight was raging between the two sides and for Amera and the crow forces it wasn''t a fight but a massacre.


    "Don''t break the formation," Arthur yelled, stressing over this as the five thousand enemies were all from the higher world it seemed.


    The sudden appearance of this two thousand mecha army led by Arthur caused a disturbance in the enemy forces.


    And the next moment he waved his sword and hit one of those enemies directly on the chest.


    "Clang!"


    Yet just as he sent one flying backward with a deep wound on his chest, another one jumped over him and managed to block his sword with his spear.


    "You came," that mage sneered, "time for you to die with your forces."


    Arthur knew it would be hard to penetrate through these thick lines of the enemies, but at least he wasn''t that worried while dealing with them.


    "All released ranged attacks now," he suddenly shouted before turning around himself and blocked the spear tip sent by his enemy, deflecting it to the side.


    "He is strong," he muttered while the sword phantom in his right hand trembled alongside his arm, "but strength isn''t the only thing that determines the winner here."


    He slightly flapped his wings and moved his body to the side. Letting the spear glide on his sword, he then moved fast up front and inserted the sword directly in his enemy''s heart.


    "Skill is what matters the most," he muttered before taking out the sword phantom from his enemy''s dead body and then receiving a sword hit from another enemy.


    He simply exchanged a couple of hits with him before he suddenly ducked and turned around. The enemy turned in swiftness to see no one behind him.


    "Here," Arthur''s voice came from his back before he hit the side of his neck as he descended from the sky upon him.


    Arthur was using his speed to the extreme. He tricked the enemy thinking he would attack him from behind, yet Arthur didn''t stop and flew higher and circled above him before finally landing the final hit over him.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Just as he killed his second enemy, the sounds of explosions raged all of sudden from front. "They came," he smiled.


    ''I didn''t wait for you to give the order,'' Gege said in a very angry tone, ''how dare they trick me and my precious tree friend? Screw them, I will make sure to kill them all!''


    In front of him many portals appeared and all of sudden Nara appeared leading the rest of the mechas from the distant battle to here. The moment they appeared they fired their strongest attacks before entering again into the portals and vanished.


    The places they appeared at were carefully selected by Gege to make them face unprepared enemies and land deadly blows to them in no time.


    And the next moment more portals appeared and those mechas started to act like real magicians, appearing in one place before vanishing and appearing at another.


    And anyplace they appeared at they didn''t leave without dealing a deadly blow to at least one of the enemies if not more.


    "Hahaha, I like," Arthur was very impressed with the vengeful nature of Gege, "move more then, let them all help in clearing off the enemies."


    ''No they are enough,'' Gege said, ''I won''t let you unprotected. Who knows what those bastards might do at their dying moments.''


    Arthur didn''t object to her as he was busy receiving a strong axe attack that was thrown aiming at his head. "Damn you! Do you think these childish plays can stop our great army?" the mage roared in frustration while Arthur only sneered.


    "If you have any ounce of strength then bring it on," he simply answered before exchanging blow after blow with that mage. Each hit made his body ache and yet Arthur was the one pushing his enemy backward.


    ''Ding! Watch out! More enemies are coming from behind those peaks,'' the system suddenly warned and Arthur realized his foe wasn''t bluffing or acting strong just now.


    "Make them save the two forces now," Arthur hurriedly said as he knew his system detected those enemies using his scout ability, "it''s time for us to retreat back to the first battle."


    ''No problem,'' Gege started to act obedient and didn''t object to his orders anymore. She realized from this simple and bitter experience that there were many cunning people in this world, and Arthur was fit enough to judge what was best to do in each situation.


    "Keep firing," Arthur suddenly rotated right as he shouted, "clear all the hostiles next to the crow and Amera''s forces as much as you can," he shouted again while rotating to the left as he totally ignored the heavy axe descending like a meteorite from his enemy.


    "It''s time for you to die," just as he evaded that axe and took the enemy by surprise he didn''t hesitate to flap his wings and push his body so fast to cross the distance between him and his enemy in no time.


    And then he let his sword cut that giant arm holding the axe in one hit before turning around and dealing a deadly blow to his enemy''s neck.


    Despite not being able to cleavage his head off, he left a very deep wound, a wound that was enough to kill him.


    "Keep firing," and the next moment he shouted while watching five enemies coming at once at him.

 Chapter 686: Going To Save Doaf

    Artur didn''t evade the five as he moved with his speed, flying right and left, up and down. This way he kept preventing them from gathering up at him in one group, or else he wouldn''t be able to handle any of them.


    "You''ll die here!" one shouted while waving his sword directly towards him.


    Arthur didn''t move his sword to meet him as he simply stretched his wings for one second there, rose up all of sudden and crossed over the heads of two more before he arched his wings and landed like a rocket towards the last two.


    One with a thick club in hand and the other held a sword.


    His move was expected so that the club mage moved it towards him, aiming to crush his head.


    Yet at the last minute Arthur shifted his body to the side, barely evading the mark while cutting through his body with his sword before landing a blow over the last one''s sword.


    He didn''t continue clashing with that one more than this hit that made his enemy retreat a couple of meters while he also retreated.


    And he let his body retreat without stopping it before turning around and hitting that mage directly at his back.


    The mage moved his club to stop his sword, yet he managed to leave a wound there.


    "Surround him," one of them shouted in anger while Arthur didn''t plan to be surrounded this easily.


    At least he would accompany these two and keep his sword flashing right and left, preventing them from any retreat.


    "Let''s kill him directly then," as the two couldn''t retreat, the other three formed a triangle around the two and Arthur in between before they moved fast to help their friends.


    And Arthur next feigned a retreat move to the sky above, making the two around him move before he suddenly let his body fall.


    "I''ll take your legs with me at least," he roared before waving his sword to injure the two mage''s legs as he circled around before finally falling down.


    He flapped his wings and started to move fast while being hunted by those angry five dark mages.


    ``We are ready to retreat,'' Gege suddenly said and Arthur noticed the presence of many portals enough for everyone to retreat.


    "Let''s do it," he said.


    ''Should I open yours now?''


    "Mine?" Arthur evilly sneered before adding, "Let me dance a bit with those folks, hopefully their numbers might get bigger."


    Gege didn''t get his meaning at once but once she read his mind she understood everything. ''Alright, I''ll make the needed preparations,'' she said while he only nodded.


    The next five minutes the entire army of his retreated through the portals around them before the portals vanished in thin air like they appeared.


    And Arthur was left all alone while being hunted now with over two thousand of those mages in extreme fury.


    ''Now?'' Gege asked.


    "How many can we hunt?"


    ''Hmm¡­ at least half,'' she said after a moment of pause.


    "Alright, start!"


    The next moment and while everyone was focused on him, a large number of portals appeared and the mecha army appeared once again.


    This time they were all in full number, ready and prepared with their strongest attacks.


    Once appeared, and before anyone could see them a large number of attacks started to hit the large flying army before Arthur finally vanished in one portal alongside them.


    And he even didn''t leave like that but Gege opened hundreds of portals all of sudden in front of the rapidly advancing mages.


    Those with extreme vigilance managed to react barely in time, while many fell in the trap, passing directly through the portals and appearing next inside specific areas inside the garden world.


    Deep grooves, thrown in the middle of siege weapons made by Agnus, or even thrown into pillar prisons¡­ they were all scattered in very disadvantageous situations where their chances of keeping their lives were nil.


    And a massacre erupted taking the lives of over five hundred dark mages without any resistance at all.


    "What about Doaf?"


    Amera appeared next in front of Arthur while her face showed how angry she was.


    "We''ll move out now," Arthur said before the next moment a portal was opened and he added, "but I''ll go alone for now. Be ready to move at any time."


    "Watch out," she shouted before he vanished behind the portal, "they are strong and cunning."


    Arthur appeared over the large army that was nothing but a decoy. "Which way?" he didn''t hesitate to ask and Gege instantly answered.


    ``Go to your right, for two hundred miles then you should go straight forward,'''' she said before hurriedly warning, ``the elite forces are already here, they are now midway to the location of the last fight.''


    "Good," Arthur didn''t delay to move fast while adding, "I hope they keep coming at me."


    ''Ding! Aiming to use that trick again?'' the system asked.


    "It''s an effective one to be honest," Arthur said while he was already tempted to use it.


    ''Ding! But I doubt they would fall twice,'' the system warned, ''Ding! After all, their leaders are so cunning.''


    "Their leaders aren''t here," Arthur argued, "and now they are agitated and angry by their humiliated loss. They will be easy prey to hunt, you''ll see."


    ''Ding! I hope so.''


    Arthur kept his speed while he went straight towards the direction Gege directed him to. As he got nearer to Doaf, he kept asking about him, the forces chasing him, the main army, the flying army, and the current state of the sect and their injured people.


    And all answers were in the hand of Gege.


    ''Doaf and his forces are being cornered now,'' Gege said, ''but I can''t tell if he was fighting those strange forces now or he is just on the run.''


    "Let''s believe he is too strong for them to clash on," Arthur muttered while trying to maintain high hopes here.


    ''But I still can''t understand¡­ how can they be hidden from tree surveillance?''


    "This¡­" Arthur didn''t have any answer on that as he was puzzled by this. "Let''s assume they have the means to obscure what the tree can see."


    ''Ding! But this possibility means they can have any army drawing near without us knowing that!''


    ''Or their army is much bigger and far stronger than we know.''


    Arthur thought about this for a moment before saying. "I want Amera, the crow, and their forces to be interrogated," he said before adding, "this will be your task."


    ''Ding! Leave it to me,'' the system knew he was the one meant by his words as Gege was already overwhelmed with tasks.


    "What about others?" Arthur asked, knowing that the most dangerous group isn''t the main army, but those flying ones coming fast towards the sect while he was still busy here.

 Chapter 687: Fighting A Thousand Monster Alone

    ''The chasing army is now five hours away from you,'' Gege said, ''they got united with the elite groups sent by the main army before leaving the ground army behind and now are after us.''


    "And the ground army?"


    ''They are now returning to the main army, as both are heading towards the sect.''


    "Hmm¡­ so these cannonfodders will act as a diversion then," Arthur muttered.


    ''Ding! We should alarm those in the sect,'' the system said, ''Ding! I believe the flying army won''t move to attack until the ground army first starts its assault.''


    ''I''ll notify them,'' Gege said, ''but can''t we do anything to deal with those flying bastards?''


    "How far are they from the sect?" Arthur didn''t express his thoughts right away.


    ''They are less than six hours from the sect,'' she said before pausing, ''I don''t know how long we will take here to save Doaf, but it''s safer if we sent a detachment to delay them¡­ or at least gather more intel.''


    ''Ding! I think this will be a good move. At least we won''t be left like this in the dark.''


    "You know whoever we''ll send might not return, right?" Arthur said before warning, "and if they didn''t return, we won''t know anything."


    ''I can let them be in contact with the tree,'' Gege suggested, ''even if they lost their lives at least we''ll get this intel.''


    ''Ding! But whom shall we send?''


    "Those mechas of course," Arthur didn''t hesitate to say, "they have higher chances in staying alive after all."


    ''There are some already being made in my body,'' Gege said, ''should I send them off?''


    "Send them," Arthur said before stressing, "but make the tree be in constant contact with them."


    ''How many?''


    "Send¡­ a hundred."


    ''Alright, I believe with their fast speed they can reach there in less than six hours.''


    ''Ding! You are wrong,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! Their target is also marching with their top speed towards the sect. they will be able to reach them in three¡­ no, might be two hours.''


    "That''s correct," Arthur agreed on the system point of view, "how long do we still have to reach Doaf''s location?"


    ''I would say two hours at most,'' Gege said after momentarily pausing as she returned to the tree to get the answer.


    "Barely in time," Arthur muttered, "and the sect? Are the defensive preparations ready yet?"


    ''They are trying their best,'' Gege said, ''the sect seemed to have a complicated defensive mechanism¡­ something that requires most of the disciples to activate or else it would take longer time.''


    "That means we can activate this defensive measure just before the attack, right?"


    ''Let''s hope so,'' she sighed, ''after all we only saved thirty percent of those mages.''


    "Don''t worry, I believe we can make it," Arthur believed in this, "let''s just hope our enemy didn''t have any dirty moves in the dark."


    ''Another trick?'' Gege was surprised, ''weren''t they confident in their toxic gas move?''


    ''Ding! They are cunning enemies,'' the system said, ''Ding! I would vouch for the presence of at least another big move in there.''


    ''That¡­'' she stopped in hesitation before asking, ''should I ask those recovered to check their sect?''


    "That would be wise," Arthur said, "but make sure they would always be accompanied by a large number of our men."


    ''What for?''


    "Who knows who was the traitor who started all that," Arthur took a deep breath, "we should just be ready for the worse."


    ''Alright, I''ll deliver the word then,'' she said before adding, ''and I''ve selected a hundred mechas and sent them off. I''ll keep you updated with their moves.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded before the system suddenly said:


    ''Ding! There are many enemies coming fast from the front!''


    "Enemies?" Arthur was surprised to hear that, "how many?"


    ''The tree¡­ can''t see anything,'' Gege was the first to speak.


    ''Ding! There are at least a thousand,'' the system said, ''Ding! Ten miles from the front, and they are travelling fast!''


    "Gege," Arthur only said this while activating his technique the next moment.


    ''I know, leave this to me,'' she ruthlessly said in a tone that was filled with anger.


    After all, every time the tree was tricked she took this personally.


    In less than a minute Arthur spotted those hostile forces as dark dots at the horizon. "They are fast," he couldn''t help but say while clenching on his sword, "this will be very hard to deal with."


    ''I won''t let them come near you without killing most of them,'' Gege promised and Arthur knew she would use the same trick once again.


    "Be aware that they might be ready for that move," he warned, "be sure to adapt."


    ''I''m ready for that as well,'' she simply said while the distance between the two sides was getting shorter with each passing second.


    "Kill him!"


    "Don''t let him escape!"


    "He is just one dragonair! Use your monster form now!"


    Many shouts came from the front while those giant mages suddenly turned to form many monsters of different shapes and sizes.


    And they all had the same intimidating aura like Doaf, Amera, and the crow and their men.


    "Let''s see who will kill whom first," yet Arthur sneered as he didn''t even wait for them to arrive at him and used his fire breath.


    He released fire balls all over the enemies drawing near him. The fire moved fast and hit many while more evaded the fire with swift moves.


    Yet before they could celebrate evading his attack, portals suddenly popped up all over the place.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Watch out!"


    "It''s those nasty dragons!"


    "Evade, evade them!"


    "Regroup! Don''t let them hunt us one by one!"


    As Arthur and the system feared, they were alarmed by this move. Despite that Gege was very talented in manipulating her portals and selected the hardest places to avoid and let the portals open there.


    Many appeared in the blind spots of those monsters and the next moment each portal gave birth to a mecah or one of the forces of Amera and the crow.


    And whomever was targeted by them was instantly hit, deeply injured or even killed.


    "Regroup!" one shouted after another yet Arthur didn''t let them have their time to do that.


    He kept firing his fire balls to stop anyone from gathering up with others. Despite his efforts, many managed to group together and that decreased their toll of death.


    "Keep hitting them," Arthur shouted while moving directly towards this group of hundred monsters while throwing off his balls of fire, "don''t let them catch their breaths."


    Gege didn''t need him to say that as she kept making the portals appear and disappear like they were dancing around this group. The monsters kept falling in layers like an onion being peeled off one layer at a time.


    And then Arthur arrived.

 Chapter 688: Crushing The Enemy

    "Kill him!"


    "Watch out!"


    "He is that damned dragonair!"


    "Attack with all your might!"


    At once many shouts appeared from the depth of that gigantic ball of monsters with orders to kill him.


    Arthur heard all their shouts yet he wasn''t fazed. "Let''s see if you can handle my sword," he sneered before moving like an arrow towards the gigantic ball and monsters directly with his superb speed.


    His phantom sword flashed to meet the incoming monsters up ahead. He moved it left and right and didn''t forget to flap his wings changing his position at perfect timing.


    Sometimes he moved forward, other times he would turn right or left, and even at some times he would just extend his wings and soar in the air high above or even descend suddenly downwards while shrinking his wings.


    He was like a real phanom, flashing and appearing anywhere before disappearing and appearing in another place.


    This made the task of attacking him fail every time his enemies thought they already got him.


    Unpredicted like this he kept fighting while his sword was like a death reaper, giving his enemies deadly wounds that were enough to make them all fall like weakless flies from the air.


    ''Ding! It''s good, you''ve disturbed their formation¡­ retreat now,'' the system suddenly said.


    The main goal of this kamikaze attack wasn''t to kill as many he could, but to disturb that tight formation and create holes big enough for Gege to insert her portals all over the place.


    "I was already having fun!" he complained, yet he didn''t hesitate to draw back all of sudden and start to run away.


    "Wait until I lure as many away as possible," he said to Gege.


    ''I will be patient,'' Gege was still mad, ''as this next wave of attack should be enough to make them unable to pull such a defensive tactic ever again.''


    Arthur laughed and his roars made many monsters restless, yet they kept pushing forward after him.


    "Don''t let him go away!"


    "Hurry! He is alone now and we can hunt him down."


    "Don''t let him escape!"


    Many shouts came ordering the grand army to kill him. For those leaders hidden deep inside the gigantic meat ball of monsters, Arthur was the head of the snake they needed to cut.


    And Arthur saw them exactly in the same way.


    ''Ding! Great! Many are now chasing you and their formation is so loose.''


    ''I''ll attack now!''


    "Aim for the leaders," Arthur stressed, "leave the cannonfodders for later."


    ''I know,'' Gege evilly laughed,''I won''t let that army have a single leader after that attack.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but turn his head. His gaze crossed over the shoulders of his large number of pursuers before landing over the far distant group of leaders situated in the middle of this tattered formation.


    And the next thing he spotted was the sudden appearance of the portals in very hard places to evade.


    And next the ones to come out were Amera, the crow, and their forces.


    "You sent them?!" Arthur was surprised by this.


    ''They said they were the only ones able to kill those leaders,'' Gege explained, ''or perhaps they wanted to vent their anger, I dunno but at least they are able to do the job.''


    ''Ding! Don''t let anyone help those bastards.''


    ''I''m now sending the mecha out to do exactly this.''


    Arthur nodded in content when he noticed the larger number of portals appearing just around the small circle of the leaders. His mecha appeared next and started their massacre to anyone around the leaders.


    As for the leaders, this sudden appearance of Amera and the crow forces came out of their expectations.


    "Hahaha, they thought I would summon them to help me to run away," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh while his roars kept making many enemies chasing him unsettled.


    ''Ding! They never thought you would be the bait, the real bait,'' the system laughed as well as this plan was his suggestion after all.


    ''I''m glad they are this dumb,'' Gege was still vengeful towards the failure of the tree to spot these monsters, ''let them all perish under our blades.''


    "Yeah, keep cutting their rear and let me draw the rest away until they finish their task," Arthur nodded as he returned to glance at the surrounding monsters.


    Their faces told him how deeply conflicted they were. In front of them the leader of their enemies was in reach, yet hard to get thanks to his speed and his annoying roars.


    And from behind their leaders and friends were now being severely hit by the enemy forces.


    "They are retreating," Arthur found some of them started to turn around, heading towards their far friends. "Don''t let them come to their aid. Crush this hope for them!"


    ''I''m glad you said that,'' Gege laughed before the next second many portals appeared around those retreating forces and the mecha appeared here to spread their devastation.


    And no one managed to defend against such an unpredictable attack, ending up in creating a large distance void of any monster between the two armies.


    ''Ding! And like this we divided them successfully,'' the system sneered, ''Ding! And they will perish.''


    ''Yeah!'' Gege shouted in excitement before she returned to take care of the portals and the rear fight.


    As the system predicted, in less than ten minutes the rear army was totally annihilated alongside the leaders who were the first to fall.


    As for the group hunting Arthur they lost all hope to go back and help their leaders and comrades. They accepted their fate and from the dark faces of them and their persistence in hunting Arthur, the latter knew they put the goal of killing him before dying in front of their eyes as a must do thing.


    "Keep dreaming," yet he only sneered while leading them in big circles away from the main battle until Gege said:


    ''It''s time to clear this group.''


    "Wait," Arthur suddenly said, "let me try something first."

 Chapter 689: Getting Near Doaf Fast

    ''Wanting to turn them into your army?'' Gege read his line of thoughts and was startled by that, ''but they are dead fixed on killing you before dying!''


    "Just use some portals to kill some before I speak out," Arthur said and Gege only sighed.


    For her, she wanted just to kill them and satisfy her burning fire of revenge.


    The next minute many portals appeared and cleared away at least one tenth of the remaining forces here. Gege was resentful and so she used many mechas and even some of Amera and the crow angry forces to kill as many as she could before Arthur suddenly shouted:


    "Surrender and live, work for me and live. Or else¡­ you''ll all die here!"


    His words made some hesitant, yet others were deeply absorbed in their decision to kill him.


    "See those stupid ones?" he said.


    ''I''ll kill them with pleasure,'' Gege laughed before the next moment the portals appeared once again and the mecha started killing those determined ones.


    "Surrender, stop flying and stand in your places now or I''ll kill you all!"


    Arthur''s shout this time came to stop everyone, literally everyone from flying after him. He stopped as well and glanced at all of them before adding, "swear allegiance to me, kneel and be one of my forces."


    The next moment a large number of portals appeared all over the place and most of Arthur''s army appeared at this moment.


    From the initial thousands mages army, only less than a thousand stood there in the air with dejected faces. They were still sad about their losses, yet they didn''t have a chance to resist.


    Or else they would be killed like their friends and leaders.


    "I swear to serve you," one said and bowed his head to Arthur.


    And he wasn''t the last one to do so.


    ''Ding! Y''know they can''t be that trusted, right?'' the system warned.


    ''They will backstab you in the grand fight! Let''s kill them all now!'' Gege added.


    "Take them inside," Arthur simply said, "and start the slave contract to make sure they won''t betray me."


    ''Sigh,'' Gege couldn''t help but comply with a dejected tone while some portals appeared in front of these surrendering forces.


    "Enter inside," Arthru shouted, "and there you''ll do a contract with me to make sure you won''t have any funny thoughts. Try to be smart and I promise you won''t take the next breath in your chest."


    His words made some hesitate and he didn''t even blink while saying, "kill those hesitant ones now."


    ''Yeah, that''s more I like,'' Gege laughed before some portals appeared in scattered places and those who had ill intention were instantly cleared.


    "Try to be funny," Arthur ruthlessly threatened, "and you''ll end up like them."


    This time all of them nodded and bowed their heads, moved without delay inside the garden where they would become one of his forces.


    "prepare everything for the contract now," he said to Gege while Amera and the crow flew fast to reach him in no time.


    "What about Doaf?" the crow asked.


    "Anymore enemies?" Amera asked.


    "He isn''t too far ahead," Arthur said, "and we have tons of enemies yet to kill."


    "Great, I didn''t drench my burning fire inside yet," Amera savagely sneered, "and I like this way of fighting, like this no one can stand against us!"


    "Yeah, it''s a brilliant way to fight," the crow agreed.


    "But it''s limited," Arthur helplessly said as this way was limited by Gege, "but it will be enough to save Daof and join the fight back at the sect."


    "Then we shouldn''t waste time here anymore," Amera said while glancing at the surrendering forces getting in, "what do you plan to do with them?"


    "Use them to fight for me of course."


    "You should know they would betray you at the first chance," the crow warned.


    "That''s why I''ll establish a slave contract instantly."


    "That might work," Amera muttered, "we need every ounce of strength at this war. Hopefully we gain more from it."


    "I also hope so," Arthur muttered before setting them off. In less than ten minutes he was all alone and he didn''t hurry to leave before collecting all the dead bodies of the fallen enemies all over the place.


    ''Doaf is about to get caught,'' Gege suddenly said.


    "I''m done here," Arthur spread his wings and started to fly fast, "which direction?"


    ''Just go to your left, he is less than one hour away.''


    "He moved closer?"


    ''The tree informed him about the fight here,'' Gege said, ''and he decided to shift his group of men towards here.''


    "Oh, so they were the main forces hunting him down," Arthur understood what happened, "that''s great. Now we can just go and meet him before returning to the sect."


    He paused before asking, "any news from them?"


    ''Not yet,'' Gege knew whom he was talking about, ''they need an hour and half to reach their enemies.''


    "Barely in time," Arthur nodded, "I need all the info they could get as soon as possible so I can arrange the defenses in the sect accordingly."


    ''I understand,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! Won''t you start the slave contract process now?'' the system reminded him and Arthur smiled.


    "I''ll need you to keep me flying forward while doing that," Arthur closed his eyes next and the system took over his body for the next ten minutes.


    "They are all bound now by the slave contract," the moment he opened his eyes he was pleased by this result, "over eight hundred higher realm mages with strong monster transformations is simply a great gift."


    ''Hopefully they won''t slack at the upcoming war.''


    ''Ding! If they did then he could simply kill them.''


    "Indeed," Arthur nodded as he kept flying towards Doaf''s direction.


    And Doaf seemed to keep heading towards him at fast speed as well.


    In less than half an hour, Gege said:


    ''He is almost up there.''


    Arthur extended his neck and scanned the horizon before he spotted some black dots flashing in the far horizon. "He is fast," he muttered, "is he hunted down?"


    ''The enemies around are only less than a thousand,'' Gege said.


    "Not a big deal then," Arthur knew that dealing with such forces was a breeze for Gege.


    And yet just before the two could meet up, the system suddenly shouted:


    ''Ding! Watch out!!"

 Chapter 690: A Meteorite Attack

    Just as the system shouted in warning, Arthur instantly turned around and even glanced at the ground.


    ''Ding! From above¡­ it''s a series of meteorites!'' The shout of the system made Arthur turn his head at once towards the sky where he spotted a scene that made him freeze.


    Up there were many dark dots rapidly penetrating the sky and getting bigger the more time passed. "These¡­ damn!" he couldn''t help but curse out loud before turning at once towards the nearby Doaf and realized why he was let by his enemies to come here unhindered.


    "Gege¡­ prepare portals to take all of us away," he didn''t hesitate to shout, "inform the tree to tell them to enter the portals, no question asked."


    He then pushed at once to the front while many portals started to flash miles far, yet the reach of Gege''s portals was still limited.


    ''I need the two of you to get closer,'' she shouted while Arthur glanced at the sky again, and this time the shape of these meteorites became clearer.


    Each one was like a giant island falling mercilessly towards the ground with a long tail of dark smoke and red fire engulfing them. "we have little time here," he reached to this conclusion, "we need to be swift¡­ Did you inform them already?"


    ''They are ready,'' Gege said, ''but what about you?''


    "The same," he simply said, "I''ll retreat with all and go towards the sect at once."


    ''Ding! That seems like a good plan, but those enemies are still coming after Doaf.''


    Arthur noticed that behind the small group of Doaf, another group appeared. "They want to delay us," he muttered, "but it''s also good¡­ let them come. Gege, y''know what to do, right?"


    Leave it to me,'' Gege read his mind and knew what he was thinking about. ''I promise to take them all,'' she ruthlessly said and Arthur only smiled in contentment.


    He then totally ignored the front and his eyes were attracted over the closely coming meteorites. They kept gaining speed the more they descended, and that made them across a large distance in a short time.


    Yet Arthur and Doaf''s group were fast enough to finally get closer to each other.


    "Enter now!" Arthur shouted and the next moment the army went inside the many portals around.


    Yet at this moment many attacks started to rain down on them, covering nearly the entire area they were in.


    "Leave me for later," Arthur checked again at the descending fiery rocks and realized he got two minutes at most, "let''s start hunting them down."


    ''I''ve informed everyone,'' Gege said, ''they are all ready.''


    ''Ding! This is going to be a close call,'' the system warned, ''keep a portal ready all the time next to him.''


    ''I will.''


    Arthur knew his system was just worried over him and so he didn''t argue. The next minute passed and he got so close to the large group of those suicidal monsters and mages.


    "Don''t let him run away!"


    "Trap him!"


    "Kill him!"


    Many shouts erupted and all the army started to attack him relentlessly. Yet from their far distance Arthur could easily evade their attacks, and not even a single attack landed over him.


    "Now!"


    All of sudden and just as the dense numbers of those fiery rocks got so close to his head, he shouted and Gege next acted.


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    Portals suddenly appeared, flashing in extreme speed in front of many enemies. Their sudden appearance made many unable to dodge, and all went inside the garden before the portals vanished and switched places to appear just in front of another group.


    Yet some started to take their caution and evade. Despite that and just before Arthur went into the portal next to him, most of that army was already taken inside.


    "Kill them all!"


    "Don''t let anyone live!"


    "Surrender or perish!"


    "If you don''t surrender, we''ll kill you."


    As the scene changed, the shouts came all of sudden and rained over the entire world. "It''s no different than the outside," he laughed while watching his large army hunting down the enemies without showing mercy.


    And the most brutal of all was Doaf and his men. They were pushed over the edge for so long. Being so frustrated, they didn''t hesitate to use this chance to vent out some anger.


    And Arthur stood like a death monarch over them all, observing with cold eyes the killing going on everywhere around for an entire hour before things settled at last.


    "How much did we gain?" he casually asked Doaf, Amera, and the crow when they appeared next in front of him with blood covering every single place of their faces and bodies.


    "We killed seven thousand so far," Amera laughed, "I believe this is almost one third of their entire elite forces."


    "I believe they had more than that," Arthur couldn''t help but say. He didn''t think the number hunting down Doaf to be this large. "They sent them here to die with us, and that means they don''t need them," he explained and the three exchanged silent glances together before nodding.


    "But some already surrendered," the crow finally said, which Arthur wanted to hear, "almost two thousands are ready to be enslaved."


    "Good," Arthur smiled before adding, "I''ll start the process now and you gather up everyone and go outside."


    "Isn''t the world now under meteorite rain?" Doaf strangely asked.


    "You''ll go to the sect," Arthur said, "just enter the portals and you''ll find yourselves there."


    "Great," Doaf laughed, "I didn''t vent everything yet. And I doubt my boys did."


    "But I have to warn you," Arthur stopped them before adding, "there is a flying army coming to the sect from a different direction and there might be other hidden armies as well approaching the sect as we speak."


    "This¡­" Amera muttered before suddenly laughing, "is simply one of the best fights I ever had in a long time."


    The other two viciously smiled and nodded in agreement. "Alright, go and take care of things until I return," Arthur said before adding, "and be ready, I might send you out again."


    "As long as we will kill more of those bastards then I won''t mind doing it again," Doaf said, "we managed to kill all the giants when we attacked them. Our attack came like thunder over their heads."


    "Yeah, and we killed many of their ground forces before we got hunted down," the crow said.


    "They don''t have as much power as you think," Amera added.


    "I''m sure they aren''t that weakened yet," Arthur warned, "don''t underestimate them."


    "We won''t," Doaf promised, "let''s go, I''m sure my boys will be very excited about this news."


    Arthur watched them leave before taking a deep and long breath. "Start preparing the slave contract," he said and waited while many portals took everyone here outside.


    ''They are ready,'' Gege said and then he flashed and started the slave process.


    Like this he gained an additional two thousand of those higher up fighters, yet he wasn''t that relieved yet. "I''m sure they had more, much more than that," he muttered while thinking about that brutal attack from before.


    "Can you check the region attacked by the meteorites through the tree?" he suddenly asked.


    ''No need to,'' Gege sighed, ''the devastation could be seen from even the far away sect.''


    "To this degree?" Arthur was surprised, "then it''s such a mass destruction technique¡­ we need to guard against it."


    ''Ding! I think the shield outside is sturdy enough to take such a hit,'' the system said.


    "I¡­ don''t know," Arthur shook his head, "we can''t risk it! ask Deem to start a series of dense defensive arrays to support the shield at once."


    ''I''ll pass the word,'' Gege said, ''but don''t be worried like that. Plus the mechas are about to engage with their enemies and we will get more intel about those enemies soon.''


    "Just in time," he said, "what about the other army?"


    ''It''s getting closer,'' Gege said, ''but the shockwave of that meteorite attack delayed them a bit. After all they got involved in the gigantic cloud of dust.''


    "I hope they would lose some in the middle of that," Arthur prayed, "how about saving those poisoned here?"


    ''They are still working their best to heal as many as they can.''


    "And the scanning process for the sect?"


    ''They are still midway,'' Gege said, ''the sect is really huge and they need a lot of time to finish searching every rock there.''


    "Tell them not to rush things," Arthur warned, "if we missed a place and a trap was there, then we would lose a lot."


    ''I understand.''

 Chapter 691: Knowing What Happened In The Sect

    Arthur took roughly seven hours before finally finishing binding all the prisoners. Some thought smart of themselves and tried to attack him, but at once they were trapped inside the pillar prison before some mechas came and finished them off.


    "Take me out," he didn''t hesitate to go out the moment he finished.


    As he returned to the sect, he found it more crowded than before. Everywhere there were people running right and left, while many shouts were spreading from one place to another.


    "This looks lovely," he couldn''t help but smile, "any news from the mecha scouts yet?"


    ''They should have arrived two hours ago,'' Gege said before strangely adding, ''but once reached there the connection with the tree was lost.''


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur expected such a result.


    ''Ding! That means the main army is coming from that direction,'' the system said.


    "How long before being here?"


    ``Three to four hours roughly," Gege said, ''provided that they didn''t send an elite force ahead to act as vanguard.''


    Arthur understood her meaning and was already thinking the same. "Find me Doaf, Amera, the crow, and Deem," he said, "also find those leaders of the sect. I need to get a rough idea about it."


    ''Ding! Leave this to me,'' the system was free of any task lately, and Gege didn''t object.


    Arthur stood in his place while thinking deeply about this hard fight. "Without proper intel, I can''t decide anything," he reached this conclusion as any plan lacked the essential pieces of info. "At least I would get more knowledge about this sect before dealing with the incoming threats."


    His wait didn''t last more than ten minutes before everyone he called for were gathered here.


    In addition to his men, there were six old looking men standing in front of him. He knew they were the leaders of the mountains and the sect head as well.


    "Thanks for saving our lives, venerable one," strangely the youngest of them said as he led others to bow their heads and did a kowtow to Arthur.


    And Arthur answered with cubbing his hands, a move that attracted their attention.


    "Is our venerable savior a fellow doaist as well?" the leader couldn''t help but ask before adding, "my name is Jim, and I''m the sect head."


    "I''m¡­ Willy," Arthur was about to say his name wrong yet he paused before adding, "and I used to be much interested in the ways of cultivation for a long time now."


    "Then it''s fate to meet our venerable savior," Jim said, "I believe we can help you in the training if you wish."


    "After the fight," Arthur simply said while evading answering this offer of Jim. He didn''t need any training guidance, only info that he lacked much at this moment.


    "Alright," Jim understood his meaning while his red eyes shone brighter, "I believe our odds are great. After all, the traitors who did this to us didn''t touch any of our defenses at all."


    Jim touched a sour spot in Arthur''s mind. "Don''t you feel this is a little odd?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "I believe we shall speak elsewhere," Jim said before pointing to the distant peak, "we can talk there, not much nuisance or disturbance at all."


    "Alright, follow me," Arthur turned into a dragon and that startled the cultivators for a moment before they sighed. "There are truly heavens above heavens," Jim said before taking out his sword and flew over it, following Arthur alongside his men and Arthur''s men.


    As for Deem, he was helped by the crow who let him take a ride over his back this time.


    Once they reached the peak, Arthur found no one there at all. "This is a sacred place of our sect," Jim explained when Arthur glanced in doubt towards him.


    "Now can you honestly tell me what really happened here?" Arthur finally could speak freely about these secretive issues of the recent past.


    "We¡­ got betrayed by one of our fellow daoists," Jim said with a dark face, "he was the leader of the iron peak. Very good person, or that''s what we all thought."


    He glanced at others and they all nodded. "This sect is well hidden from the eyes of the world. We mind our own business and the world minds its own," Jim added before sighing, "yet it seems our fellow doaist had another opinion in that regard."


    "Like what?" Arthur asked.


    "He¡­ believed we were declining over the recent years," Jim explained with honesty. ``He had a point there, but the solution he believed in wasn''t a really nice one. He proposed to be allied with those coming from higher realms and find ourselves a new vessel of knowledge."


    "And you rejected this proposal of his, right?" Amera asked as she could get what happened as the others around her.


    "That enraged him, however I never expected this would drive him to such madness," Jim shook his head, "our sect is specialized in karma and foretelling cultivation ways. He¡­ believed in a vision he had, and in that vision the entire sect was set on fire and we were all mercilessly killed."


    Arthur glanced in conflicted thoughts towards Jim while asking:


    "He thought your fate was sealed."


    "Our venerable daoist is truly correct," Jim bitterly said before adding, "he thought himself to be our savior. But in fact he turned out to be our executioner."


    Arthur understood what happened here. That man went lunatic and contacted the dark forces in this world. These forces gave him the poison and he spread it. "Where is he now?" Arthur asked.


    "I¡­ frankly dunno," Jim sighed and this was alone a bomb that he threw on Arthur''s face.


    "He said he would kill himself after we all went to sleep," one cultivator said.


    "I doubt someone like him would do that," yet the crow expressed his and everyone''s doubts.


    "That''s why I said  I dunno anything about his fate," Jim said, "I believe he might have retreated back to the dark forces he swore allegiance to."

 Chapter 692: The Final Plan Of This War

    "I hardly doubt that," Arthur suddenly said, "he must be here."


    "But¡­ we already scanned the entire sect and found nothing," Jim couldn''t help but say.


    "I agree with Willy," Amera said, "the deal with him was based on giving the entire sect to the dark forces. He wouldn''t leave here before fulfilling his task."


    "But he already did his part," another cultivator argued.


    "No, he only did the first part," Arthur firmly said, "I believe there is still more to do. He is here, that''s given."


    The cultivators all exchanged glances with each other before Jim said:


    "If that''s true, then he is dangerous."


    "He had access to the shields and defensive and offensive arrays here," another cultivator said.


    "Also he knew all the secret paths leading to the sect," a cultivator added.


    "Plus the weaknesses we have in our defenses."


    "This¡­" Arthur turned to Deem who hurriedly said:


    "I can deal with the arrays, but these defenses need Gor to help."


    "I''ll send for him," Arthur nodded while hearing the swift response of Gege inside his mind the next moment.


    ''I''ll let the tree tell him to come.''


    "What about places he might hide at?" Doaf asked, "we can''t enter the war with such risk."


    "We''ve already searched everywhere," Jim said.


    "Look again then," Arthur said, "and send many scouts outside and look through everywhere."


    Jim nodded as he realized the danger everyone was facing from that traitor.


    "Go now, I''ve to speak with my men," Arthur said and the cultivators all cubbed their hands before moving away.


    "Did something happen?" Doaf asked and Amera suddenly asked:


    "Has the info about the flying army finally?"


    "It came," Arthur nodded, "and we gained no intel at all," his words changed everyone''s faces to be darker.


    They already realized what he meant by that.


    "So?" the crow said, "we can''t sit here and wait for them to arrive."


    "That''s why I gathered you," Arthur said, "we need to go out again and collect the info ourselves."


    "I don''t mind that," Doaf said and Amera nodded.


    "I can''t leave here unprotected, plus this is a special force task, not a big army war," Arthur said and his words were instantly understood by everyone.


    "So we''ll only select the elites?" Amera asked, "how much?"


    "No more than fifty of each force," Arthur said, "and that includes my own forces as well."


    "Give us ten minutes and we''ll be ready," Doaf said without hesitation but Arthur hurriedly stopped them.


    "I need one to remain behind."


    They exchanged glances and he saw the challenge everyone had in their eyes. They all wanted to be part of this force and so no one spoke and volunteered to stay behind.


    And that made him helplessly smile. "I believe the crow would be the best to lead the defenses here."


    "Why me?" the crow instantly objected, "I believe those men can lead the defensive war against the invaders."


    "They look capable and know every single inch of their sect."


    "I also agree."


    The three unified against Arthur who couldn''t help but laugh.


    "That won''t do," Arthur shook his head, "they once failed to protect themselves, and letting them lead the defenses will be a major mistake."


    "So?" the crow asked.


    "You''ll stay behind and hold the fort for us."


    "Why me?" he asked again.


    "You fought the forces and got your own share of blood and revenge already," Arthur tried to reason out with him.


    "She also did the same," yet the crow wasn''t satisfied with this.


    "She¡­ is mainly offensive and hot headed," Arthur couldn''t hide his own thoughts about her.


    And in a very rare moment, she accepted such words with a big smile and firm nod. "But you are more reasonable, also strong on your own terms."


    "Kid, don''t use flattery to persuade me to stay," the crow sneered, "this fight is one that I can''t skip. However I''ll leave behind one of my trusted subordinates. He is capable and can lead any army without problems."


    Arthur glanced at him before dropping any further argument. "Alright, it''s settled then," he helplessly said, "go and prepare, and take Deem with you."


    "What should I do?" Deem asked.


    "Try to change every single array here," Arthur seriously said, "and make sure to add as many arrays as you can of all kinds. This war¡­ it''s going to be a hard one."


    "I know," Deem nodded before the crow took him on his back and left.


    "Have you notified Nara?" Arthur asked while watching the four leaving far away.


    ''She is gathering up her elites now,'' Gege said, ''and also your werewolf and the top fighters of your slaves and dragons are being selected and ready.''


    "Select all the slaves," Arthur suddenly said, "and take all the dragons with us. I''ll get inside now and turn some corpses into dragons."


    ''Alright.''


    Arthur then closed his eyes and entered the garden world where he started using his dragomancer ability to turn one hundred corpses into dragons.


    ''They are ready,'' suddenly Gege said, ''everyone has already entered here.''


    "Good, I''m almost done," he touched the last corpse and used the ability to turn it into a dragon, "let''s hope we can overcome that force."


    ''Ding! What if we can''t retreat here?'' the system suddenly said.


    ''What do you mean by that? I''m already part of his body!'' Gege said in a defensive way.


    "Explain," yet Arthur calmly said.


    ''Ding! From what I noticed, they have something to seal space and might also time. That only explains why we lost connection with that group of mechas from before.''


    "You mean¡­ like that strange technique used over my capital from before?" Arthur couldn''t help but recall that brutal fight with Mera when he first arrived here and established his first city; his capital.


    ''Ding! I mean that exactly,'' the system said, ''Ding! That way entering there means being secluded from this sect and the fight going here as well.''


    "That''s¡­ really disturbing," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "however we need intel. Let''s judge when we are there."


    ''Ding! We should think of a way before going there to be honest.''


    Arthur went into silence for a couple of moments as he knew his system''s point of view wasn''t that bad. "I really miss that old dragon now," he muttered, "he was the only one knowing many secrets of those dirty ones we are fighting now."


    ''I can try,'' suddenly Gege said, ''I can try to awaken him for a few hours at most.''


    "Really?" Arthur couldn''t help but exclaim in surprise, "great, if you managed to do that before reaching there then it would be good."


    ''Ding! What if she failed? What is plan B?''


    "Hmm¡­ let''s wrack our heads then and try to find another solution by then," Arthur couldn''t help but add, "I need to get moving now, it''s now or never."


    ''Ding! Sigh, I hope we don''t find that fate waiting for us out there.''


    "Me too hope so," Arthur nodded before opening his eyes and a cold blue light flashed in his eyes, "but hopes don''t save lives or win wars my dear friend. Only brute force and cunning do."

 Chapter 693: Jims Troublesome Vision

    "Let''s go."


    Arthur glanced at the sect before turning to leave. Yet before he could fly away, a man appeared from far heading towards him.


    ''Ding! It''s Jim,'' the system said.


    "I wonder what he wants," Arthur stopped midair while Jim crossed the distance fast.


    "My esteemed lord," he greeted Arthur, "sorry to stop you, but I have something important to say."


    Arthur nodded and Jim continued: "I''ve seen a vision just now¡­ a vision that''s so dark and¡­"


    He paused and Arthur got the message. "It''s about me, right?" and Jim nodded.


    "Alright, speak freely then," Arthur was curious about this vision and wanted to see how strong the foretelling of this sect was.


    "I saw¡­ a very big dark cloud and you went directly inside in an admirable bravery," he said before his face and words changed, "but this dark cloud is the grave of yours. Inside¡­ something very bad is awaiting for you there."


    "What?" Arthur was very interested to hear his words.


    "Another world¡­ another world filled with a grand army and a very brutal beast are waiting for you there."


    The words of Jim made the face of Arthur change, not out of fear but of realization. "Does my lord recognize what I''m speaking about?" Jim noticed this and couldn''t help but ask.


    And when Arthur glanced weirdly at him, he hurried to add, "my foretelling techniques for advanced based on how my foretelling is interpreted."


    "That makes quite sense," Arthur nodded, "if foretelling doesn''t come true or explained, then it would turn to mere fantasy and daydreaming."


    "My lord is very correct and wise," Jim couldn''t help but express his admiration.


    "What I can tell you then is that this vision of yours is true," Arthur calmly said, "but I won''t fall there, my enemies will."


    "But¡­"


    "Don''t worry, I have this feeling I won''t die there," Arthur confidently said.


    "Then I should help my lord and tell you about something I saw but couldn''t understand," Jim seemed hesitant before adding, "in our foretelling we see the future and see also a glimpse or¡­ a hint of what can change it."


    "Are your foretellings always this bad?" Arthur laughed and Jim bitterly smiled.


    "The world isn''t a nice place, my lord. But our foretelling isn''t always this dark to be honest."


    "Speak then," Arthur casually waved his hand, "I don''t mind some help."


    "Well¡­ what I saw is that the sky was opened and someone came¡­ I dunno how to describe him but he wasn''t¡­ a man like we know."


    Arthur saw the loss over Jim''s face and he didn''t get what he meant. "What does this man look like?"


    "A stick¡­ perhaps a staff¡­ dunno but what was apparent there was his color," Jim said and suddenly Arthur was hit with a realization.


    "Bronze?" he didn''t wait for Jim to speak, "he was bronze in color?"


    "H- How?!!" Jim was shocked before he got it, "oh, so my lord knows who he is."


    "Hahaha, indeed my dear Jim," Arthur laughed in content as he understood what this vision was about, "now go and don''t speak with anyone about it or even burden yourself with this fate. I''ll crush anything and come back to kill the rest of the invaders here."


    "But¡­" Suddenly Jim stopped him again and Arthur glanced in more doubt towards him. "The place I saw the vision at isn''t the direction my lord is going¡­ it''s the opposite direction."


    Jim pointed to another place, a place where an army was coming closer here. "No way!" Arthur couldn''t help but exclaim in deep shock, "are you sure?" he asked and Jim nodded.


    "I''ve been living here since my birth and I know every single rock and valley here. The place I saw my lord entering in the vision is there¡­ I''m very sure about it."


    Arthur was hesitant. The direction Jim pointed at was the direction where the army with giants was, the army his task force hit before. "How come they didn''t see it?" he couldn''t help but get lost in thoughts while not knowing what to do.


    On one hand a mysterious army is coming from the air, and from the other a vision was presented to him about another place, another army, and another possibility.


    "Screw it then," he didn''t hesitate to decide, "thanks for the vision and warning. Go back now and continue looking for that traitor."


    Jim nodded before moving away while Arthur stood his place, turned around and continued his original path without stopping.


    "My lord¡­ it''s the wrong way," Jim shouted and Arthur didn''t even turn to him anymore.


    ''Ding! Are you ditching his forecast?'' the system couldn''t help but ask.


    "Something¡­ looks fishy here," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "if I have to choose between one vision and my trusted men''s testimony, then I''ll believe my men."


    ''That Jim¡­ looks quite suspicious to me,'' Gege suddenly said.


    ''Ding! We should keep an eye over him.''


    Arthur didn''t decide fast as he was considering his options here. "Take Doaf out now," he suddenly said and the next moment Doaf came out of a portal.


    "Are we there?" Doaf couldn''t help but glance around, "oh, we are still near the sect."


    "I want to ask you about something," Arthur asked in a tone that made Doa''''s face change, "did you see any giant dark cloud back at the army you attacked?"


    "Cloud?" Doaf looked in a strange way, "no, there was only the ground army."


    "And you saw everything?" Arthur asked again.


    "We flew over the entire army," Doaf said, "fought most of the forces there and saw every single speck of dust." He paused before looking in doubt towards Arthur and asked, "is there anything we missed?"


    "We missed¡­ the traitor," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "it''s strange though¡­ How can he be a traitor and gain everyone''s recognition at the same time? Are all traitors? That''s quite impossible!"


    Doaf only kept his silence as he knew Arthur was speaking about a very crucial dilemma, even if he didn''t get anything from what he said.

 Chapter 694: The Counter Plan

    "Screw it, he must be the traitor," Arthur firmly said before adding, "I want you to go inside and start the preparations."


    "For what?"


    "My godfather¡­ he is nearby," Arthur said, "but to summon him here we''ll have a very narrow window. So, go in there and start doing everything in your hand. Everything will be under your disposal, even the pillars."


    Doaf''s face changed the next moment he heard these words. "Are you telling the truth? How did you know?"


    "Enemies sometimes might help without knowing that," Arthur only said that with a faint smile, "also tell the crow to be ready, a very important mission is ready for him."


    Doaf wanted to ask, but he knew Arthur wouldn''t say anything to him. Arthur''s face told him how dangerous the current situation was, and so he didn''t delay and went back to the garden through the portal.


    ''Shouldn''t we go back and hunt him down?'' Gege said, ''you suspect he is the traitor, and leaving him loose is very risky.''


    "And risk losing the allegiance of all the cultivators we worked so hard to save?" Arthur shook his head, "that would be stupid. Plus the best plan to counter the enemy''s is to make him believe he is winning while you prepare a surgical strike at the most crucial timing."


    ''That''s why you need the crow?''


    "That''s why I''ll need even Deem and Gor''s help as well," Arthur nodded, "send a word to the two, they must leave a backdoor in all the arrays back at the sect. everything should eventually be controlled by the two, and that includes even the arrays that hold the sect in place."


    Gege didn''t get his meaning, but he knew any sect to be established must use a myriad of arrays. Those peaks weren''t only naturally found, but also had a hand from the arrays hidden in the infrastructure of the sect.


    ''Alright, what about the crow?''


    "Take him out," Arthur muttered, "I have to explain everything for him to know what to do."


    The next moment a portal appeared and the crow looked quite unsettled.


    "I won''t accept going back to that worthless place," the moment he appeared he instantly said, "send Amera or Doaf instead!"


    "Even if the fate of the entire war resides over your actions? Over this mission''s shoulders?" Arthur calmly said and his words managed to attract the attention of the crow, silencing him from speaking anymore.


    "The traitor¡­ I believe I found him."


    "What?!" the crow instantly said, "where? Who is he? Tell me and I''ll bring his head to you."


    "It''s¡­ not that simple," Arthur sighed, "he is the leader of the sect."


    "¡­"


    The crow''s face told Arthur he realized what he was worrying about. "Are you sure?" the crow couldn''t help but ask, "that man¡­ it''s so dangerous to come near him now."


    "I know," Arthur sighed, "but I''ve a great suspicion towards him."


    "Like what?" the crow demanded an explanation, and Arthur simply explained.


    "No way we would miss such a thing back there," the crow couldn''t help but get angry, "that man is lying¡­ he is indeed a traitor. Let me get his head now!"


    He was very enraged by the hidden accusation of lying or being negligent in his task. "No, we can''t touch him now¡­ plus I don''t know if those under him know of his true colors or not."


    "This¡­" the crow paused as he realized how true Arthur''s words were, "it''s hard to decide¡­ and too risky to wait till the final battle to draw in to act."


    "So I''m leaving you behind for that," Arthur said, "I can''t let anyone impulsive like Amera to stand back. She won''t hesitate to bring his head and cause chaos amongst our forces, a thing our enemies wouldn''t dream of happening."


    "What about Doaf then?" the crow stubbornly asked, "he isn''t that impulsive and as wise as me."


    "He has another mission to handle," Arthur simply said, "I can''t entrust any of my regular forces either with this task. Y''know how crucial this mission is, a single mistake, or even a single misjudge in timing of action would result in a very drastic result."


    The crow''s face showed how conflicted he was. "Then let me go and hit those bastards coming from that side," he motioned his head towards the direction of the ground army.


    "This¡­ sigh, alright but don''t get too deep with them," Arthur couldn''t help but grant his request, "I don''t want the traitor to do whatever he wants at the start of the fight."


    "The fight won''t start unless one of the two forces arrive here," the crow tried to give more reasons to his request, "and so I would arrive here at the same time as them."


    "Just make sure to stay alive when that happens," Arthur jokes.


    "No one can take off my head this easily," the crow didn''t seem to take the joke lightly, "and I won''t fall in the same trap again, I promise you that."


    "Alright then," Arthur helplessly said, "I''ll take all your forces then and keep you informed all the time by the updates."


    The crow knew his meaning as Arthur planned to make the tree be in constant contact with him. "Also if by any chance you found that cloud, don''t engage and hurriedly inform me."


    "I''ll write back if that happened," the crow simply said, "but I doubt that cloud will appear there."


    "No harm to be cautious," Arthur said before the next moment Gege opened many portals and hundreds of crows appeared next.


    "I assume we should be hidden, right?" the crow asked.


    "It''s best to do that," Arthur nodded, "also leave a small elite force behind just in case."


    "I understand," the crow then led his army in a very wide detour around the sect so no one would spot him.


    "Keep the tree always in contact with him," Arthur said, "what about Deem and Gor?"


    ''They have got the tip,'' Gege said, ''and they promised to do their best in the time they have.''


    "They will have more than they imagined," Arthur smiled when he thought of this in another light, "at least the crow harassment will delay the speed of that approaching army."

 Chapter 695: The Big Dark Cloud Approaches

    Arthur kept flying forward while his mind was busy by the current updates at the other fronts. Every now and then Gege would speak and tell him about the latest news from the sect and the crow.


    The crow led his forces and took a route that would require at least four hours to reach the rapidly approaching army. As for the sect, Deem and Gor kept changing the arrays there without anyone noticing anything.


    Yet he wasn''t settled with all that. "One single mistake¡­" he muttered, "all it takes for me to lose is for one of them to commit a mistake."


    ''Ding! Or you make this mistake yourself,'' the system said, ''Ding! After all, you are heading directly in the direction of a trap.''


    "But they seemed not to be ready to welcome me yet," Arthur sneered, "or else why would they take the risk of exposing their spy this early."


    ''Ding! Good point,'' the system agreed, ''Ding! But that doesn''t mean they are that vulnerable.''


    "I have less than half an hour and will meet them," Arthur said, "let''s decide the best way to act when we are there."


    Just as half an hour passed fast, he spotted a large army coming towards the direction of the sect. the enemy appeared like a giant black cloud from far, and that made him recall the words of the traitor.


    "So they are forming the cloud by themselves," he said, "or they are just flying around, trying to cover it up?"


    ''The tree can''t see through their forces,'' Gege said, ''but we can take a closer look then.''


    ''Ding! Even my scout ability is forbidden to spy over them,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! You have to approach them and see with your own eyes.''


    "Make everyone ready," Arthur said in determination, "one way or another this force shall be annihilated here."


    He flapped his wings and moved fast towards the approaching big dark cloud. The closer he got, the more he became astonished by the size of this cloud.


    And as he got near the forces he realized the flying army wasn''t that big, but they were flying around the cloud, as if they were protecting it.


    "So they aren''t that mighty after all," he found the main weakness there, "but if that was their entire force, then why did these mechas vanish?"


    ''Ding! Something seems off here,'' the system warned, ''Ding! I believe you should send one mecha legion first and test this trap out.''


    Arthur nodded as he said next, "Bring me one thousand mechas."


    ''At once.''


    The next moment many portals appeared and one thousand mechas appeared from them. "Lord," they all said in greeting and deep respect before Arthur pointed towards the distant army and said:


    "I want you to scout this force. Don''t delve too deep and try to lure them away."


    "At once," they all said in unison before moving fast towards the giant cloud and flying enemies.


    The enemy didn''t have more than five thousand at the moment, a force that wasn''t too big to cause a threat to Arthur.


    Yet something kept bothering him about them so he decided to stay back and watch in anticipation while his mechas were getting closer to their enemies.


    Just as the mechas appeared in a big formation, the enemy started to show an activity. Suddenly a group moved higher in the air, few but with larger bodies than others.


    Yet Arthur couldn''t see their features quite well from such a far distance.


    "Willy, I know you are here somewhere," suddenly one of them spoke up and strangely his voice was so loud to be heard by Arthur. "Come forth or else these two beauties will lose their lives here."


    The next moment two smaller bodies appeared underneath that group of ten big monsters. Arthur didn''t see clearly their faces yet from their general physiques he could tell who they were.


    "Damn! They are using the two girls as a card against me," he couldn''t help but curse out loud while clenching his two fists together in rage. "They want me to come out¡­ they can''t attack me directly then," he started to calm down himself while watching the fight between his mechas and the flying monsters erupt.


    And the fight was very intense from the start while his forces had an upper hand over their enemies despite their smaller numbers.


    "Stubborn as I heard¡­ alright, say farewell to them then," that monster waved his hand and next the two bodies fell from such height and instantly vanished inside the big cloud.


    And Arthur felt deep pain at this moment but he didn''t move an inch. He knew this was done to lure him out, and that only would serve the purposes of his enemies, not his.


    ''Ding! The mechas are stronger, but they are fewer,'' the system suddenly said.


    "Send more mechas out," Arthur slowly said.


    ''And Doaf? Amera?'' Gege asked in doubt.


    "Make them ready, I doubt they would only learn such tactics alone without any other underhanded moves."


    Gege didn''t argue as she brought up many mechas and they started to move in a big move towards the front enemies.


    "Not planning to move out?" the monster suddenly laughed, "alright, our mission in this pathetic realm is done. We will teach you how wars are waged in the higher realms."


    He waved his hand and the next thing happened was for that black cloud to get enlarged fast. The speed it moved kept increasing while Arthur felt a bad omen from such a move.


    ''Retreat?'' Gege asked.


    ''Ding! I doubt we can do that!''


    "Make everyone ready¡­ bring all the mechas home," he said before ruthlessly adding, "it''s as that traitor said, I''ll have to fight in another realm and that would only mean my godfather will finally arrive here."


    ''But it''s still risky,'' Gege warned.


    "Who said it would be safe?" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh while watching many portals flashing around, "I bet we are heading to the world with many higher realm mages and that distasteful monster Mera tried to summon before. It will be hard, but we will also be easily connected to higher realms."


    ''Ding! What''s the plan?'' the system asked while the cloud started to accelerate further and swept everything in its way, including the enemies.


    "We''ll all help Doaf to finish contacting him first," Arthur muttered with a gratified tone, "then we should try to stay alive until he arrives."


    ''That''s¡­ a bad plan!''


    ''Ding! It has many loopholes!''


    "But it has a chance of success," Arthur smiled, "and in that vision I managed to pull such a feat at the end."


    ''I hope it won''t cost us everything,'' Gege sighed, ''what about the world here?''


    "Just tell them this simple message¡­ they are on their own¡­ for now," Arthur stopped talking next while that giant cloud moved fast and instantly engulfed him.


    Then all the lights of the world vanished while he was covered by black ash with thin fiery wisps dancing like he was inside a hurricane.

 Chapter 696: The Higher Realm

    Arthur kept moving forward without any control on his body. The attraction force was getting fiercer with time, and he eventually lost track of time.


    "Boom!"


    All of sudden he crashed down a large forest with trees covered in snow. His landing was so rough that he penetrated the depth of the thick layer of snow and created a deep groove at the ground.


    "I hate such landings," he cursed while standing up. His body was feeling sour all over but he didn''t even check any of his wounds before checking the surroundings.


    "It''s a snow world then," he muttered to himself when he saw the whiteness covering everything around. "Bring Doaf out," he said before taking out a healing potion.


    ''Ding! My scout isn''t working here either,'' the system suddenly said before a portal appeared and Doaf stood out of it.


    "What is this place?" he glanced around in doubt while Arthur explained the facts in simple phrases to him.


    "Oh¡­ let me check the world then," Doaf took out a strange orb before pressing hard on it. the next moment that orb which Arthur thought to get crushed resisted the mighty force of this giant.


    And then it started to shine.


    "It''s¡­ one of the highest planes¡­ damn!" Doaf cursed the moment he saw the intense red light coming from that orb.


    "So they moved us here¡­ interesting," Arthur cracked a wide smile before adding, "now everything rests upon your shoulders."


    Doaf glanced at him in silence while understanding what Arthur wanted. "Leave it to me," he said before turning around, "but this is such a bad place to stay at."


    "I know," Arthur fixed his gaze upon a far distant series of white mountains, "what do you think of that place?" he motioned towards these mountains and Doaf nodded.


    "The issue isn''t about the place itself, but about how you''ll survive here," Doaf muttered, "I believe even the weakest monsters here can kill you. Not to mention the fully powerful enemies who will use their full strength head on."


    "I know," Arthur calmly nodded, "but there is no way to let them move such a place to the sect or else we would have lost the entire war."


    "This war¡­ is quite disadvantageous to us from the start," Doaf sighed, "we shouldn''t have taken a role in it in the first place."


    "We have to," Arthur nodded, "gaining one more ally and demolishing one of the enemies'' trump cards is very crucial to our survival. Besides, through here we would have a way to get connected to my godfather."


    "That''s true," Doaf nodded, yet he wasn''t convinced with Arthur''s logic.


    And Arthur could only sigh.


    "Evading a battle for now seems wise indeed," he honestly said, "but one day they''ll come knocking over our doors and crushing everything we worked so hard to build. I won''t allow that to happen and won''t resign to false safety by closing my eyes upon their deeds."


    This time Doaf seemed to slightly accept his logic, yet he didn''t express any of his thoughts.


    "Do you need me out here then?" he asked.


    "I have to cross this distance on my own," Arthur said, "one man is better than two than an army."


    Doaf nodded, turned around and muttered. "Please don''t die," then he vanished inside the portal, leaving Arthur alone.


    "Gege, don''t sleep now," he simply muttered before deciding to walk on the ground, taking cover of the woods to hide his presence.


    After all, flying right now seems quite risky for various reasons.


    ''Don''t worry, I still have long hours for my next nap.''


    ''Ding! I''m pissed off by the blockage my abilities have,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! Without a scout you are walking in the dark.''


    "Can''t the tree connect to this world?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    ''I''ll ask her then,'' Gege said before vanishing for a couple of minutes. ''I''ve good news and some bad news.''


    Arthur bitterly smiled before saying, "Give me all at once."


    ''The good news first then,'' she said, ''the tree can connect to this world, but her abilities are very limited to an area of ten thousand miles only.''


    "That''s¡­ a very great thing for now," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh.


    Yet the moment he did, his roars suddenly appeared in a physical form, startling him. He glanced at the dark blue electric waves emitted from his mouth before hitting a distant group of trees.


    "Boom!"


    And next a loud bang erupted making him freeze for a moment out of deep shock.


    "That¡­ what just happened here?" he couldn''t help but stutter while glancing at the intensely burning trees up front.


    ''Ding! Higher realm with new rules¡­ you should watch out and not laugh from now on,'' the system laughed while Arthur went silent before moving as fast as he could.


    "I''ve attracted a lot of attention now," he kept changing his directions all the time while trying to get himself as far away as possible from here. "Hopefully I will run away quickly before they arrive."


    ''Don''t worry, as from the three words the main army is stationed thousands of miles far to the south,'' Gege suddenly said, ''and only a few teams are situated around this big forest. However¡­''


    "What?" Arthur urged her to continue.


    ''This forest is filled with strange monsters. From what she told me I can guess no one is a push over.''


    ''Ding! But we have his roars,'' the system was still laughing, ''Ding! Nothing can stop him now if he just laughs.''


    ''Making him laugh isn''t that hard,'' Gege joined him in mocking Arthur, ''Do you want to try it now?''


    "Silence you two," Arthur wasn''t in the mood to hear their jokes, "how that old man is doing now?"


    ''Sigh, I tried to wake him many times but he seems to be in deep sleep for now,'' Gege helplessly said, ''I''ll need more time to awaken him.''


    "I hope he wakes up before it''s too late," Arthur couldn''t help but shake his head, "and he would be of good use by then."


    ''There is also one small problem,'' Gege said, ''the tree can''t connect to the previous world.''


    "That''s¡­ quite expected," Arthur deeply muttered, "but it''s not that bad. I''m sure they would fare well on their own."


    ''Ding! Also the time here is running differently than the lower realm,'' the system said, ''Ding! So staying for days or even weeks here won''t take much time back there.''


    "They had a few hours before the attack," Arthur bitterly said.


    ''Ding! And you took away one grand army off the table, and only that traitor remained with the weakened ground forces.''


    Arthur couldn''t argue with that. He went into silence before asking:


    "Can you keep me updated on the places of the monsters here? I don''t want to start a fight now before going to these mountains."


    ''Alright,'' Gege then started to give him directions while the system kept his silence alongside Arthur. Arthur''s speed was unparalleled but he doubted those in this world were any much slower than him.


    In fact he was resisting the urge to fight a monster here and try out their powers, and his. He knew his powers would be limited, but his grand sword technique would stand out, alongside his newly discovered roaring ability.

 Chapter 697: Fight Inside A New Realm

    Despite him trying his best to evade the monsters, the monsters kept converging and cornering him with time.


    ''Sigh, there is no other way then but to move up front and kill that monster,'' Gege said, ''without it being eliminated, you''ll be surrounded by over a hundred monsters in the next half an hour.''


    ''Ding! You should try your best then, should we summon Doaf and others?''


    "And create a scene?" Arthur stopped abruptly before adding, "how strong is it?"


    ''Dunno¡­'' Gege said after a momentary pause.


    "Alright, let''s try my technique and roar against it then," Arthur smiled despite being forced to fight this monster.


    After all he craved to know how strong he was compared to those in this world.


    He started the steps needed to activate his technique while heading towards the direction of that monster. The area was covered in dense towering trees, as this was the nature of this forest.


    So he didn''t see the monster but the monster seemed to know exactly his location.


    ''It has the body of a tiger and the head of a lion. With a body that seemed no less than double of Doaf''s size I believe it wouldn''t be a problem,'' Gege tried to reassure him, but he knew this wasn''t a body size contest.


    "The energy and the nature of its attacks are what matter," he said before finally generating his sword phantom, and he was startled the moment he saw this.


    "It has shrunk!" he said in surprise before realizing the reason, "so my golden energy can''t even compete too much with this world''s energy¡­ interesting."


    ''It''s coming,'' Gege suddenly said and the next moment the face of Arthur changed to show a serious look over his face.


    He knew this fight would be hard, but he had to go through this on his own.


    "Roar!"


    The next moment he spotted many trees trembling and even some moved to the side, falling to the ground alongside the mighty roar that erupted from the monster.


    And in less than a minute he finally spotted his enemy.


    It was like what Gege described, except it had a very long, thick and seemingly heavy tail that it dragged over the ground.


    And it was covered with thick scales and ended up with a long spear-like needle.


    "It''s like a scorpion," Arthur muttered, recalling his queen, "let''s fight the bastard."


    The monster roared in response to his words as if it accepted the challenge. The next moment the monster kicked the ground and ran in a very swift agility that didn''t look natural considering its huge body.


    And Arthur didn''t stand still as he moved to the side, barely evading the deadly claws of that monster before hitting the thick skin with his sword phantom.


    "Crack!"


    He felt like hitting a sturdy rock with a stick, and the stick seemed to get bent over the surface of the rock. "Damn, it''s such sick skin," he cursed out loud before turning to the side and saw that heavy tail moving fast towards him.


    And that long needle was aiming for his head.


    "Screw you," Arthur didn''t stop and kept running forward while hitting the thick skin of that monster. Just before the needle could reach him, he bent his knees and glided over the frost on the ground while waving his sword towards the needle.


    "Swoosh!"


    The needle passed over his head fast, yet his sword came in time and caused a deep cut in the narrow junction of the tail and the needle.


    "Roar!"


    The monster roared in extreme pain yet Arthur didn''t stop there. "The weakness¡­ I found it!" he gladly laughed in excitement before stopping his body abruptly.


    Using the snow on the ground he leaned his body forward and darted like an arrow towards that tail. Yet at this moment another thing happened.


    His laugh turned into a physical attack of a roar. The electrical arcs danced before hitting the body of the monster and deeply hurting its thick skin and heavily armored tail.


    "Having such a weakness and trying to defend it¡­ you are smart," Arthur said while laughing again and launching another wave of attack towards the monster. "Submit to me and be my pet¡­ I like those smart monsters like you."


    "Roar!"


    And the monster roared in defiance and deep resentment towards him. "As you like," Arthur laughed again, adding more pain to the monster while the latter tried to turn around all the time to get rid of Arthur.


    But Arthur wouldn''t allow it to escape after finding such a weak spot.


    "Clang!"


    "Crack!"


    "Boom!"


    Arthur kept hitting the monster while some attacks hit the monster''s thick skin and others landed over the tail successfully. The tail was so long and heavy, and that seemed an advantage before but now it was a liability.


    Arthur kept hitting the monster from the side while the area around started to change its topography. Trees fell to the ground and many parts of the ground got their frost skin removed. Amidst all the whiteness in the place, these spots looked like deep wounds in the ground.


    "Die!" Arthur laughed again as he kept hitting the tail until it finally got separated. A gush of thick red blood erupted the next moment, and he didn''t stop there.


    He inserted his phantom sword deep in that wound, extending the blade to reach inside the monster.


    "Roar!" The monster felt immense pain before it hit Arthur''s body with it. Arthur''s body was sturdy, yet he was pushed to the side tens of meters, rolling on the ground before finally stabilizing.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Yet the next moment the monster kept roaring in strange agony that alarmed Arthur. "Damn! Is he calling out his friends?"


    ''Other monsters aren''t responding to its callings at least,'' Gege said to reassure him before the system gave the perfect explanation to him.


    ''Ding! It''s your scales¡­ they darted and hit its body and wound when it hit you.''

 Chapter 698: Killing Three Giant Snakes

    "Oh¡­ I never thought they were this effective," Arthur checked his body and found many places void of his scales. Those lost were slowly replaced with others, but he didn''t care about that.


    He moved slowly towards the front while watching that giant monster fall on the ground with weakening roars. It was dying, and Arthur never thought his scales would do such a thing.


    "They¡­ are eating it from inside," once he reached the side of the monster he saw the wounds caused by his scales.


    The wounds were getting deeper of its own will, while the tips of the scales were melting away and that added more to the agony of the monster.


    ''Ding! Your power contains an erosive effect from the start,'' the system explained, ''Ding! So it''s no wonder they can do such damage to this monster.''


    ''Take it in and I''ll keep watching it,'' Gege suddenly said, ''other monsters are getting closer now. You''ve a narrow window to escape.''


    "Alright," Arthur put his hand over the body of the monster, taking it all inside his garden world and leaving nothing behind.


    He then turned around and started running as fast as he could, leaving behind a very devastated area of land with a wide batch of red hot blood.


    As he kept running forward for an hour, he finally got himself out of the trap these monsters were trying to lure him in. "These monsters are funnier than those in previous realms," he couldn''t help but say while receiving a new intel about another trap.


    ''This time there are three monsters blocking the path upfront,'' Gege said, ''and you need to kill them to get past that new trap.''


    ''Ding! I believe they must have some sort of a leader,'' the system said, ''Ding! Or else how can they arrange such perfect traps in such a short time?''


    ''But they aren''t from the same type of monsters,'' Gege argued, ''those up front have the bodies of great snakes with heads of a bird.''


    "I hope they don''t have a boss," Arthur honestly said, "or else this won''t end and I can''t even go to hunt that boss down."


    ''Ding! You should get the help of Doaf and others,'' the system advised.


    "Not yet, I can deal with them on my own," Arthur was still feeling he had more strength to uncover in this world. "If things went bad then I can always summon them, right?"


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    The system and Gege didn''t find any benefit to his actions. After all, his goal was to get to the mountain and take shelter there. Starting to fight monsters here was such a risky move the two didn''t agree upon.


    Yet Arthur had another opinion. "Through fighting I can adapt and get stronger," he muttered as he felt their objection to his actions, "and I need to know what powers I can unleash in this world."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    Yet the two kept their silence while he only sighed.


    ''They are up front,'' Gege warned, ''try to end this fast as more monsters are drawing near.''


    "I''ll do my best," Arthur decided to ditch his plan to play with these monsters for a while and decided to use all his might from the beginning.


    Just in matters of minutes, the trees up front were smashed and fell to the sides while three giant snakes appeared with strange bird heads and very thick overlapping scales covering their bodies.


    One was as long as one hundred meters, coiling its black body around itself while still moving forward with the help of its strong ponytail.


    The second one was slightly shorter, around seventy meters only, but its dark yellow body was thicker than the first one and it had two long fangs coming off its big and wide mouth.


    The third one was around ninety meters, and it had two small wings on the sides of its brown body.


    "They even aren''t from the same species," Arthur muttered before moving fast to the front and started attacking first using his laughs.


    "Damn!" Yet the next moment these snakes evaded his attack with perfect timing while twisting their bodies around him, putting him in the center in such a swift move.


    "They are fast," this time he didn''t plan to hide all his powers as he flapped his wings and soared in the air moments before the three started their attacks.


    Each rose its head high in the air, arched it to point its opened mouth over Arthur and a strong fountain of strange liquid erupted, aiming to hit him.


    Yet he just managed to evade this, while watching the frost ground getting eroded and burnt away like a fountain of lava just felt over it.


    "I can''t get hit by any of those," Arthur decided, "make Camera ready, I might need her help soon."


    He didn''t hurry to summon her as he wanted to see if he could sustain the pressure against these monsters or not.


    ''Just don''t summon her too late,'' Gege sighed and he just turned around all of sudden and let his body slam hard over the dark green snake.


    "Don''t worry," he laughed before his sword hit the body of the snake finally, creating sparks of fire before creating a wound.


    Then he was forced to fly again, evading the attacks coming from the other two snakes.


    "Hiss!"


    The dark green hissed loudly in sudden pain when the two attacks landed over the wound he just created. "They can help," he laughed and he directed his roars towards the wound, adding more agony to the snake.


    He went then towards the next one, the black giant snake. "Damn! You run so fast!`` Yet as he tried to get near it, the snake kept running around, evading his pursuit while the other two snakes kept attacking him from the ground.


    A strange fight erupted between flying low blue dragons against three moving fast on the ground giant snakes. Sometimes they tried to hit him using their spraying poison, and other times they used their tails and even the widely opened mouths and their intimidating looking fangs.


    Eventually they had to use everything they got while he kept dancing, rising up and falling down, flying to the side and hitting each one of their giant bodies with much difficulty.


    As time passed on, their bodies littered in many wounds before he finally sneered. "Time to end this," he finally stopped moving and received a triple direct hit from their tails, sending his body flying violently to one direction before slamming in the ice and creating a long groove over the brown dirt.


    "It worked!" yet he wasn''t worried by the fall or the wounds he got, but with the effect of his sudden rampage of deadly scales.


    As he was physically hit, the scales darted towards everywhere. From such a close distance the snakes couldn''t evade the flashing scales. Alongside their speed, the wounds covering up their bodies let them easily penetrate deeply inside their flesh.


    And they wailed in extreme pain while twisting their bodies and raising their heads up high before finally slamming strongly over the ground.


    "Come inside," he didn''t hesitate to take them into his garden before flapping his wings and started to fly low, fly fast through the forest with extreme focus to not hit any tree on his hastily reatreating path.


    ''That¡­ was close,'' and Gege sighed when he finally managed to slip from the tiny gap created by the death of the three snakes.


    "But I won at the end," he said while taking some healing pills and potions. "Is the path now clear?"


    ''For now,'' Gege didn''t promise anything, ''but you need to move faster, or else a bigger trap would be formed again.''


    And without speaking much he started to flap his wings fiercely while trying his best to evade trees.


    And if he couldn''t he simply slammed at some, making them explode in the air, falling hundreds of meters away.

 Chapter 699: Calling Amera Out

    "So near¡­ yet still so far," Arthur shook his head while bitterly glancing at the large number of monsters blocking his way to the mountains up ahead.


    He managed to push himself and speed up his run all the way through the forest. Eventually he had to give up evading trees as this consumed time and slowed him down.


    And so he turned into a rocket, moving in an indomitable speed towards the front, not caring about anything and smashing everything he met.


    But all went into nothing when he finally was trapped by this large number of monsters of different kinds.


    ''They went faster than you,'' Gege said, ''and I''m still amazed by their ability to track you down despite your fast speed.''


    ''Ding! There is a leader to these monsters, there should be one,'' the system said.


    "I agree with that," Arthur nodded, "but I can''t tell where or which is the leader."


    ''Ding! Such one won''t show itself to us now, at least not early on. It would remain hidden and stay shielded and safe from any harm.''


    ''Should I bring everyone then?'' Gege asked and Arthur didn''t have a choice but to comply.


    "Alright, bring Amera and her boys out," he said, "leave Doaf in his own matters."


    ''He should be about to finish,'' Gege said, ''should I bring him as well?''


    "No, Amera is enough."


    ''As you wish.''


    The next moment many portals flashed while the roars of the monsters filled the entire world. The monsters didn''t stop and watched their prey like he did, as they started running towards him.


    Like racing with each other about  who would be the first one to reach him, and who would be the lucky one to kill him.


    "You really are something in selecting the right places to summon me," Amera came out and laughed when she noticed the large number of rapidly approaching monsters.


    "I hope this can satisfy my girl," Arthur joked and she seemed to enjoy his joke and laughed.


    "Alright, stand in formation and kill as much as you want," she suddenly shouted before turning to him, "is it safe to use all of our powers? It feels like ages to be in such a high realm."


    She took a deep breath and seemed to enjoy the feeling of being here. "No restrictions or power sealed¡­ I''m finally able to fight to my heart content."


    Yet she didn''t move and waited for his call.


    And Arthur realized that Doaf must have spoken with her before about the circumstances here. "Do whatever you like, after all our final front will be these mountains."


    He pointed to the nearby mountains and she viciously smiled. "That''s much better," she then vanished as she moved at very fast speed, even creating an afterimage before slamming her spear on the nearest monster, instantly killing it.


    "I shouldn''t be left behind my girl," he laughed before moving as well and joined the fight.


    For him, it was a hard fight. He needed a couple of strikes, many maneuvers, and utmost concentration to deal with these monsters.


    Always aimed towards their weak points, and from all the fight and run so far he generally had a view over the weak points of these monsters.


    "Either hit them on the tail or use their own attacks against each other," he muttered before turning to glance in envy towards Amera and her army.


    For them fighting here was like a walk in the park. The monsters never caused a challenge to them, as they only needed one hit each time to kill a monster.


    "Sigh, those coming from the higher realms are real monsters," he couldn''t help but sigh while recalling the large army of his enemy approaching slowly over here, "I hope Doaf can find a way in time or else¡­"


    He doubted his ability to defend for a long time against such assault. Even against seemingly weak monsters like these, he found extreme difficulty to kill them.


    Yet for Amera and others, they never broke a sweat even after half an hour of constant fighting.


    "I told you she is enough," Arthur couldn''t help but say when he saw the devastated ground around, littered with dead monster bodies.


    ''She¡­ I never saw her this strong before!'' Gege said as an excuse.


    ''Ding! This is their real realm, and she and others just regained their full powers back,'' the system said and Arthur simply nodded.


    "Now what?" Amera appeared instantly in front of him while her men were chasing what remained of such a great monster army.


    "We shall go up there and fortify ourselves," Arthur motioned to the mountains which he was now at their feet.


    "Y''know this won''t stop anyone from this realm, right?" Amera said in doubt, "they won''t find a problem in flying and attacking us from the sky."


    "At least they won''t attack easily from the ground," Arthur said, "and the sky can be protected by many arrays and defensive towers."


    "You have towers?" Amera asked in doubt, "and don''t tell me you plan to use those weak things from your realm."


    And her words made Arthur pause without saying a single word.


    "Oh boy¡­ this is a higher realm," she shook her head, "you can''t deal with this world using the knowledge of the weaker realms. Here everything is far stronger, even the energy itself is much different."


    "I¡­ know that," he bitterly said, "but I have nothing else to do except to use what I have."


    She glanced for a moment before asking, "how long do we have?"


    "Less than five days," Arthur said based on the estimation of the tree.


    "And the number of our enemies?"


    "More than five hundred thousand," he said, "at least."


    "That''s¡­" her face changed before abruptly saying, "oh, so that''s why you sent him wrecking havoc inside¡­ I now understand."


    She meant Doaf and her words made him wonder what he was doing down there. "But it''s the only hope we have," she sighed, "I doubt we appeared in a world with any allying forces nearby."

 Chapter 700: A Strange Monster

    "I dunno much about the state of the world here," he honestly said while starting to collect the dead bodies.


    "It''s guaranteed they won''t send us to a place where help might be present," she said while watching him jumping around, "what are you doing?"


    "Collecting trophies," he joked.


    "These aren''t strong enough to be used even for cooking," she sighed, "your Golam''s meat is much better than these common and worthless pests."


    Arthur didn''t speak and he didn''t explain the purpose he was collecting these bodies for. After all, he wanted to summon five hundred strong dragons in the next five days using these bodies.


    "Alright, let me in and I''ll start working my ass for you," she finally said as if she had no other choice, "I''ll make everyone work like slaves for you¡­ you should thank me later after we escape from this place with our heads intact."


    "I''ll invite you for dinner," he joked.


    "This¡­ sigh, you are just hopeless," she dropped what she wanted to say, "bring me in. and be careful, those mountains are filled with stronger foes than what you met here."


    "Thanks," he honestly said before Gege summoned the portals again and they all entered them.


    ''Yawn! I feel sleepy!''


    Just after this Gege yawned and that startled Arthur. Yet he realized he would have to remain here for five days waiting for the army to arrive. "Go and get good sleep¡­ you deserved it," he said and she didn''t even return his words as she went to sleep right away.


    ''Ding! She is a fast sleeper,'' the system said before laughing, ''Ding! Like a little kid.''


    "We need to think of ways to make the fight more advantageous to us," he said while starting to go towards the mountain, "any thoughts?"


    ''Ding! Against that army? I think it was a mistake coming here.''


    "I had to," Arthur firmly said, "or else I would have faced this fate in a more desperate moment."


    The system didn''t argue with him as he knew what he was speaking about. ''Ding! The only hope lies with that old man. I hope he wakes up soon.''


    "Me too," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh while starting to flap his wings and climb the mountain in front of him.


    The mountains here were so huge, towering beyond the layer of clouds like castles floating on the clouds. Arthur decided to go up there, towards the peak of one mountain, and select a place there to fortify.


    He knew what Amera said was true, as the arrays he got wouldn''t be useful in this world. "I hope she can make enough," he muttered while thinking of this fight as impossible to win and a crucial one to win.


    "Winning here would put an end to the entire quest I have," he muttered, trying to cheer himself up, "after all those forces would lose their strongest backing and I''ll get my backing back. Conquering that intermediate realm would be a piece of cake."


    ''Ding! Yet it all depends on the success of Doaf to contact him,'' the system said, ''Ding! And don''t forget you already summoned him before and he didn''t answer.''


    "I¡­ dunno if he got the message or not," Arthur expressed his doubts, "but this time I''ll be sure he got it."


    ''Ding! Then pray he isn''t busy defending his own life when he gets this message.''


    Arthur went silent and didn''t say anything back. After all, something deep down kept bugging him about his godfather. "He will come," he firmly said while hoping for the best.


    Just as he was midway up the mountain, he felt like being eyed by a hidden being. He didn''t stop but started to be very vigilant to everything around.


    "I hope I don''t pump into something crazy," he deeply muttered while the higher he climbed the stronger this feeling became, "I can''t use my full powers now with her absence."


    ''Ding! I can''t help, after all this world''s suppression force is very powerful over me,'' the system bitterly said.


    Yet before Arthur could respond, he saw a flash moving fast half a mile above his head. He stopped while holding his phantom sword in extreme vigilance before muttering:


    "Bring out the dead bodies now, I''ll turn them all here into dragons."


    ''Ding! Now?''


    "Don''t waste time¡­ bring them now!" Arthur was stressed by the mysterious enemy and he wanted to be much prepared.


    He thought of summoning Amera again, but like this he wouldn''t be able to cross the mountains without her being on his side.


    And if he wanted to have more options in the upcoming war, he should refrain from disturbing her every now and then.


    ''Ding! Alright, I''ll bring them all out now,'' the system then summoned a hundred dead monster bodies and surrounded them all over Arthur.


    Yet something weird next happened the next moment after these bodies appeared.


    The moment the area around was covered with dead bodies, a black shadow descended fast and landed over them with no alarm before it started to feast over the bodies.


    And at this moment Arthur managed to spot that monster while feeling deeply threatened.


    It was like a giant eagle with a head of a dragon and tail of a tiger. The body was covered with thick brown and yellow fur that shone brightly under the sun rays and made it very eye catchy.


    Plus its body size was much bigger than any monster Arthur met so far in this world.


    "Roar!" the monster swallowed dozens of dead bodies before roaring at Arthur. Arthur didn''t feel any threat coming from this roar but it was as if it was asking for something.


    "Want more?" Arthur couldn''t help but smile, "eat these first and I can give you more."


    "Roar!"


    The monster roared and Arthur thought to see a flashing smile of happiness over the monster''s face. He watched the monster gulping all the dead bodies before standing in front of him and waiting.


    ''Bring him more," Arthur said and the next moment another batch appeared.


    And the monster even jumped up in extreme happiness before swallowing more bodies without any delay.

 Chapter 701: Baby Monsters

    Arthur watched the monster eating others in silence while the monster seemed to be enjoying this free and rich meal.


    "Roar!"


    Just midway, the monster suddenly stopped, roared towards Arthur before pointing its head towards the dead bodies.


    "I¡­ don''t understand," Arthur said and the monster then came towards him in a swift move that brought it in front of Arthur in just a mere second.


    And before Arthur could react, the monster rubbed its huge body with his body. The head itself was so big to cover the entire dragon body of Arthur, and that made Arthur feel weird.


    Then he patted the head of the monster and the monster closed its eyes.


    "You want to be friends with me then?" Arthur asked and the monster seemed to understand his words and accepted them with a nod of its face.


    "Roar!"


    Yet it grabbed Arthur''s claw with its strange mouth before dragging him towards the place of the dead bodies.


    Then it pointed to these bodies and Arthur.


    "You want me to carry them for you?" Arthur asked and the monster suddenly nodded in strange excitement.


    "Alright," Arthur went and touched and took inside his garden every single body remaining.


    "Roar!"


    Then the monster flapped its wings and flew high in the air, and Arthur simply followed.


    With such a monster on his side, he wasn''t worried about facing any monster right now.


    As the two kept flying, they headed directly towards the cloud layer up above before penetrating it. the next moment another world appeared in front of Arthur''s eyes.


    "All of these¡­" Arthur was deeply shocked when he saw the large number of smaller monsters covering the peak they were heading towards.


    All of them looked like a miniature version of that monster, and in the area above that peak, and under the shining rays of the clear sun, many large monsters shone brightly and gave Arthur an instant scare.


    "Roar!"


    Yet the monster he had on his side roared and the next these monsters all gathered around the two, flew in unison like they were greeting their king or welcoming a deadly foe.


    And Arthur didn''t know which of these two possibilities was truly happening here.


    "Buddy, I''m not an enemy for all of them," Arthur helplessly muttered and the monster roared back and the monsters all went down and stood on the ground silently.


    And that was a direct message for Arthur who realized he befriended a big shot in this large group of monsters.


    "Roar!"


    The monster then turned to Arthur and roared before heading directly towards the weak and small monsters at the ground.


    And Arthur followed.


    "They¡­ are dying!" The moment Arthur reached the ground he could now tell how bad these smaller monsters'' condition was.


    He even saw some dead monsters and he could now tell the reason.


    Those monsters couldn''t fly and seek for food, and that made them liable to hunger.


    "You want me to feed them?" Arthur asked and the monster roared and nodded in agreement. "But I don''t have enough for them," Arthur warned.


    "Roar!"


    The monster then gulped out a large piece of digested meat. For Arthur that seemed disgusting, but for those weak and helpless monsters it was a rich meal.


    An instantly large number of smaller monsters had the sudden energy gushed inside their bodies and they all jumped over the small piece of meat and even fought together over it.


    "Roar!"


    The monster motioned its head towards those who ate a piece of this meat and Arthur could see their condition improving fast. Their weak and wasted muscles started to beat like a heart being revived from death.


    Yet that didn''t last for long as the muscles stopped their signs of improvement and returned to their calm state.


    "So a small amount is enough to make them alive¡­ I can do that," Arthur promised before adding, "bring all the monsters out¡­ and take out those stored inside the garden," he said to his system before adding, "bring forth half of the entire monster population in batches."


    ''Ding! But that will take some time,'' the system warned, ''Ding! I''m not Gege or have the access to control many portals.''


    "Just bring them slowly," Arthur said before glancing at the monster and added, "I''ll bring forth many monsters and you have to kill them for your babies to feed."


    The eyes of the monster shone brightly the moment monsters started to come forth from Arthur''s garden. Despite them being low leveled monsters compared to those in this world, they were large in number and seemed enough to feed these hungry babies here.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    And all of sudden the monster roared and the others standing around and eyeing Arthur roared as such. The entire world seemed to be filled only with their roars and instantly a large group of adult monsters attacked the ones Arthur took out.


    And some ate them, and others were left for the babies to feed.


    In fact those small monsters weren''t that helpless towards the monsters Arthur took out. They were able to directly kill these monsters and feast over their flesh without the help of the adult ones.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Suddenly another wave of roars erupted, coming from other peaks as if the apocalypse descended upon this world.


    "You¡­ have more hungry babies around?!!" and Arthur couldn''t help but mutter in deep shock while watching a large number of adult monsters rising up from near and far peaks.


    The scene was epic, as long tongues of shining monsters appeared coming out of each peak like a grand phenomenon was about to happen.


    And Arthur suddenly felt his scalp numb, thinking what would have happened if he didn''t meet the monster and help it here.


    Facing all those huge and strong monster armies seemed suicidal. Between the army drawing close to here and those monsters, Arthur wouldn''t hesitate to choose the army.


    At least he would have a chance to kill some of his enemies before falling, not like here. If he faced a single monster of those, he doubted he could even pull a move or two before being killed.

 Chapter 702: The King of Monsters Is Born

    And they would feast on his flesh the next moment without mercy.


    "Roar!" the monster roared, in warning and anger this time, as it pointed its head towards the incoming monsters like they were trespassing its own territory.


    "Easy buddy," yet Arthur suddenly said before approaching the monster and patting its head, "there is enough for everyone, but¡­ they have to subside to you."


    The monster suddenly raised its head as a sudden realization hit it. it glanced at Arthur as if it was trying to confirm what Arthur said.


    "Just make them submit to you and listen to your orders and I promise to make them eat all their babies until they grow up."


    Arthur wasn''t exaggerating here. Just in the little time it passed he noticed many babies had their muscles bulge and their bodies grew a few inches after eating the meat.


    Eating had such a miraculous effect over their malnourished bodies. It seemed after such a long time without proper feeding, their bodies were craving for energy to grow.


    And once had such a chance, their bodies started to show transformations which made Arthur grow a sudden thought inside his mind.


    Controlling that monster was a blessing, and now all he needed to do was not to make the two sides collide but merge. Like this the monster he considered as his pet would be the ruler over everyone.


    And so Arthur would end up being the sole ruler of this mighty monster army.


    For Arthur¡­ that was a very brilliant plan, and such a stroke of luck he wouldn''t let slip off his claws.


    "Roar!"


    The monster nodded before flying in a grand formation with its own followers while roaring at the incoming large number of monsters.


    And then negotiations erupted in the form of mighty roars.


    Arthur didn''t stop taking out his monsters. This was what he could do to help his pet to crush any resistance inside these groups.


    After all, who would say no to anything if he was hungry and a large table filled with delicious and free food was presented in return?


    And so Arthur tried his best to keep that table filled with food despite the rapid consumption of the large number of babies here.


    He even closed eyes and entered the garden world and started to help his system in taking out as many monsters as he could.


    When he felt he took out enough, he hurriedly took a fast glance over the garden. Many places were filled with monsters he previously took from all of his adventures.


    Coupled with the time difference here and the pure nature of the garden that changed the essence of these monsters, the number of the monsters living here grew exponentially.


    And their body sizes and strength escalated to new heights as well. Yet compared to the higher world he was in, Arthur was sure they were considered mere flies.


    But they could satisfy this hunger and that would bring more benefits for Arthur.


    "Still arguing?" Arthur noticed the roars that kept ringing around from the grand number of monsters up above. He suddenly flapped his wings and took a large detour around the peak, attracting everyone''s attention.


    "Listen up, submit to my friend here and I''ll help, or else let''s fight and I promise I won''t stop fighting until I kill all of you!"


    His words made the roars all stop before he stopped beside his pet. "If I die, you won''t get anything from me. That''s something I can promise. So either submit and your babies will be healthy and grow to adults like those down there, or let us all perish."


    "Roar!"


    And his pet took the line from him and kept roaring in a mighty and domineering way. The others around went silent and listened to the long roars of his pet, until finally Arthur saw a soft expression over many faces.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Yet some had another thought and tried to attack Arthur directly. This time Arthur felt as if death was knocking over his head, claiming it.


    Yet this terrifying feeling didn''t last for long as these ones were stopped and even killed by no other than their fellow monsters.


    And the pet stood silent watching all of this as if a king was watching traitors being executed.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    And then with the disposal of all resistance, the surviving monsters roared in submissive ways.


    Despite the losses, their numbers were still great and intimidating for Arthur who could only laugh.


    And suddenly his laugh was transmitted in such annoying electrical roars that startled everyone, and he tried his best to make it not hit anyone.


    "Sorry," he apologetically said before turning to his pet, "I left enough meat for your babies. I can go to other peaks then and help if you want."


    The monsters didn''t hurry to accept as it roared again towards the large number of monsters flying around.


    And a strange thing happened next.


    Each single monster came towards the monster beside Arthur, stopped a few meters below them, and Arthur''s pet just touched each monster''s head with its leg.


    "A coronation ceremony!" Arthur was surprised by such a scene, but he could only resist the urge to laugh.


    "That''s a great scene," Arthur was amused by such a scene and could only watch in admiration and learn.


    The monster once finished this simple process, it turned to Arthur and motioned to him to follow.


    And like a king, the monster flew from one peak to another, surrounded with no less than one hundred thousand giant monsters.


    A scene that made Arthur feel quite invincible at this moment.


    What also made Arthur happier was the fact that all the babies around were getting stronger and maturing fast. Their numbers were at least ten fold the numbers of the adult, if not more.


    And despite all that large number, Arthur made sure to keep the monster supply constant.


    After jumping off all the peaks, Arthur finished the first round before starting another.


    "Your babies¡­ they can be called now young monsters," Arthur smiled while watching the first batch he fed growing much bigger and gaining almost double of their initial size by now.


    "Roar!" and the monster roared in what Arthur felt as content and deep appreciation.


    "No problem buddy, at least I''m helping friends for the time I might need their help in return," and he evilly said while his mind was filled with his cheerful laughs.


    He had now a grand army of his own being prepared to face whatever grand army was thrown on his face.


    "Come my dear enemies, I''m preparing a grand surprise for the lot of you," and he sneered while making sure to leave extra meat for each peak on each visit.


    "Just wait when my beloved Gege wakes up and I take those ancient monsters out¡­ hehehe, I doubt my little pet wouldn''t get benefits alongside its friends."

 Chapter 703: Three Pieces Of Good News

    Arthur kept releasing his monsters for an entire day before finally he got three good news at the same time.


    ''I''m back,'' Gege said in a cheerful tone, ''wow, I just slept for a few hours and you got yourself a grand army of monsters¡­ impressive.''


    He laughed before saying, "I want your help, can you take parts of the old monsters for them to feed?"


    ''I can, but how much do you want? Will you cook them?''


    "I believe they won''t mind the taste," Arthur smiled before flying towards his pet, which he named John.


    "John, I have good news for you," he said and the pet turned his huge head towards him. "I''ve special kind of meat, one of the types that would push you and your strongest monsters towards the next stage of evolution."


    "Roar!" John seemed not to get what he meant yet he was slightly excited.


    "I want you to select a handful group of a thousand monsters¡­ select only those strong already and you trust, alright?"


    John roared again before he turned his head and kept roaring in low tone towards some others.


    And in less than half an hour, one thousand monsters appeared surrounding Arthur and John.


    "You¡­ only selected the adult monsters of your group!" Arthur was surprised by his decision, yet he didn''t argue with him about it.


    After all, he knew this chance would give more power to any monster here and it would be wise indeed to give such a chance to only those who wouldn''t cause trouble or betray them later on.


    "Bring the meat out," he simply said and Gege started to take out large pieces of meat.


    And the entire world changed the next moment.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    All of sudden all the monsters around roared, and even Arthur heard faint roars coming from the far horizon. "Damn! This is like the treasure I once had when I first came to that world," he couldn''t help but bitterly laugh while realizing what was going to happen here.


    "Go," he urged John, don''t wait for others to arrive and start evolving now!"


    John didn''t wait for his permission. In fact the moment these enormous pieces of meat appeared he and others jumped over them and started gulping over the meat in a big appetite.


    And Arthur watched their action in amazement before laughing.


    ''You know having such monsters won''t greatly help.''


    All of sudden he heard the long awaited voice of his old dragon. He was speaking in a weak tone, but he was awake. And that made Arthur''s eyes shine brighter.


    "You finally decided to join the party," he laughed.


    ''I had deep wounds and needed to rest,'' the old dragon said, ''but I never expected you to come all the way to such a high world so soon. Or did I sleep too much?''


    "The system can brief you about what happened," Arthur simply said, "but why did you say they won''t be enough?"


    ''I knew some from the system already,'' the golden dragon said, ''so if you are facing an army of tens of thousands then you have a chance, but such a grand army marching towards here can''t be stopped by such monsters alone.''


    "They are over a million in number!" Arthur argued.


    ''Not enough,'' yet the golden dragon firmly said, ''those living here are used to facing such monsters.''


    His words made some logic inside Arthur''s mind. "So do you prefer to make them all evolve?"


    ''Not enough,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''also you can''t possibly evolve the entire million monsters at one go. You don''t have enough meat or time to wait for their evolution to end.''


    "Then what should I do?" Arthur was puzzled and his initial confidence crashed under the words of the golden dragon.


    ''You need to summon more,'' the golden dragon said, ''or seek alliances here.''


    "There are none," Arthur firmly said, "I''m sure they wouldn''t take the trouble to summon me all the way here and let me find alliances."


    ''Ding! We are depending on the arrival of the godfather,'' the system said.


    ''Simply a risk without much credibility,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''how do you know he will receive the message? Come here in time? It''s a bet, a losing one in my opinion.''


    "Then what do you suggest?" Arthur started to get annoyed by this dragon.


    ''It''s simply, as they summoned you to this world, you can also summon your allies here.''


    The words of the golden dragon startled Arthur as he instantly asked:


    "How? Can this be done?"


    ''You have three forces coming from three different worlds and clans¡­ just use them as a guide and I''ll tell the system about the means to start making the grand summoning array,'' the golden dragon said before yawning, ''I doubt I have much time left for me to do that personally. Plus you have an advantage you never thought of.''


    "Which is?"


    ''The large number of monsters under your disposal here,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''they can be a good source of energy to supply such an array and link it to many worlds for at least one day.''


    "one day? I need only one hour to get enough reinforcements here," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly, "alright, tell the two what you know and you can go back to rest."


    ''I''ll do that,'' the golden dragon yawned, ''I can''t even keep my eyes open anymore.''


    "Thanks for the help and have a nice nap," Arthur was now in a better mood while Gege came to deliver the third nice news for the day.


    ''Doaf is ready,'' she simply said before adding, ''he has finished building a tool that would deliver the message to the godfather.''


    "Hahaha, more good news," Arthur laughed, "take him out, let me see what he made.


    The next moment a portal appeared and Doaf came out, dragging something gigantic behind. "I''ve done it," he said with a wide smile over his face.


    Arthur glanced at the strange shaped box Doaf was dragging behind. It was like a giant cage but with no spaces between the bars. "What''s inside?" he asked.


    "Pure form of energy," Doaf said, "this way we can deliver the message to wherever he is."


    "Amazing," Arthur said in content, "now I need another task from you."


    "A- Another?" Doaf was speechless before he realized something. "Are they friends or¡­ enemies?"


    He vigilantly glanced all around before Arthur calmed him down. "They are our allies," he said, "and we should invite more allies as well."


    And Doaf turned to glance weirdly at him with a loss.

 Chapter 704: The End Draws Near

    "?What do you mean by that?" Doaf asked.


    "I''m going to invite more allies here," Arthur said with a big smile over his face, "I''ll need the help of your army and Aemra''s as well."


    "Now?" Doaf asked, "What about the grandmaster?"


    "You send him a message now," Arthur said, "but we need to make sure to invite others."


    "Should I tell him that?" Doaf seemed not to get the idea of Arthur yet.


    "No, I''ll do that here," Arthur said, "just send the message now and then you''ll see what I mean."


    Doaf just shook his head before going to the box. He let a single drop of blood fall over it while saying:


    "Grandmaster keeps tracking all of his leaders all the time. Using my bloodprint will be enough to draw him to this world."


    "Good," Arthur nodded as he watched the box vibrate before a pillar of light suddenly erupted from the box before vanishing into the sky.


    "It''s done," Doaf said while the box turned into ash the next moment, "sigh, it only was sufficient for one use."


    "No problem," Arthur said, "just go inside and bring everyone."


    Doaf didn''t speak further and went through the portal before many others appeared. The small army of those hailing from the higher worlds appeared next.


    "What do you want to do, sunshine?" Amera said with an amused look over her face.


    "You''ll see now," Arthur simply said before saying to his system, "are you ready?"


    ''Ding! I''m ready,'' he said, ''Ding! Gege is just bringing the needed materials for that grand array.''


    "What do you mean by grand array?"


    ''Ding! It will span over many mountain peaks here,'' the system said, ''Ding! The materials are mainly monsters'' blood and bones. She is getting them from those ancient monsters lying underneath the garden. But we''ll need their help to lay the array down.''


    Arthur knew what he meant by that, yet before he could speak again a mighty roar appeared from the far distance followed by many weaker ones.


    "There is a good monster coming here," Amera said in amusement.


    "Is it friend or a foe?" Doaf asked Arthur who bitterly smiled. He knew this was the effect of taking out the Golam''s meat.


    "Enemies," he said, "can you handle them?"


    Don and other strong monsters were still in their evolution. They couldn''t move out to help and thus the only option he had right now was Doaf and Amera little forces.


    "Leave it to us," Amera cracked her muscles, "I need to stretch my body a little."


    "Stay here," Doaf said, "we won''t take long."


    Arthur kept his place motionless while watching the small force moving out. He wanted to see what the golden dragon meant by his words.


    And from the fight that erupted next at the far distance he realized how foolish he was.


    The monsters coming here weren''t few, at least tens of thousand of them. Yet the couple hundred forces of Amera and Doaf managed to kill them without much trouble.


    They took some time to drive them back, but in the end they returned with few losses and a big victory.


    "Sigh, I was mistaken," he muttered, "if that army came here to face my boys, then we would have been crushed like dry weeds."


    ''I''m ready,'' Gege suddenly said, ''should I take out the materials now?''


    "No wait," Arthur didn''t want to attract more dreadful foes, "let them finish their fight first. What about the array itself?"


    ''Ding! Take out a paper and I''ll draw it for you.''


    Arthur did as the system asked and his hands were controlled by his system. He drew a map of the array and held it in his hands in deep contemplation.


    "It''s¡­ quite complicated!" he lowered the paper and glanced all around, "we need to conquer at least one hundred peaks to connect to one world¡­ I doubt we even got that number from Don and his friends here."


    ''Ding! Taking the peaks is simple, the main issue will be dealing with this world''s will,'' the system said. ''Ding! This array works by draining the power of the world to connect to others. If she didn''t agree, or hindered the process then the array might take much longer to be active.''


    ''We have enough time,'' Gege confidently said, ''at least four days still remaining until that army arrives.''


    ''Ding! Don''t belittle the world''s will,'' the system warned.


    "All the world''s wills I dealt with so far are nice," Arthur said.


    ''Ding! But they can be arrogant and nasty as well, especially those in these worlds.''


    Arthur went into silence while feeling the system was speaking from a deep experience and knowledge about this. And that added more questions in his mind about the origin of his system.


    "Sigh, you are full of mysteries my old friend."


    ''Ding! One day you''ll get to know everything, but not now.''


    Arthur wanted to pursue further about the hidden truth of his system but he had to drop that for now.


    Doaf and Amera led their forces and came towards him fast. "What to do now?" Amera asked and Arthur had to explain things to them in further detail.


    "So you will use your blood and anything that could direct the portal towards your worlds and then hope the portal would be successful," he ended his words with this, "but I have to warn you, the materials needed for that array are the same that drove all those monsters."


    The two glanced at each other before laughing. "If what you say is true then this fight has finally reached its closing moment," Amera excitedly said, "wait to see my fellow warriors. Grand armies are stationed all the time in my world."


    "I''m excited to call my brothers in arm here," Doaf said with no less excitement, "the only regret is the crow forces all went with him. We don''t have anything to connect to his world."


    "We don''t need his world forces," Amera laughed, "I doubt we even need the two world''s forces together to crush this world."


    Arthur watched the excited two and only smiled. From their words it seemed this long nightmare was about to end soon.


    And then he could focus finally on his greatest goal¡­ controlling the academy world and ten other worlds to be able to ascend to the higher realms.

 Chapter 705: Building The Array

    "What should we do now?" Doaf asked and Arthur took out the map he drew before.


    "We need to make the array in these places," he said before adding, "but as I said before, the materials needed will cause some trouble."


    "Then it''s best to let them do it," Amera said while pointing towards the sleepy monsters and the other ones who went to feed on what they just killed.


    "They build it and we defend the place," Doaf said, "sounds like a good plan."


    "Indeed," Arthur agreed, "I''ll take out all the mechas and the dragons I have¡­ we need to be prepared."


    "Wow, will you bring a deadly monster here or what?" Amera laughed while Arthur remained silent.


    He knew how much materials were needed to build this array, and that would cause a lot of trouble without doubt.


    "How long will they sleep?" Amera asked after the passage of four hours without doing anything.


    "I frankly dunno," Arthur shrugged, "they just started their evolution."


    "That means they will have a couple of more days at least," Doaf was speechless for a moment, "I thought they were sleeping."


    "If so then we should change the plan," Amera said, "let Doaf''s team scatter the materials and my boys will hold the fort."


    "Why don''t you build it and I defend the place?" Doaf complained.


    "You are much wiser," she said before laughing, "and I''m far deadlier than you."


    "You¡­"


    "Alright, we will do it Amera''s way," Arthur stopped the two from proceeding into another debate, "but Doaf had to select some of his capable men and join your forces."


    Doaf grinned and Amera only harrumphed before the two prepared everything.


    "Here is the map Golak," Doaf  selected one of his capable men to be responsible for building up this array, "make sure to follow the lines and not bypass it."


    Golak glanced at the map for brief minutes before checking the current topography. "This array extends beyond our own territory here," he said.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll support you," Amera reassured, "plus most of the nearby monsters were already killed by us."


    "Just build and we''ll deal with everything else," Doaf said, "but try not to waste any time on that."


    "I''ll take less than half a day to lay this array," Golak promised and Arthur doubted his words. After all, the array required them to dig slightly deep in the mountains, and the most tricky part wasn''t only that.


    They needed to keep the materials buried on the same line, which was the hardest part of the plan.


    "I''ll keep company with you," Arthur said to Golak, "and provide the materials in batches."


    "Great," Amera said, "let''s start then."


    "Take out the materials," Arthur said to Gege, who started to take out the bones and flesh of the ancient monsters stored under her garden.


    "Roar!"


    Just as the materials were taken, many roars appeared from all over the place. Even the monsters here roared in response, yet with the grand formation of Amera and Doaf forces, they didn''t move a finger.


    They were greedy to take possession of these ancient monsters'' flesh and bones, but they weren''t stupid to face such deadly force head on.


    They all saw what the couple did to much larger and equally strong monsters.


    "You know how to make a party," Amera laughed before turning to her men, "let''s go boys, we have some crazy monsters to kill."


    "Start digging," Doaf said to Golak before leaving with Amera to welcome the newcomers.


    As for Golak, he started to order his men to use their strongest hits on the mountains around. As Arthur saw it, just a couple of hits were required to dig a deep hole inside each mountain.


    "They are fast," he commented, "he might end it up in less than half a day."


    He silently watched from above the work others did while taking a glimpse from time to time to the surrounding fight.


    Doaf and Amera were brutal! They welcomed all the monsters with strength that they couldn''t face.


    As for the monsters belonging to Arthur''s pet, they resigned themselves to eating what was left after such a massacre. As Arthur saw it, the amount of those monsters were no less than what he brought out before and they were higher in quality.


    "If this continues I believe they will be able to evolve soon," he muttered while watching the large number of monsters streaming non-stop towards here.


    "Keep the line," Golak shouted, distracting him from following the fight far away, "we need to keep the materials at the same level."


    "He knows his stuff," Arthur commented while watching Golak taking extreme care to such fine details.


    As time passed, the array finally reached the places where Doaf and Amera were fighting.


    "Take out the mechas and dragons," Arthur said, "and take that werewolf and his team out¡­ I believe they will be able to help."


    ''Ding! Those surrenders might cause trouble,'' the system warned.


    "Then I won''t hesitate to kill some to teach them a lesson.


    The next moment a large number of mechas numbering in the tens of thousands appeared next to his werewolf and thousand slaves and thousand dragons.


    Arthur kept himself busy all the time but never forgot to summon dragons each day. He had now roughly one thousand dragons, mostly formed out of the corpses of those higher realms monsters and mages.


    So when these dragons appeared in this world, they happily roared while flying around in extreme joy. "They are quite energetic," Arthur laughed while feeling their power soar like never before.


    ''Ding! They belong to this world,'' the system said, ''Ding! But they never got the chance to feel the powerful energy here. This experience will strengthen them greatly and turn them into more powerful dragons.''


    "I like that," Arthur laughed, "I''m waiting for the day when I can summon tens of thousands using one time ability."


    ''Ding! That is possible,'' the system said before laughing, ''Ding! But that will require you to level up your ability to the extreme.''

 Chapter 706: The Next Step of the Plan

    "Why not assign more quests to me then?" Arthur complained.


    ''Ding! Alright, I''ll assign a new task now. Your new task is to survive this world and kill your enemies and return to your world safe.''


    "How much increase will I get?" Arthur asked with anticipation.


    ''Ding! Up to one thousand in one go,'' the system said and that made Arthur laugh in deep content.


    "Alright, more reasons for this array to succeed and this fight to end as I want."


    The new forces he took started to aid Amera and Doaf in their mission. In less than half an hour, they pushed away the frontline of their activities far, far more than before.


    And Golak kept working with his men, not concerned with anything happening around.


    "They are almost over," Arthur muttered after the passage of an entire day, "but we still lack room to move in."


    Golak first worked fast before he started to pause for hours and even participated in the ongoing fight. The monsters coming here were crazy and quite persistent, even with all these forces they couldn''t deal with their constant influx.


    ''Ding! Some are slacking,'' the system warned, ''Ding! I spotted some who need some discipline.''


    "Tell me who and I''ll teach them a lesson of their lives," Arthur realized the meaning of his system. It seemed some of his slaves weren''t doing their best like others, hindering everyone''s progress.


    ''Ding! One mile to your right, that group of twenty slaves aren''t fighting properly and letting many monsters bypass them.''


    "Nara," Arthur suddenly shouted to the nearby mecha leader, "bring one hundred mecha and come with me at once."


    "Roger that," Nara obediently compiled before selecting a handful of one hudred mechas and went after Arthur.


    "You all will die," Arthur simply activated the slave seal buried deeply inside his soul. He never used it before, yet this time was different.


    Each second passing counted and he knew that.


    "Ah!"


    "Ah!"


    "Ah!"


    The next moment screams of agony prevailed over the place and their painful screams with their instant death attracted everyone''s attention.


    Then he turned to face the remaining slaves all around before shouting in firm tone:


    "I won''t tolerate slacking in your job! If I asked you to go and kill someone, you will do everything in your power to do so. Anyone slacking will be instantly killed, no questions asked!"


    His words echoed in the entire place while carrying a deadly weight, far heavier and much riskier than those monsters.


    "Now fight!" he shouted and the slaves returned to the battle.


    And this time he could notice an obvious improvement in their fighting speed.


    ''Ding! That''s much better,'' the system said, ''Ding! They are pushing the enemy backward and keeping pace with others.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded before turning to Nara, "let your team station themselves here and help. If they notice anyone slacking, just inform me and I''ll make sure he or she will be an example for others."


    Nara''s mecha''s large head nodded and she didn''t say anything while he left the place and went to supervise over the other places of the battle.


    "They are gaining speed finally," when he returned to Golak, he found them starting to work again. "Those slackers cost us a lot of time," he was enraged when he saw his forces pushing the enemy further and giving more space to Golak and his team.


    ''Ding! They don''t deserve to be mad at, after all this is quite expected,'' the system said, ''Ding! Now that it''s almost over, we need to prepare for the final step.''


    "The monsters?"


    ''Ding! Yeah, but your pet and his friends are lazily sleeping, just like our little princess over here.''


    Arthur smiled over his comment as Gege went to her slumber half a day ago. That meant she would need another half a day to wake up, more time to waste.


    "I hope nothing wrong will come after this," he said while thinking of the biggest dilemma he couldn''t yet find a solution to.


    ''Ding! I tried to contact this world''s will, but I didn''t receive any answer.''


    "That''s frustrating," Arthur said, "I hope she won''t get in the way when we start."


    ''Ding! What about the monsters? Will you wait for them to wake up?''


    Arthur turned towards the sleeping Don and others far away before glancing at the army of monsters persistently attacking here. "I''ve another idea that would serve the same purpose."


    ''Ding! Luring them down the mountain, interesting,'' the system could guess what he had in mind, and Arthur only smiled and said nothing.


    "We''re almost done."


    In the next four hours Golak and his men managed to lay down the last piece of materials needed. Gege took a lot of materials inside the garden before she went to sleep.


    And the system kept helping Arthur in taking them out in batches since then.


    "Doaf, Amera¡­ come here," Arthur yelled at the far front two leaders of his and instantly they appeared in front of him.


    Their bodies were now soaked with monster blood, giving them a more intimidating feeling and scary appearance.


    "What?" Amera said in aggressiveness, "is there something urgent?"


    "Yeah," Arthur couldn''t help but smile over her angry reaction. After all, he extracted her from the depth of the fight.


    "Then say it," she said in the same aggressiveness.


    "We need to retreat," he said before calmly adding, "and let them all come."


    "What?!!" the two glanced at him in deep shock and some anger.


    "Why? Does the array fail?" Doaf was enraged the moment he thought so.


    "Golak did his job brilliantly," Arthur stopped him before doing something foolish to this loyal and hardworking giant.


    "Then why the hell will we retreat?" Amera wasn''t patient enough to listen in ease and shouted at him.


    "It''s part of the plan," Arthur was slightly fazed with her shout yet he remained calm and collected on the surface, "they will be the fuel to run the array."

 Chapter 707: Calling Everyone Back!

    This sudden realization hit the two of them and made them freeze for a long minute.


    "I see," Doaf took a deep breath, "when should we retreat?"


    "After we decide which world we will connect to first."


    "My world for sure," Amera firmly said after Arthur''s words.


    "Why? My world had many more fighters than yours!" Doaf wasn''t satisfied by her answer and immediately argued with her.


    "Indeed you have more fighters, but mine are far deadlier."


    "I won''t accept that!" Doaf turned to Arthur, "you should know the grandmaster might be in that world right now!"


    "Also my grandmaster is!"


    "Easy big giants, we will connect to your two worlds eventually," Arthur couldn''t stand still anymore as he had to stop this useless debate. "What we need to discuss is how much your basic forces are in each world."


    "Basic?" Doaf asked in loss and doubt.


    "I believe there is a big war going on in your realms," Arthur frankly said, "and so I want to know whose world would have more fighters stationed there at times of great wars."


    "What gave you such a bad idea?" Amera couldn''t help but say, "even I can''t tell that!"


    Arthur didn''t speak as he turned silently towards Doaf, and Doaf realized what he was talking about earlier.


    "He¡­ might have a point here," Doaf sighed.


    "Don''t tell me because your grandmaster was lazy and negligent to respond to the earlier message that you two thought there was a big war going on up there!" she shouted and from her words Arthur could tell her world wouldn''t have many fighters at the moment.


    And that was bad.


    "What if I was true?" he went straight to the point, "will there be any stationed forces in your world at such times?"


    And her dark face told him that what he feared was true.


    "Sigh, then we''ll go for Doaf''s world then," Arthur turned to Doaf, "but don''t tell me there would be no stationed forces there."


    "There are plenty," Doaf confidently said, "but most of those grandmaster trust will be absent."


    "Anything would help," Arthur decided, "let''s start with your world, then we can connect to Amera''s world and see there for ourselves."


    "What about your slave?" Amera suddenly said while motioning towards the far away werewolf, "he came from a world, isn''t he?"


    "I¡­ doubt he can order anyone there," Arthur was hesitant, "but no loss in trying."


    "Alright, should I call my boys now?" Amera asked in a dejected tone.


    "Just wait," Arthur turned to glance over the about to finish Golak, "gimme a minute. When I shout you all retreat away and leave everyone falling into the trap."


    "Alright," Doaf laughed, "I can''t wait to see my old mates."


    "Humph," and Amera just harrumphed in discontent before vanishing off Arthur''s sight.


    "We will have reinforcements from my world," Doaf suddenly said, "but I doubt they would be enough to crush that army."


    Arthur was prepared for such a result. After all he was sure if there was any big war up there then all the big forces would summon all of their men to join.


    "At least better than the handful of hundreds we got here," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh, "I hope we buy ourselves some time until my godfather arrives with the big army."


    "I will pray for that," Doaf then vanished, leaving Arthur behind.


    "Where should I put the bait?"


    ''Ding! Take the map back and I''ll mark places for you,'' the system said and Arthur had to wait for ten minutes before Golak finished his task.


    "Thanks for the trouble," he said, "go now to the front and help others. And this map is mine," Arthur took the map and started to get busy while Golak led his men towards the front.


    "These are many places to fill," Arthur glanced at all the spots his system marked.


    ''Ding! It''s a blessing Gege left extras,'' the system reassured him, ''Ding! But I doubt they would last long.''


    "I hope she will be awakened soon."


    ''Ding! If not at least the number of monsters trapped here will be sufficient for the start of the array,'' the system said, ''Ding! But we''ll need more if we need to keep the portal running.''


    "What about that world''s will?"


    ''Ding! Not a trace of her so far,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! I''m trying to reach her all the time, but she totally ignored my attempts and didn''t even bother to say no.''


    "That''s¡­ no good," Arthur couldn''t help but feel bad towards it, "I hope she wouldn''t act to stop us."


    ''Ding! Let''s start and see.''


    Arthur then started a grand flight where he left many ancient monsters bones and flesh. In general, the spots his system marked were all situated over mountain peaks, taking roughly one third of the entire diagram.


    "I''m done," after an hour he managed to fill every place needed with enough materials. "Retreat now!" he shouted before adding, "everyone retreat to my place and don''t move."


    Per his shout, everyone fighting up front disengaged themselves fast and hurriedly retreated towards him. The monsters didn''t bother with them, as they all cared about the fat meal waiting for them up ahead.


    That made the sudden retreat of his forces successful.


    "Even your monsters are jumping over the bait," Amera said while pointing towards many monsters leaving everything behind and racing others to get the meat and bones.


    "Let them be," Arthur casually said, "after all I planned initially to make them the fuel of the array."


    Arthur waited for a couple more minutes even after everyone retreated and stood in the center of the array. "Doaf, place your blood over here," he suddenly pointed towards one spot where the control of the entire array was.


    And Doaf simply placed a drop of blood there and that piece of rock hurriedly absorbed it.


    "Step back," Arthur said before hitting the ground with his feet. "Activate!" he shouted and next the entire world changed.

 Chapter 708: The Dangerous Array

    The moment Arthur pressed down his foot over that rock the world started to dim like lights were turned off. Arthur glanced around and the sky started to show strange wisps of bronze color like it had rivers running inside it.


    And these rivers were made out of bronze energy that roared and swirled around like they were racing for something, or falling from high down.


    "Is it normal?" Arthur asked as he felt some dread coming from these energies.


    "Dunno, first time to see such a thing," Doaf said before glancing at the person next to him, Amera, "did you experience something like this before?"


    And she shook her head firmly while her face told Arthur she knew something and didn''t tell.


    "If anything you know then you should tell me to help," Arthur urged her to speak.


    "I believe there is a conflict," she slowly said while pointing to the sky filled with these wisps and added, "a conflict between the energy used to summon the portal and the energy naturally presented here in this world."


    And Arthur got her meaning as he felt his heart clenched all of sudden¡­ his deepest worries had come true.


    "There is something interfering with the portal?" he asked, trying to confirm his worst guess.


    "I believe it''s not something," yet she said something different than what he had in mind, "it''s more like there is no organization of energy in this world¡­ no control over it."


    As he didn''t get her point she turned to Doaf as she explained, asking for him to understand, "the portal we are trying to initiate is like digging directly in the middle of a calm lake to reach the bottom, crack it and reach another place down there. But this world looked nothing like a calm lake but a raging sea. So we are now clashing with mighty waves trying to stabilize our digging."


    "The world''s energy is already in turmoil!" the face of Doaf shown with the light of realization, "that''s¡­ bad!"


    Arthur looked at the two with a loss look over his face while waiting for someone of them to step forward and explain things to him.


    "The rules of this world''s energy are damaged, there is nothing to regulate it and so¡­" Doaf paused while Amera added: "You can''t depend on something that''s already chaotic to support and fuel the portal¡­ instead this energy antagonizes what we are trying to do here."


    "Letting our efforts be wasted¡­" and Arthur finally got the point while raising his head to the sky as he deeply muttered, "the world''s will didn''t respond before because she wasn''t arrogant, but because she doesn''t exist initially here¡­ she is dead!"


    His sudden realization made his mind pretty chaotic at this moment while the system tried to find out a solution.


    ''Ding! If the energy of this world can''t be used, then we should try our best to nullify its negative effect.''


    "Like what?" Arthur asked and the two in front of him were seemingly puzzled for a moment before dropping it. they got used already to how Arthur works, and how he looked lunatic sometimes.


    ''Ding! We should keep it busy dealing with something else, something else.''


    "Like¡­ what?" Arthur gritted his teeth as he wanted a solution. The rock underneath his feet was starting to emit burning energy that he didn''t feel relaxed with.


    The array was failing, and he could tell that just from the signs in the sky and the words of Doaf and Amera.


    ''Ding! An explosive array, something that can exhaust large amounts of energy without giving anything in return.''


    "¡­" Arthur didn''t speak as he waited for his system to give him the answer he wanted.


    ''Ding! An energy black hole, that''s what you should do¡­ at least it works out in theory.''


    "Do you know of any array that would act like a black hole or something?" he instantly turned to the two in front of him and asked.


    "Black hole?" Doaf asked with puzzlement.


    "Like absorbing energy and dumping it away," Arthur said what he understood from his system.


    Yet the face of Doaf revealed his inability to help, unlike Amera whose face showed her deep thinking, and deep hesitation.


    "You know of such a thing?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask and drove her to speak what she had in mind.


    "There is such an array," she said before pausing for a couple of moments, "but it''s too risky to use. I recall my grandmaster warned me from thinking about using it under any circumstances. Unless it was hopeless you shouldn''t use it, she said these words to me."


    "And do you think we aren''t hopeless already?" Arthur said, "c''mon, tell me the array and I''ll do it."


    "Wait a minute¡­" Suddenly Doaf screamed in panic as if he realized something scary, "you can''t possibly mean that thing?"


    "He asked for a place to dump energy at and that''s the only place we can use."


    "B¡­ But it''s forbidden!"


    "What are you two talking about?" Arthur stopped the two from continuing their bizarre words and asked for more information.


    "There is a place that''s related to any higher realm in our universe," Doaf was the one to speak, and he seemed quite agitated while speaking about that, "that place is endless, with nothing that can fill it no matter what."


    "Sounds perfect to me," Arthur honestly said.


    "But that place¡­ it has some terrifying things¡­ things that can''t be dealt with even masters without grouping together," Amera said, trying to persuade him from using that array, "and even with that they won''t be able to come out unscathed. Some would die, imagine us!"


    "What''s that place exactly?" Arthur asked.


    "It goes by many names, but the most famous one is the originals cemetery."


    The word made Arthur''s eyes shine brightly as he suddenly recalled the unpleasant experience he had before. "Is it a strange place filled with tombstones?" he asked, "and souls live in it?"


    "You''ve seen it?!!" The shocked expression was on both of their faces.

 Chapter 709: The Sleeping Worlds Will

    "I¡­ might have," he mysteriously said, "but it didn''t look that dangerous to me."


    "It''s," Doaf firmly nodded, "I dunno which part you see or what you have experienced. But the fact that you saw it and walked away with your life still amazes me."


    "Me too," Amera joined Doaf as she added, "I heard of an endless list of masters who tried to prey and investigate hidden and dark realms and all lost their lives without exception."


    "It''s not time to admire that," Arthur hurriedly said, trying to shift the topic, "we need to start linking this place to that place or we''ll lose the portal and everything with it."


    The two exchanged silent glances before Doaf asked:


    "Can''t you try and force the array through?"


    "Yeah, like pumping out a lot of energy and forcing the portal to break through."


    "I¡­ doubt that would be possible," Arthur could already feel the rock underneath his feet turning into a piece of hell, "we are facing the entire world''s energy and we have few numbers. There is no safer option than aiming for that mysterious realm even if it''s more dangerous."


    "We might die," Amera warned.


    "We will definitely die here if this portal fails," Arthur firmly said, "we can''t throw ourselves towards a dead end and expect to survive. Let us try that world, who knows we might have an easy passage like what I had before."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two didn''t speak for a minute before Arthur urged them, "we need to act now if we want this portal to succeed," he pointed towards his feet, "the rock is already emitting a dangerous amount of energy and I won''t be able to hold it for so long."


    "Sigh, I hope we aren''t signing our death certificate here," Doaf bitterly said before adding, "to establish this array we need to go somewhere else away from this one or else that energy would clash and ruin this one."


    "Alright, go and do whatever you need to," Arthur said, "I will try to hold this array as long as I can."


    The two moved in hesitation under Arthur''s watchful gazes and started to summon up their men.


    ''Ding! Are you afraid of that sinister soul?'' the system asked.


    "Sigh, I''m not worried about that soul. Last time it was blocked by that girl," Arthur said, "but I''m worried to face more of such souls and invite them to this world."


    ''Ding! I''ll try to awaken that sleepy dragon then,'' the system said, ''Ding! I bet he knows a thing or two about this place.''


    "I hope he does," Arthur prayed while watching Amera and Doaf take away their men and vanish into the horizon, "I wish we aren''t solving a problem by creating a bigger one."


    He waited while the heat coming from the rock started to invade his body. Wisps of alien energy kept gushing inside him, and he had to circulate all of his spiritual energy to cleanse it.


    When he tried to control his dragonair energy he failed to contain it. "It seems my dragonair energy triggers it up," he muttered while finding using the spiritual energy more compelling.


    ''Ding! He is still sleeping,'' the system sighed.


    "What can kill a world''s will?" Arthur suddenly asked, "can normal mages do it?"


    ''Ding! I believe it''s a clash of power,'' the system said, ''Ding! And if the power of the mages is stronger then they can crush her.''


    "But I doubt they can have such power," Arthur thought, "when I rescued that world''s will from before, it was against a mighty monster coming from a higher realm."


    ''Ding! And?''


    "There is no higher realm than here," Arthur said, "I doubt the difference in strength would be this severe. That world''s will must have been killed using something else¡­"


    ''Ding! You mean¡­ another world''s will perhaps?''


    "It might be," Arthur thought, "or we don''t know what''s going on with this world to judge."


    ''Ding! That''s true,'' the system agreed, ''Ding! Why not use that sleeping beauty inside the garden?''


    His words made Arthur''s mind flash with bright light. "Didn''t she say she was abandoning her path as the world''s will and setting track again over a path like mine?"


    ''Ding! And after all this time she is still staying inside your garden sleeping without any sign of waking up,'' the system said, ''Ding! Perhaps you two missed the point.''


    "About what?"


    ''Ding! Her challenge or test wasn''t about walking over the path of cultivation and mages like you¡­ perhaps her path was related to the other world''s will.''


    Arthur thought about this for a moment and all he could reach were dead ends. "Sigh, it''s really scary when one is dealing with heaven," he muttered, "but you might have a point. So what do you suggest?"


    ''Ding! We have a world without the world''s will, and we have a world''s will without a world¡­ so why not mix the two together.''


    Arthur finally got what his system was trying to say. "Can we do it?"


    ''Ding! In theory? Yes, but practically I don''t know a way to do that.''


    "¡­"


    And Arthur got his face darkened while feeling his system was toying with him.


    ''Ding! But I can think of a way,'' the system felt his anger, ''Ding! But that would take time.''


    Arthur turned his gaze at his feet before glancing at the distant horizon. "What we are doing since coming here is buying ourselves more time¡­ sigh, you start thinking of a way and don''t worry about here."


    ''Ding! I''ll try to awaken that sleeping dragon, I''m sure he will have an answer.''


    "Don''t waste your breaths over him," Arthur shook his head, "he is deeply injured from before and I doubt you can awaken him anytime soon."


    ''Ding! You have a point, last time we took many days to awaken him for brief minutes.''


    "Go and start brainstorming," Arthur said, "and I hope you won''t be too late when finding out the solution."

 Chapter 710: Damaging The Meridians and Nodes

    Arthur stayed in his place watching the swarming rivers of bronze energy. At this moment he knew these weren''t some raging wildly energy, but trapped and overwhelmed energy by the energy of the world.


    Standing there while trying to distract himself from the growing pain he was feeling he had no other way but to think and contemplate about what was happening in the sky.


    "If I can control those separated rivers of bronzed energy, I''m sure I can create a big ocean with them," he slowly muttered while his mind was thinking of how to do that.


    He tried to inject part of his dragonair energy inside the rock but failed. Every time he tried to instigate his dragonair energy, that alien energy would flare up and eat it away.


    And that made him try an alternative, his spiritual energy.


    "If I could control my spiritual energy into long threads and inject them in between that dense alien energy at my feet, then I could penetrate it and reach the array itself," he thought before closing his eyes, took a deep breath and then started to work out his idea.


    To do that he had first to control the spiritual energy inside his leg meridians separately. He didn''t try such an approach before, as he always controlled his energy as a whole.


    But this time he found controlling the energy in such a way was quite challenging. Every time he pushed the energy in one leg, the energy got stirred up in his entire body.


    "Screw it," he finally hit his patience bottom, "I''ll seclude one leg then."


    He didn''t hesitate to block the energy inside one leg. To do that he used one risky technique of the old world he came from.


    He first started to gush energy inside one main node in his left leg. There he kept the energy accumulating and tried to spin it.


    "Water would stagnate in a place if there is a whirlpool blocking the path," he muttered while carefully trying not to harm his node or else he would be severely injuring the entire leg network of meridians.


    And that was something he didn''t want to experience, as he would be obliged to build up his meridians from scratch.


    "Finally it calmed down," as the spinning accelerated, he noticed the energy inside his meridians at his left leg to go stagnant.


    "Time to empty you then," he didn''t hesitate to control the meridians and push the energy out of it towards the rock underneath.


    And then the alien energy tried to resist.


    "Screw you," he kept pushing his energy and didn''t stop despite feeling the rapid depletion of his energy. "At least it isn''t instantly consumed by that energy," he muttered while watching his spiritual energy getting thinner the closer it got to his sole of feet.


    "Slow and easy," he muttered while keeping pushing the energy downward, "almost there," he watched his extremely thin wisps of energy reach his soul before finally exiting his body.


    "Stop," he hurriedly returned to his blocked node and started to decelerate the energy whirlpool inside, "slowly stop," he started to insert his greater body energy with slight force, to force that spinning energy to stop.


    He knew doing such a thing would leave scars, but he accepted that fate without hesitation.


    All he could think of now was to hurriedly replenish the about to die spiritual wisps that got outside his body.


    Or else what he did so far would be totally lost.


    "Finally," he heard a cracking sound before the energy stopped spinning and opened a path towards the dried up meridians to be replenished. "Go, go and dig deeper," he pushed the energy and directed it towards the thin wisps.


    And next thing happened was for these wisps to get slightly thicker and a lot stronger. "Now let''s see how the array is doing," he closed his eyes and let his consciousness befell with his energy to see what his energy touched and the places it reached.


    "Damn!" Just as he did that, he spotted something that made him curse out loud. "The array is about to be crushed!"


    Just as he delved inside the earth, the entire array appeared all of sudden like a gigantic galaxy shining brightly in bronze color. Yet this galaxy was lying inside a seemingly endless space of myriad colors, swirling around the galaxy and trying to consume it.


    From his position he felt like being an ant in front of a giant. "I¡­ can''t change anything alone," he reached this conclusion while examining some parts of the array, "and this array won''t hold too much of the pressure."


    He already saw faint cracks over the parts he examined, and he doubted he could amend any of these. The roaring energy of the world was now eating away the array, depleting its energy at a fast pace.


    His energy would turn out to be a sand thrown in a sea, unable to cause any difference at all.


    "No way then but to wait for them," he opened his eyes and took a deep breath. The monster swarmed the array non-stop but he now realized how weak they were.


    Or compared to the world''s enormous energy, they were simply nothing.


    "What is taking them too long?" he turned towards the direction Doaf and Amera went to, "they should have started already."


    Now he wasn''t worried about that unpleasant feeling or the alien energy. All he cared about was the array itself. Laying it down took a day and he wasn''t ready to repeat the process again.


    Plus if he failed now then he wouldn''t guarantee to succeed next time.


    "I should heal my node and meridians first," as he had nothing else to do but wait, he decided to heal his injured meridians and big node. He doubted this would change much but at least he wouldn''t stand there with all this worry waiting for them to act.


    And so he closed up his eyes, started to breathe regularly while letting the spiritual energy around to enter his body.


    "Damn! This energy is quite chaotic and much higher in quality!" Yet the moment he did so he felt like opening a dam, letting the trapped mighty river behind to flow and flood him without warning.

 Chapter 711: The Core of the Array

    Arthur was shocked by the amount of spiritual energy gushing into his body. He didn''t account for that, yet that was still a pleasant surprise for him.


    "And the quality here¡­ it''s much higher than ever!"


    He watched the energy not only rapidly filling his mind dantian and meridians, but also starting to strengthen them.


    "I should keep it coming," he muttered while keeping his breaths regular and slow.


    The more he inhaled, the more energy he got. His meridians were already wide enough to sustain such pressure, and with the current benefits they started to grow sturdier and wider.


    He stayed in such a state for an hour until he felt a sudden shock coming from the outside world.


    ''Ding! You better open your eyes,'' the system said, ''Ding! They have finally started.''


    "Finally," Arthur opened his eyes while a faint blue glow appeared in both of them. His dragon tattoo over his wrist started to shine as well, alongside his body.


    This gave him a very intimidating feeling. "They have started indeed," he noticed the wisps of energy aggregating all around the far distance¡­ the place where Doaf and Amera went.


    ''Ding! Be ready to control the array,'' the system said, ''Ding! I believe it''s about to break.''


    "I know," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "keep an eye for me here. I doubt I can sense the outside world while working on that array."


    Arthur hurriedly closed his eyes and delved deeper into the ground with his consciousness. "Not yet," he noticed the array was still surrounded by that berserk energy of the world, "it needs more time."


    He didn''t leave and patiently waited on the side, watching the ongoing ferocious battle between the array and the world''s energy.


    He knew if not for the constant supply of monster energy, the array would have been crushed a long time ago. Yet this energy seemed not to be enough to even heal the current scars all over the array.


    "The energy¡­ it''s getting weaker!"


    After an unknown amount of time he finally noticed the world''s energy getting paler. That was an obvious indication that the array the other two were making was getting stronger.


    And it was starting to be effective.


    "My turn."


    He didn''t hesitate to move forward, getting nearer to that surrounded array. The closer he got, the more heat he felt.


    Yet with the constant supply of the spiritual energy gushing into his body he didn''t feel much discomfort. The energy kept his body safe, at least for now.


    "I hope I''m not too late," as he reached the damaged array he didn''t hesitate to throw himself directly inside it.


    The array was like a gigantic galaxy, shining dimly as if it was about to die. "I need to get to the core," he knew controlling the array would be much easier if he reached that spot. "But where is that core?"


    He glanced at all the twirling dim wisps of bronze energy of that array. The entire array was formed of long intertwining energy wisps with no place to consider as the core.


    ''Ding! Recall the drawing of the array and go for the core,'' the system gave a golden advice per usual and Arthur couldn''t help but feel appreciated for his words.


    The array diagram appeared next in his mind and he started to compare the two together.


    "It should be¡­ that way," he selected a direction and moved his consciousness to it. the deeper he went the weaker and dimmer the energy around became.


    "It got more damaged than I initially thought," as he reached the place he desired, he saw a small spot that was like a candle flame getting extinguished. "I need to act soon," he threw himself at this spot and suddenly felt hit with massive force.


    "Damn!" he gritted his teeth before thinking of how to calm down this raging energy.


    ''Ding!  Use your blood drop,'' the system said, ''Ding! It should recognize its master by that.''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to injure his palm, yet instead of blood a blue energy drop fell over the array, soaking it at once.


    "Rumble!"


    The array started to shiver before the color of that dark spot started to change. Instead of the extremely dark bronze color, it started to shine with bright blue.


    "Oops¡­ it seems I made some changes in the array," Arthru couldn''t help but say the next moment he felt that aggressive energy turning docile. "At least I can control the array now," he muttered.


    ''Ding! These changes won''t be enough to affect the entire array¡­ I hope,'' the system said and Arthur could only pray for that.


    "Time to replenish the energy and repair the damage," he started to emit his energy outside non-stop. At first he felt like throwing a few drops in an ocean, as he didn''t feel he changed or affected anything.


    Yet with the passage of time, the array started to show signs of change. The deep and long extended cracks all over it began to heal. The energy itself became brighter, thicker, and he could tell it was getting stronger.


    "It''s finally catching up," he muttered, "accumulating energy from the monsters¡­ the next stop is to try to crush the surrounding energy and break free."


    He didn''t hurry to do that. Despite the weakening of the energy around, he knew it was just a reflexive reaction from the energy towards the other array.


    The moment he would act here, he was absolutely sure that the world''s energy would converge again and try to crush him.


    So he patiently waited.


    ''Ding! The other array isn''t doing so well,'' the system suddenly said after an hour, ''Ding! It seems their energy can''t challenge the world''s energy.''


    "That''s expected," Arthur nodded, "we need to act sooner than I expected then."


    He knew the moment the other array failed, this array would be relentlessly attacked. Having no other option, he started to control the enormous amount of energy here and directed it towards the surface.


    He wanted to break through fast, and so he didn''t even care if the surrounding energy started to destroy parts of the array at this moment.


    All he cared about was to carry the current array and forcibly open a portal in the sky.

 Chapter 712: The Ferocious Tornadoes

    "Move now!" he triggered the array and the next moment he felt like an ancient behemoth had awakened.


    The array started to boil. He kept stirring it up and the stored energy kept going aggressive, violently clashing even against each other and even him.


    "C''mon," he endured, "crush that weak energy fast!"


    He pushed the energy towards the surface, and he felt that bronze energy was starting to take the shape of a gigantic pillar. The pillar was getting formed fast, but the surrounding energy of the world was converging faster.


    "Now!" he didn''t panic as he already anticipated that. The next moment he moved the array energy upward, and alongside with it he felt his consciousness being carried away as well.


    ''Ding! You need to retreat¡­ open your eyes now!'' the system hurriedly shouted but Arthur didn''t comply.


    "Not yet," he knew the moment he would do that the array would grow suddenly weaker. At such a critical moment he wouldn''t let his fear of his safety overcome the bigger goal he worked so hard to achieve.


    So he kept his consciousness inside the pillar, exactly at its core, while the pillar clashed ferociously with the world''s energy and finally started crushing it.


    "Pop!"


    "Pop!"


    "Pop!"


    The higher it went, the more popping sound it appeared. The pillar kept getting higher and finally broke through the world''s energy siege, getting outside the ground.


    "Now!" Arthur didn''t hesitate to open his eyes and withdraw his consciousness at this moment. The pillar was already on its way upward to the sky and the world''s energy was just trying to relentlessly catch up.


    However there was little worry over the array now.


    "Please work," he prayed while watching the previously well formed gigantic pillar to look like a hazy image of a massive amount of bronzed wisps plunged into the sky like a gigantic spear.


    The moment it reached the sky, it paused for a brief moment. "Now what?" Arthur felt worried all of sudden and thought he withdrew earlier than he should have done.


    ''Ding! It''s connecting to the dissipated energy up there,'' the system reassured him, ''Ding! I believe it''s about to start the portal.''


    "At last!" Arthur watched the thick rivers running in the sky to change direction and start to swirl around the pillar like a giant whirlpool. The energy kept spinning and in less than a minute a large portal was about to be formed.


    "Damn! That world''s energy is really savage and persistent!"


    Yet before the portal would be fully formed, the entire bronzed pillar shook in a way visible and clearly perceived by Arthur.


    He hurriedly changed his gaze towards the distant horizon and muttered. "I hope they can catch up what I did and start activating theirs."


    He didn''t doubt Doaf and Amera to notice what he was doing here, but he was very worried right now. The portal was about to be formed, and failing at such close distance from success was the most bitter feeling to anyone.


    ''Ding! They are activating their array finally,'' yet the words of his system coupled with the sudden roaring sound coming from distance made Arthur heave a deep sigh of relief.


    "I hope things won''t become any worse," he muttered while watching the portal become more corporeal, a clear sign for its activation, "or else we escaped the pan and jumped directly into the fire."


    By their activation, the world''s energy started to grow weaker and thinner around the portal. "One last step," he muttered, "just take it and the portal will be fully opened."


    As he waited, he noticed the other array was getting fiercely attacked and the world''s energy around that spot started to cause tornadoes and hit the ground fiercely.


    "I hope it won''t reach that," Arthur softly muttered before turning around and glanced at the sky above. "If it hits here I doubt the array would be able to sustain its power anymore."


    He wasn''t worried about the array itself, after all it was deeply buried underneath the ground. The thing he was worried most about was the large number of trapped monsters inside the array.


    They wouldn''t survive these fierce tornados and that would deprive the array of its source of energy.


    "C''mon," as he was worried about that, the sky started to show signs of these tornados. He could spot already a couple of them getting formed from the sudden gush of wind around.


    And in the next couple of minutes, more tornadoes were formed and mercilessly hit the entire ground and mountains all around.


    "Damn!" he turned his eyes towards the portal that was about to take form, "I need to do something!"


    ''Ding! You have nothing in your hand to do!'' the system said, yet the help came all of sudden in the form of many portals appearing all over the place.


    ''I thought you might need a helping hand,'' Gege''s voice cheerfully came while laughing, ''I''ll move all of them into the garden and keep them in bay there.''


    "Gege!" Arthur shouted in happiness, "hahaha, you just came in time!" He laughed as he watched all the deadly tornadoes fall over the portals and nothing hit the earth.


    "We will do it," he muttered, "we can do it," he waited in anticipation while the portal was getting solid with each passing minute.


    These portals Gege summoned came to enrage the world''s energy; it seemed as Arthur watched more tornados appearing in the short time span of five minutes.


    Yet any tornado appeared was hugged by a portal, letting them vanish off this world without doing any harm.


    "It''s finally over," Arthur watched the portal getting real and thick before the color of the sky changed. A deep bronze color appeared and prevailed over everything around, making him quite happy and content.


    The bronze energy seemed so strong that it started to crush all the tornados forming around the portal. Seeing this and hearing the fierce roars of the two energies clashing with each other didn''t startle Arthur.


    His focus was now gathered over the portal itself, waiting for it to be linked successfully and show the world beyond.


    "What the hell is that?!!!"


    He couldn''t help but be shocked by the scene that appeared inside that portal.

 Chapter 713: Things Are Getting From Bad To Worse

    The moment the portal opened, Arthur could see the image of the world behind it hazy at first before it suddenly got clear.


    And the world he saw wasn''t as majestic as he imagined, not filled with palaces or fancy buildings but only with ruins.


    "What the hell happened there?" He couldn''t help but recall his bad omen about his godfather and his delay in responding to the earlier message he sent to him. "This is bad!" he muttered with a gratified dark face.


    The scene that appeared through the portal was seen by all in this part of the world. Arthur didn''t think much about who was going to see this, and now all he cared about was what he should do now.


    The hope he had to get reinforcements from was now crushed. From just the narrow window of that world he could be sure that a huge fight erupted inside that place.


    And whoever was attacking he managed to penetrate through all the defenses there and crushed the world.


    "It''s like what happened at the academy," he clenched both fists before relaxing them all of sudden.


    Amidst all the ruins a small dot suddenly appeared. They were heading towards the portal from a far place, and with time more dots appeared.


    A grand army was slowly gathering up and Arthur had only one question in his mind at the moment¡­ Were they friends or foes?


    "Can I kill this portal?" he didn''t hesitate to expect the worst and hurriedly asked his system.


    ''Ding! You can easily cancel the array,'' the system said, ''but you''ll risk losing all the energy stored inside. You''ll abandon everything you fought for to get, and that means if you want to re-establish it again then you''ll have to work from the scratch.''


    "I don''t mind that," Arthur was decisive, "if they turned out to be enemies then I won''t hesitate to kill that portal."


    He turned around, looking towards the direction of Doaf and Amera. "Gege, send a message to Doaf and let him come here now!"


    ''Right away.''


    The tree function was extremely limited in this world, but it could easily connect with the nearby Doaf. "Also make her check over the enemies approaching," he added when he realized he was distracted from his enemies for a long time.


    He had many things to do but that was a grave mistake and he wanted to keep an eye on them now.


    ''Doaf is on his way already,'' she returned fast to say, ''and the enemies need at least five days to arrive.''


    "That''s¡­ good," Arthur was relaxed a bit when he heard that. "Even if I had to start from zero then I still have time to do that."


    He then turned to check on the portal and the large number of small dots drawing fast towards the portal.


    And Doaf also appeared coming fast from the horizon. In less than five minutes he arrived beside Arthur, and his dark face told Arthur how he was feeling right now.


    "I''m sorry for what happened," Arthur said while feeling some blame for that.


    "That''s impossible," Doaf was still in deep shock, "that world was heavily fortified. Not even ten great armies can penetrate it!"


    "But¡­" Arthur pointed to the portal, "this is obviously a lost battle."


    "It''s a sign for destruction," Doaf firmly said, "but who cares as long as we won the war!"


    Arthur was taken aback with his logic and didn''t know what to say. He remained silent while Doaf''s firmly believed in what he just said and totally ignored the skeptical vision of Arthur.


    "You''ll see," he turned his head towards the portal, "I bet they are all my fellow brave warriors."


    "What if¡­ they aren''t?" Arthur slowly said, "I plan to seal the portal."


    Doaf didn''t turn to him or said anything for roughly five minutes. "In that case¡­ that would be the right action to take," he finally said slowly while his eyes were totally fixed over the portal without even blinking.


    Arthur could only sigh. Seeing one''s home in such a state while the person was in dire need for their help was a very brutal situation, something Arthur hoped would not come true.


    Yet he didn''t adopt the hopeful vision of Doaf and started to arrange his back up plan.


    ''Send word to Amera, make her stop that array,'' he inwardly said to Gege, ''also spread the word, every single one here has to be ready¡­ we might have unwelcome guests.''


    ''I''ll do it now,'' Gege answered.


    ''Ding! Y''know we have limited power here,'' the system said, ''Ding! I believe you should seal the portal right away and not risk losing anymore.''


    ''I know what you just said is the wisest thing to do,'' Arthur said before stealing a glance over Doaf and sighed, ''but I have at least to do him this favor. He¡­ needs to know what happened to his world, and I will support his back until he confirms that.''


    ''Ding! You shouldn''t let that portal be opened for too long then,'' the system could only say, ''Ding! At least if enemies were arriving, we need not let them reach here in great numbers.''


    Arthur nodded and remained silent. Gege informed him that everyone was ready for war, but she brought one piece of bad news.


    ''Amera says that she can''t cancel the array.''


    ''How come?'' Arthur was surprised, ''just let her leave the array to be attacked by the berserk energy here.''


    ''She says she did that already,'' Gege said, ''but some sort of weird energy is maintaining the array working and making it intact despite everything.''


    That seemed to be something weird but Arthur recalled what Doaf and Amera said before about this array. ''Sigh, it seems everything is crashing down fast,'' he knew he had nothing in hand to do, ''let them retreat here then. If things went south then we should be together.''


    ''She is coming here now with everyone else,'' Gege said, ''what do you plan to do?''


    Arthur turned to the direction Doaf came from and could already spot far dots coming from far. ''I''ll wait,'' he turned his gaze up there, ''I''ll have to wait and see who they are and what they are planning to do.''

 Chapter 714: Doafs Weird Beliefs

    "Is this your world?"


    The moment Amera came she shouted even before arriving at the two.


    "I believe what we feared came true," Doaf bitterly said, "this world was supposed to be impregnable."


    "I know," Amera said, "but I still can''t believe my eyes."


    "It''s obvious," Arthur said, "the world was breached and a big war erupted there."


    "What about them?" Amera pointed towards the small dots gathering up and heading in growing numbers towards the portal, "are they survivors? Or enemies who ruined that world?"


    "I¡­ don''t know," Doaf could only sigh, "I just hope for them to be allies."


    Amera glanced silently towards him as she realized how devastated Doaf was. "I¡­ can''t say I can relate perfectly to what you are experiencing now but I also feel worried about my world."


    Her words alarmed Arthur about another possibility. "Could they also have attacked your world?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "I suppose so," she shrugged, "after all we are allies with the bronzed giants."


    "We need intel," Doaf firmly said while clenching up his fists, "I hope they are my friends, or else we have to capture a few and interrogate them."


    "We''ll have to wait," Arthur said, "until we figure out their true identities I won''t cancel the portal."


    As he said that he recalled the other portal and array. "What happened to that array?" he turned to Amera whose face changed the moment she heard him.


    "I warned you," she said with a faint anger in her voice, "now we have to deal with two enemies, one that even masters can''t handle."


    "Is it working on its own will then?" Arthur asked while ignoring her remark. He wanted to get more understanding of that situation.


    "It uses a mysterious source of power that I couldn''t sever," she said before pausing, "or the world we tried to connect to has acted on its own and provided the energy."


    "It might be," Doaf took a deep breath, "''this is a situation we had to create to have this portal running. We need to shoulder our responsibility for that."


    "But we will die at this rate!" Amera shouted in anger.


    "Either way we would die," Arthur said in a tone that told the two he wasn''t regretting his earlier decision, "at least we have some hope in those coming here."


    "On condition they are our allies," Amera sneered.


    "Or even enemies, we will capture them and try to know what happened to your worlds," Arthur said before adding, "at least when you die you''ll die knowing what happened to your friends, families, and masters."


    The two glanced at him in silence while none said anything more. They stood there watching the incoming dots get larger in number and grow slightly clear with the passing minutes.


    "Wait¡­" Doaf suddenly said while his eyes shone brightly, "they aren''t one group."


    "I¡­ believe there are two groups, one hunting another," Amera said before her face changed, "that means some survivors are in one of the two groups."


    "I can tell which group is my people," Doaf said with a confident tone, "just a few more minutes and I can tell."


    "What if they are the enemies?" Arthur asked, "what if they are trying to escape here?"


    "Then¡­" Doaf''s face turned extremely savage, "I''ll show them there is still some bronzed giants anywhere they run to. Amera¡­"


    He turned to Amera and said nothing. However Amera seemed to read his mind and knew what he was thinking of.


    "I''ll get my men ready," she said, "and you¡­ keep the portal running."


    "Can you use those portals of yours?" Doaf suddenly asked, "we might not be able to face them head on with their large numbers, so some help is appreciated."


    Arthur understood what these two were trying to do here and simply nodded. "Just lure them near me and leave the rest to my magical portals," he said and Doaf smiled.


    Amera went to prepare her men while Doaf remained behind. He was the one able to tell if the first to arrive here were friends or foes.


    "Y''know this entire war started with a worthless competition at such a lowly world," Doaf suddenly said and Arthur felt nervous of his sudden words. He feared he would blame him, and despite his feelings he knew Doaf had all the right to do so.


    "However¡­" Doaf paused, took a deep breath and glanced deeper at the far above portal, "I''m glad I came to your aid and by my master''s decision."


    Arthur felt puzzled before Doaf turned to him with a big smile over his face. "The higher realms aren''t that nice and exciting place to live in like you imagine. The dark forces are winning the cold war with their viciousness and relentlessness. As for our side¡­ huh, they thought they were already victorious with their larger numbers and superior powers¡­ and yet¡­"


    He paused, turned his head towards the portal as he pointed towards it, "this might look like a big loss to us, but I''m sure my grandmaster has already foreseen this. I bet not much forces lied here to defend and he purposefully let this happen."


    Arthur was shocked with his words and twisted logic. "What''s the benefit? Losing his base for what?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "To instigate a bigger ice ball," Doaf simply said, "''my grandmaster hated how things were heading in the higher realms and always looked for something that could change things up there."


    "But¡­ he lost his home."


    "This isn''t the only home we have," Doaf smiled, "and home is the place where our friends and families are together. It''s not just a mere planet, it''s always carried inside¡­ deep down here."


    He patted on his chest where his heart was while Arthur could only stand still, watching this giant man with such a belief. "Sigh, whatever you say is true or wrong it''s worthy of my admiration," he said with a long sigh, "and I hope you are right."


    "I''m," Doaf said while not moving his gaze off the portal, "I know I am."

 Chapter 715: Joining The Fight

    Arthur watched Doaf leave with a conflicted expression over his face. "An interesting man," he muttered, "and it seems my godfather is much more interesting than that."


    ''Do you want me to be ready?'' Gege asked.


    Arthur glanced at the slowly drawing closer dots through the opened portal. "Prepare as many portals as you can. I don''t want you to snap out amidst our fight."


    ''Got it,'' she seemed quite annoyed but she didn''t question his words.


    ''Ding! What about me?''


    "You should be ready to act the moment she goes to sleep."


    ''I won''t sleep for long hours!'' she couldn''t take it anymore, ''why are you speaking like I''ll go to bed right away?''


    "This fight¡­ I believe it will last for longer than you expect."


    Arthur didn''t know how but he had a hunch that whoever was coming here wouldn''t easily fall into the trap Doaf and Amera were setting right now. Even if some did, the large number appearing here made it quite hard to trap them all in one go.


    ''I''ll prepare prisons for them,'' Gege said, ''I hope you are wrong.''


    "Me too," Arthur muttered before clenching on his sword, "it will be a hard fight."


    ''Ding! What about the other portal?''


    Arthur turned his face towards the horizon while seeing nothing there but some flashes of light. "The world here is fighting back viciously¡­ I believe we have some time left."


    ''Ding! What if it was activated during the fight?''


    "Then¡­ it''s our destiny to face two adversaries at the same time."


    Arthur went to silence while waiting. Gege went to do what she was asked, while the system kept his silence doing nothing.


    "Rumble!"


    The next hour the first batch of mages passed through the portal finally with a big bang. Their entrance was accompanied by a massive explosive sound that echoed heavily in the entire mountains.


    "They look aggressive," Arthur noted their actions as the first thing they did was to launch a wide attack on everything around the portal.


    ''Ding! They might just be trying to secure their entrance.''


    ''That means they are bad guys.''


    "Not necessarily," Arthur said, "what Doaf and Amera will do next would prove if they are good or bad. Keep an eye on them please."


    ''I will.''


    Arthur waited while watching the group led by Doaf and Amera ascending fast towards the sky. The two groups were coming near each other fast, and before Gege returned to him with news, he already got the answer he wanted.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "So Doaf was right after all," Arthur softly muttered while watching the two sides getting in a brutal fight from the beginning.


    The invading group wasn''t big, almost a thousand or two at max. however the number of Doaf and Amera''s forces wasn''t that large either.


    "Prepare to support them," Arthur said before noticing the approach of another group from the porta. "They won''t make it."


    He saw how deeply entangled Amera and Doaf were with the first group. As he feared they couldn''t lure anyone to his side yet, and now another group was coming through.


    "No other option then," he flapped his wings and started to fly fast towards the portal.


    ''Ding! Won''t that weaken the portal a little?'' the system was worried about him leaving the central part of the array.


    "Not too much I hope," Arthur said, "but letting those passing through without any interruption will doom Doaf and Amera."


    He was moving in a place slightly far away from the current hard battle. Echoes of the deadly fight spread across the entire mountainous area while Arthur kept getting closer to the portal using his fast speed.


    "Use the portals once they enter here," he said to Gege, "don''t wait for me to arrive there."


    ''I planned to do so,'' Gege said, ''and I''ve prepared a very nice prison that can satisfy their taste.''


    ''Ding! You''ll be amazed when you see the prison.''


    "I will," Arthur promised, "but after ending this battle."


    The moment he got near the portal the first mages of the second group crossed it and entered the world.


    "Now!" he hurriedly said and Gege instantly acted.


    A portal appeared just below those who came through, rapidly engulfing them without warning and vanishing alongside them.


    That caught the attention of those passing to here and the next batch spread out fast, trying to evade the portals.


    Yet Gege''s perception and judgement was superb. She already used this trick countless times before, and so she had a good grasp over what she would do here.


    The following batches tried to spread out faster, fly over larger areas or even use their speed to escape.


    But all went into oblivion while Gege''s portals hunted them all and took them inside her garden.


    "They learnt their lesson," Arthur sneered when he saw the next batch coming forth in one big group. They waited for others to join at the edge of the portal, warning them about the sneaky portals of Gege before coming out in one compact group.


    And then they started attacking Arthur.


    ''Ding! You should move away!'' the system warned.


    "Nah, not necessarily," Arthur leisurely said, "Gege, take me in and out to evade their attacks. And please, take those morons in as fast as you can."


    ''At once,'' Gege said in a cheerful tone. She was enjoying her time during any fight. A thing that made Arthur question if she was previously a fighter in her past life.


    Arthur watched without worry the rapidly incoming attacks but Gege moved faster. He vanished inside one portal, appeared for brief moments inside the garden before getting out once again.


    "Wow, I loved it," he laughed while finding his body appearing a few meters above the attacks.


    To those watching him from above, he looked like letting the attacks pass through him without getting any harm at all.


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    Then Gege made the portals appear just above the compact group. With limited space left for them to maneuver, they were doomed to be absorbed inside the moving portals all around.


    "They won''t learn ever," Arthur saw the next group doing the same as before, yet this time they waited before coming at him in a grand formation of over five hundred mages. "Gege, the same."


    ''Roger that,'' she laughed while taking him in and out the garden when they launched their attacks.


    "Again!"


    As their numbers were big, Gege needed quite some time to absorb them inside her garden. So another wave of attacks fell soon after the first one, and he simply kept avoiding these attacks using the same trick.

 Chapter 716: The Array Trap

    The group was absorbed inside the garden in a smooth way without any trouble. However the later groups came with larger numbers and more problems.


    "They are coming up at a rapid pace," Arthur was evading the attack of the fourth group while Gege was doing her job when he noticed something new.


    There was another group rapidly approaching the portal exit.


    ''They aren''t that big like this one,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! They want to exhaust you,'' the system said, ''Ding! I believe if they keep coming in such a way then we won''t be able to hold them.''


    "What about Doaf and Amera?" Arthur was trying to keep himself away from any harm while jumping inside the garden and exiting it in a repetitive process.


    ''They are still entangled with the first group.''


    "Till now?" Arthur wanted to glance and check at them, but his enemies never gave him the opportunity.


    ''Ding! You shielded them long enough,'' the system said, ''Ding! I believe you won''t be able to hold for the upcoming waves, so let''s retreat and let them face these enemies before returning.''


    Arthur thought about this for a long minute. "Let me try to hold up as long as I can," he decided, "Gege, can you start a far away portal for me to escape through?"


    ''Consider it done.''


    "Great."


    The worries of the system were proven to be true. Arthur barely managed with the help of Gege to withhold three more waves but then the enemy suddenly sent off five groups subsequently.


    "They look desperate," Arthur muttered when he saw the large enemy passing through the portal, "take me away."


    ''Right away.''


    The next moment he appeared a couple of miles away from the portal.


    "They are still coming at me?" he was surprised to see almost half of the enemies changing course and aiming at him. "Keep me jumping around."


    ''Ding! Can the array trap them?'' the system suddenly said.


    "We''ll¡­ never tried it before," Arthur sneered while appearing a couple of miles away, "but let''s put this theory to test."


    ''To the array?'' Gege asked.


    "Not the central part, the periphery is enough," Arthur said before adding, "select a place where no monsters exist in large numbers."


    He was teleported three times before finally appearing inside the array. There he stood still while watching the persistent enemies coming at him without rest.


    "They look quite energetic," he said.


    ''What if they overcame the array? Will they crush it?''


    "And cut any way of retreat for their fellow friends? I hardly doubt that!"


    ''Ding! Just to be safe let him be teleported away from the array when some fall into the trap,'' the system said, ''Ding! Let''s test the ability of the array over small numbers first.''


    "Good point," Arthur nodded before watching the frontal mages crossing the border of the array and falling into the trap.


    ''Ding! Now!''


    Once the system said it Arthur was teleported away from the portal. "They bought it," he said when he saw the rest of the enemies changing course abruptly and heading after him.


    "Keep tracking the array," he said, "and also see what these two are doing so far."


    ''They are still fighting,'' Gege said, ''I''ve sent them a warning message through the tree. They looked like they were taking their time to kill their foes.''


    "We have no time to play," Arthur complained, "make them haste and be ready for more enemies."


    ''Ding! What about the array?'' the system asked.


    ''The array wasn''t enough to contain them it seems,'' Gege said before suddenly pausing for a few minutes while Arthur kept teleported one time after another.


    "Why did you bring me here?" he stopped inside the array, which was something that puzzled him, "didn''t you just say the array wasn''t enough to deal with them?"


    ''The array failed to do so, but the monsters trapped inside went berserk when they appeared and kept killing them.''


    "Oh," Arthur turned his gaze around to see himself standing in the heart of a dense trapse filled with a large number of monsters. "Good plan," he commended her idea while already getting what she wanted to do.


    ''Let''s hope they won''t sustain this attack,'' Gege said before adding, ''more enemies are crossing the portal by each minute. We need to return and keep it sealed.''


    ''Ding! They come in large numbers, I doubt we can handle them anymore.''


    ''No, they returned to pass through the portal in a few numbers,'' Gege corrected him, ''it seems they can''t get in contact with each other. Plus if this plan succeeded then we got ourselves new sources for fueling the array.''


    "I like this plan more," Arthur laughed, "alright let''s see how this trap will fare against such a large number."


    He didn''t wait for so long. In less than two minutes his enemies caught up and fell directly in the trap of the array.


    He saw them moving inside the array at a slower pace like they were moving in the sand. Yet the array failed to greatly affect them.


    However the next moment of their entry, the monsters packed in large numbers all around roared.


    Then a brutal fight appeared where these enemies couldn''t stop the monsters, a scene that made Arthur wonder about the reason behind that drastic change.


    For him these monsters weren''t able to move a single hair on any higher realm mage. However what he was seeing right now made him realize there were deeper secrets in this world, and he just had to witness one of them.


    "I need to know the reason behind this," he said out loud, "if this way can be applied to a wide area, then we can crush any army."


    ''Ding! I believe the array is the reason.''


    ''I believe the world''s energy clashing against the array is the reason.''


    "I want clear answers," Arthur couldn''t help but say, "speculations won''t help much here."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    The two went into silence and didn''t speak while Arthur kept his silence as well. He knew knowing such an answer would be quite challenging, provided that he and his two friends here knew nothing at all about the life and rules of the higher realms.


    But he had two great minds who could answer such questions.

 Chapter 717: Kiting Down The Mages

    "Relay the news to Doaf and Amera," he suddenly said, "make them know how effective this array is and let them use it to kill their enemies."


    ''Ding! Do you want them to study this phenomenon first hand?''


    ''Good thinking!'' Gege cheered, ''I believe they would see through what''s happening here in no time.''


    "Just spread the word to them," Arthur said while noticing a small group of enemies stopping just at the border of the array, looking hesitant and quite terrified.


    "And take them in," he casually pointed to those few numbers of enemies that didn''t exceed fifty in total, "then send me towards the portal."


    ''I left a portal dormant there,'' Gege said in a proud tone, ''I can send you there in one move.''


    "Then do it after you finish them off."


    It didn''t take a minute to take inside all fifty of them. They tried to run away and escape with their lives, but eventually they failed.


    "Let''s start another round, shall we?" Arthur evilly laughed when appearing in front of the portal.


    He saw small numbers of enemies passing through the portal. The next moment Gege started doing her magic, and this time they needed longer time to adapt and figure out the way to overcome Gege''s traps.


    "Let''s take them to the array," Arthur said the moment a large number of enemies appeared from the portal at the same time.


    He tried to withstand as long as he could, but right now there were thousands of enemies flying off the portal, something that never happened before.


    ''Ding! It''s their main army I suppose,'' the system said while Arthur kept jumping off the distance to his array through multiple portals.


    ''Let them come,'' Gege laughed in strange excitement, ''Doaf and Amera are now stationed inside the array.''


    "Have they shaken off their enemies?" Arthur asked.


    ''They trapped a large number of them already,'' Gege confirmed his guess, ''but another part is still loose.''


    "So I should expect a full assault, right?" he turned to spot the pursuing army of enemies that kept growing at an alarming rate.


    ''Ding! I doubt they will fall in the same trap this easily,'' the system warned.


    "Let Doaf and Amera out," Arthur said, "let them spread out the enemies and stretch them over a large area."


    ''Roger that.''


    Arthur kept flashing towards the array while the enemies kept relentlessly chasing him.


    ''Some of them aren''t coming,'' Gege suddenly said, ''they seem to group together. I think they are planning something.''


    Arthur was now very far off the portal, so he couldn''t clearly see what his enemies were preparing. "How many are there?"


    ''Thousands so far,'' Gege said, ''I believe they will hit the mark of ten thousand in less than ten minutes.''


    "Hmm¡­ ten minutes are enough time then," Arthur muttered.


    ''Ding! What''s the plan?'' the system asked.


    "The same old plan," Arthur shrugged, "divide and conquer."


    He simply kept jumping off towards the array. As he stood in the middle of it, he watched thousands of those higher realm mages falling in the trap like moths getting burnt by fire.


    "Some are still smarter than others," he noticed around a thousand mages retreating far away from the array. "Keep nagging them, we need to decrease their numbers."


    ''Amera and Doaf are being chased by a large number of enemies,'' Gege suddenly said, ''do you want me to step in and help?''


    "Nah, let them have all the fun they needed," Arthur calmly said before turning towards the direction of the portal, "we got something else to do."


    ''Ding! I doubt more of them would still fall in the trap.''


    "Some will still be foolish no matter what," Arthur said, "besides our allies should arrive soon, right?"


    ''I hope so,'' Gege muttered, ''or else we will be attacked mercilessly by them.''


    "I doubt that," Arthur turned his gaze towards the rapidly retreating mages and the portals that kept flashing all the time and chasing them, "I believe they will run away from here, celebrating their safety."


    ''Ding! I believe that too.''


    Arthur nodded and waited for the main part of the group that pursued him and fell into the trap to be killed. "Let''s go," he muttered and the next moment he appeared just near the portal.


    "Spread the portals," the place he appeared at was literally in the heart of all the enemy forces. He wasn''t fazed by this and calmly moved around while a large number of portals kept cleaving the lives of those who were taken by surprise.


    Yet much more managed to escape.


    ''Ding! Watch out!'' the system shouted, ''Ding! They are attacking here.''


    "Gege¡­" Arthur noticed the large number of those escaping his portals turning around and launching many attacks at him.


    Yet the next moment his body kept flashing fast, disappearing for a brief moment inside the garden before reappearing again.


    "Keep them busy," he said while keeping this state for long minutes, "don''t let them catch their breaths or regroup."


    Gege did a marvellous work while controlling her portals everywhere. The mages tried to evade the portals at any cost, leading to more of them falling inside the portals as a sacrifice for others to escape.


    And that gave Arthur a window to breathe and measure the situation better.


    "They aren''t planning to retreat," he noticed their positioning and got a bad feeling about that.


    ''Ding! They are trying to ambush the incoming reinforcements.''


    ''They are mimicking you.''


    "No one can copy me," Arthur sneered, "keep harassing them, we need to break whatever plan they had in motion."


    ''Ding! I doubt we can,'' the system was slightly pessimistic, ''Ding! Their numbers are too much to handle.''


    "Divide and conquer baby," Arthur laughed, "move me towards the array one step at a time."


    ''Hang tight then.''


    Arthur was teleported the next moment away from the portal, yet not much followed him.


    ''Ding! Only a thousand moved after you,'' the system told the obvious.


    "I can tell," Arthur wasn''t satisfied by this result, "keep attacking them with the portals, let''s swallow up this one thousand," he said before pausing for a moment, "also take me around in circles, I don''t want to be away from the action."


    ''Won''t you retreat to the array?'' Gege was surprised by his words.


    "No need to," he glanced at the nearby portal and the large number of mages regrouping again, "just leave some portals dormant around."


    She read his mind and understood what he was thinking about. ''Leave it to me,'' she said before he was teleported to another spot, circling around the portal.


    Gege kept attacking the one thousand mages relentlessly before they almost vanished. "Send me in," he said and without further ado she sent him again to appear in the heart of the mages.


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    Another wave of portals appeared all around, disturbing whatever these mages were planning to do.


    Forced to retreat fast, the mages seemed quite pissed off yet Arthur was persistent and far more stubborn than what they initially thought.


    Each time they flanked him, he escaped. Each thousand mages they sent after him Gege dealt with.


    Then he would reappear once more in the middle of their ranks, causing enough chaos and disturbance while taking more of them inside the garden.


    "This is fun," he couldn''t help but laugh while watching the helpless look over their faces. "Either stay here and succumb to your fate or run away and maybe you will live," he shouted at them in a mocking tone, yet he was stating the truth.

 Chapter 718: Something Looks Fishy

    In another situation he was sure not to be able to crush them like this. They looked like burnt forest, with no will to stand up and a beaten up strength after the long fight inside the other world.


    And so he kept harassing them, jumping off from place to another while using his portals to the maximum.


    Despite that not many of them left. Only a few hundreds flew far away, dispersing into every direction they could get at.


    That made him ponder about their plans. "They must be scheming something," he glanced at the world lying at the other end of the portal, "it''s not only to prevent the others from crossing over."


    ''Ding! Who knows what they did back there,'' the system said, ''Ding! They might even have planted some sort of a bomb that would turn the entire world into shreds.''


    "That¡­" Arthur was hesitant, "sounds like something they would do."


    He knew from his dealing with those dark mages how brutal and merciless they were. Bound with nothing, no morality, no code of honor, or even a creed to believe in, they were killing anything living and ruining any safe haven.


    "I need to stop them," his earlier decision became much firmer now, "I must not allow them to have their plans going as they wish."


    ''You are doing great already,'' Gege said.


    "Not enough," Arthur knew as long as he couldn''t draw them far away then he would end up failing his quest. "Spread the word to Amera and Doaf, we are grouping everyone here."


    ''All of them?'' Gege was surprised. ''What about the forces they are fighting right now?''


    "Let them escape," Arthur said without care, "or let them chase them here. I don''t care, after all I need stronger force to beat these bastards."


    ''Ding! There is always the trap inside the array,'' the system said.


    ''If only we had time, I would have brought you inside to turn those prisoners into soldiers of war.''


    "What about the other prisoners then?" her words made him recall his werewolf and his forces, "are they ready?"


    ''Ready as always,'' she said, ''but is it safe to bring them here?''


    "I can always kill them if they tried to double cross me," he viciously smiled, "alarm them as well. Let''s start this fight with a loud bang."


    Despite all this he kept jumping off from one place to another. The situation looked steadily under his control, yet he knew he was heading towards losing the war.


    ''They are inside the garden,'' Gege suddenly said, ''when do you want to start?''


    "Now," Arthur said, "move me to the core of them and when I move away bring them out."


    ''Got it.''


    The next moment his body flashed and appeared as usual in the middle of everyone. They dispersed fast as they already got used to his tactic.


    Yet some of them fell under his portals, but the number each time grew smaller.


    Then as they started to retaliate, he flashed away and they returned with their guards being dropped.


    But this time was different.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    This time Doaf, Amera, and the werewolf appeared leading their forces from the same spot. The mages all around were converging with nothing in their minds but to witness Arthur running away from their attacks.


    So when these forces appeared, everything was doomed to turn into a nightmare to them.


    "Use everything you got," Doaf shouted.


    "Start with your biggest moves," Amera ordered.


    And the werewolf simply roared.


    ''Ding! What about the mechas?'' the system asked.


    ''They are grouping inside the garden now,'' Gege said, ''can be moved at any moment.


    "Not now," Arthur didn''t hurry to throw all his cards on the table, "move me back, we need to keep pressuring them by the portals."


    The next moment he appeared inside the brutal fight while deadly attacks flashed everywhere. Gege took the main toll in protecting him while controlling the portals all around.


    Yet after the surprise attack, the enemy mages tried to regroup themselves and counterattack them. However the timely appearance of Arthur and the brilliant use of portals by Gege stood against them like an immovable mountain.


    "Run away or stay to die," Arthur yelled and next everyone shouted in unison after him. "Keep an eye for me on the slaves," he didn''t forget about this.


    ''My hands are full,'' Gege complained, ''can''t do this by now.''


    "I meant the system, not you," Arthur explained.


    ''Ding! Leave it to me.''


    Since coming to this world, the system''s role has been forcibly diminished a lot. Everything was mostly thrown over Gege''s shoulders, and so Arthur gave this task to the system.


    ''They are retreating,'' Gege yelled in joy but Arthur had another opinion.


    "They are regrouping with those Doaf and Amera were fighting."


    He motioned his head towards the horizon where many small dots appeared.


    ''So what should we do now?'' Gege asked, ''this way our attack will lose its advantage in front of all these numbers.''


    "Tell me something," Arthur suddenly pondered about an issue in his mind for a couple of seconds before adding, "if you didn''t have to imprison them in the garden, would that relieve some stress over you?"


    ''It will release a lot of pressure indeed,'' Gege confirmed his guess, ''but leaving them wandering around in my body without any restraints isn''t a wise thing to do.''


    "I don''t plan to do that," Arthur evilly smiled, "I want you to send them to the array."


    ''Oh,'' Gege said in sudden realization, ''that might be great,'' she even laughed when she got the meaning of his words.


    ''Ding! That''s such a nasty plan to use,'' the system said before laughing, ''Ding! But as long as this would free our little Gege, then we should do it.''


    ''I''m ready,'' Gege said, ''when do you want me to start?''


    Arthur paused for a moment as he was thinking about something. "First let them come," he said, "do you have a portal dormant on their path?"


    ''I have two actually.''


    "Great," Arthur evilly smiled, "let them come first. Ah by the way, inform the mechas¡­ they will be summoned soon."


    ''To fight here?'' Gege asked.


    "Not exactly here," Arthur mysteriously said while flashing in and out the garden as Gege kept chasing every mage around with portals.

 Chapter 719: The Portal Isnt Accessible

    Gege didn''t need to ask anymore as she just spied on his thoughts and understood what he was planning to do.


    "Be ready," he kept his gaze fixed upon the incoming small army while checking the portal from time to time.


    There were still some mages running through it till now. Although they were now so few, only numbering in the tens, that prevented the ones outside from activating whatever they were preparing.


    And that gave him some precious time to act.


    As for Doaf, Amera, his werewolf, and others they were doing just fine in disturbing the flow of the enemy mages.


    Despite they lost the initial surprise advantage after the first few minutes, they still kept the other mages under complete check.


    And Gege also helped at brilliant times while using her portals to absorb any careless mages.


    "Now!" Arthur suddenly gave the signal to her to act and the next moment his body flashed and vanished from the chaotic place around the portal.


    The next moment he appeared at the incoming mages. The army all around was familiar with his way of fighting, and still they were surprised by his bold move.


    They never imagined he would be brave or foolish enough to come at them all alone.


    But he wasn''t.


    "Take all the mechas out," he shouted the moment he appeared there, "and let half appear at the second portal now."


    ''What about the portals I''m summoning? Can''t we make them appear and disappear through them?''


    Arthur didn''t have much time to consider this. "Do what''s best for them," he said while finally using his sword technique he just activated before coming here.


    And the next moment a couple of mages and another group of monsters fell under his blade while the rest were dispersed all around.


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    "Swoosh!"


    Yet Gege chased them with her portal. This time the portals didn''t directly aim at them but they simply stopped a couple of meters to their sides before a group of ready mechas flashed out of them.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The world was instantly filled with wild explosions yet the mechas faced some difficulties in killing the mages. After all they were still prototypes and the mages were much stronger than any foe they fought before.


    "Gege," Arthur shouted the moment he noticed that.


    ''I know,'' she simply read his mind at this moment and the next the portals that took the mechas out flashed to engulf the surprisingly attacked mages and swallowed them inside the garden.


    "Great," Arthur praised, "keep pushing them," he kept flashing in and out while fighting with his sword phantom all the enemies he could hit.


    And like this the fight kept raging wildly for a long hour.


    ''Ding! There are no more mages coming from the portal now,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! I believe they would move to activate their hidden technique.''


    Arthur turned his head instantly to spot the portal void of any mage. "That''s not bad though," he muttered, "they are still not able to group."


    ''Ding! I believe we should press harder.''


    ''Harder than that?'' Gege was surprised, ''there is nothing else we can do.''


    ''Ding! Yes we have,'' the system suddenly said before adding, ''Ding! Did you forget that pet of yours?''


    Arthur paused for a moment before asking, "Is he awake?"


    ''Ding! He is,'' the system answered, ''Ding! He was long since you acted to draw the mages inside the array to trap them, or even much earlier than that.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded, "send a word for him, let him come and bring all the big boys along."


    ''Will he help?''


    ''Ding! At this moment, anything would help.''


    ''Alright.''


    Arthur kept fighting while many of his mechas started to fall. After that initial hour, the enemy had already recognized the pattern of their attacks.


    And also developed an effective strategy.


    "Rumble!"


    "It''s another wide attack fire," Arthur said, "dammit! I lost a lot because of this fire."


    ''Ding! The point is they are getting steadily closer to the portal.''


    "No news of the allies?" he couldn''t help but turn to glance at the portal, still empty. "That''s weird."


    ''I bet they are slow and afraid to come through.''


    "Nah, something definitely looked weird," Arthur said when he noticed the increasing number of mages on the other end of the portal.


    ''Ding! It seems they aren''t able to cross,'' the system suddenly said.


    ''What''s difficult about crossing a portal?''


    "I¡­ have the same hunch," Arthur turned his eyes all around, "someone here must have control over the portal by now¡­ wait¡­" Arthur''s eyes suddenly shone brightly while he took a wide glance all around, "they aren''t trying to come to the portal and activate the array."


    ''Then why the hell are they desperately fighting like their lives depend on it?''


    "It''s because they are trying to escort someone," Arthur muttered while turning around, "who that person might be?"


    ''Ding! It''s a hard task to find a needle in a stayhack,'' the system said.


    "But this person should be weak," Arthur muttered, "someone who is far more important than anyone else. I¡­ can''t believe I missed such a person in the earlier fights."


    ''Perhaps he isn''t visible to us after all,'' Gege suddenly said.


    "What do you mean?"


    ''C''mon, you have been passing in and out of the garden world for the entire battle. What if you went inside and didn''t come out?''


    ''Ding! That''s possible and impossible,'' the system said, ''Ding! If that was the case then how would that person know when his allies came to rescue?''


    ''There is another way to do it,'' she suddenly said, ''remember the dormant portals I left behind? If someone already knows where the portal is and went inside then this person can be alarmed easily by their arrival.''


    Arthur paused all of sudden and his vision of this fight changed drastically. "Can we detect it too?" he hurriedly asked.


    ''I can,'' she said the good news, ''but I''ll need you to move back there and start moving all over the place.''


    "For what?"

 Chapter 720: A Plan

    ''I''ll bring the portal and let you pass through it constantly,'' Gege said, ''a lousy and slow process yet effective. This way when the two portals overlap, the other hidden one will be activated along the one we are using.''


    "Will I enter inside her world?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask, "that would be quite risky."


    He knew how godly Gege would behave while she was inside her world. Entering into someone else''s world would be a suicide mission.


    ''No, we will just activate it to reveal its location,'' she explained.


    ''Ding! Then what? Destroy it?''


    ''Not logical,'' she said, ''if we did so then she can simply come out and create another portal. That''s if I don''t have more than a portal all around like I used to do.''


    "Then?"


    ''I will simply absorb the portal inside my world,'' Gege said with a sweet laugh, ''c''mon guys, it''s pretty simple and obvious.''


    "For you," Arthur shook his head helplessly, "alright, move me back there at once."


    ''Ding! What about here?'' the system asked, ''Ding! Regardless of the big loss of all the mechas, we won''t be risking adding more enemies there, right?''


    "We¡­ can wait until he arrives," Arthur said.


    ''And I can get Doaf or Amera here.''


    "Bring Amera," Arthur decided without hesitation, "she would love to fight freely all to her heart''s content."


    ''I''ll notify her then.''


    Arthur didn''t stand and wait for the two reinforcements to arrive. He kept fighting with all he got, evading the attacks with Gege''s help.


    "Roar!"


    All of sudden a mighty roar kicked in before a large group of dreadful looking monsters came from the side of the array.


    "That''s my boy," Arthur smiled despite knowing his pet alone wouldn''t be enough.


    "You called me here to have more fun, didn''t you?" Amera''s cheerful voice suddenly came from his side.


    She appeared there alongside her entire team, or what was left of it.


    "I should grant you some reward after all this," she winked and Arthur shortly laughed.


    "I''ll make sure to stick you to that promise," he winked back before adding, "see you after all this ends¡­ I''ve something important to do."


    "Acting like a big shot won''t impress most of the girls," she said with a joke while smashing an enthusiastic foolish mage who thought highly of himself, "but I like it."


    Arthur gave her a long glance before vanishing off the entire place and appearing three miles away.


    "Let''s get this done, properly please," he said, "I''ve got a sexy girl waiting for me after all this."


    ''She is a giant, and you are a dwarf,'' Gege complained, ''how would you two get together?''


    "I''ll tell you when I try it," Arthur laughed on her comment, "let''s stop the chit chat here. We have a ticking bomb just over our heads."


    The next moment he started to vanish from his place and reappear just a couple of meters to the side. He seemed like his image was getting blurry, like a malfunction or something.


    And for the next hour he kept scanning all the area around, while finding nothing at all and the number of mages waiting on the other side just kept swelling.


    "Damn!" he cursed the moment he spotted something scary at the other end of the portal.


    The world¡­ it was literally on fire right now.


    ''Ding! They won''t make it if they stay there,'' the system said, ''Ding! And we didn''t get a clue over that portal.''


    ''It''s tricky,'' Gege said, ''there is no option here but whoever controls this portal is keeping it moving all over the place.''


    "Smart bastard," Arthur cursed, "what now?"


    ''We¡­ have one option,'' Gege slowly said, ''but I bet you won''t like it.''


    "Try me," Arthur said, "we are out of options here."


    ''I can merge all the portals in one big hell of one,'' she said, ''but this won''t come without a price.''


    "For you?"


    ''For all of us,'' she said, ''the portals will stop working for a long time, a very long time.''


    Arthur paused for a minute before making up his mind. "Do it," he said, "it''s not like we would face a more desperate situation than this."


    ''Ding! I hope so.''


    The next moment all the portal vanished before Gege warned:


    ''Once I do this, every single one here will be teleported to my body. I can handle a couple of hundred of them, but not thousands.''


    "Release the warning," Arthur firmly said, "we have a hell of fight after this inside your garde."


    ''I''ll spread the word.''


    She took couple of minutes before saying:


    ''All are informed, let''s hope this won''t lead to our deaths.''


    "Do it," Arthur said, "the more time we waste here the less reinforcements we''ll have later on."


    ''Hang tight big boy,'' Gege said, ''I''m also dying to see you sleeping with that sexy giant.''


    The next moment a grand portal appeared on top of their heads. It stretched for miles, tens of miles, like a gigantic mirror.


    "Do it!"


    The gigantic portal flipped and simply like that not a single person or monster in that stretch of miles escaped its reach.


    "Rumble!"


    The moment they appeared inside the garden, the entire world shook.


    ''I can''t handle all this energy at once,'' Gege warned, ''we got ourselves in less than half an hour.''


    "Half an hour is a lot to kill one man," Arthur turned his gaze around, "where is that bastard?"


    ''Ding! Over there,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! I regained my abilities.''


    ''I got it,'' Gege said, ''be ready, I''ll teleport you, Amera, Doaf, and your werewolf to him.''


    "Don''t let him use his portal," Arthur said before he vanished from his place like magic.


    "Got you!"


    The next moment he stood in front of a giant man who had his body covered in dark and strangely moving tattoos. His upper half was almost naked except for that green scarf circling around his neck.


    "You¡­ are very good," the mage seemed not to be fazed by this, "but you need more than your pathetic lowly dragonair''s power to stop me."


    "Who said he is alone?"

 Chapter 721: The Angry Mages

    The next moment the man got a strong hit with the spear of Amera who suddenly showed up landing from the sky above.


    The man was hit and sent to fly in the air, rolling up over himself.


    "He got me as well," the werewolf howled before kicking the man''s head with his knee. The man was abruptly stopped and before his fist could hit the face of the werewolf, a strong punch came on his face from a place he never expected¡­ just underneath him.


    "And he got me too you damn bastard," Doaf screamed in anger before hitting another punch in the man''s face. "you invaded my world," he punched him again, "killed my friends," and another punch landed over the man''s face, making him gush blood out, "and had the guts to destroy my world while trapping my people there¡­ how bold of you to do that!"


    The last punch was so strong that even part of that man''s face got deformed and even part of his bones were crushed.


    "Secure the boss!"


    This sudden shout came from a nearby place before many of the dark mages turned to this place like bees hovering over a piece of honey.


    "Not this easy," Arthur sneered and all of sudden the mechas got all over the place, attacking and exploding everyone.


    They weren''t a match for these higher up mages, but at least their attacks were enough to send these mages off in the air.


    They lost all the momentum they had, and they had to watch while Doaf kept killing their boss in front of their eyes.


    "You''ll never get to rescue them," the dark boss vowed viciously, "you''ll never win this war."


    "You won''t be alive to judge on that," Doaf took out his sword and cut the filthy head of that boss and made it roll all the way down to the ground.


    "How can you use your portals after what you said?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask while watching all the warriors and monsters on his side fighting through an enormous number of portals.


    ''Out there it''s their world,'' Gege said in strange confidence, ''but down here it''s mine. I can do anything I want¡­ in here I''m simply divine than any god.''


    "You look sexy when acting this way, y''know," Arthur smiled before turning to the others, "war isn''t over, let''s go and help them."


    "What about my people?" Doaf asked.


    "And mine?" Amera asked as well.


    "Yours are going to be saved by now," Arthur said after getting intel from Gege, "they are crossing the portal finally to here."


    "And my world?" Amera asked again, "I''m now believing in that crazy theory you both came up with."


    "We''ll connect to it once everyone passes through here," Arthur promised, "but first we need to kill them all."


    "A hell lot of people to kill for the few of us," Amera said while moving her eyes all around.


    "We aren''t alone now," Arthur evilly sneered, "a hell lot of more people are crossing the portal and coming up to here. I bet they are dying to get some revenge."


    "I bet my life on that," Doaf said in a confident tone, "let''s have some fun till they are here. These boys¡­ won''t let us have a single one to even punch in the face when they get here¡­ I can promise you that."


    The four glanced at each other before each dispersed and started to lead one part of their army.


    Amera went to lead her own team, as Doaf did.


    As for the werewolf, he returned to lead the other slaves scattered all around the place.


    Arthur returned to lead his dragons, monsters, and mecha units while Gege kept using her portals in a very dreadful way.


    Not giving the enemy a chance to catch his breath, hitting him from the place he least expected. And if there were a bunch of smart asses down there she simply used her portals to divide them all over the place.


    And like this a massacre kept raging wild, and with time this massacre just got much more brutal when those crossing the portal came finally to the world outside and joined the fight with the help of Gege.


    ''I have to warn you,'' she said, ''the big portal has less than ten minutes to disappear.''


    "And?"


    ''After that I can only transport all of them in small batches through one portal.''


    Arthur glanced all around while his dragonair''s face was drowning in his enemies'' blood. "I doubt we will need that much time," he sneered, "that Doaf¡­ his fellow mages are even crazier than him."


    In front of his eyes, every single mage that came from the other world was like an enraged lion fighting not for his life but for revenge.


    They kept flashing all over the place, moving like killing machines. No one ever managed to stand in their way, and their screams of anger, hatred, and agony kept echoing all over the world here with no sound to rival these.


    "But I like them," Arthur laughed before turning to the sky and starting to fly high. "I told you," he said while getting himself a wide view all over the battle, "they won''t need that much time at all."


    ''I''ve had to warn you nonetheless.''


    Arthur laughed while the numbers of his enemies were rapidly falling down like pieces of dominoes getting smashed to the ground. The addition of Doaf''s friends changed the course of this war.


    This became suddenly like a walk in the park for everyone, but for Doaf and his friends they didn''t see it this way at all.


    For them it was just a teaser, a beginning for a bigger fight where they would have their deserved revenge out of their enemies.


    "It''s finally over," Arthur didn''t need to step in for the next five minutes. Just before the passage of the fifth minute, not a single enemy stood alive on the entire battleground that stretched to reach almost fifty miles.


    ''Should I send them out now?'' Gege asked.


    But Arthur didn''t agree to do this at once. Those coming from the other world seemed to be so absorbed in the fight and revenge that they kept hitting every single one of those dark mages even when they were dead.


    "Take everyone else but give them a minute," he slowly said, "they deserve to vent out what they had inside all this time."


    ''Roger that boss,'' Gege cheerfully said before joking, ''when will you¡­ y''know, do it with that big sexy chick?''


    Arthur couldn''t help but laugh. "When you have the guts to say it frankly then I''ll consider letting you watch and learn a couple of things."


    ''Says the man who never slept with a girl before.''


    "Who? Me?" he laughed louder and longer this time, "I had a bunch back home who might be pregnant with my kids."


    ''So you plan to start a family? That''s nice.''


    "Shut up and do your work," he laughed while shaking his head off, "you should learn to watch out for your words."


    ''What? I only said what you just mentioned!''


    "It''s pointless to speak to you," he kept his mouth shut while watching many monsters, mages, and even mechas getting out of here with a simple flash of light.


    "Take them out now," after a couple of minutes he said, "it''s enough."


    ''What about those dead bastards?'' she asked.


    "Let the boys here feed on their flesh," he casually said, referring to the monsters in this garden. "They need to eat some of the higher realms'' flesh to evolve."


    ''I like that,'' Gege said, ''will let them have a nice feast in your honor.''


    "Hahaha," and he simply laughed before flashing outside this world and appearing again in the outside one.

 Chapter 722: Talking With Amera

    Arthur went to the outside world where he was welcomed with a grand scene. The mages coming of that world were now sitting all over the place, resting while the signs of exhaustion and even deep wounds appeared on their bodies.


    But the most prominent thing he felt was that dark atmosphere that ushered over the entire place. Even staying in a graveyard would feel more cheerful than being here.


    "What''s going on?" he went directly towards Doaf where he was standing with a large group of people alongside Amera.


    "It''s far worse than we initially thought,'''' Doaf said in a dejected tone.


    "Who are you?" one of the mages asked, "you saved our lives but I feel your power isn''t that great."


    "He is Willy," Doaf said, "the one our grandmaster took under his wing before all this."


    The mage was someone like Doaf, giant with a deep scar over his eyebrows. Arthur could tell from his eyes that he wasn''t someone to trifle with, not any less formidable than Doaf.


    "Oh, it''s you¡­ I dunno if I should express my gratitude for your help or slap you in the face for what happened because of you."


    Arthur was expecting a reaction like this but hearing such mean words from the man he just saved made him quite annoyed.


    "What happened up there?" Arthur asked before a sudden explosion occurred in the other world that attracted everyone''s attention.


    The entire world seemed to be engulfed in a mighty fiery wave that passed with extreme speed to sweep everything there. Arthur noticed that a few mages were still trying to escape towards the portals.


    "We should seal it," Amera urgently said.


    "No," the mage who was rude to Arthur said, "we can''t let them die out there."


    "But this fire will travel all the way here!" Amera was persistent in her demand before turning to Arthur, "shut the portal down now!"


    Arthur turned to Doaf who seemed quite hesitant. "I''ll wait till the last second," Arthur said before flying in the air towards the center of the array, "but you need to be ready. The moment I close the portal and shut down the array all those trapped monsters will be released."


    Arthur went to the center of the array in no time while the mages he left behind started to relay the news.


    "You shouldn''t listen to them," the next moment Amera appeared next to him.


    "What are you doing here?" Arthur calmly asked while hitting the ground with his leg and regaining control over the entire array.


    "The war¡­ isn''t just limited to one world or one clan," Amera said, "it''s a huge war between the light and dark camps¡­ and we started it by losing a lot of good clans and worlds."


    Arthur turned to see the dark look over her face. "Your clan?" he asked.


    "It''s¡­ still hanging out like the bronzed giants," she took a deep breath before adding, "but they were¡­ hit."


    "This bad?" he pointed to the world up above.


    "I heard it''s even worse."


    "What about your grandmaster?"


    "She is fighting on many fronts," Amera said, "I believe the grandmasters of many clans decided to withdraw from many compromised bases and group together."


    Arthur thought for a moment there before saying, "in fact this fight isn''t a place I should be in."


    "I can''t agree more."


    "But I can help link you to your world next," he said, "I hope we can get in touch with my godfather. I want to be sent back, and you¡­ can stay here and fight."


    She gave him a deep glance before bitterly laughing, "don''t tell me you are worried over me?" she said while sizing him up.


    "It''s¡­ one of many reasons," he said.


    "What are the others?"


    "I believe they lack any good fighters up there," Arthur frankly said, "despite the fact that I need all the help I can get down there, but I doubt they need more help than I."


    She went into silence while watching him. As for Arthur he just tried to be decent and not look greedy. After all he got their help based on a small favor, not a lifetime allegiance or something.


    "I won''t leave your side until you return to that damned academy again," she suddenly said.


    "That''s for me?" he asked with a faint smile over his face.


    "Don''t get me wrong," she said with a chuckle, "I''m doing this to get my revenge over those lycans. After all I heard they were one of the first clans to betray us."


    "They¡­ betrayed the light camp?" Arthur was surprised to hear that, "I thought¡­"


    "They are far more greedy and worse than you might think," Amera sighed, "my grandmaster once tried to scheme a combined attack on their clan but others had cold feet at the last moment."


    "There are others like them?" Arthur asked after a moment of pause, "other traitors?"


    "The list is so long to just say it in a few words," she sighed, "but at least our big masters have long anticipated such a list and were slightly prepared."


    "Yeah, I can see that," Arthur sneered while returning to watch the world explode and the mages still pouring through the portal.


    "Don''t judge upon this so fast," Amera angrily said, "they were faced with at least one hundred clans combined. No one can stand against such force."


    Arthur gave her a deep and silent glance, feeling bad to say the previous comment that stepped likely on her sour spot. "What are they planning now anyway?"


    "They will group everyone in a group of twelve worlds," she calmly said, "it''s a contingency plan that the higher ups put in a long time ago. They call it the last stand plan."


    "The name suits it," Arthur nodded.


    "Now can you shut that down?" she pointed towards the portal, "many have passed already and the fire is getting closer to the portal as we speak."

 Chapter 723: A Debate With Marcos

    Arthur knew she was telling the truth, but the next moment Doaf and that other mage came suddenly to join the two of them.


    "Please don''t," Doaf urged, "they can still make it."


    "They need only a few minutes, that''s all."


    "What if the fire came here?" Amera crossed her arms before adding, "not only those you are desperately trying to save will die, but others standing safely here will die as well. Besides, the array we took much trouble to activate will be damaged and we will return to the start point again."


    Doaf knew she was telling a high possibility, but that mage wasn''t convinced by her logic or he was simply stubborn.


    "We will wait."


    "This is nothing you can decide," Arthur stepped in this time to put an end to this unneeded clash. "I''ll wait as long as I can, but if the fire gets near the portal then I won''t hesitate to crush it."


    "You¡­" the mage''s body trembled and he emitted a very dangerous aura.


    "Marcos, stop it," Doaf had to step in as well as he shouted and blocked the aura of his friend. "If not for him, you won''t be able to cross safely here."


    "He can''t tell me that and you expect me to stay calm!" Marcos shouted but that didn''t affect Arthur.


    "Where is my godfather?" he simply changed the topic and Marcos glanced deeply at him and said nothing.


    "He is safe for now," Doaf said with a long sigh, "as I told you before, he ditched that world and went to regroup with others."


    "And the main force?" Arthur asked again while keeping his eyes over the portal and the devastated world beyond.


    "They are with him," Doaf answered.


    "Can you relay the message to him then?" Arthur finally asked what he wanted to say from the start.


    "The message we previously sent must have reached him," Doaf confidently said, "but he is way too far from us. I believe he will need more time to be here."


    "How can you tell?" Arthur asked, "y''know if the message didn''t arrive to him then we are doomed."


    Doaf understood his meaning. After all, what they did here and their intervention in this giant war would attract more attention to them. It wasn''t planned but this was a fact they couldn''t ignore.


    "I can contact him," Marcos said, "but that depends¡­" he paused and his meaning was understood by the other three.


    "Are you trying to blackmail me?" Arthur calmly asked while his eyes turned cold as he waited for the answer of Marcos.


    "Humph, I''m just stating simple facts that''s all."


    Arthur was about to crush the portal, and Doaf read what he was about to do and hurriedly stopped him.


    "Marcos, stop it already," he shouted at Marcos, "if you have a way then you''ll use it¡­ now!"


    Doaf''s back was exposed to Arthur not his face, however Arthur knew his face was sending an obvious message to Marcos to stand down.


    Marcos kept standing in his place motionless while gazing deeply at the eyes of his friend.


    "I''ll¡­ use it now," he said before taking out a strange pillar and the next moment, even before Arthur could spot it clearly, the pillar was smashed into tiny pieces. "The message is gone," he said and he glanced at Arthur as if he was saying these words to him.


    And Arthur retreated from the idea of closing the portal now. "Let''s wait for the last moment then," Arthur said, "I''ll wait until the fire is midway through the portal before closing it down."


    "This¡­" Marcos seemed not satisfied with this answer.


    "Hey, if the fire passed to the portal then all the men trapped there will be dead," Amera stepped in as she said in a strong tone. "Deactivating the portal will take a few seconds, enough time for all possible mages to cross it before shutting it down."


    "This is the best option here," Doaf said while gazing again in a meaningful way to his friend.


    But Marcos didn''t speak, and he didn''t object.


    Arthur then gave his full attention to the portal. The fire was now getting much larger, forming giant ocean-like waves.


    And these waves were getting closer to the height of the portal in the sky at a rapid pace.


    "C''mon," Doaf was more anxious than Arthur thought as he stood there while tapping with his legs over the ground. "It''s just a small distance remaining for your safety."


    Arthur heard his words and remained silent. It was pretty obvious that many would be able to pass, but also some wouldn''t.


    "Sorry Doaf," Arthur deeply said before hitting the ground again and this time the array stopped working and ceased any connection it had with the other world.


    And the next moment the portal started to crack. The fire already coming through it was almost at the last third.


    Arthur waited for the last moment before crushing the portal. As Amera expected it took roughly half a minute to completely shutter into nothing.


    And that time was enough to let those passing through it, chased so close by the fire to finally escape.


    "Oops," Amera said, "a small amount of that fire passed."


    The moment those runners finally crossed the portal, the fire managed to emit a long tongue towards them. However as the portal was crushed, they only suffered wounds and not their lives.


    "They are safe," Doaf said, "that''s all what matters."


    "Let''s go to see them," Marcos went to the air but Arthur''s next words made him freeze.


    "''We have another world to rescue."


    "Which one?" Marcos turned midair and asked.


    "Mine," Amera said before adding, "do you think we were only coming to rescue your world alone? Mine is also compromised, and god knows what''s happening right there as we speak."


    "But¡­"


    "We saved yours," Arthur stopped Marcos midway, "and I waited as much as I could to save as many as I could. However I also have another world to rescue and I''ll do that now."

 Chapter 724: A Change In Plans

    "Now?" Marcos glanced all around, "can''t you see the condition of my men? They are all injured and suited to fight another war yet."


    He turned to Doaf to get his support, but Arthur cut the path on the two as he firmly said:


    "We went to this war with no more than a thousand. Are you telling me now I shouldn''t go to it when I have tens of thousands? That''s ridiculous!"


    "I won''t let my men fight this soon," Marcos said in a stubborn way.


    "In fact¡­" Doaf had to step in, "you know how much I respect you as a friend and a brother, but you also know that I''m higher in rank than you as our grandmaster."


    "What do you mean by that?" Marcos'' eyes narrowed as he coldly asked.


    "If I said they will fight then they will," Doaf said without flinching, "and they will."


    "This is¡­" Marcos hesitated before adding, "a very wrong decision leader."


    Doaf kept his silence for a brief moment as he wasn''t pleased by the way his old friend just addressed him. "I know what I''m doing," Doaf coldly said, "prepare the men¡­ there is another war we''ll fight."


    "I''ll bring this matter later to our grandmaster," Marcos said in a threatening tone.


    "Pray our grandmaster will arrive soon, or else we all will die."


    Marcos didn''t get the meaning of it but Amera didn''t wait any longer. "What do you need of me? My blood?" she turned to Arthur and hurriedly asked.


    "Drop a few over here," Arthur moved his foot off the array center and pointed to that spot.


    Amera didn''t hesitate and let her blood fall over the spot and drench it all.


    "Rumble!"


    The next moment the entire array shook while Arthur smiled in content. "It''s a blessing we did it once the portal was crushed," he said while examining the array, "it''s still active and has enough energy to start the second portal."


    "That''s great," Amera said before turning to the other two, "prepare your men. This fight might seem quite easier than the first one but we need not to relax."


    "Count on me," Doaf simply said before grabbing his old friend and vanishing towards the scattered bronzed giants all around.


    "Thanks," Amera suddenly said before flying off to her little group of men, "for standing up for me."


    "That''s what a man should do to his girl, right?"


    "Keep dreaming," she laughed while getting further away.


    "Hey, we have a promise between us," he shouted at her back and all he could hear was her laugh.


    "She is still playing with me," he shook his head while watching her flying away.


    ''Ding! At least she didn''t refuse to honor her words,'' the system said and the two of them laughed.


    ''Yawn!'' At this moment Gege just came to drop a bomb over their heads.


    "Sleeping already? So fast?" Arthur was shocked to hear her yawning.


    ''Oh, I was just stretching out my body,'' she chuckled and Arthur felt weird at this moment. ''What? Can''t I play with you too?'' she laughed.


    "Not like this," he said, "you literally dropped my heart to the ground!"


    ''Hahaha, don''t exaggerate it,'' she said in amusement, ''I doubt you''d even need my help during the next fight.''


    "Mentioning that," he paused before adding, "what''s the status of that army?"


    ''Wait a moment,'' she said as she went to ask the tree about the condition of the approaching army. ''Strange, they halted their advance,'' she came fast to bring the good news.


    "Really?" Arthur raised one eyebrow, "it seems¡­ a bit weird."


    ''Ding! Not that weird to me,'' the system said, ''Ding! They planned to kill a lion with a pack of hyenas, but they now had to face a pack of lions instead. It''s normal for them to stop advancing and even retreat.''


    Arthur thought about it for a short minute before saying, "Either way this will buy us some precious time."


    ''Indeed,'' Gege said, ''I asked the tree to keep you posted with the news if I went to sleep.''


    "How about the portals?" Arthur asked.


    ''I told you already, I can only control one little portal to take you and anyone in, but not in large numbers.''


    "And?"


    ''What do you want to know?'' she asked with loss.


    "''When will they return to normal?" Arthur asked what he had in mind.


    ''I don''t know, maybe a day, or a year, or even the next hour¡­ who knows?''


    "Tsk, you are acting harsh and cold with me," Arthur complained in a fake depressed tone.


    ''Don''t play me, I can read your mind and you can''t,'' she laughed and he couldn''t help but smile.


    "Rumble!"


    The array shook again and this time Arthur knew the portal would just open soon. "Be ready," he said, "and inform others to get ready. I doubt we''ll wait for more than five minutes this time."


    ''Thanks to those mages trapped inside, the monsters regained most of their former powers,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! I believe even some got the chance to evolve.''


    "Oh, that happened?" Arthur turned his head around but he couldn''t see anything like it.


    ''Ding! I spotted many cases like this, so trust me.''


    "Alright, it sounds better either way," Arthur smiled and kept his silence for the remaining minutes.


    Then the array rumbled for the third time and this was followed by the formation of another portal.


    "Oh, it seems quite lively up there," Arthur couldn''t help but sneer when he spotted what lay on the other end of the portal.


    There, instead of the previous empty and destroyed world of the bronzed giants, the cauldron world seemed to still be standing in the face of their enemies.


    "Now the game changed," Arthur slowly said, "bring me Amera and the other two¡­ we need to talk about our plans here."


    ''I''ve sent the summon request to them,'' Gege said, ''but how can we help?''


    "That''s what I''m waiting to hear from them," Arthur muttered, "after all this portal is a one way connection I believe."


    ''Ding! It can work both ways if you want,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! Any portal can work either direction, but that might require some extra preparations.''


    "I won''t decide for now then," Arthur thought about it before adding, "I need to hear their thoughts first. After all this is a fresh war with many enemies and a lot of allies."


    ''Ding! We can all move there,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! Much better than staying here and facing the bitter odds of that array.''


    Arthur realized what the system was referring to and he couldn''t help but nod in agreement. "Yeah, it''s best if we all moved to that world instead and closed the portal."

 Chapter 725: Modifying The Array

    Amera showed up first with her big smile, proud of what her friends and master were doing in her world.


    "Seeming happy," Arthur said with a chuckle, "I''m happy for your world to stand still up till now."


    "That''s what the big clans should do,"'' Amera said while the other two joined at this moment.


    "I beg your pardon?" Marcos asked with some aggressiveness in his tone.


    "''Your master decided to abandon the world, but my master decided to defend it," Amera crossed her arms in front of her chest before adding, "that''s the best way to fight such war in my opinion."


    "Humph, if you faced the same armies we did then you won''t have such a smile over your face," Marcos rudely said.


    "I didn''t summon you here to fight," Arthur had to step in, "we need to go to that world."


    The three glanced at him in a strange way while Amera showed a bright smile over her face. "Taking refugees at my home? That would be the best idea ever."


    "What about here?" Doaf asked.


    "We need to leave this place as soon as possible," Arthur said, "we don''t have a good army here, and our condition isn''t that great. There¡­" he pointed to the portal and the world lying beyond, "we can have our time to recuperate and even crush the invaders."


    "Sounds like a good plan for me, I''m in," Amera said without hesitation.


    "It''s not a good plan at all," Marcos objected, "our grandmaster will come here to this world."


    "We can send him another message from there," Arthur said.


    "What if the army that invaded us came to this world?" Marcos asked with some agitation.


    "They won''t," Amera was the one to answer, "after all we killed most of it and the little few ran away."


    "I see this as a move we don''t need," Marcos stuck to his opinion.


    "I''m not forcing anyone to come," Arthur calmly said, "but to your knowledge this world is completely under the dark forces'' control. We have no world''s will to protect it and there is a great army marching at us as we speak."


    Arthur decided to keep the knowledge of that army stopping in their tracks secret for now.


    "I know that," Marcos said, "Doaf briefed me with this world''s condition."


    "Then you should come," Doaf spoke for the first time.


    "You¡­"


    "There our odds will be much higher and we can wait for our master without being threatened of being wiped out."


    Doaf tried to persuade his friend but Marcos seemed too hard to convince.


    "You out of all people should know better," Marcos sneered, "we are the mighty bronzed giants¡­ nothing should come to our aid but our fellow giants."


    "Don''t think it that way," Doaf sighed, "''Look at your men, our friends are all over the place. They need time to recuperate and heal. We can''t sacrifice them for some stupid ego."


    "You dare to say our creed is stupid?" Marcos thundered at Doaf who had no other option but to turn to Arthur and Amera as he said:


    "The bronzed giants will join the journey."


    "You¡­" Marcos seemed quite shocked but Doaf continued as if he didn''t hear him.


    "As the highest leader here in rank, I give you all my word."


    "Thanks," Arthur said in gratitude despite knowing words weren''t as easy as forcing everyone to leave.


    He didn''t want to leave anyone behind, but if they decided to stay back then he would simply leave them.


    After all he had his own goals to seek, his life to protect, and his friends to return to.


    "Excuse us then," Doaf said before grabbing his friend''s hand and dragging him away.


    "''I doubt he would be able to convince that hard rock," Amera said in a deep tone while watching the two leave.


    "I also share the same doubts," Arthur said in agreement, "''but now we have another thing to do."


    "What?" she turned to him in a strange way, "my people are ready to move the moment you call them."


    "That''s not my point," Arthur shook his head before pointing to the ground around, "the array is a problem we need to solve."


    She remained silent for a brief moment before her eyes shone up with sudden realization. "The portal is one way, right?" she asked to confirm her guess.


    "That''s the problem we need to solve."


    "Show me the array then," she asked, "I can''t decide anything without studying it."


    Arthur took out the blueprints of the array and let her examine them.


    "This¡­ is such an ancient array I never saw for a long time," she muttered while checking the papers in her hands, "I believe the last time I saw something like this was at the grand library of my grandmaster."


    "Can you modify it?" Arthur was interested by that library and her talk about how ancient this array was, however he wanted answers for his dilemma at the moment.


    "All arrays share the same principles,"'' Amera slowly said, "no matter if they are old or new."


    "Good," Arthur said in relief.


    "Don''t celebrate too soon," she said to crush the hopes he just had, "I''m just stating the obvious, but that doesn''t mean I can do it alone."


    Arthur got her meaning. "Who else do you need? Doaf?"


    "And all of his top mages as well," she raised her head towards the direction Doaf and Marcos went.


    "Marcos¡­ he might be a problem," Arthur said, "I don''t trust him."


    "Me neither," she agreed, "but we need more minds if you want to modify that portal in a short time."


    "Sigh," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh while glancing at the portal and the safe world beyond, "go and try your luck with him."


    "I''ll use my magic then," she said in a mysterious way while smiling. "I''ll keep you posted."


    Arthur watched her move towards the direction of the two before returning to examine the array. "The portal will be stable in a couple hours," he muttered, "I hope she will convince him to help."


    ''Ding! what if they failed?'' the system asked.

 Chapter 726: Marcos

    "Then we can do nothing but remain here and wait for the godfather to come."


    ''I''ll try to awaken that sleeping old man,'' Gege suddenly said.


    "That¡­ would take a long time to accomplish," Arthur bitterly said.


    ''If they failed, we will have only him to help,'' Gege said the bitter truth and Arthur couldn''t disagree with her.


    ''Ding! there is also another way to do it,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! the world''s will.''


    "Oh," Arthur realized what his system was referring to, "''the old plan, huh?"


    ''Ding! it''s still a good plan.''


    Arthur glanced all around before saying, "Prepare then for this plan, but I won''t proceed in it unless Amera and others fail."


    ''Ding! I''m sure they won''t be able to do a thing to the array,'' the system said, ''Ding! It''s something quite old and complicated. Changing anything in it would result in disastrous things.''


    "I believe in them."


    ''Ding! don''t hope too much,'' the system said, ''Ding! besides that array got many changes when it faced the world''s berserk energy.''


    Arthur felt bad when he heard these words. "What do you mean?" he asked.


    ''Ding! The previous fight you witnessed and took part in had changed the array already,'' the system said, ''Ding! go and see for yourself. Many parts were damaged and other parts began to transform to adapt to the new situation.''


    Arthur didn''t have anything else to do right now so he closed up his eyes and let a wisp of his consciousness go deeply into the ground.


    The next moment he saw the grand array from before in front of his eyes. At first glance he couldn''t spot anything different but after some time he started to see the changes there.


    "Damn it!" he opened his eyes before adding, "the entire array got changed beyond recognition."


    ''Ding! it''s natural for it to change, after all that fight with the world''s energy from before wasn''t easy.''


    "Now what?" Arthur took a deep breath.


    ''Ding! you know the answer.''


    Arthur then took a bird''s wing and wrote something to Amera before saying, "Let''s do it then. What should I do?"


    ''Ding! first you have to take that sleeping beauty out,'' the system said, ''Ding! then you need to start awakening her. I dunno what to do to make her awake, but I believe it has something to do with your other form of energy.''


    "My cultivation?" Arthur asked.


    ''Ding! I believe so,'' the system confirmed, ''Ding! then you have to go to the world''s will shrine.''


    "What is that?" Arthur asked in doubt. It was his first time to hear about such a place.


    ''Ding! it''s the place the world will live,'' the system vaguely said, ''Ding! and it''s the place I always go to when trying to contact her.''


    "Where is it?" Arthur asked, "up there?"


    ''Ding! wrong,'' the system firmly said, ''Ding! it''s situated on the opposite side¡­ deep down the ground.''


    Arthur turned his eyes to the ground before asking, "Do you want me to dig?"


    ''Ding! if that was the case then it would be an easy thing to do,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! but you''ll have to move in the ground using your soul.''


    "My¡­ soul?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there, "that sounds a bit risky."


    ''Ding! that''s the only way,'' the system said, ''Ding! The world''s will shrine is deeply situated in a place that no physical thing can touch.''


    "Then how was she killed?" Arthur asked with more doubt.


    ''Ding! I can''t answer that question without getting there and checking things,'' the system said, ''Ding! but I believe she was lured out of her lair, or else it would be extremely difficult to kill her.''


    Arthur knew what the system was talking about. He recalled a fight he witnessed before where the world''s will he had inside his garden fought the Golam with him.


    "I hope that''s the case," he muttered, "or else getting there and finding an unexpected enemy would be the last thing I''d hope to find down there."


    ''Ding! let''s hope that won''t be true,'' the system said, ''Ding! but first let''s try and wake that sleeping beauty up. She slept for too long already.''


    "She was supposed to join me in this expedition," Arthur deeply said, "I now couldn''t help but question what we thought about back then¡­ we might have thought it all wrong."


    ''Ding! that would be the case especially since she never woke up till now.''


    "Sigh," Arthur sighed before adding, "it seems she is already imprisoned to be a world''s will no matter what."


    The system didn''t speak about this anymore as he wasn''t that understandable of the meaning of all this.


    As for Arthur, he was now more afraid than before to end up the same fate she had. After all, living such a life was much worse than death for him.


    Just before he could do anything else, Amera came from far and appeared the next moment next to him.


    "That jerk¡­ he even threatened to destroy the array," she said in anger while her body trembled. "If not for Doaf I wouldn''t hesitate to kill him on the spot!"


    "He did¡­ what?" Arthur was distracted by her words and couldn''t help but ask.


    "He said if he laid his hands over the array then he wouldn''t hesitate to ruin it," she said, "he was so daring to threaten even Doaf with mutiny."


    "That bastard!" Arthur felt more anger before adding, "what Doaf is planning to do?"


    "He sent me back," she shrugged, "he promised to deal with him and solve this issue fast."


    Arthur went to silence before feeling more danger. His plans depended entirely over that array and now he wasn''t sure if he could keep it till the end.


    He glanced at the place where Doaf and Marcos were supposed to be. There were many of the bronzed giant mages scattered all over the place.


    "The question now is¡­ are they loyal to Doaf or to Marcos?" he muttered.


    "I¡­ can''t tell," Amera hesitated as she knew what he was thinking about, "but if Marcos wasn''t taken down fast, more trouble would come¡­ I can assure you that."


    "Screw that bastard," Arthur clenched his fists in rage, "I saved his ass and this is the thanks he would give to me!"


    "He¡­ is just stubborn," Amera said before pausing and said no more.


    "What?" Arthur noticed her hesitation, "say what you have in mind."


    "I went around and let my boys befriend those survivors," she slowly said, "and I received more news about what happened back there."


    "And?" Arthur felt a bomb was about to be thrown directly on his face right now.


    "The size of the army that attacked them wasn''t that big or mighty as Marcos claimed," she said, "some even doubted what happened. They all thought they could defend their homeland and wait for the grandmaster to return. But¡­"


    Arthur didn''t need to hear more as he turned to the Marcos and Doaf direction. "Does Doaf know about this?" he asked.


    "Didn''t have time to tell him anything."


    "That''s bad," Arthur didn''t hesitate to call Gege out, "Gege, send a word to Doaf. Alarm him of Marcos and he could be a traitor."


    "Isn''t it¡­ a bit too much?" Amera hurriedly stopped him, "we have no concrete clue about what happened back there. We can''t risk turning everyone against us."


    "Gege¡­ wait a second," he said as the words of Amera seemed a bit logical to him.


    ''I''m busy waking that old man up, so when you make up your mind let me know,'' Gege said in frustration of being called out and being disturbed for nothing.

 Chapter 727: A Trap

    "What should we do now?" Arthur asked as he was very conflicted at the moment.


    "If he is a traitor¡­" Amera carefully chose her words before adding, "then he won''t allow us to execute our plans."


    "He will attack the array," Arthur nodded, "but that''s hard¡­" he turned to glance at all the surrounding mages who followed Marcos to here.


    "Yeah, who knows who is already involved in such treason and who is fool enough to follow their leader," Amera got his point and muttered in obvious worry.


    "What about taking them inside your garden?" she turned to ask with hope in her eyes.


    "I¡­ can''t do that right now," Arthur couldn''t help but bitterly say, "I had to sacrifice something to save the rest of us back then."


    "That gigantic portal¡­ I see," she muttered before adding, "then all we can do now is to try and separate him from his men."


    "That would be an issue," Arthur said before adding, "if he is the traitor then he will be smart enough to know how important these mages are."


    "Doaf is higher in rank than him," Amera suggested but Arthur glanced at her for a long minute in a meaningful way. "Yeah, I also doubt he can control them on his own."


    Arthur was lost in silence before he got an idea. "Let''s set up a trap for him," he said, "like saying you have a way to summon the grandmaster in the flesh here."


    Amera glanced in interest at him as she nodded, motioning him to continue.


    "We''ll let Doaf know about our doubts," he said before hurriedly adding to stop Amera from objecting, "but we won''t specify who the traitor is."


    "Hmm¡­ that might work," she nodded, "but this way we''ll have to establish this trap far from here."


    "That''s given," Arthur nodded, "we need to separate him from any mages here in the first place."


    She gave the idea some thoughts before nodding. "Alright, I''ll do it now. I''ll go to the two and inform them about this."


    "Ask Doaf to come to see me while you select a handful of your team and go to that side."


    He pointed towards the part of the forest he first came from.


    "Only a handful of them?" she asked in doubt.


    "If you selected a lot he would be suspicious," Arthur explained, "but don''t worry, you''ll inform your men to follow my lead at any moment and I''ll always keep an eye on you and him."


    "What if he can shield what he was doing?" she suddenly asked.


    "Like those dark mages?"


    "He is now considered one of them, right?"


    Arthur realized this simple yet fatal flaw in the plan. "Well¡­ I''ll keep an eye on him then. If he moved, or sent anyone after you then I''ll dispatch some of your men first. If he vanishes then I''ll come at him with all we got."


    "I doubt I won''t last long enough until you guys arrive," she said, "but don''t be late, or else you''ll lose your previous reward."


    She winked at him and he recalled the promise she once gave him. "C''mon, you owe me a kiss," he laughed.


    "After all this moron," she chuckled before turning around to leave, "who knows, it might go beyond just one kiss."


    He couldn''t help but smile while watching her move so fast towards the direction of Doaf and Marcos.


    "Things are getting more complicated," he sighed, "I hope we can pull everything together just in time."


    ''Ding! don''t worry, we''ll be fine.''


    "Now how about that world''s plan?" Arthur thought for a moment, "It''s better to tell me what''s needed so I can prepare."


    ''Ding! As I previously said, you need to go to the shrine with your soul.''


    "Something I can''t do now, huh?" Arthur took a deep breath, "but what next? I don''t believe I would only take her out and let her take the empty throne, right?"


    ''Ding! well¡­ to be honest I never tried something like this before.''


    "And?" Arthur wasn''t satisfied with such an answer.


    ''Ding! in theory you''ll need a power far greater than all the power in the entire world to put someone on that throne.''


    "This¡­" Arthur was shocked to hear what the system said but the system''s next words made him realize the hope there.


    ''Ding! but you have something that can overcome any form of power in this world¡­ That tribulation you kept postponing over and over again.''


    "Oh¡­ you mean I should use the tribulation power to disturb the world''s energy and so she can ascend the throne?" he muttered in a deep voice before adding, "but¡­"


    ''Ding! I know¡­ I know¡­ that will make things much harder for us in the next few days. However we will go to that world and be surrounded with a lot of strong mages. What possibly could go wrong?''


    Arthur was lost in thought for a long time before sighing. "My old friend, you are underestimating the tribulation so much," he couldn''t help but shake his head, "doing such a thing will bring a disaster upon my head, that''s a given."


    ''Ding! and you might be wrong!''


    "Nothing about the tribulation is wrong," Arthur firmly said, "We''ll have it hard, and you should be prepared for it."


    ''Ding! but we don''t have another choice,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! after all this is the only way to see this through.''


    "Yeah¡­ that I can''t argue with," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "alright. First things first. I''ll see the trap plan then I''ll go to that shrine and start the ascension there."


    ''Ding! What about Gege? Should I call her?''


    "Not now," Arthur slowly said, "let''s wait an hour before he takes the bait."


    ''Ding! Will he wait this long?'' The system seemed to doubt this arrangement of Arthur.


    "Someone like him won''t be impulsive," Arthur said, "he will act as cautious and plan meticulously for each action of his. He knows better than any of us that a single mistake here and he will be exposed."


    ''Ding! I hope Amera will be convincing then,'' the system said, ''Ding! or else he might not move a muscle at all.''

 Chapter 728: A Threatening Meeting

    "He will," Arthur firmly nodded, "either against Amera or against the array here."


    ''Ding! saying it like this makes me think he will choose to come here.''


    "Nah, he won''t risk exposing himself to his master," Arthur shook his head, "he will need to first conquer Amera''s plan to secure himself a bit longer. Even if he came with us to that world, as long as no master is there then he will be able to pull out his plans like before."


    The system went into silence this time and didn''t argue with Arthur. As for the latter, Arthur kept himself busy thinking about all the options here before a bird''s wing came to him all of sudden.


    "I''m in place," it was Amera informing him about her location and current status. Then another bird''s wing came. "Doaf is coming to you, so keep your eye open over that traitor."


    ''Ding! should I alarm Gege now?''


    Arthur thought a little about that before deciding something. "Let her be informed with this plan and also let her inform the tree to keep a constant eye over everyone here."


    ''Ding! everyone?'' The system was surprised to hear that.


    "If he decided to go over the two arrays then he would divide up his forces, right?" Arthur slowly said, "let''s hope he won''t be this smart or nervous or else we''ll face a great problem dealing with both attacks."


    ''Ding! I trust Amera will be able to handle anything coming at her,'' the system said, ''Ding! I''ll inform Gege then.''


    Just as the system went into silence, Arthur spotted the distant shadow of Doaf coming at him.


    And he wasn''t alone.


    "He also came," he slowly muttered while gazing at the fast approaching Marcos. "He is restless then."


    Arthur began to think about what he should say but he didn''t have much time before the two landed in front of him.


    "Is it true?" Doaf was the first to speak the moment he landed there. "Can she connect to the grandmaster and summon him?"


    "I doubt she can do it," Marcos didn''t give Arthur any chance to speak before adding, "if so then why didn''t she move earlier and summon him?"


    Arthur smiled as that sneaky bastard was smart and calm headed to think and see through their hastily prepared trap.


    And he knew he had to provide a logical explanation here or else the entire plan would fail.


    "Well she can do it before but I stopped her from doing so," he calmly said.


    "How is that possible?" Doaf was very doubtful of these words.


    "Because she will be in a state of great weakness after that," Arthur slowly said before adding, "and it''s not an exaggeration to say she would lose her life if not treated soon by her people."


    A sudden realization hit Doaf before Marcos expressed his doubts.


    "Do you mean she waited till the link with her world was established to use that? Why not wait until she gets there?"


    "Because she won''t be able to summon my godfather by then," Arthur simply said, "after all she will use the beacon Doaf launched from before as a guide to reach my godfather. Without it she won''t be able to reach anyone, even her master."


    Marcos seemed not convinced with this logic while Doaf nodded in understanding. "So she had to do it here before going to her world, right?"


    "That''s true,"'' Arthur nodded, "she asked for it again and this time I can''t refuse."


    He pointed towards the portal and the world lying beyond before adding, "having this connection now granted that she won''t lose her life."


    "Let her die, why care so much about a girl from another clan?" Marcos rudely said Arthur wanted to start a war with him at this moment.


    However he controlled his emotions and calmly said:


    "Because she is my woman."


    "There are plenty of beautiful girls out there in our clan," Marcos kept acting rude, "why select and help someone from an alien clan?"


    "She is my girl," Arthur said in a tone that wasn''t negotiable, "and I''ll forgive your trespassing this time. But be careful with your tongue, I don''t accept any comments on my girls."


    Marcos glanced silently towards Arthur who glanced in the same way back to him. The two kept gazing up at each other while the tension rose exponentially in the atmosphere.


    "Hey, chill out you two," Doaf had to step in, "we are in the same team here."


    "Humph, I started to doubt that," Marcos sneered before turning to leave, "I''ll be sure to notify my grandmaster with these rash actions of his adopted son."


    Arthur didn''t like the threatening tone in Marcos words. "Don''t bother, soon in less than one hour he will be personally here and I''ll make sure to say all the things I had in my mind about you."


    "If not for master you won''t be alive after saying that to me," Marcos stopped and turned to glance at Arthur with threatening eyes.


    "If not for master you won''t be alive at all," Arthur shortly laughed, "if I know you are such a bastard then I wouldn''t have saved your pretty ass back there and left you to die."


    "What did you say?" Marcos'' body emitted a terrifying aura but Arthur stood calmly there gazing at him without flinching.


    "Hey hey, don''t let a trivial thing like this cause unneeded trouble," Doaf moved fast to stand between the two, "and you should treat the young master with more respect."


    "He isn''t my young master," Marcos sneered as he turned to leave, "he is just a weak arrogant kid my grandmaster picked from the side of a nameless street in a worthless world."


    "Marcos¡­ watch your tongue!" Doaf was enraged but Marcos already was leaving the place.


    "Stay beside him, but a word of advice from an old friend¡­ step away from him as you''ll only get yourself killed."


    Marcos flew fast away from the mountain peak, leaving Doaf stupefied while looking in deep shock towards his back.


    "Sorry about that," Doaf turned next to Arthur, "he is just traumatized from losing our home. He doesn''t know you or what you did so far."


    Arthur''s smile went wider as he casually waved his hand as if he didn''t care about what just happened. "Don''t mind him, after all that what a traitor should act in front of me."


    "A¡­ what?!!" Doaf was more shocked this time than ever. "What do you mean by that?"


    Arthur glanced calmly at the serious face of Daof before taking a deep breath. "Tell me, is this the man you considered a friend for a long time?" Arthur asked, not directly answering the question.

 Chapter 729: Summoning The Mechas Out

    Doaf glanced in silence towards Arthur while knowing how serious this talk was. "He is acting strange, I admit that. However, that doesn''t mean I doubt him."


    "Have you spoken to your surviving men?" Arthur noticed how careful Doaf was in selecting his words and that made him know he got the message.


    But he didn''t believe it.


    "I¡­ spoke with some," Doaf said.


    "And?"


    "What do you want to say?" Doaf directly asked, "I want to hear it from you."


    "If you want it this way," Arthur took a deep breath, "from what I learnt, my godfather didn''t leave the world behind without proper defenses. In fact I bet he left it with enough defenses to last for a long time, right?"


    Doaf didn''t answer but nodded for Arthur to continue.


    "Many expressed their doubts about what happened. I didn''t ask for the entire story, neither will I. But you should."


    "Why?" Doaf simply said, "what happened there must be known only to a handful of people."


    "I bet it''s known to all who stayed alive," Arthur pointed to a certain direction, "and I bet those coming last and got severely wounded are the ones knowing the entire truth."


    Doaf gave him a deep glance before turning around. "I''ll keep you posted with updates, but¡­" he paused and took a deep breath in obvious hesitation, "please don''t act rashly with assumptions."


    "I won''t," Arthur calmly said, "that''s why I called for you."


    Doaf flew fast towards a certain direction while Arthur stayed there watching him.


    ''Ding! He seems to slightly believe it,'' the system said.


    "Yeah, I could feel his hesitation already," Arthur slowly muttered, "and that''s a bad thing to begin with. What about Amera?"


    ''No news yet,'' Gege said, ''and that old dragon is sleeping like a little baby. He refuses to wake up no matter what I do.''


    "Leave him for now," Arthur said, "our top priority is this trap."


    ''The tree is watching him and his men,'' Gege said, ''he didn''t move till now.''


    "He is waiting," Arthur glanced at the direction of Marcos, "but I bet he won''t stay calm forever."


    ''Ding! You depend on Doaf''s actions to stir him up?''


    "''If he thought he was about to be exposed then he would be forced to act," Arthur said in agreement, "Doaf''s actions are needed to force his hands."


    ''I''ll keep an eye over Doaf as well,'' Gege said before the next moment she suddenly shouted: ''Bad news!''


    Just before Arthur could say anything, a bird''s wing came from Doaf. "They are all dead!" is what was written inside the small piece of paper.


    "Damn!" Arthur let the paper burn while asking, "Did the tree know this?"


    ''She just told me the news,'' Gege said, ''In one second the entire group of wounded mages who came last died all of sudden. It''s like they were all killed with some sort of trigger or attack.''


    "Did she see anyone attacking them?"


    ''No, she only saw them fall to their death just a moment after being normal.''


    Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Someone acted faster than us and is trying desperately to contain the situation and cover up his trail," he muttered before taking a bird''s wing and wrote something to Doaf.


    "Let''s see who is smarter here asshole," he said while watching the bird''s wing burn and vanish.


    ''Ding! Will this work?'' the system looked quite suspicious.


    "At least it will make Marcos unsettled," Arthur shrugged, "and it''s all up on Doaf''s next performance to make him believe this or not."


    ''I''ll keep an eye on him.''


    "No need," Arthur smiled, "I can already hear everything he is doing from this far."


    All of sudden the mages resting all around got stirred up. Like a calm red ant army that got suddenly summoned, they all moved towards one direction.


    ''Shouldn''t we go there and watch?'' Gege asked in interest.


    "No, we need to stay and defend the array here," Arthur firmly declined, "open my portal and take out all the mechas please."


    ''Preparing for war?''


    "Why not?" Arthur sneered, "who knows what a traitor would do when he feels greatly threatened."


    ''Ding! plus we lacked the large number of portals you used to have.''


    ''Alright,'' Gege was convinced and the next moment a small portal appeared before mechas started to get out.


    And Nara was leading them.


    "Your orders," she greeted Arthur by this phrase.


    "You act all tough with me, y''know?" Arthur couldn''t help but say and she seemed a bit startled with his words. "Never mind," he tried to calm her, "I believe we might have an attack at the array soon."


    "From where?" she asked, trying to jump over the last embarrassing moment of her.


    "From here," Arthur said and she glanced at him for a short moment. "one of ours?" she asked.


    "Not actually but it''s one of those we saved before."


    "I understand," she nodded and Arthur doubted she understood what was happening here. "I''ll deploy my men and be ready."


    "Nara," he stopped her," this might be a little harder than before, so prepare your men for this."


    "I got it," she firmly said before flying in the air to get a clear view on things around.


    ''Ding! To damage any array you should aim at the main pillars of it,'' the system said, ''Ding! but as this array is quite complicated and without any obvious pillars to it, the only way to destroy it will be through its core.''


    "I know that already,"Arthur slowly said, "plus I intend to use the traps here to get some of them if they decide to come."


    ''What about Amera?'' Gege asked, ''shouldn''t we summon her back?''


    "No, she is the main threat to that bastard," Arthur said, "the real threat isn''t coming from Doaf or me, or even this array. It''s coming from what Amera is doing."


    ''You want him to go after her,'' Gege realized, ''then why take the mecha here?''


    "To fool him," Arthur slowly said, "Amera can be saved and she isn''t really doing anything. But risking the array here is something I don''t want to see."

 Chapter 730: Fighting The Traitor

    He had to do his best to form this array and keep it running. He didn''t want to run through the same tiring procedure again, and he doubted his ability to make such an array so soon.


    So he didn''t want to risk losing this array under any circumstances.


    "Keep an eye on Marcos," Arthur said while the ruckus going on at Doaf''s location seemed to go slowly out of control. "And see what Doaf is doing."


    ''I told you to keep an eye on him,'' she chuckled before adding, ''but I didn''t listen to you and let the tree keep tracking everything. Oh man, that Doaf is really something.''


    "What did he do?"


    ''Nothing much except acting as if one of those mages was really alive,'' Gege said in an amused tone, ''you should have seen him. Even I believed his act.''


    "You''re Not the one needed to be convinced with this," Arthur smiled before adding, "What''s that traitor status now?"


    ''He is still motionless,'' Gege said, ''but I doubt he will stay like this any longer.''


    "Why? Have he summoned his men now?"


    ''No, but Doaf just announced the mage is getting better and in less than one hour he will awake.''


    "Interesting," Arthur nodded, "and his timing is also perfect. This way our little bird will be forced to choose between him, me, and Amera."


    ''Ding! What if he has some sort of a hidden weapon?''


    "I bet he does," Arthur nodded, "but I don''t care. Don''t forget something, my dear system."


    ''Ding! What?''


    Arthur grinned before pointing to the sky, "that portal is about to get functioning and soon more reinforcements will arrive here."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    "Marcos must be well aware of it, and he will be forced to act fast before these reinforcements arrive."


    Arthur knew they all missed this point, but that snake wouldn''t. someone like Marcos wouldn''t climb this high inside his godfather''s forces without being extremely cautious and very smart as well.


    ''Ding! This will put more pressure on him.''


    ''Does he know that?''


    "He knows," Arthur calmly stated, "and that will best serve our purpose."


    ''I''ll keep watching him then,'' Gege refreshingly said, ''I''m dying to know which way he will choose to hit first.''


    ''Ding! If I was him, I would go everywhere,'' the system said.


    "That would require much of a force he currently didn''t have," Arthur was doubting that approach, "plus he would risk losing everything and be exposed."


    ''Ding! At this stage I doubt he would care about something like that.''


    "Don''t forget the mages we rescued," Arthur slowly said, "if he did that then he would turn everyone against him¡­ such a thing would be a bad move coming from him."


    ''Ding! I believe he will do this,'' the system said.


    ''I believe he''ll come to Amera first,'' Gege said.


    "I don''t mind him doing anything," Arthur expressed his opinion, "as long as he acts, I''ll be grateful for him."


    ''Ding! Yeah, he will relieve us from such a headache.''


    ''What if he didn''t move?'' Gege suddenly asked, ''What if he saw through all this?''


    "It''s¡­ hard to guess all that and bet his life on such a low odd possibility," Arthur paused before adding, "but if he did so, then I''ll first let Amera summon as many mages of her world as she can before we reverse the array."


    ''Ding! Sounds like a good plan.''


    "That''s why he won''t stay calm," Arthur nodded, "he knows what I plan to do if he doesn''t move. So it''s best for him to risk it all instead of waiting and failing at everything in the end."


    ''He is on the move!'' Gege suddenly said.


    "Where?" Arthur hurriedly asked, "is he coming here? Or at Doaf or Amera?"


    ''You won''t believe this,'' Gege laughed, ''he is going to the sky.''


    Arthur turned his head high above but the distance between him and Marcos was big so he couldn''t spot him anywhere.


    ''Ding! Is he aiming towards the portal?''


    ''No, he is just going towards the sky, that''s all.''


    Gege''s answer seemed weird. "Notify Doaf and Amera, make them ready for anything," Arthur didn''t feel good about this. "And keep telling me about his location."


    ''He just reached the cloud level and stopped there¡­ Oh wait¡­'' Gege paused for a long minute before she returned again, ''He is making something up there with everyone on his side.''


    "Making what?" Arthur narrowed his eyes before asking what he feared, "don''t tell me it''s a portal."


    ''I dunno¡­'' Gege hesitated, ''but it looks like a big array. He is using two hundred of his trusted men to do it.''


    ''Ding! We should go,'' the system said, ''Ding! we can''t let him do whatever he wishes.''


    "No, not us," Arthur firmly shook his head before taking two bird''s wings and wrote something in them before watching them burn.


    ''Doaf will be faster to reach,'' Gege said, ''he is the closest to his location now.''


    "No problem, at least he will be able to tell what is he doing up there," Arthur said, "keep in touch with Doaf, see what this array is."


    Arthur watched the meachas around, the monsters led by his pet who were now scattered around the array and felt some confidence. "We can win this," he said to himself, "we can do it."


    He just waited there for five minutes before Gege returned to him with the news.


    ''Doaf says this array is a summoning one, one he has never seen before.''


    "Hmm¡­ then make him stop it."


    ''He¡­ tried,'' Gege paused, ''but there is a veil of protection around that array. Something stood there to shield all the attacks.''


    ''Ding! He knew we won''t let him continue that array of his,'' the system said.


    "Isn''t there a way to break that barrier?" Arthur asked.


    ''He thinks with absolute power that the barrier won''t last long,'' Gege said.


    "Notify Amera then," Arthur said before flying in the air, "I''ll also go to help."


    ''Bringing any cavalry with you?''


    "No, leave everyone here in guard," Arthur thought for a minute, "I''m not sure this is the real one or just a decoy."


    ''Hmm¡­ sounds like a traitor''s way of doing things,'' Gege muttered before adding, ''I''ll have to warn you¡­ I can''t control portals anymore.''


    Arthur got her meaning. "I know that," he simply nodded, "but I need to see that array cracked open¡­ Tell the tree to intensify her surveillance around the array."


    Arthur was flying fast but he spotted a ray of fire flying faster than him towards the direction of Marcos. "She got here that fast," he muttered, "then I''m not that needed anymore¡­ wait a minute¡­ take me towards the location that bastard was."


    ''The previous spot before moving?'' Gege asked in doubt, ''What for?''


    "I just¡­ have a hunch," Arthur slowly said, "if he was planning anything then I will find a trace of it there."


    ''Alright, turn left and go down for a couple of miles. He rested with his gang at one valley between three peaks.''


    "Keep me updated about the condition of the two arrays."


    He turned his direction fast and went directly towards the west. He flew for a few minutes around the peaks until he finally found the three gege told him about.


    The three peaks were close to each other in a strange way, forming a natural barrier towards any eye trying to spy on the valley in between.


    "He didn''t choose this place randomly," Arthur got this feeling the moment he spotted the three peaks, "he must be hiding something down there."


    As he descended there, nothing looked suspicious to his eyes. The rocks filled the place and there was nothing wrong to mention.


    "Boom!"


    However the moment he got near the ground, almost ten meters off it, he hit a hidden barrier and was sent instantly to fly back.


    "Damn! He is hiding something here for sure!" Arthur clenched his claws before adding, "any ideas?"


    ''Ding! It''s a protective array, something stronger than your current level of energy,'' the system said.


    ''We can try and crush it with my golden energy,'' Gege said with confidence.


    "I¡­ doubt the golden energy''s ability to crack it," Arthur stood in the air before adding, "first I''ll need to see the real area covered by this array."


    He then descended slowly towards the shield territory and got to touch its outer surface. As he touched it, he felt like stirring the calm water surface of a pond.


    His simple touches created many circles expanding all over the array. "It''s huge," Arthur commented when he saw the circles going to a very far distance, "it''s covering the entire valley."


    ''Ding! That means it''s hiding something big inside,'' the system said.


    "It''s¡­" Arthur paused before hurriedly adding, "Gege, ask Doaf and Amera about any twin arrays."


    ''Twin¡­ what?'' Gege didn''t get his meaning first before she spied on his mind and got what he wanted to ask about. ''Ok, ok, I''ll ask them now.''


    ''Ding! What do you mean by that?'' the system couldn''t spy like Gege so he had to ask.


    "This array lies exactly underneath the one he is trying to create up there," Arthur said, "so he is doing something using two identical arrays."


    ''Ding! Oh, I got it,'' the system said, ''Ding! But I have a bad feeling about this.''


    Arthur glanced at the sky and the ground and the distance between. "Me too," he muttered in a gratified tone, "the more I thought about this the more unsettled I became."


    ''Ding! let''s wait and see what these two will say.''


    ''They knew nothing about it,'' Gege''s next answer made Arthur quite annoyed and more restless than ever.

 Chapter 731: The Golden Dragon Awakes

    Arthur got his answer not through Gege but from the Doaf and Amera themselves. The two flew fast towards his place and the moment they appeared there they started examining the two arrays and the distance between them.


    "This is¡­ a bit excessive," Doaf slowly said.


    "I never saw a twin array like this¡­ What is he trying to do here exactly?" Amera was


    Amera crossed the entire distance in a hurry that she even was panting.


    "I dunno,"'' Arthur slowly said, "that''s why I''ve summoned you two."


    "We never saw something like this before!" Doaf shook his head, "I don''t like it."


    "Me neither," Amera was also worried about this array.


    ''This is an ancient array,'' the answer suddenly came from none but the old dragon.


    ''Whoa! You woke up old man!'' Gege laughed before Arthur said:


    ''What is this array? Is it this bad?''


    ''It is¡­ And I advise you not to take it lightly,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''it''s one linking this place with a place of ancient monsters. Rumors said there are some of those old folks who can sustain the cruel effect of time.''


    ''Old folks?'' Arthur asked in doubt.


    ''The gigantic monsters who roamed this universe long before the order was laid,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''some linked them to the originals¡­ saying they were the pets or the war monsters of them. However no one exactly knows the truth.''


    ''They are¡­ strong, right?'' Arthur tried to understand the threat he was facing right now.


    ''Indeed they are!'' the golden dragon didn''t hesitate to say, ''but for some good reason they kept themselves confined inside a hidden realm. Only by using binary arrays like this one can you open a portal to their world and invite one monster to follow your orders.''


    ''That''s¡­ too bad,'' Arthur''s face changed while gazing up at the array that was getting formed, ''how can I stop it?''


    ''A direct order from the ruler of the world,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''only one with such power can seal this array forever.''


    ''Ruler¡­ you don''t mean the world''s will?'' Arthur was feeling more unease about this.


    ''World''s will is the only thing that can stop this array and those monsters,'' the golden dragon said, ''you need to talk to this world''s will and convince her to cooperate.''


    Arthur stood there silent as he didn''t say anything. His mind was now filled with many speculations. "Not when I''m this close," he suddenly said and his words and the way he said it made the other two around restless.


    "What''s going on?" Amera asked.


    "''It''s¡­ bad," Arthur took a deep breath, "however there is a way."


    "A way for what?" Doaf asked.


    "Can''t we go there and kill him?" Amera pointed towards Marcos.


    "I don''t think we can do that," Arthur pointed to the array down below, "there is an impregnable shield lining the array. We can''t penetrate it."


    "We can try," Doaf said.


    "I hope you succeed," Arthur said before sitting on the ground all of sudden, "I have something to do now. You go and try to kill him, and I''ll try to save us."


    The two glanced at him with doubt and confusion while he closed his eyes, regulated his breath and started to gather up his energy.


    ''There''s no world''s will here?'' the golden dragon finally got what he was missing, ''that''s¡­ bad!''


    ''We''ll try to install a new queen here,'' Gege said in strange excitement.


    ''It''s a risky plan,'' the golden dragon said, ''but it''s a must if we want to leave this place.''


    ''I''ll go deep now,'' Arthur said, ''be ready to help me if things went wrong.''


    Arthur then moved his energy to penetrate the ground. The energy formed a long thin line that started to penetrate the ground deeply.


    The moment that happened Arthur could already sense the restless energy of this world. The entire world was in disarray at the moment, but that didn''t prevent him from going deeply towards the ground.


    He was trying to look for the shrine of the old world''s will. According to his speculations, the throne room must be deeply buried in the ground.


    He guessed it to be lying deep inside the core of the planet.


    ''Ding! The world''s energy seemed to sense the danger of Marcos'' twin array and starting to attack it.''


    Arthur could already feel the hostile nature of the world''s energy swarming everything around. However he felt like everything was stirred up and gathering to attack one place only¡­ the place of that twin array.


    ''The world''s energy without the guide of the world''s will won''t be enough to stop this,'' the golden dragon said, ''but it will buy us enough time.''


    ''We won''t take that long to make that sleeping beauty inside me the new world''s will,'' Gege said with an optimistic tone.


    ''Don''t be like that,'' the golden dragon said, ''I doubt whatever killed the old world''s will to be something easy to handle.''


    ''Ding! we hope it won''t be there.''


    ''I doubt that,'' the golden dragon had to be realistic here, ''whatever killed the world''s will won''t leave his trophy behind. I bet it''s still there and I also bet we will have a hard time dealing with it.''


    Arthur heard all their words while his soul was travelling through the ground at fast speed. The world around was now dyed dark red as if blood was spilled all over the world.


    And the more he went deeper the more restless he became. He had a very bad omen deep inside him, like he was getting to the place of his death.


    ''Let''s try to think of a way to handle such a thing if it''s there,'' he slowly said, ''what do you think killed the old world''s will?''


    ''First of all it would be another world''s will,'' the golden dragon said, ''but I don''t think so.''


    ''Ding! If there is a new world''s will here then I would have managed to get in contact with her a long time ago.''


    ''That leaves only two options left,'' the golden dragon said, ''one it''s one of those hideous monsters forged by the dark clans. Like the one you fought before, one that feeds upon the flesh of the world''s will.''


    ''The golam,'' Arthur knew what he was referring to.

 Chapter 732: Finding The Room

    ''Or it''s one of those ancient monsters,'' the golden dragon said, ''but if it''s the latter then the monster would have appeared the moment that Marcos started forming his array.''


    ''To help him?'' Gege asked.


    ''No, to stop him,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s a known fact that those ancient monsters are very hostile to each other.''


    ''Damn!'' Arthur cursed, ''even to their kin?''


    ''Yeah, that''s their nature,'' the golden dragon said, ''they won''t accept to share their trophies with anyone, even one of their kin.''


    ''So it''s a monster of the caliber of the Golam, right?'' Gege said before adding in a confident tone, ''we managed to handle one Golam before, killing another won''t be a problem to us.''


    ''I have to say you are wrong,'' the golden dragon said before correcting her, ''the level of this world is much, much higher than the world we fought the golden dragon at. That means the monster here is on a whole different level than that Golam.''


    ''We killed one of them once,'' Arthur said, ''and I can kill another today.''


    ''You have to,'' the golden dragon said, ''or else your dreams of putting that chick here will vanish.''


    Arthur nodded before focusing all over the journey. ''Gege, how are things outside?'' he asked.


    ''They are attacking the array,'' Gege slowly said, ''but it seems all their attacks are ineffective¡­'' she paused before suddenly saying, ''but there is a good piece of news.''


    ''Then tell¡­'' Arthur was dying to hear some good news now.


    ''Some crossed the portal already,'' she said, ''and they are now helping Amera in taking down the array and organizing the forces up there.''


    ''How many of them came?'' Arthur asked with anticipation.


    ''One thousand so far,'' Gege said, ''and more are crossing. That''s plus Doaf''s actions.''


    ''What did he do?''


    ''He managed to call all the forces who crossed from his world,'' Gege said, ''right now only a small portion are standing on Marcos'' side and all the forces up there are slaughtering them.''


    ''Ding! killing them won''t change the situation,'' the system said. ''Ding! We need to kill the head of the snake to win this.''


    ''I hope when the time comes, killing him won''t be too late,'' Arthur sighed, ''anyway let them be ready to kill Marcos once the protective shield vanishes.''


    ''They already plan on doing so,'' Gege said, ''after all they are completely surrounding that sky array and waiting for him to exit that protective shield.''


    ''I have a proposition,'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    ''About dealing with that array?'' Arthur asked.


    ''No, about dealing with whatever lies inside that throne room of that world''s will,'' the golden said before adding, ''we can try our best to release that sleeping girl out there and buy her some time.''


    ''Go on¡­'' Arthur didn''t hurry to judge as he asked to hear more.


    ''The throne is empty, which is a much easier task to take the throne off the hands of an existing world''s will,'' the golden dragon said, ''so we can handle whatever lies inside that room and give that girl a chance to get the throne.''


    ''Can this happen?'' Arthur was skeptical about this plan.


    ''It can, provided that we defend her in an efficient way,'' the golden dragon said, ''the process of taking over the throne is simple, but it requires time. Any interruption in the process will result in her trying all over again.''


    ''So you propose instead of being aggressive on the offense we change to be defensive, right?'' Arthur asked, trying to make sure he got his words right.


    ''Yup, but don''t forget you are fighting with your soul,'' the golden dragon warned, ''and compared with beings in these higher realms your soul power is so weak.''


    Arthur knew his golden dragon had a point here but he didn''t totally agree with him.


    ''They might be stronger than me in soul power, but they lack the spiritual power I have,'' he said, ''so I still have a good chance here.''


    ''I''m not saying you won''t have a chance,'' the golden dragon corrected, ''but I don''t want you to think this will be easy.''


    Arthur knew the golden dragon was worried about him, but he totally believed in himself.


    So he refrained from getting into the discussion that erupted about the ways to fight and help him in that upcoming challenge. He focused on the world around, trying to get deeper to the core and find that room.


    ''Is that¡­ it?''


    After half an hour of constant looking he finally spotted something flashing in different light at the distance. It was shining in bright white light that seemed a bit eye catchy amidst all that redness around.


    ''It''s the room,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! Indeed it is,'' the system confirmed, ''Ding! I advise you to take a pause and examine the surroundings first.''


    ''If you think that monster will be waiting outside then you are mistaken,'' the golden dragon had to disagree, ''it''s inside the room and there is no time to look around.''


    ''I''ll take a look nonetheless,'' Arthur said, ''Gege, tell Doaf and Amera to dispatch some to protect me.''


    ''On that.''


    Arthur then got near that place fast. The closer he got the more shining it became until he reached a very close distance to it.


    For him it was like a bright white sun in the middle of a dark red sky.


    ''Let''s take a look around,'' he then started to circle the room as fast as he could while being vigilant.


    ''Told you,'' as he finished his recon, the golden dragon said, ''there is nothing here to worry about.''


    ''I had to be sure,'' Arthur slowly said, ''now it''s the real show.''


    He moved fast towards the room and the moment he got so near, he felt a strange suction force that grabbed him unwillingly towards the room. The traction force was irresistible.


    ''It''s like that force,'' he slowly said while his eyes were blind by the shiny light coming from the room, ''like when I went to level up my dragonair power.''


    ''Ding! I also feel the same,'' the system confirmed his speculations.


    "Boom!"


    Yet the next moment a loud bang happened before Arthur felt himself penetrating through some kind of a membrane.


    Then the bright lights went off and he had to wait for a couple of stressful seconds before his eyes got used to the dim light inside.


    ''Don''t move a muscle!'' the golden dragon suddenly warned in a very gratified tone, ''this is a hell of a nightmare for all of us!''

 Chapter 733: Soul Predators

    Arthur felt a great threat coming from the words of the golden dragon. However he had to wait for a few longer before he could see clearly through the place he entered.


    "This¡­" his eyes went wide open the next moment as he spotted endless rows of giant eggs. Each one had a thick green and black shell with a few thorns coming out from its top.


    "What is that?" he glanced around trying to see and end all these eggs.


    ''The soul predator eggs,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''but that''s not the big deal here.''


    "I feel they are bad news," Arthur kept his vigilance.


    ''The bad news is that your true body came to this place,'' yet the next words of the golden dragon startled him.


    He glanced at his body instantly before he was truly shocked. His body was now here in flesh and not just in soul.


    "Just¡­ How¡­?!!" he was extremely shocked.


    ''It seems that the soul predator is very nasty,'' the golden dragon said, ''it must have put some sort of magic around the room to protect it from any invaders.''


    ''Ding! What are these soul predators?'' the system asked the question Arthur was dying to ask.


    ''They are one of the ancient creatures that lived since the ages of the originals,'' the golden dragon answered before explaining further:


    ''They feed on the soul. Their fierceness was a well known calamity to all realms and clans in the universe.''


    "But they can be killed, right?" Arthur tried to find a spot of light in the middle of all this darkness.


    ''Well¡­ I heard some rumors about how to kill them.''


    "Rumors?! You gotta be kidding me, right?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there.


    ''It''s an ancient creature that was thought to be long extinct,'' the golden dragon said in a defensive way.


    ''Ding! But you managed to recognize it from first glance!''


    ''It''s not that hard to recognize such a disaster miles away.''


    Arthur kept moving his eyes around before asking:


    "You warned me not to move, why?"


    ''It can sense only movement,'' the golden dragon said, ''and if you move a muscle it will know about your existence. Besides¡­ I dunno if there is only one or more of those nasty beings.''


    "Then what should I do?"


    ''Retreat,'' the golden dragon decisively said, ''you can''t win this battle. Run and live to fight another day.''


    Arthur hesitated. There were a lot of things depending on his success here. Just running away was an option he couldn''t afford to take.


    "I''ll stay and fight," he firmly said, "there is no room for retreat."


    ''But¡­''


    "Just tell me these rumors so I can be ready," Arthur cut the words of the golden dragon.


    He knew his golden dragon would try to persuade him against staying here. As he had already made up his mind then he didn''t need such words at all.


    He would risk it all, and if he had to do that then he would need all the support he could get from them.


    ''Sigh, you know you are asking for your death,'' the golden dragon said in dejected tone, ''it''s not a shame to run away from such a thing. Any master of yours will do the same.''


    "But if I did that then I''m done for," Arthur slowly said, "I want to retreat but I can''t! I have to stay and fight."


    ''Oh boy,'' the golden dragon took a deep breath, ''alright. There are many rumors that enveloped these creatures but there is one that you can use. It depends on using another form of energy other than the dragonair and mage''s energy known to this world.''


    "You don''t mean¡­ my spiritual energy, right?" Arthur tried to make sure of his guess and the golden dragon words next confirmed that.


    ''The soul predators are creatures of this world. It''s said once that any energy hailing from this world can be absorbed and eaten away by them. So one of the theories to kill them was based on this. Your other energy will do fine, I hope.''


    ''Then what about the golden energy?'' Gege suddenly asked, ''can it help?''


    ''Well¡­ in theory yes.''


    ''Then we can use that technique of yours,'' Gege said, ''after all it''s your current strongest attack, right?''


    Arthur slowly nodded before asking: "What about those eggs?"


    ''They are the offspring of those creatures,'' the golden dragon got what Arthur wanted to ask about here, ''but don''t worry. They need a thousand years at least to bring forth any new monster to this world.''


    ''Ding! but we don''t know for how long the world''s will was killed,'' the system said, ''Ding! so let''s assume a thousand years have passed already.''


    ''In that case¡­'' the golden dragon paused, ''we have an impossible task ahead of us.''


    "I''ll start killing them first," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "be ready Gege, we will have a rough start."


    Arthur knew that for him to activate the technique, he would have to move. That meant the currently hidden somewhere soul predators would be alarmed and converge at him.


    But he had no other choice but to do that.


    "Let''s do it," the next moment he started to move. The steps needed for him to activate the technique wouldn''t take longer than a few seconds.


    However from the first moment he moved, a very deafening scream appeared coming from a single direction.


    Then a second one came from a different direction, then a third and a fourth¡­


    "Damn!" Arthur gritted his teeth, "there are too many to count!" he heard over twenty screams so far.


    ''It''s not too late to retreat,'' the golden dragon tried to persuade him but he failed.


    "It''s time to advance," Arthur was almost there to complete his technique and he wouldn''t stop doing it at this stage.


    As he ended the technique and got his phantom sword, he turned around and was surprised by what he saw.


    "They are¡­ small?!" he slowly muttered in doubt, "are they the newly hatched ones?"


    ''Nope, these are the real deal,'' the golden dragon said, ''don''t wait for them to catch up to you. Attack, attack them now!''


    The shouts of the golden dragon didn''t match what Arthur saw around. The monsters running at him were almost double his body size, with three to four long and thin tails.


    Their bodies were covered with black thorns covering up a green thick skin.


    "Are you sure they are this strong?" Arthur was skeptical yet he waved his sword against the nearest monsters.


    His sword flashed and hit the monsters alongside many eggs. The slash was simple yet to his surprise the monsters only retreated ten meters only before stabilizing their bodies.


    Then they started to run again at him like nothing happened.


    "Damn! They are tough!" Arthur was surprised to see that and kept slashing his sword everywhere around.


    ''It''s impressive for you to push them back,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''but you need to kill them and not just halt their advance.''


    "I know," Arthur was struggling here, "but I can''t even scratch those thorns or that thick green skin of theirs."


    ''Ding! It''s the time to get that sleepy princess out,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! she might help in this fight.''


    ''Good idea,'' the golden dragon approved, ''there is nothing left to lose anyway.''

 Chapter 734: Meeting The Giant Beauty Again

    ''I''ll take her out,'' Gege simply said before the next moment the giant beauty appeared once again in this world.


    Arthur glanced at her sleeping face with conflicted emotions. He knew he promised her to help in bypassing her fate.


    However even after all this time he couldn''t manage to bypass anything but time.


    ''Ding! Don''t feel sorry for her, you did everything you could,'' the system didn''t need to read his mind to know how bitter he was feeling right now.


    "Now what?" Arthur took a deep breath before launching one more attack at the incoming monsters.


    ''We wait,'' the golden dragon said, ''she needs to be awakened on her own will. There is nothing we can do about her at the moment.''


    "I''ll keep defending her then," Arthur moved fast and stood in front of her giant crystal. He stole a brief glance at her while recalling the words he long gave her as a promise.


    Yet here he was, unable to fulfill it and had to let her take over this world. Something he clearly knew what it meant.


    She would never be able to win this tribulation no matter what. Her fate would be sealed, forever.


    "Die!" as he was grieving in silence, he decided to take that out and rained his attacks over the large number of monsters.


    ''The eggs are moving,'' Gege suddenly said, ''I can even sense them.''


    ''Ding! Me too.''


    ''And me,'' the golden dragon added, ''this means these eggs are going to release a magnificent wave of energy.''


    "What does this even mean?" Arthur was busy hitting those relentless monsters with his sword.


    ''The only thing in common between the three of us is the ability to sense energy,'' the golden dragon slowly explained, ''the three of us getting to sense that means only one thing; what''s coming is something so destructive that we three felt it.''


    "But I feel nothing," Arthur said.


    ''I feel like my death is near,'' Gege suddenly said.


    ''Ding! Me too.''


    ''And me.''


    The agreement of the three beings inside his mind over this point made Arthur realize the threat was real and imminent. "What should I do now?" he hurriedly asked, "should I destroy the eggs?"


    ''Try,'' the golden dragon said, ''despite I doubt this might actually work.''


    Arthur didn''t give in and started to hit the nearest eggs with his swords. The sword slashes were strong enough to knock the monsters backward, yet they were helpless against these eggs.


    ''Ding! Your level of power is so low that it can''t affect the shells around the eggs.''


    "Thanks for telling me something I already am aware of," Arthur sighed, "there is no hope then except to retreat and try to withstand this shockwave, right?"


    "Wrong!"


    All of sudden this soft and unforgettable voice came from his back, startling him.


    "You are¡­ back," he couldn''t help but pause midway while glancing at the giant beauty next to him. She was now getting free of that crystal that held her.


    From her face Arthur felt like she wasn''t mad or depressed. He even didn''t feel any sense of hostility or desire to know more about what was going on here.


    "I wasn''t sleeping all this time," she slowly spoke with her angelic voice, "I heard every single thing you did. I have to say I''m really impressed by your feats. Also I''m a bit touched by what you felt towards me."


    "Ahem," Arthur cleared his throat without knowing what to say.


    "Don''t worry, this is my chance to rise up again," she slowly said before pointing her big hands towards the front. "In time you''ll understand that this isn''t the end of this life."


    "What¡­ Do you mean that?" Arthur asked before she released a deadly beam from her hands towards the monsters and eggs.


    "I can''t explain," she slowly said, "and even if I did, I doubt you can understand what I know."


    "Try me then."


    "There isn''t an explanation for everything," she said with a strange smile over her face, "but I can tell you for sure that this isn''t the last time we will meet."


    Arthur watched the world around shining in bright white light. It seemed like the beams she was releasing were very effective against the monsters and the eggs.


    Both of them started to melt down, or to break into endless specks of light that started to join the giant two beams she was releasing.


    At some point Arthur didn''t know if she was releasing the beams or she was now absorbing them.


    "I don''t have much time to chat with you any longer," she hurriedly said, "my consciousness will be elevated now to a higher realm. Next time we meet we won''t be in such low realms. That realm is something amazing, I bet you''ll be shocked when you see it."


    "A¡­ higher¡­ realm¡­" Arthur slowly muttered, "higher than this?" he glanced around and now there was no monster or egg at all.


    "You''ll understand with time," the giant beauty said before adding, "now you need to get off this place and return to the surface."


    "Wait! There is something I need from you."


    She was about to wave her hand and send him away before he shouted.


    "I told you already," yet she didn''t stop what she was doing, "I know everything that you went through. I know what you need and when you get back you''ll find everything settled."


    The next moment the entire world turned bright in front of his eyes. The white light engulfed him while he heard a soft sigh. "Thanks for everything¡­ Let our next meeting be more¡­ more intimate than this one."


    Before he could speak, he felt his body being ejected by an irresistible force that sent him away. The next moment he found himself standing on the surface once again, just beside the twin array.


    "She sent me away," he slowly muttered before turning around, "will she be able to do it?"


    ''Ding! we''ll get to see the results soon, I suppose,'' the system said.


    "You returned?" Amera asked with a worried expression over her face. "Is everything alright now?"

 Chapter 735: Leaving The Planet

    Arthur noted Amira''s expression, which appeared also over Doaf''s face. "I¡­ believe so," he slowly said before turning his head towards the sky, "I hope what I did will be enough."


    The two beside him remained silent and didn''t speak while the clock kept ticking without pause. Arthur knew if he missed his chance now he would be doomed to die in this world.


    Many thoughts flashed in his mind, thoughts of his ambitious plan, his cities that he built in two different worlds, plus the plans he had for the original world he came from.


    But he also was concerned about the words the world''s will told him. "A higher realm¡­" he slowly muttered.


    "What?" Doaf asked as he didn''t hear him well.


    "Is there a higher world than here?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    "A higher realm? No, this is one of the highest realms in the entire universe," Amera was the one to speak, "this is where everyone gets after rising up."


    "Oh," Arthur slowly said, yet he wasn''t convinced this was true.


    "Is there anything bothering you?" Doaf asked.


    "Nothing," Arthur diplomatically smiled while putting an end to this topic.


    "Rumble!"


    And the next rumbling that occurred in the sky above was enough to distract the other two from what he was speaking about.


    "Don''t tell me the array is working," Amera was alarmed by this, "I can already sense terrible danger approaching."


    "Me too," Doaf sternly said, "we need to prepare for the worst."


    Arthur was about to speak before a second rumbling occurred. This one was much closer and far stronger than the first. Even the earth underneath their feet trembled violently in a way that he couldn''t keep himself standing anymore.


    "Look!" Yet as he stood up while adapting to the violent trembling coming from the ground, Amera shouted as she pointed towards the sky.


    She pointed towards a different spot than the doubt array of the traitor. "The portal¡­ It''s changing," Doaf slowly said before the two of them turned to Arthur who simply smiled.


    "Let''s get ready to leave," he simply said before spreading up his wings and soared to the sky. "We have a short span of time to leave. Don''t leave anyone behind."


    "We won''t," Amera''s voice came as an answer while Arthur said:


    "Relay my orders to everyone around¡­ we are going to leave this place now."


    Leave it to me,'' Gege hurriedly contacted the tree and started to relay Arthur''s words to everyone. No matter who, anyone on their side got the message fast.


    And the message was simple; go up there and let''s leave this plane.


    As for Arthur, he had another thing to do at the moment.


    ''That array will hold for half an hour max,'' the golden dragon said.


    "I don''t want it to hold that much," Arthur said before turning his eyes towards the direction he just came from. "That bastard can''t find a way to cross the portal to that world or we would be in trouble."


    ''Even if he passes we can handle him,'' Gege said in confidence.


    "I don''t want to bring any trouble there," Arthur said, "I bet they already have their share of problems. Plus that portal links us directly towards the inner zone of the protective shield."


    ''Ding! You are afraid that he might use something to break the shield,'' the system could already guess what Arthur was worrying about.


    "Don''t tell me I''m overreacting, as I''m not."


    ''It''s a good point actually,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s better if we kept that traitor here. But how do you plan to do that exactly?''


    ''He plans to be the last one to move over,'' Gege could already read his thoughts, ''he will devastate the array before leaving.''


    ''Ding! That sounds¡­ like a terrible plan,'' the system said.


    "I know," Arthur knew the risks of his plan, "but we need to destroy the array before reaching there."


    ''How will you cross all that distance and pass the portal without getting crushed in the middle?'' The golden dragon tried to remain calm while asking the most logical question.


    ''He plans to use her help,'' Gege read his mind again.


    "Y''know it''s not a good habit praying on my thoughts like this," Arthur said before smiling, "you might see something inappropriate inside."


    ''Like you sleeping over with me?'' Gege said in a playful tone.


    ''Can we focus here, please?'' the golden dragon had to intervene and stop this before the discussion would take an awkward turn.


    Arthur went directly towards the array while every single one of his forces started to fly up to the sky. His pet went towards there as well, leading a grand army of monsters who were following its lead.


    "I think they need at least ten minutes to cross the portal," Arthur landed over the center of the array.


    ''Ding! You also need that time to leave here.''


    ''Hopefully that girl knows what to do,'' the golden dragon said.


    "We''ll see about that."


    Arthur then sat on the ground, closed his eyes and started sending his consciousness deep down the ground. This time the world''s energy wasn''t in any state of berserk like before.


    And that meant his girl was already controlling everything.


    ''Why aren''t you leaving?''


    Just as his consciousness seeped deeply in the ground, the voice of the world''s will rang in his head.


    "I need a hand here," Arthur hurriedly said, "I need to destroy the array once we all passed."


    ''Afraid of that traitor to follow you? That''s interesting,'' she chuckled as if she was enjoying this situation, ''I didn''t think he would be this scary.''


    "He isn''t that scary but he can cause troubles not needed up there," Arthur said before adding, "can you do that?"


    ''Sure, go now and leave this entire world for me,'' she said before adding, ''after destroying the array and killing every single one of those dark clan mages I''ll leave the world entirely and ascend. Don''t be late and try to ascend fast to meet again.''


    Arthur wanted to ask more about this but the next moment his consciousness was kicked without room to negotiate and returned to his body.


    "She seems impatient," he muttered, "can you talk to her and see if she knows what the hell is that higher realm she kept mentioning?"


    ''Ding! I''ll try my best,'' the system slowly said before adding, ''however I doubt she will comply.''


    "Any info will help," Arthur sighed before spreading up his wings and started to fly high in the air.


    The sky of this place of the world seemed crowded with immigrants coming from all around. Monsters, mages, and mechas were passing through the portal led by Amera and Doaf.


    Amera went first as far as Arthur noticed. She seemed to be concerned about the reaction of her master and fellow mages up there towards all these new faces entering her world.


    As for Doaf, he followed her in the next wave leading many mages of his kin.

 Chapter 736: Marcos Is Drawing Near

    As time passed fast, the world around Arthur started to look quite empty. Much of the forces here were now passing the portal, and Arthur had to stay behind to make sure that all the forces were safely departing this world.


    He also had to wait until his system would return with an answer. From the tone of the world''s will from before he felt she was already knowing something he didn''t.


    ''Ding! She refused to say a thing,'' the system finally returned with the bad news, ''Ding! And she asks you to leave now as she will start destroying the array.''


    "She is¡­ stubborn," Arthur glanced around before sighing, "no choice then but move."


    What remained behind were only monsters. All the mages already passed through the portal.


    ''Don''t bother with this,'' the golden dragon said, ''one day you''ll meet up again with her, or your godfather might know the answer.''


    "I hope so," Arthur then entered the portal, leaving behind that world he was forced to come to.


    The moment he entered the portal he felt like throwing himself into a frozen lake. The air around was so thick and extremely cold.


    "I wasn''t expecting that," yet that didn''t affect his sturdy dragonair body. He kept moving forward with a slightly slower speed than he used to have.


    The deeper he went, the thicker the air around became until he was quite sure he was now breaking through layers of ice and not air. With each move of his wings he could hear a cracking sound like something solid being smashed by his wings and body.


    That made his advancement speed slow down gradually, while the end of that tunnel he was flying into was still far.


    ''I think we might have a problem,'' Gege suddenly said, ''that bastard is heading towards here.''


    Arthur''s eyes narrowed while turning to check his rear. The portal beginning could be spotted from his place like a small shiny circle at the end of the path.


    "I can''t see him," Arthur returned to focus on flying forward, "and how did you manage to see him?"


    ''The tree is still connected with the world,'' Gege said, ''and he just left the array he was doing and is now heading fast towards the portal.''


    "What about that beauty we left behind? Can''t she stop him?"


    ''She is doing her best in that,'' Gege said, ''but I believe she will fail.''


    ''Her control over the world is just recent and incomplete,'' the golden dragon further explained, ''she can do a little to stop him.''


    "Then let her detonate the array," Arthur didn''t hesitate to say.


    ''But¡­''


    "No time for that," Arthur pushed his body to the front with all his might, "it''s either we succeed and kill that bastard or lose and let him ruin our plans. I won''t let him set a single foot inside that world no matter what."


    ''Ding! The distance to the other end of the portal isn''t that far away.''


    ''But the speed of the array collapsing will be fast as well,'' the golden dragon warned, ''you need to move fast enough to avoid getting entangled with the portal collapse.''


    "I''m doing my best," Arthur said while gritting his teeth, "just let her destroy the array now."


    ''Ding! alright,'' the system then went into silence before a loud bang came from the rear giving Arthur the response he wanted.


    ''Now keep flying forward and never look back,'' the golden dragon spoke first, ''there is no time to waste checking the rear.''


    "He got in?" Arthur realized what that meant, and the silence that came from the three beings in his mind told him he was right in his guessing.


    "Damn that bastard," he kept pushing his body further to the front, "let him die here with the portal collapse."


    Time seemed to run very slow at this point. The end of the portal was getting so near, but he also was aware that his enemy was getting closer to him as well.


    ''Ding! Only less than a hundred meters left,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! and that bastard is getting closer as well.''


    "What about the collapse?"


    ''The portal is also racing after his ass,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''he will be trapped here no matter what he tries to do.''


    Arthur managed to cross the final distance fast, however he didn''t pass instantly through the portal opening.


    Instead he turned around and slowly took out his sword.


    ''What are you doing?'' Gege seemed a bit distressed with his actions.


    "I''ll make sure he won''t be able to cross the portal," Arthur slowly said before moving with difficulty to activate his technique.


    ''What''s the point in doing that?'' the golden dragon asked while Arthur totally ignored him. He was only focusing on the grand scene he was seeing in front of him.


    Marcos was racing against time while the entire portal behind was like a giant and terrifying looking beast opening its mouth trying to engulf him.


    Even Arthur who stood far from this felt a little intimidated by this scene. Yet he didn''t hesitate or think for a second to turn around and run.


    He stood in his place while Marcos kept running as fast as he could towards him. The distance between the two wasn''t short from the start, however his enemy was moving so fast to even outrun the collapse of the portal.


    ''I advise you to retreat now,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "He is moving so fast," Arthur rejected his advice, "I can''t let him get inside that world no matter what."


    ''You can use the help of others,'' Gege said, ''I''m sure Amera and Doaf are both waiting for you at the other end.''


    Arthur didn''t need to turn around to make sure of this. However he wasn''t sure of that bastard and his schemes. He was worried that he was already prepared to be assaulted the moment he sat foot inside the world.


    And then they would face great trouble dealing with whatever he would cause in the few seconds before his death.

 Chapter 737: Take Him To The Prison

    "No, it''s best for me to fight him here," Arthur clenched his sword and slowly waited for Marcos to come closer to him.


    In less than two minutes Marcos was already upon Arthur. The latter didn''t move a muscle even after his enemy got this near to him.


    As for his three beings in his mind, Arthur totally ignored their demands to leave. He kept his vigilance and stayed alert as long as he could endure.


    And then he launched his sword attack towards Marcos.


    "That won''t work against me," Marcos laughed, "accept your defeat boy¡­ today you are going to die by my hands."


    Despite Arthur knowing such a thing, he only sneered, turned around and crossed the last remaining step between him and the new world.


    "Keep telling yourself that in hell," he said in disdain before finally leaving the portal.


    "Boom!"


    The moment he left, a big bang occurred. Arthur didn''t aim for Marcos from the start, but at the intact part of the portal around.


    Getting this hit from such a near distance made the shaky portal crush down without surprise. That collapse closed the path of retreat over Marcos who became sandwiched between the two crushing parts.


    Arthur had to wait till the last second to pull this feat. He was worried his enemy would have something up his sleeve to deal with such a situation, and so he preferred to do it in such a surprising fashion.


    Like this Marcos wouldn''t find a moment to even absorb the shock, and that was exactly what happened.


    By crossing the portal opening and getting inside the new world, Arthur couldn''t hear anything from the portal. All he saw was the portal opening crushing over itself and vanishing from the sky of this world.


    And he stood in midair, surrounded by Doaf, Amera, and other strong looking and very vigilant mages.


    "You surely took your time to come," Doaf said with a warm smile.


    "Detain him," yet the next shout changed the entire situation and made the smile over Doaf''s face to freeze.


    "What does that mean, grandmaster?" Amera hurried to speak while Arthur noticed the one who gave such order and the same one Amera just called as grandmaster.


    She was a giant like Amera, much older than her with all these wrinkles around her neck.


    However her face showed a paring beauty with Amera and other female mages around. She wore a short skirt with long fishnet trousers that even extended beyond the leather heels she was wearing.


    Her dark blue eyes were brimming with life and strength while her dancing long faint blue hair gave Arthur the impression that she was standing in the middle of a violent storm and not in the same place like them.


    "If not for this reckless kid here this war wouldn''t have gone off from the beginning," the grandmaster of Amera said with a faint anger in her tone. "Because of your stupid actions and your grandmaster''s foolish choices I lost a very good mages for no reason."


    Arthur wanted to retort back at her words and defend herself, however a silent warning gaze from Daof made him say nothing.


    "Take him away and confine him at our prison," the lady said with Amera''s shocked expression, "we will make a trial for him later on to determine what best action to do about him."


    "This is unfair!" Amera couldn''t help but shout.


    "Watch your tongue very carefully," yet the lady''s cold tone gave Arthur a very bad feeling, "next time I won''t tolerate it."


    "Don''t," Arthur stopped Amera before she would make this harder than it was, "I accept this."


    Amera turned to glance in a weird way at him.


    "See? Even though he realizes how bad his actions were," the lady sneered but Arthur sneered back.


    "I''m doing this as a favor for my godfather," Arthur slowly said before adding with an irritating smile, "I thought being part of the lower realms meant to be afraid of the dark mages, but never come to my mind that even the mighty clans up here are the same like us down there."


    "Watch your words carefully, foolish dragonair," the lady coldly said, "or else they might be your last in this world."


    Arthur wasn''t fazed by her threat but he didn''t speak again. The next moment one of the mages here held his arm in a violent way before pushing his dragon body hard towards the ground.


    "Move you despicable dragonair," the female mage said in a harsh tone that best suited a male not a lady like her. "Your fancy prison is waiting for you."


    Arthur only smiled and said nothing back while stealing a last glance at Doaf and Amera. The two looked so gloomy yet they didn''t act or did anything.


    ''That bitch! I want to kill her!'' Gege wasn''t any less furious than any of them as she shouted in extreme rage.


    ''Just chill out,'' the golden dragon said, ''once that master of his comes, all of this will be solved.''


    ''I don''t think it''s going to be this easy old dragon,'' Arthur thought, ''they seem to already be choosing a side in this war. Or at least that old hag wants to flip sides.''


    ''Ding! Being here is dangerous,'' the system said, ''Ding! we need to go back.''


    ''I hope things would be this easy,'' Arthur sighed, ''there is no way to travel to another world here, not to mention trying to get to the lower realm we came from.''


    ''Then what will you do?'' Gege asked with a distressed tone.


    ''I will wait,'' Arthur slowly said, ''when my master arrives, I''ll ask him to teleport me back.''


    ''Ding! Hopefully he will arrive sooner than your trial.''


    ''I trust Doaf will do the right thing,'' Arthur prayed, ''hopefully he will know what to do.''


    "Keep moving prisoner," the female mage hit him on the back with her long stick that she took out of the blue.


    Arthur gave her a warning glance while he weighed the consequences if he fought with her right here.


    ''Don''t,'' yet the golden dragon stopped him, ''she is stronger than you are, and you are inside the enemy territory now.''


    ''I won''t call them an enemy yet,'' Arthur turned his gaze away while ignoring the curses that the mage kept throwing at him.


    ''I consider them one,'' the golden dragon said, ''don''t tell me friends lock each other in prison.''


    ''Just shut up,'' Arthur said with a short laugh that made the mage on his back more furious.


    "Move fast and don''t smile or laugh," she hit him again with her stick but this time Arthur was fast enough to react to it.


    "Don''t hit me with that thing again," Arthur slowly said while grabbing the stick by one hand.


    "Or¡­ what?" the girl said in an aggressive tone that seemed to be intentionally provoking him.


    ''Wait¡­ I discovered something,'' all of sudden the all silent Gege spoke, ''they also got our forces imprisoned.''


    ''Oh,'' Arthur commented while he applied a slight force over the metallic stick he stopped. "Snap," the stick was cut into half by him before he started to move the part in his hand like he was toying with it. ''How did you know that? Wait, the tree?''


    ''Yeah,'' Gege said while he turned and resumed his flight towards the direction of that prison, ''and now I can tell you more shocking info about those mages here.''

 Chapter 738: Lycans!

    Arthur was closely watched by the mages that the master sent so he tried to contain his emotions and excitement at this moment.


    ''Anything that you know will be a great help to me,'' he said to Gege while trying to act normal as he flew towards the direction of the prison.


    ''They aren''t all belonging to the cauldron clan,'' Gege said, ''I recognized many strangers; lycans is my best guess.''


    ''Lycans?!'' Arthur didn''t see this coming and when his mind just absorbed this piece of info he couldn''t help but feel bad. ''That complicates things.''


    ''Ding! If this is true then you can''t let them confine you.''


    Arthur knew the system''s words were the best action to take, but he wasn''t sure how this would bring him closer to his goal.


    ''If I left now then I wouldn''t be able to leave this place,'' he thought, ''plus my master is coming.''


    ''He might be coming into a trap,'' the golden dragon said, ''you need to know the presence of those enemies here means the master of this clan already sold her soul to them.''


    Arthur glanced again at the world. The sky was totally covered with a thick defensive shield while endless troops seemed to be stationed on either side of the barrier in alert stance.


    ''If so then why is she still imprisoning herself inside this dome?'' Arthur slowly thought.


    ''She might be putting a front,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''I don''t think I''m that important or dangerous to do this,'' Arthur turned towards the nearby mages while hesitating.


    ''Ding! Don''t do it,'' the system warned, however his words didn''t come in time. Arthur instantly opened his mouth and said:


    "May I ask how come your enemies are stationed inside your planet as we speak?"


    "What are you talking about?" one of the mages harshly said before another added in colder tone:


    "Just keep moving to your cell prisoner."


    "I''m saying that there are lycans hidden here in your planet, very close actually to where your master is," yet Arthur''s mind didn''t take any moment to reach a simple yet shocking conclusion.


    "And here you are babbling about something that doesn''t exist," and the words of another mage just confirmed his guess.


    "I''m telling you,"'' Arthur stopped flying and all the mages accompanying him stood alert and with extreme vigilance over their faces, "your master is in grave danger. There is a conspiracy going on here and the cost of it will be the heads of you all."


    "If you don''t move," yet one of the mages said in a threatening way, "I''ll make sure to drag your ass myself to that cell."


    Arthur knew his words wouldn''t do anything. He also knew if he kept flying forward and let himself be imprisoned then he was doomed alongside everyone here.


    "Sorry," he slowly said while the next moment he totally vanished inside one of the portals.


    "Damn! Get him now!" Many mages moved fast to intercept him and even some managed to pass through the portal with him.


    Yet the next moment the portal flashed and vanished in the same way it appeared at.


    "Gege," just as Arthur entered his world he shouted.


    ''I know,'' Gege was already aware of what he was thinking. Those who came into his garden world were instantly moved to be confined with many others inside special prisons made entirely out of the pillars.


    ''I can hold them for a few hours at most,'' Gege said before adding, ''they are¡­ much stronger than any other mages we got before.''


    "Few hours are enough,"Arthur slowly said before adding, "can you tell if they moved away?"


    ''Let me see,'' Gege went into silence while the system shouted:


    ''Ding! So the plan was to run and hide inside your garden? This isn''t a viable plan!''


    ''They will find the portal and forcibly open it,'' the golden dragon joined the system in his bad premonition.


    "Who said anything about staying here and hiding?" yet Arthur smirked evilly, "they destroyed my godfather''s world by conspiracy and I won''t let them touch this world."


    ''Big words from someone so weak and alone like you,'' the golden dragon sneered, yet the next moment Gege came back with more news.


    ''They are retreating,'' she said, ''they thought you teleported to a far spot and now they are calling more help.''


    "Good," Arthur said in relief, "how about that master?"


    ''She just got the news,'' Gege said, ''but are you sure she isn''t a traitor?''


    "If she was the one to sell her soul to the lycans then there was no need to keep the shields or this facade till now," Arthur said, "take me outside."


    ''What?!''


    ''Ding! Are you insane?''


    ''Hang tight.''


    The system was totally taken aback with what he did like the golden dragon. Yet Gege seemed totally comfortable with what he was doing. The next moment his body appeared in the real world again.


    "Guide me to the closest hide of those bastards," the moment he appeared he whispered while starting to move.


    ''Go to the south, the nearest hiding place is only less than five minutes away,'' Gege gave his directions while she kept an eye over the surroundings.


    ''They sniffed your presence,'' she hurriedly said in just less than two minutes of his appearance.


    "That was fast," Arthur turned around as he noticed many groups of mages running fast towards him from all directions. "Be ready to teleport me soon," he hurriedly said while watching the path ahead was blocked with hundreds of angry mages.


    ''At your command,'' Gege said.


    "Now!"


    Arthur didn''t wait for them to corner him before vanishing again.


    ''Is this your plan? To keep running from them like this?'' the golden dragon didn''t get the plan Arthur had.


    "Gege can brief you all about what I''m doing," Arthur had no time to waste, "have they moved away?"


    ''They are looking around,'' Gege slowly said, ''a few minutes and they will disperse like before.''


    Arthur took a deep breath while feeling extremely thrilled with what he was doing. "How far am I from those lycans?"

 Chapter 739: The Grandmaster Of The Cauldron Clan

    ''Less than three minutes.''


    "Great," Arthur calculated things in his mind before expelling his dragonair form. "It''s easier to move around like this," he guessed he was recognized fast by his dragonair form.


    And so he decided to go undercover for now. A normal human wouldn''t bring attention like a big dragon flying around.


    ''They are gone,'' Gege said.


    "Take me out."


    The next moment Arthur appeared midair. He couldn''t fly in his human form so his body kept falling. Each few seconds Gege would activate portals to decrease his falling speed.


    Yet when he touched the ground he felt extreme pain all over his body, but he didn''t stop.


    He started to run. The place he landed at was outside the big city that the cauldron master took as the center of her operation.


    The place was on the verge of a close by forest, and at some point there the lycans were hiding.


    ''Ding! You know this is a terrible plan,'' after Gege told the two about his plan, the system couldn''t help but express his unease with such a plan.


    ''I can''t agree more with the system,'' and the golden dragon joined the system in his opinion.


    "I have to take this risk," Arthur kept running while feeling growing pain in his legs, "I have to risk a cross fire situation to prove my point."


    ''They can sense you a mile away,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "They are looking for a blue dragon, not a mere human."


    ''I meant the lycans,'' the golden dragon corrected.


    "They won''t risk exposing themselves to anyone here by fighting me," Arthur said, "or just that''s what I hope."


    ''It''s a terrible plan,'' the golden dragon wasn''t convinced with his words.


    ''But I like this plan,'' Gege said in a strange excitement that was in the total opposite stance from what the other two felt.


    Even Arthur didn''t feel such confidence or excitement like her.


    "How far am I?" After ten minutes of running around the trees andmany bushes, he couldn''t help but stop running to catch his breath and ask.


    ''Five more minutes on foot,'' Gege said, ''or less than one minute by flying.''


    "What about the searching mages?"


    ''Not so far, less than three minutes away from you.''


    "That''s perfect," Arthur then started to circulate his dragonair''s energy inside his body before he turned into a dragon. "It''s showtime then," he roared before flying high in the air.


    His roar was enough to attract the attention of anyone within a mile radius. As he flew high in the air, he stood there motionless while watching many beams of light flashing towards his direction.


    ''I hope they don''t shoot and then ask,'' the golden dragon was still feeling skeptical about this whole plan.


    "Me too," Arthur took a deep breath before watching the first group of mages arrive just in front of him with angry faces.


    "Tired of running rats?" one of the mages shouted in an angry tone while more of the other teams started to gather at an alarming rate.


    In no time Arthur was surrounded with hundreds if not thousands of mages.


    "Oh, never thought I was public enemy number one for you guys," Arthur sneered with no pressure at all. For him he just got him exactly where he wanted.


    "Willy," yet a distressed shout came from a certain direction before two silhouettes appeared next to him. They were no one else but Doaf and Amera, and the latter was the one who screamed in panic.


    "What are you doing?" she couldn''t help but feel distressed.


    "I''m here to deliver a message," Arthur firmly said before pointing towards one direction, "a traitor is in this world just like what happened in the bronzed giant world."


    Everyone followed the direction of his finger with doubt.


    "What do you mean by that?" Doaf seemed to be stirred by what he just heard.


    "There are lycans hiding in your world," Arthur''s voice thundered around the entire world, "and while you were trying to defend your world, some of you betrayed the grandmaster and joined the enemy. Hell they even let the lycans in so they can do whatever they want to make sure this planet won''t continue to exist."


    His words didn''t bring any change in the reactions of anyone around except for two¡­ Amera and Doaf.


    The two already accompanied him along long travels and saw how he acted. They also knew what happened to the bronzed giant world, despite not knowing how such a grand world crashed and was burnt to the ground.


    Yet with Arthur''s words now they started to gain insight of what happened.


    "Show me," all of sudden a cold voice came out of nowhere, startling everyone, "but to just be fair, if you were lying then I''ll kill you myself right here on the spot."


    Arthur glanced at the cold face of the grandmaster without flinching. "Sounds fair to me," he casually said while Gege gave him more accurate direction for the place of those lycans.


    And she also added one more thing: ''Hurry up, they are now starting to run away.''


    Arthur suddenly had such an evil smile as he turned around and focused over one direction. "Trying to run away now? After crossing all this distance to be here yet you are so eager to leave¡­ Please stay, we are very hospitable towards strangers."


    His words were weird yet the next moment he took out his sword and hurriedly activated his technique while flying towards the east.


    The lycans stationed here were now on the wild run, running like their lives changed entirely over this.


    And they weren''t mistaken.


    But Arthur didn''t give them any chance to run away before he landed his sword slash over the place they were at.


    The trees covering the place smashed instantly revealing a semi-transparent dome that covered a group of a thousand mages.


    And the moment of that revelation the faces of everyone here truly changed.


    "Kill most," the grandmaster codly ordered in a very calm yet domineering tone, "bring me some back alive."

 Chapter 740: Selling A Lie That Might Kill You

    Arthur stood on the top of that barrier while watching the world around him change fast. It was like doomsday and at this stage of fight he couldn''t stand there without getting hurt.


    So he flew back towards the angry Doaf and stupefied Amera.


    "I request permission to take out my mages and take redemption for what they did to my world," when Arthur came closer he heard Doaf asked with gritted teeth and shaken body out of deep anger and desire for vengeance.


    "Your help isn''t needed," yet the grandmaster didn''t put his request into the eye, "you can rest assured, we will take the revenge you desire with our own hands."


    "But there are far more groups of them out there to be handled by you alone," Arthur didn''t wait for Doaf to try and convince her as he shouted even before coming near them.


    "What did you just say?" the grandmaster narrowed her eyes, "don''t tell me you can tell their locations as well."


    "Do you have a map?" Arthur shrugged and that made the grandmaster pause for one second. She gazed at him, trying to reevaluate him.


    "I can''t say I get such surprises each day Willy," she slowly said before taking out a map out of her storage ring, "this can suffice. Can you mark down the places they are in?"


    "I can only point out their places in a limited distance around," Arthur took the map and rapidly unfolded it. He pointed towards a spot before strangely a black dot appeared on the map.


    "It''s an enchanted one," the grandmaster simply said, "you can still sense their presence. What do you use? An array or a gear?"


    "It''s just me," Arthur hurriedly pointed out over fifty places," here, these are their hidden spots in the area I can sense."


    She took the map and was alarmed by the large number of these lycans presented directly under her nose. "Do you say there are even more?" she gave him a deep glance trying to size him up again.


    "I bet they are," Arthur firmly stated, "but the main problem isn''t in them."


    "Sure, my boys and girls can handle these rats easily," the grandmaster snapped her fingers before a giant mage appeared with tough features and big muscles.


    "You know what to do," she simply said to him while handing the map to him. "What is the main problem Willy?"


    "The mole," Arthur instantly said while giving that mage a skeptical glance.


    "Don''t worry, Roffer isn''t someone to be suspected."


    "Anyone is under suspicion," Arthur wasn''t convinced with her words, "the last world being burnt down was done by the one who was supposed to protect it."


    "Oh, so you are now asking me to mistrust everyone around me, right?" she even laughed before waving her hand to Roffer. The latter just nodded before vanishing.


    ''Keep an eye on him,'' Arthur wasn''t feeling any comfort with that man around, ''I don''t like him.''


    ''Me neither,'' Gege said.


    ''He is just a bodyguard,'' the golden dragon didn''t agree, ''the main traitor will be someone very sneaky and won''t be that easy to be spotted.''


    Arthur felt the words of the golden dragon seemed to be correct, but he didn''t ask Gege not to follow that man using the tree.


    After all everyone here was a suspected traitor until proved otherwise.


    "What about the rest of the world?" Doaf suddenly asked, "are there any more of such lycans out there?"


    "I won''t let you go off with your team," the grandmaster however didn''t give him the chance to continue asking. She knew like everyone standing around what he wanted.


    "There are," yet Arthur answered nonetheless.


    "How can you be so sure of that?" the master crossed her arms in a skeptical way, "you said your ability is limited."


    "Yup, but these lycans didn''t just confine themselves around this city of yours," Arthur didn''t try to be polite here and instead he threw the next lie over their faces without even flinching. "They are arranged in an array."


    "A¡­ what?" the master seemed to be taken aback by what he just said.


    "Their locations, their arrangements are something related to a strange array we met in the world we came from."


    "What array?" the master turned around and focused her eyes over Amera.


    If Amera and Doaf were idiots then they wouldn''t have figured out what Arthur was trying to do here. So when the grandmaster turned to ask her, Amera knew without any question what she needed to say.


    And as Arthur did, she lied.


    "That array was something I never saw before," Amera slowly said, "it was a twin but not one array, right?" she asked Doaf who nodded in agreement but said nothing.


    He didn''t know what to be said here.


    "In fact there is already one form of an array ready," Arthur on the other hand didn''t let this chance slip through his fingers, "see, up there¡­ all those forces that are standing doing nothing just above your protective dome¡­ they are the first array."


    As he pointed towards the sky and the barrier and what lies beyond, his simple and silly trick strangely gave off the results he wanted.


    A diversion enough to support his claims.


    Alongside Amera''s and Doaf''s words, and the presence of such a threat that seemed unlikely to be faced with the current forces, the grandmaster was deeply immersed in her own thoughts.


    "''If you may, grandmaster," yet Amera had to step in after a serious meaningful glance from Arthur, "that array was about to tear the world apart and summon a gate to something we feared to be¡­ that deadly universe."


    The eyes of the grandmaster wided open for a second before she regained her composure.


    "We¡­ had to run away from there before that array would tear the world apart and kill all of us," Doaf stepped in finally after linking all the dots, "we can''t allow such a thing to happen here."


    The grandmaster seemed alerted, however from all her years of life she knew she couldn''t just trust a bunch of lies thrown over her face and make decisions based on them.


    "I''ll see through this," the grandmaster calmly said before snapping her fingers. Another giant mage came all of sudden, making Arthur wonder how she did get all those giants from.


    "Go and check out the validity of this information," she took a small and transparent crystal that she held closely in her fist for a few moments and then gave it to the mage.


    "Send me what you find every five minutes."


    "Yes ma''am," the mage said in deep respect before vanishing.


    "Now all we have to do is wait," she smiled in a very amused way, "and again if what you said to me was wrong, your lives, all the three of you will be killed in my hands."


    Arthur had to swallow his bitter saliva while wondering if that master was sane or had something wrong in her head.


    As for the other two, they kept their fake calm while evading looking at each other. It was a very risky situation for all, yet to make the lie stand out they needed to perfect their act.


    And hopefully what that grandmaster was looking for would prove their lie to be true, in a way or another.

 Chapter 741: The Greedy Master

    The situation seemed tightly hanged up with a thread away from exploding. Arthur kept his calm while feeling uncertain about this.


    He lied so he could get some limits off his hands. However, that master''s response came out of the blue.


    ''Ding! Let''s hope those mages won''t say anything extra,'' the system said in a hope for a good end.


    ''If they didn''t shut their mouths off the details then we might be screwed,'' the golden dragon said in a depressed tone, ''that girl standing here isn''t a pushover. You can''t outrun or outsmart her.''


    ''I hope you are wrong,'' Arthur thought, ''or else we have doomed ourselves here.''


    ''You are the one who did that,'' the golden dragon retorted, ''this is something reckless. Playing with her is like playing with fire.''


    Arthur decided to close his eyes off his comments and kept waiting. Doaf and Amera weren''t any less agitated than him, and he could tell only from their eyes.


    From all the time he dealt with them he already was aware of their reactions and personalities. For him they didn''t look normal, even with their ironclad face they put as a front.


    And he felt that the master was also feeling their changes and assumingly she was enjoying that. That smile over her face told him a lot about how sadistic this page was.


    She was very dangerous without any question.


    "Oh, an answer just arrived," the master slowly said, like she was playing with them.


    She kept her silence without speaking any further. "And?" Arthur urged for more and she strangely started twirling one of her long hair strands like a spoiled girl.


    "It''s not that bad actually, so chill out a bit," she said with a short laugh.


    "But?" Amera seemed to know her boss'' nature and so she didn''t look any comfortable even after hearing her words.


    "Nothing," the master shrugged, "we got the info that what you said is true. A betrayal happened and a planet was destroyed thanks to that," the master said before stopping as if she had more and didn''t say anything.


    Arthur exchanged glances with the other two before asking, "so we are getting permission to go on full scale search now?"


    The master didn''t answer directly, instead she kept playing with her hair strand while giving Arthur a deep look.


    "What?" Arthur was now at a loss to what to best describe this master; a lunatic or a reckless person.


    "What I find really interesting is that peculiar ability of yours to feel those lycans," the master said before letting go of her hair, "don''t you find this¡­ quite strange?"


    Arthur didn''t know why but he felt that she was accusing him of something. "I''m just trying to help," he said while exchanging glances with Doaf and Amera, asking for their help.


    "Grandmaster¡­" Amera tried to intervene but the master raised his hand to stop her.


    "I''m not accusing you of something, I''m just curious about how this¡­ ability of yours works. Is it a gear? Is it a hunch? Is it something we can learn?"


    Arthur heaved a silent sigh of relief once heard those words. "This¡­ is something unique to me," he simply said.


    "And that makes you more valuable than you think you are," the master nodded as if she had reached a decision in her mind.


    "Arrest him," her next words however seemed out of the blue.


    "Grandmaster¡­" Amera hurried to speak but the master silenced her again with a very serious look over her face.


    "I''m not going to do something bad to him," the master explained despite her tone was way off trying to reassure Amera, "but he isn''t allowed to leave this planet."


    "What?" Arthur was shocked by this.


    "I don''t know what you use to achieve this trick, and frankly I don''t care," the master turned to him with a very serious face, "but you either give us the means to use such an ability or else¡­ y''know, your stay here will be long and everlasting."


    The master then waved her hand in the air before a group of ten strong and giant mages appeared. They instantly held Arthur using some sort of strange tree branches.


    They were black with long and deep brown lines running inside the branches. Arthur tried to resist however these branches were sturdier than they looked.


    "Resistance is futile," one of the mages said in a warning, "you''ll only make them tighter and you will feel more pain."


    "Ouch!"


    Just before that mage would finish his words, Arthur felt a sudden pain coming from his chest. There the master took a strange long and weird looking black needle that seemed to be made from the same tree as these branches.


    And this simple prick from that triangular fork like needle made him feel a sudden heat coming from his chest. He then felt weak before his body collapsed.


    If not for him to be supported with the branches and those mages holding them then he would have fallen to the ground.


    "Grandmaster¡­ he is our ally and friend," Amera couldn''t help but say these words in a calm tone that totally expressed how shocked she was.


    "Little child¡­" the master however came to her side as if she was a caring mother trying to look after her kid, "when you hold the fate of an entire clan in your hands you''ll understand. Sometimes you have to break all the rules and secure whatever is offered in front of you on the table."


    The master turned to glance at the unconscious Arthur, "even if you have to turn a friend into a hater, or even an enemy."


    "That''s a terrible cost for nothing," Doaf had to step in, "he is the direct disciple of my grandmaster."


    "To you his is your young master, right?" the master gave Doaf a sizable glance before adding, "but for me even your grandmaster is nothing more than a friend in this world, someone on equal parts with me.


    So when you are addressing me I highly recommend you watch your tongue very carefully."


    Doaf wanted to push further but the warning glance he noticed on Amera''s shocked face made him refrain from doing anything.

 Chapter 742: Im Hungry

    "Wise decision," the master then moved away while her entourage took Arthur with them, "from both of you. When your master arrives, let him come and see me."


    Doaf exchanged glances with Amera who could only sigh and try to resist shouting or screaming.


    "We should free him," Doaf said in a low tone so no one else would hear him.


    "We need your master to arrive," Amera said in a bitter tone, "if anything I knew about my master is that she won''t let a trophy off her hands easily."


    "He is our young master. Do you have any idea what does this mean?"'' Doaf said in a very serious tone while facing her, "my master would even go to war for this and he has all the right to do so."


    "I think she depends entirely on the fact that we are now at war and we need each other."


    "I doubt she even can think this sanity without going crazy," Doaf sneered before gazing around. Some mages groups started to head directly towards them.


    "And now I bet she will confine both of us to prison," he sarcastically laughed while shaking off his head.


    "Stop right there," Amera had to shout at the first group to arrive, "what business do you have here?" she asked in a strong tone while stepping forward and shielding Doaf behind.


    "Run if you get the chance," she whispered to him while waiting for the group of fifty mages to answer her.


    "We came on the orders of the grandmaster," one of the female mages stepped forward before adding, "she assigned all of us to work under your command."


    "My command?" Amera asked in doubt while preventing herself from exploding at them out of her frustration.


    "Not only yours, but both of you," the mage said in respect while pointing out towards Doaf.


    "What about my people?" Doaf asked despite already knowing the answer.


    "The grandmaster didn''t give us any instructions about them yet," the mage said before adding, "she only said after succeeding this current mission then the time will come for some¡­ rewards as she said it."


    "Rewards, huh¡­" Doaf seemed a bit upset while the next to him Amera nodded. She silently urged him to agree and he could only nod as well.


    "Alright, which part of this mess the¡­ master wanted us to clean for her?" Doaf asked while trying his best to remain under control and spoil everything up.


    As the two of them were trying their best not to get themselves or others killed, Arthur was kept under strict surveillance with the personal watch of the grandmaster herself.


    She took him into her private mansion, a secluded part in the big central palace where no one dared to step in without her permission.


    The place was entirely secured with guards who could be least described as monsters. They were brutal, highly trained and very selectively picked up by the grandmaster.


    Yet inside her own room that looked like a playground, things looked so calm and peaceful. It was like this part of the world was cut off from the rest of it. There were no signs of panic, no sounds of war, or even a speck of distress.


    And she just brought Arthur here with her before letting him down over the ground with his big blue dragonair body.


    Then she sat beside him while marvelling the spear head like scales his body was totally covered with.


    "I wonder what you are truly made of, big kid," she seemed to be acting like a fifteen years old girl instead of that old lady look she had.


    "I don''t recommend doing that if I were you."


    "Wow! You are awake already?! How can this be happening?!"


    The moment she tried to touch one of his scales, Arthur had to step in.


    As he lost consciousness, Gege interfered and used the tree and the garden''s ability to cleanse his body out of that toxin.


    The needle that the master used held some sort of poison, something the golden dragon said was designed to control people''s minds and freedom of will.


    Yet in front of his own hidden variables, that tactic didn''t work.


    "Sorry, I couldn''t let you die or get injured," Arthur stood slowly up before cancelling his human form.


    "I was just about to touch your scales," the grandmaster seemed not to believe what he said, "and wait a minute¡­ How long have you been conscious?"


    "What? Did you plan on stripping me out and starting getting intimate?"


    "Huh, trying to use insult and rudeness to evade the answer," the grandmaster said in an amusing tone, "but for the record you aren''t my type."


    "You neither," Arthur shrugged before taking a set of clothes out and started to change what he was wearing.


    Even in human form, his shirt had a stain of blood mixed with that toxin. He didn''t want to endanger himself or put his life under someone''s knife.


    "You didn''t answer me," the grandmaster slowly said in a tone that told Arthur how impatient she was.


    "I''m hungry, do you have any food around?" yet Arthur didn''t care about her feelings and started walking inside that big room.


    She raised an eyebrow while giving him a deep look. He only smiled as he went over and checked the room as if he was a privileged guest and not a hostage.


    "I''m really amazed by how daring you are," she followed him while he found a tray filled with food on one of the sides of the room.


    "This is delicious," he held a large piece of meat in his hand, "what seasonings did the chief use?"


    "You are¡­ something," the master crossed her arms around before asking, "how did you do that?"


    "I''m hungry and found this amazing meal in front of me¡­ how else would I do it?" Arthur tried to ignore the question and sound a little funny but she seemed annoyed with his words.


    "I meant the toxin," she said directly, "how did you escape it?"

 Chapter 743: Getting Poisoned Again

    "Is it necessary to drug me?" Arthur took another bite.


    "I can''t trust an outsider like you," she said while taking out her weird shaped needle once more, "let''s try it one more time."


    "Wait," however his shout didn''t stop her from hitting him again.


    In fact he considered all options available to him and all resulted in one simple fact; he couldn''t escape the clutches of this woman.


    If he wanted to gain his freedom then he had to play along with her. Something he couldn''t do in his dragonair form as he feared she might autopsy him.


    She seemed very interested in his scales and who knew what else she might set her eyes on. So he had to do this trick and avoid a disaster.


    "Ouch, that hurts even more than the first time," yet she took much longer than the first time while her fork-like needle was inserted in his body.


    "I have to make sure you won''t awake from this like the first one."


    Arthur wanted very badly to see her disappointment look over her face. Gege already was ready for that toxin and was instantly dealing with it.


    However he had to play his role right and so he feigned weakness before crashing on the ground like a doll.


    "Good, this time you''ll be my loyal dog," the master sneered in an evil way before leaning towards him and starting to examine his body.


    "At least this didn''t kill you," she said before taking the piece of meat from his hands, "let me finish this for you then."


    Arthur remained helplessly lying on the ground, attentively listening to all the things that happened around him.


    What he learnt during the past few hours was that this master seemed more anxious about her enemies from within than those surrounding the outside.


    The master ordered many search teams to scan the world upside down looking for those lycans. She even used very rare arrays to help in detecting anything unusual like concealment arrays.


    However what interested him the most was the fact that his name was brought by the master many times already. She seemed very interested and fixed on using his unique ability to scan and locate the places of the lycans in the entire world.


    She even arranged a lot of teams to accompany him in a wide search of the entire planet.


    ''I wouldn''t reject helping if she just asked,'' he couldn''t help but inwardly sigh as he knew what she planned for him.


    ''Ding! People like her don''t believe in chances.''


    ''I think she is more interested in nourishing this ability further,'' the golden dragon said, ''like she thinks as a normal master would. Any ability has a scope of progress provided that the owner gets enough help.''


    ''She is a mean lady with a crazy personality. We can''t trust her,'' Gege was angry at her and what she tried to do with Arthur.


    ''If she just asked, tsk,'' Arthur knew his stay here was doomed to be quite hard.


    "He should awake at any moment now," all of sudden these words were perfectly heard by Arthur. The master seemed to be looking at him while getting surrounded with many of her trusted subordinates.


    "We can''t trust a stranger on our fate," a harsh and deep voice came to express his discontent once again over such action.


    "A weapon that''s controlled like a puppet is more handy than a one sitting inside a cell to rot," the master simply stated this truth before adding, "any news from other masters?"


    "No grandmaster," a female voice came, "we tried to contact all other bases out there. Yet we didn''t get any response from them."


    "Either they are ruined or being blocked out," the master slowly said, "I believe we can still send them messages without expecting an answer."


    "We can use that high alert array the elders devised a long time ago," one of the females said.


    "Then use it," the master seemed quite annoyed, "what are you waiting for? Just send them a warning about that bloody double array or whatever its name is. Also warn them of the infilitrations of those lycans and the presence of traitors in our lines."


    Arthur heard the large group of mages make a sound like a salute to the master before they started to move out.


    "Strange," the master came closer to him, "you should have been awake half an hour ago."


    Arthur knew he had to wake up yet he preferred to give her some scare before he would do that.


    "How much toxin did you use grandmaster?" a voice suddenly came from far behind. Arthur didn''t need to see to know the owner was a very old mage without doubt.


    "I stung him once and he woke up, then I had to stung him thrice to make sure he wouldn''t."


    "Ruthless as usual," Arthur could perfectly hear the sound of a walking stick hitting in regular intervals on the marble ground, "and reckless as well. It''s a miracle he didn''t die out of this."


    "He is more stubborn than you think, auntie," the master said and Arthur felt very surprised to hear that. She was part of the master''s family, and that made him wonder if she hailed from a royal bloodline or what.


    "Don''t worry too much then," the old lady said as she got closer, "he will just sleep for a few more hours."


    "I don''t have that much time to waste," the master seemed annoyed by this fact.


    "Then you shouldn''t sting him more than once."


    "He has a strange ability to neutralize the toxin."


    "Nonsense," the old lady finally reached Arthur''s weak body before hitting him with the tapering end of her stick, "he is just lucky to be able to escape the first time. The toxin isn''t omnipotent y''know."


    "Sigh, we are surrounded by enemies and infiltrated by others while many traitors are standing at my doors."


    The sound of the master seemed strangely tired and weak. Arthur resisted the urge to sneer or even raise his eyebrows while the old lady said:


    "This is the burden any leader should carry especially at times of war."


    "If I just know who those traitors are¡­"


    "Don''t worry," the old lady said, "snakes always think high of themselves until they get killed."

 Chapter 744: Chat Between A Mother And A Daughter

    Arthur kept his silence and played dead while listening to more of the infos the master here received all the time.


    The fights going all around the city were a success. All lycans were caught off guard and killed. She tried to search prisoners and didn''t manage to receive a bird''s wing about one until a couple hours later.


    "Those bastards! They seemed dead fixed on committing suicide even when they have the chance to live," the master angrily said while Arthur heard the old lady stand up and move towards her.


    "Don''t worry, at least you got one prisoner."


    "He is poisoned by one arrow," the master seemed annoyed, "it was the black long''s arrow."


    "Damn it! Your luck is bad!"


    "I know," the master sighed, "they couldn''t stop him from commiting suicide except with such arrow."


    "It will wipe his head clean," the old lady said in a worried tone, "you need a reliable source of intel about those lycans. Who knows what they are up to!"


    "I know," the master said, "and he is my reliable source."


    "One who might be dead or retarded thanks to you," the old lady seemed to have no hope at all for Arthur. "You need another one, a group if possible."


    "What if I lead a team myself?" the master said in a deep tone.


    "You can''t," the old lady shook her head, "with all these lycans around, it''s not safe at all to leave the city."


    "I can defend myself."


    "But you can''t defend the clan!" the old lady shouted in a weak tone, "leaving the city will let whoever the traitor was to act as he would love to."


    "''This¡­" the master seemed a bit convinced with her aunt''s opinion. "Then I should go and screen my men then."


    "Sigh, go and do what you have to," the old lady said, "I''ll keep myself here for a while."


    The master glanced over the seemingly dead body of Arthur and said, "if he wakes up, please send him to me."


    "I''ll send a bird to you my child," the aunt returned to sit on her seat before adding, "go, attend your grand meeting and search. That traitor must be executed fast, him and his associates."


    The master nodded firmly to her aunt before stepping out of the large room.


    For a few minutes there Arthur felt that lady fell dead on her seat. He couldn''t hear even a breath until he heard the sound of writings on a piece of paper.


    "Mom! What are you doing here?"


    All of sudden the bird''s wing vanished and the next thing happened was for a beautiful young lady to appear out of nowhere.


    "I knew you were hiding your ass here somewhere," the old lady said in a strangely stronger tone. Arthur wanted with all his heart to turn around and glance at what was going on.


    However his guts told him that one move, one simple move and he would lose his life for it without even knowing.


    "I''m doing my mission," the young lady who didn''t exceed twenty-five years old said in a soft tone that would take the hearts of men down.


    She wasn''t any less beautiful than Amera, even more. Her soft skin, proportionate features and swollen red lips made her distinctive than any other girl.


    And she had that weird smile which could turn any man into a puppet of hers with the help of those two faint blue pupils.


    She was a beauty killer, and a real killer in the real world.


    "Daughter¡­ you can''t fight this," the old lady seemed to speak to her girl in a different tone and attitude than she just did with the master. "You heard it all while hiding here¡­ your allies are getting killed one by one. You can''t get what you want with that."


    "What do I want?" the girl said with trembling lips out of anger, "this is also what you want, or did you forget that you were the one orchestrating everything with them? I just had to be forced and twisted to get my hands dirty."


    "This is for you¡­ Stupid and spoiled girl!" even Arthur who laid far from the two heard the loud slap over the young girl''s face. "If not for you then why the hell am I doing that?"


    The girl had tears yet she kept her red eyes fixed and staring at her mother with extreme hatred. "I dunno, perhaps because you hated your younger sister for winning the throne instead of you because she was stronger? Or perhaps because you lost the race to the man she loved and eventually the two got married and you got nothing but a girl from him?"


    "Shut up!" This time the slap was fiercer, yet the girl stood her place with the trembling muscles of her face out of anger and humiliation.


    She wanted to retaliate, but something tied up her hands. That was even clear to Arthur without the need to even turn around and see her.


    "Listen to me spoiled brat," the mother grabbed her daughter''s arm hard and twisted her without mercy as she ruthlessly added, "I don''t care at all about what you think. This family, this sweet little sister of mine will lose today. Even you, the daughter of her husband, will be the killer and one of the losers today."


    "Let me go," the girl finally let go of her tears with a shout of pain, "I''ll do what you asked¡­ but don''t harm the people. They had nothing to do with this."


    "Huh, soft and kind like your dirty father," the old lady evilly smirked before adding, "I won''t touch the normal people or the common army, that was the deal. Other than this¡­ they all will burn."


    "Then let me be here," the girl said.


    "I just came to warn you," the old lady said in a vicious tone, "you should have acted once that dear nephew of mine started hunting your allies. You even should have interfered to kill that boy."

 Chapter 745: Arthur And Nicole

    "He is already dead," the girl said without care.


    "Thanks to the foolishness of my nephew," the old lady smiled like a real viper, "but not thanks to you."


    Arthur heard the sound of the stick hitting the ground, "I''ll go and keep things under our control. It''s lucky that she only managed to clear out those close to here. I''ll soon replace them with others. And you¡­"


    The mother stopped as she turned to give her daughter a light gaze. "You know what to do or else¡­ I won''t let a single one of our people live after this."


    Then the old lady moved outside, leaving behind a shattered girl.


    "Thud!"


    It wasn''t weird for that girl to fall on the ground, exploding in a fountain of tears while her weeping sound was heard by Arthur.


    And at this particular moment, Arthur moved.


    The girl wasn''t in a situation to let her sense her surroundings. In fact the moment her mother went out and left, she let down her guard.


    And even while Arthur was drawing near her and activating his technique, she didn''t notice until it was too late.


    "What the hell¡­"


    "Sorry, but I need you to come with me."


    Without any further ado, Arthur just put his hand over her shoulders and the next moment she vanished like she was never there.


    ''She is inside,'' Gege''s sweet voice came while he returned fast to the place he was at. He mimicked the stance he took for hours before closing up his eyes, taking a deep breath and then let his mind seep deeply in the garden.


    "Let me go!"


    The moment he appeared there he found a very beautiful young mage who was trying with all his might to break free from the prison she got herself into.


    The moment she was taken here she was instantly surrounded by a large number of pillars.


    ''I can''t hold her for too long,'' Gege warned.


    "I understand," Arthur said to her yet the girl mistook his words for her.


    "What do you actually understand?" she seemed a bit hesitant and that made her calm down for a brief moment there. "How¡­ How did you manage to wake up? You are supposed to be¡­"


    "Dead? Mind wiped out? C''mon, do you think my first time was a bluff?" Arthur crossed his arms while looking at the poor girl in front of him.


    Without any doubt this young mage was a toy in her mother''s hand. A ruthless mother who was determined to use her as a weapon to kill her enemies without even dirtying her hands.


    Or well¡­ she had to make her hands dirty but only with her own daughter.


    "Let me go," the girl screamed again while regaining her former power, "you don''t know what or whom you are playing with here."


    "Trying to threaten me, that''s a nice tactic," Arthur smiled yet he didn''t move an inch, "let''s first start with something¡­ your name perhaps."


    "What good will that bring a dead man?"


    "I''m all alive and vibrant with life, can''t you see that?" Arthur waved his hands in the air while showing his body to her.


    "All I see is a man who is going to get killed once¡­"


    "Don''t think they are the only ones capable of doing dirty things," Arthur said in a calm domineer, "however I''m far more ruthless than your pathetic mother if you wanted my opinion."


    "My¡­ mother¡­" she seemed terrified and shocked in a weird mix. "How do you know about my mother?"


    "I know she tried to push you over the edge while watching you fall from her luxurious seat," Arthur walked around the cage of pillars while sizing up the girl inside. "Family might get complicated sometimes, right?"


    "You know nothing about me."


    "Hell yeah I don''t," Arthur nodded, "but I heard some rumors, said by the tongues of you and your mothers a couple of minutes ago."


    Her face turned ashen white before she tried to threaten him again.


    "If you tried to do anything, my mother and her associates won''t leave you alone."


    "Hahaha, haven''t you heard? I''m the one who started all this fire. Do you think I would be scared of an old lady and a bunch of traitors and thieves? C''mon, you don''t think I''m this soft, don''t you?"


    The girl seemed hesitant before she asked in a shaky voice, "what do you seek?"


    "Killing every single one of those bastards," Arthur said, "and for your misfortune I also plan to kill your beloved mother. Sorry, she is collateral damage."


    The girl kept gazing at him silently for a long minute. "My name is¡­ Nicole," she suddenly said.


    "Nice to meet you Nicole, I''m Willy," Arthur said while extending his hand to her as if he was going to handshake her. "Oh, sorry¡­ I forgot you are imprisoned."


    He retracted his hand while she laughed bitterly and shook her head. "Big men with their bigger egos¡­"


    "Sorry, it''s in our DNA," Arthur couldn''t help but smile, "now, can you tell me more?"


    "About what?" she crossed her arms in an interesting way, "you are the one supposed to know where these lycans hide, right?"


    "I will find them, I can promise you that," Arthur nodded, "but whom I can''t find are the very bad guys in your team. I want names, I want to know all about these traitors."


    She gave him a surprised glance before suddenly breaking out in hysterical laughter.


    "What?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "Do you think my mother would entrust me with something like this? Or even if she sees me at all?" she shook her head before adding in a bitter tone, "for her I''m just a bitter reminder of the past, of the future she didn''t have because she wasn''t good enough as she kept telling me. For her I''m not worthy of more than a piece of cloth or a piece of furniture that she can throw away or burn at any time without even feeling a single speck of guilt!"


    "That¡­ must be hard to know," Arthur couldn''t help but softly say, "however we can work together to bring them down."


    "Why?" she had tears now in her eyes, "as far as I know you are a dragonair, one of the mighty leaders of our enemies."


    "I''m not their son," Arthur slowly said, "I was like you, found myself in a position not wanted by any or desired by none. Instead of succumbing to fate and crying over bad fortune, I decided to act."


    "By waging a war?" she mockingly asked.


    "If I have to then I won''t hesitate to turn the entire universe into a hell of fire to regain my freedom and keep my safety," Arthur''s tone was firm and decisive. Just the look on his face told her how determined he was to go through anything to accomplish that.


    "Congrats for you, you are officially a lunatic."


    "Says the one who is being orchestrated to be killed by her mother and still defending and helping her."


    "What?!!"


    The look over Nicole''s face told Arthur that she never even considered such a scenario. "Poor one, did you think your mother would throw you in the middle of this without preparing a scapegoat?" Arthur said in a low tone while feeling bad for her.


    "She is going to use you as her escapegoat, and in return you won''t only lose your life, you will lose everything dear along with it."

 Chapter 746: She Is One Of Them

    "No, you are wrong! You are lying to me!!" Nicole shouted in denial and refusal to what Arthur just said.


    "Can''t you even give it a little thought?" Arthur calmly said, "if you do then the answers will present themselves clearly in front of your eyes."


    The words of Arthur didn''t help at all. Nicole returned to her spree of anger and tried with all her might to resist the pillars and break out.


    However the answer that she got was more pillars arranged around her by the orders of Arthur.


    "You are my most valuable prisoners, so excuse me for not letting you escape."


    "You are a monster," Nicole screamed in anger, "you are no different than my mom."


    "I won''t argue with that," Arthur resisted the urge to defend himself in front of her false accusations, "but we aren''t here to play or make friends together. We are at war! Many lives are on the stake here. So I''m going to ask you again, do you want to help and save your life or will you prefer to stay her and rot?"


    "I prefer to be killed in the hands of my master instead," Nicole even spat on the ground showing her disgust and utter refusal.


    "That¡­ won''t happen," Arthur shook his head, "without cooperation and info you won''t leave this place."


    "My mother will kill you!" Nicole viciously said.


    "If I die¡­" Arthur waved his hands in the air pointing to the world around, "then all of this would be lost and destroyed with me."


    "I''m not afraid of dying," Nicole seemed strong but Arthur was pretty sure this was all just a fake front she used to have in front of the world.


    "No one loves death or else why are you still alive even after all this time?" Arthur sneered before turning around, "you have all the time in the world to succumb and help."


    "I won''t," Nicole shouted at his back while he kept moving forward without even turning around.


    ''That went pretty well,'' the golden dragon sarcastically said, ''you only lacked your sword to kill her and let go of her misery.''


    "Stop it," Arthur sighed while walking away, "she is stubbornly dumb. I thought she would agree from the first time but no harm in waiting."


    ''Will she be held here?'' Gege said, ''I have to say I can''t hold here for much time.''


    "I know," Arthur stopped before turning towards the distant pillar and the glaring eyes fixed upon him from Nicole, "I only need one hour."


    ''Alright, do you want me to take you out then?''


    "No, I''ll get out the normal way," Arthur then took a deep breath before vanishing from the world. He was already in his phantom stage and all he needed was to open his eyes in the outside world.


    "Oh, you are alert at last," just as he opened his eyes he was faced with another pair of eyes that looked at him from so close up.


    Arthur was startled and instantly jumped to the back in reflex. He vigilantly looked at the face who had such an irritating smile over it. It was the master, and she seemed not to be alone.


    "Calm down my boy," the master said with a warm smile as she approached Arthur closely, "can''t you feel the connection between the two of us?"


    ''Feign you feel it,'' the golden dragon''s words next made him stand straight and give her a weird look.


    "Good," the master reached him and touched his face and body like she was examining a commodity. "Not bad, you have a strong body to begin with."


    "Aemie¡­ Can you stop fooling around at such a time?" Just as the master was taking a tour with such an interesting look over her face, the voice of the old lady, Nicole''s mother, came all of sudden as she came from the front door at this moment.


    "What?" Aemie didn''t stop her tour around Arthur''s body, "he is my toy and I have the right to do whatever I want with him."


    She said it in a playful tone, a tone that made Arthur doubt she was the master he met before and was intimidated by her.


    "This isn''t the time for that," the old lady said, "the search teams returned after killing all lycans but there are no signs of more. What do you want to do?"


    "Hmm¡­" just as the old lady brought this to the light, the face of Aemie changed at once. She seemed more serious, far aggressive, and she gave Arthur the same old dreadful feeling.


    She was like a totally different person from whom she was moments ago.


    "I don''t feel that''s right auntie," Aemie said in a strong tone while facing the guards around, "who is leading the outside expedition to look for traitors?"


    "It''s Antony ma''am with all of his leaders," one of the guards answered.


    "I don''t think Antony is incompatible to not find even a single one of those traitors outside," the old lady said, "it''s more logical to think this brat was lying when he said that."


    "Him?" Aemie turned to Arhur before asking, "as you are now belonging to me, you have to answer everything with honesty."


    Arthur didn''t answer in words but in a nod while he still held that faked weird expression of doubt over his face.


    "Are there any lycans in my world anymore?" Aemie asked with a very terrifying domineer.


    "Yes, there are a lot," Arthur spoke and tried to make his sound seem like a horse.


    "He can''t be lying," Aemie turned to her aunt.


    "If there are really any, then where are they?" the old lady wasn''t fazed by Arthur''s words.


    "Can you point at their places?" Aemie said before motioning towards one of the guards as he got one map out.


    However even before the guard could deliver the map to the master, Arthur did something unexpected that made everyone freeze.


    "She is one of them."

 Chapter 747: Immune To The Toxin

    Arthur raised his hand and pointed towards the old lady with no speck of hesitation.


    "W¡­ What the hell is that?" the old lady seemed shocked at first before she hurriedly shouted, "is this some sort of a joke? Are you making clowns instead of warriors now?"


    Aemie didn''t react even when her aunt spoke in such rage. Instead her eyes were fixed over Arthur''s body as if she was able to see through him.


    And the more she stared at him the more uneasy Arthur became. However he didn''t have the choice to move a muscle, not when he threw such a bomb.


    "Give me that," the old lady on the other hand didn''t wait for the master to make a decision. Instead she leaned towards one of the guards and grabbed a sword off his hands.


    She leaned on her stick to move a step forward while the other hand waved the big sword towards the head of Arthur.


    Arthur saw her coming and his instincts told him to jump and evade. However he didn''t.


    "You are a traitor," instead he said these world out loud and in a very calm domineer, "you are betraying your people, your love ones, and even daring to ally with the lycans against your kin¡­ you are a mad and pathetic old lady."


    "Die you bastard!" the more he spoke the angrier the old lady became. The sword moved slowly yet Arthur knew it contained immense power he couldn''t resist.


    "Clang!"


    Yet before the sword could reach his head, another one extended and easily blocked the old lady''s attack.


    "What does this mean?" the old lady roared.


    "He is my¡­ puppet," Aemie casually said while moving her sword in rotating motion, making the sword in the old lady''s hand slip through and fly back in the air to the rightful owner.


    "And?" the old lady glared in Aemie''s eyes while knowing deep down her soul that her nephew was considering the words of Arthur.


    "I''ll interrogate him using my own ways," Aemie calmly stated what she intended to do.


    "You¡­." The old lady faked her anger, "How dare you consider such an outsider''s words against me?"


    "I''m not," Aemie gave her a diplomatic smile, "I''m just going to see what went wrong in him and fix it."


    "You should destroy him," the old lady wasn''t content with any of this, "if you don''t want to do it, lend him to me and I''ll kill him."


    "Humph, he is my property," Aemie''s tone changed to her usual firm and aggressive self, "and this talk is over. You are free to go out now."


    The old lady was already on her way out but that didn''t stop her from shaking her head all the time and even turned once to give her nephew what Arthur felt as a disappointing look.


    "Everyone can clear the room as well," Aemie turned to all of her guards and gave them the order to leave.


    Despite their initial hesitation, the look on her face didn''t give any room for talk.


    "Now, as we are all alone can you stop this little play of yours¡­ Please?" As the room was cleared, Aemie turned to Arthur and said with an interesting look on her face.


    "What play?" Arthur tried to stick to his act till the end.


    "C''mon, don''t insult my intelligence," Aemie said while crossing her arms, "they might get fooled by your act, but not me. I''ve already seen through your body. Somehow you look immune to my special toxin."


    Arthur paused for a moment before smiling. "That''s not your fault."


    "Whatever schmunk," she seemed a bit disappointed by such a result, "as I can''t control you as I wished, then what can you give so I won''t kill you now."


    "You won''t," Arthur seemed a bit confident, which made her raise an eyebrow.


    "Toying with fire will get you burnt down by it sometime."


    "I''m a dragonair," Arthur shrugged, "fire is my whole world. Besides¡­ you need me."


    "I can just burn the entire world down to find those lycans."


    "What about the traitors surrounding you?" Arthur''s words made her face freeze and that made him realize he hit the right note with her. "You can kill any lycans here but that won''t stop the inevitable."


    Aemie kept her silence for a long minute before finally speaking up, "So you can see through traitors too? That''s a hell of a gift you got there little boy."


    "I can''t," Arthur shook his head, "but I''ve someone who can tell us everything."


    "Someone?" Aemie mistook his meaning before adding, "if you mean my dear auntie then you will surely be disappointed."


    "I didn''t mean her," Arthur took a step towards her, "do you trust me?"


    "I trust my power to kill you with a whim of my thought," she said as if she was inviting him to dinner.


    "Then let me show you that person."


    The next moment a portal appeared as he ordered Gege. "A portal?" The face of Aemie seemed a bit surprised by the presence of a portal here. "Wait a minute, if you have access to such an advanced thing, why the hell are you still here?"


    Her words carried her own suspicion and a good point of view as well.


    "I''m here to help you clear the house."


    "But it''s not your house in the first place."


    "You¡­ are an important ally to the bronzed giants," Arthur slowly said while walking towards the portal, "are you coming or not?"


    She couldn''t help but sigh before following his steps and vanished inside the portal.


    "For the record," the next moment as she appeared in the garden world she said, "that room was supposed to be enchanted to prevent such portals to appear. How did you do it?"


    Arthur gave her a long look before pointing towards the side, "let''s focus on the job we have now."


    "Oh god¡­" the moment she followed his finger and saw Nicole, she couldn''t help but mutter in shock and deep anger.

 Chapter 748: Secrets Getting Revealed One After Another

    The next moment she took out a grand broadsword before waving it towards Arthur, "Release her¡­ Now!"


    "Hold on," Arthur raised his two hands in the air, "she was scheming against you by the orders of her mother."


    "What?!!!" this time her shock seemed a bit excessive as she turned to glance at the imprisoned Nicole.


    As Gege wanted to keep her under check for the longest period of time, Nicole now was surrounded by hundreds of those pillars in overlapping circles.


    Aemie moved slowly towards her while Nicole gave up all the resistance she was having the moment she saw her master coming into this world.


    The two of them carried shocked expressions over their faces, something that told Arthur there was more about the two than he initially thought.


    "Is¡­ that true?" Aemie asked in a low tone that showed how much shocked and depressed at the moment.


    Nicole seemed anything but calm at this moment.


    "Speak!" Aemie wasn''t herself anymore as she shouted in extreme anxiety and strange anger.


    "She is a tool in her mother''s hand," Arthur had to step in, "however I stepped in to free her from that burden. Yet I didn''t get a thanks."


    "I''ll deal with you later," Aemie gritted her teeth while giving Arthur a back off warning glance.


    "May I ask¡­ What is this all about?"


    "None of your damn business!"


    The shout and sharp response from Aemie made Arthur sure of his hunch.


    "Let her free," she added, "I''ll deal with her myself."


    "And let you kill her?" Arthur moved slowly to stand between the two girls, "I didn''t stick my neck just for you to kill her."


    "I don''t care," Aemie turned strangely aggressive, "this is your last warning."


    "No, you listen to me very well," Arthur''s face changed to show his determination, "this is my world and I have the final word here! If you don''t like it, then I can just eject you outside and let you face your own fans on your own."


    Aemie seemed badly wanting to say something but she also showed remarkable self control at this moment. "Don''t tempt me boy to destroy this pathetic weak little pocket of yours that you call the world!"


    Arthur didn''t move a muscle and neither did she. It seemed things were escalating fast towards a direct confrontation. It was something Arthur didn''t want yet he wasn''t afraid of.


    He already had plans to deal with this lunatic called Aemie using the help of Gege.


    "Stop you two¡­" all of sudden the shocked and terribly terrified Nicole shouted to stop the two from any further action. "It''s all because of me¡­ I¡­ I''m sorry Aemie, but if you want anyone dead then take my life."


    Arthur saw for a brief moment a soft look over Aemie''s face, something he never expected such a tyrant to have.


    "I will deal with you in my own way," Aemei slowly said, "let her go and I''ll take her responsibility from here."


    "Let me out," Nicole also shouted but Arthur didn''t move.


    "I said¡­ let her go!" Aemie drew closer from Arthur that he even could feel her burning breaths over his face.


    "I said she is a victim to her mother," Arthur didn''t succumb to her orders, "if you wanna to kill someone so desperately, then why not go ahead and kill your dear aunt?"


    The corners of Aemie''s eyes twitched while her face clenched and relaxed more than once.


    "She can''t do it," yet the answer came from the imprisoned Nicole behind, "she is bound not to directly harm her, like my dear mother had the same obligation."


    "Oh," Arthur finally understood part of the puzzle, "so she used you instead to do that, right?" he asked without turning his back to Aemie.


    "You are an outsider," Aemie''s ruthless voice came as if she didn''t care about what Nicole said, "release her or face the consequences."


    "If you don''t change your attitude, I promise you are gonna regret this," Arthur didn''t meet her threat with any weakness. Instead he took another step forward and the two of them had their faces just breaths away from each other.


    "I don''t know anything about the traitors," Nicole shouted in distress, "locking me here won''t do you any good. Let me go."


    "And let her kill you?" Arthur shouted back.


    "Do you have a thing for her perhaps?" Aemie''s tone came as usual, cold and sharp.


    "I was beginning to think there was a thing between the two of you already," Arthur replied back, "what is it? Love?"


    "None of your damn business!" The shout and anger Aemie showed now made Arthur sure about his earlier hunch.


    "I don''t have anything against two beauties playing with each other," Arthur said with a grin on his face.


    "Then let her go!" Aemie kept repeating her order without feeling tired at all.


    "I can''t throw away our only ticket to unveil all the traitors simply like this!"


    "Who said anything about throwing her?" Aemie said before adding, "I''ll interrogate her myself. After I take her you are free to go."


    "Free to go, huh!" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh while Aemie''s eyes were already burning him in her mind. "I want to go back!"


    "Where?" Aemie seems unfazed with his words despite having a terrible hunch about it.


    "To the world I came from in the first place."


    Aemie seemed a bit hesitant.


    "She can''t use such power," yet the answer came from Nicole and not her.


    "Shut up!" Aemie''s voice thundered in rage when Nicole spoke.


    "Oh, I didn''t know that," Arthur''s eyes changed slightly before he received a weird intel from his golden dragon. "Are you perhaps¡­ poisoned?"


    This time the shock over Aemei''s face outweighed her anger or rude manners for a long minute. She kept staring at Arthur before finally saying, "how did you know such a thing?"


    "So it''s true," Arthur couldn''t help but retreat back while holding his head with both hands. "The head of the clan is this close to death at such a time¡­ Just brilliant timing."


    "What?!!" Nicole exclaimed in doubt and surprise.


    "Oh, you didn''t know?" Arthur moved his eyes between the two girls, "you lied on her?"


    Aemie''s tough appearance finally broke at this point. Arthur could see her eyes turned red, yet not a single tear was formed at all.


    "Tell me he is lying," it was the time for Nicole to scream and shout with all her might. Unlike the tough Aemie, she all collapsed on the ground while sinking deeply in her grief.


    "I planned to tell you when the time is ripe," Aemie tried to defend herself however Nicole seemed not to listen to her.


    "How bad is it?" Arthur suddenly asked.


    "Bad? I dunno what the hell is that poison in the first place to assess the damage!"


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly as he heard the words his golden dragon was saying at the moment. "Then let me examine you."


    And that made Aemie raise an eyebrow with a skeptical expression over her face.


    "First you came as a mage, then you showed a weird ability to scout and locate my enemies. Next thing happened was that absurd immunity of yours, and lastly you are acting like you know healing stuff... Who exactly are you?"

 Chapter 749: Healing Aemie

    "You want to examine¡­ me how exactly?" Aemie seemed more doubtful towards Arthur yet the latter had an idea that he got from the golden dragon.


    "It''s my own secret," Arthur slowly said, "but it''s not time to explain."


    "Please¡­" Nicole said as if she was pleading with Aemie to listen to him.


    "Alright," Aemie after a minute of hesitation said with a helpless look over her face, "it''s not like I already tried everything."


    "You didn''t try my way," Arthur smiled before he went towards her. "I believe you should sit."


    "No thanks, I''m fine this way," Aemie didn''t accept his advice while he didn''t mind that.


    The next moment though he closed his eyes and started channeling his own spiritual energy. The energy stored and lying dormant inside his dantian and meridians started to rotate fast.


    Then a single wisp of energy passed from his fingers towards her body.


    The idea of the golden dragon was simply based on his unique cultivation base. The golden dragon knew how bizarre and out of this world this energy was.


    So if anything that stood a chance against any dark schemes would be his energy.


    And he was right about his guess.


    The moment his spiritual energy entered her body, her body stiffened as if she was going to have a seizure.


    "What''s happening?" Nicole couldn''t help but scream in panic when she saw her face. Aemie''s face was now clenching like the rest of all her muscles.


    She seemed not in comfort and in deep pain, however Arthur didn''t care about any of that.


    The moment his energy entered her body, his mind moved and started exploring the status of her body and soul.


    Her body was literally fine, yet all the damage occurred to her soul. "Such a dirty poison¡­ it''s attacking your soul and eating it away," Arthur slowly said while he guided his energy towards her soul.


    "What does that even mean?" Aemie couldn''t even move her eyes, not to mention speak. So Nicole asked the most stressing question now, as she didn''t understand anything from what he just said.


    "Her soul is the source of her power," Arthur slowly explained, "her body is intact yet her soul is pretty damaged¡­ it''s a nasty toxin."


    Nicole gave him a skeptical glance while feeling lost from what he said. "Can¡­ you cure her?" This was what she was most interested in.


    "Sure," and Arthur''s calm answer came to make her relieved, "just give me some time and she will be fine."


    In fact Arthur started repairing her soul once his energy entered there. Her soul was like a giant sea, tainted with black and dirt. All he did was to pass his spiritual energy through all this mess.


    Any part touched by his spiritual energy was cleansed without exception. Yet compared with the vast size of her soul, he knew this would take quite some time.


    And during the process, Aemie had to suffer from constant seizures and a hell of a pain. Yet she didn''t give out a single sound or scream, remained collected and endured with all her might.


    This made Arthur admire her secretly. If it was him, he would at least be now lying on the ground, twitching violently out of severe pain.


    The more time he took to heal her, the better her face looked. The worst part was related to the first hour of the healing process. Then with each passing hour, her face and pain became better.


    After five hours of constant healing, her seizure muscles started to relax at last and she could now smile and speak.


    Yet she remained silent. She closed her eyes and started to follow the wisps of Arthur''s energy until she discovered her soul.


    She wasn''t just nobody, she was the master of the cauldron clan. Someone like her wouldn''t miss such an opportunity to know more about such a secret, especially if her life was about to be lost due to her ignorance.


    The fact that Arthur, a weak and low leveled mage who came from a low world, was able to know such a thing and used it to heal her amazed her.


    Also the fact that her enemies were already so experienced at this turf was a known fact to anyone in her world and position.


    "Are you sure you aren''t a dark mage?" After quite some time she couldn''t help but ask. "Your energy works so fine with that toxin. It''s dealing with it like toying with a little kid, or an old friend."


    Arthur smiled and said nothing. All his focus was now attentively upon healing her. He knew if he stopped now her life wouldn''t be in any danger for now.


    However he wanted to make sure she was in her optimal state. The next fights would be quite intense and having someone wounded on his side wasn''t reassuring at all.


    "It''s done," after a few more hours he pushed his hands away and opened his eyes. He took a deep breath before his body swayed.


    "Easy big boy," Aemie moved fast to hold him and help him stand erect.


    "Sorry, I might need some rest," Arthur gently pushed her hands away before sitting on the ground. "Give me an hour."


    "Take all the time you need," Aemie was so much interested in what Arthur was doing. At some point she even sat next to him and mimicked his stance, yet nothing happened for her.


    She was already so sensitive to any form of energy. When Arthur finished healing her he seemed depleted. She didn''t suspect anything as this was expected.


    She saw him using his energy continuously to heal a vicious toxin. Yet after a few minutes of his stay on the ground she started to feel more energy in his body.


    It was something remarkable. For her she knew that regenerating lost magical energy would take a very long time.


    And she also knew for sure that the main source to replenish the energy came mainly from food and drink.

 Chapter 750: The Kind-Hearted Nicole

    Yet that weak dragonair was able to replenish his energy so fast without using any of that. He just sat on the ground, closed his eyes and started breathing in a slow and deep rhythm.


    It was something new for her, and for her keen senses she couldn''t be wrong. After she failed to gain any results like him, she had only to wait until he opened his eyes and stood up again.


    He looked much better than before, vibrant with a good amount of energy that made her jealous.


    If she was him, she would need a lot of meat and drink to reach such a state and that would take a much longer time as well.


    "How did you do it?" she asked first, "who are you?"


    "I told you before," Arthur stood up and examined his body first, "this is my secret."


    "I''m willing to pay anything to get my hands over such a secret," Aemie''s greedy nature and quinch for power was unparalleled.


    She would never let go of such a golden chance. Everyone knew the real reason behind the continuous victories of the dark side over them.


    Their speciality in soul matters was something no one could compete with. And like any brilliant enemy, they used their best to fight them.


    So having such a way even if it seemed mysterious to her now was like a magical solution to all the light side problems.


    "Before you answer I would like to stress on something," she hurriedly said as she anticipated his reply already, "this isn''t for me. It''s for all of us."


    "To stop the dark side?" Arthur asked with fixed gazes upon her.


    And she nodded.


    "To do so you have to call me master," Arthur crossed his arms while giving her an interesting glance.


    "You¡­" she seemed a bit surprised by his words and her face told him her answer already. "May I know why?"


    "These are the rules," Arthur shrugged with a calm smile over his face, "I didn''t put them yet I have to follow."


    "I see," she went into silence for a moment before asking, "can I reach the same level as you?"


    "Well¡­ that depends on your true intentions," Arthur simply said, "if you are really true to your words, then it''s easy to reach my level and even surpass it."


    "All this is related to taking you as a master¡­ quite narcissistic, isn''t it?" Aemie seemed to find it hard to acknowledge someone like him as a master. "What about her?" she suddenly pointed to Nicole, "can you teach her?"


    "As long as she calls me master," Arthur shrugged, "but teaching her won''t do you any good."


    "Why is that?" Aemie seemed to know that Arthur already read through her. She wanted to use Nicole to do that instead of her, as he had such a big ego on her shoulders.


    "What I teach can''t be passed," Arthur smiled, "it has to be taught one person at a time."


    "I won''t call you master," Nicole said with conflicted emotions, "I have only one master."


    "What if your master asked you to do so?" Aemie''s words meant how dedicated she was to this.


    "I think we should drop this matter," Arthur said to stop the ongoing clash before it escalated, "for now."


    Aemie gave him a deep glance before sighing. "What now?"


    "Nicole shall know who the traitors are," Arthur motioned with his head towards the imprisoned Nicole.


    "I don''t!" yet the latter answered in a stubborn way.


    "At least release her," Aemie said, "she isn''t a threat to you anymore. I guarantee that."


    Arthur gave her a long glance full of doubt. "You saved my life¡­ I owe you this," Aemie slowly said before adding, "I will repay you, not the least betray you."


    Arthur didn''t trust her words but he trusted his Gege. ''Keep alert and ready to act at my signal,'' he said to Gege before the latter released Nicole from her prison.


    "I don''t know anything about her associates," Nicole repeated her answer in a different set of words, "she never trusted me or put me in her eyes. For her I am¡­ the failure she never wanted to see."


    Arthur felt the bitterness in her words and he knew she was telling the truth.


    "''But you know who comes to visit your mom repeatedly, right?" Arthur had another way to get what he wanted.


    "You don''t think she would plan all this in the open?" Aemie raised her eyebrows in surprise and doubt.


    "Why not?" Arthur casually shrugged, "she is too confident in her ability to conceal everything. Plus, doing it in front of everyone''s eyes won''t attract any suspicion to her, right?"


    Aemie thought a little of his words before she slowly nodded. Nicole saw her nod and sighed.


    "She¡­ used to meet with a lot of people," Nicole slowly said, "especially during the past few months."


    "That''s a start," Arthur grinned, "tell us their names and the master here will hunt them down."


    "What if you are wrong?" Aemie asked while her face returned to its normal coldness.


    "Losing a couple of lives in return to killing all traitors isn''t a bad thing, right?" Arthur''s answer made her face colder.


    "They are innocent," Nicole shouted in distress, "at least we need to interrogate them."


    "No interrogation," Arthur decisively declined, "this will only serve their interest and not ours."


    He was gazing up at Aemie, totally ignoring the panicked Nicole.


    "Aemie, please don''t listen to him," Nicole tried her best to persuade her master and lover from doing this crime.


    "He¡­ is right," yet Aemie said in a slow tone, "we can''t let them catch wind of what we are doing or they might escape."


    "Or accelerate the coup," Arthur added, "as they are ruthless to you, you need to be more ruthless to them."


    "That''s bad," Nicole shouted in distress, "you can''t do it! Please listen to me. You are better than that."


    "Sorry," Aemie turned to her lover and sighed, "they left me no choice."


    Nicole seemed conflicted but Aemie started to interrogate her until a long list of names was given to her. "Good," Aemie patted her cheeks, "once this is done, we can return to our normal life again."


    Yet Arthur saw how depressed Nicole was. He knew she had such a good heart that couldn''t let her do anything bad towards anyone without being forced to.


    And anyone would hate doing this. However he wasn''t in the position to judge or give advice to her or to her lover.


    "Can you bring us out now?" Aemie asked while holding Nicole''s trembling hand.


    "What will I do after we go out?" Arthur didn''t comply fast, instead he asked about her plans for him.


    "I will send you away," Aemie casually said, "you are the only one who can find me those lycans. So I''ll give you all the teams that I can spare plus Doaf and¡­ Amera."


    When she said Amera''s name, she paused a little. Arthur didn''t miss this and wondered if there was something going on between the two, an old past perhaps.


    And he didn''t care about it.

 Chapter 751: Unexpected Company

    "Then what about you?" Arthur ignored this point and decided not to dig for an ancient history buried and forgotten as it seemed.


    "I will go after my dear auntie," Aemie said with a bitter smile, "she is a family, yet despite all my tolerance and forgiveness she still seemed to take me for a foolish nephew."


    Arthur gave her a long glance before sighing, "I don''t think that going directly after her is wise."


    "Why?" Aemie crossed her arms, "don''t tell me you are worried about me."


    "It''s not¡­ listen," Arthur paused before adding, "one like her won''t take such a big step without many backups. She even sacrificed her daughter just to get you."


    "Your point?" Aemie''s face didn''t change as she waited to hear what he wanted to say.


    "Even after taking those obvious agents out of the picture, more hidden ones will slip away your fingers¡­ You''ll lose either way so why not wait for us to come and regroup?"


    "And what difference do you think you can make?" Aemie shook her head, "you are weak¡­ I''m still amazed you came all this distance without getting yourself killed."


    Arthur turned his eyes towards Nicole. "Don''t use her, she can''t help," Aemie stepped to stand between him and her, "I will move the moment I take down all her agents. If I wait, she will escape."


    "Where exactly?" Arthur slowly asked, trying to reason with her, "the entire planet is sealed by your protective shield, she can''t get out."


    "It''s not safe to let her loose," Aemie said in determination, "I will take my chances, thanks for worrying and let''s get outside."


    Arthur could only succumb to her wish. He waved his hand in the air and the portal appeared once again. "Go," he said while walking through it last.


    "Guards," the moment he went there he heard Aemie shout. He turned to her in question while Nicole''s face turned ashen white.


    "So you were so much interested in this ant not because of what he claimed but because of this¡­ I have to say this is something I never counted on before."


    The moment he knew something was wrong he heard the familiar voice of the old lady. She was standing on his back, and when he turned to see her he found a group of fifty mages standing around her.


    "I was getting worried. The moment I came here and didn''t see your corpse or my daughter I knew something was wrong," the old lady said in a vicious tone while her face showed a very brutal smile. "It turned out like I feared¡­ oh daughter, your heart always stood in between any greatness you might have."


    "Greatness in betraying her master," Aemie stepped forward while putting Nicole and Arthur behind, "I know a lot of things about you auntie, but a traitor wasn''t one of them. What happened to you?"


    "Stop your pathetic empathy, a loser and dead mage like you don''t have the right to criticize me."


    Aemie glanced around while Arthur whispered, "how strong are they?"


    "The best," Nicole slowly answered, "they are part of the special forces that worked under Aemie''s orders."


    "What about the rest?" Arthur asked.


    "I took them down," the old lady said in an evil tone, "can''t let anyone interfere with the beautiful meeting with my nephew here. That reminds me of those pathetic guards who are lying dead now outside your precious room."


    Aemie''s eyes narrowed while Arthur felt bad omen about this.


    ''There is no way but to run,'' the golden dragon warned in an urgent tone.


    ''Ding! I can''t agree more,'' the system said.


    ''I won''t leave without Aemie,'' Arthur said in determination, ''losing her meant losing everything.''


    ''It''s either stay and die or run and live to fight another day,'' the golden dragon tried to be cold and ruthless, but he failed in persuading Arthur.


    ''Letting her die means the fall of such a stronghold in the hands of the dark mages. I can''t let that happen! The moment that bitch seizes control over the clan the enemies will flood the world and we won''t find anywhere to escape to.''


    "Easy there," As Arthur was having this argument with his system and golden dragon, Aemie tried to move yet the old lady warned her. "If I were you I would consider safely passing the rule to me, this way no blood will be spilled."


    "Don''t listen to her," Arthur jumped the next moment as he grabbed her shoulders, "let''s run and fight another day."


    "Stop them!" the old lady screamed yet she was a bit late. The next moment Arthur took Aemie and Nicole inside his garden world while he vanished with them.


    "Why?" Aemie screamed in rage yet the next moment Arthur was gone.


    Then he reappeared again.


    "What the hell?!" Nicole was speechless yet Arthur vanished again. He kept doing this for a long half an hour non-stop and without exchanging a single word with them.


    He was trying to run away and it seemed to be harder than he thought. Everytime he used the portal to shift places, he would be surrounded by many mages of the old lady side.


    It was a close call, yet he kept jumping like this until he finally exited the palace he was held captive at and found a large camp nearby.


    "Tell me you have some people you trust in the nearest camp to the palace," the moment he appeared after half an hour he didn''t disappear as he shouted at Aemie with short breaths.


    He didn''t have time to even rest. He kept doing that to evade his pursuers, yet he failed to shake them off.


    They were more stubborn and far more relentless than he thought.


    "That''s the main guard camp," Aemie slowly said, "did you manage to get there?"


    "I''m close," Arthur tried to catch his racing breaths, "but be ready, I don''t want to be much delayed or else they might annihilate the entire camp before we can reach there."

 Chapter 752: Killing Them All!

    Arthur then instantly vanished before reappearing again. He resumed what he was doing before and in less than five minutes he appeared just beside her.


    "It''s your turn," he said before vanishing from here alongside her, leaving Nicole all alone by herself.


    "Hello!" Nicole shouted in distress and worry, "Are you not coming to take me out?" she shouted but all she got back was utter silence.


    In the outside world Arthur appeared just beside the main gate of the camp. The guards already noticed the ruckus going on and started to gather in large numbers.


    "Raise your hands in the air!" one mage shouted in a harsh tone before Aemei''s turned and showed her face to all of the guards there.


    "My lady," they all said in doubt and shock yet Aemie didn''t care about that.


    Her pursuers were so close and at any moment they would land over the camp and her like thunder.


    "Listen up, it''s me your grandmaster and I''m ordering you¡­" she turned sharply and pointed towards the fifty elite mages running fast towards her, "kill those bastards now!"


    Her shout didn''t help in doing anything but adding more shock to the guards. Yet she didn''t wait for them to regain their composure as she took out her sword and raised it high in the air like a great general.


    "For the cauldron clan!" she screamed in a thunderous sound that shook all the guards out of their daze.


    "To the clan!" Arthur took out his sword as well and joined her in the shout and the charge. Aemie was fearless, she didn''t wait for the guards to wake up or even ran inside the camp and hid there.


    Instead she started running to meet her enemies head on without any hesitation or fear.


    Such an act inspired not only Arthur, but all those standing and watching this. Large number of guards moved to follow her steps, raised their weapons and started to charge at their enemies.


    And the battle of cleansing the entire world of those traitors just started in such a brutal way in this spot.


    Arthur activated his technique before reaching the first enemy. It was a giant like others, yet Arthur jumped off and used his charging speed to glide over the ground while sending a sword slash towards his enemy.


    The mage was very experienced as the moment Arthur did that he jumped to the side to avoid the sword slash. Yet Arthur was also a veteran fighter.


    He didn''t even wait to stabilize himself and sent a couple of sword slashes towards his enemy while gliding on the ground. This time the enemy had no way but to defend.


    He blocked one hit and received the other. Despite the strength in Arthur''s attack, he could only cause a minor wound on his enemy''s body.


    And then the real fight started with the joining of tens of the guards.


    At first things seemed quite chaotic and unfavorable for them. Aemie was totally isolated within most of the traitors.


    Yet in the next minutes a call of aid spread through the camp. The tens of guards turned into a hundred, then hundreds, and finally thousands.


    In less than ten minutes everything settled down by the fall of the last traitor. Aemie moved first to block the retreat path over any traitor, not leaving them any room to retreat or regroup.


    She was fighting like a real lioness while Arthur kept jumping all over the place using his portals as his main weapon.


    Despite that all he could do was to save some guards and cause some wounds to his enemies; he couldn''t even kill one of them.


    "That was¡­ intense," Arthur took a deep breath while gazing all around. They were now surrounded by loyalists to the clan and Aemie.


    "Listen up, spread the word that my dear aunt is the leader of this rebellion¡­ Once spotted she must be reported immediately to me and killed on sight."


    Aemie didn''t answer Arthur. Instead she gave her orders fast to her men around. The guards seemed shocked at first before they started to deploy her orders to everyone else.


    "It''s time to bring your group back," Aemie took a group of bird''s wings before writing the order to bring Doaf and Amera back with everyone else. "Finding those hidden lycans comes now as the top priority."


    "What about the other traitors?" Arthur asked.


    "By what she did, I bet she would run to them and try to regroup with those lycans," Aemie said with a cold tone, "so finding them means finding her."


    "I understand," Arthur nodded.


    "No you don''t," Aemie slowly said, "I''m coming with you on this trip."


    "What?!" this time Arthur failed to read her intentions well. "What about the clan?"


    "The coup comes first," Aemie said in determination, "killing her and all the lycans in this world would put an end to all this. Letting them wander the world freely would only cause more troubles."


    Arthur gave her a deep glance and didn''t know what to say.


    "Save whatever you wanted to say," Aemie said while waiting for the return of everyone, "Nothing you''d say will persuade me from doing this."


    She started to walk towards the palace again. "Where are you doing?" Arthur ran to match her wide steps.


    "To my home," she said as if it was obvious, "that''s my palace, not hers."


    "What if¡­"


    "That will save us a lot of trouble," Aemie laughed, "but don''t worry, my auntie isn''t as thick headed as you think. She knows she isn''t a match for me in one to one fight and she will run."


    Arthur only sighed while thinking what got him involved in this mess in the first place. He was worried about those he left behind, his cities and the sect he left the battle of defending it to his main subordinates.


    "I hope you are alright," he muttered while following Aemie towards the palace once again.


    And like she said, the huge room inside was empty with no sign at all for that old lady or her minions.


    "Told you," Aemie smirked while sitting on a big seat, "now all we have to do is wait for our top forces to gather before heading out."


    Arthur didn''t know why but he felt a tinge of excitement in her voice. She seemed like enjoying herself with all this, not worried at all.

 Chapter 753: Setting For The Gate

    Arthur and Aemie didn''t have to wait for long. In less than one hour the entire team was regrouped again with many new faces, harsh and brutal ones.


    Plus Doaf and Amera as well.


    As for Nicole, he took her out during that time and she didn''t open her mouth the entire time. The hurdle of choosing between her mother and her lover and master seemed to take a great toll on her.


    And Arthur understood that and kept his silence while Aemie kept walking around while saying nothing.


    "Now as all of you got briefed about what happened, it''s time for us now to move," Aemie said after talking about what happened in their absence.


    "Is it wise to leave the main city unguarded like this?" one of the trusted and elite mages of the cauldron clan spoke up with his deep voice. He had yellow teeth and a deep scar over his right bare shoulder.


    "We need to keep some guards here," another expressed his thoughts.


    "Losing the city means nothing to me or to my enemies," Aemie said, "and who said anything about leaving it unguarded? I''ll leave the entire army here defending it. If an army couldn''t keep one meager city then how the hell are they supposed to protect our world?"


    Her words made sense yet Arthur and many others knew this was based on her desire for vengeance.


    However no one here could speak up or argue with her.


    "I''ll stay here then," Nicole finally broke her silence with these shocking words, "I''ll lead the defenses and make sure no one will trespass the walls."


    Aemie looked deeply at her while everyone here realized what Nicole was trying to do. As Aemie was world renown as a stubborn person, someone had to nail some sense inside her without touching her unparalleled ego.


    And Nicole just did that.


    "Staying here isn''t safe," Aemie had to say the truth, "do you know that?"


    "I know," Nicole stood up and faced her, "and so I''m asking for you to make this place safer for me to stay."


    "You can just come with us," Aemie tried to reason with her, however Nicole''s strange silence and determination was obvious to everyone.


    "Sigh, why did you choose to act like me in this particular moment?" Aemie couldn''t help but shake off her head in disappointment.


    "Sometimes protecting what''s dear to you comes second to protect your world," Nicole said, "or your people."


    Her words seemed to come from someone wise, someone brave, someone not like herself at all.


    "If anything worth commending then this disaster might help you grow up," Aemie finally succumbed to Nicole''s wishes, "Admir, lead your squad and stay here. Defend the city and don''t let anyone touch the walls."


    Her words were met with a calm smile and even many nodding from everyone. Admir was someone worthy, ranked in the top three strongest mages in the entire clan.


    And his squad was a powerhouse in their own regard.


    "I promise my lady that," Admir simply said while giving Nicole a silent thanks glance.


    It wasn''t only to defend the people or the planet, but all of those standing here and their men had families in the city.


    Abandoning the city like that wouldn''t help at all except at making everyone restless and doubtful. Something not a wise leader would want at the eve of battle.


    "Alright, let''s move," Aemie said but Doaf had to stop her.


    "We need my men," Doaf said in a strong tone and a face that told everyone he wouldn''t budge about his request.


    "Sounds fair," Aemie casually said before turning to one of those standing around, "go and release them. We will meet at the north gate."


    "We won''t be late," the female mage moved fast and vanished off their sight while Aemie looked with a faint smile towards Doaf, "can we move now?"


    Doaf nodded and stepped out of the way. Aemie led everyone outside, while Doaf and Amera retreated all the way to the back of the line to stand beside Arthur.


    "You surely are full of surprises," Amera said in a low tone yet she seemed quite happy.


    "He is our young master, of course he isn''t ordinary," Doaf replied with an arrogant smile on his face, one that he deserves to show.


    "It was just a fluke of luck," Arthur simply said, "but now we have bigger issues to handle."


    "We can kill anyone as long as you point them out for us," Amera said in confidence.


    "I''m not worried about those," Arthur slowly said while gazing around the wide streets they were walking through right now. Faces of many people appeared from the two and three story buildings in the city.


    And if Arthur felt anything out of them then he would only feel fear and worry.


    "I''m worried about those traitors of that old lady," Arthur added with a cold tone, "I doubt she took everyone out with her."


    "As you mentioned it," Doaf slowly said before adding, "if I was here, I wouldn''t leave the base of my enemies unwatched."


    "You think Aemie doesn''t know that?" Amera said with a chuckle, "you two are way off the nature of our grandmaster."


    Arthur glanced at her while Doaf asked:


    "If so then why did she want to leave the city without proper guards?"


    "I don''t know the answer to that," Amera slowly said, "but I bet she will pull something amazing the moment we are outside these walls."


    Arthur gave the up front Aemie a long glance. "I can''t disagree with you," he said, "I feel she isn''t simple."


    "If so then she won''t be our grandmaster, right?" Amera smiled in pride while Doaf only sighed.


    "I hope your trust isn''t misplaced."


    "Tell me something," Amera seemed to enjoy this little conversation with Doaf, "if we were in your world, led by your grandmaster, would you feel the same doubt like now?"


    Doaf could only sneer before answering: "If so then won''t you share the same doubt like me?"


    And that answer made Amera sneer and Arthur laugh.

 Chapter 754: Things Getting More Complicated

    The walk through the city just made Arthur sure about what he felt earlier. "The atmosphere here looks bad," he couldn''t help but say it out loud.


    "People here think we already lost the fight," Amera said.


    "Or that old aunt of your master just acted to spread the word," Doaf said, "psychological warfare isn''t an easy thing to handle."


    "Aemie must deal with that fast," Arthur glanced around, "or else this will be a lost war to fight."


    "She knows what''s right to do," Amera gave her grandmaster a long glance, "I hope I''m right," she added with a deep breath while the other two around only remained silent.


    "We are here," Aemie said out loud as they reached the great wall and the main gate in this region. Many lines of mages were lined to stand guard, while many kept running here and there in some sort of chaos.


    "The lady is here," all it needed was just one shout from one guard and all of the mages here stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads in respect to Aemie.


    "Listen up," Aemie moved a couple of steps to the front, "I want you to hold my city safe. Also I need some to patrol the city. Give people hope and a sense of security. Show them that there are still cauldron mages fighting as long as they are breathing."


    Her words made the faces of all the mages here flash with determination.


    "See?" Amera couldn''t help but chuckle, "I told you she knows what to do."


    "Speaking about is something different than doing it," Doaf slowly said, "I don''t want to look pessimistic, but it''s not the war that made people lose hope."


    Arthur knew what he was referring to. The dispute over the power between Aemie and her aunt was the real problem. In fact it wasn''t a simple problem that could be solved with a few marches in the street.


    "Have more hope in her, please," Amera said in a low tone while Aemie turned her attention to her large and elite group of mages.


    "Let''s go," she said.


    "Won''t we wait for Admir?" one of the mages asked in a strange way.


    "He will take a long time until coming here," Aemie said, "we have no time to waste."


    She determinedly walked towards the giant gate. Everywhere she moved, the mages stepped aside and didn''t stand in her way.


    "Kill the bitch!" until one sudden shout erupted while the group was in the heart of this army. All of sudden chaos erupted and attacks flashed.


    No one could tell who was on which side now. Chaos was so intense that even Arthur, Amera, and Doaf who were at the rear couldn''t tell whom to attack.


    "All my loyal mages¡­ Retreat now!" Yet the next shout from Aemie came just in time to solve this problem.


    Her simple shout made a large number of mages step back, leaving only a handful of hundreds fighting with her men, trying to get to her.


    And at this precise moment she started to move.


    Before this she stood silently watching. Her face was calm and cold, as if she wasn''t fazed by what just happened.


    "Let''s help," Amera didn''t hesitate to take out her spear and start a spree of killing.


    "Hell yeah I miss such fights," Doaf moved as well while Arthur kept his stance. He silently watched Aemie''s move and her pattern of attack.


    She didn''t move valiantly like others, instead she kept herself confined to a small area without trespassing it.


    Anyone of those traitors moved so near, she would act without hesitation to kill him or her.


    As for the rest of the fight, her entire group of hundreds were more than enough to kill those traitors in less than ten minutes.


    However there was something else that attracted Arthur''s attention. From far he spotted some strange movements that made him realize this wasn''t far from being over.


    "We are surrounded," he shouted while pointing at the far distance, "more are coming."


    "That suits me," Aemie seemed not so surprised by what he said, "listen up, all of the mages here form a line before my group. As for my mages, lead the army to smash everything in your way."


    Arthur was surprised by her arrangement. "Does she plan on sweeping the city like this?" he couldn''t help but ask yet Amera and Doaf didn''t have the answer to that.


    In a few minutes the thousands of mages standing around were aligned in a few lines before Aemie and her mages. "Move out now," she didn''t hesitate to give this order in cold blood while watching the streets around being blocked by many mages.


    "This won''t end well," Arthur wasn''t that experienced in dealing with such a crisis, yet his hunch told him already this was a bad idea.


    Yet he didn''t have the means to stop the inevitable. As long as there were traitors showing up their faces around, it would seem impossible for them to leave.


    "They are trying to hinder us," Arthur finally saw through their plan, "we must leave now."


    "We can''t," Amera said, "or we don''t have this luxury to begin with."


    Doaf was about to speak before a bird''s wing appeared suddenly in front of him. "They are near," he suddenly said, "but the streets are all swarming with traitors. They can''t reach us."


    Arthur turned around and from his place he could spot another giant gate at the east. "Tell them to go this way," he hurriedly pointed towards the direction of the gate before starting to run.


    "But¡­" Amera was about to speak when she noticed the direction he was running towards.


    He wasn''t running towards the gate, but towards Aemie.


    "I know," just before he could reach her she shouted, "do whatever it takes and leave here as fast as possible."


    Her firm and cold eyes told him how grave this mess was. She also knew what this implied and still she couldn''t walk away from this trap.


    Arthur could only sympathise with her with a nod. He knew if she left, the city would be entirely lost alongside the trust of her mages and army.


    And such results couldn''t be accepted.


    "Finish what you have to do and then come to find me," he took out a group of bird''s wings and threw them to her. In return she did the same and threw some back to him.


    "Keep in touch," she stressed, "and don''t trust anyone."


    "I know," he said before turning around and moving.

 Chapter 755: Acting Mysterious On Him!

    He ran towards the direction of that far gate without looking back. He knew Aemie had to keep her grasp over the city, and from the look of things the other camp planned to make it a very hard task to achieve.


    And that meant they wanted either to trap them here or separate them.


    "What is the plan?" Amera urged while the three of them ran as fast as they could towards that gate.


    They were meeting with large numbers of mages running in the opposite direction. There was no way to tell if there were any traitors among them or not.


    "Let''s talk when we get outside," Arthur shortly said while moving his eyes all around, watching for any unexpected moves.


    However, until they reached the gate, they didn''t meet any resistance.


    "Weird," Arthur said while standing just in front of the opened gate.


    "You thought they would attack us?" Doaf sneered, "they wanted her to stay behind. Other than this they think they have the confidence to deal with us."


    "Do you think so?" Arthur asked, yet Amera''s mysterious smile coupled with the smirking smile over Doaf''s face told Arthur a lot.


    "Let''s keep moving," Amera said as she started to move.


    "Won''t we wait for others?" Arthur turned to Doaf who winked.


    "Let''s follow the lady," Doaf said and this was one of the rarest moments the two would really agree on something.


    Arthur wanted to ask but the warning glance he had from Amera made him refrain from doing so.


    They weren''t alone, and they were planning something.


    "You owe me an explanation," as the three crossed past the gate and walked for a mile or more, Arthur couldn''t help but say.


    "Soon," Doaf mysteriously answered, "all your questions will be answered soon."


    Arthur gave him a deep glance before saying to Gege:


    ''Scan the area around, make sure the tree won''t miss anything hidden.''


    ''There is already a group of people walking from one of the gates of the city,'' Gege came back in less than one minute, ''they seem to be heading towards you.''


    Arthur gave the two a look full of doubt. ''Are they friends?''


    ''I doubt that,'' Gege said, ''they are all part of the cauldron clan.''


    "Oh," Arthur couldn''t help but say and his single word attracted the attention of Daof and Amera.


    "What happened?" the latter asked while taking out her spear, "are we followed?"


    "So you knew all this time?" Arthur answered with a question of his.


    "We have to improvise," Doaf said without a speck of guilt, "and our caution proved to be correct, right?"


    Arthur stopped and gazed at the two without knowing what to say. "They are coming here in great numbers. We were outnumbered and we left before meeting up with everyone else."


    "Who said we are outnumbered?" Amera sneered before turning her head around, "which direction are they coming from? And how long before catching up to us?"


    Arthur could only look at the two without finding the suitable words to express his frustration. They were taking this matter too lightly as if they were about to meet old friends.


    "There are over a thousand," Arthur took a deep breath and decided to trust them, "they are coming from this way and by their speed¡­ they can arrive here in less than half an hour."


    He just repeated the words Gege told him.


    "That''s good," Doaf shrugged as if this was nothing to worry about, "all we need to do now is to keep our speed and move as far as possible from the city."


    "Away?" Arthur was surprised again, "shouldn''t we go back and ask for help?"


    "No," Amera gave him a warm smile, "when you are about to pull a trick, don''t do it in front of the watchful gazes of your enemy, right?"


    Arthur stayed in his place motionless for a long minute while the two started running again as if nothing happened.


    "Crazy¡­" he mumbled to himself, "you two have gone crazy, do you know that?" he shouted at their backs while starting to run.


    He had nothing else to do but that anyway.


    The three ran together while Arthur had to resist asking. He asked Gege more than once to check the surrounding area.


    Other than those growing in size enemies, there wasn''t a single ally around.


    It was like a desert for him despite everything around looking so green.


    They were running through small hills covered with low and mid level grass. Some flowers and short trees could be seen sometimes, giving the place a touch of beauty.


    Yet Arthur couldn''t see anything beautiful about this place. For him things seemed to be heading towards his own death.


    The bizarre thing was the strange silence of his three voices. They never complained or advised him to walk away or retreat.


    Even the always complaining and very skeptical golden dragon kept his silence all the time.


    And that made Arthur realize the three knew something he didn''t.


    ''One way or another I will know,'' Arthur said to the three beings without getting anything back but a chuckle from Gege.


    ''And you want us to spoil the surprise your two friends here are preparing for you? Not a chance,'' she even laughed and despite that Arthur felt more at ease.


    If he was in any danger, those three wouldn''t stay silent or even act this cheerful. Not with the sympathetic Gege.


    With them running with their top speed, the pursuing enemies couldn''t reach them in a short time.


    However that also brought another trouble for them... the one group that was hunting them down turned into five, and they seemed to show no stop of increasing their numbers with the more time the three kept running.


    "We have around seven thousand mages now running at our tail," Arthur couldn''t help but say in warning, "I don''t need to know what you two are planning, but just tell me you got this under control."


    "Don''t worry," Amera exchanged silent glances with Doaf before the two laughed and said nothing later.


    And that made Arthur more frustrated, yet he kept his mouth shut and decided to wait and watch until this circus ended.

 Chapter 756: You Arent The Only One With Artifacts Here

    The chase kept going on for the entire four hours. The more time it went, the more teams that kept coming in their direction.


    And that made Arthur more restless. And yet he kept his mouth shut and didn''t say a single word about those teams.


    Until they were already chased so near by these teams.


    "They are just five minutes away," Arthur couldn''t endure it any longer, "if you have any hidden cards up your sleeves, then it''s the right time to take them out now!"


    Doaf and Amera exchanged silent glances before the two of them nodded. The next moment they stopped running and stood there with a very calm smile on their faces.


    "How much are there?" Doaf calmly asked.


    "Over four thousands," Arthur answered, "and more are still coming from the direction of the city."


    "That''s barely enough," Amera slowly said.


    "For what?" Arthur was still puzzled and frustrated by all this secrecy, "what are you two hiding from me? There is not a single ally near us!"


    "But we are far enough from the city, right?" Amera asked as if she wanted to be sure they were far away from any help.


    "If acting suicidal is your wish then I''m glad to tell you that you honorably got your wish," Arthur couldn''t help but shake his head out of helplessness. "Now what?" he asked while the faces of the distant mages kept getting clearer as they got nearer.


    "''It''s time to show you something," Doaf said with a short laugh, "it''s time to make you realize something¡­"


    "What?" Arthur even waved both hands in the air and hit his thighs with them. He turned around, "there is no one here but us!"


    The next moment the two took out strange cubics. Each held two in each hand before Doaf and Amera nodded to each other.


    "Stay put and watch," Doaf said while raising both hands in the air, "you aren''t the only one with a hidden realm he can access."


    These words landed upon Arthur like thunder. His eyes went all rounded while watching the four cubes getting smashed to the ground, creating four gigantic cracks in the world around.


    The cracks seemed like thunder tongues racing everywhere without pause. They moved to the sky, to the ground, and they reached areas far from the reach of the first group of mages coming hot at them.


    These sudden silent explosions of the cubes alarmed the hostile mages, but it was too late to do anything.


    The next moment the four cracks thundered in loud bangs before large number of mages appeared out of nowhere. The entire world changed and flashes of silver and blue lights kept flashing even in the sky.


    And the mages who just appeared weren''t polite or amazed like their enemies. The moment they came to this world they started to fight and kill.


    Their enemies didn''t stand a chance against such an attack. The number of these mages was huge. Tens of thousands of mages appeared all of sudden and their few thousand enemies were helpless against them.


    "Enough!" Amera shouted before returning to stand erect again. In her hands the two cubes regained their previous form, intact without any scratch to them.


    Doaf did the same and with that all the phenomenon that happened just now ceased to exist. Arthur stood at the back with a gaped mouth while the two started to laugh at him.


    "See? You aren''t the only one with secrets and hidden weapons here," Amera played with him while her smile kept growing.


    "B- But¡­" Arthur moved his eyes between the two without knowing what to say. He was extremely shocked and didn''t know how they did it.


    "You are wondering why we didn''t use this before, right?" Doaf''s smile was very broad as he added, "we didn''t gain such an advantage except after Amera''s grandmaster decided to let go of her legendary artifacts to us."


    Arthur''s mind connected the missing dots and all of sudden things became clear to him. "So from the beginning¡­ you all knew¡­" he muttered in shock while the two nodded.


    "But this was easily seen from far," Arthur knew the only disadvantage such a way of fighting had.


    "That''s why we needed to make sure we are so far away from the city," Amera slowly said, "and this isn''t the only trick we have."


    She turned to Doaf before she and he started to run. They run all of sudden towards the direction of the city, leaving Arthur all alone.


    "Stay back," Doaf shouted while getting away, "I promise this won''t take long."


    Arthur didn''t know what to say until the two of them vanished off his sight.


    "Gege¡­" he only said that and Gege instantly answered.


    ''They are heading towards the rapidly retreating groups of mages,'' Gege said.


    "They won''t make it," Arthur knew what the two planned to do. They wanted to exterminate all the traitors they managed to lure out of the city.


    Yet despite some groups already nearby, more were still further away. The time the two needed to reach these traitors wouldn''t be enough to stop numerous thousands of them to retreat back to the city.


    ''They will,'' Gege strangely said with a sudden laugh, ''you won''t believe it!''


    Arthur suddenly recalled what Amera said before leaving. "What happened?" he couldn''t resist his curiosity and asked.


    ''Some of those groups are ones loyal to your friend, Aemie,'' Gege said, ''and strangely it seems all the last groups to leave the city are all formed of those loyalists. They are now striking a blockade and preventing anyone from retreating.''


    "Damn!" Arthur couldn''t help but yell in excitement, "this time they overdo themselves!"


    ''It wasn''t them,'' the golden dragon finally spoke, ''it was that chick from before. Sad thing is she has a lover already and she isn''t interested in men.''


    "You knew," Arthur suddenly recalled something, "you knew all along, right?"


    ''Well, you can''t blame us for not telling you,'' Gege laughed, ''the look on your face just now was priceless!''


    "Funny," Arthur tried to control his expression, "don''t do this again."

 Chapter 757: Getting Ready To Backstab The Backstabbers!

    ''It''s fun,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''and we only noticed these four cubes that Aemie gave to your two friends before leaving.''


    "When did that happen?" Arthur tried to recall things and events yet he couldn''t pinpoint when and where this happened.


    ''Back when you all met for the first time,'' the golden dragon explained, ''she gave the two these cubes and whispered something while you were busy freaking out about what happened at the gate.''


    Arthur recalled the calm Aemie and her standing there motionless without doing anything major. "So that was the reason¡­ that Aemei¡­ she is really something!"


    ''Ding! you need to learn a thing or two from her,'' the system finally spoke, ''Ding! Don''t just be amazed by her.''


    "Thanks for the advice," Arthur was still furious at all this, "yet next time you should give me a head notice, alright?"


    ''In fact this isn''t the time to speak,'' Gege suddenly said, ''the tree spotted many hidden pockets of those lycans. What happened here seemed to attract their attention and many groups are heading here to check things out.''


    Arthur felt alarmed at once. "When will they arrive?" he asked while moving his head around.


    ''In less than half an hour five groups will be here,'' Gege said.


    "And for them?" Arthur asked.


    ''They might need an hour to finish,'' the golden dragon was the one to answer, ''or might be less than this.''


    "So I need to catch up," Arthur didn''t hesitate to move.


    ''Ding! I don''t think this is the right move,'' yet the system''s words managed to stop him in his tracks, ''Ding! You should hide for now.''


    Arthur realized what he meant. "Take out the portal," he said and the next moment a portal appeared before he entered it.


    ''I''ll keep an eye over things outside,'' Gege said.


    "Also inform those two about what''s coming here," Arthur said, "make them be ready for any backstabbing moves."


    ''Ding! You can also backstab those lycans,'' the system sinisterly said, ''Ding! Using the mechas at the appropriate time will help.''


    Arthur gave it more thinking before nodding, "it''s still a risk yet I have to do it. What about the werewolf and the war prisoners from before?"


    ''You can use them as well,'' the golden dragon seemed quite excited by the idea of backstabbing the lycans, ''you can use anything you want. But don''t forget that most of our forces aren''t here.''


    "I know," Arthur nodded as most of his forces were taken hostage by the grandmaster. Only part of his war prisoners alongside the werewolf and his mechas were spared from this.


    He made sure to take all of them back before Aemie sat her gaze upon him. Despite their low numbers he wasn''t afraid.


    After all, his enemies wouldn''t expect him to appear in such a way or hit them from the back.


    Arthur stayed in his garden while Gege worked fast to summon all of his troops.


    After all this time the number of mechas manufactured in his garden world grew to a terrifying number of one hundred thousand. He hovered above his grand mecha army while feeling that not much would survive this ordeal.


    A necessary sacrifice if his enemies tried to attack Doaf and Amera from their backs. He knew the two could handle this situation, but that would come at a terrible cost.


    "They were brave enough to pull such a trick," he said to himself, "and I have to level up the game and play at their levels."


    ''It''s time,'' Gege said, ''they just passed your place and it seemed they were fixed on hitting Doaf and Amera from their backs.''


    "They think the two aren''t aware of their existence," Arthur nodded in contempt, "how many are there?"


    ''So far over twenty groups are heading this way. The first five just passed and more are still coming,'' Gege explained, ''do you want to go out now?''


    Arthur shook his head while saying, "No, let''s wait until all of them pass my place."


    ''That¡­'' Gege knew what that meant.


    "They had to take the first toll of their attack," Arthur knew exactly the risk of such a tactic, "but this way we will be sure not a single fish will escape our net¡­ Alert the two and inform them of the incoming groups."


    ''Should I tell them about your plan?'' Gege asked as she felt from Arthur''s thoughts he wasn''t supporting this idea.


    "They didn''t tell me theirs," Arthur shrugged, "why should I tell them mine? Let them fester in doubt and fear like I did back then."


    No one had another opinion against him. ''That means you need at least half an hour to move,'' Gege said.


    "Alright," Arthur turned around and looked for Nara. He found her flying with a group of a thousand mecha in a grand performance, just tens of meters above the heads of the mechas on the ground.


    "My lord," the moment Arthur flew near her she stopped, bowing her metallic head in respect.


    "At ease," he said, "be ready, in less than half an hour we will move."


    "My boys are ready," Nara calmly said. Arthur gave her a deep glance before smiling.


    "We came from a distant place," he slowly said.


    "I¡­ don''t understand what my lord means," Nara seemed to be confused by his strange words.


    "Just don''t die here," Arthur patted her big metallic shoulder, "you and I still have a long road ahead of us."


    She paused without knowing where this came from. "Don''t worry lord, we aren''t that weak to be crushed by a few lycans," she said in a strong tone.


    "Just make sure to move fast, kill swiftly before evading any attacks," Arthur stressed, "those foes aren''t anything like we faced before."


    She felt his worry over her. She was conflicted yet she only nodded. Luckily for her the metallic mask she was wearing served a lot in hiding her emotions right now.


    As he moved back to the spot he was standing at before, he heard a loud shout coming from down below.


    "She seems to turn frustration and depression into useful energy," he smiled in contempt while watching her speaking in a loud tone towards all her mecha army.


    ''Up till now I couldn''t believe you turned such a peace loving girl who didn''t want anything in the world but to defend her people into such a fierce fighter,'' Gege said in admiration.


    "She had it inside her all that time," Arthur slowly said, "it was her who crossed all that distance, and she did it alone."


    ''You helped,'' Gege said, ''you can''t deny such a fact.''


    "I only gave her more options," Arthur shrugged, "but the rest falls only on her shoulders."


    He went into silence for a long moment while recalling the giant beauty he left behind as a world will. "Fate acts in strange ways sometimes," he slowly muttered while not knowing what his fate would lead to.

 Chapter 758: Joining The Fight

    ''You can start now,'' Gege suddenly said after twenty minutes, ''they have already passed your spot.''


    "Give them a minute," Arthur took a deep breath before taking out his sword and started moving in the air.


    He activated his technique. "Coming here after getting this awesome weapon in my arsenal made me look like an idiot," he shook his head while watching the sword phantom he held in his right hand. "A fool fighting giants with sticks¡­ Damn!"


    ''Any moment now,'' Gege said again.


    "Open the portal honey," Arthur said, "let''s kick hard on their doors. How are they doing?"


    ''Doaf and Amera?'' Gege asked before adding, ''they are fighting like crazy right now. But don''t worry about them.''


    "I''m not," Arthur evilly smiled, "I''m just worried they wouldn''t be giving it their all and let many escape."


    ''I doubt that,'' Gege laughed, ''Amera is already on loose and Doaf has no option but to protect you.''


    "Wise words coming from my Gege," Arthur laughed shortly before being swallowed by the portal.


    The next moment he appeared again in the world. Everything around looked the same yet from his spot he could already hear a lot of explosions and even flares of lights coming from a certain direction.


    "The party is hot," Arthur sneered, "what''s the status of the closest group?"


    ''Three minutes run,'' Gege said, ''won''t you wait for the mechas to arrive?''


    "Nope, tell them to wait," Arthur cancelled his dragonair form and started to run in his human form, "they will recognize me miles away if I kept my dragon or took out my mechas."


    ''Good point,'' Gege said, ''but I have to tell you it''s a terrible idea.''


    "You are worried about me, huh?" Arthur was taking this like a light joke, "don''t, I know what I''m doing."


    Arthur started running with all his might, yet he was pretty much slower. The terrain around was wide open, making anything be spotted from far away.


    So his plan to move like this seemed to be logical, yet Gege knew he wanted to secretly punish those two for not trusting him with their plan from earlier.


    As he kept moving forward, his distance with the rear groups of the enemy got shortened.


    "Be ready," he said while examining the terrain around. "That spot will do," he selected a small hill in the distance, lying just in the center of four groups.


    ''You surely have something towards high altitude,'' the golden dragon joked and Arthur couldn''t help but smile.


    "I stayed my past life living on mountains," he said, "there is nothing wrong in preferring high ground for any fight."


    ''Still you are addicted to that,'' Gege laughed, ''the mechas are ready. When do you want me to summon them?''


    "After reaching the hill."


    Arthur was sure those lycans were already aware of his presence sometime ago. Yet they didn''t change their direction or show any sign of hostility according to Gege.


    And that was only a mistake on their part, as they thought him a lost soul of their enemies.


    Someone they shouldn''t worry about, however that was doomed to be changed the next few minutes.


    "Get ready," as he got so near to that hill he didn''t find any reason to hide his identity any longer. The next moment he turned into a dragon after channeling his dragonair''s energy, then he simply flew fast using his superb speed to reach the top of the hill in no time.


    And like death he descended in the middle of the four groups before a portal appeared and he slammed his phantom sword over a certain direction.


    "Attack there, there, there, and there," he hurriedly pointed out four different directions around the hill.


    And Nara nodded in silence before leading the growing number of mechas towards those four directions.


    "I''ll go in," after he slashed his sword a couple of times towards each group, he simply walked inside the portal and vanished.


    ''Running away? Simply like that?'' Gege was speechless by his sudden move.


    "I''m the leader," Arthur slowly said, "and fighting those higher level mages won''t be easy. I can''t be killed or wounded or else everything will be lost."


    The three voices in his mind stayed silent for a long minute before the golden dragon finally spoke: ''Don''t you find this a little overboard?''


    "This is called safety first," Arthur smiled, "plus if anything bad happens to them, Gege will inform Nara to retreat with the surviving mechas."


    ''Will I do that?!'' Gege seemed a bit surprised by this, ''you didn''t tell me that before!''


    "You now know," Arthur sneered, "c''mon, this isn''t like a bad thing. After all, I''m not going to act suicidal here."


    ''But¡­'' Gege seemed not to accept his strange attitude, yet he stopped her as he sat on the ground, extending his arms like he was planning to take a nap.


    "It''s not a bad thing to let my people fight instead of me from time to time," he said before closing his eyes, "they need to toughen up and I need not to risk myself too much. It''s not my world to begin with and I''m not planning to stay here that long either."


    Arthur wasn''t that cold, but he wanted to get some rest once in a while. Plus he didn''t like the idea of fighting all alone here with people outweighing him in power and strength.


    "Let my dear werewolf get ready to move," Arthur said while taking a deep breath, "I doubt Nara''s team will manage to kill them all."


    ''She is doing great actually,'' Gege said with a tone that told him she was still made of what he did.


    "She will lose a lot," Arthur slowly said, "staying fixed in one place isn''t the best strategy out there. Send him out with others."


    ''He¡­ has few,'' Gege seemed a bit hesitant, ''only a couple of hundred at most.''


    "Then make him move now," Arthur didn''t change his mind, "he needs to use the chaos Nara created before those damn lycans get their heads cool about this."


    Gege seemed not to agree with him yet she executed his order. In the next couple of minutes, giants passed through that portal led by his werewolf.


    And Arthur was damn right about what he just said. Staying in one place for a long period would only create more troubles for everyone.

 Chapter 759: A Mysterious Thing In The Pond

    It didn''t pass for more than five minutes before Gege came with a distressed tone. ''Few groups got separated from the main army attacking Doaf and Amera,'' she said without any warning.


    "Oh, they are trying to wipe us out," Arthur thought for a moment, "how long before they arrive?"


    ''Ten minutes.''


    "And their numbers?"


    ''Six groups.''


    "That''s big," Arthur thought for a moment before adding, "alarm Nara, make her ready to retreat in five."


    ''Ok.''


    ''Ding! Will you stay here?'' The system asked.


    "Any brilliant options?"


    ''You know they can crack open the portal,'' the golden dragon said.


    "So I have to run away," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "Gege, run a scan for me. Is there any place I can hide without being noticed?"


    ''Let me check,'' she said while Arthur waited for a couple more minutes before she came back, ''there are a couple of hills with a small pond in between. The place isn''t far from us or from Doaf and Amera.''


    "That will do," Arthur clapped his hands, "tell Nara to be ready to retreat."


    ''And you?'' the golden dragon asked.


    "I''ll go out," Arthur then passed through the portal it took him in before. The next moment the entire world changed and sounds of brutal fighting and painful screams echoed all over the place.


    "Time to run," he didn''t let go of his guard while flying away. Despite all the chaos around, his sudden appearance wasn''t met with any resistance at all.


    After all everyone was entangled already with his or her foes. He simply passed over the territory of fight while landing a couple of swords over some targets on his path out.


    "They look very pissed off," Arthur noticed some of the giant lycans turned around and started to fly towards him.


    ''Ding! You need to get out of their sight,'' the system warned.


    "Yeah, time to go full speed then," Arthur started to fly seriously and then his speed suddenly accelerated in a way that took his enemies by surprise.


    "Tell Nara to rapidly get inside," he hurriedly said, "once I reach these hills I will vanish inside the portal and their escape route will be gone."


    ''I warned her and your werewolf group,'' Gege said, ''but it seems she wanted to stay back and fight.''


    "What?" Arthur turned to see Nara leading her mechas around with the help of the werewolf and his smaller gang. "Is she out of her mind?"


    ''She isn''t alone in this,'' Gege said, ''also your werewolf and his group won''t retreat.''


    "Why?" Arthur could see any logic in what they were doing.


    ''They wanted to fight,'' the golden dragon said, ''even if they will lose many, the survivors will gain priceless experience.''


    "¡­"


    Arthur could only turn his eyes away and pray the losses wouldn''t be so massive. He had such a large number of mechas with difficulty.


    If he was back in any lower world, then using such a force would be tyrannical against any force.


    But here¡­ Things didn''t seem that good to them or him.


    ''One minute to these hills,'' Gege reminded him while he was moving like a rocket. His pursuers accelerated their speed as well, however they reacted a bit late and that helped him in creating enough gap.


    The hills up front seemed a bit different than the ones he saw before. They were slightly bigger and taller, and he could see the sparkling dots of light reflecting on the water of the pond in between.


    ''You need to hide from their sight, so falling from above would easily pinpoint your location to them,'' the golden dragon advised, ''so it''s best if you enter through the space between the hills and turn with them until you are out of their sight.''


    ''It''s a few seconds window, but I''ll guide you through the process.''


    "I have no doubt in that," Arthur said while keeping the direction up ahead in his mind.


    The distance kept shrinking in no time. Before he knew it, he was already at the hills and then he started to move inside.


    ''Now!''


    As he delved deeply in between this series of hills, he found himself flying on top of the pond. The waters there weren''t blue but strangely white like milk.


    And he felt like something was watching him from underneath these waters.


    "I hope it''s not something bad," he muttered before cancelling his transformation, "the portal¡­ now!"


    "Woosh!"


    The next moment as his body was being dragged down by the gravity, a portal appeared and swallowed him. Despite that his fall inside the garden world was so harsh that he even felt some pain.


    "Close it now!" Arthur screamed before watching it vanish. "Our guests? Have they arrived?" he hurriedly asked while standing up from the ground.


    ''They are less than two minutes away,'' Gege said.


    "Did they notice anything?"


    ''We''ll know it soon enough,'' Gege said.


    "Did you sense anything in the depth of these waters?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask, "I felt like something¡­ or someone was watching me."


    ''Well¡­ the tree couldn''t see anything at that pond,'' Gege slowly said.


    "But?" Arthur felt there was more.


    ''She can''t see any because she can''t see through the water,'' Gege seemed a bit hesitant, ''but she didn''t feel any hostility coming from whatever was lying down there.''


    "Really?" Arthur couldn''t help but sneer, "that''s quite relieving y''know."


    ''I believe the guests have arrived by now, right?'' the golden dragon stepped in and shifted the topic back to the main point.


    ''Gimme a sec,'' Gege said before keeping her silence for an entire minute.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur didn''t like such silence, "what''s going on there?"


    ''Well¡­ to put it simply our guests didn''t notice your presence, which is a good thing,'' Gege said in a strange tone.


    "And the bad news?" Arthur didn''t even smile while waiting for her answer.


    ''The thing¡­ in the pond¡­''


    "It attacked them?" Arthur said with a chuckle.


    ''Yes¡­ but it also tries to open the gate.''


    "What?" Arthur didn''t feel any good out of this, "what is that thing?"


    ''I believe it''s some sort of giant octopus,'' Gege said, ''and it''s desperately trying to open the portal with all of its giant tentacles.''


    Arthur went into silence for a brief moment. He glanced at the sky up above while faint lines of cracks started to shine in white light.


    "Is it trying to get in here?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    ''If it did, then it''s digging its own grave,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''who can beat our Gege in her own turf?''


    And Arthur only glanced at the growing cracks with a stern expression over his face.

 Chapter 760: Facing The Gigantic Monster

    "It''s coming!"


    It didn''t take much time before the cracks became longer and thicker.


    ''dunno what that thing might do if it enters here,'' Gege said in a distressed tone.


    "What about the fight outside?" Arthur calmly asked with a crazy idea popping up in his mind at this point.


    ''You can''t be thinking of doing that¡­ That''s madness!'' Gege said in a deep tone.


    ''Ding! What do you plan to do?'' the system asked.


    "I see then things outside aren''t going the way I planned," Arthur ignored the two comments before adding: "Open me a portal now!"


    ''No,'' Gege refused without second thinking about it, ''more of those lycans are coming from everywhere. That monster attracted their attention and the bad news is it''s focusing on getting here.''


    "That''s why you have to open a portal," Arthur shouted in anger, "''don''t disobey me! Open that damn portal now!"


    ''You are planning to get outside and play the guide for that mass murderer¡­ Damn I like it!'' The golden dragon was excited yet his opinion wasn''t taken seriously by the other two.


    "Open the portal¡­ Now!" Arthur''s words made Gege feel shiver all over her soul. Even at the garden world, the entire world trembled out of her fear.


    Despite her consciousness, Arthur''s thoughts were so dangerous at this moment.


    ''A¡­ Alright,'' she couldn''t help but comply, ''but take care¡­''


    "Just open the portal now," Arthur tried to be calm as he said each word with gritted teeth.


    "Woosh!"


    The next moment the portal opened next to him. He didn''t hesitate in jumping there and the next moment he appeared outside.


    ''This is madness!'' Gege said in fear as Arthur didn''t hurry to leave.


    Instead he flew up high in the air, dancing between the giant tentacles of that gigantic octopus without getting in touch with any of them.


    Despite this seemed very dangerous, it was enough to keep every single lycans off him.


    And from what he could see, there were already many of them around.


    "How did they come here so fast?" Arthur felt more doubt the more he saw things around. He was now surrounded with hundreds of lycans, something that shouldn''t happen.


    ''They¡­ appeared from hidden groups beside this place,'' Gege said in hesitation, ''They must have escaped her surveillance.''


    "Or they are starting to act smart," Arthur said.


    ''Ding! I believe this is a rare case,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! those lycans look slightly different like special forces or something.''


    ''This isn''t the time to talk about that,'' Gege said before suddenly shouting, ''you should run, run now!''


    "No, I didn''t come out to run," Arthur glanced finally at the head of that gigantic octopus. As he kept rising high in the air, the octopus had no other option but to emerge from the water.


    And that was something Arthur precisely wanted.


    ''Please don''t,'' Gege was able to read his mind and thoughts. She knew what he intended to do and tried to stop him.


    "Just shut up," Arthur wasn''t in the mood or had the luxury to argue with her. The next moment he stopped rising up, turned around himself in full circle before letting his body fall with his head towards the ground.


    The tentacles were already entangled around each other, forming some sort of a net. In front of him, a long tunnel appeared surrounded by the tentacles of that octopus.


    "Roar!"


    The monster seemed enraged by Arthur''s actions. In his hand the phantom sword flashed as he directed a direct hit towards the exposed monster''s head.


    "Roar!"


    And that made the monster roar out in deep pain.


    "Yeah, go berserk," Arthur was intimidated by this roar especially when the net he worked hard to form was now broken by the monster.


    Yet such move was followed instantly with giant lashes of these tentacles, hitting for hundreds of meters around anything moving.


    All the lycans who were trying to reach out to him were simply smashed under the monster''s tentacles. Not a single one could resist such a giant force and that made Arthur smile in contempt.


    ''Watch out!'' Gege shouted in an alarmed tone yet Arthur didn''t need her shout.


    He already was aware keenly of anything moving around him. The tentacles after hitting everyone around landed over the surface of the pond.


    And giant waves exploded in the air like dams.


    "Time to dance for the second time," Arthur just paused a hundred meters above the head of that monster before turning around and started flying up again.


    His sudden maneuver didn''t come that easily. Each single part of his dragonair''s body was immensely stressed by this action.


    Yet he had to do it to ensure the success of his plan.


    "Roar!"


    The monster saw him doing that and was instantly enraged once more. This time it chose to open its giant jaw and release its giant and long tongue.


    Yet Arthur was well aware of it and was ready to evade it by sudden acceleration that took him a hundred meters up in less than a blink of an eye.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    Yet the monster wasn''t satisfied and released all of its tentacles after him. Arthur did like the last time, danced around in the air while evading those tentacles.


    And another net was formed while more lycans were getting closer to his location.


    Like the first time, Arthur just reached a certain height before turning around and landed towards the monster.


    And he launched one sword hit and that was enough to take down most of the lycans coming here.


    "Is there more coming?" Arthur flew up for the third time and was chased by the monster''s tentacles and angry roars.


    ''Nope, they are the only ones around,'' Gege said, ''less than twenty now survived.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded in contempt, "open the portal."


    ''Now?'' Gege tried to make sure he meant what he said, ''right here?''


    "Sure, why not?" Arthur smiled before adding, "be ready to receive our guest. I''m sure it''s not attacking me out of hostility."


    ''He wasn''t trying to use its full power,'' the golden dragon figured the same thing as well, ''but that doesn''t make it a friend.''


    "It needs something from me," Arthur jumped instantly inside the portal Gege just opened for him, "after figuring out what it is, I can determine if it''s a friend or not."


    ''Ding! It looks like a bad move to me.''


    "Do we have a choice in that?" Arthur shrugged, "besides he isn''t my enemy, making him a very valuable asset."

 Chapter 761: The Monsters Real Goal

    Arthur''s words managed to silence everyone. Despite that he knew they weren''t that satisfied with his way of dealing with this situation.


    For him he could risk his life to run away, but he doubted that monster would let him walk far before using its full potential against him.


    Which was something he didn''t want to see happening.


    On the other side, if he figured out what that monster wanted from him then he might be able to have an extra card up his sleeve.


    A card that he was so desperate to get in this world.


    "Rumble!"


    It didn''t take long for the anxious monster to crack open the portal and get inside the world. The sky seemed to get a deep wound, something that seemed very frightening while watching it happening from the ground.


    Yet that didn''t force Arthur to move. He stood still while watching the gigantic head and tentacles of that monster passing through the crack in the sky.


    "Make sure to let it move freely," Arthur''s next words were shocking, "I don''t want to give a bad impression to our guest."


    ''But... That''s a risky gamble!'' Gege was more anxious than the monster itself.


    "Just do it," Arthur was so fixated on waiting and seeing what that monster wanted, "it''s not an everyday occurance to have such a VIP guest in our world."


    ''...''


    She seemed not to be convinced by his words, neither did the other two. Yet no one spoke and they remained silent while watching the monster crush on the ground.


    "The moment of truth," Arthur flew in the sky to watch the devastation that landing caused. The monster caused a giant cloud of dust and crushed many trees there.


    "Roar!"


    In the middle of all this, Arthur couldn''t see where the monster was before he heard a mighty roar out of it coming from a different direction he was spotting.


    And the next moment the gigantic body of that monster darted from the cloud of dust while using its tentacles as legs to move.


    And it was moving very fast.


    "Yeah it''s very anxious to get what it came here for," Arthur, on the contrary to any logic, was laughing in strange excitement.


    ''Are you... Ok?'' Gege asked in doubt while the other two remained silent.


    "I''ll be good after knowing what it''s after," Arthur said before thinking for a moment, "is there anything special in the direction it''s taking?"


    ''Ding! You seemed not worried at all,'' the system couldn''t help but express his thoughts.


    "If it was here to kill me then the first thing it should do was to attack me. Instead he totally ignored me and went to search around."


    ''That doesn''t mean it''s not dangerous,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "It''s not dumb," Arthur sneered, "it''s already aware that whatever it wants is part of my soul."


    ''So in order to get it, it has to play nice with you,'' the golden dragon finally got what Arthur was aiming for from the beginning.


    "Bingo," Arthur said, "Did you find anything?" he asked and this time Gege was the one to answer.


    ''The only thing I could think of is the Golam''s lake.''


    "Lake?" Arthur paused for a moment before returning to fly again. "Don''t tell me it wants to drink my Golam''s purified blood lake... That''s interesting."


    ''It''s good and bad,'' Gege said, ''the lake is very good for any monster, even for you. But...''


    "It lacks the enough amount to satisfy this gigantic one," Arthur understood her point at once. Yet he didn''t panic as he remained silent before asking:


    "We have more ancient monster corpses buried deeply inside the garden, right?"


    ''Wanna me to purify some?'' Gege already read his thoughts and knew what he was aiming for.


    "The more the merrier."


    ''Well... this process will take a long time to happen. But I can''t guarantee good results,'' she warned, ''many of these corpses lack enough blood to purify.''


    "We have to try," Arthur shrugged as if he didn''t care about that, "any result is a good result for me."


    ''Alright, I''ll start working then.''


    Arthur didn''t speak while keeping his distance away from the ground monster. The monster didn''t care about anything but its goal, so it left behind a long trail of ruins and even changed some terrain in the process.


    "Roar!"


    As the monster got near the lake, it seemed to be stirred by it before roaring in what Arthur felt as excitement.


    "Is it smart enough to have a chat with me?" he suddenly asked, "I don''t want to only roar in return for my words."


    ''Well,'' the golden dragon was the expert here regarding such things, ''I believe it''s as smart as you.''


    "I hope so," Arthur laughed before watching the monster running close to the lake.


    "Splash!"


    The moment the monster got so near, it didn''t even pause and pushed its body high in the air. It landed heavily in the Golam lake, causing giant waves moving around.


    "So it''s after my lake," Arthur had an evil smile over his face, "let''s see what he wants to do with it... Gege..."


    ''On it,'' Gege went into silence for a long minute while Arthur kept himself flying in the air. The monster once inside the lake didn''t appear again. Even the ripples on the surface started to calm down in a strange way.


    ''Well... it seems we have a little surprise here,'' Gege said with a short laugh.


    "What?" As she didn''t add more, Arthur had to personally ask.


    ''We have a female octopus who wanted to come here and hibernate,'' Gege said and the more she spoke the more lost Arthur had.


    "Hibernate... For what? Evolution?" Arthur''s eyes shone brightly when he thought about that.


    He witnessed those lycans attacking it. Their attacks couldn''t only inflict superficial injuries to it, making it a very valuable weapon in his hands.


    ''No,'' Gege said, ''it''s...''


    ''Pregnant?'' the golden dragon suddenly spoke before hysterically laughing, ''Damn man, your luck is endlessly good!''


    "Is it true?" Arthur was more excited when he heard about that.


    ''The tree confirmed it to me,'' Gege said, ''so it''s true.''


    "Wow," Arthur laughed, "how many siblings are we speaking here?"


    ''For such a level?'' the golden dragon took the lead to answer, ''I believe nothing below ten or twelve perhaps.''


    "That''s... very big news," Arthur''s eyes shone again while he imagined a world with such gigantic monsters leading his armies and defending his empire.


    ''But I have to warn you,'' the golden dragon hurriedly said, ''they will need more time to come to this world and they will be very glutinous.''


    "I don''t care," Arthur turned around, "they will be the future pillars of my empire."

 Chapter 762: Reading Through The Enemy Plans

    "How are things outside?"


    Arthur didn''t waste any single moment in considering anything related to that monster. He didn''t need anyone to tell him that, but for that monster to turn into a powerhouse of his that would take time.


    And now wasn''t the suitable time for thinking about that.


    ''The lycans outside are less than ten now,'' Gege said.


    "It did that?" Arthur turned his gaze towards the distant Golam lake.


    ''Yeah, it killed some while getting inside.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded as this seemed a bit acceptable for him, "what about the other fronts?"


    ''Doaf and Amera''s forces are doing great,'' Gege said, ''but as for Nara, the mechas, the werewolf, and other servants they are having a hard time dealing with lycans on their side.''


    "Damn!" Arthur cursed, "they lost a lot?"


    ''Not that much,'' Gege gave him an unexpected answer, ''however the more they kill the more others will appear coming from everywhere.''


    "Hmm... That''s a bit odd," Arthur thought for a moment, "they shouldn''t be this daring."


    ''They are desperate,'' the golden dragon had another opinion, ''they are trying to prevent you from delving deeper.''


    "I... can see that," Arthur took a deep breath, "informing Doaf and Amera... They had to regroup together with my other forces."


    ''Roger that,'' Gege said, ''what about those outside?''


    Arthur went into silence for a long minute, "open the portal," he suddenly said, "let them in."


    ''Are you sure?'' Gege seemed hesitant, ''I can''t deal with them alongside that monster.''


    "The monster won''t be a problem," Arthur said, "but the moment they appear, either trap them or send them to the depth of the Golam lake."


    ''I got it,'' Gege said with an evil laugh, ''they won''t see what happened to them, hehehe.''


    "''Just do it," Arthur laughed before flying in the air without any aim. His mind was now fixed upon the reason behind this weird move of his enemies.


    "Do you think they are trying to summon anything here?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    ''Ding! In fact we discussed it,'' the system said, ''Ding! The most probable thing is that they are trying to crack the shield open in some way.''


    "Makes sense," Arthur said after giving it some thinking, "the shield is now their biggest obstacle. With Aemie being busy back at the city, she can''t handle any sudden changes to the shield in time."


    ''We have the same point of view,'' the golden dragon said, ''if that shield is breached, this world will be lost.''


    "With it our ticket home will be gone," Arthur''s face turned serious, "we can''t allow that to happen."


    ''The problem lies in your allies,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''they won''t accept running and evading any groups without killing them.''


    "They have all the right to feel so," Arthur took a deep breath before seeing a portal open in the middle of the sky, "but I have to find a way."


    ''Ding! You need to lead them by example,'' the system said.


    ''You need to separate if needed from their group,'' the golden dragon added.


    "What?!" Arthur was surprised yet the next moment a group of eight lycans appeared in the garden world before they flashed.


    They forcibly were teleported towards different directions. Five were held captive while the other three were thrown into the middle of the Golam lake.


    For the next few minutes the surface of the lake seemed quite still from far. Yet after a couple of minutes more, the lake''s surface showed fierce turbulence before everything returned to calmness in five minutes or less.


    "Are they dead?" Arthur asked just to make sure.


    ''They are now being eaten by that monster,'' Gege said, ''despite it showing signs of hunger, its appetite is mainly focused over the lake.''


    "Let it eat as much as it wants," Arthur didn''t care about that, "I''ll go out now."


    Arthur passed through a portal where he found the outside world calmer than before. Some explosive sounds came from far, as many were still fighting.


    He turned around and flew high in the sky. Just as he got outside the hill zone he spotted the group led by Amera and Doaf.


    The earlier two armies turned into thousands! They were chased down by thousands as well which made the scene of their flight more epic.


    Arthur stood midair watching the two groups meeting each other. Then a wide scale fight erupted that even extended to reach near him.


    Yet he didn''t move a finger. He just kept himself high in the air watching the fights all around without interfering.


    If this was happening in the mid world or a lower world then he would instantly act. Yet this was one of the highest realms in the universe.


    Going there would be a suicide, plus he was looking at the direction from which more enemies kept pouring here.


    "They are coming mainly from all directions but two," after half an hour he finally noticed this pattern.


    ''One is the direction of the city, right?'' Gege asked.


    "Yup," Arthur nodded in agreement, "and if my guess is correct then the other direction is the one they are making their move at."


    ''Ding! I think so too,'' the system agreed, ''Ding! But we can''t know for sure without going there.''


    "I''m planning to do so," Arthur suddenly moved. As he reached this conclusion it seemed staying here was pointless.


    He didn''t want to fall in his enemy''s trap. If he already saw through such a scheme, then why keep himself trapped here?


    He moved fast, evading any conflict and using his phantom sword to hit some exposed enemies or help some allies. At this point there was no organization at all.


    Anywhere he went, mages alongside mechas were fighting side by side against the persistent lycans. What he noticed was that the lycans were too many, yet so weak.


    At least much weaker than the ones he fought before. "They only sent the cannon fodders here," he easily reached such a conclusion, "we need to move now."


    ''Do you want me to inform everyone?'' Gege proposed.


    "Wait until I convince these two."


    Arthur knew the truth, yet he also knew his place in this world. Without the support of Amera in particular, all his attempts would have failed.


    The only threat he could wave was the card of running away and forcing them to follow.


    However he didn''t want to reach such a stage.

 Chapter 763: Retreat

    Doaf and Amera were fighting side to side at a far point from his earlier position. It took him nearly fifteen minutes to reach them.


    Most of the time was lost in evading the fights as possible. He didn''t want to get entangled with anything around, not right now.


    "I have urgent news," as he got near the two, he shouted even before reaching them. They weren''t alone, as they were considered the leaders of such an army.


    So they were tightly surrounded by a group of one hundred elites of the cauldron clan. Arthur was already well known to most of the mages here, so they didn''t stop him.


    Yet to get to the two he had to fight. The enemies didn''t let the two move around the battlefield freely like this.


    They were considered the leaders of this army, making them a hot target for all lycans.


    "Help him," Amera shouted before a group of bronze giant images accompanied him with cauldron mages.


    "Finally," he took a deep breath before turning his head around, "it''s much more intense here than other places."


    "We have to handle their best," Doaf said before Amera shot her spear out.


    "What do you want," Amera returned again fast while adding with urgency, "in war there is no time to talk."


    "We fell into their trap," Arthur got into the point from the start. His words made the two and some others around have a sudden change in their faces.


    "What do you mean?" Doaf asked.


    "They are sending many to stop us, isn''t it a bit suspicious?" Arthur didn''t throw what he knew at once, instead he tried to make them see what he saw.


    The two exchanged silent glances before Amera spoke:


    "We already sniffed a distinct smell here."


    "But we couldn''t reach any conclusion," Doaf said.


    "I have one," Arthur instantly added, "they are trying to trap us here while destroying the shield."


    "The shield? I hardly can believe it," Amera said in disagreement, "all I can say is that the shield isn''t something normal mages can handle. It''s one of the grandmaster''s prideful acts."


    "But given the fact that Aemie is entangled forcibly with mutiny back at the city," Arthur slowly said as he knew he hit the hard spot he anticipated before coming here, "so if anything happened to that shield she won''t be able to fix it in time."


    Doaf seemed hesitant yet Amera seemed not to buy what he said. "That''s simply impossible! The grandmaster used some unique technique to activate the shield. No one is able to crush it!"


    "And no one is able to force the hands of the grandmasters," Arthur slowly added, "yet here we are. This isn''t the time to act high and aloof, we need to think of the worst to evade any disaster."


    "But..."


    "We need to consider this," Doaf stopped her before adding, "at least these lycans are acting weird, we can all agree on that, right?"


    His words helped to silence Amera before she asked:


    "If I said I believed you, then can you tell me where we should move?"


    Doaf gave her a deep glance without saying a single word. He knew what she said was correct and even if they knew the presence of such a scheme, without knowing its place then knowing that wouldn''t help.


    "You don''t think we will wander around the entire world looking for whoever is about to do such an impossible feat," Amera added, "do you even know how vast our world is? It''s at least ten times bigger than any world you ever went to!"


    "I have an idea," Arthur didn''t take her words to heart, "and I can point to the direction most probable having that scheme going on at."


    "Probably?" Amera chuckled in a bitter tone while Doaf stopped her from resuming an unuseful argument.


    "Where?" Doaf asked.


    "I kept watching the battlefield for the past hour," Arthur didn''t directly answer and started to explain the logic behind his deduction first. "Most of the lycans swarmed at us from all directions but two..."


    "One is the city, right?" Amera seemed to start taking what he was saying a bit seriously, "what about the other one?"


    "At that direction," he pointed towards the northern-east, "all the lycans here are also weak. There are many, tens of thousands perhaps, yet they aren''t any rival to our forces."


    "We noticed that," Doaf nodded in agreement.


    "My guess is all the elites were called back towards that direction. I also believe they sent all the cannon fodders they could abandon and threw them at us to pin us here."


    "You think that direction held the answer to such a weird act?" Amera asked in doubt, "what if it''s another trap?"


    "Well, at least we will gather more intel while fighting," Arthur simply shrugged, "anything is way better than just standing here and waiting for a miracle or good luck."


    His words were met by a silence from the other two. "I''m going to seek the truth, better with friends and allies rather than alone," he finally added while inclining that this decision wasn''t negotiable.


    At least for him.


    "Sigh, why do you alway love to make things complicated?" Doaf shook his head in helplessness, "no matter where you go, we will follow the lead of our young master."


    As he got the approval from Doaf and his group, Amera and the cauldron mages remained.


    If it was up to him he wouldn''t wait for her decision and start flying away. However the main forces here were fighting under her banner, he couldn''t risk losing such allies at such critical timing.


    "Alright," she finally nodded, "let''s pray you aren''t wrong."


    "I hope so," Arthur didn''t brag or act high about this. He nodded to the two before adding, "I''ll deploy the order, and you need to verify it."


    "What about those?" Amera waved her arm around, "we can''t run with such a grand army behind."


    "They won''t stop pouring from every corner of the planet," Doaf spoke as he stood beside Arthur in this, "we have to accept that risk."

 Chapter 764: The Path Is Blocked

    "Then let''s form a combined force of our mages and your mechas," Amera said while pointing towards a certain direction, "they''ll act as our rear. They have to defend us against those weaklings, or else we would find ourselves entangled in unneeded fights."


    "Good point," Arthur nodded.


    "I''ll gather a group of mine," Doaf said, "a couple of hundred is enough?"


    "I''ll move all the mechas to the rear," Arthur added, "so you don''t need to worry much about numbers."


    "Your mechas... They aren''t weak nor strong, but they are many enough to even cause me a headache," Amera commended his forces and Arthur smiled back.


    "Let''s start moving then," he said, ''Gege, deploy the new orders and help in guiding them in the retreat.''


    ''Working on that.''


    Arthur took a deep breath before adding, ''make the werewolf and his forces stay at the front. I don''t want to waste their energy over such weak fries.''


    ''Got it.''


    As the three of them expected, trying to organize their troops among this mess proved to be challenging.


    The enemies of the lycans weren''t strong, but they presented here in growing numbers without any signs of stopping.


    And that just put extra pressure over all of their forces, making the retreat process more tiring. They lost many mages and mechas in the process, yet after half an hour they managed to start moving.


    "I hope you are right," Amera''s face was so dark now. She had to personally step in alongside Doaf and their elite forces to facilitate the retreat process.


    "Let''s maintain the current speed," Arthur didn''t answer her as he waited for Gege to brief him about the current situation.


    And what he got from her made him frown.


    ''This... all of those lycans are already in this world?'' he couldn''t help but mutter when he heard the estimated number of lycans waiting for them along this road.


    Over fifty thousand extra lycans were moving fast from every corner of the world towards them. And according to Gege, more were coming with no signs of stop.


    ''Ding! You need to think of a way to reduce their numbers,'' the system said.


    ''You need to ditch part of the forces behind,'' the golden dragon was more direct than the system here, ''you need to delay their advance by sacrificing part of your forces.''


    Arthur knew this was the best solution he and others got, but it was also the hardest one to decide.


    After all, most of the forces here were already stressed and tired. Leaving part behind wouldn''t work unless they got the ability to delay those lycans for enough time.


    And he couldn''t simply throw his best warriors in the fire like this without knowing what lay ahead.


    The unseen part of the enemies'' scheme worried him. He was quite sure the numbers of those elite lycans weren''t on par with those attacking and pursuing them now, however they posed much more threat than anything else.


    That was aside any other surprises that the old lady was preparing for them there.


    ''No,'' he finally declined, ''not before I get a clear view over things out there.''


    ''But...'' the golden dragon paused before adding, ''sigh, let''s wait then. However, you should inform the other two about this plan.''


    Arthur stole a silent and long glance towards Doaf and Amera. ''I bet they know,'' he only said that and didn''t open the topic with them.


    The atmosphere around them was now so depressing. There was no other sound except the explosive exchanges between their rear forces and their pursuers.


    Despite their organized retreat, they found great difficulty in maintaining their current course and direction.


    The main threat didn''t come from the back, but from the front. After two hours of flying this way, a sudden change appeared from the far front.


    ''Gege...'' Arthur hurriedly said before even Doaf or Amera ask, ''how many?''


    ''Couple of thousands,'' she answered, ''but they looked... strong.''


    Despite this being a piece of bad news, yet Arthur couldn''t help but sneer. His sudden reaction attracted the attention of the other two around.


    "Any good news to share?" Amera seemed impatient to move out and meet those new enemies from front.


    "They are elites," Arthur slowly said, "a couple of thousands of elites are coming from the same direction we are heading towards."


    "So we are moving to the right spot," Doaf realized what Arthur tried to say.


    "Exactly," Arthur nodded in agreement.


    "But they seem very anxious to stop us from reaching there," Amera smiled in a vicious way, "it''s time for me to move my muscles for a bit."


    She seemed more anxious than those lycans to fight. Before even Doaf could offer his services, she vanished alongside many of her elite mages.


    Like rays of fire they moved towards their enemies with fast momentum. "She won''t change," Arthur couldn''t help but chuckle, "get ready, more groups are coming after this one."


    Doaf nodded without saying anything else. As Gege told him, while Amera and her elite forces were facing off those lycans, another group appeared not far from them.


    "I''ll go and finish them," Doaf said yet Arthur shouted to warn him:


    "There are more coming, so don''t play."


    "As if I was playing before," Doaf sneered while leading a group of thousand elites. The survivors of his planet weren''t that many, numbering only for less than ten thousands so far.


    Yet Arthur knew they weren''t any weaker than those elites from the cauldron clan.


    "Keep me posted," he whispered to Gege while watching the two groups fight in a brutal way with their enemies, "also don''t miss the rear. I hate to find any surprises coming from that direction, especially at this moment."


    ''Don''t worry,'' Gege reassured him, ''the rear forces are doing great in handling the situation there.''


    "For now," Arthur corrected, "don''t lower your guard, we don''t know what gifts that old hag is preparing for us."


    Gege didn''t speak again for a few minutes while Arthur kept moving forward with his top speed.


    In this world, his speed wasn''t that superb compared with the elites of the bronzed giants and cauldron mages. Yet he was faster than the small fries sent by the lycans.


    But the situation kept escalating from that point from bad to worse despite all these efforts from all sides.

 Chapter 765: A Debate

    At first Doaf and Amera seemed to handle it properly. Yet when more teams started to show up in short intervals, they couldn''t control the situation anymore.


    "Damn! And here I thought they will be enough to deal with them," Arthur cursed while watching three teams each had hundreds of mages coming hot at him.


    "Move now, let''s kill them together," he raised his sword without activating it while shouting out loud.


    The next instant a large number of the forces moving behind him darted towards their enemies. During their escape, this force remained hidden and away from any fight.


    That gave them the advantage to rest and even heal their wounds.


    The moment they moved, their enemies seemed small. Arthur didn''t activate his sword technique as he had absolute confidence in their ability to kill their enemies till the last one.


    He also refrained from joining the fight, aiming to preserve his energy as long as he could.


    Yet with each tens of miles they crossed, and with the passage of more hours, the frequency of the enemy attacks kept increasing until they couldn''t move an inch without fighting brutally with lycans.


    ''The rear looks quiet now,'' Gege suddenly said while Arthur was trying to find a way out.


    "Really?" this just came in time, "send half of them towards here," he said before pausing for a moment, "what about the hidden lycans around the rear?"


    ''There are none,'' Gege said with a chuckle, ''it seems all the enemies moved to face the front.''


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly while realizing what he missed. "Inform Doaf and Amera, plus everyone else... we will push together through this blockade as one group before we return to the old formation."


    ''Won''t you kill them?'' the golden dragon asked in doubt, ''the deeper you go the more enemies you''ll face.''


    "Wrong," Arthur calmly said while watching the rear forces accelerate to catch up, "the more we got entangled here the more enemies flanked us and faced us at the front. We can''t keep doing this, or else we won''t be able to move."


    His eyes narrowed before adding, "we have this slight window now to penetrate their blockade and keep going. If we missed that then we won''t be able to do so without paying a hefty price. And something is telling me this won''t be the last encounter of this kind we''ll face here."


    Arthur''s words silenced the golden dragon while Gege continued to relay his orders.


    "On me!" as the forces gathered around him, he didn''t hesitate any longer and activated his technique.


    Then he ran towards the front, leading a mighty charge of tens of thousands of forces on his side and much more were still pouring from the rear.


    Such a charge was destined to crush the enemy lines without many losses. As Arthur expected, they didn''t need more than a small push and they penetrated the blockade.


    Then Doaf and Amera took the lead to organize the troops while he kept running forward.


    As for the rear forces, they returned to their original task and started defending against the relentless attacks of the desperate and quite enraged lycans.


    "They look angry," Doaf and Amera finally joined him while he greeted them with these words.


    "They wanted to stop us," Amera said, "so that made them so frustrated."


    "And that proves your point as well," Doaf said to Arthur while eyeing Amera who simply took a deep breath and didn''t speak.


    "Let''s keep moving then," Arthur said, "I doubt this would be the last of them."


    As he feared, in less than two hours the same situation was repeated again. As before Arthur let Doaf and Amera handle the vanguard of the lycans before leading the rear troops and passing through the lycan lines.


    During all this he was faced with a more than deadly situation. Yet he was lucky to handle these with his speed or using the help of his werewolf and some of the surrounding mages.


    But with more attacks coming at them and more deadly situations he faced, he became quite sure that his identity was now known to all his enemies.


    And that meant he would become the focus of all of their attacks in the future, just like what Amera and Doaf were before.


    And just seeing that dark spot in the future made him angry. He didn''t want to wait until this would happen, but as he thought about it he had no other choice but to embrace such fate.


    ''You can always run and hide inside my world,'' Gege said in an attempt to reassure him.


    ''Not an option,'' he shook his head before adding, ''If I vanished, I would only make the situation worse.''


    ''They won''t find you,'' Gege mistook his words for something else.


    ''Silly girl,'' yet the golden dragon got what he meant, ''he is afraid to be delayed and separated from his allies. If he vanished, he won''t be able to return back to this world for hours.''


    ''What?!'' Gege seemed not able to grasp their meaning.


    ''Ding! The portal world is fixed to a certain point while the two armies will continue to clash and move fast,'' the system had to step in and slowly explain, ''Ding! So getting in the garden world is a big no for him.''


    Arthur ignored their talk while watching the area around. The situation was never this risky before to him, and yet he was strangely feeling at ease.


    He was anxious at first, but the more he thought about it the better he felt.


    "That''s weird," he finally couldn''t handle being so calm in the middle of all this chaos.


    "What?" Amera just returned to his side to rest and recuperate. They just passed through another blockade, and that was the only window she and Doaf had to rest from all these fights.


    "I believe... we are getting closer to our target," he slowly said and his words were sudden to her.

 Chapter 766: Sending Scouts Out

    "We are near? Are you sure?" Doaf just joined the two with panting breaths while Amera gave him a silent glance.


    "It''s just my hunch," Arthur didn''t know how to express it.


    "Well, at least one of us is thinking good about all this," Amera sighed while Doaf asked:


    "What if he is right?"


    "Again? He just said it himself... It''s a hunch!"


    "Might be wrong indeed," Doaf gave her a meaningful glance, "and might be right."


    Amera gazed at him for long seconds, "your point?"


    "We need to prepare," Doaf finally said what he had in mind, "facing such a group of elites with disturbed and extremely exhausted forces won''t do us any good."


    "You want to make the elites rest?" Amera couldn''t help but shout in anger, "are you out of your mind? The others won''t stand a chance against those elite lycans!"


    "Well, we have to risk it," Arthur stepped in, "at least you and your men need rest. Either it''s our destination or another fierce group of fighters, you all need some rest."


    Amera seemed not to be convinced with his logic. She glared at him while crossing her arms. "Don''t tell me you agree with this madness!" she aggressively said to Arthur while adding, "this isn''t a solution at all! We already run low on our numbers, so don''t make things worse by losing a big chunk of it!"


    "We need to take this gamble," Arthur slowly said, "if we want to truly demolish their schemes."


    "What schemes?!" Amera gave Doaf a reprimanding glance, "we don''t even have a single proof of what you previously assumed is true! And we have no evidence that whoever doing what you think is lying in wait for us at the corner!"


    She seemed a bit agitated and Arthur knew she had all the right to behave like this. Yet he knew that deep down her fascade she knew he was right.


    "We can send some to scout the front," Doaf suddenly suggested.


    "Really? They just walk in the middle of the enemy ranks without getting caught or killed, right?" Amera sneered and sarcastically said.


    "C''mon," Doaf sighed, "''don''t act like this. You know he has a point in everything he said."


    "With no real evidence so far," Amera didn''t budge back, "I accepted his words before as we were fighting anyway while running. But now letting the weak face their strength is madness!"


    "My mechas can handle them," Arthur interfered as he calmly said. "of course not for too long," he had to add when she gave him a cold glare.


    "I have this artifact," Doaf took out a small bronzed pillar with a ball on one of its ends, "it can mask anyone''s presence inside a circle of fifty meters."


    "And they will just move in the middle of these lycans without being detected, right?"


    "They will take a detour," Doaf took a deep breath, "like this they won''t meet the main forces of the lycans and also can report later to us about the situation up front."


    "I agree on this," Arthur didn''t give the agitated Amera a chance to argue, "we need more eyes at the front anyway."


    "What about your eyes? Didn''t you say you can see for miles around?"


    "It''s limited," Arthur said, "and so we need this team to move out now."


    Amera moved her eyes between the two before Doaf put an end to this matter as he decisively said:


    "I''ll select the fastest mages in my group. They will move out now."


    "Wait!" Amera shouted to stop him before shaking her head in helplessness, "for the record, this is just a bad move."


    "And?" Doaf didn''t take her words to heart.


    "I''ll go with you and select my fastest as well," she couldn''t help but succumb to their words, "I hope you two won''t be all wrong at the end of the day."


    Arthur watched the two retreat before they selected a group of one hundred mages. They didn''t look that strong yet Arthur knew they were here only for their speed and not strength.


    As that group was gathered, Doaf gave them the artifact alongside many bird''s wings. Amera also did the same.


    Arthur noticed the group disappearing from their place without a trace. "Can you see them?" he asked while he wasn''t that worried about such a move in the open air.


    They vanished in the middle of a raging and brutal fighting on all sides. In the middle of such tens of thousands of mages fighting each other, a tiny group of a hundred vanishing wouldn''t attract any attention at all.


    ''I can track them using the tree,'' Gege said before adding, ''but y''know this is just for limited time, right?''


    "Just let the tree help in guiding them," Arthur said before turning his head to the front, "I don''t need them to go astray or throw themselves in the middle of the lycans."


    Gege understood his point and returned to the tree to relay the news to her. As for Doaf and Amera, they returned fast and watched the frontline getting pressured by a large number of lycans.


    "Should we wait and rest now?" Amera pointed to such a disastrous situation with her spear.


    "Let''s go," Doaf ignored the sarcasm in her words, "we need to make sure those lycans are stopped before we get confirmation from them."


    "Well, that''s what I want to do anyway," Amera evilly grinned before turning into an arrow of fire that darted towards the lycans at the front.


    And Doaf simply joined her a moment later.


    "These two are having their fun," Arthur shook his head, "if we were in a lower realm, I wouldn''t let this fun slip away like that."


    He wasn''t enjoying this, he wanted to fight as much as these two were enjoying themselves from the start.


    Yet he had to be realistic. His power wasn''t on par with those elites, and barely enough to get him away from the clutches of their cannon fodders.


    "Tell me about their status," after the passage of one hour of such hell, Arthur calmly said while watching Doaf and Amera returning to the frontline again to lead their forces up there.


    ''They are almost upon the edge of the tree perception,'' Gege said and that truly surprised Arthur.


    "This is fast... Damn, they weren''t joking when they selected the fastest mages in their groups," he said before adding, "be alert, once they get an eye over what''s out there, we will have to prepare for the worst."


    ''What do you have in mind?'' the golden dragon asked out of curiosity. Yet the next gasp that came from Gege made him more curious, ''c''mon, tell me.''


    "You''ll know in time," yet Arthur only sneered, "did you think I forgot about not telling me what you know before?" he added, referring to the little play they did to hide what they knew about Doaf and Amera''s plan from earlier.


    ''C''mon, don''t act like you have a dark heart or something,'' the golden dragon tried to persuade him but all he got with a loud laugh and silence after.


    Arthur simply kept his silence while his contempt smile never left his face.

 Chapter 767: The News Came At Last

    Despite this act of theirs, the situation only kept falling fast towards the darkest abyss. Arthur watched many of his mechas get smashed by those elite forces of the lycans without being able to do anything.


    With each time they bypassed a blockade, they had to leave behind a group of elites. After many rounds of doing so, the small numbers grew to form a small army, one that started to cause big troubles at the back.


    And things at the front weren''t looking as good either.


    "We need to split up," Doaf finally said, "we can''t preserve the rear like this."


    "We have to worry about the front," Amera said, "the rear doesn''t matter that much."


    "It does," Doaf didn''t agree with her, "if what we are looking for is up ahead, we will need their help to regain our strength."


    "Sigh, don''t tell me you still believe his nonsense?" Amera shook her head before giving Arthur a deep look, "even after one hour of their departure, we didn''t get anything back from them yet."


    "We will," Doaf confidently said, "and we need to be ready for all odds."


    "Suit yourself then," Amera seemed to get tired of knocking some sense in Doaf or Arthur''s minds, "I''ll keep fighting those bastards at the front."


    Doaf nodded before moving. The rear was now looking like a mess. Arthur knew his enemies would only need a slight push and they would definitely crush the rear lines.


    But when Doaf led his men towards that direction, things started to change finally for the better.


    ''You should send in your werewolf and his forces,'' Gege finally said, ''you are giving them a sweet time and a lot of rest.''


    Arthur turned to the side. There was a weird gathering up there made mostly of his pet monster and his friends. The werewolf was also there alongside many of those he captured before.


    "Nah, it''s not time yet," Arthur didn''t accept her suggestion, "we need to be patient. I have plans for them."


    Gege was able to read his line of thoughts so she didn''t ask. Yet this didn''t apply for the other two.


    ''Ding! I think Gege has a good point here,'' the system said, ''Ding! they won''t be able to hold for any longer.''


    "They will," Arthur slowly said, "they must," he knew what was at stake here, yet he didn''t even consider sending this force to help.


    From the beginning he refrained from participating in the fight. The monsters weren''t that strong but their numbers were enough to deal with those weaklings at the rear.


    As for his werewolf and his force, he knew he could rely on them to face those elites.


    Yet for that particular reason he didn''t send them off to fight till now.


    Just as things kept getting complicated without any ray of hope, Amera suddenly appeared next to him. Just before she could speak, Doaf also appeared running at his fastest speed.


    And from the look over the two, Arthur knew they got news from the team they sent earlier.


    "They found them," Doaf hurriedly said, "you were right¡­ they are trying to use some sort of artifact to crush the shield."


    Arthur clenched both fists in excitement. He had to endure all this time for such a moment. "How many of them are out there?" he asked the most critical question he had in mind.


    "At least thousands," Amera slowly said, "and I bet they are all elites."


    "So you need to rest," Arthur said, "we have to crush them fast and sweep their lines before reaching that artifact."


    "I doubt they are only waiting for us there without any proper defense," Doaf suddenly said, "at least some badass traps and arrays will welcome us."


    "Also there must be an army of cannon fodders as well," Amera finally got over her loss in the argument from before, yet Arthur wasn''t. "What? Wipe that irritating smile clean off your face now."


    "Oh, you mean I was right all along to smile?" Arthur acted innocent and pointed to his face while saying this.


    "Boys," Amera only shook her head before turning around. The fight now was already a mess, something she doubted she could solve easily without interfering.


    "How can we rest with all this happening?" she asked with a tired tone.


    "I have a solution," Arthur suddenly said and in return he got a strange look from the two. "Just follow my mark. When I give you the signal, just lead your men as fast as you can to the front."


    "This is your plan?" Amera couldn''t help but shake her head in disappointment, "I thought you have a killer in your pockets."


    "I do," Arthur firmly nodded, "and such a killer is very lethal, so you should be far away from here when I use it."


    She gave him a skeptical look, yet Doaf chose to trust him again. "When can we do this?" he asked.


    "In less than five minutes," Arthur said after a moment of pause, "just be ready¡­ all the mess here will be handled by me, but anything coming from the front will be handled by you."


    "Fair enough," Doaf said, "but we need to rest."


    "Leading the army here won''t be this troubling, right?" Arthur smiled in confidence while he said to Gege: ''Relay my orders, at my mark all must hurry to leave.''


    ''You won''t tell me what you plan to do?'' The golden dragon seemed to be annoyed by this, and that just made Arthur smile.


    "Go," Arthur waved his hands to the two around, "arrange your lines and get ready for my signal."


    "I hope you know what you are doing," Amera said before she turned into a ray of fire towards the front.


    "Don''t mind her," Doaf said, "she only cared about you," he added before vanishing as well.


    "I know," Arthur muttered to himself before taking a deep breath and cleared his mind off such useless thoughts.

 Chapter 768: Unleash Her!

    ''I told everyone,'' Gege returned after a few minutes, ''when will we act?''


    Arthur checked the fights around. "Tell the werewolf and others resting there to be ready," he said, "the front will be handled by the werewolf force and the rear by the monsters."


    ''What about mechas?'' Gege asked.


    "Let them have a moment of peace with Doaf and Amera," Arthur said, "they did a great job for now. I bet the upcoming fight will need their strength."


    Gege went to relay his new orders while he kept moving forward amidst all this mess. It wasn''t a secret now he was leading this kamikaze army, and so many attacks tried to sneak and target him.


    Yet no matter who, none managed to break through the tight defense around him. Doaf and Amera left behind a group of elites who were able to kill anyone with ease.


    Even if they were outnumbered, the werewolf acted as his last line of defense and showed up at stressful moments. Just barely keeping his balance over the thin edge of the sword, Arthur kept moving forward without getting a single wound.


    But he didn''t hurry to execute his plans. He knew any mile they crossed now would be considered a great gain.


    He knew his plan would be applied only once. To reuse it again he had to do many things, wasting more time in doing so.


    And thus he didn''t hurry to execute the plan, waited patiently while trying to select the best timing.


    "The best timing will be when you all are on the verge of collapsing," he muttered to himself while keeping a keen watch over everything around.


    ''You are ruthless,'' the golden dragon noticed his silence and weird attitude and linked the dots. ''I thought you would use your plan right from the start.''


    "It would be a waste," Arthur slowly said, "the fast team took two hours to reach their place. That means we need at least double or even triple that. We have to cross that as fast as we can after starting my plan."


    ''Ding! So you are trying to bide your time here,'' the system said, ''Ding! It''s too dangerous, but I commend you for your cold nerves.''


    "I have to," Arthur took a deep breath, "I won''t interfere unless it''s already desperate."


    Arthur kept watching while Doaf and Amera were nervous. The pressure on every front was getting unbearable at this point.


    They started to get swarmed with their foes, making them feel like moving their legs in very heavy waters.


    Each step forward was now accompanied with many losses on their side. Yet Arthur didn''t use his plan until an hour later.


    Even Doaf and Amera lost their cool more than once, shouted from their places with extreme anger:


    "Do it now! What the hell are you waiting for?!"


    But Arthur chose to keep his calm and silence, watching with rare patience everything going on around.


    "They are at their limits," he noticed the rear and front lines were flickering now and would be breached at any moment. "It''s time to act."


    He simply raised his sword high in the air before shouting with his loudest voice: "Everyone listen to my call¡­ Run with your fastest speed! Run like your lives depend on it!"


    His mark was too loud, too clear, and eye catchy enough to be spotted by his enemies. But he didn''t care.


    All he cared about was to deliver the signal clearly to everyone around before finally acting.


    Those around once heard his shout and didn''t hesitate to run. They already received head on notification from Gege through the tree, so they were ready to run the moment he shouted.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur finally turned serious as he started activating his sword again, "release her now¡­"


    ''Where?'' Gege calmly asked.


    "Just over there," he pointed his phantom sword towards the forefront.


    ''Are you sure?'' Gege asked in doubt, ''this will isolate you from everyone, not to mention the danger from both sides.''


    "I know what I''m doing," Arthur didn''t think twice, "release her now."


    The next moment a portal opened just at the place he pointed at. It was a normal portal at first, before it got enlarged in an accelerating way.


    Many lycans thought it was a way for their foes to hide, so they foolishly entered that portal without second thoughts.


    "Morons," Arthur sneered while watching this, "they all are walking to their deaths, hehehe."


    ''All of them couldn''t live a single moment inside,'' Gege laughed evilly, ''they are really stupid.''


    ''I wish you two can share what you are doing,'' the golden dragon was impatient yet the system suddenly gasped before saying in shock:


    ''Ding! Damn! This is something I never expected at all!''


    ''What? You know what these two are scheming?'' The golden dragon was frustrated from the fact he was the last person to know. ''C''mon, be a good friend and tell me.''


    ''Ding! everything will be known very soon,'' the system said, ''Ding! But I have to admit¡­ I never saw this coming.''


    Arthur simply smiled while watching the portal getting larger at a fast pace. More lycans entered the portal with no regard to anything.


    And that helped to clear a lot of enemies in that area.


    "Damn! If I knew this would happen, I would prefer to use this as a tactic from the start," Arthur regretted not seeing this coming before. If he had the chance then he would use such a way to eliminate more enemies fast.


    ''Ding! You can still use this later on,'' the system suggested, ''Ding! I believe you will need that trick when dealing with those elites.''


    "Agreed," Arthur nodded, "and here she comes¡­"


    "Rumble!"


    Just in front of him, the portal got enlarged enough for a gigantic thing to pass through it. The first thing that appeared were long and giant tentacles that kept dancing fiercely in the air.


    Then the main body of that brutal monster appeared with a thundering roar coming out from it.


    "Roar!"


    "Wow, she is very pissed off to be dragged outside the Golam lake," Arthur laughed while watching the monster land in midair.


    And the first thing she did was to aim for the portal, yet the portal was instantly closed by Gege.


    ''All is set in place,'' Gege said, ''now it''s a question if she will follow your lead.''


    Arthur smirked evilly before saying, "Tell her this, she will follow and kill any of my enemies in return for entering my lake again."

 Chapter 769: The Tower

    "Bang!"


    The moment the pregnant monster appeared in the world, it caused a terrifying explosive bang.


    She wasn''t satisfied with what Arthur did, and she didn''t hesitate in unleashing all her frustration on all the enemies around.


    And frankly things here weren''t fair. This monster was on a whole new level for those folks. They didn''t stand a chance, and even those freakishly strong elites faced a hard time escaping with their lives intact.


    ''She is angry,'' Gege returned to him, ''but she will comply.''


    Arthur sneered, "That''s good."


    He turned his eyes around, "let her finish those weaklings and catch up to me fast."


    He didn''t stand there anymore. Doaf and Amera already led everyone else to the front, moving with their top speed towards the front.


    Every mile they crossed now was made thanks to Arthur''s plan. The moment that monster appeared in the world they were all shocked.


    This was the first time for them to see this monster. They didn''t know how Arthur got his hands over such a terrifying monster, yet they were pleased it was on their side.


    And when Arthur started to run after them they realized they didn''t need to worry about the large number of enemies behind. They just kept running, and only after half an hour new enemies started to show up coming from the front.


    But their numbers were much fewer than them. Plus most of them were weak. They didn''t pose any threat to Doaf and Amera. The two just left the mechas and the forces led by the werewolf to crush them while they kept running away without fighting.


    As Arthur told them before, their role from now on was to only lead and not fight. Arthur''s words came true, especially when they didn''t have any strong forces to bother them.


    No matter how many lycans came to stop them, they were all killed swiftly by the combined forces of the mechas and the werewolf mages.


    Things started to look much easier and simpler to them. They just had to run while the explosions coming from the back kept rising with time.


    That monster Arthur released was running amok among their enemies. For them that was great news and in time they saw no one following them behind except for Arthur.


    As for Arthur, he just maintained his speed to make sure the monster was still in his sight. He wasn''t worried about it getting lost, but he was just taking his precaution.


    He knew his enemy was treacherous, a cunning one that had many tricks he didn''t know about. So his presence this near to the monster was just an insurance.


    He didn''t want his biggest weapon to be nurfed by his enemies without noticing it.


    After running like this for three hours, Gege finally returned with good news.


    ''The tree finally can see the main force working on that artifact,'' she said.


    "And?" Arthur demanded for more.


    ''It''s not that good or bad,'' Gege hesitated for a moment before adding, ''they are using a strange artifact that looked like a tower. It''s twenty stories high and looks intimidating.''


    "Hmm¡­ A tower you say?" Arthur didn''t know how towers worked in this world, but in his past life he knew many things about towers.


    They were artifacts crafted mainly for the purpose of training. They had levels and they allowed cultivators to enter them and train.


    Each tower in his past life was time based, enjoyed the privilege of manipulating time inside. Very rare towers were used to fight, and those were mainly small in size, looking like scepters or thick rods.


    "Describe what they are doing there for me," he said in an attempt to know more about what was lying ahead.


    ''They send people inside,'' Gege said, ''and there are many surrounding the tower doing some sort of ceremony. The sky above flashes with golden lightning from time to time. Other than this there is nothing worthy to mention.''


    Arthur didn''t get anything useful from her words except for that ceremony. "So they are trying to activate its offensive power¡­ but those entering it¡­ That looks suspicious," he couldn''t link the dots together yet.


    For the training towers it was normal for mages to enter and train, and for the offensive one it was normal to do some sort of ceremony to activate it.


    However having both at the same time seemed unrealistic at this point. "Something is missing," he couldn''t help but mutter.


    ''Is there any drawings over the surface of the tower?'' suddenly the golden dragon asked. His question alerted Arthur to one fact he missed. If there was anyone here knowing anything about this tower then it would be the golden dragon without doubt.


    "Do you know anything about it?" Arthur hurriedly asked, "what is it used for? Why are they sending people in?"


    ''I can''t tell without seeing it,'' the golden dragon said, ''but I have a clue or two about the reason for making people enter there and also about the use of that tower.''


    "And?" Arthur was feeling quite impatient right now.


    ''They are used as sacrifice at best,'' the golden dragon said, ''I believe it''s a magical energy accumulating artifact, one who uses the power inside each mage sent inside to gather an immense form of energy.''


    "Damn!" Arthur''s eyes got wide open, "so they are trying to gather enough power to crush that shield with¡­ That makes a lot of sense now."


    ''But this is just my speculation,'' the golden dragon added, ''we need to wait until I see it or Gege gives me more intel about it.''


    ''I''ll see if there are any drawings there,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! Is it an original artifact?'' the system suddenly asked.


    ''Well, you can say anything unusual in our world is an original artifact,'' the golden dragon confirmed, ''including that tower of course.''


    ''Ding! That means spiritual energy can work against it, right?''


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly when he heard that. "Is it true?" he hurriedly asked.

 Chapter 770: An Impossible Plan

    ''In fact your spiritual energy is considered an outsider to this universe,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s no wonder nothing can face it.''


    "That''s good news actually," Arthur smiled, "we can now have a weapon to destroy it."


    ''I don''t advise that,'' the golden dragon suddenly said, ''doing so will trigger the energy inside. Imagine releasing such energy to the entire world¡­ I won''t be surprised if it crushed the world with it.''


    "This¡­" Arthur seemed a bit hesitant, "then what should we do?"


    ''Stop the activation, and try to find a way to send this tower to the space outside.''


    Arthur went into silence for long minutes before Gege returned with more news.


    ''It has drawings of flying angels and demons fighting against each other on its side,'' she said.


    "Flying angels and demons?" Arthur didn''t get what she said, but it seemed the golden dragon knew what she was talking about.


    ''Who is winning?'' he asked, ''the angels or the demons?''


    ''What?'' Gege asked in doubt, ''how can I tell?''


    "Is there a difference?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    ''There is a great difference,'' the golden dragon paused for a long minute before adding, ''if the angels are winning then it''s a light based artifact. If the demons are winning then it''s a dark artifact.''


    Arthur didn''t get his point, so he asked, "What does that even mean?"


    ''Imagine light artifacts being charged with dark energy from those dark mages¡­ This is totally different than charging a dark artifact,'' the golden dragon tried to explain, ''if it was the former, then no matter what they do they won''t be able to show the true power of it. If it''s the latter then we need to worry.''


    Arthur understood his point there. "So if it''s a light one, we can turn things around?"


    ''What do you mean?'' the golden dragon asked.


    "Like trying to harvest this power and control it by ourselves," Arthur explained his point, "for me it''s hard. I''m considered a mix of dark and light energy user after all. But for Doaf and Amera¡­ I bet things will work fine for them."


    ''Ding! Your power is mainly light,'' the system said.


    "But dragonairs are a dark species," Arthur took a deep breath, "I doubt I can harness that power for myself."


    ''At least you should try,'' the golden dragon advised, ''this power is so pure and massive. Gaining it will definitely save you a lot of trouble and much time.''


    "I know," Arthur sighed, "but if not then I might end up blowing myself, right?"


    ''¡­''


    The golden dragon didn''t answer, yet Gege returned with more news.


    ''Angles are killing demons,'' she said, ''so does this mean it''s a light based artifact?''


    ''Yeah,'' the golden dragon said, ''you need to get your hands over it before anyone else.''


    "It''s risky," Arthur didn''t agree with such a suicidal plan, "I should seek Doaf or Amera''s help."


    ''Ding! You should first try to get that power first,'' the system said.


    ''I can help with that,'' Gege stepped in, ''my power is only light based after all.''


    "Oh¡­ Forgot about that," Arthur said in realization, "so you can get that power?"


    ''She can''t,'' the golden dragon corrected, ''but she can act as a transfer, helping you in regulating the energy absorption for yourself.''


    ''Why can''t I take it?'' Gege seemed a little annoyed about this.


    ''It''s a very pure form of concentrated energy,'' the golden dragon explained, ''you can''t handle it all. Only a small fraction of it will be useful to you.''


    ''What about the golden pearl then?'' she didn''t lose hope here, ''we can nourish this glutinous pearl by that.''


    ''It might work,'' the golden dragon agreed, ''but first we need to let Arthur''s body handle this energy and not retaliate against him.''


    ''Ding! You need to mix his power with that power using your body,'' the system explained further, ''Ding! This way he won''t face any trouble while absorbing the energy.''


    ''If it''s for my golden baby then I can''t disagree with that,'' Gege seemed to reach a conclusion in her mind, ''let''s do this!''


    "Just hold on a second," Arthur wasn''t supporting this idea even now, "we need to first test it."


    ''Once you get there you can test it as much as you like,'' the golden dragon said, ''but the problem now lies in those defending it.''


    "Lycans?" Arthur sneered, "''Gege, spread the news and tell everyone to get ready. Inform them with the lycans arrangement and defenses, numbers and their estimated power rank as well."


    ''On it,'' Gege enthusiastically said. She seemed to get hyped up everytime Arthur asked anything from her.


    ''Ding! Do we need an array to channel the energy there?'' the system suddenly asked.


    ''Damn! I forgot to mention it,'' the golden dragon cursed, ''we need an array before we can do it. Thanks for reminding me.''


    "What array?" Arthur was still flying fast while the monster behind was following his trail.


    ''Luckily it''s a personal array for your case,'' the golden dragon said, ''but you have to be protected all the time. Any interruption and you''ll get backlash.''


    "Damn! Nothing is easy nowadays," Arthur cursed before adding, "so we have to wait until we clear all hostiles from around the tower?"


    ''Bad move,'' the golden dragon said, ''if the array activating the tower failed, the energy inside might go berserk. In fact I can''t tell if the energy will dissipate or explode.''


    Arthur felt worse at the moment. He planned to wait until all the lycans were killed and the area got secured.


    But looking at things now he knew this was a mere dream. He had to interfere in the middle of everything and pray not to be interrupted.


    "That''s¡­ quite impossible," Arthur took a deep breath before admitting the real truth, "we can''t do it. Let''s just let it explode."


    ''And lose the world with it? No, it''s a big no for me and you,'' the golden dragon said, ''don''t forget that giant monster running after you. You can use her to defend you.''


    "That''s not helping," Arthur shook his head, "I doubt I can get near the tower without having all attacks focused on me."

 Chapter 771: Come Alone

    ''Ding! You need to figure out a way to do it then,'' the system said before suddenly asking, ''Ding! Can Gege take the tower inside her garden world?''


    ''No, that''s hard to achieve plus cutting the tower off the supporting array will result in its explosion,'' the golden dragon said, ''there is only one way to do it¡­ You need to select the perfect timing to get near the tower before the supporting array gets crushed.''


    "And?" Arthur asked with no enthusiasm at all, "I pray for others not to come near me, right?"


    ''You have the monster on your side,'' the golden dragon said, ''she can act as a brilliant deterrent factor here.''


    "Not even close," Arthur depressedly said, "imagine we are the ones in their shoes, will we let anyone try to take away what we worked hard for? Sacrificed everything to activate?"


    Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "that won''t work. This tower is the only chance they have to crush the shield up above. Losing it means everything they did so far was for nothing. No, they won''t let me enjoy one moment of peace at the tower."


    ''Ding! Good point indeed,'' the system said, ''Ding! But you need to think of a way to force them off that tower.''


    "Like what?" Arthur couldn''t find anything at all in his mind to help in that regard.


    ''Like putting a more challenging thing in front of their eyes,'' the golden dragon said, ''forcing them to throw the tower thing away and only focus on what you forced upon them.''


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur knew that in theory this was a great tactic, but it was still a theory. "Do you have anything real to work with?" he asked, yet he didn''t expect much in return.


    After all this just all started a few minutes ago by realizing the presence of that tower.


    ''Frankly I have nothing to offer, but I can give you pieces of advice,'' the golden dragon said, ''you need to know your enemy better if you want to survive this.''


    Arthur knew this was a known fact and so he kept his silence while the golden dragon added:


    ''For example you are saying they won''t let you come near the tower because it''s critical for their existence and plans here. But let me ask you one thing, if they have such a mindset then won''t it be better to present a new threat to them much greater than losing the tower?''


    "Like what?" Arthur calmly asked.


    ''Ding! Like giving a real threat to the main forces lying up above,'' the system suddenly said.


    "Oh¡­" Arthur''s eyes shone brightly while his mind started to link the dots, "so you want me to do something that will threaten those forces up above¡­ that will make them more desperate to stop me and not defend the tower."


    ''That''s correct,'' the golden dragon said in a relief, ''you finally got what I wanted to say.''


    "But¡­ how?" Arthur paused, "if I did something like that, if there is really something like that in the first place, then I have to be entangled performing it. I assume it''s an array, right?"


    ''Wrong,'' the golden dragon firmly said, ''you are missing a big point here.''


    "Then tell¡­"


    ''You aren''t alone,'' the golden dragon said, ''and there is a simple yet terrifying way to do it and succeed as well without you taking part of it.''


    Arthur didn''t get what he meant, but the system seemed to think along with the golden dragon.


    ''Ding! The portal to that forbidden realm,'' the system finally said it.


    "That¡­ Are you out of your mind?!" Arthur was instantly infuriated by their words, "doing this here will doom the entire world! It''s better to risk triggering that bomb inside the tower rather than summoning that realm here!"


    ''Hahaha, don''t get scared just by mentioning it,'' the golden dragon seemed to quite enjoy this, ''there is a missing part of the plan.''


    "¡­"


    Arthur kept his silence while trying not to explode on their faces once again.


    ''Ding! All you need is a teleportation array,'' the system explained slowly to him, ''Ding! See, when you activate that link and move it using the array towards the outside space¡­ they will be much scarier than you.''


    ''They will piss themselves without the need of you to move a finger,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''all you need to do is to leisurely walk to the tower and spend all the time you want to absorb its energy.''


    Arthur didn''t speak for a while as he was thinking deeply through this. He knew their idea could work, but he also thought about other variables.


    For example he needed to first convince Doaf or Amera by this plan without mentioning what he would do with that tower.


    And how to convince them to summon that forbidden world without Amera getting in the way.


    Without the need to ask, he knew Amera would argue and even might interfere to stop this plan from going smoothly.


    So he had only one option left.


    "Come here at once¡­ Alone!" he took a bird''s wing and wrote this to Doaf before letting the paper vanish in thin air. "I hope she won''t come," he prayed, yet he was doomed to be disappointed.


    From far the two of them appeared, flying leisurely as there was no enemy to annoy them.


    The monster at the rear and the forces led by the werewolf at the front were doing excellent job in defending the others and killing any lycans approaching.


    "I thought you loved to be alone here in the rear," the moment the two arrived, Amera jokingly said.


    "Well, I want to speak about something private," Arthur said while giving Doaf a meaningful glance.


    "Yeah he told me you asked him to come alone," Amera said with an irritating smile, "but I figured that between the three of us there are no secrets, right?"


    Arthur had to pause for a long minute while gazing up at her. She also did the same while calmly crossing her arms in front of her chest.


    "Either you say everything in front of me or forget about telling him anything," she stated it in loud and clear words and didn''t forget to show her irritating smile to him.


    And he had no other option but to explain to the two about his plan, hoping she wouldn''t explode in his face or do crazier stuff.

 Chapter 772: Discussing The Plan

    Arthur knew that speaking to Doaf in front of her was a terrible idea. He gave Doaf a blaming look while the latter shrugged calmly as he said:


    "What? She insisted on coming."


    Arthur shook his head before Amera said:


    "Speak or I''ll take him and return to the front."


    "You need to keep no secrets from her man," Doaf sighed, "you don''t know how fierce girls would turn out to be in that case."


    "Alright," Arthur took a deep breath, "we need to improvise."


    "For what?" Amera asked.


    "Our plan won''t work," he said, "there is something terrifying waiting for us."


    The two exchanged silent glances before Doaf asked:


    "What is it? Have you seen it already?"


    Arthur nodded.


    "Is it a summoning array?" Amera asked, "if it is then don''t worry, we can handle it. If not, then my grandmaster can."


    "It''s¡­ not an array," Arthur slowly said, "but to stop it we definitely need arrays."


    "So it''s a weapon," Doaf realized what Arthur was referring to, "can''t you tell us what it is?"


    "No weapon can be terrifying," Amera sneered, "even my grandmaster doesn''t have such a thing."


    "It is," Arthur firmly said, "and you need to believe me in that."


    "Not without an explanation," Amera gave him a stubborn look, one that told him she wouldn''t budge without knowing everything.


    "They have some sort of a tower," Arthur said.


    "A tower?" Doaf muttered in surprise before suddenly laughing, "are they trying to train themselves in such a time?"


    "I have to commend their sense of humor at least," Amera also took this matter lightly, yet Arthur''s face didn''t change for the better.


    Instead it had a dark look over his face. If these two reacted in such a way towards that threat, then if he wasn''t here then this world would be gone.


    He knew how terrifying that tower was, and it seemed he was the only one feeling this way.


    "There are towers dedicated for training, I can acknowledge that," Arthur slowly said while looking them in the eye, "but this one isn''t. It''s different."


    "How?" Amera asked with a light tone.


    "It''s used to concentrate energy and release it."


    "Hmm, like a shooting weapon¡­ Not bad," Amera was still taking this lightly. So Arthur had to say more to make her understand the gravity of this situation.


    "It''s terrifying," he said, "they are sending people inside, mages with high level and power as sacrifices. In my estimate the energy stored inside can detonate the entire planet into shreds."


    "¡­"


    This time her face changed drastically while Doaf hurriedly asked in a deep tone: "Are you confident of this news?"


    "Very," Arthur instantly replied, "if we don''t stop them now, we will all die¡­ everyone living here will die."


    "I¡­ doubt they did this just to kill themselves," Amera took a deep breath to calm herself out, "there must be another use for that thing beside self destruction."


    "If they stored enough power, they can just aim it at the shield above," Arthur pointed to the sky, "and you know the rest."


    "But¡­" Doaf paused as both results were very bad for all of them.


    "My grandmaster can''t allow this to happen, we have to inform her now to strengthen the shield," Amera hurriedly said.


    "It''s no use to tell her," Arthur didn''t agree with her suggestion, "she already has too much to handle. Our enemy made sure to keep her hands tied and busy. We have to deal with this on our own."


    His words alerted the two to a simple fact, yet they totally missed it till now. "Oh, you got an idea," Amera slowly said before her mind started linking the dots, "and you know I won''t like it."


    Arthur kept his silence but his gaze told everything he wanted to say. "What is it?" she asked, "don''t expect me to sit idle while my world is going to be ruined one way or another."


    Arthur hesitated, yet she urged without giving him a chance to argue, "we have to see this through together. I appreciate what you are doing, but this is my world. It''s my responsibility to defend it."


    Arthur could only comply before explaining his plan to the two in brief words.


    "The tower is supported with an array. Losing that array means losing control over the power inside. We can''t risk that! In return I have a way to handle that energy¡­"


    "But?" Doaf understood there was a catch to this plan.


    "I can''t be interrupted even for one second," Arthur said, "their numbers are large and most of them are elites. It''s a fantasy thinking of us as a force to crush them fast and give me the chance to deal with that energy inside the tower."


    "Hmm¡­ What if we called for urgent reinforcements from my grandmaster?" Amera asked after thinking for a brief moment.


    "Have you forgotten how we got here?" Arthur shook his head, "we can''t rely on that."


    "Then what should we do?" Doaf asked, "if we moved on them, I bet they would damage that control array fast and let the entire world explode."


    "That''s why we need a diversion," Arthur finally said what he summoned Doaf originally for.


    "I doubt anything we do will be enough to divert their attention," Amera shook her head in refusal, "we have to face them head on."


    "Willy is right," Doaf didn''t stand by her side, "we have very low odds in this fight. We can''t risk that."


    "I know," Amera shouted in rage and the three even stopped moving for a brief moment. "But we have nothing else to do!"


    "You are wrong," Arthur calmly said, "we have a way out."


    "The diversion plan?" Amera seemed to be pissed off that she acted aggressively against him. "Then tell me what is your brilliant plan, genius!"


    Arthur didn''t take her words to the heart and only answered on her question:


    "We need to use that summoning array."


    "What array?" Doaf asked while blocking the path on Amera to keep venting her frustration over his young master.


    "That forbidden ancient summoning array," Arthur calmly said, "the one that links the world with the dark side."

 Chapter 773: Fighting Among Themselves!

    The moment he said it, the look over the two faces in front of him changed drastically.


    "No way," Amera couldn''t help but shout at him, "this is insane!"


    "You can''t solve one problem by summoning another," Doaf said in difficulty, "you need to ditch this idea right now."


    "Well, I thought you would react this way so I preferred to deal with you separately for a reason," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "there is a safe way to do it."


    "Forget it," Amera was stubborn at this point, "there is no way I will follow this madness again!"


    "Just listen to my idea and if it isn''t what I claim then we can throw this idea away," Arthur said in a calm tone as if he wasn''t startled by her anger.


    "What idea?" Doaf tried to stop her but she didn''t care about his question.


    "Just forget it, I won''t jeopardize my world for this!"


    "It won''t harm you if you listened to me," Arthur said before pointing towards the far monster, "if not for me, we wouldn''t get this far, right?"


    "You were brave and reckless before, but this is different," she even stopped flying and moved to be so near him. Her glaring eyes gave him the impression that they would breathe fire at him at any moment. "You are acting mad now out of fear. Have trust in us, we will solve this."


    "I have trust in my mind," Arthur pushed her hand that extended to grab his collar a moment ago, "and my mind tells me we are going to die¡­ The entire planet will be destroyed if we don''t do what I propose."


    "What you propose is totally equal to letting that tower destroy the planet!" she shouted in rage but Doaf moved at this moment to stand between the two.


    "Can you both chill out?" he shouted at the two, while moving his eyes in between. "We have a common enemy and fighting among ourselves won''t help at all."


    "Listen to the madness your young master is saying," Amera pointed at Arthur with no intention of bulging back.


    "Let''s hear him first," Doaf finally gave his opinion out loud, "if it''s nonsense then we won''t do it."


    Amera gave Doaf an unbelievable look before waving with both arms in the air out of anger. "Listen to yourself¡­ This is wrong, totally wrong!"


    Doaf didn''t consider her words at all while turning to Arthur, "tell us what you have in mind."


    "A teleportation array," Arthur slowly said while touching his neck out of pain. That grip just now was so fierce, and amidst her anger spree he felt he was gone at any moment if she applied more force by mistake.


    "We will send that array out to space," he raised his head while moving it from side to side in an attempt to sooth the pain, "this way the portal will be opened upon them, not us."


    Amera kept taking deep breaths while trying to control herself while Doaf kept his silence thinking deeply about what he just heard.


    "What about later?" Doaf slowly asked, "after we win this, can we handle that portal?"


    "Of course not!" Amera shouted in rage that restarted its boiling after a moment of calmness, "he doesn''t think a mile ahead of him! He only wants to solve today''s problem and create tomorrow''s disaster!"


    Arthur could only sigh. "That portal will be in the dead space outside," he slowly said, "nothing can live there plus if that portal managed to remain intact despite that, it will only be a small hole with nothing to worry about."


    "Nothing to worry about? That''s ridiculous!" Amera sneered, "that thing will threaten my world for eternity! No one can close it and no one knows what will come out of it!"


    Arthur could only remain silent while giving a side glance to Doaf. He was asking for his help here, and that was the reason why he asked to meet him all alone in the first place.


    "What if we tried to surround it with another array?" Doaf said in an attempt to convince her.


    "Shut up!" yet she aggressively shouted, "if this is your world you wouldn''t have even considered such an option in the first place!"


    At this moment Arthur couldn''t keep himself under control anymore. "Then what?" he shouted at her, "do we let this world burn and fall for their hands easily like this?"


    "Better than destroying it with our hands!" Amera shouted back, "and who said anything about destroying it? I even doubt the words you said about such a tower! Towers exist only for training, end of the story."


    "Yeah, they felt quite bored so they decided to come here and have a warm training while sightseeing," Arthur sneered, "and they even relentlessly defended this training piece of shit with all their might¡­ Brilliant, just fantastic!"


    "You two¡­ Stop what you are doing right now!" Doaf couldn''t stand to hear anymore shouts before he shouted as well, "none of us has the right to decide this matter."


    "Really?" Amera harrumphed, "then who has this honor?"


    "Your grandmaster," Doaf finally said, "she is the only person with the right to decide such a thing. Send a bird''s wing to her right away and let''s wait for her decision."


    Arthur''s eyes widened as he was surprised about such a proposal. He totally missed it, and now it seemed it was just a fine call.


    Aemie wasn''t someone rash, but he was totally confident in her decision. As a master of a clan on the brink of extinction and defeat, she wouldn''t hesitate to do the impossible to save everyone.


    "Go, send her the message now," Arthur nodded in agreement, while urging Amera, "tell her everything and let her decide."


    Amera moved her eyes between the two but she couldn''t object to this. She could storm in anger in front of those two outsiders, but not in front of her grandmaster.


    Something deep inside her soul told her Aemie would take this suggestion and approve it.


    And she didn''t like that!

 Chapter 774: Aemies Decision

    Despite this critical decision, they hung over the response coming from Aemie, yet they couldn''t stop while waiting for it.


    So they kept running towards the direction of the tower. In the meantime the monster was wreaking havoc behind.


    Nothing stood in her way. She was like a death sentence to all.


    "How did you find such a rare monster?" Amera couldn''t help but ask while watching the brutality of the monster. "Even I can''t handle her alone."


    "I found it in your world," Arthur simply shrugged, "is she this strong?"


    "Strong? She is unstoppable!" Doaf pointed to the monster while adding, "you are damn lucky, y''know that?"


    Arthur smiled without saying anything in return. In fact finding this monster was a mere fluke of luck. He didn''t even look for it and in return she was so desperate to get inside his garden world.


    And to add to his luck the Golam lake seemed to be so critical to her. That gave him the leverage to strike such a deal with her.


    In fact he knew in other conditions, he would never be able to even get near her. But he wasn''t regretting being lucky, after all luck was part of his strength.


    "Do you plan to use her in the next fight?" Doaf couldn''t help but ask, "do you plan on bringing her with you later on?"


    Arthur understood his meaning and so he evilly smriked. "I believe it''s not against the laws of the world to take her back with me, right?"


    "Evil," Amera couldn''t help but say, "with her by your side nothing can stand in your way."


    "Don''t take me wrong, but convincing her took roughly most of my wealth," Arthur said and the next moment the two gave him a skeptical gaze.


    "Liar," both of them said simultaneously, which made the three laugh together.


    And with this laughter, all the tension caused by their argument just now was gone.


    "Woosh!"


    The answer came from Aemie within half an hour. The strange thing was that the answer was sent to Arthur, and not to Amera.


    "Is it hers?" Amera jumped instantly to stand beside him while Doaf came as well. Arthur gave the two weird looks before he opened the bird''s wing.


    And in front of him was Aemie''s answer. On contrary to their expectations, she only send one sentence:


    "Follow Willy''s instructions."


    "What?" Amera couldn''t believe her eyes before turning to check the other side of the paper. Yet there was nothing there. "This is it? Only this sentence?" Amera seemed to be surprised by this unexpected answer from her grandmaster.


    "She already said her decision," Arthur let the bird''s wing burn while Doaf added, "she trusted Willy, and we have to have faith in him as well."


    "B... But..."


    "There is no room for hesitation anymore," Arthur said in a strong tone, "if we want to do it then we have to start moving now."


    "..."


    Amera didn''t speak yet her face told the two beside her how satisfied she was. Yet as Doaf simply described it best before, the decision to make such a critical decision didn''t lie in her hands.


    But in her grandmaster''s.


    "What do you want us to do?" Doaf ignored her shock and directly asked Arthur.


    "We are almost so close to the tower," Arthur said after consulting for a moment with Gege, "so doing it here will be perfect."


    "So we are going to destroy the world by our hands, perfect... Just perfect..." Amera was still objecting on his plan, at least in saying it out loud, "what do you want from me to destroy my world?"


    Arthur didn''t like her depressed and enraged mood, but he didn''t point to any of her remarks. "You two will lead most of the army," Arthur said, "start first with the teleportation portal, also try to add a sealing array inside."


    "As if it might help," Amera sneered and Doaf simply gave her a silent warning gaze before turning to Arthur.


    "What about you?"


    "I''ll take some of the army with me," he said before warning, "I will take most of the mechas with me. I''ll only leave part of it with you."


    "What about her?" Doaf asked while Amera was only shaking her head in depression.


    "I''ll leave her here," Arthur knew the fight here must look desperate for them to defend. If he didn''t leave his best weapon here with them, some smart lycans might suspect his real intentions.


    Plus he was pretty sure the fight intensity here would be so severe. If they lost here, then he wouldn''t be in a better position later on.


    "Great," Doaf said while turning to Amera, "at least we can sit idle while she does all the work."


    "Humph," Amera turned her head away as she wasn''t convinced by any of his words. She didn''t see any logic in this plan, and for her it was pretty much equal to destroying the entire planet.


    She was asking herself over and over again about the reasons her grandmaster took such a decision. She seemed also angry towards the way Aemie decided to relay her orders.


    Aemie didn''t trust her; it seemed to deliver the answer correctly. Something like that made her feel more pitiful and enraged.


    In fact deep inside her soul she knew part of her already thought of doing so. The bird''s wing could easily burn if she just let it go, and like that no one would ever know what Aemie sent as an answer.


    But it seemed her grandmaster already saw through her. Despite that she still felt angry from this lack of trust, something she felt as a crack happening between herself and her clan.


    Yet no one of the two beside her knew what was going inside her mind.


    "So we will start now?" Doaf asked.


    "First call off the army here," Arthur thought, "this sudden move will definitely attract the attention of everyone there."


    "If so then they will notice your actions," Doaf expressed his worries.


    "Don''t worry," yet Arthur already had a solution for that, "I''ll start walking away now."


    "Now?" Doaf was surprised by his answer, "but..."


    "Don''t worry," Arthur smiled in confidence before waving his hand, "I''ll leave it here. Make sure that at least two thirds of the mechas enter through here led by someone named Nara," he said before turning around.


    "Also send in my werewolf and half of his forces," he said before pausing. He met Amera in the eye. Something told him she was planning to do something foolish, yet he couldn''t guess what it was.


    He resisted the urge to ask her about that. "Be sure to be safe," he simply prayed luck for the two of them, and mainly to her before he finally moved away.


    The direction he walked towards wasn''t anything towards the tower. In return he also canceled his dragonair transformation.


    Ending up in his human form, he seemed so tiny and in no time he vanished from their sights.


    "Sigh, I hope he knows what he is doing," Doaf simply said before turning to Amera and hesitated for a moment. "Are you ok?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    Amera just glanced at him without saying a single word for a long minute. She then took a deep breath before turning her head away. "Let''s go," she started moving, "that reckless young master of yours is already on his way to that tower."


    Doaf didn''t know why but he suddenly felt unease coming from her. Yet he couldn''t tell the reason or even dared to speak about it. All he could do was to follow her steps.


    As for Arthur, as he kept running fast towards the west he asked Gege to bring him updates about the two''s actions.


    ''They started to move towards the army,'' Gege said, ''they are following your plan.''


    "Sigh, just keep an eye on me," he said, "I feel she is planning something bad."


    ''You can''t blame her,'' the golden dragon seemed to defend Amera''s stand, ''she doesn''t understand why her master is doing all this.''


    ''Ding! Don''t forget her master chose you to give the answer, not her.''


    ''Can you blame Aemie for that?'' Gege sneered, ''I bet everything that Amera planned to burn the message and change its content if she received it.''


    "No use in talking about that now," Arthur couldn''t take their discussion, "we have little time frame here. Keep an eye over the enemies. Once they move after Doaf and Amera tell me so I can move towards the tower."


    ''What about the monster?'' Gege said, ''Do you want me to inform her about her role in that?''


    "Indeed," Arthur totally forgot about that before adding, "let her defend the arrays until they are fully launched."


    ''Got it,'' Gege then went to do her tasks while Arthur asked:


    "Now can you tell me about the array I need to do at the tower?"


    ''It''s a simple array,'' the golden dragon casually said, ''what you need is already available in abundance inside Gege''s garden.''


    "No problem in being prepared," Arthur slowly said, "inform Gege about what you need and let her prepare these things. And now start telling me how to make it."


    ''Alright,'' the golden dragon then started to explain everything related to this array.

 Chapter 775: Going Towards The Tower

    ''It''s not that hard,'' Gege suddenly said, ''I thought it would take a lot of time or a lot of resources to do it.''


    The golden dragon just spoke and explained how Arthur could do this array. In simple words he only needed to mix his blood with some materials from the garden world.


    Then he would use his finger to form a circular array on the tower for each hand of his. He would place his hands over each circle before finally activating the array.


    ''It''s simple in starting it, but it''s main risk lies in the absolute rule of not moving or breaking it until the energy is totally absorbed.''


    The words of the golden dragon made Gege silent. Everyone knew how hard that would be. There were a lot of rooms of error, making this task something close to being suicidal.


    "I''m confident they can hold the lycans away," Arthur said in an attempt to raise the morales.


    ''Ding! Don''t depend entirely on them,'' the system warned, ''Ding! This mission can explode in many ways than you can account for.''


    Arthur knew his system was telling the truth, but sometimes saying such facts wasn''t a pleasurable thing.


    For him he preferred to hear good positive words right now, even if this meant they had to lie or hide the truth about him.


    "Have they left the tower?" Arthur asked what mattered to him the most now.


    ''Well,'' Gege paused for a moment before returning, ''they noticed what Doaf and Amera were doing. They sent a group to investigate things but they were instantly killed by your monster.''


    "Hmm... And their response?" Arthur asked.


    ''They are still standing around the tower,'' Gege said, ''it seems they are discussing something in an intense way.''


    Arthur turned his head back towards the direction where Amera and Doaf were at. "They didn''t start that summoning array... Weird!"


    It was supposed for them to start the array by this moment. However he saw the teleportation array and the sealing array only.


    ''Doaf seems to be looking for something,'' Gege suddenly said, ''he isn''t at the area of arrays to create that summoning one.''


    "Looking for something?!" Arthur was surprised before he took out a bird''s wing. "Something is wrong," he hurriedly wrote a message to Doaf asking him about what was happening and why they didn''t activate the summoning array yet.


    Yet Doaf took a couple of minutes to return to him. That made Arthur very skeptical towards the answer he got from him.


    "Everything is alright, I''ll start the array now," that was what he sent to Arthur.


    "Something doesn''t add up here..." yet Arthur didn''t buy what Doaf just said. "Keep an eye over him and Amera, I''m sure something is wrong."


    ''About that...'' Gege was about to say something yet a loud rumble appeared all of sudden from the direction of the arrays interrupting her.


    Arthur turned his eyes towards that direction and finally he was relieved. "They did it... At last," he slowly muttered as he watched a big red circle shooting towards the sky.


    "Forget about them for now," Arthur changed his mind, "see what the lycans are doing now."


    ''Gimme a second,'' Gege sighed before she went into silence for five minutes. During these Arthur kept running in a big circle in an attempt to evade any lycan.


    ''They are alerted and scared by that array,'' she finally returned to relay the good news, ''they are gathering up their forces now and seemingly aiming to stop that array.''


    "That''s quite expected," Arthur nodded in contempt. At last his plan was set into motion as he anticipated.


    ''Now all you need to do is to wait until most of them leave the tower,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''What?'' Gege seemed to be surprised by this, ''they won''t evacuate totally towards the array?''


    ''Ding! That would be very stupid move to expect such a thing of them,'' the system slowly said before further explaining, ''Ding! Despite the threat of the array, the tower still holds a great significance to their plans. They won''t leave it unguarded, right?''


    ''Then...''


    "Don''t worry," Arthur firmly said, "that''s why I took many fighters with me."


    ''Oh! I thought you took them for defending the tower,'' Gege said in realization.


    "They will do that after we control the tower," Arthur nodded, "but first we have to deal with those staying behind."


    ''I''m only worried about their defenses around the tower,'' the golden dragon said, ''I hope they didn''t leave anything eye-catching there. If so then we have to expect more company once the fight starts.''


    Arthur understood his meaning and frankly he expected the presence of many traps there. However he hoped for the risk of that array to outweigh the importance of the tower to the lycans here.


    Or else they would turn tail and come at him in great momentum he couldn''t match.


    "Let''s keep an eye over them for now," he said, "once they evacuate we can start our attack."


    ''Leave this to me,'' Gege returned to keep a watchful eye over the lycans around the tower while Arthur kept his mind busy thinking about all possibilities here.


    This mission was doomed to be challenging with high odds of failure. Yet he had to do it. For one thing he needed that energy to raise his strength, and on another hand the tower was a permanent threat towards the world here and his safety as well.


    He had to deal with it, and so he didn''t even think about failing this mission. All the thought was about how things might go south and how he could respond to them.


    The more he thought about it, the more he became sure about how hard it was to pull this feat. Without the help of Doaf, Amera, or the gigantic monster he wouldn''t be able to rest in peace while doing this.


    "The only hope here is for the lycans to have a divided heart about this," he finally reached this conclusion.


    ''It''s bad to depend your strategy on the enemy''s response,'' the golden dragon stated the obvious here.


    "I know," Arthur took a deep breath, "but do you have another brilliant idea to force their hands to stay there?"

 Chapter 776: Things Getting Complicated

    The golden dragon went into deep silence while the system didn''t speak as well. Arthur took another breath while shaking his head.


    "It''s a dead end," he slowly said, "the only hope lies over the lycans, not me... it''s bitter to think this way but their decision at that time will determine everything."


    He wasn''t a dreamer but a realist. And despite feeling bad about this situation he knew that was all he got at the moment.


    From his position he could already hear the rumbling of the arrays working together, overlapping over each other before a sudden gush of golden rays struck towards the deep sky up above.


    The shield above trembled for a second, shone brightly to show its shape once again before it let the ray of light penetrate it. Arthur worried once that the array would stop the teleportation array from working, but Doaf reassured him that it only prevented those outside from entering and not vice versa.


    "It''s starting," Arthur raised his head to follow the flashing light until its end vanished from his sight. For him it looked like a giant pillar was linking the earth with heavens.


    And for everyone looking from far at this the pillar of light looked very intimidating.


    "Have they realized what this pillar of light is?" Arthur calmly asked while he could only see that light pillar and nothing else.


    ''They seemed to know it''s origin,'' Gege said, ''as the moment that pillar of light appeared, turmoil struck their forces.''


    "That''s great," Arthur smirked evilly, "let them panic, the more the better."


    Arthur just hoped they all got panicked and moved out of impulse to stop the summoning array. However deep down his soul he knew this was just mere fantasy.


    And the later words of Gege proved his hunch to be right.


    ''They are on the move,'' she said after pausing for half an hour.


    "At last..." Arthur took a deep breath. He had already reached a place near the spot of that tower, yet he was still far to be seen by anyone.


    He ducked his body on the ground while taking shelter with some long grass. From far he couldn''t be spotted, but if anyone just passed nearby he would be seen at once.


    That made him quite vigilant and also kept his creation by letting Gege inform him if anyone came close.


    And luckily for him no one stepped this far off the tower at this disturbing moment.


    "How many they left behind?" he asked about the part he cared most about.


    ''Well, it''s hard to tell now,'' Gege seemed a bit hesitant, ''but from their moves I can say they won''t leave a small garrison behind.''


    "What?!" Arthur was instantly shocked, "are you sure?"


    ''They only gathered two thirds of their forces,'' Gege said, ''and that means they will leave one third behind at least.''


    "At least!!"


    ''Ding! Those they summoned might not follow them towards the array,'' the system said, ''Ding! You have already expected that.''


    "But never thought they might leave over one third of their forces... Damn!"


    If he knew that from the beginning then he wouldn''t leave his monster behind.


    "Is the portal still working?" he suddenly asked.


    ''If you are thinking about summoning her,'' the golden dragon said, ''you should know you have to take the monster back inside the garden world. It''s not wise to do that.''


    ''I... can''t disagree with that,'' Gege stood by his side as she added, ''the first time we managed to take the monster on surprise. But this time we won''t be able to do that.''


    "..."


    Arthur had to accept this before he turned his eyes towards the direction of the tower. All of sudden a cloud of dust started to rise from that direction, telling him the lycans were already on the move.


    "This... complicates things too much," he mumbled to himself while his mind was trying to calculate all the odds.


    ''Ding! Do you want to retreat?'' the system said, ''Ding! Help them kill the main force before leading the army and crush the tower?''


    "We discussed this before," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "we can''t let any of them know what I''m doing here. I trust Doaf but since we came to these higher planes, Amera seemed like another person to me."


    ''I agree with that,'' the golden dragon suddenly laughed, ''I told you before, you should have moved against that chick and made her yours. Now you can''t even touch a single hair or even dream about doing more.''


    "Shut up," Arthur wasn''t in the mood to joke around, "it''s not the time for fooling around! We need to find a way out of this dilemma!"


    ''Ding! I say you return back and regroup with them,'' the system said, ''it''s the safest way so far.''


    Arthur remained silent for a moment before shaking his head. "Can''t do that," he said, "what about other options?"


    ''Well, you always can fight,'' the golden dragon said, ''but you need to account for the increased number of your enemies plus their traps.''


    "Hmm..." Arthur knew this seemed more impossible yet he didn''t have any other option now.


    Even retreat wasn''t considered an option at this stage.


    "One way or another I''ll dig my way towards that tower," Arthur made up his mind as he started to move towards the direction of the tower.


    ''Well, I can''t say no to a good fight, right?'' the golden dragon seemed amused by this, ''however please keep in mind one thing; that array if lost those operating it then it will be the end of all of us.''


    "I know," Arthur said in plain face, "and I have a plan for that."


    Arthur already made up his mind. He didn''t come all this distance to be stopped by just more enemies.


    ''They are already far away from the tower region,'' Gege said while he kept advancing non-stop. ''They left behind around ten thousand mages stationed around the tower area in patrols.''


    Her words stopped him for a second. "Do they follow a certain pattern?" he suddenly asked.


    ''You mean walking paths?'' the golden dragon said before whistling, ''Wow, I love how you can think rationally even in the darkest moments.''


    ''Ding! Relying only on the paths they take isn''t going to work,'' the system said, ''Ding! You need to consider arrays that can recognize them.''


    ''Yet that won''t exceed twenty percent of the entire traps, or even less,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s a good idea though. Like this we can pinpoint the places we shouldn''t step at.''


    Arthur stopped while watching the direction of the tower. As he got closer, he could now see the tapering end of that tower.


    ''I can draw a map for you,'' Gege said.


    "Good," Arthur slowly nodded, "please inform my system with it so he can help me draw the map. As for my old dragon..."


    ''Don''t call me that!'' the golden dragon got stirred up all of sudden.


    "Easy," Arthur sneered, "I want you to think of a nasty thing to do to them."


    ''Define nasty,'' the golden dragon said.


    "Like some sort of threat that will force them to run away in turmoil and without even care to any trap around," Arthur slowly said while his face showed a vicious expression.


    ''Damn!'' the golden dragon cursed, ''you want them to clear the traps on their own? That''s brutal...''


    "Will you do it?" Arthur slowly asked, "or can you do it?"


    ''I can do anything,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''especially if it was such fun.''


    Arthur harrumphed and didn''t move while waiting for the three to finish their tasks. He kept thinking about his next move, and what he cared about wasn''t those lying in wait around the tower, but those who were going fast towards Doaf and Amera.

 Chapter 777: The Shooting Stars Descending From Heavens Technique

    ''Ding! We are ready for you,'' the system soon came back to tell the good news.


    "Alright," Arthur didn''t hesitate to take a paper and brush it out before he started to draw on it. He sat on the ground cross legged and started to move his arms unwillingly.


    The system controlled his hands and drew what Gege told him about the topography of the place.


    After five minutes of constant drawing, a map presented itself in front of Arthur''s eyes. The place there was, surprisingly, a deep valley appearing all of sudden in the middle of the plains.


    There was no single mountain peak or a hill there. "So that''s why I couldn''t see the tower earlier," he slowly muttered while tracking the lines he drew on the paths of those patrols.


    "So these are the places of the traps... That''s too much!" he checked the spaces between the lines drawn on the map. Surprisingly these spaces were wide and big, enough to make a small army of hundred mages to pass through.


    ''They can''t fill all such distances with traps,'' the golden dragon said, ''it must be a mind trap in itself.''


    "Meaning?" Arthur didn''t move his eyes away from the map while asking. He agreed with the golden dragon that this map had something fishy about it.


    However he couldn''t tell just from simply looking at it for a few moments.


    ''The traps can''t be this huge,'' the golden dragon said, ''so they just had parts covered in traps and others without.''


    ''But how can we tell the difference then?'' Gege asked.


    We can''t,'' the golden dragon was direct in his reply to her, ''we have only to avoid them by all means. It''s a gamble, a high risk if we decide to go through any trap.''


    "So we will stick to our plan," Arthur slowly nodded before folding the map and storing it away. "Have you found anything to help in distracting them?"


    ''Well, there are a couple arrays that can help but we don''t have time to make them... So I would recommend a technique.''


    "A technique?" Arthur didn''t expect such an answer, "how can I learn such a technique so fast? I''d rather bet over the arrays!"


    ''Just wait until you hear it,'' the golden dragon said, ''it needs a high and special form of energy unique to every mage. That''s the hardest part of it, and I think you have that part covered.''


    "The golden pearl you mean?" Arthur paused, "this technique doesn''t require any specific type of energy?"


    ''Your energy isn''t that bad,'' the golden dragon said, ''I bet it''s one of the highest forms of energy even in the high planes... but your only weakness is that it''s so scarce.''


    "I didn''t have time to strengthen it yet," Arthur shrugged.


    ''I know, but this technique can be used only once by your current level of energy. If you try to reuse it again I can''t guarantee your safety.''


    ''You mean the golden pearl energy will be depleted? I can support it anyway!''


    ''Sorry to disappoint you but I also calculated your help in my estimates,'' the golden dragon said bluntly, ''so you have to select the best timing to use your technique. You only have one shot, so don''t mess it up.''


    Arthur paused while recalling the map again in his mind. "So in brief I shouldn''t use it from the start, right?"


    ''Exactly,'' the golden dragon agreed.


    "Then what is this technique all about?"


    ''It''s called the shooting stars descending from the heavens,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s one of the ancient techniques that mages of these days don''t know. But don''t take my words wrong, this technique is really badass.''


    "That''s what I like," Arthur smirked evilly before adding, "but you said I can do it without much time, how can this be possible?"


    ''Ancient techniques were all driven from a single source,'' the golden dragon said, ''in my bet they all hailed from the originals, but there is no concrete proof for that.''


    "And?" Arthur wasn''t in the mood to listen to such a history lesson from him.


    ''These techniques use mainly energy and not the way to channel the energy,'' the golden dragon said, ''so this technique doesn''t require your full control over the energy, but the type of energy is what matters.''


    "Hmm... strange concept to be honest," Arthur slowly said, "that''s why you said I can''t use it more than once, right?"


    ''The one use will leak a lot of energy,'' the golden dragon said, ''and as you don''t have any control over the flow of your energy, you can''t control the energy and prevent it from getting depleted. In fact...''


    The golden dragon paused before adding, ''if not for Gege''s help in replenishing the golden pearl, I wouldn''t have thought of this as an option.''


    Arthur didn''t mind his remark. After all he thought of the three of them to be part of his power. "Is it powerful enough?" Arthur asked, "will it be enough to cause them to be scared?"


    ''It''s a terrifying technique, so don''t worry about that,'' the golden dragon said, ''but I have another piece of bad news.''


    "What?" Arthur didn''t like the direction of this talk.


    ''You can''t train in it,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''you have to try it out when the time comes to use it.''


    "What?!!" this time Arthur was shocked, "how can I bet everything on something I know nothing about!"


    ''You have to trust me on this,'' the golden dragon said, ''I know it seems illogical to ask you to do that, but if you tried this technique and it worked out then you will accidentally deplete all of your stores of the golden pearl energy.''


    "But I can recharge it, right?"


    ''It will take a long time, plus making one single trial right will bring forth the technique. And believe me, it''s very eye-catching. It''s not advisable to try it except when you intend to actually use it.''


    "..."


    Arthur didn''t know what to say. He couldn''t even accept the mere fact of him trying out this technique just when he wanted it to work.


    ''Ding! Is there any other way to do it?'' The system understood the line of thoughts of both the golden dragon and Arthur.


    ''Why won''t he get into my world and train on it there?'' Gege asked, ''the time difference there will be enough to make up for a good part of the lost energy.''


    ''Part and not totally replenish it,'' the golden dragon said, ''this technique requires him to be in full shape. Plus it will pose a threat over your garden world.''


    ''No way!'' Gege couldn''t believe it, ''my body is very sturdy! Nothing can affect it!''


    ''I''m just stating the truth,'' the golden dragon said, ''don''t take it personally but this technique is way beyond your tolerance.''


    ''...''

 Chapter 778: A Shocking Surprise

    For Arthur just the thought of going there without any preparations and trying something this advanced and so critical out of the blue was unacceptable.


    Yet he didn''t hold the final call here, the golden dragon did.


    ''No matter what you say, I won''t give you the technique until you are in the position to use it.''


    Arthur clenched his fists for a few moments before suddenly releasing them. The look on his face changed and his determination started to dominate even his soul.


    For him this was like a challenge, and he loved challenges.


    "Fine, let''s start then," he started to run again, "Gege, any news from the lycans?"


    Gege seemed hesitant before saying, ''well, there is something I want to tell you about...''


    "Is it related to the lycans movement?" Arthur wasn''t in the mood to hear anything other than this right now.


    ''No, but...''


    "Then don''t," Arthur stopped her, "just tell me how the lycans are doing."


    ''They... are advancing and soon they''ll engage with the other forces,'' she said.


    "And those around the tower?"


    ''They... are still moving through the same paths I laid before.''


    "''Great," Arthur had a plain face at this moment, "let''s kick on their doors then."


    He was still far away from the tower place, yet he didn''t wait any longer. The next moment he channeled his dragonair energy and instantly turned into a dragon.


    "Let''s start with a bang!" He was in a very bad mood right now. The way his golden dragon treated him got on his nerves.


    He didn''t like that! So the next few minutes he flew as fast as he could while getting so close to the tower at a fast pace.


    "Here you are," just after five minutes of flying, he crossed the distance he needed half an hour to cross on foot.


    In front of him was a large group of mages dressed in a uniform made of black leather with long lines of silver.


    They looked very eye-catching. Even he spotted them from far away, even before getting close to them.


    "Die for me," he knew it wouldn''t be an easy task to take all of them in one full swoop. Yet he had his fire, his sword, and his allies.


    "Take part of them out now," he shouted before he landed over the few in the front with his sword.


    His single slash sent a couple flying backwards while others only retreated a few steps from his attack.


    "It was foolish of you to come here all alone," one of the mages sneered while others laughed. "We can easily smash you into nothing without any effort at all."


    "Who said he is alone!" the answer came swiftly from inside the portal that just appeared on his side. The first to come out was someone he never expected at all.


    "Amera...?!!!" His shock was beyond measure. He even didn''t believe his ears until she stepped outside the portal and stood by his side with her giant figure.


    "What are you... doing here?!!" his shock was still overwhelming and he could only ask that silly question.


    "Humph, I thought you already knew," she said before raising her spear up in the air, "Don''t stand like idiots, come out and kill all of them now!"


    The next instant a large number of mages appeared from the portal. They were shouting while raising their weapons in the air.


    Then they jumped at their enemies like enraged lions.


    "What...!!!" Arthur glanced around while feeling puzzled and lost from all this. He knew these were part of the forces who followed them from the city.


    They were all cauldron mages, yet he couldn''t believe their presence here at this place at this moment.


    ''I tried to tell you,'' Gege sighed, ''she led a group of her mages and entered the portal. I wanted to inform you twice about this but each time you refused to listen.''


    Arthur suddenly realized what happened and for a moment he felt regret to not listen to Gege back then. However when his mind cooled down, he knew even if he knew about that, he wouldn''t force her out.


    After all, his enemies didn''t act as he expected. They left a larger portion of their army behind. So he wouldn''t mind getting more help here.


    Especially from someone like Amera and her forces.


    "Are you going to stand like an idiot out there?" Amera gave him a deep look before she laughed, "c''mon, don''t act like you just saw a dead man walking."


    "A woman actually," Arthur finally regained her usual domineer, "why did you do it?"


    "Well... is it bad to have me on your side?" she winked at him and he could only smile.


    "It''s not that way, and y''know that," he said before adding, "tell them about the map."


    ''I already did,'' Gege answered, ''she was dead fixed on getting out first to help you. On another note, I bet she was hoping to see that amusing look on your face."


    Arthur gave Amera a side glance before inwardly sighing.


    "Are you going to freeze there and do nothing?" Amera chuckled as she felt very great about his expression just now, "we will miss all the fun."


    "Don''t be impulsive," he said but he was a bit too late. The next moment she turned into a ray of light and vanished from his sight. "Damn, she can''t even stand there for a second and listen to me," he shook his head before gazing around.


    "Take the mecha out," he said, "only one third of their forces."


    ''But we don''t need them for now,'' the golden dragon seemed not to agree with what he had in mind.


    "I need them," Arthur slowly said, "just spread them here and make them wait in ambush."


    ''Ambush! For what?'' The golden dragon was still missing the point.


    "Gege will tell you," Arthur then moved fast to the front, "or I changed my mind... Don''t tell him a thing."


    ''...''

 Chapter 779: The Scorching Land Lethal Array!

    The golden dragon knew he deserved this treatment but he also knew he did what he did to help him. He was so familiar with that technique and so he didn''t feel any regret about not teaching it to him so far.


    As for Arthur, his path to the front was much easier than he thought. The sudden appearance of Amera and her forces crushed anything in their path.


    Arthur only had to fly casually while attacking a few mages from time to time. And even when he did that he got help from the nearby mages of Amera.


    The narrow paths they had to cross weren''t an advantage to their enemies anymore. Right now his allied forces were filling these paths, and that made them able to handle the enemies with much ease.


    "You know I never thought you were telling the truth," Amera appeared all of sudden to fly by his side.


    "About what?" he acted ignorant at this moment while he knew exactly what she was referring to.


    "The tower," she gave him an interesting look, "it looks much different than the towers I saw before. Plus there is an array surrounding it, something that normal towers don''t have."


    "I told you already," he wasn''t that much interested in her declaration of defeat, even in such a subtle way, "this tower is different."


    "I can see that now," she nodded yet her look didn''t change, "but what I found peculiar is for someone like you who came from a lower realm to know such a thing we in the highest realm don''t know at all... Don''t you find it... a bit strange?"


    Arthur knew where this talk was heading to, and frankly he had his own shares of troubles already to care about. So he looked her in the eye and simply grinned.


    "''Is it bad for you to appreciate my help?"


    Amera gave him a skeptical look but Arthur didn''t mind that. If that look was all he needed to get away from this tricky question then he wouldn''t mind it.


    "Let''s go," he started to accelerate, "the tough fight didn''t start yet."


    She paused for a moment before following him. She wanted to trap him and pin him to the ground. She had many questions to ask, especially when she was considering a big decision that would change her life.


    But she decided to put that all on hold for now and see what things would turn up at the end. "Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked and he only pointed to the tower.


    "If you were them, would you leave your best card unguarded like that?" he simply said and his words made her nod in agreement.


    "There are traps out there, right?"


    "Or hidden enemies," he shrugged, "or some nasty creature is lying for ambush... who knows? But we need to get there fast and secure it."


    She understood his point. "I can ask my mages to replace those supporting the array," she said and that made him nod in satisfaction.


    "Sounds like a plan," he said before returning to his silence. He didn''t want to say anything to her at this moment to avoid any unneeded questions that he couldn''t answer.


    As he predicted, once the front mages got so close to that crack in the ground, a giant dome appeared to shelter those inside off those coming at them.


    "Damn!" Amera stopped abruptly before she grabbed his arm in a violent way, "retreat... It''s the scorching land array... Retreat!"


    Her words puzzled Arthur along with her sudden action, yet he didn''t object. He sensed the urgeness in her voice, which made him uneasy.


    "What''s that array?" he hurriedly asked while being dragged by force after her.


    "You know about that tower and don''t know about the array? Unbelievable!" she only said that before adding, "we have less than ten seconds I guess."


    "For what?"


    "You''ll see," she kept her knowledge to herself, yet the answer came to him from the golden dragon.


    ''It''s a nasty array,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s like an ambush. What makes it very annoying is the fact it needs a short span of time to be activated and its area of coverage is very wide.''


    Arthur turned his head back to where that dome was. At first the dome seemed semi-translucent, yet now it was flickering with flashes of black arcs.


    "Is it... going to explode or something?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask, however the answer came to him instantly after he said those words.


    "Boom!"


    The world suddenly rumbled by an extremely loud explosion. Arthur instantly turned his head towards the direction it came from.


    "The... Tower..." he couldn''t help but mutter in deep shock.


    Amera grabbed him and dragged him after her while shouting, "it''s not the tower... It''s the array. Retreat... Retreat fast!" she shouted again in a hysterical way.


    However despite her earlier warning shouts, few got entangled within what came next.


    Arthur didn''t move his eyes off the direction of that explosion. The next moment a ray of light beamed into the sky before a wave of energy suddenly burst.


    It was like darkness descended over the world. The black light landed over everything around, hasty covering the ground with an intimidating veil of darkness.


    And that made Arthur widen up his eyes while watching that energy pulse drawing fast towards the two of them.


    "Let me go," he hurriedly freed himself from her grip before he flipped his wings and took a half circle around himself.


    Then he darted as fast as he could.


    They weren''t the only ones running, but many of Amera''s mages were racing after them.


    "Take everyone back," Arthur didn''t let his anxiousness cloud his mind. He let a large number of mechas out, and like this the portal along with the mechas around would be perished.


    And so he didn''t hesitate to issue this order before adding, "if they can''t, let them fly as fast as they can."


    ''Got it,'' Gege knew the situation was so dire so she didn''t speak any useless words. Arthur kept checking over that energy pulse drawing fast towards him.


    "Stop looking back," Amera shouted, "the distance that thing can cover is about to end soon. Just push forward, don''t mind anything else.


    "..."


    Just as he was about to follow her words he noticed some of the mages went astray. After all, their retreat path wasn''t straight.


    So some ditched their safety and started to fly into places filled with traps.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    And like doomsday, the entire world kept tumbling around him while many screams of pain echoed for brief moments.


    Then they got swallowed with that energy wave, which made them all die.

 Chapter 780: Traitors!

    "Stop!"


    All of sudden Amera stopped as she shouted at him. Arthur couldn''t help but stop with a frightened expression over his face.


    He wasn''t in any better shape than hers at this moment. He glanced at the deadly wave of darkness that was coming fast at him.


    "Shouldn''t we keep running?"


    "No," she firmly shook her head, "that array has a limited area to cover. We just crossed that threshold moments ago."


    "Are you sure?" The screams of death filled the entire world around me. The array didn''t distinguish between foes or allies; it kept killing everyone in a full brutal swoop.


    "Trust me," she turned to him while panting, "this array won''t touch us, yet we shouldn''t be far away from its edge."


    "May I know why?" Arthur didn''t think it was a good idea to bet his life by sitting this near to that deadly wave of energy. "''What if you are wrong?" He couldn''t help but express his doubts.


    "Just trust me, I know what I''m doing," she firmly said, "but what you don''t know is that array is considered a suicidal move."


    "For us?"


    "For the ones who activated it," Amera took a deep breath before adding, "didn''t you see? It appeared as a single ray of energy that swept everything after."


    Arthur''s eyes turned wide instantly. He understood at last what she wanted to say. "The tower..." he turned his gaze up to the distance yet he couldn''t see anything through that darkness.


    "Don''t worry," she tried to reassure him, "this array won''t last more than a few seconds after hitting its distance."


    "I''m worried about the supporting array," Arthur shouted in anger, "screw them! They died and wanted to take everyone else down with them!"


    "They had no choice," Amera said, "we pressed them too hard."


    "Damn!" Arthur hit the ground with his dragon punch. He was so frustrated at this moment. "I tried to make them not to do anything stupid until we reach the array."


    "There is no point in regretting what you''ve done," Amera said, "you did what you have to do... and now we have to follow this through till the end."


    Arthur gazed at the distance separating him from the tower. At this moment more mages started to cross that threshold, and they all stood with panting breaths next to them.


    "How much distance is there to that tower?" Arthur stood erect before he flew a few tens of meters in the air. "Around two miles?" he asked.


    "Three," Amera slowly said, "we have one mile before reaching that damn tower."


    "Then we have a very narrow window to reach there, right?" he turned around, "and that array requires more than one to operate."


    "I can reach there in no time," Amera said in confidence, "I had to slow down myself while dragging you back there."


    Arthur gave her a long face before saying:


    "Still you are one... we need more if we want that world to survive."


    "Well," Amera turned around before she took out her cube. It was the one she and Doaf had from Aemie before.


    The moment it appeared in her palm his eyes shone brightly in blue light. "That''s right... you have a hidden realm," he said in excitement as this became their only way to survive.


    "All will enter it now," she instantly hit the ground with it. The long rays erupted out of it showing cracks in the world around. "We have no time... everyone goes inside now, including you."


    "Me?" Arthur pointed to himself in surprise.


    "Don''t tell me you came all the way here just to keep the array working," she said in a wide smile. Her gaze and tone told him that she already saw through what he planned all along.


    "I know you must have a way to deal with the energy stored in that tower. Frankly I don''t care about how you are going to do it, just take away that bomb off my world and keep everyone safe."


    She then motioned her head to the cracks around, "go now, we have limited time before that array vanishes."


    Arthur was surprised yet he was also appreciating her stance. She seemed not interested at all towards the energy stored in that tower.


    "Alright," Arthur started to move alongside everyone else, "just promise me to keep yourself safe."


    "And here I was thinking you totally forgot about me," she smirked before nodding to him. He crossed the crack to find himself inside a new world.


    It wasn''t like his garden world, not vast as it at least. Yet it was as green as his garden world, or even filled with more green than his world.


    "Line up here," one mage said in a harsh way, "the lady will ask us to come out at any seco..."


    "Traitors!"


    Just before that mage could continue his words, a loud alarming scream echoed from one side.


    Then all of a sudden some of those standing here turned their blades at their comrades.


    "What the hell?!!" Arthur glanced at this unexpected turn of events and was paralyzed for one second.


    Yet one second was all he needed to get over this betrayal. His mind didn''t care about the reason, or even the identity of those traitors.


    "Take everyone out," he didn''t hesitate to issue this order, "take the mechas and the werewolf forces... Do it now!"


    He flew high in the air instantly to have a better view on things here. The next moment a portal opened next to him before his forces started to appear.


    It seemed Gege acted on her own and told everyone about the situation in brief. It didn''t require a genius to understand what to do in such a situation.


    Yet the main issue was how to distinguish the traitors from the loyalists. The scale of fight didn''t enlarge out yet to cover everyone, but it took at least half of those surviving mages here.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The sudden appearance of Arthur''s forces seemed to come out of the traitors'' expectations. The moment they attacked, many of those fighting together were caught in the middle and loud explosions erupted.

 Chapter 781: Reaching The Tower At Last

    "Kill everyone fighting," Arthur didn''t have time to distinguish between allies and traitors, "all loyalists move away, or else don''t blame me for killing you."


    His shouts came to stop many from moving to help their friends. They hesitantly stood there while watching the growing number of mages and mechas flooding off Gege''s portal.


    And the sounds of explosions just kept raging out loud everywhere the next few minutes.


    "Woosh!"


    Just in the middle of such chaos, long curved portals opened up inside the world. Amera already reached the place of the tower and the supporting array.


    She was calling them out to help.


    "Damn!"


    Arthur watched all this chaos and couldn''t help but turn his eyes off this. "Tell my forces to stay here," he depressingly said, "tell those loyalists to follow me outside."


    He didn''t hesitate to move towards the closest portal. Just before he could pass through it, Gege came to ask:


    ''What about my portal?''


    "Take it back," Arthur firmly said, "we have far more important matters to handle now."


    He spotted many of those standing hesitantly on the ground moving towards their nearest portals. He also saw some of those fighting mages running towards the portals as well.


    "Give my orders, stop those traitors from getting near the portals at any cost!"


    ''Got it!''


    The next moment he passed through the portal to find himself outside.


    The first thing he saw was that tower standing erect just in front of him. It seemed more gigantic than it looked from far away.


    "So we''re already at it," Arthur moved fast towards the front, "there are traitors inside," he shouted.


    "What?! Where?!!" Amera was standing in one spot nearby. Arthur didn''t need to check anything as he was pretty sure she was standing over the center of that array.


    She could only try and stabilize it for much longer until everyone else came out from her world.


    "Some attacked us inside your world," Arthur had another goal in mind, so he shouted while running fast towards the tower, "I entangled them inside but expect few mages coming out now. Also don''t forget to make a counter against any more traitors."


    "..."


    Amera''s face sank the moment she heard that. She couldn''t believe her ears until more mages came out and their facial expression told her everything.


    They looked very exhausted and perplexed, like they just experienced a tough situation inside.


    "Spread up in my direction," she didn''t have time to spare and ask about what happened. They were racing against time here.


    Arthur also didn''t have time to care about this. He trusted Amera in doing the right thing while he just reached the tower.


    "Now what?" he asked, "tell me what to do to start absorbing this energy."


    ''It''s easy,'' the golden dragon said, ''I''ve told the system about the moves and he can control your hand to do it. Also Gege will provide the material now for you.''


    ''Here we go,'' Gege opened the portal next before large batches of materials appeared.


    Before Arthur could ask about anything, he felt his body being controlled by the system. ''Ding! Don''t resist, we don''t have time to explain anything,'' the system said before he started controlling Arthur''s body.


    The first thing that happened was for Arthur to injure himself. The system then controlled his body to make him jump around while letting his blood fall over the ground.


    An array appeared next in the shape of a twenty-one star shape. After that Arthur went to the materials. He started grabbing them in large amounts before throwing them all over the array.


    It seemed chaotic at first, yet after a few minutes he got to see a pattern in what the system was doing.


    ''Ding! More, I need more materials,'' the system said and that seemed logical to Arthur.


    Each stach of materials thrown on the ground either landed inside the gaps of lines drawn out by his blood or over the lines themselves.


    Either way all the materials burnt into ash the moment they touched the ground. That made Arthur realize something.


    "It''s a charging array!" he muttered in deep shock as this kind of array only was heard of and not known even to cultivators in his past life.


    This sort of the array was considered legendary, even mythical to some.


    ''You got it right, that''s awesome,'' the golden dragon said in praise, ''this sort of arrays were already lost from the knowledge of mages.''


    "So this isn''t something mages in this universe are aware of?" Arthur wanted to know more about this array. He had time now to spare and ask, especially when his body was flashing like crazy all over the place under the control of his system.


    ''It was driven from the originals,'' the golden dragon said, ''as one who lived in an era close to the end of the originals, I stumbled upon a relic by chance where I found all about this array.''


    "Those originals... who were they?" Arthur was now filled with curiosity about those originals.


    ''No one knows,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''but to me... they are like gods and we are mortals.''


    Arthur didn''t find this theory unbelievable. After all, anything related to originals was always accompanied by a veil of mystery and shocking results.


    He got in touch with many things related to those originals since he came to this universe. For him the golden dragon''s theory seemed a bit logical and realistic.


    ''Ding! I''m almost done!'' the system suddenly said, distracting him from whatever he was thinking about, ''Ding! Get ready, the moment I give your body back you''ll need to put both hands over the tower to activate the array.''


    "I''m ready," Arthur said, yet all of sudden he heard a loud bang and sounds of ruckus coming from his back. "Gege..." he shouted and the next moment he got the answer he wanted.


    ''Traitors managed to get out,'' she hurriedly said, ''they are trying to disturb the array Amera is controlling.''


    "Damn them!" Arthur cursed, "get all my forces out, let''s face them once and for all!"


    ''There is more,'' she paused before adding, ''those who went to fight Doaf are now retreating towards here.''


    "Already?" Arthur paused before adding, "send a word to him, let him lead everyone and come here. If they wanted this place to be the final battle then be it."


    He then regained his freedom over his body. "Form a tight defense around me. No one is permitted to come, even if it was Doaf or Amera."


    ''Got it,'' Gege knew how tight this situation was and so she only complied and didn''t ask for anything more. She kept all her doubts and opinions to herself, and started to execute his orders to the letter.

 Chapter 782: Dealing With The Immense Tower Energy

    Things only kept getting complicated with time. Those traitors kept pouring out of the cracks Amera created before she decided to close them.


    Yet that decision was a bit late. The number of the traitors was now in the hundreds. Her mages out there were only one thousand, leaving her with a tight hand situation.


    And what made things more complicated truly was the sudden gush of those lycans who were supposed to be entangled with Doaf''s forces.


    Amidst all this Arthur had already started absorbing the energy from the tower.


    The moment he touched it, he felt a great gush of energy inside his body. At first things seemed under his control, yet before he knew it his body was oversaturated with such energy.


    "Gege... it''s your turn!" he couldn''t handle any more of such energy. What he felt from it was like feeling his golden pearl energy.


    It was a superior form of energy and not just the one normally present in this world. That meant only one thing, that tower had a role to refine energy and upgrade its quality.


    Despite feeling happy with that, yet even his golden pearl couldn''t match the influx rate from the tower. So the only hope he had now was Gege.


    ''Leave it to me,'' and she was already prepared for that. The next moment he felt a great decline in the amount of energy going through his body.


    This helped his body to recover and take control back over this berserk energy. His golden pearl started to absorb all this energy, expanding slowly and getting far stronger.


    For him this was the perfect scenario, yet he was still worried deep down his soul.


    Any single interruption and he would be subjected to a fierce retaliation. That backlash was described to be brutal by the golden dragon, but for him he knew this would be deadly.


    Arthur couldn''t even turn his head or even hear things around. He could only pray things wouldn''t get that bad and those lycans would be separated off him.


    Yet the situation around was really getting out of hand!


    "Someone come and take control of the array," Amera finally couldn''t take it anymore. She watched many of her mages get entangled with those traitors, and even part of them were deeply wounded or lying dead on the ground.


    Those mages she brought were all elites. So that made her loyalists face very terrifying attacks coming from those traitors.


    And when she spotted the lycan army drawing fast here, she couldn''t take it anymore.


    The next instant one mage flashed and stood by her place. He was already deeply wounded by an axe over his right shoulder.


    He wouldn''t die if he attended to such a deep wound in time. Yet he preferred to sacrifice his life and help Amera and his clan to win this war.


    "Go and kick their asses," he said with panting breaths. Amera wanted to persuade him, yet no one else came except other wounded mages.


    They formed a circle around her. She glanced at each face of them as she vowed not to forget their faces till the end of her life.


    "Be reassured," she finally stepped away from the center of the array, "I won''t let your sacrifice be wasted."


    The next moment she took out her spear and turned into a ray of red light. She aimed directly at the most brutal fights and landed upon the enemies like thunder.


    Her sudden appearance startled many, yet some were veteran enough to handle that surprise attack and defend.


    Yet in the end her surprise attacks helped in eliminating a lot of pressure over her scattered forces.


    "Gather up," she screamed while jumping from one location to another, "gather up at the array!"


    Her mages were now relieved at many spots so they started to retreat and rearrange their lines. Despite that their enemies tried to push them harder, but Amera made sure to stop them in their tracks.


    The traitors aimed at interrupting their retreat, hunting down as many as they could before their allied lycans arrived. Yet Amera also saw through their plans perfectly well and started to hit key places at their lines.


    Despite being only one person, she was very famous for being ferocious. As her fame stated, she acted here as the tip of the spear.


    A tigresse who was on a leash just got freed. She kept jumping around while stealing a glance from time to time to those lycans running fast towards her.


    "Leave them to us," yet the next moment she heard this shout coming from behind. By the time she turned her head to see who was calling, she found a lot of mechas running towards the traitors, with mages led by the werewolf of Arthur.


    "My king sent us to help," Nara stood by her side. In her mecha, she seemed no lesser than Amera in size. "You go back and organize your lines. We will stop them and those coming after."


    "Thanks," Amera could only say that while stealing a glance at Arthur. Yet when she spotted him, she could only see a shining star on the ground while a bright blue light was shimmering off his body.


    "So you have a way after all," she smiled in content before returning fast to the array and her forces. "As long as you can deplete that energy, this fight is our win."


    If they were only trying to defend the array from being destroyed then they had no hope at all. Yet with the intervention of Arthur, things seemed to go in their favor.


    "We need to stand our ground as long as we can," she shouted at her mages before pointing towards Arthur, "our ally is trying his best to deplete that energy off the tower. We will buy him enough time to turn that damned tower into a piece of useless scrap!"


    The mages shouted in unison while she turned her back to the array and started to watch the ongoing fight.

 Chapter 783: Things Getting Overheated

    Nara''s mechas and the werewolf''s mages were fighting an unbalanced fight. Their strengths weren''t on par with their foes, yet their greater numbers played a major role to toppel this advantage and turn it into their favor.


    Each traitor was now surrounded with hundreds of mechas and mages. It was not an exaggeration that this plan seemed a bit reckless. Yet it was effective.


    In return for killing one enemy, the combined forces of Arthur had to pay a hefty price for that. But in the end the result was what mattered.


    "They can do it," Amera finally felt relieved before she took out a bird''s wing. She wrote something to Doaf before taking one out and wrote another to another one.


    Then the next moment an answer came swiftly from Daof: "We are just behind them," that was all he wrote to her back.


    And that was totally enough to make her smile.


    "So we have hope after all," she took a deep breath before taking a short glance over her mages. "There might be traitors still in here," she didn''t feel safe with these mages.


    In fact they weren''t part of her own forces. Her force wasn''t on par with such a mission, so she had to resign to accept this elite force given to her by Aemie.


    And now she felt deeply regretful about accepting them. She was watching weak mages and mechas killing those elite traitors in exchange for the lives of many of their comrades.


    "I should have done that as well," she moved tens of meters back while fixing her eyes over Arthur. "I have to admit, you have a colder heart than me and a far more brilliant mind and determination than me."


    She knew this didn''t come from mere fluke of luck, but it was Arthur''s machination all along. That made her feel impressed by him, and lean more towards the decision she was still hesitant about.


    "Kill them all!"


    Yet her line of thoughts was interrupted by this sudden loud shout that came from the lycans who just arrived here.


    They were in thousands, running fast. They were fueled by their anger and hatred towards them, and from the shape of things she felt worry again.


    "I hope we can stop them until he arrives," she could only pray that before taking a short glance around, "and hopefully no one tries to act funny here."


    She firmly clenched her fist over her spear while feeling more secure and confident with it being on its side. She could stand against any enemy but time.


    So she didn''t hurry to leave her spot. In return she pointed her spear forward as she shouted: "We rested enough, go and shower them with your love."


    The mage around shouted in unison before they all moved at once to the front. Only few were left behind, those who were only needed to maintain the array working.


    In the meantime Arthur was deeply immersed in dealing with the energy influx.


    The more his golden pearl absorbed energy, the thicker and bigger it became. In time Arthur started to feel uneasy about this.


    ''Ding! Your golden pearl needs to be upgraded,'' the system finally said what he feared to hear, ''Ding! If you don''t do it, then it won''t be able to absorb any more.''


    "But... if I did that the golden pearl won''t be able to absorb anything for a few minutes..."


    He didn''t need to explain further as they all understood what it meant.


    ''I can handle a few minutes of more pressure,'' Gege suddenly said.


    "This isn''t the time to act high," Arthur didn''t accept her words at once, "you need to know you will have to deal with all this energy on your own until I finish upgrading my pearl."


    ''Don''t worry,'' yet Gege chuckled back, ''I have an idea about where to use this energy.''


    "..."


    Arthur took a deep breath, while wasting some time for her to rethink her decision. He knew once he started upgrading his golden pearl then he had nothing to do if things went wrong.


    And Gege had to be absolutely sure about her decision here or else this would end up bad for all of them.


    For the entire world here!


    ''Don''t hesitate,'' Gege firmly said, ''just trust me. If this worked out then I bet you''ll be amazed by the result.''


    Arthur had no room to argue anymore. "Alright, let''s do it then," he took a deep breath before finally closing up his eyes and letting consciousness sleep deeply inside the golden pearl.


    Meanwhile the fight around the array took a serious turn at these minutes.


    Amera sent out her few hundred mages to face those thousands coming at them. She knew if she thought rationally about it then it would be an impossible feat to accomplish.


    Yet the next shout that came from Nara who was standing midair while overseeing the total battlefield like a cold warlord changed all the odds.


    "Go at the front," she shouted, "be the first layer of defense, and those allies from the cauldron clan can act as the killers from behind."


    Her words surprised Amera for a moment yet she could only nod in appreciation to her. Doing so seemed the only possible and logical solution they had here.


    But that also meant the losses in the ranks of the mechas and the werewolf''s forces would be astonishingly high.


    And Nara decided despite that to follow through with this plan, accepting any losses for the sake of victory here.


    Doing so earned her deep respect from Amera. "That''s how a general should behave," she said to herself before stealing a short glance at the rear Arthur, "you are really lucky even in those you attract around yourself."


    "Boom!"


    The first clashes came brutal at all fronts. Without any surprises many mechas were crushed. The mechas were in tens of thousands, lining up in many rows while advancing without hesitation or pause towards their enemies.


    Like a solid rock wall stopping the raging wave of a flood, the lycans kept killing the mechas without any suspense.

 Chapter 784: Is It The End Of Everything?

    Yet just after a few minutes, Amera''s mages appear side by side with the werewolf''s. Coupled together and using the mechas as a shield, they both managed to slay a lot of lycans in no time.


    That instantly caused a strife at the front lines. Lycans seemed to be annoyed and challenged by these sudden attacks, especially when the mages run next to shield behind the swarm of mechas.


    That prevented the nearby lycans from stepping forward and fighting them. In return the mages were all resting while the lycans were pushing themselves to the limit to kill the mechas.


    And in addition to that the mages acted like hawks. They kept moving in the rear lines and calmly selecting their targets before they jumped at them and took away their lives.


    Like a small knife slowly peeling off a tree branch and eating it away, they kept hitting the lycans.


    After ten minutes they finally managed to force the lycans to stop. With the help of many sacrifices from the mecha army, the lycans'' great momentum just came to halt.


    "Great," Amera could only smile while watching these changes in the fight up front. "Where the hell are you?"


    Yet in less than a few more minutes, the one she was wondering about just appeared.


    Doaf came from the far behind, leading a mighty charge of his mages while throwing themselves like ferocious lions in the middle of the lycans'' rear ranks.


    Their sudden appearance and their unstoppable momentum created chaos in the lycans lines. The few thousand elites of lycans were now being pressured from two sides, while they lost all their charging momentum.


    "This is... going to be our win," Amera finally felt a relief towards the end of this fight.


    Yet as she was about to let her guard down, a sudden development came out of her expectations.


    "Kill them all!" All of a sudden some of the mages who stood in the back to help her control the array turned their blades around.


    In a blink of an eye many mages around were either deeply wounded or got killed. Amera only gazed at all this with cold eyes, while she already had anticipated this threat a long time ago.


    What she cared about was the heart of the array. As long as there were mages standing and controlling it then no danger was present at this moment.


    "That''s... good," she heaved a sigh of relief when she saw those deeply wounded mages still standing on her side and controlling the heart of the array.


    "Keep it working," she shouted before she turned her blade towards the traitors, "leave these maggots to me... I swear if this was another situation I won''t give you an easy death."


    The next moment she threw her spear and it instantly penetrated one of the traitors'' chest. She flew fast to grab the spear and take it out from his chest before she inserted it in his head.


    And that traitor was killed.


    "It''s your turn now," she was now standing in the middle of ten traitors. Yet she didn''t feel any fear or doubt.


    The traitors attacked. They swung their swords, waved their aces, and even threw their arrows towards her.


    Yet all she did was to evade, easily tilting her body right and left, ducked and jumped at some times while her spear never stopped moving around.


    Each traitor got two hits, one to the chest at the place of the heart and one in his or her head. She didn''t show any mercy or even hesitate to crush anyone in her way.


    And as she was dancing around with those ten, more started to pour in.


    "What the hell..." she finally realized something was wrong when she was faced with a great number of mages.


    Number that shouldn''t be here in the first place.


    "A hidden world... damn!" She finally saw that large pond of water created by some artifact held by one of the traitors. Many mages kept pouring out of this pond, including many lycans as well.


    "This is bad..." She knew things were about to get out of control. But what made her heart sank was what she noticed at one corner of this place.


    With such fresh blood, the traitors alongside their allied lycans started to aim towards the tower. At first they were halted by Arthur''s mechas.


    But in the following minutes it was proven impossible for those mechas to stand against all these high realm and elite mages of the enemy side.


    As they penetrated through the mecha lines, they didn''t aim towards Arthur as she feared. They aimed towards a corner where a familiar array appeared in front of her eyes.


    "No f*cking way! Are they trying to kill us all!"


    It was the scorching land array!


    "This is bad! Terribly bad!"


    She turned her head looking for help from anywhere. Yet at this point all her allies and forces were deeply entangled with a deadly fight with their enemies, desperately trying to stop them from advancing.


    She wanted to scream... Shout at them to make anyone come and help. But deep down her soul she realized the bitter truth that one of her enemies said in a vicious tone:


    "Just give up already," a lycan mage advanced calmly while she got surrounded by lines of hundreds of mages, "there is no hope anymore for all of you. Yet you should praise yourself for pushing us this far."


    "But we... lost at the end," Amera bitterly smiled while feeling so much bitter inside her throat right now. Her eyes were burning with tears of defeat as she watched the enemies'' mages about to activate the array.


    "You never stood a chance against us from the start," the lycan mage smirked, "we got everything well planned and even had many traitors inside your high ranks. You stood no chance from the beginning, yet you managed to push us this hard. I can only express my admiration to all of you."


    "Humph," Amera could only answer with a harrumph while she closed her eyes. She wanted to struggle, fight till the bitter end.


    But she also knew no matter what she did nothing would change this outcome. She accepted her failure and as such she finally laid down her spear.


    "At least I won''t die as a traitor," she said to herself, "I have no shame, only regret for not doing extra to stop this."


    She took a deep breath and finally was ready to welcome her end... her friends, allies, and even her entire world''s end.


    However she missed one person, the only one who could change the entire outcome of this end.

 Chapter 785: The Troublesome Tower Energy

    Arthur on the other hand was pretty busy dealing with something he never expected.


    "How can I upgrade my pearl energy?"


    He used to level up his dragonair energy and spiritual energy in two different ways till now. Yet he never upgraded the golden pearl.


    Only Gege helped in its expansion once before, yet he never dealt with direct upgrades like this time.


    ''I believe you should recall what your golden energy is formed of,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''so your upgrade path should be either one of them or mixing the two together.''


    "That''s... hard," Arthur couldn''t help but feel hesitant, "I could upgrade my spiritual energy easily, but the dragonair''s ascension path is really tough."


    ''Ding! I assume you can start with your spiritual energy first,'' the system said, ''Ding! Observe closely and try to come up with a theory to use later.''


    Arthur took a deep breath before he closed his eyes. He knew this was like throwing a rock in the air and hoping for it to fly and not fall.


    It was subjected to luck, pure and rare luck and nothing else.


    "Let''s do it," he started regulating his breaths first before he let his consciousness dissipate deeply inside his body. He went directly towards his golden pearl.


    For now it was gaining enough energy to call it an apple. Yet he knew the size didn''t even matter. The purity of the energy stored inside was on a totally different level than his other two forms of energy.


    "Now let''s take a walk," he muttered to himself while starting to instigate the golden energy to move. "It''s all up to you now, Gege," he didn''t forget to alarm Gege to be ready for what was coming.


    And just as he started to push the energy outside the golden pearl, he felt like the connection between the outside energy coming from the tower and his golden pearl was severed at this moment.


    He felt a strong repelling force that came from the tower after that, yet he didn''t yield. He stubbornly kept himself extremely focused while pushing his golden energy all over his body.


    He wanted to push it through his lower meridians first, but he was surprised by the great amount there that even his entire meridian network got saturated in no time.


    And that made any attempt to push the golden energy further much harder than he initially thought.


    "Damn! Then go around my entire body!" he didn''t hesitate to improvise. If his meridians weren''t enough, then he would use the other vessels inside his body.


    His veins were the paths his dragonair energy used to pass through. Just as he diverted part of such energy there, he found out that it worked.


    His veins weren''t normal at all. After all he acquired his dragonair energy far earlier than his spiritual energy. Also his dragonair level was much higher than his cultivation base in terms of strength.


    So when his golden energy passed through his veins, he was surprised to find out that his veins could accommodate a larger amount of this energy than his meridians.


    And that wasn''t the only surprise he got.


    When his energy passed through his veins, they finally started to form a complete circle. It seemed that his two networks of vessels were complimenting each other for his golden energy to circulate.


    And when the first circle was done, he felt a slight tremor in his body that made him feel more confident and stronger.


    He watched part of the golden energy dissipating outside these vessels and soaking his muscles, bones, and even organs.


    Everything inside his body was now baptized by this golden energy. That made him feel the changes happening inside his body and be proud of them.


    His body was getting stronger, yet this wasn''t the end of the story.


    The golden energy then started to emit pulses from time to time. After some observation he noticed that with each ten full circles the golden energy would pulsate.


    "What are you trying to do with these pulses?" he couldn''t help but wonder when the fifth pulse came. This time he started to closely follow this pulse wave, and he was shocked when he found out where they were heading.


    "My soul sea... that''s amazing!" he spotted his deeply hidden soul sea getting the benefits of this golden energy. Each pulse seemed to carry a lot of spiritual power that his soul needed.


    He tried to enter his soul sea at this moment. He wanted to check on things inside and observe closely the changes that these pulses were making.


    Yet the moment he tried to do so he was fiercely blocked by a repulsive shield that was formed around his soul.


    "How can this be...?!!" he tried more than once but each time he failed. At last he had to drop doing that, hoping these changes would make his soul stronger and bring more benefits to him.


    At the same time, Gege was having a hard time dealing with the excessive influx of the highly purified energy inside the tower.


    At first she diverted this energy towards the roots of her garden world. The garden world was already her body, and getting it stronger meant she could grow more powerful.


    Yet after a few minutes she was astonished to see that even her hungry body couldn''t accommodate such immense power.


    That created a deep dilemma for her. She knew she couldn''t tolerate such a growing amount of fierce power inside her body for too long or else she would definitely get hurt or even worse.


    "Should I help you then?" she turned her gaze upon the sacred tree of mirrors, asking her for help.


    And the tree didn''t deny such a generous offer of course.


    Yet after a few more minutes, even the tree itself couldn''t help in taking all the extra energy inside her. In fact she could only absorb small pieces from time to time, leaving most of this energy inside Gege''s body.


    ''This won''t work,'' she started to be terrified of the odds she was facing. ''I should use it then.''


    The next moment she started to guide part of this power back to Arthur''s golden pearl. She watched him during his ascension a couple of times already.

 Chapter 786: Lets Have A Party, Shall We?

    He always circulated his energy while absorbing more. Yet when she tried to do that, she was instantly blocked by an invisible repulsive power that prevented the tower energy from getting to the golden pearl.


    ''Damn!'' all she could do was to curse in frustration. Yet at this moment something unexpected happened.


    ''Oh, so you can take this energy then? That''s great!''


    Just after the unexpected rejection from the golden pearl to the tower energy, part of this energy moved towards one direction; Arthur''s mind dantian.


    There she saw the stars map shine so brightly before all the energy moving towards it was absorbed without leaving a trace.


    ''That''s good... I need you to keep your gluttony until he finishes,'' she muttered before she diverted all the extra energy towards the star map.


    The star map came just in time to take a burden off her shoulders. Gege had been injured more than once since Arthur acquired her body.


    Yet she never had the chance to really heal herself and even evolve. All that time she was only trying to amend the basic parts of her body and neglect those unnecessary ones.


    However now she had finally the chance to truly heal all of her injuries. To her this was like the second birth.


    So the moment she got freed from all that burden, and most of the extra energy was handled by the tree and the star map; she started to heal everything.


    The garden world was already big, yet she knew the hidden fact about it. If not for her old wounds, this world would have turned into something else.


    So the first thing she did was to heal her body wounds. The wounds ran so deep until they even reached the core, where her soul hid.


    And as she started healing, she also pushed some of the energy inside her soul. The wounds there weren''t that much, yet the last injury left a great scar inside her soul.


    The tower energy started to dissipate everywhere. Like a great river flooding, the tower energy seemed endless.


    Yet as this happened, the situation outside reached the dead bottom point. Amera already lost hope, and for her everything around would turn into nihility the moment that nasty array got activated.


    As Amera lost all hope, she didn''t care even to take a last glance at everyone around. She already was feeling shattering pain in her soul, and if she tried to say goodbye to anyone then that pain would get intensified.


    But...


    "Rumble!"


    The moment where the array was getting near to its activation, and without any warning a thundering rumble occured.


    Amera thought at first it was her imagination, a trick her desperate mind was pulling to push her to reignite her will again with the desire to fight back.


    However the next rumble left her no room for speculation or hesitation.


    This rumble came with a bright shining of silver white light that erupted like an exploding star. At first a spark of light appeared then the entire world was covered with a cloud of light in an instant.


    In front of such a scene, Amera couldn''t help but stand slowly from the ground. She wiped out her tears while feeling an awe towards that unforgettable scene.


    The source came from the tower itself where it emitted a ray of light to the sky. Then like a shooting star, it exploded into tiny and endless fragments of light that rained down on everything around forming a dome of long silver white lines.


    And in front of all that she felt so tiny. She felt insignificant like she was worth nothing in front of this phenomenon.


    "Wow! Is this how we are going to die?" she muttered to herself. "It''s beautiful!" she couldn''t help herself from admiring this, even if that meant that her life would cease to exist the next moment.


    Yet contrary to her expectations, nothing bad happened after.


    She didn''t feel pain or weakness at all when these spots of light fell over her. In fact she felt refreshed, as if her lost energy was partially restored.


    But the most shocking moment to her happened when the light faded away and everything returned to normal.


    "Is this... it?" she turned around to spot the shocking faces of the lycans standing motionless and in awe like her. Their faces told her one thing, they never expected this to happen.


    "''Is this all?" this time she couldn''t help but laugh, laugh out loud and take out all the frustration and depression she just felt. All the negativity accumulating inside turned into an energy to laugh.


    And that seemed to enrage all the lycans around.


    "Shut up!" the one who seemed to be their leader spoke in a rude and rough way to her. She gazed at him yet she didn''t stop laughing.


    "You did all this and came to my world just to make a light show? C''mon... I never thought you were so funny before."


    She kept laughing and the lycans all around gathered slowly with sunk faces. The taste of their failure was so bitter that they didn''t know what else to do but to make Amera shut up forever.


    "We have to kill them all," the leader turned his head and gazed up at the distant fight going on between the forces of him and the forces led by Doaf and Amera. "We have to vent out our frustration and failure."


    Amera was still laughing, yet she took out her spear. That made everyone take a step back, but the next thing she did was unexpected.


    She fixed it into the ground and used it as a standing stick. She leaned over it as she gazed at the faces around her with her laughter never ceased to show up. "C''mon, we should have a party."


    "And a feast as well," the leader said in a sarcastic way.


    "Yeah, I agree," yet Amera missed the point as she kept laughing, "at least your visit here won''t be in vain."


    "Indeed, especially if this happened on the honor of your dead body," the leader raised his hand, "go and kill her, then kill everyone around."


    The next moment everyone around roared before they jumped over Amera.


    Amera was only laughing all this time, acting as if she had some sort of shocking brain damage.


    Yet when they jumped on her like hungry wolves, she instantly vanished.


    "Where did she go?" the leader didn''t care about his injured lycans as he searched around looking for Amera.


    Yet he couldn''t find a single trace of her anywhere.

 Chapter 787: The Tables Are Turned

    ***Special Note: Thanks for Ryujen75 for his exceptional support to the novel by gifting Golden Tickets to it. I''m really excited to write more chapters now. Thanks also for Freedom_Crest and Bad_Wolf_8055 for their support. These chapters are dedicated for them***


    The lycan leader looked around but no traces of Amera could be seen. His small army of lycans seemed to grow restless at this moment.


    Their sudden loss of their biggest weapon turned everything upside down for all of them. Yet he felt unease towards Amera... Towards everything else.


    "Woosh!"


    Just as he was lost in his own thoughts, a strange sound appeared. Just at the place Amera vanished just now, that sound came from that spot.


    The lycans were already grouped over each other. They tried to get a hit over Amera but they only got thin air and each other the next second.


    But as this strange sound happened, a weirder thing occurred. A giant portal appeared and it kept expanding without showing an end.


    "What is going on?" the leader couldn''t ignore this anymore. He even had to retreat a couple of tens of meters to avoid the bombardment of his men out because of this portal.


    Instead of a normal answer, he got a shocking one.


    "Roar!"


    It was such a terrifying roar that even he felt numb and weak all of sudden. He felt helpless, like standing in front of a mighty monster.


    And he was absolutely right in his feelings.


    "Roar!"


    The next roar seemed louder and clearer, as if it came just next to him. In front of him, a gigantic octopus-like monster appeared.


    At first gigantic tentacles appeared dancing in the air from the portal before the thick and giant head passed through followed by the gigantic body.


    It became clear now that the monster which wreaked havoc at their forces from before just appeared now.


    And the lycan leader felt his heart sink inside his legs.


    "Roar!"


    The third roar came as a declaration of the dominance of that monster. In the next minutes many lycans around were smashed into jelly by the terrifying force of the tentacles.


    And that wasn''t all.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    All of a sudden hundreds and even thousands of portals opened all of sudden. Around the leader and his army of lycans these portals started to pop out of nowhere.


    And the nightmare just started like that.


    "If I were you, I would lay down my weapons and accept my fate," all of sudden the sound of Amera appeared. It wasn''t that far or near, as she appeared from one of the portals that was just next to the tower.


    Amera appeared out of the portal sound and healthy. Her face showed a smug smile, one that a fated enemy would give to his sworn foe after finally making him fall for his deadly trap.


    And that was exactly what that leader felt towards the current situation.


    Without knowing why, the tables turned around. He came here holding the upper hand, and now he was the one being squashed under the heavy rock that Amera rolled over his chest.


    "Surrender!" Amera repeated her order with another form, a single word was enough to sum everything up.


    "Never!" Yet the lycans'' leader seemed to be far more stubborn than she initially thought.


    "Just the answer I wanted to hear," Amera showed a vicious expression over her face before suddenly shouting, "you heard the man, let''s put an end to their misery boys!"


    The next instant the portals all over the place vanished. It seemed like they were there for show. Yet before that leader and other lycans could heave a breath of relief, the portals appeared once again in different places.


    And this time they didn''t stand there empty.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    All of a sudden a large number of mechas and mages appeared from these portals. They appeared in places not well defended by the lycan army down on the ground.


    And so in this short first wave of attacks, a lot of lycans lay on the ground either dead or injured.


    "Surrender or die!" Amera hated to repeat herself like this, but she got orders to push as many of them to surrender to her.


    "Never!" the leader clenched his fists before shouting, "regroup, come together now!"


    Yet the next instant the portals he was ready to fight against vanished, and then they appeared at other places. The same thing happened a couple more times before Amera changed her calling.


    "Abandon your pathetic leader," she shouted, "surrender and keep your lives. It''s not a big thing to be defeated today, but you''ll lose everything if you die."


    "Don''t listen to her poisonous words," the leader hurriedly shouted, "keep standing men, we either kill them or die in the process."


    "Listen to his madness," Amera didn''t feel angry or annoyed at all, "despite being surrounded and outnumbered, you are asked to die for nothing. Drop your weapons now and pass into the portals without hesitation."


    Her shouts caused enough stir inside the ranks of the distressed and disorganized lycans. The leader tried to persuade them not to surrender, yet the calm and silent portals that appeared next to the groups of frightened lycans posed the greatest attraction temptation to all.


    "I surrender, don''t kill me," it started with one frightened lycan. The moment he shouted these words he jumped instantly towards the nearest portal after throwing off his weapon to the ground.


    And as one fell down, others followed. It was like dominoes, one fell and took everyone with him.


    "Stand up men, fight for our great lycan clan honour!" the leader kept shouting and screaming, yet his words held no weight at all.


    Especially when they were threatened with merciless monster and deadly traps of portals that ejected lethal attacks from their enemies.


    It wasn''t a surprise for most of the surviving lycans to choose to live instead of sacrificing everything for a worthless cause to them.


    "In the end not everyone is putting his or her life underneath anything," Amera slowly said while she pointed towards the leader and a small lot of lycans who kept loyal and faithful to their cause, "kill them."


    The order came and the terrifying monster instantly shifted its focus towards this small group. There were still many lycans pouring out from the hidden world they used here.

 Chapter 788: The Way It Happened!

    ***Special Note: Thanks for <<<>>> for his exceptional support to the novel by gifting Golden Tickets to it. I''m really excited to write more chapters now. This chapter is dedicated for him***


    However Amera knew now she cracked their hearts. Only that stubborn leader and his small group of loyalists were all that remained between her and victory.


    Killing them would secure victory for her, and she was right to think so.


    However seeing their leader and their superior commanders getting butchered in front of their eyes made many angry.


    So it wasn''t a surprise for a few hundreds to start retaliating. Yet Amera didn''t care at all. The portals were ready to meet those poor ones.


    The attacks that came out of these portals made it clear that no matter what others felt, they couldn''t change the outcome.


    This was their defeat, and they had to accept such bitter facts without objection. Or else they would end up rotting in these lands a few days from now.


    "Keep fighting!'''' The leader was really something. In front of this terrifying monster he managed to last for ten whole minutes. He kept shouting and encouraging the fantasy army he thought he had, and in the end he fell to the ground while the monster issued the last roar of victory in this fight.


    "This war... It''s our win!" Amera couldn''t believe herself while saying these words. That leader was really strong and she suddenly felt blessed and lucky not to directly fight him one on one.


    If so then things wouldn''t end up the way they did just now. Or perhaps this would be their victory but she wouldn''t be alive to witness it.


    "Go inside the portals now," Amera shouted as she knew this was still not over, "if you resisted then don''t blame me for killing you."


    The remaining lycans seemed truly shocked by the scene of their brave leader getting killed this way. Many watched how brazely that leader fought against such a terrifying monster.


    And that puts some regret inside their souls, but nothing more.


    No one was foolish enough to try and take that monster alone, or even in a group, or even in an army.


    That monster was something no one here could stand a chance against.


    "Roar!"


    The monster roared and that was enough to jolt everyone awake. Their bodies involuntarily trembled before they dragged their legs to enter the portals.


    Amera stood beside Arthur who was standing there motionless. His body was shining for a long time already and seemed to be united with the tower itself.


    "I never thought we could do it," she slowly muttered, "or you can do it..."


    She had conflicted emotions right now inside herself. She knew better than anyone else that today''s victory wouldn''t come if not for Arthur.


    An entire mighty clan trapped inside their homeland couldn''t do a thing, and one outsider who came from a lowly world did all the difference.


    She was inwardly shocked, but also grateful and happy of such a result.


    "My decision wasn''t wrong," she felt warm tears running down her cheeks. She hurriedly wiped them out before Doaf came from far towards her.


    "Did we...?" he paused and gave her a deep glance.


    "What do you see?" she smiled before pointing towards Arthur, "all thanks to your young master."


    Doaf glanced at the bright body of Arthur before sighing. "I don''t know how my grandmaster found such a monster in a lower realm, but I''m glad he did."


    "Me too," Amera nodded and the two started to supervise over the last step in their victory. They ordered the remaining forces to seal the area and start to rest.


    And she didn''t forget to write back to her grandmaster, telling her the great news of this victory.


    As for what actually happened, it was a mere stroke of luck for all these events to coincide together at the perfect timing.


    When Amera was already losing all hope, Gege had experienced a marvellous opportunity.


    The tower provided a pure form of high power, yet what she didn''t count for was the fact that she already had a large amount of the golden power from her dealing with Arthur.


    She even used the golden energy countless times when Arthur used his technique. She got many benefits from this, and this one topped them all.


    The moment her soul got in touch with the tower energy, an interaction occured. It was like two complementing forms of energies met together, led into a reaction that gave birth to a superior form of energy.


    That was what exactly happened to Gege''s soul. Her soul got a huge boost that she never expected, and in the middle of this she got an ascension.


    That gave birth for that bright silver white pulse of light and energy. To those watching from outside, they mistook this all happening from the tower.


    However the true source of such a phenomenon came from Arthur''s body himself. As he was standing a few inches away from the tower, people mistook this as if it came from the tower and not from Arthur.


    The first and most valuable thing that Gege gained from this was the ability she once lost... to summon as many portals as she wanted.


    In addition to that the ability itself got upgraded. She could now summon portals on a much widers scale than before. And the number increased exponentially as well.


    The first thing she did after getting such a fortuitous encounter was to scan the surroundings. The first thing she noticed was how bad the situation was.


    So she didn''t hesitate to deliver a message to Amera. Amera seemed stupefied for a moment before she started acting weird.


    Gege asked her to stall for time and make them come at her in large numbers. Gege didn''t want to spoil the new weapon Arthur had before she arranged everything.


    So as Amera started to annoy the lycans, Gege started to connect with the monster. She only said one thing, Arthur was about to lose and die and with it she also would die.


    However the monster was far stubborn than what Gege initially thought!

 Chapter 789: It Isnt Over!

    ***Special Note: Thanks for <<<>>> for his exceptional support to the novel by gifting Golden Tickets to it. I''m really excited to write more chapters now. This chapter is dedicated for him***


    The monster didn''t agree at first until Gege explained further and even made her touch a wisp of this energy from the tower through one portal.


    And then the monster had to accept to return into the garden world and not run towards the Golam lake.


    Then Gege gave further instructions to the scattered forces of Arthur and Doaf''s. As she finished all this, she only had to wait until Amera was attacked by the enraged lycans before she dragged her out of there using the portal.


    No one suspected anything as they were already consumed by their rage. As Amera entered the garden world, Gege had to only manipulate the strings with outstanding perfection until the lycans were killed or surrendered.


    As this all happened by luck, Arthur didn''t yet know anything about it. In fact the task he thought to be a piece of cake turned out to be quite challenging. It wasn''t that easy to make the golden pearl energy take the last leap towards ascension.


    He kept rotating the energy around his body, in his meridians and blood veins yet in the end he felt there was something missing.


    He knew his golden pearl was ready for the first major breakthrough, yet every time he tried to push it to take that leap he failed.


    And the more he failed the more frustrated he became.


    Things seemed to be at dead end here. He tried to feel the energy and closely revise their rotation path, yet he found nothing he could have missed.


    "Then what is it?"


    He was very frustrated right now. He was this close to make the golden pearl take the leap, yet he felt as if it was miles away.


    "What did I miss?" he kept asking him this question while being isolated inside the golden pearl. His consciousness was already there for a long time.


    He couldn''t hear anything from the outside, or even the sounds of the three beings inside his mind.


    He tried to calm down himself and think in a different way. At first he revised how he used to break through his cultivation base and the dragonair power. The more he thought about that the more puzzled he became.


    "There are a lot of differences there," he couldn''t find anything to link between the two. Yet when he muttered these words he suddenly found something.


    "But... This breakthrough used the usual way of the cultivation world," he slowly muttered while feeling what he needed was just at the next corner.


    He just needed to keep walking down this pass without any hesitation. "So this is supposed to end up with a breakthrough, but it isn''t..." he paused, "no, this is totally wrong."


    He suddenly recalled the words of the golden dragon before he started the ascension. "The golden pearl is formed from the two energies, so I have to take pieces of both to complete the breakthrough," he muttered in realization before adding:


    "The cultivation breakthrough gave me that circulation pattern... then about the dragonair path should I expect to enter another world?" he hesitated at this moment.


    He knew that leveling up his dragonair power was a tricky thing. He even tried to avoid doing it for such a long time because of this.


    He couldn''t control where he would go, or whom he would fight, and even the time he would spend there. Last time it took him weeks to get out from there.


    What he experienced as mere minutes were counted as weeks in the real world. That made him worried from his next upgrades.


    "No, this can''t be the case," he didn''t believe that upgrading the golden pearl would need him to go to another dimension. "I think I''m missing something... What is it?"


    He finally felt more sure about this when he said it. This was the thing missing from the start. He had to find it now or else he wouldn''t be able to ascend.


    As he couldn''t find any hint in what he had, he tried to rethink and recall the feeling he had when he broke through his dragonair power.


    Yet as he didn''t do this often, not like the cultivation breakthrough he was already used to from his past life, it took him quite a long time before he could find what he wanted.


    "That''s it... I can''t believe it''s that simple!"


    When he thought about the process many times in his mind, he finally noticed what he missed.


    To break through he had to circulate the energy inside his vessels then he would trap it.


    Usually when he did that, he would end up transforming from a human into a dragon. However whenever he broke through, he would trap this energy and not allow it to transform him.


    And then he started to check his circulating golden energy. "As I expected... they are entering and baptizing my body," he slowly said before he realized what to do.


    However he didn''t immediately do it. He knew after he would do so, the benefits he was getting now for his body and soul would be interrupted and might be lost.


    So he didn''t hurry to do anything at all. In fact he decided not to take this last leap until he was absolutely sure that the energy wouldn''t give him any more benefits.


    And so instead of his earlier frustration, he became truly grateful for what he missed.


    Or else he would have missed a great chance, one that might only come once in his lifetime.


    What worried him though was the outside battle. "I hope they can endure for longer," he prayed.


    He knew if one enemy managed to pass through all the defenses around him and interrupted this, he wouldn''t only lose this chance but even his life along as well.


    Yet whatever bad thoughts he had, he couldn''t even come closer to what really happened outside. So he kept himself waiting, while letting his body and soul be showered by this special form of energy and get stronger.


    The more his body absorbed more of such energy, the sturdier it became. Arthur felt that his muscles were being replaced with a special form of ore.


    Something he never imagined to see except after crossing the immortal threshold at the cultivation world. Even doing so wouldn''t bring him such benefits, at least on level of quantity and quality.


    As for his soul, he tried again to see what was going on inside his soul sea but he was blocked. "Damn! I just want to take a peek," he was frustrated by this invisible shield, yet he calmed down himself later on.


    He knew that shield wouldn''t be there without a proper reason.


    As he waited, things outside started to heat up again.


    It all started with the response letter Aemie sent to Amera. And again it was a short one, filled with bad news.


    "Those traitors ran away a couple of hours ago. My best guess is they are on the way to you. Be careful, I''m sending my army to you now."


    Amera couldn''t help but crush the bird''s wing by her hands and not the usual fire.


    "What''s wrong?" Doaf asked as this seemed out of ordinary, especially after such great victory.


    Amera was about to speak up but another bird''s wing came to stop her.


    "Ah, don''t forget to kill all the traitors you got."


    And that made Amera sigh and feel conflicted. After all any prisoners were now confined inside the garden world. She didn''t have any jurisdiction over that, and she couldn''t even touch a single hair off them without Arthur''s permission.


    And Arthur was still immersed in what he was doing, leaving her with nothing but tied hands.


    "Is it this bad?" Doaf couldn''t help but ask.


    "Don''t even mention it," Amera could only take a deep breath before adding, "the war isn''t over. We have new guests coming hot at us as we speak."


    And her words made Doaf raise his eyebrows before laughing.

 Chapter 790: Lets Prepare A Grand Party

    ***Special Note: Thanks for <<<>>> for his exceptional support to the novel by gifting Golden Tickets to it. Also great thanks for <<<>>> for his great support by gifting Golden Tickets to the novel. I''m really excited to write more chapters now. This chapter is dedicated for the two of them***


    "Do you have any info regarding them?" Doaf amusingly asked, "like their numbers, their identity, their strength, and approximately how long before they reach here."


    Amera took a deep breath before answering with the few she knew, "they are those traitors who wreaked havoc inside the city."


    "They ran away?" Doaf was surprised as he raised one eyebrow when heard that.


    "My grandmaster said they all turned around and ran away," she said, "and she didn''t know why until I sent her a bird''s wing just now."


    "Hmm... Interesting," Doaf played with his chin with his index and thumb before adding, "how long since that happened?"


    "Couple hours ago," Amera answered, "they should be on their way here."


    "That''s... strange," Doaf seemed quite puzzled by this, "we just hit here an hour ago. That means they knew about our plans and anticipated our victory."


    "Oh," Amera realized the mistake here, "perhaps they acted like a failsafe measure, just in case we did something unexpected."


    "Like... winning the lycans here?" Doaf couldn''t help but laugh, "yeah, sounds typical thinking for someone paranoid of us."


    "Or someone who had a lot to lose if we succeeded," Amera added another possibility, "whatever the reason is, we have to prepare a warm grand welcoming party for them."


    Doaf smirked evilly before saying, "that''s exactly what I have in mind. What do you think? Should we host it here?"


    "My grandmaster is already on the move," Amera said, "and she could be very fast if she is impatient."


    Doaf gave her a questionable glance before she added:


    "It''s better to welcome them earlier, far away from here."


    She turned around to see the shining star Arthur turned into, "at least we can''t risk anything funny while he isn''t finished yet."


    "Yeah," Doaf nodded, "you got a point here."


    He then turned around before pointing towards the direction of a far mountain. "We can use that as a feast place, what do you think?"


    "It sounds cool," she nodded, "but it''s not on the route for those traitors."


    "We can simply send an invitation card," Doaf sneered and she could only laugh as she nodded.


    "I like that idea more and more," she said, "alright, let''s go and prepare our welcoming party."


    "What about him?" Doaf stopped her before adding, "what about here?"


    "Well," Amera motioned with her head towards the terrifying octopus monster, "I doubt anything could touch him with that beast around."


    Doaf glanced in hesitation for a few moments towards that monster before he decided to leave part of his forces behind.


    After all, what Arthur was doing now would determine the final outcome of this prolonged war.


    The two got separated for an hour before they regrouped again. Each led their surviving forces towards the mountain miles away from here.


    Despite all that fight, the faces of the combined forces showed their determination and excitement for that fight.


    That recent overwhelming victory refreshed their souls and made them feel invincible. It was a very sweet intoxicating feeling which made them forget about their losses and even their wounds.


    "We should send out our invitation cards now," Amera said as they drew closer to that mountain peak, "if my calculations are right, they should be two hours away from us."


    "This fast?" Doaf was surprised, "I thought they might take four to five more hours to arrive."


    "Don''t forget we came all this way through fighting," she reminded him, "but they will only run straight towards here."


    "Makes sense," Doaf nodded, "a hundred of each force, what do you think?" he turned around and glanced at the forces the two led.


    The number dwarfed from tens of thousands to barely ten thousand mage. If not for the forces Doaf held secured inside his hidden world, this number wouldn''t even exceed a couple of thousands at most.


    "Well... Don''t be stingy," she laughed, "we have to welcome our guests in a grand way."


    "Don''t tell me we are going to send everyone off," he chuckled while adding, "this is the grandest way I can think of."


    "No, a thousand each is enough," Amera said, "they will get them the invitation and guide them towards our way."


    "Good," Doaf then checked the mountain in front of him. It wasn''t that grandiose or something, only its peak rose a couple of hundred of meters off the surface.


    For him he would prefer to call it a hill, a slightly giant one to be fair.


    "What do you have in mind for the feast?" he asked while pointing towards some caves, "should we prepare these for their stay?"


    "Indeed," she nodded, "our guests should always be comfortable in their stay here. Good and spacious rooms like these will be excellent."


    Doaf nodded in contempt before asking, "what about some fireworks?"


    "They are mandatory," Amera nodded, "also we need many protective arrays. It would be rude if they got attacked or injured under our protection."


    "Yeah, it will be mean of us to neglect that point," he laughed and she joined him in laughing out loud.


    The two seemed to enjoy their preparations while their trusted men kept their silence while exchanging silent glances between each other.


    They never saw their superiors this excited about a fight for a long time already.


    "Alright, let''s send our envoys out first," Doaf said, "then we will get ourselves busy preparing for this grand party."


    Amera evilly smirked before adding, "I bet it will be the party of the century."


    "I feel the same as well."


    The two laughed together before each started to arrange their ranks. In less than ten minutes, two thousand mages flew fast towards the direction of the city while holding one message only.


    An invitation to come here and join the fun the two started organizing with the help of their men.


    Amera didn''t forget to inform Aemie about their plans. As Aemie read the bird''s wing, she couldn''t help but laugh before writing back to Amera.


    "Let''s accelerate boys," she shouted at her army of mages around, "or else we will miss a great party ahead of us."

 Chapter 791: Ameras Ultimate Technique

    The army marching at them didn''t take long before appearing on the horizon. It was like a locust of hungry wolves, running without rest to one end... Their end!


    "They accepted the invitation with such excitement," Doaf stood by Amera''s side as the two oversaw the incoming army from the top of the mountain.


    "Our boys did a great job," Amera nodded in contempt while seeing a small group of mages running as fast as they could towards her.


    Compared to the grand army behind, compared to the endless horizon, this group of mages looked so tiny in their eyes.


    "We need to be ready," Doaf started to move fast, descending from the top to the midway of the mountain.


    During the past few hours, all the mages here turned this mountain into a grand fortress, one that would stand against armies and not only one.


    "I''ll stay here," Amera shouted without turning her back to the incoming army. That was a grand scene to behold, and inside she felt deeply worried from the result of this war.


    She already got in touch with her grandmaster. Aemie was racing time to catch up. She even ditched the main army and led a group of elites to travel so fast towards here.


    She would take roughly one hour to reach them, and that meant they only needed to endure for such time.


    "I hope you can end this by then," she stole a glance towards the direction of the tower. From her location, she could easily spot the tower like a weathered tree rising from a crack in rocks.


    And this tiny thing appearing like a dried up branch carried the fate of the entire planet and all the lives inside.


    The army didn''t take more than ten minutes to arrive at the foot of the mountains. The group they sent originally was two thousand, yet only a handful of hundreds returned.


    She didn''t need to wonder about what happened to the rest, despite this paining her a little.


    "Prepare for battle!" Doaf''s strong voice echoed from his lower position while she could already hear the clanging sounds of weapons.


    This war... it all came down to this confrontation. Few thousand had to stop an army of tens of thousands, or even more.


    "Attack!"


    This shout didn''t come from Doaf or his army, but from the traitors army.


    The first thing she and Doaf noticed was the presence of faces different from the cauldron clansmen.


    "So you brought more filthy lycans with you, huh?" Amera sneered before she took out her spear. "Everyone is lashing themselves to save my world, my people. It would be a shame if I didn''t do the same."


    She didn''t resign to stay up there for no reason. She could see everything around for miles, and so she could easily spot what she wanted to kill.


    "Here you are!"


    As the first waves rushed towards the mountain, they all got fried by the dense arrays laid by the opposing army.


    Sounds of bombardment echoed while the traitor and lycans combined army kept pushing forward. They tried their best to penetrate through the thick veil of the arrays, yet they failed.


    "Keep pushing forward!"


    More shouts came from a certain spot, the one that Amera just spotted.


    "To kill an army, you have to start with their generals first," she instantly pointed her spear towards the direction of that spot before she started to perform a special technique of her family.


    "I''m light," she deeply muttered, "I''m fire," she slowly added, "I''m the wrath of gods on anything living!"


    The next instant she merged with her spear. For everyone watching her from both sides, she did something usual.


    Yet what happened next wasn''t usual at all!


    Instead of going towards the ground like she used to do, she headed towards the sky. The moment she rose high up, the sky turned dim as a large amount of dark clouds appeared out of nowhere.


    For those watching this from down below, they had the feeling that all these clouds were given birth from Amera''s shining body.


    Or it came from the spear.


    No matter the reason, they stood there in awe while watching the birth of thick arcs of lightning in the depth of these clouds.


    It was like a beast was rumbling up there, twisting in rage and discontent.


    For her enemies this looked quite intimidating, and some even had shaky legs for no proper reason.


    Yet what came down next proved their instincts to be frightened was true.


    All of sudden thick tongues of lightning descended upon them. Thunder long curved arms landed over the ground, touching everyone standing there and turning them into a poof of smoke.


    No one was spared from such torment. Not even those who were so lucky enough to stand outside the region getting hit constantly by this strange thunder.


    It was like thunder adored this region and kept hammering over it one time after another without any stop.


    Very horrifying silence prevailed while this happened. There was no explosive sound, no rumbling or even a hiss. Silence prevailed over everyone here, turning this place into an area of ancient graveyard.


    "Phew, this was fun," yet no matter how strong the technique was, it didn''t continue for more than five minutes.


    Once it ended, Amera returned to her spot where she swayed a little. Pulling such a technique wasn''t that easy at all.


    She had to lean over the ground using her spear so she wouldn''t fall. Yet her ashen white face showed a triumphant look... She did what she wanted and exterminated the heads of this grand army alongside thousands others.


    "Attack!"


    The first one to regain his composure was Doaf. As someone seen in high regard by his grandmaster, he knew this was an ultimate technique done by Amera.


    And as any ultimate technique in the broad universe, this one was scary and deadly, and also quite taxing over the body of its user.

 Chapter 792: Drum Drum

    Doaf knew Amera wouldn''t be of any use from now on. Perhaps that was the reason why she preferred to let him lead the army and be in charge of everything while she kept watching him from the side.


    For a moment he felt some frustration from her attitude, yet he never complained. He wasn''t doing all this for her, but for him; for his young master.


    However when he saw this ultimate technique he finally understood. She wasn''t acting arrogant, yet practical and far sighted.


    "It''s a blessing your grandmaster has someone like you loyal to her," Doaf stole a short glance to the peak where he saw her standing erect with the help of her spear.


    "And yet you refuse to show any weakness to anyone," he sighed as he was quite sure she must be worn out at the moment.


    Even standing up like this would take every ounce of strength to pull, plus all her will as well.


    As he shouted at his mages, they all were jolted awake much earlier than their stupefied enemies.


    The strike Amera just landed took most of their leaders, leaving the main body of the grand army paralyzed.


    And then hell opened its doors right upon their faces.


    Doaf''s order was executed swiftly. This point held a lot of debate between him and Amera before the two settled on a unified solution.


    Amera wanted the mages to leave the mountain once the opportunity presented itself and start killing the enemies.


    As for Doaf, he wanted to play safe and keep them on the mountain slope, attacking from far. This way the losses wouldn''t be great if the enemies regained their composure or started to retaliate.


    Eventually they agreed to select an elite task force, formed of almost one fourth of their entire forces.


    As the opportunity was ripe in front of their hands, Doaf ordered them to extend and reach out for it.


    And so those few thousands started to descend the mountains, gaining momentum while others around started to use long range arrays.


    And even before they could kill anyone, those on the mountain body killed many using their deadly arrays.


    "Attack!" Doaf kept shouting like he lost it, "don''t stop activating the arrays!"


    He knew this rare chance wouldn''t last forever, or even would appear once again so easily.


    He knew one of those ultimate techniques, but he wouldn''t even think about using it now.


    Amera wasn''t in a condition to allow her to fight anymore. That left the entire army on his shoulders. If he used his ultimate technique he would lose his ability to lead them and thus the army would be headless.


    And that was the last thing he or Amera would want to see.


    The first waves of the array attacks cleared a lot of enemies around the defensive dome. That made the rush of the task force easier to crush the remaining enemies before sweeping the rear enemies.


    They were moving unstoppable, flying and killing, while their enemies were still in shock.


    However this was destined not to last long. The lycans and the traitors from the cauldron clan were able to shake off the shock in a few minutes.


    However they were still in disarray. There was no suitable leader to lead this huge army and that made the role of the task force easier.


    And they kept pushing forward, killing anyone in their way.


    "Drum!"


    All of a sudden the sound of a drum appeared. It came weak at first, coming from somewhere in this chaos outside the mountain.


    "Drum!"


    "Drum!"


    Yet the sound repeated itself again, and this time in a higher tone. Doaf raised his head and tried to spot the location of this sound, yet Amera was the first one to spot its source.


    "Reinforcements!" all she could do was to shout in alarming screams. Doaf''s heart sank in his legs as the worst case he didn''t want to see was happening right in front of his eyes.


    He hurriedly spotted the location where the drums kept rising up from. There he noticed a weak flashing of light amidst all the giant bodies of the lycans.


    "So you have another backup of generals¡­ That''s bad!" Doaf slowly muttered while a familiar face appeared right in front of his eyes¡­ the face of that old lady from before, Aemie''s aunt.


    She wasn''t alone. One her side lined a large number of fierce looking lycans and cauldron traitors.


    From the first glance Doaf could tell they were veterans. "Not only generals, but also the leader of this rebellion is also here¡­"


    Doaf moved his eyes next towards the couple thousands of his task force. They were now deeply marching in the enemy lines, unable to be withdrawn without losing them all.


    "Not under my watch!" he instantly took out a bird''s wing and wrote something to their leader.


    However it seemed that the old lady knew what he was trying to do, and in return she raised her hand high in the air and waved in a strange way towards him to attract his attention.


    Then she passed her hand over her neck, a threatening signal for killing him and everyone else.


    Then she waved her hand and those around her instantly vanished from Doaf''s sight.


    "That''s bad!" he couldn''t help but mutter in worry before moving his eyes towards one location¡­ Amera''s.


    As he expected, the sight of this traitor this near to her made her lose her calm. Amera let her spear away from the ground as she withhold to move towards the edge of the mountain peak she was standing at.


    She was ready to sacrifice her life at this moment and take the life of the leader of traitors.


    "Stop!" Yet Doaf was faster and reached her in time to stop her from doing this.


    He held her body in his arms while pushing her backward, off the edge.


    "Let me go!" yet she was stubborn and screamed in anger, "she is right there! Just down there! Let me go and kill that bitch!"


    "It''s no use," Doaf didn''t let her off, "you are too weak to pull that technique again."

 Chapter 793: Moment Of Despair

    "I don''t care!" Amera gazed directly at his eyes in defiance. She knew what would happen if she used her ultimate technique again in such a condition.


    "I can''t let you throw your life away," Doaf didn''t listen to her, "plus she was so close to your grandmaster¡­ Didn''t it occur to you that she already knew about your technique? That she is provoking you for a reason?"


    Amera looked at him in surprise before her face returned to its stubborn look. "I don''t care," she firmly said, "I have to try, even at the cost of my life. You know that killing her will stop everything!"


    "Not necessarily," Doaf shook her head, "she is just a pawn, not the real mastermind behind all this."


    "At least the inner war here will be stopped!" she shouted in extreme anger, "at least all my clansmen will fight on one side, not against each other."


    Doaf couldn''t help but sigh.


    "Let me go!" Amera twitched in his firm grip yet she was too weak to even cause his trouble.


    "Chill it out, I won''t let you off."


    "Why?!"


    Doaf glanced deeply in her eyes before he finally said it:


    "My young master¡­ he will be very sad and angry at me if I let you die."


    Amera didn''t expect such an answer. Even her body trembled faintly before her eyes showed her stubborn look again. "Let me go! He doesn''t deserve me if all he could do is to hide at this time!"


    Doaf didn''t listen to her words or let her go. He knew she was trying by all means to break free yet he also knew he had no such time to waste here.


    "If you don''t listen then I have to force you," he raised one hand and was about to put her to sleep when a sudden bang erupted.


    From their high position they could perfectly see the giant dark pillar of light that erupted from that old lady''s location.


    "See? She is going to annihilate all the task force mages!" Amera screamed, "let me go! I will stop her at least!"


    Doaf turned his eyes towards the direction of the task force. He gave them orders to retreat before coming up here, but they couldn''t do that in time.


    They were not entangled in fierce fights with those elite mages who appeared around Aemie''s aunt. They weren''t just leading generals, but also capable warriors.


    In front of Doaf and Amera''s eyes, the task force was getting hit brutally while that giant pillar was about to descend over their heads.


    "Let me go!" Amera kept screaming, "I can stop her! Let me go before it''s too late!"


    Yet Doaf didn''t listen. For him it was a great loss to lose such elite forces of his small army, but it was nothing compared to losing the tigress he was trying to control now.


    "Rumble!"


    Just at this moment another thundering explosion rumbled across the entire battlefield. This time it came from the direction of the tower.


    "What¡­ What''s going on?" Amera turned from extreme anger into a shaking shocked mage.


    "I¡­ Don''t know," Doaf was also shaking from the inside while watching that ray of blue golden light shooting to the sky coming from the tower.


    "Did he¡­ lose control over it?" Amera couldn''t help but think of the worst. It wasn''t only her, even that old lady and her capable generals felt the same.


    She didn''t hesitate to let that pillar dissipate in midair while she threw herself inside the nearby portal. She seemed to prepare this as an escape plan for emergency situations.


    Like getting attacked by Amera''s deadly ultimate technique, or that tower going berserk.


    "Is it over already?" Amera''s body went soft and Doaf knew she wouldn''t be risking her life again. He let her fall on her knees with despair looking over her face.


    "We¡­ tried," Doaf tried to say something to help, "at least we did our best."


    "And?" Amera turned her gaze towards the tower, "everything was in vain!"


    "Rumble!"


    Another explosive thundering noise rumbled again and this time that ray of light exploded. The two saw a mighty wave of energy sweep across the land, coming fast at the mountain and immediately crossing it.


    "This¡­!!!" Yet after a few seconds Amera opened her closed eyes and glanced around in deep shock. "We¡­ are alive!" she screamed in joy while jumping on her feet.


    "This aura¡­ This energy¡­" Doaf was stupefied next to her while she kept muttering this. She moved her gaze towards the direction this pulse wave came from.


    The direction of the tower.


    Meanwhile at the tower, Arthur finally opened his eyes again.


    "Phew¡­ That took so long to occur!"


    He was immersed in ascending his golden pearl energy to the next level. So he didn''t know anything was happening outside.


    After he reached the missing piece in upgrading his golden pearl, he started to wait until all his body and soul got the benefits they could.


    Then he started to act.


    He ceased any influx of energy towards his body and soul. He kept rotating the energy inside his meridians and vessels for long minutes.


    With each cycle he could feel the amount of the energy swelling up in there until at some point he felt he would explode.


    And with his instincts of long experience in breakthrough, he let his energy explode.


    That was the moment when that ray of golden blue light shot at the sky. It came at the perfect time to change the outcome of that battle going under the mountain.


    ''Welcome back!'' Gege was the first to speak, ''You missed a lot.''


    "Thanks," Arthur laughed before he glanced around, "where is everyone?"


    ''Ding! They are fighting against a grand army of lycans and traitors,'' the system said.


    ''They did a great job while you were sleeping,'' the golden dragon said in a joking tone.


    "I wasn''t sleeping!" Arthur said while laughing, "but I can''t leave this tower now, can I?"

 Chapter 794: Brutal Fight

    Arthur took in a large amount of energy from that tower. Either for himself, or for Gege. Despite that, the tower still held a magnificent amount of energy inside.


    ''Ding! I believe the remaining energy can be left for another time,'' the system said, ''Ding! the amount of energy residing inside the tower now can''t pose any threat anymore.''


    Arthur closed his eyes for a long minute as he sensed the amount of energy inside the tower.


    "Yeah, there is a lot less energy in there and they seem to be under control," he opened his eyes slowly, "but it''s a regret to leave such a baby here."


    ''Who said I''ll leave it away from my embrace?'' Gege laughed, ''C''mon, let me take it inside the garden.''


    Arthur felt something was strange about Gege. She was the same old excited one, yet she felt a little¡­ domineering.


    "Can you do that?" he asked before adding, "I mean to control the tower inside you."


    ''Hehehe, you aren''t the only one getting benefits from it,'' Gege said in a cheerful tone, ''I can handle it now. Don''t worry about that.''


    "Rumble!"


    It was the moment when the ray of golden blue light he unleashed to the sky exploded and created that shockwave. Arthur turned around and saw the wave crush anyone that didn''t belong to his side.


    "Amazing!" he couldn''t help but mutter in surprise and amazement.


    ''Your new power has a purifying effect,'' the golden dragon said in envy, ''it has its own will and can differentiate between your enemies and friends based on their souls. Congratulations, you officially gained your first and lethal soul attack!''


    "Soul attack?!!" Arthur was shocked beyond description this time. "Damn! That''s worth everything I did for that energy then," the next moment he laughed in joy before the tower he was touching vanished from his sight like it wasn''t even there.


    ''See for yourself then,'' the golden dragon chuckled, ''go up there and see what happened to your enemies.''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to fly in the air and watch the grand scene of the battlefield below the mountain.


    He saw a grand army being knocked to the ground, while the couple thousand of the task force mages stood erect like nothing just happened.


    "Are they¡­ dead?" Arthur couldn''t help but feel proud and shocked at the same time. He moved his gaze around. Anywhere he spotted had the same scene of knocked down mages.


    ''Well, I wished I could say that,'' the golden dragon still had to tell him the truth, ''but there is a power gap with many enemies here. I doubt you can even kill one fourth of them, or even one fifth.''


    Arthur couldn''t say if he wasn''t accepting such a result or not. He also couldn''t tell how much of this grand army was killed or deeply wounded by his soul attack.


    So far everyone lay on the ground motionless while those standing on his side were deeply shocked by this unexpected turn of events.


    "Gege," Arthur knew this was a golden chance, so precious to let go, "tell them all to attack¡­ They should attack now!"


    ''Got it!''


    Gege instantly used the tree to broadcast his orders to everyone.


    The moment his words were relayed to all, those two thousand mages screamed in victory before they all dispersed around.


    Anyone lying on the ground and in the reach of their weapons were killed without further ado.


    "He¡­ is alive!" Amera stood there motionless for a few moments before a hot tear dropped off her eye. "He did it!" her eyes got cloudy of tears while Doaf laughed.


    "He is my young master," he proudly said, "of course he did it!"


    The next moment Doaf flew fast towards the ground, leaving Amera behind. She stood on the ground with the help of her spear while watching the hazy shadow of Arthur flying in the air far away.


    "Yeah, of course he did it¡­ He is my man after all," she whispered this in a soft tone while a broad smile of pride appeared on her face.


    "Listen up," in the meantime Doaf was flying fast down the mountain while shouting, "all who control the arrays should use them now. Others follow me!"


    Doaf then took out his giant sword before pointing it towards his enemies, "On me!" he shouted in triumph while leading a vaillant charge towards the helpless enemies down below.


    And in the next moment they clashed with those lying dead enemies, killing a large number of them in the first charge alone.


    As their enemies lay motionless on the ground for long minutes, Doaf''s charge caused considerable damage to a broad section of the enemy ranks.


    However in less than five minutes, that old lady appeared once again out of her portal.


    And she wasn''t alone.


    "You surely have many surprises in you, little boy," she turned her head and fixated her gaze upon Arthur.


    Arthur was flying fast around the battlefield, leading his own charge with the help of all mechas, mages, and his deadly monster.


    They alone managed to clear the backlines of the enemy army in this short time. However this seemed not to faze this old lady at all.


    "Come forth," she simply raised her free hand while leaning with the other over her stick, "come out and kill those fools!"


    "Roar!"


    This time mages didn''t only come out of the portal, but many hideous shaped monsters as well. They weren''t any less in size than Arthur''s monster, yet they emitted weaker aura.


    But they were without doubt on par with the rare elites in Doaf and Amera''s army.


    "Kill them all!"


    The old lady seemed quite energetic at this moment as she screamed in joy while waving her hand all around. The portal seemed like an endless abyss, ejecting all kinds of monsters and mages to this world.


    Monsters with fish heads, monsters with bird heads, even monsters with human heads appeared. They were all hungry, craved for human flesh.

 Chapter 795: Defeat!

    Their hatred seemed bottomless and their power was a nightmare to Doaf and his mages. Their unstoppable charge had to cease there, while fighting those weird monsters who came to put an end to their advantage.


    Yet when these monsters tried to stop Arthur, his own monster did its job and killed whatever came its way.


    That slowed down Arthur''s charge for a bit, but he wasn''t affected much like Doaf''s front.


    "Stubborn kid, aren''t you?" the old lady laughed as if she was enjoying this moment. "Let me see how you handle more of them then."


    Arthur saw the portal getting enlarged when the old lady injured her arm and painted it with her blood. Something changed in the portal at this moment, making it shine brighter and look unsettled.


    Then more and more monsters emerged, and all turned their backs to Doaf and his mages and started running towards Arthur.


    "This is bad!" Arthur knew if this continued, his monster wouldn''t be able to stop them anymore.


    His monster was acting like a killing machine, using all its tentacles to kill everywhere around. However this killing machine had capacity and if it got stuck at any point here, Arthur would be endangered.


    ''Use your new technique now,'' the golden dragon said, ''you didn''t acquire it for show y''know.''


    Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before he had an issue to worry about. "What about my golden pearl? Can it sustain the drainage?"


    ''It''s just got leveled up,'' the golden dragon said, ''sure it will sustain. Also it''s a chance to know how much you can drain from each use.''


    "Ok," Arthur nodded while the new herd of monsters was drawing fast at him, "how can I use it?"


    ''The same way you used it before,'' the golden dragon said, ''try to circulate the energy inside your body.''


    "Like I did back when I leveled it up?"


    ''Indeed.''


    Arthur took a deep breath before closing up his eyes and let his consciousness sleep deeply inside his body.


    The moment he reached the golden pearl he was astonished to see its shape now. It was so tiny and small at first, yet now it has turned into a head size at least.


    And it had many fine filaments dancing around, acting on their own.


    The moment he touched these filaments, the golden pearl shook and its energy started to gush out. It moved fast towards his meridians and through his vessels until it filled both.


    Then his entire body shook before the previous ray of golden blue light shot up to the depths of the sky.


    "It''s working," Arthur opened his eyes with a triumphant smile on his face, "and it only took one fifth of the energy."


    ''You can use it five times then,'' Gege said in joy.


    "Can you supplement it?" Arthur hurriedly asked.


    ''Sure, let me try,'' Gege then went into silence and Arthur totally ignored the burst of energy from his released pillar of light.


    He wanted to see if Gege could help him in replenishing the golden pearl.


    "You can," Arthur slowly opened his eyes while gazing up at the knocked down foes all around, "you can replenish up to one tenth of it¡­ not bad."


    Despite it being a small portion, it was still worth celebrating.


    ''I believe I can continue to replenish your energy if given more time,'' Gege seemed to be annoyed and not happy with such a result.


    "At least you''ll help in recharging it after each battle," Arthur tried to give her some comfort, "don''t push yourself too hard."


    ''Humph,'' yet she seemed more stubborn than usual.


    ''Ding! It''s not time to chit chat here,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! your ability will paralyze them for five minutes. Use them wisely!''


    Arthur nodded as he knew his system was right. The next moment he rejoined the killing spree all around while the old lady at the far distance looked quite enraged.


    She clenched the tip of her staff angrily before she painted the portal again with more of her blood. It seemed that what Arthur did got already on her nerves.


    This fight turned into a personal feud with that little boy who came from the lower realms by mistake and dared to challenge her and ruin her plans.


    She took this as an insult to her pride, something she wouldn''t allow at all!


    Plus she also knew the base of all the disasters that happened to her plans so far came from this little kid. Killing him would help her in eliminating a variable, a variable she didn''t see coming and couldn''t predict its action even now.


    "Go kill that fly for me," she shouted in extreme rage and boundless hatred to all the mages and monsters who poured out of the portal.


    Arthur saw all this coming out from the enlarged portal for the second time. The scene looked like an apocalypse just landed in this part of the world.


    The mages and monsters appeared to be like locusts of flies coming with no end from that portal. "How much more did she have in there? An entire planet or what?!!"


    Arthur was shocked and slightly terrified with this scene. If before his only threat was to lose his momentum, now his life was on the brink of extinction here.


    "I won''t let you touch him," yet from far away Amera stood with difficulty while watching what that old aunt of Aemie was doing. She knew if she didn''t interfere now and stop her, Arthur would be in a very dangerous situation.


    A situation that would be beyond salvage.


    Yet as she was about to use her technique again, her body refused. She gushed out a large amount of blood before collapsing on the ground with a weak pulse and strong will to live.


    "Some¡­ Someone¡­ Please¡­ Help¡­" she could only mutter, pray for anyone to be brave enough and interfere to stop her.


    Doaf didn''t hear her or notice what happened just now, yet he knew if he didn''t stop that crazy bitch his young master would be done for.


    He didn''t need anyone to order him before he tried to lead his mages forward. However the more he advanced, the more relentless his enemy became.


    They weren''t those weak fries he used to kill since the start of this war. Each mage, each monster seemed to be on par of his own strength or even slightly better.


    "How the hell did she find all these beasts?!!" he couldn''t help but exclaim in extreme pain, "I need to reach her¡­ I must!" he didn''t care for his life anymore and didn''t even wait for his mages to catch up.


    Like a lone wolf fighting, he darted inside the condensed ranks of his enemies without pause.


    But even with such reckless moves out of his desperation, he couldn''t get that far with cheer will.


    That old lady seemed too far to anyone''s reach at this moment.


    ''Ding! Use your technique again!'' the system screamed in alarming ways, ''Ding! Do it now!''


    Arthur didn''t have anything in his hand to do but to use his technique once more. Like before all his enemies were knocked to the ground and that gave him room to breathe.


    And to Doaf a space to move!


    "On me!" Doaf instantly screamed while trying to use this precious chance to reach that lady. He led his own scattered forces as he regrouped them and moved like a tip of a spear towards her.


    "Fools¡­ you are all fools!" Yet that crazy old lady laughed before another wave of deadly monsters and mages poured out of the portal like nothing just happened.


    "It''s not working," Arthur had to see the bitter reality here. No matter how much he used his technique, he wouldn''t be able to change the final outcome of this war.


    That old lady seemed to have a link to endless reinforcements of freakishly strong mages and monsters. He even considered retreating and regrouping with everyone else.


    However, something told him that if he left this place now he would lose everything. Plus he didn''t guarantee that the remaining forces would be enough to form a proper army out of them.


    "Die!" that crazy loud shout came from that old lady while the swarms of her forces moved right and left, aiming to kill everyone at the same time.


    ''You should retreat now!'' The golden dragon didn''t hesitate to give him the most logical advice at this moment.


    However Arthur didn''t move. Something deep inside his soul warned him from doing that.


    And he decided to trust his gut feeling on this.

 Chapter 796: Something Is Wrong

    And Arthur was right.


    "Seal you filthy hands witch!"


    This sudden shout came all of sudden while the old lady got a sword attack coming from her back.


    She didn''t seem to expect it, and that hit was enough to send her flying midair.


    The connection with her hidden world ceased and the next moment a lady appeared flying in the air.


    Air boiled around her like it was corresponding with her anger. The sword she held in her right hand wasn''t that big, yet it was so sharp.


    It emitted arcs of blue lightning, giving it an eerie feeling.


    No one looked at that sword and didn''t feel the shiver down their spines. And the scariest thing was the fact that this terrifying aura didn''t come from the sword, but from its owner.


    "Aemie," the old lady stood up while feeling pain in her back, "is this how you treat your auntie?"


    "Screw you!" Aemie screamed in deep hatred and anger that even her voice created a shock wave strong enough to knock every single monster or mage around down.


    She was furious, and she seemed ready to put her life on the line to quench that anger.


    "Hahaha, it''s inevitable," the old lady laughed in a mad way, "this world¡­ your pathetic clan is destined to fall."


    "Not under my watch!" Aemie didn''t hurry to attack despite the urge to do that. In return she raised her head high while arching her back.


    "Listen to my words¡­ I will keep her hands off that portal and you need to kill anything coming out of it."


    Her words were perfectly heard by everyone around, friends and foes alike. Her enemies turned to the old lady waiting for their instructions.


    "What are you waiting for?" the old lady laughed before she also flew in the air, "kill every single one of them. Leave this kid to me."


    Aemie sneered before she darted so fast towards her aunt and the two started their own battle.


    "It''s our turn now," Arthur had a change of face the moment Aemie appeared. He knew things shifted towards their favor and all he needed to do wasn''t to run away, but run forward.


    He had to push for his victory and with persistence and patience he would get it¡­ Everyone would.


    Doaf also stopped the suicidal charge he was doing. He instantly retreated and regrouped with his army before they all fought the monsters and mages around.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur suddenly shouted, "use your magic now!"


    ''Leave those fries to me.''


    Gege knew what she was supposed to do. In the next moment her portals appeared all over the place where she kept moving allies from everywhere and scattered them all over the battlefield.


    Even Doaf and his forces got in this gigantic net of her portals.


    After her evolution, she could control portals for a large stretch of land without any problems at all.


    As for Arthur, he wielded his sword once more and started his spree of hunting down mages and monsters.


    His technique seemed a bit stronger than before, yet when he used it he knew where its upgrade lay.


    "I can wound them easier now," he celebrated this, but he didn''t lower his guard at all.


    He knew that the old lady sat her gazes over him. As he glimpsed a couple of times in the fight with Aemei, he knew this old hag couldn''t be underestimated.


    She was strong, fast, and decisive. He saw her sacrifice group of her monsters and mages without batting an eye.


    In return Aemie seemed to struggle a little in dealing with her. He didn''t know why but it seemed age didn''t affect that old lady at all.


    ''It''s all a false facade,'' the golden dragon gave him an explanation without the need to ask for one, ''she is burning her life force in exchange for this immense power and super speed.''


    Arthur understood it instantly, however that meant also another thing.


    "She doesn''t fight to win," he slowly muttered.


    ''Exactly,'' the golden dragon agreed, ''she is trying to waste our time here.''


    Arthur felt something was off. If that old lady wasn''t here to win, then why would she risk her life for a fight with Aemei.


    With her super speed she could easily run away and escape unscathed from here.


    And that simple detail made all the difference at this moment.


    "She is trying to hide something," Arthur realized this fast, "she is having something else going on here."


    ''Ding! I can''t sense anything wrong about her,'' the system was puzzled as Arthur.


    "Wait¡­" Arthur suddenly stopped fighting and started to stand motionless in his place for a few minutes. He didn''t need to say anything to Gege, as the latter worked her magic and made sure nothing would come to harm him.


    In return his eyes were fixated over the fast paced fight that was going on there. For him this fight was something over his level by heavens, yet he didn''t really care about the fight at all.


    He was absorbed by one single thought¡­ That old lady was trying to cover up something.


    "Damn!" At last he could see it. It was present in front of his eyes all this time, in front of everyone''s eyes without noticing anything wrong.


    That old lady¡­ she played them all for fools!


    "How can I seal a portal?" Arthur instantly asked while turning around to assess the battlefield. Everywhere portals appeared and disappeared, carrying all the mages and mechas in this piece of the world to kill their enemies.


    They were doing just fine, yet their enemies seemed endless. Each mage or monster killed, a couple more would appear from that portal.


    And Arthur decided to seal it.


    ''Ding! What''s wrong about that portal?'' the system couldn''t help but ask, ''Ding! I don''t think our current forces can''t buy enough time for the main army of that master to show up.''


    "It would be too late," Arthur hurriedly said, "we need to act, we need to act now!"

 Chapter 797: Tick Tock... Tick Tock...

    ''What''s the hurry for, kiddo?'' the golden dragon couldn''t see what Arthur saw.


    "We¡­ were all played by her," Arthur hurriedly said before asking, "how can I shut down that damn portal? We can talk about it later, not now!"


    Arthur was in the urge to act right now. And the answer came from the only one out of the three to read his thoughts and know what he was thinking about.


    ''You need to jump and touch it,'' Gege said, ''let your blood mix there and then let the rest for me.''


    She said it in a confident tone, a tone Arthur needed right now.


    "I''ll depend on you then," Arthur took a deep breath, "our fate hangs on your actions¡­ you know what to do."


    ''Leave it to me,'' Gege firmly said, ''I won''t disappoint you.''


    ''Can anyone explain to me what''s going on?'' the golden dragon was more restless by their talk, yet Arthur nor Gege said anything back.


    The next moment a portal appeared next to Arthur and he simply jumped into it. The next moment he appeared a couple hundreds of meters away from the portal.


    ''Sorry,'' Gege hurriedly said, ''that portal is so strong and it has something to deal with my portals. I can''t move you towards it.''


    "Do you job then," Arthur didn''t mind that as he spread his wings and started flying as fast as he could.


    And the next moment, many flashes appeared around as Gege moved everyone from the entire battlefield to here.


    They looked surprised by this, yet the next instructions she gave them made them more puzzled.


    ''Secure the portal,'' she said through the tree, ''don''t let anything touch Willy or else we all are going to die!''


    Her words didn''t make any sense, yet the moment they appeared they noticed something.


    "Damn you kid! I''ll make sure to kill you this time!"


    The old lady seemed quite enraged by Arthur''s actions. She instantly moved to block his path, totally neglecting her fight with Aemie.


    Yet the latter didn''t leave her to do whatever she liked. Aemie moved on an equal speed to appear just beside Arthur, and she blocked her sword.


    "I dunno what you are doing," Aemie said amongst her raced breaths, "but I''m sure whatever you are doing is getting on her nerves. Go, I''ll secure your back."


    "Thanks!" Arthur couldn''t say anymore as he knew how tight his time was.


    He ignored the angry screams of that old hag and kept flying fast towards the portal.


    However the old lady wasn''t the only threat he should watch out for.


    The closer he became to the portal, the denser the number of mages and monsters who stood in his path were.


    "Don''t let him touch the portal," the old lady shouted in deep hatred as all her attempts to stop him failed because of Aemie. "Stop him with all your might!"


    This loud scream made everything clear to all. Whatever Arthur was doing was a very crucial thing to their survival. The sense of danger returned to their souls and they understood their part in this war.


    They had to help Arthur get past all those mages and warriors no matter the cost.


    And so the final fight of this war erupted in such a bloody way and in such confined corners without warning.


    Gege didn''t speak yet her hands appeared everywhere. It wasn''t easy controlling all of these portals in such a small space.


    Yet she did a great job while trying to fend off all the existing mages and monsters away from Arthur''s path.


    To do so she had to use her portals, put them in the path of those rushing monsters and mages before she would send them far away from here.


    In the meantime she had to properly use her portals and teleport Doaf and other forces all over the place.


    And she did that brilliantly despite the interruption coming from the portal.


    Her main advantage was Arthur himself. Despite any interference, the portals were linked directly to his body.


    So anywhere he went to she could summon her portals easily there.


    But her space of maneuver was limited, only a hundred meters around Arthur.


    And so she had to do her best to keep Arthur safe and maintain this space enemy free zone all the time.


    So Around Arthur, portals kept flashing all the time. People emerged and disappeared the next moment while flashes of deadly attacks appeared all around him.


    And he only kept pushing forward towards that portal. It was his goal, and he wouldn''t let anything stand between him and that portal.


    "Activate the protective shield! Do it now!"


    The old lady seemed to see his current advancement and knew he wouldn''t be stopped this way. So she screamed while taking a sword hit to her left shoulder in return for that.


    "You should keep your wicked eyes only on me," Aemie waved her sword and cleansed its blade from the blood of her aunt. "Your blood is toxic¡­ everything about you is poisonous!"


    "You should keep your body away from my daughter''s then," the aunt evilly laughed before suddenly asking, "tell me foolish nephew, do you know where my dear daughter is?"


    That sudden question startled Aemie, yet she regained her composure the next moment. "Drop off your mind games with me, I won''t fall for your dirty tricks¡­ Witch!"


    "Hahaha," the old lady laughed, "then let me tell you a secret. Before I led my forces away from your pathetic city, I made sure to bring with me my insurance ticket¡­ and let me tell you she is here."


    Aemie''s face changed for the second time before a ruthless expression appeared on her face. She jumped and tried to hit her aunt''s head with her sword, yet that old lady evaded that attack at the last second.


    "Liar!" Aemie screamed in rage yet the aunt laughed in amusement.


    "Let me tell you another secret, that boy is going to seal and destroy that gate. And if he does that¡­" the old lady paused while shaking off her head, "I wouldn''t recommend him to do that. Or else you will lose your bed lover in return¡­ Forever!"


    "Die!"


    Aemie was infuriated with her aunt''s words and jumped again trying to hit her. The two exchanged brutal bolts before they created a distance between each other.


    The old lady gushed blood out of her mouth all of sudden. She wasn''t hit by any attack yet her wounds on her body got aggravated with what she was doing.


    She was getting closer and closer to her demise, yet her face didn''t show anything but a very evil and vicious expression.


    "She will die if you don''t stop him," the aunt said like a toxic viper, "you need to act now, or else¡­ hehehe, y''know the rest."


    "Liar!" Aemei screamed in pain this time, yet her attacks were all held off by her aunt.


    "I''m going to die, why would I lie about this?" the aunt said amidst their exchange, "you need to hurry, tick tock¡­ tick tock¡­"


    And at this moment, Aemie stood in her place hesitant.


    "Don''t try to make him do it," the aunt spoke her toxic words nonstop, "my daughter, your beloved mistress will die if he does that. You need to hurry, he is just about to reach there¡­ Tick tock¡­ Tick tock!"


    And at this moment, Aemie turned her head and saw Arthur getting so close from the portal with many flashes of portals around alongside bloody fights between the two sides.


    "Tick tock¡­ Tick tock¡­" and the aunt kept muttering her poisonous words without break.

 Chapter 798: Stressful Talk With Aemie

    Arthur on the other hand was pushing his way through a dense pact of mages and monsters. Each step he took seemed to take ages yet he was at least moving forward.


    The portal was drawing so near to him, and yet he felt it was miles far. The area around him kept flashing densely until all he could see now mostly was the silver white portals appearing everywhere with afterimages of people coming in and out from them.


    Sounds of attacks rang all over the place while the dead bodies of those enemies kept piling up in hills. And he flew in the only valley in between them, like the valley of death.


    "Hang on Gege," he kept encouraging his girl, "we are almost there."


    It was less than fifty meters now, yet he couldn''t take a single step forward. It wasn''t a matter of many enemies attacking, but the entire road was blocked by endless bodies of mages and monsters.


    They seemed to throw away their lives and simply crowded together, laying over each other to form a giant dam blocking his path.


    ''You should fly over them,'' the golden dragon instructed,''hurry before they block the sky!''


    Arthur saw Gege adapt and change the arrangement of the portals. Right now not a single enemy pushed his way towards Arthur. They all put this dam as their last line of defense.


    And they started to form a dome shaped meat shield around the portal aiming to hide its entrance from him.


    If they did that, he knew he wouldn''t be able to get to the portal no matter what.


    So he didn''t hesitate to soar higher, fly to a level where he could bypass the dam''s height.


    And during this, the portals gave birth to many mages and mechas as they all lined around the dam and started raining it with their deadly attacks.


    Monsters and mages started to fall like flies from that dam, yet it didn''t even seem to affect it. In fact the dam just kept growing taller and thicker with each passing second.


    "Each second counts!"


    Arthur told himself that while gazing at the curved end of that dam. It was arching fast towards the top of the portal, aiming to cover it and seal it away.


    "I can''t let them do it!" he didn''t hesitate to do the most reckless move here. "Gege¡­ It''s her turn now!" he shouted while flying downward in an oblique curved course like a rocket.


    His aim was and still is only the portal. Yet the dam of meat wasn''t the only thing standing between him and that portal.


    The portal kept flushing out more mages and monsters, and they remained around the portal for a few moments before joining in building their meat dam.


    Arthur didn''t fear the dam, he feared this group of mages and monsters protecting it.


    He knew he could bypass the dam''s growth speed and reach the area beneath it. Yet things would turn ugly from there. He had to prepare for that, and that was where she would appear in the picture.


    ''She is ready,'' Gege finally gave him the green light. He took a deep breath while preparing himself for what was going to happen. Even if he did this right, there was no guarantee for him to escape there unscathed.


    Yet he was the only one who could do this.


    He descended like an arched thunderbolt, trying to evade the rapidly growing edge of the meat dam. In a matter of seconds he already bypassed that edge and finally entered the space below.


    And the world was filled with darkness beneath the meat dam, like there was no hope for light to be there anymore.


    Even the portal started to dimly lit with strange crimson light, giving the place a more eerie feeling.


    "I have to do it!" he clenched his fists and turned to face the next deadly block standing between him and the portal¡­ a small army of monsters and mages.


    "Woosh!"


    Just before he could give the signal for Gege to move, a sudden flash appeared next to him as someone just teleported there.


    "Aemie!!!" he was shocked to see the grandmaster of the cauldron clan standing between him and that army. "What¡­ are you doing here?"


    He wouldn''t ask if not for her troubled face. That look she gave him made his heart sink. He didn''t know why, but bad omen came to his mind and his gut told him things were going south.


    "I have a question for you," Aemie slowly said as if the two were standing in the middle of a park. Just as she said these words, many monsters and mages jumped at the two of them from the portal.


    And to make things far worse, more fell from the high up dome like deadly rocks, aiming to bring the two down to the ground.


    "Stay away!" Aemie screamed in anger as she waved her sword. All she needed was just one swing and all the enemies close to the two were annihilated without exception.


    And that made Arthur''s heart drop in his feet.


    "Why are you here?" he asked as he felt she wasn''t here to help.


    "I have a question for you," she repeated her last words before adding, "if you aren''t honest with me, I swear I won''t show you any mercy."


    Arthur could only swallow his cold saliva and feel its coldness spread all over his body. He only nodded and she continued:


    "This portal¡­ there is something in there you need to stop, right?"


    "It''s another tower," Arthur slowly said, "or anything else that can do the same damage as that tower."


    Aemie''s face changed slightly before saying:


    "I have one more question... This portal is aimed to break the shield, right?"


    Arthur paused at her sudden question and hesitated. She looked silently at him, in a way that made feel she could see through his flesh and scan his soul with her two eyes.


    At this moment, Aemie acted so weird and he felt greatly threatened by her.


    ''Ding! Tell her the truth,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! Tell her what you think.''


    ''I¡­ Don''t have any backing to this theory of mine!'' Arthur answered in his mind and at this moment, the face of Aemie changed as if she realized something.


    Or heard something she never expected to hear.

 Chapter 799: On The Verge Of Death!

    Yet she remained silent and didn''t speak at all. Arthur also remained silent while the world around the two was coming to its end.


    Monsters and mages regrouped again and attacked the two from literally everywhere. Aemie acted like before, one sword swing and it was all solved.


    That made Arthur wonder what if she stayed on his side and fought with him to stop the portal. He also wondered if she came here to stand on their side and protect the portal.


    And the latter thought made him shiver inwardly from fear and despair.


    ''Ding! You have a clue. Just tell her that¡­'' the system kept speaking despite the fact that Aemie could sense his presence.


    At such a critical moment, it was no use for any of them to keep their cautiousness and not help Arthur.


    The latter listened carefully to the system''s words before he finally understood what he was speaking about.


    And finally he opened his mouth and calmly gave her his anwer.


    "She is aiming to destroy this world using whatever is inside that portal," Arthur slowly said.


    "Nonsense," Aemie''s face turned so cold, "you are bluffing."


    "I''m not!" yet Arthur wasn''t fazed by her terrifying aura.


    Even the mages and monsters around got scared and didn''t dare to come near her, like she was the monster and they were simply ants.


    "Then tell me how did you know about this portal''s threat in the first place?" she seemed on the verge to attack and kill him, yet she calmly crossed her arms on her chest.


    She was so confident in killing him at any moment she wanted, and so she spoke to him as if she was speaking to a dead man already.


    "Her behavior with you made me think that way," Arthur slowly said before adding, "I watched the fight between the two of you. She was burning her life force in exchange for gaining extreme power."


    "She has to burn each ounce of her strength to fight on par with me," Aemie shrugged as this was nothing worthy of her attention, "is that all you got?" she asked while narrowing her eyes.


    Arthur felt he had one leg already passing the door of death. Aemie''s look gave him the impression that the scythe of death was already over his neck. One single push and his head would fly off his body.


    "She can run away using this," Arthur slowly said, "didn''t it ever occur to you to wonder why she remained behind and didn''t run away?"


    The moment he said those words, Aemie''s face changed and her eyes grew wider. "She¡­ was trying to keep me busy¡­" she tried to come up with a reason against his logic.


    "She was trying to buy time," Arthur corrected, "she didn''t care anymore about her life. And hell she could be caring about anyone in this world, including her daughter."


    The moment Arthur brought Nicole to the table, Aemie regained her dangerous vibe once more. "How do you know this portal is the root of this threat?"


    "By two ways¡­" Arthur raised his hand and showed two fingers before adding one more, "three actually."


    "Then tell¡­" Aemie''s face didn''t change yet her voice grew colder with each word.


    "First there was the strange act of those forces around," Arthur knew he was getting her on the path he desired, so his worry started to grow thinner with each word he said.


    "They acted in a defensive way to protect this portal at all cost. Hell, this meat dam and strange dome is proof that this portal holds something significant to this war."


    "Not enough reason for me," Aemie shrugged, yet her tone lost a lot of its coldness and aggressiveness.


    "Second," Arthur didn''t care to reason himself for the first point, before adding the next one, "your presence here."


    His words made her raise an eyebrow. "What about that?" she slowly asked.


    "I bet she manipulated you to come, played you to waver and forget what role you should play here."


    His words were harsh and daring. He even hesitated in saying them yet he decided to not falter. If he wanted to come out unscathed, he had to cross all boundaries and not fear what he would say.


    Words were a lethal weapon if not used properly, and the ultimate protective tools if used properly.


    She didn''t speak and only nodded for him to continue.


    "She knew I was so close to get to the portal. In fact I''m ready to sacrifice myself for that cause, but what about you?"


    "What about me?" Aemie asked in a light way as if she was taking his words as a silly joke.


    "You lost your compass cauldron clan grandmaster," Arthur coldly said, "you should put the wellbeing of everyone here on top of everything, even your life. But here you are, standing between me and saving your people, and for what?"


    "Shut up!"


    This time Aemie couldn''t take his words anymore and screamed in extreme rage. She lost her composure and with it a deadly pulse of energy erupted out of her, expanding fast, so fast all around.


    And in no time it reached Arthur before passing towards the dam and the portal and hit them both.


    "Boom!"


    The explosion that occurred was so brutal that a cloud of dust appeared for hundreds of meters above their heads. Yet Arthur remained unscathed with that attack.


    And it wasn''t thanks for Aemie''s mercy, but for Gege''s timely intervention to take him away in her portal before returning him back in a fraction of second.


    "You¡­ aren''t less trustworthy or honest than her," Aemei saw all that happened and her face grew colder.


    "At least I''m on your side," Arthur calmly said, "not trying to kill every single one in this world, including your life and the lives who are so dear to you."


    Aemie seemed to unleash hell upon him at any second, yet her body trembled in front of his eyes. She was struggling, struggling to keep her calm and composure.


    Struggling to keep herself true to her beliefs and responsibilities.


    "What''s your¡­ third reason?" she asked with great difficulty as if listening to him was a torture to her.

 Chapter 800: There Is No Hope!

    "This portal emits a grand wave of energy," Arthur pointed towards the portal all of sudden. "If it was meant to break the shield alone, then the energy emitted from it should be in the shape of a spear. You know what they say, a stream of water can''t break a rock, yet a thin pillar of water shooting at it can."


    "Who said these silly words?"


    "I!" Arthur proudly pointed to himself, however in reality they were the words of his system. He didn''t know that the system copied them from the golden dragon, who took them from ruins he once found of the originals.


    "And?" Aemie asked while trying not to kill him.


    "Sense it yourself," Arthur shrugged in an annoying way to her, "see if I''m right or not."


    "What difference will it make?" Aemie didn''t follow his words, instead she sarcastically said, "I''m going to kill you either way."


    "I don''t mind that," Arthur knew she was bluffing, exploding in such a domineering way just to scare him. Yet he believed in what he said earlier; that portal was the ultimate weapon his enemy held all this time.


    He couldn''t believe how brilliant that old lady was! She simply took out her lethal weapon and made them fear getting near it.


    The sheer number of monsters and mages coming out from it was always a puzzle. Yet when he thought about the presence of another tower inside, this all made sense to him.


    The tower needed a lot of sacrifices to operate fast and be charged. So the presence of all these mages and monsters was crucial for this plan to succeed.


    Yet Arthur had to commend the old lady for her wicked mind. She didn''t only put many layers of plans in case the original failed, she also made a copy and camouflaged it so no one else would doubt.


    Even the highest mage in this world didn''t and couldn''t doubt it.


    And that was a really brilliant move for her, one worthy of his admiration even if it came from his enemy.


    "Don''t move a muscle," she warned honestly in what she would do if he dared to move.


    Just before she closed her eyes, she waved her sword around and brought half of that dam to the ground. She also waved a couple of times at the portal, causing many cracks at it and forcing it to grow a bit smaller.


    Then she started to sense the energy coming off that portal.


    "I always knew you had a soft spot towards girls."


    All of suddenly the sinister voice of the old lady appeared from the direction of the portal. Her voice made Aemie stop what she was doing and gaze in vigilance towards her.


    ''Ready?'' Yet Arthur stood calmly without any surprise at all. He already anticipated this move, and even thought of what this old crazy hag would do.


    "You don''t look surprised to see me, kid," the aunt said in a vicious tone, "yet no matter what, you won''t be able to stop me¡­ I''m inevitable!"


    "Now!"


    Aemie moved without the need of Arthur to shout at her, yet he wasn''t giving her the order, but Gege.


    Aemie wasn''t that far off the portal, yet when she tried to come closer a shockwave suddenly erupted from the portal and hit her fiercely away.


    Her body flew high in the air while a moment brought her eyes together with Arthur. He showed his determination to end this while hers showed regret and pain.


    She was sure now that she was played as a fool by her aunt, the one who watched her grow from a baby to what she became now.


    One who understood her better than herself.


    And now for that single simple mistake, her entire world had to pay the price.


    "I won''t let you stop me now!" the aunt screamed in a crazy way while her sword slashed her body and cut even her other arm off. The blood erupted as a fountain and painted the portal partially with its crimson red color.


    And the next moment the portal quaked like a restless volcano about to rupture.


    However this wasn''t the end of things¡­ The two weren''t that close to finishing their moves.


    The old lady waved her sword aiming for her leg. The pain she felt was enough to knock her unconscious thousands of times, yet she endured and kept herself awakened only by sheer will.


    And the blood exploded like a running river while she flew slowly above the portal to soak it.


    "Damn you!"


    However as she did her part, it was Arthur''s turn to act.


    And what he did drove her beyond the edge of insanity.


    "I''ll kill you for that!" she went berserk and all she could do was to raise her sword high in the air, and the sky dimmed all of sudden.


    Thunder showered her sword before it was reflected towards Arthur. However he kept moving forward without any sense of danger, or harm even touched him.


    The moment the old hag cut off her leg and flew high up, a portal silently appeared below her. All the blood she poured out of her body was instantly taken away, never allowed to touch the about to explode portal.


    And when she tried to kill him using her lightning ultimate technique, Gege was ready with another portal that diverted the attack away before another portal appeared and transmitted all the lightning to hit the defenseless old aunt.


    And this time her pain was immense, but her shock was immenser. She was sent flying in the air before the last act of Arthur happened.


    A portal suddenly appeared on top of the path this sinister wicked old lady took while her body flew powerlessly in the air.


    And then a massive body descended all of sudden, crushing every single bone of her against the ground before the monster did what it was meant to do.


    "Come out now¡­ Kill him now! Don''t stop defending the por¡­"


    Even till the end, that wicked old lady was honest to her cause. Her screams were interrupted by a horrifying crunch sound that came from the monster as she was eaten alive.


    A fate that was so ideal as an end to someone like her.


    "Roar!"


    Arthur didn''t stand silent and watch. The moment he moved towards her he knew what was going to happen.


    Her end was sealed no matter what! He already envisioned thousands of possibilities she could make, and how he and Gege would encounter them all.


    So he kept flying forward while resisting the fierce repelling force coming from the portal. However he was tens of meters late before a swarm of monsters appeared.


    They came from two sides at the same time, one from the portal and one from behind. The remaining mages and monsters at the broken dam finally abandoned the silly idea they had.


    And they joined forces with whatever was coming near Arthur from the portal, aiming to kill this insignificant variable that no one ever cared about.


    However even the tiniest of things could make all the difference in the world, as he just did in this war.


    But in this moment, he felt extremely helpless to do anything. His forces were getting assembled and ready to appear to help.


    However deep inside him he knew this wasn''t enough, barely enough. He wasn''t aiming to stay alive or even kill every single piece of sh*t coming out from that damned portal.


    He needed to destroy that portal, and he had to do it fast!


    His main concern now was what that old hag did before dying. Her blood must have done something inside, like triggered a mechanism or accelerated the process.


    No matter what, the short time he had was already shortened a lot.


    ''You need to close it,'' the golden dragon shouted in alarm, ''you need to do it now!''


    Arthur didn''t need his shout or warning. He already knew things were heading south for all of them. However, hoping to do something was entirely different than actually doing it.


    His entire power was drained only to let him fly forward at snail speed. He had to reach there and fight all the enemies pouring out from that damned portal and close it before it exploded.


    For him, this task seemed an impossible feat to achieve. Even with the help of his allies, his forces, and even his will¡­ he knew he couldn''t do it! Not like this!

 Chapter 801: A Terrifying Technique

    ''They will appear now!'' Gege said in urgency while endless portals flashed all around him. His entire forces appeared here, surrounding him and the portal.


    "Our priority is to destroy the portal, or seal it," Arthur shouted the moment he saw Doaf and Amera.


    The two were on two different sides than his. Yet they heard his calling and nodded before they started leading their forces to face the frontal enemy.


    Yet the enemy numbers seemed endless. The more they killed the more to come out of the portal.


    ''Ding! Hurry up,'' the system urged, ''Ding! I can already sense the change in the energy coming from that portal.''


    ''It''s getting ready to unleash its deadly energy,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "I already know that!" Arthur was already pissed off, yet he couldn''t help but hoping to reach the portal in time. "Bring her now!"


    The next moment the gigantic octopus-like monster appeared from a portal beneath him. The monster roared and Arthur shouted in return:


    "I need you to prevent anything from coming near me," he then turned around before softly adding, "bring everyone here¡­ Everyone!"


    ''Got it!''


    It was either do or die now. It wasn''t the time to try and fight a fair fight with those enemies.


    They had to help him reach that portal at any cost.


    With the brutal octopus monster in the lead, and thousands of mages and tens of thousands of mechas around, Arthur was finally able to move faster this time.


    Any enemy coming towards him is shot to death by his securing forces. Yet this also came at a hefty price as well.


    Each step he took was on the dead bodies of his allies and own forces. But he didn''t even stop and look at anything.


    He knew if he stopped, if he failed, then everyone would fall and die here.


    It wouldn''t be only part of the army, it would be the entire army, the entire clan, and the entire planet.


    "C''mon!" He was racing up with time here, however the closer he got the denser the opposing forces would be, either mages, monsters, or even the repelling protective force of that portal.


    It was like having its own mind. The closer Arthur got to it the more resistant it showed.


    As if it was able to sense its death coming from this small weak looking mage in the center of all this mess.


    "Is that¡­ a protective shield?!" Amera asked in surprise.


    Arthur wasn''t now alone. Amera and Doaf became like hawks, each on one side of him.


    Despite Amera''s exhaustion from using her ultimate technique, she knew how critical this moment was.


    And so she didn''t hesitate to join this desperate charge towards the portal and even be in the leading lines alongside Arthur.


    Yet in front of them, a glistering black semi-circular bubble appeared on top of the portal. It appeared without warning and was expanding fast to envelope the entire portal and seal it off their reach.


    "We will be doomed if that happens!" Doaf screamed in rage as he tried to push forward as hard as he could.


    "Be ready boy!" Doaf''s charge, Amera''s desperate attacks, and even Arthur''s usage of portals to push his way through were all met with failure.


    But when they were about to lose hope, the familiar sound of Aemie appeared as she stood just above that doom.


    "Go to hell worthless sh*t!" she screamed in anger before she waved her sword and released a mighty wave of attack that landed over the portal like a nuclear strike.


    The strike landed over the portal and caused a silent explosion at first. The hit created a growing ball of golden fire that extended rapidly outwards.


    "Take everyone in," Arthur said before shouting, "do it now!"


    ''What about you?'' Gege didn''t find any problem at taking back all these numbers of mages and mechas in the few remaining seconds before that attack would reach them.


    "Take me in and then out," Arthur said without hesitation, "I need to be sure this portal is destroyed."


    ''Get ready,'' Gege said and the next instant she took him away before the deadly wave of explosive energy would blast him.


    Then she waited for a minute before she took him out.


    ''You are now supposedly above the location of that portal,'' Gege explained as everything around was a storm of scorching hot sand. ''I''ll guide you to the place of it.''


    Arthur found this place unpleasant even for a fire lover dragonair like himself. He glanced around before he noticed a beaming pattern, like a flashing signal coming from the bottom.


    It was like a heart beating slowly yet regularly. "No need," he firmly said while his face changed, "make sure my monster is ready to come here. Also notify the top mages and mechas, I might need their help."


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to fly deeply towards the signal. The closer he became to it, the hotter and more uncomfortable the atmosphere around became.


    "As I feared¡­" When Arthur finally got next to that flashing signal, he found out what it was, "you are still alive."


    "Stop it," Aemie pushed his hand before coughing. She coughed out blood while her body trembled in weakness.


    "Why didn''t you get into one of the portals of mine?" Arthur held her to stand slowly on her weak and shivering legs.


    "I wanted to make sure the portal is gone," she said while her eyes were attracted to some place in this hell.


    "Is it?" Arthur paused while the look on his face was so serious.


    And Aemie simply nodded.


    "Are you sure?" Arthur didn''t want to leave any room for second guesses or later regrets.


    "You can go and check out the area," Aemie said before adding in a long sigh, "I''m really tired. I appreciate getting into your portal for now until you finish your search."


    Arthur nodded and the next moment a portal appeared beside her. The portal seemed to be a circular cut in the universe, like a piece of paradise in the middle of this heaven.


    "Are you coming?" she paused at the entrance before adding, "staying here is really like a torture."


    "Nah, You go ahead," Arthur simply waved, "I''ll be there beside you in no time."


    Aemei smiled in contempt before she turned to walk inside the portal.


    "Thank you," she said before she vanished inside the portal without a trace.


    "Keep an eye for me on her," Arthur slowly said.


    ''Are you worried about her?'' Gege asked in a playful tone.


    "I''m worried about her," yet Arthur said this strange answer before he turned around. "She was right nonetheless, this place looks like hell."


    He had to keep looking for that portal.


    ''Do you need any troops on alert now?'' Gege suddenly asked after one hour of continuous search.


    "Oh, I forgot about that," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, "say my sorry to them, and let them rest."


    He already searched in the central place where the portal was. He didn''t find even a scrap of metal from that portal.


    But he didn''t hurry to enter. After all, the scorching sand storm seemed to stay here forever. If he didn''t make sure nothing bad festered here, then all this fight and all these sacrifices would be in vain.


    After ten hours of constant search, he came to the realization that nothing remained here.


    The entire area turned into a large piece of desert. Not even a single monster or plant escaped such an explosion.


    And the moment he realized this, he felt blessed by Gege and her portals. If not for that, then even his life would have been in danger.


    "How is she doing now?" he finally crossed the outer border of that damned place. When he turned around, all he could see was a gigantic sand storm that kept swirling around itself in an intimidating way.


    "This place would be off limits for generations," he could only sigh before turning his back to this place and starting walking towards the direction of the big city.


    ''She is holding up,'' Gege said, ''but she got injuries far worse than what I initially thought.''


    Arthur could only nod in agreement. "I imagined that already," he said before honestly adding, "it''s a miracle for her to stay alive after getting such a close hit from that attack¡­ Do you think it was her ultimate technique?"


    As he removed the burden of looking for that portal he finally got the time to contemplate over what happened.


    And the first thing to attract his attention was the technique Aemie used. For him such technique wasn''t usual.


    Even if its energy got augmented by the opposing force of the portal, the main devastational force came mainly from the technique itself.


    "Wasn''t her ultimate technique that of lightning? Like Amera?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask, yet no one held such an answer to his doubts.


    "Something¡­ doesn''t add up," he muttered, "something is fishy."

 Chapter 802: The Strange Army

    Arthur was already on his way back to the city. His mind was busy thinking about the mysterious technique Aemie used at the end.


    He was grateful for her to step in and solve this entire disaster like this. He also knew any strong figure would have not only one car up his sleeve but more.


    Yet he still felt uneasy towards this. Like he missed something here, something big.


    On other hand he knew he couldn''t simply walk to her and try to ask her about it. He had nothing to force her to speak, not even a good relationship to start with.


    ''Ding! There is only one person who can solve this mystery for you,'' the system said and Arthur knew exactly who that person would be.


    "He took a long time to arrive already," Arthur complained, "and frankly I dunno when he will come."


    ''I believe he is on his way here,'' the golden dragon said, ''anyway let''s keep an eye on this Aemie¡­ Just to be cautious.''


    "Anything weird she has done so far?" Arthur took a deep breath and asked while flying straight towards the city.


    ''Well, she is quite exhausted and has slept almost all the time since she entered my body,'' Gege said, ''but there is something funny she did.''


    "What?" Arthur''s curiosity was piqued at once.


    ''One time she was sleeping before she woke up. Amera was sitting next to her bed like usual. She seemed to mistake her for Nicole as what she did later was hilarious.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but laugh. "Don''t tell me she grabbed her to the bed and slept with her."


    ''She didn''t do that,'' Gege laughed, ''yet she started with a long deep and intimate kiss that made Amera frown for a whole minute. Gosh I wish you had seen her face. That was something worthy to see.''


    Arthur laughed before he said, "just keep an eye on her for me. And try to remind me later if anything like this happened."


    ''Wanna watch?'' Gege asked in a playful tone.


    "Why not?" Arthur laughed and even his system and the golden dragon laughed as well.


    Just as they were having their fun moment, Arthur spotted something coming from the direction of the city.


    ''Don''t panic,'' Gege said, ''they are the main army of Aemie.''


    "Hmm¡­ I totally forgot about them to be honest," Arthur said before adding, "bring Aemie here. She is their leader and they won''t hear anything from an outsider like myself."


    ''One second,'' Gege then went into silence for a minute while Arthur didn''t fly anymore forward. He stopped midair while waiting for that slowly marching army to approach.


    ''She is coming,'' Gege said before many portals flashed and many familiar faces came out of it.


    "You are really a hard working mage, y''know that," Aemie said in a refreshing tone despite her face still being ashen white.


    "We need to get back to the city," Arthur simply said, "how are you doing now?"


    "Still living I guess," she said in a light tone before turning her eyes towards the slowly marching army. "That''s bizarre. The last order I gave them was to come here in haste. Yet here they are, useless as always."


    "They are moving slowly indeed," Amera said, "It''s weird."


    "It''s easy to solve this," Aemie shrugged before she started to fly alone towards the army, "stay here. I''ll drag the leaders and question them in my way."


    Arthur turned to glance at Amera and other elites around. Their faces showed weird looks at this moment.


    "Anything wrong?" Arthur asked.


    "Nothing," yet Amera was jolted awake and shrugged, "but she seems a bit rash in deciding that."


    "She might be angry with them letting her down," one of the elites said, "in fact I''m feeling angry towards them."


    "They should have arrived earlier," another elite said, "we estimated that they would arrive at the end of the battle. Imagine their presence in these desperate moments¡­ man, whenever I think about this I get mad!"


    Arthur silently watched others nod in agreement. In fact he felt the same and also he didn''t find Aemie''s actions to be weird at all.


    The answer to this puzzle was so easy to guess. There were traitors in the army, especially in the leadership circle.


    And the fact that the army kept marching in this snail speed without any hustle proved that all those leading it were traitors; at least at the higher up circle.


    "They deserve their fate," Amera slowly said, "yet we should question them all together. Y''know how she interrogates people."


    "Yeah, she won''t let anything useful after dealing with them," an elite spoke and others nodded in agreement.


    Arthur could only take a short breath while imagining how brutal her interrogation must be.


    "She will kill them?" he asked out of curiosity.


    "Nah, death will be a merciful fate for all of them," Amera shook her head, "she will make them lose their minds and souls. They will end up being empty vessels walking around like dead."


    "Damn!" Arthur commented, "That''s ruthless."


    "That''s the justice any traitor should receive," one of the elites said in defense.


    And Arthur could only glance in silence towards them. ''Like a leader are the minions,'' he muttered to himself and kept this opinion solely for himself.


    As he had to stay there idle and do nothing, he asked Gege to watch what Aemie was doing out there.


    The first thing she did was to appear above her army. Her presence intact and healthy seemed to startle a lot of faces.


    And Arthur instantly asked Gege to help Aemie in pointing these faces out for her.


    As he expected, Aemie was only interested in the higher up chain of command. Yet she appreciated his gesture and decided to move at those weak minions after she dealt with those leaders.


    Then she took the leaders away, miles away from the main army. They were around a hundred and fifty, and she was all alone.

 Chapter 803: Leads From His Past Life

    But they never doubted her ability to kill them even if they gathered up together upon her.


    What they lacked to know was the fact that she was still deeply wounded. She was a beast in her own terms, yet a deeply hurt beast.


    If they tried to attack her, they could kill her against what they imagined.


    However none dared to move a finger even when she took out a big bottle filled with black liquid and a large number of glasses.


    They all watched in terrified looks while she filled these cups and ordered them to drink it.


    "What is exactly in the big bottle of her?" Arthur turned to Amera as he added, "that black liquid."


    "It''s like a serum for truth," Amera said before slowly explaining, "but this one is quite savage. If she asked something and any of them lied to her then he would be tormented. Lying on her a few times is enough to drive anyone crazy."


    Arthur raised one eyebrow before saying, "but she will lose a valuable source of information this way."


    "That''s why it was a bad idea sending her first," one of the elites sighed, "but I have to admit, this works fine to intimidate anyone against betraying her."


    Arthur turned his gaze to the far away spots where Aemie was torturing these traitors. "It works very fine indeed," he sarcastically commented, yet not a single one objected to his theory.


    At this moment he realized Aemie wasn''t that good at all. She was a tyrant, someone who would rather prefer to rule with iron fist and terror over all of her subjects.


    Despite his own opinion about her, he didn''t express his thoughts out loud or even considered doing so. He was a mere passerby here, and he had no right to judge on others, especially someone like Aemie.


    He was feeling bad deep down his soul. His actions preserved and deepened the roots of such a tyrannical system.


    However what consoled him was the fact he didn''t know that, and also he helped in saving endless lives. He wasn''t saving a system but the people living underneath it.


    As for the tyrannical system itself, he could only pray for a silver lining of hope for those suffering underneath. Other than this, he would keep his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself.


    Gege kept relaying what was happening out there word by word. At first he wasn''t interested that much in hearing their confessions.


    But after dozens of these mages turned mad, others started to act more honest with Aemie.


    And very weird secrets started to show up one after another.


    ''That''s¡­ weird!'' the golden dragon couldn''t help but say, ''how can there be a tunnel connecting this world with another? That shield up there is of a fine quality in my opinion.''


    ''I dunno,'' Arthur was as puzzled as him. ''But this isn''t the only weird thing here. What about this white witch they kept speaking about?''


    ''Ding! I guess it''s a play they all agreed on from before,'' the system said.


    ''Nah, the serum didn''t torture them like it did with others,'' Gege denied this possibility, ''they are telling the truth.''


    ''And that makes this all quite terrifying,'' Arthur could only take a deep breath before adding, ''keep listening. We might hear something interesting again.''


    ''Aren''t you satisfied with all the weird things they said so far?'' Gege was surprised to hear his request, ''alright, I''ll keep myself busy listening to their whining then.''


    Arthur could bitterly smile, yet he said nothing in return. In fact what those leaders said a couple of minutes ago was crazy.


    At first they claimed that another person came after Aemie left and ordered them to march slower. They said she had long white hair and dressed in all black. She was old, but she wasn''t her aunt or anyone they knew of.


    And the weirdest thing ever was the fact she held a seal exactly like the one in Aemie''s possession, the royal seal.


    Anyone holding such a seal would be considered the sole ruler of the clan.


    They also claimed that she appeared all of sudden above their heads, not from a portal or flying from somewhere around.


    They said she came out of a strange shaped tunnel that seemed to extend for miles, yet only a tiny portion of it appeared in front of their eyes.


    That was weird.


    They also said she claimed herself to be the white witch, someone not heard of before in this world.


    What also startled Arthur for a bit was the fact that she attacked them using weird techniques. From their descriptions, Arthur got some proof over the identity of these techniques.


    And that gave him more puzzles than answers honestly.


    Some of the leaders in the army didn''t agree with the white witch''s orders. They were the loyalists for Aemie, and in return they had their fate to be killed at the hands of the white witch.


    What was peculiar though was the way she killed them. She took out a weapon and summoned a strange aura around her.


    The surviving sane leaders swore they never saw something like this before. Aemie''s serum proved their words, and Arthur could only inwardly sigh.


    ''That''s how cultivators fight,'' Arthur couldn''t help but admit to himself with this unbelievable fact. ''How the hell did that cultivator come from? And why did she have that royal seal?''


    He had tons of such questions without an answer. At this moment he recalled that sect he was supposed to save, the one which started all this journey in the first place.


    Yet he didn''t have any info to dig deeper. He lacked a lot, and this was the third time to meet the cultivation world in this world.


    And this time the impact was very strong on him.


    According to the descriptions these leaders gave, he estimated the strength of this white witch as above immortal. A cultivation base he dreamt of reaching during his past life and could only scrape the surface of the immortal stage.


    Cultivators below the immortal stage couldn''t fly, that was a known fact. Once one broke through then he or she could fly above heaven and reach a new realm, a higher realm.


    This white witch could easily fly around using her spiritual energy, which was a mind blowing thing for Arthur.


    If he met any weak cultivators he wouldn''t care, but meeting such a strong one meant a lot to him.


    ''Will I reach that realm after reaching the immortal stage?'' he couldn''t help but think about this possibility.


    For a long time he tried to ignore the dragonair power and focus on his cultivation base. Yet since starting this long journey to defend that sect and he couldn''t advance a lot in his cultivation base.


    Now he had to rethink again about his priorities. Without any hesitation he would choose his cultivation base to level up.


    In fact he was tempted to use the golden pearl energy as his main energy in leveling up from now on. He saw the dragonair and spiritual energies as needed elements to reach his goal.


    Especially after his gains here in this world, using the golden energy to level up started to become something real.

 Chapter 804: Negotiating With Aemie

    And yet here he faced this unexpected encounter, making him reconsider everything again.


    And he didn''t like that.


    Yet contrary to his expectations, the interrogation didn''t bring anything new. There were no traitors, only frightened mages who faced someone they couldn''t deal with.


    Or even understand.


    Even Aemie seemed a bit startled by this info. Gege said she is staying silent and wandering the area around the leaders of her army like a restless bee queen.


    Arthur thought of telling her what he knew, yet he dropped the idea instantly. Dealing with such a maniac shouldn''t bring anything good for him.


    He needed to retreat from here and leave these higher realms as soon as possible.


    This war... it seemed to hide more than he even imagined.


    If there were immortals and beyond cultivators involved, then his presence here was doomed to be fatal to him.


    He needed time to grow up and get stronger. He wouldn''t do anyone any good if he faced his death at this stage.


    He suddenly started to consider something he never thought of. ''What if I was sent here to stop them?''


    This was a possibility that never crossed his mind before. ''What if all the cultivators who were sent here before me and failed were meant to stop them? Damn! That''s beyond my wildest imagination!''


    And what made him more furious was the fact that there was no one he could rely on or ask for further info.


    All he had was himself and what he knew about that unreachable stage of cultivation from his past life.


    The main reason that drove him to experiment in the first place on new paths was the fact that getting there seemed quite impossible in his previous life.


    And yet fate seemed to laugh at him as it sent him to this world not as a test, but as a tribulation.


    If he needed to survive he had to breakthrough, sooner than later would be better.


    If he needed to leave this universe then he needed to level up his cultivation base and reach the immortal stage and beyond.


    ''Or should I focus on my golden pearl?''


    This was his current dilemma, one that not even the three voices in his head could solve.


    Or even interfere.


    They remained all silent while Gege silently conveyed what he was thinking to them. The other two couldn''t read his mind and Gege knew how critical this moment was.


    If he wrongly decided his future path here then he would screw up! All would be screwed up alongside him.


    Yet even when they all knew what he was thinking about, none spoke or thought of giving any advice at all.


    For them this was a totally different ground than the one they used to live, play, and fight at.


    They knew their advice wouldn''t only bring him any good, but they might even make everything worse.


    And so they remained silent while all hoping for him to make the right decision.


    ''I... need to go back,'' he finally made up his mind, ''whatever is hidden from me in this universe, I''m pretty sure I''ll find a trail for it in that sect.''


    His compass now returned to point towards the same direction he decided since the beginning. He vanished for a long time already off his world, and it was time for him to go back.


    ''Send a word for Aemie,'' Arthur suddenly said to Gege, ''I want to meet with her now.''


    ''Where?'' Gege knew what he was up to so she saved herself the trouble of asking.


    ''Forget it, I''ll go to her.''


    He instantly flew fast while adding, ''prepare to move everyone out of my garden. Leave only Doaf and his forces there if they want to stay with me.''


    Gege didn''t speak for a while as Arthur finally reached Aemie''s place.


    She was still exhausted from the last fight, yet he was pretty sure that bloodless face was due to what she heard about that white witch.


    "You seem in a hurry," she said with a faint smile while her eyes gave him a doubtful look.


    "I want to ask for a favor," Arthur went straight towards his goal of meeting with her.


    "You are the hero of my world," she said, "anything you ask I''ll try to comply."


    "Well, I dunno if Amera told you how I came to this higher realm," Arthur said in a questioning manner while he went into silence as he waited for her answer.


    Aemie was surprised by his words, and the change in her face told him she also guessed what he wanted.


    "You want to go back?" she asked despite knowing the answer.


    And he nodded.


    "I left my people for so long," he said, "I left them in the middle of a hard battle. I''m sure they will win, but I''m not sure they can survive after that without me."


    Aemie nodded in understanding but she raised her head as she said:


    "Unfortunately with my shield sealing everything, I can''t do this for you... Not yet."


    Arthur didn''t know why but he felt she was lying. It seemed she didn''t want him to leave.


    And he was right in his guess. In fact she had some guesses about the reason for the presence of such a mysterious white witch in her world in the first place.


    Nothing seemed out of ordinary except a weak mage coming from a weak lower realm who could do miracles.


    And above all he knew things she didn''t know, like that tower.


    "I believe this problem will be solved soon," Arthur didn''t show her any sign of agreement, "after all Doaf sent that portal up there."


    Her face showed her realization of this small yet very crucial info. She missed it amidst what was happening. After all, things here went crazy and hectic for her and for everyone.


    Yet Arthur knew what the card he held in his hand better than anyone else.

 Chapter 805: A Hard Earning Victory

    "That means you can return sooner to your world," she seemed not happy with admitting that but she frowned for a second before a strange smile appeared on her face.


    "Amera told me you are fighting the dark forces so hard back in your lower realm," her words made Arthur frown in return. He missed her point until she finally said it clearly, "I plan to send a force to aid you in your crusade."


    He raised both eyebrows in surprise for her offer. In fact he wanted to decline, yet he couldn''t.


    After all he either would rather wait for his godfather to show up and help him out or let her help him now.


    He had zero confidence in his godfather. He didn''t doubt he would help if he could, and that was where the problem lies.


    He felt his godfather wasn''t in the position of even helping himself or protecting his clan.


    "That''s a generous offer," he slowly said, "I''ll gladly accept that."


    "It''s a deal then," Aemie suddenly regained her active spirit. That made Arthur wonder about her ulterior motives.


    He was quite sure she had not only one but many, however he couldn''t guess a single one of them.


    "Let''s go back," she suddenly turned to her frightened leaders, "lead the army back as fast as you can. We will have to wage another war with those waiting for us outside soon."


    She turned to Arthur before adding with a cheerful tone that deeply worried him, "very soon... I promise you that."


    And then she flew fast towards the city. She didn''t even wait for her leaders to realize she wasn''t joking with them and she already gave them their freedom back.


    Arthur stood midair watching the very fast speed of her. "Keep an eye on her for me," he slowly said, "I''m sure she doesn''t mean anything good for that help."


    And Gege silently started to monitor the movements of Aemie while Arthur turned back to Amera and other elites to deliver them the news.


    Aemie even missed to inform them about her plans. She was in a hurry, like she was afraid to lose something if she got stuck here.


    "Who the hell does she plan to send with me?" Arthur kept asking himself this question until he reached the outer borders of the city.


    And there a violent explosion erupted all of sudden that distracted him from his troubled thoughts.


    The source of that explosion didn''t come from the direction of the city, or from anywhere around. It came high, up from the sky.


    Arthur stood in his place motionless while watching a gigantic spider web of crimson red fire spreading all over the sky.


    It started from a central point before expanding all around. The scene looked majestic and everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed up at the sky.


    The giant army of lycans and other dark clans was set to fire in a matter of minutes like dry weeds.


    "It worked!" Arthur smiled before Amera turned to him.


    "You were right," she knew she doubted him before, "this really worked."


    Arthur gave her a warm smile. At this moment he was the happiest man on this planet.


    He was so close to going back to the last world he was in.


    "Victory!"


    "We won!"


    Instantly endless screams of victory erupted from all over the world. Arthur felt the ground trembling from all those shouts, and he couldn''t help but smile.


    This victory¡­ was a hard earned one.


    ''Cheer up,'' Gege said, ''this is mainly because of you.''


    Arthur glanced around. Even Amera was screaming in joy.


    ''I will,'' he said to Gege, ''when I return to my friends.''


    ''Ding! Why are you so down?'' the system couldn''t understand.


    ''You still thinking about Aemie''s strange request?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''No, it''s about her questionable behavior,'' Arthur said before taking a deep breath as he explained, ''she¡­ seemed to know the forces outside were about to get annihilated. That explains why she was in such a hurry.''


    ''She was afraid to lose you,'' Gege slowly said, ''but she is still the one who can make you leave this planet.''


    Arthur turned to glance at the burning sky before saying, ''This will be one more piece of the puzzle I have about her.''


    "It''s our victory," Aemie suddenly came flying in a grand scene. She wasn''t alone, she came with a large group of strong looking mages.


    And Nicole was standing beside her with a lowered head and troubled face.


    "This day will be forever remembered in our history," Aemie kept enjoying the deserved moments of victory. "Let''s stay the night celebrating. We earned this and let''s keep this memory burning forever in our hearts and souls."


    Arthur stood midair motionless while gazing up at her. Her eyes met him in  a brief moment before she went down.


    And Nicole came with part of the elite forces of Aemie.


    "I believe you won''t agree to stay if I offered you that," Aemie said with a big smile.


    "I have my own responsibility towards my people like you have yours," Arthur tried to act in courtesy.


    "Alright, then I''ll leave my beloved Nicole with you as a privileged guest," Aemie suddenly put her arms around Nicole and said these shocking words.


    Even Arthur couldn''t help but to raise both eyebrows out of his surprise from this weird decision.


    "What? Can''t I trust you with my precious love?" Aemie seemed to enjoy this moment more than her words said. She even leaned over Nicole and let her head rest over Nicole''s shoulder.


    And without any warning she gave Nicole a hot kiss on the neck.


    "Don''t worry," Aemie said, "I will send with you my finest. Plus you will be a guest with our hero, the one who helped to save us from defeat and saved our world."


    Nicole seemed not to buy what she said, however she wasn''t in a position to refuse. Her struggled and dark face told Arthur what he wanted to know... She was forced in this the same as himself.

 Chapter 806: A Message For My Godfather

    Nicole didn''t seem to be reassured at all. Arthur could easily tell that from her frightened face. Yet Aemie didn''t bother at all even to listen to her opinion about it.


    She made up her mind, and no one here could even guess why she did that.


    ''Have you done what I asked?'' Arthur asked while he was standing beside Aemie as she was preparing for the teleportation portal.


    ''They are moving the corpses inside,'' Gege said, ''we have quite a number in there now.''


    Arthur slowly nodded in contempt without saying anything else.


    "The trans-realm portal isn''t something easy to make," Aemie slowly said while taking out a large platform from a ring, "but it''s your luck for me to have this one here ready for that."


    "What is this?" Arthur pointed towards the platform that was nothing he saw before.


    The platform was made of interlinked circles in different angles, creating a space inside that was like the size of a big ball.


    "It''s the teleportation portal I found once before," Aemie only said that before she turned to Arthur and extended her hand with a small flask of glass, "please, fill it with your blood."


    "Not again!" Arthur had to complain and that made Aemie raise one eyebrow before he did what she asked.


    "I''m going with you," yet all of sudden Amera stepped forward before adding, "I want to complete my promise."


    "Oh," Aemie gave her a questionable glance.


    "The war is over," Amera tried to justify her request, "and I doubt I would be needed anymore."


    "No, you got me wrong my dear," Aemie amusingly said, "you just solved a big problem for me."


    As everyone gazed up at her in doubt, Aemie added in her fun way, "I wanted someone capable to lead this legion. Or else how can I sleep wholeheartedly without any worries about my love?"


    "Legion?!" Amera wasn''t the only one shocked by Aemie''s choice of words.


    And Aemie nodded as if she just said something so casual.


    "Don''t tell me you thought I would send only them?" Aemie chuckled before adding, "Each one of them holds a hidden world full of a good army to lead."


    "W- What?!" it was Arthur''s turn to get shocked.


    "It''s a gift," Aemie said while playing with Nicole''s hair, "and a guarantee for my beloved girl''s safety."


    Arthur now was quite positive this grandmaster was scheming something behind his back, something big without doubt.


    "Don''t give me this look," Aemie was so shameless to even comment on his skeptical gazes, "I''m just trying to help you achieve your goals easier. Shouldn''t I get a warm hug and big thanks in return?"


    Arthur gave her a silent look and didn''t move a muscle. He didn''t believe her at all. He knew she was scheming something; none of this would ever be in his favor unless it was also for hers.


    "Alright," she grasped the flusk off his hand, "are you all ready for a ride?"


    She seemed like having fun doing that. Arthur could only remain silent and tried so hard to restrain himself from opening his mouth and cursing.


    After all, he was still at her turf.


    Arthur could only nod and watch while she poured his blood in the space in between the circular arcs of this platform.


    It seemed there was some sort of hidden power there. The moment his blood fell there it was suspended and slowly expanding in a flat plain.


    It was like she was pouring blood over a glass surface. Just as the last drop fell, his blood formed a circle in the center of this space.


    And then the entire platform shook and his blood started to shine.


    "If you want to say anything, it''s time," Aemie suddenly turned to him as she added, "even if you insulted and cursed me now, I have nothing in hand to do to stop the portal from running."


    Arthur gave her a strange look before he sighed. "Why are you acting this weird?" he shook his head before he added, "I have something I want you to deliver for me."


    "For a girl?" Aemie asked in interest before turning to Amera, "I thought your girl is with you."


    Amera''s face changed slightly yet Arthur ignored Aemie''s remarks. He started to get used to her weird actions by now. "To my godfather," he suddenly said before portals appeared all around.


    He only motioned his head to Amera and she understood.


    "Let''s go," Amera said before she led everyone to step inside the portals Gege brought around.


    "What message?" Aemie seemed not to be surprised by his actions, "I''ll make sure he receives it. And don''t worry about its length, I''ve an iron clad memory that never failed me before."


    "It''s a short one," Arthur shrugged, "just tell him to prepare everything for me, I''m planning to come here soon."


    Arthur''s face changed before adding in a serious tone: "Things here won''t be the same after I arrive. So he should prepare everything for it."


    "For¡­ What?" Aemie asked but the next instant the platform shook again. This time the circular arcs around the shining blood started to rotate. With each passing second their speed of rotation grew faster and it created a series of shockwaves.


    Aemie even couldn''t stand her place except with some difficulty. As for Arthur, he didn''t even feel any gust of wind or any repelling force at all.


    "For the greatest war," Arthur slowly said while a blue light suddenly erupted from the center of that platform coming from his blood. The light expanded fast until it enveloped Arthur.


    "The war to reign dominant over this entire universe," Arthur''s strong voice came from within the light before he vanished.


    Aemie stood in her place while watching the platform return to its normal state. Her face was plain, and didn''t show anything of her current thoughts or emotions at the moment.


    "So¡­ the prophecy is right after all," she only took a deep breath before raising her head up to the burning sky, "and he appears at the bronzed giant clan of all clans¡­ Sigh, I need to strengthen my relations with that clan from now on."


    Then she extended her hand and retrieved the platform before turning around and headed towards her city.

 Chapter 807: The New Garden World

    Arthur flew inside the portal for an unknown period of time. The portal didn''t seem any different that the one he used to enter when upgrading his dragonair rank.


    "So she has this altar from the originals as well," he muttered to himself.


    ''Yeah, she said she found it somewhere,'' the golden dragon agreed, ''it''s my guess too.''


    ''Ding! I don''t trust her!'' the system expressed his doubts at last.


    ''Neither do I!'' Gege also joined him.


    "I know she looks suspicious," Arthur took a deep breath, "but she fulfilled her promise and sent me away."


    ''Ding! That doesn''t mean she can be trusted!'' the system still argued, ''Ding! She sent an army with you! She is like trying to seize whatever you will accomplish.''


    ''Don''t be like that!'' the golden dragon wasn''t on the same side as the other two, ''she won''t set her gaze upon a lowly realm.''


    ''But she has an ulterior motive,'' Gege said, ''you can''t deny it!''


    ''I won''t,'' the golden dragon said, ''but what if she has? As if our Arthur here is a push over or something!''


    "Stop it," Arthur had to put an end to this meaningless talk, "we need now to use this period and turn those corpses into dragons."


    ''I got as much as I could from the battlefields from before,'' Gege said, ''they didn''t even clean the city from the dead when you arrived.''


    "That''s good for me," Arthur evilly smirked, "even if she sent out an army of higher realm to suppress me or do me any bad, I will build my own army of dragons from those high realm corpses to match her army."


    He wasn''t trusting Aemie either. She seemed quite suspicious by her actions. Yet he wasn''t worried as he knew if given time, nothing would be able to bother him at all.


    Not even the army she sent here.


    Arthur closed his eyes and entered the garden world. The new garden world was something else than he previously knew.


    It was all green everywhere. Calmness struck his heart strings and made him feel tranquil for a few minutes without even knowing it.


    "Wow! This world has turned into a cultivation heaven!" he couldn''t help but admit his amazement out loud.


    ''Hehehe, this is the new me,'' Gege was very proud of his words, ''do you like... me?''


    Arthur didn''t know why but this question seemed a bit tricky. "I always liked you, y''know that," he said and she could only laugh before saying:


    ''You are such a liar!''


    He smiled before starting to look around. He spotted his exhausted forces resting right now. Doaf and Amera were in charge of organizing things here.


    As for the newcomers, Nicole took a side for herself and didn''t mix with anyone. She remained all gloomy and bent her head over her chest while sitting on one of the trees'' roots around.


    "She doesn''t look happy," Arthur sighed, "Aemie is really ruthless. She sent her here without even explaining anything to her."


    ''Ding! I bet those elites know a thing or two about her real motives,'' the system said as Arthur flew in his ghost form over the heads of those elites.


    And from their faces he felt they were acting vigilant, like waiting for a war or a fight that was about to erupt at any time.


    "Keep an eye on them for me please," Arthur said before finally heading towards an empty region away from anyone else.


    "Send me the corpses," he said after he landed, "select the strongest looking and send a hundred now."


    ''Alright,'' Gege did as he ordered while he only touched the corpses and turned them into a hundred of his dragons.


    His earlier force of dragons weren''t enough at all. From this war at the higher realm he knew his enemy was so strong.


    Without a strong army under his command, even he could do nothing against his enemy.


    The process didn''t take much time until he had one hundred new dragons under his command.


    "Stay here," he said before opening his eyes. He was still flying inside that portal with no sign of reaching his destination.


    "Sigh, this is taking forever," he said in a loud tone before deciding to close his eyes again.


    And this time he entered the garden world to meditate and train on his cultivation base.


    The area in the garden was now very supportive to his cultivation. He felt the same as when he was in that original world a long time ago.


    "''With such speed... Reaching the immortal stage will take a short time," he opened his eyes to check the portal around.


    From time to time he would do that. After all, he didn''t intend to breakthrough now. He ended a great turmoil and yet there was another mysterious fate waiting for him at arrival.


    His forces, his friends and his army were left alone for all that time back at a hard moment.


    In fact he had a bad premonition about it. He knew the traitor was identified and things shouldn''t be that bad for them.


    But he took long time, very long time to return. He hoped for their victory, yet he also knew the logical conclusion wouldn''t be anything else but defeat.


    And that meant he would lose the support of that world''s will and also lose his quest in saving that sect.


    He wanted to save that cost with any cost right now. Many secrets were kept well hidden from the eyes of the dwellers of this universe.


    And he intended to unveil all the mysteries and know everything hidden.


    "Rumble!"


    Yet all of sudden he heard this rumble in his ears while meditating in the garden world. He hurriedly opened his eyes to see the tunnel shining and wrapping all over his body like it was exploding.


    "What''s going on?" he shouted in alarm yet his body was fixed in his place, unable to resist.


    ''Ding! It just happened all of sudden,'' the system said in an alarming tone, ''Ding! All the energy supporting the tunnel seemed to move towards you now!''


    "Gege!!" Arthur shouted while struggling with all his might. Yet the answer didn''t come from Gege, but from someone he never expected at all.


    "Please don''t resist," Aemie''s voice came so clear like she was standing right next to him. "I''ve prepared a farewell gift that you''ll surely like. So stay still and receive my gift."


    "Gift my ass!" Arthur didn''t hear any of her words anymore and tried to resist with all his might. However it was like a moving sand prison, the more he struggled the more entangled he became with the berserk energy around.


    "Believe me, you''ll love it!" Aemie seemed not to care at all with his actions and even laughed before her voice faded away.


    Then Arthur got totally surrounded with the energy of the portal forming a large cocoon of shining light.


    And the next thing he recalled with a deep voice speaking in majestic way in his ears:


    "Time travel."


    And the next thing happened with for his consciousness to fade away while feeling like a bucket of freezingly cold water was thrown over his head.

 Chapter 808: Another Arthur!

    Arthur felt like being crushed with unimaginable force coming from everywhere. His body kept spinning forcibly as he lost control over it.


    There was no sign of when this would end. He couldn''t see anything but blinding light and he lost track of everything around.


    "Boom!"


    All of sudden his body crashed heavily on the ground. His dragonair form started to wither away and his human form appeared inside the deep crater he created from his fall.


    "Damn! It hurts!!"


    He cursed in deep pain and anger while trying to stand. Every single muscle of his body was torturing him with severe pain.


    When he tried to stand up, his arms shivered and he fell on the ground. He couldn''t even stand and so all he could was to roll over the side and lay over his back.


    "What happened?" he was panting and when he realized, he was also drenching in extensive sweat. He was in a mess without any reason for.


    ''Ding! I lost track of everything for a few seconds there,'' the system was the first to speak, ''Ding! Gege and the golden dragon are still in shock. They need a couple of minutes to recover.''


    "Are we home?" Arthur couldn''t ask about anything else but this. "Have we returned to the same world I left from? Or did she pull another trick on me?"


    ''Ding! Let me check,'' the system started to use the spiritual sense of Arthur to scan the surroundings.


    It took him almost a minute before he returned to say:


    ''Ding! From the look of it, you crashed in a similar zone like the one you departed from.''


    Arthur didn''t feel any relief yet. "Is it the same world?"


    ''Ding! I can''t confirm it,'' the system said, ''Ding! My scan is limited, not like Gege. But I can tell this is a similar world to the one we left before.''


    Arthur could only take a deep breath while closing up his eyes. He never imagined returning to such a mess. "What does time travel mean?" he finally recalled the last words he heard before everything went wrong.


    ''Ding! I feel it''s a trick that Aemie pulled.''


    "I know that," Arthur shouted in a nervous way, "she said this herself."


    ''Ding! Really? When?!'' the system seemed to be oblivious to what Arthur heard.


    "Don''t tell me you didn''t hear her voice earlier," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh when the system answered him with silence. "Damn! Right now I''m feeling like a frog in the depths of a well."


    He could only accept this fate before asking, "when Gege is going to wake up?"


    ''Ding! Couple more minutes, I hope.''


    Arthur had nothing else to do but to wait. After a few minutes of silence he already managed to check his body thoroughly.


    There was no visible wound there, yet his energy was all depleted. He couldn''t move except with great difficulty and so he tried to get the best of this time and start cultivating.


    That made him replenish a small portion of his energy enough to make him stand and get out of that crater.


    "Yeah," he took a glance around, "this looks similar to the world I left from."


    He was standing on one side of the mountain. The area around was filled with many mountains till the horizon.


    It was the same topography of the world he left.


    ''What happened?''


    All of a sudden Gege''s voice came at last to make him happy.


    "I never thought to be happy to hear your voice again like now," he smiled before adding, "There is no time to waste. Use the tree and scan the world. Tell me what you find."


    She managed to read through his thoughts and figured out what he wanted. ''You doubt this is the world we are supposed to be?'' she couldn''t help but sigh, ''That bitch! Alright, leave this to me.''


    Arthur didn''t need to say anything to her as she went to do what he asked. He was dying from the inside to know the answer to his question.


    He couldn''t even think of what he would do if this wasn''t the world he wanted to be at.


    Or what he would do at Aemie''s people if he figured out she betrayed him.


    ''There is good news and weird news,'' Gege suddenly came after long minutes, ''which one do you want to hear first?''


    Arthur was startled by what she said. "I know there is good and bad news, never heard of weird news before," he said with a sneer.


    ''You''ll know why I said that when you hear it,'' Gege didn''t seem to be annoyed by his comment.


    "Alright, tell me the most important thing first," Arthur took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worse, "where are we?"


    ''At the same world we left from,'' Gege said and Arthur couldn''t help but clench his fists and relax them at the next moment.


    "That''s... relieving," he muttered, "what about the weird news?"


    ''We... seem to come in a different time,'' Gege slowly said.


    "What?!!" Arthur''s eyes widened, "what do you mean by that? Was the sect destroyed?"


    ''No,'' Gege paused before adding, ''I dunno how to tell you that but I can see us racing towards that trap that sent us away.''


    "What do you mean by seeing us?" Arthur felt weirder the more she talked.


    ''I told you this is weird, but there is another you in this world,'' Gege said before adding, ''and if my memory serves me right, then this is just before you clashed with those hidden forces and was sent to the higher realm.''


    Arthur was shocked at this moment before he finally connected all the dots.


    "So that was what she meant by that... Time travel... Damn!" he muttered in deep shock before suddenly laughing. "That''s amazing! We won''t miss our window here to save this sect!"


    ''This... is Aemie''s doing?'' Gege could read his thoughts and knew what he was thinking about.


    "Yeah," Arthur nodded, "that grandmaster is really something."


    ''Ding! But is time travel a thing?'' the system couldn''t help but ask.


    ''It is,'' yet the answer came from the golden dragon, ''it was something related to the ancient originals.''


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone, "you are awake at last."


    ''Hehehe, don''t push an old dragon like me.''


    "Yeah, you are an old man after all," Arthur sarcastically said and the golden dragon simply sneered.


    ''Now what should we do?'' Gege asked with a loss.


    "We have to wait," Arthur slowly said, "make everyone ready. We are going to land over those bastards and kill them in one full swoop."

 Chapter 809: Fate Dirty Tricks

    Arthur stood in his place motionless while Gege kept delivering the news for him.


    ''The crow is leading his forces now and is going after the ground army.''


    "What about me?"


    ''You are going to face the flying one and that cloud.''


    Arthur took a deep breath. It felt really weird standing here and listening to what he already did.


    "What about that traitor? Jim?" he suddenly asked.


    ''Well, he returned to the sect a long time ago,'' Gege said, ''do you want me to look for his location now?''


    "Yeah," Arthur knew it was still hard to topple that traitor off his seat as the sect leader, "also try to make the tree listen to any of his meetings. We need to know how deeply rooted this treason is."


    ''Got it.''


    "I... also need something else from you," Arthur seemed a bit hesitant yet Gege read through his thoughts.


    Before he was forcibly teleported from this world to the higher realm, the leader of the flying monster army threatened him with his two captured girls.


    ''The cloud obscures my powers, y''know that,'' Gege slowly said.


    "But you got upgraded, right?" Arthur still had hope, "just try and see."


    Gege went into silence for a while before finally agreeing. ''I''ll need you to move closer to the cloud then.''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to start flying. At the previous time he felt deeply regretful for not moving to save the two girls. Yet he never knew things would reach such a stage and he would have his chance again.


    Yet he also knew he couldn''t expose himself. He now knew this army was coming from the higher realm. He also knew he would have the chance to fight part of it and kill it.


    However he didn''t want to change anything of the past. He didn''t know what would happen if he did that.


    After all, he didn''t regret getting into that cloud. In fact he appreciated that and wanted none of these things to happen differently.


    Except for the two girls who were thrown into the cloud before his eyes.


    ''Ding! So we will use the portals secretly to save them,'' the system said, ''Ding! What if that exposed you?''


    ''We can use a sealing array,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''I have a better idea,'' yet Gege suddenly proposed, ''how can they find you if you weren''t actually here?''


    Arthur didn''t get her meaning at first. "What do you mean by that? Didn''t you just ask for me to come closer?"


    ''Yeah, but if you entered into my world, then they won''t be able to find you, right?'' Gege explained her plan in more detail as she added, ''you will reach the place where we know the cloud will be near to it. Then you''ll just leave here and I''ll do the rest.''


    ''Wow,'' the golden dragon commended, ''I like this plan!''


    ''Ding! I still have the place where the girls were thrown at,'' the system said, ''Ding! I''ll guide you to reach there faster and vanish.''


    Arthur felt things were finally falling in his favor at last. His eyes shone ain blue light while he flew like a rocket towards the front.


    The system kept guiding him until he reached an empty spot. He knew in less than five minutes this place would turn into a giant battlefield.


    "Do it now!" he said and instantly a portal appeared before he vanished inside.


    ''I''ll start monitoring the surface,'' Gege said.


    "No, I''ll watch everything with my own two eyes," Arthur instantly moved fast towards the location of his tree.


    "Wow! The tree got new smaller ones around?!!" It was his first time to check the tree after Gege got the upgrade.


    The previously single towering tree now had a group of smaller ones around. The smaller trees were nothing compared to the original one, yet all had mirrors in their branches like leaves.


    ''Since the upgrade,'' Gege said, ''I wasn''t the only one to gain benefits, y''know!''


    Arthur couldn''t help but laugh in contempt. "Things are just getting better and better," he didn''t hesitate to land on the ground just next to the mother tree.


    "Long time no see."


    The moment he stepped into the tree world he heard the soft voice of the tree once again. This time he felt even his energy getting replenished and his soul in great peace.


    "I see you got a lot of upgrades yourself," he said with a chuckle.


    "As you are," the tree softly laughed at the short one in a very sweet way. Arthur couldn''t help but have his smile wider.


    "I assume you are here for the outside battle," the tree softly said before a gigantic mirror appeared and things started to show up on its surface.


    "Isn''t it a bit weird to watch yourself doing the same thing?" she suddenly asked in interest.


    "I think it''s a twist of fate," Arthur slowly said, "or perhaps this was my fate from the beginning."


    Arthur didn''t know why but at this moment all he could think of was his entire life. He saw his life extending as a grey long thread where there were some points marked in red.


    These were the fingerprints fate left on his life, things he thought he did or was forced to do according to circumstances.


    Like coming to this world instead of succeeding the tribulation and ascending to be an immortal.


    Like forced into that gigantic portal taking the shape of the cloud to enter the higher realm.


    To end up here, standing inside his garden world safe and sound watching everything playing again in the same sequence.


    Yet this time he had the power to change the outcome... to save those who matter to him.


    "Was fate... intending to take things off me and give me time to grow powerful enough to take them back?" he couldn''t help but mutter slowly to himself, asking only himself this troubled question.


    Yet he had to interrupt his line of thoughts. At this precise moment, two things appeared on the mirror screen in front of him.


    He saw the gigantic cloud approaching from one end, and he saw himself flying towards it from the other end.


    "And so it begins," he took a deep breath while hoping things would end up being right this time.

 Chapter 810: The Dirty Trick

    Arthur stood in his place watching his other self pausing in midair. He knew it was the moment when he considered his next move against such a gigantic enemy... That cloud!


    Then portals appeared and the group of thousand mechas appeared next. They were supposed to be the ones to test the cloud and give him insights of what was going on there.


    Then the leader appeared and shouted, challenging him to enter the cloud.


    "It''s time!" Arthur clenched his fists while watching two silhouettes appearing before they were thrown in the middle of the cloud.


    "Now!"


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to shout at Gege. He knew for sure she was now watching and paying attention just like him. Yet he wasn''t that calm to watch without saying anything.


    The two bodies vanished inside the cloud, making his heart clench out of stress.


    "Gege... Tell me you got them!"


    Gege took a few moments before she answered him. For Arthur these seconds seemed like a century out of his anxiety.


    ''They are rescued,'' she finally said the good news, ''but...''


    "But what?" Arthur didn''t hesitate to fly as fast as he could out of here. He flew directly towards his garden world. "Why are they?" he said, yet Gege seemed a bit hesitant to say.


    ''This... There is something you need to know first,'' she said after a long pause.


    "Not now!" Arthur didn''t wait for her to tell him. He closed his eyes and started scanning the entire garden looking for them.


    And he finally found the two.


    "This..." yet he slowly opened his eyes while a cold flash of blue light appeared from his eyes. "I can''t believe they dare to play me for a fool there!"


    He clenched his fists and even roared out of anger. The two girls who were thrown in the middle of the cloud weren''t his.


    They were simply two normal mages from the higher realm.


    ''I''ll take them to prison,'' Gege slowly said.


    "I wanna know everything they know," Arthur ruthlessly said, "use every means you have... I want them to confess everything."


    ''Leave this to me,'' Gege said.


    "Also that b*tch... torture her until she confesses," Arthur was so enraged that he didn''t care about anything for now. He decided to torture Mera, the silver dragonair he had since long time ago. "I want everything she knows... Everything!"


    Gege knew he was so enraged at the moment so she spared herself any useless argument. ''Alright,'' she simply said despite lacking any intention of doing what he wanted.


    "What about that army?" Arthur asked before he turned around and instantly flew back inside the tree world.


    The screen there was still lit up and showed the scenes happening outside. Arthur was now fighting against those flying mages and monsters before he got engulfed by the cloud.


    He saw himself entering the cloud with high hopes of finding Iman and Noura. Yet he knew now this was only a foolish dream of his.


    He wouldn''t find them anywhere there, and that was because they never left this world to begin with.


    "Aemie... I owe you one," he slowly said while watching the leader of the enemy forces leading his men towards the gigantic cloud.


    Then the entire cloud started to fade away like it wasn''t there in the first place.


    If not for Aemie''s unexpected help with this time travel thing he would end up regretting losing his two girls.


    And now he got a chance to repay what he faced double, or even triple.


    "Take me out," he didn''t hesitate to waste anymore time standing here. The cloud was gone by now alongside all the enemies who came securing it.


    And now all that remained was the massive ground army marching at the sect by now, besides the traitor inside the sect.


    "Jim... just wait," Arthur appeared in midair before he turned around. He felt so bitter about what happened to him here. "I swear to get you back," he clenched his fists and then started to fly towards the direction of the sect.


    "Bring me Doaf and Amera now," as he started flying his mind kept itself busy thinking about the next step.


    And no matter how he thought about it, he just wanted to go directly towards the sect and exterminate that traitor leader of it in front of everyone.


    He was very angry, and yet he still knew this would be a bad move.


    The traitor he found was the leader of the sect, someone everyone respected and never doubted.


    He didn''t know how Jim kept himself aloof from suspicion all this time, but that also meant he wasn''t an easy man to handle.


    The only way to get rid of him was to use this war and expose him. Yet that also meant he had to risk losing all the defenses of the sect for a period of time.


    And that was when Doaf and Amera''s role came to picture.


    "What happened?"


    The moment the two appeared, Amera turned around and asked with interest. She seemed to know something, or felt what Aemie did.


    "We are back, right?" Doaf also seemed a bit skeptical as he first turned around and made sure this was the same low world he was in before leaving.


    "Aemie gave us a hand," Arthur said before shortly explaining everything to the two.


    "Damn!" Amera couldn''t help but curse out loud, "why didn''t you call all of us out? We could have killed them by our new forces."


    Arthur gave her a deep look before asking:


    "Do you trust these forces?"


    His sudden question startled Amera for a brief moment. "Plus we can''t risk changing anything from the past," he added before she could speak and say anything in defense.


    In fact he didn''t care about Aemie''s motive right now. All he wanted was to get his revenge over those bastards before wrecking the entire world upside down and look for his missing girls.


    He also planned to annex this world for himself for good. He knew the main battle wasn''t here, but up there at the highest worlds.


    To get there he needed ten worlds to be under his control, plus his academy.

 Chapter 811: A New Plan

    Without the help of Aemie''s forces he would take ages to achieve that. He wondered if she saw all this coming and did what she did to force him to accept her goals.


    Yet he didn''t know what goal exactly she was after. This was an intermediate realm, and he would return to a much lower realm.


    Logic said she wouldn''t be interested in the lower realms. Yet he was pretty confident she had an ulterior motive hidden from his eyes so far.


    And she just paid him the price in advance for him to accept her goal and help her achieve it.


    "What now?" Doaf didn''t stop at this point and asked about their next step. "Will we go and kill those useless worms?"


    "We will," Arthur nodded before adding, "but first I need something from you two."


    "Anything," Amera instantly said, "we can raise this world to the ground if you wanted! We have the power to do that now and the army to support us."


    "I know," Arthur took a deep breath, "but make no mistake. Our enemies must have gotten wind of what we did up there by now."


    "No, you missed something," Doaf corrected him, "this will happen long days from now. Don''t forget we travelled back in time, but they didn''t."


    Arthur gave him a deep glance before calmly asking:


    "Are you sure what Aemie pulled can''t be done by anyone else?"


    His sudden question made the two faces in front of him change. They got darkened as they realized what it meant.


    "No one would anticipate my grandmaster to use that," yet Amera was the first to regain her composure.


    "Why?" Arthur asked in curiosity.


    "Because doing this will require a hefty price," Amera simply said, "considering my grandmaster''s stingy personality, no one would ever doubt she would do such a thing to a nameless mage coming from a lower realm."


    Her words made Arthur quite sure about his earlier speculations. Aemie did that favor in advance to ask for something in return later on.


    "Anyway we need to stay alert nonetheless," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "besides I intend to sacrifice the sect shields in return to expose the traitor."


    "All... the shields?!!" Doaf and Amera were shocked by his words as the former muttered.


    "Yeah," Arthur said as if it was nothing, "I just want to make sure no one would stand against me except if he or she is a traitor."


    The two knew what he was meaning by that, yet doing this also meant risking an open war against such an army.


    "Let me bring everyone out then," Amera hurriedly said, "let''s kill them at the doorsteps of the sect."


    "No, this won''t work," Arthur sighed, "we need to let the sect get damaged by them before we move to kill the enemy."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two seemed to not believe what he was saying.


    "Just trust me in this," Arthur slowly said, "however I need you two to prepare your men for this battle. Also I need to select trusted mages to be sent all over the place and act as our spies."


    "Well," Amera exchanged silent glances with Doaf before adding, "we can do that now."


    "Hurry up then," Arthur said while two portals appeared next to the two, "we have three hours at most to reach the sect. Send out the chosen ones and I''ll spread them all over the world."


    "The... world?!" Doaf asked to make sure, "not only here?"


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "I want every single corner of this damned world to be turned upside down and searched for any sign of our enemies."


    He didn''t just want to win this fight, he wanted to be many steps ahead of his enemies and make sure to not miss any hint about his two girls'' location.


    "Alright then," Doaf nodded, "we''ll select a larger group."


    "Only the trusted ones," Arthur stressed before the two vanished from his sight. "Or else we will be facing bigger problems later on."


    Arthur didn''t want any complications from now on. Something deep inside his soul kept telling him that this sect hid something very crucial for his future.


    At least it was the only physical evidence he had so far for the presence of his past life cultivation world.


    "Is there any news from Jim?" After flying for one hour straight, he asked about the traitor.


    ''I''m following his steps... however it''s not that easy to find those accomplices,'' Gege said.


    "Why is that?" Arthur didn''t understand, "does he have anything to hide his presence from the tree?"


    ''No,'' Gege denied, ''but he has met with so many so far... don''t forget he is the acting leader of the sect.''


    Arthur could only feel more anger towards this weird situation. "At least those he will conspire with will meet them in secret, right?"


    ''That''s not something you can count on,'' the golden dragon said, ''after all he must be sure you are gone from this world by that cloud.''


    ''Ding! He won''t try to cover up his tracks, as he would never suspect being watched,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! But I have another way to know his accomplices.''


    "Say it," Arthur was impatient at the moment. He was deeply frustrated from the fact that Jim was easily escaping his net.


    ''Ding! Make the tree monitor the teams we left behind,'' the system said, ''Ding! If I was the traitor, then I would definitely start to target Gor and Deem.''


    ''That... makes sense,'' the golden dragon agreed, ''If I was him, I would do that.''


    "Alright," Arthur couldn''t help but see the grander picture, "but trying to only watch and not help my men there is a mistake. Gor and Deem are very important to my future empire."


    ''Then we can warn them using the tree,'' Gege suggested.


    ''No, this is risky,'' yet the golden dragon disagreed.


    ''Ding! We can''t give any sign for your presence here at all,'' the system also agreed with the golden dragon.


    "But leaving them to die is a foolish thing!" Arthur wasn''t on the same line as these two.

 Chapter 812: Calling The Crow Back

    ''If I may,'' the golden dragon said, ''I can suggest a new approach here... what about we send them bird''s wings coming from someone already in this world?''


    Arthur didn''t understand his meaning at first.


    ''Like whom exactly?'' Gege also didn''t get what the golden dragon meant.


    ''Ding! Like the crow,'' the system said it and the moment he did, Arthur understood finally what the two were trying to say.


    "That''s... a great plan indeed," Arthur didn''t hesitate to add, "Gege, can you reach him?"


    ''He doesn''t run so much away from us anyway,'' the golden dragon said, ''for him we got separated a couple of hours ago.''


    ''But how am I supposed to convince him with that?'' Gege didn''t believe in her ability to make him believe her words. ''It''s not that easy to accept the time travel concept y''know.''


    "You got a point," Arthur nodded before asking, "can you pinpoint his location?"


    ''One sec.''


    "Also send him a message," Arthur paused, "tell him to turn around and come back to meet me urgently."


    ''What about the task you just gave him?'' Gege knew this would arouse more suspicion inside the crow''s mind.


    "Just tell him it''s a matter of life and death," Arthur firmly said, "he won''t hesitate to come even if he was doubting you."


    ''Sigh, why not also send a bird''s wing to him?''


    "I don''t have his," Arthur shrugged.


    ''I bet Amera and Doaf have,'' the golden dragon said.


    "Alright, ask them then and whoever had the bird''s wing can come out and ask him to retreat now."


    Arthur turned his gaze towards the direction of the sect. "Things are going to get more interesting from now on. I shouldn''t return yet to the sect, in fact I shouldn''t even take part in the upcoming fight early on."


    And as he muttered these words to himself, the layout of a plan started to appear clearly in front of his eyes.


    "Woosh!"


    The sudden appearance of Amera interrupted his line of thoughts.


    "What now?" she aggressively asked, "shouldn''t he have a job to do or what?"


    Arthur could only smile helplessly before saying, "you two had enough fun already. Aren''t you feeling any sympathy towards the poor crow who had none yet?"


    "Humph," Amera didn''t say anymore words before taking out a bird''s wing.


    "Come back urgently.... you are needed," she said what she wrote out loud before letting the bird''s wing burn to ashes. "Satisfied?" She seemed slightly annoyed by calling the crow back for no obvious reason.


    "Take it easy with him," Arthur slowly advised, "after all we know nothing about the fate of his world."


    The moment he said this, the irritated face of Amera smoothened up and even he noticed a glimpse of sympathy in her eyes.


    It wasn''t just to discuss what they were going to do next in this world to the crow that he asked him to come back. As his aider in his crusade, Arthur knew his crow deserved to know the truth.


    Even if they didn''t know the exact fate of his world, at least he shouldn''t hide something that big from him.


    "I''m going to wait for him then," she said but Arthur shook his head.


    "The lesser our numbers is the better," he said before adding, "plus you have to select your own boys to be sent all over the world."


    "Yeah, that network of spies of yours," she said in a way that showed her discontent with his plan.


    "Got an opinion about it? Spill it out," he said with a calm smile over his face.


    "It''s just not that hard to control this world with our forces," she said, "why take the trouble of being this slow?"


    "It''s being cautious," Arthur corrected her, "we still don''t know how the higher up forces will react to what we did up there."


    "We still have time."


    "They can time travel as we did," Arthur didn''t agree with her, "we talked about this before. We need to wait and make sure there are no hidden forces coming from higher realms at the same time as us."


    She couldn''t help but sigh. "What difference will it make? We can crush them simply by our current forces."


    "We need to assess them first," he said before firmly adding, "and this is my final decision about the matter. Please go inside and finish selecting your people fast. It would be ridiculous for Doaf few forces to select their people before you do."


    "Humph," she wasn''t agreeing with what he was saying yet she moved back inside the portal Gege summoned.


    He watched her vanish before he took a deep breath and started to accelerate in his flight.


    "She... is really stubborn!" he couldn''t help but complain out loud.


    ''She just wants to crush this world in the shortest span of time,'' the golden dragon said, ''something tells me that she also is suspicious of Aemie''s forces.''


    "Who isn''t," Arthur only said before asking Gege, "Where is the crow now?"


    ''He got Amera''s bird''s wing and my message,'' she said.


    "And?"


    ''He is still standing motionless with his forces.''


    "Sigh, if I were him then I would have been suspicious of these changes," Arthur slowly muttered, "but in the end he''ll come. Keep an eye on him for me."


    ''There is also another thing,'' Gege said, ''it''s about the sect.''


    Arthur''s eyes changed before he asked: "Is it Jim?"


    ''Some people from the sect,'' Gege corrected, ''they are following Gor and Deem around the sect.''


    "So they are growing restless already," Arthur''s face showed a vicious expression, "if they tried to do something foolish this fast then I will be forced to act."


    None of the three beings in his mind objected anymore. If things went south then he wouldn''t hesitate to ditch any plans to the dirt and screw that traitor and his accomplices.


    For him, Gor and Deem were two of the utmost importance. He would never risk losing even one of them here.

 Chapter 813: Telling The Unbelievable Story To The Crow

    ''The crow is coming,'' Gege told him the news that he was already expecting. He knew no matter how doubtful the crow was, he wouldn''t ignore two messages coming from two different sources and in two different ways.


    "How about Gor and Deem?" he asked what he was worried most about.


    ''They are... safe for now,'' Gege seemed a bit hesitant.


    "What''s wrong?" he didn''t miss that, "Does anything happen to them?"


    ''No, but...''


    "''What?"


    ''The changes they are making to the arrays are being reseted by Jim''s men.''


    Arthur paused for a long minute with a long face before he suddenly laughed. "That man... he is really impatient and such a perfectionist," he said amidst his laughs.


    ''Aren''t you worried?'' Gege asked in doubt, ''this way the arrays would still be lost.''


    "It doesn''t matter," Arthur said, "just make sure to tag those people. If Jim isn''t afraid of meeting his accomplices in the open, his henchmen are."


    ''Yeah, they will act suspicious if they meet anyone of their color,'' the golden dragon agreed.


    ''Ding! We also need to know what arrays got manipulated so we can inform Deem and Gor to save them.''


    ''It''s of no use,'' Gege sighed, ''they are ruining everything the two touch.''


    "It''s not a big deal," Arthur didn''t care about any array for now, "let''s just make sure we keep them busy."


    ''Your meaning...'' the golden dragon paused before realizing what he was after, ''oh, that sounds fun.''


    ''Ding! What''s fun?'' the system didn''t get it so Arthur had to explain:


    "I will use the crow to make the two repair all the damaged arrays. This way those henchmen would be all busy running after them in circles."


    ''But that might enrage Jim,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "Let him be," Arthur shrugged, "the more restless he is the more mistakes he would make."


    ''Anyway I''ll keep an eye on these people and try to expand our traitor list,'' Gege said before pausing for a second, ''by the way, that crow is coming here so fast while leaving his forces back behind.''


    "He didn''t bring them?" Arthur was surprised for a moment, "he is quite cautious."


    ''Yeah,'' the golden dragon said in agreement.


    ''He will be here in less than half an hour.''


    "I''ll shorten this period then," Arthur then started to run towards the direction the crow was coming from. As he planned, in less than fifteen minutes the two came to see each other from far away.


    ''Ding! He seems astonished to meet you here,'' the system said and Arthur couldn''t help but chuckle.


    Arthur stopped in his tracks while watching the crow flying so fast towards him. The closer he got he could see the anxious look over his face.


    "I have to admit," the moment he stopped in front of him, the crow openly said, "I never expected you to be the one asking to meet."


    "Who did you expect then?" Arthur asked with a wide smile over his face.


    "I... dunno... I thought it''s a trap or something," the crow seemed hesitant, "where is Amera?" he asked while glancing around.


    "She is doing part of her mission," Arthur calmly said.


    "And I was supposed to do mine," the crow said, "but you interrupted me."


    "There is something I need you to see first," Arthur thought a lot about what he should say to the crow the moment the two meet.


    He thought of directly telling him about the last adventure however he feared this would be too much to absorb.


    So he preferred to first show him the evidence of this adventure before blowing up his mind with the details.


    Also he planned to not be the one to brief him about everything. After all, he still couldn''t determine if the crow world was safe or not, and couldn''t guarantee his reaction towards the matter.


    "Follow me," Arthur then entered through the portal Gege brought for the two before the crow simply followed.


    The moment the crow stepped inside the garden world he instantly felt the changes there. Arthur flew a couple of meters away from him while examining his feather covered face.


    The next moment the crow started to examine the world around, and this was the moment his face changed dramatically to show his shock.


    "All these forces..." he slowly muttered in deep shock while moving his eyes around the ground forces of Amera and Doaf, "how the hell did they gain such power? Wait a minute..."


    The crow turned towards Arthur before asking in great shock and much doubt, "are they all from the higher realm? Really?!!"


    Arthur could only nod before he slowly said:


    "There is a lot for you to catch up with."


    "A lot?" the crow sneered in disbelief, "I only left you for a couple of hours. What possibly could happen during two hours? Gosh! This is unbelievable! There are mages from the giants and cauldrons as well..."


    Arthur could only silently watch before he let Gege inform Doaf and Amera about their presence here. The two came in a hurry towards the crow before standing there without saying a word.


    "I''ll leave you two to tell him everything," Arthur said before a portal flashed beside him and he simply passed through it.


    "Wait!" Amera shouted in anger yet she didn''t manage to catch him before the portal closed. She stood at the place of the portal while her body trembled out of rage. "That punk! Does he think this is funny?"


    "What''s going on?" the crow wasn''t stupid not to guess something really was going on and it seemed it was something bad. "Can anyone tell me what the hell happened in the past two hours?"


    "They were days," Doaf corrected while taking a deep breath. He didn''t like it either but the crow was here and he deserved to hear the truth.


    "Days? How come?!!" The crow seemed not to believe him.


    "It''s actually weeks," yet Amera corrected before adding, "we... have a long story to tell you about."

 Chapter 814: The Mad Crow

    The crow couldn''t do anything but nod and silently listen to their words. The more they spoke, the more shocked he became until they finished.


    "Get me out!" the crow suddenly rose his head to the sky, "get me out now!"


    Arthur was on the outside listening to all the talk the three were having in his ghost mode. He didn''t want to be the one to tell the crow about the bad news, yet he also didn''t want to miss his reaction.


    "Get him out," so when the crow shouted in deep rage and demanded to get out, Arthur slowly opened his eyes and asked Gege to open a portal for him.


    The next moment the crow darted out of the portal while Doaf and Amera followed.


    They feared the crow would do anything stupid to Arthur or to himself.


    "Where the hell is that cloud?" the moment the crow got himself out, he rose high in the sky while taking a wide shot all around, "someone tell me now where that damned cloud is!"


    Arthur looked at Amera and Doaf before the three sighed simultaneously. They all understood what the crow wanted to do. He wanted to go back to the highest realms and join the war up there.


    "It''s pointless," Doaf tried to reason with him, "things up there are... much more complicated than you might think."


    "Don''t tell me what I can and I can''t do!" the crow was on the verge of exploding, "I want to go back now! Just tell me where the hell that cloud is!"


    "It''s gone," Arthur had to step in and stop his madness right away, "it''s already gone."


    "G... Gone! How?!!" The crow seemed to lose most of his power of rage and instead helplessness prevailed over his body and face. "I... can''t go back then?" he asked in a low and depressed tone.


    "We have a part to do here," Amera tried to console him, "my grandmaster even sent me with many of her elites to fight here."


    "Here?" the crow raised his head and laughed a bitter one, "this is a low realm Amera... A f*cking low realm! What possibly such a realm could do in the course of such war? Huh?"


    His words made everyone freeze and didn''t know what to say back to him.


    "Even if there are thousands, tens of thousands of such low worlds then they would matter nothing at all in front of a single high world! You know I''m telling the truth, and I dare you to deny it!"


    "I dare to," Arthur had to step this from escalating to a path of no retreat for the crow, "this realm isn''t just a mere lower realm."


    "Says the one who sees these worlds as his home," the crow sneered and Arthur wasn''t mad at him for such an attitude.


    It was acceptable to act like this. Even Arthur would do the same if he knew his world would be on the verge of destruction or even got that bitter end already.


    And the most frustrating thing of all was that they couldn''t even tell if the crow world was still standing or it was already crushed to nothing.


    "It''s not that," Arthur firmly said, "more of the highest realm mages will swarm this world and any world I go to soon. This fight isn''t less important than fighting up there."


    "As if I''d believe it," the crow sneered.


    "Her grandmaster believed this," Arthur pointed to Amera before pointing to Doaf, "and his grandmaster believed this a long time ago as well. He selected me, a no name from the lowest realm to be the young master of the caln! This isn''t a mere coincidence."


    "That proves nothing to me," the crow wasn''t yet convinced, "I won''t rest until I go back to my world."


    "Then wait until they send reinforcements again," Arthur said in a calm tone as if he was expecting such an answer from the crow.


    "Reinforcements?" the crow laughed in a hysterical way, "who is mad enough to care about such a low world?"


    "They will," Arthur firmly said, "as they sent the cloud and all that grand army to hunt me down once, they won''t hesitate to do it again."


    The crow gave him that look which told him he didn''t believe his words at all.


    "Do you have a better plan then?" Arthur slowly asked.


    The crow''s face changed slightly as he didn''t know what to say. "Staying here wouldn''t help my clan and world at this war," he stubbornly said, "that''s what I know."


    "Well, I believe you will soon change your mind," Arthur slowly said before adding, "when the large army of the higher realm appears here."


    "If they did," the crow said with a light tone, "and I don''t believe they will, then I''ll be on your side with my men. But for now..."


    The crow''s words held the intentions he had in his mind, and Arthur didn''t object to that. He now wasn''t lacking at all in regard to the higher realm mages or even his mecha numbers.


    "Alright," Arthur nodded, "bring your boys and enter my world until things are cleared or over."


    "No," yet the crow refused his kind gesture, "I prefer to roam the world freely on my own."


    Arthur silently gazed at the hasty retreating crow.


    ''Should I watch him?'' Gege asked, ''I don''t like his attitude.''


    ''It''s normal considering we have nothing to offer him other than disturbing news,'' the golden dragon sighed.


    "Let him be," Arthur started to fly towards the sect, "I don''t believe he will ally with our enemies, his enemies."


    ''What about the ground army approaching the sect?'' Gege asked, ''he was supposed to stop them.''


    "He was supposed to decrease their numbers," Arthur corrected, "a mission anyone can do."


    Gege understood his meaning. ''Which one do you want? Doaf or Amera?''


    "Neither," Arthur found this a good chance to have a glimpse on the hidden plans of Aemie, "bring Nicole and half of her forces out."


    ''H- Half?!!'' Gege was surprised even when knowing his line of thoughts.


    ''Ding! Taking half of the forces out isn''t a good idea,'' the system also expressed his worries. ''Ding! A small part is enough.''


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "only when they had the assurance to complete the task of mine with ease then they will show their true colors to me."


    He wasn''t aiming to reduce the numbers of his enemies. He knew he was able to crush them in one full swoop. However the situation held great importance for other matters as well.


    Defeating the army of monsters, mages, and giants and securing the sect wasn''t his top priority for now. Preserving the sect, exposing the traitors safely, and knowing what Aemie planned for him took the most of his attention and care.

 Chapter 815: Nicole

    Arthur didn''t wait for a long time before portals flashed and three people appeared out of them at first. Doaf, Amera, and Nicole stood around him while he had to stop flying for now.


    He knew such things would need his attention before returning to fly again.


    "You want me to lead half of my forces out?" the first one to speak was the agitated Nicole, "who gave you the permission to order me like this? Huh?"


    She seemed angry, not quite overcoming what her lover did to her from before. Arthur could only sympathise silently with her but he couldn''t show that on his face.


    Instead he calmly stood there while watching her angry face.


    "You are under my protection," Arthur slowly said, "but that doesn''t mean you and your forces don''t work for me."


    "Who said that?" she still was persistent in defying him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.


    "Your grandmaster did," Arthur calmly said before turning to Amera, "and she was there as a witness for that."


    "Then send her out instead!" Nicole shouted, "I don''t want to be part of this."


    "She has other things to do," Arthur could only smile, "and whether you liked it or not, you are now part of my war."


    "Humph, I won''t move out of your hidden world then."


    Arthur anticipated some resistance from her, but like that. He was starting to get impatient and that made him take a decision.


    "If you aren''t going to cooperate then I''ll have to leave you here all alone."


    "As if I would be scared from such a low world," yet Nicole didn''t seem to be frightened by his threatening words.


    "The higher realms will send their troops soon," Arthur slowly said while Doaf and Amera could only stand on the side and watch, "they already have many forces scattered here. Are you sure you want to stay here all alone? By yourself?"


    This time Nicole seemed to be startled and affected by his threat. Her face showed her hesitation while Arthur calmly continued:


    "I promised your grandmaster to protect you, but I didn''t say I won''t use you."


    "As if you dare to touch the hair of my body," Nicole said in an arrogant tone that was misplaced here. Arthur gave her a weird look before realizing what she was referring to.


    And that made him more uncomfortable around her.


    "I hope you lead your forces and help me crush this world."


    "I can do it without even moving a finger," Nicole said, "why do you need me to lead them? I''m happy here."


    "I said so," Arthur calmly said, "and so you have to follow my orders."


    "Orders?" Nicole sneered but at this moment Amera grabbed her arm and stopped her from saying any more words.


    "She will go," Amera spoke for her and that made Nicole give her a threatening look. "I''ll make sure she will."


    "Good," Arthur nodded and threw that little matter behind his back, "are your forces ready?"


    "They are," Doaf said while Amera grabbed Nicole slightly away from the two.


    "Isn''t it too hasty to force her in this war?" Doaf whispered while watching the nervous and angry Nicole debating with Amera.


    "She has to," Arthur said without exposing any further of his intentions.


    "That goes way deeper than I thought," Doaf could only sigh, "are you trying to force her to say what her girlfriend sent her here for?"


    "I doubt she knows anything about that," Arthur said without moving his gaze away from the two girls. They were slightly far off the two men and seemed to have a very intense argument between each other right now.


    "I hope you know what you are doing," Doaf could only say before adding, "can I take my men out?"


    ''Gege,'' Arthur simply gave her the order and the next moment hundreds of portals flashed all around before three hundred mages appeared.


    They all nodded in salute to Doaf and Arthur while saying in unison:


    "Young master."


    This scene attracted the attention of the two girls fighting at a distance and forced them to stop talking.


    "You know what to do," Arthur calmly said, "go and don''t forget to scan everything in a keen way."


    They all nodded before silently flying away in different directions. From far this seemed like a giant wave of tsunami moving all over the world, aiming to cover it all.


    Arthur stood calmly while watching them leave. They all flew fast and in a matter of minutes they all vanished from his sight.


    "My boys will take responsibility for half the world," Doaf explained, "as for the other half, Amera''s boys will watch it."


    Arthur nodded while taking back his gazes towards the two girls. They didn''t argue for long this time before the two came and stood in front of him.


    In fact during all their argument, Gege kept relaying what they were speaking about. Amera was stressing over the suspicious actions of Aemie, and Arthur''s clear intentions of testing her and her mages out before deciding to trust them.


    Nicole stressed over the fact that she knew nothing at all about her girlfriend''s true plans. Yet after Amera warned her from Arthur''s retaliation, and she saw with her own eyes his first step towards taking control of this world, Nicole decided to agree at last.


    She was the victim here, a victim from all sides. However Arthur didn''t give a damn about that. He knew Aemie had her own agenda, and he was sure the earlier he found out about it the better.


    And this chance was a golden one for him to unveil part of that secret.


    "What do you need from me and my forces?" Despite approving of going on this mission, her tone and attitude were still the same and didn''t change even for a bit.


    Yet Arthur didn''t show any discontent towards her. He knew she was angry, and she had all the right to be. He could understand that, however he wouldn''t let that get in the way of his own plans.


    "You are going to lead them and crash over a large army," Arthur slowly said before adding, "that army is made entirely of higher realm mages. Be sure to know that being here puts many limitations on your powers. So try first to take things easy and don''t underestimate this army."


    "Oh, he is worried on me now," Nicole sarcastically said but Arthur ignored her useless remark and turned to Amera.


    "Are your boys ready?"

 Chapter 816: Being Watched

    Amera nodded. "You can get them out now."


    Arthur gave Nicole a side glance before he let Gege open her portals. Hundreds of the cauldron mages appeared in front of him before they all saluted Nicole and Amera.


    Then they spread out all over the place.


    "They will give me news through bird''s wings," Amera said before adding, "so I''ll need to be out there to receive them all the time."


    "Me too," Doaf added.


    Arthur knew that they were referring to the fact that his world was separated from this world. So not a single bird''s wing would be able to reach them if they remained inside.


    "Alright," Arthur shrugged without care, "suit yourselves then. But give me more bird''s wings," he stretched his hand and they handed over a large number of papers.


    "And you as well," Arthur also stretched his hand to Nicole who took a deep breath and controlled her rage before giving him a few of her bird''s wings.


    Arthur took them and didn''t complain. He also took out a large number of his own bird''s wings and gave them to the three.


    "Now, are your boys ready?"


    "They are mages!" Nicole said in an aloof tone.


    "Are they ready?" Arthur didn''t want to enter into any fight again with her.


    "They are," Nicole said, "where is that army anyway?"


    Arthur pointed to the north before saying, "they are marching towards one of the bases I own. They want to demolish it and my job is to prevent them."


    "Then why not march all together and crush them at once?" Nicole sneered before shaking off her head. "You low realmers are always like this," she muttered in complaint but Arthur didn''t care or explain himself to her.


    He still didn''t trust her, and never would.


    "Woosh!"


    The next moment portals started to appear all over the place. This time the size of the army was something else. At least tens of thousands appeared all around, standing in wait while Arthur gazed up at this entire army.


    And his mind had one question inside; if this was only half of the forces, then did Aemie send all her elites here with him?


    What was she really after?


    "Alright," Amera spoke to the army, "you''ll take your orders from me and Nicole. Don''t break the lines and be ready to fight at any time. We are in hostile lands."


    Her words made Arthur raise his eyebrows while watching her turn to him and calmly say:


    "I''m out here anyway, why not go and help them instead?"


    Arthur didn''t know if her request from earlier was on purpose or this all was just a mere coincidence.


    "I think it''s wise not to let them be off our eyes," Doaf softly said while Nicole stood silently watching all of this happening like she was watching a silly play.


    "Alright," Arthur didn''t disagree but he promised to give Amera a harsh response after coming back, "you know what to do and what are the risks here."


    "Don''t worry big boy," Amera seemed to enjoy forcing his hand this time as she even laughed, "at the first sight of any new higher realmers I''ll inform you."


    Arthur didn''t say any farewell words to her or Nicole while watching the grand army fly so fast towards the distant horizon.


    And in a matter of a few minutes they also vanished off his sight.


    "Shouldn''t we go now?" Doaf asked as he noticed Arthur was still standing still and not moving.


    "Y''know," Arthur suddenly turned and said, "there is a thing I still couldn''t get."


    "What is it?" Doaf asked, "is it about them?" he pointed at the army that just vanished. "You know we know nothing about the real purpose of them here."


    "I know," Arthur nodded, "and I didn''t mean them. I meant my godfather."


    "My grandmaster?!!" the face of Doaf changed, "what happened? Did you get any news from him?"


    Arthur shrugged, "that''s the point I''m referring to," he said before turning his gaze up to the sky, "we tried to get in contact with him more than once. We told him our locations here, up there, and even when we reached Aemie''s world. However, not a single time did we get a response from him."


    "He is... Alive!" Doaf mistook Arthur''s words for something else and that agitated him. He said those words while clenching his fists out of anger. "How can you even think about that?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    Arthur could only glance at him and feel some sorry at his reaction. He never indicated anything regarding his godfather being dead.


    "I''m thinking about something else," Arthur calmly said, "what if he is waiting."


    "W... Waiting?!!" Doaf''s face changed abruptly, "waiting for what?"


    "The right moment to interfere," Arthur moved his eyes to the sky as if he was looking at someone, "I can''t shake off this feeling, the feeling that I''m watched by someone from time to time."


    He turned to Doaf, "do you also feel that?"


    Doaf felt weird at this moment. "I don''t," he said, "but what if it was an enemy?"


    Arthur shook his head before adding, "it''s not an enemy, it''s the same person here like it was up there. Anyway," he turned to his destination and added, "let''s go. We have a few hours until reaching the sect."


    Doaf felt Arthur was ending this weird conversation fast. He also felt Arthur hid more things off him. And he was right.


    Arthur didn''t give any care to such feelings at all until he came back here. At first he thought it was his mistake to feel that.


    Then when he went to Aemie''s world and the shield was shattered after burning all the invading forces outside it, he also got a glimpse of that feeling.


    And again when he just took out Nicole''s army and sent them to their mission, he got the same feeling again.


    It was like the first time he met his grandmaster. As if two gigantic eyes flashed and took a glimpse over the world, freezing everything and everyone except for him.


    And he was the focus of these gazes.

 Chapter 817: The Long Awaited Calmness

    Yet he couldn''t see any sign of his master, or even see those eyes clearly. He only got the feeling of them being there and nothing more.


    "Will we land over the sect and wait there?" Doaf asked after long minutes of flying, "what about that traitor?"


    "We won''t," Arthur slowly said, "we will take our hide somewhere near."


    "We... won''t take part in that fight?" Doaf was surprised by that. He thought Arthur was going there to take charge of the sect and win this war.


    "I''m just being cautious," Arthur said and didn''t care to explain more. His mind was busy thinking of that feeling.


    He hated the thought of being watched and didn''t know who was doing that.


    "Cautious of what?" Doaf on the other hand didn''t drop the matter.


    "From any reinforcements coming from the higher realm," Arthur had to give him a suitable answer to make him shut up for the rest of the journey.


    However he was very optimistic about that.


    "What happened to the crow?" Doaf suddenly asked after a few minutes of silent flying, "I can''t see him anywhere. Did he return to attack that army?"


    Arthur could only take a deep breath before Doaf continued to say:


    "No, if he was there then you should have informed Amera and Nicole about his presence there, right?"


    Arthur turned to him and for the first time he realized how annoying he was. He wanted to ask when he started to be chattery like this, but he refrained from doing so.


    "He preferred to take a break," Arthur slowly said.


    "Did he retreat?" Doaf asked in shock, "but how can he leave this world? We all came here with you and can''t leave to the higher realms except after returning to that damned academy."


    Arthur thought back about where everything started. That useless tournament now lost all its importance in his eyes.


    He would return and simply open the doors of hell and unleash it over the entire academy. He wouldn''t let such a cancer spread near his own academy.


    Plus they already crossed all lines with him with all their machinations and dirty tricks. They thought themselves high and mighty by allying themselves with the lycans.


    But even the lycans couldn''t stop him in their higher realms, how could they possibly do that in his own low realm?


    He already decided, the moment he would return back would be the moment marking the end of that hideous academy.


    And then he would think about what to do with his own academy.


    "He just went to cool off his head," Arthur said while he was lost in thoughts about his plans for the future, after he returned to his world.


    "Do you know where he is?" Doaf asked and this time Arthur was on the verge of exploding on him.


    "How can I possibly know such a thing?" Arthur tried to maintain his calm but despite his intentions his voice came slightly higher than normal.


    "I just wanted to go and help in convincing him to come back," Doaf gave him a weird glance, feeling odd from his strange reaction.


    "I can tell you the direction he went off," Arthur pointed to the east, "go there, he didn''t leave for more than half an hour already."


    Doaf gazed at the direction before returning to Arthur.


    "Do you think he''ll listen to me?"


    And this time Arthur gave him a real warning gaze before suddenly shouting:


    "Gege!"


    "Woosh!"


    And the next moment a portal appeared and swallowed Doaf, taking him by force inside Arthur''s garden world.


    "Phew, finally a moment of peace," Arthur could heave a final sigh of relief while enjoying this moment of silence all of sudden.


    ''He was noisy,'' the golden dragon couldn''t help but sigh in relief.


    ''But this way he won''t be able to get any bird''s wings from his team,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! As if they can reach their posts this fast,'' the system sneered.


    Arthur could only smile helplessly. He just got rid of one annoyance and now he has three more.


    "How are things at the sect?" he tried to shift the topic to a meaningful topic.


    ''Nothing worthy,'' Gege said in a bored tone, ''those people are just tracking Deem and Gor. They never planned to do anything to them it seemed.''


    "That''s good news," Arthur nodded, "I don''t want them to do anything at all to my two precious men."


    ''I bet they''ll move once the war starts,'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    ''Ding! If so, we need to be ready to move and help.''


    ''I can move you to anyplace inside the sect,'' Gege said in confidence, ''so rely on my portals for that.''


    ''But you forgot,'' the golden dragon said, ''there are many arrays preventing any teleportation or portals in there.''


    "Send a message to Deem and Gor then," Arthur made up his mind, "tell them to keep a backdoor opened for us to enter using portals."


    ''Won''t this expose you?'' Gege asked in doubt.


    ''Don''t worry,'' the golden dragon said, ''as long as he wouldn''t show up his face in the open, no one would doubt anything.''


    Arthur agreed with what the golden dragon said. "Any news about that ground army?" he asked, "or any other army around?"


    ''So far things are looking the same to me,'' Gege said in a bored tone, ''there is nothing worthy to say.''


    "Don''t be like that," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, "soon you''ll be too busy to not be able to chat with me."


    ''We''ll see,'' Gege wasn''t the type to sit idle and do nothing.


    In fact despite Arthur depending entirely on her for the recent events, she didn''t feel any offense or pressure by this.


    In fact she felt greatly amused and excited by all these tasks.


    "I just hope things move on the way I anticipate," Arthur muttered to himself while flying directly towards the direction of the sect.


    Yet something deep inside him kept bugging about his next enemy''s move. He hoped it would be nothing, but he had this feeling that things wouldn''t go smoothly the way he wanted.

 Chapter 818: New Development

    Arthur reached a spot where he was near to the sect. it was on a mountain peak that wasn''t any lower than any peak of that sect.


    It took him three more hours to reach there. Plus one hour to look around and select a perfect spot.


    From his position he could see through the entire sect. The shields around the sect were all raised up, glistering under the dying rays of the sun of this day.


    At night the army would arrive and start its assault on the sect.


    "It will be a long night," Arthur couldn''t help but mutter while hearing the latest updates from Gege.


    It was about the actions of Amera and Nicole''s army.


    They arrived at their target just now. If they didn''t, then in less than two hours the ground army should have arrived here, catching up the last hours of the sun on this day.


    The moment they arrived, they didn''t hesitate to launch a full out assault over the ground army.


    Giants stood erect despite their lack of numbers and continued to dig a path through the mountains around. The ground army turned its attention to stop the attackers.


    Yet they couldn''t stop their attacks at all.


    Amera made sure to use the element of surprise to launch a full assault.


    "I should see this with my own eyes," Arthur gave a deep glance at the nearby sect. people there looked like tiny dots, ants running all over the place in such a chaotic manner.


    It seemed they were ready for a fight at any moment. That made Arthur quite relieved of their ability to buy him sometime and put more pressure over Jim and his traitors.


    Arthur closed his eyes and entered into his garden world. He appeared just in front of the mirror tree. The smaller trees didn''t look any different now, which meant they would need more time to grow up.


    Then he entered the mirror world without any hesitation.


    The screen appeared in front of his eyes and started to show live feedback from the war happening tens of miles away.


    Amera appeared on the screen leading her men towards the ground army. She valiantly darted with a group of selected elites, creating paths for other mages to pour in.


    She seemed not to fear death. Anywhere she went, a flash of red fire appeared and her spear shattered any enemy standing in her way.


    But there were too many out there to kill.


    "Like that she can end the war alone," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh. He was happy but also worried.


    If he thought for a single moment that this was the plans of his enemies then he would be a fool. He knew his enemy was treacherous and there was no way for such an enemy to not calculate for such a scenario.


    And he was right in his own worries.


    The next hour things kept heading towards their victory. The ground forces tried everything, distant attacks, arrays, wide attacks, and even suicidal attacks to stop her and her army.


    However all their attempts were shattered in front of Amera''s persistence and bravery.


    She was such a skilled mage that could face hundreds of enemies without being shaken. She kept pushing her way forward no matter what, traversing the battleground from right to left and from front to rear.


    And the deadly blow she did to the enemy was by taking the last few giants standing at the forefront.


    Like this despite being so near to the sect, tens of mountains stood in between them and their goal.


    And like this they couldn''t march a single mile without getting targeted by Amera and her forces. Or by Arthur and his forces. Or even by the sect and its forces.


    It was a game over for them if nothing happened to change this outcome.


    "This is the moment¡­" Arthur slowly said while watching in vigilance the changes he anticipated. "They can''t let all their efforts be wasted like this."


    He watched every corner of the battlefield with keen senses while looking for the place where the first change would appear.


    And as he expected, in less than ten minutes the first signs of new changes appeared at that war.


    "A portal?"


    All of sudden a small flash of light shone brightly over the heads of everyone. It came from nowhere and appeared like a tiny and harmless speck of light.


    However for Arthur he knew this wasn''t something usual; it was a portal.


    In the next few minutes, this tiny speck of light expanded and formed a giant whirlpool that took all over the sky. The entire sky changed and only the raging waves of the portal appeared on top of each one''s head.


    It was a deep purple portal, something he never saw before.


    "Do you know what that is?" he asked all of his three beings without pointing them out to anyone.


    Yet he had a feeling that a certain voice would answer his question, and he was right in his guess.


    ''This is a one in lifetime portal,'' the golden dragon slowly said, ''it''s a portal that transcends worlds and connects a higher realm with a lower one.''


    "So they are going to come," Arthur wasn''t fazed by this change, "at last."


    ''What should we do?'' Gege asked in doubt, ''I can already feel the change of energy in the entire world because of it.''


    ''Ding! This energy disruption can''t continue,'' the system suddenly warned, ''Ding! it''s way over the ability of this world to handle.''


    Arthur realized something. "Will the world say that?" he couldn''t think of anyone to give such a warning other than her.


    Even his system couldn''t predict such a thing.


    These words meant only one thing; the world here wasn''t going to be invaded¡­ it was going to explode.


    ''Ding! She is trying her best to balance the energy,'' the system said, ''Ding! however the longer the portal persists the more danger we''ll face.''

 Chapter 819: The Star Map

    "What can we do?" Arthur calmly asked, "and also alert Amera and others¡­ I need them to be ready to be teleported away from there¡­"


    Just as he was saying his orders, a sudden change happened.


    A pagoda appeared all of sudden from that portal. Its appearance came without warning, surrounded by dense purple electrical arcs that kept dancing around its base.


    It looked like it came to this world carrying over the arcs of lightning.


    "A pagoda?" Arthur couldn''t help but mutter, "first a tower and now a pagoda?"


    ''They are the same,'' the golden dragon said in warning, ''the two can destroy worlds.''


    "I can tell that," Arthur slowly nodded, "but I can''t let such a thing be activated. They need many mages to be sacrificed first to be activated."


    ''Ding! The world''s will says it''s activated already,'' yet the system said something shocking, ''Ding! all it needs is to appear fully in this world before being detonated.''


    Arthur''s eyes widened for a brief second. "Can I absorb its energy like before?" he couldn''t help but feel greedy towards that form of power he gained before.


    It helped him to advance his golden pearl energy. It also helped Gege and his tree to evolve.


    ''It lacks the supporting array,'' the golden dragon said, ''without it we can do nothing at all.''


    "Then let''s do the array," Arthur decided.


    ''Wait,'' the golden dragon stopped him, ''that''s in the middle of the enemy territory. We can''t just establish an array there without getting harassed by them.''


    ''Ding! Plus that portal must be shut down or else its energy influx itself will be enough to destroy the world.''


    ''Plus it can bring forth many mages to attack you,'' Gege said her worried thoughts out loud, ''we need to shut it down.''


    "Alright then," Arthur nodded, "any brilliant ideas for me?"


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    Yet the three went into silence while he waited patiently for any opinion to solve this crisis.


    The pagoda was so massive. It alone could cover the entire battlefield and flatten anyone underneath it.


    It alone could destroy this part of the world without the need to release any energy.


    The tower he dealt with before seemed like a tiny thing in front of such a gigantic pagoda.


    ''Ding! I consulted with the world''s will just now,'' the system suddenly said, ''Ding! she said we need to teleport it to another place.''


    "Teleport it?" Arthur slowly thought about it, "can''t we just seal or destroy it?"


    ''We have no power of means to do that right now,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''if we have time to prepare then we can. But we need to act in the next half an hour or else we are doomed.''


    So we need to teleport such a thing using¡­ what?'' Gege couldn''t help but ask.


    ''Ding! She says she will do the teleportation array herself,'' the system said, ''Ding! but she wants a place where this portal wouldn''t get so far to be and won''t affect this world at all.''


    "Like what exactly?" Arthur slowly asked, "a higher or lower realm? Or perhaps a nearby realm?"


    ''Ding! Neither,'' the system said, ''Ding! according to her, this portal can be transported for miles away only using her way.''


    "Miles?!!" Arthur was shocked to hear that, "How possibly we can find such a world in this near distance?"


    ''Can you use mine?'' Gege suddenly said, ''Arthur can teleport and we can absorb the portal.''


    ''Ding! It''s dangerous,'' the system said, ''the portal''s energy is coming from a higher world directly. If it enters your world, then it''s doomed to be lost.''


    ''We need a world that after losing it won''t matter too much for us,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''But I can handle such energy,'' Gege argued, ''why can''t I try it?''


    "No, you can''t," Arthur had to deny her gesture, "you can''t just let that thing inside. If so then even if you stabilized the portal, the mages pouring out from it won''t let this world stand anymore."


    ''¡­''


    Gege wanted to speak but she paused. She didn''t know what to say and yet Arthur asked again:


    "Can a hidden world like those in Amera and Doaf''s possession work?"


    ''Ding! Let me ask her,'' the system went into silent for few moments before returning to say, ''Ding! No, these are just fractions of worlds. They won''t be able to fully accept the portal. Failing in such a procedure will result in destroying the portal and releasing an endless gush of power that''s enough to kill anything in this world.''


    "Oh," Arthur took a deep breath before an idea suddenly popped up in his mind, "give me a minute."


    Without saying anything, Arthur sat on the ground and closed his eyes again. He wasn''t meditating or training, instead he went to a place he hardly went to since ages.


    His mental dantian.


    There everything started to take a serius turn for him. At one point he cared a lot about this dantian but now he hardly visited this place at all.


    And at some point he sent one of his own treasures to inside that dantian; his star map.


    And since then he never paid his treasured artifact a visit, not even once.


    But this time he needed to make sure it could help in solving this crisis for him. His star map was a place connecting many far apart worlds together within his reach.


    The last time he was there, he led the masters of his academy to exterminate the evil powerhouses from the world he went to at the admission test.


    He hardly used this place anymore despite its significance. He simply didn''t have time to do that.


    However he never forgot about this place at all. He had long plans depending on this artifact.


    After all, he had to dominate ten worlds and link them together using the star map. Impeding the star map in his dantian was a mandatory step to stabilize and advance his cultivation base and help in establishing the golden pearl.


    But he was so sure putting the star map there wasn''t going to destroy it. In fact Gege told him more than once that his star map got many advantages from being there and was upgraded a couple of times already.


    However he didn''t know that the biggest advancement came from his last upgrade, when he absorbed the tower''s destructive energy.


    Gege couldn''t handle the energy on her own while he advanced his golden pearl. So she had to share a lot of energy with her world, with the tree of mirrors, and with the star map.


    And frankly the star map acted like a glutinous monster that didn''t show any sign of stopping to accept the energy.


    Even Gege doubted that if she let the entire tower energy to gush solo into the star map it would be barely enough to make it upgrade to the max.


    Yet she didn''t have time to tell Arthur anything about it. And now he was about to discover everything on his own.


    A pleasant surprise indeed, something he never expected from before.


    As he went inside his mind dantian, he first noticed how spacious it turned out to be. it was filled with endless whirlpools that were circulating around each other and all together like a single unit.


    For him, it looked like a marvelous piece of the cosmos lying just inside his dantian.

 Chapter 820: Arranging Roles

    The old star map changed drastically and now it was like a small cosmos in itself. Arthur once stepped inside it; he couldn''t believe that the small one plane star map turned into a globular shaped small galaxy that was filled with many stars.


    "Damn!" he stood on the edge of a spiral path that could take him either to the front or to the next higher level.


    What made him curse in shock was the presence of a large star that seemed so shiny like a sun. something told him that this was linked to a specific place, one place only.


    And that place popped up instantly in his mind; it was his original world, the world he started all this from.


    "Sigh, why didn''t I come here earlier?" he blamed himself. Right now he found that everywhere he went must have a star representing it here. Even the higher worlds must have stars linked to them here.


    And that meant if he wanted to travel from one world to another then all he could do was to just get in here and jump inside the star he wanted.


    "I¡­ need to study this place more," he muttered to himself while walking inside the star map. The place was huger than he initially thought, and there were even higher numbers of stars than the worlds he already went to.


    "So I can now use one of these to get rid of that portal," he said to himself, reminding himself of the reason why he came here in the first place. "Gege, why didn''t you say something before?" he couldn''t help but feel a little angry at her.


    He could have evaded a lot of trouble, especially Aemie''s trouble. He could easily escape the trap the higher realmers sat for him through the cloud.


    He could easily come here after reaching there.


    ''You are wrong,'' but Gege had to speak and defend herself, ''the star map didn''t reach such a stage until you dealt with the tower.''


    "At least I could have avoided Aemie," Arthur could only shake his head in regret, "why didn''t you notify me earlier?"


    Gege went into silence for a while before she finally said, ''I¡­ didn''t come here in person to check all the upgrades. I know the star map absorbed a lot of energy back then and I checked it in a hurry and it was still in the process of upgrading.''


    Arthur could only shake his head and swallow what she offered as an excuse. He knew no matter how discontent he was right now he couldn''t travel back in time and change what happened.


    And overall he had now a way to deal with that annoying portal.


    The next moment he opened his eyes while gazing at the distance. "Can you take me there?" he asked, "we have little time to waste."


    ''I can teleport you on two times,'' Gege said, ''it won''t take a lot of time.''


    "Great," Arthur nodded, "how can we start linking the portal to my star map?"


    ''Ding! Have you selected the world you''ll send the portal to?'' the system asked.


    ''You should choose the higher world you appeared first at,'' the golden dragon said in resentment, ''this will be a fair payback for what you experienced there.''


    "I was thinking of the same thing," Arthur flashed inside the portal that appeared before appearing hundreds of miles away before another portal appeared, "but how can we link the portal to my star map?"


    ''We can use an array,'' the golden dragon simply said, ''or you can go up there and touch it. Once done, you can take it all inside your star map.''


    "Going up there would be risky," Arthur appeared out of the second portal to see the giant portal and that gigantic pagoda descending slowly from the portal. "I don''t guarantee that this pagoda is safe to get near it for now."


    ''We also need to see about that array,'' Gege said, ''we need to prepare teams to activate the sealing array fast.''


    ''It''s the supporting array kid,'' the golden dragon corrected her, ''and we can easily use those inside your body. After all, this array isn''t so hard to make.''


    ''Ding! You can tell me and I''ll explain things to the teams inside,'' the system said.


    ''And tell me about the array to link the star map with the portal,'' Gege said, ''I''ll help Arthur to perform it.''


    "Alright," Arthur nodded, "let''s start taking down this damned portal and pagoda."


    The golden dragon didn''t hesitate to tell the two about the two arrays. The system started to do his task. He entered into Gege''s world and started to select those who will be tasked with such important tasks.


    As for Gege, she started to gather up all the materials needed for the two arrays.


    "Now all that remains is that army," Arthur changed his mind about the ground army, "we can''t let them interfere in the next task."


    Dealing with the pagoda wouldn''t be any different than dealing with the tower from before. The stakes were the same, and he couldn''t be disturbed under any circumstances.


    Plus those supporting the array around the pagoda couldn''t be touched as well.


    ''You should bring everyone out,'' the golden dragon said.


    "Not everyone," Arthur took a deep breath, "let''s start with our forces. If we needed, we could take out the rest of Aemie''s forces."


    ''What about that monster?'' Gege suddenly asked, ''do you need her help?''


    Since the last war, that gigantic octopus like monster remained in the Golam''s lake. After the upgrades Gege gained, the lake got enhanced greatly.


    That made the monster not mad as Arthur and others expected, instead she showed excitement expressions and also some gratitude.


    "We can¡­ use the upgrade chip to lure her out," Arthur slowly said, "but leave her as our last resort."


    Despite things seeming to be going in his direction, he was still worried that those enemies might pull something crazier at the desperate moments.


    So having such a card hidden and ready to be deployed at any moment would be for the best for him.


    ''I''ll inform her at least,'' Gege said, ''I bet she will be excited to go out and fight in this war.''


    "Something tells me she won''t wait for too long for that," Arthur slowly said, "how about materials needed for the arrays?"


    ''I''m about to finish gathering them now.''


    "Alright," Arthur took out a bird''s wing and started summoning Amera with it. "Take Doaf out," he said as things reached such a desperate moment.


    He needed all the capable fighters to be ready and well aware of all the developments so far.


    He also wanted them to be aware of what was on the stake here. They weren''t fighting a normal army, they were fighting against extinction.


    Any misstep in the plan and they would all die.


    He didn''t wait for them for too long. In the next few minutes, Amera came with Nicole and a small group of those who looked so tough and very experienced mages of the elite army.


    And Doaf appeared after their arrival from the portal Gege brought.


    "What''s happening?" Nicole seemed to be shaken by that portal and the gigantic pagoda, "what''s that pagoda?"


    "It''s an ancient weapon," Arthur slowly said, "it''s like the tower."


    "That tower?!!" Doaf was shocked while Amera turned around to gaze at the pagoda, "you can''t be serious, right?"


    "They seem to have plenty of such mass destruction weapons," Arthur could only say the truth, "and they are aiming at killing all of us right here right now."


    His words left a great depressive toll over everyone around. Even those elites coming to secure Nicole and Amera were frightened when they heard that.


    Arthur realized they might have been to the war on their planet where he dealt with the tower. They realized how bad things were, and how urgent they needed to act.


    "Tell me you have a way to deal with that thing!" Doaf said while pointing out towards the pagoda.


    And Arthur nodded.


    "I just need support," he slowly said, "your support to stop anyone from interfering."


    "Those fries?" Amera couldn''t help but sneer, "leave them to us. We were just toying earlier with them, right boys?"


    The elites around nodded in unison as they agreed to her declaration. Arthur knew she wasn''t bluffing but he didn''t only mean them.


    "See that huge portal over there?" Arthur pointed to it before adding, "it can pour out endless armies."


    "That¡­" Amera''s face changed, "how can we stop them then?"


    "I have a way," Arthur slowly said, "but I also need you to handle things until I''m ready to act."


    Amera and Doaf realized his meaning. It seemed he was planning something that would take quite some time to get ready and would attract the enemy''s attention without doubt.


    "Then we''ll need all the mages inside," Nicole stressfully said, "we''ll need everyone."


    "I''ll get my own army out," Arthur turned to her before adding, "if you wanted, you can get inside my world for now."


    "Humph, as if this will shield me when you die," she wasn''t stupid as she knew that world would shatter the same moment Arthur''s soul would be.


    "The mechas won''t do well against them," Amera said before pointing to the portal when she saw the reaction on Arthur''s face, "I meant them."


    "Then you''ll leave those flies here to my mechas and you can handle anything coming out from that portal¡­ deal?"


    And everyone could only nod in agreement to his logical offer.

 Chapter 821: So It Starts!

    There was no reason to refuse Arthur''s plan. The plan he sat in was suited for the situation they were in right now.


    "When shall we start?" Amera was practical as always.


    "Right away," Arthur turned his head to the portal, "I''ll start moving and you should support me all around. I don''t need anything to come near me."


    "Leave that to us," Doaf said before vanishing with Amera.


    "What about me?" Nicole was the only left behind.


    "Go and lead your people," Arthur wasn''t interested in her, "we have little time to solve this."


    She nodded in hesitation before she moved away. Arthur simply watched her leave before sighing.


    "Let''s start," he raised his head to the sky, "how can we move that thing to the inside of my star map?"


    ''Ding! I spoke with the world''s will and she will control it and move it towards you,'' the system said.


    ''You can simply use your hand to take it in,'' the golden dragon said, ''the problem isn''t about that but when it enters your star map. You have to be there to control and guide everything.''


    "That means I shouldn''t be interrupted by any means," Arthur took a deep breath, "what about the supporting array? Is it ready?"


    ''I''ve prepared everything,'' Gege said, ''you can start making your array to control the portal while I''ll let those inside start making the supporting array.''


    "You''ll teleport them to their places, right?" Arthur saw through her plan.


    ''Sure, it''s safer this way.''


    "Alright," Arthur then asked, "how can I make that array then?"


    ''Ding! I''ll control your body while Gege takes out all the materials needed.''


    The next moment Arthur lost control over his body while the system started to use all the materials Gege brought out.


    The materials were numerous, some were ores, some were special tree branches, and many were plants and seeds.


    The first thing the system did was to use Arthur''s fire to metl the seeds together. Then he squeezed the plants and used the juice coming out to mix it with the liquid that was formed by burning the seeds.


    He mixed all this inside the small cauldron Arthur had. Then he put the branches inside to be soaked completely before he started to arrange them in a certain order.


    ''I''ll take them inside,'' Gege said, ''and when the world''s will gives the signal, I''ll take the array out to be activated.''


    The last step was for Arthur''s blood to fall over each branch to finish the linking process with the array.


    ''Ding! It''s done!''


    It seemed this process would take an hour, but the system did it in less than five minutes. Arthur regained control again over his body before he turned his attention to the sky.


    The pagoda descended more than its half already from that portal. Amera and Doaf started to act. The two led their forces high in the sky towards the portal.


    While the mecha army that Gege brought forth through portals was in heated up war against the ground army.


    Odds looked good for them. Their number wasn''t small either so they could compensate for the difference in strength by their numbers.


    Plus those forces had the majority of their powers sealed. So it didn''t matter if they hailed from higher realms. Right now numbers would matter especially if the gap of power wasn''t that great to begin with.


    "Let''s go," Arthur knew things at the portal would change the moment he started attacking it.


    Those who summoned it wouldn''t stand by and watch. Yet he wasn''t that worried. He already was in such a situation before and managed to win.


    The moment he started to fly towards the portal, the entire world around shook and rumbled. Dark clouds started to gather and lightning arcs appeared in great shows.


    Things seemed like the entire world was going against this portal and pagoda at this moment.


    Thick lightning arcs started to descend over the portal and pagoda without any warning. However Arthur noticed the presence of a hidden protective shield that absorbed most of the attacks.


    Only a few managed to overcome such a shield and hit their mark. The portal seemed to tremble slightly under such attacks, while the pagoda simply looked fine.


    For Arthur he knew this was an expected move from his enemies. However he was also quite sure the world''s will had something to do towards such a shield.


    And he was right.


    Just as he was midway towards the portal, all of sudden the thick clouds started to rotate around a central point.


    And this point was just above the portal and the pagoda.


    ''Ding! She is starting,'' the system warned, ''Ding! that attack will paralyze the portal and shift its location for a brief minute. We need to act during this or our window will be lost.''


    ''One minute is too short to take such a thing inside the star map!'' Gege wasn''t feeling optimistic about such a plan. ''Can she attack it again?''


    ''Ding! I doubt that,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! such an attack will consume most of her energy.''


    ''Damn!''


    Arthur kept his silence for a few minutes while watching the dark clouds up above swirl around and form a great whirlpool. It looked really scary from such a distance.


    And he wasn''t the only one to feel so. It seemed his enemies already realized what was going to happen, and they suddenly started to pour an endless stream of mages all of sudden from the portal.


    "So it starts," Arthur slowly muttered, "take everyone out. We need to activate both arrays at the same time."


    ''Are you sure?'' Gege seemed a bit hesitant, ''taking such a thing inside will take much longer than one mere minute.''


    ''We have to do this,'' the golden dragon said, ''we have no other option to stop that thing but doing that.''


    "Let''s do our best then," Arthur prayed, "hopefully it will be enough."


    ''¡­'' And Gege couldn''t find any suitable word to comment on that.

 Chapter 822: The Brilliant Trick

    Gege didn''t say anything else before many portals flashed all around. Many mages appeared, part went towards Arthur and part went towards the pagoda.


    As for the rest, they went towards the sky to help Doaf, Amera, and Nicole to fight those incoming enemies.


    In fact the upper hand was always in Arthur''s allies. They were prepared beforehand for such a fight. So they were mentally and physically prepared, took suitable positions and made strong formations.


    As for their enemies, despite being charged in with large momentum and great numbers, they were scattered and not organized.


    Plus they needed a few minutes to adapt to the changes that happened after getting in this world. The sealing effect to their powers wasn''t something easy.


    And so Doaf and Amera aimed at this specific narrow window to cleave the lives of anyone trespassing this world.


    It was only a window of mere minutes, but they brilliantly led their forces to kill as much as possible of those incoming mages.


    And when Gege released a great part of the stored forces inside her garden, the fight became easier.


    Yet Arthur had some fear towards the short window he had.


    Unlike Doaf and Amera, he had no way to control this window or do anything other than initiating the link.


    He would absorb the portal inside his star map, and hopefully that portal wouldn''t be hard to pull inside there.


    Or else he didn''t know what would happen.


    "Here it comes," just as the mages all around took their positions, Gege summoned the ready to use array using a great single portal.


    The array appeared in eight angled stars, very huge to be able to cover the entire portal with the pagoda inside.


    "Won''t this bring the pagoda inside?" Arthur feared this the moment he noticed how this array was aligned.


    ''Ding! It won''t,'' the system said.


    ''You better say you pray it won''t,'' the golden dragon corrected, ''anyway it''s our only shot. Hopefully nothing wrong will happen.''


    ''Ding! the world''s will is ready whenever we are,'' the system ignored this remark from the golden dragon and relayed the news from the world''s will.


    And Arthur was also ready.


    "Activate the array," Arthur slowly said before watching the grand array flash in blue light. The branches were burnt by blue light and turned into wisps of blue smoke.


    And the smoke started to dance and float in the air, slowly heading towards the portal and avoiding the pagoda.


    Arthur watched the smoke turn into thin long filaments that got stuck with the edges of the portal.


    The portal never ceased to emit new mages every second. For him and from such a distance it felt like it was a bottomless abyss, ejecting everything inside its stomach without showing an end.


    ''Ding! We are ready,'' the system just gave Arthur a head up, ''Ding! Shall we start now?''


    "Inform Doaf and Amera," Arthur slowly said, "they should be ready for that."


    ''On that,'' Gege relayed the info to the two and after a few moments she returned to say, ''they are all good.''


    "Great," Arthur nodded, "let''s start then."


    The moment he said those words the entire world changed. The dark clouds suddenly shone in strange silver light. The light appeared at the outer edges of these gigantic layers of dark clouds before marching fast towards the center.


    For Arthur and others watching this epic scene, it seemed like dawn was shining over the night and eating away all the darkness inside.


    The silver light formed an enormous circle that kept shrinking fast while moving towards the center. Anywhere it went to, the darkness vanished alongside the clouds itself.


    And the silver light intensified fast.


    ''That''s a remarkable way to gather up all this energy in one point,'' the golden dragon couldn''t help but praise.


    And Arthur sighed silently without commenting at all.


    He knew this move was impressive, even back in the cultivation world. He also recognized it as one of the best techniques in his world. Only cultivators blessed with the ability to control spiritual energy naturally could pull such a feat.


    And that meant whoever this world''s will was, she must have been a hell of a great cultivator back in her prime.


    And that just made him wonder about how deeply related the two worlds were.


    On the other hand, the array was already activated and those weak and thin looking filaments turned into strong chains that began to shake the portal slightly.


    The array simply worked by pulling the portal towards the direction of the center of the array; towards Arthur.


    With Arthur''s blood, the array would work to move the portal towards him. However shaking off such a gigantic portal seemed quite a feat in itself.


    And the array only managed to do only that.


    ''It''s not working!'' Gege was already on her edge while watching the portal trembling without any sign of moving.


    "Wait," yet Arthur was much calmer than her, "wait for the strike to descend."


    As he expected, the moment the silver light circle reached the center, the sky up above shone brightly for a long minute.


    Then a silent, very intimidating thick pillar of silver rays descended from high above and landed directly over the portal.


    Even the protective shield crashed in no time against such an attack.


    And then the strong and unshakable portal started to move.


    "See?" Arthur''s grin was from ear to ear, "it''s coming towards here already."


    The portal was being pushed by the descending silver pillar. However the most impressive thing wasn''t that, but the pillar itself.


    It didn''t vanish the moment it hit the portal. Instead it kept pouring down all its might and power over the portal, forcing it not only to move but also to accelerate.


    And at this moment, the array started to show its magical effect.


    "It''s¡­ shrinking!!!" Arthur was shocked to see that. At first it wasn''t apparent to him. The chains coming out from his array kept pulling the portal down with the help of that silver pillar.


    The portal started to catch up speed and Arthur felt the array''s role was to guide the portal towards his direction and nothing else.


    However in less than ten seconds, he noticed something else. The gigantic portal didn''t seem that big anymore.


    He turned his gaze around and to his shock he found the array was also shrinking. The mages controlling it were moving without any intention to shrink the array and make it condense over Arthur.


    "Are they reacting¡­ or are they acting¡­?!" Arthur didn''t know the answer and yet he was pretty much interested in knowing it.


    ''It''s the latter,'' the golden dragon simply said, ''and get ready, the moment you have to take the portal inside is very short.''


    Arthur first was worried that the portal would take the pagoda alongside it when descending. However when it reached midway, its size was now decreased to not exceed one hundredth of its original size.


    It was such a magnificent trick that he never expected. A trick that turned such a scary portal into nothing more than a big portal, one he wasn''t intimidated with.


    "I can do this," and with that, his confidence skyrocketed as he now was sure of his win.

 Chapter 823: Sudden Development Is Bad Development

    Arthur could only wait and watch while the portal kept shrinking in size. However, despite that, he also noticed a disturbing fact.


    "Give my orders to everyone," he couldn''t help but say in a gratifying tone, "they need to come here and cluster around. I don''t want to be attacked by anything during this crucial step."


    ''On it!''


    Gege already was aware of such development and instantly started to relay his orders.


    The portal kept shrinking, but its function remained the same. As its size became smaller, the mages and monsters it emitted became denser, clustered around a small area the more the portal descended.


    And that only led Arthur to picture the time when it arrived in front of him. It would be there, however he would be blocked by an endless crowd of mages and monsters.


    Facing such odds in such a small space meant it would be brutal. He didn''t want to waste any second fighting anyone, so he had only to use others to do so.


    Hopefully they could protect him well enough and buy him enough time.


    "We are here!"


    "Stay alert everyone, this is going to be a rough ride."


    Doaf and Amera appeared in a flash with a lot of their forces. Nicole appeared later, surrounded by many mages of her clan.


    Her face told Arthur how frightened and anxious she was. That made him doubt she ever witnessed a big war before, or participated in one so far.


    And that was simply¡­ weird.


    However he didn''t have time to care about that at the moment. All his attention was now only focused on the portal.


    It was coming fast towards him. From his place it looked like a big star was getting so near so fast, and that seemed a bit intimidating.


    Even he felt some quaver in his heart while trying to maintain his calm.


    The closer the portal got to him, the smaller it became, the denser the enemies were. The fight started to be brutal as he expected while everyone was trying their best to control the situation.


    However despite that, one fact remained above all heads. The portal kept pushing downwards mercilessly while clashing with any fighting mages along the way.


    Anyone who got hit by this gigantic behemoth was instantly thrown away, making Arthur feel this wasn''t going to end well for everyone.


    However it also meant the portal was helping him at the same time. It would sweep away anyone who would stand so near in between.


    And that made him feel more confident despite feeling intimidated by the portal itself.


    Despite seeing everyone doing their best, even Gege summoned a large number of his mechas for the last moments, he couldn''t step in and help.


    His role was to stand silent and wait for the portal to reach him. Other than this he couldn''t get involved in anything else.


    The portal kept approaching him fast. Seconds turned into hours at this moment while he could clearly see everyone doing their best to protect him.


    It wasn''t long before mages coming out of the portal became so near to him. Yet he didn''t move an inch. He trusted this for all his forces in this place.


    If they failed, he would definitely fall here and fail as well. They would all fail! It wasn''t as if they were fighting for him, actually they were fighting for their lives.


    Yet the portal became less than a hundred meters away when keeping his place secure became quite challenging.


    The mages seemed to be thrown out of the portal and landed directly towards him. It made him hesitate before deciding to use another trick.


    "Gege¡­" he only said that while Gege already knew what she had to do.


    Without saying a word, many portals started to flash all around. Gege couldn''t cover everyone in the area covered by the portal, yet she could at least maintain the space around Arthur empty.


    And so the area around Arthur became dense with flashing portals. Any mage or monster coming out from it started to get swallowed by the portals she controlled.


    Then this mage or monster would be thrown hundreds of meters away by another portal.


    It seemed easy, but dealing with thousands per second seemed a very hard feat to pull. However Gege was so focused and she even cleared a path between him and the portal.


    Besides, the portal never stopped moving towards him, sweeping away anyone standing in between.


    ''Extend both arms now!'' the golden dragon who kept his silence all this time finally shouted, ''It''s either now or never!''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to cut a wound in his two hands using his sword before he extended both arms towards the portal.


    He was now in his dragonair form, his strongest form. However the moment his hands touched the portal, a new change occurred.


    It felt like he was an ant trying to stop a meteorite from hitting the ground. It seemed futile, yet he didn''t dare to pull his hands away.


    ''Take it in!'' Gege screamed.


    ''Ding! The world''s will is controlling it now, pull it in!'' the system shouted.


    ''Take it in, goddammit!'' even the golden dragon screamed yet saying it out loud didn''t help Arthur at all.


    In fact the moment his hands touched the portal he tried. He tried to pull the portal inside and link it to his star map.


    However what stood in between was the big size of that portal. Despite the magical effect of the array, its size was still gigantic.


    It seemed impossible to take it in at such a size.


    As such he was forced by irresistible force from the portal to descend towards the ground without even controlling his descent.


    "That''s¡­ bad!"


    He never anticipated such a thing before. He didn''t imagine he would be hit and pushed down by this portal in such a way.


    He tried to flap his wings and resist, however what he possibly could do in front of such a behemoth?


    And so he started falling alongside the portal.

 Chapter 824: Things Didnt Go As Planned!

    ''C''mon, take this damn thing inside!'' the golden dragon was losing his calm, ''there is no time!''


    ''Ding! the one minute help of the world''s will is going to end now,'' the system brought more bad news, ''Ding! you need to take it in! Like¡­ Now


    !!''


    "I''m¡­ trying!!!" Arthur gritted his teeth and used all the power he could muster. He even used the spiritual energy and the golden pearl energy.


    Yet he couldn''t make any difference.


    And the moment the minute passed, the portal shook while the pillar of silver light started to fade away.


    "Damn! It''s ending!" Arthur couldn''t help but get an instant scare when that happened. The size of the portal didn''t stop shrinking though, but another development occurred at this moment.


    The pagoda!


    The moment the ray of light vanished, the pagoda shook. The air all around started to vibrate like boiling waters.


    Arthur could feel the air around getting thicker, and before he knew it he felt a more intimidating force coming fast towards him.


    It was as if another meteorite was falling just on top of the one he was trying to stop.


    "Damn it! What''s coming at me now?!!" he couldn''t help but mutter in deep shock while his mind refused to believe the answer he had there.


    ''It''s¡­ the pagoda¡­'' yet Gege couldn''t help but stutter while answering him, ''it''s¡­ coming down!''


    "Towards me?"


    Arthur took a fast glance around. The portal seemed to be about to get to a size he could possibly control. It wasn''t that small either, at the size of a small hill or something.


    Covering an area of two hundred meters at least, the portal kept pushing him downwards.


    And yet Arthur felt he was so close to taking it in.


    ''No,'' Gege couldn''t help but say in a bitter tone, ''it''s heading towards the portal.''


    "¡­"


    Arthur couldn''t just delude himself anymore. He knew this was heading south for him, but he didn''t want to believe it would happen in such a way.


    "If the two got connected together¡­" he couldn''t even imagine the result. He planned to get rid of the portal first, before he would start dealing with that pagoda.


    ''Ding! The good thing though is the supporting array is working,'' the system tried to give a silver lining here.


    "It''s not enough," Arthur closed his eyes and tried to muster his energy once more, "c''mon you piece of shit¡­ get inside now!"


    Just as he was trying his best to race against time, his body was getting so near to the ground at such a fast speed. He couldn''t control his fall and after sometime he stopped even trying.


    All his effort was now upon stopping this portal, and nothing more.


    The portal started to tremble at last. It started to give signs of giving in to him. Yet the incoming falling force of that pagoda seemed like hell. He couldn''t even breathe normally now, and the air around started to heat up.


    It seemed like a living hell around him. Even mages and monsters poured out from the portal started to be assaulted by such aura.


    And then they would be swept away by the falling portal.


    "C''mon¡­" he was racing against such fate and yet he was hoping to make it in time.


    Gege didn''t need his orders as she was ready to pull him away the moment he took the portal inside.


    She prepared a lot of portals for him to move him away even if there was just one small inch between him and the ground, between him and his death.


    He trusted her on that. He only thought about it for once and he knew Gege wouldn''t miss that¡­ he hoped so.


    The portal kept trembling violently the more it shrank in size. At one point a big puff occurred just fifty meters away from the ground.


    "Now!"


    He didn''t need to yell as the moment the portal vanished, Arthur was shrouded by a portal and was instantly teleported away.


    "I¡­ did it!" he couldn''t help but take deep breaths while every part of his body aches. He stood midair while his wings started to work perfectly fine once more.


    "Wh¡­ Where the hell is that pagoda?!!!"


    Yet the moment he turned to check the falling pagoda, he found only thin air there. The area that was supposed to have the pagoda had a wide white cloud of air and dust.


    Just like the area that had the portal moments ago.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" he couldn''t help but jump to one scary conclusion. And the next moment he closed his eyes and didn''t dare to even take a single moment of rest.


    "Gege¡­" he only shouted that in distress.


    ''I know,'' and she instantly acted. She opened a portal and he instantly entered it and vanished from this world.


    He appeared inside the garden world where he landed just beside the vast Golam lake.


    As for him, he had another life threatening situation to deal with at the current moment.


    As he went inside his mental dantian, he couldn''t help but feel an already ominous aura coming from one direction.


    "Don''t tell me it''s going to explode," he couldn''t help but instantly move inside his star map. The moment he appeared there he found his calm star map boiling with thick waves of energy.


    Even the dense fog around and the monsters hiding inside were having a hard time dealing with that.


    The moment he sat foot in there, he was lashed with successive hot waves of energy that made him feel extreme pain and panic.


    It wasn''t a hostile energy at all. It was coming from one direction where the portal was there with the pagoda linked to one of its sides.


    The two seemed small compared to what he witnessed them a moment ago. However he didn''t underestimate the two of them.


    Size never mattered, what really mattered was the insane amount of energy the two stored.


    The portal also added one more challenging variable for him; it never stopped pouring out mages and monsters even in here!


    Yet under the hot slashes of energy coming from the pagoda and coupled with the merciless monsters hiding in the shadows, waiting for any trespassers; no one ever lived a second after coming here.


    "What should I do now?!" he hesitated while watching all this unfolding and accelerating fast towards a dead end.


    He needed to act, yet he didn''t know things would reach such a stage. He planned to have the portal only here, then throw it inside one of the worlds he has and just forget about it.


    However he had now to deal with the ticking bomb that forced itself upon this place without invitation.


    And that pagoda was about to get out of control at any moment.


    "Can we bring the array and the mages controlling it here?" he couldn''t help but think about controlling the bomb first.


    ''I¡­ don''t think they can withstand such a situation,'' Gege sighed before adding, ''the array would be fried to shreds. Plus the space here won''t help.''


    ''You need to push them inside one of the stars here,'' the golden dragon urged, ''and you need to do it now!''


    Yet Arthur couldn''t believe he could do it!

 Chapter 825: Im About To Die!

    Arthur stood motionless while watching the pagoda starting to go berserk. He wanted to do as the golden dragon said, however he felt his lack of confidence in doing so.


    However, time wasn''t in his favor right now. The pagoda lacked its controlling array, and it was emitting power exponentially with each passing minute.


    ''Ding! there is no time to hesitate,'' the system seemed to read Arthur''s mind, ''Ding! You need to go and push that thing inside any star now!''


    ''I''ll try to cover you up using the golden pearl''s energy,'' Gege tried to help.


    ''I''ll try to support you with my power again,'' the golden dragon was recently recovered yet he didn''t hesitate to give his help.


    "No, I''ll do it on my own this time," yet Arthur felt even with their help nothing would change. "Just try to be ready to save my life if things go south."


    Despite saying that, he didn''t move. He stood there while examining the around stars to that pagoda and portal attached to it.


    Stars around it directly were small in size. Arthur didn''t know what lies behind these stars, and he didn''t have time to check.


    However he was pretty sure that this pagoda wouldn''t be easily controlled in a small world. So he shifted his eyes wider and finally found a large world that seemed bigger than those around the pagoda.


    It was a star that lay around a hundred meters away from the pagoda. At normal time this distance would seem insignificant to him, but now he couldn''t simply think so.


    Even ten meters would be a risk to his life.


    "I need to use my map," he turned around and watched all the monsters hidden inside the fog. He knew these monsters came from the map itself, yet he was the sole owner and controller of the map.


    So he could also control these monsters as he was their master.


    "Gege¡­ Can you control the star map?" he couldn''t help but ask and Gege was already reading his thoughts at the moment.


    ''Let me try,'' she said, ''but how will they help?''


    "I want them to start moving this damn thing nearer to that star over there," he pointed towards the star he selected before unsheathing his sword, "I''ll take it from there once it''s close."


    ''But the star map might get harmed by this,'' the golden dragon warned, ''these monsters are projections of the star map, part of its life and will.''


    "If I didn''t act," Arthur calmly said while starting to activate his technique, "I''m going to die and this star map will be destroyed forever."


    ''¡­''


    The golden dragon couldn''t argue with him anymore. He remained silent as well as his system. As for Gege, she started to communicate with the star map before saying:


    ''I need you to emit your power,'' she paused, ''I can help in controlling the monsters but I can''t directly do that without your power.''


    "Which power?" Arthur suddenly paused as he realized the answer, "my spiritual energy, right?"


    ''It''s situated inside the dantian for so long already, so it got soaked with its power and got familiar with it,'' Gege explained and Arthur already got the idea even before she spoke.


    "Alright," Arthur then closed his eyes and started regulating his breaths. He circulated his spiritual energy across his body before he stretched one hand, the one holding the real sword, and leaned on the ground.


    The moment he touched the ground, the entire star map shook.


    ''Yosh, let''s do it,'' Gege suddenly said in an excited tone like they weren''t on the brink of death here.


    The fog all around swirled under Arthur''s gaze before the monsters all roared  in unison and darted all the way towards the portal and pagoda.


    "Focus on the portal," Arthur instantly warned, "it''s less risky that the pagoda and the two are connected together."


    ''On it,'' Gege instantly controlled the monsters to aim at the portal and not the pagoda as she initially planned.


    As for Arthur, he waited for his chance to go and give that pagoda the last push over the cliff.


    However things didn''t go as he planned.


    The moment the monsters got near the portal, they started to be fired under the intense energy of the pagoda.


    The pagoda was getting berserk with time, and the energy it was releasing started to be monstrous, unable to handle even by the monsters here.


    ''On this rate no monster will arrive!'' the golden dragon shouted in alarm, ''you need to support the map.''


    "How?" Arthur already saw such a doomed future in front of his eyes, yet he didn''t know what to do until the golden dragon spoke just now.


    ''Use the golden pearl energy,'' the golden dragon said, ''it''s made of your spiritual energy and much stronger than it. It will be enough to support these monsters.''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to push his phantom sword and insert it deeply in the ground. The star map was immune to anything, but when it came from him the sword found its way easily through the sturdy ground.


    And then his golden energy started to dissipate inside the star map, making it tremble violently as if it wasn''t able to handle the energy.


    "C''mon," Arthur gritted his teeth while Gege shouted:


    ''I''ll try to supplement the golden energy, but I need you to circulate it for me.''


    Arthur knew Gege was helping him with hands tied behind her back at the moment. She was already busy dealing with the monsters, and it was an impressive feat to help guide the golden energy and supplement it.


    And so Arthur started to circulate the golden energy starting from his golden pearl and through his dense network of meridians and veins.


    The moment he did that, the amount of golden energy passing through his sword intensified in no time. The first thing he noticed away from the trembling star map was the monsters.


    The monsters started to get a strange golden blue coat of faint energy that started to fend off most of the pagoda''s power.


    And that made the monsters able to walk further without getting destroyed like before.


    "Already there," Arthur was already feeling the stress of over using his golden power. However he had no alternative at the moment.


    His golden pearl''s power was his highest form of power so far. Yet it was the smallest he had.


    The monsters finally reached the portal and started to try and hold it. However the moment they did so they were fried into wisps of fog under the effect of the pagoda.


    "Make them kick it!" Arthur shouted as he knew no matter how much they tried, they would eventually all be killed.


    ''But this would take longer!'' Gege tried to argue yet he gritted his teeth and shouted:


    "Just make them do it!"


    Arthur was already feeling panicked as the golden energy was rapidly depleted. Even with Gege''s aid, the consumption rate was off the roof.


    He believed he couldn''t last for more than ten minutes. So he had to act this desperate as he was really one.


    As he ordered, Gege started pushing the monsters to kick the portal and even hit it with anything they got. Arthur even saw monsters kicking the portal with their bare feet.


    But that didn''t matter as long as this portal started to move.


    With the relentless efforts of the monsters here, the portal started to move. It was like a giant behemoth getting pushed by endless monsters. Yet it was getting moved.


    "Ten meters¡­" Arthur slowly muttered while watching the portal starting to get some momentum, "twenty meters¡­" he kept following the distance it crossed with his eyes while clenching his sword tightly.


    ''There is only three minutes left,'' the golden dragon suddenly warned, ''you need to act before it''s too late.''


    "Wait for another minute," Arthur held his breath while watching the portal crossing sixty meters with good speed. He didn''t hurry to act as he knew his power would be helpful at the last remaining meters.


    If he used his sword now he would accelerate the consumption of his energy, plus he would lose the support of the monsters.


    He had to take his sword away and that would make the monsters naked once more against the brutal power of the pagoda.


    If he lost the monsters now, then he would be responsible for pushing the portal for the remaining forty meters. Which was something he hardly believed himself to do.


    And so he waited¡­


    ''Two minutes¡­'' the golden dragon said and yet Arthur didn''t move.


    ''Ding! You need to move now!''


    "Not yet," Arthur waited until the portal and pagoda crossed eighty meters. It happened with only seventy seconds remaining before his golden pearl energy would be totally consumed.


    "Now!" he finally moved. He started to run in a weird way regardless of the situation. He leaned to his right side while letting the sword be inserted in the ground while creating a long groove there as he ran forward.


    Till the last second he didn''t plan on cutting off his golden energy away from the monsters here.

 Chapter 826: Arthurs Death

    Arthur didn''t want his golden pearl energy to be cut off the star map before he reached there. The monsters were coated with a defensive shield of his energy, plus they seemed a bit stronger when they were supported by this energy.


    They kept rolling the portal towards the star he selected and the distance just kept getting smaller. He didn''t want to lose his most formidable and only ally in this life and death situation.


    And thus he waited and ran in such a weird way until he finally was so close to the portal.


    However getting closer meant he was also close to that annoying pagoda.


    The energy it emitted kept increasing at an alarming rate. At some point he was so close but couldn''t make a single step forward without using his sword.


    He tried to slash using his real sword but it was futile. The difference in power was simply enormous for the regular sword of his to handle.


    "Damn!" he couldn''t help but take his sword away from the ground and start slashing using that phantom sword.


    That helped him to cross the remaining distance successfully, however at the same time he heard popping sounds coming from all the monsters around.


    They were dying without even resisting or fighting back.


    "Take them back!" he knew that staying here would be pointless, "they did their part anyway."


    There was only a little time left for him to act. He was already upon the portal and there was less than twenty meters away from the star.


    Yet even his scales couldn''t take the waves of energy emitted from the pagoda.


    His body started to be covered in wounds everywhere. His body soaked with his blood, feeling extreme pain and agony with each passing second.


    Yet that didn''t even make him hesitate to slash his sword heavily with all his might towards the portal.


    "Clang!"


    The clash caused a loud clang that was followed by a very violent fire wisps emitted from it. Arthur couldn''t help to stop at this moment so he stood firm and took that backlash without having any second thoughts.


    He had to push that portal and pagoda towards the star with any cost.


    Yet his sword hit with that portal managed to push the pagoda forward. It even jumped meters above the ground before landing heavily only seven meters away.


    "It''s there," Arthur clenched his sword and felt his body getting heavier. His breath started to be ragged and irregular but he didn''t even think to take a moment of rest.


    Not when he was this close.


    "Go there mother*cker!" he screamed while jumping high in the air. He knew this hit would be the last one and then all that nightmare would end.


    However, just as he was midair, two new things happened.


    ''There is bad news,'' the golden dragon suddenly said in panic, ''that pagoda¡­ it''s about to explode!''


    ''Don''t!'' Gege screamed as well, ''if you hit it again it will crack open and the doors of hell would be unleashed upon you.''


    Arthur was already midair, and it was his only chance to do it. However from the screams of his golden dragon and Gege he knew if he proceeded; he would be done for.


    He would lose everything.


    "There must be a way!" he couldn''t believe he would fail at such a point, "it''s almost there!"


    ''You need to run!'' Gege screamed, ''there is nothing we can do.''


    ''Hopefully the star map would take the toll for you,'' the golden dragon tried to persuade him yet Arthur was already landing towards the portal.


    He didn''t think of other options. He knew if he let the pagoda here it would explode anyway. So why not try?


    ''Ding! You need to retreat and think of other ways,'' the system tried to push some reason inside his mind.


    "There is none!" yet Arthur was already desperate, "if we left it here I''m doomed. Let me try and push it towards the star."


    It was already too late for anything to be done or even said. Arthur landed heavily with his phantom sword and clashed with the portal.


    And that loud clang sound exploded alongside with a sound of cracking.


    It seemed like an egg hit a rocky wall and got smashed into pieces. The next moment he saw the portal fly in the air towards the star while a flash of light emanated from the pagoda attached to it.


    ''It''s too late,'' the golden dragon urged, ''there is not enough time to get in there. Take him out, take him out now!''


    The next moment a portal appeared there but Arthur totally ignored it. He knew this was a moment deciding his life and death.


    Even if he escaped here, the star map was already embedded inside his dantian. He couldn''t run away from this. He couldn''t evade it.


    All he hoped and prayed for at the moment was for this damned pagoda to get its fat ass inside that star before exploding.


    He didn''t think about anything but it.


    However as the portal kept getting closer to the star, the flash of light intensified.


    The waves of energy the pagoda kept emitting vanished. It looked like the pagoda was concentrating all the energy inside a small point.


    And then it would release everything in a deadly wave, one that was enough to take out his life.


    "I''m¡­ done for!" Arthur saw it coming and he couldn''t help but land on the ground with weak will. He tried¡­ he tried with all his might and used all his power and tricks.


    However in the end it meant nothing.


    He failed, and now he would pay a hefty price for that¡­ his life would be taken away in front of this abominable force.


    His three beings were also petrified by such a result. They knew even if he escaped from here he was done for, they were done for.


    At their last moments, they couldn''t even say a single word. The entire star map started to be illuminated under the great energy that the pagoda was accumulating.


    In any second now the pagoda would explode, sweeping away everything here.


    And Arthur alongside all the three beings inside his mind would be killed.


    "At least¡­ I''ll go down alone," he could only try to console himself with this. If such an explosion occurred outside, everyone else would be killed.


    At least he paid his life for protecting everyone else. He knew he didn''t hold feelings for most of them, but he had some who he could call as friends.


    Doaf, Amera, Gor, Deem, even the crow¡­ all those who followed him from the other worlds were also his friends. "Take everyone outside of the garden world," Arthur weakly said, "it''s pointless to let them die with me."

 Chapter 827: Bye Bye Everyone

    Arthur couldn''t help but close his eyes. He hoped and prayed, but none were answered. He tried, but the small distance of a few meters seemed like vast miles now.


    The speed of the pagoda gathering up its energy was unparalleled. It exceeded the speed of the push he gave using his sword.


    He was in pain, heavily wounded, and desperate for anything to happen to give him hope.


    Yet he knew he had nothing else to do. The portal was getting close to the star however the light was now so bright that it even obscured the pagoda and the portal as well.


    It was like a star was exploding, and in its path the light and energy would be racing to sweep away anything.


    And anyone standing in their path.


    At this moment Arthur recalled his life. He recalled how optimistic he was when he was a cultivator. His passion for knowledge and research, believing the path of salvation for cultivators wasn''t through getting stronger but smarter.


    However his smart mind angered the heavens and made him face such tribulation. He was sent here and in the end he had to start from nothing and build up himself.


    He couldn''t believe he went so far to stop here. He faced formidable enemies, fought against unfavorable situations but in the end he couldn''t help but end up facing death.


    And ironically it would happen inside his star map, inside his mind dantian, ending up somewhere related to his cultivation past life.


    It was like fate was playing dirty tricks and joking around with him. He was going to die at a place related to cultivation, a place he tried his best to escape its shackles and soar the heavens.


    In the end he ended up dying in such a place as if all his life and adventures were for nothing.


    Like an ancient tree that got burnt down, its majestic stature was set ablaze and turned into ash.


    And all he waited for was for a small gust of wind to blow away everything and wipe his existence from this world.


    ''Wait!''


    Yet all of sudden Gege exclaimed in shock while Arthur totally ignored her. He knew there was no hope, and so he couldn''t help but resign to such fate.


    Yet he felt it.


    Through Gege''s portal, the portal she opened moments ago for him to escape through; something flew out of it like it was a rocket.


    Arthur opened his eyes slowly only to spot a flash of red light that kept boiling like it was on fire.


    "The¡­ bloodsucker sword!!!"


    Arthur was too shocked to see that old sword appearing out of the portal and slamming hard towards the big ball of crimson red light that was about to explode.


    It seemed like ancient times already, he even forgot about that sword all this time. He got stronger and forgot about that glutinous sword.


    Yet he never forgot how this sword saved his life numerous times when only he felt despair.


    He couldn''t help but stand on his feet while his eyes were attached to that sword. Although nothing could get near that pagoda now, that sword seemed like a fish swimming in water.


    All the energy emitted by that pagoda was inhaled like it was air by that sword.


    And Arthur even heard a satisfying sigh coming from the direction of the sword before it fiercely slammed inside the pagoda itself.


    Anywhere the sword flashed, the energy was sucked dry. It seemed like it was able to dig a deep groove inside an ironclad rock. Arthur watched with daze and shock the sword he acquired a long time ago in the Nystic clan when he was still weak.


    And that sword was already sucking dry large amounts of energy without showing any difficulty in doing so.


    "Damn! That sword had a bottomless belly!!!" Arthur couldn''t help but suck in cold air of breath while watching what was going to happen next.


    ''Ding! What the hell are you waiting for?'' the system suddenly shouted, ''Ding! Go, go and hit that damn thing again and let it enter the star!''


    Despite Arthur having already hit the portal and sent it with the pagoda towards the star, they were now hovering midair motionless.


    When the pagoda released its energy it seemed it nullified what Arthur and his monster did before.


    And so even when his bloody sword came out of nowhere and gave him a timely hand, it wasn''t enough.


    With the system''s words, Arthur clenched his fists over the hilts of his sword. He knew it was a very precious chance that he got with pure luck.


    He couldn''t let the help his bloody sword gave be wasted. His will to fight instantly returned back, and even exceeded everything he felt before.


    He wasn''t just fighting desperately now, he had hope.


    He was already on the doorstep of success, and he wouldn''t be insane to screw things up.


    Not after reaching such a stage.


    The next moment he started to run. Despite that his bloody sword was sucking the energy the pagoda emitted in large amounts, it wasn''t enough to save the star map from the wrath of such energy.


    But Arthur was smart and shifted his running course towards the direction of his bloody sword. That path was the least with that annoying energy.


    As such he had an easier time reaching that pagoda and portal.


    "Go to hell," Arthur didn''t hesitate to jump high in the air, clench both swords and raise them together before landing violently with all his might over the pagoda.


    He didn''t aim towards the portal but towards the thing he hated most here. He vented out all the despair and anger he accumulated inside before the pagoda pounced like a rubber ball, fast towards the star.


    "Woosh!"


    The next moment the pagoda, the portal, and his bloody sword went inside the star and vanished.


    Then everything started to cool off.


    It was like standing in a forest after facing a fire storm and then a storm of rain. He could feel that the star map was recovering fast, he even could smell the scent of smoke rising up from the scorching land.


    However, it was over. Everything ended by the entrance of that pagoda and portal inside that star.


    ''It''s not over yet,'' however the golden dragon hurriedly said, ''this star is still connected with your star map. You need to sever the connection before it''s too late!''


    ''Ding! You can''t allow that explosive energy to reach here,'' the system hurriedly added.


    "But¡­" Arthur wanted to argue. His precious sword saved his life again and he hesitated to let it go in such a world.


    He hesitated to cut the connection with that unknown world to him before giving his sword a chance to return back.


    ''There is no time,'' the golden dragon shouted, ''the sword can''t beat that beast. It can only buy us some time, so don''t waste its sacrifice now!''


    ''Ding! Gege, try to sever the connection now!''


    "Wait¡­" Arthur wanted to stop her but he was too late. Gege already used the few remaining golden pearl''s energy to force the star map to cut the connection with that star.


    "Rumble!"


    However, despite doing that at the fastest speed, they were a bit late.


    Severing the connection wasn''t as simple as cutting off a limb. It took some time to execute, at least two minutes.


    However, just before the first minute could pass, the star shook and an instantly endless stream of berserk energy swarmed the entire star map.


    And it engulfed Arthur within.


    ''Take him out!'' The golden dragon seemed to anticipate such a result as he ordered the moment that the star shook and that energy appeared.


    Arthur was already sent to fly by the violent energy flooding off the star. Just as he was midair, a portal flashed behind his back and he simply passed through it.


    Then the next moment he appeared inside his garden world, surrounded by few wisps of such energy.


    The moment he landed on the ground, he heard a massive sizzling sound that instantly burnt away the area around in miles.


    Even the ground itself got conceived by such violent energy.


    And it was just a small touch of it.


    "Ah!!!"


    Arthur was so shocked to see such devastation happening from this small amount of power that leaked in here. Just before he could think of what could happen to his precious star map, or his dear bloody sword; he felt like his mind was about to explode.


    He roared in deep pain while twisting violently on the ground out of excruciating pain.


    His star map inside his mental dantian was already flooded with such violent energy and it was about to explode itself.


    ''Ding! Cut that damn star now!'' the system thundered as he felt the danger Arthur was facing at the moment.


    ''It''s¡­ done!'' Gege responded in less than ten seconds, ''it''s severed.''


    "Ah!!!"


    However even with that, the amount of energy that escaped from that star was still enormous. Arthur couldn''t help but keep screaming in twitching while feeling his brain was about to explode.


    All his energy was now in turmoil. His mind dantian was strong, but in front of such berserk energy it felt like a broken kite in the wind.


    Then Arthur fell motionless on the ground while his body turned back to his human form.


    And he was covered in his own blood oozing from many wounds all over his body.


    His lips turned blue and his face became ashen white.


    He was in a deep coma, in such a miserable state, and the worst part wasn''t over yet.


    That energy was still wreaking havoc inside his body without anything to stop it.

 Chapter 828: Dealing With The Hostile Force

    ''We need to do something!''


    Gege was panicking right now. She tried to support the golden pearl energy and antagonize that berserk power, yet she failed.


    ''It''s rejecting my help,'' she couldn''t help but say in pain, ''how can we help? Can any of you do that?''


    ''Ding! it''s not the power that rejects your help,'' the system slowly said.


    ''It''s Arthur himself.''


    ''W¡­ What?''


    Gege couldn''t believe what she heard. ''How can he do that? If we don''t stop that power right now, we won''t be able to save him. He¡­ he¡­ will die!''


    She couldn''t believe a single word they said and kept trying. She kept assembling all her power, even using the power she stored after the last upgrade.


    However no matter how much power she poured inside his body, she couldn''t keep them there.


    The moment any power entered, his body would leak it away. It was like a balloon filled with holes, no matter how much air you put in there, all would escape.


    And the balloon would still be left empty.


    ''It''s his decision,'' the golden dragon sighed, ''we have nothing in our power to help.''


    ''But he is in a deep coma! Why is he doing this? This power is killing him!'' Gege was still shocked and now she even had tears. She shouted in agony as if she already lost him.


    ''Ding! Have more faith in him,'' the system tried to console her, ''Ding! How many times did he face death and survived? How many ordeals we thought won''t get solved and eventually he will overcome them all?''


    ''This is different!'' Gege was still in denial, ''he can''t fight such power back¡­ not a lone. We need to help, why aren''t you doing anything?''


    Yet all she received was utter silence. The system and the golden dragon agreed without exchanging a single word in between themselves to let her be.


    She needed to accept Arthur''s decision, even if it didn''t make quite sense at all.


    For the two of them, they preferred to help, just like her. In fact the two tried to inject their powers inside his soul, yet they faced the same result.


    On the contrary to her, they had keen senses towards what happened, and understood the reason behind all this.


    Arthur decided to take the toll of dealing with this power of his own will.


    As for Arthur, the moment he was assaulted by that berserk energy, he tried to resist.


    He had three forms of power inside his body. He tried, amassed the three and hoped he could control that hostile energy.


    However he didn''t realize he was doing that while he was unconscious. Eventually he failed. This force was something he couldn''t handle or even oppose.


    What caught his attention was the fact that the moment he started to fight this force, it felt like he was feeding it.


    The more he threw on its way, the stronger it got. He first didn''t notice this but after some time he realized something was off.


    Then he started to pay attention to what his powers were doing against such force.


    From the start, anytime he threw a wave of his power towards that hostile force he would instantly hear a loud sizzling sound that he even got used to.


    It was like the two forces were fighting against each other, with his own being crushed and dominated by the hostile one.


    But when he took a closer look, paid more attention to even the tiniest details, he could see another thing.


    It wasn''t as he imagined before. His powers, no matter what kind it was, were all purified once got in touch with that hostile force.


    And when he paid more attention he realized it wasn''t simply purification, but followed by aggressive absorption.


    "It''s¡­ growing on my powers!" he couldn''t help but be shocked when he realized this. Getting any more fights with such a force meant he would lose eventually.


    One way or another he lost all his weapons in this battle. He was simply doomed.


    "Gege¡­" at this moment he felt the relentless attempts of Gege to supplement his golden pearl power. At first he thought he could use her help, but now he has dropped that thought.


    He wouldn''t go on a path that would eventually lead to his downfall.


    "What are my options?" He kept silent while assaulting the hostile force from different directions.


    He even tried to combine his three powers together and launched a unified attack.


    Yet it failed like all other attempts before.


    "So I can''t attack or defend¡­ I have only to succumb?"


    He suddenly had this weird thought. Yet he had to confirm it first. He sent again another wave of attack towards that force, but this time he added one more variable.


    He sent in a wisp of his soul embedded inside the golden pearl''s power. His highest form of power was his golden pearl. And it was the only one he could rely on while sending off part of his soul.


    He knew if this failed and the tiny part of his soul got smashed by this force, then he would be deeply injured. His soul would take a long time to recover, however he was pretty much sure if he didn''t find a way to turn this situation over then he was done for.


    His soul would be shattered and he would die.


    "C''mon," as he closely watched with great anticipation and much stress, his golden pearl power got smashed as usual with a loud sizzling sound.


    However the moment his wisp of soul got in touch with that hostile force, a new change happened.


    His wisp of soul didn''t shatter, instead it found its way so easily deeply inside that power.


    "It¡­ entered¡­" he slowly muttered in deep shock before a mysterious connection was established at this moment between him and that power.


    And the next thing he felt was extreme pain and agony assaulting his entire soul.


    "Ah!!!" he screamed in unbelievable pain while his soul seemed on the verge of collapse.


    "Damn it!" At such a moment he had no other option but to take this risk to the fullest. If that energy wouldn''t harm his soul, then he would gladly embrace it to save him from this inhumane pain.


    The next moment he moved his soul entirely to smash directly with that foreign force.


    And like before, his soul managed to pass freely like there was nothing standing in the first place on his way.

 Chapter 829: The Mysterious Crimson Red World

    The moment Arthur''s soul moved inside that weird force, he felt like passing through a portal to another world.


    The world was filled with bright crimson red light all around. He stood in the center with his dragonair form while a spot of white light surrounded him.


    He was the only white in such a red place.


    "Where is this place?" he turned around before shouting, "anyone is here?"


    His voice echoed all over the world countless times before it faded away. "Sigh, what the hell is happening?" he started to move around, yet the moment he took the first step he heard a weird sizzling sound.


    And that spot of light surrounding him got a little wider.


    "What just happened?" he paused as he turned all around. The moment he stopped, no sizzling sound happened.


    "Let''s try this one more time then," he took another step while paying attention to what was going on around.


    The moment he took that step, a sizzling sound occurred once more. This time he realized where it appeared.


    It came from all over his body, like he wasn''t standing in the air but immersed in deep waters.


    Yet these waters looked so pure and translucent, so light that he mistook it for air.


    And the moment he moved and the sizzling sound occurred, the spot of light around him got a little wider.


    It wasn''t a significant increase, but he could already notice it with his bare eyes.


    "What am I doing here?" he asked himself this question before deciding to keep moving around.


    He knew this place wouldn''t exist without an owner to hold it, and he would force that mysterious owner to show himself to him.


    By force!


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to use his full power to move around. He even started to flip his wings and fly.


    Anywhere he went to was purified. Loud sizzling sounds started to appear everywhere he stepped upon, and his spot of light started to grow wider at an alarming rate.


    "So the light got bigger than the areas I''m purifying¡­ That''s interesting."


    He knew if he kept going on at this rate then he wouldn''t need to do a thing at some point. His spot of light would be large enough to press over the redness around and purify it on its own.


    However, he was slightly mistaken here.


    After a long time of flying around non-stop, he realized that no matter how large the spot of light became, it never reacted with the redness around.


    It felt like the spot of light wasn''t encroaching over the world around, but it was simply creating its world of white light of its own and simply pushing the outer world outwards.


    "So that useless white light won''t help me at all," he couldn''t help but take a deep breath before checking the world around.


    "No matter how I see it, that world looks endless."


    He flew for hours in his estimation, moved from right to left and from north to south. However no matter where he went, he couldn''t even glimpse an end for that world.


    It was like that world had no boundaries and he couldn''t even reach one end.


    "Then I''ll keep purifying you then," he clenched his fists and resumed his flight. "It''s a blessing I''m not feeling any tired at all¡­ at least it''s much better than feeling that pain from before."


    Arthur felt nothing the moment he entered this mysterious place. The pain he was tortured by before coming here ceased to exist like it was never there.


    And Arthur thought about it countless times already, but no matter how deeply he thought he couldn''t come up with a reasonable explanation.


    Even this crimson red world he was purifying stood erect as a relentless rock he couldn''t crack with his mind.


    So he kept cracking it using his body.


    The more he flew, the larger his spot of light became. At some point it reached such vastness that it could rival his enormous garden world.


    And it didn''t stop growing the more he flew around.


    "Time to find an end for that place," after a long time of wandering around, Arthur took one direction and started flying directly towards it.


    He was already growing sick of being in such a place.


    At first he felt what he was doing was useful, yet at some point he dropped that thought. Nothing seemed to help here, even the growing white light didn''t attract his attention anymore.


    He took it for granted, the more he flew the larger his white light became. And eventually he felt like he was doing really nothing.


    What was the use of that white light? What was wrong with that crimson red world? He didn''t know the answer and he didn''t know the purpose of what he was doing.


    So he set the goal of reaching the boundary of the crimson red world and decided what to do next from there.


    Even the idea he had once he entered here about the presence of an owner to this place vapourized fast. If there was an owner he must have been either legendary patient or mentally retarded to let him screw up his world like this without interfering or saying anything.


    And so he started flying towards that direction with no care about anything else.


    He flew for hours, even days without even turning around for once. "I won''t budge until I reach that end," he kept telling himself whenever he felt despair.


    Finally after a week of flying and purifying anything in his way, he spotted something different than the crimson red world around.


    It was red, but it was a gigantic red wall. The moment he spotted it, Arthur felt like his soul got revived.


    And he didn''t hesitate to head directly towards it with his fastest speed.


    If he could instantly teleport there he would, but he lacked that skill at the moment.


    As he got closer to that wall, he suddenly realized how huge it was. In front of it he felt how really a mortal should feel when standing in front of an immortal, or a god.


    "Boom!"


    Yet as he was busy inspecting that wall, he didn''t see what happened between his white light and that wall.


    The moment he got close enough for his vast white light to touch the wall, the light seemed to tremble without him noticing it.


    He was totally focused on studying the wall and didn''t notice the impactful clash between his white light and that wall.


    Until a deafening bang erupted and his body was slammed mercilessly with irresistible force that sent him flying miles to the back.


    And as he flew without control he could see the changes happening to his white light at last.


    It was getting corroded and invaded by the crimson red energy, a first exchange happening between the two since he sat foot here.


    And as a result, his white light kept shrinking from all directions at a rapid pace that alarmed him.


    "Sh*t!"

 Chapter 830: Despair

    It was obvious to him now what all this was about. The white light kept shrinking fast while his body kept rotating in the air endlessly until he finally landed heavily on the ground.


    "Boom!"


    He didn''t feel much pain from the fall, however when he checked and found his light spot had returned to the way it was when he showed up here, he felt great pain for that.


    "So this is the game I have to play here," despite that pain he had a faint feeling of excitement.


    He knew what he had to do now.


    "I''ll purify everything first," he turned his gaze around before taking a deep breath, "then I''ll come to face you head on."


    In the meantime, things outside were getting a little hectic.


    The sudden disappearance of Arthur created panic among everyone else. Doaf and Amera thought at first that he was dealing with that pagoda.


    And so they led their army and fought bravely with their opponents. With the lack of any reinforcements, the opponents seemed vulnerable until many portals opened and a lot of mages and monsters poured out from hidden worlds.


    They had to retreat.


    However after regrouping again and waiting for Arthur for hours, nothing happened.


    "Perhaps he is still trapped there," Amera said in a tone that held more disappointment than optimism.


    "''He vanished there, so he might be waiting for the army to advance to show himself," Doaf had no other solution to the mystery of Arthur''s silence.


    So he waited with Amera while watching the grand army marching towards the sect.


    The army suffered great losses from the last battle, however with the influx of new blood it seemed to recover its former strength and even got bigger in size.


    Even the giants they paid hefty price before to slay them returned in greater numbers. Mountains started to smash in front of their brutal strength and the army picked up speed once more.


    "At this rate they will arrive at the sect in less than five hours," Doaf muttered slowly before turning his gaze towards the area the army just left from.


    "Let''s go," Amera had the same thought before she turned into a flash of light. She held her spear and moved faster than Doaf until she reached the spot where Arthur vanished.


    However, unlike what they expected, there was no trace of Arthur anywhere.


    "Let''s look around," Doaf landed before moving towards one direction.


    Yet Amera didn''t move. She knew Arthur for so long and already was familiar with his way of fighting. She knew the place he vanished from would be the spot he should be appearing at.


    If he wasn''t here, then the worst must have fallen upon him.


    Despite her heart didn''t approving of that, her mind couldn''t find any other explanation other than this¡­ something bad must have happened to Arthur, very bad.


    "That damn pagoda!" Amera clenched her fists while Doaf was running like a madman all over the place. He searched everywhere, and even took out some gears that could help in detecting any hidden portals.


    Yet he couldn''t find a trace of anything.


    "Don''t bother," Amera bitterly said while her eyes turned red, "he¡­ isn''t here."


    "Then where is he?" Doaf shouted in extreme anger while feeling his lack of support for his young master.


    For him this was just equal to treason. His young master was left in his custody and protection, however in the end he lost him without even helping.


    If not for what Arthur did, everyone else would have been killed right now¡­ everyone living on this planet.


    "Dammit!" Doaf kicked a rock and smashed it with his leg out of anger. Yet he didn''t feel any good at all.


    His heart was still burning with pain and regret.


    "He¡­ really liked all of us¡­ liked me to sacrifice himself this way," Amera''s tone came like painful needles to Doaf''s ears and mind.


    "Don''t speak like that," Doaf pointed his sword to her, "I don''t believe he is dead."


    "Then where the hell is he?" Amera screamed in anger while pointing her spear to Doaf.


    "You¡­ saw what he was capable of," Doaf slowly said while slowly lowering his sword, "how many times we thought we lost him and he showed up again like nothing happened? How many times have we faced a desperate situation, felt we are already dead and yet¡­ he rose up and showed us the way out?"


    Doaf''s words were meant to console her, yet all they did was to cause more pain to her. She felt her heart to be smashed over and over again with each word Doaf said.


    It was like a blacksmith was holding her heart in a mold and kept hammering with his big hammer mercilessly and without pause.


    "Stop it!" she couldn''t help but scream. She didn''t want to hear anything right now. She¡­ just wanted to mourn the death of her man.


    The man she never had a chance to live with even for a brief moment¡­ as his girl.


    "We have to believe in him," Doaf walked until he stood in front of her. Her eyes were about to be clouded with tears, and her body started shaking out of pain. "We need to believe he is coming back."


    "So what?" Amera couldn''t control her emotions anymore and her eyes burst into tears, "what should we do now? Pray?"


    "No," Doaf shook his head, "we have an army to kill, a sect to protect, and a revenge to take."


    Doaf''s words turned Amera upside down. It was like he flipped a hidden switch in her soul.


    In a moment, literally a moment, she turned from being devastated to deeply enraged. Her body trembled violently, out of anger not pain of loss this time.


    "Those damn bastards¡­" she clenched the shaft of her spear while her eyes turned redder from determination and rage. "I won''t stop fighting until I kill all of them or get killed."


    "I''m with you," Doaf turned to the army of theirs at the distance, "it''s time to use Aemie''s gift for good use."


    Amera didn''t say anything. The next moment she turned into a ray of light and went directly towards the advancing army.


    "Damn! He won''t forgive me if anything happens to you!"

 Chapter 831: Good Actor

    Doaf felt enraged by Amera''s reckless move. So he didn''t hesitate to take a lot of bird''s wings, and wrote his orders for the entire army to follow and prepare for a bloody battle before running after her.


    The army received his words while watching the two leaders racing after the army. They weren''t oblivious to what happened. All knew that Arthur vanished and sacrificed his life to protect them.


    However not everyone had the same heart and mind like Doaf and Amera.


    "My lady," one of the elite leaders of the army Aemie sent, came closer to Nicole, "it''s not safe for you to stay here."


    Nicole was already feeling pain from what happened. Yet when that mage came and said so she couldn''t help but muster up her courage and say:


    "Relay my orders, we are going to advance."


    "''That''s the right decision my lady," the mage mistook her words and thought he got her blessing to retreat.


    "We''ll hunt down that damn army and kill every single one of them," Nicole said in a cold tone while her eyes kept focused over that mage.


    She wasn''t lying when she said she knew nothing about her girlfriend''s grand plan. But it seemed that mage knew alongside few others. She wasn''t the type to lean towards violence to solve her problems.


    She hated wars, yet she wasn''t afraid of them. After all she was a mage, a very powerful mage who loved peace and tranquil life.


    But right now it wasn''t the moment to be a coward. And her heart told her there was a hidden reason behind that sudden care from that mage and his friends around him.


    They came to her to help them escape and execute their plan, Aemie''s plan. And right now all Nicole felt was an urge to smash that damned plan to pieces.


    "Excuse me, my lade, but the orders of our grandmaster¡­" the mage tried to reason with her, slightly using the name of her girlfriend to make her softer or even threaten her if needed.


    However Nicole already felt betrayed by her love. She thought the two were soulmates, no secrets allowed.


    In the end her love didn''t trust her or even care to warn her about what was going to happen. She was left in the dark, exactly like those outsiders she was sent with.


    "Don''t take me for a weak lady," Nicole said in a strange strong tone that no one here heard of before, "I''m the leader of this army and if you don''t follow my orders, I''ll get your heads off your bodies at once."


    Her tone, her domineer, her words weren''t any like what the old Nicole was. The mage and his little group were startled by this, never thought the weak Nicole to possess such strength or will.


    Her words weren''t low, so many of the elite forces around heard her words perfectly fine. The next moment many turned their weapons towards the group who felt great threat coming at them.


    After all they were part of the leadership, yet everyone here was loyal to the lady, not them.


    Nicole was the highest in command, and they got the clear orders from their grandmaster to follow Nicole and keep her safe at all cost.


    "I¡­ I think you are right my lady," the mage tried to extract himself and his friends from this unforeseen situation.


    "Think?" Nicole raised an eyebrow while her tone told him that she didn''t like his answer.


    "I''ll follow your orders, my lady," the mage hurriedly bowed while others bowed after him repeating his same line.


    "That''s better," Nicole nodded before waving her hand in an arrogant way. Once they retreated she couldn''t help but breathe deeply.


    This moment¡­ It was so hard for her to mimic her girlfriend like this.


    But she had to. Now she had full control over her army, even if it was for a short time.


    She also had a short list of those who were aware of Aemie''s true intentions. When everything was over, she would instantly hand them over to Arthur, Amera, and Doaf to deal with them.


    She also wanted to know why the hell she was sent to such a forsaken realm without her consent!


    "Listen up," Nicole turned her attention to her grand army, "we are going to fight this war. But it''s not for anyone else but us."


    She unsheathed her sword and pointed it towards the distant army. A grand cloud rose from the horizon where that army kept devastating mountains and crawling on earth towards the sect.


    "Those bastards are the ones who attacked our home. They are the ones who tried to kill us, our families, our beloved ones, and everyone else. It''s not just a fight to serve justice, it''s a revenge¡­ our revenge. If you want it as hard as I do, then come with me. If not, run away now and I won''t kill you for that."


    She was the closest person to Aemie, the one who saw her true self and how she turned around to become the monster everyone feared in front of others.


    So it wasn''t that difficult to mimic her attitude and even act like her. Even her aura turned out to be as frightening as Aemie.


    Despite giving everyone the chance to retreat, no one did.


    Most did that out of their true desire for blood. However the few who wanted to leave in the first place were truly afraid of her right now.


    They knew how treacherous Aemie was, and at this moment they got the same vibe out of Nicole.


    One single mistake, one single wrong decision and they would all die. No one would risk his life for no reason but to follow orders of someone not even here.


    So they lowered their heads and decided to follow the current.


    As for Doaf and Amera, the two kept moving fast towards the army. Amera was in the lead, creating more distance with time.


    However, Doaf was also fast. He only delayed a couple of seconds to release the bird''s wings he wrote before hurrying after her.


    "Hahaha, this chick is coming here to die!"


    Just as she got near the army, many mages rose high in the air to welcome her. They laughed and mistook her for being impulsive and vulnerable at the moment.


    Yet they were gravely mistaken.

 Chapter 832: The Crazy Amera

    Amera wasn''t coming here to die. She wasn''t even putting any of them in her eyes. She was now filled with endless anger and pain, to such an extent that even if the entire army stood in front of her she wouldn''t be startled or stopped.


    The moment she befell upon them, it was like doomsday happened to them. Her spear flashed all over the place and she didn''t even show up her physique at all.


    She kept jumping from one point to another, letting herself merge with the spear and penetrate through anybody.


    No matter how big, how strong, or how many there were, she would instantly pass through a place and kill anyone there.


    From far behind it appeared like a large whip of fire kept lashing right and left. Sparkles of fire appeared everywhere accompanied with loud bangs and screams of pain.


    Doaf was trying to catch up with her with his fastest speed. Yet even before he could reach the first lines of the army, Amera had already delved deeply inside the deeper ranks.


    "This¡­ Has she gone insane?" Doaf couldn''t help but sigh while taking out both swords and started to use his utmost techniques.


    He knew how Amera was feeling at the moment. For him Arthur was his young master, a being he couldn''t afford to let die or be injured.


    But for Amera things were different. He didn''t need the two to go on holding hands together to know what they had for each other.


    He knew she already fell for him. Losing Arthur for her was like losing the meaning of life. Everything around lost its taste and value and that was the exact reason why she was recklessly acting like this.


    She didn''t have any consideration for herself anymore. If she would die now she wouldn''t hesitate to embrace death in return for killing those who killed her man.


    Yet Doaf still held hope, hope for his young master to still be alive. Despite his love didn''t see that, he was still holding that weak thread of hope with all his might.


    In fact he bet everything at such impossible looking odds. So he couldn''t let Amera fight and risk herself like this without trying to help her.


    If he failed to protect his young master, at least he could help in protecting his woman.


    "Stay out of my way!"


    And thus he ditched his early plan in slowly kiting the first lines of the enemy. He turned his blades and started moving towards the depth of the enemy ranks with steady steps.


    He wasn''t someone weak either. Coupled with all the burdens his shoulder was carrying, he was unstoppable.


    And not long after, reinforcements arrived at last.


    The arrival of the bronzed giant mages toppled the hardly balanced situation on the rear of that army.


    These mages were already at the edge of explosion. They were the ones who witnessed their homeland getting overwhelmed, lost, and destroyed under their noses.


    They watched, helplessly without being able to do anything. Then they saw what was going to happen to the cauldron world and understood everything.


    They knew how they lost. Treason was the main weapon, but the master who waved that weapon was the real enemy.


    And that enemy was here in front of them at last. All the emotions, frustration, and despair they welled up inside their souls had finally a way to be unleashed.


    So when they had this chance, they didn''t hesitate to come. They weren''t any less mad than the two leaders up front. Each mage turned into a mighty lion who could rival a herd of deers on his own.


    With a force in thousands, they could easily force their ways in the tens of thousand enemies standing in front of them as a welcome party.


    "Good," Doaf turned to see what his mages were doing, "they are doing great!"


    He turned his eyes towards the front. Despite ditching all security and trying to catch up with her, he couldn''t reach her so far.


    Amera was in a totally different league than anyone else, even him. The pain of losing her lover was so much different than losing a master.


    And thus no matter how hard Doaf tried, Amera was always moving at the front, creating a distance that he couldn''t cross at all.


    But she wasn''t in any danger yet. No one could stand against her spear or stop her attacks.


    No matter where she went, death followed. Bodies littered the path she took and Doaf started to follow it.


    If he couldn''t get in touch with her, then at least he could help by securing her rear.


    "Just go ahead," he muttered while killing any mage or monster who dared to try to flank her, "I''ll keep your back safe for him."


    Yet despite it seeming easy, it was really challenging after some time.


    The more Amera and Doaf got deeper in the enemy lines, the broader the army became.


    They were now surrounded by tens of thousands of mages. Attacks landed over the two like rain drops without pause.


    And at some point the leaders of this army seemed to get so tired and annoyed by the two that they decided to attack them alongside their own forces.


    As such many of the mages and monsters around started to fall not on Amera or Doaf''s hands but thanks to friendly fire.


    And that helped a lot in relieving stress over the two.


    However the risk level rose up by many grades. Doaf knew the main issue now wasn''t to attack, but to defend against such relentless attacks.


    At some point the two couldn''t continue pushing their way forward. The path to retreat was also blocked by an endless stream of attacks.


    They were trapped!


    "Damn!" Doaf saw this and couldn''t help but curse. He turned all around while he ditched one sword a long time ago and raised a giant shield over his head to protect against all kinds of attacks.


    However Amera seemed not to care about that. She kept moving around without any regard to her safety.


    "At this rate¡­" Doaf felt deeply threatened and worried about her. He knew her pattern of attack depended on using fast movement to evade any incoming attack.

 Chapter 833: Nicoles Timely Help

    Yet with the sudden increase in the intensity of such attacks it looked impossible to evade them all. At some point she would end up being pinpointed to the ground by attacks.


    And not long after that she would lose her life here.


    "I can''t let that happen!" Doaf gritted his sword hilt while gazing up at his mages. They were also facing similar situations but with less intensity in comparison to him and Amera.


    As the two were the leaders, the most annoying ones here so they had it the hardest. "They¡­ can''t help," Doaf couldn''t help but bitterly admit this truth, "what can I do?"


    He stood in his place while thinking about his options. No matter how much he thought it seemed there was no way out.


    There was no room to retreat or advance. Standing in one place meant death as well. All roads in front of the two were blocked and it was only time before Amera would be hit by attacks.


    And that meant he wouldn''t be able to protect her.


    "Screw this!" he started to move but instantly he got a massive wave of attacks that forced him to fall over the ground. He couldn''t fly, so he tried to walk.


    Yet the next wave of attacks forced even his knees to bend. He was fixed in one place while all around the faces of the enemies started to show vicious expressions.


    They seemed to be content and happy with what was happening to the two of them. He knew if the attacks wouldn''t kill them, then these enemies would if the attacks momentarily stopped.


    "Damn!" Doaf already lost all hopes.


    If not a miracle would befall them now then it would be over.


    But fate seemed not to give up on them¡­ not yet.


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    All of sudden the entire world all around shook massively. Doaf couldn''t help but raise his head and watch the world all around.


    All around endless streams of attacks fell over the sides of this gigantic army. Before Doaf could guess anything, he spotted a far away figure, flying all alone midair while raising a sword high in the air.


    "N¡­ Nicole!!!" Doaf was deeply shocked to recognize the identity of that person. He never thought of her to appear right here, or to expect that she led her army to flank the enemy from both sides and ambush them.


    And that attack just came in time, perfectly in time to save the lives of Doaf and Amera from the inevitable fate.


    The attacks that landed on the two of them came mainly from the far two sides of the army. That made any attempt to clear out these foes and get rid of these attacks futile, and impossible.


    However Nicole seemed to read this situation and thus she decided to change the game. She selected the most weakened spot of the enemy and made sure to fiercely hammer it without mercy.


    And that sudden appearance of the big army of the cauldron elite forces made the attacks over the two suddenly stop.


    "Amera¡­ Come back now!" Doaf didn''t hesitate to take advantage of this moment of chaos in the enemy lines and shouted at Amera.


    However he was the one pinned to the ground and she kept flying all over the place enduring different kinds of attacks.


    She never stopped, never planned to stop, and never intended to retreat.


    "Come back now! For Arthur!" Doaf saw her stubbornly attacking without pause or hesitation. Yet even when he used Arthur''s name, Amera didn''t even flinch.


    In fact she became fiercer. She started to move faster, hit stronger, and kill more, much more like before.


    "F*ck this!" Doaf couldn''t help but turn to plan B. he instantly rose high in the air, raised his sword high in the air before shouting:


    "All bronzed giants¡­ heed my words¡­ advance!"


    His shouts came so sudden and were instantly heard by everyone. The attacks ceased to fall over the heads of his forces, and so they had a rare moment of peace.


    Yet when he shouted at them at this moment, their fighting spirit was reignited once more.


    "Revenge¡­ Revenge is up ahead! Don''t stop advancing! Don''t defend¡­ attack, relentlessly attack until everyone is dead!"


    Doaf didn''t stop shouting and the more he spoke, the more furious his men became. Instantly they turned into mad beasts, running amok all over the place while advancing with unparalleled speed.


    They did just like what he did before, ditched all the defense and leant to attack. They didn''t focus on killing everyone, and only focused on creating a path to the depth of enemy ranks.


    And their target was so clear, high in the air standing in front of them. Doaf was their beacon, and he kept flying high in the air while fighting the enemies for them to follow.


    The enemy was in chaos, but there were many veterans in their ranks. Many weren''t fazed and the first thing they did was to aim at Doaf.


    He was already standing midair, where anyone from far could spot.


    He also tried to help and decrease the pressure on Amera as well. Like this many would tend to come at him, not her.


    She was unstoppable, unpredictable, not like him. He kept flying midair while using his shield to deflect any incoming attack or even enemy.


    His sword never stopped flashing in the air, cutting right and left without even a moment of pause.


    As for his forces, they started to pick up momentum and that was thanks to the path Amera and Doaf created before.


    Once they embarked on that path, their speed became so fast that they were able to catch up with Doaf in less than five minutes.


    During these minutes Doaf was already becoming cornered. He was standing all alone in the middle of thousands or more of elite and veteran monsters and mages.


    And yet it wasn''t that easy to take him down. He was, after all, far stronger than them in terms of individual strengths.

 Chapter 834: New Enemy Appeared

    Doaf wasn''t cornered for so long before his elites caught up with him. The moment they did, he didn''t hesitate to lead them all towards the front; towards Amera.


    Amera kept recklessly charging all around without any reservations for her life. She didn''t think about anything at the moment but to burn these bastards even if it was at the expense of her life.


    She was literally burning her lifeforce just to get rid of them.


    However no matter how hard she tried, those wide opened portals to other hidden worlds kept pouring reinforcements non-stop.


    And the army was still marching without any pause towards its target.


    "Dammit! They are already here!"


    Just as she was absorbed in fighting all over the place, Doaf noticed the frontlines of that army to reach the defensive shields of the sect.


    And without any hesitation they unleashed everything towards these shields and arrays.


    "Tsk, I hope they control that traitor," Doaf knew the biggest threat wouldn''t come from here, but from there.


    That Jim was the traitor they had to watch out for. He wasn''t a normal person after all, he was the leader of that sect, the one who others looked up to.


    And ironically he was also the one who was trying his best to betray their trust and kill everyone else.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The first waves to hit the shields were formed entirely of giants. These huge creatures kept slamming with their fists that could crush mountains at these shields.


    Despite that, all they could do was to rupture dozens of these arrays before new ones were formed, surrounding the sect and protecting everyone inside.


    "They can hold," Doaf assessed the situation, "as long as that damned bastard doesn''t get involved."


    He knew this was closer to a dream than reality. If he was that traitor he wouldn''t hesitate to intervene when the hour was ripe.


    And he knew this moment was drawing close, hasty running towards them.


    "Pick up speed!" as if his men weren''t doing that in the first place, but he shouted out of his rage and helplessness and tried to push his small army towards Amera.


    Their only hope lies now in creating chaos in between these ranks, enough to make them unable to seize the chance that traitors would create at any moment in the near future.


    In the meantime, Arthur was busy flying with all his speed around. The world he was trapped in was already gigantic. He reached the walls once and knew how vast it was.


    However he also knew to crush that wall and get out of here he would need every ray of light he could gather.


    Luckily for him this didn''t require anything but moving around. Unfortunately he consumed his stamina so fast, that he had to rest every passing day for a couple of hours.


    "What are they doing out there?" He couldn''t help but move his thoughts towards the fight happening in the outside world. He knew that his link with his three friends was cut off.


    And yet he was totally sure of their ability to assess the situation and perfectly use his forces in time of need.


    That made him unwavered when he thought about being trapped here. "I hope the time difference is in my favor," he muttered to himself before thinking about another issue.


    "So I had that energy get inside my body, and then I came down here. Is this some sort of trial? Or punishment? Or my way to survive?"


    He didn''t know the answer, and wasn''t sure if he fully understood the situation either.


    Yet he knew there was a way out of here. It would take a long time to execute but at least he wasn''t in danger right now.


    As long as there was hope, he could live with it.


    "Time to fly around again," he rose high in the air while starting to fly around.


    The area of white light around him was now gigantic. If he wasn''t mistaken it covered a radius of miles around. However it didn''t provide any help to him at all.


    "Oh, I reached the walls already," just as he was flying in one direction, he couldn''t help but spot the walls upfront.


    "Boom!"


    Just as he was moving, and without any warning a loud bang came to stop him at once. It was the first thing that happened here away from his clash with the walls from before.


    "Did I hit the walls?" he narrowed his eyes while watching the walls upfront. Yet he was so careful not to let his expanding area of light get any near that damned wall.


    He wasn''t ready yet to face that wall. He still didn''t purify many regions in this world.


    "Boom!"


    Another explosive sound erupted and this time Arthur was so keenly waiting for it. He turned his head and spotted the newly arrived foe that descended from the sky like it was an angel.


    Or a demon if he wanted to describe it better.


    "An enemy¡­" he couldn''t control his laughs while watching that giant monster, exceeding ten meters at least, falling down gracefully from the sky.


    It was shrouded in black mist, covering many parts of its body. Yet the parts appearing were all shimmering in crimson red light, the same as the world around Arthur.


    It had a bull''s head, a very strong muscular body covered with thick hair, and four legs with sharp hooves.


    It had six arms, each holding a different weapon. Each weapon gave Arthur a sense of dread, yet he never felt any worry.


    He was finally able to see a change, or cause it by his actions.


    And that was in itself a thing worthy of his celebration.


    "Come," Arthur watched the monster landing on top of the distant wall, "y''know I can''t come to you."


    Yet the monster kept itself standing motionless, watching Arthur with dozens of ruby-like eyes. Arthur stood his place for long minutes without moving a finger.


    And yet he finally got bored.


    "Screw this," Arthur turned around and started to fly away. "I won''t be that retard to come and fight you there."


    Yet he kept his vigilance against that monster and even started to activate his technique. His phantom sword appeared in his hand before a sudden change occurred.


    The entire region filled with light started to boil all of a sudden.

 Chapter 835: Its... I!!!

    During all the past time while staying here he never tried to activate his technique¡­ not even once.


    Despite appearing here with his technique being activated, nothing happened. He glanced all around while feeling puzzled for a fraction of a second.


    Then that distant and seemingly calm monster vanished!


    "Damn!"


    He couldn''t help but feel a sudden threat approaching fast towards him. He didn''t see anything except for a gale of wind.


    Yet that didn''t prevent him from waving his sword fast towards the direction he felt the threat was coming from.


    "Clang!"


    And at that moment a giant scythe appeared out of thin air to be blocked by his sword.


    And that meant that monster was already here.


    "Sizzle!"


    The brief moment where the monster was forced to pause by his sword was followed by a noisy sound of sizzling.


    The black mist surrounding that monster was getting restless while the white light around Arthur showed a new change.


    It seemed to all getting sucked by that monster, or getting attracted towards it like it was a magnet.


    Yet this didn''t last more than one second before that monster suddenly vanished. Arthur felt the same dreadful feeling coming from a different direction.


    "Clang!"


    He wasn''t late in moving in his sword to block that giant hammer from smashing his head. Despite blocking it he couldn''t help but shoot like an arrow towards the ground before slamming hard into it.


    "Sizzle!"


    Another noisy sizzling happened and this time Arthur only saw a thick cloud of white mist coming out from that monster like he was an ice being showered with boiling water.


    Then that monster vanished again.


    Even before Arthur could slam into the ground that monster appeared on top of him.


    "Damn you!" and like before Arthur waved his sword and blocked the giant sword that slammed heavily over his head.


    And this made his fall even fiercer. The hit caused his body to feel numb, however he didn''t even give himself a moment of rest.


    He knew he would be finished if he lowered his guard or closed his eyes for even a fraction of a second.


    "Clang!"


    This time it was a spear that barely blocked its sharp tip and made it deviate and miss him.


    "Not that easy!!" Arthur screamed in utmost rage while putting his leg on the tip of the spear while waving his sword towards the body of the monster.


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    The monster tried to pull the spear with all its might however Arthur''s sudden intervention made it impossible for it to vanish like it usually did.


    Each passing second caused significant damage to the monster. Arthur waved his sword fast, making it even if the monster managed to pull its spear it wouldn''t be able to dodge his sword.


    "Die!" Arthur''s sword flashed fast across the monster''s body. However it hit only thin air.


    That monster abandoned its spear and retreated fast to the rear.


    However this time the monster didn''t vanish like usual.


    "C''mon!" Arthur was getting already intoxicated by this formidable foe. He didn''t hesitate to run towards the monster while his aim was to hit it.


    He wanted to see what his sword could do to that monster.


    However the moment he moved, that monster suddenly moved fast. It didn''t aim to hit him but it aimed towards the spot Arthur was just standing at.


    "You want your spear?" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh. He was already about to use his wings to boost his speed, but when he saw this he didn''t do that.


    In return he turned around, threw himself and held the rear shaft of the spear while that monster picked the middle part.


    "Clang!"


    Arthur waved his sword to hit the monster''s back but that monster moved one of its arms to block the sword. Despite that the monster was sent flying in the air, pulling Arthur alongside it while the two grabbed on the spear like it was the only thing to keep their lives intact.


    "Clang!"


    "Sizzle!"


    "Clang!"


    "Sizzle!"


    "Clang!"


    "Sizzle!"


    In the meantime, each passing second created an explosive sizzling sound. That monster was now getting clouded with thick layers of white mist that kept rising up off it like it was eating it away from the inside.


    "Clang!"


    Arthur didn''t even care about himself being dragged by that monster all around. He kept waving his sword even if he couldn''t see anything out of this thick mist.


    He knew that this monster was now being tormented by his white light. Every passing second here meant that monster was getting a step closer to its death.


    All he had to do was to persist, keep the monster trapped here and his white light would do everything.


    He also wanted to test his sword, wanted to hit the monster and see what would happen.


    And his wish came to fruit fast, faster than he even expected.


    "Woosh!"


    "Slash!"


    Just as he was waving his sword all around, he felt his sword hit something. It was like flesh, yet the next moment he heard a fast moving thing coming towards him.


    "Boom!"


    A sudden kick came out from that monster. Arthur never expected that. He thought the monster would keep himself at defense, trying its best not to get hit by his sword.


    And yet at this moment the monster ruthlessly decided to have a mutual exchange. It dropped off its guard and let Arthur''s sword hit its body in return to kick Arthur with all its might.


    Arthur felt like a bulldozer hit his abdomen. The next moment he felt the air around howling in noisy fashion while his body flew backward like a broken kite in the wind.


    He didn''t even realize what was going on except when he saw that the monster was getting smaller while he kept flying fast away.


    And that monster just showed up in his real body, as if all the mist around vanished at these stressful moments.


    "That''s¡­ I!!!"


    Arthur couldn''t help but feel shock, extreme shock when he saw the face and real body of that monster. It didn''t have the head of a bull, but it was like it was an outer costume.


    Inside, in the middle of that gigantic body a smaller one appeared. It was an exact copy of the human form of Arthur.


    And just his sword managed to cut through that other version of him through the chest.


    Arthur kept his eyes wide open out of shock even after he crashed heavily at the ground. He kept himself there while watching the sizzling noise appearing once again while that monster started to roar in deep pain.


    It seemed his slash from before came to cause more damage than what that monster anticipated.


    That mutual exchange seemed to cause more than what the monster thought to have.


    "It''s¡­ me!!!" Arthur stood up while his body kept trembling out of shock. He kept glaring at that roaring monster at the distance while its body kept shrouded in white mist before it suddenly vanished.


    And the next moment Arthur felt a great threat coming fast towards him from one direction.


    "Clang!"

 Chapter 836: Dealing With Monsters

    "You are persistent!" Arthur was sent to fly out of this clash. He didn''t stabilize himself in the first place before clashing again with that strange copy of him.


    He didn''t know the reason but the presence of that copy in such weird shape made him a bit startled. He didn''t know what was going on here, but he knew he had to kill his copy to survive.


    "Sorry for that," Arthur kept blocking the attacks of his copy while the sizzling sounds kept ringing all the time. "But I don''t plan on playing with you for so long."


    Arthur suddenly did something new. As he clashed and blocked the incoming attack of that clone, he didn''t retreat as usual.


    This time he advanced.


    "Splash!"


    His move came so sudden and broke the pattern of his. The copy didn''t anticipate such a move and when he did, Arthur''s phantom sword was already stabbed deeply inside his body.


    And Arthur didn''t stop there.


    "Splash!"


    With his other sword he cut one arm of that copy. Previously when that copy lost his weapon he couldn''t vanish and move freely like before.


    And this time Arthur decided to use the same trick, while cutting the arm and depriving the copy of its weapon.


    Coincidently it was the spear once again.


    "Roar!''


    The monster roared in pain as the next instant its body started to get purified from within. Arthur''s sword was like the nemesis of this monster, and it wasn''t a surprise for the monster to hurriedly retreat.


    "Not letting you go this easily," and yet Arthur didn''t give it the chance to run away or lose his sword.


    He started his pursuit.


    The monster kept roaring and retreating, but when it noticed Arthur''s persistence it couldn''t help but to attack Arthur with his other weapons.


    "Great plan," Arthur had to take off his sword, "but I already anticipated this."


    He didn''t retreat, but he turned around the monster while evading the incoming attacks. His two swords started to either hack the body of the monster or cut the arms off.


    In less than five minutes, and despite the relentless attacks of the monster, Arthur finally managed to cut all of its arms and even legs.


    The giant monster fell on the ground like a lifeless doll while Arthur didn''t hesitate to stab his phantom sword inside the monster''s head.


    "Finally..." Arthur watched the giant body of the monster getting surrounded by his white light before it slowly turned into specks of light. Arthur felt extremely exhausted from this stressful and unexpected fight.


    However the next moment his white light area started to show a change.


    Previously it kept boiling when he used his technique. However at the moment it started to swirl around him while getting condensed and smaller in size.


    The area it receded from got filled instantly with the crimson red light from all around.


    "Silver white? That means it''s getting upgraded or what?"


    Arthur watched his light area to get smaller and yet change in color to become silver white. At the same time he also noticed something else.


    "The crimson red world is getting fainter... Does this mean I have to kill more monsters like these to purify this world?"


    He suddenly got the idea from being here. He initially thought he had to gather up the light energy around him before clashing with the walls.


    However he now realized it wasn''t as simple as he initially thought before.


    He had to face more enemies and fight deadly battles to be able to leave here.


    "At least I will be able to leave here," he took a deep breath before moving his eyes to the unclear red sky, "I hope I won''t be too late for that."


    He was thinking about the outside battle. He was quite sure that Amera and Doaf would be doing their best to win this war.


    However the only variable he was worrying about was that traitor!


    He knew it would be impossible for the two to deal with him, especially when Jim was the leader of that sect.


    "I hope Deem and Gor have everything under control."


    He had many plans to deal with that traitor, all went into nothing the moment he was trapped here. His only hope now was that time running here would be much faster than the time running in the real world.


    Or he might lose everything he worked so hard to get.


    "No time to slack then," he took a couple of deep breaths before turning around and started another round of flying.


    "I can consider this part of the wall is done for," he gave a last glance at the wall before turning around and started flying.


    The once miles wide light zone turned into a few hundred meters silver white zone. What he noticed was that the speed of its expansion wasn''t on par with the previous white light.


    It was much slower, and that meant more work for him.


    However he kept pushing himself to fly with his fastest speed all over the place. Even when his silver white area got on the same level as his white light from before, he didn''t stop.


    "So the monster won''t appear until I touch the wall," he noticed that even after exceeding the limit from before, no monster appeared.


    And that only meant he had to clash with the wall for the monster to come.


    But he didn''t hurry to do so. He was already exhausted and if he ran into a monster in such a state, he would have a suicidal wish.


    And so he remained in his place while trying to rest and think about what he should do next.


    "Should I keep expanding my silver white energy or what?" He contemplated this for a couple of hours while resting and regaining his strength.


    "I should expand as much as I can first," he decided. He wanted to cleanse all the area around first before fighting any monster.


    He didn''t want to waste anymore time here.


    However when he tried to do so, he faced a problem.


    "Flying around with this energy seems impossible now!" The area covered with silver white light was so vast that a single mistake meant it would clash with part of the wall.


    Despite his efforts not to, the silver white light got in touch with the wall at some point.


    And then all he heard was a faint rumble before a new monster appeared.


    "At least I can deal with you faster," he muttered this to himself as he considered his vast silver white light his helper here.


    The wider this energy becomes, the faster he will be able to kill the monster. After all this light was higher than the previous one, and it covered a larger part of land.


    So the monster couldn''t hide at any place, or even stand at the wall without doing anything.


    It would get attacked by his light nonetheless.


    But before he could celebrate this, another rumble occurred, and a third one followed.


    "Damn! Three monsters at the same time!! Isn''t it¡­ a bit too much?"


    He was surprised to see two more monsters appearing all of sudden. They descended from the sky and landed over the wall.


    And now he had to face three instead of one.


    "It seems trying to take a shortcut that rebounds on me," he couldn''t help but shake off his head while watching the three monsters move.


    "So eager to fight I see," Arthur couldn''t help but clench his two swords and brace himself for the upcoming hard fight.


    At the same time, things outside didn''t look that great either.

 Chapter 837: The Outside Battle

    When Doaf joined up with his men, he didn''t hesitate to push as fast as he could towards Amera.


    He wanted to join her and start an unstoppable attack over the enemies.


    He saw the last chance was in trying to reach those responsible for the hidden worlds. Killing them meant these portals would cease to exist.


    It was a simple plan. Cutting off the constant supply of reinforcements for the enemy would paralyze the latter and turn the tide to their favor.


    As he wanted, he finally caught Amera with his elite forces.


    Amera was already in a dire situation. She was rained by endless attacks from far and near. And yet she was moving so fast to get hit with any of these.


    But that situation didn''t last for long. She was finally cornered and would have been shot to her death if Doaf didn''t arrive.


    His arrival came in a brutal way as he didn''t hesitate to throw all his elites to kill everyone standing in between him and Amera.


    As for the raining attacks he used a few of his elites to form a defensive array, enough to allow Amera to escape this trap.


    "You should have waited," Doaf didn''t hesitate to reprimand her, and yet she seemed not to be feeling any guilt at all.


    "We need to reach the front," she said while pointing her spear there, "we need to stop them before that traitor moves."


    Doaf realized she wasn''t acting on impulse as he feared, so she got a plan. Coincidently it was the same plan he initially thought of.


    "We can''t do that with all these portals opened," Doaf pointed his sword towards the portals around, "we need to get rid of them first."


    "Good point," Amera nodded, "you can do this while I reach the front."


    "Not by your own," Doaf stopped her with his sword blocking her path to advance. She gave him a weird look while he only smiled. "I''ll send a few of my trusted and capable elites to help you."


    "I''m better off alone," she stubbornly said.


    "Yeah, I could see that," Doaf said in sarcasm before whistling. All of sudden a team of a hundred elites gathered and stood around the two. "Go and help Amera to reach the frontlines," he said before his face turning serious, "if anything happened to her, I will hold you responsible for that."


    "We will do our task properly, sir!"


    They all said in unison while the fight all around was raging wild. Amera only harrumphed before she turned to a ray of light as her words echoed in the place.


    "Don''t be late to catch up."


    The team seemed to be aware of her plan as the next moment they also vanished from the area around. Doaf had such a wide smile as he muttered:


    "I''ve selected the fastest, not the strongest... I hope you won''t be too mad at me when you realize this."


    He wanted to protect her and yet he knew how hard it was to convince her with such a thing. So he decided not to select the strongest but the fastest of his team.


    Those were able to keep up with her absurd speed. Besides they also had a defensive array, one that could provide shelter for her to move freely and not worry about any incoming attacks from far.


    "It''s time to get these nasty portals shut... On me!"


    He didn''t enjoy a single moment of rest as he instantly turned his gaze and attention towards the portals. He had to close these doors of hell if he wanted to end this war in his favor.


    As he started to move with his small army, Nicole on the sides of this brutal fight was having her moment as well.


    "Don''t let any of those bastards run away!" she kept shouting while overseeing the entire battle from top.


    She was like the eye of a hawk, a tactic her love loved to use all the time. It was expected for the leader of an army to either be at the front lines leading the army or standing far in the back.


    But it was quite unusual for a leader to fly high up and give orders in the middle of the army.


    It was an unexpected move as the leader will be exposed to the enemies as well. However she also knew this was a false statement.


    For any enemy to dare to try and attack her, he or she had to fly in the air and cross many trusted guards of the leader.


    A task that was proven to be futile and hopeless in each fight Aemie experienced.


    And now Nicole was just mimicking this.


    She wasn''t afraid to get shot, even when she was targeting those with long range attacks. Her guards were capable enough to use defensive arrays and block any incoming attacks on her.


    All she needed to do was to assess the situation and adjust the position of her frontline forces.


    At some times she would give orders for more troops to advance and press the enemy at certain points. At other times she would order them to retreat.


    And now she saw the enemy was shaken as if they lost their coordination and line of command.


    "You two... are really something!" she knew this wasn''t thanks to her or her army at all. But it was thanks to Amera and Doaf.


    The chaos the two were creating at the heart of the enemy troops caused mighty waves that finally started to reach her shores.


    The loss of command came from the pressure these two were now exerting at the leaders of the army in the center. As she gazed up at the two, she noticed the direction each was taking.


    "One is aiming to kill the frontlines, and the other is aiming to destroy the portals... brilliant tactic," she took a deep breath before shouting at her men:


    "Don''t slack! Push forward! I want every single bastard of them to get killed now!"


    She managed to kill a lot of those long ranged enemies, but their initial number was so huge to be exterminated in this small window of time.

 Chapter 838: A Breach

    It was obvious to Nicole that Amera and Doaf were pushing this hard, trusting her to defend their backs. The long ranged mages were now the only obstacle standing between them and their victory.


    And so she didn''t hesitate to push her army forward, neglecting any skirmishes over other units of the enemy for now.


    She previously tried to delve deeply inside the enemy ranks to relieve the pressure over Amera and Doaf. But now she had another task to do.


    The moment she shifted her strategy, both forces on the sides of this hostile army began to pick up the pace.


    Luckily those long ranged mages were focused mainly on the edges of the enemy lines, making the task of reaching and killing them much easier for Nicole''s forces.


    Besides, Aemie really sent the cream of the crop of the cauldron elites, making this task sounded like a piece of cake to them.


    "We are almost there," Nicole watched a large number of those long ranged mages fall like dry weeds in front of a fire storm. The remaining forces which could pose a threat to the two in the depth weren''t that threatening now.


    Her forces needed almost an hour to clearly kill the remaining mages here. She then planned to direct the forces towards the main body of the hostile army itself.


    However just as she was thinking of victory, a grave change occurred out of the blue.


    It came from no other place but the sect itself. All of sudden the sturdy defensive shields protecting the sect started to collapse one after another.


    Previously the giants were able to crush many of these arrays, for more to appear and replace them. It was a futile attempt to crush the arrays in this way, however they persisted and kept smashing as much as they could.


    But now the arrays collapsed from within, opening a wide path in front of the enemies to swarm the sect.


    "Damn!" Doaf couldn''t help but raise his head and watch this breach in the defensive shields, "that damn traitor! He finally acted!"


    Doaf was already aware of Nicole''s actions. He knew in less than an hour things would have ended already for the enemy. The annoying long ranged mages would have been killed and then he and his forces could roam the army and kill without reservations.


    Also Amera would move freely without that much pressure exerted over her.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The moment the gap opened, the enemy forces started to run and fill it. On the contrary to Amera, Doaf, and Nicole, they were ready and expecting this gap already.


    So the moment it appeared, they weren''t dazed off and ran as fast as they could towards the peaks of the sect.


    However the moment they did so, massive explosions started to erupt from the ground.


    "Ground traps¡­ Impressive!" Amera was already trying to catch up with the frontline. She was so close by and in less than half an hour she would have reached there.


    But now things changed as the gap opened all of sudden. But before she could even cross a hundred meters, loud bangs erupted all of sudden from the front.


    She watched the ground troops of the enemy getting killed by mines implanted there. This was new, as far as she knew there was no such a thing before.


    "So he still left a hidden hand in times of distress... He is really something!"


    Nicole couldn''t help but marvel at this move while standing high in the air and watching what was going on at the forefront. These explosions came unexpectedly to all, enemies and allies alike.


    And yet that didn''t prevent the enemy from sending more mages and monsters to infiltrate the sect.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "They are... really persistent," Doaf couldn''t help but turn his eyes around, "but if we cut off their main supply, they would end up losing much more than gaining."


    He found out that this would be a temporary set back for the enemy that he should exploit well. He turned his gaze towards Amera at the front before taking out a bird''s wing and wrote something to her.


    And then he turned his swords towards the nearby hidden worlds and started killing their owners.


    "Keep killing them," he screamed, "we need to exterminate them first."


    Just as he did so, Amera received his message. She turned around before realizing what he said was true.


    The tactic of the war changed with the new variables here. She didn''t need to be busy dealing with the frontlines anymore, these mines would.


    As for her, she had another task to do. As Doaf wrote, the top priority now was for them to clear as many hidden worlds as possible.


    That would ensure that the enemy losses would be painful and would really impact the enemy regardless of the final outcome.


    "Listen up," she turned to the annoying mages Doaf sent with her. She tried to lose them many times before, but eventually she was amazed to realize they were fast enough to catch up with her.


    That made her realize the small trick Doaf pulled behind her back. Despite feeling angry at him at first, now she realized this came to their benefit.


    "Spread up, use your speed to exterminate any hidden world controller in the area."


    "But my lady..." one of them tried to understand what was going on here.


    "There is no time for that! Just execute the order now!"


    Yet she didn''t give him any room to speak as she instantly vanished with her spear. The next place she appeared was a couple of hundreds of meters away where she landed upon a group of hidden worlds clustered together.


    They were heavily guarded by dense mages and monsters. However Amera landed on top of their heads and started killing the ones controlling these worlds first.


    When the guards realized what she was doing, she already killed the hidden worlds controller and vanished the next second towards the next group.


    "You heard the lady," the one who spoke earlier said, "let''s disperse in ten groups. Our target is those hidden worlds. Aim at their mages and then jump for another group. Don''t engage in deadly fight with anyone, understood?"

 Chapter 839: The Traitors End

    It was like both sides were heading towards the end in different ways. The enemy focused its entire tactic on trying to breach the mine field while the allied forces of Amera, Nicole, and Doaf kept their best to eliminate the powerhouses of these enemies.


    The mine field was the brilliant idea of Deem himself. He acted upon the old orders from Arthur to maintain the defenses of the sect intact.


    In fact the presence of a traitor was something they knew of but didn''t know who he or she was. And so they just assumed the worst and started to think of ways to sustain the sect.


    Even if the shields were gone, they implemented a lot of other defensive tricks which the mine field was one of those.


    In return things inside the sect seemed a bit chaotic.


    The sect was already watching the brutal fight ongoing outside the shields. The grand hostile army looked dreadful but they saw how the few forces scattered on the sides and heart of it caused great damage already.


    That made many think of stepping outside and joining the fight.


    "No one is allowed to move!"


    "This is the order of the sect leader."


    "Our top priority is to defend the sect."


    "Leave the fight outside for those fighting out there."


    However many shouts started to spread all over the sect. Jim didn''t hesitate to show himself and start taking the lead from here.


    He knew if he let the sect cultivators out, this war would be lost for him and his superiors.


    He would never allow such a thing to happen.


    His orders helped in stopping those brave enough to think of going out. However that didn''t settle things at all inside the sect.


    In fact many voices started to question him. Any sane person would see this opportunity as a golden one to crush the enemies at the door.


    Leaving the enemy free and acting as he liked was a grave mistake. Even a small kid would never make such a mistake.


    And that made many see things quite differently now. The main question that rose in their minds was why Jim gave such an order?


    Just with that simple question, Jim''s authority started to be shaken.


    He stood in the middle of this while news about the rising insurgence inside the sect started to flood him. He had a strong and widespread net of spies all over the sect.


    Every single move of any group would reach him instantly.


    "This... looks bad," he knew where this would end up. And yet he didn''t receive the orders to act.


    The army was still attacking the shields relentlessly while trying to catch the running flies in the middle of their ranks. Things didn''t look that bad on the outside, however Jim knew it would get deteriorated so fast inside the sect.


    "If I lost control... No, I can''t allow this to happen," he clenched both fists before he took out a bird''s wing, wrote something and then let it burn.


    He didn''t ask for permission to start acting, instead he gave them a deadline for his actions. He already made up his mind. "My efforts won''t go in vain because of a bunch of fools!"


    He said this to himself while thinking about the lousy leaders of the army outside. He believed he would do much better if he was the leading general of the entire operation.


    But he was just appointed here with no authority at all.


    Many bird''s wings started to flood him with curses, persuasive words, and even threats.


    However he ignored all these messages coming from the enraged leaders.


    He was dead fixated on lowering the shields and inviting the grand army outside within.


    "This is the only way," he muttered to himself while taking out a small black orb and held it tightly in his fist.


    It was through this orb that he could easily smash the shields and turn them off. He waited patiently for ten minutes, and during which reports never ceased to drop bombs over his ears.


    "So they are forming groups now to assault me? Hahaha, bad it''s too late for them," he couldn''t help but laugh while pressing over the orb in his hand.


    The next moment the shields around the sect shook. He planted many traps inside the arrays to be triggered with this simple press of him.


    However as he stood on the top of the highest mountain peak overseeing the world around, the results he waited for didn''t happen.


    "What the hell..." he watched as the shields vibrated violently as if they were resisting his will. In the next minute only few gaps appeared all around, and the shields remained intact in most places.


    "How come this happened?!!" he didn''t get it until too late. "These two... damn them!" he turned to his henchmen, "go, find Deem and Gor and make sure to bring them here alive... or one of them at least."


    "Yes sir," the cultivators started to move except for one.


    "What''s wrong?" Jim wasn''t in the mood to listen to any wise words now from his top advisor.


    He was someone highly recommended from the people he worked for. He facilitated his entry to the sect and even promoted him to be his vice.


    "Things don''t look good down below," the man who was in mid thirties moved a few steps to stand beside Jim. He pointed towards the ground around the mountain, and there Jim could see hundreds of silhouettes moving fast towards here.


    "They are moving already?" Jim couldn''t help but ask in surprise. He thought the damage to the shield would buy him time, valuable time and topple the plans of his enemies here.


    However it seemed he underestimated one thing.


    "Deem and Gor... the two you are looking for already got in contact with the leaders of this move," the man slowly said while the eyes of Jim widened.


    "I... need to run," Jim couldn''t help but think about his own safety.


    However at this moment of despair, a long curved sword penetrated through his chest from his back.


    "Sorry for that... I really liked you a lot," the man said in a sinister tone, "but you left me no choice. You ruined everything when you went to see that cursed dragonair on your own."


    "Y... You..." Jim started to feel weak as blood gushed out from his chest. The man didn''t hesitate to withdraw the sword in a brutal move, deepening the wound and accelerating Jim''s death.


    "We can''t leave any traces behind," the man took out a crimson red piece of cloth which he used to wipe the blood off the blade. "You... were supposed to lead this world at the end. But look at you now... Tsk, why did you go out there and try to manipulate such a dangerous kid?"


    Jim wanted to say something, scream and even curse. However all he could do was to choke in his own blood while he fell heavily on the ground. The man finished cleansing his blade before sheathing it.


    "Arrogance... sometimes is the greatest sin the mightiest of men will fall into its deadly trap... Tsk, what a shame though..."


    The man kicked Jim and pushed his body to fall off the peak. He stood there all alone while watching the violent explosions raging wild from the gap at the forefront.


    "It was such a perfect plan, only to be ruined by you... I can''t forgive you for this, y''know," he gazed down at the rapidly falling body of Jim. He shook his head before turning around.


    "As this is a failure, I have to go back and lead everyone towards the backup plan... Tsk, this plan isn''t as perfect or decisive as this one, but at least I can make the journey of that Arthur here like hell..."


    The next moment he waved his hand and a slash appeared in the air. The air seemed like a soft piece of paper being cracked by his slash.


    Dark fog dissipated from this small crack before it totally enveloped that man. In less than one minute the man vanished from here while the crack slowly returned to its regular form.


    However this happened under the watchful gazes of someone, making him feel more conflicted and enraged about this. And yet he knew the facts hidden from him so far!

 Chapter 840: Cultivators Join The War

    The enemy at the gap didn''t know any of this. For them they kept simply trying to penetrate the gap with all their might. However the traps Gor and Deem laid weren''t simply limited to the mine field.


    Just as they passed the minefield, strange things started to flash all around. Heavy rocks that came from the mountains of the sect started to be teleported under the magic of arrays.


    Like there were endless portals flashing all around, throwing heavy rocks over the heads of everyone trespassing here.


    The gap started to be covered in rocks instead of dead bodies, yet blood stained everything with its crimson red color.


    Screams of pain came non-stop from the front, while it never stopped also from the back.


    Amera kept flashing all around. As her aim changed, she became more dangerous, far more dangerous than before.


    Each place she visited was literally doomed. No one ever managed to stand against her or even stop her for a brief moment.


    She was unstoppable! Jumping here and there, slashing her spear non-stop and without hesitation to kill anyone with hidden world portals.


    At the same time Doaf and his forces scattered around. Despite Doaf lacking the ability to move as fast as her, he wasn''t any less deadly either.


    Anywhere he went was devastated with his double swords. As for his elites, they weren''t a force to be reckoned with either.


    They kept running amok among the large number of the enemy around. Despite being overwhelmed with numbers, and being in the heart of the enemy; they didn''t face much struggle to begin with.


    The lousy leaders of the enemy seemed to be dead fixed on breaching the sect. They were here to get rid of such undesirable variables, and they wouldn''t hesitate to sacrifice everyone for such a purpose.


    So they ordered everyone to simply ignore Amera and Doaf and focus only on pushing forward through the gap.


    However no matter how much they threw at this gap, it looked like a bottomless abyss itself. Death was the sole result of anyone daring to step there.


    Screams of pain and the smell of death flooded from that direction. Amera and Doaf were delighted to see such a result. Doaf knew this was the act of Arthur''s men stationed inside.


    For one moment he felt grateful for his unexpectedly critical decision back then. And yet the next moment he felt despair for losing his capable young master.


    He now knew why his grandmaster took the trouble of nourishing such youth from such a low realm. If it was him, he would never see anything special about Arthur.


    But his grandmaster was someone in another realm of his own. Doaf knew this for so long and now he was proven right in his thoughts.


    As for Amera, she only focused on not letting Arthur''s men''s actions be wasted. She knew the traps were deadly, but in fact they were limited.


    At some point things would change the moment these traps got depleted from the massive numbers of the enemy.


    And so she returned to point zero again; she had to decrease the number of those portals as soon as possible.


    This was the way she knew to decrease the number of the enemies by a huge chunk. This was the only way she knew of.


    And thus she started to push herself even further in the next hour. During this hour she appeared like a flash of light, creating only after images at anyplace she visited.


    For her this was going slightly overboard, but she could only do this little to help in this war.


    She knew what her man did, what Arthur sacrificed to save her and others. He didn''t hesitate to go beyond her reach, anyone''s reach and sacrificed his life for her to live.


    The war kept raging in a brutal way for an entire hour. During this time, Nicole led her forces in a brave way to kill all the long ranged mages.


    Then she turned her deadly blades towards the main body of the enemy.


    This sudden shift trembled the ground underneath the enemies. They were now squeezed between her two forces, getting killed from the heart by Amera and Doaf''s forces, plus the deadly traps up front.


    In addition to that, the efforts of those in the heart of the enemy troops finally brought fruit. The number of the enemy reinforcements showed a sharp decrease after this hour, making it possible to win this war.


    However just as the hour ended, and as Amera feared, the traps reached an end as well.


    Mages and monsters finally could advance without getting bombarded by all kinds of booby traps. The sect was just in reach, a few more minutes and they could reach there.


    "We need to stop them!" Amera saw this happening and couldn''t help but scream at the distant Doaf. Doaf turned his gaze and realized the great danger the sect was going through.


    However even before he could make up his mind or think about anything to do, a mighty roaring cheer came from the sect itself.


    Thousands... tens of thousands of cultivators appeared all of sudden from the peaks. They were wielding their weapons, wearing their armors, and ready to fight.


    "At last..." Doaf could only take a deep breath as he finally saw the victory looming from far.


    The enemy didn''t need to face any traps this time, but a mighty army of angry cultivators who were ready to give away their lives to save their sect.


    And the fight started between the two sides in the most brutal and bloody way.


    "Let''s keep cutting their reinforcements," Doaf raised both swords in the air and screamed in what Amera took as the shout of victory.


    Like him she also saw victory in reach. All they needed to do now was to make sure no more forces would step on this land, and leave the rest for the cultivators of the sect.


    The two didn''t do this out of their helplessness or exhaustion. In fact in less than two more hours they already killed anyone with the ability to summon portals of other hidden realms to here.


    But despite that they didn''t turn their blades towards the army around or tried to go to the front to help in the ongoing battle.


    They both silently agreed and without any contact at all to let the cultivators have their moment.

 Chapter 841: Nicoles Weird Actions

    They deserved to get their revenge and have their contribution for defending their homeland.


    The two had already tasted how bitter it was for not being able to defend their homes. And thus they retreated alongside their remaining forces to the rear.


    They only killed their way through there and then they waited.


    Patiently waiting to ambush any retreating forces after their defeat.


    "We need live hostages to interrogate," Amera stood shoulder to shoulder with Doaf, "we need to know if there is a possibility for... him to survive."


    "He will," Doaf firmly said his belief, "my young master isn''t someone to be killed this easily."


    Amera wanted to agree with him, or even nod however she couldn''t. She knew what Arthur experienced wasn''t something easy or trifle to begin with.


    However she could only pray... pray for his safety and for him to return to her at the end.


    As for Nicole, she noticed what the two did and realized what they were up to. However she didn''t follow. She knew the two were trying to corner the enemy and keep pushing him forward towards the slaughtering grounds.


    She had also to keep her part and keep pushing the enemy from the sides.


    In addition to that, she feared the moment she would withdraw her army before the battle end, those few pockets loyal to Aemie would do something stupid.


    After all, anyone with little brain would realize what she would do after the war was over. She already gave orders to some men she trusted during this fight to keep an eye on these pockets.


    The moment the war was over, they would be detained and getting mercilessly interrogated.


    She loved Aemie, but she hated the way she treated her in this. It was like Aemie feared her, or worse didn''t trust her on what she wanted to do here.


    And simply that drove Nicole beyond sanity, and she wanted to know the truth above anything else.


    Thus she didn''t give the order to stop or retreat. She kept herself high in the air while pushing everyone to kill more enemies.


    As long as there were breathing enemies on the battlefield, she wouldn''t keep her sword in its sheath. Neither would her men do.


    "What is she doing?" Doaf couldn''t help but notice the strange behavior of Nicole. He thought she would read what the two of them were planning and would keep her forces away from this fight.


    But it seemed like she didn''t care about that. She only kept her men fighting with no regard to anything else.


    "Is she out of her mind?" Doaf looked at Amera who stayed silent for long moments.


    "I believe she has her reasons," Amera couldn''t think of any other explanation but that. She knew Nicole wasn''t the type to love wars and fighting.


    And so for her to keep pushing her men like that meant only one thing, she was trying to escape from something more hideous than this war.


    "Like what?" Doaf couldn''t understand her like Amera did.


    "Let''s meet up with her and see," Amera shrugged before simply turning into a ray of light and vanishing from the side of Doaf.


    "''Damn this girl! She only knows how to run fast!"


    Daof was sick of Amera''s signature move, and yet he simply followed after distributing his orders for everyone else.


    He ordered them to stay put and ready for the moment when the enemy retreated in defeat.


    He knew this moment was so close by as the forces upfront kept taking heavy losses. There were no more reinforcements and that made the fight so close to end rapidly, faster than they initially thought.


    He also strengthened by trying to take as many hostages as possible of hostages to interrogate later. His men understood what he wanted and he trusted them on that.


    Then he started to chase after Amera towards Nicole.


    However Amera was the first to arrive, especially when she came directly to Nicole while Doaf had to take a huge turn around the enemy forces.


    "I believe you came to ask me to stop," Nicole was the first to speak. She had such a calm smile that gave Amera the impression that she didn''t plan to stop.


    "I just wanted to make sure you realize what we are doing now," Amera slowly said while taking a wide glance all around.


    "I''m just trying to cleanse my army," Nicole crossed her arms, "there are some I''m not feeling comfortable with."


    "Aemie''s men?" Amera asked in expectation. She knew Aemie sent her men here for some unknown reason. Arthur wanted to know why, and as she was his woman then she also wanted to know why.


    "I found some," Nicole said, "but let''s keep this a secret between girls from the cauldron clan, alright?"


    Nicole''s gaze was shifted towards the direction where Doaf was coming from. Amera realized her meaning and could only nod in agreement.


    It was much better this way to let her handle the situation. "If you needed help..." Amera paused and Nicole got her message as she nodded.


    "Sure, I won''t hesitate to do that," Nicole said before taking a deep breath. "Any news about Arthur?"


    It was this moment when Doaf arrived. Just hearing the name of his young master changed his face and made him uncomfortable.


    "No," Amera didn''t look any better than Doaf at this moment. Nicole could only watch the devastated look of the two while silently sighing.


    She knew it was so hard to accept the death of someone like Arthur to the two in front of her.


    One was his trusted general, one who was supposed to look after him and protect him from any danger.


    As for the other, she was his love. As one who was already deep in love she knew perfectly well how Amera felt. She sympathized greatly for her, and so she didn''t express her own opinion about Arthur being dead already.


    At least living a delusion with the impossible probability of him being alive was much better than accepting the truth.


    She would at least select such fate for herself if anything like this ever happened to Aemie. Nicole took a deep breath before shifting the topic:


    "What about that place?" she pointed towards the sect, "what makes it so special for all of you to relentlessly defend it?"

 Chapter 842: The Enemy Tries To Escape

    Nicole''s question startled the two standing midair in front of her. They suddenly realized that she came here and was thrown in the middle of this ongoing brutal war without knowing a thing about it at all.


    All she knew and fought for so far was the fact that these enemies were following the same banner as the ones who tried to destroy her home and kill her love.


    "It''s something Arthur wanted to protect," Amera said, "he said it has some kind of significance to the entire universe."


    "Universe... Weird," Nicole moved her gaze with much interest towards the peaks of the sect, "what would be so special about something in such a lower realm?"


    "I think it has something to do with another form of power," Doaf slowly explained, "I know you didn''t see Arthur for a long time, but he... is somehow different."


    "I can tell that," Nicole didn''t move her eyes away from the sect, "after all Aemie sat her eyes upon him. She never did something like that without a good reason. Plus..."


    She paused while her mind started to think about another possibility. Would it be possible for Aemie''s interest in Arthur to be related to this place?


    She didn''t know the answer, but she wouldn''t be this surprised if this was the case. After all this wasn''t only due to the words of Amera and Doaf, but also thanks to the relentless efforts of the enemies here to try and crush that place.


    For her it was just a normal town built over mountain peaks. She didn''t know what was special about this place yet, but she planned to do so.


    However she had first to dig out information of those loyal to Aemie, those who knew all about her big plan.


    "Alright," Doaf said, "we will return and lead our forces at the back. As for you... keep what you are doing here but without over exerting yourself."


    Amera knew Doaf already dropped the thought of persuading her or knew what she was thinking about. It was all thanks to what Nicole just said, as he realized she was the only one of them left in the dark.


    And that made him accept whatever decision she would take.


    "If you needed our help, don''t hesitate," Amera said in a tone that delivered Nicole the real message. She didn''t mean this fight, but the upcoming interrogation.


    "I''ll keep you informed," Nicole vaguely said, and this didn''t miss the keen senses of Doaf.


    "What did she mean just now?" Doaf asked the moment he and Amera retreated from Nicole''s side.


    "It''s nothing," Amera acted ignorant, "what was wrong in what she said?"


    Doaf gave her a deep glance before turning towards the distant Nicole. "It''s nothing," he said while inwardly intending to do something about this.


    He felt the two girls were hiding something from him, and he wanted to know what it was.


    So the moment he returned to his forces, he didn''t hesitate to select a few experts in stealth and hiding before sending them off towards Nicole''s army.


    He stressed over them not to get too close unless it was necessary. After all, his brief meeting with Nicole told him she wasn''t easy to deal with.


    Nicole that came with them from the higher realm looked weak, but this one looked like a real general. He didn''t know what changed, but he had to take his caution out of her.


    Plus he knew Amera well by now. She wouldn''t hide something unless it was related to her clan.


    "So you two are scheming something for the sake of your clan... I can only think about one thing," he muttered to himself while stealing glances at the nearby Amera and faraway Nicole.


    His thoughts made it clear that it was related to the forces Aemie sent. If not that then there was nothing else that would bring these two together.


    He didn''t mind exposing the truth, but he would mind if he was excluded from this. So he decided to force himself over the two and learn about these secrets one way or another.


    The fight kept raging brutaly for three more hours. The enemy was already playing a losing game. It was pretty much obvious who would win this war, but regardless the enemy didn''t stop sending everything to the front.


    This seemed a bit desperate but Doaf and Amera guessed that the enemy was already cornered. It was either to break through the front or retreat and face their trap.


    Which was an obvious trap to be honest.


    However after these three hours, things started to get out of control for the leaders of the enemy army.


    The surviving few of the mages and monsters looked panicked by the death grinder up front. So they all started to turn around and run towards the rear.


    The sides were already pressured by Nicole''s forces and there was no way out of this hell except through breaching the rear.


    But this place was already declared as a death zone to any trespassers.


    The moment they got near Doaf and Amera, the two didn''t hesitate in throwing everything at the deserters.


    At first they killed as much as they could without showing any mercy. They wanted to engrave fear in the hearts of those remaining alive before Doaf gave the order for some of his forces to shout with the order to surrender.


    Surrender and gain your life back, that was the shout everyone repeated non-stop from that moment onward. Most of the enemy mages and monsters were already on the verge of collapse.


    With such shouts, they couldn''t help but stop moving, drop their weapons and with them they dropped their bodies to the ground motionless.


    They surrendered easily like this, however there were still few with the will to fight to death.


    "Kill them," Doaf didn''t hesitate to show his decisive nature towards them. Most of them were leaders of the army and their guards. "Try to capture any of them and prevent them from killing themselves," after half an hour he gave another order.


    The remaining number of those fighting to death was now so thin. They were also scattered across a very broad segment of the battlefield.


    For Doaf one single leader of them is worth much more than his weight in gold. Even the entire army surrendering now to him didn''t worth anything in return.

 Chapter 843: Sudden Intervention

    After all, soldiers knew nothing compared to generals. And so he started to watch his men pushing many to the ground and securing them using trapping arrays.


    However he underestimated the leadership of the enemy in this world.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    All of sudden many portals flashed before a large number of strong looking forces appeared. They weren''t summoned here by anyone and they seemed to force themselves here.


    "Damn it!" Amera read the situation as fast as Doaf. "They are trying to kill the hostages! Secure the leaders! Secure them with your lives!" Doaf screamed in rage while watching Amera turn into a ray of light.


    Doaf didn''t stand motionless as well. He knew this came all of sudden and out of his own expectations.


    He never thought the enemy would be daring enough to show up his elite forces here and try to silence these leaders.


    Even if they killed all and only one remained, that meant they failed.


    Even if he had to gather up all his forces to secure a leader he wouldn''t hesitate to do it.


    But Amera had another opinion of her own.


    As she moved so fast, she started to appear in many places in no time. Anywhere she appeared she clashed with those elites who suddenly appeared from the portals.


    However, contrary to what everyone thought, she didn''t aim to kill them. It didn''t appear until later that she hit these elites and sent them towards one direction.


    "The hidden world!!!" Doaf was shocked to see the flash of light caused by using her hidden world to trap those elites within. These elites could move freely here using portals, but once trapped inside that world of hers, no one could get out without her permission.


    Despite this world wasn''t like that of Arthur''s, she had stationed forces inside just in case. The moment she threw those elites inside, it was the end for them.


    No one would escape her clutches and they couldn''t overrun the forces inside. Despite these forces lacking in numbers for now, Amera planned to use the help of Doaf and even Nicole and send large parts of their forces inside.


    In the end of it, whoever entered that world of hers was doomed.


    "Kill her!"


    "Stop her!"


    "Get rid off her now!"


    As what she was doing became clear to foes and allies, shouts from these elites started to spread all over the place. They came here with the high advantage of the surprise attack.


    They thought this mission was a piece of cake. However a single person turned everything on them. Amera''s actions alone drove them crazy and managed not only to stop what they came here to do, but she also made things even worse for them.


    They came directly from the hidden main base of the enemy forces in this world. Most of them knew many secrets, much more grave than any leader here would tell.


    Capturing a single one of them was a great mistake to make, and now Amera captured dozens inside her world. This was a deadly mistake, one that their leaders wouldn''t tolerate at all.


    They were done for if they didn''t handle the situation fast. The easiest and most effective way was through killing Amera and disposing of her control over that world.


    They would lose their comrades, but in return they would maintain their lives.


    However, that was easier said than done.


    In fact, as they started to shout these orders and change their plans, Doaf led his forces to stop anyone from getting near Amera.


    Amera herself didn''t give them an easy time at all. She kept flying all around using her unparalleled speed to jump from one point to another without any pattern.


    One moment she would appear at the far east, attacking a group of panicked elites and trap them all inside her world before she instantly vanished.


    Then she would appear at the far north, then south, then east, then middle... and so on.


    The sudden chaos caused by her unexpected actions didn''t help but to make things much easier for her.


    The elites lost their composure and their formation looked tattered. Their defenses were wide open now and Amera could easily hit anyone without much hustle.


    And Doaf simply joined her in such a brave move.


    As he watched what she did, he started to copy her. He didn''t enjoy her speed but he was surrounded with capable forces.


    Plus he wasn''t a force to be reckoned with in the first place.


    So even with no support of top speed like Amera, he wasn''t reachable for his enemies.


    Being attacked by two spear edges like this made the enemy more shaken. They tried to regroup and focus on one side first, Doaf''s side.


    However, regrouping their scattered forces with the presence of such monsters like Amera was literally impossible. Compared to Amera hit and run tactic, Doaf preferred to directly impact the enemy head on and aim towards the main group of them.


    So no matter how hard they tried to regroup themselves, they were either ambushed by Amera or screwed by Doaf and his fierce forces.


    In the end they couldn''t help but vanish inside the portals they appeared from and leave this place with severe losses. Doaf stood side by side with Amera as he gazed upon the emptiness these enemies left behind.


    "We shouldn''t lower our guards," he said before turning his eyes towards the far away Nicole, "you should inform her as well."


    "I need some of your guys," Amera said while taking a bird''s wing and wrote a warning for Nicole, "I need to control those I took within."


    "I''ll give you fifty," Doaf said while his face showed a sly smile.


    "You are stingy, even more stingy than... him..." she was smiling before her smile froze the moment she recalled Arthur. She took a deep breath while looking away, "give me five hundred."


    "Two will be enough," Doaf whistled and in no time two hundred mages entered Amera''s world to stabilize things inside.


    He also sent another two hundred to his own world to maintain order there. Unlike Amera, he already exhausted all the forces inside.


    On the contrary to Amera, he captured fewer enemies inside his world. So these two hundred were enough to control the hostages.


    "We need to get into the sect," Amera slowly said, "I think this gain is enough for this war."


    Doaf knew she was afraid of the enemy retaliation when news reached them. She had a point here that Doaf couldn''t ignore, and thus he started to push everyone towards the sect.


    The fight at the forefront was already at its dying breaths. As for the hostages they had from the enemy army, they simply let them move towards the sect without any intention of taking them inside their worlds.


    It would be stupid to give those elite enemies forces to act as their wings and cause more trouble for them. Plus the cultivators of this sect proved their worth so far, and they could easily handle a few thousand hostages without any problem.


    Plus the value of these hostages dropped the moment they captured the elite forces sent from the main base of the enemy.

 Chapter 844: Woo

    As Doaf and Amera headed in haste to the front, Nicole realized something was off here.


    And so she didn''t hesitate to order everyone to pick pace and start running towards the front as well. The war was already over, only handful of persistently stupid mages stood at the front and tried till now to infilitrate the sect.


    But with the sudden coalescence of everyone, they couldn''t survive at all.


    "Victory!"


    "We won!"


    "We killed them all!"


    Many shouts of victory reverberated all over the place while the sect cultivators screamed in triumph. This long and complicated war finally was over by their victory.


    It started with everyone getting mysteriously poisoned, and now they ended this nightmare.


    "Don''t stand here anymore," Doaf suddenly rose high in the air as he shouted, "retreat, retreat to the sect now!"


    The cultivators didn''t know Doaf in person, however many saw him valiantly fighting and defending their sect. Despite his shouts, no one moved at once as they were at loss.


    They just won the war, couldn''t they stand here and celebrate this hardly earned victory?


    "Don''t stand like idiots or else you all will die!" Amera shouted as well and the next moment she turned into a ray of light. The moment that ray of light appeared, everyone recognized it without doubt.


    Amera was more prominent in this war. She kept jumping all the time on the battlefield in such an eye-catching way. So when she noticed Doaf''s words weren''t effective, she had to step in.


    The two already figured out what was going to happen without even the need to talk. If any of them were in the shoes of the enemy leaders, they wouldn''t hesitate to gather up arms and come here to burn this sect to the ground.


    From what the two saw, the enemies here had many tricks they didn''t use in this war. Showing up through a forced portal was something special even in their higher realms.


    That meant there were many hidden tigers in the enemy camp. And that also meant the army coming soon wouldn''t be that soft to break.


    Compared to the war they just won, this war would be on another scale.


    "Keep moving forward!" Doaf''s men took the lead while they pushed everyone back into the sect. As for Doaf, Amera, and Nicole, they gathered inside the sect, waiting for the arrival of whom they asked.


    In fact Doaf and Amera once convinced everyone to retreat, they asked to meet up with two specific individuals; Gor and Deem.


    But Nicole also asked for the leaders of the sect to show themselves up. She didn''t know who these two Amera and Doaf asked for were, but she was sure they must meet up with the sect leaders now.


    As they waited, Nicole heard a brief from the two about what was going to happen. Once heard that she could only sigh.


    "Why is everyone interested in such a low realm?" she couldn''t help but ask before recalling another fact that she missed.


    This entire war that was going on brutality at the higher realms initially started from the lower realms! She suddenly realized that the one man who started all this was no one but Arthur himself.


    "Was that the reason she was so much interested in him?" she couldn''t help but think about her lover''s weird behavior from before.


    But soon she dropped this thought as she knew no matter what, having a low realmer in their side wouldn''t make any difference at all.


    Even if that man was the young master for the bronzed giant clan. Even if that meant gaining the favor of that clan, that wouldn''t make Aemie do such a thing.


    "Take them into custody," as she recalled this matter, she turned to her trusted mages now, "make them hostages inside one of the hidden worlds you have."


    The mage who received the order nodded before retreating. Nicole was standing alone on one side of the first mountain here.


    As for Doaf and Amera, they kept their silence on the other side while they were thinking about the incoming war.


    They were all exhausted, not to mention they lost many and had many more injuries.


    Fighting this way in such shape meant only one result, defeat.


    "Let''s hope they are unorganized and impulsive when they come," Doaf tried to look positive while saying these lies to Amera.


    And the latter could only laugh and say nothing in return. She knew that Doaf was trying to cheer her up.


    No matter how hard she thought about it, this war looked gloomy with no ray of hope for them.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    All of sudden, the shields around the sect regained their functions at once. This alerted the cultivators around who cheered in unison.


    They were pushed inside the sect and their celebration for victory was interrupted. They knew this meant the war wasn''t over yet.


    And now the shields were raised, as an obvious indication for that.


    Nonetheless this also meant good news. The shields would protect them from anything, even giants like before.


    And so they all cheered in celebration for that.


    "They did what we wanted without even coming here," Amera said in admiration, "it seems Arthur¡­ had such trusted and capable aides."


    The moment she mentioned Arthur, her heart fluttered and she felt pain once more. Doaf could easily see that on her face, so he refrained from saying anything and kept his silence.


    In less than ten minutes, the place got stirred up by the appearance of the five peak masters alongside their trusted people and Gor and Deem as well.


    "Where is¡­ Jim?" Doaf wanted to ask first about the traitor, but he held himself back at the last moment from saying that word.


    "Where is your sect master?" Yet Amera didn''t share the same consideration as him. She wanted to find that traitor and kill him with her own hands.


    "Oh, so you knew all along¡­" Just as the two waited for an answer of his location, one man stepped forward and spoke with surprise.


    "You figure out what he did?" Doaf couldn''t help but ask, however that man moved his eyes around as a warning.


    "I believe as a leader you value the importance of morale and the great impact of rumors in such times," the man said and his words carried a message to Doaf and Amera.


    And Nicole who just came now to stand beside the other two.


    The three exchanged silent glances before Amera took a deep breath. "I wish to know his whereabouts, that''s all."


    "I''m unfortunate to say that, but he already is dead," the middle aged man with long brown hair said while his face didn''t show any speck of regret or sadness.


    "Oh," Amera couldn''t couldn''t but mutter, "I didn''t expect that."


    "Did you kill him?" Doaf asked while Nicole kept her silence. After all she was thrown in the middle of something she hardly knew a thing about.


    "We¡­ don''t know who did it so far," the man said in hesitation, "he simply fell off the mountain peak and died. When we checked his body, we found a sword wound there."


    "Someone has already killed him before throwing him off the mountain," Doaf said in a deep tone as he started to think deeply about this variable.


    "Did you kill him?" Amera asked before adding, "and who are you? Are you the new leader here?"


    "I''m Woo, and I''m one of the peak masters and acting sect master for the time being," the man said before adding, "and we didn''t kill him. We found him this way when we wanted to confront him about his weird actions."


    The eyes of Amera, Doaf, and Nicole changed when they heard that.


    "So he was discovered," Nicole couldn''t help but say, "and someone disposed of him to kill any further leads to him."


    This was the only logical conclusion anyone could think of.


    "That means¡­ there are more than just one," Doaf said in realization, "we need to search for that killer."


    "We tried," Woo said in a tired tone, "but we¡­ As you can see, the sect is still in turmoil from this war. By the way, why did you retreat and didn''t go out there to collect the spoils of war?"


    Woo''s question held he doubts everyone else had.


    "The war¡­ isn''t over yet," Amera had to bring the bad news to them.


    "What?" Woo''s face darkened while he hurriedly moved his eyes around. However he couldn''t see anything but remnants of that deadly war and damage caused by the fight. "How?" he asked with much doubt in his tone.


    "It''s a long story," Doaf had to step in, "but to make it simple for you, they sent their vanguard before we entered the sect. They can teleport through portals from anywhere in the world, and they are strong¡­ very strong."


    "Aha," Woo nodded, "but they didn''t appear here yet," he said as he realized the three in front of him were hiding something from him.


    "They will," Amera said in confidence, "we just need to be ready for them when they come."


    "Do you have an estimated time for their appearance?" Woo tried to dig for more info without looking skeptical or rude.


    He knew if not for those strangers here, his sect would have been destroyed a long time ago. A scheme after a scheme¡­ A brutal war after another¡­ They would never survive all that on their own.


    If not for Arthur and his forces, if not for this unexpected miracle, they would have been all dead by now.

 Chapter 845: Trying To Force Them To Come

    However, unlike what Woo expected, he only got silence from Doaf.


    The latter had no solid intel about this invasion, however he was quite sure it would be near.


    "Sir, what do you want us to do?" Gor and Deem recognized Doaf and Amera instantly. They bowed to the two while addressing Doaf.


    The fame of Amera being impulsive and hard to deal with was known even among Arthur''s ranks.


    "What is the status of the shields and defenses?" Doaf asked while he tried not to bring the name of Arthur to them.


    "We have already activated the shields in full capacity," Deem said, "and we instructed our men to redeploy the traps around that sect."


    "Good," Doaf nodded, "please add more, add everything you have out there."


    "We will," Gor said before suddenly asking, "if I may, I haven''t seen my lord yet. Is he out for a mission?"


    Doaf was faced with what he tried to avoid. He controlled his face while exchanging silent glances with Amera.


    "He is¡­ out there to do something important," Amera said, "he left us to lead the fight here."


    No one of the two doubted what she said. After all Arthur was well known for doing things in his own way, and usually he was doing these solo.


    "Try to install as many traps inside the sect as well," Amera tried to get the two busy all the time so they wouldn''t bother her or Doaf by asking about their missing lord, "fill the entire sect to the brim with traps."


    "This¡­" it was Woo who was startled by this order, however the glaring look from Amera made him all silent.


    "This is going to be a long and very hard defensive battle," Doaf tried to give proper reasons for everyone, "so it would be safe to be ready for any infiltration from now."


    "I see," Woo nodded despite not believing a single word of what Doaf and Amera said. In his opinion this was nothing but obsessive behavior of feeling threatened all the time.


    Even with all the odds, the sect defenses withstood the entire war and weren''t damaged except at the end.


    And even when that happened, only small gaps appeared there.


    However Woo didn''t know that was thanks to Deem and Gor. If not for the two and their men, the shields would have long gone during the early hours of the war.


    "We will proceed then," Deem said before Gor turned to Woo, "we will need your help with arrays and people to aid us."


    "Follow me," Woo excused himself and left the three behind.


    "I don''t like that Woo," Amera said while squeezing her eyes.


    "Leave him be, he is a good man," Doaf took a deep breath, "the main problem is clear now, we don''t know when they will attack."


    "The more time we give them the harder it will be for us," Nicole said while the two gave her a weird look. "What?" she chuckled while asking.


    "Look at you," Amera couldn''t but smile, "acting like a real general. I''m even surprised by that! Why didn''t you ever lead an army and go to the frontlines before?"


    Nicole knew Amera wasn''t trying to be sarcastic or making fun of her, she seemed really surprised.


    "It''s just I don''t like wars," Nicole sighed, "but that doesn''t mean I''m not able to lead armies."


    "I can tell that," Doaf said before adding, "so we have to do something to force them to come¡­ What would this be?"


    "There is only one thing that could force them to come," Amera suddenly said and from her eyes Doaf realized what she was thinking of.


    "Nicole, can you lend us some of your men?" Amera turned to Nicole and asked for help.


    "I don''t mind that," Nicole said while playing with her hair, "but on one condition."


    "I agree," Amera instantly said.


    "Won''t you know it first?" Nicole asked in interest.


    "You''ll ask to come inside and know what we are going to do there, right?" Amera grinned before adding, "you are most welcomed to come and witness our work there."


    Nicole could only smile in silence as Amera really read through her wishes. "Alright, I''ll send my men with you," she said before suddenly adding, "I also have something else to do there."


    Doaf seemed to be startled by that. And yet Nicole looked him in the eye while saying that. "You shouldn''t send anyone to trail someone like me, right?" she directly confronted him and slightly was like this close to scolding him.


    But she didn''t.


    Doaf could only sigh while watching the large number of Nicole''s mages entering the world of Amera.


    "Let''s go," he started this by ordering some of his most capable men to watch her, but in the end he missed his chance and in return Nicole sent her men with him to keep an eye on what he was going to do.


    In the end their seats were switched and he couldn''t do anything about it.


    After all, he lacked manpower and needed Nicole''s men''s help right now.


    Doaf entered his world as well while he and Amera had the same mission in hand. They had to force those hostages to spill out what they already knew about the enemy and their plans.


    However Nicole had another mission in hand.


    The moment she entered Amera''s world, she instantly ordered her men to bring those whom they captured to one location.


    "Are you going to interrogate them?" Amera watched Nicole''s mages pushing some of them to one location.


    "They are loyal to my love, so I won''t kill them," Nicole calmly said, "but if they didn''t trust me as they trust her, then I have no use for them."


    "Try to kill a couple of them first," Amera started giving advice about how to interrogate people, "this way they will realize you aren''t bluffing and will spill all the beans without any effort."


    "Oh, I like that," Nicole laughed, "I never knew you have such a dark part in you."


    Amera only smiled while watching Nicole leave towards the location of her captives. "It''s life that''s dark, that''s all," Amera couldn''t help but comment to herself about what Nicole just said.


    Then she turned towards her captives and started her own interrogation.

 Chapter 846: Arthurs Hard Time

    As for Arthur, his journey inside that weird world wasn''t pleasant at all.


    At first he had to deal with three giant monsters at the same time. All had the same face as him, acting like his own copies.


    After he killed them, he started to see changes in his light and also realized something.


    "So each time I kill a group of monsters, more will pop up next time? That''s ridiculous!"


    He stood in front of a group of five monsters which appeared next. His light changed from silver white to silver. However facing five at the same time was such a challenge to him.


    However he managed to defeat them and the light changed to become silver golden in color. The next wave was seven, then nine, and then eleven.


    With each increase in the monster numbers he faced a harder time in eliminating them. Now the dream of breaking through the wall became closer and harder to achieve.


    With each batch he killed, part of the wall became dim like it was vanishing. However he knew how huge this wall was, so even after killing thirteen monsters together, only one tenth of the wall became dim.


    "That can''t go on forever, right?" he panted for breath as his body ached. He didn''t get weapon wounds at all, only bruises and deep pain from them.


    From his past fight experience he knew these bruises would take some time to rest to vanish. At first he never cared about this as he wanted to accelerate the process to get out of here.


    However with each fight he realized he couldn''t keep going on like this. At the last fight he nearly was facing deadly situations while fighting with remnant bruises from previous battles.


    "So I have to rest for a long time after each fight, besides each fight now will take much longer to conclude," he couldn''t help but sigh while resting on the ground.


    His light now was pitch black like darkness itself. However it started to show its effect on monsters in the last battles.


    If not for this light, he wouldn''t be able to take down such brutal monsters. "What is this place about?" he couldn''t help but think deeply about this.


    He initially thought he was trapped, but in time he started to get some insights. It strangely felt like the tribulations he had before in his past life.


    Facing impossible ordeals and constant challenges to make one stronger, that was the case here. If he didn''t start to get stronger he wouldn''t be able to survive.


    And the key to get out from any tribulation was by completing the trial successfully. "There is no shortcut then... What a regret!"


    Despite his sadness he felt somehow happy. He missed that old feeling of facing impossible obstacles and overcoming them.


    As he was such a seasoned cultivator he knew the simple rule of any tribulation. "I have to play by the rules or else I won''t survive."


    The only way to get out of here and complete the trial was through getting stronger by killing more monsters. However he also knew the main feat was through elevating that light around him.


    "So the next batch will be fifteen, almost enough to extinguish one tenth of that wall... that means in less than five more times I will be able to extinguish most of it..." he deeply contemplated this while taking his hard earned rest.


    As he had no other thing to do, he tried to cultivate. However no matter how hard he tried, he failed.


    "So I can''t raise my cultivation base or dragonair''s energy," he slowly opened his eyes after failing to induce any changes in both energies.


    He tried to control his dragonair''s energy and accumulate it to activate the upgrade trial for it, but he failed.


    Just like what he faced when trying to cultivate. "So this isn''t about any of these two... is it about my golden pearl energy?" he couldn''t help but think about this.


    "If so then I find this quite interesting," he grinned while feeling more relaxed to deal with something he already was quite familiar with.


    From his past experiences, he knew that no matter how impossible or confusing a trial was, there was a simple trick to win it.


    Like now, all he had to do was to roam the world here and expand his light before he faced monsters. Killing them would elevate his light and make him a step closer to get out of here.


    As he rested well enough, and felt no more pain, he started to move. As he expected, after killing the next batch after a long fight, one tenth of the wall vanished in one moment.


    Then the next batches helped in removing most of the wall except one last twenty percent of it.


    "So, this is the last fight," he said to himself after standing up from his long rest. He took a deep breath before watching the light around.


    It was now red blue in color. The next step would be blue for sure. "So I ended up having my blue dragonair energy here... does this mean anything?" he couldn''t help but think about this with no clue at all.


    "I hope they are doing fine out there," he took a deep breath while watching the twenty-five monsters standing all around while looking in a vicious way towards him.


    He knew this would be his last battle here. Just this mere thought drove more hope in him more than anything else.


    "Just this fight and I''ll be out," he said to himself while clenching over his two swords.


    Since the first fight, he learnt to use both swords to hit monsters. That way they would fall faster than before and he would be easily killing them.


    However he thought that his phantom sword was his trump card. And yet he learnt how deeply mistaken he was.


    "Both swords are connected together," he reminded himself of what he concluded before about that, "so using only one without the other will exert part of this technique''s real power."


    This was the insight he gained through fighting here.

 Chapter 847: Why Im Not Out Yet?!!

    Just as he fought desperately against them, the desire to get out overwhelmed him. He brutally cut through all the monsters without hesitation for long days.


    This fight was epic, however in the end he landed the deadly blow over the head of the last monster, claiming his hard earned victory.


    "Damn it! I couldn''t even feel my body anymore," as he won this, he couldn''t help but let all the pain he got from the endless bruises he got be released.


    His body shook and he couldn''t help but fall. He was exhausted, extremely exhausted.


    However he had a never ceasing to exist smile over his face. It was his victory at the end, and in no time he would be released from this world.


    However as he remained there motionless for days, he started to feel weird.


    "Why am I still here?"


    He turned to see his light becoming blue and only surrounded a small area around him. His body healed already of most wounds he got however he didn''t celebrate this.


    His mind was only focused on one thing, one disturbing thing that he was still here.


    "Did I... miss something?" he couldn''t help but think about this. If his thoughts were right then he should be ejected out of here the moment he won the last fight.


    "Is there... one more fight then?" he rose high up in the air and started to roam the world once more. His energy kept widening around while he finally reached the wall.


    The wall was looking like a dead object in the distance, but it was still there. "Should I crush it to be able to escape?" he couldn''t help but think about this.


    "There is one way to figure this out," he clenched both swords tightly before heading directly towards that wall.


    Just as his energy hit the wall, the entire world shook.


    "Impeccably lowly being... Who do you think you are?"


    Just as his energy slammed into the wall, a majestic voice appeared shouting in rage. Arthur wasn''t thrown in the air like the first time he tried this, but his face darkened as he realized his bitter guess was right.


    "Show yourself to me," Arthur didn''t show any sign of weakness while calmly asking that.


    However he got no answer but thunder and rumbling all over the world.


    It seemed like the entire world was revolting against him, but that didn''t faze him.


    "I said..." he took a step forward, pressing more on the wall, "show your damn self to me!"


    "Do you seek death?"


    The entire world thundered and roared again, yet nothing else happened. Arthur could feel strong resistance against his energy, but he was able to stand his place without any problem at all.


    "If you don''t want to come and see me," he slowly said while gritting over each single word he said, "then I''ll come and see you."


    He took another step and it felt like he was pushing a giant rock over the side of a mountain, climbing it from down upward. He didn''t stop at this step as he took another, and then another.


    "Stop this impudence at once or I''ll kill you!"


    The sound roared again yet Arthur didn''t heed his words. He kept moving forward while feeling he was so close to his final enemy.


    As he kept advancing, the energy he pushed kept twisting against an invisible shield of energy around the wall.


    "Nonsense! I''m the world! I''m god! I''m the sole being here to decide what happens and what exists!"


    The sound thundered again while the sky started to flash with the bright light of thick tongues of red flames. It looked like the world was about to explode in his face, even the ground started to violently tremble like it was doomsday.


    Even the air felt hot, so hot that Arthur felt pain just from its touch.


    However he kept pushing forward.


    "The hardest of all is the mind''s tribulation," he said to himself while pushing forward, "the mind can mimic anything and turn illusions into real things. Scary, really scary tribulations are those using mind tricks to test us."


    He was repeating what he told his sect disciple back in his days as a cultivator. Yet this time he was saying this advice to himself, hoping he would have the courage to keep going and never stop.


    He knew if he stopped for even one second he would be done for. This was the cruelest thing about mind tribulation.


    Just the intention to surrender would count! The feeling of hopelessness and helplessness would turn all his efforts so far into nothing, he would fail the tribulation if he succumbed to such feelings.


    And thus he kept himself moving forward, pushing against the wall while his energy started to squeeze and distort like it was clashing with a mighty equal force of it.


    And he kept moving forward with steady steps in this hell like world.


    At some point, a vague shadow appeared in the distance. It wasn''t clear what it was, but simply from seeing that Arthur realized one thing.


    That enemy wasn''t big or giant like others, wasn''t a monster or anything like it.


    It was like a human, a mere small human being standing on the opposite side of him on top of the wall.


    But Arthur didn''t lower his guard by realizing that. He knew this shadow was the cruelest thing he ever met here in this trial.


    This enemy was the scariest of all. After all he was using mind tricks to test him, the hardest of all ordeals.


    And so Arthur kept reminding himself of what he kept telling his disciples ages ago. With mere will he kept moving forward, pushing and challenging everything to reach that damn wall and that bastard on top of it.


    "Oh, you aren''t afraid of me enough already," the shadow spoke in his roaring tone before he suddenly had a red light to fall on his body.


    And Arthur at this moment could see perfectly well the face of that enemy.

 Chapter 848: The Scariest Enemy!

    "It''s me... It''s you... So why not take a nap and return to rest here and leave everything to me? To you?"


    The voice changed from being domineering and threatening to become exactly like his voice.


    However Arthur sensed a sinister tone in that voice. It was his, it was his face, it was his human body.


    But he was now sure this shadow was nothing like him at all... It wasn''t him as he was the one trapped here and trying to get out.


    "Don''t listen to the words of a mind witch," he kept telling himself, "only killing it will make things end. Only by slashing it with my sword will this trial end," he repeated this while the shadow kept laughing.


    "Just give up already," the shadow said in Arthur''s voice, "we are the same... see? I can also turn into a dragon. See? I can also summon that sword like you."


    Under Arthur''s watchful gaze that shadow turned into a big blue scaled dragon while holding two swords in hand. One was a real sword and the other was a phantom.


    "You... Aren''t I!" Arthur shouted in determination while keeping moving forward.


    "Hahaha, that''s just your illusion," the shadow said in big laugh, "why don''t you open your eyes wide and see the truth by yourself? It''s me, it''s you, we are the same in everything!"


    "No," Arthur gritted his teeth while getting closer to the wall, "No... You are mistaken... We aren''t the same... We aren''t alike."


    "Oh, is that so?" the other copy of Arthur laughed, "then tell me, genius cultivator of old times, what is the difference between the two of us? C''mon, tell me as far as I can tell we are the exact reflection on a mirror."


    Arthur kept pushing forward while his breath started to become heavy. Now he wasn''t only resisting the energy of that wall, but it seemed like he was challenging the entire world here.


    Each step he took put more pressure over his body, making even breathing here so difficult.


    "It''s... This!" As he got so close to the wall that he could see how tall it was, he pointed towards the front with a shaky hand holding the phantom sword.


    "The wall?" the shadow laughed while watching in amusement Arthur''s slow steps in midair while heading closer to the wall.


    "No, it''s not," Arthur shook his head while panting for his breath. He was so much exhausted at this moment, however he knew if he stopped here he would die.


    If he even took a single moment to rest, which was such an irresistible desire he was having now for quite some time, he would instantly fail the trial and cease to exist.


    That was the cruelest thing about tribulations. Failing them meant one''s soul would be shattered and lost forever.


    It equaled death, or even worse. To live a life of a crippled person, a person who was once a mighty being but he lost.


    One single mistake and the life of any person would turn upside down. Living the life of a cultivator wasn''t that fun at all. After all it was a life against heaven itself.


    And heaven was far more treacherous than any sinister enemy.


    And so he persisted with all his might. At this moment his strength faded away from his body while his only fuel was his own will.


    "Stupid and arrogant... Tsk, how can I have such a weak copy of mine in such a way?" the other copy of Arthur laughed, "alright, I can guarantee your wish to die. After all, if I killed you now, I will control everything you hold dear to your heart... Die!"


    In the next moment Arthur''s vision got clouded by the sudden disappearance and reappearance of that shadow of his.


    "Die you stupid bastard!" he shadow screamed in an exact copy of Arthur''s voice while waving the phantom swords towards Arthur''s head.


    And Arthur had no power at this moment to even raise his head properly or even keep his eyes clear to see a clear sight of his enemy.


    He was already on his verge to collapse, and only the sword kept moving forward towards his head with the intention of getting him killed.


    As Arthur was facing such a life and death situation, things outside didn''t look that good either.


    At first Doaf and Amera planned to push the enemies to come here without much preparation.


    It seemed like the wisest thing to do. They knew that giving their enemy time to prepare wouldn''t end well for them.


    And so each entered their own world before starting to torture those captives. At first no one spoke, however after long hours and brutal torture, some started to speak.


    The more they said the more shocked the two became!


    "Damn!" Amera couldn''t help but exclaim in deep shock, "How can this be possible?!!!"


    She already heard the same answer from many captives. They all said the same thing and that made her unable to doubt what they just said.


    "I¡­ have to get out now!" As soon as she realized this was a real thing, she instantly opened a portal to the outside world and vanished in it.


    And just as she did so, she saw Doaf coming out from another portal with an ashen white face.


    "This is¡­ bad!" Doaf blurted out the moment he saw her, "have you heard?"


    "It seems they weren''t lying then," Amera took a deep breath, "we need to prepare ourselves for the worst."


    "We need to escape," Doaf hurriedly said, "we can fight a rogue army, five armies, but not five clans! Not a world linked to five main dark worlds including dragonairs! We can''t do that!!"


    Amera gave him a deep and long glance. "How can we escape?" she crossed her arms, "we have no control over that! We need to accept this bitter reality and deal with it."


    "There is no way we can survive this," Doaf said in desperation, "we lack numbers. We are surrounded with a bunch of low realmers while all of our enemies are high realmers. How are we supposed to fight them?"

 Chapter 849: The Ancient Prophecy

    "It''s suicidal, I know," Amera said in a tone that didn''t hold the same desperation as Doaf, "but we have no other choice but to fight. At least they need sometime to appear here. You know that, right?"


    Doaf knew what she was talking about. The hostages told the two of them that sending anyone from the higher realms to here would take a week at least.


    Many circumstances need to be met. "I know, but it''s inevitable as we don''t know how they summon them or where," Doaf said, "plus my hostages told me there are a lot of high realmers here already. They will send them now and not wait for a week to summon more."


    "I know that," Amera nodded, "they said it''s an army of a hundred thousand mages of different clans. At least we can deal with that."


    "A¡­ A hundred thousand? That''s unbelievable!" Doaf couldn''t help but panic, "they are the big five dark clans! How are we supposed to fight them with a total of twenty to thirty thousand of our forces? Plus ours are already wounded and exhausted!"


    "Calm down," Amera couldn''t think while Doaf was acting this way, "we won''t run away from a fight. Arthur didn''t do that even when he had many chances before."


    Bringing Arthur''s name here stopped Doaf''s breakdown. He looked at her in hesitation before sighing. "I never thought I would follow in my young master''s footsteps before meeting my master."


    "It doesn''t matter," Amera patted him on the shoulder, "we aren''t dead yet, right?"


    Her eyes carried her determination to fight. He nodded before saying in strong tone:


    "I will use my ultimate technique when it''s time."


    "Me too," Amera said, "and I believe many of our elites can pull the same feat."


    Doaf looked around. The entire sect was on high alert while everyone was working, running right and left.


    Deem and Gor led the entire sect to work and plant traps everywhere. At first this looked like unneeded move, but now it seemed not enough at all.


    The army coming this time was on a different scale than the one they fought before. Plus they lacked their leader, Arthur.


    Without even saying a single word about it, the two of them knew for sure how vast was the gap Arthur left by his sudden disappearance.


    Arthur wasn''t simply a low realmer, but someone who pulled out miracles in times of despair. They realized how many times they faced such odds and never ever felt so stressed about them.


    Arthur took the entire responsibility to deal with these situations. They never even doubted for a brief second their survival, or even victory.


    Arthur always gave them the impression that everything was going to be alright. Simply by standing there and giving them confidence, they never shouldered such a burden before.


    And now they realized how absurdly heavy that burden was!


    "They are doing their best," Doaf slowly said while trying to shift his mind away from thinking about his late young master, "should we tell them about what is going to happen?"


    "I don''t think it will be a good idea," Amera took a deep breath, "sometimes ignorance is a blessing in itself."


    Doaf couldn''t help but nod in agreement. "What should we do now?" he asked while feeling quite helpless in such a situation.


    "We¡­ should go back and make our troops ready," she said before turning to him, "as for those hostages¡­ killing them will be the wisest thing to do."


    "We might need their help later on," Doaf didn''t like the idea of killing all hostages, but he knew this was something meant to relieve any overwork over the shoulders of their men.


    After all, they couldn''t just leave them inside the world. They didn''t have prisons ready for such people or enjoyed the divine help of someone like Gege like Arthur did.


    "We¡­ can leave a few," Amera knew he was referring to future intel, "but we need to kill most."


    "What about¡­ trying to recruit them?" Doaf tried to reason up with her about this. He still didn''t like the idea of killing war prisoners like this.


    "C''mon, you perfectly well know that they won''t be loyal to us," Amera gave him a stern look, "go back, prepare your men and kill those needless burdens. We need to have our total focus over the next fight. It''s going to be¡­ quite challenging and chaotic."


    She then opened a portal to her world and simply vanished inside. Doaf could only take a deep breath before deciding to not follow her words.


    He couldn''t bring himself to kill such a large number of souls after surrendering to him.


    As Amera went inside her world, she found Nicole was standing there waiting for her.


    "Nothing can escape your ears, right?" Amera figured out that Nicole already knew about what was going on here.


    Her face and the look in her eyes were enough evidence for that.


    "You can''t blame me for that," Nicole simply said before seriously adding, "but I''m not here to speak about that. I now know what Aemie wanted from this world."


    "This world?" Amera stopped moving and gave her a deep glance, "so she wasn''t interested¡­ in Arthur?"


    "She definitely was," Nicole said and that just made Amera puzzled.


    "Then what?" Amera couldn''t help but ask, "c''mon, I don''t like being hanged in the middle like this. Tell me everything¡­ Everything, alright?"


    "Ok, but promise me not to be shocked," Nicole laughed before adding, "this world isn''t as we all think¡­ it''s not a middle tier world."


    "Then what is it?" Amera couldn''t help but ask in overwhelming curiosity.


    "It''s a world left by the ancients," Nicole whispered while getting closer to her so no one else would hear, "this world holds the key. However controls it will become the owner of that key."


    "Key¡­ A key to what?"


    "To a total universe that no one could go there," Nicole slowly said with sparkling eyes, "a universe much higher than our highest world. Can you imagine that?"


    Amera paused for long minutes while trying to understand this right. She wasn''t alien to the concept of the originals, but she never expected this world to be one of those left by them.


    She knew many worlds and relics were left by the originals, but they were all scary places. This world was different. It looked like a normal world to her.


    "But what''s the relation of all this with Arthur?" she couldn''t help but ask.


    "Arthur is the destined one to hold this world under his reign," Nicole said with a big smile over her face, "Aemie knew that when she saw him fight. He is using a unique form of energy that doesn''t belong to our universe. She also found an ancient scroll of the originals speaking about him."


    "About Arthur?" Amera was now getting more shocked than before.


    "Yup," Nicole nodded, "it was mentioned there that someone will come in later ages with power no one ever saw before. He will start from the lowest world and go to the highest realms without even getting stronger. He will start a stir all over the universe, and he will reign supreme over the key; over this world."


    "Damn!" Amera couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath, "so he is the man mentioned in that prophecy?"


    "And that''s why Aemie tried to tie him with her. I bet she even thought of getting him acquainted with her or me to trap him tighter with anything¡­ even love and marriage."


    "That can''t be true!" Amera was shocked as she knew Aemie and Nicole weren''t that interested in any man since they were kids.


    "I know," Nicole laughed, "that''s why she sent all of these troops here to aid him in seizing this world and reign supreme over the key."


    "Wait a minute¡­ Does she want to go to that universe?" Amera''s thoughts jumped over this point fast.


    "Not only her, but our entire clan," Nicole said, "but as the scroll suggested, only blood relatives would be able to bring their people with them."


    She then took a step forward before leaning over Amera''s ear and whispered: "What do you think of becoming the bride of such an amazing groom?"


    And just saying that made Amera take few steps to the back while her face flushed red out of embarassment.

 Chapter 850: Amera Is Mad!

    Amera was taken aback with what Nicole suddenly said. Nicole looked at her with a big smile over her face.


    "I know it might look weird, but Aemie seemed to plan to marry him to either one of us," she said with a sneer, "that cold hearted girl¡­ Damn! I can''t believe she even thought of marrying such a man!"


    "What''s wrong with him? Huh?" Yet Amera ditched everything else and aggressively came at Nicole who took a step backwards.


    "Nothing¡­ It''s just you are more suited to do that than any of us," she said with a wide smile over her face before hugging Amera, "C''mon, it''s not like I''m asking too much of you. Who would be ok with two more rivals like us? Sexy and strong, c''mon I''m doing you a favor here."


    "Humph," yet Amera only pushed her in a cold way, "I would prefer for you to acknowledge him first before all that."


    Nicole watched her move away without saying a word. "What''s wrong with her?" she shook her head, "love is sometimes more complicated than what it looks on the surface."


    Amera retreated in a worse mood than ever. She now realized what Aemie wanted, what Nicole wanted. Frankly she felt some temptation towards following this plan of Nicole, however she didn''t like the idea of the two looking down on Arthur like this.


    "I should teach them a lesson first," she decided to play cold and unattentive to this matter whenever Nicole brought it up. "It''s time for them to get ready."


    She went towards her men with a serious looking face. She was angry, very angry at the moment and that looked apparent over her face.


    Her mages all noticed her strange attitude and realized something wrong must have happened. They all stood up and lined in order without any single word of her.


    Her fiery gazes were enough to drive anyone to move without questions.


    "Listen up," she yelled in a strong tone, "we have a big war coming ahead. Be ready, this time it won''t be easy."


    "Yes ma''am!" they all said in unison while Amera sneered and couldn''t find anything to punish them for. She turned to the prisoners and then her mind shone with an idea.


    Initially she planned to kill them, however now as her mood became in such a state she had another use for them.


    "Wrap the prisoners up," she yelled, ``put the cursed arrays around them."


    "The¡­ cursed array?!!" One of the elites couldn''t help but mutter in deep shock.


    "Yes, or else do you want to volunteer to carry these arrays instead of them?" Amera crossed her arms and was ready to vent out her anger on that poor mage.


    However the mage''s body trembled and his mind jolted back to a realization. If he said anything to object to Amera now, he might end up really in a terrible position.


    He would definitely regret it later on.


    "We''ll do it now," the mage turned to his colleagues and subordinates, "you heard the lady. Go and don''t leave a single one without an array!"


    "Humph," Amera shook her head as she saw the chance to vent out her anger flew away simply like that.


    The mages all ran around the place and started applying that array. It was a sinister array which dark forces used to use all the time.


    It was meant to turn anyone into a slave for one person, and that person was Amera.


    "So you are coming to destroy the sect and kill everyone else, let''s see how your forces will react with this," her face showed a vicious look while her mood turned more sour the more she thought about what Nicole said.


    "These bitches¡­ whom do they take my man for? A push over? Or someone who is worth nothing? Tsk!" She shook her head again before opening a portal and went outside.


    The outside world wasn''t any different than the world she came from. Everyone was running everywhere to do something in haste. The faces of everyone looked stressful and worried, void of any sense of victory or celebration like before.


    She didn''t feel any guilt for that. She knew they had to deal with whatever thrown at their faces head on.


    Just as she came outside, a loud bang occurred from one direction, then another, and another. A long series of explosions happened with the sudden opening of a massive number of portals.


    "They¡­ are here," she raised her head and looked all around, "they came from everywhere¡­ It seems they can''t delay any longer."


    She knew what she and Doaf did was noticed by the leaders of these forces. That made them unable to sit back and wait for the reinforcements to arrive.


    Plus they also just came out from a brutal war. Losing too much was inevitable plus they were very exhausted.


    "We forced them to come, and yet we aren''t in the perfect state either," she sighed before watching a portal open next to her before Doaf came out.


    "They are here already?" he asked with a surprised look over his face the moment he came out. "Are your boys ready?" he turned to her and she recalled the words Nicole said when she looked at his face.


    "Let''s start attacking," she strangely said before taking out her spear and opening her portal next to her.


    "Wait¡­" Doaf tried to stop this mad girl but he couldn''t. she turned into a ray of light and vanished off his eyes.


    "Stay here and lead the defensive forces. Leave the offense to me alone," her voice reverberated in the air while the ray of light moved so fast towards the forefront.


    "That crazy girl¡­ Can''t she see how many there are out there? Damn! What should I do now?"


    Doaf stood in hesitation while watching Amera''s ray of light land on a group of newly arrived mages and monsters. The moment she reached them, she cancelled her technique and started fighting with all her might and anger.

 Chapter 851: Lets Trap Them

    Amera was on the verge of exploding right now, and so she found it more perfect to vent her anger over those enemies.


    Better than doing this on the heads of her friends and allies.


    Amera''s sudden appearance startled everyone on the enemy side. They thought those trapped inside wouldn''t be brave enough to take a single step forward.


    However her sudden appearance and her brutality in fighting made many places quiver in fear.


    They couldn''t even exchange a single spar with her. She looked like a real monster while they were like docile pets.


    The first order they received was to gather together and try to pinpoint her. However the moment they tried so, she suddenly vanished and appeared in another place, far away from her initial position.


    That made the task of dealing with her nearly impossible.


    "She¡­ is still acting like a little girl, tsk!" Nicole came out with all other mages from within the world of Amera and watched what the latter was doing on the front.


    "She is acting suicidal," Doaf couldn''t help but clench both fists in anger, "why would she do that?" he turned to Nicole as something told him it was related to her and Aemie''s hidden plan.


    "Who knows," yet Nicole shrugged, "when she returns you can ask her."


    Doaf gazed at her for a long time before shaking his head. The next moment he opened his portal and let his boys come out in waves.


    "We have to start our fight back plan," he slowly said while watching a single mage jumping off from one place to another. "We need to give her a hand."


    "We have many offensive arrays in place," Deem and Gor appeared running from far with Woo and many of the top cultivators of the sect, "but we need some time to activate them."


    "What about the defensive arrays?" Nicole asked while Deem and Gor stopped in front of her and Doaf while looking at the latter in a questionable manner.


    They didn''t know Nicole despite seeing her with Doaf and Amera lately.


    "I''m on your side," Nicole couldn''t help but turn to Doaf who acted like he didn''t know her. "Seriously? Do you want to play this silly game now?" she crossed her arms in a nervous way while her face told everyone how enraged she was at the moment.


    In fact she wasn''t any less angry than Amera about Aemie''s plan. She lied to Amera when she said Aemie planned to get Arthur to marry either her or Aemie.


    In fact Aemie''s original plan was to give herself to Arthur and let the two marry. That meant Nicole would have a rival in her love with Aemie, something she couldn''t yet comprehend or accept.


    She was always known to be the calm one while Aemie was the jealous one. However at the moment Nicole was on the verge of going mad because of his jealousy.


    She couldn''t accept that! And so her mind gave her such brilliant thoughts about Amera. But that was all ruined by Amera''s unexpected reaction.


    She thought Amera would be so happy to hear that, even thank her in deep gratitude. However what really happened was for Amera to turn angry and now she was throwing herself like a crazy girl towards her enemies.


    If Amera died then Aemei''s plan would be a great success and Nicole would have a rival in her love. That was something Nicole could never accept.


    "Are the defensive arrays ready?" Doaf calmly asked while noticing the change in Nicole''s mood so easily from her side.


    He knew now that something must have happened between Amera and Nicole, something big enough to make the two in such an enraged state.


    "They are," Deem answered while stealing a glance towards the silent Nicole, "we can activate them now."


    "No, just wait for a little more," Doaf suddenly said before turning to Woo and his top sect leaders, "are your boys ready?"


    "Our cultivators are in position," Woo didn''t like his cultivators being called boys. Most of them were old men already, living for longer than a hundred years or so.


    How could he call them boys? He couldn''t accept that but he gently corrected Doaf who seemed not to care or get the notice.


    "Alright, let your boys get ready for the upcoming fight," Doaf said again before turning his back to Woo, "we will let them come inside first before laying out our deadly trap."


    "What trap?" Nicole said in a cold tone while she wanted to hit Doaf in the face at the moment.


    "It''s the only trap we can do to make sure they will be afraid from attacking us," Doaf slowly said before waving his hand without even looking, "spread over the place. Your task is to lead the boys of the sect and kill anyone looking strong down below."


    Woo gritted his teeth but he didn''t say anything before leaving. Nicole gazed up at him while thinking to herself about what she did to gain such a cold shoulder from him as well.


    "That sect leader seems to not like you though," Nicole tried to open a conversation with Doaf. After all she wanted to have one more ally, not one more foe.


    "Let him be, after all he should be grateful we are here to save his ass," Doaf coldly said before squeezing his eyes towards Amera. "Hang slightly in there, I hope they will take the bait soon."


    Just as Doaf expected, after the arrival of a large number of mages and monsters, the leaders noticed the defensive shields were still inactive.


    They mistook this as a collateral damage from the previous war. That also made Amera''s reckless actions more logical and fell in place.


    "Advance!"


    "Don''t stop until you kill everyone!"


    "Bring that damn place down!"


    All of sudden shouts spread all over the ground army that appeared here. Amera perfectly heard that and whenever she turned to see the sect; she was shocked.


    "What the hell are you thinking?!!" she was shocked to see the defensive shields down. The path to the sect was wide open and that made all the enemies around head directly towards it.


    She wasn''t that mighty to think she could stop all of them on her own. "Damn it! I can only do this at least," she suddenly turned her spear and pointed it towards one direction.


    It wasn''t hard for her to locate the place of the leaders. They were gathered in one spot, just on top of a mountain peak nearby.


    That mountain looked majestic, but it wasn''t any less grand than those inside the sect. however for any leader, that spot was perfectly fine.


    They could expose the entire sect from up there. They could see any tactics, observe their men''s movements, and tune their orders to make their forces in a favorable position all the time.


    However as their men advanced to the sect, a ray of red light appeared from the ground, coming so fast towards them.


    "Stop her!"


    The leaders weren''t there undefended. The moment they spotted Amera, their guards acted in unison.


    "Bang!"


    It was the first time Amera could meet such a sturdy defensive array. Her charge was halted with a loud bang that made her body shake and retreat midair.


    As for the shield, its outer surface twisted like a surface of water after throwing a rock in it. She watched the waves spreading all over the shield, showing off that big and circular shield that covered the entire peak.


    It stood between her and her foes. And now all the leaders and their guards were gazing up at her in a hostile way.

 Chapter 852: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 1

    "So you are the one fiery one who keeps messing with our people¡­ You don''t look that scary at all!"


    Just as Amera stood in place watching the faces of her enemies, one giant female moved from inside the circle of the leaders and went towards the guards.


    She seemed to be somehow familiar to someone Amera knew; Arthur.


    "You are a dragonair girl?" Amera squeezed her eyes while moving her eyes around the guards. There were almost a thousand of them, each gave off such a vibe that wasn''t any weaker than her.


    "I also heard that you are so close to that nuisance kid called Willy," the girl didn''t answer her words as she leisurely flew towards the front, "I don''t know but it feels that anyone would like to get near a dragonair, even if he was a traitor."


    Amera felt danger coming from this girl even more than all the guards combined. She didn''t hesitate to turn tail and fly away.


    "Hahaha, do you think I''ll let you go this easily?" the girl suddenly turned into a giant dragon with black scales, "I won''t let you run away¡­ Follow me! Roar!"


    The girl roared and then Amera felt the air around her getting thicker. It was like she was flying in a heavy lead right now. However she didn''t stop flying away while her pursuers were coming fast at her.


    They weren''t affected by the roars of that dragonair girl.


    "Die you pathetic cauldron girl!'''' The dragonair girl slowly opened her mouth and a mighty black fire breath erupted.


    But at this moment Amera finally regained her freedom. She didn''t give up on running away and even for a fraction of a second she managed to cross enough distance to make her evade the deadly black fire.


    But she got injured nonetheless.


    "Damn! It hurts!" Amera couldn''t help but groan in pain while pushing herself to fly around. Despite this, she never stopped harassing the ground forces that just arrived.


    "Stubborn stupid girl! I thought you would run away inside that pathetic weak fort of yours. However you chose to die here¡­ I can''t ignore this death wish of yours then¡­"


    The girl seemed to be dead fixed on killing Amera. However the latter learnt from her lesson. She never stopped at any place for over one minute and kept jumping off from one place to another.


    She made sure the distance between her and the enemies would be large enough to make her evade any roars and black fire breaths.


    At the same time Doaf stood inside the sect watching that dangerous situation of Amera with conflicted thoughts. If it was up to him, he would have led his small army and had a good spar with those forces chasing Amera.


    However he knew if he did so then the entire defensive plan would be discarded. He didn''t want that, or couldn''t do that. "Sigh, please last a little longer," he silently prayed while moving his eyes towards the area around the sect.


    The ground enemies came hot at the sect and took the bait. The fight started brutally everywhere while Doaf watched many forces clashing together while blood and screams dominated everything.


    For a moment the battle seemed balanced, but he knew that was because the enemy was still reserving some forces at the back.


    The enemy was still cautious of any traps of hidden tricks. "C''mon, take the bait already!" Doaf was counting minutes while waiting for the enemy to see that the sect couldn''t be defended.


    "Spread my orders," after half an hour, a stressful half of an hour, he decided to accelerate things on his part, "make the forces retreat towards the peaks."


    "Sir?" one of the elites of his own side seemed startled by this illogical order.


    "Just do it now!" Doaf didn''t give the poor mage any chance to express his doubts as he turned and glared at him. Doaf knew there was no time to hear anything from anyone.


    He only wanted to force the enemies to advance, so he could kill them all and give the needed help to the trapped Amera.


    Amera was facing a situation that was getting worse with each passing minute. Her enemy wasn''t just recklessly chasing her around. In fact the dragonair girl was toying calmly with her like she was hunting a flying butterfly around the green fields.


    She started to distribute her men around the battlefield to corner Amera. Of course stretching her men like this would leave many gaps in between, so she started to adjust this and form a semi-circular tight net.


    This didn''t help in trapping Amera right away, but as they started to push forward, they were limiting places Amera would travel and jump in between.


    And that meant in less than one hour Amera would be trapped and caught!


    Doaf saw this from his far away position as he had a panoramic view over the battlefield. So he estimated he would have less than fifteen minutes to act.


    Or else even if he pulled that trick, Amera would face a very challenging situation to escape from.


    As his weird orders came, everyone started to execute them regardless of what they were thinking about. Not all did that as some decided to defy these bizarre orders and fight until the last breath of their lives.


    Doaf watched them and could only inwardly sigh. These were brave warriors who would create difference in such stressful times.


    In fact he anticipated some would do that, not listen and defy his orders. Despite that he never said anything to stop or warn them. He wanted some to sacrifice their lives for this plan to succeed.


    If everyone retreated without any resistance, this would make the enemy more wary about advancing. However with those brave ones, the plan seemed more realistic and the enemy began to think he was successfully pushing the defensive forces by his own might.


    As Doaf expected, once the forces retreated, the enemy advanced. This time they threw everything they got towards the sect.

 Chapter 853: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 2

    "Finally¡­" Doaf sucked in a cold air of breath while biding his time. He knew he had to suffer some losses on his side to make the enemy throw everything.


    After all this was a one time trap. After this time, the enemy wouldn''t throw everything again inside the sect.


    So the more they lose this time the better.


    "When are we going to close the net?" Nicole came from one direction as she was acting the leader there from the start of the fight, "we are getting severe losses now!"


    "I know," Doaf slowly nodded while his eyes were watching Amera suffering at the far front.


    "You need to summon her back," Nicole knew that part of Doaf''s reasons to do this plan and give such orders was to help Amera, "we can''t help once everyone got trapped."


    "Don''t worry," Doaf smiled before turning to her, "it''s time to close the net."


    His words were perfectly heard by Deem and Gor who were standing nearby. They nodded and then they activated the shields.


    "Go," Doaf said before starting to fly in the air, "lead your army and make sure none survives."


    "Humph," Nicole could only turn around and fly towards her army. Even her own forces suffered great losses during these stressful ten minutes.


    However as the two were flying, all of sudden the world shook.


    "Attack!" Doaf''s voice thundered through the entire sect, "kill everyone!" he added while the entire sect got covered with the defensive arrays.


    And then the doors of hell opened widely over the heads of those enemies trapped now inside the sect.


    "Damn it!" the dragonair girl seemed to be startled and annoyed by this, "let all the forces in there come out now! This battle is far from over."


    She and other leaders seemed to feel this battle was already in their pockets. Everything pointed towards their easy victory, but now things have gravely changed.


    After summoning that grand army of around one hundred thousand monsters and mages they decided it was enough to smash that sect and kill everyone inside.


    However right now they had to summon more of them and try to go at these shields to smash them.


    "Send the giants first!" the dragonair girl started to lose her focus over Amera while she added one more order. Amera noticed this and that meant one thing to her.


    "So you are one of the high up leaders¡­ Interesting!"


    The next moment Amera flashed and passed through the tight net of her enemies that started to show many holes. Her aim wasn''t the portals, but those retreating messengers with the dragonair girl''s orders.


    She wanted to stall more time for Doaf and the inside resistance to do their job and kill everyone.


    "Stop her!" The dragonair girl didn''t hesitate to use her roars and even fired her black fire towards Amera''s direction. However the latter was already so far from her, enough to be safe from everything else.


    "Screw you!" The dragonair girl became more furious and this time she could only use bird''s wings to notify the leaders at the back with her orders.


    And then she turned to lead everyone else to go after Amera.


    This time she didn''t aim at killing her, but to drive Amera away.


    And yet Amera proved to be such a nuisance!


    Each time they managed to push her away and start to secure the area of portals, Amera would bypass them through one of the rare gaps and start a spree of killing.


    This time Amera''s killing caused more chaos than before. After all the summoning orders were haste and urgent. Everyone literally rushed out of the portals without any organization or order.


    However even with all her intervention, Amera hardly bought ten minutes for Doaf and his forces before the first wave of the reinforcement appeared and started to run towards the shields.


    They were the giants, those who could smash entire mountains with their bare fists alone!


    "Here they come!"


    Inside the shield, Doaf was leading his entire forces combined with the sect cultivators to crush the enemies trapped inside. He never stopped observing the outer world outside the shields, and thus he noticed those giants once they appeared.


    In fact the fight inside the sect wasn''t that easy at all. The number he trapped was so massive to reach one hundred thousand mages and monsters, and they were all from high realms.


    However against the deadly traps the two Deem and Gor laid with the help of everyone, many were losing their lives by each passing minute. In addition to that, Doaf made sure to fight this as to push the enemies around the sect.


    That made them trigger many of the deadly traps scattered along the sect. The fight was hard and brutal, however it was heading favorably towards Doaf''s side.


    However the sudden emergence of those giants made things more complicated for them.


    The giants were tested before against the shields, they could damage them. However Doaf hoped the shields could withstand these giants especially their numbers were much more than what hit the shields before.


    "Be ready for any breach!" yet he couldn''t let his forces unaware of this and his voice roared across the sect.


    Luckily for him the sect cultivators weren''t pushovers. They had many weird and strong techniques that made things look easier when they grouped together.


    Plus they had such a weird ability to jump around places and hit enemies whenever they dropped their guard. This reminded Doaf of Amera''s weird technique, but it was on a totally new level than hers.


    After all, many high end cultivators could teleport and jump from one point to another.


    He also noticed something different; they were highly organized like they had a combined higher mind or something.


    This was thanks for the spiritual sense they all used and through it orders were shared. Any place with hard resistance would instantly get immediate reinforcements without the need for Doaf to interfere.


    Any enemies that got smashed and weakened would be swarmed with a large number of cultivators without any orders given.


    Doaf watched these as he was watching some magic tricks. However he was glad. After all they were on his side, fighting alongside him and helping him achieve his goals.

 Chapter 854: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 3

    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The giants reached the shields with a series of explosive bangs. Their fists slammed heavily over the shields, smashing a few of them in no time.


    However, like before, more shields appeared and replaced the old ones. That made the effort of these giants pointless, however Doaf and few others of the top leaders of both armies knew this wasn''t the case.


    The new shields were generated from the inside, making the giants take slow yet steady steps towards the sect. This might take long hours, even days, but eventually the giants would reach the mountains of the sect.


    Reaching this point meant losing everything. The giants would only need to demolish the mountains and leave everyone vulnerable to the enemies.


    "You won''t survive this no matter what, hahaha!" The dragonair girl laughed in a vicious way while Amera kept jumping all over the place.


    She now tried to head towards the giants at the front. She knew dealing with giants was harder than killing normal mages. But she had to try.


    After all she was the only one trapped outside the shields, the only one who could make a difference.


    "Surround the giants!" yet more orders came from the leaders of the army and that dragonair girl at the same time, "don''t let her get near them!"


    "Tsk," Amera could only kill dozens before she was separated from the rest by tight defense. What made things worse was the constant influx of hastily summoned monsters and mages.


    These reinforcements didn''t stand idle and kept ramping the shields with various arrays and techniques. Things looked very intense on both sides of the shield.


    Inside Doaf led everyone to kill as fast as they could, however the enemies within seemed to be wiser and started to ignore devling inside the sect.


    Their top priority now was to stand in a few spots and protect themselves there. They turned five points into five impregnable forts that Doaf couldn''t even break.


    "This will take time," Nicole came from far with Woo, "we need another way to kill them."


    "I can send off many cultivators to act rampant and create gaps for your elites," Woo suggested, "this way we can kill a few of these forts, at least half of them in the next hours."


    "That''s a great plan," Nicole hurriedly agreed.


    "It''s a terrible plan," yet Doaf objected, "we can''t risk losing too much of our forces. This isn''t the final battle of this war."


    Doaf pointed towards the outside army who was just getting larger with each passing minute. "We need to be ready for them when they arrive."


    "That''s why we need to get rid of those inside first," Nicole argued in an intense way, "our forces need time to recuperate and heal. We also need time to think about what to do next."


    "I''ve already got a plan," Doaf suddenly said.


    "Don''t tell me it''s her?" Woo pointed towards Amera at the far distance outside the shield.


    "Don''t be ridiculous!" Nicole couldn''t help but laugh in a sarcastic way while her mind couldn''t believe this was the mighty plan of the mighty Doaf.


    "Where is Deem and Gor?" Yet Doaf didn''t answer or respond to their sarcasm as he suddenly asked.


    "The two¡­ are still on that peak as you left them," Woo said in doubt, "what do they have to do with this situation?"


    "They''ve done a lot already," Nicole said before totally ignoring Doaf, "we will go by your plan. Make your boys ready, we''ll start attacking in a few minutes."


    "Stop!" Doaf firmly said, making the two in front of him turn and face him. "I said I have a plan already."


    "Which is¡­ what?" Nicole made a funny expression on her face while Woo silently stood there and waited for Doaf to speak.


    He took a bird''s wing and wrote something before it burnt down. "It''s better for you to see it with your own eyes."


    The two looked at each other while thinking Doaf must have lost it. He acted very weird and mysterious right now, making the two not put any expectations at all towards his acclaimed plan.


    However¡­


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    All of sudden a new wave of explosions happened outside the shield. At first everyone thought these came from another wave of giants joining forces with the present ones, or by those reinforcements using some sort of mighty techniques or arrays.


    But in the next few minutes everyone realized what was really happening with gaped mouths and wide open eyes out of disbelief.


    "They¡­" Woo pointed in shaky fingers towards the outside world.


    "All the giants¡­ most of the enemy forces¡­ they are¡­ all gone!!!" Nicole stood in her place petrified out of deep shock while seeing the extreme devastation caused by Doaf''s plan.


    "These two didn''t just lay out defensive shields and traps only inside the sect," Doaf stood there with his head high up out of his pride, "they laid many things outside, deadly things¡­ and that''s not all!"


    Before the battle, Doaf asked Deem and Gor to lay out many deadly traps outside the shield. He also asked to establish offensive arrays to be activated once he gave the order.


    The two said these arrays would take time to recharge and be ready to use. And yet Doaf didn''t hesitate to ask them to do that.


    After all, he planned to use them later at battle. And now it was the right moment to do that.


    "Go back," Doaf strongly said, "lead your armies and use this chance to create chaos and exterminate these five forts of the enemy inside."


    The two were shocked, wanted to ask about many things but they also realized the value of the next hour.


    The enemy only gained this advantage out of their sense of the arrival of their reinforcements. Once these reinforcements were shattered in front of their own eyes, their morale would be demolished and hit the rock bottom.


    And this was the right moment to strike fervently at their weakest moment.


    "On me!" Doaf didn''t stand idle either. He turned around and started to lead a massive charge over two of the forts in his region.

 Chapter 855: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 4

    As Doaf thought, as everyone thought, these enemies lost their silverlining hope of survival and only death awaited them.


    Even the mighty giants were wiped out. Even the tens of thousands of forces gathered all around were annihilated. The enemy outside was left with only a few thousands of injured forces, those who could do nothing at all.


    "Damn you! F*ck you all!!" The dragonair girl seemed to get really mad at this moment. She wasn''t angry from losing the giants, or all these forces of monsters and mages.


    What really enraged her was the sudden loss of all of the elite guards, guards that a single one of them was worth thousands, if not tens of thousands of mages and monsters combined.


    "I''ll kill you!" she turned her fiery gaze towards the distant Amera and without any reservation or caution she flew so fast towards her.


    And yet Amera didn''t give her the chance to get closer to her or affect her with her endless angry roars or deadly fiery breaths.


    Amera started jumping around, never standing at one point more than a few minutes before jumping again.


    Yet she aimed directly towards the places of the portals. She wanted to clear as many as possible of those newly and hastily arrived unorganized forces of the enemy.


    Dealing with them seemed like a piece of cake for her. Her only regret was that she didn''t have enough time to kill to her heart''s content.


    She was forced to jump every few minutes. Even though she killed hundreds during these minutes using her deadly spear and fast movement, she couldn''t exterminate the thousands appearing constantly from each portal.


    But that wasn''t all!


    "Keep running around little rat, I swear at the end of this battle I''ll bathe in your blood, hahahaha!"


    The dragonair girl kept chasing after her for a long time, making Amera quite stressed. She knew she couldn''t keep using her technique like that without a moment of rest here and there.


    Or else she would hit the moment where her power would be totally depleted. That would be the moment where she would really die.


    However just after ten minutes of this brutal attack, things took a sudden turn towards the worst.


    The fight inside the sect was heading smoothly towards annihilating everyone inside. The enemy troops were now tattered, unorganized and panicking.


    Their only hope just got smashed in front of their eyes, and their hungry foes just descended from their sect peaks and started attacking them with all their might.


    Things looked hopeless for them. Many started to even lower their weapons and succumb to their fate.


    If things continued this way, the inside troops led by Doaf would have an overwhelming victory that would guarantee their success at this hard battle for defending the sect.


    But everyone, literally everyone including Doaf and Amera underestimated the leaders of the enemy forces.


    As Amera was getting fervently chased by that mad dragonair girl, she spotted a new change at the battlefield.


    "The leaders¡­" Amera whispered in deep shock, "they are all on the move!"


    Just in front of her eyes, she saw hundreds of different dark clans moving down from the peak they stood upon all this time.


    They were the leaders, those who were stronger than anyone else. Amera knew just from the simple clash with that mad girl chasing her how mighty and special they were.


    And now¡­ they were all moving out in unified force, heading directly towards the sect.


    They intended to crush the shields around the sect and take all the toll of the offensive arrays and deadly traps around it. They were moving to lay out the path for their few remaining troops outside to break in and help the remaining forces inside.


    Despite all this killing, the forces inside weren''t that few at all. Out of the initial one hundred thousand mages and monsters, almost thirty to forty thousands remained.


    And from another perspective, they were the strongest ones out of the initial bulk of the enemy army. They were the elites, the ones any army should make account for.


    "This¡­ is bad!" Doaf was standing inside the sect and watching the leaders coming fast towards the shield. He hurriedly took out a bird''s wing and wrote something fast to Deem and Gor.


    "The offensive arrays and traps should be deactivated¡­ all focus must be on the defensive shields."


    Doaf sent this message towards the two before he started to shout and reorganize his troops. He had to be ready to retreat at any given moment.


    He also sent a few messengers to the other two, Nicole and Woo. They had to be ready as well for any change that would occur in the next few minutes.


    With a single move, everything changed for the worse. That was a brilliant move, a strong check that could lead to a mate if handled improperly!


    Amera tried to move towards those leaders and do something, however a small batch of ten of them were dispatched and blocked the path over her.


    If she dared to take a single step towards them, she would definitely die.


    "Should I use it now?" She turned around and assessed her desperate situation. She was considering using her own ultimate technique and killing as many as possible.


    But she knew these leaders weren''t leaders in names. "They must have their ultimate techniques as well¡­ many will be defensive," she sighed and decided to aim towards the small fries around.


    "Run as much as you can, hahaha," the vulgar dragonair girl laughed, "once we get rid of these annoying shields, we will come for you."


    Just as the leaders got near the shields, the sky suddenly dimmed.


    Many flashes of black lightning started to dance all over the world. It was like an epic scene from an apocalypse, caused by nothing but the usage of ultimate techniques of these leaders.


    As Amera feared, all had their ultimate techniques and a considerable number of these were defensive. Strong shields appeared covering the leaders in thick and visible layers of black, silver, green, and red colors.


    "It''s hopeless now!" Amera couldn''t help but feel defeat approaching fast. She wasn''t the only one feeling like this. Everyone standing inside the sect also felt the same way.


    In the next minutes lightning kept gathering all over the sect. "This is bad," Doaf gazed upon this while Woo and Nicole hurriedly ran to him.


    "We need to start our own defensive arrays," Woo said, "we need to resist with all might we have!"


    "Why deactivate the offensive arrays? The traps?" Nicole aggressively came at him and even held him from his collar, "hurry and activated them again. We need to kill as many as possible."


    "No," Doaf pushed her hand down with strong will, "this isn''t over yet."


    He turned to Woo as he added, "order everyone to start gathering under those with defensive arrays and powers. We need to sustain this attack as long as possible."


    "You¡­" Nicole was furious at him but this didn''t prevent Woo from leaving and arranging things. He used the spiritual sense of all top cultivators to gather up all the scattered forces and start their defensive shields.


    "This won''t work," Nicole stood beside Woo and said in an explosive tone to Doaf, "we need to fight, we have to kill a few as they will kill many of us!"


    "Look out for the inside enemies!"


    Just before Doaf could say anything, those frightened and cowering troops of the enemy inside the shield started to make their move.


    All of sudden they regrouped, their morale became high to even reach the clouds before they started attacking everyone and everything.


    They started chasing the retreating troops, forcing them to stick together and wait for their demise. For them their lives were for the dark forces and clans.


    They didn''t hesitate to throw themselves to die alongside their enemies if this would help their leaders in grabbing this hard victory.

 Chapter 856: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 5

    Things didn''t stop just at this.


    The combined attack was so brutal that it caused everyone inside to feel the life inside their bodies were sucked out without any resistance at all.


    It was a very heinous feeling, something no one ever lived after this day wanted to remember once more.


    However after a few minutes of deafening silence, the mushroom cloud was gone. Everything was revealed inside the sect.


    "They... are still alive!" Amera couldn''t feel herself while tears swell up her eyes. She thought, for a brief second there, that everyone was dead.


    But now she could be relieved. The shields were brought down and even the grounds were pressured like a gigantic punch just hit the sect.


    However the peaks remained intact. They stood erect like five gigantic spears without any sign of surrender.


    Their bodies didn''t even suffer a single scratch. That was something even the leaders couldn''t believe.


    If Arthur was here he wouldn''t be that surprised at all. After all it wasn''t that easy to build a sect on any place of land. This land must be special, or else the sect couldn''t gain the recognition from the heaven to be built.


    As for the forces inside, they were already covered by additional layers of shields. It wasn''t only those cultivators who did this, but also the magic of Deem and Gor.


    The two were really... geniuses. Arthur was really fortunate to find such two gems.


    "Damn!" the dragonair girl didn''t do anything at all towards Amera during the past minutes. She wanted her to see and witness everything that happened.


    She wanted to see her despair, her wailing over the loss of friends and allies, over those who came with her from her home, over those who fought alongside her for so long.


    She wanted to see that look, instead she was now seeing a mocking glance from her. One that made her instantly turn insane and wanted to kill her at the spot.


    "I''ll kill you!" The dragonair girl started to run, however Amera was so thrilled by the survival of everyone and started to move in a better shape than ever.


    As for the inside forces, the moment that brutal attack fell, everyone was like entering a dream world. They didn''t know how long it lasted, but the moment the attacking force vanished, they could finally breathe.


    "Activate the shields!" Doaf wasn''t in any better shape than anyone else, however he didn''t forget his responsibility as a leader.


    So he took a bird''s wing and wrote this to Deem and Gor. He prayed the two would be alive.


    "Listen up," Doaf shouted, and his voice despite coming so weak it drove everyone to have more power in their bodies.


    It was the voice of their leader, the one who was leading this brutal war and managed to save them.


    "Stand up! Fight! Fight for honor! Fight for glory! Fight for revenge! Fight!" he suddenly took a deep breath before his shouts reverbated all over the sect. Echoes of his shouts even reached Amera at the outside of the sect.


    "Fight!" Amera raised her spear high in the air before suddenly turning towards those around and started killing. She was just jumping around and trying to think about the next move.


    However Doaf was a step faster than her and his shout just gave her the answer she wanted. At this moment she felt relieved, everything was just going to be ok. "Everything is going to be fine," she kept repeating this to herself.


    The hope she had and was so thin that it was about to fade away was revived to be much stronger than ever. The shields were raised once again and the sect looked as strong and standing as before.


    It was misfortunate enough to be targeted by all these forces, to be hit with such a mighty attack. However surviving death was something that could breath strength in a dying body.


    It wasn''t strange for the combined forces under the leadership of Doaf inside the sect to look like real lions. Like vicious monsters they roared, jumped at their enemies who thought it was a good time to attack just before that hit came.


    The strange thing that happened was that no one from them was even wounded. They all looked quite fine.


    "That''s... I never expected for someone from the dark phoenix clan to be here as well!" Nicole came while coughing and holding her chest out of pain.


    "This place isn''t normal to those dark clans," Doaf slowly said, "that girl chasing Amera is from the dragonair clan. And now we have the phoenix clan as their legendary protective technique. I won''t be shocked to see one of the dark angels to be here as well."


    "W... What?!" this time Nicole seemed to be feared more than shocked, "this... can''t be true... can''t be, right?"


    Doaf silently gazed at her before he recalled what Woo said to him before. He mentioned that the last leader, the traitor Jim, was seen with someone that vanished after that.


    Woo didn''t seem to believe that, and even Doaf thought this was simply a mistake of some hastily running cultivators.


    However now he was thinking about another terrifying possibility.


    "Let''s hope no one of them will be here," he simply said while giving her his diplomatic smile. He knew he was lying, despite hoping for that lie to become real.


    "Oh, you got me there for a moment," Nicole put her hands over her chest as she seemed a bit relieved when she heard his answer, "now what?"


    Doaf gazed around. The fight now was going smoothly towards their favor. The mages and cultivators were now killing non-stop in a speed they never showed before.


    Not a single enemy stood in front of this unstoppable force of the angry fighters. Doaf watched this and knew if nothing interfered, this fight would end for their win.


    However he had a bad omen about this.

 Chapter 857: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 6

    "I hope they are out of options," Doaf turned his attention at last towards the leaders. They stood there on the opposite side of the shields while their faces showed cold reactions.


    They seemed to be startled by such a result. They thought this would be enough to bring down the entire sect to the ground.


    However in the end the sect and most of its defenders survived. They returned to ground zero and that made them quite angry.


    "Open the grand portal!" All of sudden a sinister voice appeared and rang all over the world. Doaf and others inside even heard it.


    The next few minutes the leaders started to do things like preparations for a new technique. Doaf didn''t want to risk anything and so he turned to Nicole as he hurriedly said:


    "Go back... make sure everyone is ready for another impact."


    Nicole knew this seemed hard to believe, but she saw and heard what was going on outside. And so she didn''t delay and moved instantly towards the direction of her forces.


    "Be ready for another impact," Doaf wrote to Deem and Gor before turning around. "Damn it Woo, is it time for you to vanish?" he clenched his fists as he didn''t see Woo anywhere around. "Did he... fall?" Doaf couldn''t help but think about this possibility.


    However when he did, he realized he didn''t know anyone else to succeed that man. "Sigh, I hope anyone will lead the sect now... we have no time to waste."


    Doaf could easily order the cultivators, but he knew their main loyal would reside in their leaders.


    "If he was just here..." Doaf couldn''t help but think about Arthur at this moment. He knew Arthur saved their lives before and thus he gained their trust.


    As Doaf was lost in thoughts, the leaders finished what they were doing. The next moment a thick black ray of light appeared and hit the clouds in an instant.


    The clouds were pushed away as if an explosion occurred there. And yet it wasn''t an explosion of light, but of darkness. The next moment the sky seemed to tremble while Doaf could hear faint rumbles coming from up there.


    "What in the world are they trying to do?" he couldn''t help but wonder while watching the clear sky getting slightly darker.


    It was like it was night time. Darkness started to spread while the black rays kept rising up towards the sky.


    Things seemed to happen so slow yet it didn''t take much before a grand darkness ushered over the world. The bright light of the sun vanished and faded away to just shine over the remote edges of that dark circle.


    "It''s... a portal!!" Doaf was shocked and he wasn''t the only one to feel that way. Anyone who came from the higher realms were feeling this deep fear down their souls.


    It was like an ancient fear was inscripted inside their genes. "This... the dark angels really are here..." Doaf could only swallow this shock moment before he instantly turned around.


    "Heed my orders... everyone has to be ready to go out there and stop this portal from coming!"


    His shout startled everyone and yet he took a bird''s wing and wrote an order to Deem and Gor. The two received it and couldn''t believe their eyes for a moment before they returned to him and asked via another bird''s wing.


    "Are you sure?" they asked this simple question and yet he didn''t hesitate to send this back to the two. "Just do it if you want all of us to live!"


    His words seemed unrealistic, however anyone who came from the higher realm knew how scary this portal was.


    It wasn''t a simple portal that would link two worlds together, however it was one that could link the world here with many worlds under the reign of the dark forces.


    If that portal succeeded, then they were done for. They struggled this far against many hidden worlds, small worlds with limited forces.


    Imagine the state of this war whenever this world became linked to hundreds, even thousands of higher realms at the same time.


    And this would be a calamity when these worlds were ruled totally by dark forces.


    "It''s the permanent portal of death... Screw it!" Amera muttered to herself as she was also able to recognize this nightmare. The next moment she ditched anything related to her safety and headed directly towards those leaders.


    The portal of death was a famous killing move of the dark angels. This could destroy any world no matter how strong or mighty it was. This was also the reason why the dark forces were winning this war no matter how hard the light forces tried.


    No one could gather all the light forces and clans together like the dark angels could do. Luckily their numbers were so scarce and it wasn''t that easy for them to have offspring.


    Or else this universe would usher under the rule of darkness a long time ago.


    The other scary thing about this portal was the fact it was permanent. Unlike any other portals out there, this one couldn''t be stopped once initiated and didn''t have a time limit.


    It could go on for eternity. Many great clans were destroyed over the long course of time and their worlds were turned into hives of dark forces.


    They were lost worlds for the light forces, new forts for the dark ones.


    And now... this world is heading fast towards such fate.


    "I have to stop it!" Nicole couldn''t believe her eyes when she saw that terrifying legendary portal appearing out of nowhere. She had no doubt now, this world held much more value than what her love even imagined.


    She was mistaken to underestimate this world, to take lightly the judge of Aemie. And now she knew if she didn''t act fast and risked her life, her death would be a certainty.


    Like all others from the higher realms, they all panicked and turned their blades towards the leaders outside. Doaf stood in his place waiting patiently for the shields to be lowered.


    However Amera was the fastest to act, and first to fall!

 Chapter 858: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 7

    Amera didn''t feel herself until she hit a wall. Her technique hit the same kind of shield that surrounded and protected the dark leaders from before.


    This time she knew exactly who was behind this, the dark phoenix mages.


    "As if this will stop me!" Amera''s voice echoed all over the world while her face showed her resolve. She intended to use her ultimate technique at the moment to counter and crush that shield.


    However she underestimated her enemy too much...


    "Humph... A little girl like you should be playing with toys, not spears!"


    Suddenly a lash of light appeared from within and hit her body hard. She flew high in the air before another flash of light lashed over her body from above.


    In mere seconds, her body slammed heavily on the ground while feeling immense pain all over. She even gushed blood out of her mouth while her eyes started to get cloudy.


    "I won''t let you stop this!" That old man''s voice came from above. She saw him, he was a giant mage holding a spear with both arms like he was holding a rod.


    "The dark giant clan... Damn!" Amera coughed while she watched that mage descending fast towards her with his deadly spear.


    If she got hit, she would die. Her body gathered up the last ounces of strength and made her vanish from the spot.


    "Boom!"


    The spear hit empty ground, creating a large cloud of dust. The mage turned around but he didn''t search too much for her, after all he wasn''t the only one trying to kill Amera.


    "Where are you going, princess? Roar!"


    The vulgar dragonair girl who kept her silence all this time suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Amera wanted to activate her ultimate technique with the remaining strength left in her, and she tried to head directly towards the leader''s place.


    But she was interrupted by the dragonair girl and her annoying roar.


    She stopped midair before her body fell on its own towards the ground. "I won''t let you die this easily," yet the dragonair girl appeared beneath her while opening her mouth.


    She wanted to burn her to ash using her deadly black fire.


    "Bang!"


    Yet at this moment the shields of the sect were all lowered at once. At the same time the offensive arrays and deadly traps were successfully activated.


    "What the hell...?!!" Just before the dragonair girl could release her fire breath, an attack hit Amera.


    Both got separated from each other, and this helped to buy Amera quite some time.


    "I''ll help stop them," the dark giant clan mage said, "come with me."


    "I won''t move before killing her," the dragonair girl roared in anger while flying fast from the ground. However, even before she could get near Amera''s spot, she got hit with another attack that sent her far away.


    "Leave her alone," the dark giant clan mage shouted in urgent tone, "she can''t do anything anyway. We need to stop them from reaching that shield."


    It wasn''t only the dark giant clan mage who moved to stop the incoming large number of mages and cultivators, but also many leaders came out from inside the shield plus tens of thousands of enemy mages and monsters.


    However the arrays and deadly traps triggered by Deem and Gor played a great part in killing and wounding many, while buying precious time for everyone.


    "Keep moving forward!" Doaf''s voice thundered across the entire battlefield, "we have to stop them if you want to live!"


    He had to lead everyone, mages and cultivators, to attack that group of leaders. This was the only chance they had. If they failed, then this world was done for alongside their lives.


    He looked hastily for Woo but he couldn''t find a single trace either of him or other top sect leaders. And so Doaf had to take charge of everyone, hoping no one would slack here.


    There was no room for doing this wrong. Once they failed, they would die and this world would be lost for good.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Sounds of endless explosions erupted all over the world. The clashes that erupted between the two sides were really brutal from the start.


    However Doaf never stopped pushing everyone forward. The rear enemies they left at the sect turned their blades and tried to stop them from behind.


    However he didn''t care about that either.


    Nothing cared now except for getting that nasty portal shut down at any cost!


    However the moment they got so near to the shield, they faced a lot of struggle coming from the leaders who stepped forwards.


    "Woosh!"


    "Bang!"


    "Boom!"


    All kinds of special abilities rained down their heads. The most vicious were the fire breaths of the dragonairs which killed mages and cultivators in large numbers and no time.


    This kept going on while Doaf kept pouring everything he got. He even stepped there and started to spar with many leaders alongside his and Nicole''s elites.


    But this wasn''t even close to what they needed to do.


    "Damn it!" Doaf was thrown in the air by a sneaky spear attack from one of the giant clan leaders. He stood up from the ground while watching many of his elites thrown in the air like a bomb just exploded there. "We can''t even scratch that shield!"


    It looked hopeless from all aspects. The only positive thing was the fact that the portal needed time to get activated.


    However, what was the point in having time without having enough strength to get use of it?


    "On me!" and yet Doaf didn''t lose any hope as he led his men in one more charge towards the shield.


    Apart from his and Nicole''s forces, the cultivator side was struggling. Their top fighters were lost and only those who came in second lines were there.


    However they weren''t any close at all to be a match for those leaders.


    "Leave the leaders to us!" At some point Doaf realized this wouldn''t give any good result at all, "stop any other troops from interfering!"


    As there was no role for them in such a high end battle, Doaf had to organize things more. Those cultivators would do a brilliant job against the normal troops of the enemy.


    And they were numbered in tens of thousands, not a small figure to be taken lightly.

 Chapter 859: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 8

    As for the leaders, he had to take the toll with his mages and try to find a way to bypass them.


    "Keep fighting," Nicole screamed from one direction, "don''t let them sneakily attack you!"


    It wasn''t the first time for this to happen. The leaders were more accustomed to their way of fighting. It wasn''t strange to see a group breaking off from one side and exchanging places with another group while hitting those fighting them in between.


    This sudden shift caused headaches to Doaf and Nicole and their forces combined. They tried to adapt several times, but at the end they would find themselves thrown in the air alongside many of their elites.


    "We should use our ultimate techniques now!" Nicole hurriedly came to Doaf and shouted in rage, "there is no hope if we don''t do that!"


    In fact the leaders were greatly outnumbered even when each took out a small group of their trusted elites out of their hidden worlds. However they didn''t face any struggle at all.


    What numbers could do against brute strength? It was a mere show of power against numbers where power dominated easily.


    "There is no other option then..." Doaf didn''t want to do that as after taking such a step, all of them would lie helplessly on the ground. However he saw the leaders and their group of elites.


    They were all using their ultimate techniques from the start, something that ensured their superiority no matter how many cannonfodders were sent towards them.


    However...


    "Brother... Just keep them busy for me, will you?"


    Just before he and Nicole could move a muscle, a bird''s wing suddenly kicked in.


    "Who is that?" Nicole noticed the shocked expression over Doaf''s face when he read this bird''s wing. Doaf''s face shifted from nervousness to surprise and then to delight and excitement.


    "It''s our savior," he said before raising his head high and taking a deep breath, "let''s save the ultimate techniques for later. Now we shall just keep hitting those bastards with all our might."


    "What?" Nicole seemed shocked but before she could add a single word, Doaf turned and held her arms firmly as he said:


    "Trust me... we will have our moment soon... very soon."


    Nicole couldn''t help but feel more doubt towards him, however his tone and attitude made her nod nonetheless. "I''ll... trust you on this," she slowly said, "but the moment things don''t work out, we will start the ultimate techniques."


    "You have my word on that," Doaf strongly said before turning to his men and leading another charge forward.


    Nicole watched his face and domineer before sighing. "I have to admit... I''ll never understand men at all," she shook her head before returning to her forces and led them into another futile charge.


    The charges they kept making one after another didn''t shake the leaders even for an inch. In fact the leaders were burning their fire just to buy time.


    Everyone knew things would be over the moment the portal would be established. And thus it was natural for the leaders to put their lives on the line without caring about anything else.


    However this time things were doomed to end differently for everyone.


    Just as usual when Doaf and Nicole led their elites to clash with those mighty leaders, they got fierce attacks and their attacks landed on strong defensive techniques.


    But just before they could end up thrown in the air like before, a sudden bang came from far behind.


    "What is that?"


    "Who are they?"


    "Enemies! Enemies are coming from the rear!"


    "Break out and stop them!"


    Suddenly chaos erupted all over the leaders while they tried to break free from Doaf and Nicole''s engagement and go to stop those mysterious enemies.


    However Doaf was already waiting for this moment.


    "Don''t let them run away!" Doaf roared before advancing fast and throwing himself in the middle of the leaders in a reckless move, "use anything to keep them here. The shield is going to break! Just keep pushing forward!"


    "F*ck you!`` Many leaders cursed and the next moment Doaf found many deadly attacks heading towards him.


    "Not this easily!" However, the next moment a flash of light appeared once more and hit many leaders out of the blue. This caused the attacks to be deviated and mostly miss Doaf.


    As for the rest, Doaf could deal with them on his own accord.


    "''You finally came," Doaf laughed while watching Amera turn into a ray of light once again and head towards another group of leaders to stop them from their retreat.


    "I just needed a bit of rest," she said while hitting more leaders and causing chaos in between their lines.


    "Is this your friend?" Just as Doaf stood up and tried to attack once again, he was surprised to see Nicole standing beside him and helping in his charge.


    "Yeah," Doaf raised his head towards the rear where hundreds of mages were slamming heavily over the shield using their ultimate techniques, "they are from the crow clan, once were with us here."


    "I recognize them already," Nicole said in a happy tone, "that''s why you didn''t let us use the ultimate techniques, right?"


    "We will use them, but not now," Doaf nodded before he started to spar with a couple of leaders while his elites finally caught up and started to help. "Go back and lead your forces. The moment that damn shield is broken we will use our techniques and kill everyone."


    "Hahaha, that plan is one that I like," Nicole moved fast amidst her laughs while Doaf could only inwardly sigh. If not for the sudden bird''s wing that the crow sent, they would have another bitter situation right now.


    The last thing he heard about the crow was that he left in a storm of rage and didn''t follow Arthur. He didn''t know how he appeared here, but he was so grateful for that.


    "You owe me an explanation my bro," Doaf kept pushing the two leaders backwards while other elites of his side kept the other leaders here busy.


    Not a single leader got the chance to retreat. Doaf kept his part of the deal and now all that was left for the crow to honor the rest of it.


    That shield... it must be taken down soon or else all this would be pointless in the end.

 Chapter 860: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 9

    The crow was furiously attacking that shield.


    At first when he left Arthur he was totally enraged by what happened. He knew part of this wasn''t Arthur''s fault, but the thought of everyone going back to the higher realms and fighting for their own clans except for him drove him mad.


    After some time he started to chill out a bit. And yet he didn''t totally believe what he heard. He started to follow Arthur from far, waiting to see if what he said was true or not.


    If this world involved many great dark forces as he claimed or not.


    When that pagoda appeared, his heart told him that Arthur was right. However even before he could act, Arthur already vanished along with that pagoda and portal.


    He tried to look for him but there was no single trace left. It was like Arthur himself vanished.


    Before he could settle on what happened or what he should do, the great war broke off and he saw them.


    Leaders from all big dark clans were gathered. He saw everything from far, saw the brutal fight and the bravery of Amera and Doaf and others.


    However just as he was thinking how he could join this war, the legendary dark angel mage appeared and opened that infamous portal.


    It was the last evidence he was looking for. He became sure what Arthur said was true, this world had many dark clans, even the biggest, strongest, and rarest of them.


    And that simply made his blood boil out of his desire for revenge.


    Just the mere thought of killing that dark angel mage overwhelmed everything else. That was a dark angel mage, one of the rarest beings in the entire universe.


    Killing one of those would simply mean dealing a great blow to the dark side. He found his salvation in doing that, however hoping was much easier than accomplishing such a feat.


    The dark angels weren''t just strong and obtained such nasty ability of linking worlds together. They were famed for their unique ability to run and evade anyone coming after them.


    "But you made a grave mistake buddie," the crow sneered whenever he saw that great portal taking shape above the heads of everyone, "destroying this will kill you after all."


    It was a double edged weapon. That portal contained the life force of any dark angel mage. Succeeding in that would mean giving great benefits to the dark angel mage, and failure meant death.


    The crow didn''t need to personally look for that dark angel or try to fight him. He simply needed to interrupt that portal through the leaders supporting it and... viola; the legendary dark angel mage would die.


    "But you won''t let me do it this easily, right?" The crow watched the tight defense of the leaders outside the protective shield. He knew getting near that shield was the desire of everyone, but none ever managed to do it.


    And so he waited. He bided his time and looked for his window to interfere.


    After watching Doaf and Nicole being thrown in the air along with their forces, he suddenly had an idea.


    He didn''t hesitate to take a bird''s wing out and wrote the message to Doaf. He trusted Doaf would do the right thing at this moment.


    And yet he didn''t trust his ability to control everyone as he desired. So he took out another bird''s wing and wrote another message to the other friend lying on the ground with deep wounds and extreme pain.


    "It''s time for you to rejoin the fight and stop the leaders from getting near the shield," he sent this to Amera who got startled by reading this message from him.


    She thought he was already far away, and abandoned them. However at such a time of distress, and at this dire moment he appeared.


    Without hesitation she endured her wounds and pain before returning to fly all over the place using her annoying spear technique.


    Her addition came just in time to make sure every single one of those leaders would be cornered in that corner of the world.


    As for the crow, he simply led his men towards the shield from the rear.


    "Kill everyone standing before us," the crow arranged his forces into two groups, one big and one small. "The others come with me, use your ultimate techniques from the start," he led the bigger group directly towards the shield while leaving the mission of protecting everyone to the smaller group.


    And things started to shift for their favor the moment he and his forces reached that annoying shield.


    The shield took many hits already from Doaf and Nicole and their forces. Their ranged attacks landed all the time over it without any success to crush it or even cause a single crack there.


    However they did a great job in weakening and depleting its energy over time.


    And so when the crow appeared with his forces, the shield didn''t pose much of a challenge to them. Their combined surprise attacks came swiftly and landed fiercely over the shield.


    The shield started to show many cracks along its surface, and soon it was about to burst open and vanish.


    "Keep attacking!" The crow kept demanding while the other leaders inside seemed to be restless.


    Few started to abandon supporting that portal. In fact the portal didn''t need all of their help to be formed. However the faster it could be formed.


    And thus with the sudden appearance of the threat from the crow and his men, some had to drop their aid to the portal and stood erect, waiting for the shield to be opened to fight with the crow forces.


    They could have simply got out and fought directly with them, but that would be futile. The other side had numerical advantage, high morale, and were already using their ultimate techniques.


    If they were inside one of the highest realms, things would have been a bit different. The restrictions forced by this low realm made everyone slightly equal in power.


    Making them unable to face the direct threat of the crow forces head on until it''s too late.

 Chapter 861: The Sect Defensive Battle - Part 10

    "Send everyone, throw everything at these despicable ants," all of sudden a sinister voice appeared like a hideous whisper. Everyone heard it, and those on the side of the dark forces started to leave everything else and head directly towards the crow forces to stop them.


    The crow didn''t show any surprise over his feather covered face. He already saw through this and that was why he arranged part of the forces to stand behind and defend them.


    "Use your ultimate techniques!" the crow suddenly shouted while ordering the smaller group to do that.


    It was impossible to think such a few numbers that didn''t exceed two hundred of his forces would be able to stop the gush of tens of thousands of mages and monsters coming from everywhere.


    The leaders outside were already busy dealing with Doaf and Nicole and their forces. As for Amera, she had another task to do that she assigned to herself.


    "All forces attack!" she suddenly rose high in the air before yelling at everyone. If the enemy had tens of thousands of mages and monsters, then they also had tens of thousands of cultivators.


    Per her orders every single cultivator started to chase and relentlessly attack those mages and monsters. In fact many were already doing this without the need of her words.


    After all these were the same enemies who came after their sect and killed many of their friends and comrades. As for Amera, she didn''t stand a single moment there before she started to run all around.


    She took the crow''s forces as a central point and started to fly in circular fashion, killing any single foe who dared to get so near there.


    She was a single mage after all, and thus she couldn''t prevent many to trespass her death zone.


    But at least she did a great job decreasing the numbers of those enemies by a large chunk. As for those who survived her, they had no luck at all as they faced the deadly crow forces who were lying in wait.


    And thus a brutal phase of this war erupted while both sides were killing mercilessly and racing against time.


    But time was starting to lean towards Doaf, Amera, Nicole, and the crow this round. The batch of leaders who abandoned the portal seemed to greatly affect its speed of assembly.


    "It will take five hours at least to get formed," Doaf said with a cheerful smile and even laughed when he noticed the slow pace that the portal was taking shape now.


    He was racing against an hour, and now that time was elongated with five folds. "We can do it!" he gritted the hilts of both swords before suddenly looking at the nearby Nicole. "I''ll leave here for you!"


    Without giving her any room to answer or stop him, he instantly took a few of his elites, the strongest, and made a sudden move to bypass all the leaders here.


    "Use your ultimate technique!" just as he did so, the shield was just up ahead of them, "bring that damned shield down! On me!"


    The sudden appearance of Doaf and his forces next to the shield was a total surprise to the defending forces around it. The mages and monsters were totally focused on the crow.


    This time the crow was used to be the decoy while Doaf and his forces acted as the tip of the spear. Things shifted and yet the end result was the same.


    The attacks landed over the fully cracked and exhausted shield and in no time the shield was burst open by this.


    The explosion that occurred drove out a gush of wild wind all around. Many unprepared forces were knocked down or sent flying backwards in the air.


    However that didn''t happen to any of Doaf or the crow forces. They were ready and prepared for such an impact.


    The moment the shield got down, Doaf and the crow didn''t hesitate and threw themselves inside.


    They weren''t sure of the presence of any more of the dark phoenix mages. Their move was matched with the forces from the leaders who had to abandon the portal in more numbers.


    And fierce clashes erupted between both sides instantly.


    Flashes of ultimate techniques covered the earth. Deadly fire, wind, ice, lightning, and all other forms of ultimate attacks landed on that small spot of land before their devastation expanded all over the place.


    For everyone around this place turned into part of hell. Whoever didn''t obtain strong defensive techniques or gears would instantly die.


    Large number of mages, monsters, and cultivators fell on these moments. However, that didn''t stop neither the leaders nor Doaf and the crow.


    This was the last clash that would decide the final winner of this war.


    "You lowly ants... you dare to try to stop the mighty dark angel? Me? Hahaha, let me see you die while trying!"


    All of sudden this sinister laugh accompanied the mighty roaring words of the hidden dark angel before another change appeared.


    All of sudden many portals flashed all over the place before many forces started to pour out constantly from them.


    Reinforcements from higher realms that Doaf and other forgot everything about just arrived... i just appeared here at such a crucial time.


    "Are we going to lose this?" Amera watched this horrible scene while muttering in a bitter tone to herself. She lost all the will to fight, who could fight such a mighty army with such few and exhausted forces?


    She wasn''t alone, she wasn''t the only one feeling such despair and lowering their weapons like her.


    Everyone, everyone on her side felt and did the same. It looked futile and impossible to try and resist. It was pointless. They simply... failed!


    "We... lost!" Nicole stood on her end while watching these endless flashes of portals opening up without an end. "I''m sorry... I did my best but..." her eyes welled up with tears while watching the hell doors opening all around.


    She was done for. Everyone was done for. Death only awaited them now, one way or another.


    So why should they struggle now? For what end?

 Chapter 862: Rumble!

    It seemed that dark angel mage didn''t see any satisfaction in what was going on till now as he yelled the next moment:


    "Don''t leave anyone alive... Kill them all! Secure the portal, let this world become ours!"


    Everyone roared and yelled in triumph and celebration as if crushing those few helpless enemies meant something big to them. The portals kept pouring out many mages and monsters coming from the higher worlds non-stop.


    The number of the enemies kept swelling up, exceeding hundred thousand in less than five minutes.


    Doaf, Amera, Nicole, and the crow stood weakly in their places while watching all this happening. They had no strength to even think about a counter plan.


    There was none!


    They saw the endless number of their foes starting to point their blades towards them. "So here it will end," Amera said in a bitter tone. She felt little regret.


    She knew she did everything she could, and yet she regretted not winning. Even living now didn''t have any taste to life at all if not accompanied by victory.


    If not she moved now and crushed all these enemies and crushed that nasty portal then nothing would matter. She would prefer to stand there and welcome death than to try and run or survive by escaping and living in shame.


    Even running away and surviving looked quite an impossible feat for her and for everyone.


    "Rumble!"


    All of sudden the entire world shook. It seemed like death didn''t want to come to them in silence, but in a grander way. Amera raised her head while watching the sky up above with the gigantic portal overwhelming the scene.


    She felt the sky was shaking off violently as if someone was holding it with both hands and fiercely shaking it. "Is this how death comes?" she took a deep breath and couldn''t be any more shocked or surprised by anything.


    She knew at any moment now she would lose her life.


    "I told you..." just as she was accepting her death, fate refused to let her go in such an easy way. The hideous sound of the dragonair girl came from the front while the dragonair girl appeared and started to slowly walk towards her.


    "At the end of this war you''ll die at my two hands," the dragonair girl added in a vicious tone while her face showed how pleased she was to be the one to take Amera''s life away.


    Amera felt defeated and now she felt more humiliation. She didn''t want to fall under the hands of this annoying and arrogant enemy, however she had zero strength left in her to act.


    "Rumble!"


    Just as the dragonair girl was walking towards her, the ground this time shook. Amera felt her body swaying left and right. "What''s going on here?" Just as Amera was thinking this was the act of her mind at the time of death, the shocked voice of the dragonair girl came to startle her.


    Amera wasn''t the only one to mistook this as a cheap trick of her mind, everyone else on her side did. However the words of the dragonair in front of her made Amera open her eyes wide and gaze all around the place.


    "Something... is happening..." Amera was now totally sure of that. The shaking never stopped and kept increasing in intensity. Starting from the ground and ending up at the distant sky and that nasty portal there; everything was violently shaking.


    "I''ll kill you!" The dragonair girl seemed not to care about this and a sword appeared in her hand. She didn''t hesitate to jump at Amera who glanced at the blade of death coming at her with empty expression on her face.


    "Will I... be saved?" She couldn''t help but mutter while watching the blade drawing closer to her in fast motion.


    "Die!" the dragonair girl yelled in an angry tone. She seemed to hate Amera deeply. After all, Amera kept her running around like a fool while unable to do anything to her.


    "Woosh!"


    Just before she could touch Amera, a sudden flash happened before that dragonair girl vanished off Amera''s sight. Amera stood in her place motionless, feeling petrified and shocked by what just happened.


    "This... No way!!!" Amera was totally shocked by what she just witnessed. In a blink of an eye that vulgar dragonair girl vanished. However, that wasn''t the thing that shocked her.


    She moved her eyes around and spotted many flashes occurring at the entire battlefield. As far as her eyes could reach, she spotted these portals flashing and vanishing in the next moment.


    "These... are his portals!!!" Amera instantly recognized Arthur''s portals without any doubt. The portals were Arthur''s signature, no one else could control or summon them except for him. "He... is... alive!!!" she couldn''t help but have tears clouding her eyes before two long streaks of tears fell over her cheeks.


    She wasn''t the only one recognizing this, anyone who fought alongside Arthur oneday instantly recognized this. Even Nicole did! Even the leaders of the enemies here recognized this.


    "The portal!" the first one to react was no one else but that hidden dark angel mage, "all work on the portal! Finish it now!!"


    His sound was filled with distress and anxiety. However even before he could continue his orders, and even before anyone could move a single muscle, the world shook and rumbled while deafening explosions started to occur.


    Thick lightning tongues appeared in the sky and started to assault the portal from everywhere. The ground started to crack open and high splashes of deadly lava started to gush out of these cracks, finally revolting over the tight earth grip over them.


    And to make things worse, those flashing portals took everything they could touch and threw them all inside these cracks.


    Monsters and mages all were thrown into the deep cracks, letting them feel the torture of the extreme and merciless lava before they died.


    They were all from higher realms, and wouldn''t be affected by such weak world lava in normal cases. However this moment was special, as someone mighty just joined the battle.


    And this wasn''t the end of things. At this moment Arthur was now fighting a deadly fight against that final monster inside the world of his own.

 Chapter 863: Toying With The Tribulation

    Inside his tribulation, Arthur kept trying to push himself forwards against that giant wall. His enemy kept laughing, teasing him, and even dating him from time to time.


    All were headed towards making Arthur shaken mentally until that monster finally grew tired and full of Arthur.


    The moment this happened, the monster flashed fast and went directly towards Arthur. Arthur saw a flash of light coming directly towards him, and it was moving so fast that he could barely lift his arm and receive this enemy with a defensive move.


    "Clang!"


    Two swords clashed together, creating a large sparkle of fire that was big enough to cover the two of them in between.


    However Arthur clenched his fist and with his other sword he waved towards the monster.


    "Clang!"


    Another violent clash happened and this time the monster lacked his charging bonus. The sword exchange threw the monster backwards while Arthur only took a few steps to the back out of this exchange.


    As he did so, he felt a sudden threat coming fast at him. "Damn it!" without any hesitation he took a single step forward.


    This simple step made that deadly threat vanish. It was like the entire world was waiting for him to take a step backwards so it could eat him alive.


    "So this was your plan all along? Hahaha, pathetic!" Arthur didn''t show any sign of weakness or fear. In fact knowing what his enemy exactly wanted made him more confident in his success in bypassing this hard obstacle.


    "Come," Arthur took another step while watching the body of that monster stop midair hundreds of meters away, "I''ll make you feel despair!"


    "This is my line!" the monster roared as he felt intimidated and greatly humiliated by his failure. For Arthur to know what he wanted made the monster very enraged.


    However there was no other option but to try this endless time to stop Arthur. Each time the monster would fly around, create a momentum for itself before it would jump at Arthur from the front.


    "Clang!"


    "Clang!"


    "Clang!"


    "Clang!"


    The entire world shook and was filled with violent explosive exchanges that happened between the two of them here. Arthur faced some difficulty at first to adjust to the violent exchanges with the monster.


    For the first dozen times he was forced to retreat under the violent attacks of that monster.


    Each time he retreated, a deadly sense of danger overwhelmed him, forcing him to take a step forward to avoid death.


    Luckily for him he never failed to send the monster flying away each time, buying himself precious time to adjust, take a step forward, and even exceed the distance he stopped at before.


    But later on Arthur started to adapt. Each time the monster attacked, Arthur didn''t hesitate to jump forward and welcome it midway as well.


    Force against force, a sword against a sword, an attack against an attack, things kept happening between the two in the same equal exchange.


    However in fact it wasn''t equal, as Arthur was gaining precious ground with each exchange from now on.


    Even after being forced to retreat, the distance he crossed with his jump was enough to overcome that he lost with his retreat.


    And so the monster started to be under pressure.


    Arthur feared this would exhaust his mind, after all this challenge was all mind related. And yet after a long time passed he didn''t feel tired, in return he felt refreshed and stronger.


    With each step he took under such pressure he felt his mind was baptized and getting stronger. With each clash he felt his body was getting cleansed, and his energy was becoming purer.


    Even his biggest nightmare, his golden pearl energy, didn''t get depleted at all after that much fight. In fact it got expanded and he even felt it became like a running river inside his body.


    "C''mon," Arthur started to see this as not an advisory he had to overcome but a rare chance he had to seize. He was like training himself, getting stronger with each exchange.


    It was a feeling he lost a long time ago, the feeling of a cultivator getting stronger while facing strong foe and obstacles. Arthur felt hunger towards this feeling, and an unstoppable desire began to overwhelm him.


    He wanted more, he wanted to have a deeper taste of this growing power with overcoming each obstacle.


    Since he became a mage in this world, since appearing here and lost many things of his past, things he was always enjoying.


    And this moment here was without a doubt one of those precious things he lacked here.


    And thus things shifted. It didn''t become the monster trying to stop Arthur at all cost, but instead Arthur started to chase the monster all around, trying to force exchanges upon him at any cost!


    And that didn''t only surprise the monster, but it also took away one of the monster''s weapons.


    The monster couldn''t now build up its momentum as it was constantly hunted down by Arthur all over the world.


    At first Arthur felt doubt and great hesitation in doing so. He feared that by moving away from the wall he would be punished by this world. He would be eaten alive.


    However when he first did this on a whim, on impulse and without much thinking but to crave for more of that feeling, nothing happened to him.


    And at this moment he realized the dirty and yet simple trick that he fell in. "This world... It''s all lined by walls!!!" His sudden realization shocked him a lot before he reached the final conclusion.


    "So moving in any direction means I''m heading towards the walls! Hahaha, keep running, I won''t let you get away from my sight!"


    Arthur turned from being on the back foot to the one leading this fight. His desire for power kept burning deep down his soul, igniting more strength and will to aid him in chasing that monster around.


    Gradually he started to catch up to it before slamming heavily with his two swords. He was the one attacking now and the monster was the one on the backfoot, defending and getting thrown in the air time after time.

 Chapter 864: Getting Tricked

    Arthur had many chances to deal deadly wounds to his enemy, however he refrained from doing that.


    He was aiming towards getting stronger. Per his past rich experience, he knew this world was a very rare chance for him to get stronger.


    Missing this chance or ending it in haste wasn''t the wise thing to do. Cultivators gained strength by the amount of obstacles they overcame, and not just but by winning the trials.


    And so he didn''t aim to kill that monster, not yet. His main and sole focus now was to make sure that monster would stay alive as long as it took for him to reap all the benefits from here.


    Arthur kept throwing the monster and chasing it all over the world. At some point he felt the monster started to get weary and exhausted to the point it couldn''t exchange properly with him.


    And so he started to decrease his flight speed, making sure that monster would catch its breath and regained part of its former power. Then Arthur would mercilessly come at it and exchange brutal bolts of attacks with it.


    It didn''t seem like the monster was trying to kill Arthur anymore, but Arthur was training a pet or something. Like fishing, Arthur was extremely patient and had his mind sober to call out the right decision every single time.


    Arthur didn''t have any stress at all except for how to keep this monster alive as long as possible.


    "F*ck you! C''mon, kill me! Kill me!!" The monster at some point lost its cool and started to yell like crazy. It even threw away its swords and didn''t plan to defend itself anymore.


    "Not yet," Arthur however didn''t seem to be surprised or paralyzed by this. Instead he threw his swords as well and instead of fighting with blades, he started to fight with his fists.


    Fists couldn''t kill anything in a short time span, not when Arthur gave the monster time to catch its breaths and heal.


    During this time the walls around started to grow fainter. It seemed like what Arthur was doing to the monster was also happening to this world.


    At some point Arthur felt hostile and rejected will from this world. It looked like the world here didn''t want him to be here anymore.


    However, desire alone couldn''t do anything to him. Arthur was already fixated on gaining as much from this place as possible.


    And he felt he was so far from getting enough.


    "I won''t get out!" he roared while punching the monster one punch at a time. Each punch sent the monster flying away while Arthur kept himself safe by constantly walking.


    He decreased the speed of his flying to become like a crawling snail. It was nothing he could evade, after all his punches could only send that monster flying for small distances only.


    He feared if he paused for even one second, that world would eject him outside. He feared to lose this chance, even much more than losing his life.


    "Fight me you damn weak monster!" Arthur kept taunting the monster with all the curses and mean words he could think of. He tried to invoke the fire of fighting inside the monster, but in fact the monster was already on its last leg away from dying.


    What Arthur did here made the monster not want to live anymore. Each time Arthur punched it away, it flew for tens of meters before stopping midair.


    It didn''t move a muscle, didn''t even care about adjusting his body and standing straight. It lost all the will to fight, or even live anymore.


    And that made Arthur more furious. "Is that how you call yourself a monster? Screw it, even a rat will fight fiercer than you!" he kept releasing mean comments and curses at the monster, but all were in vain.


    Arthur also started to feel that his gains here became so scarce. The monster''s loss of the will to fight seemed to greatly affect his gains here.


    It negatively impacted what he gained compared to before, making Arthur quite helpless at what he should do.


    "Fight properly for one hour then I''ll release you from this pain," Arthur tried to reason up with it, offering this to the monster.


    "Hahaha, it''s the first time to see a mortal making such an offer to heaven," all of sudden a strange voice appeared in this world. It didn''t come from the monster, nor the walls.


    Arthur turned around without even stopping his feet. "I never met a heaven making the trial look like a pathetic silly childish game!" Arthur didn''t show any reservation as he shouted in return, insulting whoever was in charge of this place.


    "Don''t try to use that, I won''t fall for your filthy words," the voice calmly said, not falling for Arthur''s obvious trap. "You won, reap your rewards and leave this world mortal."


    "Or what?" Arthur didn''t accept such a deal. After all, he would be the only loser here. Even if he gained little now from hitting that punch bag monster, it was still considered progress.


    Any progress no matter how tiny it was was good.


    "Or this..."


    The next moment the monster he was trying to attack vanished in a puff of smoke. It was like something crushed it and turned it into wisps of smoke.


    This moment took Arthur by surprise. He only paused for one second before he felt the entire world around him vanish.


    "You gained so much from here, not as much as was initially planned," the voice rang in his ears while the world kept getting brighter until Arthur couldn''t see anything.


    "You should be modest and humble in front of our trials," the voice added and yet Arthur felt extreme anger and not joy.


    "You don''t have the right to decide that!" Arthur strongly said, "this is my trial! I''m the one who decides when it will end and how!"


    "Suck it kid, you can do nothing now," the voice seemed to enjoy this and not feel any offense at all. "You stayed here too long and you still have unfinished business outside. Go back and do your best, after all your power isn''t a gift but a responsibility."


    And then Arthur felt an electric current passing through his body and even reaching his soul. He couldn''t see anything but felt extreme pain.


    "This is the reward you gained from here, endure and make good use of it."

 Chapter 865: The Isolation Island Legendary Technique

    Meanwhile things were getting out of control in the real world.


    The tide of battle kept swinging back and forth for all warring sides, however right now things seemed to go at equal pace towards the end.


    The dark forces were pouring endlessly to the world through a huge number of portals. But that didn''t create much of a difference as they were instantly thrown away towards the deep cracks of lava, killing a great number of them.


    At the same time the leaders were trying to fasten the completion of the portal. But with the return of hope, with the unexpected legendary appearance of Arthur''s portals, everyone regained their lost confidence and started to fight back.


    "Don''t let them reach that array!" Nicole was the first to read what was going on and the first to ever relay an order to the forces scattered all around.


    Luckily for them everyone lost hope and didn''t move a muscle. They still had many forces near the array, standing in between the scattered leaders and that array.


    "All rise... We haven''t lost yet!" The crow shouted while starting to head towards the nearest leaders.


    "Hit that array! Destroy it!" Doaf gave the order while he also moved.


    "Not a chance!" and yet the dark angel finally made his move.


    All of sudden a gale of shockingly violent wind erupted and kicked everyone away. Only few remained their positions near the array, not affected by this gale of wind.


    The dark angel mage seemed to be pissed off as the next moment another slash of hidden sword came and created another gale of wind.


    But that wasn''t all...


    "Watch out!" Amera shouted as she turned into a ray of light, "he is creating the isolation island!"


    "What?!!!" Doaf wasn''t the only one shocked here, but everyone else who were from the higher realms and were strong enough to know few of the secrets of the world recognized what Amera said.


    "How come?!!!" Nicole stood in her place watching another gale of violent wind erupted. "This... isn''t this a very rare technique even in the dark angels? What''s going on here? Is there more than one?"


    She wasn''t the only one thinking about this, but everyone else did. The isolation island was one of the rarest and fiercest techniques in the dark angel clan.


    If the strongest weapon for the dark angels was that nasty portal, then it''s supreme technique would be the isolation island. Using this technique they could amend for the sole weakness at their strongest weapon, making it perfect.


    A slice in the land caused by lashes of swords, that was the description mentioned in old scripts and even fairy tales. Amera didn''t know why she reached such a conclusion, but the moment she saw that hidden aura moving and slashing on the ground she had this ominous thought.


    And then she gazed up at the ground cut by these hidden swords. There was darkness demarcating the ground. Each slash caused by these swords cut the ground and created a barrier, barrier between worlds.


    This technique could turn any piece of land into a separate world, an isolated island that no one could trespass.


    And that was only possible because that mage was using his life force to do that. He would end up getting damage to his soul, a price he was forced to accept at such a moment.


    "We need to stop him!" The crow felt a deep shiver down his spine when he realized this, "everyone leave the array alone... just attack the air!"


    It seemed crazy to listen to his orders, but everyone here knew this was the only possible way to stop such a mage, to interrupt such a technique.


    All it needed was for one slash to be stopped. However, how could you fight an invisible enemy and stop even a soul sword? It was an impossible feat for any mage no matter how strong he or she was.


    The only way was to attack everything, hoping that at the moment of contact between the sword and the ground, one attack might be lucky to hit it and stop the technique.


    And so all of them started to spread their bizarre orders around, before the entire place shook in violent explosions caused by their barrage of attacks.


    "It''s pointless, hahaha!" Yet the dark angel mage kept laughing and making fun of their efforts while his sword kept slashing on the ground and adding more darkness to the barrier he was building.


    In fact he wasn''t bluffing. All the efforts of everyone combined couldn''t make any difference. The dark angel just expanded the area he was covering with his technique, forcing everyone to retreat.


    It wasn''t wise for anyone to stay inside that part. After all, it would be totally cut off from this world and no one could get in or out from there.


    "Where are you?" Doaf was scanning the world around, trying to figure out a pattern of that mage. The mage kept jumping like the way Amera used to do.


    All they could see and feel was these gales of wind erupting before the ground became cut with that dark soul sword.


    "Move inside!" the dark angels yelled at the scattered leaders, ordering them to hurry and get into the island he was making now.


    But they also got attacked by the intense wind the dark angel technique released.


    "I won''t let you get near that thing!" and yet Amera was the only one enjoying this as she kept jumping all over the place and hitting the leaders.


    The gale of wind was a hindrance at first before she learnt how to adapt. Instead of flying against it, she first flew in the same direction, gaining enough momentum before breaking free.


    As everyone else was simply busy attacking the ground, trying to stop that maniac; she was the only one able to stop those leaders.


    But she couldn''t stop them for too long. After all that dark angel mage realized how she was doing this and started to make the sword slashes away from his retreating leaders.

 Chapter 866: A Nasty Trick

    Things seemed to go towards the direction of the dark forces once again. Amera tried to keep up and do all she could, but this wasn''t even close enough.


    She wasn''t the only one here doing her best, everyone else was exerting their best abilities and tried to stop the dark angel mage from executing his plan.


    However all they could achieve was just to stop any leader from going inside that zone. It seemed a small feat to accomplish but it meant at least they got enough time till the activation of that nasty portal.


    "Damn it!" Amera gritted her teeth while watching the ground getting demarcated more in blackness. She saw what they all did was a failure, and no matter how hard they tried that dark angel mage was simply outsmarting them.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    Just to add more to such a bad situation, portals that kept pouring out dark forces started to change color all of sudden. Instead of mages and monsters, clan leaders and big shots started to show themselves in batches.


    The dark clans who supported this quest had finally moved their leaders to join this fight. At such a desperate timing, this simple move came to change everything.


    "You are all dead now, hahaha!" the dark angel mage seemed to be relieved by this addition of those big names. Just by their presence, the entire world kept shaking as if it wasn''t tolerating their brutal energy.


    "What should we do now?" Nicole came and stood by Doaf''s side as well as Amera and the crow. The four stood there watching these big names whom they always memorized by heart.


    "How come they appear here?" Doaf gritted his teeth while clenching the two hilts of his swords tightly out of his rage and desperation.


    "They must have put this world on top of their priorities," Nicole said as she knew how her love selected this world before as an important asset.


    But it seemed now that the world held much more significance for those dark forces than even Aemie did.


    "We can''t stand against them," the crow bitterly said, "but I won''t let such a chance slip by. Despite being leaders and big shots, they are still limited by the laws of this world."


    "Don''t get your hopes so high," Amera poured cold water on his enthusiasm, "if we forced them too far they would simply retaliate and destroy this entire world into shreds."


    The others could only have a change in their faces when they heard her words. It was a simple and yet harsh truth. Those leaders were able to exert their full strength together, turning this world into a puff of smoke in a blink of an eye.


    "So we should let them have it their way then?" the crow yelled in anger while the leaders stood their places motionless.


    "Why aren''t they attacking yet?" Nicole suddenly asked.


    "What? Are you so impatient and eager to die now?" The crow was already nervous and about to lose his cool. He wanted to throw his life away while trying to get a few of those leaders with him and with his men as well.


    These leaders were the leaders of the enemy''s biggest forces. Killing even one was worth the lives of him and his men. No one would hesitate to do it once he gave the order, but no one on his friends'' side would support his suicidal attempt.


    "No, she is right," Doaf suddenly squeezed his eyes, "they just appeared and released their auras without moving a finger. Shouldn''t they move to the portal and secure it first? Why standing just underneath the portals?"


    While they were thinking about these words, Amera suddenly moved.


    She was known as being impulsive, preferring talking with fists than words. And now she decided not to think and simply test things out using her fists as well.


    "Stop!" Doaf hurriedly shouted, trying to stop her but he was too late. She already turned into a beam of light while merging with her spear. She headed directly towards a group of those leaders.


    "Pathetic!" a sudden shout came from the dark angel mage before a thick pillar of black lightning descended over her head, cutting off her path.


    "I''m not that push over, moron!" and yet Amera seemed to anticipate such a move as she simply shifted her direction at the last second, evading that disastrous attack.


    The lightning hit nothing but empty air while Amera finally reached one of those leaders.


    "I bet you are all fake!" she sneered while trying to encourage herself for such a move. Going against any single one of them was like going against her grandmaster Aemie.


    It was simply a suicidal move, however this was the only way she could uncover the veil over this trick of the dark angel mage.


    She believed he was deceiving everyone, using the fear of the powerhouses appearing here without actually being here.


    Their names were enough to scare away any light forces, and that just simply looked a bit fishy.


    Why would all of them gather up here without a purpose? Were they all free or were they really that interested in this world?


    She also once heard from Arthur that he met one of those grandmasters, his godfather, and he couldn''t get in here or else the world would explode.


    So how come dozens of these scary names appear here out of nowhere and the world looks simply fine?


    "Puff!"


    "Puff!"


    "Puff!"


    Just as she went through one after another, each leader exploded in a cloud of smoke. They were all fake, they were all empty clones made out of pure smoke.


    "This... Damn you dark angel clan mage!" The crow couldn''t help but raise his feathered head and scream in anger before he suddenly vanished.


    The next moment he appeared on top of a group of leaders where he started his own barrage of attack.


    "Let''s not let him have all the fun," Nicole laughed while Doaf still had his dark face.


    This time it passed peacefully over their necks, but next time he wasn''t sure if they could keep their necks intact.


    He saw how scary it was to have such big names here. If this was simply a fluke that didn''t mean the next time would be.


    After all that nasty portal was getting more and more corporeal with each passing minute. Each wasted time here was a step closer to their demise.


    And he just saw how ugly that demise would look like.

 Chapter 867: Such A Brilliant Unexpected Move

    But he didn''t stand there and contemplate his own thoughts. He joined the others in their persistent and desperate efforts trying to stop at least the leaders from coming near the portal or that isolation zone.


    On the other side, the dark angel mage realized his little trick failed and all was thanks to that cauldron girl. He gazed up at her, since the early moments of this war and this girl kept causing trouble one after another.


    However he had first to solve another stressing problem, those annoying forces blocking the path over his own minions to reach the portal.


    Without the portal, the leaders waiting on the other side of the portal wouldn''t be able to come here. He knew the moment they would appear in flesh things would be solved once and for all.


    But now that was blocked and delayed by the persistence of those mages who kept fighting like their lives were on the line.


    "Those damned ants... Alright, time to attack them with all what I got," he said to himself in a very impatient and angry tone before he suddenly shouted:


    "Everyone leave everything and aim at those annoying ants! Kill them! Kill them all!"


    The shout was mean towards those mages and monsters appearing out of the portals. Despite getting trapped by the flashing portals of Arthur, there were a growing number of them by each passing minute.


    And those were always faced with the cultivators from the sect. From the start of this last showdown, the cultivators kept these survivors at bay while clearing a path for Doaf and others to do their part.


    Until now...


    The instant that dark angel mage gave the order, the entire world shook as tens of thousands of those mages and monsters started to run as fast as they could towards Doaf and others around the portal.


    "Are they stupid?" Nicole couldn''t help but laugh, "who are they to think they can stand in front of us?"


    "Yeah, I can deal alone with them with my forces," the crow arrogantly said while he was jumping from one place to another, fighting against three leaders at the same time equally.


    "This isn''t it," Doaf threw one leader backwards, far away from the portal before he turned around and dealt another blow to another leader, "they want us to be busy off their leaders."


    "As if I will let them do that!" all of sudden Amera appeared coming from far. As she dealt and exposed those fake images of the enemy leaders, she just turned around and came here as fast as she could.


    "Yeah! Our fiery girl is coming to deal with them," the crow shouted in excitement, "go... teach them their lesson!"


    However Amera didn''t stop when she passed over the heads of those mages and monsters.


    In fact she never intended to do this.


    As the dark angel mage already sat her gaze upon her, and was moving his pieces; she also sat her gaze upon him.


    And now it was her turn to move out her piece.


    "What is she planning to do?" Nicole paused all of sudden as she thought what Amera was doing this time wasn''t just simply like before.


    She didn''t stop even when she passed over their heads. Everyone raised their heads and saw her pass over their heads, crossing the distance between them and the portal as she crossed inside the zone of the isolation.


    "Bang!"


    Without warning she landed fiercely over the heads of the leaders stationed around the portal, trying to keep it safe.


    The spear of her was so sharp and deadly. The moment she landed there she didn''t hesitate to hit them and threw them all the way outside of the isolation zone.


    And then she was all alone against those leaders activating the portal.


    "I won''t let you!" All of sudden this angry roar came out of thin air before thick tongues of black lightning appeared all around the sky before they descended over her head.


    But she didn''t intend to stand still. She had the advantage here and her actions caused chaos inside the enemy ranks.


    Even the all hidden and collected dark angel mage couldn''t help but act.


    "Die!" the dark angel mage yelled in deep anger and extreme hatred towards her before the entire zone started to get bathed with the black lightning.


    However all these pillars could hit was only empty air. Amera didn''t stand there for a single second. And she didn''t retreat to the back, and that was really a wise and unexpected decision she made.


    As the next moment more pillars of black lightning appeared and covered the entire empty area behind the portal. The dark angel mage was ready and well prepared to set up such a trap for her the moment she would move and retreat.


    However instead of retreating, she took the step forward and appeared on top of those leaders activating the portal.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The instant she crossed the border of that supporting array, she didn''t stop her spear from hitting and cracking everything around. She knew she wouldn''t get such a chance ever again, and as such she kept her spear working with no pause.


    Even her body and safety wasn''t included in her actions at all. She already threw all safety behind her back and this time she came here with one thought in her mind; let''s perish together!


    "Bang!"


    However she couldn''t stand in that array for more than ten seconds before her body was slammed heavily and thrown high in the air.


    "Die you bitch!" The dark angel mage was already so infuriated. Amera couldn''t destroy the array on her own, but she caused enough damage to make it on the verge of collapsing.


    The world all around was bombarding that portal non-stop. The portal was barely standing in a stalemate with such brute rejection force this world was exercising.


    But that didn''t last any longer! After Amera did such damage to the array, the portal itself started to show deep and long cracks all over. This helped to topple the balance and make things become ugly for the dark angel mage.


    His legendary array seemed to head towards destruction at this moment.


    And so he watched Amera''s body fly powerlessly towards the area covered with his black lightning. It wasn''t much to think about what would happen, and he only kept his eyes wide open while watching her body entering that area.


    "Just die you motherf*cker!" he screamed in deep hatred and anger while feeling much humiliation for his failure in executing his portal.


    He knew how much backlash he would get because of this failure. It wasn''t an exaggeration to even lose his life in worse cases or turn crippled in most optimistic scenarios.


    And all that just happened because of one single female mage, one he didn''t imagine to be able to cause any damage at all before this battle erupted.

 Chapter 868: The Dark Angel Mage

    It seemed the end for Amera who saw the portal up in the sky getting cracked like fire spreading and eating it fast.


    "I... did it!" she simply muttered those words before closing up her eyes. She wasn''t hoping for any miracle at this moment. After all everyone on her side was far, far away from her and only death awaited her in the next few moments.


    However, after the passage of quite some time, she didn''t feel anything. She didn''t feel any pain or even felt uncomfort at all. The next moment she opened her eyes to find herself standing midair in the world, a few hundreds of meters away, while a portal stood on her side.


    "This..." she was shocked to see one of Arthur''s portals. Just before she got enveloped inside this deadly black fire, a portal appeared and got her body transported away from that death zone.


    She wasn''t the only shocked one here, but everyone else was. They all gazed up at her like they were seeing a miracle, and the next moment she couldn''t help but laugh.


    "I... hope to see your face soon," she could only say this to the portal, hoping for her voice to be transported to her love, to Arthur.


    The next moment though the portal disappeared like it did its job and then ceased to exist. She took a deep breath before raising her head and saw the sky once again.


    "The portal... is crumbling and about to collapse," she raised her spear high in the air while everyone around shouted in unison.


    They all lost hope in crushing that portal and stopping the imminent death coming at them. They only thought killing and fighting those leaders was the only way to do something, a last thing before they would all perish.


    However, out of their despair came hope once more. This time it came from Amera, from the one no one expected to be able to do it.


    And yet she did it and saved their lives.


    "Let''s kill them," Doaf shouted in excitement. After all, Amera did that and was saved on the brink of death by his young master''s portal. His young master was still alive and watching over them from somewhere.


    And that made Doaf feel more energetic and wanted to get revenge on those dark forces around.


    He wasn''t the only one feeling this way, everyone else felt they just got revived after experiencing death.


    Dying was so bitter that they didn''t want to experience it once more. Turning from desperate wolves to mighty lions, they jumped over their enemies.


    Each single one was now able to face an army of his own. They didn''t need to reserve anything or even think about their lives.


    They were just getting revived from death! How could people like them fear dying at this moment?


    The leaders who were able to match their foes found it so hard even to exchange blows with them without getting deeply wounded or getting thrown in the air.


    And so they had to retreat after getting severe losses. They headed directly towards their troops who luckily were so nearby.


    These troops tried to get to Doaf and others per the dark angel mage orders from before, however the persistent cultivators stood in between them and their goal.


    However as the leaders were much stronger than any group of cultivators, they easily passed through the cultivator army before rejoining with their forces.


    And as such things returned to the initial stalemate, while both sides lost a considerable amount of forces.


    However the morale was shifting in an overwhelming way towards one side, towards Doaf and others.


    "I will kill you all!" Just as everyone was busy attacking, the dark angel mage was close to the point of explosion. He knew once the portal got destroyed the backlash would befall him.


    And so he had a limited amount of time to act. And he put the simple task of killing those who caused all this on his top priority.


    However, just before he could move, a bird''s wing appeared and stopped him.


    "This..." he read it a couple of times to make sure what he read was right. "Hahaha, then I can do it this way," he couldn''t help but laugh.


    He knew he couldn''t salvage the backlash from the portal up above, but he now had a chance to take his revenge in a more efficient way.


    This bird''s wing came from someone who just arrived from one of the high worlds, from the dragonair''s world.


    There he had a simple and yet effective move that could change everything once again. Without any further ado he moved so fast towards one direction, the direction of the portals he created and were linked to the higher realms.


    The plan was simple, yet he knew to do it right he needed everyone here to do their task properly.


    "Keep holding your positions... Don''t let anyone pass through!" he suddenly yelled at his forces, hoping this time they wouldn''t disappoint him like before.


    As he ordered, the forces now started to form defensive lines. Without him asking, the leaders took such a decision first to ensure their safety.


    Doaf and others were acting weird right now. They were dangerous, far more dangerous foes than they ever imagined.


    Getting near them now meant only one end, death! They didn''t come all the way here to die, they came to gain easy victory and reap rewards.


    However things turned into such a desperate situation where their lives were on the line.


    The dark angel mage flew past their heads without anyone sensing his presence. He was, for a moment, tempted to land over the heads of Amera, Doaf, Nicole, the crow, and their forces and claim their heads for himself.


    However he resisted such an urge. After all he had limited time in his hand to act before that backlash would hit him. He had to do this new plan so he would sit back, and enjoy what he thought was rightfully his revenge even if he got punished by his failure.


    "Just wait..." he laughed hysterically and in a mad way, "I''ll just show you how grave a mistake you just made by antagonizing me in such a way."

 Chapter 869: Amera Again

    The sudden change in the enemy strategy alerted everyone on Doaf''s side. He and others noticed these and realized that things weren''t over yet.


    "If there is a single fact known about the dark angels then it would be for their stubbornness and hatred to lose," Nicole shook her head while watching the large number of enemies gathered and formed a strong defensive wall.


    "But we aren''t that weak either," the crow sneered before he started to run towards the front line.


    Once the battlefield shifted like this, the cultivators took the main task of fighting against other mages and monsters. The leaders of both armies stood back and watched things with such calm.


    They were already exhausted. They all needed a few minutes of rest. However the crow and his forces were so eager to fight at the moment.


    They didn''t join this war until the very end. And thus they were the most refreshed forces in the entire battlefield at this moment.


    "Kill them all!" the crow yelled at his forces while leading his small group inside the sea of weak monsters and mages.


    Against such elites, these forces were doomed to be crushed no matter what.


    Their only advantage lay in their great numbers, something that only stood in between the crow and those leaders at the back for quite some time.


    "I doubt they will stand still any longer," Doaf watched the progression of this war while noticing the restless leaders at the back.


    The crow and his few hundred elites were now getting so near to the leaders zone. They only needed almost ten minutes and they would start fighting these leaders.


    "Shouldn''t we give them a hand?" Nicole asked but Doaf didn''t directly answer. He shifted his gaze and watched the all silent Amera standing midair.


    Since what she did, since her miraculous saving by Arthur''s portal, she kept herself silent and didn''t even move a muscle.


    She kept herself aloof from this meaningless battle. Something told her this was all a diversion; the real deal was something else hidden from their eyes.


    She noticed how things shifted so fast and in such order that she was quite positive it was thanks to the dark angel mage.


    The dark angel mage was now the absolute leader of this war. She thought destroying the portal would be enough to get rid of that annoying mage.


    However she now realized her mistake; underestimating him.


    "What are you planning to do, bastard?" She kept moving her eyes all around, trying to see things beyond the current brutal war.


    And yet all she could see was a normal face of any war. Soldiers were sacrificing their lives at the frontlines while leaders kept themselves safe at the back.


    Nothing seemed out of ordinary here. However that nagging feeling of that hidden plan kept bothering her non-stop.


    "I''m sure there is something I missed," she kept scanning patiently and slowly all over the battlefield until at one moment she spotted something strange.


    "These portals¡­ what is going on there?`` The portals were the fountains that kept pouring reinforcements non-stop towards the enemy lines. They were the only thing standing between the enemy and their crushing defeat.


    No matter how much they lost, much more would be added. Amera never doubted these portals and always passed casually on them.


    Not until now.


    As she was lost in thoughts, thinking about what she missed, her eyes just happened to pass over part of these portals and start dozing off while looking at them.


    And then when she was jolted awake, she noticed the difference.


    "They¡­ are changing in color¡­" she noticed the color of the portal was getting darker than before. She noticed that out of pure coincidence and now she kept watching closer.


    "Yeah, they are definitely getting darker," she finally found the abnormality here. However the thing was that she didn''t know what that was supposed to mean.


    "Wait a minute¡­" just as she was puzzled, a thing happened as she recalled something. "Didn''t these portals change in color as well when they summoned those fake leaders here?" her heart suddenly clenched as she added in a dignified tone, "are they trying to come here¡­ for real?!!!"


    Without any hesitation everything finally fell in its place in front of her eyes. The puzzles she didn''t understand before were all solved now. Everything made sense.


    Why did the enemy retreat like this, and why did they arrange their lines to form such a tight defensive wall in front of their forces¡­ Amera now understood everything.


    And that made her quite panicked at the moment. "I¡­ can''t let those tyrants come here," she clenched her fist over her spear before suddenly moving towards Doaf and Nicole.


    "You need to come with me," Amera said and before any of the two could say anything she hurriedly added, "now! Bring your top forces as well!"


    Without giving them the chance to speak, she instantly turned into a ray of light and started flying forward at her fastest speed.


    "She¡­ isn''t joking, right?" Nicole felt weird for a moment while Doaf kept his silence, watching Amera moving at fast speed towards the enemy lines.


    "Snap!" he snapped his fingers and the next moment a group of his top elites appeared. They numbered in a hundred or so, and they all looked quite strong.


    "If anything I know about her," he said while turning to Nicole, "this girl never fools around. Summon your men and follow us fast!"


    Doaf didn''t hesitate to start to fly fast towards the front. His mages followed without any single objection or question, leaving Nicole feeling perplexed from far behind.


    "Screw this, how did I end with such maniacs?" she shook her head before she turned around, "bring me the strongest, only the finest," she yelled in anger at her mages and instantly a group of few hundreds appeared.


    "Follow me," she instantly flew after the two while gritting her teeth. "we are already winning, why act in such a weird way then? Why should we risk it?" she couldn''t help but mutter in disagreement while trying to catch up with the other two.

 Chapter 870: What Happened To The Three Of You?!!!

    Meanwhile Arthur was still immersed in that bright light while not knowing any of this.


    He was still mad, feeling angry towards the dirty trick that the old man did to him. He didn''t want to exit that world so soon, after all this was a golden chance and now he lost it.


    "That bastard¡­" he couldn''t help but mutter to himself in anger while he was bathed with that light. He lost his consciousness for an unknown period of time as the sudden influx of this energy was too much at first.


    However it seemed his body kept getting stronger and thus he regained his awareness. But his rage never ceased to boil.


    "I shouldn''t leave that trial until I finish it!" he shouted in extreme rage, however he deeply knew it was already over.


    Once getting out of the trial, one couldn''t return no matter how bitter or regretful or wishful he was.


    It was only one shot, and despite winning it he still felt deep regret.


    "Boom!"


    All of sudden his body landed over the ground without any warning. A loud explosive sound happened as he found himself standing inside a familiar world.


    "This¡­" he glanced around while recognizing the Golam lake and his garden world.


    ''You came back!'' Gege''s sound reverberated in his ears, ''finally! I was deadly worried about you!''


    ''Ding! I told you, he was inside a trial to progress his power,'' the system said in a confident tone and yet Arthur could sense the happiness in his voice.


    ''Welcome back kid, you know how to make old men like me worry,'' the golden dragon said in a tired tone.


    "I''m¡­ glad I''m back," he lied as he wasn''t that happy to return here. "What happened while I was away?"


    ''Many things happened,'' Gege instantly said.


    "Oh," Arthur suddenly recalled the war he left in the middle, "didn''t the war end already?" he couldn''t help but ask while feeling puzzled.


    He sacrificed himself to get rid of that pagoda and portal together. He succeeded which meant there was no reason for the war to continue.


    But from the tone of Gege just now he realized things were far from over.


    ''You are wrong,'' the golden dragon said in his tired tone, ''things¡­ just got more complicated since you left.''


    Arthur frowned. "How come?" he couldn''t help but gaze towards the direction of the tree of mirrors, "Is it still happening? What about the sect?"


    ''Well¡­'' Gege''s hesitation made it clear things weren''t that good. He instantly turned into a dragon and in the next moment he soared high in the air.


    As he flew towards the direction of the tree, the three beings kept briefing him about what happened while he was away.


    "So¡­ you say the leader of this war here is that punk from the dark angel clan?" Arthur asked before adding in puzzlement, "is he that strong? He is an angel after all!"


    ''Angels are very nasty being either white or dark,'' the golden dragon said, ''they think themselves above all. In the light camp they held the position of being the boss, like the dark camp as well.''


    "So they are this strong," Arthur said in realization.


    ''Not strong,'' the golden dragon corrected him, ''in fact they are much weaker than anyone else.''


    "Then¡­" Arthur paused as he felt more puzzled.


    ''They are unique,'' Gege hurriedly said as she hated keeping herself silent and watching others talking to Arthur.


    ''Like our little cry baby here, they possess a myriad of special abilities and techniques that make them stand on a higher ground than everyone else.''


    ''Who is the cry baby?'' Gege said in an aggressive tone, however Arthur had to step in and stop this unneeded conflict at this critical moment.


    "So they are special in what?"


    ''Ding! That idiot up there is able to create portals,'' the system said, ''Ding! As far as we know, he can summon portals that can link many worlds together.''


    "Ah," Arthur nodded in realization, "so he was the one responsible for summoning that annoying pagoda here."


    ''This isn''t all,'' the golden dragon said, ''he also created another portal where it will link to all the higher realms of the dark clans.''


    "What?!!" Arthur felt an instant threat, "does this mean¡­ oh, that''s bad!"


    ''It is,'' Gege said, ''however everyone worked their best to stop him. Amera did a heroic part and now that portal is crumbling.''


    ''Ding! It''s not only her doing,'' the system interrupted her, ''Ding! I also got into contact with the world''s will and made her step in to help.''


    ''You two did great, satisfied now little kids?'' the golden dragon seemed to be annoyed to stay here and watch the two do things to help while he couldn''t.


    "Then the war is about to be over," Arthur took a deep breath and stopped another unneeded fight, "that''s a relief."


    ''No it isn''t!'' yet the golden dragon aggressively objected, ''things are far from over here, kid!''


    "¡­" Arthur didn''t know what to say except to stay silent and wait for the golden dragon or anyone else to explain.


    ''Ding! That dark angel mage seems to make this war personal,'' the system said.


    ''He is trying to do something fishy now,'' Gege said.


    ''He is going to make another version of the portal he failed to make,'' the golden dragon said clearly, ''he is going to make not only one, but as many portals as possible.''


    "Is it¡­ possible to do that?" Arthur already arrived at the tree and landed there while waiting for the golden dragon''s answer.


    ''He can,'' the golden dragon said, ''I believe he has help from other dark angel mages on the other sides as well.''


    "You mean¡­ at those higher realms?" Arthur felt more threat now than before. "We need to stop this!"


    ''It''s not that threatening though,'' the golden dragon tried to console him by exposing more facts, ''after all the quality of these portals can''t be compared to the one he was initially trying to make.''


    ''Plus he is going to die anyway,'' Gege forced herself inside the talk again.


    "Die? Is he that wounded?" Arthur stepped inside the world of the tree of mirrors before a large mirror appeared in front of him. Yet its surface was still showing nothing, only his reflection.


    ''No, he looks totally fine to me,'' Gege said.


    ''Ding! As if you can see him, humph,'' the system seemed on the edge here as he said in a cold tone.


    "What exactly happened between the three of you while I was away?" Arthur couldn''t help but shout in faint anger, "this isn''t the time to bicker at each other like this! We are in front of such a crisis and you all fight against each other?"

 Chapter 871: Unexpected Event

    Arthur''s words made everyone silent. They were all stressed out for him, that they started to release their pressured emotions once he got out.


    And yet the time wasn''t perfect for them to do such a thing to each other. In fact Arthur was the most pressured one here, feeling somehow responsible for that.


    ''Is this what that old man meant back then?'' he thought to himself while recalling the meaningless words of that mysterious voice when he was forced out of there.


    If not for that, he wouldn''t be able to come here. If he was too late then things would end up in a much worse state than this.


    He only kept playing inside that trial world only for his confidence the war was over and everyone was alright.


    However he now realized how foolish it was for him to think this way.


    "Now can anyone explain to me why he is going to die while he is perfectly well?" he asked while squeezing his temple, feeling extremely exhausted at the moment.


    He kept fighting, fighting since he sat foot out of his academy. Since that moment and up till now he didn''t enjoy a single moment of peace.


    He missed his friends. He missed his past tranquil life as a cultivator. When he was one, he never felt this much stress at all.


    The life of cultivation was so peaceful that could numb one''s soul. However the life of the mage was so stressful that made him always on the edge.


    "I had to take vacation oneday," he joked to himself while waiting for the answer to his question.


    And the golden dragon was the one to answer him.


    ''He is going to have a strong backlash this time,'' the golden dragon said before slowly explaining, ''each technique performed by the dark angels has its price. Failure meant grave punishment, something people called the angel''s curse back in my time.''


    "Aha," Arthur nodded in realization while the mirror started flashing, about to show up the scenes happening outside. "So he is going to die, but he refused to die out in peace¡­ tsk, such a bitter loser indeed."


    ''They have such an ego that could rival gods themselves,'' the golden dragon said.


    "You said something about being the only one able to see him, how come?" Arthur asked his system while the mirror started to show off the real world outside.


    ''Ding! He is invisible,'' the system said, ''Ding! No one can see him or even feel his presence.''


    "Oh, is that so?" Arthur returned to his human form after stepping inside the tree world, "then how come you are able to see him?"


    ''It''s not him,'' Gege said in an angry tone that she tried to suppress and yet failed, ''the world''s will is.''


    ''Ding! Nothing can be kept hidden from the eyes of the world''s will,'' the system ignored the angry tone of Gege before adding, ''Ding! She keeps me informed of his location all the time. Plus she kept some sort of an aura to stick out to his body. So using my spiritual sense, I can track him.''


    "Great," Arthur stopped talking the moment the mirror showed everything outside. "This¡­ is a real nightmare!"


    The mirror showed the scenes when Amera started to head towards the portal. He saw the thick layers of mages and monsters forming tight defense against the cultivators.


    While Amera flew fast, Doaf, Nicole, and the crow followed her with their own forces. "Since when did he appear there?" he pointed out towards the crow while watching his angry face. "He looks very pissed off to me."


    ''He appeared a while ago out of nowhere,'' Gege said before sighing, ''he is still angry towards those dark forces.''


    "Good for us," Arthur nodded, "but why are they trying to bypass the dark army here?"


    ''They are trying to reach the portals to stop the dark angel from executing his plan,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! I sense some movement from the dark angel¡­ I believe he is going to use that nasty black lightning again.''


    "Not under my watch," Arthur clenched his fists before adding in a cold tone, "Gege¡­ You know what to do," he said before turning around and started to leave here.


    ''What are you planning to do?'' the golden dragon asked in doubt.


    "Isn''t it obvious?" Arthur went outside the world where he regained his dragonair form, "I''m going out to kill that bastard."


    ''But you can''t see him! No one can!'' the golden dragon said in puzzlement before he realized what Arthur intended to do. ''Oh wait¡­ Are you going to use her help then?''


    "Why not?" Arthur shrugged, "after all we are all fighting on the same side here."


    ''But¡­''


    "What?" Arthur interrupted him, "if we let him live, this madman will keep causing us disasters until he dies. Gege, open a portal out for me, it''s time for me to rejoin this war once more."


    ''¡­''


    The golden dragon wanted to warn him about something, but Arthur passed through the portal in steady steps with no intention to listen to anyone at this moment.


    He just hated the fact that he was going to pay with his life for no use at all!


    However, just before he could pass completely through the portal, a sudden wave of energy came out from his body, forcing the portal to be closed and him to be thrown high in the air.


    "What the hell just happened?!!" he stood on his feet while watching in amazement the place that portal was just a moment ago.


    Now there was nothing but a pulse of energy, beating out like it was some sort of a heart or something.


    "Gege¡­" he only said that but the next moment that pulse of energy changed color from pure white into dark blue.


    And then it changed its form to become a small dragon before it instantly shot into his head.


    ''I¡­ didn''t do that!'' Gege said in a distressed tone however it was too late for her to say that.


    The next instant Arthur felt his body so weak before he slammed heavily on the ground with eyes shut.


    He lost his consciousness just at this critical moment.


    ''Damn! What just happened to him?'' the golden dragon panicked as he didn''t recognize what just happened.


    ''Ding! I believe it''s what he got from that trial,'' the system seemed to gain some insights than the other two, ''Ding! He is developing new abilities now. I hope they are for the best.''


    ''At this moment?'' Gege was shocked before adding, ''Then what about that war? His plans for it?''


    ''Sigh, why is everything so complicated around this kid?'' the golden dragon couldn''t help but complain, ''just go on with his plans. Anyway we don''t know how long he will keep being like this. I don''t want to hear him complaining about it when he regains his consciousness.''


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 872: The Ultimate Technique

    As for the outside world, things weren''t going as everyone planned.


    Just as Amera led everyone else on such reckless charge, the dark angel mage didn''t stand by and did nothing.


    He instantly ordered all of his leaders and elite mages and monsters to leave everything they were doing and intercept this unexpected force.


    Just as Amera and everyone were cutting their path through a dense number of mages and monsters, they were met with a fierce resistance led by all the leaders here.


    Both sides already used their ultimate techniques and were in such weakened states already. However even a lion wouldn''t be a puch over when he was injured.


    But against each other, things seemed to be at a stalemate. Amera fought her way so hard at the front where everywhere she tried to penetrate was locked and blocked in front of her.


    She kept trying, however the other side kept persistently defending. Both sides became now aware that this was the final clash that would determine everything.


    And no one wanted to become on the losing end here. And thus despite being weakened and without sharp thorns, each side was exerting all of their powers and even more.


    "Damn it!" Amera was kicked by one of the giant leaders and flew fast to the back, "screw it! Doaf¡­ Doof¡­" she shouted at Doaf who was slightly far from her.


    "What?" Doaf couldn''t come to her and only shouted.


    "Retreat!" Amera suddenly gave this unbelievable order that made every single one here feel perplexed. "I said¡­ Retreat now!"


    Just as she said this in such a way, Doaf couldn''t help but turn around and yell at everyone on his side: "Retreat! It''s dangerous here! All retreat!"


    Just as he led everyone to break free from all clashes here, Nicole and the crow came with haste towards him.


    "What''s going on here?" Nicole couldn''t help but ask.


    "Why are we retreating?" The crow was more enraged than everyone else about this. "Shouldn''t we press forward? Why the hell are we retreating?"


    Doaf was already flying as fast as he could backwards while stealing glances at the all alone Amera. She stood all alone, facing endless numbers of mages and monsters plus elites and leaders.


    "I believe¡­" Doaf paused before Amera''s body started to suddenly shine like a little star, "yeah¡­ she is going to do it!"


    "Do what?" The crow was on the verge of exploding at the moment out of his rage and impatience.


    "She is going to use her ultimate technique!" Nicole recognized what was going to happen.


    "She¡­ didn''t use it yet?'''' The crow was shocked before a sudden loud rumble came forth. And then everything seemed to grow silent out of fear from Amera''s technique.


    "Her technique¡­" Nicole couldn''t help but sigh, "was always brutal in normal situations."


    "¡­"


    The crow couldn''t say anything while feeling slightly intimidated by that terrifying aura Amera''s body emitted at this moment.


    "Retreat!" the dark angel seemed to feel fear as well, "everyone¡­ retreat fast! Get away from her!"


    However his shouts just came too late.


    Amera kept gathering up her energy in such an intimidating way. Her body started to vanish under the bright light she emitted.


    And just as she gathered more than enough of her life force, she instantly pointed her spear towards the direction of the path towards the portals.


    That path was already blocked by many mages and monsters, cannonfodders, elites, and leaders. She sneered and showed an evil smile over her face, an expression that was masked by her bright and intense aura.


    And then she started to perform the special technique of her family.


    "I''m light," she deeply muttered, "I''m fire," she slowly added, "I''m the wrath of gods on anything living!"


    The next instant she merged with her spear. For everyone watching her from both sides, she did something usual.


    Yet what happened next wasn''t usual at all!


    Instead of going towards the ground like she used to do, she headed towards the sky. The moment she rose high up, the sky turned dim as a large amount of dark clouds appeared out of nowhere.


    For those watching this from down below, they had the feeling that all these clouds were given birth from Amera''s shining body.


    Or it came from the spear.


    No matter the reason, they stood there in awe while watching the birth of thick arcs of lightning in the depth of these clouds.


    It was like a beast was rumbling up there, twisting in rage and discontent.


    For her enemies this looked quite intimidating, and some even had shaky legs for no proper reason.


    Yet what came down next proved their instincts to be frightened was true.


    All of sudden thick tongues of lightning descended upon them. Thunder long curved arms landed over the ground, touching everyone standing there and turning them into a poof of smoke.


    No one was spared from such torment. Not even those who were so lucky enough to stand outside the region getting hit constantly by this strange thunder.


    It was like thunder adored this region and kept hammering over it one time after another without any stop.


    Very horrifying silence prevailed while this happened. There was no explosive sound, no rumbling or even a hiss. Silence prevailed over everyone here, turning this place into an area of ancient graveyard.


    Her technique was so fierce and was very suitable for this moment. She tried to save it until she reached the portals, however it seemed her enemy made sure she couldn''t touch these portals at all.


    And so she decided to use it now and carve a path for her allies to step forward. It didn''t matter to her who would be the hero to destroy the portals and end this war.


    As long as the portal was smashed to pieces, she didn''t care about anything else.


    "Damn it!"


    The dark angel already read through her suicidal plan. "I swear I will kill you with my own hands!" He roared in anger while watching his elite forces, many of his cannon fodders getting killed mercilessly by Amera''s brutal technique.

 Chapter 873: Portals Vs Portals

    "Listen up," Doaf suddenly stopped everyone. However he didn''t need to do so. The scene of what was going on at the front made everyone stop and feel amazed by how strong that technique was.


    "The moment the technique is over, most of you will go forward and aim at the portals while few will stand around Amera and help to protect her."


    Everyone nodded in understanding while feeling great awe towards Amera. She alone managed to wipe out a large number of forces of the enemy on the expense of her strength.


    So protecting their hero now seemed like the best thing to do in such a situation. It was the least act of respect towards her.


    Especially when many realized the dark angel mage would try to target her once she got weakened. If they were in his shoes, they wouldn''t feel any comfort unless she was killed.


    "I can''t say anything but Amera seemed to be the nemesis of that dark angel mage," Nicole couldn''t help but laugh and her comment and laugh came just in time to dispel part of everyone''s stress.


    And she wasn''t wrong about that. Since the beginning of this fierce and bloody war, Amera was the sole hero who always crushed the dark angel mage''s plans one after another.


    Amera''s special technique kept rampaging all around her, killing anyone she pointed her spear towards. However brutal and domineering her technique was, it had a time limit, a short one.


    "Now!" Doaf instantly decided to lead everyone towards the front the moment he sensed the end of Amera''s technique was there.


    He already saw Amera doing this before and so he could guess the moment where her technique was dying. At the same time, the dark angel mage was already waiting for the technique to be over.


    It was a secret race between the two sides, one wanted to save their heroine and the other wanted to kill her.


    However the dark angel was destined to be the fastest to reach her. After all he was all hidden from this world''s eyes and could travel as freely as he wanted.


    All this time he stayed barely on the edge of Amera''s technique reach. The moment it died off, he instantly darted forward.


    Amera could already feel him coming with her mind. She knew he wouldn''t let her live and would retaliate at her at this moment.


    This moment was the most vulnerable moment in her life. She had no strength to even stand, and as her body fell to the ground she could see Doaf and others hurrying from behind while a strange shaped saber with three edges instead of one appeared from front.


    And it was mercilessly heading to cleave her head.


    "No!" Doaf roared in anger. He tried to cross the remaining distance as fast as he could. He wasn''t the only one trying to do so, but all others were so much infuriated at this moment.


    However no matter how fast they flew, they couldn''t beat the speed of that sword.


    "Boom!"


    The sword passed through Amera''s body before slamming over the ground. A fierce explosion occurred there followed by a barrage of attacks launched by the incoming mages.


    The two sides faced off brutaly at this moment before the sword vanished alongside his owner, leaving the weak and helpless body of Amera on the ground.


    "Amera!" Nicole was the first to reach her. She moved even faster than Doaf and looked more devastated than anyone else.


    After all, the two came from the same clan, shared the same dream and lived together for quite some time. However the moment Nicole reached her, she stood there motionless with a stupefied look over her face.


    "How come¡­" She muttered in deep shock before everyone else felt the same way the moment they reached Amera as well.


    "There''s no time for that," Amera weakly said, "go, don''t make my sacrifice be wasted¡­ Go now and crush these portals!"


    Doaf clenched the hilts of his two swords before nodding. "Protect her," he shouted at Nicole and the few elites chosen to protect her before he started to fly fast towards the portals. "Destroy them¡­ let''s do it together!" he raised one sword high in the air before another was pointed towards the portals.


    However, on the other side, that dark angel mage was very furious at what just happened.


    "How dare you try to save her?" he roared and the next moment he appeared in front of the portals. He wasn''t visible to anyone, but his ominous aura could be felt miles away already.


    He alone stood there, facing the angry group of elites led by Doaf and others with much more rage.


    For him his life is worth nothing at the moment. He already passed over that forbidden line and now he was fighting not to live, but to take revenge before dying.


    If the instinct to live was so fierce, the desire to have revenge before dying was without any doubt fiercer!


    "He is there," the crow screamed in rage, "let''s get our revenge boys¡­ Let''s have glory, all together!" he yelled at his men while they all were experiencing different waves of emotions at the moment.


    They were the ones who weren''t able to go up to the higher realms and didn''t know the fate of their worlds. For them they believed in the worst and right now they had a chance to retaliate for their own people and world.


    And their honor!


    However the dark angel mage wasn''t fazed by all this. He just let them come closer before he started to act.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    All of sudden portals popped out of nowhere. Their sudden appearance all over the place, around the dark angel mage made everyone feel doubt.


    "Are they¡­ Arthur''s?" Doaf couldn''t help but ask himself in puzzlement, "or¡­"


    However his and everyone''s puzzlement was all solved when many mages and monsters passed from them. The first to appear were the surviving leaders followed by few elites.


    These leaders weren''t anyone but those who were supposed to keep the array working to summon the portal. Everyone already forgot about them, however the dark angel mage decided to summon them now.


    After all, the portal he was trying to summon was about to be destroyed in either way. So it was best to put them to good use instead of wasting their efforts at that useless array.


    And the scariest fact about them was simply that none of them used their ultimate technique yet. In addition to their lack of fighting during all this time, making them well rested and very refreshed compared to everyone else, compared to their foes.


    And yet again the balance of this war began to shift away from Doaf and others while heading towards the dark angel mage and his dark forces.

 Chapter 874: A Loss For A Loss... No One Is A Winner!

    The sudden appearance of such strong force startled everyone. The only good news here was that their numbers weren''t that much. And that made Doaf shout without any hesitation:


    "Leave them to my men, the rest of you keep going forward!"


    He deviated from the main group while leading his few hundreds against the few tens. However he couldn''t underestimate these tens, as they still had their ultimate techniques.


    And the moment the two sides got near each other, the leaders didn''t hesitate to activate their ultimate techniques one after another.


    In no time brutal waves of attacks fell over the heads of Doaf and his men.


    "Cover!" Doaf shouted and instantly those excelled at defense started to use their techniques while others took a few defensive arrays out and started activating them.


    However against such a combined attack, these attempts were doomed to fail. The moment these defenses crumbled and crushed, Doaf and others were sent to the air, flying backwards with many wounds.


    However Doaf wasn''t dejected by that. He did his part of the task and through his short encounter with those leaders, others managed to crush their path inside the constant influx of mages and monsters, getting much closer to the main portals.


    However as Doaf and others were thrown away from the picture, these leaders didn''t hesitate to aim their techniques at the others. They didn''t hesitate to kill their forces to make sure they could get to their enemies.


    "Watch out!" the crow shouted in alarm tone while many attacks landed fiercely over him and his men. "Cover up! Shields! Arrays! Fast!" the crow kept yelling and giving orders while he never stopped pushing himself forward.


    "Pathetic!"


    Just as they managed to shield themselves from the attacks, thanks to the large distance they created, a sinister tone appeared all of sudden from the front.


    And then that strange shaped saber appeared once more in this world. This time the dark angel mage stood personally against them, fighting them using one of his strongest offensive techniques.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Black lightning came, not from the sky but from his saber this time. The lightning kept twisting while he moved his saber and waved it right and left.


    Anyone who got hit by that was instantly sent in the air hundreds of meters backwards. And unfortunately none managed to escape this surprise attack, not even the crow himself.


    "Damn it!" Doaf watched all this while feeling flustered. He didn''t wait to see everyone getting wiped out like this. "On me!" he raised his sword and yelled once more, trying to rally his scattered forces.


    And they responded to his call. However they had to bypass these leaders now before facing that disastrous mage at the back.


    For them, this was a hell of a task to ask for.


    "Kill them all!" The dark angel mage knew he had little time left and so he had to make sure there were no more threats left before he would receive his backlash.


    The portal up in the sky was now getting burnt faster with the loss of the supporting array. This was a choice he had to make, one he couldn''t evade.


    And now those leaders held the final mission of killing the last remaining elite forces of the other side, while protecting the portals until they got successfully linked to the higher realms.


    However¡­


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    Out of nowhere, and without any warning, many portals just appeared all around the aportals. They came without any notice while a large number of mechas appeared.


    This time it was Gege''s moment to step in and use the plan Arthur tried to do before snapping out.


    "Damn you! Stop them all!" the dark angel mage didn''t stand his place and watch. He instantly moved fast, so fast, towards those mechas.


    Within no time he reached the nearest mechas and started slashing at them using his saber.


    The mechas were strong units of Arthur''s main army, however against such a high end mage from the highest realms in the universe they couldn''t do a thing.


    However their number was simply too much for a single mage to handle them all alone.


    As for other forces under his command, they were far away from this position. Only those cannonfodders were the first to reach here before anyone else.


    His leaders were already entangled in deadly fights against Doaf and his men. When Doaf saw what was going on at the front, he understood what he had to do.


    "Keep them in bay," he roared while doing his best to halt the retreat of those leaders. He didn''t aim to directly kill them, he knew there would be a time for that.


    Things kept escalating fast however no matter how hard the dark angel mage tried, those mechas reached the portals and started throwing everything at them.


    Without further ado, the number of those portals kept shrinking at a fast pace.


    "Protect these few," the dark angel mage realized how futile it was to try and stop this momentum. The enemy took him by surprise and he couldn''t do anything now to change that.


    And thus he decided to be realistic and try to control damage.


    He selected a group of ten portals only clustered together, lied at the place he first arrived at and cleared out of any mecha.


    His sudden shout made all of his forces retreat and surround those ten portals with their lives on the line. Many circles of defense layered on top of each other while the dark angel mage kept himself in the center, hidden from everyone else.


    "I won''t let you touch those," he swore while watching with extreme hatred those weak and useless machines in his eyes destroying many portals without being able to do anything to stop them.


    That made him feel so bitter, so much bitter that he wanted to do anything to kill them. But there was none to do at this point.


    As such the mechas kept ruining those portals while the leaders kept retreating despite Doaf''s and crow''s forces'' effort.


    After all, one side was very exhausted and greatly weakened and without any special weapons, and the other was refreshed and well rested and using very threatening ultimate techniques.


    They couldn''t do anything to stop them from retreating all the way towards these ten portals.


    And all of sudden things reached this stalemate where Doaf''s side couldn''t step forward anymore and the dark angel mage could only swallow their bitter losses and try their best to keep those ten portals safe.


    But things weren''t over yet¡­

 Chapter 875: A New World

    "Ouch! What happened?" Meanwhile inside the garden world, Arthur finally opened his eyes.


    He felt so much pain at first, like it was his first time breathing and blinking. He gazed around and things started to look slightly different.


    Colors appeared more vibrant, movements of everything around seemed to slow down the moment he focused over them.


    Even he could see now the specks in air and the flow of energy within the world.


    The entire world changed from simply a beautiful garden into a piece of wonder where even the air had colors and rivers of lights travelling across it.


    ''You are finally awake!'' Gege yelled in joy when she heard his voice.


    ''Kid, stop whining and start moving, things aren''t that good out there,'' the golden dragon seemed slightly nervous.


    ''Ding! How do you feel now? You just experienced an upgrade in your golden pearl energy and all other forms of energies inside you. Do you feel anything different?'' The system was more concerned about assessing what he gained from this.


    "Different?" Arthur couldn''t help but chuckle, "everything is different," he moved his eyes all around while watching this new face of the world. "I''ll get accustomed to this sooner or later anyway," he took a deep breath before asking:


    "What is the status out there?"


    ''Things aren''t that good,'' Gege hurriedly said, ''that dark angel mage is now protecting a group of ten portals with all his might.''


    "Oh," Arthur was surprised to hear that, "I saw hundreds of these portals before."


    ''The rest are now gone thanks to your plan earlier,'' the golden dragon said, ''but these ten¡­ we can''t let him activate them fully or we don''t know who will come across them.''


    Arthur nodded in agreement. "Any idea about who will pass first?" he asked.


    ''I believe leaders from higher clans,'' the golden dragon said.


    "But if they came here, the world would be destroyed," Arthur didn''t understand this.


    ''No, they are coming through a lega portal now,'' the golden dragon explained, ''these portals will affect their energy and make them sustainable. However¡­''


    "They will still be a pain in the ass¡­ I can tell that myself," Arthur took a deep breath, "alright, take me out now. It''s time for me to greet that dark mage myself."


    The next moment a portal opened just next to him. He simply walked through it while thinking back about the moment this portal appeared.


    Just before it came to this world, Arthur could see the change in the energy flow around. The energy itself started to gather and swirl before the portal opened.


    "So energy moves first before anything interesting," he muttered to himself while appearing in the real world.


    The moment he came out, his ears got instant shock from the loud noises all around. However the most shocking thing wasn''t this but the world he was now seeing.


    Chaos! It could only be described best by this word! The world all around was filled with many intelinking threads of energies that kept moving back and forth, overtaking one another while seeing anything beyond this seemed impossible for him.


    "I¡­ need to adjust to this," Arthur felt a severe headache just from experiencing this. He was totally new to these changes, and yet he had no time to slowly adapt.


    Henceforth he opened his eyes and kept glaring at everything like he was trying to devour the world with his gazes.


    The spot he appeared at, however, was in the heart of everything. The fight was still raging between both sides over the remaining free portals. Despite the overwhelming victory of Doaf''s and others forces, the dark angel mage didn''t give the order for everyone to retreat.


    He wanted to waste time as much as he could while toying with them. He now dropped any interest in the rest of portals. However, that didn''t mean he couldn''t use them for his own benefit.


    And thus the forces Doaf and others led faced great resistance at this moment. They were destined to crush everything and kill everyone here, but at what cost?


    On the other hand, the elite forces led by the crow tried their best to infiltrate the tight defense around the ten portals. Just minutes ago the leaders managed to rejoin with the rest of their forces.


    They suffered many losses however a considerable number of them joined the forces around the portals.


    Things started to stabilize around the portal by their addition. And now the crow was facing a hard time dealing with them.


    The fact that all sides exhausted their ultimate techniques forced itself over everyone and the entire scene. If a single one still had his or her ultimate technique, then breaking through this defense would have been a piece of cake by now.


    However now things headed directly towards a stalemate, with the dark angel mage reigning over the ten portals with firm grip.


    Arthur''s sudden appearance didn''t attract any attention. After all, he appeared in the middle of this mess while everyone was pushed over the edge on both sides.


    And that just bought him enough time to slightly adapt.


    ''Why aren''t you moving?'' The golden dragon was puzzled by the sudden stop and the look of struggle over Arthur''s face.


    ''Ding! What''s wrong? Is it a new ability or what?'' the system could at least guess a thing or two about what was going on now.


    ''He is¡­ seeing the world differently now,'' Gege tried to explain, however Arthur stopped them at the next moment.


    "Can you stop talking for a moment? Please?" he was feeling great stress against this new ability of his. Seeing the world in such a state was too much for his brain to process.


    And yet he was sure gaining such ability would make all the difference in his future.


    ''Ding! try to use your spiritual energy now!'' however the system suddenly said after a momentary pause.


    "What?" Arthur couldn''t understand why the system suggested that. His mind was so burdened now with all that he was experiencing that he couldn''t even process what the system said properly and fast.


    ''Ding! Just try it!'' The system felt Arthur wasn''t in his best condition and thus he only gave him an order instead of an explanation.


    He felt an explanation in such a weird state wouldn''t help but to make things worse.

 Chapter 876: THE MOST IMPORTANT Chapter IN THE NOVEL: Understanding Everything

    Arthur couldn''t think too much at this moment. Despite being surrounded by fighting allies and enemies, he wasn''t caring about that at all.


    He knew if he didn''t get a handle on his newly acquired power, he would be done for. Everyone would be done for.


    Something kept nagging him about this power, about its timing and everything. Something kept telling him that having this power wouldn''t be a coincidence, not at all.


    He was meant to gain such strength at such a moment to do something great. He knew it. He could already sniff it, the fingerprints of fate all over this.


    As for his system, he trusted him a long time ago. His system never failed him and so he didn''t hesitate to move out and do as the system suggested.


    The moment he closed his eyes and started to regulate his breaths, he felt like entering a strange state of mind.


    "This¡­" he was instantly overwhelmed by what he was feeling at the moment. It wasn''t a normal state, it was the absolute godly state of mind and soul.


    Things that he didn''t get before started to be clear in front of his mind. This power wasn''t meant for him to fight and kill anyone, but it was meant for him to control everything.


    If he could control even the weakest form of energy in the world, why would he ever be bothered to fight? To move a finger and kill his enemies while he could simply cut off their energy supply from the entire world?


    At this moment he realized how deeply wrong he was before. How deeply wrong this world felt towards the way power was harnessed here.


    In fact it wasn''t any different than his cultivation world. Mages weren''t people using the demon''s energy to gain strength. They took power from the world itself.


    And so the presence of the world''s will started to make sense now. Someone had to be there to judge and rule over everything. Someone had to be present to enforce law and maintain balance.


    As such he realized another fact that was clouded from his mind before, the reason why any world he visited he could get the help and support from the world''s will there.


    Why at some worlds the dark forces tried to eliminate the world''s will there or even succeeded in doing so. The dark forces knew this secret, everything was controlled by the world''s will.


    The world''s will wasn''t a god, but an agent for heaven working to maintain balance. Those dark forces aimed and thrived to imbalance this, and it made only sense now why they always targeted the world''s wills all around the universe.


    They aimed to strike at the heart of their enemies without their enemies even realizing this. Arthur started to feel more awe towards such a strategy and now he started to have a glimpse about why he was sent here in the first place.


    He wasn''t meant to be punished, not at all. Heavens didn''t want to pressure and contain him. In fact he now saw things in a different light, and in such a purely high mental state he could link all the scattered dots together.


    He was here to return balance to a universe on the verge of losing it!


    He now knew he was the only one capable of doing so. People on the light side here never thought of such a possibility before, that things weren''t given to them by demons but by the world.


    If they ever considered this, they would have gone towards a totally different path in power. Something he knew would resemble the cultivation world he was living in before.


    "So¡­ every world is just a copy of the cultivation world," he couldn''t help but take a deep breath while marveling about this grand plan of heavens, of fate.


    "And I''m at the heart of this. I''m not punished but given a trial to save a universe from being destroyed," he muttered while feeling more intimidation towards this trial.


    It wasn''t a simple trial against heaven, it was a crusade on the side of heaven. He wasn''t sent here to be exiled or even tested, he was sent here as a strong ally, a soldier worthy to participate in such a sacred war.


    A war that he never imagined to exist before.


    A war on a totally different scale than any other war he took part in.


    "So my journey would end here, not this simply," he realized how long the path in front of him was. He thought if he managed to rise up he would end up in his old world.


    He started to get this belief not long ago. However now he knew he was mistaken. He was never meant to go back. He even doubted if he won this war he would be able to return to his old world, to live a peaceful life ever again.


    Once a soldier of heaven would remain a soldier of heaven. Wars never end, and he was thrown in the heart of it as the main protagonist.


    Something he didn''t know if he should laugh or cry over it. He was the man who brought this on himself. He was the man who thought high and mighty of his abilities, and desired and craved for more.


    His ambition was the thing that brought him here. And now he had to make a hard choice, a choice of his life.


    Would he remain here and fight? Or would he just surrender and die?


    To live or die, that was the par biforked in front of him at the moment. That was why he was granted such power at this time, and why secrets were finally unveiled in front of him.


    "I¡­ will always remain true to my beliefs," he took a deep breath before starting to incite his own ritual words, "I¡­ will always be true to myself¡­ I will always be on the side of the right and won''t turn my back after coming this far!"


    He took his decision and without any warning, a rumble sound echoed inside his body and soul. It seemed like something was blocked and had been removed, and the next instant he was forced to jolt himself awake.


    And all the noises and disturbance in the world from before were gone!

 Chapter 877: Taming This Power

    It seemed like the world had accepted him, or he accepted his fate and new power. The colors that blinded his eyes and clouded his mind were now looking docile.


    He could tell them apart so easily, and could also feel some connection towards them. "So the answer was always the same¡­" he took a deep breath before raising his head and spotted that sect.


    The sect that started all this mess.


    "And this was here just for me, right?" his smile was getting wider before he suddenly laughed. Under his eyes, under the watching eyes of everyone, all the cultivators around turned into puffs of smoke.


    Even the towering peaks of the sect started to fade away like an illusion. And yet he knew it wasn''t.


    This sect was planted here in this world to do just one purpose, to push him along this path. After going through it, the purpose was now meaningless and thus its presence had to halt.


    It wasn''t surprising for him and yet it was shocking to everyone. Even the dark forces led by the dark angel mage were all shocked to see this scene.


    The dark angel mage came to this world for one task, one task alone. He had to destroy that sect and make sure it wouldn''t exist.


    He tried, using the best of his abilities and everyone provided to him by the mighty dark clans. And yet he failed.


    However just in such a moment, this disappearance came out of the blue to him. It seemed weird, like there was a trick behind it or something.


    However the only person in the entire world, or even in the entire universe, knew of the true secrets behind all this was only Arthur.


    And Arthur stood erect with a straightened back while watching his enemies with cold eyes.


    The cultivators made the main bulk of Doaf''s and other forces so far. With their sudden disappearance, things seemed unfavorable for them.


    In terms of strength, numbers, and even abilities the dark side would easily win. However there was only a single variable that stood there without anyone realizing it.


    It was Arthur.


    He alone was now able to fight an entire army single handed and win without breaking a sweat.


    He was now a true powerhouse that everyone should watch out for, not a pushover, a weak mage from a low world, a traitor of the mighty dark dragonair clan.


    He was the agent of heavens, someone that the entire universe would be shaken whenever his name would be mentioned.


    "Kill them all!" At this time of chaos and confusion, the dark angel mage was the first to recover. He instantly gave this cold order to all his forces around.


    It was his moment to shine. The portal he initially summoned at the sky was still burning. He knew he had less than ten minutes left before the backlash would haunt him.


    And yet he craved to see his enemies dead and crushed under his feet before that. He wanted his revenge.


    But he wouldn''t be able to get it.


    "Die!"


    "Kill them all!"


    "Together!"


    All of sudden all the scattered dark forces around the remaining portals yelled while those standing around the ten portals started to move.


    Instead of cowering around the ten portals and desperately defending them, they shifted positions with their enemies.


    And now they were the ones running at the necks of their foes, and their mighty enemies were now running away, trying to survive and escape at all costs.


    "Gege¡­" However it was the time Arthur decided to make his presence known to the entire world, "move me there."


    He didn''t like fighting weak fries while the alpha wolf was standing in front of him.


    Just as he gained total control over his powers, he started to see things he never saw before, things no one else could see but him.


    That dark angel mage was revealed to him surrounded by fog. He could see now the dense amount of black energy swirling around his body. He couldn''t see his features, and he never needed to in the first place.


    He could perfectly see his place and even anticipate anything he would do. Before he could speak, Arthur noticed the stir in the energy around that mage and thus he knew he was going to do something.


    "I can''t control dark energy?" Arthur felt this and was startled by this realization. He could freely even touch the flows of the light energy all around.


    However with the presence of black wisps of dark energy, he tried to control its flow but failed.


    "Wait a minute¡­" all of sudden something sparkled in his mind, bringing more sense to things that didn''t make any before. "So¡­ that was all about that trial? Damn! I should never underestimate heaven!!"


    In that trial world he just got out from, he was granted a strange ability inside. He could turn any dark red energy into his own by simply making the energy surrounding him get in touch with that.


    Comparing the two situations together, and putting aside his confusion about why that trial went this way, he now could see through things before and now.


    He realized this wasn''t a trial at all, it was some sort of training. "Tsk, heavens can do such deep tricks even on me, even on someone who knew it for such a long time, sigh," he shook his head as he felt awe and slight fear from heaven.


    He didn''t imagine even the trial he went through was meant to prepare him for this moment. "How deep are the machinations of yours could go?" he raised his head to the burning sky and seemed to see through these dark layers up there.


    He was speaking to the heavens directly, admiring his lack of comprehension and insight from before.


    But now he had to throw all this behind his back and start moving.


    He knew what he should do.

 Chapter 878: Arthurs New Technique

    Arthur took a deep breath before he tried to control the energy from around. He aimed at the light energies all over the place, totally avoiding the dark ones.


    The energy followed his will and started to shift their direction and start gathering around him. "Just like this¡­ easy as a piece of cake," he muttered to himself while trying to delve deeper into that strange feeling.


    He was now feeling powerful, so powerful that he could shatter any army from any realm and from any clan at any moment he wanted.


    However he found out later on that this wouldn''t work.


    The energy followed his will, however they didn''t rotate around him or attach themselves to his body. The moment he stopped controlling them, the energy returned to its former paths.


    And that meant he couldn''t fight or use it as he wanted. That also meant he missed something. ''This isn''t what I experienced there¡­'' he thought while deeply contemplating this.


    The three beings in his mind hesitated to speak. They didn''t know what was going on with him, even Gege. For her, what he was doing and thinking about now were all mere puzzles.


    After all, she didn''t know what he experienced inside that trial world. They were all shut out from there, and so Arthur was all alone in handling this.


    "Is it this?" he hesitated before he decided to give it a shot.


    Arthur''s appearance went unnoticed among all this chaos thanks to his silence. He didn''t do or say anything, and he even didn''t turn to his dragonair form.


    The dragonair form was now his signature. The moment he would use it, the moment things would change all around. He would announce his presence to his enemies before allies and friends.


    However this wasn''t the only signature he had, the sword technique of his was also considered one.


    And now he was thinking about using the sword technique to augment his control over the energy. After all his trial was all towards his golden pearl energy, the one he used to activate and fuel his phantom sword technique.


    If he used it, everyone would notice his presence.


    "Screw this, let them know," he decided to go all out. If he was about to be discovered, then he should be well prepared for his enemies with all his weapons.


    "Gege¡­ be ready to use the portals at my mark," he said and didn''t need to explain further.


    Gege already read his mind and was able to get what he wanted to do. The next moment he started with activating his sword technique first.


    He started to move, making the needed steps for the sword technique to be activated. Just as he held the phantom sword in right hand and the real sword in his left, he started to roar!


    His body changed and began his transformation. Saying that the entire world ushered under deafening silence at this moment would be an understatement.


    Everyone, literally everyone, turned their gazes and fixated them over his blue scales and big dragon body.


    And the next second he roared once more, while hitting the ground with his legs and moving his wings as hard as he could.


    He flew, like a bullet, heading directly towards the location of that hidden dark angel mage.


    "Damn!" the dark angel mage noticed Arthur even before he showed the true colors of himself. He was the only one here sensitive to the flow of energies in this world.


    So when Arthur tried to control the energies at first, the dark angel mage noticed him. However he mistook him for someone trying to gather up his energy to activate the ultimate technique, and in the end he failed.


    That was the common case to cause such disruption in energy like Arthur did. However the moment Arthur turned into a dragon and headed towards him with his two swords, the face of the dark angel mage fell.


    As for Arthur, the moment he activated his phantom sword technique he felt the sudden stir in the energy all around. He didn''t even need to control the energy with his own will, as the energy started moving from its own accord.


    And when he transformed, things returned to the time where he was inside that trial. Instantly the closest energy to him stuck themselves all around, forming a circle of white light that extended to ten meters.


    The energy from all around kept pouring towards him, sticking themselves with him, expanding and growing that circle of light.


    A small ray of light turned in no time into a giant pillar of white light. And this wasn''t all.


    As he started to fly towards the dark angel mage, his energy kept touching the condensed dark energies. Arhtur could perfectly hear the non-stop sizzling sounds coming from all around.


    His energy, his growing pillar of white energy, was purifying the dark energies and absorbing it in the process, rapidly expanding his pillar of light at an even faster speed.


    And that didn''t escape the keen senses of the dark angel mage, forcing him to be terrified of Arthur.


    "Who the hell are you?" As Arthur kept flying forward in fast speed, the roaring sound of the angry and terrified dark angel mage thundered all over the world.


    However Arthur didn''t speak in words, but actions.


    He just passed over the thick and condensed layers of defenses made of the dark mages and monsters from higher realms. They were all high realmers, all were frantically stronger than him.


    However the moment he flew over their heads, things looked like he held a scythe of death and was now the agent of death, a death god perhaps.


    Each place he passed over, anyone, literally everyone underneath would lose the luster in their eyes and all the strength in their bodies before laying on the ground motionless.


    They looked dead without the need of Arthur to do anything. However Arthur knew better than that. All he did was to cut off all the dark energy that supported these mages and monsters and turned these into his own.


    Shutting down the constant influx of energy inside their bodies made them lose all their strength and even consciousness. They fell on the ground motionless, not dead and yet soon to be.


    "F*ck you!!`` The dark angel mage was the only one in the entire battlefield who could see what Arthur was doing. He also understood what he did to the men and monsters down on the ground.


    The more he thought about it, the more he got frustrated and terrified.


    This foe¡­ Arthur wasn''t like any foe the dark angel mage fought before. He was the exact definition of the sworn enemy and the natural nemesis of him and all of his kin.


    "Screw it!" However, that didn''t mean he couldn''t fight him. He knew he couldn''t win, not without all his power and strength. And yet he didn''t need to win or kill Arthur.


    He only needed to buy himself a bit of time, he needed to stall for time until the portals would be fully activated.


    And then he would live the remaining few minutes watching this unheard of monster fighting his reinforcements.


    "Die!" without further hesitation, the dark angel mage darted towards Arthur, stopping him from reaching the area of the portals.


    He knew Arthur''s aim was these portals, to cut the energy flow towards them, crushing the technique of him and his reinforcements on the other sides of the portals.


    And the dark angel mage swore not to let Arthur have it his way. Even on his dead body he would stand like a mountain in front of him.

 Chapter 879: A Clash With The Dark Angel Mage

    The two moved at each other''s neck from the beginning. Arthur used his phantom sword to clash at the strange saber in the hand of the dark angel mage.


    "Clang!"


    A loud bang occured that shocked everyone else. The sudden appearance of Arthur in the middle of the battlefield startled the enemies and gave a delightful surprise to his allies and friends.


    The most shocking of all was Amera. She was still recovering on a corner far from the main brutal fight. She was surrounded with the mages who defended her with devotion and courage.


    The moment the dragonair''s form of Arthur was exposed she couldn''t help but get her eyes wide open and stuck on him.


    Her mind froze and only the heartbeats of her heart kept drumming as if there was nothing else in the world except for it. She couldn''t even say a single word despite her mouth was agape.


    She tried to force herself to believe in Arthur, in his safety. However, dreaming and desperately hoping was much different than actually seeing him like this.


    However before she could even absorb this shock, she saw the violent sparkles of fire erupting when Arthur clashed with the invisible enemy.


    And that didn''t only shock her, but shocked everyone else.


    "He... can see where that nasty mage is," Nicole stood in her place motionless like the rest of the fighters in this battlefield.


    This simple clash that happened when Arthur directly flew towards the front made everyone shocked and paralyzed. Even the enemies stopped fighting and stood in daze and amazement, watching this weird battle going on.


    "Clang!" Arthur waved his other sword and this time it was also stopped by the dark angel mage.


    It appeared to everyone that Arthur was fighting air, while his swords clashed and created loud bangs all over the world.


    Sparkles of fire kept roaring one time after another. However no one could see what was going on like Arthur.


    He was winning this. Each clash drove that dark angel mage a few meters backwards, and Arthur only pressed forward.


    He knew that this mage was trying to stop him from reaching the portals, however he was sure that this mage missed how his technique worked.


    He didn''t personally get there, only getting closer was enough.


    Besides, Arthur was already gaining more power with each passing second. His violent energy kept devouring the dark energy all around and getting thicker and stronger.


    It was exactly like how he did it back at the trial. All he needed to do now was to keep moving, and his energy would do all the rest.


    The dark angel felt things were heading south for him. At first he thought he would face no trouble at all to stop Arthur. But with time he realized how naive he was.


    Each clash between him and Arthur ended up with him losing. He couldn''t believe it! He knew that strength wasn''t the strongest point of the dark angel mages, but not like this!


    He knew Arthur, he knew he was from a low realm. Compared with him, someone who was born and raised in the highest realms, he shouldn''t have any trouble facing him.


    However the dark angel mage was now pushed to his back foot. Each clash sent him flying backwards while he noticed another disturbing matter.


    He didn''t know how Arthur was doing his, but he started to notice that the light energy around Arthur kept growing non-stop without even the need to do anything.


    That made him puzzled and deeply terrified from the inside. He never faced such a weird foe. The more he thought about it the more he wanted this damned fight to end and his reinforcements to arrive.


    He wasn''t fearing death, but he was fearing he wouldn''t crush the enemy in front of him and lose everything at hand.


    "Screw you!" At some point the two got so close to the cluster of portals. The ten portals were arranged in two five headed star orders.


    And at this moment, when the two got close enough, the light energy around Arthur finally got in contact with one of the angles of the outer star.


    The dark angel mage never paid much attention to the light energy of Arthur before this. However when that light energy touched that portal, the portal simply turned gray.


    It looked like it was dying! Before he could understand what was going on, the portal suddenly turned dimmer and darker before it finally puffed on its own.


    It was like a bubble and Arthur''s energy was like a sharp needle that burst it. This scene shocked and greatly startled the dark angel mage more than anyone else watching this bizarre battle.


    In front of each one''s eyes, Arthur was simply flying midair, waving both swords fervently like he was fighting a life and death battle at this moment.


    And without any warning, the portal that lay far from the reach of his swords started to change before it suddenly burst out.


    This scene made everyone shocked and more confused. However none dared to move a muscle, not a foe or a friend.


    Their souls and inner guts told them not to. They felt if they did, they would be the next to be crushed and killed without even saying how this happened.


    "How... How is he doing this?" The crow stood in the middle of his own forces, feeling awed by what Arthur was doing.


    For them, Arthur was doing a magic trick or something. No one could even comprehend the scene, nor to even guess a head or tail of it.


    This was expected. After all, the way Arthur was fighting now transcended the mere understanding of everyone about the power of this world.


    Even the dark angel mage couldn''t understand a sh*t about this. All he could do was to fiercely trying to stop Arthur while screaming in panic:


    "What the hell are you doing? Come now, come fast, come and stop him together!"


    This shout made the doubts inside everyone''s mind from the beginning of this crazy fight clear. Arthur wasn''t fighting the air, he was fighting the invisible dark angel mage.

 Chapter 880: Retreat!

    In another situation, everyone thought the dark angel mage would choose to hide, run away from this monster.


    However everyone on the battlefield knew this wasn''t the case anymore as that dark angel mage had to protect and defend the portals with his life on the line.


    And after realizing this, everyone saw another fact that was clearly in front of their eyes all this time. Arthur was winning this fight.


    No matter how anyone saw it, Arthur kept advancing without even pausing for one single time.


    "Kill him!"


    "Die!"


    "For the clan!"


    Many shouts suddenly erupted and without any further ado a large number of dark mages and monsters threw themselves towards Arthur''s direction.


    They all discarded all sense of caution and totally ignored their enemies at their backs.


    "What the hell are you standing in daze for?" Doaf suddenly rose high in the air while his face showed extreme excitement and endless delight, "this is our leader, our young master is back and he is fighting towards the portals! Let''s help, let''s all fight alongside him once more!"


    His shouts jolted everyone awake. His words drove pride and energy inside everyone, even Amera.


    "On me!" Amera rose high in the air while shouting with her loudest voice. She raised her spear and without any hesitation she reactivated her technique once again.


    She turned into a ray of red light and rapidly headed towards Arthur. She wanted to stand around, protect him from any approaching enemy.


    Arthur was now dealing with the head of the enemy forces. A leader vs leader, a supreme general vs a supreme general; this was the fight Arthur was having at the moment.


    On the other hand, what Arthur just did revived the old sense of awe and admiration inside everyone who fought with him before.


    No matter how they saw things here, they couldn''t believe that the leader who created all this mess to them and kept himself aloof and hidden all this time was simply caught off guard by Arthur when he just appeared.


    Arthur proved to everyone once again that he wasn''t a simple mage who came from a low realm. He wasn''t someone who anyone could look down at. He was untouchable and irreplaceable.


    He was unique, someone they never saw alike before except for the caliber of their grandmasters and the tough elites of their clans.


    With their morals high in the sky, everyone moved towards Arthur. Enemies were on the verge of falling off the cliff here while the allies and friends were already seeing victory in reach.


    However Amera''s speed wasn''t like before. She was still very exhausted and she forcibly activated her technique out of pure will.


    However, will wasn''t enough to make her use her favored and famed technique to the fullest.


    So even before she could reach the area of the enemy forces, they reached Arthur''s area of white light first.


    The white light pillar around Arthur was invisible to the eyes of everyone else. And thus when the enemy forces just trespassed it, a spectacular scene happened.


    They all dropped off the ground like flies being shot and burnt by fire. No matter how many, or how high and strong they were, all lost all the signs of life and fell motionless on the ground.


    And the most terrifying thing of all was that this all happened without Arthur even turning an eye to see them.


    They all fell around a certain zone around Arthur, a zone everyone considered as the death zone.


    "Keep coming," the dark angel mage mistook the way Arthur''s energy worked. He thought it was just like him, using his own power to keep such a scary pillar of light intact and strong.


    So by this logic, the more he kept using his power, the weaker and shorter this power would be.


    However this simple mistake cost the dark angel a considerable loss of his forces without any gains.


    In return Arthur''s technique worked by borrowing the world''s energy from around. He didn''t need to consume an ounce of his power or even struggle to maintain or control it.


    For him this energy was like part of his soul. It could expand by what the dark forces were now doing, and thanks to that his pillar of white light reached three more portals.


    "Puff!"


    "Puff!"


    "Puff!"


    By the sudden disappearance of these portals, things became clear to the dark angel mage eyes. He saw how the pillar of white light around Arthur expanded fast whenever his forces were sacrificed.


    And now he lost three more portals thanks to this and was about to lose much more if he didn''t stop this foolish mistake of his.


    "What on earth are you?!!!" The dark angel mage was really shocked and very confused by Arthur. He was deeply terrified and now Arthur turned from a weak low realmers to a monster that broke all logics and laws of this world.


    He started to believe he was fighting a deity, someone that shouldn''t be touched or provoked. However his realization came late, too late for him.


    "Damn you!" the dark angel mage blocked one attack once more before he suddenly shouted, "retreat! All forces retreat!"


    His sudden order gave an instant relief instead of scare to the remaining dark forces all around.


    They weren''t stupid. Anyone with little brain would reach the same conclusion; Arthur was surrounded with a zone of death.


    No matter what, no matter who you were, once you stepped inside that zone then you would die!


    There was no explanation for any of this, but facts spoke louder about themselves. Not a single mage or monster managed to trespass this zone and live.


    No matter how many were thrown at the same time to create unbelievable pressure over Arthur, all ended up falling on the ground motionless.


    They even created a growing wall of corpses all around, demarcating this zone.


    But the scariest thing was that this zone was expanding with each passing second and at such a terrifying rate. Even if they stood motionless in their place, death would keep approaching them fast.

 Chapter 881: Toying With The Dark Angel Mage

    And so when that dark angel mage took the wisest decision he ever made in this entire war, everyone didn''t hesitate to turn around and start to run.


    "Don''t let anyone escape!" Doaf shouted at once while seeing this as the final show of this long and exhausting war.


    "Kill them all!" The crow was the fiercest of them all at this moment. He was also the angriest and most eager to kill. He instantly turned around when he heard the words of the dark angel mage.


    And then his forces followed.


    As for Amera, she believed words had no value compared to actions at this moment. She didn''t get how Arthur did it, but she was too proud of her man at this moment.


    He was unstoppable! Unreachable! A mighty mage standing all alone in front of such a giant army and such scary dark angel mage all alone and above all... he was winning!


    Even their entire combined forces who fought from the first of the war till this moment couldn''t achieve anything closer to this result.


    The war drew close to its final moments. "Why are you in a hurry?" Arthur sneered as he spoke for the first time, "you won''t live long anyway. So why not die at my hands?"


    "..."


    Arthur couldn''t see the features of the dark angel mage, however from the change in the energy connected to him he knew his words shocked the dark angel mage more.


    The dark angel mage didn''t think such a low realmer would be so much versed in his techniques, in his secretive clan techniques.


    It wasn''t well known to many that whenever a dark angel mage failed any of his techniques he would have a backlash. However Arthur''s words told him he knew about this, which made him wonder about the real identity of him.


    After all what Arthur did so far transcended any logic related to his low realmer identity. He couldn''t be someone from such sh*tty place, that was what the golden dragon thought about.


    "Who... exactly are you?" the dark angel mage couldn''t help but ask.


    "The one who is going to kill you," and yet Arthur pushed him further back and he also cursed two more of these portals.


    Now all that remained after this long battle was four portals only. The dark angel mage took a rapid glance at these before he could only sigh.


    Arthur felt a sudden change in the dark energy behind the dark angel mage. "Planning to run this fast?" Arthur smirked before he suddenly hit the empty air on the side of the dark angel mage, missing him.


    This sudden change in Arthur''s fight style startled the dark angel mage and took him by surprise. He planned to let Arthur do what he used to do since the beginning, throwing him backwards like a useless rock.


    Like this he would simply fall directly inside the portal he was summoning and would vanish off Arthur''s sight.


    But Arthur had another opinion regarding this.


    As he missed his enemy on purpose, the balance of the dark angel mage was lost. The dark angel mage feared Arthur''s swords and thus he kept swinging his own saber all around with no aim.


    He just wanted to protect himself until his body stabilized.


    However Arthur never intended to kill him right here. He saw in him a mine of precious knowledge about everything related to the dark forces.


    He planned to capture him from the start and slowly take his time interrogating him.


    He knew the dark angel mage would pose no threat at all whenever he got his backlash. But Arthur feared he would slip away if he was thrown inside his garden world.


    According to the golden dragon''s words, there was no world that dark angel mages couldn''t escape from. There was no single prison that could hold them captive.


    And so Arthur had to bide his time and slowly fight this mage and keep him trapped in here with him. He waited patiently for that backlash to happen.


    The moment it would happen would be the moment that mage would be done for.


    However the dark angel mage never expected any of this. All he feared was for Arthur to come and kill him now.


    At this moment he felt real fear towards Arthur. He didn''t know how he fought, and he didn''t know if the death coming from his hands would be normal death or true perish of his body and soul.


    That scared the sh*t out of him and made him drop his suicidal attitude.


    He wanted to live! Even if he would be crippled for the rest of his life, even if he would be on the run thanks to Arthur and the loss he suffered today.


    He wanted to live and not die and risk losing even his soul and reincarnation.


    As he kept waving his saber desperately, Arthur moved towards the swirl of energy up front. All he needed to do was to wave his phantom sword at it and the next moment this about to be summoned portal was absorbed by his light energy.


    "So you can hold your own energy in front of mine," Arthur slowly muttered while realizing this point, "that''s quite interesting."


    "W... What?!!" as the dark angel mage regained his balance, he found out what happened to his portal. "H... How could this... be?!!!" he was shocked again by what Arthur just did, making him realize there was no way out for him from here.


    Even if he tried to run, Arthur would simply keep chasing him. As far as he could notice, Arthur didn''t get tired from overusing his technique all this time.


    But he was.


    In addition to that, he also knew his backlash was just around the corner.


    "Wait... is he trying to capture me?" At this moment he suddenly realized what Arthur was really after. Arthur could easily deal a couple of deadly wounds to him just now.


    However Arthur was caring more about the portal the dark angel mage summoned. He wanted to trap him here and not let him escape.


    He wasn''t interested in killing him, he wanted to block all ways of retreat for him.


    And that realization scared the sh*t out of the dark angel mage. However he got it late, too late.


    "Yeah, so be a good kid and stop fooling around," Arthur stood in his place while his own eyes were beaming with terrifying threat, "stop playing with that sharp toy of yours. Kids shouldn''t get near knives, y''know."


    And that carefree tone of Arthur made the dark angel mage drop any idea of trying to escape. His foe was totally sure about trapping him that he was thinking this was a game for him.


    And such a thing never ever was heard of before. It never happened to him, it never happened to any dark angel mage throughout the ancient history of the clan.


    The dark angel clan was always feared and respected. This was the first time to see someone seeing them as no threat and was having fun toying with them.


    "Just who on earth are you?!!!"

 Chapter 882: They Are Coming!

    All paths were blocked now in front of the face of the dark angel mage. In front of him Arthur stood erect while his energy smashed one more portal without the need to move a muscle.


    Unlike what he experienced inside that trial world before, he didn''t need to keep flying and moving around. His energy was gaining stronger with its automatic purification nature.


    And that made Arthur be sure of his ability to smash the remaining three portals without the need to risk losing that dark angel mage.


    "Kill me!" the dark angel mage suddenly turned insane, "c''mon, give me a proper death at least!"


    This request seemed a bit strange and unexpected. It made Arthur take extra care towards what that mage intended to do.


    As he decided to die, then if not by Arthur''s hands then he would take his own life. That was something Arthur didn''t plan to see happening.


    "Woosh!"


    Just as he expected, the dark angel mage found no response from him and so he decided to go on plan B. Without any hesitation the energy around him got stirred up and gathered all around his right arm.


    He was going to swing his saber and claim his life now.


    But Arthur was faster.


    Like an arrow he darted towards that arm. The dark angel mage wasn''t really surprised by this as he already anticipated Arthur''s ability to see through his actions.


    Arthur''s phantom sword moved to intercept that saber. However, another thing happened instead.


    The dark angel mage didn''t swing the saber, instead he threw it in the air, turned around himself and let his chest wide open to receive this falling saber.


    "Damn you!" the dark angel mage roared, "I''ll see you in hell."


    "Tsk," however Arthur wasn''t out of options here. Just as he lost his aim for a moment, he knew he wouldn''t be fast enough to stop that saber using any of his two swords.


    As for kicking that image away, he couldn''t do that either. He might help save him at this time however that would give that mage the opportunity he needed to escape.


    And that left him with only one option here.


    The dark angel mage pulled this trick hoping to survive. He bet everything over Arthur''s desire to capture him, and played his plan based on this.


    ''Humph, let''s see how your desire to capture me will be the one to make me feel¡­ quite ironic indeed, hehehe,'' he inwardly laughed while watching the saber pointing its blades towards him.


    However as he waited, nothing happened. The saber didn''t fall on his chest or he was thrown far away from it.


    "What¡­ happened?!!" he was shocked to gaze all around and that was when he saw what Arthur did.


    "Don''t try and be smart," Arthur coldly said while his long tail held that saber and slowly moved it away, "I won''t let you escape or die, so relax and be a good lad."


    Arthur couldn''t see the face of the dark angel at this moment, however he was pretty much sure he was very angry.


    He was so enraged that he couldn''t even say a single word now. Arthur readjusted his body and stood a few meters away from the dark angel mage.


    "At least¡­ I succeeded in doing one thing," the sinister voice of the dark angel mage came while Arthur''s face instantly changed.


    He turned around to see the three remaining portals started to emit an ominous aura. Each one started to gather an immense dark energy from everywhere, while the size of each one kept expanding.


    "I know this might be a bitter win for me," the dark angel mage slowly said before he laughed, "however at least I can die knowing you are going to join me in hell so soon."


    Arthur clenched both sword hilts while watching this scene. The three portals entered into the activation phase it seemed, as they started to link to the three high realms.


    He was sure he couldn''t stop them now, however he could at least buy some time and delay their expansion. But¡­


    "Ah!!!"


    Just as he was worrying about his catch, the dark angel mage started to fiercely scream. From the sky, a thick pillar of white light descended all of sudden over the dark angel mage and caused him to scream.


    Arthur was the only one who could see this, making him wonder if this was the way heavens always worked.


    "Go inside then," without hesitation Arthur put his hand over the dark angel mage''s head and instantly took him inside his garden world.


    He had no time to wait until the heavenly punishment would end. At the same time he knew that backlash would arrive at the dark angel mage at any time and anywhere.


    However he didn''t count for a single thing.


    "What¡­ is that?!!" As he took the dark angel mage inside, that thick pillar of white light landed over his head instead.


    He totally forgot that Gege''s garden world was part of his soul. Henceforth when he took that mage inside the garden, the light came directly over his head.


    This light might be a severe punishment, like hell to that mage. However to Arthur it was like a blessing. All of sudden he felt refreshed, his power started to grow and he felt his connection to the world''s energy grew stronger.


    "What if¡­" he suddenly had such a wild thought and without hesitation he started to test things out.


    He controlled the energy around him and started to drive the energy around to surround the three portals.


    The three portals were rapidly expanding thanks to their fast suction of the dark energy from all around. If he managed to cut that supply dry then he would be able to stop the portals from expansion.


    He was sure this was due to the desire of a frightening being from the other side of the portal to cross it. So the portal had to adapt and he had to stop that.


    However the moment he tried to do that, the dark energy the portals already accumulated started to fiercely retaliate against him.


    It was like he was pushing against a giant rock on a side of the mountain. He couldn''t even force his energy to penetrate the thick surrounding dark energy of the portals.


    Even standing there in his place seemed a hard task he couldn''t be able to achieve at this moment.


    "Just drop this futile resistance," all of sudden this strong and sinister voice appeared from one portal, "I can already smell the scent of you. I''m already on my way to this world, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!"


    "Prepare your neck for me, traitor!" another voice came and Arthur felt it was one of the dragonair clan leaders without doubt. The amount of hatred and anger he felt in that sound made him sure of this.


    However, where could he run to? He was trapped in this world and now he failed to seal all the portals. He had nowhere else to run to and his only hope he could put up a good fight against whoever was crossing through these portals now.


    But he knew things were over. He couldn''t hope to fight three leaders of the dark clans on his own and survive.


    And if he considered the presence of the portal, that meant more reinforcements would arrive, scary reinforcements.


    All he could do was to clench tighter as his sword hilts and stand there motionless in midair. He didn''t drop his attempts to seal the portals using the world''s white energy.


    However it seemed the difference in the quality between the higher and lower realms was so big that he couldn''t hope to win this.


    Around him everyone saw this and felt deep shock. They saw him fight that invisible figure before finally putting his hand in a move those who fought before with him recognized.


    He took that dark angel mage inside his own world. For all of them this meant only the fact, they won this war.


    However even before anyone could yell in triumph, the three portals started to act weird.


    And that was the moment when even their hard earned victory seemed tasteless at this moment. Inside each one they felt defeat, bitter and utterly shocking defeat.


    At their moment of victory they lost, how could they even tolerate this?


    Even with the presence of Arthur, of their leader, of the one who used to create miracles all the time; none ever had a single hope to survive this!


    They all knew whoever was coming from these three portals wasn''t someone normal. At least those of the same caliber of leaders were coming now, and they wouldn''t only come alone.


    These portals would keep pouring endless streams of mages and monsters, armies upon armies would swarm this world and crush anything in their path.


    Everyone couldn''t help but weakly land on the ground with devastated looks over their faces. They raised their eyes and watched Arthur standing motionless in his place while a storm of wind kept falling around him.


    They felt he was trying to do something, however they all knew this was all futile.


    How could someone stand against fate? They couldn''t help but feel more bitter. If they were destined to lose, then why the hell did they manage to survive up till now?


    Was fate playing a dirty trick that it might only be the only one seeing it funny?


    For them if they knew things would end in such a way then they shouldn''t have resisted and persisted all this long. They should have died instead from the start.

 Chapter 883: The Alien Higher Energy

    At least their defeat wouldn''t taste this bitter. At least they wouldn''t die with such deep regret and endless rage.


    Everyone lost hope, and Arthur was the only one standing against the incoming three terrifying auras all alone. He knew as well what he was doing wouldn''t help, but he couldn''t just sit there and do nothing.


    He knew he got this chance, this technique on this time for a purpose. He couldn''t just have such power to lose it when he died here.


    It made no sense at all. If he wasn''t meant to do something with it, then why in the first place did he get it?


    "I''m¡­ missing something!!" all of sudden this sudden realization hit him from where he didn''t know where. He turned around and tried to see what he missed, however he couldn''t find anything to help.


    Everything looked as bad as it should be at this moment. The white energy was trying its best to suppress and antagonize the dark one but with no avail.


    He couldn''t see a single hope here. There was no silver lining anywhere he checked. Everything seemed heading directly towards one end, his end.


    But he didn''t stop trying. He had nothing else to do.


    "I should gather up the energy first," as directly clashing with the fierce dark energy around the portals failed, he decided to gather as much as he could first.


    His only hope now was that he would gather enough energy to smash these damned portals and could shred them into pieces before anyone could cross here.


    And so instead of directing all the energy towards the portals, he started to gather them up.


    And a typhoon started to form all around him the next instant.


    "More¡­ Keep coming¡­" he gritted his teeth while trying to race against time here. He was gathering every single ounce of white energy he could see. From far or near, he didn''t stop attracting and controlling them all to circulate around him.


    At the same time, the pillar of white light descending over head from the punishment of that dark angel mage kept getting thicker instead of wearing off.


    It was negligent at first, but after a few minutes he felt weird. The pillar should grow weaker with time, not stronger.


    He never thought heaven punishment against that dark angel mage would be this fierce. However he couldn''t complain either, after all that thick pillar of white light was greatly helping him now.


    And he didn''t imagine this pillar of light would have another purpose other than this.


    The moment he gathered up enough energy and the pillar of white light seemed to grow thicker and denser to the degree he doubted it could hold the sky alone, he spotted something new.


    It wasn''t on the ground, and surely it wasn''t in the air. The first thing he noticed was that flash of light crossing fast and attracting his attention.


    As he followed its course, he finally ended at the place where the portal that dark angel mage summoned. The portal that was eaten away by the world will help.


    There he spotted a strange influx of energy. At first he thought it all came from this world, but with more focus he noticed all the energy came from the outside.


    Their color, pattern, and caliber... all pointed out that they came from a place outside this world.


    "How come... and it''s a white light... interesting!`` At this moment of despair, he chose to believe that this portal was here to help and not to add more to his misery.


    After all he was about to hit the rock bottom and doubted anything would make any difference now.


    As he noticed it, he couldn''t help but move his eyes up and down. The three portals were still expanding, while his light energy kept hammering it with all its might with no avail.


    "What would happen if..." he suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Without any delay he raised both swords high in the air before he started to focus his control over the high up energy.


    It wasn''t from this world, like the one surrounding the three portals now. However that didn''t mean he couldn''t control it. After all he failed so far to crush that dark energy around the portal thanks to the disparity in the quality and rank between the two energies clashing together.


    And now he had such a chance to drive this energy which came from he didn''t know where. He didn''t have any time to worry about that, he had to survive and make sure everyone else did the same.


    After that if he was lucky enough to remain alive then he would consider the situation and try to adapt.


    "C''mon!!!" he even shouted while trying to control that energy. The pillar of white light did a marvellous job at this moment to help and link him with that energy.


    He could feel how pure and mighty it was. "It''s not from this world as expected," he muttered while not caring about the place it came from.


    He tried to move it, push it to land and circulate around him. At first he felt like hitting a mighty mountain with bare fists, nothing happened to this energy.


    However he persisted. He kept trying until that energy started to react slowly to him.


    It was slow, so slow at first. But under his persistence the energy started to come down, sending a wisp towards him.


    He did his best to keep that line coming down from above intact. He knew he would need a long time to tame such high energy. But he had another plan other than this.


    Things got attracted to the opposite nature of each other. He planned to do that. He intended to make the two energies clash, hoping the alien white energy would be on par with that dark energy around the portals or even better.


    This was his only path to survive. He knew this wouldn''t be enough to crush the already huge portals, but he could slowly eat them away.

 Chapter 884: Crushing The Portals

    As he watched the wisp of that higher white energy descend and reach him, he started to rotate it around himself like he used to do with the spiritual energy.


    The energy gained speed and even he heard faint roars constantly popping up from all around him. "Quite impatient you are," he smiled in content before pointing both swords towards one portal.


    He didn''t want to liquify this small and weak wisp before testing things out. Facing three portals at the same time might be too much on the energy, leading this wisp to crush and vanish.


    However he greatly underestimated this wisp and that energy.


    The moment the wisp of that white energy touched the dark energy around the portal, Arthur could hear sizzling noises so clear ranging in his ears.


    And then a deafening explosion appeared, and a second, and then it kept ranging as if there was a cannon battering against a tight defensive wall.


    Arthur watched all this in amazement while everyone else all around were shocked to see that.


    They could see the three portals expanding and releasing dangerous auras. However Arthur suddenly raised his hand and something flashed in the sky high above.


    Then they watched Arthur pointing his two swords towards one portal before violent explosions erupted and shaked the world.


    Everyone saw the great devastation caused simply by the shockwave of these series of unknown explosions. They struggled to keep themselves on the ground and not fly away by the gale of wind.


    All but Arthur faced this dilemma. Arthur was standing midair motionless, looking with a fierce gaze and serious face towards the three portals.


    "This... is a battle of a totally new level to me..." Nicole was already near Doaf and the crow just before the explosions occurred. She couldn''t believe her eyes while watching what Arthur did just now.


    Up till now she took Arthur to be a special mage who came from the lower realm only to be a mere hypothesis.


    She saw how strong he was. The way he fought was new to her, but not to the degree to make herself believe in him like everyone around her.


    Even when she learnt about the reason why Aemie was so much interested in him she didn''t get her inner thoughts changed.


    After all Arthur was supposed to be special thanks to other factors away from himself. She initially thought he was this special thanks to luck.


    Being born in a wealthy and strong clan and not in a mediocre one was based on mere luck. Also she thought this unique world would be conquered and ruled only by Arthur based only on luck.


    Without luck, she wouldn''t even put him in her eyes at all or even sense his presence.


    However as everyone around lost hope, including her, she saw that weak and lucky man perform a miracle.


    What he was doing now seemed to be out of this world. He first clashed with the hidden dark angel mage and forced him to grow silent.


    Everyone guessed the fate of such a mage. He either ran away deeply wounded or just lying at some worthless spot here dying out from his wounds.


    But what Arthur was doing now was more like magic tricks to everyone, or miracles to be more honest.


    In front of her eyes, Arthur was causing explosions without the need to touch his sword with the portals. She didn''t know how he did that. After all these portals were all formed by the highest dark mages in the universe.


    She knew that. Doaf knew that. Amera knew that. The crow knew that.


    And that left the four hopeless when the portals started to grow wider and get activated. And that also left them totally speechless and extremely shocked when they saw the damage Arthur was doing to these portals.


    Arthur started his attack towards one portal only, however his attack was so brutal as to extend its damage to the other two as well. His attack was so severe that it started to push the portals back, forcing them to shrink and even faint cracks started to appear.


    If given time, Arthur would be able to crush three portals activated and linked with the strongest mages in the highest dark worlds.


    And that in itself was something no one could imagine or dream of doing at all. Not even anyone coming from these high realms.


    As for Arthur, things looked so much different from what people were seeing. The energy he released towards the portals outweighed his expectations and even shocked him.


    The small wisp of white energy once got in contact with the portal dark energy, it started to directly eat it away. Like what his white energy did to any dark energy before, this higher white energy managed not only to rivale the high dark energy around the portals but also to crush and purify it.


    Within the first minute, the weak wisp he used to attack that portal turned into a small pillar of light that started to link itself with the sky above.


    And it was growing fast, faster even than Arthur''s own white light energy.


    But what made him feel a little regret was the fact he didn''t gain control over this energy. He tried, but it only obeyed his guidance and didn''t let him control it or add some to his own.


    It felt like there was some sort of hidden barrier between him and that energy. He had to sign in regret from missing such an opportunity to become stronger, however he was content nonetheless from the result.


    The portals started to show signs of shrinking down and even cracks started to appear in front of his eyes. Arthur watched this happening before something else occured.


    He was inspecting everything to make sure he wasn''t missing or doing anything wrong this time. He was sure this slim chance of survival wouldn''t represent itself ever again if he lost it here.


    And so he was trying to do his best and to be sure he didn''t ruin it.

 Chapter 885: The Arrival Of Dark Grandmasters

    However he had nothing to do but to maintain the energy influx and keep guiding that higher white energy.


    Arthur couldn''t do anything else. Even when he tried to use his normal energy in the middle, his energy and the energy of this world crumbled and was crushed again.


    That left him only with the hope that this alien higher energy would stick to this world long enough until the portals would be all crushed.


    However his hopes shattered in less than five minutes when a strange laugh echoed from within the portals.


    "I told you it''s futile," a sinister voice came from within one portal, "we are already traveling and so near this world. There is nothing you can do to stop us."


    Arthur''s face sank the moment he heard that. He looked in a challenging way towards the portals, thinking of another way to fight this.


    "Then come!"


    This answer didn''t come from Arthur himself. It came all of a sudden from the sky. Arthur raised his head while his eyes flashed with bright blue light. He recognized that voice, and how couldn''t he?


    That voice belonged to a man he met a long time ago, a man he sought his help many times already and yet he failed to get his help.


    And at this dark moment, when all hopes were shattered, this man appeared like his savior.


    Arthur couldn''t control his excitement and joy as he raised his head to the sky and searched for him. "Godfather¡­ Is it really you?"


    It was his godfather, the one he tried to send him a message of help many times already and yet failed. He didn''t receive any response from him till now.


    And frankly deep inside his mind, Arthur lost any hope of reaching his godfather a long time ago. That was the reason why he never imagined his godfather would appear here, at this world, especially at this moment.


    It was a magical moment where all despair vanished and instead he felt hope. Real and strong sense of hope overwhelmed not only him but also a few mages here.


    "It''s the grandmaster!!!" Doaf was totally shocked as Arthur when he heard the voice of the bronzed giant clan grandmaster, his grandmaster.


    "Really?" Nicole turned sharply to him while adding, "is it really him? Is he coming here as well?"


    Her face told much about what she was feeling at the moment. Everyone lost hope already to survive because they were going to face a grandmaster caliber of opponents.


    Opponents they never imagined to win over even if they had numerical advantage.


    However with the presence of the bronzed giant clan grandmaster in the picture, things started to change dramatically to their favor.


    Instead of death awaiting them, it was victory. Overwhelming victory.


    "Damn you!" one of the three grandmasters coming here cursed, "what the hell are you doing here?"


    "Hahaha," George''s laugh could now be heard so clearly all around the world. Arthur was so keenly watching the sky this time and he found the source of it.


    "Oh, so you are coming from the heart of the destroyed dark angel mage''s portal!!" Arthur was surprised to see the spot his master was coming from. It was the point where that alien higher energy was gathered at, the point where the heart of the destroyed portal of the dark angel mage was.


    And when he thought about it, Arthur found it quite logical. After all that zone contained a higher form of white energy, which surely came from a higher world and not from here.


    "Can''t I come to see my successor?" The cheerful tone in George''s voice overwhelmed the situation and drove those coming here crazy.


    "Even if you are here, you can''t do anything against all of us," the dragonair grandmaster''s sinister voice echoed with much hatred and deep rage.


    "And who said I''m alone?" George''s answer surprised even Arthur who held his expectations high.


    "We are coming here with an army, something you can''t do so stop bluffing," the third dark grandmaster said with a calm tone. He seemed not to believe George''s words, and Arthur stood in the middle believing his godfather.


    After all he waited, waited so long for George to come. He knew he was delayed for a proper reason, or reasons. And now as he was here, Arthur was quite sure his godfather wouldn''t come in as a weak domineer.


    He must have prepared a hell of a welcome party to the incoming dark grandmasters.


    "You''ll see once we are all here," George mysteriously said and the wait for the arrival of all of these big shots overwhelmed the entire world.


    No one dared to speak now or say anything. They all raised their heads and waited. Either dark forces or Arthur''s forces, both waited in deafening silence and crushing atmosphere.


    They all knew this war took a turn where they had no place to take part in it anymore. The end result of this war would be decided by the final clash between the grandmasters.


    Something no one here could participate in or try to change its outcome.


    As for Arthur, he didn''t stop trying to crush the three portals. Now he had real reinforcements coming here. So any help he could provide would differ.


    He believed that. He also moved his gazes at the sky from time to time to check if George arrived or not yet.


    The wait didn''t last longer than a quarter of an hour. After fifteen minutes, the entire world rumbled where the three small portals shook before a group of shadows appeared from within.


    Arthur stood midair while feeling death eyeing him. But he didn''t flinch back or try to retreat. He controlled his anxiety and fear while watching the sudden shift in energy all around these figures.


    The energy around them seemed to worship these dark grandmasters. Ten appeared from the three portals while Arthur knew more were on the way.


    And all of these ten mages were grandmasters, with no one weak enough to be considered a foe for him.

 Chapter 886: The White Angel

    If anyone of them wanted him dead, then they could simply crush him with a mere finger.


    He realized how weak he was against such mighty giants. And they were really giants. Compared even to Amera, Doaf, Nicole, and the crow, these grandmasters seemed at least triple their body sizes, or even more.


    "So this is the impudent child who caused all this mess¡­" one of them gazed in hatred and anger towards Arthur who instantly recognized his status.


    He was without doubt a grandmaster in the dark dragonair clan.


    "I''m not honored to meet such a dark master," Arthur rudely said.


    "Humph, let''s see how you will act once I get done with that weak George," the grandmaster said in a threatening tone before he turned his head towards the sky.


    He wasn''t the only one doing this, but every single soul in this world did so.


    In the sky, a grand portal suddenly whirled and sucked in all the clouds. Rays of bright sun appeared while the portal started to shine, like it was made out of crystals, or from a sparkling ore.


    Arthur sucked in cold air of breath when he saw that portal flashing with light. The energy all around worked in the same way it did when these ten figures appeared.


    All the white energy in the world seemed to worship these beings coming out from the portal.


    "One¡­ two¡­ three¡­" Arthur kept counting while seeing unfamiliar faces coming out from the portal.


    No one was lesser in power than the dark grandmasters, however their bodies were similar to the bodies of Doaf, Amera, Nicole, and the crow.


    "Twenty-five¡­ Twenty-nine¡­ Forty-three¡­" Arthur kept counting while the portal never ceased to flash and emit many grandmasters out of it.


    However up till now Goerge didn''t show his face yet.


    "Damn it! How the hell did they pull such a feat?" the faces of the ten dark grandmasters dropped when they saw the large and growing number of white grandmasters coming out from the portal.


    "Hahaha," George laughed in a carefree way when he heard this comment. The next moment he appeared, side to side with someone Arthur knew, and many also recognized.


    "Aemie¡­" Nicole softly whispered while seeing the familiar face of her love coming out from the portal.


    "Do you think you are the only one with angels?" Aemie said in a cold and domineering tone before she pointed her fingers behind, towards the portal, "if we want, we can move all the grandmasters here and start a great show. Shall we?"


    Arthur moved his eyes towards the dark grandmasters. Their domineering aura vanished and Arthur even could sense their fear. It seemed this came out of the blue to crush their plans and kill them in the heart.


    It looked like they never expected for an angel to be on their side. That surprised Arthur as well, as he never expected to have an angel clan on the side of his camp.


    If there was such a formidable figure helping them, then this war could be considered as over. The win was secured now and all that remained was for the dark grandmasters to decide.


    Even at this moment Arthur wanted them to choose to fight. He wanted to witness an epic fight where grandmasters fought each other. He wanted to see this fight and learn, learn how these formidable figures used their power and fight against each other.


    However he was destined to be disappointed here.


    Arthur wasn''t the only one waiting for such a battle. It wasn''t a common thing for two grandmasters to face off, imagine tens of them fighting against each other.


    "This time¡­" the dragonair grandmaster turned his gaze towards Arthur standing a distance away from him, "consider yourself lucky."


    "Humph," Arthur didn''t show any signs of weakness at this moment. He knew he was indeed lucky, but he was also the one holding the upper hand here.


    He didn''t want them to retreat like this, not without a fight.


    "If you don''t want to fight," Arthur suddenly said before he raised both fists high in the air, "then I''ll force you to! Hah!"


    He gritted his teeth and shouted to summon all his strength. In front of everyone here he was doing nothing but gathering up his energy.


    However only one person standing in this world managed to see what he was really doing.


    "This kid¡­ is he your successor?" a refined lady in her early thirtieth said with a soft and sweet voice that would like a melody in the ears of anyone hearing it.


    She wasn''t that tall, or short either. She stood there like a gentle breeze of wind in spring. If she didn''t speak, no one would even notice her presence. And once she spoke, everyone couldn''t move their eyes off her.


    George was surprised to see her presence here. And when he thought about what she said, he felt more awe and pride.


    "Yes my esteemed angel," he said in the utmost respectful tone, "he is the young master I selected for my house."


    "Lucky indeed," the lady said with sparkling eyes. She gazed at the far distant Arthur like there was no one else in the world but him. "Prepare yourselves, this kid doesn''t plan to let them go this easily."


    Her words didn''t only shock Geroge, but everyone around.


    "Ahem," Aemie couldn''t help her curiosity. Aside from George here, she was the only one who knew and dealt with Arthur, the one one who knew what Arthur was able to do.


    He was able to pull out miracles without any reason behind his actions but mere luck.


    "Is he going to fight them?" she asked, "he is¡­ a low realmer after all."


    The lady turned to gaze up at her with silence for a few moments. "A tone full of doubt and yet you aren''t a bit worried over him. You know him, know what he is able to do¡­ impressive indeed."

 Chapter 887: You Wont Leave This Easily!

    The face of Aemie changed for a brief moment while everyone around noticed that. She showed a warm smile before responding: "I only had the chance to see him in action before."


    "Then watch," the lady turned to see Arthur again, "this time you all will be shocked to see what this young boy can do."


    If such words came from the mouth of any other grandmaster, no one here would take these as granted or real. However they came from the white angel mage, the one who never spoke light about anything.


    And like that Arthur suddenly became the center of attention of everyone here, including even the grandmasters high above his head.


    "Hahaha, you speak high and mighty like a real dragonair," the dragonair grandmaster said before slightly frowning. He turned his head to the above and noticed the presence of the white angel mage there. "So it''s true¡­ they found the last alive white angel in this universe."


    The other grandmasters all around turned their heads and noticed her presence. Their faces became dignified, however that didn''t stop Arthur from doing what he intended.


    He wasn''t gathering up his energy, he was trying to summon as much possible white energy from high above. He drove this energy and let it gather around him.


    He knew he couldn''t let it merge with his own, and so he tried to gather as much as possible.


    The earlier pillar he controlled, the pillar that linked him to the sky turned into dozens of pillars.


    In the eyes of the white angel mage, the only one who could truly see what Arthur was doing, the scene was very spectacular. Her eyes sparkled with admiration and she couldn''t help but mutter in delight: "He is really¡­ something else!"


    She then raised her head to the sky above her and continued to say, "is this your doing? Are you trying to help him?"


    No grandmaster here understood her words, however the next moment they all felt a strange gale of wind. It was a very familiar gale of wind, one that wouldn''t blow except when a certain being was summoned.


    "The¡­ world''s will?!!" Aemie was startled like everyone else and they turned around to see what the world''s will was up to.


    It wasn''t a common thing for the world''s will to show herself up. However the moment that happened, it meant something big was about to occur.


    "Oh, so this isn''t what you''re doing¡­ interesting¡­" the lady said while returning her gaze towards Arthur. Her words and strange reactions left everyone around speechless and lost.


    "My lady," George was the closest one to her, so he dared to speak up, "what is going on here?"


    "It''s not a sin to not be able to see this amazing scene," she said before closing her eyes and sniffing the air as if a sweet aroma was there, "but I can tell you that you are losing a very rare chance to witness something."


    "Witness¡­ what?" one of the grandmasters around couldn''t help but wonder.


    "A miracle¡­ a miracle is about to be born here in our universe," the white angel mage slowly said before she reopened her eyes and kept watching Arthur.


    As for Arthur, he kept gathering up his energy until the grandmasters in front of him started to retreat.


    "I said¡­ you won''t leave here easily!" his voice came so loud that it thundered across the entire world. It seemed like he was a mighty being looking down at all the mortals living here.


    And his tone forced the dark grandmasters to stop their retreat. They weren''t fazed by his voice, however the moment he spoke he released all the energy he gathered up till now.


    As he started to push everything towards these mages, he understood why his energy couldn''t do anything to them before.


    The dark energy surrounding the three portals was coming from the dark grandmasters. So a weak and pathetic energy coming from a low realmer like him wouldn''t do even a scratch against them.


    But the story is different now as he was using the white energy of grandmaster caliber to assault them.


    And as this wave of energy hit them, the grandmasters'' faces changed the next moment and were forced to stop.


    And then the attack landed over the portals.


    "Boom!"


    One of the portals couldn''t even take the pressure. Arthur didn''t stop attacking the portals before the arrival of the grandmasters here. And thus the three portals were weaker than what they were supposed to be.


    The dark grandmasters never took this matter seriously before now. The destruction of one portal seemed like a dream and not real in the eyes of the white grandmasters before the dark ones.


    However they all agreed on one thing; this was the doing of Arthur!


    And that simple and unified realization startled and surprised everyone.


    "You¡­" the dark grandmaster growled in a low tone out of his anger, "if you don''t want to die, then stop what you are doing!"


    "I dare you make me stop!" however Arthur didn''t show any sign of compliance or hesitation. And why should he? He wasn''t standing alone now. He had the backing of many more grandmasters.


    If anyone tried to attack him, those masters would help and defend. Besides he wasn''t out of options here as well. He was already surrounding himself with a dense layer of the higher up white energy.


    Yes he couldn''t make it merge with his own energy, as the two were at two different levels, however he could control it to defend him.


    So unless one of them was crazy enough to come near him and slash him with his sword, Arthur would be totally safe.


    And even in such a case he had a backup plan to back himself with.


    He wouldn''t hesitate now. He wouldn''t stop after coming this far. He paid so much to gain this victory, and now he had this unique chance to turn this victory into a legendary and memorable one.


    "Damn you!" The dragonair grandmaster couldn''t hold himself anymore. Arthur never stopped unleashing the white energy he gathered towards them, making them all feel uncomfortable.

 Chapter 888: A Clash Between Two Dragons

    He knew they were strong because of the affection they got from the world''s energy. And now he was using the opposing kind of energy to seal their bodies off the world''s dark energy.


    They could only use their own energy now, something that would turn them eventually weaker.


    And their sense of energy was so superb that any shift in the energy in their bodies would be instantly detected.


    Along with that, they also determined the sole reason behind that strange phenomenon they were feeling at the moment.


    "Die you bastard!" The dragonair grandmaster turned instantly into a grand dragon with black and thick scales. Arthur watched the mage turn into a grander dragon than him however that didn''t startle him.


    He knew he would get attacked, and he was ready for that.


    "Woosh!" the dragonair grandmaster sprayed his fountain of deadly fire towards him. This time Arthur didn''t use his plan and simply opened his mouth and sprayed another fire breath against that.


    His fire breath was unique. After all he was a blue dragonair, a unique existence amongst dragonairs.


    Despite the disparity between the energies of the two, the level of his breath fire compensated that.


    And as a result, a very shocking scene was born in this world in front of the watchful gazes of all the mages and grandmasters here.


    "Oho, he is really something!" one of the grandmasters on the side of George said in surprise, "he could even rival that mad dragon''s fire breath¡­ that''s amazing! Really amazing!"


    "¡­"


    George was feeling proud, and slightly puzzled. The fire breath Arthur unleashed wasn''t anything he knew of before.


    "But what''s wrong with his fire breath?" another grandmaster asked, pointing out towards the strange thing here, "I never saw or heard about something like that. Is he a lightning dragonair? A fire dragonair? Or what?"


    His puzzlement was justified. After all these grandmasters lived their entire lives studying their foes to the bones. They all were very familiar with the dragonair clan, knowing their variations and way of fighting.


    Standing shoulder to shoulder against such a strong foe was a remarkable feat indeed, but that type of fire Arthur used made it more shocking and unbelievable.


    "Don''t have any funny thoughts everyone," George suddenly said with a smirk, "this lad is my successor. It''s not allowed for anyone to try and pouch him, alright?"


    His words poured cold water over everyone''s heads, all except two.


    Aemie''s eyes sparkled with greed. She already made her move towards him despite knowing his relation with George. She couldn''t say she wasn''t afraid of George, but she put her clan before anything else.


    And also there was another one who was daring enough to ask:


    "What if I asked him?"


    These words forced a heavy silence all over the place. The grandmasters stole silent glances towards each other and then towards George.


    "My esteemed lady¡­" George struggled to find a suitable answer before adding, "it''s a privilege that such a mighty person like you will be interested in my mere successor."


    The white angel mage''s face didn''t show any sign of backing off at the moment. In fact the moment she saw what Arthur was able to do she made up her mind.


    "A snake could be mighty if given fire to breathe it as a weapon, and could be a dragon if given wings as well," the white angel lady said while her words carried out her real intentions here.


    George remained silent and his face was sullen. He knew he could antagonize anyone and reject any request for Arthur, anyone but her.


    "Wise words indeed," he finally broke his serious face and showed a warm smile, "as his godfather, I can only be happy and proud of him in this case."


    The white angel mage nodded in appreciation while everyone around felt great envy towards George and the bronzed giant clan at the moment.


    Arthur gained now another godfather, or godmother to be precise. And she wasn''t just anyone, she was the extremely powerful and the only living white angel mage in the entire universe.


    How couldn''t they feel envy towards the bronzed giants and George for having such a promising prodigy under his care?


    As for Arthur, he stood at his place unaware of all this. The fight with the grandmaster of the dragonair clan was so intense using his breath fire.


    The two fire breaths met together and clashed, pushed each other back and forth. At first his fire breath was on the backfoot here until he finally managed to use a little help from the white energy he was gathering around.


    He couldn''t use it as his own, however he could control it to cover up his fire breath, adding more power to it.


    And as such his fire breath didn''t only stop retreating, it also started to push the dragonair grandmaster''s fire breath backwards.


    "Damn you!" another grandmaster spoke before all of sudden he turned around, "this seems to be an inner strife in the dragonair clan. I have no business here so¡­ farewell everyone."


    In the middle of this intense clash, Arthur had to drop a lot of his focus on the grandmasters and the two remaining portals. As such the grandmasters started to feel more comfortable while their former power returned slowly to them.


    That grandmaster suddenly vanished as he headed directly towards one of the remaining two portals here. This was indeed a backstab to the dragonair grandmaster, and that made the latter feel real anger towards that grandmaster.


    He knew if that one escaped, others would follow. In the end he would be trapped alone here with Arthur, surrounded with far stronger enemies in power and number.


    "I won''t be abandoned like this!" the dragonair grandmaster suddenly roared before he stopped his fire breath.


    Arthur was taken aback by what happened before he saw that grandmaster vanish.


    The next moment that grandmaster appeared running towards the second portal.


    This sudden change made everyone standing here see the end result. The last to pass through that portal would be the one to be abandoned and killed here.

 Chapter 889: A Dark Angel Mage

    "Humph, did I allow you to leave?" Arthur didn''t watch this as he instantly turned his attention towards diverting the white energy towards the two portals.


    No matter what, the speed of the energy was much faster than the speed of any person. Just before anyone could get to the portal here, Arthur''s energy reached them first.


    "Crack!"


    "Crack!"


    The two portals suddenly showed cracks all over. They were about to get smashed under the persistent attacks from Arthur.


    "Someone stop him!" one of the grandmasters shouted before another replied:


    "Go and stop him yourself then."


    Arthur knew what was happening at the moment. He wasn''t that intimidating or strong enough to make them fear him.


    However they were all afraid of being left behind. The fifty grandmasters standing high in the air watching all this unfolding were the only pressure they were frightened of.


    And so Arthur wanted to trap them all by crushing these two portals. He wanted to send a clear message to those staying behind.


    If they found him so easy to crush, then this catastrophe would be repeated more than once. He didn''t want to keep fighting and live his life the way he wanted.


    And so he wasn''t just fighting to take revenge or claim victory, he wanted to deliver this message to those up there.


    However he made a mistake here.


    From the beginning of his fight with the grandmasters here, not a single one of those high above moved a finger.


    He took this as a test for him. He knew how these grandmasters think and they might have such crazy ideas.


    But he was mistaken. They didn''t move because they were intimidated by a threat, one he didn''t notice until now.


    "Rumble!"


    It all started with a very bizarre thing. The two portals he was trying so desperately to crush suddenly moved.


    Arthur watched in amazement the two portals heading towards each other, clashing and merging together like two fierce beasts biting against each other''s throat.


    "What is¡­ going on?!" Arthur was surprised especially when he saw the white energy he was using couldn''t move and stop this merge.


    This happened without warning and the two portals kept forcibly merging together. At first wisps of dark red energy appeared clashing and wrestling against each other.


    It wasn''t long before the main bodies of the two portals got in contact with each other. That created another mighty rumble like thunder storm was being born here.


    The two portals kept smashing each other like there was a hidden furnace melting and merging them together. Instead of their rounded appearance, the two portals started to melt down and form a strange form of dark red liquid energy.


    When the two portals vanished, all that remained was a non-fixed shaped liquid. Arthur stood his place while clenching the hilts of his swords with all his might.


    He tried to push all the energy he could control towards this liquid, but something stood in the middle. A hidden barrier stood there preventing him from reaching the liquid.


    "Stop your futile attempts, kid," a sudden shout came from the direction of that liquid. Arthur squeezed his eyes while watching the dark energy all around all turned into dark red one.


    It was like some sort of an alien energy invaded this place and contaminated everything.


    Without any warning, a shadow suddenly started to form in front of the liquid. Arthur could make a shape of a human being, not too giant like those dark grandmasters but he wasn''t short like him.


    "Another dark angel mage¡­" Arthur instantly recognized the pattern here and linked this shadow of a man to one he fought with before.


    "You didn''t disappoint me," the voice said in a carefree tone like he was a god talking to a mortal, "now stop your useless actions and give me what you took."


    Arthur instantly realized what that mage was talking about, and yet he didn''t show any sign of compliance. "This is the first time meeting, then how can I take something from you?" he said while stealing a short glance towards the fifty grandmasters high above.


    "Don''t think about them," the voice slowly said, "they are more afraid of me than those weaklings are afraid of them."


    Arthur suddenly realized what was hidden from him. These grandmasters weren''t trying to test him, but they were afraid of that mage.


    And that made him wonder about the true identity of this mage.


    "Of course you might ask yourself a lot of questions about me, but I can assure you I''m a heaven you can never even see."


    "I can see you now!" Arthur instantly retorted back while clenching the hilts of his two swords. He hated the idea of losing this chance when it was just in his grip.


    And he would never deliver that dark angel mage he took hostage to that one standing in front of him.


    "You can keep telling yourself some lies, like you can fight, you can keep what you took, you have the right to obtain what you have¡­ such lies don''t exist in my eyes. So stop wasting my time and hand him over now!"


    "If you want him this badly," Arthur slowly said, "then why don''t you pay the price for it?"


    "Pay?" the mage suddenly laughed before adding, "why should I ever pay for something I can simply order and get for free?"


    "Humph, I know you want him that bad to not let him die, right?" Arthur''s words didn''t make any sense to anyone, even the grandmasters above.


    However the shadow up front seemed to know what he was referring to. Arthur felt that dark red energy getting stirred up when he said his threatening words.


    "It''s best for you to deliver him now," the shadow slowly said, "or else I won''t hold my hands and kill you here!"


    Arthur was puzzled at first by this situation. If that dark angel mage was that powerful enough to scare even fifty grandmasters from the highest clans, then why didn''t he start this by killing him?

 Chapter 890: A Clash Between Angels

    Why didn''t the dark angel mage show his power at first and give orders later? And now he just realized the answer.


    In a sudden move, Arthur suddenly canceled his technique and put his sword away. He spread his arms wide open while watching the shadow in front of him.


    "I dare you do it then," Arthur said in a tone that startled everyone.


    He had no speck of worry or anger in his tone, not even fear. It was like he abandoned his life, or he had something up his sleeve to save him.


    And it was the latter in such a case, as Arthur finally realized where his strongest stance was.


    "If you don''t deliver him now¡­" the shadow suddenly released a terrifying wave of dark red energy all around. It moved out like a flood crushing down anything in its path, "then I will start killing everyone here in this world. Then I will head down to the other worlds you went to and make sure no one you knew of will survive!"


    "Humph, I dare you do this," Arthur didn''t show any sign of anger or hesitation. Instead of calling out his sword he pointed his finger towards his chest, "if you ever moved a finger, I won''t hesitate to cut one from him. If you kill one of my people, I will cut an arm. If you destroy a world, then I will kill him and perish together."


    The world rumbled out of the shadow rage while Arthur watched the light vanish out of this world. Instead a similar dark red world appeared, the same like the one he had in his trial.


    ''Is this¡­ coincidence?'' Arthur couldn''t help but ask himself this while watching the same world appear once again around him. Inside him he doubted that. He didn''t believe in coincidences.


    ''So that trial was all about this¡­ I see¡­'' Arthur suddenly got an insight towards the trial he just went through. He now knew why his trial was in that way, it wasn''t a trial but a preparation.


    "Keep raging and show me your wrath¡­" however despite all his thoughts and questions, he didn''t show any of this over his face. All that appeared was his firm resolve to follow through his last threats. "I won''t keep my hands off either!"


    All of sudden Arthur''s aura changed while he channeled his golden pearl energy. It was his highest form of energy he had and yet he didn''t do this to fight.


    Instead he kept gathering it up inside his body while slowly closing his eyes. "I won''t stand in your way. C''mon, go and kill as much as you want. In the end we will end up losing someone precious to both of us."


    "F*ck you bastard!" The shadow couldn''t hold his anger anymore while shouting in a roaring voice that made the entire world rumble in response.


    "Yeah¡­ He also kept cursing me like this," however Arthur only showed his calmest smile over his face, not a single bit intimidated by any of this. "I now can see him¡­ confined alone inside my prison. Shall I start cutting off his fingers first? Or should I take off his nails and torture him before that?"


    "¡­"


    Silence! It was all silence that Arthur got as an answer. However the world kept tumbling and boiling in response to that dark angel mage''s wrath.


    "What is holding your hand?" Arthur slowly opened his eyes while lazily giving that shadow a deep and long gaze. "You can''t kill me¡­ you can''t touch my people¡­ you can''t threaten me with anything¡­ and in return I can''t kill you, or comply with your request either¡­ So what''s the end of this?"


    Arthur finally stated what the current situation really was. He couldn''t see the face of that dark angel mage, nor any of those standing here.


    Only the only person here could see that face out clearly and she was feeling admiration towards Arthur.


    "If you dared to touch a hair out of him¡­" the shadow said but the next moment Arthur waved his hand and a thing appeared out of thin air.


    It was hair, not few or too many, not short or too long as if he just cut them from the middle of someone''s long hair.


    "You mean¡­" he slowly held these strands while checking them before opening his palm slowly, letting them fly away in the roaring wind, "this hair?"


    "You¡­" the shadow seemed to be on the verge of exploding however he didn''t move. All that Arthur could see was the terrifying energy around the shadow acting like a roaring ocean giant waves, pushing one another while swirling all around that shadow.


    "Let''s stop this silly act here," all of sudden a sweet voice appeared out of thin air before another shadow appeared next to Arthur.


    This shadow startled Arthur himself, however when he saw the bright silver light around the shadow, he couldn''t help but feel relieved.


    It seemed the grandmasters didn''t abandon him, but they stood still up there as they also had such a formidable mage on their side.


    One who could face such a calamity boiling with rage at the moment.


    "Stay out of this," the dark angel mage said in a serious tone, "this is between me and¡­ that ant!"


    "Well¡­" the white angel mage paused before floating around Arthur as if she was doing this on purpose, "from the way I see it, you can''t even touch a single hair of his. Not like what he just did!"


    When she said that, Arthur noticed the few strands of hair he threw before appearing again but this time it was in her hand. He could feel the anger and frustration of that dark angel while watching what the white angel was doing.


    "Do you want to die?" the dark angel mage said in a threatening tone.


    "C''mon, both of you know this is an overstatement," the white angel mage kept floating around while Arthur saw her releasing threads of energy to catch the far strands and gathered them in her hand.

 Chapter 891: Toying With Him

    "Here¡­ take this as a¡­ memorable gift to remind you of your son," the white angel mage raised her hand to her face before Arthur felt a gale of wind coming from there.


    And the next moment the strand of hair landed in the hand of the dark angel.


    "This is your last warning¡­" the dark angel mage growled in a low tone as if he was gritting on all of his teeth.


    "Don''t be like that," the white angel mage laughed shortly before adding, "you can''t touch him, you can''t touch me, and surely you can''t touch anyone close to this brave young mage here. So, I''m curious¡­ what is your plan exactly?"


    The white angel mage didn''t give the dark one any chance to say anything before Arthur watched her wave her arm in the air. A single moment of wrath turned this world upside down and brought a world of darkness here, and a simple wave of a lady''s hand changed it back to what it was before.


    "Just think wisely and don''t try to stall for time," the white angel mage said, "if you didn''t give an answer now then I will ask my successor to kill your successor."


    "¡­" Arthur moved his eyes towards her in silence that was born out of his amazement. He never thought that the dark angel mage he captured wasn''t only the son of this terrifying mage but also his successor.


    That meant his value added up way too much than he even wildly thought before.


    Arthur was also shocked by the expression this lady chose for him, her successor. He knew who she was, she was a while angel mage, the one who helped his grandmaster and others to arrive here and save the day.


    And that made him wonder about the price his grandmaster had to pay. He also wondered if she was just saying this to solve this stalemate or she was speaking seriously.


    He was a dragonair, not an angel clan descendant. How could he be the successor of such a clan he had no blood ties with?


    However he pushed back all his questions and decided not to ask any for now. He had to watch this clash first and see where it would unfold.


    "Your successor?" the shadow seemed to find this funny, "he is a dragonair, a mere traitor of the dragonair clan. How can he be an angel clan successor?"


    "Saying this isn''t any of your business will be a courtesy that I won''t show to the likes of you," the white angel mage slowly said without giving any reason to the dark angel or to Arthur or to anyone else.


    The silence between the two grew the tension in the air and made Arthur feel so heavy to breath. It was like the two were standing there without doing anything, however he saw it all.


    The two unleashed mighty waves of energy to assault one another. However from what he could see, the two sides seemed a bit balanced, with no one having any advantage over the other.


    "So you two are equal," Arthur suddenly spoke, making the two gaze up at him in silence.


    The white angel mage already figured out what Arthur could see and feel, however this was the first time for the dark angel mage to realize it.


    And that made him stop what he was doing while thinking back to what the white angel just declared minutes ago.


    "What''s your price, kid?" as he realized this, the importance and value of that hostage in Arthur''s hands became far more important than before.


    He always had this advantage over his advisory thanks to his son, his successor. The white angel mage never had found any successor for long years.


    But now things have changed in a terrifying way for him. His successor was now severely wounded, suffering from the brutal backlash of his failure. On top of that, he couldn''t amend his wounds in time because he was held captive.


    And he was held captive in the hands of no one but his sword enemy''s successor. That made him more infuriated, but he couldn''t do anything about it.


    Any wrong decision here and he would be left out all alone while his deadly enemy would enjoy a successor. He had to play it right and do what it took to have his successor back.


    "What are you talking about?" but Arthur didn''t follow the trap he laid for him.


    "You said you will release him for a price," the dark angel mage said, "or has the white angel clan deteriorated to tell false promises and daylight lies?!"


    Arthur felt the silent gazes of the silver shadow beside him. He knew the two grandmasters here knew something he didn''t, and that was expected.


    He knew nothing, nothing at all about the angel clans until today. So he lacked tons of information, and like that he couldn''t risk taking any decision at the moment except for one.


    "That offer was refused by you," Arthur calmly answered.


    "Who said that?" the dark angel mage laughed, "I never said no."


    "You threatened me in return," Arthur wasn''t fazed by the shamelessness of the dark angel mage grandmaster in front of him, "you tried to harm everyone here, threatened even to kill me."


    "I was just joking," the grandmaster laughed, "can''t you tell that?"


    "No, I can''t tell anything away from your empty threats and twisted lies."


    Arthur''s response made the dark angel mage stop his laughs while silence prevailed.


    "I asked for your price to hand over your hostage!" he roared and yet Arthur gave him an unexpected answer.


    He yawned, a long and deep one before stretching out his body and turned to the white angel mage. "Aren''t you tired? We can retreat, have a meal and some sleep."


    "You¡­" the dark angel mage roared again and this time his aura was blocked easily by the white angel mage.


    "Why are you so loud?" the lady said in a sweet tone, "we can hear each other perfectly fine from this close distance."

 Chapter 892: The Price

    "I want the price he promised me before," the dark angel mage roared and didn''t hold back his aura, "or else you know what price he would pay for breaking his promises."


    Arthur narrowed his eyes while feeling the change in the atmosphere. He didn''t need the lady next to him to tell him anything about this to know he was already in a hard situation.


    "I have already told you my price," Arthur slowly and seriously said.


    "Say it again!" the dark angel mage seemed to not get what he meant.


    And that made Arthur smile while repeating the words he said before to the letter:


    "You can''t kill me¡­ you can''t touch my people¡­ you can''t threaten me with anything¡­" Arthur paused before adding in a serious face and tone, "this is my price. Take it or leave it, it''s up to you."


    Arthur''s words rang in the entire world while only heavy silence followed. The dark angel mage didn''t speak, and neither did Arthur.


    "There¡­ is no scenario in this for you to survive anymore," the dark angel mage said in a threatening and promising tone.


    "I don''t care about any scenario," Arthur said in determination, "I''ll carve my path with my own will and will crush anything blocking it!"


    "Humph, we''ll see¡­" the dark angel mage seemed about to retreat towards the single portal he created.


    However he was stopped by the white angel mage.


    "Does this mean you accept his price?" she said before laughing in a sweet way while putting a hand over her face that Arthur couldn''t fathom yet, "if not¡­ then my kid here is free to do whatever he wants with your kid, right?"


    "If he touched a single hair of him," the dark angel mage retreated towards the portal alongside the ten grandmasters, "then I promise he will watch his own world crumble in front of his eyes before I kill him."


    "Humph," Arthur said while watching them retreat and the portal closed.


    The next instant, all fifty grandmasters appeared all around. Arthur looked at their faces and couldn''t see any speck of fear or doubt.


    They all had joy over their faces. As for George, he was proudly standing there while his smile would break up his face.


    "Don''t have any grudge over them," the white angel mage said, "they didn''t move based on my orders."


    "You wanted to test me?" Arthur asked while her words seemed more as an excuse than an explanation.


    "I wanted to see what you are able to do," the white angel mage suddenly opened a portal behind her before adding, "I will take all and leave now. If you have any words for your masters then say it now."


    Arthur watched her before moving his eyes towards George. "You should be happy, not look like this," George said while laughing. He was so proud and happy of Arthur at the moment that he couldn''t control his laughs.


    "Like what?" Arthur asked while giving him a stern look, "I sent you many messages and yet you didn''t answer even one!"


    "Don''t blame him," the white angel mage defended George, "things out there are a bit hectic¡­ that''s the least thing I can say about that."


    Arthur knew what she said was true. He was there and watched what was going on at the higher realms.


    His eyes met with Aemie who only stood there with a big smile over her face as well. If Goerge was happy for his luck in meeting and discovering Arthur, then she was even luckier to meet him before this moment.


    She had already thrown her net around him, and in her eyes no matter what Arthur would eventually fall in her clutches.


    "You need to work your best in the next few years," the white angel said, "I know you have tons of questions to ask, however we have no time to waste here. What happened here transcends anything you might imagine. I''ll keep an eye over you and no higher realm mages will interfere in the lower realms from this moment on."


    Arthur gazed up at her for a long minute. "That''s for the light side only?" he asked.


    "That''s for both sides," she said, "this is my reward for you being my successor. Consider your stay here as a training and rest period. Once you get up there, I promise you won''t taste a single moment of rest for a very long time."


    Arthur could only sigh while lamenting his luck. He never had such a happy life here, not like what he used to be before coming to this universe.


    And now he was promised a much harsher life than what he lived so far. He couldn''t help but feel bitter, however he couldn''t do anything to change this.


    All he could do was to stand there and watch the grandmasters leaving one by one.


    "By the way," he suddenly remembered one thing, "how is things at the crow clan?"


    He knew his crow friend came here to help despite breaking apart. He understood his reasoning and wanted now to have an answer to give to his friend.


    "They¡­ are still surviving," the white angel mage said, "they were attacked but reinforcements arrived and helped them at the right time."


    "That''s¡­ relieving," Arthur took in a deep breath before smiling. He wanted to find the crow and tell him about this.


    "Always remember this¡­" just as everyone passed through the portal, only Aemie, Goerge, and the white angel lady stood behind. "You need to conquer ten worlds and reign over a clan or an academy to rise up," Aemie said and Arthur nodded.


    He already was well aware of this condition. He watched her pass through the portal before George stepped in it.


    "Take this," just before he would vanish, a bracelet was thrown to him. "This will help you survive any dark plots or tricks from them."


    Arthur grabbed the bracelet and checked it. To his surprise he found a hidden realm attached to it. He didn''t have time to check it as it was the white angel mage''s turn to leave.


    "Fighting the world requires a will forged of iron," she said before adding, "but to conquer it one needs many allies and friends on his side. The goal isn''t about fighting, but winning. Always remember that."


    Arthur understood her meaning and could only lower his head slightly to her. "Thanks for your teaching," he said with sincerity and honesty.


    "Something tells me you don''t need my teachings at all¡­" she suddenly paused before releasing a heart charming laugh, "why would that be¡­ perhaps you aren''t the one you claim to be, right?"


    She laughed before vanishing inside the portal, leaving Arthur behind not knowing what to say to her. He raised his head and watched her disappear before the portal closed.


    And with this the war that started here finally came to an end.

 Chapter 893: First Chapter In The Final Volume OF The Novel

    Arthur stood his place motionless for a long time. He couldn''t believe the war that started by forcing him to come as part of the contest here had already seen its final curtain.


    "Are you¡­ alright?'''' Just as he was lost in thought, recalling all the hardships he had to go through to stand here, Amera''s voice came to disturb his line of thoughts.


    He was jolted awake by her words, took a deep breath before turning to see her beautiful face.


    He still recalled the first time the two met. It looked ages ago. She wasn''t that attached or affectionate with him like she was now. He knew a lot had happened since that time, and all things made the two a bit closer.


    And Amera wasn''t standing there alone.


    There was also Doaf, the crow, and Nicole. These three had history as well with him. One was considered as his own bodyguard, despite failing to defend him in each single time which was simply ironic.


    The crow was someone he didn''t get deeply in touch with, but he was reliable and trustworthy. As for Nicole, she reminded him of himself.


    He always was forced upon situations he never had a say in. Nicole was the same. She was dragged forcibly off her high realm and home to come to such desolate and lower places and join someone she barely knew.


    He could relate perfectly with what she was feeling, however he didn''t feel any guilt. He wasn''t the one who caused all this to her despite him being the reason behind Aemie''s decision.


    "I''m good," Arthur said, "what about you? Are you alright?"


    He wasn''t just asking her, but everyone around. They all smiled and nodded before Arthur added:


    "I asked about your world¡­" he looked at the crow whose feather covered face showed a frowning expression. "They are alright, so stop worrying over them."


    The crow seemed to want to say something but he refrained. He wanted to ask about who said this but he found that Arthur wasn''t obliged to ask about his world in the first place.


    But he did. And so he decided to trust his words and not question them.


    "Do you know where that sect went?" Doaf pointed towards the place where the five peaks were. Arthur moved his eyes and there he spotted a number of his own forces coming from that direction led by none other than Deem and Gor.


    "It¡­ did its role in this story," Arthur vaguely said before adding, "this war¡­ is our victory. We need to return to the cities and my capital before deciding what to do."


    "Won''t we leave this world?" Amera was surprised to hear that. And she wasn''t the only one feeling this way.


    "We¡­ have a long road ahead before returning home," Arthur said before raising up his head as he added, "and that home isn''t the lowly realm I came from, but the higher realms you came from."


    His words made everyone silent. "Go, we need to return back and have a worthy period of rest," Arthur said before returning to watch the place where this battle happened.


    His mind returned to think about every single bit of detail regarding this war. Things seemed quite unbelievable whenever he thought about what happened in the general view.


    He was so busy trying to survive, and yet after he won this war he now felt exhausted and surprised by what he did.


    He didn''t stop for even one second to think about what was going on or question anything. He didn''t have time for that, and all he could do now was to marvel at what he did in awe.


    He really overdid himself this time, making even himself astonished by what he achieved so far.


    "And yet my biggest achievement¡­" he paused while raising both hands in the air. He could see the energy flowing in the air calmly like a river. There was no disturbance at all, no dark or alien energy at all.


    That made him feel a familiar peace of mind, that of a kind he used to enjoy when he was a cultivator.


    As he stood there lost in thoughts, everyone retreated and started to organize the remaining forces, all but one.


    Amera stood beside him, watching his back with respect and affection. She knew her man might be slightly smaller than her, much weaker, but he wouldn''t be any less important than an elite mage from the higher realm.


    ''No¡­ he is on par with those monsters,'' she corrected herself while thinking about the grandmasters of the big clans up there.


    She recalled how he stood erect in front of ten dark grandmasters without even flinching. She saw him fighting shoulder to shoulder with the dark dragonair clan grandmaster.


    She watched him spar with the frightening dark angel mage and even take him hostage. She saw him standing without any fear or hesitation among fifty grandmasters from the higher clans, including her grandmaster.


    And he was standing there not as their subject, but as their equal, as a hero that everyone coveted.


    How could her heart not flutter when thinking about all that? How could she not feel this much love and attraction towards him while seeing this man standing just next to her?


    He was just in the reach of her arms, and she knew he was already dominating her heart.


    And the most amazing thing of all was that she was also inside him.


    She wanted to open her mouth and ask about many things. She wanted to talk, talk from now until dusk and then dawn, and then till the end of the world.


    However she didn''t. She silently stood there watching him thinking about his dreams while she only hoped she could be there on his side when achieving them.


    She prayed she would always be on his side no matter what.


    Arthur kept his stance while moving his thoughts from what happened to what he had to do. ''So I have to dominate ten worlds to ascend up there¡­'' he thought.

 Chapter 894: The Disturbing Prophecies

    ''You already have one world under your control,'' Gege said in a cheerful tone.


    ''No, he has almost three,'' the golden dragon corrected her, ''this world will belong to him alongside the world of his academy.''


    As the golden dragon mentioned his Dorgazire academy, Arthur''s face changed. He left his world while the academy was in ruins. He left and went to join a contest with many clans and academies, and now he had to just win over them all.


    ''No¡­ That''s not the right way to think about it,'' he stopped his thoughts before adding, ''as I have the strength, then why not forcibly take everything? Why play with their rules and not mine?''


    His mind changed from thinking to just win this competition to launching a way against all the academies in his base world.


    After all he only feared others thanks to their relations with the higher realms. And now he didn''t need to worry about that.


    ''Ding! Don''t trust mere promises from others,'' the system could already guess what Arthur was thinking about, ''Ding! You should secure your own goals by your own strength and actions, not based on others.''


    ''I know¡­'' Arthur''s face tightened, ''that''s why I''ll tread my path from here onwards based on one simple fact¡­ I will have my own empire and will make it dominate over these ten worlds. Even if they summon higher realm mages to stop me, I''ll make sure to crush them all and even carve my path with my own blood to achieve my goals!''


    He set his mind over that goal and there was nothing more to consider. His path started a long time ago when he met Sara, when he knew about the empire and their existence.


    If the condition to rise to the higher realm was by having a clan or an academy, then what about an empire? A clan was limited to a small piece of land, and the academy was limited to a part of a world.


    However his empire wouldn''t be limited by anything! It would easily rule over worlds like they were mere towns.


    "Are you still here?" As he ended what he was contemplating about, he turned to see Amera standing still in her place.


    "I was waiting for you," his sudden move and question startled her. She was also lost in her thoughts about her own journey.


    She wasn''t someone blessed by family or wealth. She had beauty, but she never thought of using it to her advantage. Not even once.


    She only cared about strength, climbing all the way up from the lowest ranks to her current high position amongst the elite forces of her clan.


    However she found that all that was worth nothing in front of her man. Everything seemed to pale and lose its fragrance when she thought about choosing this or that, choosing her current status or her future with Arthur.


    Her mind was just playing tricks with her. And all these useless thoughts vanished the moment Arthur spoke.


    And when he heard her answer he smiled, in a warm way that made her heart melt away.


    "I know it was so hard on you," Arthur said in an apologetic tone.


    "Don''t say that," she laughed nervously, "I got to see my home and defend it thanks to you. I also had many amusing adventures and great battles as well."


    "I didn''t mean that," Arthur only said that and didn''t say more. He gazed up at her while her face changed slightly to show her embarrassment.


    After all he was eyeing her with desire, something she felt so hot and vivid and made her face even blush.


    "We are ready to go," just as Arthur was about to make his move, Doaf appeared all of sudden and rescued her from this moment. "What''s¡­ wrong?" Doaf noticed the strange reactions over the two faces in front of him.


    "Nothing," Arhtur wanted to punch him in the face at this moment, but he didn''t. "Let''s go back then. We have a long way to travel."


    "We can take everyone inside our worlds if you wanted," Nicole appeared as well before adding, "after all we have many wounded mages who need rest."


    Arthur shifted his gaze around. Nicole was right, there were so many wounded mages here. Plus those surrendered forces whom they just took hostage after the end of this war.


    There were a lot of dark mages and monsters left behind. Arthur wasn''t interested in the mages, but these monsters were another thing.


    "Take everyone inside," he said, "but leave the monsters behind."


    "Monsters?!" Doaf said while looking at the other two around, "will we leave them here?"


    "No," Arthur shook his head, "I have something for them."


    "Again with your riddles and schemes¡­" Amera couldn''t help but laugh while shaking her head. "Alright, let''s go and gather up our forces before leaving together."


    Arthur waited in his place while watching everyone working around. While he stood there, Deem and Gor appeared with conflicted looks on their faces.


    "What''s wrong with you two?" he asked with a big smile, "I thought you would be happy and proud of your achievements in this war."


    Despite his words, the two didn''t have any change in their worried faces which made Arthur wonder why.


    "When we both inside the sect¡­ we got across a warehouse filled with secret scrolls," Deem slowly said before  Gor added:


    "We read some and found that they were prophecies made by these cultivators."


    "And?" Aarthur didn''t find this shocking. After all, a sect based on foretelling should have such a place to store things there.


    "We tried to take these scrolls and store them away," Deem said, "but they all vanished the moment the sect was gone."


    "Expected," Arthur shrugged, "what makes the two of you look like this then?"


    "Well¡­" Deem looked to Gor in hesitant way before adding in nervous tone, "there was a group of prophecies related to you and this world."

 Chapter 895: Taking Hostages In

    "Me?" Arthur started to gain interest in what they knew. "Tell me then," he demanded.


    "Well they all spoke of a dragon with blue scales coming to this world," Deem slowly said before adding after a momentarily pause, "in fact what we read seemed weird but it was constantly repeated."


    "Which is?" Arthur''s patience was running thin at this moment.


    "This world¡­ it''s not a simple world," Gor was the one to speak, "it''s a gate, a portal linking this world to another one."


    "A higher realm then?" Arthur asked after a long minute of thinking.


    "No, it''s a world where an ancient race lived before," Deem corrected.


    "the originals!!" Arthur was already familiar with those who lived a long time before in this universe. Despite his surprise to find a relic world here, he wasn''t that much shocked about hearing that.


    He already went to a world controlled by an original before and took a trial there for his dragonair power. "We need to explore that world and gain all the treasures there."


    "No, no we should never do that!" Deem suddenly said in a sharp and frightened tone that startled Arthur for a moment.


    "Don''t worry about them," Arthur realized his two grand minds were fearing the originals. They were a formidable race indeed, but they were long gone. "They are all dead. So don''t worry about that."


    "No, you are wrong," however what Gor said made Arthur feel fear for the first time ever about this race, "that world was designed to hold their criminals. And from the prophecies we read, you will eventually open that door and release all of them."


    "Release them¡­ you speak like¡­ they are alive!" Arthur tried to smile but he was so nervous to do so.


    "They are," and Deem confirmed his worst guess, "these criminals were made sure to be confined and tortured for eternity without dying."


    "According to the prophecies, these folks are the worst of that race. They are all criminals, killers, robbers, and people who did all the heinous acts before. We shouldn''t get involved with such scary and cruel people, we must not open that gate."


    Arthur was now feeling afraid from opening this gate. "You have my word, I won''t open the gate," he promised with sincerity.


    "But¡­" However despite saying that, Deem and Gor never looked reassured or relaxed.


    "But¡­ what?" Arthur stressed to know what they knew. The two must know something he didn''t know of, something that made even his promise worthless.


    "The gate is bound to the one man who controls this world," Deem slowly said, "so your dream of conquering this world must stop or else¡­ we are all doomed."


    Arthur was taken aback for a brief moment before he figured out a way out. "Don''t worry, I won''t open the gate even if I conquer the world."


    "But¡­"


    "No more to say, I just gave you my word," Arthur stopped Deem from saying anymore, "c''mon, don''t tell me my words don''t matter anymore."


    The two went speechless and couldn''t say anymore. At this moment many portals appeared as all the mage hostages were taken in by Doaf, Amera, the crow, and Nicole.


    And thus what was left were the monsters that Arthur coveted. Arthur watched the many portals that Gege summoned before taking a deep breath and turned to his two trusted subordinates.


    "Go inside now, let''s have all rest back at our empire," he said before turning and started to fly away, giving no room for the two to say anymore.


    "Sigh, we are doomed," Deem couldn''t help but bitterly say.


    "Don''t think this way, he is this loyal to his people which makes me guilty to ask him not to conquer the world," Gor slowly said in dejected tone.


    "Me too¡­ however he doesn''t know that the two he is desperately looking for are already confined inside that world. If he knew and if he had the world in his grasp¡­" Deem stopped what he was saying while his eyes and face told everything he was thinking about.


    "I know¡­ but what can we do? We can''t ask him to suddenly turn his back on those loyal to him, to the two women he wanted to save," Gor sighed before starting to walk in slow steps, "we need to speak with everyone when we get back. We need to set a plan in motion before everything crumbles all around us."


    Deem could only nod in helplessness. The two of them already read tens of prophecies speaking about what would happen if Arthur opened this gate.


    And according to these prophecies, Arthur would open the gate to save his women. A good deed that would doom not only this world but the rest of the universe.


    After all those originals confined in that prison world weren''t weak or like any mage here. No one could stand against them and stop them, not even Arthur, not even those from the higher realms, not even the grandmasters.


    However the two didn''t have any way to persuade Arthur not to do that. They knew if Arthur knew, he wouldn''t hesitate to hasten his plans to conquer this world and open that gate.


    And so the first thing they had to do was to hide these facts off him and hope others might have a way to solve this catastrophe. Or else it would be the start of the end of this universe.


    As Arthur flew high in the air, he was soon joined by the other four from the high realm. They already took in their hostages and waited for Arthur to take him.


    They wanted to ask him about the reason behind his interest in these useless monsters. However none spoke or said anything. After all this interaction with him, they all reached one conclusion about him.


    He never did something without proper reason, not even once!


    "Let''s go," after nearly half an hour, and after taking in all the monsters inside his garden, he started to retreat towards his new empire.

 Chapter 896 - The Dark Angel Mage Makes A Move

    He left for so long already. Despite him travelling back in time, he had lived too long, longer than those he left behind here.


    The last thing he did before coming to this sect was to send off his own armies all around the corners of the world. He sent off Sara and Tina to lead many of his forces and claim many territories.


    Many armies were awaiting them for a fight, but he now doubted there would be a force stationed in this world worthy of his worry.


    He crushed all the leaders stationed in this world and those left behind would only be the leftovers.


    He would never be worried by such weaklings, nor would his forces.


    And so he planned once returned to the empire to give his orders to expand at a high rate. He had no reason to delay any longer.


    All the people here should belong to him. All those standing against his path should be exterminated. That was his plan from this moment on.


    "Wow, we have many settlements up there," just after six hours of flying, they came across a group of towns and villages clustered together. Arthur missed that feeling from before and so he decided to go and have a look.


    "Let''s take them in," he said before turning his direction towards this settlement.


    However just as they got near this place, a shield appeared all around and protected the villages and towns from them.


    "They are really lively," the crow laughed before adding, "should I take out my boys? They didn''t fight to their heart content in the last war."


    "Wait¡­" Arthur said before he added, "I''ll go and see them first. If they are stubborn to kneel then you have my permission to act."


    The crow smiled in a vicious way while the three others shook their heads helplessly from his reaction. Arthur moved all alone towards the shield while watching many people standing inside, arranging their lines and preparing for a battle.


    "Surrender to me¡­" Arthur shouted in a strong tone and threatened the domineer. In his vision, the world around the shield was stirred up with energy, dark energy.


    It made him realize this wasn''t but a dark settlement with dark forces. He met a few like these before, and most of them were controlled by dark forces and not truly loyal to them.


    "Go away," a giant man appeared from below standing on the high and strong looking wall surrounding the central town, "we won''t answer except to our lords."


    "I killed these lords of yours," Arthur calmly said, "and I won''t hesitate to kill all of you if you don''t kneel now!"


    His words and threats seemed empty except for his dragonair form. Rumors spread across the entire world already about his identity and strength.


    He was the one leading the resistance against their leaders, one that shouldn''t be toyed with.


    However that leader down below seemed a bit arrogant at this moment. "We won''t succumb to the likes of you," he loudly shouted before yelling at his men, "prepare for war!"


    "So be it," Arthur was about to turn around before a strange form of energy appeared all of sudden.


    It was a form of energy that he spotted and came in contact with before, a higher form of dark energy that belonged to the dark angel mage without doubt.


    This made him pause and narrow his eyes. "So you decided not to listen to my words then¡­" Arthur slowly said before taking out his sword.


    The next minute the energy flow kept rising inside the shield without anyone noticing it. As Arthur stood in his place motionless and unsheathed his sword, the other four behind him knew things were heading straight to a fight.


    And so they all moved to stand beside him before they looked at the spot Arthur''s eye never shifted away from.


    "What''s there?" Amera asked in doubt, feeling there was much to see than their eyes could uncover.


    Arthur didn''t need to answer her. Just in the next moment a portal flashed and appeared at the spot he was looking at.


    And then a figure came out of it before it closed instantly without any warning.


    "A¡­ grandmaster!!!" Nicole was too shocked to see this scene. She moved her eyes around. This settlement was nothing worthy to take care of.


    "What the hell is a grandmaster doing here?" Doaf asked with doubt while moving his eyes all around.


    "He is all alone," Arthur knew what his trusted bodyguard was thinking about.


    "Yet it''s still a grandmaster," Amera slowly said, "how come he is here after what happened?"


    "They must have thought about a contingency plan," Arthur slowly said before taking a few steps forward towards the shield.


    And that giant man simply flew in the air while everyone around was startled by his sudden presence.


    "I can''t say I''m honored to meet you," the mage said in a deep tone and a faint anger over his face. Arthur saw this and figured out he was forced to come here, meaning he was disposable.


    That meant he wasn''t a grandmaster of a big and world renown clan, he was a leader of a mediocre one. However that didn''t negate the fact he was a formidable opponent to Arthur and his forces here.


    "Where is that dark angel?" Arthur looked behind the shoulders of that mage, "why didn''t he come and greet me in person?"


    "You¡­" the face of the grandmaster twisted out of anger before taking a deep breath, "I''m here to deliver a message from him anyway."


    "What message?" Arthur smiled before adding, "does he want me to kill you?"


    "Humph, as if you dare to try," the mage said in a challenging tone, "he says you have a deal with him, but not with the rest of us. As a result he isn''t obliged to stop anyone coming here on their own accord."


    "Oh, I can easily tell you volunteered and asked to come here without the need for you to say that," Arthur sarcastically laughed and his words made the mage in front of him more furious.

 Chapter 897 - No Time To Rest!!

    "I now know why many volunteered to come here," the mage said in a promising tone, "make sure this world won''t belong to you, never will."


    "I''m the one to decide that," Arthur waved his sword to clash with the defensive shield, releasing sparks of fire out of this simple touch. "What do you plan to do now? Dare to step outside and fight with me?"


    "I have no time to waste on such a weakling," the grandmaster arrogantly said, "this place is now sealed off. I will be the supreme leader here and you¡­ shall crawl back to the hole you came from and pray I won''t find you."


    Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, expand his arms and expose his chest. "Why should I be such a loser? C''mon, I''m right here in front of your eyes. Come and show me how worthy you are to be called a grandmaster."


    "You¡­" the grandmaster mage seemed to be enraged to the point he even moved for a meter before he paused. His body kept shaking as he was trying to control his urge to go out and kill Arthur at the spot. "Humph, I will kill you one day. After all, I know where you live, punk."


    "And I know where you live, stupid dark mage," Arthur didn''t show any sign of weakness however his provocation failed to lure that leader out.


    Arthur watched the grandmaster mage retreat back to the inside of the settlement. He then turned his eyes around and tried to find a single weakness in this shield.


    However even before he could do so, a sudden gush of a higher form of dark energy appeared all of sudden from the shield. He moved his eyes back to see that dark grandmaster planting some sort of a black crystal in the earth of the settlement.


    "So you came well prepared," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh while watching the shield all around getting fiercer. All the points of weaknesses he spotted before got amended and strengthened.


    If he wanted to break through this shield now he would waste many days to do so. And the end result wouldn''t be that good either.


    Arthur could only retreat back to his friends before saying: "Let''s go."


    "What about this settlement?" Amera asked in doubt.


    "What about that grandmaster?" the crow said in high fighting spirit, "I can exchange many pouts with him without losing! He isn''t that strong after all."


    "Let''s fight another day," Arthur decided already to leave, "besides we are too exhausted from the war we just won. Let''s have some days of rest before thinking about what to do."


    Arthur didn''t plan this out of his fear or hesitation. He figured out what happened here would happen at many places already around the world.


    According to the slip of tongue of that dark grandmaster, the dark angel mage would send a lot of his caliber to this world.


    He knew they weren''t that strong, but they still were formidable enough to threaten his plans. "So you want to buy yourself time¡­ but for what?" Arthur couldn''t help but think about the plan of his main enemy, the dark angel mage.


    The dark angel mage wouldn''t send such weaklings here hoping to take Arthur down. He saw what Arthur was able to do, how he fought equally with the dark dragonair clan grandmaster without losing.


    Even against him, Arthur was able to see his energy and could antagonize it using the higher form of white energy.


    But right now he lacked such energy and he knew that dark angel mage wouldn''t dare to come here without a proper plan.


    And so Arthur started to think deeply about the hidden purpose behind such actions. Why would that mage ask for more time? Did he plan to crush the higher realms first before coming at him? Or he was aiming at another target?


    "Sigh, things just got complicated at the time we should enjoy our victory and have rest," he couldn''t help but be frustrated from this hard life of mages in this universe.


    If he was living as a cultivator, he would have grown numb out of the long peaceful life there. The two seemed quite opposite to each other, making him feel bitter as to which way of life was better than the other.


    As for the real reason behind his retreat was to think about a way to demolish these shields. After all he was sure anyone coming from the higher realms would obtain such an important orb.


    Such an orb would make sure to turn this world into a jungle of traps for him, hard to crack and a lot to block his path.


    "He wants me to sit tight as a duck and not expand," Arthur thought about this before another issue appeared in his mind. "Is this world¡­ this special?"


    It all started with Aemie. The moment she did those strange actions and sent out her lover and many of her elites to her, Arthur started to have such a theory.


    And then when he fought with that young dark angel mage, he became more suspicious about the real value of this realm.


    The appearance of the grandmasters and that dark angel mage in this world could be justified as a war between giants. But with this sudden actions from the dark angel mage despite their prior agreement made him realize it was much harder to drop this world than dropping the successor of his.


    The only clue Arthur got was the prophecies Deem and Gor spoke about. "I have to ask them to write them down for me to read," he decided that once returned to his cities he wouldn''t hesitate to make them do this.


    After all he had no other way to know the hidden truth about this world. "Unless¡­" he shifted his eyes and gazed towards Nicole for a brief moment before returning to see the horizon up ahead. "I hope she had some valuable info to tell."


    The other person here who would know such hidden facts was Nicole. He was quite sure she wouldn''t stay still and wouldn''t try to dig up the real reasons behind Aemie''s weird decision.


    And he simply hoped she reached something so he could better assess the situation.


    "Oh, there is another settlement there," the crow suddenly pointed in one direction, "should I test it first?"


    Arthur watched the settlement in his own unique eyes. Without the need to go there by himself, he could easily see the higher form of dark energy spreading all over the place.


    Another dark grandmaster just appeared in this part of the world.. And that simply confirmed Arthur''s doubts.

 Chapter 898 - The Empire Is Under Attack

    "This is really starting to get on my nerves!" The crow couldn''t contain his anger while watching one settlement after another get backup from grandmasters. "They aren''t that mighty to be feared of, then why shouldn''t we just kill them?"


    Arhtur glanced at him in silence while not knowing what to say. He didn''t want to start a pointless war against some rogue grandmasters. He wanted a way to wipe them all in one fell swoop.


    He was well aware of the danger presented by them. One or few grandmasters weren''t that troublesome, but gathering up hundreds and even thousands of them would be a disaster.


    However he also knew he had other cards to use. He had Agnus, Amelia and her research team on mechas, and also his expanding empire. He aimed to control this world fast however his enemy seemed to not agree with that.


    Somehow that dark angel mage was dead fixed on having this world in his pocket. It wasn''t a mere fight over a single world, but over that gate.


    Arthur just imagined the terror it would be caused by the release of such criminal originals into this universe. At all costs he had to stop that dark mage from getting his hand over this world.


    "Let''s keep flying," he simply said while everyone else felt bitter about retreating like that.


    Arthur knew he could order them to attack one settlement and crush it for their morale to get better. However, that would be a waste of time and resources.


    Plus many of the already exhausted and injured mages would be slain here. It was a loss he didn''t want to experience, not even with the bracelet he got from his godfather.


    That bracelet contained at least a grand army of a hundred thousand mages if not more. He didn''t know if they were elites or not, but he supposedly thought they weren''t.


    After all the fight high up was still in its burning state. George would never let go of such force if he didn''t need them. And that mere fact decided their importance to him.


    They could easily be used to crush weak mages of this world, or even stand against those normal mages from the higher realms. But against elites and the caliber of grandmasters they stood no chance at all.


    He didn''t need warriors, he needed elites and special forces to execute his orders from now on. And that was the first and main goal he would ask everyone to perform.


    No matter what he had to expand his elite list to be so grand to stand shoulder to shoulder with his enemies.


    As they kept flying forward, they met more settlements like that until they finally reached his empire''s outer borders. There he found things quite chaotic as there were many of his people confined inside a newly founded and yet to be completed city.


    And around that city there was a grand army gathered from the local dark mages of this world.


    "So they even dared to test my empire," Arthur slowly said in anger before he turned to those around him, "go, kill them all and vent out what you held up till now."


    The number of the enemy army wasn''t few, and yet they couldn''t even break through the incomplete walls and defenses of his city. He got Deem and Gor with him from his empire, however their main subordinates already were familiar with the ways they used to build the cities.


    Of course Arthur was sure the speed of building them wouldn''t be on par with when Deem and Gor were around. However from the place of this unfinished city he could tell his empire expanded at least one third of its original size.


    And he just felt this wouldn''t be a sole case and other cities would be attacked like this one.


    Per his orders, everyone got hyped up and released their forces instantly. Against tens of thousands of weak mages, the slightly rested forces of the four didn''t face any problems at all in crushing all of them.


    At first their appearance came like thunder while Arthur stood motionless midair. The shape of his dragonair body was well known to his enemies before subordinates.


    So with just him standing there he pumped up the morale of his forces while plummeting the morale of his enemies.


    In less than one hour, these tens of thousands of mages were crushed into nothing. Half were killed, a quarter ran away while few forces kept chasing them.


    As for the rest they threw their weapons and declared their surrender to Arthur.


    "Take them inside and make sure to turn them into our forces," Arthur shouted in a strong tone while the four pillars next to him kept gathering up their forces inside their worlds.


    "Let''s go," Arthur suddenly turned around and started flying in a different direction from his empire.


    "Where are we going?" the crow asked with much expectations, "are we going to fight more battles?"


    Arthur nodded while Doaf hit him on the back of his feathered head. "Idiot, we are now getting attacked from all fronts. It''s normal to go around and relieve that pressure on our forces."


    "Ouch," the crow felt his neck before suddenly laughing, "still good news like a melody in my ears."


    His comment made others laugh while Arthur kept his mind busy thinking about these changes.


    ''Gege¡­'' he thought, ''take a tour around and brief me on the status of the empire.''


    ''Right away.''


    He had his tree of mirrors which could prey over the entire empire of his. Gege took roughly half an hour before finally returning to him.


    ''There are a lot of cities getting attacked, few got destroyed and we suffered many losses already,'' she said in a heavy tone before adding, ''however the good news is we expanded the empire by double.''


    ''Double?!!'' Arthur was shocked to hear that, ''how come?''


    ''Sara and Tina,'' Gege slowly said, ''and that scorpion lady of yours.. The three are leading three armies and vastly expanding the territory at one side.''

 Chapter 899 - Home Sweet Home

    ''Oh, if so then we have one less work to do here,'' Arthur nodded in content before recalling the new change in this world, ''inform them about the grandmasters arrival. Make them refrain from clashing with any hostile settlements.''


    ''What if¡­'' Gege stopped as Arthur interrupted her in the middle of her talk.


    ''Just make them bypass them and go for other settlements.''


    ''This will create pockets of resistance against you inside the main body of your empire,'' the golden dragon expressed his fears.


    ''Ding! I believe they won''t cause much trouble to us for now,'' the system stood beside Arthur in this, ''Ding! And before they could do any harm, we will figure out a way to deal with them.''


    Arthur was relieved to know someone was thinking alike him. ''Plus the main goal of that nasty dark angel mage is to hinder my growth. It''s something I can''t allow to happen. Henceforth I''m going to do my best to expand my empire and fail his plan slowly.''


    The three beings in his mind didn''t say anymore. However Gege came back later and started directing him towards the nearest city requiring help.


    They kept moving fast from one city to another, heading according to concrete instructions and guidance from Gege and the tree of mirrors.


    As they visited all cities attacked by the enemies, they found few of them already in ruins. The enemy didn''t stop there and kept advancing towards other cities inside, but Arthur and his forces landed over their heads and killed them all.


    As they had to travel fast, Arthur had to take in a large number of surrender forces inside his garden to save time. He left a word for Nara to be responsible for dealing with them, turning them all into his own forces.


    His gain alone from these hostages was in the hundreds of thousands already. However he knew turning them into his own forces would take much longer time than just ordering them around.


    Binding them with slave contracts wasn''t an option as well. Their huge number made him unable to do that, or else he would waste months to do so with no big benefits in the end.


    These forces would best be described as the future cannon fodders of his empire. He could throw them at any battle without expecting much of them. While he would lose so much in return of their negligent results.


    However no army could be considered mighty without a large number of such cannon fodders. That last battle he fought at the sect taught him this lesson and now he was happy to gain such a great number early in this game.


    He knew his fight against that dark angel mage would stretch on for months, where the tide would keep shifting from side to side.


    However as he finally secured the borders of his empire, he returned to think about an old headache.


    The traitor!


    Before he left for his expedition outside his empire, he met with an envoy from the enemy forces here. From that meeting he had one month of peaceful period plus a very crucial piece of news.


    There was a traitor in his forces. This traitor wasn''t someone simple, as he was amidst his high ranks. He tried to uncover the mystery behind this traitor before he left and yet he failed.


    And now he returned to point zero again, asking himself if it was Amelia or someone else.


    "That dark angel mage I had inside is a gem," Arthur muttered to himself while moving fast inside his territory. He headed directly towards his beloved city, the lake city.


    In fact it wasn''t the capital of his empire, but to him it was. He loved the scenery there and he felt a familiar tranquility when he lived there.


    As he approached there, Gege informed him that all of his friends and leaders of the empire moved to the lake city by her instructions. Only the three girls fighting on the frontlines weren''t able to make it.


    It wouldn''t be wise to call them back for now. The three were starting the grand plan of trapping the settlements with grandmasters inside the big body of his empire.


    And later on he could test out the new ways to crack the shields over them to know what would work and what wouldn''t.


    As he saw the mighty walls of his city and the grand crystal clear lake behind it, he couldn''t help himself from smiling.


    At this moment he felt really tired all of sudden. It felt like coming back home and when one did that, he would feel all the pain he kept holding back so far.


    At the far sight, he could see a few silhouettes standing in front of the gate. As he approached them, he found the leaders of the empire led by his friends.


    Ron was with his girl, Madly, standing alongside other friends of his. Arthur hadn''t seen them for so long that he felt he left for a lifetime before coming here.


    "Welcome home," Ron hurriedly said while patting on his shoulders. The others smiled and said many warm greeting words, however Arthur didn''t hear any of these.


    Amelia was standing on the side while feeling hesitant. He knew he doubted her before going out, and she knew that. She was leading the work over the mecha, and yet he didn''t trust her too much to exclude her from the traitor suspicious list.


    In fact he had a point here, she knew it but she seemed to be hurt by him believing it.


    "Welcome home," she finally got the courage after noticing his fixed gaze upon him. He knew she wouldn''t come without an invitation, and his eyes were the only suitable invitation for that right now.


    "Let''s go inside," he didn''t hesitate to hug her before entering into his lake city.


    And once he went inside, he even felt the air tasted different than the rest of the world.


    "Home sweet home," he said while taking a deep breath and kept walking on the ground with everyone else towards the main palace.


    He planned to listen to their sayings and updates first before he would have a well earned rest.

 Chapter 900 - Agnus!

    As Arthur walked in the streets of his beloved city, he couldn''t help but feel the atmosphere here had changed a lot since the last time he was here.


    Before the city reeked with the scent of blood wherever he walked. However now there was nothing but prosperity and calmness all around.


    Even the people living here looked happy. They all came out of their homes and started to pay their tribute to him.


    And he only felt proud to be able to provide shelter to them and see such happiness on their faces.


    "Ah, I can''t believe I''m back," he sat on his seat in front of the lake while everyone else sat around him. He was really happy, and everyone could tell that just from looking at his face.


    "We did everything we could to make the empire stronger and more stable," Amelia said in low tone as if she wanted to evade even talking directly with him.


    "I can see that," Arthur paused before a thought came up in his mind, "I want to build an empire where everyone lives happily and in peace. I want to save all those who stood on the right side and were destined to be overrun and killed by those tyrants."


    His words came out of the blue, but they came from the depth of his heart. He took in a deep breath before returning to think about the current stressing problem he had.


    But first he needed to know the updates from everyone.


    "Oh, where is Agnus?" he asked while looking around and couldn''t see him.


    "He¡­" Ron paused before glancing at everyone else here, "was held captive recently," he added with a dejected face that made Arthur pause and frown.


    "What happened?" he asked with a serious face. Agnus was one of the most important pillars in his empire, one who couldn''t lose. Not now, especially not now.


    "He wanted to try a new weapon at the frontline," Madly said before adding, "but the city he was stationed at got attacked and surrounded. We tried to send reinforcements, but that came too late."


    Arthur clenched the arms of his seat while his air changed drastically before asking:


    "Where is he now? Where did that happen?"


    "The three ladies are seeking him at the moment," Amelia hurriedly said as everyone noticed the anger of Arthur, "they located a group taking him hostage somewhere so deep and far away from our borders."


    "They are trying to go there and rescue him," Ron added while Arthur suddenly stood up.


    "That won''t work," he looked to his four warring pillars and without hesitation they all stood up with him.


    And then everyone stood up as well.


    "Stay here," he said to Nicole, "she is my guest and my friend. So treat her nicely until I return," he instantly turned into a dragon before Amelia hurriedly said:


    "You just returned¡­ why not take a day or two rest first?"


    Everyone nodded as they expressed their agreement on this proposal, however Arthur simply flapped his wings to rise slowly in the air while giving them his answer.


    His friends and his empire leaders looked at his shadow in the sky while he was flying so fast and vanished in no time from their sight.


    "Sigh, he just came¡­" Ron softly said before Madly hit him with her elbow while motioning with her head towards the totally dejected Amelia.


    Her face told everyone here how bad she was feeling at the moment. She thought he would stay with her for some time before going out once again to fight.


    But she felt like he didn''t even see her at all or care about her.


    "That was slightly harsh," Doaf flew beside Arthur while the other two flew in silence.


    "What do you mean?" Arthur asked while his mind was busy thinking about Agnus.


    He built his entire plan on this young gifted man. He knew how skilled Agnus was, and so losing him now came as a deadly blow to him.


    He had to save him before anything else. That was why he didn''t hesitate to move out and go without even staying any more second there.


    "You know¡­ girls waiting for their men coming back from war won''t feel good when they leave at once for another one," Doaf tried to give him a hint here.


    Arthur suddenly got what he meant. He knew Amelia must have been waiting for him, and he just hoped to stay a really long time with her.


    But he had such a stressful matter to deal with, one he couldn''t even postpone for a single more day.


    Tina, Sara, and the scorpion queen were leading their armies and trying to go directly towards the place Agnus was held at. However they were moving so slow to free him fast.


    Plus he was totally sure that Agnus was held captive at one of the strong strongholds of the enemy, meaning that there must be a strong grandmaster there guarding that fort.


    Even if his three ladies combined their forces together, they wouldn''t be able to stand a chance against such a formidable opponent.


    Only he and the four alongside him could do that. However the words of Doaf resonated in his soul, making him inwardly sigh.


    ''Gege¡­'' he simply said that before she hurriedly said:


    ''I got it!''


    Far back inside the lake city, Amelia stood there with a dejected look over her face. She was hurt before by Arthur doubting her as a traitor, and now he was treating her in a cold way.


    She felt her heart shattering under all this pain. And so she sat on her seat with weak will while lost in thoughts while watching aimlessly the lake.


    Everyone else kept their distance from her, giving her a moment where she could feel her pain and try to deal with it.


    This wasn''t the first time they saw her act in such a way.. In fact they decided among themselves not to bring the name of Arthur in front of her.

 Chapter 901 - Entering The Bracelet World

    As everytime they did, she ended up with puffy red eyes and a devastated state.


    She always reacted like she was reacting now, however this time seemed more intense than before.


    ''I miss you!''


    Just as she was falling so deep inside the abyss of pain, she heard this soft voice of Arthur ringing inside her ears. She was jolted awake and turned all around to see where he was.


    However she couldn''t find his trace anywhere around.


    "Even my mind is playing such tricks with me now¡­ Am I this pathetic?" she couldn''t help but say to herself while her eyes couldn''t contain the pain anymore and burst out in tears.


    However just before she could return to her seat once again, another whisper came in her ears. This time she could clearly hear his voice in her ears like he was standing right beside her.


    ''I missed you!''


    At this time she knew it wasn''t an illusion and it was really his voice. However instead of feeling happy and laughing, she broke out in more bitter tears.


    "I¡­ also missed you¡­ a lot¡­" she stuttered amidst weeping while her body grew soft and instantly crushed on the ground.


    ''This girl¡­ tsk!'' Gege couldn''t help but mutter in discontent, making Arthur imagine the reaction of Aemlia at the moment.


    He didn''t ask about what happened, and simply hoped for his message to give her some comfort, even if it was at the expense of her tears.


    ''Scan the area beyond my empire,'' Arthur then turned his mind towards his goal, ''find the place where Agnus is held at.''


    ''Do you want me to inform the three girls?'' Gege asked.


    ''No, leave them be,'' Arthur rejected this suggestion, ''we will just go in, take Agnus and return. As for them, they had to keep pushing forward.''


    ''Got it!''


    As he flew in silence, he could only hear soft whispers coming from the three behind him.


    They were talking about the importance of Agnus to the degree that Arthur wouldn''t waste a single moment before setting off to save him.


    Arthur heard their whispers and didn''t care about them. He already had a target in his mind and a plan needed to be done to achieve this goal.


    However he waited for long hour before Gege returned finally as she said the bad news she found:


    ''I found a special place where many numbers of forces are gathered and stationed there. I believe the reason behind the easy progress of the three girls is thanks to the retreat of all forces towards that place.''


    ''And?'' Arthur couldn''t agree more on her opinion, and he noticed that since the last upgrade of her she started to be somehow wiser.


    ''It''s a big castle, with big walls and many defensive abilities. I searched far and wide, but they still didn''t activate their shield. There are at least five grandmasters and many higher realmers there.''


    ''Oh, they prepared a good ambush for me then,'' Arthur couldn''t help but inwardly laugh, ''but that''s cool. At least I''ll test my power over them.''


    ''But these grandmasters can''t be underestimated,'' the golden dragon warned, ''they won''t come here without good preparation and many gears to aid them.''


    ''Ding! I believe you should call for all your forces. Don''t go alone there,'' the system suggested.


    ''Who said I''m alone?'' Arthur smiled while touching his bracelet, the one George gave him, ''it''s time for me to say high to them.''


    He turned to his three friends before saying:


    "I located the place where Agnus is located."


    "Really?" The crow was surprised while the other two weren''t. The crow didn''t see what Arthur did back in the higher realms. How fierce he was and how his methods seemed like magic to many.


    "Is it a fort?" Amera asked as this was their conclusion as well.


    "It''s much more than a simple fort," Arthur nodded, "and there are a lot of elites there, coming from high realms."


    He could see the fighting spirit igniting inside the crow''s eyes. "Is there any grandmaster?" the crow asked with a challenging tone. He seemed that he wanted to desperately fight such war, he was craving deeply for it.


    "At least five," Arthur slowly said, "can you handle them?"


    "Pft, just leave them to me," the crow proudly and arrogantly said while the other two rolled up their eyes.


    "This isn''t a joke," Arthur''s tone turned serious, "Agnes is the most important chip in our survival and victory. Losing him means we will lose this war."


    His words changed the crow''s reaction while Doaf slowly said:


    "Aren''t you slightly exaggerating? He is, after all, one of the low realmers and we have an army of high realmers."


    "I''m also a low realmer, did you forget that?" Arthur directly said before stressing again, "Agnus must be secured and saved. This is our top priority. After than do anything you want to the grandmasters and elites there."


    The three looked in a serious way to him while his words caused the desirable results he wanted. "Alright, I''ll have to do something for now so let''s stop here for a few minutes."


    They nodded and watched him close his eyes while touching his bracelet. He let his consciousness deep inside the world inside it and then he was standing in front of a grand army of bronze giant mages.


    He knew before coming here they weren''t strong, not as strong as Doaf and his elites. However when he stood midair in front of them, he felt great pressure like he was standing in front of real beasts.


    "Who are you?" One of them flew in the air and stood a few meters away from him. "What brings a dragonair clan descendant here? Do you want to die?"


    Arthur couldn''t help but feel surprise from that. Without further ado, and as he had a limited amount of time here he simply waved his hand around.


    "Bring Doaf here," he loudly said in a strong tone and domineer.. The next moment a portal opened and Doaf passed through it.

 Chapter 902 - The Old Promise

    The moment Doaf entered here, he was shocked to see this scene.


    "You¡­" the mage standing midair in front of him was surprised before his face turned dead serious.


    "How did you get them?" and Doaf instantly turned to Arthur, and his face and tone told him the matter here was damn serious.


    And this came out of the blue to him. Arthur initially thought they were mages from the clan, but from Doaf''s reaction he felt something was wrong here.


    "My godfather gave them to me," Arthur said before pointing towards them, "who are they? Aren''t they from the bronze giant clan?"


    Doaf''s face got instantly dignified before the mage standing midair answered:


    "We are from the bronze giant clan indeed, but we only answer to one master."


    "They aren''t working under the leadership of our grandmaster," Doaf slowly said while the aura of fight rose up from his body like a tornado, "they work for the rival of my grandmaster, the one who deeply hates him."


    And these two answers made Arthur see part of the picture now. However he didn''t imagine George would grant him such a ticking bomb as a gift, and without even a single warning.


    ''What''s going on here?!'' he couldn''t help but wonder while his eyes narrowed as he gazed up at the grand army underneath him.


    "What master do you serve?" Arthur asked in a strong tone while the mage in front of him sneered back.


    "Why do you care? After all, you''ll die here. No dark mage is allowed to live after seeing us anyway."


    "Watch out your dirty tongue! He is the young master of our grandmaster!" Doaf instantly shouted in a strong and domineering tone before he turned to Arthur, "we need to leave them be for now. They are really strong and we can''t risk any war with them for now."


    Despite knowing this was the wisest decision now, Arthur didn''t approve it. He felt something was missing here. If they were as Doaf said, belonging to the enemy of George inside the bronzed giant clan, then why the hell were they here?


    "Who is your master?" Arthur asked again in a strong tone, showing no sign of weakness or any intention of retreat.


    "Humph, it''s rude to ask for others'' names without telling us yours," the mage rudely said while the army beneath him laughed in a roaring wave of laughs.


    Arthur moved his gaze all around. All these mages were elites and they were supposedly meant to work for him.


    However he never expected that. He thought they were low tiered mages, ones who wouldn''t make any difference at all at war.


    He also never expected them to belong to the rival of George, making them a threat and not helping.


    "They serve a grandmaster called Alfonso," yet Doaf stepped in and saved his young master from this embarrassment.


    However the moment Doaf said this name, Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before his face turned serious.


    "You serve that despicable man?" he strongly said and his words made everyone beneath him glare up at him in anger.


    "Watch your tongue weak mage, you can''t even live a single moment if I touched you with my finger!" the mage standing in front of him said in a threatening tone while Arthur didn''t change the look over his face.


    "Your proclaimed esteemed and rightful master tricked me before! I gave him something as a deal and in return he tricked me and never showed his face again to me!"


    His words didn''t only shock everyone here, but also Doaf. He gazed up at Arthur while his mind kept rampaging about what Arthur just said.


    How could a low realmer like him meet two grandmasters of the mighty bronzed giant clan? How could he make a deal with even one and that one tricked him?


    However that made the vague decision earlier of his grandmaster more sense now. It seemed the first time George went and met with Arthur was based on this mysterious deal.


    Doaf knew how deep the hatred between his grandmaster and Alfonso was. It ran for ages now, and the two were considered the most capable contender to lead the entire clan in the future.


    And so they were destined to be sworn enemies until one crushed the other and claimed the throne for himself.


    "You... you can''t be... Willy?" However, the next words of that mage shocked Doaf even more.


    "Oh, so you know about the bad deeds of your master after all," Arthur wasn''t that much surprised by this, "so you must be someone so close to him. What are you doing here then?"


    Arthur''s tone wasn''t like a low realmer meeting a high realmer, but of a master speaking to his slave. Arthur totally forgot about that deal a long time ago.


    George promised him many times to find Alfonso and make him pay for what he did, but up till now George never fulfilled his promise to him.


    "Well... that explains everything then," the face of that mage seemed to show his struggle before he suddenly bowed his head, "Jud greets master," he said and suddenly everyone down below knelt on their knees and shouted in unison:


    "The bronzed killers greet the master."


    "..."


    Arthur stood in daze and amazement watching all this. He didn''t know what was going on here and turned to Doaf to find an answer.


    However the shocked look over Doaf''s face told him the latter didn''t know anything at all about this.


    So Arthur had no other choice but to ask this Jud dude here.


    "Explain yourself," Arthur said in an orderly tone while watching Jud answer him without raising his head.


    "Our grandmaster... or the late grandmaster was judged by the clan head and elders for a crime he committed against the young master of grandmaster George. So he was sentenced to give up his elite forces, the bronzed killers, and be given to you. We were ordered to come and serve you as our new master."


    And this answer shocked Arthur for a brief moment before he finally laughed.


    "So you stuck to your words after all... Godfather," he said in deep content and great joy while watching all these elites bowing and kneeling to him.


    At this moment if George was here, Arthur wouldn''t hesitate to hug him and even give him a big kiss on the cheeks for that.

 Chapter 903 - You Will Fight Grandmasters

    Doaf stood all in awe and silence beside Arthur without even believing his eyes or ears. He turned to look at Arthur while feeling he was seeing a mythical being, one who could create miracles with a snap of a finger.


    "How..." he was shocked with such a twist while Arthur only smiled before he started to laugh.


    "And I, Willy, accept you as a master," Arthur said before his face suddenly turned serious, "I''m going against all the dark clans, not those weak ones in the lower realms, but those who live in your high realms. Serve me well and let us vanquish evil together. Our next fight is going against grandmasters, so be ready for a brutal fight."


    The mage named Jud raised his head while his face showed a shocking expression. He never expected serving such a mage from a low realm would turn into this.


    Fighting against each other in one clan was a normal thing. There was no real hatred between clansmen, but only a challenging spirit.


    Ego of each mage, especially the special ones, was enough to drive everyone to clash against their clansmen for superiority and power.


    Jud and his elite forces used to serve their old master for one goal, to rule supreme over the clan.


    However this new master of his went beyond that. He declared with such simplicity his war against the big dark clans, and promised a fight against grandmasters even as a start.


    How couldn''t Jud and others down below be shocked by what they heard? After all their hatred against the dark clans of the high realms was genuine. They lived their lives to satisfy one desire, to see them burn.


    "Are you... sure?" Jud asked with doubt, "we were informed you live in a low realm now. How could..."


    Arthur raised his hand to stop him before he casually said:


    "I''ve already fought against two dark angel mages, defeated and trapped one as a hostage and the other had to make a deal of peace with me. Of course I can''t trust the words of such a twisted soul, but this is me. Don''t ever doubt my words..."


    Doaf saw it was his moment to step in and thus for he took a few steps forwards while his voice roared all over this world:


    "My young master isn''t someone normal. He has fought against dark clans since he was young. He even went up to the higher realms, saved my grandmaster''s mages and fought a big war to save the cauldron world. He is well respected and renowned across all realms. His name is like thunder, making all of his enemies shiver. And his enemies aren''t those weak mages you always fight against, they are the elites of the big dark clans and grandmasters of many dark clans."


    Doaf''s words forced silence over this place. Everyone here knew who Doaf was, and despite their previous conflicts they knew he wouldn''t tell lies or try to brag about fake things.


    "Get ready," Arthur snapped his fingers and a portal appeared next, "we will have a grand war in less than ten hours."


    Arthur moved towards the portal while Doaf delayed for a few moments. He looked at Jud. For him he knew how strong and special Jud was. He wasn''t any inferior to him. And the bronzed killer force wasn''t something to be reckoned with.


    "Mark my words," Doaf said in an honest way as they now were both in the same team, "serve my young master well and you''ll see heavens beyond your recognition."


    He then turned around and vanished from this world, leaving Jud and his men shocked by what happened.


    "Everything went well?" Amera seemed to be startled and worried over Arthur.


    "It''s fine now," Arthur gave her a warm smile to reassure her anxiety, "let''s go. We need to reach there before more reinforcements arrive."


    Doaf came out next before they started to travel. In the middle of their travels, they asked Doaf about what happened inside that world.


    At first Arthur went in all alone, something normal and natural, before a portal opened and Doaf suddenly went in.


    That meant things didn''t go well at first. Doaf simply explained things to them, saying that Arthur gained a big aid from his grandmaster. A force that was able to relieve a lot of pressure over them.


    However Arthur had another plan for them.


    He knew he wasn''t fighting a direct and honest war with his enemies. So using up all his strong cards at once wasn''t wise.


    ''I will keep them for the stressful moments,'' he decided after a long time of thinking about this.


    He was tempted to release them and send them all around in smaller teams to hastily expand his territory. However doing so would mean he would be left without a shield and a sword back home.


    Arthur had many unfinished business at his empire. He needed to strengthen and stabilize his reign over his subjects using other means of power.


    The old discussion about starting a strong economy started to flash again in front of his eyes. Besides, he had to think about enforcing laws here.


    In his days back at the sect, there were a lot of known laws that breaking them had punishment. However he also was well aware that these laws couldn''t be used on regular humans.


    He needed to think of other laws to make their lives stable. He also needed to find a way to crack the defensive shields around the settlements, those strengthened by the grandmasters from higher realms.


    To do so he needed to be sure of Agnus'' safety and make best use of those who were left to him at the castle of the sky.


    They were all supposed to be prodigies, people with special talents and exceptional minds. It was their time to shine and help him strengthen his empire.


    As for the bronzed killer force, he would prefer to let them guard the vast territory of his empire. It was pointless to have grand armies marching all over the corners of the universe when the base of the empire was left defenseless.


    One couldn''t rage wars while his home was on fire. And thus he decided to form a guard force that would keep his empire safe.


    And when things went south, he would use this hidden sword to slash his enemies at their throats.

 Chapter 904 - Reinforcements

    The three behind Arthur were all excited about gaining such force at such timing. It seemed the bronzed killer''s name was well known even to Amera and the crow.


    However Arthur didn''t care about that. He kept flying in silence while receiving updates over enemy moves.


    The enemy got wind of him coming here. Despite there being only four people flying at them, they seemed to be frightened like four grand armies were heading to their base.


    As such they started to frantically call out for reinforcements. According to Gege, there were at least ten medium sized armies coming at the base like them at this time.


    They weren''t that close to get there sooner than them, but four would make it there an hour or so before they did.


    But Arthur decided to do something else.


    "Let''s go this way," he suddenly pointed towards four directions before adding, "there are four armies coming to their aid from these directions. Each one will be handled by one of us. Make sure not to entangle too much with them. Only aim for their leader and elites before regrouping again."


    The three nodded before Doaf asked:


    "Is there any grandmaster there?"


    "All have one grandmaster as a leader," Arthur said before adding, "they all came from settlements."


    "So crushing them means we will have four settlements for us to take for free, right?" The crow seemed excited about this but Arthur''s next words made him feel more excited.


    "There are a total of ten armies marching at the base of the enemy for now," Arthur slowly said before adding, "when you finish killing them, I might send you off to hunt down more armies if they are close to you."


    "That''s... a great plan to me," the crow laughed, "alright, let''s go now and make sure to kill them fast."


    "I''ll always guide you through the way," Arthur selected one direction and ventured towards it, "make sure to not waste too much time. After all they are just teasers."


    They laughed before each selected a direction and flew towards.


    "Keep telling them about the direction," Arthur said to Gege, "and keep an eye all around. I believe this won''t end with just ten armies."


    Arthur''s doubts proved to be right in less than one hour. Just before he was upon the army coming towards the base of the enemy, Gege told him the latest news.


    ''Another seven armies appeared from far.''


    "That''s not a big deal," Arthur could already see the marching army up ahead, "try to devise a plan of motion. I want to grind those armies as long as possible. After all, each one means one more settlement to capture, right?"


    He left his three beings in his mind chatting together and drawing a plan for all his forces to follow. As for him, he already could see the grand higher form of dark energy flying over the army up front.


    "So there are more than one grandmaster here after all..." he knew such an aura couldn''t come from only one grandmaster. "Alert the others, each army has at least two grandmasters in it."


    ''But each settlement has only one grandmaster, or what?'' Gege seemed surprised to hear that.


    ''That means they merged more than one settlement to form this army,'' the golden dragon answered her question while the system added:


    ''Ding! We need to draw lines for the directions each army came from. We also need to know how many grandmasters are in each army.''


    "This way we will have much more settlements than I thought," Arthur nodded in content, "the more they send, the more I gained, hehehe."


    As he got so near from that army, and he was in his dragonair form, the mages there noticed him at once and seemed to get startled and afraid.


    He saw them trying to reform their lines and desperately hoping to activate a defensive array. However Arthur knew he couldn''t attack the arrays around the settlements before because of the strong defensive preparations there.


    But now... they were wide open in the wild, waiting for him to devour all of them in one go.


    "Open as many portals as possible, and make my army appear in the middle of their ranks," he said and instantly Gege complied.


    He didn''t have time to waste, and he didn''t want to fight against any surprises. If he let them activate whatever array they were trying to make, he might face new variables and take longer to crush them.


    Why then should he take his forces out next to him instead of letting them land all over the army up front and crush their planning in the heart?


    The army of these mages was almost thirty thousand mages. They looked strong and big enough to draw a long battle with him.


    However when hundreds of portas appeared and thousands of his forces came to this world, things started to look much easier than before.


    The forces he gained weren''t normal mages from higher realms, they were elites. Their foes were mainly formed of low realms mages, and only few of them were elites from higher realms.


    Elites coming from normal dark clans couldn''t be even compared with those coming from the top bronzed giant clan.


    As such the first impact between the two forces made it clear to Arthur that he wouldn''t take so long to crush this enemy.


    Only one obstacle remained.


    "Determine the location of those grandmasters at once," Arthur gave the order to Gege while taking out his sword and started to make his technique moves, "relay them to Jud. I will fight one and he will take care of others."


    ''Got it!'' Gege instantly started looking for the location of these grandmasters. As for Arthur, he only activated his technique and then started to look for the location of these grandmasters using his special eyes.


    It wasn''t that hard to see them now. As the number of the enemy forces kept declining fast, and with the presence of those bronzed killer elites, the grandmasters started to join the fight.


    He could easily notice three towering spikes of high dark energy in the entire battlefield. "Do you get their locations?" he simply said while heading towards the closest one.


    ''I''ll inform Jud of the other two,'' Gege could read his mind and thus she knew what he found out just now.


    "It''s time to test my new power once more," Arthur was so eager to put his newly acquired ability to the test. After all, the first time he used it came at such a stressful and dangerous moment.


    So he feared not being able to use it like he did before. However, just as he moved closer, he started to first control the white energy from the vast world around.


    As he did before, he closed his eyes and tried to meditate.. Like before he felt a great attraction towards the white energy all around, and when he reopened his eyes, he could see a white pillar of white energy surrounding him.

 Chapter 905 - Attacking The First Army

    Arthur summoned his deadliest weapon successfully and without any problems. He checked it for a moment before it started to expand.


    The area all around the enemy army was covered in dark energy. The contact between his white and his enemy''s dark energies ended up in him overcoming the latter.


    And his white pillar just expanded continuously.


    At the same time his portals kept pouring out his forces. They were really brutal and strong, attacking without mercy these dark mages.


    The enemy wasn''t strong to begin with, and with Arthur''s unique pillar anyone touched it simply fell on the ground motionless.


    His white pillar could suck away all the dark energy from the air and from within the bodies of these dark mages. His path was littered with motionless like dead bodies of the dark mages.


    "I will kill you!"


    It was the grandmaster that he was aiming for. He roared in anger while watching all the forces he gathered being crushed like they were nothing.


    He knew, like other grandmasters here, that these mages were weak. However they all depended on numbers to match Arthur''s strength.


    But this time Arthur outdid them by attacking the scattered weak reinforcements one by one.


    And now it was the moment that would decide everything for him. He wanted to see how well he would fare against a higher realm grandmaster.


    "Die!" the grandmaster suddenly moved his arms before a large ball of dark red fire appeared. It looked strong and resembled Arthur''s dragon breath.


    And that made Arthur decide to match it using his fire breaths.


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    Just as he got closer, the grandmaster didn''t hesitate to throw his ball of fire towards him. Being in this low realm had its toll over those coming from higher realms.


    All their powers got shrunk and their strength went weaker. That made Arthur''s fire breath manage to stop the fire before he added another layer of the white energy to his fire.


    And that was the moment when his fire breath ate away the opponent''s fire and made it shrunk. The sound of sizzling kept banging all over the place while the grandmaster''s face looked quite pale.


    "Not this easy!" however he didn''t give in this fast and instantly summoned another ball of fire.


    Then he threw it towards Arthur who didn''t get rid yet of the first one.


    "This can''t keep on going like this," Arthur realized he was fighting a losing battle. If he wouldn''t lose the fight, he would eventually lose precious time.


    And he wasn''t ready to lose such precious time at this moment.


    "Gege..."


    ''Got it!''


    Without further ado, and before that ball of fire could reach him, a portal appeared behind him before he simply let his body fall into it.


    And then he vanished before reappearing hundred meters away, just next to that grandmaster.


    "Die!" Arthur wasn''t planning on dragging this any further. Before the grandmaster could react in time, Arthur''s two swords slashed his body and sent him flying towards the ground fast.


    "Gege..."


    Arthur didn''t intend to let him off this easily. The next moment a portal appeared before swallowing him.


    And then he appeared just below the falling body of that grandmaster, while his two swords penetrated the dark mage''s body till the hilt.


    "This won''t be enough... to kill me..." the sound of the grandmaster became weaker however Arthur didn''t even listen to his gibberish talk.


    He simply moved his arms, one to the right and the other one to the left. His two swords cut through the grandmaster''s weak body before cutting him into two halves.


    He stood in midair watching that grandmaster fall. He was covered in his enemy''s blood, giving him a far scarier appearance.


    "You are no match to me," Arthur turned his gaze all around before seeing another grandmaster holding his ground against his elites. "Gege..."


    Like before he vanished and reappeared using Gege''s portals. He came just behind the grandmaster as a surprise.


    Then his two swords went deeply inside that grandmaster''s already wounded body.


    "Two down," Arthur took out his two swords and left the enemy to his elites to finish, "Gege..."


    He moved again towards the one Jud was fighting alongside a few more of his elites. That grandmaster seemed to be the strongest out of here as he was equally fighting with Jud and others.


    But with the sudden appearance of Arthur, that dark grandmaster didn''t stand a chance before he was slain.


    "Master," Jud and others were shocked to see this before they all bowed their heads and said in unison. Arthur could already feel the difference in their tone and attitude towards him.


    They were now admiring him and feeling glad to be able to serve him despite what they felt earlier.


    "Go," Arthur didn''t even stand his place motionless as he started to move all around, "kill everyone fast. We have more armies to crush."


    The fight turned into a crushing defeat without any surprises after killing the three leaders of this army. In less than half an hour, everyone was killed either by Jud and his bronzed killers, or Arthur and his white pillar.


    "We killed them all," Jud came to stand before Arthur, "what should we do with their bodies and things?"


    "Leave them for now," Arthur simply waved his hand before many portals appeared, "get in and be ready for another fight."


    "My pleasure," Jud bowed before he vanished alongside the army in a few minutes. Arthur stood all alone midair amidst all this death and blood while watching the dead bodies of his enemies.


    He didn''t hurry to leave before he took in his biggest gain from this war; the dead bodies of the three grandmasters.


    "Hahaha, now I can summon the deadliest dragons ever!" he laughed in joy while flying so fast towards the direction of another army.


    They were all near the main base of the enemy, so it didn''t take much time to jump from one army to another.


    Arthur kept fighting all over the place, killing many grandmasters and crushing hundreds of thousands of dark mages.

 Chapter 906 - Something Is Fishy

    Arthur''s gains from each battle were stored carefully inside Gege''s garden world. He crushed ten armies alone, making him gain twenty-five dead corpses.


    "Barely enough," he loved this game while he knew he lacked another seventy-five corpses. "Are there any more armies coming here?"


    ''No, it seems the news of you killing their reinforcements reached their ears already,'' Gege said, ''I spotted a few armies coming here before turning around and leaving.''


    "Damn!" Arthur felt he lost a great chance today, "sigh, at least I know I can have more in the future."


    The total armies they all killed numbered twenty-three. He alone killed ten while the other three disposed of the rest.


    The main factor in this was his fast way in killing grandmasters. Instead of directly clashing with them, he sent his elites first to wear them down before he landed the final blow using his portals.


    No one from the other three could rival such a tactic. Even Amera found it hard to fight two or even three grandmasters at one time.


    "Where are they?" As there was nothing else to do here, Arthur started to fly directly towards the main base of the enemy.


    He was quite sure he would have many more corpses from that base.


    ''They are coming in your direction,'' Gege said, ''and I informed them to bring the dead bodies of the grandmasters they killed.''


    "Hmm... That makes me have almost sixty-four, right?" he paused before his smile became wider, "I only have thirty-six to be able to summon my first hundred special dragons, hahaha."


    He was so much excited about his dragons summoned by his dragomancer ability more than killing the grandmasters. If not for his only one shot to use this ability limited to one time per day, he would have already used it on what he had.


    Just before he could see the big walls of the stronghold lying up ahead, he saw three rays of light coming fast towards him.


    "You are finally here," Amera said as she was the first to reach him.


    "Says the one arriving later than me," Arthur laughed before nodding to the other two.


    "Here," Doaf waved his hand and corpses of the deceased grandmasters appeared. The other two did the same while Arthur simply let Gege take them all inside his garden.


    "What about this fort?" The crow asked before his eyes narrowed, "I can sense a dreadful aura coming from there."


    Arthur nodded as he already noticed this. The amount of the higher dark energy here seemed much more than he expected.


    ''Gege...'' he gave her the order and she instantly responded.


    ''There are forty grandmasters there,'' she said before adding, ''the issue is that they came with a lot of their elites. I bet they emptied their clans up there and brought anyone strong enough to fight you.''


    "Humph," Arthur didn''t show any serious reaction to her words, but his reaction attracted the attention of the other three.


    "What''s wrong?" Amera asked.


    "They brought many grandmasters from the higher realms to here," Arthur said, "plus a lot of their elites."


    "That''s good to hear," the crow said before noticing the grand shield getting activated around the fort, "let''s start destroying this first, what do you think?"


    Arthur felt something was odd here, but he nodded in agreement. "Go and make sure you are ready to welcome any trap," he warned as he felt there was something he couldn''t see yet.


    The entire fortress was covered in pitch black aura, making him unable to know exactly how many there were or if there was a trap hidden somewhere.


    So he refrained from going forward while the three went ahead and started summoning their elites.


    ''What about you?'' the golden dragon asked, ''you won''t join? Won''t summon your force?''


    "Not yet," Arthur slowly said, "I feel we walked inside a den of monsters."


    ''Ding! I can''t feel anything abnormal here,'' the system said.


    ''And there is no more than I told you about,'' Gege added.


    "I know," Arthur nodded, "but... something is constantly nagging me, like I miss something here."


    Arthur didn''t like this feeling at all. However he had nothing in his power to change it. He remained behind watching the first clash of his three pillars and their forces against the shield.


    Endless streams of attacks fell over the shield and shook it entirely. But they failed to cause any considerable damage.


    "Oh, this will take longer than expected," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh while watching the faint cracks caused by some attacks getting repaired at once.


    The quality of this shield was on par with those of the higher realms. However the opponents were all high realmers as well. The shield could stand for some time, but eventually it would crack.


    Arthur thought for a second there the enemy would drive all their forces combined to stop the attacking forces. It seemed like the most logical approach here, considering that it would buy the shield valuable time to get repaired when getting closer to destruction.


    However the more the fight went on, no one moved a finger. That was peculiar though, and Arthur couldn''t help but feel more intimidated by this.


    "Something... is certainly off," he muttered while moving his eyes around.


    He checked the area around this big fortress. The fortress of the enemy consisted of a central citadel surrounded by long and towering walls.


    There were around five layers of walls inside, something that Arthur imagined to be used to generate more shields if needed.


    "They... are stalling for time," Arthur reached this conclusion when the first shield went down after three long hours of constantly attacking it. And yet another shield appeared from the second row of walls the next instant.


    That made him think of what they could possibly do in such a situation. His enemies weren''t fools, and they surely weren''t afraid.


    Fear would drive anyone to commit mistakes, just like rage.. However from what he could see, they were strangely patient, making not a single mistake ever.

 Chapter 907 - A Deadly Trap

    "Gege... scan the area around here for any hidden forces," Arthur couldn''t think of anything but that. The only thing these forces might wait for would be the presence of hidden reinforcements hidden somewhere here.


    However even until the second shield went down, Gege couldn''t find a single glimpse of anything.


    "What... no way!!!`` Just as he was puzzled by this, his forces moved forward to hit the third shield. At this moment, a strange and unbelievable thing happened.


    The first shield that got destroyed came up intact as perfect as it was before. Arthur watched for a brief moment before he suddenly flew directly towards there.


    "This is the trap," he didn''t need to wait for any further clues to reach this conclusion.


    ''But the third shield is still intact,'' Gege tried to reason with him.


    ''There must be hidden forces somewhere. They are planning to get you first,'' the golden dragon said his theory, but Arthur never accepted it.


    "No, they don''t want me... they want them," Arthur was quite sure this time, "they will tear my elite forces first to get rid of my annoying thorns. Gege..."


    ''I know,'' Gege wasn''t agreeing with his assumptions, however that didn''t prevent her from doing what he thought of.


    In fact none of the three beings in his mind approved of what he just said. However Gege couldn''t find any trace of any hidden forces, neither did the system.


    As Arthur moved so fast towards the shield, many portals flashed all around. They started to pour out his elite forces, but Arthur still had the first blow towards the shield.


    "Bang!"


    His two swords were now sheathed by the white energy of this world. A loud bang erupted when the two clashed at the same time with the shield.


    "Tear this down!" he shouted before turning to his trapped forces, "tear the third shield down as fast as you can!"


    His voice was perfectly heard by everyone, however no one felt the same distress as him.


    And time proved they were wrong not to feel so.


    "Hahaha, it''s too late kiddo," just as Arthur was fervently attacking the shield, a sinister laugh came from inside. "Say goodbye to your beloved forces, I will tear them apart in front of your eyes!"


    Arthur instantly recognized this sinister voice as it belonged to the hideous dark angel grandmaster from before.


    ''How can this be?!!'' Gege was shocked but the golden dragon gave her the answer.


    ''He isn''t making any personal appearance here, so he isn''t breaking the treaty with Arthur.''


    ''Ding! He will summon a lot of forces to kill the trapped forces of ours.''


    The system words were proven right. The next few moments were filled with flashing sounds of many portals appearing all around his trapped forces.


    "Gege... Can you bypass it?" Arthur couldn''t help but think about a contingency measure.


    ''No, the shield seals off any connection to here,'' however Gege said what he didn''t want to hear.


    "Jud... Jud..." Arthur instantly turned to plan B and yelled all around for the leader of the bronzed killers.


    Before even reaching him, and once Arthur spotted Jud, the former shouted without delaying any precious seconds:


    "Use your ultimate technique... bring this shield down now!"


    The orders of Arthur gave everyone a sense of urgency and danger. What they felt was true as things kept getting worse inside that shield.


    Just as the portals started to pour out a large number of grandmasters alongside their elite forces, the third shield suddenly vanished before the forces inside the fortress moved in unison to attack the trapped forces of Doaf, Amera, and the crow.


    The three tried to rearrange their lines to welcome the uninvited guests, but this sudden change killed their plan in the end.


    The trap was perfectly executed and now the three trapped pillars of Arthur struggled to keep everyone of their forces in line.


    They even started to summon more, much more of their forces, everyone in their worlds.


    They knew this trap was designed for them to fall here, and no one would ever slack when it came to their lives.


    However their enemies were already in high morale. They saw their victory waving at them from a distance. All the first clashes ended up with massive losses to the three pillars while the enemies lost few.


    But this perfect trap had only one weakness... one simple mistake that the dark angel grandmaster mage missed and didn''t account for.


    It was Arthur!


    The moment this trap appeared, Arthur started to act. However, taking down one shield took three hours for his combined forces.


    But Arthur wasn''t out of options here.


    "Be sure to make everyone use their ultimate techniques now!" Arthur yelled at Jud who turned to face the shield and was ready to use his ultimate technique.


    ''What should you do?'' the golden dragon asked, ''shouldn''t we send the word for the three girls to come?''


    Arthur knew whom his golden dragon was referring to. Tina, Sara, and the scorpion queen were a formidable force combined. But it wasn''t realistic to think about this for now.


    "They will take much time to come," he closed his eyes and stood in midair motionless. "I have another plan."


    As he entered his garden world, he landed on an empty spot where sixty-four corpses lined in front of him. "Bring me more, let me fulfill the quote," he said before putting his hand over the head of the first corpse, "activate the dragomancer technique!"


    He knew time was the sole determinant of the victor here. He didn''t doubt the strength of his forces trapped inside or those outside trying to break that shield down.


    However he also was aware that his enemies must have thought about that. They must have prepared a lot to make the shield sustainable for the longest time possible.


    So Arthur decided to go full out and show them how foolish it was to try and play dirty with him.


    The first dragon born was something worthy of admiration. It wasn''t just gigantic, but it also emitted a dangerous aura making even Arthur feel intimidated.


    "Master," the dragon obediently bowed its giant head covered in dark red scales. His body was covered with darker scales until the tail, adding to his domineering aura.


    "Stand still for now," Arthur didn''t have time to celebrate this, "we have a big war at hand."


    He jumped towards the next corpse, then the next. He kept changing all the killed grandmasters before he started working on those corpses he garnished from the war upon the cauldron world from before.


    When he finished transforming the hundred corpses into mighty dragons, he evilly smirked before saying in cold and ruthless tone:


    "Get us out, and bring all the dragons and monsters here as well. Also bring that lazy pregnant octopus, we will need her help for sure."


    If his enemies decided to go all out, why wouldn''t he do the same?

 Chapter 908 - All For One Goal

    The next moment Arthur went outside. He wasn''t alone. All around the portals kept flashing and a lot of forces appeared.


    Mechas, monsters he brought with from higher realm, dragons he summoned before, the dragons he summoned earlier, and even his forces he gathered from hostages he acquired and led by his werewolf.


    Above all the gigantic octopus monster came as his crown jewel. The sudden emergence of such forces startled everyone, specially Jud and his forces.


    They were new to seeing Arthur''s power, and they never imagined for him to obtain such a wide variety of forces.


    "Attack that damn shield," Arthur roared while pointing his sword towards the shield before starting to activate his technique, "let''s bring it down... all together, on me!" he hurriedly activated his technique and didn''t delay in landing his two swords over the shield.


    And then everything around shook when everyone he summoned attacked.


    The rumbling sounds never ceased to come while he watched the shield fluctuate like it was a water bubble about to burst.


    And then the shocked Jud and his forces started to join the attack.


    "He is coming," Amera was already greatly pressured inside the shield. She was moving all around, trying to buy valuable time for her forces to retreat and regroup.


    She tried to stop the attacks coming from all directions, however the attacks seemed endless to be stopped only by her.


    Even with the help of Doaf and the crow, alongside their elites, things didn''t seem hopeful to them.


    Not until the entire world rumbled as Arthur brough out his mighty forces and started to attack the shield non-stop.


    "Don''t slack!" the sinister voice of that grandmaster of the dark angel clan came to be heard by everyone here, "I''ll move more forces here. Make sure to kill them before the shield is down!"


    Per his orders, the attacks over Amera, Doaf, and the crow forces grew fiercer and their losses returned to summit once again.


    "This isn''t good,"Doaf could already see where this was ending. All their efforts from earlier just got crushed when that hideous dark angel mage spoke.


    "Let''s use our ultimate techniques then," Amera suddenly appeared beside him and the crow.


    "That''s a good point," the crow viciously said, "let''s kill those motherf*ckers," he added while he was about to act.


    "Not against them," but Doaf was the one to catch up to what Amera wanted to do, "it''s against the shield, moron."


    "Oh," the crow didn''t care about the insult before he turned towards the crashed shield, "but we are too far from it."


    "We have to do it," Amera firmly said, "I''ll create a path, and you two have to follow."


    The three nodded before Amera turned into a ray of fire once again. She moved fast, so fast and started to kill anyone and anything on her path.


    The portals that dark angel mage summoned kept flashing wildly while pouring out an endless stream of forces from the high realms. It was a perfect trap, however that mage knew it wasn''t flawless.


    And Arthur simply caught that simple flaw in his plan, the flaw he even didn''t know existed or Arthur would be capable of exploiting it in such a way.


    The deadliest weapon in Arthur''s arsenal was that annoying octopus monster. The dark angel mage regretted not killing it.


    He thought if he trapped this force here and exterminated them, Arthur would be left as a dragon without any scales or claws at all.


    However now he realized how much he underestimated Arthur. He had many cards up his sleeves. And that gigantic monster was the deadliest of them.


    In addition to that, the small army of a few hundred dragons was also a force not to be reckoned with. The dark angel mage doubted for a second that the dark dragonair clan betrayed him and provided secret support to his enemy.


    However he soon ditched this idea when he saw the last batch of dragons Arthur summoned. They weren''t any dragonair mage he ever met or heard of.


    They were strong, brutal, and very special. Their attacks were a combination between many elements, making him wonder if the dragonair clan had prepared something this deadly from behind his back.


    But the more he thought about it the more he felt it wasn''t possible. If so then the dragonair clan would eventually be on top of the dark forces, even rivalling him.


    And that wasn''t the case.


    That only left him with one possibility, that it was all Arthur''s doing. This made him feel more urge to dispose of Arthur now, before he would grow more powerful and become hard to control.


    Amera led the other two towards the shield. They were unstoppable, and no matter how many mages tried to stop them, they were all killed.


    Amera was like the tip of the spear, clearing the path fast. However the speed of the other two wasn''t on par with her. That gave the enemy a narrow window to refill the gap Amera created partially.


    But they couldn''t handle these two, especially when they were all putting their lives on the line. Everyone of the three knew without the need to say it in words how crucial this move was.


    If they succeeded, they would be freed. If they failed, they would end up being dead. All their forces would be dead. And above all Arthur, who Amera loved and Doaf took as a young master, would be greatly weakened and might eventually die at the end.


    And so the three moved without any pause until they reached the shield. But they were faced with one dilemma.


    "There are too much to hold," the crow complained while Doaf added:


    "We can''t use our ultimate technique without getting stopped by these flies."


    "You use your techniques," Amera said in determination, "I''ll buy you two time."


    She didn''t stop her ray of fire as she started to circulate around the two. As she was moving so fast and she was covering a small area, she could complete many circles in one second.


    That made her an impregnable line of defense, one that no one could even trespass.

 Chapter 909 - Crushing The Shield

    It didn''t matter now how many were thrown at her, she would kill them all in a fraction of second. The two inside the circle saw what she was doing and finally got some confidence in crushing that weakened shield.


    The attacks of Arthur and his combined forces seemed too brutal for the shield to endure. The octopus monster was his strongest asset, but others combined dealt much more damage.


    The shield kept fluctuating all the time, but it seemed it was still enduring their attacks. That drove Arthur mad and didn''t even stop for a second to catch up his breaths.


    He also heard what that treacherous dark angel mage said. He knew any moment taken for this shield to be brought down would cause more casualties to his forces.


    However at some point he spotted Amera, Doaf, and the crow coming fast towards the shield. Without any room for speculations, he knew what the three were trying to do.


    "Everyone focus on that point," he instantly moved along the shield, heading towards the point the three stopped at, "let''s help them..."


    Arthur''s shouts were even heard from the inside as well. Doaf and the crow already started their barrage of attacks.


    And as Arthur expected, their attacks were mighty but not enough to take that damned shield down.


    The shield was already getting reinforced by the grandmasters of the higher realms. It wasn''t something to be crushed this easily, and he was the only one who could tell that.


    He could see the dark energy surrounding the shield getting consumed by the white energy from the attacks. However just before the dark energy would all be consumed, a sudden gush of energy came from one point and replenished it.


    That made the shield sustainable to this moment. However Arthur saw at last a silver lining of hope here.


    "If we manage to consume the energy faster than the time of the reinforcing higher dark energy would come, then we will win this war," he said to himself as he noticed the pattern.


    There was a pattern in the supplement of the grandmasters'' energy. It seemed they couldn''t support the shield all the time and needed an interval between each time.


    This interval wasn''t that big to begin with, at least it would take roughly twenty seconds between each wave of dark energy to appear.


    So he knew they had to take down that shield in these twenty seconds no matter what!


    "C''mon," as he gathered up his forces at one point, the consumption rate of the dark energy of the shield got faster.


    But not fast enough yet.


    They took roughly twenty-five seconds to deplete the shield energy. They lacked five seconds, only five seconds made the difference here.


    But for him it looked like five years. It wasn''t that easy to cut these five seconds, especially when that damned dark angel mage was releasing more grandmasters here in each passing minute.


    Arthur had no way to increase the number or strength of his forces. His only hope now lay in his current forces to be able to get this shield down before it was too late.


    "Attack them," however as he hung everything over the three inside, the dark angel grandmaster wasn''t slow in noticing his plan, "stop these three at any cost!"


    As he shouted, the next moment Arthur could notice many rays of light coming directly towards the three inside. They were grandmasters and if they arrived the three now, everything would be lost.


    "No room for hesitation then," Arthur clenched the hilts of his two swords before waiting for the reinforcing wave of the dark energy to appear and reset the clock for him. "Amera... Activate your technique now!"


    That was his only hope. Amera was so busy dealing with all the mages coming hot at them. She couldn''t help in attacking the shield, as if she did they would get attacked by those mages.


    However none of the three inside noticed the great threat drawing fast at them. There was no time to hesitate, as these grandmasters wouldn''t take longer than thirty seconds or so to attack them.


    Amera stopped what she was doing and gazed up at him. Arthur didn''t stop his barrage of attacks for even one second. However from this brief gaze, Amera knew things weren''t looking good for them.


    "Alright," she didn''t hesitate to believe him and without any hesitation he activated her technique.


    "Stop them now!" the dark angel grandmaster seemed to see all through Arthur''s plan. He knew what Arthur was aiming for and so he couldn''t stand silent while watching Amera activate her brutal technique.


    However Amera''s technique was activated even before any mage around could reach her or the other two. A bombardment of fire attacked the shield mercilessly while she pointed her spear towards it.


    "Ten seconds... twelve seconds... fifteen seconds... seventeen seconds..."


    Arthur kept counting seconds while the entire shield turned into a little star, shining brightly in white light over this world.


    "Eighteen seconds... nineteen seconds..."


    "Rumble!"


    "Boom!"


    At the last second, the shield exploded fiercely and created a gale of wind that swept away everyone in its path. Even Arthur was thrown hundreds of meters away before he instantly thought of a countermeasure.


    "Gege..."


    ''I got it!''


    Without further ado, flashes of portals appeared all around just behind anyone of Arthur''s forces. Arthur was swallowed by the portal before appearing just beside the trapped forces of his.


    And he wasn''t the only one to have such treatment, everyone on his side also appeared next to him.


    Including Doaf, Amera, the crow, and Jud.


    "We... made it..." the crow was already panting while gazing around in haste, "it''s good. We haven''t lost all of our forces yet."


    Despite him saying that, Arthur knew they lost a lot already. Almost one third of their combined elite forces were killed or injured in this trap only.


    "Attack!" Arthur didn''t want anymore to die, and thus he issued his order even without the assembly of everyone or waiting for the shockwave to end.


    "Attack!"


    "Kill them all!"


    "Don''t leave any alive!"


    Arthur''s order was repeated in different ways by the others. Arthur didn''t join this fight yet, he had more stressing matters to attend to.


    "Gege... Move me, the recently summoned dragons, the werewolf, and the octopus to where those damned grandmasters are."


    ''Right away!''

 Chapter 910 - Dirty Tricks Vs Tricks

    Arthur knew he had already ruined his enemy plans, but that didn''t mean everything was going to be fine.


    There was still one single thing he had to do before that. These grandmasters were a thorn in his back.


    After all there was still one shield which they could activate, the last shield.


    If that shield got activated, then all of the forces would be trapped in here again. Of course this time Arthur was sure things wouldn''t be as bitter as it was before, but he would still have lost much more.


    "Tell Amera and others to target the portals," Arthur appeared inside the seemingly vacant castle, "let us attack them from all directions."


    He wanted to bring chaos in the enemy ranks. If he attacked the grandmasters here alone, he wouldn''t guarantee his sinister enemy to pull another dirty trick of his.


    However, attacking here and attacking the portals back there besides crushing the summoned enemy in all directions was enough to put that dark angel mage in disadvantage here.


    "Watch out!"


    "Enemies are here!"


    "Initiate the defensive shields now!"


    As Arthur appeared, all of his grand and elite forces made appearances as well. That instantly startled the grandmasters all around, making them shocked and terrified.


    However Arthur didn''t give them any time to do anything. "Kill them all!" he simply landed over the central part of these grandmasters while riding on top of his octopus monster.


    "Boom!"


    Even the earth trembled faintly from such a landing. The grandmasters all around were thrown into chaos while many of them got entangled already with their enemies.


    While a good part of them were thrown in midair, getting away from the arrays scattered all around the heart of the castle.


    "Kill them all," Arthur jumped instantly once he spotted these arrays sparkling underneath the earth like shallow ore veins.


    "Ahh!" as he landed, he grabbed his two swords and hit them fiercely on the ground. He covered them with white energy while precisely aiming at the dark energy flowing underneath the surface.


    "Crack!"


    "Crack!"


    "Crack!"


    He didn''t stop at this as he started to run fast. One sword, his phantom sword, kept inside the ground while the other sword was clashing with any enemy he would meet.


    And he kept running alongside the course of the arrays buried underneath the ground. Everywhere he went to, the sound of cracking appeared as he kept damaging all the arrays he could touch.


    And he didn''t focus on one array, but kept changing course and hit all the arrays he could spot.


    Beside him, the octopus monster was really unstoppable. She went berserk and kept moving her long tentacles all around while smashing many grandmasters into a pulp of meat.


    Arthur saw this and could only smile. "She¡­ got a lot stronger since last time," he noticed the increase in the monster''s strength. He knew the reason, after all his Golam lake wasn''t something normal.


    And that gave him a wild idea of nourishing this monster and her kids when born. Like this he would have more forces under his finger, forces no one would be able to stand against.


    "Keep fighting," Arthur made sure these grandmasters wouldn''t regroup again. Scattered all around meant they wouldn''t be able to cause any harm at all.


    However this didn''t mean killing them was this easy.


    These grandmasters seemed a bit stronger than those he fought before. They looked more like veterans, and that was clear when they regained control over their fear and started to retaliate.


    However Arthur didn''t bring weak forces with him. The sounds of classes raged on for long minutes while he kept running all around. The arrays kept getting damaged until they all suddenly exploded.


    "Boom!"


    "Finally," Arthur flew high in the air while watching the blue fire of his burning all the arrays buried underground. This put an end towards the nasty shields supported by those grandmasters.


    However, the fight wasn''t nearly close to being over.


    The grandmasters once saw the arrays ruined, they didn''t stress on staying here anymore. They started to retreat, heading towards the main bulk of their forces.


    They were already as vicious as wild tigers. Letting them go towards their forces and join them was like giving these tigers wings.


    "Gege¡­"


    And Arthur couldn''t let that happen. Without warning, many portals started to flash all around, taking in all of the forces that belonged to Arthur before shifting them to stand in front of all the retreating grandmasters.


    "Kill them all!" Arthur roared again while leading the charge alongside his dragon forces. This time he chose to group his dragons in one place and target those grandmasters one by one.


    "Die!"


    The grandmasters Arthur aimed for roared back and they didn''t flinch of this direct clash. They were surprised to see such a hand pulled on them, but they didn''t care about the reason.


    They knew if they couldn''t join their forces, they would be killed one by one just like what Arthur was doing right now.


    Standing against Arthur and his special forces of those giant dragons meant death to any mage. Arthur wasn''t fooling around now, and every charge he led ended up killing a few grandmasters in no time.


    "Go and save the grandmasters!" however as things were heading the way Arthur wanted, the sinister sound of that damned dark angel mage came to make him more furious.


    "You¡­ You are already crossing the line!" Arthur roared before he vanished alongside his dragon forces and reappeared in front of a group of seven grandmasters who were about to run away.


    However that dark angel mage didn''t respond while the forces up front started to run towards her. They were weak, but they had great numbers.


    Arthur knew he couldn''t stop them or kill the grandmasters in time. And so he decided to kill as many grandmasters as possible. Plus he still had a trick up his sleeve.


    "As you want to play it dirty¡­" he slowly said before killing the last grandmaster in the group he just targeted, "then let me show you how to do it properly¡­ Gege¡­ Do it now!"


    ''On it!''


    Without any warning, portals appeared and took all the scattered forces around to land in front of the hasty coming forces.


    That sudden shift left the grandmasters free. At once they started to run towards their forces while Arthur and his forces started the massacre.


    Even the octopus monster was moved here. She alone was enough to cause anything coming in this direction to be dead in a blink of an eye.


    "Gege!" Just as things went this bad towards Arthur, he didn''t hesitate to call for Gege.


    And the next instant portals appeared, and this time they weren''t only limited to Arthur and his forces. Portals appeared in front of those hastily advancing grandmasters.


    Their sudden appearance came without warning. The grandmasters never thought about this before, and so they couldn''t react in time before they got swallowed by the portals.


    And then they reappeared miles, tens of miles away from this castle.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    And then portals appeared all around before Arthur walked forth from one of them alongside his elite forces.


    "Now¡­ what about we start round two?" he mockingly said while pointing his sword towards them, "kill them all, don''t leave one alive!"


    "You¡­" and the next moment the infuriated sound of the dark angel mage thundered from the direction of the castle, making Arthur laugh.

 Chapter 911 - Grandmasters Are Here!

    The dark angel grandmaster couldn''t do anything to stop what Arthur did. Arthur played it brilliantly and moved everyone of those grandmasters away from the dominion of the fort behind.


    Arthur knew the dark angel grandmaster mage was a jerk. However he believed in the deal he made with him as the witness of the white angel grandmaster.


    He also had a hypothesis. The forts that were ruled by the dark forces now might be considered a place that dark angel grandmaster mage could appear and influence.


    And by that roaring shout from that dark grandmaster, Arthur realized it was simply true.


    "Kill them all!" Arthur ignored that dark angel mage and totally focused on killing those grandmasters. After all, their numbers were huge to take on alone.


    But he wasn''t alone.


    All the forces he summoned here were his elites. The grandmasters tried to buy themselves sometime by activating their ultimate techniques at once.


    However, that only made Arthur laugh at their stupidity.


    "If you activated these in sequence, then you could have lived a little longer," he mockingly said while fighting against three grandmasters all alone.


    They weren''t weak, but they were already feeling defeated. Their weak will made them unable to fight evenly with him, nor use their powers to the best of it.


    So it wasn''t a surprise that after a few minutes, and when their ultimate techniques withered away, Arthur and his forces managed to kill them all.


    "Go back," Arthur started to gather his loot, "help others to win this war."


    He just eliminated with great difficulty the hardest obstacle here, but it wasn''t the only obstacle in this war.


    There was still one that kept causing headaches to everyone back there; the portals.


    Amera started the fight targeting these portals, however the more she smashed the more appeared. The grandmaster of the dark angel clan took this fight so personal that he used all his power to summon portals all around.


    That put the army at the fort in disadvantage, making the three leaders there busy and with no way to help their forces to survive.


    The losses kept piling up and at some point, everyone seemed to be bling about seeing any hope here.


    However this situation didn''t last for long. The moment Arthur exterminated the annoying grandmasters, he instantly gave the order for his elites to retreat and help others.


    And that help just came in time to save a good number of Doaf, Amera, and the crow forces.


    Jud, the dragons summoned from the grandmasters'' corpses, and that octopus monster were the deadliest of all Arthur''s forces now.


    They appeared in the middle of all the forces using Gege''s help and started killing non-stop.


    "Keep them dancing," Arthur finished collecting his trophies before he took a wide glance over the battlefield from far, "make them go to the toughest opponents."


    ''What about the portals?'' Gege knew the main problem here wasn''t only the large number of the enemy, but the portals that kept pouring endless reinforcements here.


    "I''ll deal with that," the next moment a portal appeared in front of him before he passed through it.


    And then he appeared on top of one portal before smashing it using his two swords and the white energy coating them.


    "Boom!"


    One hit! It took only one hit from him to demolish this portal and make it puff in an explosion.


    "Next," Arthur didn''t even pause for a brief moment to catch his breath before he jumped through another portal and appeared above one of the enemies'' portals.


    He kept jumping around, smashing portals in batches like this. He was even faster and much stronger than Amera in dealing with portals.


    After all, he was using the white energy to augment his power. At the same time, his white energy pillar kept expanding madly by his actions until it started to play a great role in killing enemies.


    Without the need to even lift a finger, Arthur would appear in one spot to explode a portal while his pillar would exterminate any enemy in a radius of hundreds of meters.


    Gradually he became able to kill hundreds, and even thousands of enemies in one go with only appearing in one spot.


    "A grandmaster!"


    Just as he was doing this, he heard the shout of one mage that belonged to Doaf''s forces. His warning scream made everyone turn towards that giant body of the grandmaster who appeared from one portal just now.


    "He is mine!" However, just before Arthur could make up his mind, Jud decided to take him on.


    "He is mine too," and the crow also joined.


    "These two¡­ can do it," Arthur nodded in content before he passed through a portal and appeared in another location.


    "A grandmaster!"


    "A grandmaster is here!"


    "There is a grandmaster there!"


    Gradually these shouts started to reverberate more often while the dark angel mage seemed to find himself a ton of grandmasters to throw at Arthur.


    But no matter how many he threw at him, none of those grandmasters even had the chance to face Arthur head one.


    Jud, Doaf, and the crow formed one hell of a team. Together they took on any grandmaster summoned and killed him within a minute or two.


    As for Amera, she kept jumping around and helping Arthur exterminating these portals.


    "F*ck you!`` After this kept going on for a long two hours, the grandmaster of the dark angel clan seemed to be on the verge of coughing blood.


    He threw over a hundred grandmasters through these two hours, but none even managed to last more than a few minutes.


    And none never managed to face Arthur or even cause enough damage.


    As for the forces he kept pouring out from the portals, Arthur now had a gigantic pillar that could smash anything and anyone in a mile radius.


    That made this fight even meaningless. If this kept up, Arthur would only need to stand his place motionless while wiping out everything that dark mage would throw at him.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"

 Chapter 912 - Saving Agnus

    Without any more surprises, the portals all vanished one by one. Arthur stopped moving around while letting his pillar and his forces kill the remaining enemies here.


    "So you decided to retreat¡­ Interesting," Arthur evilly grinned while knowing that he overplayed that despicable grandmaster this time.


    "Agnus," as everything settled down, Arthur finally had the time to seek for what he came here for. He didn''t need to look for long, as Gege came up with the good news.


    ''He is kept inside the underground dungeon,'' she said and a portal appeared next that took Arthur to Agnus.


    "Lord," the moment Agnus saw Arthur he bowed his head so deep that it felt like he was kneeling. Arthur felt the bitterness inside his loyal man''s tone.


    And from his outer appearance, Arthur knew he must have lived through hell during his stay here. His clothes were tattered and the exposed parts of his body  were filled with wounds and clotted blood.


    His face had deep and long scars while his hair seemed erratic. Arthur felt pain towards his loyal man, and decided to form a guard unit to make sure this would never happen again.


    It was a war. He had to watch out for such occurrences more often from now on.


    "C''mon," Arthur simply slashed the iron bars and broke them without a hustle, "you are free and safe to go."


    "Lord," Agnus seemed hesitant and that piqued Arthur''s interest.


    "Speak your mind," Arthur asked in interest to hear what his genius would ask for.


    "While staying here, I found an interesting thing," Agnus slowly walked and instead of going towards the stairs or the portal behind Arthur, he took the opposite direction.


    He went deeper inside the dungeon and Arthur simply followed.


    "They were working on something I never saw before," Agnus slowly said before reaching a wide hall where a big thing was covered with black curtain.


    "What is it?" Arthur asked and was tempted to grab the curtain and see what was inside.


    "Don''t," however Agnus'' warning shout stopped him, "I saw how grandmasters even struggled against that thing."


    These words made Arthur raise an eyebrow in doubt. "You sure they struggled against this?" Arthur pointed his sword towards the black curtain, "why then I can''t feel anything from it?"


    Arthur wasn''t bluffing. He couldn''t see any form of energy coming from or swirling around that mysterious object.


    However Agnus didn''t answer fast. He first moved around before grabbing some dried corpses from the ground. "These are the remnants of the grandmasters exposed to it," he said before adding, "I believe it sucks away the power and life from these grandmasters."


    Arthur''s eyes narrowed before he touched the dried up bones. They looked like getting dried up, severely burnt down as the bones turned into some sort of charcoal like hardened ore.


    "What is that thing then?" Arthur turned to the curtain with more awe and interest than fear, "is it a living thing?"


    "I¡­ dunno," Agnus shook his head, "I was brought here to study and try to control it. From the scarce words I heard, it was said it came from a place where ancient civilization lived once before."


    "The originals¡­" the eyes of Arthur shone brightly in blue light, "that''s¡­ interesting¡­"


    "I¡­ dunno," Agnus looked confused but Arthur didn''t need his confirmation about this.


    He already knew that this thing came from the originals. That made him wonder if this object was dangerous as Agnus just said or not.


    The more he tried to see anything to give him any hint about it, the more puzzled he became. ''Was the original civilization based entirely on a different concept than here?'' he couldn''t help but mutter.


    He couldn''t see any interaction between this object and world energy. ''Is it the curtain perhaps?'' Arthur started to slowly walk around the object before asking:


    "Have you touched this fabric?" he pointed towards the black curtain and Agnus seemed to shiver before nodding. "And? Is it a normal fabric or special?"


    "Well¡­" Agnus seemed to be taken aback by this question, "I believe it was a normal thing."


    "Hmm¡­" that didn''t help but add more questions to Arthur than answers.


    ''I believe the originals used another form of energy than us,'' the golden dragon suddenly said, ''and that makes them quite dangerous.''


    ''I never imagined they wanted to defeat us to the degree of bringing such a scary thing here,'' Gege said in deep hatred.


    ''Ding! The scariest thing isn''t this, but if they brought other things inside all the forts they control.''


    The words of the system made Arthur realize something. "Damn!" he couldn''t help but say in anger. His sudden curse startled Agnus.


    "Get in," Arthur waved weekly towards him, "we have a lot to speak about when we are back."


    "Aren''t we¡­ going back now?" Agnus felt Arthur didn''t intend to return back now.


    "I have¡­ to check something," Arthur''s gaze was fixed over this thing before a portal appeared beside Agnus. Agnus left and Arthur stood all alone in front of this thing.


    "Can you contain it?" Arthur slowly asked.


    ''It''s totally fine in here,'' Gege said, ''I believe whatever this curtain is, it contains its energy and makes it safe.''


    "Hmm¡­ Alright," Arthur nodded, "take it in and never touch it until I give you permission."


    ''Sure,'' Gege instantly created a portal above the object before swallowing it inside.


    ''What do you intend to do now?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''He is going to hit some forts,'' Gege said in strange excitement.


    ''Ding! You want to test my theory?''


    "Indeed," Arthur slowly walked out in firm steps, "If they brought such weapons here then I shouldn''t stand idle. I have to push with everything I got and amass as many weapons as possible under my possession."


    ''But you don''t know how to use them,'' Gege said, ''or do you?''


    "For now I don''t," Arthur took in a deep breath, "but that damned mage won''t bring something here without having a means to use it.. I will figure out how to activate and use these weapons one way or another."

 Chapter 913 - Hunting Forts

    ''You also must learn how to defend against them,'' the golden dragon said, ''as it seems your enemy got himself a treasure trove of the original weapons.''


    "Yeah," Arthur got out to the open before slowly adding, "but at least we now know one weakness."


    ''Which is?'' Gege asked.


    ''That black curtain,'' the golden dragon answered before adding, ''but if it was something special, then we will face trouble here.''


    ''Ding! The more troublesome thing would be for it to be only available from the higher realms only,'' the system added and Arthur didn''t participate in their talk for now.


    He started flying directly towards Doaf, Amera, Jud, and the crow. The four of them just finished cleaning the battlefield and taking in their remaining forces.


    "How bad is it?" Arthur asked the moment he arrived while his portals kept popping around every one of his special forces.


    "Well¡­" Doaf took a deep breath before adding, "we lost almost one fourth of our total forces."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur slowly thought about this.


    "Don''t worry," Jud said in confidence, "we, eventually, won this war."


    "It''s not this war that I''m concerned about," Arthur said while his face told everyone he was facing a dilemma, "there are more wars we need to face now."


    "N¡­ Now?" Even the warmorgener, the crow, was surprised by his words.


    "Yeah," Arthur slowly nodded and his simple answer made everyone realize something was wrong here.


    "You¡­ did find something bad down there, right?" Amera was the first to hammer upon that point and Arthur could only sigh.


    "It''s only a possibility," Arthur slowly said, "but we need to clear that doubt by raiding many forts."


    "Well, if that''s all we need to do," Doaf shrugged, "then we can attack those we skipped before, right?"


    Arthur shook his head as he said, "we won''t leave here," he then waited for the report he asked from Gege to arrive.


    He asked her to tell the system about the routes these forces came from. Each army he devastated here came from a fort just like that.


    Initially he thought that each fort was now completely emptied. But if that hideous dark angel mage really brought many objects to this world, then he would find some mages defending these forts.


    ''Ding! I got the map,'' the system said.


    ''Good,'' Arthur then turned to the four, "is there anyone with a paper and pen?"


    Doaf took out a large piece of paper and the crow took an ink and a feather. Arthur held the feather and let the system take over his body.


    He started to draw a detailed map of the topography here. Gege already used the tree to scan as far as she could to locate the main landmarks around each fort.


    Everyone watched drawing like he was performing magic. He was totally focused and completely absorbed in what he was doing.


    "How¡­ is he doing that?" Jud whispered while he began to know what Arthur was drawing.


    "He¡­ is special," Doaf didn''t know the details, but he knew that Arthur could, at least, draw maps.


    It wasn''t the first time to do this. Jud nodded in realization, despite him not realizing anything of value.


    "Here," Arthur gave Doaf this paper before adding, "you four will form one team. Go and start from this place."


    The four looked at him in doubt before Arthur took out the bracelet and gave it to Doaf, "keep it safe until we meet again."


    "Then what about you?" Amera asked, "don''t tell me you are going to take on a fort on your own!"


    "It''s not a fort," Arthur simply laughed, "I will take even much more forts than you four."


    "Again boasting about things like this," the crow couldn''t help but accept the challenge, "alright, let''s see which team will score more."


    "Stop it you two!" Amera was worried, "how can he go on alone?"


    Her words made the crow all silent while Jud moved his eyes silently between Arthur and Amera. He would be a fool if he didn''t notice that something was going on between these two.


    "I can handle myself," Arthur seriously said, "plus you lost a lot of force already. I don''t want to lose anymore."


    "But you have no force at all!" Amer argued in an intense way and Doaf couldn''t help but take her side in this matter.


    "She has a point."


    However even before anyone could say anything, a portal opened and Arthur instantly vanished inside. "It''s not a request, it''s an order," his voice came just before the portal closed, "get control of all the forts and leave some forces to guard it."


    As he vanished, Amera couldn''t help but scream in anger.


    And the other three knew the next time the two of them would meet, Arthur would be in great trouble.


    "Keep an eye on them," Arthur kept moving fast, so fast, using the portals as the main way to teleport. Throughout the map, he realized how big the number of forts was.


    ''What if...'' Gege paused as Arthur interrupted her: "Don''t worry as I will move using these portals towards the source of trouble."


    In fact he hoped one of those mages left behind to cause a problem. He wanted to see what this weapon was.


    In no time he managed to cross a large distance in less than half an hour. The fort he appeared in front of was simply a small town in the middle of many villages around.


    "So they left some in defense after all," Arthur could already see a few spots of black energy all around the place.


    ''There is no grandmaster,'' Gege slowly said.


    "Send off some of the dragons to kill those remaining here," Arthur moved fast towards the central town while portals flashed all around.


    ''What about the people here?'' Gege asked, ''Should we kill or save them?''


    Arthur took a wide glance around. There was nothing but white energy in this place. "They are innocent, take them inside," he decided before moving towards the town fast.


    "So they brought another one here," just as he entered the biggest building in the town, he found a similar object covered with a dark curtain lying in one of the rooms.


    The place was all empty. But he also found many corpses all around the place. "Luckily... they seemed to be experimenting how to control it," he said while adding, "take them and that object inside."


    ''Got it,'' Gege said before adding, ''But I might need some time to move everyone here. After all, they approach a hundred thousand.''


    "What?!" Arthur was surprised as he never imagined such settlements would have such large numbers.


    ''The villages have many levels underground where many live,'' Gege explained.


    "Alright, then tell the others this as well," Arthur said before adding, "I will make sure to visit every single village. You will leave a few portals behind for them to get inside your garden."


    ''That will work,'' Gege said before the golden dragon asked:


    ''What about those skeletons you took?''


    "You know what I''m going to do with them, so why bother asking?" Arthur sneered before flapping his wings and passed through a portal.


    And like that he kept jumping from one place to another.

 Chapter 914 - A Disaster

    Arthur kept jumping from one settlement to another while amassing all the dark objects he could lay his hands on. Each settlement had few remaining forces that didn''t pose any threat to him or his men.


    As for that dark angel mage, it seemed he lost hope in stopping him. Arthur thought he would try and summon more men when noticing what he was doing.


    After all these dark objects seemed quite dangerous and not easy to handle.


    However even when he finished the thirtieth settlement, nothing happened.


    "Why am I bothered then?" he kept having this nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen.


    However up till now he only got a lot of people and also thirty dark objects.


    "How are others doing?" he asked for the tenth time about the other team.


    ''They are moving in two teams,'' Gege said, ''as usual they are doing just like we are. As for people and dark objects, they are just waiting for us to go there and pick them up.''


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur didn''t feel relieved even when hearing the same answer for the tenth time. The team he left behind didn''t go four ways, but in two.


    They seemed to fear losing much of their forces if an ambush occurred.


    "Alright, let''s start heading towards their settlements then," Arthur and others already finished their settlements. And now Arthur had to visit the other forty settlements to take what he owned.


    However as he was having a bad feeling about this, things started to go south from the first settlement he visited.


    "What took you so long?" Amera stood side by side with the crow while she looked a bit annoyed. It seemed Gege kept updating them with the quota of each team, and still Arthur came on top of everyone.


    "Humph, saying the loser of this bet," Arthur sneered and Amera couldn''t help but scoff.


    "It wasn''t a bet," she corrected, "it was a challenge."


    "A challenge or a bet, both are the same to me," Arthur moved around while portals kept appearing by Gege''s help, "now we need to move to the basement of that building before leaving here."


    Just as he pointed towards the direction of the biggest building here, his heart suddenly clenched without a reason.


    "Watch out!" a sudden gush of wild purple energy erupted all of sudden. Arthur didn''t wait to recognize what was going on.


    He acted based on his darkest fears and instantly portals appeared all over and took all the forces alongside as many people as possible.


    The portals threw them all miles away from this settlement. But no matter how hard and fast Gege acted, she wasn''t even close to the calamity that befell that settlement.


    It was like a dark hole opened its doors over this place. All Arthur could see was a small spark of purple fire that got instantly larger. The purple fire engulfed everything around in mere moments, killing everyone without exception.


    A brutal wave of wind emerged all around the settlement in the eyes of everyone but Arthur. For him it wasn''t a gale of wind, but purple fire.


    When it hit the walls of the settlement, it stopped. There was like a hidden barrier stopping the fire from extending and spreading all over the world.


    "What''s going on here?" the crow couldn''t help but nervously ask.


    "My soul¡­ I feel cold shivers assaulting and shaking my soul," Amera said in a shaky tone while her face turned pale.


    And she wasn''t the only one feeling this way. Everyone else felt the same while Arthur was the only one standing erect without anything but a serious look on his face.


    "So¡­ these dark objects are this brutal¡­" he couldn''t believe it when Agnus told him before about it. However, hearing about it was much different than seeing it with his own eyes.


    The world he was now seeing was much different that others were seeing. Fire kept blazing for a long minute before it suddenly died down.


    "Is¡­ it over?" Amera asked while her body kept trembling. Arthur couldn''t help but pat over her big shoulder and try to reassure her.


    If she wasn''t giant, bigger than him, he would have held her in his embrace right now.


    "Do you know what''s going on?" The crow noticed the strange attitude of Arthur. He was afraid, but it was like he knew what was coming and so he wasn''t even a bit shocked by it.


    It seemed to the crow that Arthur knew all about what was going to happen even before it did.


    "Yeah, I had a clue or two about it," Arthur slowly nodded before he gave a silent order to Gege through his mind.


    He told her to warn everyone to leave the settlements for now. He also asked them to make the people leave the settlements and stay outside.


    After all he wasn''t sure what caused these dark objects to go berserk all of sudden.


    "Is it you?" he couldn''t help but think about his mortal enemy. This time he was lucky to get over it, but next time he might not be.


    ''Make sure to seal all the objects inside,'' he said to Gege, ''surround them with pillars and walls. It seems they are weak against physical obstructions.''


    ''It can''t be true,'' the golden dragon objected, ''that gale of energy swept away buildings themselves.''


    Arthur knew what the golden dragon said was true. He saw many buildings blazing with fire before. ''Alright, take the walls with you inside the garden then,'' Arthur decided, ''make people analyze them. I''m now suspicious about them.''


    ''Ding! I don''t think it''s safe to take them,'' the system warned, ''Ding! What if they had something inside to cause more trouble?''


    Arthur couldn''t help but sigh. On one hand he couldn''t throw away the black objects. And on the other hand, it wasn''t safe to keep the objects inside.


    ''It''s the only way we have to solve this,'' Arthur slowly said.


    ''What if¡­'' the golden dragon suddenly came out with an idea.. After hearing it, Arthur couldn''t help but agree upon this one.

 Chapter 915 - Secrets All Around

    ''Alright, let''s do it this way then,'' he didn''t find any harm in doing so. Until things got cleared out for him, he wouldn''t risk anything to happen to his garden.


    His garden world was one of the earliest treasures he acquired in this world. It stood by his side till this moment and it was Gege''s body and the container of her soul.


    If any damage happened to it, he would lose a valuable asset plus losing a treasured friend and ally.


    "Stay here," Arthur didn''t explain anything to the two shocked friends on his side, "I''ll go and check things inside."


    "Wait¡­" Amera tried to stop him before he vanished inside a portal before she could continue her words, "isn''t it a bit dangerous now?" she slowly muttered and said what Arthur didn''t hear.


    "Don''t worry, he is going to be safe," the crow tried to reassure her before he took in the cold air of breath. "Do you have any clue about what happened here?"


    Amera shook her head as she silently gazed around. Her eyes stuck over those Arthur managed to save. "I don''t know anything, but I bet on my life these people do."


    The crow looked at the thousands of people Arthur managed to save in these few stressful seconds before he nodded.


    And without saying anything else, the two led their people around and started a wide range of interrogation.


    "They are all¡­ charcoaled!'''' The moment Arthur appeared here, he saw severely dehydrated and intensely burnt corpses all around. This scene reminded him of the few corpses he gathered so far.


    "It''s brutal¡­" he couldn''t help but sigh before landing on the ground and touching it. "It''s¡­ cold!" Contrary to what he thought, the ground didn''t look hot at all.


    In fact it was freezingly cold. It seemed like a blizzard hit this place, not a storm of fire.


    ''These two are growing restless,'' Gege suddenly said, ''they are interrogating those you saved to know the truth.''


    "Let them know," Arthur wasn''t a bit interested in keeping the truth for himself. He only didn''t say anything so he wouldn''t cause panic.


    But if they were so dedicated to knowing it, he wouldn''t mind then.


    "Is there anyone living here?" he rose high in the air before watching the devastated settlement.


    It looked like a grand graveyard, like a massacre erupted here on the hands of a war criminal.


    ''No,'' Gege returned to him after a few minutes, ''they are all¡­ dead. Do you want me to take them in?''


    Arthur hesitated. "No, leave them here," he decided, "they weren''t strong to begin with. I won''t get good dragons from their corpses."


    He started to fly towards the biggest building here. This building was now, just like others, painted all in black.


    Everything told him the fire managed to break through all the buildings, but not the walls.


    ''I''ll start taking the walls then,'' Gege didn''t delay and started to summon portals all over the place. Taking the walls seemed a hard task that she did so easily now.


    She divided the walls into segments, each segment had one portal to take in that part of the wall from upside down.


    However when the portals reached the ground, she discovered something else.


    Arthur raided many settlements before. All had walls surrounding them. So he didn''t think these walls were special in their own traits.


    Something must have been added to these walls to make them sturdy and immune to the energy of that dark object.


    The more he thought about it, the more puzzled he became.


    "Did that mage know how to trigger and control it or not?" he kept asking himself, "and why didn''t he trigger it the first time then?"


    When he thought about this devastation, he couldn''t help but think about the reason that prevented the dark angel mage from using it against his army from before.


    They crushed the grandmaster''s army and killed all the elites. They escaped the trap set by the dark angel mage.


    For him it would be a golden opportunity to attack all these forces and make sure they would all die.


    However this didn''t happen.


    "And why now?" Arthur kept wondering more about this incident in his head. He took a long time to circulate the settlements. It wouldn''t seem wise to wait all this time to take him.


    If that dark angel mage was able to trigger the dark objects, then he should have done that to each settlement they visited. This way Arthur''s losses would have been great and even he would have died or came out empty handed.


    Amidst all these thoughts, Gege suddenly shouted:


    ''I found something underneath the walls!''


    "Show me!"


    Arthur was so impatient now to hear any clue to help him understand what happened. Despite him knowing the cause behind this disaster, his eyes were still dark about many secrets.


    ''Yeah, it''s best if you go and see by yourself,'' Gege summoned a portal and the next thing that happened was for Arthur to appear on top of the walls.


    Or what remained of them.


    In front of Arthur the walls were taken out and vanished until the ground. The walls were now replaced with a connected circle of portals, and they all seemed to be stopped by something.


    "What¡­ is that?" Arthur noticed a purple thing buried underneath the ground. It looked like some sort on an ore, and that ore seemed to be able to interfere with the portal function.


    ''My babies can''t get any near them,'' Gege said before adding, ''they are facing a hidden force that propels them away.''


    "Oh," Arthur couldn''t help but descend on the edge of one of these ores before examining it.


    "Is it part of the ground itself?" he couldn''t help but ask, "or is it something already planted underneath the walls?"


    ''I¡­ have no answer for that,'' Gege paused a moment before adding, ''is it the thing that stopped that gale of wind?''


    "It was an energy outburst," Arthur''s face was dignified, "take Agnus out, with few men who can work to mine this ore."


    ''Do you plan on taking it out?!'' Gege was shocked before the golden dragon laughed.


    ''I can''t believe how shameless you are! I bet this ore came all the way from the higher worlds to here. And you are simply going to take them simply like that! I like it!''


    "I doubt they are part of the higher realms," however Arthur wasn''t feeling any excitement or amusement like the golden dragon.


    ''Ding! Do you believe those prophecies?'' the system seemed to get what Arthur was thinking about.


    After all, he was the longest person here to deal with Arthur among the three of them.


    "Yeah," Arthur slowly nodded, "I now understand why that dark angel mage selected certain settlements rather than others to be the base of his forces."

 Chapter 916 - The Weird Ore

    Within minutes, Agnus appeared from portals alongside an army of strong looking men.


    "My lord," Agnus led the others to bow to Arthur whose appearance was now engraved in everyone''s mind.


    After all it wasn''t that hard to forget a dragon, a blue scaled dragon like him.


    "This ore¡­" Arthur pointed down at the ground, "I want it all out."


    "Right away, my lord."


    Agnus started to lead others to mine the ore. He took out many gears and tools he created a long time ago.


    "Cling!"


    "Clang!"


    "Cling!"


    "Clang!"


    The sound of iron meeting the ore and the ground appeared all over the place. Arthur stood midair with nothing to do but to watch them.


    And in no time, Amera and the crow came from far towards here.


    They must have been alerted by the sudden sounds inside the settlement. The moment they arrived here, they all got perplexed by what they saw.


    "What''s¡­ going on here?" Amera asked while the crow descended to check that ore.


    "It''s¡­ something I never saw before," the crow said before returning high in the air, "what is it?"


    "It''s the thing that kept us alive so far," Arthur only said that before he returned to his silence.


    "Is it related to that mysterious object?" Amera directly asked and Arthur figured out that they knew everything.


    It wasn''t a surprise. That object must have been tested more than once already. Those people living here must have noticed its existence and told everything they knew to these two.


    "It''s the only weapon we have to stop it," Arthur said, "it''s the only thing that stopped that outburst of fire."


    "What fire?" the crow asked and Arthur didn''t answer.


    He knew he couldn''t explain what these two didn''t see. It wasn''t like he didn''t want to tell them, but he didn''t know what to say.


    "What about Doaf and Jud?" Amera suddenly asked after a long period of silence.


    During this period, the workers kept mining the ore and even managed to break it down to many pieces.


    As Arthur thought, this ore wasn''t brought here. It was already on the ground. As the workers excavated the ore from the surface, they discovered thick running veins underneath the settlement.


    These veins ran in different directions, extending even beyond the settlement here. However it was here that this ore took the circular shape below the walls.


    "Was it just coincidence?" Arthur couldn''t help but sigh before turning to Amera and replied, "I''ve told them already to stay out of the settlements."


    "What if enemies appeared there?" the crow asked and Arthur couldn''t help but feel how naive he was.


    That grandmaster wouldn''t make a useless and pointless move at all. It was already given that Arthur knew what was going on inside these settlements.


    So sending any mages to here would be fruitless. Besides he already stressed over those two to not fall to any provocation and not step inside the settlement.


    Or else they would definitely die!


    "Do you know the origin of this?" The crow was more interested in the ore itself rather than the object. He took some of the pieces excavated by those workers and kept playing with them.


    He tried to infuse his energy inside, but nothing happened. He tried to hit it with his feathered wings and it cracked open.


    "Strange, it seems so fragile against physical strength¡­ however against energy it''s like a behemoth," he muttered while Arthur didn''t say a single word.


    In fact inside his garden he left the mission of testing these ores to Gege and the other two. In fact they tried everything, even made the octopus monster eat a single piece of it.


    The monster grew stronger, which was an indicator for it to contain its own energy. However Arthur and others couldn''t identify this energy.


    Even Arthur with his own special eyes couldn''t find any clue. It seemed like a dead and useless piece of rock in his eyes.


    However when Gege used it to trap some prisoners, they suppressed any energy inside. If used in an array like what Gege did, the ore could suppress anything, even if it was a grandmaster.


    Arthur began to have some fears from this ore. It could be used to not only trap his army, but also to make them weak and powerless.


    No matter the origin, anyone trapped inside them would end up being vulnerable to die.


    Plus there was another thing they discovered.


    When the golden dragon saw it contained its form of energy, he suggested using them in offensive arrays.


    And a shocking thing happened. The offensive array turned to become a mighty weapon that unleashed hell itself.


    It created a wave of energy, a purple wave of fire that Arthur could only see. It swept away a large area of land and left behind a dead zone.


    If not for the small piece used here, Arthur feared it would have killed everything in the garden.


    "It''s a useless piece of sh*t," the crow finally got tired of playing with it and threw the pieces he had in hand towards the ground.


    And Arthur''s heart leapt at this moment out of fear.


    ''Gege¡­'' he couldn''t risk any of these ores to explode. Gege moved a few portals and took the ores away before they hit the ground.


    "Phew," Arthur unintentionally sighed in relief while the crow looked in a weird way towards him like he was crazy.


    "I''ll go and check over the people we saved," the crow said before adding, "I might take any talent worthy of support."


    "Take me with you," Amera was bored and decided to play this game with the crow.


    As for Arthur, he only gave them his back and kept testing on the ores inside his garden.


    The more he tested, the more frightened he became. These ores didn''t respond to anything but pure energy. They suck in any amount of energy thrown towards their faces.


    However in return to that, this made them quite deadly if the energy stored inside got released for some reason.


    The main way to do so was through arrays. Defensive arrays stood firm against any attacks no matter what. As for the offensive arrays, Arthur didn''t risk trying anything after what happened the first time.


    After he reached these results, he found out that the work here was taking much longer than he expected.


    "Agnus," Arthur found Agnus before he went directly to him.


    "My lord," Agnus bowed in respect while many workers paused from what they were doing.


    "You will come with me towards other places," Arthur said, "select those who will lead the workers here."


    "A¡­ Alright."


    Agnus seemed to be startled by Arthur''s words, however he didn''t object to them.


    As for Arthur, he flew high in the air before saying: "Tell these two to select a few of their capable mages to be stationed here for protection."


    ''Are you planning to go around and collect all the ores?'' the golden dragon asked, ''but the ore runs in deep and giant veins. I doubt they will stop mining these in a month!''


    ''Ding! It''s better to add these areas to the empire,'' the system said and Arthur couldn''t help but like what he heard.


    "Great idea," Arthur nodded, "but we first need to secure these settlements. As for the people here, they will work fine as the base for the cities we will build."


    Arthur agreed on the system suggestion, however he didn''t ditch his plans. In return he took out a few bird wings and wrote his instructions to Amelia, Deem, and Gor.


    He wanted them to send good architects here to build many cities. The resistance around this area was gone. Plus the three girls were already expanding the borders of the empire as well.


    Arthur wanted to assign a task to look for ores like these, but he refrained. This issue must be kept secretive. Plus even if he tried to describe the ores, they wouldn''t get it until seeing it with their own eyes.


    Deem and Gor were very busy at the moment. Amelia was still suspicious of Arthur. So Agnus was left as the best candidate to lead such a big and important operation.


    As for now, Arthur headed directly towards the biggest building in the settlement, planning to take that object with him.


    He had some doubts about the safety of going there, so he didn''t move before he stacked a lot of ores inside his garden. If things went wrong he would summon a mountain of the ore and hide within.


    However as he went to the underground level of that big building, he found a surprise waiting for him.


    "Oh¡­ That''s new¡­" Arthur paused for a long minute while trying to understand what he was seeing at the moment.


    In front of him the object wasn''t covered by anything. The black curtain from before was gone. Next to it the ground had a dead body of a giant person.


    Someone came from the higher realm to here. As for the object itself, it was shocking news to know its nature.


    It wasn''t solid, it was a dark purple and constantly moving liquid hanging midair in front of Arthur''s eyes.

 Chapter 917 - The Originals!!!

    Arthur stood his place motionless while watching this scene. The first instinct he had was fear. The fear grew from the depth of his soul, like he was standing in the presence of god.


    He didn''t know what happened here, but now this object which he thought to be solid was in fact¡­ liquid.


    "Is this¡­ that power?" Arthur wanted to move, to approach and touch that liquid however all he felt was shaky hands and trembling body alongside a hesitating will.


    That fear¡­ was something he never felt before! Even when he faced the tribulation head on, even the deadliest, he never felt such fear before in his life.


    That was new to and shocking to him. He didn''t know what else to do but to toughen up and finally he took the first step towards that liquid.


    However the moment he did that, he seemed to stir something up with that liquid. It looked like it reacted to his approach before a sudden surge of purple energy erupted all around the liquid.


    "Damn!" Arthur couldn''t help but retreat in reflex while watching that purple fire. However this time the fire seemed to be weak, only limited to a certain radius around that liquid.


    "It''s¡­ weak¡­ much weaker than before¡­" Arthur noticed this. The fire was growing weakly before it died down. For him he saw how brutal that fire was.


    Compared to this, this fire seemed docile.


    "Can I endure it?'''' This was the question he had in mind. He had to be sure taking it inside wouldn''t cause a great calamity over his world.


    Even if this piece of liquid was exhausted, there were a lot more he grabbed intact and stored inside. He couldn''t risk any reaction between the two and thus he decided one thing.


    "I''m going to deplete you to the last drop then," he took another move the moment the fire vanished. The liquid got stirred up again before it released the fire once more.


    And Arthur simply retreated without hesitation.


    He kept doing this repeatedly for an hour or so. The more he did this, the weaker the fire became, and the shorter it stood in this world.


    Until it reached the limit it only released few and scanty wisps of fire all around. Wide gaps presented itself in there, gaps that could accommodate his human body in.


    But he wasn''t that foolish to return to his human form. After all, his dragon body was the toughest defense he got so far.


    Yet at this point, his provocation to this liquid didn''t bring any more results. It seemed this was the rock bottom of the liquid, and its power couldn''t be depleted anymore.


    "Should I go inside?" Arthur hesitated before the golden dragon presented an idea for him.


    ''Use those useless monsters you took inside your garden from before.''


    Arthur nodded in agreement and without the need for him to say anything, Gege acted.


    A portal opened just near the liquid before a monster appeared. The dark monster who got inside his garden world a long time ago has now been transformed.


    It became a light monster, and its strength grew a lot. It had many horns on top of its head, with one shimmering in a strange silver white light.


    The moment the monster appeared, it fiercely rorared announcing its existence. The next instant the liquid got stirred up as if it was up to the challenge.


    Then a shockwave of purple fire erupted. It was so weak and formed only from all the weak wisps remaining.


    And in return that monster''s horn shimmered before a shock wave erupted from it as well.


    Arthur stood on one side watching all this happening.


    "Wow! That monster can stop it now!"


    In front of Arthur''s unique eyes, he could see the world in a different view. The monster released white wave of energy from that horn.


    And that energy seemed to be able to stop the purple fire and even drove it back.


    "Great, summon another one then," Arthur didn''t risk himself in there yet and decided to see what this confrontation would end up at.


    Gege complied and another portal opened. Another monster, not any less powerful than the one summoned before, appeared.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The second monster roared and that made the first roar in joy. The two joined hands and together their waves of energy was enough to drive the purple energy all the way back.


    But they missed a small step, the last few meters before all that purple energy would vanish.


    "Alright, bring in the third," Arthur was now so excited about this as he shouted at Gege with joy.


    "Woosh!" The third portal opened and a third monster appeared.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The three roared one after another before their powers combined together. The purple fire was now overwhelmed with their combined white energy, eventually ending up to return inside the liquid.


    Then a strange thing happened. That liquid suddenly got swollen up, enlarged fast, and Arthur could see the rise in the energy inside it.


    "Damn! Don''t tell me it''s going to explode!" he couldn''t help but panic, "take me out, now!"


    In a flash a portal appeared next to him. However before he could jump and vanish, something different happened.


    The liquid started to emit three rays of purple energy towards the monsters. The tentacles that liquid emitted were thin and weak at first, yet the three grew fast and became like three thick arms.


    "What do you plan to do?" Arthur didn''t hurry to leave. As long as it wasn''t going to explode, then he had no reason to leave.


    Plus there was something else happening now to the three monsters. The three arms got instantly inserted inside their bodies.


    "Roar!"


    The three released a unified roar full of pain for a long minute before their bodies lost all power and slammed on the ground motionless.


    "Are¡­ they dead?" Arthur didn''t know what happened to them, but when he looked at the liquid, he saw it burning out like an old piece of paper.


    In the next minute it vanished, leaving behind no trace at all!


    Arthur looked around and didn''t make a single move until he got the confirmation from the system and Gege that there was nothing left behind.


    Through his eyes he couldn''t see anything unordinary, yet what happened here couldn''t be best described but being unordinary.


    "Oh¡­ they are alive!" he was shocked to see that the three monsters were breathing. They were just unconscious. "Are you¡­ hibernating then?"


    This was the only conclusion he could reach. They weren''t dead, so what happened could be best described as an opportunity they got to level up.


    ''Ding! you better check things yourself,'' the system suggested and Arthur nodded.


    He closed his eyes, put his palm over one of the three monsters'' heads before injecting a wisp of his energy inside.


    And what he saw shocked him entirely.


    The monster had a strange seed like, purple in color, fiery in nature, inside its soul. At first Arthur thought it was eating it away, but after further inspection he realized a shocking matter!


    "It''s¡­ transforming it!!!" Arthur could already see the changes with his own eyes. The blood was slowly changing into purple fire, and the skin, muscles and bones were all changing into something marble like in nature.


    As for the soul, it seemed like the soul itself was becoming more transparent and pure. It was like this fire was changing everything, turning this monster into something else.


    ''What do you think it is?'' the golden dragon was speechless for a moment before adding, ''It''s not killing it at least.''


    Arthur was standing in his place motionless for a second before he suddenly acted. In a moment his old toolkit of arrays appeared and without any hesitation he slit his hand open and lit his blood to fill a bowl.


    ''Ding! What are you going to do now?'' the system asked with a confused tone.


    "I''m going to make a slave contract with them," Arthur hurriedly said, "there is no time to waste. They are changing, and I think I know what they are changing to."


    ''What is it then?'' The golden dragon was more eager to know more than anyone else. ''I never saw such energy before in my life. Even my small wisp of soul is trembling with fear from it!''


    ''Ding! I also have the same feeling,'' the system agreed, ''Ding! It''s like I''m about to go into oblivion if I collide with it.''


    "That''s why I need to bind them soon, or else I have to kill them," Arthur was already expert in doing this array. In a matter of seconds he drew the necessary lines for the three contracts before he took runes and scattered them all after soaking them in his blood.


    This time he used his blood entirely, making him feel a little dizzy. However he had no time for that.


    He stood on one side of one array, where the word master was clearly engraved seven times.


    ''What are they going to turn into?'' The golden dragon never saw Arthur doing such preparations before. It wasn''t like he was trying to control them, but as if he was trying to protect himself from their danger.


    ''The Originals,'' Gege finally spoke after a long period of silence out of her shock, ''they are turning to the ancient species who ruled this universe before!''


    ''¡­!!!''


    ''¡­!!!''


    And the two others went into shocking silence before feeling more terrified.


    "Activate!" Arthur didn''t even bother with them before he hurriedly activated the first slave array.


    If he didn''t hurry to use this short window to dominate the souls of these monsters before they turn into originals, he would be done for! Everyone would be done for!

 Chapter 918 - Amera Is All Stubborn

    Arthur once activated the array and had a strange feeling of danger. He knew the seed inside the monster''s soul wasn''t big yet or mature enough to threaten him.


    However the moment the array started to activate, the monster seemed to grow some sort of resistance to him.


    "As if I''d allow you to stop me right now," Arthur shouted before he suddenly activated his golden pearl energy.


    His golden pearl energy was his best and strongest form of energy. He couldn''t help but use that energy at this moment to overcome this stubborn resistance from the monster.


    And the next moment he saw a purple fire rising up from the body of that monster.


    "Unfortunately for you I know how to deal with you now¡­ Gege¡­ bring me a monster!"


    Arthur never tried this before, however he had no other choice. The only way to antagonize this purple fire was through using the white energy from monsters.


    And Gege didn''t slack before a portal appeared and a monster came out of it.


    The array was sacred, and so she couldn''t summon it inside the array. The monster came outside, just a few meters away from the monster inside the array.


    And the moment it appeared, it roared before a wave of white energy appeared. The sudden emergence of the white energy so near to the purple one made the latter confused.


    However the purple fire started to clash with the white energy. After all it had no option here but to do that or else it would be devoured by this energy.


    The clash resulted in its retreat inside the monster''s body while the other monster was thrown backwards. Arthur didn''t care about that monster for now as he started instantly to attack the monster with everything he got.


    "Bang!"


    In a loud sound, the array was successfully activated. The monster got surrounded alongside Arthur in a big dark blue bubble of energy before it vanished.


    "Thud!"


    And that monster fell on the ground motionless at the moment.


    "Lay here like a baby for me," Arthur didn''t have time to waste here. He wanted to check over this monster and assess his success or failure.


    However he trusted in his array and he had no more time to waste.


    This seed¡­ this original seed was much more brutal than he imagined.


    "You are next¡­ Activate!" Arthur instantly jumped into the next array and activated it.


    Like before, the purple energy appeared. Like before, Gege summoned the monster outside and distracted it for Arthur.


    "Done, you are next," Arthur jumped to the last monster before doing the same. The moment that monster fell on the ground and the array was done, he took in a deep breath.


    And then he started to assess the conditions of the three monsters one by one.


    "I... can feel the link," Arthur closed his eyes and let his energy enter the monsters'' bodies. There he found the earlier seed and now each seed had a print over it.


    It was a small blue dragon seal, with his own golden power dancing around its edges.


    "Is it enough though?" Arthur only saw one seal and he didn''t know if this would be enough to restrain the soul of the originals getting born to this world.


    If he knew anything about originals, then they would be such brutal and far stronger beings than all races here.


    "Let''s do it one more," he decided before he started doing another round of slave contracts with the three.


    This time the monsters didn''t have any power at all to resist.


    "Two seals¡­ isn''t three the ultimate number?" Arthur thought before deciding to go for a third round.


    He was already pushing himself too far. However during this he got to eat a lot of his cooked meat from a long time ago and the potions he made as well.


    This helped a lot in stabilizing his energy and healing his loss of blood. And still he was so much weaker, much weaker than ever.


    "It''s done," he saw three blue dragon seals with golden fire around their edges around the seeds. "I believe they can hold that berserk soul and fire for me," he took in a deep breath before the golden dragon finally spoke.


    ''What about the three monsters which fought it?''


    Arthur already closed his eyes to rest before he instantly opened them widely. He went to the first monster to check it.


    "Phew, luckily the fire was so weak to do anything to them," Arthur didn''t find any seed inside any of the three monsters'' souls. "To be safe, isolate them."


    ''What about now?'' Gege asked, ''what about other places?''


    Arthur was tired, however he was very excited. The idea of having originals being born once more to this world was a terrifying idea.


    However when he thought they would end up being his slaves he couldn''t help but be excited. This way he had a terrifying weapon, one which could even kill grandmasters from the big dark clans of the higher realms.


    "I need to go there now," he thought before he started to walk slowly outside.


    He didn''t try to fly, or else he would get more tired. During his long walk, he kept eating meat and consuming potions.


    He knew he needed rest, but right now he had such a rare chance to have such perfect soldiers. He wouldn''t risk losing this chance, nor give his nemesis a chance to ruin things for him.


    As he went back, he found Agnus and others were still mining the ore. They were doing a good job, however the ores ran in thick and broad veins deep under the ground.


    They weren''t only limited to this place, yet extended to reach other places as well.


    "You are back!" Amera was standing with the crow midair before the two descended towards him.


    "Why are you¡­ walking?" The crow noticed this while Amera noticed something different.


    "Are you injured?" she instantly put her palm over his head. Her hand was so big to cover his head without problems. "Your energy¡­ it''s unstable and weak."


    "What happened?" the crow got all stirred up, "was it an enemy? Who? Where?"


    "It''s nothing," Arthur pushed Amera''s hand away in a gentle way, "don''t make a fuss about something insignificant like this."


    "It is!" however Amera seemed to know he was in serious condition, "what happened?"


    "I told you, it was nothing," Arthur then turned to Agnus before yelling, "Are you ready?"


    "Are you leaving now?" Amera looked at him in a suspicious way.


    "There are more places to visit."


    "Then I''ll come with you," Amera said in determination.


    "You and the crow are needed to guard here," Arthur denied her request, "besides I''m not that weak after all."


    Amera gave the crow a silent threatening glance that made all his feathers stand up to no end.


    "I¡­ Can hold the defenses here alone," the crow stuttered before firmly adding, "I have the strength to do it. Amera can go with you."


    Arthur was about to decline, but Amera grabbed him and rose high in the air.


    She didn''t give him any room for rejection while portals appeared beside Agnus as he entered them with his chosen men.


    Arthur couldn''t help but bitterly sigh before he pushed her away and started to fly on his own.


    "No need to thank me," Amera said in a tone that seemed to aim to tease him.


    "For what? I was just trying to save your life here!" Arthur lied. He knew she would stick to him like glue from here on. He didn''t want anyone to know what he was doing, or else more questions would be asked.


    "You didn''t have to act this secret, or else Doaf and the crow would have come as well."


    "¡­"


    Arthur decided to remain silent while thinking about his next target.


    From what he saw, the object was something obtaining immense power. He saw the amplitude of purple fire before. He needed to trigger it before it ate away everything.


    So he needed to remove the black curtain first. The more he thought about this curtain the more curious he became.


    How could such a weak looking normal fabric do all this magic?


    He first thought it might be made of the same ore around the settlements, however he now realized it was impossible.


    These ores weren''t in liquid form. It couldn''t be made into that black fabric.


    "What are you thinking about?" Amera asked in interest while she wanted to know more. "C''mon, tell me what''s going on here so I can help."


    "Thanks, I can do it myself. Turn back now," Arthur coldly said while she only laughed.


    "Don''t give me such a cold shoulder," she chuckled, "this won''t get me anywhere away from you. I love hard to get boys like you."


    "Humph, we are already in love," Arthur said without adding anymore.


    "As if you treat your girl right," Amera faked a weak and sad tone, "if not for me forcing you to take me here, I wouldn''t have come."


    "This¡­ is for your safety," Arthur tried to control himself, "just retreat. I don''t need any help from you."


    "Oh, who said I''m this weak¡­ or¡­" her eyes suddenly shone brightly before asking, "is it related to that gale of strange wind from before? Huh? What''s going on here between you and that dark angel mage?"

 Chapter 919 - The Weird Fabric

    Arthur could only take a deep breath before he decided to nod.


    "Oh, that''s interesting," Amera seemed to be slightly surprised despite being the one to guess all that, "but¡­ how could you know all this?"


    "Consider it luck," Arthur said.


    "Why are you giving me such a cold shoulder? Huh?" Amera complained like a little kid, even pouting her lips and that made her look more beautiful.


    Arthur sighed again. He knew she was too excited and curious to miss a simple and yet risky fact.


    "We¡­ aren''t the only ones in this world you know," he slowly said and his tone and attitude meant his words held a deeper meaning.


    And Amera''s sudden widening of her eyes meant that she realized that meaning.


    "I see¡­" she slowly said, "but inside your world we can speak freely, right?"


    Arthur nodded but he didn''t intend to do that now. Not until he reached the next settlement.


    And in the next hour he didn''t speak much to her and she never spoke about that matter again.


    The walls of the settlement appeared from far away. The moment Arthur saw these, he also could see the large number of people outside.


    They seemed to be there for a long time, waiting for him to come.


    "The people are waiting for you it seems," Amera slowly said, "where is Doaf and Jud? I can''t see them."


    "They are far away from here," Arthur said before he pointed towards the people, "go and lead them inside my world."


    Amera gave him a deep silent gaze before she asked: "Will you tell me everything in detail inside?"


    "I''m going to show you what I''m going to do next," Arthur said before he changed his direction to head directly towards the place of the biggest building.


    He wasn''t worried for that despicable dark angel mage to surprise him and activate that mysterious object. He wanted it to be activated. If the dark angel mage didn''t do it, he would.


    "Humph, so you aren''t planning to help me here it seems," Arthur was already on top of the building while nothing happened.


    Inside him he knew it long ago. That dark angel mage wouldn''t do anything to help, and that mage seemed to know what Arthur was planning to do.


    However the most important question still remained unanswered¡­ Did that dark angel mage know about the ability of that object to revive the long gone originals or not?


    In Arthur''s opinion, the dark angel mage didn''t know about that. Or else he wouldn''t risk bringing back such a scary species.


    Yet there was a single scenario that a dark angel mage would voluntarily do it¡­ It was when he would lose everything and doing this wouldn''t be for anything else but revenge.


    Arthur knew things weren''t that bad up there. In fact he knew the war was going in the favor of the dark camp.


    So learning to use this lethal card wasn''t wise at all and didn''t make sense to him.


    "Sometimes greed for power could be the reason for one''s demise," Arthur stood in front of the black fabric while inwardly sighing. "Is the place clear?" he asked just to make sure no one remained inside this place.


    After all, in the next minutes this entire settlement would be raised to the ground by the purple fire.


    ''Everyone is outside,'' Gege said, ''but Amera is standing so near from the walls.''


    "Let her be for now," Arthur didn''t care about her for now. He knew she just was curious, and curiosity might kill the cat.


    He then snapped his fingers and a portal appeared just next to him. "Let''s do it," he didn''t risk lifting the black curtain before almost all of his body entered the portal.


    Only his extended arm over the curtain remained. When he almost entered the world, he retracted his hand and took that black thing away.


    Then the portal closed almost on the next moment, while he felt in the blink of an eye a deadly threat approaching.


    But once the portal closed, there was nothing there to be afraid of.


    "Phew¡­ that object is damn aggressive," Arthur felt cold sweat drenching all his body from just this mere fraction of second contact with the purple fire.


    ''The fire is engulfing the settlement now,'' Gege said before pausing for a second, ''Amera is coming.''


    "I know," Arthur took in a deep breath while he wasn''t surprised by that. He knew once Amera saw what he did, she wouldn''t hesitate to come here and ask him about everything.


    In fact he refrained from telling anyone anything just in case that dark angel mage would be listening. And Arthur was quite sure he was.


    "So what''s all about this thing then," Arthur held the black piece of cloth in his hand while trying to cut it using his claws.


    However even his sharp claws couldn''t leave a single mark over this seemingly weak fabric. The moment his claws contacted it, sparks of purple fire erupted.


    And that simply startled him.


    "What is that?"


    The next moment Amera appeared next to him. She saw these purple fire sparks and couldn''t help but link them to the fire she saw twice in a row now.


    However these sparks of fire weren''t that threatening at all. Despite holding the fabric so close and his claws were the ones to cause them, Arthur didn''t feel any speck of fear at all.


    And that made him recall the weak nature of the purple fire he dealt with before.


    "It''s the thing that kept that fire in bay," Arthur said before throwing it to Amera, "tell me what do you think?"


    Amera caught the fabric midair before she started to test it. She even tasted it with her tongue and sniffed it for any distinctive smells.


    But from the look on her face Arthur knew she got nothing.


    "It looks like a normal fabric to me," Amera simply said before casually throwing it over her back, "it can be best used as a scarf¡­ Ouch, it stings!"

 Chapter 920 - Purple Fire Wings!

    Amera felt this slight and seemingly annoying pain, however she didn''t see what Arthur saw.


    The moment she puts that fabric over her back, a wave of purple fire erupts all around her back. It first appeared as a thin filament over the fabric, then it extended to form a thick layer.


    Then two wings of fire were formed while Arthur could clearly see a very bright purple light coming from the lines of contact between that fabric and Amera''s back.


    And for a moment there he stood in hesitation, didn''t know whether to warn her and make her ditch this fabric at once or¡­ should he let her continue wearing it.


    "Ouch, it hurts," On the other hand, Amera was only feeling slight discomfort at the moment. She didn''t feel any threat or deadly feeling at all.


    She only felt continuous needle-like pain all over her back. And that feeling didn''t last for over one minute before she calmly stood like before without any pain.


    "What''s¡­ wrong?!" however she noticed the weird gaze of Arthur. He was looking at her, and slightly shifting his eyes to her back.


    Reflexively she turned to see what was on her back before her face suddenly changed.


    "Take it off¡­ take it off me now!" she screamed in panic while trying to pull that fabric away. However that fabric seemed to be part of her body now, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn''t even make it budge.


    "Wait¡­" Arthur hurriedly stopped her.


    "What? It''s that deadly purple thing! It''s on my back! It will eat me away!!" Amera shouted in distress but before she could say anymore, Arthur moved.


    He appeared in front of her before he put his claw over her forehead. The next moment she felt his energy entering her body and scanning it.


    And that made her move her energy inside and tried to follow his energy around.


    "This¡­" however the next moment she was startled before suddenly laughing in excitement, "damn! Since when did my energy grow this much?"


    Her body energy swelled up and expanded even more than ten folds than before. Right now she was having an equal power to a grandmaster, like Aemie.


    And that made her heart fiercely palpitate out of excitement.


    But Arthur was seeing another scene through his eyes.


    The moment these two wings appeared on her back and that fabric stopped causing her pain, her energy soared.


    Her white energy from before was like a weak stream of river, and now it looked like a small sea.


    When Arthur used his energy to examine her, he was thrilled to see her white energy expanding at a fast pace. It didn''t stop there, and the more time that fabric remained on her back the stronger her energy became.


    However he was more concerned about another thing, and that was why he came to examine her body.


    He was looking for that nasty original seed.


    "Phew, it isn''t there," Arthur couldn''t help but feel relieved. His strange words didn''t miss Amera''s ears who stopped in the middle of her excitement and looked in doubt towards him.


    "What does this mean?" she asked while her eyes told Arthur she wouldn''t take any answer apart from the truth.


    "There is something¡­ dangerous happening in this world as we speak now," Arthur said before he got near Amera and started to whisper in her ears.


    The more she listened the more shocked she became. He only told her about the relation between the fire and the dark angel mage and he was the one who had control over triggering it.


    He told her he was doing this to rip the fire off the control of the dark angel mage. Told her about the value of the ores outside, and the deadly effect if this fire broke out in the middle of any war.


    However he didn''t tell her about the seed or the relation between the fire and the originals. He decided to keep this secret to himself.


    He didn''t know what such a secret would cause if revealed.


    "So you thought that mark of that dark angel mage might have come to my soul?" she couldn''t help but get scared, "c''mon, search again. Make sure I''m completely pure."


    He couldn''t help  but inwardly smile. However he did like she asked and did a double check before he finally nodded in content. "You are free¡­" he said and he meant a totally different thing.


    "You said monsters could get that mark¡­ have you killed them?"


    "How could I?" Arthur faked his surprise before adding, "if I did that then that despicable mage will search for another way to control and trigger the fire. I can''t risk alarming him."


    The more lies he weaved, the more convinced Amera became. "So what should we do with them?"


    "I''m doing a slave contract," Arthur said, "this way I''ll make sure to have the final call over this matter."


    "Brilliant move," Amera nodded, "but you must be sure this would be enough to stop him."


    "I can only hope so," Arthur the got the tip from Gege. The fire got extinguished now and he could get out. "Let''s go, I''ll have to fight this fire again."


    "A¡­ Again?!" Amera seemed hesitant before Arthur offered another matter.


    "You can stay here if you want¡­"


    But she stopped him. "No, I need to watch this with my two own eyes."


    Arthur wasn''t worried about her knowing what was going on. After all her fear from the fire would prevent her from coming near the monsters.


    Plus the show these monsters would put would make her more terrified from getting near such monsters.


    The two passed through a portal before appearing inside the room from before. The next moment, that liquid got stirred up before Arthur grabbed the all shocked Amera and darted outside the reach of this fire.


    As before, the fire erupted berserkly before it died down.


    "What¡­ is that?" Amera''s face told Arthur how deeply shocked she was at the moment. However he didn''t intend on telling her anymore.


    "Wait here¡­"

 Chapter 921 - Taming Another Purple Fire

    Like before, he kept depleting the fire relentlessly. Everytime he stepped inside the reach of the liquid it got stirred up before erupting in a strong gale of purple fire.


    Amera could only see the gale of wind but no fire. She heard what Arthur said. He told her there was a very terrifying fire here, but she couldn''t see anything.


    However the devastation she recalled at the settlement from before was still fresh in her mind. It couldn''t possibly be caused by any wind, only fire could do such devastation.


    Plus her fear didn''t get any weaker from before.


    However she noticed the strength of that wind was getting weaker with time until it hit its rock bottom.


    "Is it¡­ depleted?" Amera asked as she could only feel a soft breeze of wind now.


    However Arthur knew how dangerous such wisps were. "Don''t come near yet," Arthur started to take his tools again and started to gather up his blood.


    If there was only one thing he regretted in this process, it would be for him to lose blood. He had to lose so much of his blood and that was something he didn''t like at all.


    However he had no other way to deal with this except through bleeding over and over again.


    The moment he gathered enough blood, three monsters were summoned all of sudden all around the liquid.


    The next moment Amera could feel the intense clash between them and the liquid. Apart from her sight reach, a very strong fight was taking place between the three monsters and the liquid.


    However amidst all this, she watched Arthur walking so carefree inside the dead zone of the liquid.


    "What are you doing?" she couldn''t help but get worried and panicked from what he was doing.


    "It''s safe now," Arthur said while starting to form his arrays, "at least for now."


    "¡­" his answer startled her before she hesitated and stepped inside.


    But she didn''t feel anything wrong. In fact the two wings on her back started to shiver slightly once she did so, but she didn''t feel anything wrong afterwards.


    In fact while Arhtur was busy weakening the fire, she started to assess her new powers.


    And the more she tested and checked, the more shocked she became.


    Her boost didn''t only affect her energy, but everything as well. Her body got stronger, her muscles got more powerful, and even her soul seemed to get thicker and more purified with each passing minute.


    Even until now her body was getting bathed and stronger. For her this was a miracle, however for Arthur this was something quite normal.


    After all, what Amera had could be considered a good encounter, like a cultivator breaking through.


    So he wasn''t any bit surprised by any of this. He knew she would keep growing until she hit her limit.


    But what was that limit? He didn''t know. He was quite sure she would turn out to be a powerhouse by herself.


    As for the others, he thought of using the same way to turn others into strong individuals serving him.


    The first candidates he had in mind were Doaf, the crow, Jud, the bronze killers, plus all of his friends and those who accompanied him from the early on.


    They lived through a lot with him. He trusted them in his life and so he wouldn''t fear them getting stronger.


    What was the benefit of such a weapon if not used and kept hidden? His enemies weren''t simple mages after all, they were grandmasters now.


    And so he needed to form his own army of grandmasters as well.


    Once finished he didn''t hesitate to initiate the arrays. The first array got activated and the next moment the monster inside started to roar in an angry way.


    In front of Arthur''s special vision, that monster started to emit a strong gush of purple fire. To Amera, a strong gale of wind erupted and her innate fear resurfaced once more.


    "Watch out!" she shouted but what happened next startled her at once.


    A portal opened just next to the monster, outside of the array, and one monster came out from it. The clash happened and that outside monster fell into a coma while the one inside stopped causing any ruckus.


    And Arthur didn''t stop there.


    He jumped from one array to another, until he finished one round of arrays. Then he started the second before completing it with the third.


    Then all these monsters went inside his world through portals.


    "What?"


    As he turned to Amera, he couldn''t help but laugh at her expression. She was giving him the impression of watching a monster, someone who was really terrifying.


    "N¡­ Nothing," she shifted her face away before sighing, "you¡­ are really something else, tsk."


    He laughed at her words before he started to move to the outside world. "C''mon, our work here isn''t over yet."


    She was puzzled for a while before they reached the walls. The appearance of Agnus leading a large number of people here made her realize everything.


    "You¡­ intend on taking every single piece of this ore with you?" she couldn''t help but ask in doubt.


    And he nodded. "What''s wrong in doing that?"


    He already told her enough, enough to make her understand everything. However even if she did know, she couldn''t believe he really planned to take away everything.


    "Well¡­ That will take a lot of time," she slowly said before adding, "this will put these people at grave risk."


    "That''s why I''m going to add these parts to my empire," Arthur firmly said before turning to Agnus, "go inside. Find and train as many as possible."


    "I understand, my lord," Agnus knew his role perfectly well. As he was gone, and the people started to work, Arthur didn''t have anything else to do here.


    And so he flew fast towards the next settlement, and Amera followed.


    She became faster, much faster than him. To keep up with her growing speed, he had to use portals to keep up.


    However this only came to make him more pleased and much anticipating what she would end up to.

 Chapter 922 - Enemies At The Door!

    Arthur and Amera kept flying towards the next settlements. Amera started to stick to silence. She had a lot of questions and much doubt, but she decided to remain silent for now.


    She had a nagging feeling that Arthur didn''t tell her everything. And she was right, but Arthur didn''t intend to explain anything so dangerous to her, or to anyone.


    After all he knew what he told her was already known to the dark angel mage. As for what actually knew about the original seeds, he was sure the dark angel mage didn''t know anything about.


    Each settlement had their people gathered outside and waiting for him. At some point Arthur got the word that Deem and Gor already sent men to build cities around here.


    These men arrived at the settlement he left from the start. As such Arthur decided to change his way of dealing with these people.


    ''Make them move towards that settlement,'' Arthur said to Gege, ''I need all of the people to work together and help in building cities in a wide stretch of land.''


    ''What about the enemies?'' Gege asked, ''I just told you many dark mages are gathering around this area.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but resist the urge to go and kill all of them now. He had an important farm mission, one he couldn''t possibly miss at the moment.


    ''Let the crow deal with them,'' he decided, ''also send the word to Doaf and Jud. Make them move out and hunt down any resistance gathering near them.''


    ''What about Amera?'' the golden dragon said, ''you should send her to hunt down every enemy here.''


    Arthur turned to Amera and didn''t say anything. However she noticed his gazes.


    "What''s wrong?" she said, "is there something on my face?"


    He couldn''t help but smile and his smile in his dragonair form looked creepy.


    "Do you know that enemies are gathering around here as we speak?" Arthur made up his mind. He didn''t need her by his side. Plus they were already in the middle between the crow on one side, and Doaf and Jud on another.


    "Where?" her face turned all serious, "I''m itching to stretch my body a little and test out my new powers. Is there any grandmaster there?"


    Arthur got the answer from Gege. There were few, but they remained back, far away from their reach for now.


    This proved to Arthur one thing, the dark angel mage was trying to pull out an attrition war. He was slowly gathering up his forces, and he didn''t plan to act rashly and directly clash with him with all his elite forces.


    "There are," Arthur nodded, "but they are far away in the back."


    "I wanna kill them!" Amera decisively said, "tell me where they are and I will make sure to bring you their dead bodies."


    Arthur knew she was already determined to do so. However he also knew she had a limited number of forces at her disposal.


    If anything was wrong in his plan, then the lack of elite forces compared with his enemies. It was his sore spot, and he knew his enemy was aiming directly at it.


    "Let''s not rush things here," Arthur slowly said, "you first need to collaborate with Doaf, Jud, and the crow before killing everyone else."


    "I''m not interested in weak fries," Amera arrogantly said, "just tell me the direction and leave the rest to me. Plus I''m not that easy to handle even before gaining my new powers."


    Arthur knew she was telling the truth, however he asked Gege to put a portal on her back and keep an eye over her.


    He didn''t doubt her strength, but he didn''t trust her ability to face an army of elites all alone. After all she was still new to her powers, and god only knew what she was capable of doing at the moment.


    ''I''ll keep you posted about her,'' Gege promised, ''as for the other three, they have already moved out.''


    "Great, what about the cities?"


    ''Deem and Gor''s men received the orders from me already,'' Gege said, ''they are to build a lot of cities at one go. As for people needed, I have already opened many portals around the spots they chose. However¡­''


    She paused and Arthur couldn''t help but feel there was a piece of bad news coming at his face.


    "However¡­ what?"


    ''The cities aren''t linked to the empire yet,'' Gege slowly said, ''this place is far away from the last city under your control. According to them, the cities here must be linked with the empire before they can benefit from the grand array.''


    "Hmm¡­ What about Deem and Gor? What are they doing anyway?"


    Arthur knew what these people said made quite sense, but he wasn''t helpless either. He had a counter and fast solution for this problem.


    ''The two are busy building cities all over the empire,'' Gege said, ''they are overseeing the entire process from the capital.''


    "Tell them to focus mainly on linking the empire to here," Arthur ordered, "make them build a line of cities linking the empire directly to these settlements. Also send a word to the three girls, make them turn around and try to clear a path towards here."


    ''I don''t think we''ll need them,'' Gege didn''t like the idea, ''the enemies here aren''t that many or strong anyway.''


    "No, things will turn south the moment we start expanding our empire here," Arthur said in clear conviction. He believed the dark angel mage would grow restless when seeing his actions.


    After all that meant Arthur could see through his plans already. This spot was much more advanced than his current empire territory. Gaining a foot here with cities would make the dark angel mage change his plans.


    A great war would erupt here if he kept his forces at such a low limit.


    At this moment, Arthur didn''t feel he was fighting a normal war.. It seemed like he was playing a great game of Go with that dark angel mage, one which only grandmaster would play.

 Chapter 923 - Originals Arrive

    At this moment, Arthur didn''t feel he was fighting a normal war. It seemed like he was playing a great game of Go with that dark angel mage, one which only grandmaster would play.


    Both were fighting over territories and dominance for now. After this would be all settled, and the dust would clear out; this Go game would turn into a grand chess game.


    A chess game where only one would emerge victorious by killing the other king in the end.


    Arthur didn''t delay and kept moving towards the next settlement. As he reached the fourth settlement, news of the crushing defeat of his enemies reached his ears at last.


    ''Jud and Doaf killed most of the forces there, also the crow is about to do the same,'' Gege said.


    "What about Amera?"


    ''She is still fighting her way towards the grandmasters,'' Gege said before adding after a moment of pause, ''but there are a lot of reinforcements coming from everywhere.''


    "I knew it," Arthur wasn''t surprised to hear that. After all, just an hour ago a group of dark mages tried to sneak in the gaps between the three armies and tried to destroy the cities being built.


    However a small group of elites were dispatched alongside a few dragons using portals. This kind of attack started to be repeated every now and then, and that told Arthur that his enemy already sat his gaze upon his cities.


    The dark angel mage already moved as he anticipated.


    "What about Sara, Tina, and the scorpion queen?" he asked while imagining the timely arrival of these three when things got bad.


    ''Wait a moment¡­'' Gege didn''t have the answer before she returned after a few minutes with disturbed voice, ''they¡­ are facing great resistance while coming here.''


    Her words made Arthur''s heart clench all of sudden. He frowned and realized the weakest link in his plan.


    It wasn''t a surprise for his enemy to aim at this weak spot, but it was still a remarkable feat. "So he read deeper through my plan than I thought," Arthur slowly muttered before asking, "how long will they take to arrive here at this rate?"


    ''Around a day¡­ or perhaps even more¡­''


    "A day¡­ That''s a lot," Arthur knew that his enemy already prepared a counter to his plan. And now it was his time to find a way to turn tables upside down.


    "Alright, prepare the dead grandmasters'' bodies now!"


    Arthur suddenly landed on the ground before he closed his eyes and entered his garden world.


    If he would be pushed against the wall in such a way, then he would prefer to have more of his deadly dragons by his side. As he kept resurrecting his dragons, a new piece of good news appeared from Gege.


    ''The monsters from before¡­ they have changed into¡­ something else!'' she said in fear that was obviously apparent in her tone.


    "Oh, they are awake now?" Arthur couldn''t help but feel excited when heard this. He had high expectations for these monsters, and even he already thought of another way, a better way, to use the original seed to his advantage.


    ''They are¡­ and they are making quite a scene now!''


    Arthur couldn''t help but move at faster speed to turn every single corpse here into a dragon. He didn''t even wait for all of them to finish transforming before he hurriedly said:


    "Take me there!"


    A portal appeared next and he simply passed through it. The next moment he appeared in a special place, where it was all lined by pillars and the ores he got so far.


    The ores were scattered everywhere, on top of the pillars, in between them, and also inside the big circle that these pillars marked.


    And inside these, a group of twelve giants appeared in Arthur''s eyes.


    They were so big to exceed the grandmasters he met before by five folds at least. Their skin was covered in a dark charcoaled layer, while thin purple lines ran along their bodies.


    These purple lines looked like deep grooves in the surface of their skin, and they were shimmering with purple light. They had three eyes on each side of their heads, while they had a long and curved thick band of hair extending from their ears.


    Their hair was like iron rods, forming a spiked appearance in Arthur''s eyes. The moment he appeared, he could clearly see the waves of purple fire emitted from their bodies and even from their mouths when they breathed.


    They didn''t need to do anything and yet the amount of fire emitted from their bodies was fiercer than the fire waves he spotted when removing the black fabric away.


    "They¡­ are strong!" Arthur said in a greedy tone and blue light shone brightly from his eyes. As he saw all this, he also sensed the connection he had between him and them.


    He was their master! He could feel that link binding him with their brutal souls.


    And the moment he appeared, they also noticed his presence. They all turned in unison to watch him. Their faces didn''t show any human expression at all, but Arthur felt their anger towards him.


    They weren''t accepting what he did to them, and he knew if they had the chance they wouldn''t hesitate to kill him.


    "Kneel!" and yet he didn''t worry himself about that for now. They just came in time, in such a time he desperately needed a move to bring back victory on his side.


    He rose up high in the air and stood even higher than their heights. He looked upon them like a lord looking at his subjects, like a god looking at his creation.


    "A weak ant is trying to control gods¡­ I never heard of this before!" one of them said in a funny tone while acting oblivion to the fact his soul was bound by Arthur.


    Arthur stood in midair watching them all laughing and pointing in mockery to him before they started to turn around and give him their backs.


    "Oh, so you want to die after just being reborn?" Arthur''s tone wasn''t loud or didn''t show any anger at all.. In fact he said it with a laugh to return their favor.

 Chapter 924 - The Black Liquids Rebirth

    However, as Arthur said that, no one even turned to him. As if he wasn''t even there.


    "Die!" with cold blood, Arthur controlled the connection with one of them, the rude and first to speak.


    He simply activated his golden pearl energy and grabbed the three threads connecting him with that original''s soul before shuttering it.


    The soul was already like an ocean, however it was all trapped inside a dense network of his triple slave seal.


    The moment he activated it, that original''s soul got stirred up and so did he. He turned sharply towards Arthur while knowing what the latter just did.


    "I''ll kill you before that!" The original seemed quite enraged and then moved.


    In Arthur''s eyes, the amount of purple fire emitted from this original''s body was initially big to begin with, but now it has become massive!


    It was like an ocean of fire opened up and poured out from that original''s body. And he wasn''t the only one doing this.


    All the other originals activated their strength to the max, while their intention was clear.


    "Do you want to die with him?" Arthur simply watched all this happening and sneered. "Do you want me to shatter your souls like him?"


    "I''ll kill you before you even do that!" the originals whose soul was getting under immense pressure yelled in a loud and angry tone. His threats, however, didn''t mean anything to Arthur.


    Standing in his position, Arthur simply said:


    "Bring in more pillars and¡­ rain ores all over his body."


    "Woosh!"


    "Boom!"


    The next moment loud bangs of explosive sounds erupted as more pillars appeared all around. At the same moment, many portals opened and rained down a huge pile of ores over that original''s body.


    And that original just got himself buried underneath these ores.


    Arthur could see the ores moving like a water surface over that original''s body. However no matter how hard that original tried, he couldn''t even push away a single piece of rock.


    Against these ores, his power meant nothing.


    "Do you want to end up like him?" Arthur turned his cold eyes towards the eleven other originals. They seemed to get deeply enraged by what was happening to their brother.


    However Arthur simply snapped his fingers and the next moment many portals kept flashing around. "Kneel or die¡­" he slowly said while his eyes sent a clear message to those terrifying beings.


    Arthur wasn''t afraid of them! He could easily kill them the moment he desired, and they wouldn''t be able to even fight back!


    As he waited for them to make up their minds, a sudden change occurred out of the blue.


    The original who was now buried underneath the ores from before suddenly screamed in strange pain.


    His roaring sound attracted everyone''s attention and made everyone watching in silence, including Arthur, what was going on.


    "Oh¡­ That''s unexpected¡­" Arthur couldn''t control his shock while seeing the ores around the giant body of the original melting down.


    It started to turn into a liquid, and that liquid fell over the body underneath it. It seemed like a burning fire, as each drop fell made the original scream.


    This kept happening until all the ores melted and vanished. Instead a black fluid appeared covering up the entire body of that original.


    "So this is the source of that liquid?" Arthur muttered while watching what was going to happen later.


    The fluid seemed to eat away the body of the original. At this point things became clear in Arthur''s mind. He now understood the origin of that liquid, and why it ended up planting seeds in the souls of the monsters.


    However he wasn''t totally right. Something else came to light instead of that liquid.


    Arthur was already watching the cold faces of the originals. He was now totally sure they had experienced such pain before. And now he could easily lean his back and relax while they would kneel one after another.


    However, just as the original, surrounded by the black liquid, breathed his last breath, Arthur heard a strange popping sound.


    The fluid¡­ it was getting solidified at a fast rate now!


    The body of the original underneath it turned into a dried skeleton covered in black charcoal. Arthur knew this was the effect of the purple fire over any living being.


    But when he saw the liquid, he couldn''t help but be utterly speechless!


    "It''s¡­ not the liquid, it''s¡­ that black curtain!" His shock was beyond any imagination. And in no time this shock turned into mere excitement.


    Excitement that made him laugh like crazy.


    "I never expected that! You¡­ it''s you¡­ you are the source of this curtain¡­ hahaha!" he laughed while this time his desire to kill them soared to the heavens.


    "Thud!"


    "Thud!"


    "Thud!"


    However, just before he could even try and test this theory again, the loud sounds of their knees hitting the ground reverberated all over the place.


    The eleven originals knelt all in unison, and without any hesitation, to him.


    That sudden move of them startled Arthur, who had to put his plans and above them, his desire, on hold.


    "Oh, so you are finally admitting your allegiance? Why don''t you wait a bit longer? I wanted to test this curtain again!" he said in regret and yet he only got one answer¡­ they lowered their heads much more until they all hit the ground.


    "Tsk, you acted high and mighty moments ago¡­" Arthur couldn''t help but feel bitter from inside. And yet he knew his chance would rise once again when new batches appeared.


    As they didn''t speak back or show any sign of mutiny, Arthur couldn''t help but drop the matter. He moved towards the dead body of that original before watching the last drops of liquid turning into solid.


    And then he grabbed the fabric and started to examine it.


    "It''s¡­ the same," he couldn''t help but get excited with that. He had no clue about the origin of that fabric.


    At first he didn''t care, but when Amera got such a boost, he couldn''t help but grow greedy for these.


    However, as he had a limited number of fabrics, he couldn''t help but feel regret. He even considered letting that dark angel mage fill the world with all the fabric he got.


    But Arthur doubted that sinister mage had too much of it. And now Arthur had a way, a solid and reliable way to create more of this fabric.


    Besides¡­ This fabric looked more broad and bigger than the ones he got so far. "This one¡­ can be turned into ten pieces¡­ no, twenty at least," he muttered while examining the fabric attentively.


    In the middle of that, he kept peeking at the originals, waiting for anyone to be fool enough to betray him.


    But they were all smarter than he hoped them to be.

 Chapter 925 - People... Like You!

    Arthur stood there examining that fabric with greed. He just resisted the urge to put this fabric on his body. Despite Amera gaining ultimate strength when she did that, she did that with a small piece of this fabric.


    Besides he didn''t yet know what side effects having this on him would be. After all he got mixed forms of energies inside him, not to mention his dark energy as a dragonair.


    He didn''t want to unbalance his body energies by his greed. And so he put the first task in mind to divide this fabric first.


    So he took out his sword and was surprised to see it passing through it and cutting this fabric like it was nothing.


    "Why do I have a feeling that I turned into a tailor?" he couldn''t help but laugh while cutting this fabric into smaller pieces.


    When he was done, he had twenty-three pieces, just like what he anticipated.


    "So no one is planning to disobey me?" Arthur finally stored these fabrics away before focusing over these eleven originals. He, purposely, made himself vulnerable to any attack during this time.


    And yet he was destined to be disappointed.


    All he got was silence as they all bowed their heads and looked only at the ground. He couldn''t help but sigh in regret before he pointed to them with his sword.


    "I want to know everything about your past lives," he ordered, "I want to know everything related to your old civilization. What gave you such strength? And what drove you all down to your demise? C''mon, someone speak up now!"


    Arthur had many mysteries unanswered so far since coming to this universe. One of them was the reason behind him being here. Despite having some clues and few answers, he knew he was still missing the big picture.


    And another mystery he had was the originals.


    He marveled at this ancient civilization of old times. They were very strong indeed, and they seemed to be invincible.


    And yet here there were no originals left in this world, only relics. He accidently got his hand over this bunch of originals, and he didn''t plan on letting this chance slip away from his grip.


    He planned to squeeze them and gain all the knowledge he could know from them. And above all the most crucial questions now; what caused them to be extinct? And what will they do if they ever regained their freedom in this universe?


    And so he decided to go on one question at a time.


    "My lord¡­" one of them stepped forward and in a few moments he stood in front of Arthur with head bowed.


    "What''s your name?" Arthur casually asked and even put the sword behind his back. He let himself so open to any attack, hoping anyone would be daring enough to come at him.


    Yet again he was destined to be disappointed.


    "I have no name right now," the giant originally said and this scene seemed a bit funny. He stood bowing his head with his giant physique and strong aura in front of the weak looking Arthur.


    However no one of these originals seemed to harbor any ill intentions anymore. They accepted their fate, and they acknowledged their master.


    "Do you forget all of your past memories?" Arthur''s eyes narrowed while he totally missed this.


    He thought wrongly that they would retain their memories from before their rebirth. However he seemed to get disappointed again.


    "We have little info regarding our past lives," the originals said in low tone, "I¡­ can only see flashes of memories of the past."


    "Then tell me what you see," Arthur could only accept this tiny bit of information for now.


    "War," the original yet started with such a shocking answer, "we have¡­ brutal war."


    "War? Against whom?" Arthur was now more curious to know this answer. He wanted to know what caused such a grand and mighty race to get wiped out.


    It wasn''t easy to even consider defeating them. But making them die and go extinct was a feat only gods could possibly do.


    "I believe it was the world itself," the original seemed confused, "all I can see is just the images of thunder falling from the sky, fire coming forth from the ground, and wind howling and throwing all of us around."


    The scene itself made Arthur feel puzzled. "You don''t see anything else? An enemy perhaps? Are you even fighting against each other?"


    The original shook his head before saying:


    "All I can see is tears¡­ we were all crying. I¡­ feel despair, like this was doomsday and it came without warning."


    "¡­"


    Arthur felt his sincerity among his words. And yet he couldn''t get any hold of what happened. He interrogated the others and yet they all seemed to say the same thing.


    "Sigh, they are all traumatized," Arthur couldn''t help but think about that. It seemed the annihilation of this race came all sudden and was in such a brutal way.


    They couldn''t even overcome this even after getting reborn.


    "So tell me, what do you desire to do now?" he casually asked before one of them gave an unexpected answer.


    "We have¡­ to take our revenge."


    "From what? Nature itself?" Arthur found this funny, as they still couldn''t identify a single enemy.


    "No, it''s against the ones controlling it," however that dude kept answering without any second thoughts.


    "What do you mean? Do you plan to go against the heavens?" Arthur realized there was more to say about this. He didn''t know how they could feel such resentment towards someone they didn''t even remember.


    "I¡­ remember¡­" and yet one of them said in a low tone, "I remember who caused this to us¡­ it was those despicable people¡­ people like¡­ you¡­"


    The more he spoke, the less meaningful his words meant to Arthur. "Like me? C''mon, if you want to crush people like me then you can do it with a mere thought," Arthur restored back while feeling their minds must be twisted after their rebirth.


    ''No, I can remember their faces clearly now," however one of them joined in the talk as he firmly added, "they had faces like yours, but greater bodies. You¡­ sorry to say that but you look like a child to them."


    "I also remember¡­"


    "Me too¡­"

 Chapter 926 - The Dark Side Of The World

    Arthur couldn''t take this matter lightly anymore. He frowned a little while trying to find any logic in their words. "Are they, perhaps, called mages? Or grandmasters?"


    He couldn''t think of any giant beings like him and much more powerful than those mages and grandmasters from the highest realms.


    If they were the ones to kill these originals, then he had to reconsider his strategy against the dark angel grandmaster.


    After all, people like that nasty mage killed such a brutal race in one moment of history.


    "No, I¡­ don''t recall they were called like this," one of them said before others slowly nodded.


    "They were known by a different name," another said and Arthur couldn''t help but feel more puzzled.


    "Do you know what they were called then?" he asked, "I wanna know your enemies."


    "Why, if I may ask?" one of them asked in doubt.


    "Well, if there was such a hidden race so powerful enough to cause your extinction, then I have to consider them as my enemies as well," Arthur shrugged before adding, "It''s not for your sake, but for my survival."


    His reasoning was accepted and made sense to these originals.


    "I can''t recall what they were called, but¡­ I can tell they controlled the worlds like they were their owners," one of them suddenly said while another added:


    "They can bring wind, cause thunder and lightning, and they can make land disappear and fire spread¡­ They acted like gods, but they weren''t¡­"


    "If only I can remember their names¡­ I feel I know it but for some reason I can''t recall it!" Another said in frustration, however at this point Arthur felt great shock inside.


    "Were they called, perhaps, the world''s wills?" he slowly asked in a gratified tone and the moment he said it¡­ the faces of those originals beamed with hatred and anger.


    "Yeah, it''s them!"


    "They are a bunch of merciless folks who killed all of us for no reason!"


    "They trapped our kin, enslaved our kids, and took away everything we got!"


    "I want to kill them! I want to kill them all!"


    "Do you know them, lord?"


    More and more words of hatred came from them the moment he said that name. Arthur''s eyes showed how shocked he was. He couldn''t believe the seemingly harmless world''s wills were able to do that.


    ''What was it? A quest? Or greed and anger?'' Arthur couldn''t really tell but he could at least say that they did such a massacre.


    The hatred and anger he felt from these originals couldn''t be mistaken. Their feelings were so genuine as to be fake!


    "Lord¡­ Can you promise to let us have revenge against them?"


    All of sudden the eleven originals knelt and even their heads slammed heavily on the ground. Arthur slowly watched them while in his mind, only one question repeated itself there.


    ''What would happen if I became the enemy with those world''s wills? What would happen if they decided to go against me?''


    And only fear was the only answer he got. He couldn''t believe he didn''t doubt these world''s wills ever before. He even met one face to face and saw how brutal and strong she was.


    But he also saw how limited their powers were! The one he knew before was someone ruling over a small world in a low realm.


    ''What about those ruling over the realms controlled by dark forces? What about those world''s wills living up there in the highest realms?''


    He couldn''t help but feel more doubt and fear towards them. He first thought all the world''s wills were kind and tolerant.


    But now¡­ and after seeing and hearing about what happened to the originals from before¡­ and after considering their silence towards the big dark clans up there¡­ He couldn''t help but feel more doubt.


    If they were this good then why was there evil in this world? If they weren''t strong enough to stop the evil themselves, and he now greatly doubted that, then why didn''t they ask for the help from the light camp?


    What was the world''s will at his godfather''s world doing when the world got invaded by dark forces? What did the world''s will do when Aemie''s world got invaded?


    He suddenly started to see another face of the universe, one which wasn''t pleasant to him at all.


    To him, these world''s wills weren''t powerless to intervene. And the sole reason they didn''t was for their own agenda.


    They had goals and they might even consider themselves the gods, the true and sole gods of this world.


    ''Was this the reason I was sent here then?'' he couldn''t help but return to his old unanswered question. To him this was the biggest mystery of all, and the answer to it would reveal a lot of facts.


    But he couldn''t forget the fact that the world''s wills helped him a lot in his fights. ''So I can assume there are two types of world''s wills out there? Are there anyone from the ancient times still living here?''


    If he considered that theory, then he would have been terrified like now. He couldn''t believe a world''s will that took part in annihilating the ancient originals to be good natured or easy going.


    ''I have to assume the worst then,'' he took in a deep breath before turning to the originals in front of him, "Do you remember the reason behind this war? Why did they start killing and not talking to you back then?"


    However all he got was utter silence. It seemed their memories about that war weren''t complete yet.


    But he needed to know the answer for that! He knew they needed time to stick together the scattered and tattered pieces of memories from their past.


    Like now, they first started with "I don''t know," and ended up spilling all this beans to him.


    "Take your time," Arthur said before noticing the emergence of new originals, "I have to be busy for a while anyway. Hopefully some will go berserk and defy me, hehehe."


    However when other originals started to emerge, those eleven from before knelt again in unison. "Please, merciful lord, let our brothers and sisters live."


    They all said in one voice while the scene of them kneeling to him made him speechless. He moved his eyes between this group of eleven originals and the newly born originals counting up to thirty or slightly more.


    "Sigh, why are you acting in this way?" he couldn''t help but shift his eyes to another direction, "go, if you fail to convince them to follow me with undivided loyalty, I will kill those disobeying me¡­ That''s my promise."

 Chapter 927 - The Colossal Dragon!

    As Arthur stood silent and watched what the eleven originals did, he couldn''t help but inwardly sigh.


    These originals seemed to try and save everyone. They talked for long minutes with them before they drove them back and all knelt before Arthur.


    He dreamt of creating more of his special black fabric, fighting a few rogue originals who would behave arrogant and mighty.


    But his dreams all shattered when they all knelt and acknowledged him as their master.


    "Raise your heads," he said in a depressed tone. He wasn''t that sad as he got himself a lot of strong originals this time. However he also failed to get any fabric.


    "You will remain here and welcome your new brothers and sisters," Arthur said before a portal appeared next to him, "I''ll come occasionally to get their allegiance. Also I''ll keep adding more originals here."


    "We will wait for your return," they all knelt again while acting all obedient.


    "Tsk," Arthur stepped outside the portal while reappearing inside his garden world. The dead bodies of grandmasters were gathered here.


    "Bring me that dead body of that original from before," he had thought. After all that original left behind a good corpse, one he could use.


    The next moment a portal appeared and a big body slammed heavily on the ground. Arthur examined the all burnt down body which was covered in black charcoal layer.


    "Activate the ability now," he put his hand over the corpse and simply waited.


    His energy gushed out from his body and yet nothing happened. He waited for a long minute but nothing occurred. His energy kept pouring out endlessly while that giant corpse kept absorbing it like a dried up song.


    "What''s going on?" he couldn''t help but ask, "why isn''t it working?"


    He thought for a moment that his ability wouldn''t work on this original. However, the next words of the system surprised him.


    ''Ding! It''s working, but this corpse¡­ it needs a lot of energy to turn.''


    "How much?" Arthur feared his energy wouldn''t be enough, "will I be able to turn him in this time?"


    ''Ding! You definitely will, but you won''t be able to summon anymore for the day.''


    "Oh, that''s interesting!"


    Arthur waited patiently while his energy kept coming out from him. It took roughly ten minutes before his energy stopped pouring and that corpse suddenly shook.


    This meant the corpse was about to change and thus Arthur flew high in the air and watched the grand body changing into a majestic dragon.


    Arthur already had different kinds of dragons. Some were small, others were giant, however this one here was something else.


    His body spanned for a hundred meters before it started to roar. Arthur watched the air all around vibrate massively like it was about to get crushed.


    "Calm down," Arthur had to stop this roaring dragon, "this isn''t a place for you to act arrogant!"


    The moment Arthur spoke, that dragon seemed to notice him. The first impression Arthur felt was danger. That dragon thought of him as an ant he could crush.


    "Kneel!"


    However no matter how hard it resisted, Arthur''s simple order made the body comply. In front of Arthur that gigantic dragon knelt against his will.


    "You came from my power, so don''t think high of yourself," Arthur slowly said before adding, "you were once an arrogant original that I simply killed. This time you are reborn as one of my dragons. You can''t disobey me or even try to betray me or else¡­"


    Arthur''s words were clear and after a moment that dragon seemed to accept his fate. His body stopped trembling and Arthur simply waved his hand to release his control over this dragon.


    In fact he didn''t dislike that danger feeling just now. Having such a brutal weapon was something cool.


    He had the same feeling as when he met that octopus monster. Having such a dragon here was much better than having a hundred dragons combined.


    "Relax and be ready," Arthur decided to face up the grandmaster dark angel mage later on, "soon I will summon you to fight a big war."


    Arthur then opened his eyes and appeared in the wilderness once again. He took a rapid glance around before asking:


    "Any news?"


    He flew high in the air and headed towards the next settlement.


    ''There are a large number of mages and monsters coming towards the settlement you are heading towards,'' Gege suddenly said, ''they seemed to bypass the tight net of Doaf, the crow, and Jud.''


    "Let them come," Arthur casually said, "I want to test my new forces upon some flies."


    He didn''t change his trajectory and in fact he raised his speed. He wanted to arrive fast there and meet with these forces.


    However when he arrived at the settlement, he found no hostile enemy at all.


    "Where are they?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    ''They need a few hours to arrive,'' Gege said.


    "Why is it taking so long!" Arthur shook his head before turning around. The people who used to live here were all gathered in one huge camp just outside the walls.


    ''They are gathering more forces as they advance,'' Gege explained, ''that''s why they are taking this long.''


    "Still they are too slow," Arthur took in a deep breath before adding, "''start moving people out and take the mining forces to break down this wall and the veins underneath it."


    Arthur then moved towards the biggest building and started to tame that purple fluid.


    Yet this didn''t take longer than an hour. After that he felt bored and decided to move ahead and meet them before the settlement.


    After all, having a fight here would endanger his mining forces and the people who were yet to be evacuated fully.


    ''You are impatient to try the new forces, kid,'' the golden dragon laughed.


    "I have to test them and see how strong they are," Arthur nodded in agreement, "after all I plan to send these forces around to hunt down those dark forces."


    ''Ding! Won''t it be dangerous? Over our scattered forces here I mean,'' the system expressed his doubts and yet Arthur didn''t change his mind.


    He had to put pressure over the dark angel mage like the latter was doing to him.


    Arthur kept flying for an hour or so before he finally saw the early lines of the enemy forces. They were so big, at least a hundred thousand army of mages and monsters.


    "Oh, he outdid himself this time," Arthur wasn''t afraid at all. He was feeling more excited about such a challenge.


    ''Should I summon everyone?'' Get asked.


    "Only the dragon army," Arthur said before adding, "let us keep those originals hidden for much longer."


    Arthur thought about taking out the brutal force of the originals he had. However doing so would be like shooting himself in the feet.


    This force was something the dark angel mage would never expect to see. As such it was much better to keep it hidden away and not reveal it unless at the right time.


    The next moment many portals appeared. Large number of dragons came forth, and they were all led by that colossal dragon he just resurrected.


    "Go," Arthur casually waved his sword towards the front, "kill to your heart''s content!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The dragons all roared as if they were celebrating this feast. The mightiest roar came from the original dragon he just summoned.


    The dragon moved faster than others, nearly teleported himself to reappear in the middle of the enemy lines.


    Its colossal body helped Arthur to recognize it miles away. That dragon was really brutal and he held the power of fire, lightning, and wind inside his body.


    The devastation it caused was least described as catastrophic! Arthur stood in daze while watching the thick bolts of lightning, the berserk flames of purple fire, plus the howling sound of the wind killing an endless number of mages and monsters within a minute.


    And that dragon just started fighting.


    "Damn! He is so strong!" Arthur thought it would fight like the octopus monster, moving slowly and steady in a domineering way.


    However this dragon never stood in a place for more than five minutes. Then he would teleport himself using his superb speed towards another spot.


    And then a massacre would befall at such a spot.


    The war seemed unbalanced at this moment. In fact the large number of the enemy army didn''t seem like an advantage at all!


    It wasn''t only this colossal original dragon, but others were strong and deadly as well.


    Nothing stood in front of their faces. Despite their scanty numbers compared with the number of enemy forces, they weren''t facing any disadvantage at all.


    Even the enemy attacks that befell them didn''t even manage to scratch a single scale over their bodies.


    "This¡­ is simply great," Arthur was laughing out of his joy while watching this scene. He knew he acquired himself a killer weapon, one which could be used to slay even grandmasters with ease.


    And the most thrilling part here was the fact that he could bring forth more of such domineering dragons.. Only if those originals showed signs of rebellion, or he decided to go forth and kill some of them without any reason.

 Chapter 928 - A Brilliant Go Move

    It wasn''t a fight, it wasn''t a war, it was simply a massacre!


    Arthur even didn''t need to move and join them at all. His forces were only few in number, but they were a literal definition of monsters.


    They weren''t stoppable at all! No matter how many mages and monsters were thrown into their paths, they could easily crush them and continue advancing.


    Arthur stood in midair while feeling the only drawback for his new forces was the lack of numbers. They would annihilate the enemy forces without doubt, but they might take an entire day or more to do so.


    "Sigh, I need to keep advancing my dragomancer ability soon," he couldn''t help but sigh before he turned his back, "open a portal, send me to the next settlement."


    ''Alright,'' Gege didn''t have a portal linked directly to there but she summoned a line of portals. Arthur jumped from one to another, simply covering a large distance in no time.


    ''You surely are so much confident in your dragons,'' the golden dragon said in a proud tone, ''I can''t disagree with you. Dragons¡­ are simply the lords of any world!''


    "Hahaha, I know, right?" Arthur was already in a good mood. This way he would put more pressure over his sworn enemy.


    He had to admit that the move that dark angel mage did before against the three girls was unexpected and brilliant. However, by this move, Arthur would have answered to that tactic.


    And now all he needed to do was to push more and gain more territory and more originals before that jerk would move again.


    In front of Arthur''s eyes, a large board of Go was there. For now each one had just played their first moves, and this class was simply the beginning of shifting to midgame.


    Arthur wasn''t lacking any confidence against this seasoned player. He also was a very good Go player when he was a cultivator.


    In fact both sides had equal powers and pieces to move. The board was still so big and wide open, while endless possibilities were still present.


    Any mistake of anyone here would be easily corrected later on. Any setbacks could be made up for later on.


    So even with this advantage Arthur had at the moment, he knew this wasn''t a guarantee of his success.


    In fact he knew victory was still far, far away from his reach. He needed to keep doing this good and he would eventually win.


    But he was sure his opponent wouldn''t be this easily crushed.


    "I''m looking forward to your next move," Arthur couldn''t help but say in a challenging tone. He was already traveling at a very fast speed towards the next settlement.


    As for the war he left behind, Gege kept updating him every ten minutes. So far his dragon forces were doing so great.


    Another one who was doing great was Amera. After gaining her new powers, she was unstoppable.


    Up till now her power was still increasing, making Arthur wonder what she would end up to be after this was all over.


    He thought she would stop when reaching the grandmaster level. But she already exceeded the normal grandmaster level by far. She was even on par with his godfather and Aemie, heading towards a whole new level.


    "I hope she could reach their levels," he hoped she would be as strong as the white and dark angel mages. But he knew he was wishing for the impossible.


    After all this kind of mages was only special due to their clans and special abilities.


    So far Amera didn''t face a situation needing her to activate her ultimate techniques. Arthur wanted to see if she gained any new techniques or not.


    Logically speaking, she would gain more than one. But he didn''t put any hopes before seeing it with his own eyes.


    As for the other leaders he had, he decided to go for a full upgrade to them. He also planned to use a piece of this magic fabric, just he needed to know if there were any side effects related to it or not.


    "We are here," as he was lost in his thoughts, he never stopped passing through the portals. After roughly ten minutes he finally arrived towards the next settlement.


    Things there were calm, so much calmer than the chaotic fights behind. Arthur didn''t spend much time there as he took roughly an hour to gain more original seeds before he released more miners.


    Then he left the settlement while Gege left a few portals behind for the locals to use.


    The garden world now was getting occupied by tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of people each hour. Arthur didn''t see any problem in having them inside his garden for now.


    After all he needed a lot of hands to work on his many projects here. Many were sent back to help build cities all over the world, while some were chosen by Agnus for the mining process.


    As for those who could fight, Arthur entrusted them to his mecha leader; Nara. She was the only one here he could depend upon for this job.


    Nara kept testing the newcomers and selected those strong and good for the fight to join a hastily built camp inside his garden. Sounds of fighting exploded all over the world.


    The garden world was long gone silent after purifying all the mini-worlds Arthur added to the garden from before. Also the pillars were all purified a long time ago.


    And so the garden world turned into such a tranquil place, reminding Arthur of his sect from before.


    However now the peace was long gone by the shouts of warriors training under Nara. She was a strict kind of leader, not letting anyone rest even for a second.


    She knew the big challenges waiting for all of them. Pushing hard on them for now was a better choice than letting them relax and die at the battlegrounds.


    As for Arthur, he kept jumping from one settlement to another while the reports of the ongoing wars kept coming.


    His forces were scoring all great all over the ongoing wars. However his enemy wasn''t that easy to accept such fate.


    ''There are more reinforcements coming from settlements from outside here,'' Gege said before adding, ''they are trying to keep the fights going on without any victor.''


    "Hmm¡­ is he trying to wear my forces down or what?" Arthur didn''t get what the dark angel mage wanted to do by this move.


    ''He looks afraid to lose against you in this clash,'' the golden dragon seemed to take this so lightly while Arthur didn''t.


    He knew for the overall situation losing the fight here wasn''t that big of a deal. In fact this was already part of Arthur''s empire, and one way or another this part would be added to his lands.


    So the persistence of the dark angel mage seemed weird. "Unless¡­ he has another goal¡­" Arthur couldn''t help but think about the situation once again.


    For him more than sixty percent of the settlements were now cleared from that dark liquid.


    And the remaining settlements were all far away from the frontlines. So even if the dark angel mage aimed at killing his way through here, it wouldn''t be possible at all.


    "What are you aiming at?" Arthur couldn''t help but repeat this question over and over again on himself.


    ''Why do you care?'' the golden dragon laughed, ''your entire forces are already fighting and crushing the enemy. The more he sent, the merrier!''


    The moment the golden dragon said these, Arthur''s eyes got wide open. He got a sudden realization which made his face turn dark.


    "So¡­ this was your aim from the beginning then¡­" Arthur slowly said before sucking in a cold air of breath.


    ''Ding! what do you think he is after?'' the system asked before adding, ''Ding! Gege is keeping track of anything moving around this region. There are no extra forces coming from anywhere towards here.''


    ''Yeah, all the reinforcements are sent to the ongoing fights all around,'' Gege said to confirm the system''s words, ''there are no other hidden forces anywhere near here.''


    "You¡­ all got fooled by him, just like me," Arthur couldn''t help but stop from entering through the next portal. "He doesn''t need to send anything from the outside."


    His words seemed to not explain anything at all, so he had to add:


    "Did you all forget? He can open portals inside the settlements and send in any forces he wants!"


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    These sudden words of his made the other three startled and couldn''t speak for a while.


    ''So he is trying to regain control over these settlements?'' Gege couldn''t understand the real target of the dark angel mage here.


    But the golden dragon got it.


    ''He isn''t after the settlement, he is after our little Arthur here,'' the golden dragon said, ''he just used his pieces to keep Arthur''s forces occupied. So when he hit him hard, Arthur would be all trapped.''


    And when the golden dragon said it out loud, Gege couldn''t help but scream in panic.


    As for Arthur, he was only marvelling this brilliant tactic of his enemy.. "Sigh, I thought I was getting you under my blade, but it was totally the opposite," he sighed while trying to see how he could get out of such a deadly trap.

 Chapter 929 - A Brutal Fight Inside The Settlement

    Arthur had two paths in front of him. He either should go back and wait for his forces to end their fight. Then he would dart towards capturing more settlements.


    However he knew this path wouldn''t make any sense at all. That dark angel mage would make sure his forces would be pretty occupied all the time.


    Reinforcements were coming with no end towards each battlefield.


    And thus he had only one path in front of him.


    "That jerk¡­ Does he take me for a push over or something?" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh before pressing forward towards the nearest settlement.


    He wasn''t that poor in strength to begin with. He had many weapons under his disposal. For instance he still had the octopus monster, and also he had his immortals.


    However his biggest weapon would still be his newly acquired ability. He could wipe out an endless number of foes with no struggle at all.


    He would just lose some time in return, but at this point he didn''t mind that.


    ''But isn''t it better to wait for your forces to get freed?'' Gege could read his mind but she still was anxious about such a fight.


    ''It''s of no use,'' the golden dragon said, ''that bastard won''t let any of his forces free for the next coming days.''


    ''What''s wrong about waiting for days then?'' Gege still didn''t like the idea of Arthur, ''it''s much better than risking his life like this!''


    ''Ding! No, it''s not,'' the system answered, ''Ding! Who knows what that bastard might pull out during these days if Arthur didn''t take his bait? We need to use our current advantage against him, instead of fighting against another variable we might not be able to handle.''


    The words of the system silenced Gege and yet Arthur knew she wasn''t convinced at all. She was deeply worried about him, and that simply touched his heart.


    However, as the system said, he had no other choice here. He knew his opponent was quite a resourceful man. Giving time to such an enemy was a grave mistake.


    Besides, he already has an advantage over his enemy regarding this plan. Crushing it to pieces would drive that mage crazy and force him to commit mistakes later on.


    That was the kind of pressure Arthur sought to enforce upon that wicked enemy of his.


    After all, no matter how smart or powerful one was, as long as he was pressured enough he would make grave mistakes every now and then.


    "Let''s get ready," Arthur got near the next settlement and saw everything peaceful from outside. However rhe was quite sure the moment he stepped inside, things would go south.


    And he was totally right about that!


    The moment he crossed the walls, a sudden turbulence occurred all over the settlement. He could clearly see the energy all around got stained with blackness, like the world was getting infested with a plaque.


    "Oh, he is preparing quite a party for me this time," Arthur didn''t feel threatened and instead he activated his technique.


    Just as he did so, he was able to gather up the remaining white energy inside this settlement. It seemed like there was some kind of barrier standing between him and the world outside.


    He couldn''t take in any white energy from the world around. But he wasn''t worried, after all he gathered enough white energy to form a thick pillar stretching out for a hundred meters around him.


    And then portals appeared.


    Large number of dark red portals popped out of nowhere. Arthur turned his eyes while calmly looking at the large number of mages and monsters flooding from these portals.


    And then he moved.


    "Slash!"


    He simply used his sword to clash against these enemies. He knew his sworn enemy just miscalculated something here.


    His power¡­ wouldn''t get depleted the more he used it. Instead it would grow thicker and stronger the more he fought.


    And that was the simple and fatal mistake the dark angel mage fell in right here. That mage seemed to focus on numbers than quality, trying to wear Arthur down.


    However instead of doing so, he gave Arthur the opportunity to expand his white pillar endlessly while slaying an endless number of enemies.


    At some point, Arthur didn''t even have to raise his sword and use his technique. His white pillar was simply doing everything for him.


    It was like a purifying pillar which would exterminate any dark enemy without exception. Arthur only needed to fly around and move all over the place while his pillar did the rest.


    Even those portals didn''t stand his white energy at some point and started to show deep cracks all over their surfaces.


    Arthur knew it wouldn''t take much longer before all of them got smashed into pieces thanks to his power.


    However the patience of that dark angel mage grew thin at this moment.


    "I will kill you this time!" His sinister voice came from one portal before a large number of strong looking mages and monsters finally showed up.


    "It''s too loud to speak while staying on the other side of the portals," Arthur sneered before directly heading towards this new force, "why don''t you show me your pretty face? C''mon, you will just get a backlash from betraying our deal."


    "Humph, acting arrogant even in the face of death!"


    Despite the strong words of that mage, Arthur was the one slaying his enemies using his powerful white pillar.


    Some of them showed some resistance against his energy, but it wasn''t enough to even reach him. His energy kept eating theirs away, depleting their power and finally leaving them as corpses falling on the ground.


    And Arthur did nothing but fly around and make sure he would kill as many of them as possible.


    However he knew that the enemy wouldn''t let things end in such a way. Arthur was quite sure that the dark angel mage wouldn''t hesitate to use his deadly weapon if he was going to lose this fight.


    And even after sending in these elites, that dark angel mage was already losing this fight.

 Chapter 930 - The Purple Fire

    "You won''t live longer!" The hatred Arthur felt in that mage''s voice made him laugh. He knew his enemy was already pressured and he was about to use his ultimate weapon now.


    But what that dark angel mage didn''t anticipate was that Arthur already had a counter against such a weapon.


    In fact he had more than one counter to it.


    "Rumble!"


    The world all around changed all of sudden while a dark and fierce looking purple fire erupted from one building.


    "It''s coming," Arthur didn''t show any shocking expression over his dragonair face. Instead he looked so calm and very collected.


    Everything was simply going the way he expected.


    "Bring them out, now!" he said while the next moment many portals appeared. And then he was buried underneath a mountain of ores.


    These ores were one of the ways he had to face this fire. After all they could stop it from extending towards the world outside.


    And this giant pile of rocks that buried him would shield the fire off his body.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    Inside that pile of rocks, all he could hear was sounds of fire clashing fiercely with the ores all around. However as expected, these ores never let a single wisp of fire through.


    "Damn you!" the dark angel mage seemed very furious at the moment, "''Go, tear these annoying tocks to pieces for me!"


    Just as Arthur expected, many portals flashed all around his pile of rocks before a great number of elites and even some grandmasters appeared from them.


    In front of this purple fire, even those invincible beings were threatened to die in a matter of moments.


    However they started to use their strongest attacks the moment they appeared to push away and crush all these ores.


    Arthur knew the sole weakness of these ores. They weren''t immune against any kind of attacks other than the purple fire.


    That was why his weak villagers worked efficiently and got a lot of them in a short time span. They didn''t even need to exert too much power to mine them out.


    However that dark angel mage greatly underestimated Arthur in this point.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    As his enemy brought forth more portals, Gege also did the same. As his sworn enemy summoned more troops, Gege brought more ores to replace those destroyed by the mages'' attacks.


    In the end it was a war of attrition while Arthur held the upper hand. After all, he knew the purple fire was limited to a few minutes. If he could sustain himself during these minutes, he would emerge victorious in the end.


    In return the dark angel mage never stopped throwing away his men''s lives like they were worthless ants. The more he sent, the more furious he became as he saw no obvious result in this.


    "Damn you! I order the world to seal everything!"


    As he lost this card, he decided to go crazy and do this thing. In the next instant the entire space around Arthur got frozen by these words.


    ''I can''t summon more portals anymore!'' Gege couldn''t help but scream in panic, ''only those existing here will work, and they also are getting affected. I can''t bring forth so many ores like before.''


    "Oh, so he still has such a card up his sleeve," despite this looking bad for him, Arthur kept his calm and didn''t show any sign of stress.


    He already could feel the amount of ores all around were getting thinner with each passing second. That distasteful mage blocked the path in front of new portals, and even limited the function of the existing one.


    Arthur didn''t know how he did it, but he wasn''t clueless to fight against such a situation as well.


    "Bring it forth, now!" he simply said while turning his gaze towards the portal next to him. It was summoned from the beginning when he got buried underneath the rocks.


    And now as the ores lose their use, he had to use his second way to face this fire.


    After all, and according to his estimation, this fire would be put down in less than one minute.


    All he needed to do was to hang out for one minute, only one minute and he would emerge victorious in the end.


    Losing this fight here meant that dark angel mage wouldn''t follow through with this tactic. Arthur already guessed that his enemy didn''t have anymore alternative at the moment, which meant he could safely claim the rest of settlement before that mage would do anything stupid again.


    But Arthur had to first survive this minute, no matter what!


    ''It''s there,'' Gege said and the next moment something came out from the portal. Without any hesitation Arthur grabbed it and covered his entire body with it.


    Just as he did so, he felt a sudden burning sensation all over his body. It was like he just jumped inside lava or the depth of a volcano.


    He didn''t know what went wrong, but just before he could know what happened the ores around him started to vanish.


    Holes appeared at an increasing rate before fire poured mercilessly through these gaps.


    "Die! Die! Die! Die!" The dark angel mage kept screaming out in a vicious way while Arthur could feel the strong gush of the fire over his body.


    However there was something standing in between his body and this fire; the black curtain.


    He took out a large piece of it and risked using it at this moment. He had either to choose between using it or exposing the originals he had.


    For him he didn''t want to reveal his originals, not at this early stage of the game with that mage.


    And so he took out the curtain, but the reaction it gave him exceeded his expectations.


    He once saw what happened to Amera, she also felt uneasy like this. But this feeling didn''t last longer than a few seconds.


    And now Arthur already passed thirty seconds while twitching in deep pain. He felt real agony and couldn''t help but roar in deep pain.


    What he didn''t realize was that the purple fire had a hand in this. The moment the fire touched his body and that black curtain, it activated something in the curtain.


    Instead of lasting for a few seconds, the curtain kept torturing Arthur as long as the fire continued to exist.


    And to add more to this desperate situation, the dark angel mage suddenly summoned another dark liquid covered with a dark curtain.


    "It seems you are still alive even after all this," the dark angel mage said before the next moment he let one of the minions around to remove the curtain.


    "Then let me help you and give you one more chance to die!" the sinister laughs of the dark angel mage went astray amidst Arthur''s painful roars.


    Right now Arthur couldn''t help but roar non-stop. As for the words of the dark angel, his mind couldn''t even process them properly out of deep pain.


    Arthur was feeling the worst pain he ever experienced in his entire life. Even when he was trapped once inside one hell of a torture inside one of the tribulations in his past life, he didn''t feel such pain.


    This pain was different. It wasn''t punishing him, but it was changing every single bit of his body and soul.


    And he could feel everything like he was undergoing a heart surgery without getting any anesthesia.

 Chapter 931 - The Torture

    The pain was like nothing Arthur experienced before. However despite all this, the fire itself didn''t even cause a single scratch over him.


    It was all thanks to the black curtain. It kept him safe and kept torturing him as well.


    Arthur almost lost track of what was going on in the real world around him. The shouts of that dark angel mage while laughing and celebrating early on his victory didn''t even pass through Arthur''s ears.


    He was in his own world at the moment. Arthur tried to control this pain using everything, however he failed.


    "I¡­ shouldn''t¡­ lose¡­ my consciousness here!'''' This was the most stressing point he had to think about and focus on.


    After failing in controlling the pain all he could do now was to consider his safety after this pain would end. If he ended up losing his consciousness then he would end up being as good as dead.


    At the same time Gege kept screaming at him. She wanted him to just shift his body a little, just lean to one side and fall.


    A portal was lying in wait for him, the one which brought the curtain to him minutes ago.


    However no matter how hard and loud she screamed, her words never made their way through Arthur.


    The latter was already in his own world of torture, and no matter what happened at the outside world he wasn''t able to sense or feel it anymore.


    He only felt deep and excruciating pain, nothing more.


    Gege was very frustrated. If not for the lockdown on the space around done by that distasteful dark mage from before, she wouldn''t have her hands tied up like this.


    She could easily summon a portal and control it to pass over Arthur''s body and take him in. or she could easily control the one next to him to swallow him inside her garden world.


    However right now she couldn''t do anything but wail and scream in panic, while the golden dragon and the system kept their silence.


    There was nothing in their hands to do. Even trying to summon Nara and those mechas and the mages they selected and recently trained was something they couldn''t do.


    After all that purple fire was still raging all over the world. If they brought them out, then they would simply be killing them with no benefit or gain of any kind.


    However this torture and these stressful moments ended up after five minutes. In fact the purple fire that dark angel summoned again and again kept the torture going on until Arthur stopped moving.


    And that made the dark angel mage mistake him to be dead or deadly wounded to even move.


    So he stopped all his attempts using the purple fire, and instead he screamed:


    "Go, hack his body to shreds in front of my eyes!"


    His shouts were followed by more gush of forces from his side. It seemed the lockdown he exerted over the space here just stopped.


    ''I''ll get him inside now!'' Gege noticed this as well and she seemed dead fixed on taking Arthur inside.


    "No¡­ wait¡­" however just before she could do anything, Arthur''s weak voice came while panting for breath.


    ''You¡­ are alive! Hahaha, he is alive, hahaha!'' Gege laughed hysterically while the other two beings in his mind laughed as well.


    "I''m not that easy to die," Arthur took in deep breaths before adding, "that damned dark angel! If I didn''t fake death just now, he wouldn''t have stopped that torture anyway."


    After getting torture for such a long time, Arthur finally figured out the reason behind all this.


    It seemed his curtain would react to the purple fire right now. So the more this fire existed, the longer his torture would continue.


    And so he decided to fake death. He closed his eyes and even stopped breathing for a long minute.


    It wasn''t easy to do that, but he tried his best to fake his death using his body being shrouded underneath the black curtain and many ores.


    And he succeeded.


    The dark angel mage took the bait and stopped the purple fire. That made Arthur able to breathe in relief while feeling his body regaining his calmness like before.


    The pain started to recede without any further ado. However he could still see the effect of that black curtain over his body and soul.


    Despite all this torture, he started to feel refreshed like he just got up from a deep and long sleep.


    He knew his strength must have grown exponentially compared to before. But he had no time to test this out.


    After all that dark angel mage seemed to be dead serious in doing business. The latter didn''t waste a single moment and instantly sent in legions of his forces.


    And now it was time for Arthur to pay back that debt to his enemy, in double or even triple.


    As such running away now would take away this chance from him. He didn''t want to just kill everyone around, but he wanted to make that dark angel mage feel despair¡­ real despair.


    And to do that he had to strike now. If he went off grid, then his chance to slap this enemy''s face would be lost.


    "Summon everyone," Arthur stood up slowly while he felt like growing out two new wings on his back, "summon Nara and her mechas¡­ Summon my dragons, summon that octopus, and summon even the normal mages¡­ It''s time to attack now!"


    ''Alright!'' Gege said in excitement despite her not totally agreeing with Arthur''s mindset.


    If it was up to her, she would just take him inside her body and hide him there. His safety was everything she cared about.


    But how could she refuse a request from him? How could let this chance to get revenge from that dark angel mage slip off her grip like this?


    The next moment a large number of portals appeared.. Arthur didn''t even wait for anyone of his forces to come out as he flew high in the air.

 Chapter 932 - Arthurs New Power

    Arthur''s speed got so strong that he turned into a ray of light. At this moment he moved around like Amera did while she was using her spear fire technique.


    However the main boost didn''t come to his speed or strength, it came to something totally different and unimaginable even for him.


    "That¡­ the white pillar¡­ it''s getting bigger and thicker fast¡­" he watched around the white pillar with dazed eyes.


    His white pillar was crushed the moment the purple fire appeared. After all this purple fire ate away the energy, and his energy wasn''t an exception.


    But this time his energy started to grow up at a fast pace like never before. Even when he was inside his trial world, he didn''t see such speed before.


    And just when his pillar reached a certain limit, it suddenly stopped. Arthur didn''t stop moving while his energy kept sweeping away all the enemies he met.


    He didn''t need to raise a single hand to crush anyone, his energy did everything. But just as he was absorbed doing this, a sudden change occurred to his energy.


    "Blue?" he noticed that the vast white pillar of light started to shrink. It looked like the energy around him was getting condensed and merged together to evolve to another level.


    And this new form of energy was white with thin blue threads all over it.


    "Then in the end it will be in the form of blue energy?" he couldn''t help but ask himself this. If his next evolution step was by introducing these thin blue filaments to the white energy, then at the highest level his energy would be pure blue.


    "I like blue anyway," he shrugged without care before he started to move out again.


    However this time he felt he was killing enemies with much faster pace. "Oh, so the increase in the level of my energy will enable me to slay stronger foes faster¡­ does that mean a day will come when I can slay that goddamn grandmaster without any need to fight?"


    Arthur already struggled a bit against those elite forces of the higher worlds. As for the grandmasters here, he needed much time and effort from his energy to kill them before.


    But now things are different. His energy didn''t even need more than one or two seconds before purifying everything it touched.


    No matter if it was an elite, strong monster, or even a grandmaster¡­ all were purified and fell powerless on the ground.


    Even these portals which Arthur couldn''t destroy before, he was now able to crush them if his energy kept hitting them continuously for a minute or so.


    But despite this, Arthur didn''t get drunk with his new power. He knew against the real grandmasters of the big dark clans he would struggle still.


    These grandmasters whom he kept killing were simply weak flies up there at the highest realms.


    They weren''t even on par with those elites from the big dark clans. But he wasn''t that dejected about this matter.


    After all he has a clear path in front of him now to reach such a level, a level he could fight equally against those monsters and even kill them.


    And in the end he dreamt of facing up with that hideous enemy of his and killing him one day.


    "F*ck you Willy! F*ck you!!" however, on the other hand, that dark angel mage was already going berserk with his curses and threats.


    No matter what he said, it all turned into a soft melody in Arthur''s ears. Arthur was feeling great the more he heard the bitter shouts and curses of his enemies.


    And at some point, Arthur couldn''t control himself and started laughing.


    For a minute there the dark angel mage stopped speaking. "C''mon, don''t tell me you got a heart attack from my laughs?" Arthur mockingly said while laughing.


    In return all he got was roaring shouts from the other side of the portals. And that made Arthur laugh even more.


    In the meantime, Arthur''s summoned forces were killing everyone without any obstacle.


    After all those strong foes were taken out by Arthur. As for the portals, Arthur kept crushing them on a high rate now that exceeded the ability of that dark angel mage to compensate.


    Gradually the fight got closer to its end, with Arthur getting the last laugh here.


    "Enjoy your moments as long as you can," at some point the dark angel mage seemed to lose hope about this fight, "soon enough I will be the one laughing over your dead body!"


    Just as he said that, and before Arthur could provoke him even more, the portals all around stopped pouring out anyone.


    The forces tossed here were already considered a loss. That dark angel mage was really decisive as he cut all his ties with those here in cold blood and without hesitation.


    "Tsk, that''s the only thing I admire about you," Arthur shook his head while watching the remaining forces getting slain by his own pillar and forces, "once you decide something, you coldly do it no matter what the cost was."


    It didn''t take much longer than ten minutes to exterminate everyone here. Arthur didn''t want any hostages from this fight. After all, taking in such people would put more work on his shoulders.


    He needed to initiate slave contracts and prepare prisons for them. He already had his hands full with the dark liquid, black curtains, and the originals he created.


    Having those originals made Arthur not care about anything else. Even when grandmasters here tried to surrender to him, he didn''t accept their surrender.


    For him using their dead bodies to summon dragons was much better than taking them in. and it meant less work and hurdles for him as well.


    However in others'' eyes, he was turning a bit ruthless and colder as time went by. This was also the opinion of the three beings in his mind, but they decided to remain silent about it.


    After all, to survive in such a harsh world, one has to find his own path and have his own coldness and brutality.


    Or else one would end up losing his life without even realizing it.

 Chapter 933 - The Black Curtain First Side Effect!

    Arthur stood midair while watching the aftermath of this fight. He felt bad whenever he felt the pain he experienced just before. However right now he could feel his power getting stronger with each passing second.


    The white-blue pillar never ceased to expand. Even when there was no enemy around, the pillar kept present without showing any sign of going away.


    "So this time I will be stuck with such a pillar for the rest of my life?" Arthur watched this and couldn''t help but sigh. He didn''t like the fact that he was surrounded by this energy, especially when he felt he couldn''t control it anymore.


    At least when he thought about retracting it and making it vanish, it didn''t follow his orders.


    ''It''s not bad to have it around,'' the golden dragon said, ''this way you can fight anyone without the need to be alert to their intentions.''


    Arthur understood what the golden dragon was referring to. That hidden traitor among his ranks was such a headache to him.


    But not anymore.


    Now even if that enemy was only meters away from him and decided to make a move, Arthur would emerge unscathed from it.


    After all, his pillar of energy would act docile towards his allies, and very aggressive towards his enemies.


    "It''s still not a thing to be proud of," Arthur then started to fly towards the main building in this settlement, "take all the corpses inside my garden. Also take out the miners and take in everyone else."


    ''Leave it to me,'' Gege was feeling relieved that everything finally ended in such a good way. She was dead worried over Arthur in this fight.


    This war was getting more complicated, especially when their enemy was someone so resourceful like that dark angel mage.


    Each time they faced him, that distasteful enemy would show a new weapon and use a new tactic.


    However this time Arthur felt he dealt a good blow to such an enemy. That dark angel mage wouldn''t show up his face soon, that was what Arthur believed.


    "What about other battles?" he asked after one hour. He managed to claim three more original seeds and was now ready to move on.


    ''They are still fighting,'' Gege said, ''but Amera''s front isn''t stable.''


    "Oh, why is that?" Arthur suddenly felt curious.


    He knew in the current state of Amera, no enemy would stand a chance against her. Only those real monsters from the higher realms would pose a threat and challenge towards her.


    ''Her energy¡­ she looks more exhausted now,'' Gege said something that made Arthur''s heart clench.


    "What do you mean?" Arthur stopped in his tracks, "get me in. I want to see everything with my eyes."


    "Woosh!"


    The next moment a portal appeared next to him. He simply passed through it and appeared next in front of his tree of mirrors.


    The tree was still towering like a mountain. Beside it many smaller trees were still growing, without showing any signs of maturation so far.


    None of them had mirrors like the mother tree. Arthur didn''t care about these for now as he stepped inside the mirror world of the tree.


    There he saw the reflection of things going on at Amera''s side. She was still fighting a large number of mages, monsters, and grandmasters without any problems.


    However from what Arthur could see, her facial expression told him she was tired. It seemed she wasn''t feeling that way due to the continuous fight with these dark forces.


    However this was mainly due to her reliance over her energy all this time. It seemed her body couldn''t take it anymore and started to show signs of exhaustion.


    ''She wasn''t like this an hour ago,'' Gege said, ''but she is pushing herself too far. She didn''t take a single moment of rest after all this fight.''


    "She needs to rest from time to time then¡­ That''s not a bad side effect after all," Arthur deeply thought before adding, "take me out."


    He walked outside the tree world before passing through the portal waiting for him outside. When he went outside he took out a bird''s wing and wrote something to Amera.


    It wasn''t a request, but a warning. He warned her that her energy was getting out of control. Soon if she didn''t listen to his words and get some rest, she would end up unable to move a finger.


    And that would be deadly to her.


    Amera was in the middle of her brutal fighting against all these dark enemies. In fact she felt tired hours before Gege noticed this. However she kept pushing herself over and tried to kill as many as she could.


    The more she killed, the more appeared out of nowhere. That just kept irritating her, making her feel like she did nothing at all by fighting for this long.


    However, in the middle of all that, a bird''s wing suddenly appeared in front of her.


    "Oh, so he is worried about me?" she read Arthur''s words before she crushed the paper and let it turn into ash. "Tsk, if you are so worried then you should come and help me instead."


    She shook her head and against her will she decided to retreat. She first thought this exhaustion was related to her constant use of her special fiery technique with her spear.


    But even when she stopped using this brutal way of fighting, she was still getting tired at the same rate.


    And now with Arthur''s words she realized she had to stop and get some rest.


    She hated this. She wasn''t so close to wiping out her enemies either. However, as long as she could kill some, she didn''t want to leave.


    As such she retreated while fighting her way through the densest parts of the enemy ranks.


    During her fight here she managed to slay a large number of grandmasters. However it seemed like the dark side had an endless number of such unique mages.


    The total number of the grandmasters now was slightly over the number she faced at the beginning.. The persistence action of the dark angel mage was pressing over her nerves actually.

 Chapter 934 - A Trap!

    She hated fighting against such an enemy. The only thing that consoled her was the fact that any killed grandmaster was a loss to her enemy regardless of anything else.


    One less grandmaster was a gain to Arthur and her. At least that meant one less enemy to fight in the future.


    As for Arthur, he started to think about something else.


    In Amera''s case, she could use her energy during the fight. But if she wanted, she could simply rest and do nothing.


    However this wasn''t the case for him. He had his pillar energy continuously activated. This wasn''t something good at all for him. He wanted to find a way to cancel this ability or else he would end up losing control over his energy.


    As such he tried to close his eyes and rest instead of flying out. However nothing happened. His pillar energy kept swirling around him, making him a bit flustered.


    ''Ding! I believe as long as you don''t use it for a fight, this energy won''t make you exhausted,'' the system said in his own theory.


    Arthur could only sigh. He had nothing in his hands now but to pray for this theory to be true. Or else he would be in great trouble now.


    "Let''s go," Arthur flew in the air and headed directly towards the next settlement.


    As he expected, for the rest of the settlement that dark angel mage didn''t show himself ever. However he also didn''t drop his plans towards Arthur''s scattered forces.


    In fact, according to Gege''s constant reports, Arthur started to realize something. That dark angel mage seemed to increase the number of enemies on all fronts.


    That was totally clear in the case of his three girls. Sara, Tina, and the scorpion queen were facing relentless resistance while coming here.


    They were supposed to take one day to arrive, but now one and half days have passed and they are still stagnant at their positions.


    "What the hell is he thinking about?" Arthur couldn''t help but reconsider the general view of the entire map of this zone of the world.


    For him he already won this fight. Continuing to resist here meant that the dark angel mage would deepen his losses.


    If Arthur was in the dark angel mage''s shoes, Arthur wouldn''t continue fighting these meaningless battles.


    But what was really happening was the total opposite from this. It seemed that the dark angel mage was dead, fixed on hindering Arthur''s dominance over this region.


    And that made Arthur feel more puzzled towards such a decision.


    ''He might have been a bitter loser,'' Gege suddenly said, ''I believe he didn''t want you to have a clean victory over him.''


    ''Ding! He isn''t that kind of a rash person to be honest,'' the system didn''t agree with her words, ''Ding! I think this mage has an ulterior motive here.''


    ''If so,'' the golden dragon paused before adding, ''he is scheming something.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but nod in agreement with his golden dragon and system''s words. For him he felt there was something hidden from his eyes.


    And that meant that the dark angel mage overcame his loss in the last battle fast and started to plan for the next battle.


    That wasn''t a good sign for Arthur. He thought defeating that enemy here would buy him some time to rest.


    He and his forces were fighting for a long time already. He also needed time to strengthen his hold here and try to study the mysterious black curtain and the strength it gave to him and Amera.


    Despite that Arthur wasn''t that afraid from that dark angel mage. "He¡­ is such a hard opponent for sure," Arthur admitted that to himself, "but no matter what he tries, I''ll make sure to crush everything he plans and emerge victorious at the end."


    This was his belief. He didn''t doubt his victory at the end, but he also knew having such an end wouldn''t come easily.


    He had to keep his eyes open all the time. He didn''t want to have any setbacks thanks to his negligence or underestimating his enemy.


    After all his victories so far came mainly due to his enemy underestimating him.


    ''So far he seems to be focused mainly on Sara, Tina, and the scorpion queen front,'' Gege said, ''I believe he wants to crush them. Should we go and help them then?''


    "Well¡­ That''s the most logical move here¡­" Just as Arthur was considering this, his line of thoughts suddenly stopped.


    "What if¡­ this was his main goal after all?" Arthur couldn''t help but think about that.


    ''What do you mean?'' Gege didn''t get his line of thoughts.


    "Where are these three now?" Arthur asked without moving an inch from the top of the main building in the last settlement he crushed.


    He just finished creating the last three originals here.


    ''They are almost fifteen hours away from us,'' Gege said, ''but I doubt they could make it here even in three days! Their enemies are now stretching and covering a vast piece of land.''


    "So they are at an insignificant place, right?" Arthur asked while his mind kept rethinking over this matter over and over again.


    ''Well¡­ If you say it in such a way then yeah,'' Gege slowly said before adding, ''but they are the ones facing the largest enemy forces among others! They should be the ones needing urgent help.''


    ''Ding! No, it''s a trap,'' the system already picked what Arthur was doubting, ''Ding! We can''t go there or else we will lose much more.''


    ''What do you mean?'' Gege asked as she couldn''t get what the system or Arthur was thinking about.


    ''Let me ask you then,'' the golden dragon also was on the same line of thoughts like Arthur and the system, ''what''s the most vital battleground among all of them?''


    ''Hmm¡­ I believe it''s Amera, right?'' Gege said before suddenly realizing something. ''Damn! I was fooled by him!!''


    "It''s not your fault," Arthur laughed before flapping his wings. "Our enemy is just treacherous. He won''t stop throwing booby traps in front of our faces and we need to be alert while facing him."


    ''So you are going to help Amera now?'' Gege said before adding, ''she is still taking rest in between fights. Shall I tell her about your arrival?''


    "Who said I''m going to play according to his plans?" Arthur laughed before adding, "I''ll play according to my way, not his."


    ''¡­''

 Chapter 935 - Arthur Strikes Back

    Gege could read Arthur''s mind, however she didn''t want to believe what she saw there.


    ''Are you¡­ sure of that?'' Gege felt weird and asked in doubt.


    "Why do you act surprised?" however Arthur laughed before adding, "it''s not the craziest thing I''ve ever done, right?"


    ''¡­''


    Gege knew he did many crazy things before, but this time she felt he was slightly going overboard.


    But she couldn''t say a single word to make him change his mind. At the same time, the two other beings started to interrogate her before the golden dragon''s laughs rang.


    ''Hahahaha, I really like you kid, hahahaha!''


    ''Ding! But you need to know this is a gamble,'' the system tried to warn him towards the drawbacks of his plan.


    But Arthur already decided on sticking to this plan. After all, if his three friends here didn''t anticipate this, and they were the ones who knew him the best, that meant his enemy would never see this coming.


    Besides, he didn''t find any problem in doing so.


    In fact he saw this as a normal response towards all the events that happened so far.


    As such Arthur started to fly fast while passing through the portals.


    ''Any specific location in mind?'' Gege asked before adding, ''do you want me to tell others about this?''


    "No, leave this as secretive as possible for now," Arthur thought for a moment before adding, "after I start, you are free to tell them."


    ''Ding! Don''t underestimate that dark angel mage, he will send everything to you!'' The system tried to warn him for the second time, but Arthur only nodded while he kept flying through the portals.


    His flying speed was superb! He turned into a rocket while passing through portals. He jumped from a point to another distance tens of miles away. Then he would jump through another portal before appearing in a distant spot.


    He kept doing this while he felt how vast this world truly was. He thought this way of travel would take him towards his goal in mere a few hours.


    However even after the passage of half a day, portals didn''t stop coming towards his face.


    "How much further?" at some point he had to ask.


    ''Give or take¡­ hmmm¡­ around ten hours,'' Gege said after roughly estimating the time needed for him to reach his destination.


    And such an answer startled him greatly.


    "How come? I thought that the target was so close!"


    ''It''s near on the map,'' Gege said in agreement, ''but in fact the world is so big. So it''s normal to take such a long time to reach there.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but sigh. "What about other battles?" he asked while feeling more bored and regretful at this moment.


    If not for the great benefit of this move, he would have decided to turn around and return back.


    ''Everything is going as planned,'' Gege slowly said.


    "So they are all pressured, right?" Arthur asked just to make sure things were going according to his planning, "but none is going to collapse either, correct?"


    ''I''m keeping track of every single battle,'' Gege said, ''if I notice anywhere is about to be crushed, I''ll lead some of the dragons to help there.''


    "Make sure you don''t move out late," Arthur warned. After all, Gege had only scattered portals around his path of travel near the locations of the ongoing fights.


    Gege purposely left a few portals at certain locations so that she could use them to send reinforcements. However even if she used these close by portals, the distance any dragon would take to reach any battleground would be in hours.


    Arthur''s plan depended entirely on his forces standing their grounds. They should drag the fight and attract as many of the enemy forces as possible.


    This way his next phase of his plan wouldn''t be this risky. Also that would exponentially increase the losses of the enemy at the end of this fight.


    As he had nothing else to do, he tried to close his eyes and meditate. However doing so resulted in greatly diminishing his traveling speed.


    After all, he needed to jump from one portal to another, which required him to cross at least one mile each time.


    "Damn it! I''m so bored!!" After the passage of five more hours, Arthur couldn''t take it anymore.


    ''Do you want to travel on your own for a while?'' Gege asked before warning, ''but that will greatly increase the time needed to reach there. I''m just warning you beforehand.''


    "¡­"


    Arthur couldn''t say anything to her at this moment. He never thought the greatest challenge for him in such a plan would be in his travel towards there.


    He thought he would travel safely and without any problems. But he was mistaken.


    "Is there any enemy nearby?" As he was bored, he thought of fighting against some enemies to vent out his rage.


    ''I don''t recommend that,'' the golden dragon, however, objected.


    ''Ding! I''m recommending against this as well,'' and his system also joined in and like this Arthur had to endure.


    As time flew slowly on him, the remaining five hours ended at last. When the final portal appeared, Arthur came out from it while watching the world around.


    "This¡­" however he didn''t need to look for so long before he spotted his target.


    ''This is the largest enemy base in the entire eastern hemisphere of this world,'' Gege said in pride before adding, ''I''ve compared all other bases around this half of the world and this¡­ is by far the biggest and strongest.''


    Arthur was standing in midair just tens of meters above a very towering mountain peak. In fact this base was ten miles away from his place.


    So it wasn''t strange for him to see it as a small black dot on the far horizon.


    ''I selected this location as it''s well hidden and so close from that base,'' Gege said before adding, ''what will you do now?''


    "Me?" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, "I can''t come here and not go and say hi, right?"


    His plan, his crazy plan in the eyes of Gege, was to select the biggest base of the enemy in this half of the world.


    Then he would go directly towards it. In fact he asked for the strongest base in an area of ten thousand miles radius.


    But Gege came up with such a base. She lied to him at first as she told him it was only ten thousand miles apart from his location.


    But in fact it was at least double this distance if not even more.


    Arthur didn''t want to play according to his enemy plan. He was totally sure that if he did so, he would end up falling in his enemy''s trap.


    Arthur didn''t know what his enemy was scheming this time, but he was quite positive it was something big.


    So the only way Arthur thought of to topple his enemy''s plans was through doing something unexpected.


    He thought about something, something so stressful and very important for the enemy. So coming at such a target would put the dark angel mage at great disadvantage and force him to ditch all his earlier plans and send all his forces towards Arthur.


    As such Arthur would defend all his forces and at the same time he wouldn''t fall in his enemy''s trap. In return, his forces would retaliate at the hasty retreating enemy forces.


    That would increase the toll of the enemy losses by a large chunk. At the same time there was a simple fact that Arthur realized too late.


    All these reinforcements didn''t come from the higher realms! At first he mistook these forces to come from the highest worlds.


    But after the last fight with the dark angel mage, Arthur realized that this mage was able to summon portals directly at any place he wanted.


    As long as that place had his forces stationed around, as long as there was dark energy in the place, portals would appear.


    The golden dragon confirmed this info to him. And so Arthur realized these reinforcements weren''t from the highest realms.


    They came from this world!


    "So this is the main base that sent out all these great armies towards my men?" Arthur stood on top of the mountain while slowly watching the thick and curved black lines that stretched from that black dot at the horizon.


    For him it looked like great black snakes were crawling endlessly from such a hole.


    ''There is a big portal in the center of that base,'' Gege suddenly said, ''it prevents me from seeing it clearly from far distance, but from this nearby spot I can see it clearly.''


    ''Hehehehe, I won the bet then,'' the golden dragon laughed. Just while Arthur was trying to reach here as fast as he could, the three beings had a small bet against one thing.


    The base was the origin of most of the enemy reinforcements, that was a given. But how come such a limited base had such power?


    The system hypothesized that there was some sort of a summoning array in the entire ground of that base.


    As for Gege, she said that many people there used hidden realms to summon their armies constantly from that base.


    However the golden dragon betted that there was a big portal, one that could link to many places in this world.


    As for Arthur, he heard all this and remained silent about that bet. For him he was bored and impatient to arrive at the base, and he also didn''t care about the reason behind such great reinforcements.


    He only cared about how he would crush such a base and destroy such a vital stronghold of his enemy. After all he didn''t come here just to force the dark angel mage''s hand to retreat his forces.


    Arthur wanted to capture this rock of his enemy''s chess pieces.. Next time he would be able to kill the queen before aiming at the king.

 Chapter 936 - Arrow Of Extermination

    ''With such a portal there, they will have an endless stream of reinforcements!'' Gege expressed her concerns but Arthur had an evil smile on his face.


    "It''s time to use an old weapon of mine," Arthur suddenly took out a large number of arrows. "Remember these?" he couldn''t help but laugh before he stored them again.


    ''But¡­'' Gege was about to argue however Arthur didn''t let her continue what she wanted to say.


    "Tell Nara and her boys to get ready," he said, "I will need them to be equipped with strong bows. Let Agnus know in advance and start making nice bows for them."


    The arrows Arthur took were arrows of extermination. He once depended entirely on them before he shifted his style to use his sword instead of the bow.


    What Gege wanted to say before was the fact that these arrows were useful in the low realms. But in such a mid realm, she doubted they would create such a great impact like before.


    In addition to that, their enemies now were mostly from the highest realms. Even those dwellers in this mid realm wouldn''t get killed easily by these arrows.


    Arthur knew all of that, however he trusted the damage his arrows of extermination could do. He also planned his assault over another fact that Gege missed.


    This time he would depend on numbers to crush his enemies. The arrows were weak, but when used in great numbers they would turn lethal.


    And if you added the strong mechas in the picture, then things would turn for the better for sure.


    ''Do you want to send them out now?'' Gege asked but Arthur shook his head.


    "Even with the arrows, the problem of this portal remains a headache," Arthur took in a deep breath before asking, "can you handle it?"


    ''Me?'' Gege felt surprised for a moment before the golden dragon said:


    ''You have to consider that this is a portal from the highest realms in the universe.''


    ''Ding! Also it''s made and controlled by one of the toughest mages in the entire universe,'' the system added and these words didn''t help but to add more worry to Gege.


    ''Ahem¡­ I can''t say I can deal with it, but at least I can freeze it or interfere with its transfer ability,'' Gege said in an attempt to save her face.


    "So you don''t have a way to stop it," Arthur crushed all the fake words she gave and expressed the truth in such a direct way.


    ''Well¡­'' Gege tried to think of a way to retort his words, but Arthur didn''t give her the chance to do so.


    "There''s no point in saying otherwise. Anyway I believe we have a chance to destroy it," Arthur said before pointing towards the distant fort and added, "can the tree do it?"


    Arthur was thinking about a way to deal with this portal. He knew this portal wasn''t that easy to handle, and just interfering with it wouldn''t be enough.


    After all, what would prevent the dark angel mage from creating another one if this one didn''t work well?


    It was one way, only one way for Arthur to get rid of such nuisance once and for all. He had to demonstrate clearly to that sworn enemy of his that he could demolish any portal easily and in a smooth way.


    So that dark angel mage would hesitate again to summon this portal, and that would eventually lead to winning this conflict in the end.


    But Arthur''s hopes were doomed to shatter when Gege returned with the response from his beloved mirror tree.


    ''She can''t do it,'' Gege poured cold water simply like that over his dreams, ''this portal is secured with very pure high end dark energy. She can''t deal with it, neither can I.''


    "Damn it!" Arthur couldn''t help but get furious the moment he heard that. However he took rapid breaths in and out before he said:


    "What about sealing arrays?"


    ''Against such a high end portal¡­ I doubt any array you have can deal with it,'' the golden dragon blocked this path on him as well.


    "¡­"


    Arthur stood motionless in his place while his mind kept spinning with all his might. He had the feeling that he got a way, but he wasn''t able to see it right now.


    ''What about your new energy?'' Gege said, ''can''t you destroy the portal with it?''


    "No, my energy can''t dominate it yet," Arthur bitterly admitted before adding, "there must be a way."


    ''Ding! There isn''t a way in our hands to seal this thing off,'' the system slowly said the bitter truth, ''Ding! But we can work our best to kill anything coming out of it.''


    "This isn''t the main problem," Arthur sighed before adding, "once we do that, our enemy will create another portal, and a third one and even more."


    His words left a heavy shadow over the three beings in his mind. They realized why he was concerned about sealing or destroying the portal.


    Arthur waited in his place for a long time without moving on. He knew he wouldn''t be able to think over this issue once he started his fight.


    And he wouldn''t venture forward without a proper plan.


    But no matter how deep he thought, he couldn''t find that answer yet. Instead that feeling of him about missing that solution kept nagging his soul nonetheless.


    ''It''s now or never,'' Gege suddenly said, ''the other battlegrounds are showing signs of breaking. Their enemies grew in such large numbers that even pure strength alone isn''t enough to dominate the fight.''


    This was the main concern Arthur had before coming here. He knew eventually one battleground would crumble and let the others fall.


    So he thought of hitting the enemy at the heart, to paralyze the entire net of forces scattered around his men.


    A simple attack like this would solve many problems for everyone. However he was still unsatisfied about going there without a proper solution for that portal.


    ''Tick tock¡­ Tick tock¡­ the clock is ticking and you need to move out now,'' however the golden dragon expressed it best in his own words.


    And Arthur couldn''t help but suck in a deep breath before deciding to move out.


    "Bring everyone out when I tell you so," Arthur slowly said before adding, "the mechas will stand in midair and rain down the fort with their arrows."


    ''What about the dragons?'' Gege asked.


    "They will be scattered around the portal and kill anything coming out from it," Arthur said before adding, "prepare everything. Even the monsters lurking and doing nothing. Even those newly recruited mages¡­ if we want to win this war, we need to throw everything out."


    ''I got it,'' Gege said in understanding while Arthur kept flying fast towards the frontal fort.


    That fort was simply like a giant citadel. It had many layers of walls, in between them lay many villages and towns. There were also endless rows of black tents scattered all around the fort.


    Simply put, it was a base that couldn''t possibly be raided with any force in this world. However Arthur wasn''t someone simple either.


    "Bring out the mechas," As he got near the fort to see even the faces of those standing on the walls, he gave the order to Gege, "make sure they''ll never stop raining down the arrows over everyone."


    ''Any target in mind?'' Gege asked, ''like the center perhaps?''


    "No, let them fire at will at first," Arthur instructed, "then we will adapt according to the path of the war."


    "Dong!"


    "Dong!"


    "Dong!"


    Just as Arthur said this, a loud sound of metallic drums appeared from inside the big forte. It seemed like they finally took notice of Arthur and started to alarm everyone.


    "A bit late," however Arthur only sneered back, "they are drunk in their strength and confidence to even neglect me till now."


    The next moment portals appeared all around him. Many mechas came out while holding strange bows.


    They were all made out of strange ores. The moment Arthur saw them, he couldn''t help but feel surprised. "these bows¡­ are they made from that ore?"


    He couldn''t help but ask, as this ore looked strangely similar to the ones responsible for holding the purple fire back.


    ''It''s not only the bows, but Agnus also added some of the ores to the arrows of extermination as well,'' Gege said before adding, ''after all you took a long time to move on. And inside my garden, time works much faster than here.''


    "Good lad," Arthur commended Agnus'' decision, "I hope this will add to the destructive power of the arrows."


    Arthur then raised his sword high in the air before pointing it towards the rapidly gathering forces around the forte.


    Things in the forte looked chaotic at the moment. mages kept running wild and many monsters appeared as well.


    Besides that, a large number of grandmasters and elites appeared in midair, looking in amazement towards him.


    "Fire!" and Arthur didn''t hesitate to issue his order while watching the deadly arrows of his reappear again in this world.

 Chapter 937 - Special Dark Forces Arrive!

    The arrows landed over the entire grand forte before they were all stopped by a sturdy shield.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The entire world shook and a series of bright lights came forth to blind everyone nearby. However Arthur didn''t stop there.


    He simply knew there would be such a defensive shield over that base. He simply wouldn''t hesitate to delve forward and become the sole and deadly tip of the spear.


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    "Sizzle!"


    Just as he came near the shield, his blue white energy started to purify the intense dark energy around the forte. Things seemed to go hectic all over the place, with sounds of explosions that made everyone fear to even take a single step forward.


    In the middle of all this brutal fighting, no one could survive. As such the grand forces of the enemy stopped just inside the shield.


    As for the ones who seemed to be brave and foolish enough to step outside the protection of the shield, they were simply exterminated.


    Each arrow of extermination was enough to cause a deadly devastation in a radius of hundreds of meters.


    Compared to the initial effects of these arrows at the lower realms, this was simply nothing. However with the large number of such arrows, the destruction was on a scale of wiping out anything and anyone standing in the range of these arrows deadly reach.


    If not for the shield, then an endless number of the mages and monsters on the other side would have been killed by now.


    And that was what Arthur wanted. However this shield seemed to be really hard to crack open in a short time.


    "Bring forth the octopus," Arthur decided to speed up things here and act seriously to break open this shield.


    And with the arrival of the octopus monster, the world seemed to witness another brutal force coming from it.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Alongside the arrows and the blue white pillar of energy around Arthur, the new addition of this monster made the shield crack.


    Long and deep cracks appeared and started to spread all over the giant shield before those inside hurriedly acted to amend it.


    And from his position, Arthur spotted many grandmaster level mages and most of the elites to vanish from his sight.


    "So they are trying to strengthen the shield?" Arthur sneered before he rubbed his hands before adding, "bring all my dragons out!"


    He was deadly fixated on cracking open this shield now. As for the mages and monsters inside, they started to bring forth war weapons that looked like trouble.


    There were many ballistae, trabechaults, and even some weird shaped towers that were pushed over giant wheels.


    And they all gave Arthur a bad and dangerous vibe.


    "Let''s see if I will need to use them or not," Arthur was having some fun while dealing against such a threat.


    In fact he didn''t have any speck of worry or fear. He still held back his strongest weapon and didn''t show it up yet.


    Arthur would refuse to use his newly birthed originals at other battlefields, but here¡­. He wouldn''t hesitate to summon them if needed.


    After all, if he managed to take this base off his enemy''s hands, then he would end up dealing a big blow to all of the enemy''s plans.


    This wasn''t a simple forte, it was like the general headquarter of all the operations in the eastern part of the world.


    So seizing this place would result in securing a grand stretch of land and endless resources for Arthur and his growing empire.


    Victory here meant he took a real step closer to achieving his grand goal.


    "Roar!"


    "Boom!"


    "Sizzle!"


    Amidst all his thoughts, the intense fight kept ragin wild at all places. The surface of the shield showed signs of strengthening for long minutes before it started to show cracks once again.


    And that meant Arthur''s forces were really winning this indirect clash with the top leaders of the enemy base.


    But as Arthur was counting minutes for the shield to get blasted, the grand portal inside the forte suddenly flashed in bright red light.


    Large number of forces gushed out from it like they were just hastily summoned to join here. From the dark energy around them, Arthur was sure they were much different than any forces stationed here.


    "Bringing forth the elites of the big dark clans? Hahaha, what''s the next move then? Bringing up their masters and grandmasters?" Arthur couldn''t help but laugh while the shield started to heal at a fast pace.


    It was obvious that these newly summoned forces were able to support the shield. And that wasn''t all, as a large portion of them started to fly fast towards the shield.


    Arthur knew what they were planning to do. He knew his arrows might pose a threat against those weak dark clansmen, or those coming from this mid realm.


    But against such elites of the best dark clans, his arrows would be nothing more than mosquito bites.


    And if that happens, then these forces will start causing trouble around his tightly packed forces. His assault over the shield would be weakened, meaning more dark forces would be freed to rejoin the fight.


    It was like a cascade of bad news to Arthur, and all started by the arrival of those special forces here.


    "If you brought forth your special boys," but instead of panicking, Arthur only showed a wide smile of confidence over his face, "then I won''t be blamed for bringing forth my special boy, right?"


    Just as he said that, a portal appeared next to him. At first, this portal was like all portals summoned before. However as the portal appeared, it started to enlarge at a strange pace.


    It was like some sort of giant was trying to push his way out of the portal. This scene even surprised Arthur who knew even taking out the octopus monster would require the portals to expand to such a degree.


    The portal stretched to cover an entire mile and it didn''t show any sign of stopping. Just by this, all the newly arrived forces stopped moving while feeling a real threat coming from this portal.


    Arthur laughed when he saw this. He couldn''t believe that by just expanding the portal and releasing part of the terrifying aura of the original, the special dark forces would feel this threatened.


    But he didn''t mind that! After all, any more minutes was a good thing for him. The fight over the shield was so intense and rapidly shifting from one side to another.


    Arthur didn''t hope to crack the shield using these forces now. He knew the current fighting force he had wouldn''t be able to crush those supporting the shield.


    He just wanted another goal, to exhaust them. He wanted these dark forces supporting the shield to be left worn out before his original boy would come and crack open this shield for him.


    After all, even if he took down this shield, his enemy would easily summon many more. But if he managed to exhaust the men supporting the shield, he would make the enemy entrapped in his own scheme.


    Besides he knew his original boy could easily burn away any shield summoned by his enemy. So when the enemy would realize how futile it was to keep summoning these shields, Arthur''s forces wouldn''t be faced with relaxed forces.


    Arthur wasn''t fighting on a single front, he was using multi-layered tactics against the dark angel mage. It was thanks to this legendary enemy and such epic battles and impossible challenges to awaken Arthur''s real potential.


    After all one hero needed a grand villain to polish his soul and show up his real worth.


    Arthur waited patiently while his portal kept expanding. For the entire five minutes the portal stopped at a couple of miles radius while releasing frightening aura all around.


    And during these minutes, Arthur made sure his forces kept exhausting the enemies and making sure they wouldn''t have a single moment of rest.


    As for the special dark forces, they couldn''t dare to take a step outside the shield without seeing the face of the incoming enemy first.


    It was their survival instinct that told them to wait. Each one felt like death was drawing its claws over his soul if he dared to get past the shield.


    And that shield kept holding up despite all the attacks landing on it like Arthur thought.


    "Damn them¡­ They assembled the weapons fast!"


    Just as Arthur was holding his original boy back, the new war weapons were assembled and a lot of counter attacks landed towards his forces.


    "Tsk¡­ Bring him out then," Arthur couldn''t help but shake off his head before he pointed his hand to the front, "let''s go together and take down this useless shell."


    "Roar!" and the next moment, a giant appeared with purple fire dancing all over his body before roaring in a mighty way.


    And all the sounds in the world went absent for a long and intimidating minute!

 Chapter 938 - A Terrifying Enemy Appears!

    The appearance of such a behemoth took all the attention from everywhere. It was no exception, either on Arthur''s side or his enemies'' side, everyone stopped what they were doing.


    Everyone just stood motionless in their places like time itself just froze. Out of everyone here, only Arthur moved.


    "Boom!"


    "Crack open that damn shield with me!" Arthur shouted while his strike against the shield was successfully deflected.


    "Raor!"


    And then the original next to him roared. Arthur didn''t even turn to see what he was doing. Arthur was sure this original would use a deadly attack at the moment.


    "Don''t kill my people," Arthur warned, "or else I''ll kill you!"


    The original paused for a second before he clenched his fist. Purple fire started to ignite around this fist and strangely kept burning in an intense way until that fist turned totally purple white in color.


    "Roar!"


    "Rumble!"


    The monster just punched the shield before a loud rumble appeared. The surface of the shield started to sway like it was made of soap bubbles.


    "Burst!"


    It was no surprise for the shield to be broken. Yet the sound of its breaking reverberated all over the place. Arthur stood midair while watching the shocked and frightened faces of his enemies inside the forte.


    Then he pointed his sword towards them while casually saying: "Kill them all!"


    "Roar!"


    The next moment the original moved. He was even faster than Arthur himself. The trail this original left behind was all filled with purple fire and destruction.


    Sounds of violent explosions erupted all around while Arthur moved to the front to aid his strongest weapon.


    "Raor!"


    And on one side, the octopus monster was the first to shake off the fear and started to move forward.


    Three¡­ only three fighters entered the forte amidst hundreds of thousands of enemies. However in front of such numbers, their strength seemed to be brutal enough to make things go their way.


    "Attack! Kill everyone! Don''t daze off, let''s kill them all!" Arthur kept shouting with his loudest voice in an attempt to shake off his own forces.


    However it took roughly a couple of minutes for his forces to return to reality. As for the enemy side, they were jolted awake as well by the shouts of the enraged dark angel mage.


    "What are you doing? Are you fools? Do you want to die? Activate other shields now! Activate them all!"


    His shouts came just with Arthur''s. so both sides were jolted awake roughly at the same time.


    But this didn''t change a lot in the path this war was taking. Even when shields started to get activated, they didn''t sustain a single punch from that original.


    Arthur was fighting so close by, handling those left outside the shields alongside his octopus monster.


    And when his forces regained their senses, they also started to rain down the forces outside the shield with the extermination arrows.


    Devastation and death dominated the scene. Frankly this was a very weird war. The original Arthur summoned drove fear inside his own forces as well. But they were thanking the heavens for him to be on their side.


    Otherwise they would be the ones falling right now under such brutal actions.


    "Damn you! How did you get your hands on such a thing?" and from the other side of the portal, the dark angel mage seemed frustrated. He kept shouting and cursing before he went all silent all of sudden.


    "This won''t bode well," Arthur didn''t miss this change and he suddenly felt bad.


    He didn''t want to bring out his originals not only because of the dark angel mage. There was also another reason behind his hesitation.


    After all the originals were exterminated by a certain enemy, an enemy that was still alive till this day.


    And that enemy was the one Arthur dreaded the most, and it seemed that the enemy already sniffed what was going on here.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    That original kept cracking open the shields like they were made of egg shells. Arthur didn''t stop him, however he had a safe plan ready in such a scenario.


    ''Gege¡­ Make sure you won''t miss the timing,'' Arthur said for the fifth time in the last five minutes and Gege couldn''t help but sigh and say:


    ''I said I''ll do it!''


    Arthur couldn''t shake off his feeling of anxiety at this moment. He knew whatever that would come in his way this time wouldn''t be even on the caliber of the grandmasters of the big clans in the higher realms.


    It would be on a totally new scale, something that he wouldn''t have the power to resist.


    But he could stall for time. After all he wanted this place to be destroyed and using his original was the only possible way to do that.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    And his original was just doing this job smoothly. The original kept cracking open the shields while more appeared in succession.


    It was a kind of a losing war, but to Arthur he knew they were stalling for time. Those working on the shields didn''t know a thing about the dark angel mage motive.


    Arthur doubted anyone in the entire universe would know about what the dark angel mage was really doing at this moment except for him.


    "Woosh!"


    And as just the shields were halfway through, and they were almost upon that grand portal, a new one seemed to appear at this moment.


    It came out of the blue and appeared not inside the shield, but outside it.


    "Gege¡­ Don''t miss it!" Arthur raised his head and his face didn''t show any sign of surprise. This portal was what he was waiting for. His face showed extreme concentration while the original suddenly stopped what he was doing.


    Arthur turned to him and realized he recognized his mortal enemy of old times. "Keep going, I got your back," Arthur shouted and yet the original raised his head and suddenly roared.


    And that portal started spinning fast before a thick bolt of lightning came raining down over that original head.


    For Arthur it looked like a normal lightning bolt, but he knew it was different.. After all it wouldn''t make any sense for a normal lightning bolt like this to threaten such a tyrant like the original.

 Chapter 939 - The Unstoppable Arthur!

    The original seemed to feel the threat. His face showed not a speck of fear but rage. The old and so ancient vendetta resurfaced at this moment. it looked like this original was driven by the hate towards this old enemy of his that he decided to discard even his life to take this shot.


    He clenched his fist and seemed to be about to punch against this lightning.


    "Don''t do it!" however Arthur''s shout stopped him for a moment there, "I said I got your back! Just focus on cleaning the path and bring that portal down!"


    The original seemed not to believe Arthur. And how could he? After all, his entire glorious race went extinct by this kind of enemy.


    How could such a weak human be able to withstand the power even originals didn''t?


    But just before the original could sway his arm towards the lightning bolt, a portal suddenly appeared on top of his head.


    It was a portal summoned by Gege. The next moment the portal sucked away the incoming lightning bolt and nothing came to harm the original.


    "Roar!" it was a faint roar of shock as the original turned to Arthur. The latter nodded and pointed his sword towards the portal in the center of this forte in a signal for the original to keep going.


    And the original nodded in return before answering Arthur''s request with a loud bang over the shields.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    The entire place turned instantly into a brutal fight between portals. Arthur already saw this coming. He knew the world''s wills who killed the originals long ago were still living.


    And there was only one way for such a terrifying force to come here and deal with the original of his; through the portals that dark angel mage could summon.


    When he realized this, Arthur couldn''t help but feel relieved. If it was a fight with portals, then he didn''t think he would lose it.


    And right now Gege was doing an outstanding job keeping the original safe while defending against all the attacks coming from the other side.


    The original at first seemed hesitant. Each time a portal appeared it had to stop, gather around his energy and waited for the dead to descend upon him.


    But each time he was saved by Arthur until he grew accustomed to this. A sense of trust emerged between the two of them at these moments, a trust that would leave a great impact on Arthur''s near future.


    "Damn you! I''ll kill you first then!" The sound of the dark angel mage came from one of the portals before a large number of portals appeared above Arthur''s and the original''s heads.


    But instead of feeling challenging, Arthur only sneered and even raised his middle finger in the face of the largely incoming thunder bolts.


    For him he knew no one could beat his Gege in the term of portals. In such a fight, Gege was like a whale swimming in waters.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    As the lightning bolts descended, an equal number of portals appeared and successfully defended Arthur and the original.


    "Now! It''s time for payback!" and by seeing this, Arthur decided to start step two of his plan.


    Just as he said it, many portals appeared all over the shield. These portals were the ones sustaining and holding the lightning bolts all this time.


    Arthur didn''t want to scare the dark angel mage and crush all his hopes from the start. So he asked Gege to do extra work and keep the bolts she absorbed jumping in between portals.


    This was overexerting his Gege and pressuring her, but he believed his Gege could sustain such pressure.


    And she excelled at it.


    By this time, the dark angel mage was already absorbed in his anger and that world''s will was totally lost in her hatred.


    So there was a way back from this point for all of them, and that was what Arthur desired.


    Just as the portals appeared, these deadly lightning bolts appeared in large numbers. They landed over the shields and cracked them like they were nothing.


    The number of shields getting smashed exceeded the ability of those inside to regenerate them! Seeing many lightning bolts continue their paths and cause a massive destruction inside the forte wasn''t a surprise for Arthur.


    After all he was sure these lightning bolts were exactly like the heavenly tribulations compared to normal lightning.


    Many of them even landed over the grand portal in the center of the forte. This portal was slightly different from any other portal here. And yet it started to show multiple cracks with time.


    "F*ck you!`` The dark angel mage finally realized what Arthur was planning to do from the beginning to this point. And that made him very furious and really crazy. "Die! Die you bastard! Die!!!" he kept cursing and screaming like a mad man while Arthur stood midair totally fine and unscathed.


    Even if the entire world was getting smashed around him, he was totally sure to emerge safe and victorious. At this point he had no speck of worry towards this fight; it was his victory again.


    All Arthur needed to do now was to keep his calm and wait for the shields to be destroyed and that portal inside to be ruined.


    As for his original, he was sure of his safety as he was sure of his own.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    The destruction caused by his forces alongside the deadly bolts and the originals was something unstoppable at this moment. Arthur already gained his desired upper hand moment, and he would never let it slip past his hands.


    However his enemy seemed to get help from the world''s will at this decisive moment. Just as Arthur was standing doing nothing, he noticed a large number of portals appearing all around.


    They didn''t aim towards him or the original, but they aimed directly at his scattered forces behind. Arthur turned to see this grand scene with a surprise look over his face while the sound of the distasteful dark angel mage came from one of the portals just above his head.


    "You are trying to destroy my belongings, and it''s just fair to destroy yours as well!"


    ''The portals aren''t only limited to here,'' Gege suddenly warned, ''he is also making many portals appear all around the forces we have! Doaf, Amera, and others are in danger!''


    Arthur clenched the hilt of his sword as he knew what this dark enemy of his was planning to do. And yet the next moment he relaxed his grip before laughing.


    "Protect them then," Arthur simply said before turning his head up towards the portals raining down lightning on top of his face, "before you threaten me, you should have the power to do so, moron!"


    But Arthur wasn''t telling the truth here, in fact he was bluffing. And as he expected, his idiotic enemy swallowed the bait.


    "F*ck you!"


    And the next moment an endless layer of portals packed on top of others while they all rained their lightning towards Arthur''s head.


    ''He retracted all the portals from everywhere and gathered them all over your head,'' Gege said and her words made Arthur have such an evil smile over his face.


    At this moment he knew he already crushed the enemy and made him lose.


    ''Spread the word, make everyone retreat towards the nearest portals and vanish from there,'' he didn''t forget the moment after the defeat and the wrath the two formidable enemies of his would have.


    He didn''t forget his own weakness and decided to guard against it.

 Chapter 940 - The Future Plan

    Gege never had the ability to spread over her portals at the places of Arthur''s forces. She didn''t lack the control over portals or the numbers needed to even surpass those of the dark angel mage.


    However she had no such access to their locations to begin with. Arthur realized this from the start and so he decided to go for such a bet.


    And his enemy just fell directly into it. Based on the recent exchanges between the two, Arthur would never make such a mistake of gambling with his enemy.


    So the dark angel mage didn''t see through Arthur''s plan and fell directly into the trap.


    "Boom!"


    And now all that remained was for Arthur to take all such wrath by the help of Gege, while leaving his original to crush the remaining shields.


    Plus¡­


    "Divert them all over there," Arthur finally was satisfied with the immense number of lightning bolts descending over his head, "I suppose it would be enough to crush this portal for good."


    Just as he said that, many portals appeared all over the standing shields. Just by their appearance and number, anyone could tell those standing inside were done for.


    "Zing!"


    "Zing!"


    "Zing!"


    Without much hurdle, the lightning bolts rained down the shields and penetrated them like they were nothing.


    And they all landed over the portal. The portal seemed to be sturdy enough to take many bolts head on, but not with such numbers.


    Just from the first impact, deep cracks spread all over the portal. Halfway through, Arthur heard a muffled explosion before a mighty ball of fire appeared all of sudden inside the shields.


    "Take them in," Arthur felt bad from this rapidly growing ball of fire, "take everyone inside¡­ Now!"


    His scream wasn''t groundless as the portal was crushed and released such a mighty explosion. The ball of fire started with red before it turned all white.


    Its size kept increasing exponentially while Arthur stood his place watching his men getting absorbed inside Gege''s portals.


    And the first one to be taken inside was the original he created. After all he was the most precious asset of his forces.


    Then the octopus and the dragons vanished next, before the rest of his forces.


    ''Your turn,'' Gege hurriedly said while the ball of fire already covered the entire base, ''it''s going to explode. You need to run now!''


    Arthur raised his head towards the sky. The portals of the dark angel mage kept appearing non-stop while raining down a lot of lightning arcs that were enough to fry him thousands of times already.


    "See you later," Arthur raised his hand and waved in provocation towards the dark angel mage''s portals before he vanished inside one of Gege''s.


    Then he appeared once again inside the calm and peaceful world of his garden.


    "Keep an eye for me in the outside world," he said before landing gracefully on the ground.


    ''There is something weird going on,'' Gege said after a long period of silence. Arthur stayed in the tranquility of this world. He missed such peace and hoped oneday his life would return to its normal state like this.


    "What happened?" Arthur wasn''t much interested in what Gege was about to say. He knew he already dealt a great blow to his enemy by ruining such  a base.


    For now he wanted to return to his lake city and remain there for as long as it would take. His enemy wouldn''t find another suitable base for so long, meaning he would live in peace for a long time.


    ''I noticed many settlements all around were destroyed as well,'' Gege said before adding, ''a similar ball of fire appeared from the center of each one and ate away the entire settlement.''


    "What?" Arthur raised an eyebrow before asking, "do you mean the ones we already cleared?"


    ''No, they are the ones under the enemy''s control,'' Gege corrected, ''they are all away from our empire. Even those lying inside our empire and didn''t clear yet had the same phenomenon.''


    Arthur couldn''t help but think deeply about this. "What''s going on here exactly?" he couldn''t help but ask without any answer.


    ''Ding! Perhaps there is some sort of connection between that portal and others,'' the system proposed his hypothesis and the golden dragon said in agreement:


    ''I think so. After all it''s not easy for someone from the higher realms to span his portals as he feels suitable in this world.''


    "Do you mean that this portal was like the main one controlling others?" Arthur''s eyes shone brightly before suddenly breaking out in laughter. "That means this dark mage has the short end of the stick this time, hahahaha."


    Arthur laughed and the three beings in his mind didn''t speak for a while. They all knew what it meant for their sworn enemy to lose his deadliest weapon like this.


    "But that means we have a good chance in our hands," Arthur''s eyes changed while he seriously added, "spread out the word¡­ we won''t retreat or stop our advance. We will keep adding more lands to my empire until that damn bastard returns to pester me again."


    ''Shouldn''t we give the army time to recuperate first?'' Gege asked.


    ''No, it''s the wisest thing to push over your enemy when you hold the upper hand,'' the golden dragon said in agreement with Arthur, ''we need to push as far as possible using this chance. We don''t know when that enemy can repair the broken portal. This is our chance and next time that enemy won''t let us destroy the portal this easily.''


    "Yeah, we need to push with all our might," Arthur nodded before asking, "how are things outside?"


    ''The fire spread over the ground and now is dying away,'' Gege said, ''but it''s reign of destruction stretched out for tens of miles already.''


    "That''s cool," Arthur didn''t care about that, "take out all my armies and make them spread all over the place. Also send the word for the others, they have to change their directions and spread out."


    ''Ding! Don''t forget you need to build cities along the way,'' the system said in warning and Arthur nodded.


    "We won''t have such a problem for so long," Arthur said before turning towards the grand world of his garden, "we already have a lot of people living here. Besides those we will capture from our expansion. We will use everything in our power to expand my territory at the fastest pace!"


    ''Ding! But there is a problem,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! I don''t believe the rate of expansion will match the slow pace of building cities.''


    "Your point?" Arthur knew what the system said was true, so he had to listen to more to judge.


    ''Ding! I mean you can expand and take roughly ten folds the current size of your empire in less than a week! But compared to this, you won''t be able to build as many cities to cover this territory as possible.''


    Arthur didn''t get the point here, but the golden dragon did.


    ''What he wants to tell you is that the dark angel mage won''t sit idle and watch you build cities like this. He will send a lot of armies to bring you down.''


    "Let him come," Arthur couldn''t help but take this matter lightly, "I''ll seek his armies and destroy them all!"


    ''Ding! This isn''t a practical thing,'' the system objected, ''Ding! After all, with the increase in your empire size, the area needed to be defended will expand as well.''


    At this moment, Arthur finally realized what they were trying to say. "So you are thinking doing this will weaken my empire?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    ''If you did what we two think, then yeah it will weaken the empire and make you lose more than what you gained,'' the golden dragon said and Arthur couldn''t help but say:


    "In other words, if I did the same as here and spread over many cities in the building process, I''ll be obliged to spread out my forces to defend them, right?"


    ''Ding! You might have a great number of citizens to work as builders, but instead you have a limited number of mages to serve in your army,'' the system said in clear before adding, ''Ding! Trying to expand the empire without the proper power backing it up is a grave mistake.''


    ''Yeah, you need to consider the limited power you have right now compared with your enemies,'' the golden dragon said.


    "So you want me to let this chance slip by and not try to seize it?" Arthur felt slightly angry from what they just said.


    ''Ding! There is a solution for all this,'' the system seemed to expect Arthur''s sharp reaction, ''Ding! You can send out all the forces like you want. In return they are asked to bring back all the people and resources they can find.''


    ''You can let Gege spread out her portals in certain zones to serve as relay points,'' the golden dragon added in explanation, ''so that the forces won''t need to go back all the way to the last known city.''


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone slightly while adding, "it seems you two thought about this thoroughly already."


    ''Well, we knew your temper,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''after all your sole focus for now was to crush the enemy of yours.. But you have to realize without proper foundation, all of this would end up for nothing.''

 Chapter 941 - Emperor Willy

    Arthur gave it a little thought before he found this strategy appealing to him.


    "Alright, what do you need from me then?" he asked before his system spoke first:


    ''Ding! You should go out now and start planting a large number of portals to act like anchors. Also along the path of expansion you will be asked to come here frequently and help with spreading the portals all over the place.''


    ''Just a reminder,'' the golden dragon added, ''we believe that the control over the entire eastern hemisphere is lost or at least greatly weakened.''


    "You don''t expect me to keep running all over the world like this!" Arthur couldn''t help but feel cold shivers, "I¡­ want some rest, y''know!"


    ''This is a brilliant chance, we can''t afford to lose any time for it,'' the golden dragon retorted back while Gege laughed from the side.


    ''It''s time for you to move,'' Gege said before adding, ''I''ll help in determining the key places of the portals. Also we might need some sort of protection around the portals for any intruders.''


    "What about stationing part of the forces around the portals?" Arthur suggested but the other three didn''t agree on his words.


    ''We don''t have enough numbers to spread out like this!'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! We can''t even spread out the dragons or the originals. Both are considered your final weapons against any variables,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! You don''t expect that distasteful dark angel mage to sit idle and watch you do whatever you like, right?''


    "¡­"


    ''I believe setting up a ring of defense inside the entrance of the portals to this garden is the best choice,'' Gege said before adding, ''after all I hold good control over here. And we can use the newly acquired ores and the pillars as well as the monsters and many forces stationed here for training.''


    "Good point," Arthur felt this was the best solution proposed so far, "let''s go with this then."


    ''I''ve already sent the orders for every force scattered around here to start moving outwards,'' Gege said before adding, ''but there are still many remnants of those mages and monsters. Most of them are surrendering in batches. What do you want to do about them?''


    Arthur didn''t think for long before saying: "They can take any mages, but all the monsters will be given to me."


    ''That''s good, like this we can turn this world into a zoo,'' the golden dragon joked but no one laughed at his joke.


    "Let''s go," Arthur moved towards the portal that Gege summoned, "I want to finish this task sooner than later."


    Arthur already was stressed out. He wanted a few weeks of complete rest and to consider things about his empire.


    He knew better than anyone else that he only cared about the military situation of the empire. According to Sara, he had to consider other facts like the well being of his people plus the financial and law status of his empire.


    Things like these he had not much experience at after all. He had to do some trials and go through a set of errors to find the correct path to venture upon.


    He wasn''t just building an empire to rule over one world, but over ten worlds. This empire was his own answer towards the ascension requirements, making it more vital to his future than anyone else would think.


    The link he would use to make his stretched out empire connected and strong would be his star map. It was a pure luck of his to find this map, like his luck in finding out the garden world and Gege who was lying dormant in it.


    In fact he had many strokes of luck since coming here. He even suspected that heavens were acting slightly biased towards him at some point.


    And it would look really bad if after all this he would end up losing this conflict for the dark side.


    The moment he got outside, he turned around. The entire world was truly burnt to the ground. Even the ground itself showed deep scars of black charcoal.


    "This¡­ sigh," Arthur couldn''t help but shake off his head while feeling lucky to evade such a deadly disaster at the right time. "Where should I go?" he asked before rising high in the air.


    ''You can go west for now,'' Gege said, ''I''ll keep guiding you through the path. You don''t need to do anything but move around, and I''ll take the responsibility of planting the portals all over the world.''


    "Alright!"


    Arthur then followed the path Gege drew for him. However it wasn''t a smooth ride after all. Just after a few hours, he met the first settlement reigning under the rule of a dark clan from this world.


    And this was the first time for him since returning here for the battle of the sect to meet such a settlement ruled by normal mages.


    "They aren''t bad," Arthur stood midair while watching the defensive shield getting activated fast. "They reacted faster than others at least."


    ''Ding! I can see a lot of strong mages in this place,'' the system said.


    ''It would be a waste to kill them all,'' the golden dragon hinted and Arthur got what he wanted to say.


    "I agree¡­ but if they refuse to succumb to me, I have no choice but to kill them."


    Arthur started to fly closer to this settlement. Compared to other settlements he crushed recently, this one seemed more like a living place than a military base.


    The sheer number of villages and towns here were numbered in hundreds, something he never saw before.


    And so it wasn''t that hard to see hundreds of thousands of mages stationed all around the place. Despite their immense numbers, they looked unorganized and slightly underprepared for a defensive battle.


    They didn''t have a unified wall to surround them. There were twelve walls separating the entire settlement into twelve parts.


    And they didn''t have a citadel or castle in the center to lead their forces. It looked like the mages here came mainly from people living in this settlement, and not regular forces of any clan.


    That made Arthur believe more in his ability to gain their trust and loyalty. After all, he lacked a good number of mages, and they could serve as the cannon fodder for any elites required to form a proper army.


    "I want to speak with the leaders of this place," Arthur''s strong voice echoed all over the world while everything else ushered under total silence.


    Arthur waited, and didn''t speak anymore. He didn''t want to show any sign of urgeness to make this place his.


    In the next minutes, he noticed many movements in the enemy lines. It was obvious even from such a far distance that they weren''t organized at all.


    Even having a unified leadership was something that didn''t exist!


    After roughly half an hour of constant movement and even loud and unclear shouts from within the shield, a group of a hundred mages appeared at the inner side of the shield.


    They couldn''t fly! Their power was so mediocre that they only came riding over the local monster''s backs.


    And Arthur simply landed on the outer side of the shield, while looking at the veteran faces in front of him.


    "Do you know who I am?" Arthur slowly spoke first while moving his eyes around the group.


    They were a hundred, but they organized internally over twelve groups as he expected. Most of them nodded while three took the charge to speak on behalf of the group of these leaders.


    "You are the sworn enemy of our world," one of them said with a harsh tone and a long scar on the side of his neck.


    "We know who you are," another one spoke and his tone seemed less hostile. He wasn''t that old, only in his thirtieth perhaps. It made him the youngest leader among those standing in front of Arthur.


    And having such power to be here and speak in the name of other leaders meant this mage wasn''t simple.


    "You¡­ we have already sent distress calls for other forces around here. The main base will send a large army, one you can''t stand against," as for the third one, she was a lady in her fortieth and yet her tone and domineer seemed more brutal than the rest.


    She gave him the bloodthirsty vibe of Tina and the scorpion queen. That made Arthur smile before calmly saying:


    "Do you believe I came all the way here before crushing that useless base of yours?"


    His words landed and the faces of everyone changed abruptly. It seemed like what happened at the main base of the dark angel mage didn''t spread over these regions yet.


    And that just gave Arthur a small idea.


    ''Gege, spread out the word to send many letters to every corner of this world¡­ Tell them about the fate of the main base and other bases as well,'' he said before calmly adding, addressing the leaders this time:


    "I didn''t only destroy that base, but any other small base around this part of the world is gone for good."


    "Nonsense!" the first mage to speak retorted back in obvious anger and denial, "no one has the power to do so! Not even you!!"


    "I''m not a nobody¡­ nobody," Arthur sneered before adding, "I''m Willy, emperor Willy. I''m the one who stood tall and mighty against those dirty leaders of the giant dark forces and forced a defeat over them!


    I''m emperor Willy, one who went by himself to the higher realms and returned in one piece and many victories. Do you want to be my enemy? I can tell you how I deal with my enemies."


    Arthur took out his sword before instantly activating his technique, "I only offer my enemies death and utter destruction. If you want it, then keep your shields up.. If you don''t, then kneel and remove this useless thing in front of my face."

 Chapter 942 - A Domineering Attitude!

    Arthur didn''t stop at this. The next moment he snapped his fingers and then many portals appeared.


    However nothing came out of them. He only asked Gege to prepare them as a deterrion move towards those leaders.


    As he expected, the moment he summoned them their faces changed. "So you know what these portals can do, right?" Arthur sneered before folding his arms, "now, which path will you select?"


    Arthur''s words looked light, but they never felt that way. Every single leader here knew exactly what Arthur was able to do.


    Rumors spread all over the realm already about a blue scaled dragon flying all over the world. Legends spoke about his unique way of fighting, and his deadly portals that followed him any place he went to.


    However despite doing that, Arthur could tell that some weren''t in favor of surrendering to him.


    The look over the old man, one of the three leaders, was obvious. He wanted blood. Arthur didn''t mind that, but he hoped to gain this grand settlement without the need to shed any blood.


    "What guarantee that what you said is true?" the aggressive lady suddenly asked in a questioning manner.


    "What do you mean by that?" Arthur didn''t follow her words and asked for an explanation. From her tone and face he could tell she was a war lover, but she wasn''t truly hostile towards him.


    Not like that old man at least.


    "You said you destroyed the central base of us, what proof do you have to support that?"


    "Don''t you have a way to communicate with them?" Arthur didn''t try hard to explain himself here and instead he chose to ask her back.


    "All communications are down," the young leader said but the old man instantly added:


    "But this is common here. After all, and thanks to your deeds, the entire energy of our world is in turmoil. We have experienced such blackouts for so long already."


    "Really?" Arthur''s smile emitted evil intent towards that old man before he snapped his fingers again.


    And all of sudden the entire world dimmed by the appearance of such a terrifying figure.


    The immortal stood erect by Arthur''s side with his gigantic physique. His body wasn''t the problem, but the massive and very brutal waves of energy emitted from his body.


    No matter who or where, anyone who saw him would instantly feel terrified and had shaky legs. Arthur kept his evil smile on his face, adding a fine touch to such a horrifying scene.


    "Do you think I can''t crush those ants with my power?" Arthur calmly said as if he was stating facts, "and do you think I can''t crush your base now?"


    The terrifying immortal standing by his side in clear obedience added infinite weight to his words. The three leaders, the group of hundred leaders, the mages, and even the normal people living here all felt cold shivers down their spines.


    "D¡­ D¡­ Don''t fall f¡­ f¡­ for this¡­ H¡­ H¡­ He is f¡­ f¡­ fooling around¡­" the old man stuttered and struggled to even say a single sentence in one breath and yet he couldn''t.


    That made Arthur laugh instantly over this funny dude.


    "Do you want me to kill you now?" Arthur shrugged before pointing towards that old man as he added, "if anyone wants to die with him then fine, stay by his side and watch. As for others, please move a mile away for now."


    Arthur''s words caused that old man''s eyes to pop up in his face. His face turned black before becoming pale as he felt death gazing up at him when that immortal fixed his gaze on him.


    "Roar!" the immortal roared and Arthur didn''t need to ask him about what he meant.


    "Just kill him alone, leave the rest for now," Arthur casually said before turning his back and starting to fly away.


    "Wait¡­ please wait¡­ I surrender, I surrender to the mighty emperor!" the old man tried to buy his way out of here with mere words.


    However Arthur didn''t stop his movement and didn''t say anything to stop the immortal.


    "Boom!"


    The next instant the immortal slammed his fists over the shield. This shield looks strong, but it couldn''t be compared with the shields Arthur faced so far.


    The shields Arthur destroyed before were all supported with dark energy of those high realmers. But now, and against such a shield protected by the weak mages of this world, the immortal didn''t find it hard to crack it with a single blow.


    "Boom!"


    And the next moment another terrifying attack landed over the head of that scared leader. Without any surprise, that leader was turned into a pulp of blood before vanishing from this world for good.


    Arthur might have considered his surrender before now. Right now Arthur had a terrifying weapon under the name of his immortals. His army was so diverse that it made him not lacking compared to the big armies of those higher realmers.


    However he lacked normal soldiers, mages who would make fine cannon fodder to his elites. He didn''t want to take on such a troublemaker.


    That old man had it all written all over his face, he intended to betray him the next moment Arthur moved away from here.


    So killing him in such a way, in front of everyone here, would send a clear message to all.


    "I don''t tolerate shaky hearts," Arthur turned to face everyone before ruthlessly adding, "if you are with me, then you can''t have any winds in your hearts. Whoever will have such a disease will be illuminated by me. This is my promise to you."


    His words left the world under utter silence and fear. "Now, will you submit or do you prefer to follow the steps of that dead man?"


    Arthur''s words landed and without any hesitation, everyone bowed and knelt to him. Starting from the leaders up to those living inside the settlement, they all knelt to him.


    "We pledge our allegiance to you, mighty dragon," they said in shouts while Arthur couldn''t help but smile.


    "You will all come to live somewhere else," he said and his words seemed a bit vague to everyone.


    However with the appearance of endless portals all over the grand settlement, no one needed to ask anything about what he wanted.


    "You and you¡­ stay behind for now," however Arthur decided to stop the remaining two top leaders from going through the portals.


    After all, he needed more info about this part of the world. If there were other settlements like this, he would be excited to have them.


    If he could, he would swallow the entire world inside his garden and make great use of the time difference and the pure form of energy inside.

 Chapter 943 - Bringer Of Misfortune

    The two leaders stood their place with stress looking over their faces. They were terrified of Arthur, especially after killing their comrade in cold blood.


    The old man wasn''t that much beloved by many, including these two. For them, they weren''t that much affected by the loss of such a dirty man.


    However they were much terrified of Arthur''s ability to kill without hesitation. Also that gigantic immortal standing by his side added more to this feeling.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur already noticed their fear, "I don''t bore any ill towards the two of you."


    "Thanks, esteemed emperor," the young man said fast while the lady only followed his suit and bowed her head.


    "What''s your name?" Arthur started his talk with them by trying to break this thick ice with them.


    "I''m Fox," the young leader said.


    "I''m Lara," the female leader said.


    "Alright, I believe you two can be two fine leaders in the future," Arthur said and his words seemed vague to the two of them. "What? Did you think I will only capture this place?"


    He wasn''t expecting an answer from them, as he was just stating the obvious. From the look over their faces, Arthur realized they didn''t fully grasp the weight of his words yet.


    So he explained further.


    "I came to this world with only a bunch of my followers, and now¡­ Tsk, I have armies so vast and large to rival even those coming from the higher realms¡­ Tell me, how come I had such power despite coming here with none?"


    The two of them looked at him in hesitation before he nodded to encourage them to speak up their minds.


    "We¡­ heard a lot of¡­ stories about you," Fox was careful in his words. A thing that didn''t miss the keen eyes of Arthur.


    "And?" Arthur calmly asked as this wasn''t the answer he sought for.


    "We know you come to bases like ours and take away all the people there and turn them into your armies," Lara said, but Arthur didn''t agree with her.


    Arthur shook his head slowly before correcting her:


    "I take people and train those worthy to be raised into mages. As for others, they can either help in building my empire or expanding it."


    The two didn''t get what he said, and he didn''t care about explaining these things to them. He wanted them to lead him towards other settlements and start training those selected mages into worthy soldiers.


    Nara was doing a great job in training them already, but that wasn''t logical nor practical. She held far important tasks in training her mecha units and expanding them.


    As for the constantly expanding local forces, Arthur decided to hand this mission to these two for now.


    "Those deemed worthy to become mages are allowed an opportunity to be nurtured in a very special place," Arthur slowly said, "but I lack leaders capable of organizing and supervising them. So, what do you think?"


    This time his question was direct and his offer was clear. And yet the two of them seemed shocked to believe what he said.


    "Us?" Fox pointed towards him and Lara before adding, "do you mean our people from this base?"


    "Everyone else," Arthur slowly said, before revealing his true intentions to them, "I want you to tell me everything you know about the world here. Especially this part of the world. For now we won''t be bothered by any dark forces. So I can easily amass any settlement and bring forth legions upon legions of mages to be trained by the two of you."


    This time the two realized the privilege they had. Arthur''s words were clear; they were going to be one of the strongest people in the empire.


    After all, whoever controls the military always holds great power in his hands.


    "What?" Arthur sneered when the two of them delayed in giving him the response he waited for, "don''t tell me you aren''t interested in my offer!"


    "We pledge our allegiance to you, mighty emperor Willy."


    Instantly the two of them knelt and even hit their heads to the ground while saying in unison. Arthur couldn''t help but smile before waving his hands to make them stand up:


    "Be at ease, I''m not that strict emperor after all," he laughed before seriously adding, "now¡­ I want you to draw me a map of this world with all the bases and resources you know of. Ah, I want to ask you about something."


    Arthur snapped his fingers and next thing appeared was a piece of the ore he harvested from the bases he captured before. "Do you know anything about this?"


    "The holy ore?" Lara said in surprise before hurriedly adding, "please throw it away. It brings bad fortune to anyone holding it."


    Arthur''s eyebrows were raised instantly while Fox noticed his reaction. "Sir might not know this as you came from a different realm. However, here we know all about the bad fortune this ore brings to its wielder."


    "Aha," Arthur held the rock in his palm while examining it in a more interesting light. "So an ore is called a holy ore and is branded as a bad omen sign by the people here¡­ May I ask why you call it a holy ore then?"


    Arthur didn''t believe in what they said. For him, this ore was simply priceless. People here might have been fooled by lies, but he knew all about the truth regarding this ore.


    This ore¡­ was the key towards controlling the brutal fire of the purple liquid.


    "We call it that because it appears from the sky," Fox explained before adding, "It comes out of nowhere from any part of land from heaven. So we consider it a holy ore. However¡­" he paused while not knowing how to say this.


    But Lara stepped in as she firmly said while pointing at the ore:


    "At places it first appears at, any living being will be crushed into oblivion. Legends spoke about purple fire, brutal fire that can''t be seen by our eyes. This fire eats away everything in its path, ending up entire regions being barren and filled with death."


    This time Arthur understood the reasons behind it being called holy and bad omen bringer at the same time.


    However he didn''t care about this. He only cared about the fire brought by this ore. He knew this ore could absorb the purple fire and limit it to certain places.


    However if the ores falling here were pure, then how come they exploded once they hit the ground and released this purple fire?


    "Where did it come from then?" This was the second question he thought of after hearing their words. After all he didn''t believe in it coming from the heavens.


    This ore was directly linked to the originals. It couldn''t appear without any connection with them.


    And at this moment, the prophecies he heard about from Deem and Gor resurfaces in his mind once again.. Everything seemed linked and connected, despite him not believing the prophecies so far.

 Chapter 944 - A Small Discovery Changes Everything!

    As he didn''t care about their fear towards it, Arthur simply thought about obtaining more of it.


    If the local inhabitants of this world were this oblivious to the great importance of this ore, then he wouldn''t find any problem at gaining more of it.


    "I want you to draw the places where this ore is placed," he instructed before adding, "also if there are places recently have these ores falling over there then mark them as well."


    Fox and Lara exchanged silent glances in weird ways. For people living in this world it seemed even talking about this ore brought bad omen to them.


    "Are you sure?" Fox couldn''t help but ask while Lara only shook her head in annoyance.


    "Sure, as you can see I already have this ore for such a long time and didn''t have any bad things happening to me," Arthur threw the rock in his hand in the air as if he was toying with it.


    "Do you call what you have experienced so far a good fortune?" Lara couldn''t help but remark, but Arthur totally ignored her.


    He never thought what he experienced was bad fortune at all. At first he knew there were many secrets behind what happened to him.


    But now, and after unveiling many of these secrets, he could say for certainty that he was having a very precious encounter.


    One that cultivators of his old life would do anything and pay even the most precious to them to have such a chance.


    As his answer was firm, the two couldn''t sit back and not do what he asked. They took out large pieces of paper and started to work together to draw detailed maps.


    Arthur stood on the side, silently watching what they were doing. Meanwhile the people of this settlement kept pouring inside the large number of portals and entered the garden world of Gege.


    Arthur didn''t need to tell Gege anything. Since her last evolution, this young girl seemed to grow up into a refined lady. She didn''t need him to speak and explain things too much, not like before.


    Arthur was confident that she would group the people according to their abilities. As for the mecha leader, Nara, he didn''t send his clear orders to her yet.


    Even after gaining these two leaders to train the mages inside the garden world, it would be a hasty move to retrieve Nara for now.


    She was needed to supervise them for a while before they learn the basics and start operating in a smooth way.


    If this happened in the outside world, then Arthur would be worried about the time lost in doing that. However he didn''t have to worry, as inside his garden world time was on his side.


    "Oh, we have a large number of good places to visit around here," as the maps the two finished kept piling up, Arthur started to gain a detailed view over this part of the world.


    In fact he never thought about the presence of such a large number of settlements in this zone. In fact the maps the two drew were filled with many dark dots, referring to the settlements here.


    They looked like they were packed together in a limited area. Just as Arthur was hoping to see the entire maps covered in such dark dots, he was destined to be disappointed.


    "This¡­ What are these big circles?" Arthur stopped the two as he asked, while pointing towards one map in his hand.


    There the map didn''t have dark dots anymore, only two remotely located small circles. The map seemed spotless except for these two circles, which gave Arthur the impression that the two had made a mistake here.


    "These¡­ are the circles representing the academies and clans surrounding here," Lara seemed to be surprised by Arthur''s question. However, Fox wasn''t. Arthur was an outsider to their world and didn''t know such a thing.


    "Forces here tend to gather up the people under their rule inside a huge circle of encirclement," Fox explained before taking the maps the two drew so far and spread them over the ground.


    As he did so, Arthur finally could see the entire picture of this zone. In fact this was the nature of this world, its unspoken law.


    What Arthur saw was a large number of dense settlements like the one he just conquered. These vast settlements were surrounded by small circles, entrapping them inside a huge area.


    And as far as Arthur could tell, the base he just crushed before, the main base of his sworn enemy, seemed to be one of those circles.


    Arthur penetrated his path towards here without knowing that! He just came from a place outside this zone and found his way, luckily, to here.


    "This¡­" however and contrary to the expectations of the two in front of him, Arthur''s eyes shone with pure excitement, "is simply a heaven''s gift, hahaha!"


    The two exchanged silent gazes while wondering if Arthur had a right mind or not.


    The two didn''t know, but for Arthur conquering such a zone wasn''t that hard. In fact he now had a blueprint in conquering this world, provided that this rule applied to the rest of the world.


    "Does your world have such an arrangement?" Arthur pointed towards the maps spread all over the ground and asked in great expectations.


    "Well¡­ these academies and clans can''t be taken lightly though," Fox tried to warn him from being too greedy. However he was too late to do so.


    Arthur already sat his gaze over this area. "So, in brief, to conquer this world I shouldn''t let my boys run aimlessly around anymore," his face showed a vicious and sinister expression that baffled the two in front of him.


    "This¡­ Is simply perfect!" Arthur pointed towards the maps as he ordered, "draw more and make as many copies as you can."


    "What about these?" Lara still couldn''t get what he was thinking. She asked while pointing towards the white circles surrounding the large number of settlements inside.


    "What else?" Arthur shrugged before turning his back to them, "I''ll go and hunt them down! Do your job and don''t mind about me," Arthur then flapped his wings and rose high up in the air.


    ''Gege¡­ Compare the places of my armies to these maps,'' Arthur said before adding, ''you can have the help of the system in that.''


    ''Ding! I believe this part of the world is destined to fall in your hands soon, congratulations on that!''


    And the system''s words made Arthur laugh while his laughs turned into terrifying roars spreading all over the world.

 Chapter 945 - Starting To Cultivate Again

    Arthur planned to do a simple thing here. Instead of aimlessly running around with all his forces, he would instead target those academies and clans.


    After defeating them, it would be normal for most of the settlements lined inside to succumb to him. Only few would resist and those would be swiftly tumbled upon with his mighty armies.


    However doing so meant he had to test these clans and academies first. So he turned his gaze towards the two in front of him and asked the next most important question.


    "What''s the toughest clan and academy in this area?"


    His question was simply crazy in the eyes of Fox and Lara. The two didn''t imagine their new leader to be this mad and go directly for the strongest enemies in the region.


    It was expected though to think like that. After all they lived their entire lives under the slavery rule of these mighty forces. A slave would dream all the time about freedom, but he would never think about facing his masters head on.


    "C''mon, I''m just asking about their locations," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh at their reaction.


    "Well¡­" Lara hesitated before adding, "this is the mightiest clan in the area," she pointed towards a dot not too far from here.


    "It''s called the white falcon clan, and they excel at transforming into flying beasts," Fox said before adding in warning, "without proper flying legions, no one can lay a single hand on them."


    Arthur nodded as he didn''t care about his warning at all. "What else?" he simply asked and the two in front of him couldn''t help but sigh.


    "This academy is the strongest," Fox pointed to another dot that was slightly off to the east, "they only select the prodigies of all settlements and clans around. Their forces are numbered in tens of thousands, but they are all elites."


    "I understand," Arthur said without batting an eye, "you will enter my world for now and start working with someone called Nara. She will teach you everything about our way of fighting. Also don''t forget to complete the maps as well."


    The next moment two portals appeared simply out of thin air. The two hesitated before Lara asked: "Can I come with you?"


    Arthur gave her a weird look while Fox added, "you¡­ are an outsider here. So we can help by providing intel and valuable info about the weak spots at these clans and academies."


    "Hahaha," Arthur couldn''t prevent himself from laughing. His sudden laughs startled the two standing in front of him. "What do you take me for?" he said amidst his laughs before waving his hands, "see you later when I crush everything here. Go in for now and wait for the good news, hahaha."


    The two didn''t know what to say, so they just, helplessly, followed his orders and passed through the portals.


    "They are really amusing," Arthur was feeling amused by what they said, "they think I''m that weak to look for weaknesses¡­ Hahaha, in front of mighty power, nothing else matters, hahaha."


    ''I''m glad you are in such a good mood,'' Gege said in a cheerful tone, ''now should I move you to the academy or the clan?''


    Arthur paused for a second before the other two beings provided two contradictory opinions.


    ''I believe you should start with the clans. This way the academy won''t have any support from anyone,'' the golden dragon expressed his thoughts.


    ''Ding! You should aim for the academy first. Killing the clans will make everyone inside the academies your enemy. Their resentment will stand before them submitting to you.''


    Arthur didn''t express his own thoughts and left a space for the two to argue.


    ''That''s wrong! The academy will ask for all reinforcements and we will have a tough battle!'' the golden dragon sharply said.


    ''Ding! That''s not a problem! Arthur has a strong army under his disposal. Plus we must give space for those weak hearts and cowards to run away for their lives.''


    ''Even if he has a strong army backing Arthur, they also have a strong army backing them! Plus this will take forever to just clear one academy!'' the golden dragon retorted.


    ''Ding! Even if it took a long time to crush, that means the clans around will be vulnerable and weak. Like this we can hit two birds with one stone.''


    "Enough," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh and stopped them, "who said I''m going alone against this academy?"


    His sudden question startled everyone before he further explained himself:


    "Gege, spread the word¡­ let everyone gather at the academy. As for me, I''ll simply fly over there. I don''t need the help of your portals this time."


    His words marked out his decision; he decided to go after the academy first. Arthur wasn''t afraid of fighting a hard battle or a long one. However, what the system said appealed to his mind and thoughts.


    He would prefer to have a single large epic battle than running around like a fool to hunt them down. This way he would gather up his enemies in one basket, making him able to get rid of this entire area''s resistance in one go.


    "Also¡­ Send envoys under my name," he added after a long period of silence, "send them all to everyone living here. They either submit to me or face destruction."


    ''But¡­ this¡­'' the golden dragon hesitated, and that made Arthur laugh again.


    "What? I''m just blowing the horn and letting everyone know I''m coming for them. This way I can get more troops gathered at that academy. Ah, let that academy know that I''ll get to their doorsteps in two days from now."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    His words made the three beings in his mind speechless. Even the system couldn''t help but feel awkward at this decision.


    In wars it would be smart not to alarm your enemy, but Arthur didn''t want to do that. He just wanted to get rid of all the resistance in this region in one swift battle, before he would reap the grand benefits afterwards.


    Besides, he already had a lot of strong forces under his command. By gathering up all the scattered armies in one place, he believed nothing would stop him.


    Even if all the forces here were combined in one large army, they wouldn''t stand a chance against those elites coming from higher realms or his own elite forces like dragons.


    Not to mention his army of originals. They were few in number indeed, but that wasn''t a problem at all. A single one of them was enough to take down any strong defense no matter who supported it.


    "I need to train then," Arthur took a deep breath before landing not too far from the academy. He took half a day of flight, but that wasn''t enough to let his armies arrive at his location.


    "Take me in," he said as he landed. He wanted to train his cultivation base for now. So doing it inside Gege''s garden was much better than here.


    Gege brought a portal to him before he passed through. The next moment he arrived just next to the Golam''s lake. The moment he took a deep breath in, he felt greatly refreshed thanks to the pure energy inside the garden.


    "That''s awesome! I can train faster now," he was thrilled by this and instantly sat down, closed his eyes and regulated his breathing.


    "I should start caring about my cultivation base from now on," he said to himself before starting to cultivate.

 Chapter 946 - Breaking Through Bases

    Arthur started to cultivate inside his garden for almost three weeks. The time difference between the real world and the garden world enabled him to train for almost twenty days straight while only two days passed in the real world.


    Arthur''s dantian was now so massive like a small piece of cosmos. Spheres of energy kept swirling around, forming what he considered as little stars there.


    Unlike the normal cosmos, he wasn''t filled with empty space. His energy filled the entire cosmos of his, making him feel more proud and more powerful than ever.


    ''If I focused more, I could reach the immortal realm fast,'' he was thrilled by this realization. He had to struggle before in his past life just to reach the doorsteps of such a realm.


    And now he didn''t take even one tenth of the time he spent during his past life training to become so close to reaching such a realm.


    He was now at the seventh stage of the nascent soul realm. Above it he had to pass through the earth, heaven, and star soul stages to finally reach the immortal realm.


    ''They are gathered already outside!''


    Just as he was totally absorbed in his training, Gege''s voice came to interrupt him.


    He slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling it. The breath he released was like a fountain of hot vapor extending to tens of meters ahead.


    At this moment he looked like a real dragon! However, that was thanks to his continuous breakthrough. He passed through four stages during the past three weeks alone.


    That was an insane speed of cultivation, and it was thanks to the exceptional environment here.


    "I only need less than six months to reach the immortal realm," he muttered to himself before moving his body a little to relieve the stiffness there.


    "Let''s go," after an hour of moving around and popping up his muscles, he was ready to come out.


    Like usual he passed through a portal to find a large army waiting for him. He was surprised to see such a grand scene waiting for him.


    The next second he realized the reason; the three girls arrived.


    "My love¡­ You are finally here," just before he could say anything, the scorpion queen jumped and landed in his embrace while hugging him with deep affection.


    Arthur couldn''t help but smile, patt over her hair while moving his eyes among the other two girls.


    "You surely took your time to come back to us, humph!" Tina was still as aggressive as before, while Sara simply smiled and said nothing.


    "What are we going to do here?" Amera moved alongside Jud, Doaf, and the crow to stand beside him.


    "We scouted and found a really strong academy up ahead," Jud said before adding, "they gathered many forces there."


    "Their army extended beyond their eyesight, even filling the entire horizon," the crow added, "but they didn''t look that strong in my eyes. All came from this pathetic world."


    "They got numbers," Doaf warned, "plus we can''t be sure those from upper realms won''t be there to help."


    "They won''t come," Arthur firmly said before explaining the current situation to everyone here. The more he spoke, the more surprised and delighted they became.


    "So¡­ If we crush those clans and academies we will gain a lot of people?" Sara asked in delight and excitement. Which was something rare for her to show.


    "Sure, why are you so happy about it?" Arthur couldn''t help but wonder.


    "No empire can be built without people," Sara said in joy, "so gaining more people means strengthening out the foundation of the empire. We only lack a few aspects before we can consider our empire fully established."


    Arthur nodded in agreement. He already had this headache of establishing a coin system plus a law system inside the empire. He wanted to make Sara take care of these things.


    However he never had the chance to ask her to do that. Not even now. They were on the verge of a big war, and he didn''t want to lose the help of such a good tigress in this war.


    "Let''s set out then," Arthur finally gave the order to attack, "they are nothing against us. Even their grand numbers won''t be a problem. They all came from this realm and so they are weak, so much weaker than our forces."


    "Let''s do it!"


    "Yeah we are invincible!"


    "We''ll crush them all!"


    "No one shall stand in our way!"


    Shouts appeared from all over the army while the big names moved to take charge of their units. Luckily this grand army was formed of smaller ones. So Arthur didn''t need to waste more time arranging it.


    "Attack!"


    As he rose high in the air, accompanied by Nara and her grand mecha forces, he gave the order to attack.


    He didn''t need to go there and ask the academy about their response. Everything was clearly pointing to their refusal.


    If they were really submitting to him, then they would have sent envoys to surrender and negotiate terms with him.


    Instead they gathered up their entire forces from all the clans around! Arthur even doubted they might have asked other academies for help.


    After all his name was like thunder in his enemies'' ears. They must have known about his deeds so far and realized how strong he and his forces were.


    For Arthur he didn''t mind that. He even doubted he would lose a lot in this war. They were many like lucast, but weak as hell as fireflies!


    And he would be the fire to burn them all to the ground!


    The next moment the ground entirely shook when all forces moved in unison. The enemy troops were so much that it was futile to hit them as one group.


    So the leaders all departed to different directions and headed towards part of the enemy forces.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Just as the long ranged attackers sent their attacks, they were all stopped over a gigantic shield covering the entire academy and the forces surrounding it.


    The academy looked like a sect in Arthur''s eyes from a distance. A sect without mountain peaks but tall buildings. There were around twelve tall buildings scattered around the entire academy.


    The academy itself was surrounded with high and strong looking walls. Inside many buildings appeared filling the entire place.


    "This shield looks sturdy," Nara commented from the side, "it will take time to crack it open. This means more losses for us."


    Arthur didn''t need her to say that, and he didn''t need to say anything in return. However he simply snapped his fingers and the next thing happened was for a vast portal to open just at the frontlines.


    "Rumble!"


    Just as the portal appeared, an original came out with his gigantic physique and brutal energy. His appearance in this place silenced everything around.


    Allies before enemies gazed up at him in deep fear. However the original simply waved his hand and the next thing happened was for the shield to tremble and the world to rumble.


    "Boom!"


    Then the shield exploded in a violent way, releasing a fierce gale of wind all over the world.


    "Make him go and kill as much as he pleased," with cold blood and calm domineering, Arthur gave the death sentence to everyone inside without batting an eye.


    And then a real massacre erupted, one that those inside the academy never imagined to befall them in such a merciless manner!

 Chapter 947 - A Monster Is Here!

    The original alone was overbearing! Everywhere he went, death followed. This guy was so brutal in his fighting style, using the strongest attacks to create mighty explosions.


    He only needed to wave his arm and next fire would appear, purple fire. The fire ate away anything and detonated to leave behind gigantic mushroom clouds.


    And in less than one hour the entire world was filled with many mushroom clouds to be counted on two hands!


    Arthur stood far in the back watching all this. The attacks of his army leaders were really brutal. However it looked like this battle wouldn''t end any time soon.


    Despite all the devastation his army created, the number of the enemies made it impossible for him to win this battle even in one day!


    "I should go inside and train then," after the passage of six hours with nothing new to happen, he decided to go into his garden world and train there.


    ''Yeah, this fight looks boring,'' even Gege was bored by this battle. The enemies seemed to be fixated on fighting to the last man, meaning they wouldn''t surrender at all.


    So this battle would drag out until one side was annihilated. Surely it would be the enemy side if things kept going on this way.


    "Keep me posted," Arthur didn''t want to feel overly confident, "if any reinforcements appeared, just notify me."


    ''Roger that!''


    Arthur entered the garden world and started cultivating again. He tried to clear up his mind, but something looked fishy.


    "Why the hell are they still fighting?"


    After an entire day passing in the real world and ten days inside his garden world, he managed to break through the eighth stage of his nascent soul base.


    However even after this time, the enemy was still furiously fighting against him with all their might. This only meant one thing for sure; they waited for reinforcements to arrive.


    However according to Gege and the tree, only mages coming from this world were pouring at this region.


    He suspected that the dark angel grandmaster would show up. However even after the passage of the third day, no one appeared.


    "Are they¡­ just fighting to die?!!" At this point Arthur was speechless. He was sure a lot of people had died so far. It was obvious to any blind that this war was futile to be won by him.


    Despite that his enemies never considered surrendering. On the fifth day he decided to stop training and came out to watch the fight.


    He already reached the pinnacle of the nascent soul stage. He needed a few days to be able to break through to the higher realm.


    However he refrained from doing so. Not while things looked this suspicious in his eyes.


    As he returned to the real world again, he was speechless to see things hadn''t changed a lot since he left!


    The enemies'' forces were still as numerous as an ocean. His army was still fighting in their places with the exception of a few elites who delved deeply inside the enemy lines.


    His original, Amera, Jude, the crow, and few others of the elite armies he had were fighting alone inside this sea of mages.


    Doaf remained behind alongside Sara. As for Tina and the scorpion queen, they couldn''t be seen at all!


    "Where are these two?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    ''They¡­ went ahead days ago and didn''t return yet,'' Gege said before adding, ''they are fine. I''ve been keeping an eye on them since they left.''


    "That''s good," Arthur nodded before he suddenly felt something strange.


    He could see the world in different eyes than others. In front of him, a giant black wave was clashing against mighty white and purple energy waves.


    This was the normal state since the start of this war. However just now as he started to focus, he started to notice something strange.


    The ground¡­ the earth itself started to be stained by a strange red and black color. It wasn''t noticeable at first through the dense masses of the enemies covering the earth.


    However when he focused he could see that! He also could see the cause of this. Any killed body would fall on the ground and his energy would dissipate inside the earth itself.


    Looking at this entire battlefield, Arthur started to have a bad feeling about that. "Something¡­ seems odd here," he couldn''t help but mutter.


    ''What''s wrong?'' The golden dragon was bored from such useless one sided slaughter.


    "The ground¡­ It''s sucking away all the energy from the dead bodies," Arthur said in a deep tone while frowning deeply about this.


    However the shout that came from the golden dragon next startled him.


    ''No way! Don''t tell me it''s dyed in red and black, right?'' the golden dragon screamed in panic while Arthur couldn''t help but feel more gratified.


    The golden dragon guessed it right and seemed very panicked at the moment. He knew his golden dragon for so long to know that he wouldn''t get this hyped and panicked for nothing.


    "What does this mean?" Arthur instantly asked.


    ''This is bad¡­ one of those cursed filthy creatures is here!'' the golden dragon seemed really afraid before he instantly shouted: ''recall everyone, bring everyone back now! Stop this fight right away!''


    Arthur didn''t know why his golden dragon was acting like this, but he trusted him. "Gege¡­" he only said that and instantly he could see his armies stop what they were doing and start to retreat.


    However their enemies didn''t let them do that easily as they advanced like crazy and tried to surround them.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur didn''t want half assed solutions so he instanted roared, "take all of them back using portals¡­ now!"


    ''On it!''


    ''Ding! What''s going on here?'' the system couldn''t help but ask the golden dragon, ''Ding! What''s wrong?''


    ''It''s a necromancer,'' the golden dragon hurriedly said, ''he is here somewhere and feeding on the energy of the dead! If we dragged this fight any longer, we would be creating a monster ourselves!''

 Chapter 948 - I Wanna Him!

    "A necromancer?" Arthur was oblivious to the horror of such an enemy.


    ''It''s someone we shouldn''t take lightly,'' the golden dragon warned, ''he can use the energy of the dead and summon skeletons. He is someone who can be described as a real monster!''


    "Oh," Arthur didn''t get the meaning of that but he was more curious to know more. "Tell me about that necromancer while our forces retreat," he said while watching the world around.


    He could see the darkness on the ground much clearer now. However he still couldn''t see where the source of it was. That made him more curious to face this necromancer.


    ''He can summon skeletons using the energy of death. Legions of skeletons will appear from the ground by his words. And that''s not the most terrifying thing about him!'' The golden dragon seemed to be familiar with necromancers.


    ''Ding! Then what?'' The system was as curious as Arthur at this moment.


    ''The skeletons he summoned can be easily destroyed, but those surviving the fight will evolve all the time,'' the golden dragon said in panic, ''at first we''ll face swarms of white skeletons. But later on facing a skeleton dragon won''t be a fantasy!''


    "Evolve?" Arthur''s interest was piqued the instant he heard this word. "I want him!"


    ''¡­''


    The golden dragon didn''t know what to say. He remained silent for over a minute before saying:


    ''This necromancer¡­ They are all cursed beings,'' he didn''t know how to say it so he paused for long moments before adding, ''it''s said that whoever he works for will get the wrath of the gods!''


    "I thought you don''t believe in gods," Arthur lightly said, "besides I''m now convinced that my enemies are those gods of this universe. And I can say with clear conscience that these gods are just criminals!"


    The three beings in his mind knew what he was talking about. Arthur already saw part of the hidden and ancient truth of this world.


    Those who were supposed to be the ruling gods of any realm, the world''s wills, were the ones who created such a massacre against the originals.


    Arthur saw the originals as victims, an innocent race who got the fault of inhabiting the wrong world at the wrong times.


    Their only mistake was to live in this universe, one that the world''s wills of ancient times sought to be their new territory.


    Arthur didn''t like it! He never like such genocide actions at all! He already sided with the originals and that made him the public enemy of the world''s wills in this universe.


    Of course he knew not all the world''s wills were dirty. He met one, and now he was doing whatever he liked in a realm with one. The world''s will never interfered in his business or tried to stop him.


    The world''s will of this realm only wanted peace and order. It was something Arthur could relate with. So he decided to group the world''s will into two main groups, one who were the criminals of ancient times and one who were as innocent and pure like the originals.


    But what he was curious most about was the spot of humans in all this mess! He was sure humans were never on the side of the world''s wills, at least the majority of them.


    Perhaps those dark clans of the highest realms knew what happened at old times. Not necessarily knowing the details but they, at least, suspected something or two.


    But that didn''t mean humans were criminals like the world''s wills. He also doubted any human could wield power strong enough to rival those gods.


    Only gods could slain gods! So he put the task of gathering up real monsters like originals by his side.


    And now he just found another gem, something even the golden dragon of ancient times was much afraid of.


    "I want him!" Arthur totally ignored the warning of the golden dragon and decided to seek that necromancer out.


    But as far as he could see, there was only darkness in the world. The combined forces of the academy and clans kept fighting against the retreating forces of his like maniacs.


    "They must have a link to that necromancer," he muttered before sighing. "It would be complicated if he was their leader!"


    ''What should we do now?'' Gege asked, ''I can search for him even amidst all this great army. However I need something to start with!''


    "Hmm¡­ I believe such a formidable person will have something unique to his appearance, right?" Arthur thought while addressing the golden dragon with these words.


    ''Well¡­ It might not seem logical but¡­ He looks so weak,'' the golden dragon knew his words would make Arthur and others doubt him. So he tried to give reasons to back up his claims. ''He doesn''t need to eat to get strong or grow up. He doesn''t need strength at all, so his physique¡­ well¡­''


    "Is he crippled?" Arthur tried to come with a thing he could relate with.


    ''You can say that,'' the golden dragon found in such a picture matching with what he had in his mind. ''He looks tall, but his bones aren''t strong enough to even wield his weight. He always leans on something, usually a small skeleton to aid him.''


    "That means she should look for a skeleton, right?"


    ''Not quite well¡­'' yet the golden dragon stopped Arthur''s imagination.


    "Then what?! You just said he uses a skeleton to help him walk around!" Arthur started to lose his patience with his golden dragon.


    ''He uses a skeleton, but not in the known form of skeletons¡­ He usually keeps a very strong skeleton by his side for protection and helping him in traveling over the world. This skeleton has something special about it.''


    "¡­" Arthur didn''t speak and tried to control his emotions over this irritating golden dragon.


    ''That skeleton can shapeshift to anything,'' the golden dragon said, ''so Gege should look for someone with a pure white staff or even a wheelchair. Something like that will be unique for a necromancer.''


    "You should have said so from the start!" Arthur shouted in discontent before taking a deep and long breath. He exhaled it slowly to calm himself before saying, "Gege¡­ look for someone that matches such description."


    ''On it!'' Gege didn''t delay or argue before she went into deep silence. Arthur watched the desperately fighting enemies against his forces while feeling nothing towards this.


    This fight started as a mere chess move from him to conquer a large space of land. However at this moment he didn''t have any interest at all towards the lands or people.


    He only wanted that necromancer! He badly wanted him to be on his side no matter what!

 Chapter 949 - The Cold Blooded Necromancers

    Having such a player in his forces was something Arthur craved for. However even with the description from the golden dragon, Gege took quite some time to find him.


    Yet eventually she found him!


    ''I located him,'' she suddenly said before pausing for a second there, ''wait¡­ There are three of them.''


    "Three?" Arthur was surprised when he heard that. This was good news for him. "Where? Tell me their places at once!"


    He instantly started to move. His forces were about to leave this place and he only stayed there all alone. In front of him, endless enemies remained, aggressively trying to hunt the remaining forces of him.


    ''Ding! Wait! Are you planning on fighting your path alone towards them?'' The system seemed a bit worried but Arthur''s next words made him settle down.


    "Take five originals out," he didn''t plan to play low at this stage.


    ''F¡­ Five?!!'' Gege wasn''t the only one shocked, but the other two were feeling the same as well.


    "I don''t want them to escape," Arthur said before adding, "and I don''t want anyone to interrupt my talk with them. Tell me where I should go, right or left?"


    ''Just keep going ahead,'' Gege sighed, ''they are inside the academy itself.''


    "Hmm¡­ That might complicate things¡­" Arthur realized these necromancers were hired by the academy or the clans supporting it.


    However the fact that they stayed inside the academy gave him the impression that they were part of it. He knew the stance of the academy towards him.


    They considered him as their mortal enemy. So trying to sweet talk with these necromancers might pose a challenge for him.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    However the next instant five portals appeared and expanded in haste. The atmosphere all around changed before five giants appeared in this world.


    "Keep everyone away from me," Arthur didn''t want to let his target slip off his fingers. So the moment these five beasts appeared next to him, he gave them this direct and clear order.


    And the next minute the entire world shook under the brutal attacks of these originals. They only waved their hands and caused enough devastation to be called a catastrophe!


    Arthur watched this in silence while thinking about one thing. "What if they have weapons?" he couldn''t shake this idea away from his mind.


    The originals were already overbearing without anything. But such beings must need strong and special weapons.


    But having these weapons, despite being difficult in making them, would transform their potential. They would turn into real powerhouses, not any lesser than those grandmasters of big clans in higher realms.


    Arthur decided to seek this matter later. After all he had another powerhouse to go after for now.


    However, as expected, this task wasn''t going easy for him!


    The shields that covered the academy were thick and numerous. The more his originals crushed the more they popped up instantly the next moment.


    Arthur''s originals were brutal! One hit and they could crush a single shield. But in front of such persistence, and when they were literally marching inside the enemy lines, things couldn''t go easy for them.


    Plus those necromancers seemed to feel Arthur''s gazes upon them. So they decided to act!


    "Creak!"


    "Creak!"


    "Creak!"


    The ground cracked open and an endless sea of skeletons came to the surface. It was the first time for Arthur to witness such a scene.


    Truth to be told he felt impressed by this ability of the necromancers! Skeletons came in sheer numbers like a tsunami.


    They looked fragile. But according to the earlier words and warning of the golden dragon he knew they couldn''t be underestimated.


    ''Don''t worry about them,'' however as he was hesitant, the golden dragon suddenly said, ''they can only grow on the deaths of others. They can''t touch your originals. So rest assured and keep advancing.''


    The words of the golden dragon relaxed Arthur a little. However he still had some doubts.


    In less than five minutes, his fears came true! The golden dragon underestimated the necromancers by great deal in that regard.


    They didn''t hold any concern for anyone. And surely they held no loyalty to any flag. So when things seemed impossible for them to level up their skeletons, they didn''t hesitate to give a cold order in cold blood.


    "They¡­ are killing their allies!!" under the watchful gazes of Arthur he watched the endless stream of skeletons turning their bony claws and jaws and jumping over their allies.


    The mages gathered from the academy and clans were vast! Their sheer numbers were enough to make these skeletons evolve to terrifying beasts in no time!


    This sudden shift didn''t bear bad news for Arthur. He knew for sure such turning in events would lead towards one end.


    "Make sure to keep an eye over these necromancers," he hurriedly said to Gege while flying forward, "I''m sure they''ll move soon."


    ''How did you know that?'' Just before he could finish his words, he hears the surprised shout from Gege. ''They are already moving. Suspicious, isn''t it?''


    Arthur only smiled while the golden dragon laughed.


    ''Ding! It''s not suspicious at all! They just attacked their allies. Meaning the clans will be furious at them.''


    The golden dragon joined in and taught Gege another thing.


    ''If they stayed behind, they will get the wrath of those who hired them.''


    ''That''s¡­'' Gege was lost for words for one second before sighing, ''these necromancers¡­ Can we trust them?''


    "They only care about their skeletons," Arthur sneered, "and if they only want that, then I''ll give them all the chances in the world to do this freely without any restraints."


    ''¡­''


    Gege seemed not to follow his words, but the other two laughed in delight and content. Things seemed to shift towards Arthur''s side.


    He wasn''t even a bit worried about these necromancers. He wanted them specifically for their bloodlust and cold heart.


    If they wanted massacres, he would gladly unleash them behind his forces and let them have their fun.


    This incident also added another aspect of light over these necromancers. They had one loyalty after all, which was towards their creation.


    Arthur now had a way to convince them to join hands with him. He would provide heaven to them, and they would be only fools to say no.


    "Which way are they running to?" Arthur didn''t want to waste his time in meaningless fights. He kept flying forward, leaving behind the ongoing massacre between the skeleton army and the combined mages army.


    He also didn''t want to delve deeply inside the enemy lines. The academy wasn''t a push over after all.. He wanted to bypass it and save time to head directly towards his target; the necromancers.

 Chapter 950 - [Bonus ] Chasing Necromancers

    As Arthur foresaw it, the three necromancers went to the opposite direction of the battle.


    They were frantically running away per Gege''s words. She described something that ignited Arthur''s desire for them even more.


    ''You were right,'' Gege said to the golden dragon, ''they had such strong skeletons with them.''


    ''Told you,'' the golden dragon laughed in prideful tone, ''what is the shape of these skeletons then? Dragons?''


    ''Yeah,'' Gege agreed, ''they are now riding on their backs and flying so fast away from the academy.''


    "I''ll need to catch the pace then," As Arthur didn''t need to go inside the academy, he simply flew with his fastest speed around it.


    He didn''t care about any fighting going around. He trusted his five originals in that. And if they weren''t enough, he simply could summon tens more!


    Arthur started to move faster, and that put him literally in the heart of the enemy forces. He was surprised to realize the magnitude of the mage army the academy gathered.


    "This army¡­ it''s at least five hundred thousand mages or more!!" he started to feel some regret in losing such fine soldiers in such a meaningless battle.


    However he knew his enemies relied entirely on these necromancers. Losing their support meant they were now totally powerless against him.


    "And if I manage to snatch these necromancers to my side, then things will fall into my grasp," he dreamt of that moment. Now he wouldn''t only get his hands on three terrifying necromancers, but also a lot of fodder he could use to expand his empire.


    Fodders weren''t less important than elites. In fact, elites alone couldn''t face such a great army without losses. For a leader like him, losing a single elite was more painful than losing an entire army of tens of thousands of normal mages.


    After all, he could easily acquire weak mages from this world. However elites weren''t born on trees nowadays.


    "Where are they?" After ten minutes of frantic flying, Arthur still couldn''t see a glimpse of his target.


    All he could see was swarms of mages trying to stop his advance at all costs. However against his five originals, nothing could do anything to stop his advance.


    ''They aren''t far,'' Gege said, ''only a couple of miles ahead.''


    "Good," Arthur narrowed his eyes and at this moment he could finally spot them. They looked like three tiny white dots flying in the sky up ahead. "They are flying at high altitude? Nice tactic!"


    As he realized they weren''t flying near the ground, it was aimless to continue fighting his path through the sea of mages on the ground.


    "Follow me," he instantly shifted his attention and effort to fly higher. The originals around him simply followed. They flew as fast as him, and he even doubted they could fly faster if they wanted.


    As he evaded the enemies below, he finally could fly unhindered or bothered by anything. His target was getting closer by each passing minute until he could finally see their physique clearly.


    "They¡­ are really weak!" he couldn''t help his shock when he saw their emaciated pale skin and protruding bones from their bodies.


    ''Necromancers don''t have time to waste on eating or exercising their bodies,'' the golden dragon explained further, ''they spend most of their time running and hiding. Plus they seek any opportunity to train stronger forces under their command.''


    "That makes things easier for me," Arthur was feeling more confident in convincing these necromancers to join him.


    "Stop," as he was so close to them he didn''t hesitate to shout, "I''ve an offer to make."


    "Go to hell!" but the instant response from one of the necromancers startled Arthur. He evilly sneered before muttering:


    "Gege¡­ bring five more originals to block their path," he didn''t hesitate to show more of his superior power in their faces.


    After all, to gain the heart of a wolf, you need to be a lion yourself!


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    Arthur could, instead, keep chasing them down until he reached them. However he wanted to use the most radical way to stop them.


    And as he desired, the moment the originals appeared, the three necromancers were forced to stop.


    From their faces he could see clear panic and confusion. They didn''t have a path out of here.


    The three necromancers weren''t, for his surprise, old! They looked young, in their mid twenties at most. However, even the skin over their faces looked pale and tired.


    Their cheek bones appeared in a strange way alongside their foreheads. As for their eyes, they sank deeply inside their sockets, giving them a really scary appearance.


    And they were such a scary race to begin with.


    "Do you think you have us cornered?" one of them said in strong defiance, "we are necromancers! We won''t fall without a fight!"


    "Yeah!" The other two shouted in unison and Arthur couldn''t help but watch with a big smile over his face.


    "Who told you I''m here to kill you?" he simply said. But despite his words, the three necromancers moved and stuck their backs together.


    They were ready to fight till the bitter end it seemed.


    "Humph, as if we''ll fall for this old trick," one of them said in mockery, "first give us an offer to drop our guards then you''ll kill us from behind!"


    These words left Arthur speechless for a few moments before he suddenly laughed. "Look around you, look closely and clearly¡­ Do you think I need such underhanded tactics to kill you?" he pointed towards his army of ten originals before adding in vicious tone:


    "If you don''t like them, then I can summon more."


    He kept his gaze fixed on their faces. The moment he said so he felt they didn''t believe him. They thought he was bluffing or taking them for fools.


    "Snap!"


    However the next instant he snapped his fingers and the next moment ten portals opened and expanded massively. Ten originals passed through them and stationed themselves around the three necromancers.


    "Satisfied now? Or do you want more?"

 Chapter 951 - Stressful Negotiations

    Arthur was pleased by the shock look over their faces.


    "Do you grow them or what?" one of the necromancers couldn''t help but ask in deep shock and obvious fear.


    After all, no matter how mighty and special you were, in front of death one couldn''t feel anything but fear.


    "None of your business," Arthur''s swift and calm answer showed his calm and confident domineer to them. "All I want is just talk, as friends for now and collaborators for later."


    "Hahaha, you seek our power, right?" one of the necromancers laughed before adding in an amusement tone, "Tell, what price do you plan to pay for us? How much gold will you give each of us to fight on your side in this battle?"


    "I don''t need your help in this battle," Arthur shook his head before adding, "and I don''t deal in money. I have more valuable currency to the three of you."


    "Gold is the most precious currency for us!" however the one who laughed changed his face and tone. It seemed he got angry from what Arthur just said. "We won''t accept that offer of yours no matter what!"


    "Who said you have the liberty to deny my offer?" however Arthur didn''t show any sign of weakness. Instead he started to take out his tools.


    An old looking cart appeared with many bowls and brushes on it. "Hold it steady," he said to one of the originals who simply nodded in obedience and did what he was told like a good servant.


    A mighty original was turned to just a low servant, that was another shocking scene to the three necromancers.


    However what Arthur did next made them all vigilant.


    "You¡­ do you plan to enslave us?" one of them roared in anger while the other two turned their bodies and attention towards Arthur.


    Arthur was making his runes. "Oh, you know the runes and arrays very well¡­ That''s impressive," he laughed without stopping his hands from what he was doing.


    "Then your words from before were just fake?" another one asked as if he wanted to negotiate.


    However Arthur felt he was buying time more than asking for negotiations. So he didn''t even bother to answer him and kept preparing his runes.


    He planned to enslave them as the last resort if they didn''t swear their allegiance to him. As the three watched him working in such efficiency and speed, they became more restless.


    "Say your offer then," one of them said in distressed tone, "we will consider it this time for real."


    "Why don''t I sense any sincerity in that?" Arthur didn''t even look at the necromancer before adding, "fine, I''ll tell you my offer. In return I won''t stop making my runes. If your answer didn''t appeal to me then I won''t speak with you again with words. Is that clear?"


    He started to show them his true domineer and self at this moment. He wasn''t someone who could be played with or fooled this easily.


    They didn''t really intend on taking his offer. They just wanted to buy more time for their forces far away to come here and save them.


    Arthur didn''t care about that. He got the intel from Gege moments ago. She told him about the change in the skeleton army behavior and shifting their attention towards her.


    They were coming. But even if the strongest high clans came with their armies at this moment, Arthur wouldn''t stop what he was doing for that.


    If they wanted to fight, then Arthur would gladly accompany them to the end. He was sure of his win over them. At the end of the day, these three necromancers would end up as his minions.


    One way or another they would submit to him. He didn''t want to enslave them, but this was the best last resort he had in mind.


    "We agree," one of them said, but Arthur didn''t hurriedly speak to them.


    "Gege¡­" he simply muttered and the next moment Gege told him the news.


    ''Nothing changed!'' she said.


    "So you are taking me for a fool, aren''t you?" this time he turned his gaze towards them as he stopped what he was doing. His gazes, merely from his gazes, the three necromancers felt great fear and intimidation.


    He didn''t blink even once for a whole minute. "Do you think I wouldn''t know? Trying to sweet talk your lives away from me, and sending all your skeletons to here while we speak. I have to admit, this is just the lousiest plan I''ve ever seen for ages!"


    Their faces dropped the moment he said these words. They never imagined for him to see through their plans this clearly and fast.


    As they got caught in the act, they couldn''t help but stay silent for a long minute. During which Arthur kept making large number of ruins before saying:


    "What? Won''t kneel on the ground and ask for my forgiveness then?"


    His words added more bitterness to the necromancers. One of them couldn''t take it anymore before he shouted in rage:


    "We never succumb to anyone!"


    "That''s not because you have pride in your race," in return to such rage, Arthur calmly said, "it''s because no one before truly asked you for your loyalty, right?"


    He hammered on the right spot while his words played on the right notes of their hearts. "What do you mean by that?" one of them couldn''t help but ask while the other two remained all silent.


    "I can provide what others can''t," Arthur said while working on his runes like he didn''t care about their response, "and coincidentally enough, this is something you also desire so much."


    "Which is?" a necromancer asked and Arthur stayed silent for long minutes. He was playing with their nerves. As he stayed silent, they couldn''t finally take such deafening and stressing silence.


    "Can''t you tell us what you have in mind?" a necromancer shouted in rage while others looked angry as well.


    "Well, what do you desire most?" Despite their impatience, Arthur kept pushing them over the limit, "what is the thing you''ll pay anything to have?"


    The three exchanged silent glances while their eyes looked red at the moment. they didn''t know how this could be a way of negotiation when the other part didn''t say anything at all about his real offer.


    "It''s death energy," Arthur finally spilled what he had in mind, "I can provide you infinite death energy and allow you to summon endless skeletons and even let them evolve in constant fighting."


    "No one can give such a promise!" one of the necromancers blurted what he had in mind out loud, "this is impossible!"


    "Not for me," yet Arthur simply shrugged, "I can promise then because¡­ simply enough, I can!"


    His words left deep impression inside the three necromancers before one of them asked:


    "Aren''t you afraid of getting cursed? Be like us? Or get the wrath of gods?"


    "Screw gods," at this moment Arthur stopped what he was doing and raised his head towards the one speaking, "I''m already at war with those despicable gods of this universe!"

 Chapter 952 - Evolving Skeletons

    Arthur''s words landed with deafening silence over the three necromancers. From their faces alone, Arthur could tell they didn''t expect him to say that.


    It was expected. After all they must have met a lot who wanted their power but feared their curse. However Arthur was different.


    He didn''t fear anything or anyone. He wanted to simply get stronger troops on his side, so he could eventually win this grand war.


    "So¡­" one of the necromancers finally said after a long pause, "you don''t fear our curse?"


    "That''s what I just said," Arthur nodded and didn''t show any sign of his dissatisfaction of repeating his words. After all it seemed this was the first time these necromancers heard such a proposal in such a way.


    "I have to admit¡­" Another one said, "This is the first time ever in our race history to hear such words. Not since the ancient era of the long lost originals."


    "Originals?!!" This time it was Arthur''s turn to get surprised. He couldn''t help but turn to the originals standing around the necromancers before pointing out at them, "do you mean them?"


    "Them?!!!" The shock over the necromancers'' faces was different this time. It seemed they heard a lot of stories about originals, but never saw one in the flesh.


    That was quite expected. After all, the era of the originals was so long, long ago in the line of time.


    "Do you possibly mean¡­ They are¡­ Those legendary originals from the past?!!!" one of the three asked while moving his head around. This time the shock vanished and a look of veneration and respect took over.


    Such a turn of events surprised Arthur. He thought his offer was the strongest weapon he had to convince them. But it seemed these originals were.


    "Yes, we are the long lost originals," one of the originals spoke when Arthur gave him the nod, "we were resurrected by the grace of our mighty lord."


    "Him?!!" The necromancers all three gazed up at Arthur in disbelief. The latter didn''t feel any awkwardness from their behavior. After all, they just heard a lot of shocking news this time.


    "So, do you still want to resist?" Arthur calmly asked, "or you prefer to join me?"


    This time their rejection vanished in thin air. In front of his eyes the three kneeled and paid tribute to him.


    "We salute our mighty lord," they said in unison and Arthur couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Alright then," Arthur felt refreshed at this moment, "what''s your name?"


    "I''m Ji."


    "I''m Ki."


    "I''m Li."


    The three said their names and Arthur couldn''t help but smile. Their names were unique as their ability.


    "Now shall we have a grand feast for your skeletons?" Arthur''s face showed a vicious expression mixed strangely with excitement.


    At this moment he was really in a great mood.


    "Bring out the army," Arthur said to Gege, "make them appear around the skeletons and protect them."


    "no," Li, who seemed to be their leader, said to stop Arthur, "our skeletons need to kill to evolve."


    "I see¡­" Arthur paused to think before he said, "make the troops help from within them. I don''t need to lose many skeletons so far."


    "That''s better," Li said in gratitude before he added, "but it''s best if we returned there at once. The death energy there is really rich. If we don''t use it fast, it will all dissipate."


    "No problem, snap!" Arthur snapped before a portal appeared next to the necromancers. The portal startled them but Arthur''s next words made them more impressed by him.


    "This will take you directly into the battlefield," Arthur said while motioning with his head for them to pass the portals.


    They didn''t hesitate to do that. At this point they were loyal to Arthur and would execute anything to please him.


    Plus he promised them not only safety, but support. For such a race, supporting their skeletons was some kind of fantasy.


    Arthur watched them disappear inside the portal before he turned to his originals and had a thought.


    "Come with me," he said before he started to fly away. He didn''t try to attack the academy directly this time. He just wanted to see how these skeletons were doing.


    As he reached the main battlefield again, he could see his normal forces scattered inside what could be best described as a white ocean!


    "These skeletons¡­ I thought they would be lower, much lower in numbers than this," Arthur muttered while moving his gaze around.


    He didn''t need to fight his way through the army of mages anymore. He simply flew high in the sky while overseeing the battle underneath him.


    The skeletons looked quite energetic. They moved to kill any mage standing in front of them without any hesitation.


    Arthur kept watching until he noticed some evolved skeletons. They held weapons and shields, looking stronger than others.


    But their appearance didn''t change much at first. Not until a few hours later these skeletons started to show more signs of evolution.


    Their bones started to grow thicker and their bodies became taller. They could now wield two weapons in their hands, and they began to act like killing machines on the battlefield.


    What made Arthur more pleased was the fact that more skeletons were summoned constantly as the death kept rising. The necromancers were doing a great job in using the death energy in the entire battlefield.


    So he never felt the lack of skeletons even after losing so much already. In fact he felt their numbers increasing and the amount of their elites kept rising constantly.


    They never stopped evolving. With the presence of such slightly advanced skeletons, the entire battle seemed much easier than before.


    "And this is just from one battle," Arthur''s eyes shone in bright blue light while watching this, "what will happen after conquering this realm? Damn! I can''t even stop my excitement when imagining this!"


    He had all the right to feel so. After all, in just a few hours, skeletons managed to reach a scale to be able to take mages of this world head on and win!


    Even his forces seemed not needed at the moment! the entire frontline was shifted and all the evolved skeletons took their positions there.

 Chapter 953 - Missing A Crucial Thing

    Skeletons never stopped evolving, but Arthur noticed something. "They take long time to evolve one stage!"


    That was apparent after watching for an entire day. He didn''t think of going inside his garden world and leaving the battle. He wanted to assess and watch by his own eyes the skeletons and the actions of his new forces.


    At first skeletons seemed to evolve fast. But with time, and after gaining their weapons, they started to show decline in their upgrading speed.


    One factor for this was for the large number of the skeletons summoned by the necromancers. The sheer number of his white forces made it impossible for the evolved one to kill as much as they liked.


    Despite being in the frontlines, the other skeletons came from behind to steal the meal. They all seemed hungry for death energy and tried to get it at any cost.


    Seeing this made Arthur realize he was too optimistic about dreaming to see a white dragon in this battlefield. Even if the battle went on for days, his skeletons would only evolve a couple of levels at max.


    He also suspected that there was some sort of requirement like a math rule. The higher the level of a skeleton, the more living creatures he had to kill.


    "Should I let them enter my garden and kill the monsters inside?" Arthur thought about this for a moment before he ditched the idea totally.


    It would be like shooting his own foot with his own sword!


    ''Ding! Don''t be this dejected. They are doing just fine and only need time.''


    "Time and battles," Arthur said.


    ''We never lacked good battles,'' the golden dragon said.


    "But we don''t have enough time," Arthur started to think of another strategy to better use these necromancers.


    Instead of gathering them together, he would prefer to separate them. Three necromancers together was a waste. Plus their skeletons fought against each other for prey.


    Instead of doing so, he would prefer to unleash each on over a group of enemies. Like this he would save himself more time and also have more evolved skeletons.


    As for guarding them, he was sure of his elite army and the armies formed by conquering these places to safeguard them.


    The fight kept going for four continuous days before the mages started to take defense at the walls of the academy. The once grand army diminished to become only few tens in thousands in number.


    Plus they had many injured mages as well.


    "So they are trying to shell themselves inside the academy? Pathetic!" Arthur watched the thick layers of shields surrounding the academy and kept his skeletons forces outside.


    "Go, help them enter the academy," Arthur turned to his originals before adding, "don''t do anything further than opening a way for them."


    "We''ll execute your orders to the letter," the twenty originals bowed their heads before they moved in fast speed towards the academy.


    Facing such weak level shields was nothing to them!


    They didn''t need more than ten minutes to crack the thick layers of shields open. The moment the shields went down, a white tsunami of ferocious skeletons swarmed the entire academy.


    They killed anyone and anything standing in their way. Arthur watched this massacre with no emotions at all. His mind was still considering his next moves.


    After crushing this academy he had to visit other places. This battle recruited mages from all clans and academies around here. But that didn''t mean this was everything these forces had.


    But thinking about the remaining forces made him feel greedy. After his victory here he would let a day for the news to travel fast before hitting those clans and academies.


    He knew if he was in their shoes, he would only send the common mages and leave the elites behind. That meant those staying in these forces were the crop of the cream, forces he was so eager to have.


    Elite forces of such a low level realm wouldn''t do much against high realmers. However against other low realmers they would be beasts.


    The last curtain of the fight fell by the killing of the last living person inside the academy. Some tried to escape, many actually. However Arthur''s skeletons hunted them down to the last man.


    "Good job," Arthur said while entering the academy. What he was surprised to see was that the buildings remained intact despite all this fight.


    He thought the skeletons would be brainless, acting like savages. However as he saw the academy standing erect without a scratch, he couldn''t help but admire them even more.


    "What''s the next target?" the crow seemed a bit annoyed, "I didn''t have my full share of the fight in this battle!"


    "Hahaha," Arthur laughed, "don''t worry, we''ll have one day rest before commencing our attack on the other forces. Gather up, we''ll discuss our future plans for this world."


    As he reached the main and biggest building in the entire academy, he walked on the dead bodies and rivers of blood to the inside.


    A flag of the fallen academy was still erected. Arthur simply took his sword out and cut the pole holding the flag. He watched it fell on the bloody ground before saying:


    "We''ll do this to anyone opposing us in this world," he turned to his leaders, with the necromancers among them, "we''ll become terror to anyone defying us. Death to those standing against our reign. For those who know their places well enough and have some brains, we''ll warmly welcome them amidst us."


    He then took out his drawn maps and started to distribute the next assignments. Per his promise, he assigned the forces among the three necromancers while making each take one side.


    But as he finished, he noticed the doubt over the faces of everyone. The side of his old forces seemed a bit surprised by such an arrangement. They didn''t see themselves as guardians of a bunch of skeletons.


    They saw how these skeletons behaved. They were strong and useful without doubt. However they were gross at the same time. Fighting alongside skeletons led to lower morale of the entire army.


    And that was the thing Arthur missed in his entire plan!

 Chapter 954 - Objection!

    "I don''t agree on this!" the scorpion queen was the first to object, "my beauty can''t stand their ugliness. And I can''t fight as a bodyguard to them! I want to taste blood for myself and win battles with my army!"


    "Me too!"


    "And me as well!"


    "I see this as a failed plan!"


    Many voices started to object to Arthur''s arrangement. He never expected that and it took him a few minutes to realize how they felt.


    "The moral is an issue," Doaf started to shift the discussion into more solid ground, "the army lost a lot of their spirit with the presence of the skeletons. Letting that continue would leave a deep scar in their souls."


    "I agree with Doaf," Jud added, "we need to consider the overall view of the army and not miss important details like morals."


    Arthur listened and his mind kept wrecking around this point. He never expected such a decision would be met with such resistance and objection.


    But he couldn''t let his pride stand in his way. He knew they provided enough reasons to make him listen and change his mind.


    "Alright," he said before turning to the three necromancers, "you''ll be accompanied with my originals for now. When time comes and you can walk alone in this world, you can fight on your own. However¡­" he stopped for a second before turning to everyone else.


    "After each battle you''ll have to leave fast. I''ll send them to the battlefield to summon more skeletons."


    The three necromancers exchanged silent gazes before Li, their leader, asked: "But how?"


    "Leave this to me," Arthur simply said.


    In fact the three necromancers didn''t feel good when they listened to the words of objection from Arthur''s main generals. They thought Arthur would ditch the idea of helping them and succumb to the demands of his trusted aides.


    But they all underestimated Arthur. He simply thought deeply about this and came up with another idea. Just like that!


    "What about the grand plan?" Amera asked while moving her eyes slowly between the three girls who she totally forgot about.


    "Well¡­" Arthur didn''t notice the clash of gazes between the four girls as he started to stare at his maps. For five minutes he kept thinking in silence before he finally spoke.


    "We''ll send out first the normal armies," he said before adding, "and the three necromancers each will go after an army or two. Your task is to summon as many skeletons as possible before setting you out towards the outer regions."


    "What about people inside?" Doaf asked, "who is going to handle them?"


    "Don''t worry yourself about that," Arthur waved his hand as he already recruited two for this specific task, "now I want you to study these maps and memorize them. As I won''t gather you up for later until we face those high realmers again."


    The leaders of his armies looked at each other while a single thought popped up in their minds. "So it''s a full on war?" Sara spoke at last while everyone waited for Arthur''s call.


    "It is," he simply said, "from this point on, it will be only crushing armies, gaining territory, and amassing people."


    "What about the cities?" Sara asked again, "and the empire?"


    "The cities will be handled by my trusted Deem and Gor," Arthur said before he took a deep breath, "as for the empire, I''ll need you to stay behind specifically for that."


    The other girls looked in weirdness towards Arthur and even Amera raised one eyebrow. Since the last meeting with these girls before setting out to the sect war, Amera got closer to Arthur.


    She now saw him as her man. And she didn''t like the idea of leaving her man alone with another girl. Especially someone with a pretty face and smart brain like Sara.


    This time Arthur noticed the tension in the air and the intensity of their gazes. However he didn''t comment on that. He didn''t invite Sara to stay behind to play with her.


    He wanted her for far more pressing issues than that; the economic problem.


    He still couldn''t figure out how to establish a currency and monetary system for his empire. So far his empire was still young and controlled a small stretch of land compared to his grand vision.


    So editing things here was much simpler than doing it later. He postponed this matter for so long for now. So he decided to put an end to this and try to find a solution to this problem.


    "Alright," Sara didn''t show any weakening in front of the burning gazes of the other girls. She had cold heart towards Arthur from the start. But after all they went through together, her ice melted and started to see him as a worthy man.


    A man who was destined for greatness.


    "B*tch!" Tina said in a low tone while the other two girls were literally burning Sara alive by their gazes. However the latter ignored them as she moved and stood beside Arthur.


    "Study these maps and start moving once you are ready," Arthur started to walk before Jud and Doaf stopped him. "What?" he asked while waiting for the two to say what they held in their chests.


    "Are you going to leave now?" Jud asked.


    "What about leading us to conquer this area at least?" Doaf said, "we still have a lot of people to handle after this battle."


    "I told you already," Arthur rolled up his eyes, "I have people ready to do this task. All you need to do is fight, keep fighting and winning. Leave the rest to me."


    His words were resonating with what he just said earlier, but it seemed none of the people here believed in what he said to the letter.


    "But you aren''t here to do that," Doaf expressed his doubts clearer, "how can you control the people without being around? Without our forces?"


    Arthur gave him a long gaze before patting on Doaf''s shoulder.. "Do you think I must be there in flesh to do everything?" he said before smiling in confidence, "plus you aren''t my only force. Do you think I''d leave my empire undefended while all my troops are away with you?"

 Chapter 955 - The Purple Ore

    His words were vague but it told everyone that he had a plan, a good plan indeed. Arthur then left with Sara without saying anymore while everyone else remained behind with puzzled expressions.


    In fact he didn''t lack mages. His garden was brimming with them at the moment. Also in the next few weeks he was sure to have much more.


    Plus he had his monster army, mecha army, and above all the original army. He wasn''t lacking any troops to defend his empire or organize the movement of people acquired after battles to his garden and empire.


    Of course the sole hero of this would be Gege, but she would remain casted in the shadows without anyone knowing of her contributions.


    "Is it ok to leave them like this?" Sara turned into her flying tiger form while flying alongside Arthur.


    Arthur could fly faster than her at this stage, but he refrained from stressing over her abilities for now. He didn''t say anything for one minute before saying:


    "They had to learn to lead the armies and fight battles without me," he paused before adding, "they are excellent generals, even coming from higher realms. But they started to grow the habit of depending on me all the time."


    "They can''t be blamed for that," Sara laughed before adding, "you act a little overbearing sometimes."


    "I didn''t mean that actually," Arthur admitted what she said, "but with the absence of our main enemy, I can retreat a little bit and let them lead their armies again."


    Sara got what he was speaking about, however she also knew it wasn''t that easy. Arthur was acting as the sole hero along the entire journey she witnessed with him. It wasn''t easy to imagine things without him in the center of events.


    But she also knew it was healthy to do that for now. At least the main danger is far away from them. She also felt that Arthur wasn''t totally abandoning them.


    He must have a way to keep an eye on them, she believed that as she believed he could move and help if things went wrong.


    "You¡­ are getting more mature each time I see you," she admitted what she felt in an honest and sincere way.


    And Arthur only smiled and said nothing in return.


    "What do you have in mind about the currency problem?" she suddenly asked. In fact Arthur could easily cross the entire distance using his portals to the heart of his empire.


    But he refrained from doing so. He simply wanted to have a long and detailed discussion with Sara about the future of his empire.


    And the currency problem was the first issue he had to solve as fast as he could.


    "I''m thinking about using this world''s greatest ore to refine currency," Arthur expressed his thoughts out loud.


    "Ore? What else?" Yet Sara couldn''t grasp his meaning. And she had the right for that. She wasn''t there to witness what happened by the purple ore or the purple fire.


    At first Arthur only cared about this ore for controlling the fire. Then he started to understand the deep and complicated relation between the ore and the fire.


    The fire came from the ore itself. And the ore seemed to be related to the grand prison where those immortals were kept at. Arthur didn''t know if the ore naturally existed or it was made by sucking dry the originals'' power.


    What he knew for sure was that this ore held great importance to him, plus a mighty form of power. When he heard the story of the cursed ore he started to have this thought.


    Why not turn this ore into a currency unique to his empire?


    First of all it was special. Also it was kind of rare. Considering the entire grand cosmos, this ore here seemed like a tiny dot in the map.


    "This one," Arthur didn''t speak in words as he took out one piece of the ore before throwing it towards Sara.


    The latter grabbed it and started to feel its berserk energy. "This¡­ It has a wild form of energy," she raised her head while giving Arthur a doubted look.


    "We need to find a way to contain this energy," Arthur said, "this energy is very wild and explosive. So our currency won''t only be unique, but it will also be in the form of a weapon."


    "Weapon?" Sara didn''t grasp his meaning so he took out an ore and threw it far away. Then he took out his bow and released one normal arrow at it.


    "I''ll hit it with a normal arrow, but stay behind me for now," Arthur had already gained the protection of the black curtain fabric. He now had two great purple wings behind his back. So he doubted any purple fire would harm him.


    But compared to that, Sara could be easily wounded or worse if she got in contact with such fire.


    "Boom!"


    The moment the arrow hit the small piece of ore, an explosion occurred. A mushroom cloud rose high up to the sky before a wild wave of purple fire appeared.


    In Sara''s eyes she only saw a mighty explosion before a gale of wind followed. However the instant she saw the aftermath of that wind, her hair could only stand to no end.


    She felt cold shivers down her spine while watching the burnt out trees all around. Even the ground itself got cremated as if an intense fire slammed heavily at this part of the world.


    Without further ado she moved herself fast and stood behind Arthur. She even cowered her body behind his and tried not to expose any part no matter how small it was.


    Her survival instincts screamed in alarming ways and warned her of this wind.


    "It''s gone now," however the amount of fire stored inside this tiny piece of ore wasn''t even enough to come closer to them. The wind dissipated abruptly as it started.. But Sara didn''t let go of him.

 Chapter 956 - The Currency

    "It''s alright," he turned to face her, "the fire died down."


    "I¡­ Only saw wind," she seemed a bit startled by what happened, and greatly feared that fire.


    "It''s a hidden form of fire," Arthur slowly explained, "and this fire is what we have to work hard to contain inside our currency."


    "That''s impossible," she blurted out, "you are crazy, y''know that?"


    Her words made Arthur laugh over her reaction. She didn''t overreact towards this. In fact Arthur''s reaction towards this fire when he first witnessed it was similar.


    Shock, doubt, disbelief, and above all¡­ Intimidating fear! He gazed up at her before giving her a warm smile. Even in his dragon form, his smile that always looked vicious and savage seemed warm to Sara''s eyes at the moment.


    "Let''s go," he started to fly while Sara didn''t stop looking at the ore in her hand like she was holding poison.


    "How did you come up with this idea?" After a long time of silence she finally spoke.


    "My empire will become the most terrifying force in the entire universe," Arthur explained his own view, "so my empire''s currency shouldn''t be any less domineering than my empire."


    "But¡­"


    "Don''t think of it as a way to die," Arthur interrupted her negative line of thoughts, "you should think of it as a way to show our power. Also at times of distress we can use it to inflict damage to our enemies."


    Sara went into silence for a minute before saying her thoughts.


    "You know currencies'' greatest influence and power come from others adopting it. So if we are talking about it being a weapon, we should say it''s a double edged sword."


    "Not if we incorporate something within that only our empire dwellers can use to activate its hidden power," Arthur said to clarify this point. He wanted to show her that he had given this matter much thought already.


    "Like what?" Sara didn''t know how she would consider such a bomb as a currency. She couldn''t even totally fathom its power or strength, nor could she grasp Arthur''s thoughts so far.


    "Like my own energy," Arthur said before adding, "or a form of power that only our people can use."


    "Like what?" Sara was still oblivious to what Arthur was trying to state.


    "Spiritual energy for instance," Arthur had to spill it out, "this form of energy is only unique to our people."


    Sara witnessed Arthur using this special form of energy before. She also saw how many mages turned out to become such strong fighters after unlocking this form of energy.


    And she also knew this was all possible thanks to his own teachings and potions. If not for these, no one would be able to have this power.


    "So¡­ this power will only be accessible to our mages, a selected group of them, right?" She said what she understood so far.


    "It''s not a small group," Arthur corrected her, "after all I''m going to fully train my mages into this form of energy."


    "So it will be limited to mages only," Sara adjusted her earlier words.


    "I can''t trust normal people to wield such power inside my empire," Arthur shrugged before adding, "imagine a normal clash between two people. If they use this power, then this clash will turn into a wide ranged massacre. I surely won''t ask for this."


    "Indeed," Sara nodded, "but talking about this is a thing, and trying to accomplish it is totally different."


    "That''s why I brought you with me," Arthur said, "after all you have a different form of experience than others and also have a good brain to use to solve this."


    "¡­"


    Sara didn''t know what to say. However Arthur intended to bring her alongside others from the sky castle.


    Sara wanted for a long time already to gather with these people. Before he was seeing them as his strongest weapon.


    But that was a long time ago. Now he didn''t see anything special about them except for their various talents and brilliant minds.


    They could solve problems like these, but they lost their important place as his mightiest weapon.


    Now he had various forces who could be best described as monsters compared to these people.


    Plus that would give Sara some satisfaction. Arthur was to some extent wary of her. But now, and after gaining so much power and strength, he didn''t see any kind of threat in her.


    She was like a little cat jumping around and causing some funny mess in his home. Despite the mess, it would be entertaining for him to keep her around.


    "Do you have any idea of how to do that?" Sara finally gave in and decided to ask for what he had in mind.


    "I think using small arrays will do the trick," Arthur slowly said while trying to describe what he had in mind, "using words as seals overlying on each other would be better."


    "Writing words over the ore¡­ Like making runes, right?" she  asked while trying to imagine what he was speaking about. As he nodded in agreement, she added, "but that would require a special form of ink. Plus the words we are using must be quite powerful."


    "Not only that," Arthur interrupted her, "we need to find a way to make different kinds of words link together at the same core."


    "You mean like combining their forces, not just adding them in layers, right?"


    And Arthur nodded again. He had this idea a long time ago. Words were a powerful source of energy and strength. Using them individually gave strong energy.


    But what if he managed to make them intertwined together. Not just adding words over each other but mixing them together and making them add to each other''s value.


    This way he might have even multiplied effect from the same number of words used. This would greatly help against this berserk purple fire.


    But there was a catch.


    "This fire came from a special source," Arthur suddenly said, "and to better contain it and make it docile, we need something from that source."


    "What source?" Sara asked, but Arthur wasn''t listening to her. In fact he didn''t say these words to her but to himself. Thinking deeply about this made him realize one fact.


    The fire came from the originals. In fact the fire was the power source of the originals, and might even be parts of their souls.


    He recalled the scenes where the originals fought before. They simply waved their hands and unleashed purple fire. It looked like their bodies were carved out of this special ore.


    But he believed things were much more complicated than this!

 Chapter 957 - Falling Stars

    "There is another problem," after a long period of silence, Sara suddenly spoke again, "to make the currency we''ll need to melt down the ores. How can we do that with such ore?"


    "Melt them down?" This time Arthur was surprised by this small yet great point.


    "Currencies are like a blacksmith, making them required to melt the ores into liquid."


    "¡­"


    This time Arthur had zero clue about what to do. These ores were explosive. If they were exposed to such intense heat, they would instantly explode.


    However before he could rack his brain about it, the answer came from his system.


    ''Ding! Why not ask the originals themselves?'' the system proposed, ''Ding! After all they are the ones knowing everything about this ore.''


    Arthur found this idea appealing, however he didn''t try to go inside his world and ask the originals about that.


    They were travelling far away from his main cities. They came across a few cities under construction, but they just passed fast on the heads of those working diligently to build them.


    Besides he was quite sure this wasn''t the only problem he had. He would prefer to give Sara more time to reconsider the entire process of casting a currency before asking the originals.


    And his hunch was proven right.


    After five hours of constant flying in silence, Sara spoke again.


    "The currency needs something to hold value to."


    "What do you mean? Like energy or power?" Arthur didn''t get her meaning and he had the right for that. After all, this currency concept was alien to his former life as a cultivator.


    The only currency in the cultivation world was spiritual energy and power.


    "I know this ore is unique and quite rare," she said, trying slowly to explain things to him, "but that doesn''t mean it holds any value on its own. We need something precious, something everyone in the entire universe knows its value and appreciates."


    "Like what?" Arthur got her meaning by now but he couldn''t get any idea about that matter.


    "It''s not the problem of selecting such a thing, but it''s also about how to incorporate it with that ore of yours," Sara threw the ores she was holding in the air before adding, "such process requires ores to be compatible with each other. It''s a complicated process with a high margin of failure."


    "¡­"


    As the last time, Arthur didn''t have anything to say to her except for his silence. But she didn''t stop there.


    "We also need to establish an easy protocol to cast our currency, but we need to keep it strict and secure," she paused before adding, "if others knew about our process, they would easily dispatch troops here and control many ore mines. After all, this ore is abundant in this world, right?"


    Just before Arthur could say anything to her, the sky suddenly dimmed.


    "What''s going on?" Sara felt some fear while Arthur remained silent. Yet his face showed a change the moment he spotted what caused the sky to dim at such midday hours.


    It was like another sun appeared in the heart of the sky. But it wasn''t just one. In Arthur and Sara''s eyes, many bright purple dots appeared coming fast from the space.


    "Come inside, now!" Without any hesitation, Arthur made Gege summon a portal before literally pushing Sara inside. The latter felt more panic from his actions.


    However the moment she saw his face, she was puzzled. He didn''t have any sign of worry or fear like her; his face showed only excitement.


    That was weird to her. But for Arthur this was nothing. He was very thrilled the moment he realized what was going on.


    "It''s coming," he raised his head high in the sky while holding a dark fabric in his claws. It was that dark curtain that could protect anyone from the purple fire.


    As for these little stars falling fast towards his direction, they were nothing more but the purple ore. This scene was what he heard about before, the falling catastrophe of the purple fire.


    Luckily it fell in a place between his cities. He didn''t want his new cities to get damaged.


    "They came without warning or signs, right?" he tried to assess this phenomenon and see through it.


    ''I didn''t see anything weird,'' Gege said.


    ''I didn''t feel anything strange,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! Everything looked perfectly fine before these little stars appeared in the middle of the sky,'' the system added.


    "So there is no way to cause them to fall, or control their trajectory," Arthur felt some disappointment there. He thought he would figure out the way of bringing down these ores and controlling their landing location.


    But now he realized he was fantasizing about this. However, just before he could lose all hope, a change occurred in his eyes.


    A strange flash was spotted in the ground. At first he couldn''t see it clearly amidst the bright sunny day. But when the light coming from the sun clashed with the light coming from the falling ores, the world looked darker.


    "What is that?"


    It was like a ray of faint green and blue light emanated from the ground. It formed a small arc that didn''t exceed ten meters at most. It looked like a rainbow, but with green and blue colors only intertwining together.


    "Can you tell the landing spot of the ores?" Arthur hurriedly shouted while falling fast towards the ground. He felt something was linked to these strange rays, but he wanted to make sure first before he got his hopes high.


    Gege didn''t delay to calculate the falling spot and compare it with the rays on the ground. She could already read Arthur''s thoughts and could tell what he wanted.


    ''They will fall on that spot,'' she said after confirming it more than once.


    "Sure?" Arthur asked before landing just near that spot.


    ''Absolutely,'' Gege''s answer was decisive. The next moment Arthur took out his sword and activated his technique.


    "Hopefully that thing isn''t deeply buried in the ground," he muttered before starting to hit the spot below the ray of light.


    But to his surprise his sword slashes didn''t cause any damage at all! He felt weird at first before the golden dragon suggested something.

 Chapter 958 - A Flower!

    ''Try to use the ores,'' the golden dragon said, ''I think they only interact with each other.''


    "Gege¡­" Arthur didn''t have much time to reconsider. The fall of the purple ores was so fast. They would slam at the ground in less than five minutes.


    Instantly an ore appeared in his hands coming from one portal. Arthur just grabbed it to feel the strange gravitational force coming from the rays of light.


    "It''s attracting the ore," he muttered in joy before he let go of his little rock.


    "Sizzle!"


    Like fire coming in contact with water, a sizzling sound emanated fast before he saw the ore getting consumed by that ray of light.


    Instead of growing weaker as he expected, the rays of light intensified. "What should I do now?" he was clueless but his system got a brilliant idea.


    ''Ding! The moment of clash between the two made that ray of light corporeal,'' he said before adding, ''Ding! If you manage to hit the ground at this moment, you''ll be able to uncover what lies underneath.''


    "Good point¡­ Gege¡­" Arthur instantly had another piece of ore in his hands before he readied himself for this.


    He knew if he missed this chance he wouldn''t have another.


    "Make your portal ready," Arthur said, "I don''t want to lose what lies beneath."


    Arthur then let go of his ore before he instantly slashed with his sword. He didn''t know what moment his system referred to. So it was better to hit the moment he threw the ore.


    The first few slashes went like it hit nothing but air. However at some point, he felt his sword passing through some sort of hard material.


    "It hit!" he shouted in joy before his sword slammed into the ground. At this moment he realized something that startled him.


    "Dammit! Gege¡­ Take it in now!" he tried to shift his sword but it was already too late to do that.


    What he expected was some sort of ore beneath the ground. But he never expected a flower!


    As his sword hit the rays when they became corporeal, the flower showed itself next. It wasn''t a small flower, but one the size of an adult man.


    Its stump was short and thick, yellow in color. It had giant petals that each reached and exceeded five meters in length.


    The petals alternated between faint blue and faint green. And its heart was a mixture between the two colors. Arthur didn''t have time to appreciate its beauty as his sword was already on its way to cut it in two halves.


    "Woosh!"


    But Gege was faster to react. The next moment the entire plant was taken inside the garden alongside a good part of the ground. The portal just passed through everything from top to bottom.


    The flower was taken inside with its roots and the earth around them.


    ''Everything is fine,'' Gege said, ''but that flower¡­ it''s weird.''


    "I know," Arthur didn''t have time to chat with her. He raised his head and watched the coming ores towards the ground.


    And there he spotted a change in the path of these ores.


    It was like the ores lost all the threads attaching them to the ground. All of sudden they decelerated before they were suspended in midair.


    "Now what?" Arthur stayed there on alert for a couple of minutes. However the ores kept suspended in midair without even moving.


    It felt like the gravity of this planet was ineffective against them. And that was something new to him.


    ''Ding! I can feel a great deal of energy coming from these rocks,'' the system said, ''Ding! They are clashing against the gravity and won''t fall.''


    "It''s weird," Arthur already could see the thick cloud of purple energy released from these ores. "Should I take them in?"


    ''If you did, then you''ll risk losing the flower you''ve just got!'' the golden dragon objected, however Arthur didn''t intend on doing that.


    "I''ve another world to take them in," he said with a faint smile on his face. "Gege¡­ Try the portals."


    ''On it.''


    He thought about going up there and testing these ores by himself. However the energy disseminated from them alongside the horror stories he heard before stopped him from doing that.


    They released such berserk energy that seemed untamed. However he had a thought in his mind, or a theory to test.


    The moment Gege moved her portals nearby, the portal seemed to get intense pressure from the purple energy. However nothing bad happened to the portal until it got so close.


    "Crack!"


    "Crack!"


    "Smash!"


    Within seconds deep cracks appeared on its surface before it got smashed to pieces and vanished.


    ''Sorry, I can''t get my babies near it,'' Gege said in frustration that Arthur could understand.


    "So portals aren''t effective against you¡­" Arthur muttered to himself while looking at these little purple stars in the sky.


    Despite this failure, he wasn''t all clueless. "Bring one of the originals here," he said while starting to fly in the air.


    After all, if anyone knew anything about these rocks, then he would be one of the originals.


    One of the originals appeared next from a portal. The moment he came here his face changed abruptly before he turned his face to the sky.


    And he kept staring there as if he was seeing a gratifying scene.


    "Know it?" Arthur directly asked.


    "It''s¡­ one of those rocks that kept us locked," the face of the original didn''t give Arthur any clue about his feelings. But his tone did.


    The words the original said came in such remorse and pain, making Arthur be sure of his earlier hunch.


    "They rain down the world here after a strange flower," Arthur said before adding, "but after taking that flower away, they stopped like you see. Is there a way to get them down here?"


    However the original seemed to be startled by another matter than the purple ores. "Did you say a flower?" he suddenly said with strange eagerness, "a small flower with green and blue petals and yellow stump?"

 Chapter 959 - The Essence Of Originals

    Arthur gave him a deep look before he said, "it might be small to you, but to me it''s big."


    "No way! You''ve found the original essence flower! That''s incredible!"


    The tone this time that came from the original showed how much excited and thrilled this giant was.


    "Does this flower have anything to do with you?" he asked and waited patiently for the answer.


    "It''s our essence, the source of all our strength," the original said before his face froze. It looked like distant forgotten pieces of his memory started to come back together.


    "It can give us more power," the original said, "back in the days we couldn''t find one flower for each one of us. Only those hailing from noble bloodlines would have a chance in eating one."


    "Eating?" Arthur asked before he realized something. "So you mean this flower can give you more power?"


    "It can open the doors of god-like power to us," the original said in excited tone, "my lord, you are really benevolent. Can you give me this flower? I beg you!"


    The next instant that original fell to the ground on his knees and even hit the earth with his forehead. Arthur was taken aback with such action before he sighed.


    "I believe flowers were rare back in your days, right?"


    "My lord is wise and right all the time," the original seemed to grow more boat licking attitude to gain Arthur''s approval.


    "But after all these years¡­ Don''t you think there are too many of these flowers in this world to satisfy all of you?" the words of Arthur made sense, but the original never moved a finger from his position.


    After all, what Arthur said was true, but it seemed there was a secret that Arthur didn''t know.


    "These rocks imprisoning me and my people are savage," the original said, "they will look for the flowers and smash into them. They aim towards burning them down."


    "And would they succeed in that?" Arthur was curious to hear the answer.


    "They will only mask the flower''s presence," the original said before revealing another shocking secret, "they will bury it so deep in the ground and cover it with thick layers of ores."


    "Ore veins you mean?" Arthur''s face changed abruptly at this point. He realized something. "Damn! The ones working on the ore veins around these settlements!!"


    It hit Arthur without warning! The next instant his mind was filled with horror images of many ores falling over the heads of those working at settlements.


    ''Don''t worry, I''ll keep in touch with them,'' Gege read his thoughts and said to reassure him.


    "But you''ll need ores for that," Arthur knew the trick wasn''t in just using the ores, but with using the sword afterwards.


    After all the first time he used the ores he couldn''t see any glimpse at all of that flower.


    ''Ding! What about she moves you there to take it?'' The system proposed a logical solution.


    "But that means I''ll have to jump all over the place without warning," Arthur couldn''t help but sigh. This secret held an opportunity plus a misfortune at the same time.


    If things went astray or he even delayed going there for a few minutes, everything would be burnt to the ground by the purple fire.


    But he needed these flowers. From the words of this original, Arthur started to grow an interest in seeing the effects of this flower on the originals.


    The originals were domineering to begin with. But if he could make them stronger, he wouldn''t hesitate to do that!


    "Alright," this was the most possible solution he could have at the moment. "But don''t forget to keep portals at each settlement."


    ''I''ve already covered that,'' Gege said in confidence before Arthur turned to that original. The latter was still bowing to him, without any change in his posture.


    "Go in for now," Arthur didn''t hurry to test the flower over this original. He had a long journey to cross and many things to attend to first.


    Besides, he wasn''t in the struggle of war at the moment. For a rare moment since reincarnation, he had a period of peace that he wanted to enjoy to the fullest.


    As an ex-cultivator, he knew no cultivator could reach the top living like this. Stress was the main enemy, the sworn enemy of any cultivator.


    Cultivation needed tranquility and a mind empty of any thoughts or worry. If there were any, then cultivation would be flawed and even would end up by a disaster.


    Arthur intended not only to strengthen the base of his empire, but also to advance as far as possible in his cultivation. He didn''t want to be hindered by his base any longer.


    He aimed to head to the immortal stage, his old and long awaited dream.


    The original seemed not wanting to leave. However he didn''t dare to object to a direct order from his master. But Arthur suddenly recalled the main reason he wanted him here.


    "Wait," he stopped the original just at the portal, "how can I take these ores down?"


    "These?" The original looked at the ores with no interest. Before knowing about the flower''s original essence, he seemed a bit intimidated by these ores.


    "I can help with that," the original hesitated for a moment, "but doing so might bring some harm to you."


    "Will you explode them?" Arthur realized instantly what this crazy original intended to do.


    "That''s the easiest way," the original shrugged.


    "No, I want them inside your world," Arthur said as he pointed towards these ores hanging in midair.


    "Oh, then I might need more help," the original''s face changed before adding, "but if I took the flower, my new power will be enough to¡­"


    Arthur interrupted him by raising his hand in front of the original''s face. "Stop it, I won''t do it for now."


    The original showed a tinge of disappointment. "I''ll provide flowers for everyone, so don''t be this dejected and start preparing to bring me these ores."


    The original nodded but Arthur felt no joy coming out of his pale smile. "I need five more to form a six diagram," he said and his words made Arthur quite interested to hear more.


    "You mean array?" Arthur asked.


    "What''s an array?" but the original tone and reaction told Arthur he knew nothing about arrays.


    "Never mind," Arthur decided to step to the side and watch. He would analyze what these originals would do and compare this with the arrays he was familiar with.


    What was different was the number of the array, or the diagram. Arrays usually come in odd numbers. Yet this diagram was in even number. This was the first difference Arthur noticed.


    But when he stood to the side and watched the six originals preparing to act, he realized there were more fundamental differences between diagrams and arrays.

 Chapter 960 - Taking The Ores In

    Arrays were built on runes, that was the main rule of all arrays. Flags also could be added. Also arrays work by taking certain places and form star shapes to be activated.


    However from what Arthur saw, the diagram worked by hand seals. The originals made a big circle with one in the center to activate the diagram.


    Each made a seal with their hands before he saw a gush of purple energy emanated from their bodies. "So they use the diagrams to control the purple energy¡­ That''s interesting," Arthur muttered.


    In his mind he started to take some notes regarding this. He was sure the seal used now were just the tip of the iceberg. And he was very interested in knowing everything.


    He wanted to get a good grasp over this so he could control the energy inside the ores. If the problem of the berserk energy was solved, then he could easily melt down the ores and reform them as he liked.


    But the question still persisted, would anyone be able to do that or only the originals?


    "I need to have a long discussion with them," Arthur said while watching a thick pillar of purple energy rising to the sky. The moment it reached the little stars up there, it started to cause a massive whirlpool.


    The purple energy of the ores up there seemed to be resonating with the originals'' energy. That made Arthur doubting the ability of anyone else to control these ores.


    "That might be a problem," he thought as he wouldn''t transform these killing creatures into workers.


    His only option was to use them in time of peace, just like now to smelt down as many ores as possible. If he could do that and store away a good deal of melted ores, then things would become easier.


    He still didn''t know on what scale he was talking about. He didn''t know even if this process would succeed or not. However, as far as he could tell, this diagram worked fine to control the ores up in the sky and slowly bring them down.


    "Gege¡­" After five minutes of waiting, the ores finally reached the ground. Arthur feared for them to detonate so he hurriedly asked Gege to interfere.


    ''To where?'' Gege summoned her portals while asking.


    "To the original world," Arthur didn''t think twice about this. No one would be able to control these berserk ruins but the originals.


    Besides he noticed that part of the old memories of the originals came when they saw these ores. It seemed even when they forget things, their pain memory worked to bring back some.


    And he needed to know as much as possible from their old and forgotten civilization technology.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    This time the ores went in a docile manner inside the portals and vanished there. Unlike before, the portals didn''t experience any harm or damage. It was thanks to the diagram of the originals.


    As their work here was finished, Arthur sent the originals back inside. He made sure to check them first and he was surprised to see fatigue on their faces.


    "They got exhausted from doing this?" Arthur was surprised before he decided to search for that flower and gave each one of his originals a flower.


    Hopefully this would help them to surpass their limits and unlock their potential.


    But it was still weird to him. They fought in brutal wars before, even against the world''s wills, mages, monsters, and grandmasters from higher realms. They never showed the same fatigue like they did here.


    "Keep an eye over them for me," Arthur said to Gege before adding, "and bring Sara back. We need to continue our travels."


    ''Why not scan the world by the tree and see if there are nearby places with flowers?'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    "Good idea," Arthur nodded in agreement. However he suspected that he could find flowers easily.


    He didn''t yet know what circumstances these flowers grow in. or what made them survive and appear all of sudden in one place.


    Despite all the time that passed from the fall of the originals, the flowers kept buried underneath the falling ores from their prison.


    The quickest way to find these flowers was by looking for settlements with purple walls and ore veins and mining them.


    "Is it safe?"


    The moment Sara came to this world, she instantly jumped and hid herself behind Arthur. Her tone expressed her panic and that made Arthur smile despite not trying to.


    "It''s all over now, see?" Arthur pointed to the sky where the normal light of the sun prevailed with no equal. Sara looked up then she looked around. After a long minute she seemed to calm down by a long sigh.


    "What was that?" she asked while walking away from Arthur, but not far.


    "These are the ores I was talking about," Arthur said but the next moment Sara''s face changed when she heard that.


    "Forget it," she decisively said, "these ores¡­ they are too dangerous to handle."


    "Oh, it''s not that," Arthur never expected her reaction to be like this, "these ones are wild forms of the ores."


    "What if the calm ones turned like this? What will we do then?" Sara said as if she already made up her mind.


    "There is no better ore to make my currency than that ore," but Arthur didn''t let her go further in such matters, "I''ll make sure things won''t go wrong. So trust me in this."


    "¡­"


    He knew that Sara was speaking at the moment not based on her wisdom or experience, but out of her fear. He wouldn''t let fear control his decisions no matter what the consequences were.


    He also demonstrated his authority here. He was the sole emperor of this empire and everyone should do as he says. It wouldn''t be logical for him to listen to her words, especially when they were groundless.


    As there was nothing else to say or do, the two resumed their journey.

 Chapter 961 - Gruben Ore

    Arthur decided to give her some time to absorb that terrifying experience of hers and have good control over her emotions.


    He also started to grow an understanding towards the weird reaction of the people living in this world towards these ores.


    Even Sara, who wasn''t a normal person at all, reacted in such a way. So it was logical and acceptable for the people dwelling in this world to see this ore as a curse and not a blessing.


    But he didn''t think too much about it. After all he never put their opinions in his mind. He only cared about his benefit and his own view.


    "By the way, I got a good way to control the energy inside the ores," after a few hours, and as he saw Sara''s face returning to normal, he started to talk about what he had in mind for so long.


    "How good is good?" Sara didn''t show her nervous reaction like before and calmly asked.


    "It''s called diagrams," Arthur said before adding, "I don''t have a good grasp over them yet."


    "Then how can you tell if they are good or not?" Sara asked in logic and sense. It appeared that when she calmed down, her mind returned to dominate over her again.


    "My originals use it," Arthur explained, "they seemed to have a different form of knowledge than us. After all, their civilization was so powerful in the past."


    "But they eventually fell," Sara said in a neutral tone. Arthur knew she was trying to make him see another aspect of the facts, so he didn''t get hyped over this.


    "They fell because of something," Arthur said before deciding not to reveal the truth to her. "But their knowledge is very unique and new to us."


    This time the eyes of Sara flashed in light. If she had something in common with Arthur, then it would be her curiosity for knowledge. "Can I meet them?" she instantly asked and Arthur could see what she really wanted.


    "You will," Arthur said, "but first we need to find solutions to the few problems we have right now."


    "We are in a big world," Sara got his meaning so she said, "finding a precious metal that''s common in the entire universe won''t be that hard. But we lack people knowing about such things. We can ask those who we took from this world, but I doubt normal and poor people would be familiar with such precious ores."


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur stayed silent for a long moment, "I have two who might know."


    His mind shifted towards Fox and Lara. The two weren''t simple mages of this world. They were leaders of the grand settlement, and they knew a lot of information.


    Arthur didn''t think they wouldn''t have a clue about such precious ores. But he didn''t hurry to bring them out.


    After all, they were still travelling. But after the persistence of Sara he decided to go down and take the two out.


    The two came out and from their faces Arthur could tell they were busy training mages. They bowed first to Arthur before they noticed Sara.


    "So these are the two you told me about¡­ Hmm, not bad," Sara started to circle around them while the two felt odd and puzzled.


    Yet they mistook her to be his girl so they bowed to her as well.


    "You don''t need to do that," Arthur could read through their actions, "she is one of my generals."


    "We salute the general," however that didn''t prevent them from saluting her.


    "I like them," Sara said while smiling. "I want to ask you about something¡­ You know many things about this world of yours, right?"


    The two raised their heads before Fox answered:


    "What my lady wants to know?"


    Sara didn''t wipe her smile on her face. "Are there any precious metals or ores here in this world?" she said.


    "Well," Fox seemed to have some trouble answering as he turned to Lara and didn''t say anything.


    "You don''t know anything?" Sara was surprised to hold her words inside.


    "It''s not that," Lara finally said, "we know a lot actually. But we don''t know what exactly you are looking for."


    Sara realized what they were thinking about, so she elaborated further. "I need something that can be found and appreciated by other worlds in the vast universe."


    Yet her words didn''t make things clearer. In fact she made the two in front of her more puzzled. She totally forgot that they never left this world or visited other worlds to know such a thing.


    But Arthur realized this point. "What about you narrate the names of the most precious ores and minerals in your world," then he turned to Sara before adding, "if you heard any familiar name, just stop them and ask."


    They all nodded before the two started to tell what they knew about the precious ores and minerals here while Sara listened.


    She stopped them more than once but she never found something she could relate with. This extended longer than Arthur expected.


    For six hours the three kept working and Arthur only stood on the side doing nothing. In the end Sara finally recognized something.


    "The Gruben ore¡­ Are you sure it''s here?" Sara even jumped in the air when she heard that name.


    "Do you know it?" Arthur couldn''t take this any longer. So he asked with much impatience, hoping this would be the one they were looking for.


    "It''s present here," Fox said before adding, "it''s not abundantly available on the surface. But I saw a couple of places with visible veins on earth with my two eyes."


    "Damn! That''s something!!" Sara said in such excitement that made Arthur relieved. He hated standing there without doing anything at all.


    "But they said it''s not commonly found here," Arthur tried to make sure they wouldn''t pick up the wrong ore or something they couldn''t easily find.


    "Gruben ore is an extremely rare one. It can''t be seen from the surface in normal circumstances. For an ore to be spotted it means its veins are so thick and its amount is very abundant.. For him to spot it on the surface means we are talking about a great deal here."

 Chapter 962 - The Mountain City

    Her words were rushing after each other out of her excitement. Arthur didn''t know if she was speaking with logic or with heart at the moment, but he could get it was a precious ore.


    And it was something recognizable for other worlds as well.


    "Where did you see it?" Sara asked the most important question right now in her mind.


    "I found it not far from here," he said before turning around. He seemed to try to know where exactly they were at the moment. "Well, if I''m not mistaken then we are a day or two march away from it."


    He pointed towards one direction before adding, "there is a bright silver mountain with red lines. I recall seeing the veins just passing underneath its peak."


    "Peak? Do you mean¡­ wait a minute! Does this mean¡­" Sara seemed to be about to go crazy when she heard that.


    "I think the mountain is made of it," Fox nodded, "but I didn''t dig there to make sure of this."


    "We need to go now!" Sara turned in a sharp move towards Arthur before adding in excitement, "we need to bring the army! That mountain¡­ if it contains the Gruben ore then a big war will erupt on it."


    Arthur didn''t see why she asked for the army. After all she knew the current task of the armies. "I don''t see calling any army needed," he simply refused her request.


    But that didn''t stop her.


    "Just believe me," she persisted, "once news spread, not only people from realms close to here but also those freaks from the higher realms would also come."


    At this moment Arthur realized something. Sara, Tina, and the scorpion queen weren''t there with him when he fought those high realmers.


    So it was natural for her to be this afraid and wary of them. She still reminded him of himself before venturing on the journey to the sect.


    "Don''t mind them," Arthur firmly said, "if anyone dared to step here, I''ll make him regret it."


    Sara gave him a look full of suspicion. However Arthur didn''t mind her looks or cared about explaining. He knew she would get to follow the latest events from someone else later on.


    "Go inside for now," as the two weren''t needed, he let them return to the garden world. He didn''t forget to give them a warning. "Work faster as I''ll send more people soon."


    The two didn''t show any sign of discomfort, in exchange they smiled in excitement. Especially Lara who loved fighting to the max.


    She seemed to enjoy teaching new mages and forming a grand army. As Sara heard his words she realized that Arthur didn''t send all of his armies out there.


    He still kept some in his pocket. She mistook that for the reason of his confidence. And Arthur didn''t notice what she was thinking about.


    "Let''s go."


    The two started to fly towards the direction Fox pointed at. The journey took slightly shorter than what Fox mentioned.


    After all he said it was a day or two walk. But considering the speed of the two, Arthur and Sara managed to spot the top of the mountain from far in less than ten hours.


    "I think it is that mountain," Sara said while the sun was already gone. But even so, the light of the moon shone over the entire world and got reflected on that peak.


    It looked like a peak made out of sparkling crystals from far away. The light of the moon added to the beauty of the mountain peak. "I like that place," Arthur also admired this, "we might need to build a city here for sightseeing."


    "It will be a fortress," Sara was still fixated on the past, "to protect this mountain."


    "My cities are mightier than any fortress," Arthur said with a chuckle before adding, "plus I told you already, don''t worry about anyone. Got it?"


    Despite his words and confident tone, she still remained full of doubts.


    However Arthur didn''t say anymore. He decided to tell Deem and Gor to come here and build a city. "I''d call it the mountain city," he decided while standing just tens of meters away from the shining peak.


    The sight from this spot was very mesmerizing to the eye. Arthur instantly recalled his gem city, the city of the lake. He felt the same tranquility as well so he decided to build a city here.


    As the two got this close they could see that not only the peak was shining under the moonlight, but many parts of the mountain''s immense body as well.


    As Arthur imagined his city at the bottom, he found seeing such a sparkling mountain amusing to the eye.


    "I''m sure the entire mountain is made of the Gruben ore," Sara said after long minutes of silence. Unlike Arthur who was appreciating the beauty of the scene, she was appreciating the worth of this mountain.


    In her eyes it held much more importance than anything else in the world.


    So she turned to Arthur and hesitated. She wanted to ask for the army to protect her but Arthur''s constant response blocked her from saying so.


    "Why not start building a city here at once?" She decided to follow his decision but changed a little thing in it.


    After all she knew the cities of Arthur were all strong and could sustain any assault. Even if higher realmers came here, she was sure the city would block the invasion until Arthur and his forces came.


    She knew Arthur had his own ways to teleport across large distances, his portals. So instead of asking for the impossible, she decided to play along and follow Arthur''s instructions.


    "Right now?" Arthur gave it a little thought, "why not? I''ll tell these two and let them send more people here."


    At once Gege informed Deem and Gor about Arthur''s decision. The two seemed to feel some strangeness in Arthur''s sudden demand. After all, this spot seemed to be out of the blue and unrelated to their grand planning.


    ''They are asking to come here and examine the place first,'' Gege relayed their message and Arthur could only nod.


    "Bring them here," he said and instantly a portal opened before the two came out of it.


    The portal opened at the bottom of the mountain. So Arthur took his time to reach them from high above. When he reached them, all he could see were signs of surprise and shock.


    "This place¡­ It''s very beautiful!" Deem couldn''t help but say in astonishment and appreciation.


    "Yes, we need to build a city here. This place is too good to be wasted," Gor nodded in agreement before Sara intervened.


    "These mountains hold great importance to our empire," she said before stealing a gaze at Arthur. The latter realized what she wanted to say, and yet he didn''t interfere to stop her. So she continued.


    "So it''s better to add a fortress beside the city, a strong one. One that can withstand any high realmer invasion at any time."


    "Are they coming now?" Deem and Gor turned around as if they were about to witness a great war.


    "Not now," Arthur stepped in to reassure the two. He gave Sara a look to silence her before adding, "we are just making our preparations for the future."


    "Sure," after a long minute of discussion, Deem announced their decision, "we can build a fortress here but not too close¡­ This scene¡­ This mountain¡­ we don''t want to spoil it with that ugly fortress!"


    Sara sighed in relief while Arthur gave another condition, "I want the city to be the most beautiful and secure city in my entire empire."


    The two got his point and nodded in compliance. "We promise to do our best. You won''t get disappointed," Gor gave this strong promise before Sara said:


    "Then start from now. We need the city and fortress to be built as soon as possible."


    "We don''t lack anything," Deem said.


    "Except labor," Gor added.


    "Don''t worry about that," Arthur could say this in confidence. After all, his armies were now going on a spree to gain more population for him.


    He didn''t lack any numbers needed to build this city or the fort.

 Chapter 963 - Building The City

    "Start planning then," Arthur pointed at the mountain before stressing again on the point he mentioned before, "I want this city to be the most beautiful one in my empire."


    "We will make it the gem of the empire," Deem said before looking around. "We''ll go and take a tour around the mountain. During which you can bring the labor there."


    He pointed towards a spot and Arthur simply nodded. He didn''t need to say anything to Gege as she already opened the portals and the earlier batches of the workers appeared.


    "We''ll stay here, right?" Sara asked while her face showed her intent to stay.


    Arthur didn''t have any urgent matters at home. In fact he wanted to return to feel the peaceful atmosphere of his lake city.


    But as he got another beauty, he couldn''t think of going to the lake city for now.


    Plus there were more things that needed his attention first.


    "We''ll need troops to guard," he muttered, "and workers to mine the mountain."


    "Mine the mountain?" Sara seemed to be scared, "no, you shouldn''t let anyone come closer to the peak."


    Arthur raised his head to see the sparkling alluring peak again. "Why? We need to mine this ore and take it out," he said while feeling odd from her words.


    "The Gruben ore isn''t mined this way," Sara seemed to be more experienced in dealing with such ore, "if we did, then we would lose track of the veins running deeply inside the mountain. Plus..."


    Her face showed a moment of deep thinking before adding, "the best workers to mine it aren''t miners, but blacksmiths."


    "What?" Arthur was surprised to hear that.


    "This ore isn''t stable in normal circumstances," Sara started to explain, "it''s kept in its semi-solid form thanks to the rich minerals of the soil here. If we took it out, the ore would turn into a liquid state and get ruined by the air. We can''t risk doing that."


    "Then... How can we take it out?"


    Arthur felt like having a gem but he couldn''t use it at all. He couldn''t wear it, show it to the people, or even sell it to get money back.


    "We need to take it out using fire and heat then smelt it down and reform it at once," she said before adding, "so we can''t take it out until we figure out what we are going to do."


    Arthur felt a little puzzled here but he had to believe her words. She was the expert after all and he decided to follow her words to the letter.


    "So we have the issue of the purple ore to fix, right?" he said before adding, "but didn''t you say mixing two ores together requires experiments?"


    "That''s correct," she nodded, "but we can do that once we manage to control the energy inside the dangerous ore of yours. But first we have to answer this question, what''s the main ore and what''s the supplementary one here?"


    "What do you mean by that?" Arthur felt puzzled and couldn''t answer such a question without understanding things fully.


    "The currency will be made mainly by one ore, the primary ore. As for the second one, it can be added to the core as the secondary core," she explained.


    Arthur nodded in understanding. "I can say this sparkling ore looks more alluring to me than the purple one. So let''s make this Gruben ore the primary ore and the purple ore the secondary one," he said while mapping out the future of his empire''s economy with these simple words.


    "If so then we have to make the purple ore refined as far as we could," she said before adding, "but its stability will remain an issue."


    Arthur didn''t agree with her. "I believe if we use it in the core, then we can use ruins to control it. I''ll go inside first to learn more about the diagrams of the originals. I hope I can learn enough to embed this knowledge into the arrays and ruins I''m familiar with."


    "Won''t you take me with you?" Sara looked depressed and hesitant. Arthur recalled his promise earlier and couldn''t help but nod.


    "Why not? Come, you''ll be amazed! I bet you on that."


    "Hahaha, after seeing so much with you, I doubt anything would amaze me anymore," she laughed but Arthur knew she would be amazed.


    And he was right in his bet.


    The moment the two appeared inside the world of the originals, Sara was shocked to see their numbers. She witnessed the originals before back in the last epic battle.


    But she witnessed them from far, far away. She never came so close or felt their intimidating aura.


    As a result she remained fixed in her place, paralzyed by their domineering aura. As for the originals, they all came and welcomed their prime.


    "Easy," Arthur said to let them stand straight before turning to look at the shocked face of Sara with amusement. "Didn''t I say that?"


    "What?" Sara was jolted awake before her mind regained its activity. "Yeah, I owe you one."


    "You owe me more," Arthur laughed before turning his attention to the originals. They all looked in expectation that he knew its source.


    "I didn''t come here to do that, but why not?" he shrugged before adding, "if you want, one of you can have this flower."


    The next moment the flower of the original essence appeared with its blue and green petals. The moment it came into their sight, everyone, literally everyone started to go crazy about it.


    "Take it back," Arthur felt the originals going insane by seeing this flower so he decided to take it back. He didn''t want to lose control over his most precious soldiers.


    He decided to first settle on the one who was going to take it before giving it to him.


    But the moment he took the flower away, all the originals looked at him in anger and madness.


    "I don''t mind killing a few of you to make you calm down a bit," despite these terrifying gazes that scared Sara and made her return to shield herself behind him, Arthur wasn''t fazed at all.


    In fact he wanted more of the purple curtains to bring forth more originals. After all, one original would give a large fabric enough to be divided into many smaller pieces.


    In other words, one dead original would revive at least five originals.. In his opinion it was a good trade but he didn''t do that yet.

 Chapter 964 - An Unexpected Twist

    Arthur didn''t want to sacrifice the current originals for that. He knew he would have more curtains once he raided more settlements.


    The settlements didn''t vanish with the absence of the grandmaster of the dark angel clan. But they were scattered around and he had to wait for his armies to reach them first before coming for them.


    Arthur watched the hesitant faces of the small army of originals he had. Before long they all abandoned their desire and returned to logic.


    They knew Arthur wouldn''t hesitate to kill any of them if they dared to move. Arthur said it before, he wanted to kill them to gain more of his black fabric.


    So they didn''t bet their lives on their greed and decided to retreat for now.


    Except for one. The one who was their acting leader.


    "May I ask for the flower for myself?" The original spoke in bravery and confidence that gained Arthur''s admiration.


    "I was thinking about testing it on you first," Arthur smiled before he snapped his fingers. A portal appeared before Arthur turned to Sara and said:


    "Will you stay here or come with me?"


    Sara wanted to come with him, but her curiosity made her refuse to leave. So Arthur turned to the originals around and said in loud tone:


    "Follow her words to the letter and answer all her questions. She is an important general to me, so make sure not to touch her or else¡­"


    His threat was clear and everyone bowed their heads in silence. The earlier failure of gaining the flower left its shadow over their heart till now.


    Arthur then led the original through the portal and appeared at another place in this vast world.


    "The flower," the face of the original, changed the moment he saw the flower. It was peacefully in midair while the wind played with its petals.


    "How will you eat it?" Arthur was curious about this point.


    "Simply by chewing it, lord," but the answer he got was way too simple to make him feel annoyed.


    "Won''t you process it first?" Arthur asked and when the face of the original showed his confusion, he added, "I mean like refining it. Turning it into a potion for example."


    "I believe it''s strongest in its current form," the original author gave this suggestion a little thinking before rejecting the idea.


    "Alright, go ahead and happy meal."


    As Arthur stood away and watched, the original moved towards the flower. Comparing the two together Arthur realized how small the flower was compared to the original.


    "They have the right to call it the little flower," he sighed while watching the original cut the petals one by one and chew it in its raw form.


    "Gross!" Arthur couldn''t help to shift his gaze away from this. He didn''t know why but he felt annoyed by this way of eating.


    It was like eating raw grass without anything added to it! For someone who loved meat and appreciated seasoning and cooking techniques, he couldn''t see any beauty in doing this.


    The original didn''t take long before he ate the entire flower. The next moment Arthur felt a sudden gust of wind before he looked attentively at the original.


    "He is changing!"


    Arthur watched the original''s body changing at a fast pace. Its physique started to get a bit smaller while his body began to get covered with smooth skin.


    Unlike before, the original started to look more like humans! His energy began to transform, and the purple fire inside him started to turn white.


    "What''s going on?" this wasn''t what Arthur expected. He thought the originals would turn gigantic and more brutal. However this original in front of him started to grow smaller and became more like humans.


    His skin became softer and smoother, his facial features changed and became more beautiful than before. The more time passed the more shocked Arthur became.


    After all, what he saw in front of him was reminded of him by one person he saw in flesh¡­ The world''s will he once collaborated with and promised her freedom!


    The original developed a set of wings, looking so shiny and with luster that reflected light. The ugly original from before changed to become such a beautiful refined lady.


    And that moment was really shocking to Arthur himself!


    He never expected this twist in events! Not even in his wildest and craziest dreams!


    "How can this be¡­?!!!" As he was shocked, he couldn''t help but think about many wild thoughts. So the first thing he tested here was the slave threads surrounding the original soul.


    So he closed his eyes and started to test his three threads connecting him with the original. "It''s still there," he opened his eyes with a relieved expression over his face.


    If that transformation changed the original into a world''s will and broke him free from his restraints, then Arthur would never do that again.


    Plus that meant he had a brutal battle against such a strong being without even preparing or expecting it!


    Despite him being vigilant and ready to put an epic fight against that transformed original, Arthur didn''t move or speak. He watched the original getting the last touches before a gush of white light emanated from him.


    Arthur could see the white energy emanated from the original at this moment. it was so pure and shiny like a jade. When he focused more, he could see faint lines of golden light inside the bright whiteness.


    "This¡­" the moment the original opened his eyes he couldn''t believe himself. Or she for now as the original turned into such a beautiful lady.


    Even his voice came so sweet that allured Arthur at the moment. however Arthur already knew she hailed from being an ugly original, a man in fact.


    So Arthur couldn''t bring himself to appreciate her beauty. And for a moment there, he was pleased not to get involved with that sexy world''s will from before.


    Or else he would have regretted it right now.


    He was a straight person after all!

 Chapter 965 - Strange Transformation

    "How come I am that¡­ No way! This isn''t happening to me!"


    The sacred words of the transformed original made Arthur realize something. After all, the ones who imprisoned the originals and caused their massacre a long time ago were none but the world''s will from that time.


    And now that original turned out to be one of them. Which meant only one thing.


    "So the ones who killed the originals were¡­ actually the originals themselves?!" It was a shocking discovery but Arthur didn''t jump to conclusions.


    Not before he heard more from this beauty in front of him.


    "Is this normal?" Arthur got the courage to move forward and ask, "did you know this would happen?"


    "No, there must be a mistake!" the sweet tone of that beauty couldn''t match what Arthur had in mind about the brutal originals. Even the firm denial of her seemed to be alluring at the moment.


    "This can''t be the sacred flower of us! There must be a mistake!!" the beauty kept screaming and at this moment she couldn''t control her emotions and cried.


    Arthur was startled by this. He never expected or imagined his brutal originals to even have tears!


    "Didn''t you recognize it before?" Arthur said in an attempt to calm his superior fighter down. He didn''t know how things ended up this way, but he didn''t rush in judging the experiment yet.


    He wanted first to see if this original still possessed her earlier power before transforming or not.


    At this point, dreaming of getting more power from such flowers was a fantasy. He didn''t even consider that at the moment.


    "It looks exactly like it," the original said in a devastated sweet tone, "but it has nothing to do with our sacred flower! The flower was supposed to turn me mightier and unlock my potential. But this¡­"


    The original pointed to his sexy body and felt great remorse and regret. "How come my beautiful body turns into such ugliness?"


    "¡­"


    At this moment Arthur was literally speechless. He never expected the original in front of him to be ignorant of the more important fact.


    He turned into the ones who killed him and his people! The ones who did that ancient massacre and imprisoned the rest inside that prison above.


    "The prison¡­ Wait a minute!!'''' Just when he thought about the prison, a far crazier idea popped up in his mind.


    Unintentionally he turned his head and looked towards the sky. He wasn''t in the real world, but he moved in reflex to spot the place of the alleged prison.


    "It''s not a prison!" Arthur''s mind started to link all the dots at last. He always thought that the originals who survived miraculously from the ancient massacre were kept inside the prison.


    But when he thought about it now, and putting what happened to his original under spotlight, he couldn''t help but see another possibility.


    "Thinking about it, how come such scary beings leave few alive behind?" he muttered to himself while being deeply lost in thoughts. "Even if a bunch of them survived luckily from the massacre, it wouldn''t be hard to kill them later on, right?"


    The more he thought about it, the more he felt mad about his incompetence! He was tricked! Just like everyone else in this universe and this realm.


    Arthur turned his gaze towards the beauty in front of him. This time he started to unveil the thick layers of lies which surrounded the truth and saw it with his bare eyes.


    "The world''s wills are originals, transformed by the flower," he muttered, "and so they didn''t imprison those survivors, they are storing them for later times."


    It all began to make sense now. He realized why there were good hearted world''s wills that helped him during his journey so far.


    He mistook them as people who hailed from his world, his past cultivation world. People like him. But now he could tell this wasn''t true!


    However there was still one piece that didn''t make quite sense.


    "Can you feel spiritual energy?" Arthur suddenly asked out of the blue.


    He still remembered the words he exchanged with that world''s will from before. She told him she was like him, a cultivator who failed a trial and was imprisoned here for eternity.


    However Arthur didn''t believe in this anymore! He had a thought about what happened, but needed to make sure first.


    After all this little chat was the only unlogical piece in the entire truth! And this time he decided to go full out and see the whole truth with his own eyes.


    "Spiritual energy¡­ What''s that?" the beauty seemed puzzled and didn''t recognize what he said.


    But Arthur didn''t hurry to believe her before doing something.


    "It''s like this," without further ado, Arthur took out his sword and stirred his spiritual energy inside his body.


    His base was quite high so when he did so, a gush of energy appeared from him. Arthur didn''t plan to use an advanced technique, only one of the simplest of all.


    He gathered up his energy and slashed his sword to form the shape of a dragon. The slash flew fast before falling at a distant tree.


    "Boom!"


    Despite using a weak technique, his base was overbearing! The explosion left behind a small mushroom cloud and a shallow dent in the ground.


    "This¡­" however Arthur wasn''t looking at his attack at all. He was focused over the face of the beauty. As he expected, she recognized his attack and energy.


    She raised her hands and examined them in a deep frown. She seemed like she was recalling something distant, something lost for a long time already.


    "I¡­ once was a cultivator¡­" and like dropping a nuke over him, she said these words in a deep tone, "I failed my test and was cursed by the heavens. I came here and was imprisoned to become a guardian of this world."


    "¡­"


    At this point Arthur didn''t know what to say or believe. These words were strangely similar to the ones told before to him by the world''s will he met.


    But putting everything he experienced and witnessed in the picture, they looked like bullsh*t!

 Chapter 966 - A Confrontation

    "How come you are a cultivator when you are an original?" Arthur asked while closely watching the face of the beauty.


    The beauty''s face froze for a long minute. It looked like her mind went off and she was sleeping with her eyes wide open.


    Yet the moment she regained her normal looks, she looked like a totally different person to Arthur.


    "Originals? Do you mean those impudent filial creatures of this world?" The words she spoke made Arthur unable to speak for a second. "They are animals! Not worthy of my time or words!"


    "¡­"


    Arthur''s mind stirred up to the max while he rechecked his connection again. Everything looked fine as his three threads of slavery were still holding the soul of that beauty to his will.


    But everything else looked wrong!


    "I¡­ have to call off that idea for now," he dejectedly said and admitted this mistake. He didn''t imagine his high hopes would be shattered in such a brutal way!


    In fact he never expected any of this to happen! However as things turned out this way, he had to figure out what went wrong.


    The second thing he checked was the energy of the beauty. It was pure white with few golden threads within. That was what he saw before.


    But when he rechecked it, he couldn''t help but frown.


    "The golden threads¡­ they got broader and multiplied!`` He found, to his surprise, that the golden threads inside the pure white light of the beauty showed signs of advancement.


    And that enhancement came at the expense of the pure white light.


    When he saw this, his mind recalled a distant memory of his. "That world''s will¡­ She had more golden than white!" he recalled that distant scene from before where he fought alongside the world''s will.


    At that time, the world''s will had golden energy with few threads of whiteness within. "Oh, so that''s the issue then," Arthur finally spotted what went wrong here.


    This beauty came from being an original. Minutes ago she recalled everything as being an original. But now she seemed to become more ignorant towards her past and welcoming a strange story that never happened!


    "Was my spiritual energy the reason for it?" he couldn''t help but raise his sword and examine it. But he, again, couldn''t see this possible.


    After all, the spiritual energy in this universe wasn''t on par with his past cultivation universe.


    "There are more secrets that I don''t know," he finally reached this conclusion, "but luckily I got ways to unveil them."


    He raised his eyes again towards the sky. "Sigh, I hate to admit it but it seems those prophecies of that sect were true."


    To unveil the truth he had to do two things, first to gather more flowers and test them. He wouldn''t do the same as this time and listen to the words of the original like he did.


    He would break down this flower until he found the source of contamination. Without doubt these flowers got contaminated in one way or another and turned the originals into this different race of world''s wills.


    But that didn''t explain this brainwash thing. So he had to go up here and visit the prison himself. He had to see what was going on up there, and what these world''s wills were hiding.


    If this wasn''t involving his future and his fate, he wouldn''t risk doing this. But he was feeling much doubt now. He didn''t know why he was sent here, or what connection his past cultivation world had to this one.


    There was a connection, he was sure of it. Or else how come the original got such a crazy solid story about heavens and tribulations after eating the flower?


    "There is a connection between the two worlds," Arthur firmly believed. And he had to understand that connection so he could understand the purpose of him being here.


    Was he the one to bring peace over the two worlds? Or was he the one to bring ruin and death? He didn''t know, and couldn''t find an answer without knowing more about the truth.


    "But going up there is a mere fantasy for now," he took a deep breath before adding, "so let''s focus on finding the flowers for now."


    "What should I do?"


    As he reached this conclusion and put plans for his future, the beauty suddenly asked in loss. "I¡­ Don''t know what to do."


    "Do you recognize me?" As Arthur finished thinking about his own dilemma, he turned his attention towards this beauty.


    He had to make sure things were cleared out straight away without any misunderstanding between the two.


    "Aren''t you someone who lives under heaven''s rule like me?" the beauty asked in confusion. However that wasn''t the answer Arthur wanted.


    "No, I''m you damn master!"


    Without any hesitation or mercy Arthur activated the link between him and the soul of this beauty. The next instant the beauty''s face changed before a ruthless expression appeared on her face.


    "Oh, so you my enemy," she said in a brutal way and she seemed to be ready to fight. However what she didn''t expect was for her soul to be put under immense pressure out of nowhere.


    "Gush!"


    The next moment she coughed out blood before feeling extremely weak. Her body turned softer and couldn''t help but to slam on her knees.


    "What¡­ Did you¡­ Do to me?" with a stutter tone she asked, but Arthur didn''t give her any chance to resist. He kept activating the link while saying in ruthless tone:


    "Either acknowledge me as your master and lord or perish!"


    "Why¡­ Are you¡­ Doing¡­ this?" the beauty turned into such a weak and helpless being while slamming with her entire body on the ground.


    Despite her weak and soft tone, despite her twisting sexy body on the ground, Arthur didn''t show her any mercy. He knew how terrifying she could be and he had to tame her first.


    Or kill her if things didn''t work out.


    After all he smelled nothing but trouble coming from her.

 Chapter 967 - Many Unanswered Questions

    "Submit to me or die¡­" he said in vicious tone while keeping torturing her soul with his slavery bonds.


    For a few minutes the beauty refused to submit. But Arthur never stopped his torture for even a second. He didn''t want to give her any slim chance of retaliation.


    Or else his life would be in danger next.


    "So you want to die? Fine, I''ll kill you now!" After ten minutes, she didn''t show any sign of submission. So he decided to end things here and finally kill her.


    "Wait¡­ Wait¡­ I¡­ Submit¡­" but before he could do anything, she screamed in panic. She realized now he had full control over her soul and body.


    If he wanted, he could kill her with a whim!


    "I acknowledge¡­ you as my¡­ master and lord¡­" she panted for breath while trying to say the sentence in one go but failed.


    "That''s good to hear," once said Arthur released his control over his soul and let her free. She didn''t even wait for a single second before jumping away from him as far as she could.


    "Where do you think you are going?"


    But the next moment Arthur passed through a portal and appeared meters in front of her. He blocked her path and his sudden appearance in such a way frightened her.


    In reflex she raised her arm and was about to hit him.


    "Are you out of your goddamn mind? Do you want to die for real?" however Arthur''s calm and domineering words made her freeze.


    She looked at him, then at her arm, then at him before she instantly recalled what he was capable of. The next instant she slammed her head on the ground and kowtowed three times for him.


    "Sorry master, sorry lord¡­ I''m a foolish disciple, please don''t kill me, please¡­"


    "Disciple¡­ Hmm¡­" the more he listened to her, the more he became puzzled.


    This word was unique, so unique to the cultivation world. No living soul here would call themselves such a title. But like all other puzzles, he threw it behind his back for now.


    "There will be a time for all this to become clear," he said in promise before motioning to the beauty with his head, "stand up and don''t act foolish ever again."


    "I¡­ Won''t, I promise. That pain¡­ I don''t want to feel it again," the beauty raised her body but kept her head bowed. She didn''t dare to look Arthur in the eye.


    But the latter was busy with something else.


    "Was this¡­ your first time experiencing such pain from me?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "¡­"


    The beauty didn''t know what to say before Arthur shouted at her:


    "Answer me now without thinking too much about it!"


    His shout jolted her body a little before she hurriedly said:


    "It''s the first time meeting a master, so it''s the first time to feel the master''s wrath."


    "¡­"


    And this time Arthur was the one speechless from what he heard.


    "Even painful memories¡­ damn! What kind of contamination is that!!!"


    Even when being possessed, or soul mutated, pain memory never fails! This was something Arthur knew for sure. But now he was in front of an exception.


    "Damn! The more I know the more puzzled I become!" he couldn''t bring himself to peace anymore. He had more unanswered questions to be able to stay calm anymore.


    And the most frustrating thing was the fact that he wouldn''t be able to know anything until he went to the high up prison. "As if this will happen soon enough," he shook his head and decided to take a break from here.


    "Go, stay in the world beyond this portal," Arthur told Gege to open a portal for the beauty to pass through. He decided to keep her in a secluded place inside the garden world.


    She would be monitored twenty-four seven by Gege.


    "What¡­ should I do there, master?" the beauty hesitated for a second before adding, "should I cultivate? I feel my body is weak, not like my former power before failing tribulation."


    "¡­"


    Arthur couldn''t deny it anymore, this curse or contamination or whatever it was was really domineering and perfect! Even he, one who hailed from a cultivation world, couldn''t find any fault in the actions of this beauty right now.


    If he ignored anything else, she would be a typical example of any cultivator!


    "Go and do whatever you wish," he helplessly said before she bowed again and moved inside the portal before vanishing.


    "This¡­ is getting more complicated the further it goes," as she vanished, Arthur could finally release all the tension he was holding inside. "Did you find any possible explanation for all this mess?"


    He asked his three beings in his head, hoping any of them would provide an answer.


    But he was doomed to be disappointed.


    ''Ding! I can''t say I have any,'' the system sighed, ''Ding! This looks a bit more messy than I imagined!''


    ''I think your past world and here are connected together in some way,'' the golden dragon didn''t add anything new to Arthur.


    "I already am aware of that!" Arthur said in impatience, "I want something new. How can someone turn into a totally different one by just eating a flower?"


    This was one of the main puzzles he had. If anything was clear then this newly transformed original was nothing like the old original he had.


    At this point he wasn''t caring about any strength added or gained. He wanted to know the underlying reason behind this.


    ''I can''t give any reason,'' the golden dragon said, ''but did you notice? There is something strange about this beauty.''


    "Everything is goddamn weird about her!" Arthur couldn''t control his rage at the moment and even shouted.


    ''I mean compared with the old chick you met before,'' the golden dragon understood what Arthur was feeling and ignored his earlier attitude.


    "Different?" Arthur calmed down a bit before adding, "the two looked the same to me."


    ''Ding! Mentioning it, I also found something not adding up,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! The old world''s will couldn''t train or cultivate. But this one wanted to do so!''


    ''I recalled the old chick saying that she was stuck at her base, the one she failed that tribulation at,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''but this one said something different. She said her base is weaker than what she recalls, and she looks eager to train.''


    "Saying this¡­" Arthur''s eyes flashed in blue light, "I can see now the difference¡­" he muttered before adding, "Gege, keep me posted about her status."


    ''Roger that,'' Gege instantly complied as she knew what Arthur was thinking about.

 Chapter 968 - The Sparkling Mountain

    Arthur knew the two beings in his head made sense with their words. Things looked fishy in his eyes. But luckily for him he had more space to lock that beauty up.


    He didn''t want her to come in contact with any original, not for now at least. He just wanted to study the flower first and discover the fault in it.


    He was quite sure this was all the flower''s doing. "But who did this and why?" he kept wondering before hesitating about another matter.


    "Should I go back to them? Or go back out?"


    He didn''t want to confront the originals for now. For unknown reasons he felt responsible and little guilt towards them.


    ''Sara is having a long chat with them right now,'' Gege suddenly said, ''and that chick¡­ She is really training!''


    "This fast?" Arthur was surprised when hearing Gege''s words. The latter word''s meant only one thing, that beauty had already shown signs of progress.


    In his eyes this was incredible! He never expected any result for the next couple of days.


    ''Did you forget my garden is special?'' Gege chuckled before adding, "anyway she is making progress in her training. That means she can advance her power, right?''


    "That''s correct," Arthur nodded in a deep tone, "and that adds a lot to the mess right here."


    ''I thought it would help!'' Gege was surprised to hear his comment, but Arthur didn''t say anything about this matter for now.


    "Get me out," he said, "I want to see what these two are doing out there."


    ''What about Sara?'' she asked.


    "Leave her with the originals for now," Arthur didn''t want to interrupt her investigation. After all she would make a great help in gathering reliable and useful information from the originals and then tell him about it all.


    Per his request, Gege summoned a portal that took him outside. The moment he came out, he noticed the presence of many more people than before.


    "They are getting started," Arthur said in content while watching Deem and Gor leading the top workers of theirs and arrange things.


    The two seemed to finish planning the city and were ready to start building. However Arthur knew such a process would be quite challenging.


    "Gege," he suddenly recalled something, "make those inside bring wood, stone, and other materials needed to build the city from the garden world."


    ''Why is that?'' she asked, ''this will take more time and cause a little trouble for those inside. Plus my body is sacred! It''s not touchable by any!!''


    "Just listen and do as I say," Arthur shouted the moment he heard her unreasonable words, "your body isn''t sacred compared to this mountain here. I can''t let them touch the mountain at all!"


    Arthur recalled the building process of all the cities he witnessed. Deem and Gor would first arrange teams to dig the ground, but they would also arrange teams to bring up materials needed from the area around.


    Being the greatest mountain in the area, it was expected for them to ask the workers to get stones from. After all, this mountain was the closest one to the building site.


    So Arthur made sure they wouldn''t touch the mountain by what he asked from Gege. He also wrote a bird''s wing to Deem, asking him to not touch the mountain.


    Unsatisfied with his words, Gege did what he asked for. She opened a lot of portals and many people started to come out of them in the next few minutes.


    "Agnus is doing great inside," Arthur could see the touches of his genius blacksmith. When he remembered him, he decided to bring him out when starting to dig for the Gruben ore.


    After all, and according to Sara, he needed blacksmiths and not miners.


    His wait for Sara took almost the entire night for him. He wasn''t bored actually. Watching the workers diligently digging the ground and laying down the foundation of the Ley Lines diagram was amusing.


    The world seemed tranquil and peaceful in his eyes. He lacked such a feeling and craved it for so long. So he enjoyed himself as much as he could. He prayed that his city would enjoy such an atmosphere forever.


    However just as the sun rose up and became high in the sky, Gege said:


    ''Sara just finished talking to the originals. She wants to come out now.''


    "Bring her out."


    Arthur was enjoying the reflection of sun rays over the mountain peak. The entire mountain was sparkling before under the silver moonlight. But under the sun, it turned entirely into a golden mountain!


    The golden rays of the sun kept reflecting over the mountain, especially its peak. This created a dense sparkle of golden light that added more majesty to the mountain.


    As Sara came out, this scene took her breaths as she was stunned for a long time. She wasn''t the only one feeling so, even the workers felt the same when the sun first rose up.


    Arthur could understand her reaction. After all, this mountain proved to be more useful than just a great beauty to the eye.


    He tried to go up there to check the peak. When he landed there, he felt the rays reflected from the mountain gathering around him and penetrating his body.


    Unlike what he thought, these rays acted in a warm way towards him. Plus they added more energy to his body, energy that felt natural and smooth like he was training on his cultivation just now.


    He realized staying there and training would have great benefits, not only for him. He aimed towards making his entire army step into the cultivation world.


    After the epic battle with the grandmasters from the higher realms he realized this fact. The way mages treated the training here was totally wrong!


    They pushed their bodies over their limits trying to get all the energy out from their souls.. This wasn''t wise or practical, especially when comparing this to using the vast and boundless energy of the world.

 Chapter 969 - Symbols

    One''s energy should be only the guide, not the fuel for power. This was one of the basic and fundamental lessons of cultivation that he learnt since he was a kid.


    But such a small lesson was unknown to people living in this universe. So Arthur decided to start a great revolution here starting with his own army of mages.


    The first step would start by unlocking their potential in cultivation. Then he would gradually shift their mage training to be like the cultivation training.


    It would take time for him to have results, but once succeeded he would be pleased and surprised by the results.


    "Stunning scene, right?" After five minutes, Arthur decided to break her free from the spell of the mountain''s beauty.


    As he spoke, she jolted awake by his words. "Oh, it''s really unique," she said before her eyes shone brightly before hurriedly adding, "I knew a lot about their diagrams. We can use the basics of their knowledge and implement it into our arrays."


    "Oh, you seem to have an idea already," Arthur''s eyes shone as well before asking, "what do you want to do?"


    "We use runes and words to implement our energy pathways inside the arrays," Sara said in excitement, one that Arthur could relate to. After all, he was once so eager to know everything about the universe and heavens. And he still did.


    "Like what?" he asked with curiosity.


    "They use drawings," she said, "tattoos over their bodies for example. They showed me many examples of these tattoos."


    "Tattoos¡­ That''s¡­ Absurd," Arthur didn''t expect this, "how can we use tattoos to control the purple energy or even modify our arrays?"


    He couldn''t get her point yet. So she had to elaborate further.


    "Forget about tattoos, the basic idea is to use natural phenomenons presented by drawings. They mark such phenomenons over their bodies in form of tattoos, but we can use another way like¡­"


    "Drawing these phenomenons on the runes," Arthur finally got what she was trying to convey to him. "But did you get the symbols of each natural phenomenon?"


    "Sure," she nodded in pride and confidence, "or what did you think I was doing all that time inside?"


    "Draw them for me then," Arthur asked, "but have you thought of a way to control the berserk purple energy?"


    "Using tattoos, I mean symbols, of course!" she said in confidence like it was something obvious.


    "I know," Arthur said before elaborating further, "I mean which symbols we need to use?"


    "Ah, I got it, don''t worry about that," she even waved her hand in confidence, "I''m sure the combination of symbols I know will be enough to contain this purple fire. But we need to refine it first."


    "Refine it? What ores you mean?"


    "Yeah," she nodded, "the ores aren''t pure as the originals told me. They had many impurities as they were formed from a certain type of rock that absorbed their powers all the time."


    Arthur understood what she was trying to say. "The prison you mean?" he asked and she nodded in agreement.


    "So we need first to purify the stones and make sure only the purple fire remains," Sara said before adding while raising her index finger like she was teaching him, "but we first need to draw the symbols over all the ores you got. This way we will be sure the purple fire won''t explode in our faces."


    "And you need artisans for this mission? Or can anyone do it?" Arthur needed to test this theory as fast as he could.


    "Artisan will be better," Sara said, "after all the symbols look simple but any small mistake and it''s game over."


    "What about the process of purifying the ores," Arthur said, "do you have anything specific in mind?"


    "They use a different form of blacksmith than ours," Sara sighed as if she had great trouble dealing with this point. "They use the world''s energy as a fire and furnace to melt down the ores and purify them. I dunno if we can do this. So we can use some of them to help in this matter."


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly as he recognized this familiar way of blacksmithing. He used to do that when making pills and potions. However right now the originals seemed to use this way in a totally different manner.


    "You know this way?!" Sara noticed his reaction and couldn''t bring herself to ask about it.


    "Sure, I''m totally familiar with it," Arthur said, "but as we have volunteers, why should I trouble myself then?"


    "Don''t be a lazy emperor," Sara reprimanded in a joking way, "you should handle this matter with more seriousness."


    "I''m," Arthur laughed, "but why bother with it while we have people ready to do all the hard work? Plus this is better in the long run. After all, I won''t be available all the time."


    "Tsk, excuses, only excuses," Sara joked again before the two laughed on what she said.


    "Now let''s start preparing then," Arthur said before adding, "go to Deem and Gor. The two have great stock of papers to use in drawing."


    "Alright," Sara knew he wanted to see the symbols and study them. "But can I ask for something in return?" she suddenly paused from moving and turned to ask in hesitation.


    But Arthur already knew what she was going to ask him about. And he already made up his mind about this point a long time ago.


    "I''ll give you all the kids from the castle of the sky," he said, "so don''t slack off and go and draw me the symbols."


    She smiled in content before walking towards Deem and Gor. She didn''t say any words of thanks but Arthur knew she was very thrilled at the moment to say anything.


    After all this was one of the deepest dreams, if not the greatest at all.


    Arthur didn''t hurry to bring those boys back to her.. After all, he knew this wasn''t the right time for doing that.

 Chapter 970 - The Purple Fire Symbol

    Arthur planned to bring the kids of the sky castle once the city''s foundation was established. Also after solving the puzzle of casting the currency.


    For him he knew it would be great to have more help. But as far as he could remember, anyone with good potential towards blacksmith was picked up by Agnus.


    He watched her return with a large pile of papers, an ink and a brush. She started to work diligently over a table he summoned from his world.


    He also asked Gege to inform Agnus about the part he would do later. He wanted him to be ready and make his men ready as well.


    As for Deem and Gor, the two were now experienced in building cities. They didn''t lack anything now but for the workers to dig deeply enough before laying out the foundation.


    Arthur asked them to use nothing but the purple ore in that foundation. Despite the disagreement of Sara, the two complied with his wishes.


    For Arthur he saw the purple ore as a strong defense against purple fire. He didn''t want his gem to be ruined by the sudden attack of that sneaky bastard.


    Despite lacking any access to this part of the world, Arthur didn''t feel secure. He knew that snake would never stop trying to come at him at any chance.


    So he had to put the worst case scenario in front of his eyes. And that would be by using the black curtain to unleash the deadly purple fire.


    As for the stability of the ore, luckily they didn''t need to do anything but to lay it down. As long as nothing physical touched the ores, they would remain docile.


    So Arthur had to stress over this point. He didn''t want any clash of energy caused by the workers to ignite a disaster in his city.


    Deem and Gor felt stressed over this point, but they promised him to do their best. Arthur trusted them but kept an eye over the workers thanks to the tree of mirrors and Gege.


    When Sara finished, Arthur started to examine the drawings she had. "So¡­ These are the symbols they use?" he looked at her without understanding anything from the drawings.


    First time he heard about these symbols, he had a thought in his mind. For instance he thought fire would be presented by a burning flame, wind with a small gust of wind moving dust, and water with a wave of a sea.


    But the symbols he held in his hands were all made in lines. He examined them all and never felt any familiarity with any of them.


    "Weird, right?" she seemed to enjoy his expected reaction, "I also felt the same at first. However, after understanding the basic idea, everything will make sense."


    Arthur shrugged but said nothing. He wanted to hear that idea to understand these weird lines.


    "They see things with a different eye than us," she slowly explained, "they can see energy in its purest form. So fire to them aren''t flames, but lines rising from one point to the sky. Water for them isn''t lakes, seas, or oceans. To them it''s curved parallel lines moving in synchronicity with each other."


    Arthur could finally find two pieces of symbols that resembled what she just said. "So this is fire," he raised one paper with lines emanating from a single dot, "and this is water?" and on the other hand he raised a paper with curved lines parallel to each other.


    "Yes," Sara nodded.


    "Then what about wind?"


    "They say wind is more explosive than fire. So its symbol is made of chaotic lines that intercept together and move towards one direction in general."


    Arthur looked and found a few drawings with chaotic lines. "Which one of these?" he raised them in the air and asked.


    "This one is a tornado," Sara pointed towards one symbol before adding, "it''s moving towards the sky from the ground, from below upwards. As for this one¡­"


    She pointed at another drawing before adding, "It''s the shockwave after any explosion. The wind moves in all directions like you can see, emanating from one point."


    Arthur looked at the two symbols she just clarified before pointing to one and asked, "what about this one? It looked like a shockwave to me."


    "It''s the purple fire symbol," Sara''s face changed slightly before adding, "they said purple fire is like a shockwave, but acts like a bringer of death to everything they meet in their path. So they represent it in chaotic lines emanating from a single dot like shockwave, but the chaotic lines form many dots along their paths as they kill as they advance."


    Arthur noticed the small dots in the paths of these chaotic lines. In fact he couldn''t find anything weird about their description for the purple fire. This fire acted exactly like they described.


    Sara started to elaborate more about the symbols she drew. The number of symbols she drew was too much. It surprised Arthur when he realized the great number of them.


    He thought the symbols would only represent the main energy of the universe. However the more Sara explained, the more surprised he became.


    There were symbols for main and auxiliary powers, also for some neglected forms of power like gravity, sealing, and even ascension.


    Everything in the universe that could be described as power was represented here. Also feelings were also represented like calmness, coolness, and even rudeness were represented as well.


    But Arthur didn''t care about emotions. He didn''t see any use for symbolling emotions and using them in a fight.


    But Sara had another opinion of her own regarding this.


    "These emotions are the real deal here," she said in an excited tone.


    "I can''t see anything remarkable about that," Arthur said in a cold tone, "they won''t help us in our quest."


    "They will if we used them right," Sara said in more joy as she realized Arthur missed their great use. "For example if we used the emotion calmness with the purple ore, we''ll be able to control its berserk nature."


    "¡­"

 Chapter 971 - Agnus

    "And if we used the emotion anger on any dormant ore with energy, we can magnify its power and make it turn into some sort of explosive ores that you like."


    The more she spoke the more Arthur understood her point. He realized what she was thinking of, and he had to admit that she had an excellent idea.


    "So we''ll first try to turn the ores into docile and dormant state," Arthur started to speak about what he understood so far regarding the plan, "and then we''ll melt them and purify the ores, right?"


    "We can also use the natural powers of purification to help us," Sara added, "and about the Gruben ore, we can also add more tricks to it. Like adding the emotion of admiration or even intimidation. Things like these will add more beauty and value to our currency."


    "That''s¡­ Terrific!" Arthur couldn''t help but nod in agreement, "let''s start then."


    "First we need artisans," Sara stopped him, "I believe my sky castle kids have many artisans and artists inside them, right?"


    Arthur finally realized the secret behind her true joy. "Of course, I''ll bring them now as promised," yet didn''t object to her request and compiled by asking Gege to do that.


    But that would take quite some time. After all, most of the kids who lived in the sky castle were now scattered across his cities here.


    So Arthur asked Gege to bring Agnus out.


    The moment Agnus appeared, he bowed in deep respect to Arthur. "Agnus greeting the lord," he said with a tone full of sincerity.


    "Are you ready?" Arthur motioned with his hand for him to stand straight before adding, "we are dealing with a very dangerous material here."


    "I don''t think anything can stand against my hammer and anvil," Agnus said in confidence before adding, "what ore are we going to deal with?"


    "This one," Arthur took out one purple ore before further explaining the risks involved. He also talked about the diagrams they''d use to make this ore less dangerous.


    Despite the expectations of Sara to see the horror over Agnus'' face, she was doomed to be disappointed.


    Agnus didn''t show anything but pure and honest excitement. For him this was a new challenge he had to conquer. And he loved challenges related to blacksmithing.


    "I have a say in that, if you may," Agnus listened attentively until Arthur finished. Then he added after he gained the nodding approval from Arthur, "I have an old technique that uses cold water accompanied by hot fire in a complicated way to control such explosive materials."


    "Impressive," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly in blue light before Agnus added, "but my current strength can''t pull it through. So I might need my lord''s help in this."


    "Count me in," Arthur instantly agreed. He didn''t doubt his genius blacksmith. Besides, he was curious to see what technique he was talking about.


    "Are you sure?" but Sara on the side couldn''t help but say, "we are talking about extremely violent substances. Won''t it be more dangerous to use such harsh techniques over it?"


    "No, ma''am," Agnus was seeing Sara as Arthur''s lady, "this technique is developed specifically to deal with such substances. Even without the diagrams my lord spoke about, I can still melt it down and purify it without any trouble."


    "Brilliant," Arthur said in admiration to his main blacksmith''s spirit, "but I can''t risk losing you. So let''s be safe and use the diagrams as well."


    Despite believing in Agnus, he didn''t want to risk his life against such a bet.


    "I have no issue with that," Agnus compiled before asking, "when are we going to start?"


    "Right away," Arthur looked at Sara before adding, "you''ll be responsible for making the symbols for now, alright?"


    "What about my request from earlier?" Sara feared that Arthur would go back on his words with her.


    "They are gathering as we speak," Arthur simply said, "but they are scattered along the empire. They''ll take a long time to come here."


    Sara understood his meaning and nodded. "Alright, then I''ll do this part until they come. Later they''ll do this and I''ll just supervise them."


    "Fine with me," Arthur didn''t find any fault with her words. "Let''s set up a place for us to work first¡­ Hmm, what about the peak?"


    He pointed at the far away peak. There were the purest veins of the Gruben ore. Plus it was quite secluded and secured.


    "We can''t dig ores from up there, told you that already," Sara sighed before turning to Agnus, "to get the Gruben ore, we''ll need a blacksmith on that."


    "Us?!" Agnus was surprised the moment he heard that. And Sara nodded to confirm her words.


    "It''s not an easy ore to dig. It can change its physical form when getting outside its rich mineral soil. So we need you to dig it out while using fire to melt it before turning it into a liquid."


    "You mean working on it once extracted?" Agnus asked in an attempt to understand what she wanted.


    "No, I mean liquefying it while still in the ground!"


    "¡­"


    Arthur could only smile before interfering to help his genius here.


    "She means to apply heat directly to the part you are working for. Then after melting the ore, you can get it out."


    "That''s¡­ New for me," Agnus couldn''t help but comment in sincerity, "when any ore is turned into liquid form, it''s hard to control it apart from the mold."


    "Then build a mold first," Sara seemed to expect his words, "and insert it around the part you are working at."


    "But¡­ Won''t that waste part of the ore?" Agnus said before adding, "from what I understood from you, any piece of the ore getting out from the soil will be changed!"


    "What about making a big oven then?" Arthur proposed, "we can cut a large piece of ore alongside the soil around it."


    The eyes of Agnus shone brightly before adding, "putting all together in the oven and working to purify it¡­ It will take more effort and longer time, plus many preparations¡­ However, it will be feasible!"

 Chapter 972 - Taming The Ores

    "That''s¡­ Good to hear," it was different from what Sara had in mind, but it did the trick.


    "But I''ll need some time to make such an oven," Agnus hesitated before adding, "also do you know how fierce the fire needed for this ore?"


    "Well¡­" Arthur turned to his expert, Sara. But the latter seemed oblivious to such a question. "We can work it out and try the fiercest fire first."


    "Works fine for me," Agnus didn''t disagree before adding, "but we need to speak about the mold. After liquifying the ore, it''s best to work on it when it''s still fresh."


    "We need to make coins," Sara said, "circular and flat shaped coins. The coin will be in the size of a closed human fist or slightly smaller. It must be not too heavy to handle, or too light to discard."


    "Hmm¡­" Agnus closed his eyes for a second there, "so you want to make this mold to create as many coins as possible in the shortest time, right?"


    Sara and Arthur nodded together. After all Arthur wasn''t planning to stay focused on making coins by himself forever. And Sara would leave as well to solve the other issues regarding the internal structure of his empire.


    The currency was just the first and biggest obstacle for now. But there were many other things to handle after that.


    "Do you want it to feel cold or warm?" Agnus suddenly asked.


    "I want it to give the sense of power," Arthur was the one to answer. He provided his own image about what his currency should be. "Cold coins aren''t accepted. I want it to feel warm, and better if they give the impression to refresh the person''s energy and give him the sense of power!"


    "Oh, so we need a sort of highly energetic ore here," Agnus turned his head towards the mountain before adding after a momentarily pause, "I get the feeling of tranquility and peace from this ore. It''s not the one we need to get that feeling you ask for, lord."


    "That''s why we''ll use the purple ore in the core," Arthur said with a big smile. "The purple ore has all the energy you need to give such a feeling."


    "Sounds great," Agnus understood the meaning of his lord, "so I''ll go in and start working on the ovens. Also I''ll develop more suited gears to be used in the process."


    "And I''ll start experimenting over the diagrams needed for the purple ore," Sara said.


    "I need you to prepare other things needed for your special technique," Arhtur added, "we''ll work on both ores at the same time to make sure everything is ready before casting the currency."


    "I got it, lord," Agnus said while bowing his head.


    "Snap!" with a snap of a finger, a portal appeared. Without further ado, Agnus stepped in and vanished.


    "Do you think he can do it?" Sara stood by his side and watched Agnus leaving.


    "If anyone can do it then it would be him," and Arthur gave such an answer based on his trust and confidence in his man. He then turned to Sara before adding, "now we have work to do."


    Sara nodded before she recalled something. "To write we need an ink."


    "A strong monster''s blood perhaps?" Arthur asked while he had two monsters popping up in his mind.


    "That will do," Sara nodded, "what do you have? Show me!"


    "I have a colossal dragon and a gigantic octopus," Arthur said with a chuckle, "which one do you prefer?"


    "Hmm¡­ Bring me both!" Sara''s eyes shone brightly before adding, "I don''t know which one will work better."


    "Alright."


    Arthur didn''t wait for long before two large bowls appeared out from two portals at the same time.


    He left instructions for Gege to take blood from the two monsters. Arthur didn''t need to enter and take them himself as he had a lot of capable personnels inside his garden world.


    "Here," he said while pointing at the two large pots made by Agnus and his group. "This is the dragon''s blood and this is the octopus blood," Arthur clarified more about the origins of the two bowls.


    Sara moved and sniffed the two blood while having a satisfying look over her face. "They¡­ Are simply perfect!`` She was pleased by the two before she took a small cup of her own collection and filled it with both blood.


    "You are mixing both?!" Arthur was surprised by her actions. And she nodded.


    "It''s best to mix them both to get better results," she glanced in satisfaction towards the cup in her hand, "now let''s test it over a purple ore of yours."


    "Do you have a certain set in your mind?" Arthur took out a small piece of purple ore and handed it to Sara.


    "I''ll focus on calmness, purification, and sealing symbols for now," she said before adding, "hopefully this will be enough."


    "Alright," Arthur then snapped his fingers, "go, it will take you to the peak of the mountain."


    "Worried about me?" Sara said it with a giggle.


    "I don''t want you to end up dead," Arthur nodded.


    "Alright," Sara passed through the portal and Arthur followed.


    "Just wait here," he said before he started to distribute the purple ore in a grand circle around her. He also left a portal next to her while she felt puzzled.


    "Are you putting these dangerous ores around me?" She was shocked to see what he was doing and couldn''t help but ask.


    "Despite it being dangerous, the ores are the only thing in the world that can contain the purple fire," Arthur said before shaking his hands to remove the dirt, "if things went wrong, that portal will instantly swap your body. You''ll come outside this circle. But don''t forget to let go of the ore you are working on or else¡­"


    "I understand," Sara felt his sincerity towards her safety and couldn''t help but get touched by it.. She took a deep breath while clearing all the unneeded worries and disturbing thoughts out of her mind.

 Chapter 973 - Failing!

    Arthur watched her working with her brush. She dipped the brush into the cup she made before starting to draw.


    Things seemed vague to him from his position. Plus he was totally focused on monitoring the energy output from the ore.


    If the energy showed any signs of going berserk, he wouldn''t hesitate to pull Sara out.


    Contrary to his worries, and as time passed by, the purple aura coming from the ore didn''t increase. Instead it showed marks of decrease. He watched the fiery aura coming from the ore getting dimmer with time.


    "She is doing great," he couldn''t help but commend in a pleased tone.


    ''She knows what she is doing,'' the golden dragon said, ''I bet she''ll be able to control the ore in one go.''


    "Are you confident in her ability or her beauty?" Arthur teased his golden dragon and the latter laughed.


    ''It''s because of the beginner''s luck,'' the golden dragon said amidst his laughs, ''but after that I can''t tell. Let''s wait and see. But if you ask for my opinion, I''ll bet on beauty everytime!''


    "I knew it," Arthur grinned before returning to watch Sara. As the golden dragon expected, the beginner''s luck worked its magic and she finally managed to suppress all the aura of the ore.


    In Arthur''s eyes, that ore turned from a glowing piece of fire into a piece of cold ore. What was left from the old purple aura was the shining purple light that kept shining and fading like it was a beating heart.


    "Finished," Sara turned to him and at this moment Arthur could see the dots of sweat covering her entire face. "I believe it''s safe to use."


    "Give it to me," Arthur walked in person inside the circle before catching the ore that Sara just threw. "You go out," he said before watching her shrug and move outside.


    He held the ore in his hands and felt its aura. As expected it felt colder. Also the sense of danger he used to feel from it vanished.


    "Time of truth," he took out his sword and without any hesitation crashed it over the ore. He didn''t use physical force alone, as he knew it wouldn''t be effective against the purple energy.


    The purple energy was unique in that aspect. It only reacted to other forms of energies, and not physical force.


    As he activated his sword technique and smashed over the ore with his sword, the ore got smashed into many pieces.


    However at this moment Arthur''s eyes shone brightly in blue light as he saw a scene he was familiar with.


    "Take me out, now!" without waiting to know what went wrong he instantly vanished from the place using the portal next to him. And the next moment, an explosion occurred.


    "Roar!"


    It was like a captive beast got unleashed! The explosion was so mighty that it made Arthur doubt the effectiveness of the ore circle he laid before.


    But the circle lasted and managed to contain even this berserk form of the purple energy.


    "What¡­ Did you do it?!!" Sara was shocked and startled by what just happened.


    "I needed to make sure it won''t explode when implying it inside the currency," Arthur simply said before adding, "and I was right. The sealing process of yours isn''t bad, but it isn''t perfect either."


    "¡­"


    It wasn''t nice to stand like this, after succeeding in something this challenging, and hear such bad feedback about what you did.


    So Sara remained silent and slightly dejected. However Arthur didn''t have only negative comments for her.


    "You did great," he said in praise, "you managed to tame the berserk energy and seal it strongly under many symbols. However the approach itself isn''t enough to securely seal this purple ore."


    "What¡­ Do you mean by that?" after taking a deep breath, Sara asked while trying to forget what happened and what he just said earlier.


    "I mean you are trying to suppress the nature of this ore."


    "What''s wrong with that?" Sara didn''t follow his meaning so far.


    "You need to change its nature, not suppress it," Arthur explained, "if you tried to suppress something, then at some point it would explode free from your prison. And that explosion would come with much worse damage than before. Just like what happened now."


    "Changing its nature¡­" Sara couldn''t help but frown while deeply thinking about his advice.


    "Just think about it," Arthur said, "the nature of this ore is to react to any energy. If we changed that, then even without the need to suppress its powers, it would still be safe."


    "Brilliant," Sara couldn''t help but comment in sincerity, "but doing this¡­ might change the nature of the ore itself. It might not be as explosive as you wanted it to be."


    "It will cut a good piece of it, I admit that," Arthur shrugged before adding, "but it''s a beast to begin with. Even if we cut half of its power, the remaining half will still be overbearing and pretty much useful to us."


    Sara nodded in understanding before stepping inside the circle. The place was covered into black charcoal, giving an eerie feeling to anyone.


    But she was already in another realm of her own. She was deeply thinking about Arthur''s words and trying to find a proper way to do it.


    And Arthur stood on the side, totally in silence, respecting her thinking. He waited for a long hour before she finally started to move.


    ''Be ready to grab her out,'' he warned Gege, ''this time the ore might act unexpectedly fiercer than last time.''


    ''Got it!''


    Arthur wasn''t exaggerating when he said that. He knew changing anything''s nature wouldn''t be this easy feat to make.


    As expected, just after one minute the ore started to grow berserk.


    "Take her out now!" Arthur didn''t hesitate to give the order and Gege complied.


    Just before Sara would appear next to him, a more violent explosion occurred.. This time the ores around seemed unable to contain the full outburst of the explosion.

 Chapter 974 - The Formula

    Strong gust of wind came out and hit Arthur in the face. But it was only that.


    "I failed!" Sara came out with a bitter expression before getting knocked down by the strong wind. The scene looked funny and Arthur couldn''t prevent himself from smiling.


    Just as the explosion died, the wind stopped and he went to help her stand up on her feet.


    "That''s expected," Arthur said in a neutral tone, "don''t push yourselves like this."


    "I didn''t know what went wrong," Sara said in a loss before her tone changed to show her determination, "but I''ll make sure to find out my fault before starting over."


    "Good girl," Arthur said in praise before following her inside the ring. He didn''t want to meddle with what she was doing, but he wanted to check the ores.


    "So the ores have a limit against the purple fire¡­ That''s new," he held one purple ore in his hand and thoroughly examined it.


    The ore looked dimmer and colder than before. Also the energy he once felt as fiery blaze went weak as if it was dying.


    Then a flash of thought shone brightly inside his mind.


    "Sara," he turned to her before adding, "take this one and try to test on it instead."


    He threw the cold and exhausted ore to her. The moment she checked it out, her features changed.


    "Where did you get this from?" she turned to him in shock while he only kept smiling.


    "It''s from here," he pointed at the circle, "they got exhausted by the two explosions from before."


    "That''s¡­ This ore¡­ It''s like the energy inside got its nature changed as I wanted!" she shouted in joy as she discovered a solution to this dilemma. "Let me test on it first," she said before giving him her back.


    Arthur only sighed. He knew how absorbed any scientist would be when being on the verge of reaching a discovery.


    So he switched all the ores in silence before stepping outside the ring and waited.


    This time he had this feeling that Sara would crack this puzzle and give him a proper way to control the purple ores.


    "Even in the middle of our failures, hope lies there!" he muttered to himself while his eyes shone in blue light out of his expectations.


    Arthur stood on the side while watching Sara diligently working. She was drawing the earlier symbols again. But this time her spirit and face looked different.


    It was like Arthur, she also felt the same hope and could see the light. As she kept working, the ore started to show signs of getting docile and being tamed.


    "Done!" at last she drew the last symbol there, she raised her head and took a deep breath. She turned then to Arthur before throwing the ore towards him. "Test it out for me, will you?"


    "Sure," Arthur said with a smile before stepping inside the ring. "Get out," he said.


    "No, I''ll wait," but she was so confident this time that she refused to leave. She had this feeling that she had already cracked the hard formula for this ore.


    "As you like," Arthur nodded before he started activating his sword technique. The next moment of activating his sword, he threw the ore in the air before slamming heavily over it with his sword.


    "Crack!"


    The ore didn''t explode like before. It only got smashed like any rock without causing anything. "Cool," Arthur said in content before leaning on the ground and examining the tiny pieces of the ore in concentration.


    "It still has the energy stores inside," he looked at Sara before asking, "how can I unleash the energy there?"


    "You need to have a symbol," Sara said before taking out a piece of paper, "this symbol."


    Arthur looked at the lightning-like symbol. It didn''t give him any insights so he had to ask, "what does it mean?"


    "Unleash," Sara said with a big smile over her face, "do you want to try it?"


    "Sure."


    "But you need to return to your human form first," she said, "also where do you want it to be?"


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to cancel his dragon transformation. Sara also did the same. The ore pieces he held in his hand looked cool as always. "On my back, please," Arthur removed his top clothes before showing his back to Sara.


    "As you like," she said with a chuckle before adding, "but this might hurt a little."


    "No problem."


    As she warned, he felt sting pain in his back with her brushes. The pain came from the blood she was using. However his body was already superb to begin with.


    So such weak pain didn''t hurt him at all. After a few minutes she finished. "Done," she said with prideful tone, "I drew it all over your back."


    Arthur couldn''t see the symbol for now but he put his clothes on again. "I''ll thank you letter for that," and without any warning he grabbed the soft body of Sara''s human form and painted a soft kiss over her lips.


    "What¡­ was that for?!" She was flustered and startled by his sudden move. He looked at her with a wide smile while shrugging.


    "Nothing, it''s just a piece of reward for you," he said, "later you''ll have a bigger reward," he winked at her and that made her face turn rosy without any control.


    "Let''s¡­ see Agnus," she was feeling shy at the moment so she tried to change the subject.


    "He is ready," Arthur said, "he was waiting for us to finish here."


    "We are ready as well," Sara said in confidence.


    "Wrong," but Arthur corrected her by adding, "we unlocked the formula but we lack the exhausted ores."


    She looked at him in a weird and funny way that made him laugh. "C''mon, we need to release more explosions from the ores first to have more of these exhausted ones."


    "Aha," she nodded in realization, "why not use many ores at the ring then? This way we can save a lot of time."

 Chapter 975 - Starting To Dig The Gruben Ore Out

    "Wrong," again he corrected her, "if we did that then we''ll have to work more to deplete them. Let''s stick to our plan."


    She sighed and couldn''t help but follow his words.


    For many hours the two kept working together. They released the energy stored inside the berserk ores on purpose this time. Using the same way as before, they turned failed attempts into mere steps towards success.


    The more time they worked, the more exhausted they had. Sara decided to name them the cold purple ores, and the berserk ones the fiery purple ores.


    And Arthur agreed on her suggestion.


    "We can get Agnus now," After all these hours, the amount of the cold purple ores they got was big enough to let Agnus work. "But we need to keep this going."


    "I know," Sara was slightly exhausted, "but let''s take a break for now."


    "Sure."


    Arthur didn''t do anything apart from placing ores and gathering them. Sara did all the work here. She kept drawing for ten hours straight until she got worn out.


    She wasn''t experienced in this kind of work before. So she deserved a good time of rest.


    On the other hand, Arthur had good news for her.


    "Snap!"


    Just as she was about to come out of the ring, Arthur snapped his fingers. The next moment a group of portals appeared before youths came out from them.


    "They¡­" Sara was shocked for a second to believe her eyes.


    "They are gathered now and ready to work under your command," Arthur gave her a warm smile before adding, "you stay up here and get familiar with each other. I''ll work with Agnus down below before coming up again."


    "Thanks," Sara said in an honest and sincere tone, "thanks a lot for keeping your word."


    "It''s nothing," Arthur then flew away before falling towards the ground. "Bring Agnus out," he said while thinking about the next step in forming the ores.


    Now they didn''t need Agnus secret technique anymore. But he still wanted to see how he was going to do it.


    The moment he reached the bottom, he found Agnus waiting for him with an army of his men. Their number was at least in thousands, making Arthur smile.


    He never expected his genius to take more disciples from the masses he captured so far. But when Arthur thought about the long time of capturing towns and villages, he realized this might be just the tip of the iceberg.


    Agnus must have brought only the elites among others.


    "Welcome lord," Agnus led everyone to bow deeply to Arthur.


    "At least, tell me where you want to work?" Arthur motioned to them with his hand while looking around.


    They were at the bottom of the mountain. The city building was still going and it seemed it would take a long time before it would be built.


    "Any secluded place will do," Agnus said before adding, "but first we need to test how to extract that ore from the mountain."


    Arthur nodded before randomly pointing in one direction, "go and start working there. Will they help you?"


    "They are here to handle the problem of extracting the ore," Agnus said before adding, "melting down the ore with all the dirt around isn''t an easy task. So I selected the unique talents among others."


    As Arthur expected, this group was just the crop of the cream. "How many blacksmiths do you have so far?"


    "At least one hundred thousand," Agnus gave such a scary number to Arthur before adding, "but more than half are just kids learning blacksmiths. There are many great talents there, but they lack enough physical strength to back their talents."


    "They''ll grow up to become refined blacksmiths under your guidance," Arthur said in praise and Agnus could only smile.


    "Thanks for the lord''s kindness," he said before turning to the mountain, "I have gears to help us extract big blocks of the ores and dirt together. But we lack workers."


    "Don''t worry about that," Arthur instantly took out a bird''s wing and wrote for Deem and Gor for that. He asked them to send workers here while saying to Agnus:


    "How many do you want? Ten thousand?"


    "Only a thousand will be enough," but Agnus gave him such an unexpected answer that made Arthur frown.


    "Are you sure?" he asked, "this mountain looks really sturdy."


    "My gears will do their magic," Agnus said in confidence, "but we need one thousand strong workers to operate them."


    "It''s your call," Arthur shrugged before continuing writing down his demand for Deem and Gor.


    As he waited for them to send their selected thousand strong men, Arthur kept himself busy watching the blacksmiths moving big machines through portals.


    The machines Agnus and his men were exporting here were gigantic! They were like twenty meters in height, with many sophisticated things installed inside like wheels and ropes and mechanics.


    Just from the look of it, Arthur realized they would never be built on a whim. Agnus must have thought a lot about these machines, and most probably just started making them a long time ago.


    Each machine was like a gigantic driller, with a concave and curved piece of metal like a gigantic shovel. It also had a giant spear and strange spoon that Arthur imagined it would be for digging earth.


    It also had giant pickaxes that were linked by many metallic ropes. Arthur felt how strong these machines were just by looking at them.


    "They are coming," Agnus said when a group of people approached them from far. "They came faster than I thought."


    "Deem and Gor are already working on the city," Arthur said, "they had many strong workers to select from."


    "That''s great," Agnus rubbed his hands in excitement, "time to use my little babies."


    Arthur didn''t know how such gigantic machines could be described by being little. They were like giant behemoths in his eyes.


    Agnus and his men started to work on the machines, refining the last touches before the group of workers arrived.


    "We greet the lord," they all bowed while adding, "we were sent here under your request."


    "Follow his instructions to the letter," Arthur said in a firm tone. The next moment the workers started to listen to a short description of the machines and how they would operate them.


    Arthur was curious about these machines as well. So he overheard them while listening to Agnus words.


    "This Agnus... he is simply a genius!" After listening to more sophisticated procedures to operate the machines, Arthur couldn''t help but shake his head in amazement.


    He expected these machines to take a great deal of thinking and much time of working from Agnus to come in such shape.


    But what really astonished Arthur was their work! The moment the workers started to work on machines, in smaller groups each fifty people, the machines started to eat the mountain like a lion eating meat.

 Chapter 976 - The Hope Empire

    The machines worked like real monsters in front of Arthur''s eyes. They kept digging the dirt and exposing the depth of Earth non-stop.


    With time, the ore layer started to come clear to their eyes. The Gruben ore run deeply in thick veins from the mountain to the depth of the ground.


    "So it''s like what Sara said," Arthur muttered while watching Agnus directing workers to expose more of the ore without scratching its surface.


    He didn''t want to lose anything if possible. So he tried to find the edges of these veins to extract ores from them with the least losses.


    "It''s starting!" After around an hour, they finally found the edge of the veins. It wasn''t them who discovered it, but the distant workers digging the Earth to lay down the foundations of the city.


    "The veins are so thick to even reach there! That''s awesome!" Arthur flew there and examined the veins exposed. He felt great happiness while assessing the grand scale of this hidden mine.


    It was enormous! Just the mountain surface alone was enough to make tons of coins for his empire.


    And now adding these veins, things seemed secured for his empire''s future.


    "Let''s take it out," As Agnus finally found what he was looking for, he didn''t hesitate to issue the order to everyone around.


    Arthur mistook this for starting to dig the ores out, but they all turned into the portals again to bring the great ovens that Agnus built.


    "I don''t want to risk losing anymore due to our unreadiness," he said to Arthur when he noticed his weird look.


    "Cool," Arthur waited for such a long time so waiting for more minutes wouldn''t harm. But the wait stretched out to reach another hour.


    Agnus and his workers didn''t leave the ovens alone. Once taken out, they started to lay down at their workplace. They ignited fire and worked on the ovens to be ready.


    "I''ll leave them to work over the ore," Agnus came to Arthur before adding, "but I''ll work on the molds of the coins. What drawing do you want there on its surface?"


    Arthur was surprised before he understood what Agnus meant. Without hesitation Arthur answered: "A dragon!"


    "Works for me," Agnus said before he started to work on the mold. On the other side his workers started to work in two teams. The blacksmiths were responsible for the ovens, while the workers sent by Deem and Gor were responsible for operating the machines.


    It looked very organized. But Arthur was more interested in the mold that Agnus was making. It was a very broad one, extending beyond ten meters in length and width.


    It was made up of rubber like material, one that could sustain the intense heat of the melted liquid.


    Agnus used rounded metal to make indentations inside the mold before he grabbed a fine steel needle and started to inscript drawings and writings over it.


    "What''s the name of our empire, lord?" all of sudden and as Agnus was totally absorbed in working and Arthur was lost in watchhing, Agnus asked.


    "Well... call it the Hope Empire," Arthur thought about the suitable name for a long moment. He never thought about giving his empire a good name before.


    As he learnt about many secrets of this universe, he decided to call it Hope. As a symbol to what his empire stood for.,


    He wanted to give hope for all the people living under the skies of this universe. Hope to break free from all shackles and make sure to soar to the heavens.


    He didn''t like how things are in this universe. After learning all these secrets, he was quite sure that the people living here, including those on the dark side, were all fooled by the actions of the world''s wills.


    These world''s wills held great secrets. What happened to his original after eating the flower made him realize things were much deeper than they looked.


    He could already sniff dirty hands playing and messing with the universe. So his empire would stand tall and act mighty against all these foul deeds.


    He would revive hope again and clear all the dirt over the eyes of those living in this universe.


    "Nice name, lord," Agnus also liked the name despite not knowing what Arthur knew.


    In the next hour, Agnus worked not only on this mold but on many others. He worked diligently until ten big molds were formed.


    The molds didn''t all have the same design. In fact half had one design of a dragon and another had another design with the word ''Hope Empire'' written clearly there.


    "Why do you have two different kinds of molds?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask once Agnus finished.


    "As I got the idea from the lady, I''ll have to put two molds against each others to make the coin ready," he said before adding, "the coin will have two sides, each will have two different engravings to add more prestige to it."


    "I like it!" Arthur said in honesty, "start working now."


    "Thanks for lord''s generosity," Agnus bowed before leaving to watch the work of his two groups.


    The ovens were already ready. Their hearts turned white from the intense temperature of the fire. As for the workers extracting ores, they already got out three large pieces of ore covered with dust.


    The dust layer was so thick that it prevented Arthur from seeing the shiny and beautiful surface of the Gruben ore. But that was the point, as the dirt would act as an insulator to protect the precious ore inside.


    As Agnus expected, the ore was kept safe inside this thick layer of dirt. However, that also meant more work for his men.


    "Let''s go boys," he finally gave the order for his men to start working on melting the ore, "don''t let a speck of dust remain there. Remove all impurities and work as hard as you can."


    Per Agnus orders, the workers started to move one giant piece of ore towards the place of ovens.


    "How is he going to cut them down?" Arthur waited on the side and watched in anticipation.

 Chapter 977 - A Pleasant Surprise

    Despite waiting for something interesting, the only thing that happened was something totally normal.


    "Crush it into pieces," Agnus stood in front of the big piece of ore and dirt before giving the order to his workers on the machines.


    And without any hesitation the machines started to crush the ore into smaller pieces.


    "This..." Arthur was surprised when he saw that. However the next moment more machines worked to carry the smaller pieces fast and threw them into the ready ovens.


    "Oh... So that''s why he made the oven ready first," Arthur realized what Agnus was aiming for.


    The big ore was crushed into smaller pieces, all were thrown inside the many ovens scattered in one place. Agnus kept giving his orders to everyone until he was satisfied with their performance.


    Then he turned back to his lord.


    "Lord, it''s time for us to work on the ore you mentioned before," Agnus said, referring to the purple ore.


    "Prepare your oven then," Arthur said before asking Gege to inform Sara to come here.


    In less than one minute, Sara came descending from the mountain peak. Gege told him that she refused to pass through the portal.


    But when Arthur saw her face, he knew she was too happy to go down here without flying like this.


    "What''s up?" she asked in a refreshed tone that seemed weird over her nature.


    "We are ready," Arthur said while pointing at the molds, "Agnus prepared everything. Only the purple ore is remaining."


    "Hmm..." Sara didn''t comment as she returned to the older self of her. She examined the molds and seemed to get the idea of having two versions here.


    "We need to modify this a little," she said before adding, "we''ll need to cast the coin by the purple ore in the center."


    "That''s why I made two molds for that," Agnus said in an attempt to explain his idea.


    "I know," she said before nodding, "and I like it. But this isn''t enough."


    "..." Agnus seemed puzzled while Artur asked:


    "What do you want?"


    "We need a tool to press the two molds against each other," she said while putting both palms against each other and compressing the distance in between, "like this, we''ll work over each coin separately."


    "This... will ruin the entire mold!" Agnus understood her meaning but seemed not to agree with it.


    "That''s the only way to make sure both sides are well merged together," she explained, "or else the coin will appear like two parts linked together. That would make anyone want to see what lies in between, right?"


    Her words made logic the more she spoke. Arthur couldn''t find anything to refute her with, neither did Agnus.


    "Sigh," Agnus could only lower his head and go to adjust his mold. It wasn''t hard to make such a tool to compress the two sides against each other.


    But the only issue here was that he had to return to make the entire molds again. Which meant losing more time doing that.


    "You don''t need to make new molds each time," Sara suddenly stopped him. She seemed to realize what was bothering him, "you can return them again to their initial places."


    "That''s... hard to achieve," Agnus said in a dejected tone as if he already thought about doing that.


    "Not if you made the mold softer so the pieces squeezed against each other wouldn''t separate but dent. That way you won''t need to remake them again."


    This time her words made his face shine brightly before he said: "I know what I should do!"


    "Good, I also have work to do here," she said before turning to Arthur, "even with my symbols, I''ll need to make more symbols over the pieces of the cold purple ores. But I''ll need a mold for that!"


    "Agnus..." Arthur didn''t answer her but asked his genius blacksmith. And the latter nodded.


    "I''ll make the mold by the specifications you want," Agnus said before adding, "but the symbols... I don''t know how to make them."


    "Leave them to my boys," Sara said in pride before turning to Arthur, "can you bring them down?"


    Arthur was surprised to hear that. He thought she would take hours, even days to teach them this craft of hers.


    But it seemed he underestimated those kids from the sky castle!


    "Just open a portal and those ready will come here," Sara mysteriously said and that made Arthur''s expectations soar higher than before.


    Arthur snapped his fingers and waited. A portal appeared in front of the two while Agnus started to work on his idea.


    "We greet the lord," a batch of ten disciples appeared before bowing and greeting Arthur. Arthur imagined there would be fifty kids here, but he only found ten.


    "Just... Them?!" he wanted to make sure but the silent smile over Sara''s bright face told him there were still more coming this way.


    And that was the case.


    "We greet the lord."


    "We greet the lord."


    "We greet the lord."


    .


    .


    .


    "We greet the lord."


    "We greet the lord."


    Batch after batch kept coming out of the portal while greeting Arthur in the same way. For a second there, he mistook what Sara did up there wasn''t teaching them about symbols but about greeting and bowing to him.


    At last no one came out of the portal before closing up. Almost three hundred kids stood in front of Arthur, making his smile bigger.


    "What do you think?" Sara said in pride, "happy now?"


    "Very happy," Arthur answered before laughing. "I never thought you''d teach them so fast and in such great numbers."


    "Hahaha," Sara laughed before clapping her hands in an elegant way. "Time to work boys, go to master Agnus and help him in making the mold we discussed before."


    "Yes ma''am, all the disciples bowed and greeted her in respect and veneration that was obvious to Arthur.


    And that change of attitude made Arthur puzzled about what and how she did such feat!

 Chapter 978 - Getting Everything Ready To Cast The Currency

    Arthur watched them go towards Agnus while Sara stayed behind. "Won''t you go with them?" he was puzzled by her confidence that he saw over the board.


    "They''ll be fine," she simply answered, "just wait and watch."


    "¡­"


    Arthur didn''t trust her this much. After all, she didn''t have enough time to teach them all the symbols. They also didn''t have time to practice.


    But when he went to see them working, he was surprised to see their efficiency. They worked like they were born to do that, like they trained for this for their entire life.


    The surprise seemed obvious on his face that Sara even laughed at his look. "Told you, they are geniuses."


    "I¡­ Can see that!" he was shocked to see them doing the symbols right from the first attempt. He didn''t know what magic Sara used to make them like this, but he was pleased to see such a result.


    Agnus made the mold of the cold purple ore like the youths demanded. The mold contained many small concave spaces that could create many tiny balls.


    And the kids kept writing small symbols all over it.


    "I created a new mix of the symbols to use here," Sara said before elaborating further, "I made sure to make symbols resonating with the dragon symbol on your back. Like this anyone with such a symbol can unleash the hidden power in the coins."


    "That''s great," Arthur said in an honest tone, "but won''t others imitate this tattoo later on?"


    "They can''t," she shook her head before pointing to the blood bottles scattered amidst the kids, "to make the tattoo work, it must be made by the blood I created. And you alone hold the privilege of such blood."


    Arthur understood her meaning and nodded in satisfaction. It would be bad for him if he took all this trouble and his enemies managed to crack the way to activate the energy inside his coins.


    However this way he was sure no one would do such a thing. After all the blood Sara created came from two different kinds of blood. And he was the sole person who could get such blood.


    The only threat remained was for anyone to try and steal the blood from them. But he didn''t worry himself too much about that. After all, for his enemies to cause enough trouble, they needed to produce such tattoos in mass numbers.


    Using only a small amount of blood wouldn''t help in any way. So Arthur stayed silent while watching Agnus working diligently with the youths.


    On the other hand, everyone here was doing their best. The remaining kids up at the peak were making more cold purple ores. The workers at the ground were extracting more giant pieces of Gruben ore.


    As for the blacksmiths Agnus brought, Arthur felt they weren''t as special as Agnus. However they were doing just fine in cleansing the Gruben ore from all dirt and impurities while repeatedly melting and hammering it from time to time.


    As for Deem and Gor, the two led a large army of workers to lay down the foundation of the city. Arthur was feeling great satisfaction from watching all this.


    It looked like a bee hive where everything was smoothly going on and without any issues.


    In less than an hour, everything was finally ready.


    "We can start testing the process now," Agnus said to Arthur once the youths finished their part.


    His mold for the Gruben ore was ready. His blacksmiths finished cleansing and preparing a large deal of Gruben ore. "It''s time to smelt down the purple ore."


    Arthur realized he was about to use his secret technique. But he knew it wasn''t needed anymore. The previously dangerous purple ore turned to be the docile cold ore.


    So wasting more time in doing unneeded technique wasn''t required. Despite his eagerness to see that technique, Arthur decided to wait for another time.


    "We don''t need to use the secret technique of yours," Arthur stated before adding, "let''s do it the normal way."


    Agnus looked a bit hesitant but Arthur instantly activated his sword technique. Such action startled the poor blacksmith before Arthur smashed one piece of the cold purple ore that he just took out from a portal.


    "Crack!"


    The ore smashed into tiny pieces without causing any problems. "See? It''s safe now."


    "Amazing," Agnus seemed to see a thing or two through the cold purple ore. He grabbed a few pieces before closely examining them. "These symbols are working like magic! Can we use them in a blacksmith?"


    He asked Arthur with eagerness. But the latter didn''t have the answer to such a question. So Arthur turned towards Sara who grinned.


    "Sure, why not? I''ll leave behind a few of my beloved geniuses to teach you and your people how to draw and use the symbols."


    "Thanks for your generosity, ma''am," Agnus bowed in sincerity while Arthur could only inwardly sigh.


    Sara just boasted in front of this poor blacksmith, but the latter was thanking her in return.


    "Bring my oven here," as everything was settled, Agnus shouted at his distant workers to go inside the garden world and bring his personal oven.


    The moment his oven appeared, Arthur could tell how special it was. Apart from being made from a special kind of ore, the entire oven was covered in writings and drawings, giving the oven more strength to it.


    Plus he saw a few runes bulging from the side of the oven. It seemed Agnus implanted them there while casting his oven to strengthen it or add fierce power to its making.


    The workers also brought his anvil, his personal kit tool, in addition to a big group of fiery ores.


    "Let''s start," Agnus raised up his sleeves before starting to work over his oven. He was experienced and well adapted to use his oven despite its large size.


    The first thing he did was to clean the oven from inside. He made sure nothing stayed there by using a special piece of fabric for that.


    "This piece was tailored to me specifically to suit my needs," he explained before he started to ignite the fire.


    It seemed like he was as much excited as Arthur and Sara by reaching this far.. After all, trial was only left to have the final product and give birth to the empire currency first batch ever made.

 Chapter 979 - The Hope Empire Coin

    This time Arthur stood on the side while watching in expectation what Agnus was doing. It wasn''t anything new as the genius and young blacksmith put the cold purple ores inside the oven when the temperature was suitable.


    Then he started to use a big fan to add more air inside the oven to keep the temperature rising. Arthur couldn''t see clearly what was going inside the oven.


    But he could follow everything happening via watching the energy changes. His eyes provided him this privilege. But he could only see the changes in energy and couldn''t see what was going inside.


    The first reaction between the ores and fire left a surge in power that startled Arthur. He felt this would lead to an outbreak of the sealed power inside the ores.


    But as time passed on, and after ten minutes inside the oven, this surge calmed down and retreated to become just like specks of purple light shining around the ores.


    The small pieces of the ore were acting like stars in Arthur''s eyes at first. But at the end of ten minutes, they melted down and became nothing.


    "It''s working!" Arthur muttered in delight while watching the weak spots of energy coal leasing together. They formed a thin layer around the purple hot liquid, with no sign of resistance or rebellion at all.


    Agnus then took out a few of the melted ore and placed it over his anvil. Arthur thought he would strike using his hammer but he threw more cold purple ore inside the oven.


    Then he left them to the heart inside the oven while holding his hammer and worked over the slightly cooler melted liquid.


    Each strike released a lot of sparks. Arthur could see through his eyes that these sparks were black and grey in color.


    They were holding a lot of impurities and dust. And that was the sole reason for Agnus doing.


    After firing his hammer with all his might for an entire minute, Agnus returned this piece inside the oven before holding his fan. He increased the temperature again before grabbing another piece of the melted ore and placed it on his anvil.


    He didn''t forget to add more cold purple ore inside his oven. And as time passed, he continued to do so for the entire three hours.


    Then he was ready for the next step.


    "Bring me the purple ore molds," Agnus shouted all of a sudden before holding the special plate at the bottom of the oven and grabbing it out.


    The oven was massive, reaching almost over five meters in height and over ten in length. So the plate that Agnus grabbed, which didn''t exceed half meter width and one meter tall, was only one of many placed inside the oven.


    Agnus'' workers moved swiftly to bring the mold he and Sara''s youth worked over it before. Just as the mold was placed next to Agnus, he poured the hold and melted liquid over the spaces inside the mold.


    He kept moving fast so that he wouldn''t let the liquid solidify. Or else he would return again and begin the whole process from the start.


    "Clang!"


    With no care at all, Agnus threw the emptied plate and hurried to grab another one. At this moment he wasn''t working alone as few other blacksmiths came to help him in that task.


    As they all filled the spaces inside the mold, it was time to let the liquid cool off.


    "Bring me the holy water," Agnus shouted and instantly the group of blacksmiths around him took out flasks filled with strange silver water.


    Agnus spilled the water over the hot liquid, releasing a thick cloud of vapor.


    "It''s finished," Agnus took out one small ball and examined it in content. He went to Arthur before bowing as he stretched his hand to offer this to him.


    "Amazing work," Arthur took the ball and examined it while Sara said in content and satisfaction. The surface of this small faint purple ball was covered halfway in symbols.


    "Shouldn''t we cover the entire surface with these symbols?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "Then how can the two ores interact together?" Sara provided an explanation as she added, "these symbols don''t act only on the purple ore. But they shield it from the Gruben ore. We need the two to interact together to bring forth a stronger form of currency."


    "¡­"


    Arthur wasn''t experienced in this matter but her words did seem logical. "Go, start working on the Gruben ore next," Arthur said while throwing this ball back to Agnus.


    "Right away, lord," Agnus said in deep respect before he returned to his blacksmiths and workers first. He left them here to work hand in hand with Sara''s kids.


    After all this was just an initial trial, and it succeeded. They needed to start mass producing these purple balls.


    They lacked molds, and Agnus wouldn''t stand back and keep himself busy here. What he was doing wasn''t special and his blacksmiths could do the same.


    After he arranged things here, he headed towards the place of the Gruben ovens. His blacksmiths were hammering and purifying this ore for long hours now until it became crystal clear.


    And under the light of the sun it appeared like pure crystal for sure. It was reflecting the rays perfectly fine, giving a more pleasant scene than before.


    It was purified now, and that shining liquid, shimmering under the sun rays was something Arthur wanted to paint the entire mountain with.


    But he knew this wouldn''t do any good. As Sara said, if the ore was taken away from the dirt, it would degenerate with time.


    Arthur saw the dropped pieces of ores left over on the side. They were unintentionally missed during the breaking process. And now all the glittering and shimmering abilities these pieces had were lost.


    So he realized now what Sara meant from earlier.. Yet he could only regret not purifying the entire mountain and having a mountain made out of pure crystals.

 Chapter 980 - The Hope Empire Coin - Part 2

    "Bring the coin molds here," Agnus shouted before heading to the ovens and checking the liquid himself. He even took some pieces out and started to hammer them hard.


    But his men did a brilliant job here. All the melted Gruben ores were now purified from any dirt or impurities.


    "Ready," he shouted before moving a plate from one oven. The ovens here were much smaller than his. So each one only contained a group of five plates at max.


    As he took the plate out, he hurriedly poured a small amount of the hot liquid inside each space while shouting.


    "Put the balls in each space I filled, hurry!"


    He had workers following him while carrying the readied purple balls he made. All they had to do was to put the balls inside the semi-filled space before he returned to fill them up.


    "Bring the other mold!" as he was filling the holes inside the mold, he demanded the second part.


    He was supposed to put the two against each other. Arthur thought he would fill the other one before placing the two sides against each other.


    But he didn''t do that.


    Once the mold was brought, and as he finished pouring his liquid, he asked the workers to put the two on top of each other.


    At this moment Arthur realized two things he missed about the second mold.


    The first thing was that the holes were made identical to the ones in the first mold. The second thing was the presence of small holes in the back of that mold.


    So once the two molds were placed together, Agnus took out a small needle-like metallic tube before his blacksmiths moved to assist him.


    Under the watchful gazes of Arthur, the workers took the plate back and brought another. Also few stood beside Agnus and held similar needles like him.


    They all placed the needles inside the holes. Before proceeding any further, they made sure the distance of the needles was enough to not cause any problems in the final product.


    "Bring the distillers!" Agnus demanded and then more blacksmiths came and took out a strange tube that was narrow at one end and very wide at the other.


    "Have you calibrated it?" Agnus asked and they nodded. Arthur on the side didn''t know what he was speaking about until they started pouring the liquid.


    He noticed the presence of a mark over each tube. The moment the liquid reached it, those holding the plate stopped pouring any more.


    "So they measured the amount needed to fill the molds before doing it¡­ Brilliant!" Sara on his side said in pure admiration, and Arthur could only nod in agreement.


    "It''s really nice to have smart and capable people beside you," he muttered, "that would make many things easier."


    Sara looked at him in silence while wondering if he was referring to Agnus here or to her as well.


    In fact Arthur was feeling grateful for his luck. He was surrounded by an astounding group of elites. Without them he would struggle more to reach his current rank, and might even take longer to do so.


    As Agnus and his men kept pouring the liquid in caution, they had to return the plate and bring another from time to time.


    It was understable that the hot liquid would turn a bit solid if left in open colder air. After half an hour of doing so, they finished the task.


    "We''ll leave it to cool off," Agnus said before turning to Arthur, "my lord can rest a little. This will take a bit of time."


    "I''m fine this way," but Arthur firmly refused the offer of his genius youth. Agnus nodded in understanding before turning to his men and issued orders.


    Then he left to check over the purple ovens to make sure things were going smoothly there.


    The wait for Arthur lasted for two hours. During which Sara left to check over her kids as well. Agnus kept coming and leaving, while supervising over the others when they first attempted to cast his currency.


    "His confidence in his work is admirable!" Arthur said in praise. Agnus wasn''t even doubting his success at all and started to act like the currency attempt was a success.


    Arthur didn''t try to stop him. After all he also shared the same belief and confidence.


    From time to time Agnus would check over the two molds and see if the liquid solidified enough or not. After two hours he finally removed the upper mold and examined the looking solid currency.


    "Holy water!" he demanded and as flasks of water came to Agnus, he poured what was inside over the entire mold.


    To Arthur''s surprise the currency released the same thick white hot vapor like it was taken out from the oven.


    Arthur didn''t know that the Gruben ore reacted with the cold purple ore and the two stored heat inside as a form of energy.


    If Agnus didn''t use this special water of his, the currency would take even days to cool off and might even take longer.


    "Bring that mold back," after the thick clouds of white vapor were cleared away, Agnus pointed to the mold he removed earlier.


    He placed it again on top of the currency before he flipped the two molds with the help of his men.


    Then he removed the second mold and sprayed his water over it. The amount of vapor released wasn''t as thick as the first time, but it was enough to shield vision from anyone.


    "It''s ready¡­" Agnus said but he didn''t dare to take any coin out. He said these words as an invitation to Arthur to come and see for himself.


    And Arthur didn''t hesitate to move towards the ready currency of his empire.


    "I''m coming too," Sara landed in haste as if she raced time to be here. Arthur didn''t say anything and only smiled at her before he grabbed the first coin and checked it.


    The coin felt cold and slightly heavy in his hand. It was big enough to fill his palm. On one surface a dragon was appearing there, and on the other a writing of his empire name was there.


    "This silver and purple mixed color will be the symbol of my empire from this day onward," Arthur said while seeing the shining silver color of the currency with specks of faint purple scattered along its surface.


    Anyone holding it wouldn''t doubt anything. No one would ever suspect the fact that this so beautiful coin was holding a deadly bomb inside.


    "It''s so beautiful!" Sara said on his side while her breaths were taken away from the look of the coin in her hand. "It''s even prettier than I initially thought."


    "Thanks to you, we can have our currency," Arthur said in acknowledgment and Sara only smiled but said nothing.


    Her sole desire was satisfied already. She wanted the kids of her empire, of the sky castle. And now she had her desire fulfilled.


    She wasn''t a greedy soul looking for any benefit when time was ripe. She only sought what she deemed worthy and rightful for her to own.


    "And thank you also," Arthur turned to Agnus who seemed flustered by this sudden praise. "And thanks to you all, my empire will always remember this day and your contributions here."


    Arthur said these words in a loud and majestic tone, a tone that suited a true emperor indeed.

 Chapter 981 - A New Threat!

    It was such a big day in Arthur''s life. The currency wasn''t that important to him like the meaning of it.


    He now solved a big issue of his empire. Plus he also gained a weapon for his people to use. Now he could lay his back and watch his empire thrive.


    As the trial was such a success, Agnus and Sara started to be busy alongside their followers. The two were smiling all the time in pride and happiness.


    Agnus was very happy about solving this mystery regarding the purple ore. The symbols he learnt about opened a new world to him.


    He listened attentively to the explanation Sara personally gave. Then her kids started to draw symbols and teach others how to do it.


    Aside from Agnus, only a few blacksmiths here managed to grab the symbols in a short time. Others seemed to lack the talent to do so and would require a long time to learn such drawings.


    Sara was happy about gaining her lost empire kids at last. Her joy about having and using them in work was unparalleled! Even the joy of cracking the mystery of the currency and casting it at last wasn''t on par with her joy of the kids.


    Arthur stayed on the peak of the mountain watching everything working in his favor. Deem and Gor already laid down a great deal of the foundation of his city.


    This meant they would start working on the body of the city soon. "I guess it will require a week or two to finish this," Arthur estimated roughly the duration needed for his city to come to light. "Any news from the frontlines?"


    As he was totally absorbed here, he didn''t miss following the news of the ongoing battles from time to time.


    ''Like usual,'' Gege said before adding, ''they started to expand and are winning everywhere.''


    "And the skeleton army?" Arthur asked.


    ''They are gaining more numbers plus evolving.''


    "Any dragons?"


    ''Not yet!''


    "Sigh," Arthur shook his head in disappointment. He wanted to see a true bony dragon to assess its value to him.


    ''Don''t be hasty,'' the golden dragon laughed, ''having a dragon isn''t like planting weeds.''


    ''Ding! He is just used to summoning his dragons using his power,'' the system jokingly said.


    Arthur laughed with them before Gege suddenly said:


    ''I detected a hidden base of the enemy by the help of the tree.''


    "Base?" Arthur didn''t get it at first before his eyes shone brightly in blue light. "Don''t tell me¡­ Like the ones having the black curtain?"


    ''Yeah, and it''s not just one base,'' Gege said, ''they are a cluster. I believe they thought no one would ever find them.''


    Arthur found her words a bit strange. "Where are these bases located?" he couldn''t help but ask. After all from Gege''s words he could tell their location was well hidden.


    ''Under the ground?'' the golden dragon asked.


    ''Ding! Under water?'' the system guessed.


    ''No, they are over the clouds!'' but Gege''s answer surprised everyone for a second. No one here even considered looking up and searching for a base over the clouds!


    "How can they build something like this over the fragile clouds?" Arthur couldn''t get how this was done.


    ''Come and see for yourself then,'' Gege didn''t explain as it was hard to give such an answer.


    Arthur entered his garden world before he reached inside the mirror tree world. The small mirror trees were looking fine, but they were far from being grown up like the big and gigantic mother tree.


    Inside the mirror world, Arthur looked at the big mirror inside while watching the grand scene projected from the surface of the mirror.


    "They are using special arrays for that!" The first thing he noticed was the dense arrays.


    The bases he saw were all like the settlements he conquered before. However they were lying peacefully over flying islands that were fixed over gigantic clouds.


    Clouds there looked weird. They were dense, black in color, and seemed to be clustered there against the will of nature.


    Arthur couldn''t see any lightning arcs coming from such clouds, which was even more bizarre!


    But he could see flashes of light passing in long lines in the depth of the clouds. Just looking at this image from far gave him the general layout of dense arrays inside the clouds.


    He also saw large pillars at the islands to create more arrays and control them. "So they made such a great hideout just under our noses¡­ Pretty much interesting," Arthur commented.


    The location of this large group of bases, which reached fifty under his initial observation, wasn''t that far from the borders of his empire.


    ''They weren''t there a couple of days ago,'' Gege said when Arthur returned to the real world, ''but I noticed the strange movement of such clouds against the wind. So I decided to check them.''


    "They can move too¡­" Arthur paused while thinking about this. "Coming from such height and hidden in such a way means only one thing; they want to attack some place in the empire."


    ''I believe they are after the newly built cities,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! I think they will attack well built cities and conquer them,'' the system said before further elaborating, ''Ding! They need a strong foundation to support their presence here. Having both strong bases on the ground and in the sky will make their presence here unshakable.''


    "And from this point they can expand further using their hidden bases," Arthur said while agreeing over the system''s viewpoint. "Then we can''t let them have it their way."


    ``We need to scan and search for more like these bases,'''' the golden dragon said, ``I don''t think they''ll just send one group here.''


    "Gege¡­ Scan the entire sky of my empire first," Arthur''s tone became cold, "I don''t want any dirty bastard to be inside my empire. Then expand outwards and see if there are other bases like this coming towards my empire."


    ''Alright,'' Gege went to start her search while the golden dragon said:


    ''We need the army to get them!''

 Chapter 982 - I Will Shake Even The Heaven Itself To Protect My Empire!

    "No need," but Arthur had another opinion, "I''ll put the originals at use. Plus my dragon army as well."


    ''Ding! Are you sure?'' the system seemed to agree with the golden dragon here, ''Ding! These settlements look a little weird.''


    "Because they are on clouds?"


    ''Because they are coming towards the empire,'' the golden dragon said, ''that means they have a great offensive army able to take cities from your hand in a short time.''


    ''Ding! They can''t risk a long war there. Or else you''ll come with the great army to crush them.''


    ''Besides,'' the golden dragon added, ''they must have strong defensive abilities to help in securing cities conquered by them.''


    ''Ding! And most of your army is ground troops. You need flying mages like those coming from the upper realms.''


    Arthur understood their points fully, but he couldn''t help but hesitate. "Those high realmers are the leaders of my armies," he expressed his worries, "taking them out of the picture will render my entire forces paralyzed!"


    ''It''s not a big loss to halt the advance of your troops,'' the golden dragon said but Gege came with more bad news.


    ''We can''t do that!'' she suddenly said, ''I discovered many bases like this drawing close to our armies. I believe they are tailing them!''


    "That means¡­" Arthur paused while his mind linked the dots, "they want us to retreat our strong forces and then they''d come to hit those weak ones."


    ''Ding! That''s a big scheme,'' the system said, ''Ding! No way they just laid it out! They must have a strong foundation somewhere else where bases like these can be built over clouds easily.''


    "Do you mean¡­" Arthur paused while the golden dragon said:


    ''This kind of settlement isn''t rare or unique in this world. There must be an easy way to make them.''


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to issue his order. "Bring Fox and Lara out! Now!"


    If there was such a thing in this world, then these two must know a thing or two about it. The more Arthur thought about this the more he believed in what the system and golden dragon just said.


    "What about other places?" Arthur asked while watching two portals open in front of him.


    ''I''m still searching, but I''m sure I''ll find more.''


    ''Ding! I believe so!''


    ''This isn''t a single attempt from them. This is a full out war now!''


    Arthur nodded in agreement while watching Lara and Fox appear with startled faces.


    The presence of such a threat and in such a bizarre way made him realize something. His enemy didn''t lay back and watched him expand his empire without doing anything.


    And the most important fact that Arthur missed was that despite cutting the link of the dark angel grandmaster to this part of the world, he was still able to connect to other parts just fine!


    So he could still scheme and plot things against him. Just like what he was facing at the moment.


    "Lord!" The two bowed in front of Arthur before being taken by the beauty of the mountain.


    "Do you know of villages and towns built on clouds?" Arthur directly asked.


    "Oh, you must mean the flying towns!" Lara''s eyes shone brightly before Fox explained further.


    "We all heard about them, but never saw one to be honest."


    "So they do exist?" Arthur asked before demanding, "tell me everything you know about them. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? I want to know everything!"


    The two looked at each other in hesitation before Fox said:


    "Well¡­ It''s hard to speak about something we have never seen before."


    Arthur understood his meaning and got the reason behind their hesitation. "Anything would do, even rumors."


    As he said that, their features relaxed a bit.


    "I heard they originated from an academy in the south," Lara started to speak freely with no pressure, "they soon expanded to reach the west where it became the center of making them."


    "They said it''s made by naturally present flying islands in the sky," Fox added, "they use arrays to make these islands float higher and even move. Building on it is like building on the ground. There is even equal gravity there like it''s on the ground."


    Arthur nodded while the two kept providing him with info, local tales, and even some legends. After half an hour of listening, Arthur had a clear view over this new weapon of his enemy.


    The islands were able to fly higher, fly fast, and even cast a shield around themselves. Also they had such a deadly weapon of landing over the ground and smashing anything underneath them.


    In return for that, these islands would lose their ability to fly again. But hearing this legend made Arthur realize how dangerous these islands were.


    He didn''t doubt such a legend. If the enemy had such a weapon under his hand, then letting him reach inside his empire was disastrous!


    "Thanks, you can go back now," after the two said everything they had, Arthur made them return inside the garden world. "Be ready for a big fight soon. I''ll need every single mage available to secure my empire."


    His words made the two beam with joy, not stress.


    "We won''t disappoint the lord," the two bowed and said in unison before returning back.


    "So it''s much more dangerous than I initially thought," Arthur muttered to himself before adding, "but these islands have a good weakness."


    ''I warned you,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! That enemy never makes an easy move at all. Never underestimate him!''


    "Yeah!" Arthur sucked in a deep breath before turning around and gazed upon the faint marks of his city. Seeing such a scene made him realize how it resembled the status of his empire.


    His empire seemed big and vast, mighty and alluring to the eye. But in fact it was still new and fragile, just having general lines marking it. His empire was still in the process of making, and it would need a lot of time to be a mighty empire in reality.


    And his role as the emperor and its founder was to guard his new baby until it grew up and became strong enough to defend itself.


    "Tell the armies to keep going forward as planned," despite all the expectations of the three beings in his mind, Arthur said such a bizarre order.


    ''But¡­'' the golden dragon was about to speak and object. But Arthur interrupted him by saying:


    "I''m not going to fight this war with the little forces I have here," he paused before adding, "first I''ll need to establish a good plan before moving them. Plus they have many eyes over them. Making them retreat will alarm the enemy. Let him think he is taking us by surprise before making a big fool of himself."


    ''Ding! Then¡­ What do you plan to do?'' the system asked and Arthur''s face turned so vicious and brutal at the moment.


    "I''m going to shake even the heavens itself to protect my empire!"

 Chapter 983 - We Want Meat!

    Arthur''s intentions were clear. As he exposed the enemy''s dirty plans ahead, why not use the plans to defeat them?


    He knew if he acted in another way, then his enemy would be alarmed. That was the drawback of having such a sneaky and cautious enemy to fight.


    ''Ding! Do you plan to let them approach the empire?'' the system asked in doubt.


    "And might also let them in," Arthur evilly said, "if I attack now, I''ll hit a couple of these bases. But most of these little birds will fly away. Who knows what that enemy will do later on."


    ''So you want to kill as many of these as possible?'' the golden dragon asked just to make sure he perfectly understood Arthur''s aim here.


    "No," as expected, this wasn''t Arthur''s goal from the start, "I''m going to capture as many islands as I can before destroying the rest."


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    His words silenced the three beings in his mind.


    "It is a waste to let such brilliant weapons be destroyed without getting some for myself," he elaborated, "it''s not just to obtain one more elite weapon to my arsenal. I''ll let my boys study it, and try to make something similar."


    ''Ah, you want to mass produce these islands¡­ Impressive!'' The golden dragon liked the idea.


    "These islands solve a great deal of problems for me. Now I can''t only build my cities on the ground, but I''ll also build them on the clouds!" Arthur declared and by these words he marked the lines of his counterplan.


    ''Ding! But how will you fight all of them with the few flying forces you have?''


    "My flyin forces aren''t as few as you think," Arthur laughed, "did you forget my mechas? And my dragons? I have a myriad of strong soldiers under my command."


    ''But these forts must have higher realmers as well,'' Gege didn''t get his point here, ''how can these forces fight them?''


    "First I doubt that the treacherous enemy had many high realmers here," Arthur said, "only those weak grandmasters will be here. Also their forces might join as well."


    ''But this is a force not easily beaten by mechas and weak dragons!'' the golden dragon objected.


    "That''s why I need to do something first," Arthur didn''t declare his intentions clearly, but Gege got what he was thinking about.


    ''This¡­'' She shockingly muttered, ''Is this even safe?''


    "We''ll test and see," Arthur simply shrugged, "if it''s not possible then I''ll have to face them head on. Take me in."


    A portal appeared in front of Arthur. He didn''t go inside his garden world first, but appeared in the originals'' world.


    The original once saw him mistook his visit for the flower. Their expectations over their faces painted Arthur a lot.


    Their reaction reminded him of the bitter result of using the flower before. Despite getting a broad black curtain from that, he wasn''t pleased by the end result or the process of events.


    "Lord," they all bowed while Arthur was lost in his own thoughts.


    "I want to ask you about something," he came here specifically for that, "how can I obtain more of the black curtain?"


    The originals looked to each other in puzzlement before Arthur took out one of the black curtains he had.


    The moment the black curtain was out, the originals got what he wanted to ask.


    "You want more of the chains of death?" one of them asked. And his words made Arthur''s face change a bit.


    "Chains of death? Is this its name?"


    "Yes," the originals nodded all in unison in agreement.


    "I don''t like this name," Arthur shrugged, "I''ll keep calling it the black curtain. Now how can I obtain more of it?"


    Despite his words, their faces didn''t change. It showed great hatred towards this black curtain as if they had a death feud with it.


    "Lord can have as many as he wants as long as he uses the purple ore," one of the originals said.


    "The ores..." Arthur was lost in thoughts for a long minute, "but I used the ore and even melted it down with no sign of transforming into this."


    "That''s because lord missed our blood," another one said, "using our blood will react with the purple ore and result in forming this... curtain."


    It seemed difficult for them to say another name, a nicer name, over the black curtain. For them they couldn''t overcome their hatred simply like that.


    "Oh, then give me your blood then," Arthur snapped his fingers before big bowls appeared all around the originals.


    However none stepped forward to comply.


    "What''s wrong?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "Well... If we do that, we''ll be rendered weak for a long time," one of the originals said before another added, "we need meat, lots of meat to replenish our blood loss."


    "Meat is nothing to me," Arthur simply stated, "just give me your blood and I''ll bring you a fine cooked high grade monster meat to you."


    The originals'' faces beamed with joy before they started to donate their blood in the bowls.


    "Bring all the chiefs inside the garden world," Arthur said while watching his originals doing their part, "make them cook the meat of the old monsters inside you."


    ''Ok,'' Gege complied. By this Arthur watched on the side and waited while a bowl after another got filled with the originals'' blood.


    In return for this, all the stock of his cooked meat appeared and were given to them. His meat was made by many monsters. Some were cooked from low, mid, and high grade monsters. Also few were cooked by special monsters lying inside Gege''s garden world.


    But in front of his eyes, all the meat was consumed by the originals without saying a word of discontent or a single comment. That made Arthur realize they just pulled a trick over him.


    "Make them cook normal monsters from now on," he couldn''t help but sigh, "these giants... what did they take me for?"


    And the three beings in his mind laughed on what these originals did to him.

 Chapter 984 - Using The Black Curtain On Mecha

    "Time to test what they said," As he got enough, Arthur didn''t hesitate to bring many purple ores. They were directly brought from the veins around the settlements.


    He didn''t want to use ores that were left for so long inside his garden world. Besides he also got the explosive ores which landed from the sky here inside this world.


    Using both, he simply dipped the ores inside the bowls without doing anything else. The moment the ores touched the originals'' blood an immense reaction developed.


    The blood boiled like it was on fire! As for the ores, they simply vanished from Arthur''s sight. But inside his eyes, he could still see the berserk purple energy reacting with the originals'' blood.


    Both emitted purple auras, but one was wild and the other was calm and domineering. But after a few minutes, he noticed a change in the bowl he threw the ores in.


    The amount of blood reduced by a small margin. In return for that, the purple aura of the ores vanished and was replaced by a strange black aura.


    The aura of the black curtain!


    "Wow! They weren''t fooling with me about this!" Arthur thought the originals were joking when they told him about how to obtain the black curtain.


    However the next moment he had a scary thought about how the world''s wills obtained the black curtain from the start.


    "They must have massacred a lot of them to obtain a large amount of the black curtains," he was sure of that hypothesis at this point.


    But that didn''t stop him from getting more black curtains. "Bring more ores here," he said before turning his gaze to the grand amount of purple ores gathered in midair miles away, "and bring them all here. Let''s get rid of their nuisance for good use."


    ''On it!''


    "Take me out then," Arthur passed through a portal before appearing inside his garden world. "Bring me Nara," he demanded while sitting beside his Golam''s lake.


    The lake looked more peaceful than before. He felt even its aura changed a bit. "What happened to the lake?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    ''It''s thanks to that mother monster,'' Gege said, ''she seems to add a strange aura to the lake, making it look like that.''


    "The power of mothership is unparalleled to anything else," Arthur smiled and nodded before waiting for Nara to appear.


    His plan was simple. If he couldn''t obtain a large army of elite flying mages and soldiers, then he would create it!


    Using the black curtain transformed even those coming from the high realms. Amera looked different and became a true monster on her own accord.


    As for him, his two purple wings and new strength was a good boost to his powers.


    He didn''t doubt the effect of the black curtain over anyone. But he lacked enough to create a massive army of evolved elites.


    But now he got his hands over a way to make more. He recalled he asked the originals once about how to make more, but they refused to tell.


    "It seems they put high expectations for that flower poison," he couldn''t help but say in sadness, "it''s funny how people might put their hopes over things that could cause their demise!"


    Just as he said those words, a portal appeared and Nara came out from it. She was inside her big mecha suit.


    "Greetings to the lord," she bowed while landing on the ground.


    "I want to try something on you," Arthur said before taking out one piece of his limited stock of black curtains. He only used two pieces, one on him and the other on Amera.


    "This¡­" the moment Nara saw it she recognized the danger coming from this soft black fabric. She also seemed to recall seeing it before, during the fight at many settlements.


    "Don''t worry, it''s safe," Arthur said before pointing to his purple wings, "I tested it on myself as you can see."


    Nara couldn''t refute what he said by anything. Yet she was still afraid of this black curtain.


    "Click!"


    "Click!"


    "Click!"


    Just as Arthur waited for her answer, the mecha suit opened and she was about to descend from her place at the top of it.


    "Oh wait, I''m going to use it on your mecha," Arthur stopped her from descending, "not on you."


    "¡­"


    This time Nara was speechless for a second before nodding. She returned to her place again and closed the mecha suit over her.


    "Will it work on metals?" she asked in doubt.


    "It works fine over the purple ore, so why not?" Arthur simply shrugged before extending his arm with the black curtain. "Put it on your shoulders."


    "Ok," Nara complied as she took the fabric and placed it over her shoulders. The moment she grabbed the black curtain from Arthur, she felt a sudden gush of energy inside her body like she held it with her bare hands.


    But when she threw it over the mecha''s shoulders, she felt an intense surge of energy passing through the entire metallic body of her mecha.


    "What''s going on?" Arthur noticed the flaring purple energy engulfing the mecha, "talk to me!" he demanded.


    "The fabric¡­ It''s emitting a great amount of purple energy that my mecha can''t handle!" Nara''s voice seemed a bit distressed. After all, she had used this mecha for such a long time already.


    This mecha wasn''t considered a machine or a weapon to her, but a fellow comrade in battle.


    "Don''t resist it," Arthur realized what she was trying to do. She aimed to control this surge and that would end up by clashing with the purple energy, "let it flow and do its magic. Don''t stop it!"


    "¡­"


    Talking is easier than doing it for her. She didn''t want to see her precious mecha get ruined because of a stupid cloth!


    But as she tried, she started to see the end Arthur saw before. So eventually she had to give in and let the energy take control of the entire mecha.


    She didn''t like it, but it was the only way she had right now.

 Chapter 985 - Lets Expand This!

    In front of Arthur''s eyes, the entire purple energy finally got control over the mecha. The mecha''s body started to float in midair while being modified by the effect of the special energy.


    The first thing to change was the outer surface of the mecha itself. It started to elongate and dent at places while forming spikes and concave shapes. The mecha seemed to change its outer appearance in a strange way.


    But Arthur was sure these changes weren''t just limited to the outer surface of the mecha. Yet he couldn''t tell what was changing in the core until things settled down.


    The mecha started to grow in size, while a layer of purple metal appeared to cover its surface. Two wings were formed just like what happened with Arthur plus a strong looking long horn that came out from the head of it.


    "Boom!"


    The changes took roughly half an hour before it finally stopped. A long purple and black cape appeared on the back of the mecha while its size was doubled.


    Yet during all this, Arthur didn''t hear Nara scream or show any sign of getting harm. That made him more reassured about his idea from earlier.


    When he thought about making his army stronger, he had two options. Either he would strengthen his mages or the mechas themselves.


    If he gave such power to the mages, then they wouldn''t show any difference in battle. They weren''t the ones flying, but mechas were. They weren''t the ones fighting, mechas were.


    So he didn''t take long to decide to use the black curtains over the mechas, not the mages. This way he would end up with a really elite army of special mechas.


    As for the problem of covering up all the mechas with his black curtain, it was getting solved by now.


    "How do you feel?" Arthur couldn''t wait any longer as he instantly asked the moment the transformation ended.


    "I''m¡­ Fine, I think," Nara said in hesitation as she didn''t feel any pain or discomfort at all.


    "Try using your mecha then," Arthur knew that she was fine. But he wanted to ask about the mecha, "use its abilities and see if there is any difference."


    "Wow!!!" Just as he requested, Nara operated the mecha and made it fly. Usually mechas flew at a good speed, but now her mecha was like an eagle compared to before.


    Her speed was least described as scary! The moment she took off with her mecha, a gust of wind erupted like it was some sort of behemoth taking off the ground and flying!


    Then she vanished from Arthur''s sight as if she was teleported!


    "Damn! This mecha is now able to fly as fast as me!" Arthur couldn''t contain his delight before flying as well after her.


    Just after the initial launch, Nara stopped her mecha midair as she felt scared.


    "Use the attacks," Arthur said, "use them over there," he pointed towards an empty piece of land inside the garden world.


    "Are you¡­ sure?" Nara was hesitant, "this mecha seemed a bit strange."


    "It''s an evolved one," Arthur said in joy, "just release your weapons and let''s see what changes they got."


    "¡­"


    The next moment Nara activated her weapons. Many missiles were launched while her mecha took out its metallic sword.


    But this sword looked different from before! It was like a real sword shimmering with great strength!


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    And the missiles Nara launched just hit the ground and caused catastrophic damage.


    ''Make her stop!'' Gege instantly interfered, ''I''m barely keeping this place intact! Her weapons are domineering!!''


    "Hahahaha," Arthur laughed when he heard that, "I love domineering women!"


    "¡­"


    But his words were received in totally different meanings by Nara. If not for her hiding inside the mecha, Arthur would see her flushed face with shyness.


    "Now try transforming," Arthur asked. The transformation was something longly awaited and greatly anticipated by him.


    Previously no matter how many trials were done, no mecha could sustain the transformation long enough to use it in battle.


    The transformation was built upon Arthur himself, turning the mechas into dragons made of metal. But each time the mechas would end up with great damage and being crippled and ruined after using such ability.


    But now Arthur had high hopes this mecha could do it.


    "But¡­" Nara couldn''t help but express her doubts. However Arthur stopped her as he said:


    "Don''t judge it like before. You saw it yourself. This mecha of yours is totally different and much stronger than the other version of it."


    "¡­"


    His words made quite sense, but she still felt great fear over her precious friend. However she couldn''t refuse any order from her lord, from her man, from Arthur.


    "If things went south, you can cancel the transformation anytime," Arthur said to reassure her before adding, "I won''t let such a precious gem get ruined. Trust me."


    "Alright," Nara finally got convinced, "I''ll do it," she said before she took a deep breath and then started to transform.


    And when that happened, Arthur couldn''t help but drop his jaw out of shock! A very pleasant shock!


    In front of him, a gigantic dragon appeared. The metal was bathing in purple energy, giving it a very intimidating feeling.


    But the most amazing thing about it was that it could stay intact without any sign of breaking down like before. Arthur watched the dragon which reminded him of the one he summoned by his ability before.


    The one he summoned from the dead body of the original. It was nearly like that one, making him feel he hit the jackpot this time.


    "Hahahaha, this is like a dream coming true, hahaha," he couldn''t help but laugh while Nara gazed up and checked her transformation.


    "It''s¡­ Holding!" she said in surprise and Arthur kept laughing in delight.


    "Test it out," Arthur demanded, "use your powers now!"


    ''No! this can''t be done here!'' but Gege instantly objected, ''take her out and let her destroy all the lands she wants. But not here! I don''t like getting my precious body hurt!''


    "Alright," Arthur grinned before looking at Nara and added, "let''s leave this test for later. Now I want you to select the capable mechas first to evolve."


    "We can use that fabric on others as well?" The tone of Nara looked totally different from the time she first saw the black curtain.


    "Yes," Arthur nodded, "we can use a limited amount of black curtains for now. But soon we''ll have unlimited supply of it."


    Nara could tell that Arthur had a plan for that. And yet the idea of having more mechas to evolve was thrilling to her. Even if it was done on a limited scale, she wouldn''t say no to such an offer.


    "Give me a minute, my lord," she said, "and I''ll come with my trusted elites."


    "¡­"


    Just before Arthur could offer the help of Gege, Nara vanished using her mecha''s new speed. He watched her vanish from his sight before smiling.


    "She is as impatient as me, hahaha!"

 Chapter 986 - Looking For The Enemys Weakness

    Arthur wasn''t the only one knowing how important this black curtain was to mechas. Nara was feeling so impatient to turn all her trusted and capable aiders into strong and evolved mechas.


    But for Arthur, this symbolled another thing. It was the birth of a new weapon for his empire, one that could kill any enemy standing in their faces so far.


    Even if that enemy was a gigantic flying island coming at them from many directions.


    "How is the process of making new curtains going?" As he waited, Arthur asked Gege to get the latest news on turning the purple ore into black curtain.


    ''I''m using the entire explosive purple ores for now,'' Gege said before adding, ''but I have to say, these ores are really something else!''


    Her comment piqued Arthur''s interest. "What do you mean?"


    ''It''s not like the normal purple ore you took from the ground,'' Gege said before further explaining, ''these ores are very aggressive and seem like they have a will of their own.''


    "A will of their own¡­" Arthur muttered while a form of theory began to take shape inside his mind. "What about the flowers? Did anyone find any flowers anywhere?" he suddenly asked.


    ''Not yet,'' Gege said, ''they are working diligently but the purple ore veins are really massive. I assume they need at least a week or so to find any flower.''


    "Hmm¡­" Arthur stayed silent while his mind was seeing a big picture filled with holes. He knew a lot, but lacked a lot in return.


    He couldn''t make a guess about anything for now. So all he could do was to wait and hope for more pieces of the puzzle to fall into his lap.


    ''Should we continue using this purple ore?'' Gege asked again just to make sure Arthur got her meaning.


    "Sure," Arthur simply said, "use all of them. Don''t leave anything behind."


    ''Ok,'' Gege didn''t speak again until Nara appeared.


    She came with a large group of a few hundred mechas. For instance Arthur wanted to ask her about their identity. He asked for the capable and most trusted ones, not all the elites.


    But then he realized he was in the wrong here. The mecha army was getting larger with each passing day. New mechas were made to replace the lost ones in battles.


    Even Nara was responsible for training any new batch of mages here. That meant she could always select the best to suit the needs of her army.


    So bringing a few hundred back wasn''t a big deal. Her mecha army was numbering in tens of thousands now, if not even bigger than that.


    "We greet our lord," Nara led all of them to bow and show their deepest respect to Arthur.


    If they looked at him in the light of being their lord and savior, now they had to see him in a different way. He was going to transform their lives forever just like what he did with their leader, Nara.


    "Get in line then," Arthur didn''t have such a large number of black curtains to satisfy their needs. But soon enough he would have more than enough.


    So he waited for them to stand in one line before he made them advance one by one to use a piece of black curtain. His stock wasn''t even close to a hundred pieces for now.


    But midway, he got the good news from Gege.


    ''The curtains are ready.''


    "Bring them out," Arthur said before a pile of black curtains appeared from one portal. They kept stacking over each other until they formed a big hill next to Arthur.


    This scene startled everyone here before they looked at Arthur in a scary way.


    "Nara," Arthur pointed to the shocked girl to come. "See? They can be cut into pieces using any sharp tool," Arthur showed her how to cut the curtains into smaller pieces.


    "What¡­ shall I do with them?" Nara looked around the big hill of curtains, "of all of them?"


    "Hahaha, just use them over your mechas," Arthur said before starting to walk towards a portal, "use them over your entire mecha army. And be ready, we are going to have a very big war soon."


    Arthur left the world before Nara would be awakened from her daze. Despite that she knelt on the ground and stayed there all silent and respectful for an entire minute.


    "Keep an eye over things inside," Arthur said to Gege the moment he came out, "I''ll start heading towards the first island to hit."


    ''But the mecha army isn''t ready,'' the golden dragon stopped him.


    "I know," Arthur just said without explaining more.


    ''Ding! Where is your target?'' the system felt something was related to the destination of Arthur.


    "It''s the farthest island from here," Arthur said before adding, "the one that links the entire assault with the leadership."


    ''And how are we going to know that?'' Gege was surprised when she heard what he planned to do.


    "It''s easy," Arthur simply shrugged, "look for an island that''s surrounded by a group of islands in near proximity. These islands aren''t moving, or moving extremely slowly. Plus they are located on the farthest point from the empire."


    His words seemed like a puzzle, but soon Gege returned with good news.


    ''I found it!''


    "I knew it!" Arthur laughed. He knew something was wrong here. How could that dark angel grandmaster be able to send and coordinate such a wide scale attack without having eyes on this part of the world?


    Arthur just destroyed its communication and control base. So there must be another way like an island doing the same tasks as the one he destroyed before.


    And the start of this war must be by destroying this communication and control base at first. Making his enemy blind and paralyzed was the most effective attack he could start with.


    "Let''s go then," Arthur then started to fly faster while setting his gaze upon his target.

 Chapter 987 - Planning For The Epic Decisive Battle

    Hitting the enemy where it hurt was Arthur''s plan. As before, he tasted and knew the value of paralyzing the enemy''s connection and communication routes.


    Doing so would buy him a lot of time. For instance all the forces scattered inside his empire would be isolated.


    They wouldn''t be able to even know where Arthur was hitting. They wouldn''t be able to adjust their movement and wouldn''t be able to support themselves.


    Plus he didn''t know what the grandmaster of the dark angel clan was able to do. Arthur didn''t know if that despicable mage could spy on his empire or not.


    So he had to be cautious and not let his enemy have any moment of rest. All the advantages his enemy had would be instantly vanished by this simple move.


    But Arthur was quite sure this fight wouldn''t end up as easily as anyone would think!


    The dark angel grandmaster was a cunning foe. Arthur believed truly in that. Out of all exchanges the two had together so far, Arthur could tell his enemy had many cards up his sleeve.


    So Arthur had to work on his cards as well.


    "Give orders to all the elite forces from high realms," he suddenly said, "make them stand by and be ready to move through portals when I need them."


    ''Mechas aren''t enough?'' Gege was surprised to hear his words.


    ''Ding! Didn''t you say you''ll leave the forces up front dormant to fool the enemy?''


    "But once I hit that group of islands the enemy will be alerted," Arthur simply said, "so bringing them to the battlefield wouldn''t be an issue anymore. Plus I have this gut feeling that I''ll need all the possible help in this war."


    ''Then bring also the skeletons,'' the golden dragon said but Arthur hesitated. He thought about bringing them as well. After all, their terrifying numbers and their ability to evolve made them the perfect fodder in such a war.


    But something told him they wouldn''t make a big difference. There were many, but they are so weak right now. Using them in a high end battle like the one he believed he was going to have was meaningless.


    "Only the evolved ones can come," Arthur said.


    ''Add more,'' the golden dragon argued, ''they can be disposed of easily and be replaced! Your treasure isn''t in the skeletons, but in the necromancers.''


    The words of the golden dragon were wise. Arthur realized he committed a mistake upon his habit. He used to think about his forces as being indispensable, not being able to replace them easily if he lost them.


    But he totally forgot that these skeletons were really nothing. Even if he lost all of them, the necromancers he had in the shade would keep summoning more.


    "Alright," he finally agreed, "bring all of them. Let''s have such an epic fight here."


    ''Ding! Why do I have a feeling that this would be one of the battles to draw the end of this war?'' the system suddenly said.


    "I¡­ Also have such a feeling," Arthur nodded, "I think after this battle, that man will leave this world for good."


    ''He already lost a lot but is still so stubborn in killing you,'' the golden dragon laughed before adding, ''let''s make him lose more so he will wake up from his dreams.''


    "I hope so," Arthur sneered before he focused on flying as fast as he could towards his target.


    The flight was easy at first. Arthur simply used his portals to cover a large distance.


    But even so there was still a large distance to cover by flying. The islands gathering together were situated really far away from his reach.


    His enemy seemed to do his best to keep them well hidden and quite safe. In Gege''s estimate, he would need roughly a day and half of constant flying to reach there.


    With his high speed, that was a really long time for him. But he didn''t waver and kept going ahead, aiming to reach there in the shortest time possible.


    Plus taking all this time was helpful to him in another way. His mechas were now getting baptized by the black curtain. Plus he was gaining more curtains with each passing hour.


    So all this time wasn''t wasted! In fact he hoped he would reach there and have his entire mecha forces evolved.


    ''How are you going to use the ground troops?'' Gege suddenly asked, ''they can''t fly!''


    "But we can use portals to land them over islands," Arthur said but Gege wasn''t convinced yet.


    ''The islands seem to have their own defensive shields around themselves. How can we solve that?'' she said before adding, ''don''t forget these shields must be on par with those who surrounded that nasty base from before.''


    Arthur knew she was referring to the big battle at the main base of his enemies. But her words didn''t discourage him.


    "I''ll use the originals by then," he simply said without paying any attention towards this point.


    ''I believe that won''t work this time,'' but the golden dragon came again with his wisdom, ''that dark angel grandmaster has already seen the way you cracked his shields at that base. It would be foolish thinking he would come here this time without getting prepared for such a move.''


    The words of the golden dragon landed upon Arthur and made him frown. The golden dragon''s words made sense. "So he has a way to defend against the originals?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    ''Ding! Either defend against them or entrap them, or even worse¡­ Killing them,'' the system said, ''Ding! The end is the same to me. He is well prepared and if he removed such weapons from our hands¡­''


    "We will left in the open under the mercy of his islands," Arthur said in gratifying tone before the golden dragon sudden said his idea:


    ''Why not use another weapon then?''


    "What? The octopus monster? Or my gigantic dragon?" Arthur was feeling down at the moment.


    ''Neither,'' but the golden dragon said before adding, ''I meant one of your brilliant assets.. I mean by that Agnus.''

 Chapter 988 - The Plan Is Ready!

    "Agnus?"


    Bringing this golden boy''s name made Arthur frown out of surprise.


    ''Sure,'' the golden dragon said, ''he has a brilliant mind and now he can go even further than this.''


    "What do you mean?" Arthur asked before his eyes shone brighter, "oh, the black curtain moves¡­ nice suggestion here."


    ''Ding! Using the black curtain now is much easier as long as we keep making more,'' the system said, ''Ding! And someone with the mind of Agnus can work diligently over some machines to penetrate these defensive shields.''


    ''Plus he now has two more ores to use,'' the golden dragon said.


    "Alright," Arthur said in approval, "Gege, inform him of all the matters related to the shields around the islands and the epic fight coming up. We have limited time here so he should abandon the currency project for now and leave things for his trusted aides."


    ''Roger that,'' Gege compiled before she went silent for an entire hour. ''He says he has an idea about what to make.''


    "This soon?!" Arthur was surprised with much delight when he heard that. "Alright, get him inside the garden world and let him evolve."


    ''He wanted to bring some of his capable blacksmiths as well,'' Gege said, ''he requested for them to be evolved.''


    "No problem for me," Arthur shrugged, "we have all the curtains needed to cover his needs."


    ''Alright,'' Gege said in a happy tone. She seemed more excited about this plan than Arthur and the rest.


    Gege saw any step getting them closer to winning this war as an excited thing. After all this war was doomed to mark the ending and the fate of everything.


    Arthur also felt this way. After all, it seemed that the grandmaster of the dark angel clan took this fight to another level.


    If he had anything in his hands to use, he would throw them all in this fight. Winning and crushing everything he had would leave him empty handed and void of any ideas for a long time.


    And that simply meant crushing the strongest forces in this realm. So winning this war didn''t mean only one step closer to achieving Arthur''s goals, but it was actually achieving one of them.


    After this war, Arthur would simply unleash all his forces unhindered to roam this world. In the time of one month he would be able to clear all the resistance and accumulate all the people remaining under his control.


    One world would be conquered at last, announcing the arrival of the end.


    As Arthur knew this, he started to get in deep thinking about all the assets he had under his control. Anything he could use would be used in this fight.


    He wanted to achieve something here and fast. Seeing such a chance looming in the horizon made him quite greedy.


    And he had all the right to feel so. After all his fights so far was in terms of defending himself and trying to establish his dominion.


    By the solution of the currency problem, he now had more reasons to start controlling realms.


    After all, controlling realms was the real deal here. He wanted to make sure he moved by firm steps towards achieving his biggest goal; ascending this realm and entering the big playground of the highest realms.


    "Gege," he suddenly said, "ask Fox and Laura to train as many as they can. Anyone able to be a mage should be ready for the upcoming war."


    ''On it.''


    "Also announce the need of people able to make arrays, offensive and defensive alike."


    ''Will do that.''


    "Ask Agnus to make all his free blacksmiths work on war weapons, especially those with explosive wide areas of damage."


    ''Done.''


    "See the disciples of the castle of the sky. Seek their talents in war efforts. Anyone with anything that can help will be supported by me."


    ''Ding! How do you plan to accomplish all that in the remaining day?'' The system was surprised to hear the long list of orders that came in intervals.


    "Who said I''m going to attack in one day?" Arthur said before adding, "I won''t move until I have everything ready."


    ''That¡­ will take quite some time,'' the golden dragon said.


    "Everyone working on this plan must be inside the garden world," Arthur instructed, "we need to use the time difference to our advantage."


    ''What about the scattered armies?'' Gege asked, ''should they retreat as well?''


    "No, leave them be for now," he said, "let them continue hunting all the people we can have."


    ''Ding! If you plan to wait for this long, what do you plan to do?'' the system wondered.


    "I''ll make sure my original army will get larger," Arthur said before he added, "we now have a way to make those black curtains. Who said I can only use them to upgrade my forces only?"


    ''...''


    ''...''


    ''...''


    None of his three beings in his mind thought about doing this before. The originals were all formed thanks to this trick of using the black curtains and taming them.


    They lacked these curtains for so long that they forgot about their greatest use. But Arthur didn''t.


    "Prepare a place to be used for that process," Arthur instructed, "it must be protected by the purple ore like the bases we conquered before. I don''t want to change any variable in this process."


    ''It''s best if you used an existing base for that,'' the golden dragon suggested.


    "It will be better indeed," Arthur nodded, "but the time difference won''t be in my favor."


    ''Ding! What do you want more time for?'' the system didn''t get the real intention of Arthur.


    "I need more days for my ability to refresh," Arthur said before finally revealing his true intentions here, "part of the originals brought to life will be sacrificed to make my grand dragons."


    ''...''


    ''...''


    ''...''


    And this time their shock was beyond anything else. They never expected him to think even about that.


    But Arthur saw how brutal and strong his grand dragon was. It wasn''t simply a better dragon, it was even much more brutal and more effective than the original themselves.


    Plus his enemy was ready to deal with the originals, not his small army of grand dragons.

 Chapter 989 - Creating More Grand Dragons

    ''So ten days here means one hundred day inside my garden,'' Gege said, trying to calculate things, ''that means one hundred grand dragon ready plus a grand army of originals¡­ Wow!''


    ''But waiting for that long might endanger our empire,'' the golden dragon warned, ''the enemy won''t wait this long for us, especially when he already is close by.''


    "Hmm¡­ We can throw in a bait for him then," Arthur gave the matter deep thinking before adding, "we can send an army towards the direction of his base. This way he will freak out for us to know his plan and will be forced to fight this army."


    ''Ding! But he will move his flying base away,'' the system didn''t get the idea fully.


    "We can always follow them wherever they go," Arthur said.


    ''Throwing in one army won''t do,'' the golden dragon said, ''if that army can''t be a threat to him. Plus won''t he be suspicious of our attack?''


    "We have a broad map filled with settlements and enemy forces here," Arthur laughed, "we can send our armies towards the closest cluster to the base. This way he won''t suspect anything. Plus¡­"


    Arthur paused before adding, "we can send in a few originals to make him know he is in danger. Plus those from high realms, he won''t sit idle and watch the army getting closer to him."


    ''Ding! But moving the army suddenly away to that direction will be suspicious as well!''


    "Then we shall move the army to hit all the settlements in the path towards the base. This way he won''t suspect anything," Arthur was already fixed on doing this. After all, and as the golden dragon said, trying to wait for ten days was a risk.


    The enemy already infiltrated his empire. That meant the enemy would only wait for a couple days more at most before moving.


    "Also ask Agnus and other geniuses to think about a way to detect the flying islands in the sky," Arthur suddenly said before adding, "but don''t make them discover anything. Let these devices be obvious to tell anyone about their use."


    ''You want to scare him away?'' the golden dragon laughed, ''nice tactic!''


    "I have to force him to move against my army, not my empire," Arthur explained. "I believe if anything can be added to the already existing cities to help in discovering the air field will be a great addition as well."


    ''On it,'' Gege said before adding, ''but I can''t guarantee anything.''


    "I trust my boys to find something interesting to use," Arthur wasn''t a bit doubtful about this. He had great minds inside his grand empire, and surely one of them must have something to solve this problem.


    "Take me in."


    As he wouldn''t go and hit the flying base now, Arthur thought to enter his world instead. The garden world had many advantages for him at the moment. Without it he wouldn''t be able to pull this fight or win it.


    "Make sure to keep a close eye over the places of the islands," he said before he added, "did you prepare the place I asked for?"


    ''I''ll take you there now,'' a portal opened and Arthur simply passed through it.


    There he found himself in a broad space where it was lined totally with dense groups of purple ores. The ores kept flooding the place from many portals, as Gege wasn''t sure if what Arthur was doing would exhaust the ores or not.


    In the middle he found a small house that had an underground space. ''I tried to mimic those bases for you to my fullest abilities,'' she said while he was content with what he had.


    "Bring the curtains here," he said before adding, "and also prepare the monsters to be sacrificed."


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    The next moment many portals opened and a lot of curtains appeared. "Sigh, I forgot they are much bigger than the ones I conquered before," he took out his sword and started to act like a tailor here.


    He cut down those curtains into smaller pieces. The more he worked, the smaller curtains piled up next to him. But that didn''t make the amount of the large curtains drop. Instead they kept piling up.


    "That''s enough," after an hour of working diligently, the entire space was filled with large curtains. "Take those smaller ones and store them nearby."


    ''Ok,'' Gege started to take the ready curtains away while Arthur needed five more hours to finish cutting everything into smaller pieces.


    Each big curtain gave him around fifty smaller ones. This was much bigger than what he initially thought. But he didn''t find anything bad about this.


    After all, his most precious currency now in the entire empire was these curtains. No matter how much he had, he wouldn''t be ever satisfied.


    He looked at the curtains he piled so far and were teleported away using portals in satisfaction.


    Despite having so much, he knew they weren''t even enough to cover the needs of his army.


    Putting the military forces aside, he also wanted to try them over the citizens of his empire. In his eyes, the strength of any force wasn''t measured by their military, but the strength of their civilians.


    Having an empire with civilians on par with normal mages was something scary indeed. But to do so he needed an endless supply of these curtains.


    He had a way to get many curtains but the only problem still lay in the purple ores.


    "I need to find more of those flowers," he said to himself. Despite having many reserves of the purple ores, a day would come when he would exhaust them all.


    After all the ores were now not limited to the use in making curtains. He needed them to make his currency as well. Plus he was quite sure if he gave Agnus the permission and time, he would find more uses for these wild rocks.


    Besides he could use them in making runes and building his forts and cities.


    Just thinking about this made him realize how poor and greatly limited in resources he was. Everything precious was precious not only for their uses, but for the hardships to gain them.


    With the presence of the flowers, he could simply attract as many purple ores from that hidden prison in the sky as he would desire.


    "If I failed, I would have to find a way to go up there myself," the more he thought about it, the more he realized the day of him visiting that prison was drawing near.


    Despite him not believing in the fairy tales or the prophecies he heard of, he couldn''t help but inwardly sigh. After all, his fate was leading him step by step towards getting there.


    "I hope things won''t complicate further when I go there," he muttered before adding, "let''s start."

 Chapter 990 - Reinforcements Arrive

    Arthur started a spree of making his grand dragons. First he worked to create more originals. After all his previous attempts, it was easy for him to crush the vulgar power of the curtains and create three originals out of attempt.


    In a day time, Arthur could summon up to a thousand originals. One of them would be sacrificed at the end of the day to leave behind the crystallized charcoaled corpse.


    Then he would use his ability to turn it into a grand dragon.


    He kept working like this for an entire three months or more. For a hundred day, he never stopped what he was doing and in the end he had a grand army of originals.


    Now his originals were over one hundred thousand strong men. Such numbers made him very confident in his ability to crush any enemy no matter what.


    Even that dark angel grandmaster, Arthur, wasn''t worried about him anymore. Even if that mage was ready to deal with his originals, he wouldn''t be able to handle such grand force.


    And on the side of this, Arthur was more proud and ecstatic about his grand dragon force. One hundred grand dragon seemed like a tiny force but in reality it was like a force of mass destruction.


    If it was up to Arthur, he would continue working on his plan. He liked the results yielded so far and didn''t want to stop here.


    His stockpile of curtains didn''t decrease at all. In fact it kept increasing until it reached a terrifying figure of hundreds of thousands of pieces.


    Despite using the curtains in many things, and evolving not only his mechas but most of his forces, the curtains didn''t stop growing in his garden.


    That was all thanks to the continuous manufacturing of these curtains. And as the purple ores kept pouring in an endless stream from all the mines scattered under his control, Arthur became more attached in making more originals and grand dragons.


    As for his currency, the time he waited here seemed a bit long but in reality only ten days had passed out there. As the blacksmiths couldn''t deal with the currency casting task inside the garden because of that grand mountain outside it, they only managed to make a small amount of coins.


    Despite that, the amount they formed reached tens of thousands of pieces. Arthur knew this amount was simply nothing compared to the great demand of his growing empire.


    But he wasn''t worried. After winning this battle, he was quite sure of his control over this realm. And this realm started to be the cornerstone of his empire. A realm so important to his empire''s future growth.


    And that simply added more importance to the upcoming battle.


    "How are things going outside?" Arthur asked when he was taking a small break.


    ''The enemy took the bait,'' Gege said before adding, ''he changed the place of his base many times already. Plus Agnus managed to form many siege weapons that are able to penetrate any shield.''


    "Did he?" Arthur was glad when he heard that, "what about the islands inside our empire?"


    ''They are still roaming around the border,'' Gege said before explaining, ''the enemy recalled many of them and battles already erupted between our forces and them. So far we couldn''t crush many of the islands, but we managed to take control over a few.''


    "Impressive," Arthur commended, "it was thanks to Amera I guess, right?"


    ''Yeah, that girl is really something else,'' Gege said before adding, ''but after the others got their evolution from the curtains, they also began to have part in this party.''


    "That''s expected," Arthur nodded in agreement before Gege delivered a piece of bad news.


    ''But the enemy recalled more of the islands from other places,'' she paused before adding, ''a grand army of over ten thousand islands are heading towards the empire directly as we speak.''


    "Ten thousand¡­ That''s a large number to handle. How come he has such a large army under his control?" Arthur thought about this for a long minute before adding, "what about the detection devices at the cities?"


    ''Deem and Gor created an array, also Agnus made a few gears that helped in detecting many islands,'' Gege said before adding, ''thanks to that, the islands all retreated outside the empire and now waiting for their reinforcements.''


    "How long will these new islands take to reach my empire?" Arthur knew things were heading towards a complicated encounter if he left it this way.


    ''They are now hundreds of miles away,'' Gege said before adding, ''I assume they''ll need at least five days to arrive.''


    "And from the place of the flying base?" Arthur asked while a plan started to take shape in his mind.


    ''Didn''t calculate¡­ Give me a sec,'' Gege went into silence for five minutes before returning, ''they aren''t that close to the base. But the forces are scattered as they are coming from different directions.''


    "What about the closest ones to the base?"


    ''Around three days to five days,'' Gege said, ''the rest might take a week or so to reach there.''


    "Good," Arthur was relieved to hear that, "assemble the army. We are going to hit that base now."


    ''But the base has already moved away from its past location. We''ll need two days to reach there.''


    "No problem," Arthur passed through the portal that Gege brought to him to reappear again in the real world. The world around me was quite peaceful. "Make sure everyone is gathered inside the garden world and ready to move at any moment," he said before flying in the air, "let''s reach there in less than a day. Summon your portals and let''s cover this distance in a short time."


    ''Cool.''


    As Arthur asked, Gege started to summon a long series of her portals where he simply passed through. This was his fastest way to cover large distances fast.


    After all, he was now racing against time.. He wanted to hit that base while the reinforcements were far away.

 Chapter 991 - The Start Of An Epic Battle

    ''A new change occurred,'' Gege suddenly said after half a day of flying, ''after the disappearance of our forces, the islands seem to gather around the base.''


    "Oh, he saw through my intentions," Arthur snorted, "how long will they take to reach there?"


    ''Two days I suppose.''


    "He is quite late to move his forces," Arhur laughed before adding, "we''ll keep our current plan. Also keep an eye over these islands and count them for me."


    ''They are around a hundred islands,'' Gege said.


    "That''s not a big number to worry about," Arthur chuckled. Compared to the ten thousand islands coming towards his empire, facing a hundred was such a breeze for him.


    ''Ding! Will you try to destroy them all?'' the system asked, ''Ding! Ten thousand islands is such a terrifying figure.''


    ''You can''t clash head on with them. Also you can''t allow them to gather,'' the golden dragon warned.


    "You need me to send troops to attack them?" Arthur said before laughing, "c''mon, the enemy is already scattering his forces to try and stop us. He won''t be able to do that but if we try to stop him, we''ll risk the scattered forces to regroup faster."


    ''Still facing such a large number is a risk,'' the golden dragon said, ''you need to try your best and undermine their forces.''


    ''Ding! Sending a few troops out there isn''t bad,'' the system said, ''Ding! After all those high realmers already got a grasp over what they shall do to crush these islands.''


    "Don''t be this hasty," Arthur calmly said, "my current forces are enough to take down those ten thousand islands even if they came in one big group at me."


    He seemed overconfident here. However he wasn''t. He knew how strong his current forces were. Coupled with the new gears Agnus created, taking down these forces wouldn''t be hard or impossible.


    Besides, taking down the main base was the top priority for now. The lack of the brain would render the scattered forces useless.


    Plus they would lose one of their biggest weapons, organization and order.


    Taking down the generals of any army was the best strategy against large armies. After all, fodders were nothing but weed in Arthur''s eyes. No matter how he crushed them, they wouldn''t create a difference in the final outcome.


    If he wanted to win this way, he had to play directly at the head. The main base was now his sole target, and he wanted to take it down as fast as he could.


    Then dealing with the ten thousand islands would become much easier for him and his forces.


    This simple point was missed by the three beings in his mind. After all, they were speaking in a statistical way. And he was speaking in a military vision.


    As he persisted on his plan, he kept leaping through the portals and covering up large distances before he finally reached his target.


    It took slightly longer for him to arrive there from the initial estimate. That was thanks to the reaction of the dark angel grandmaster. The latter ordered the base and the surrounding islands to try and move their location constantly.


    They tried to create a distance with Arthur and at the same time getting closer to their allies. However despite all that effort, Arthur managed to reach them in less than six more hours than his initial schedule.


    "So these are the islands in the sky¡­ looking good from this close," he stood in the middle of the clouds while watching the group of ten islands protecting one in the middle. They looked really majestic and quite intimidating.


    ''Shall we attack?'' Gege asked with excitement.


    "Sure, bring forth the ground forces first," Arthur said before pointing towards the group of islands with his sword, "let''s take these shields down before summoning our flying armies."


    ''On it!'' Gege instantly opened many portals on the ground where a flood of forces appeared. They were led by the two Arthur gained from before; Fox and Lara.


    The two already gained evolution from the curtains like most of their current troops. The number of the evolved forces in Arthur''s armies was gigantic! Just thinking about counting them would create a headache for Gege.


    "Let them start the attack at once," Arthur didn''t move while watching the big cannon-like gears coming out from many portals.


    "Agnus outdone himself this time, hahaha!" Arthur laughed while watching the hundreds of these big cannons coming out from the portals.


    Each gear was built over an oval platform made out of purple ore and few other sturdy ones. The body of the cannon was made mostly of a long and cylindrical tube that was aiming towards the sky.


    The tube was linked with a series of wheels that controlled its direction. There were wheels on the sides of the platform to make its movement easy.


    "I can''t wait to see what these gears can do," Arthur''s eyes gleamed in bright blue light while watching the big army of these cannons.


    However as he was summoning up his forces, the islands high in the clouds seemed to notice this army on the ground.


    They started to turn around and head directly towards them.


    ''They''ll use a strange fire pillar attack to crush the forces on the ground,'' the golden dragon warned.


    ''Ding! I believe there is a shield array around the forces down there, right?''


    ''Yeah, Deem and Gor trained a lot of forces over the arrays,'' Gege said in confidence and calmness, ''no harm will happen to our forces.''


    "That''s good to hear," Arthur nodded while his face showed his excitement. He wanted to see how well his ground armies could do, especially after gaining such boosts from the curtains and from the gears.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    The attack started brutally from the beginning. The two sides didn''t wait for any longer before they opened fire against each other.


    It was such a spectacular scene! The islands used a strange way to create thick pillars of fire that rained down over the heads of the ground army.


    As for the ground army, most of them operated the defensive shields to protect the gigantic gears while others started to operate them.


    Each cannon had a small opening in the rear where mages put balls made entirely out of the explosive purple ores. With a complicated mechanism, these balls were ejected with strong force and traveled the distance towards the islands in no time.


    Then they detonated over the protective shields of the islands, creating a storm of deadly and ferocious purple fire that ate away the shields.


    The two sides competed against who would consume the other''s shields first.. Whoever would do that would win this beginning battle of this epic war.

 Chapter 992 - Destroying The First Islands Shield

    The fight kicked off fiercely from the start. Arthur stood high in the air watching the fight while his attention was focused mainly over the flying islands.


    This was his first time seeing these islands in a real fight.


    The islands weren''t only big behemoths in the air, but they used a myriad of attacks. The deadliest attacks were the fire pillars and the rock rain that fell from the high up islands.


    They didn''t need to use anything to make the rocks deadly. After all, the traction force exerted by gravity was enough to turn a small rock into a deadly weapon.


    In addition to that, he noticed many turrets on top of the islands. These turrets used all kinds of siege weapons to attack his ground troops.


    But as the turrets were mainly designed for defense, their limited range was the main disadvantage about these turrets.


    In addition to that, each island was lined with big and strong looking walls. The walls were on the edge of the islands, which allowed the mages there to fight using their bows and arrows and even their long ranged offensive attacks.


    And that was nothing compared to those higher realmers who were on these islands.


    As Arthur guessed, the islands were filled with those weak dark clans from higher realms. He even spotted numerous clan grandmasters fighting fervently with all their might.


    But in return, his ground troops were doing quite well actually despite all these attacks. The defensive shields at the bottom stood tall in front of all these attacks.


    Some cracked and few shattered. But most of the shields sustained heavy damage assaulting them.


    And the cannons Agnus created were really OP! They kept firing at the islands, hitting their defensive shields violently and caused deep cracks all over them.


    But after one hour of such a fight, not a single shield was cracked open.


    "They need a little hand here," Arthur muttered, "bring a group of five originals to each island."


    ''Only group of five?!'' Gege was surprised to hear his request.


    ''Ding! It''s not wise to reveal your true strength this early in war,'' the system explained before the golden dragon added:


    ''The enemy knows we have a limited number of originals. If we recklessly used a large number of them, he will be alarmed and might change his plans.''


    ''I see,'' Gege complied and opened eleven portals, each close to one island. Arthur watched the majestic appearance of his originals with satisfied eyes.


    "They will be enough to crack the shields of the protective islands," Arthur said while focusing his eyes on the central island, the main base he wanted to crush here. "But this one¡­ it''s shield didn''t even budge no matter how many attacks hit it!"


    It was obvious that this island was special. The cannons of Agnus were really domineering against all shields except the shield of that main base.


    ''Should I summon more?'' Gege asked before hurriedly adding, ''I mean from other forces we have.''


    "Not now," Arthur didn''t hurry to give such an order, "we have to clear the other islands first. Tell Agnus to make his cannons fire solely over the main base once we crush the shields."


    ''Preparing for full assault?'' the golden dragon asked the obvious.


    "Yeah, inform Nara that her forces will be responsible for taking over the ten islands," Arthur paused before adding, "and let Doaf, Amera, and others be ready to help in case things went south."


    ''What about the originals?'' Gege asked while the originals started bombarding the shields of all islands, including the main base as well, ''shall I recall them back?''


    "No," Arthur''s eyes were fixed over one island which would be the first to have its shield crushed, "let them go and attack freely inside."


    ''Didn''t you say¡­'' Gege stopped by the golden dragon who explained again:


    ''It''s to expose what tricks that bastard prepared for our originals.''


    ''Aha,'' Gege realized this before she added, ''I''ve informed everyone. Once the shields are down, I''ll open portals to pour out as many of our forces as possible.''


    "Make sure to distribute the forces evenly," Arthur instructed, "and start with a small amount first. Don''t rush everything fast."


    ''... Ok!'' Gege wanted to ask but she held up her tongue. She didn''t like to be lectured by the golden dragon and the system every single time she wanted to ask about something.


    Instead she returned to peek inside Arthur''s mind. She realized his plan and felt how naive and impulsive she was.


    Arthur wanted to use the initial attack to test all the defensive traps that the dark angel grandmaster installed in these islands.


    Discovering everything early on would help in later fights. After all, the grandmaster of the dark angel clan would provide the same traps in all islands.


    So it wasn''t a big loss to let few troops die at first hours of this war to save much more later on.


    Gege informed Nara not to send her biggest and strongest troops out. Arthur wanted to sacrifice those weak troops first as fodders. So she instructed Nara that not a single evolved mecha would be released out there.


    But this was quite a challenging request in fact. As most of the mechas evolved.


    ''Can I use other troops there?'' Gege asked when she realized the troops available from the mecha legions weren''t enough, ''like the skeletons.''


    "Not enough troops?" Arthur realized the issue that made him proud. "Alright, send other weak troops out there first."


    ''On it,'' Gege went to distribute the orders while Arthur felt great pride in his accomplishment. It was a thing to be happy about regarding the amount of his evolved troops.


    "Crack!"


    "Boom!"


    Just like a hill getting shattered by an explosion, the first defensive shield fell.


    "Now!" Arthur''s eyes gleamed with blue light while watching a large number of portals open inside the conquered island.


    At the same time, the five originals who crushed the shield moved in and started their massacre.


    "Let''s see what you hid inside these islands, dirty master," Arthur slowly muttered while anticipating what would happen next.


    And the dark angel grandmaster didn''t disappoint him!

 Chapter 993 - Dealing With The Toxin

    The assault didn''t last for five minutes before a change occurred. Under the watchful gazes of Arthur, the entire flying island shone in strange black light.


    It appeared like a dark fog prevailed across the entire island coming from its ground. The fog looked like nothing at first, but as it got thicker, the forces there started to fall one after another.


    "Gege¡­ What''s happening there?" Arthur instantly asked as he couldn''t perfectly see everything from his far away position.


    ''That fog¡­ It''s like a toxic fog or something,'' Gege said in doubt before adding, ''every single troop there fell to the ground the moment they were exposed to that fog.''


    "Interesting," Arthur smiled in a vicious way, "take away three originals and as many mechas and other forces and confine them inside the garden world," he said before adding, "inform Agnus, Deem, Gor, and even Amelia about this. I want all the brilliant minds of my empire to work on these bodies and know what happened to them."


    ''She can also take part of that fog,'' the golden dragon suddenly said.


    ''How?'' Gege didn''t know how to do that. After all she could take away any solid thing, not a gas form of fog.


    ''Take a large part of that ground,'' the golden dragon explained, ''I bet there is something hidden there that releases the fog.''


    ''But¡­''


    "Just send more troops there and let them cut the ground," Arthur knew what she was about to say, "send them to places with less dense fog. There they can last longer."


    ''On it,'' Gege moved fast and the next minute many portals opened. As Arthur expected, the areas with thinner fog didn''t affect the summoned troops fast.


    They held pick axes and other mining gears that Agnus and his boys developed to extract ores. They worked as fast as they could and managed to cut big chunks of the ground.


    Then Gege started to take them all the moment a piece was cut loose from the island.


    "Woosh!"


    Just in the middle of all this, the defensive shield was reactivated again, preventing Gege from intervening any further.


    ''They¡­ cut my connection with my portals,'' she was flustered and quite enraged by this move.


    "So each twenty minutes the shields could be regenerated¡­ Interesting," Arthur wasn''t angry or surprised at all. After all he expected such a thing. "Summon five originals and make them crush the shield."


    ''Again?'' Gege was surprised.


    ''Ding! He wants to test the strength of the newly summoned shield,'' the system said and Gege felt uneasy again so she shut up her mouth and said nothing.


    Inside the garden world, many sleepy bodies lined inside a secluded place there. Around them, many people were there testing them in all possible ways.


    Arthur closed his eyes for a few minutes and watched his elites working hard to unveil this mystery. He felt satisfied by the swift response of his trusted subordinates and reopened his eyes again.


    "Knowledge is power," he muttered, "no matter what you prepared for us, I''ll decipher all of these traps and crush them all and win."


    In front of his eyes the shield was cracked open faster than before. "So the newly summoned shields are weaker," Arthur commented, "that means only one thing."


    ''The shields operate by a limited source of power,'' the golden dragon said, ''I bet it''s the same source that makes these islands fly.''


    ''Ding! But if that''s the case then exhausting these sources of power might be a good way to deplete these shields,'' the system said.


    "But in return our troops on the ground will be in danger," Arthur said and Gege wanted to ask why but she refrained.


    Instead she delved inside Arthur''s mind and read his thoughts. The moment the islands lost their power source, they wouldn''t be able to fly. That was what Arthur was thinking about.


    And that meant one thing; the islands would fall over the heads of those on the ground, killing everyone and burying them under tons of rocks and dirt.


    ''I''ll prepare my portals to take everyone away,'' Gege said out her decision out of her understanding of the current situation.


    "That would be good, but the gears Agnus made will be a problem," Arthur pondered about this before adding, "make them move the cannons away from the islands. Anyway these cannons have long ranges and don''t need to stand below the islands directly."


    ''On it.''


    Arthur was prepared to lose even his ground troops for testing out everything against these islands. But losing the cannons Agnus worked so hard to make wasn''t an option.


    As the ground troops moved the cannons to secure locations, the originals kept shattering more of the shields of the islands. The same thing occurred again even in the island that was cracked open before.


    But what was noticeable was two things. Each time the shields were crushed and regenerated, they would become weaker.


    Also the fog looked like it was dissipating in air. So with each time going inside the islands, the time provided for the troops would be slightly longer.


    "Monitor those mages inside the islands," Arthur noticed that only his forces would be affected by the fog and the enemy troops weren''t. "And try to take a few hostages alive to dissect and test things on them."


    ''Ok,'' Gege compiled while seeing through Arthur''s mind to understand his motives. Arthur was convinced there was some sort of a potion these troops got to neutralize the effect of the toxin.


    What was remarkable though was the first effect of the toxin. Toxins tend to take some time to act, but this one here acted fast and within minutes took out his entire forces.


    He felt some curiosity towards this toxin. He wanted to know more about it and try to modify it for his own gains.


    Plus to create an antidote, he had to first decipher the toxin used and understand it perfectly well.


    As for the hostages, having live test subjects who ingested the antidote was great. He was now more confident in his ability to reach that antidote fast.


    He just had to wait for his elites and geniuses to give him more clues about the toxin and its antidote.. Then he would act to create an antidote against this toxin and remove such a threat once and for all.

 Chapter 994 - Unveiling The Secret About The Toxic Fog

    Arthur didn''t call off his assault or waited for the result of the toxin and antidote analysis. He wanted to consume the strength of his enemies during that time.


    After all, the enemies weren''t sitting idle. The islands kept following the cannons and ground troops, trying to smash them all.


    In addition to that, the reinforcements were drawing closer to here with each passing hour.


    As Arthur knew the research about the toxin and the antidote might take days, he couldn''t possibly call off the assault and wait.


    So he let his troops attack and smash the shields of these islands before getting poisoned by the toxin.


    ''Are we going to keep this?'' Gege asked, ''so far the strength of these islands seemed to be weakened. The time for the shield regeneration tripled already and the toxin inside needed a long time to affect our troops. But we are losing a lot already.''


    "There is no harm in losing some fodder," Arthur calmly said, "in return we''ll save more lives later on."


    ''But those inside studying the dead bodies of our forces can''t find anything yet! Two days have already passed and we have no result at all.''


    Arthur thought he would get a few things during the past two days. But in return the geniuses inside stood helpless in front of such toxins.


    "Let me in," he decided, "I''ll work on it myself."


    Arthur passed through the portal after insisting over continuing the assault as usual. Even if he didn''t find anything useful soon, at least he would consume the energy of these islands and make them fall!


    The only island that stood tall and didn''t show any sign of weakness yet was the most important one here; the main base.


    As expected, the dark angel grandmaster did his best to ensure its safety. That resourceful enemy seemed to be expecting such a scenario and was well prepared for it.


    After all, even if Arthur and his troops surrounded the main base, without the ability to crush it and conquer it then it would be futile.


    The main base''s defensive plan was simple; it stood tall against any attack and kept itself safe, buying time until the reinforcements arrived.


    As long as it wasn''t breached, the siege would be pointless and surrounding it like this meant nothing.


    In fact things looked like Arthur was the one to fall in the grandmaster''s trap, not the opposite.


    So deciphering the toxin and finding a solution to it became Arthur''s top priority. After all, these islands didn''t have any more traps but this one.


    Arthur kept sending his troops and watched the ongoing fight with keen eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only trap there was the toxin fog and nothing else.


    ''Ding! He might be stocking the other traps in case you broke the puzzlement of the toxin,'' the system warned.


    "I know," Arthur nodded, "but let''s hope other traps aren''t that deadly or hard to deal with."


    All the troops Arthur sent didn''t come back alive. Even the originals he sent, they were all dead.


    And that made Arthur frown when he saw the dead bodies of the originals for the first time. He thought this toxin was going to take some time to act. But to kill even the mighty originals this fast meant it was nothing like what he expected.


    And that was the main reason behind the inability of his geniuses to crack the toxin and discover its secrets.


    They worked on dead bodies, not alive and poisoned. So the toxin was decaying fast, and the effects of it over the bodies were vanishing faster.


    Arthur didn''t enter the garden world but the original world. As no one else knew more about the originals than him, he didn''t let anyone study the original dead bodies.


    "They didn''t decay fast, good," as he reached there, he found the dead bodies of over three hundred originals waiting for him.


    In fact he wasn''t that sad about losing all these originals. After all, he was still making a lot with each passing hour using his secret way.


    Plus these dead bodies would serve best as grand dragons later on.


    "Activate the ability," he said while putting both hands over one dead body of the originals. Arthur wanted to know more about what happened, and who else would tell but the dead man himself?


    The dragomancer ability worked and turned the dead body of that original into a majestic looking and alive grand dragon.


    "Roar!" the dragon roared its first roar in this world while feeling its new strength.


    "Tell me what happened to you before death," Arthur didn''t give the grand dragon the chance to enjoy his new power and asked directly what concerned him.


    "Master," the grand dragon acknowledged Arthur first as he bowed with his gigantic body. "I was killed using a toxin made from our sacred flower."


    "What?!!!" Arthur was shocked to hear that. He never expected the toxin to be derived from that cursed flower. "Tell me everything," he demanded while knowing now why his geniuses couldn''t crack that secret of the toxin so far.


    No one knew about that flower but him. And as far as he knew, that flower was one of the deepest secrets of this universe.


    "The toxin is made by the essence of the sacred flower of our race," the grand dragon said, "but for some unknown reason, it killed me instead of evolving my power like legends said."


    "..."


    Arthur knew the truth here but he chose not to tell. Even if the original turned into such a grand dragon, he would still be an original in the core.


    "Do you have any remnants of that power?" Arthur asked, "or a clue to how to stop it?"


    "I don''t have anything remnant of it," the grand dragon said, "the toxin vanished after my death as it analyzed into nothing by my purple energy."


    "It got decomposed by the purple energy?!" the eyes of Arthur gleamed in bright blue light. "Thanks, I appreciate your help¡­ Take me out now!"

 Chapter 995 - The Solution Isnt Enough

    Arthur went outside with another spirit than the one he left with. He looked at the floating islands at the distance with gleaming eyes of confidence.


    "So this is how you played it¡­ Interesting," Arthur couldn''t contain his excitement and laughed. His laughs turned into mighty roars which attracted the attention of everyone in the battlefield.


    He was about to make his move now, but he didn''t need to do it himself.


    "Gege¡­ Provide purple ores with everyone entering those damn islands," he said in a vicious tone, "make them throw the ores all over the place. Let the entire islands soak with these ores."


    ''Throwing the ores around alone won''t help!'' the golden dragon objected, ''what''s your plan exactly?''


    "The black curtains," Arthur snorted, "I''ll use those big curtains to unleash hell there. But first we need to scatter ores around or else the fire would affect us as well."


    ''Ding! Why not surround our ground troops with these ores?'' the system suggested.


    "Good point, let''s do it as well," Arthur agreed while Gege started to relay his orders.


    Things started to look more intense the moment Arthur''s troops started showing the purple ore. In Arthur''s eyes, the world inside the island got stirred up like a massive battle of energy erupted the moment the purple ores appeared.


    The ores released their innate purple energy that seemed to trigger something inside these islands. The most brutal clashes occurred at the main base where Arthur could see the tongues of energy rising up high in the sky.


    The energy clashing with the purple energy was strangely dark red in color, resembling the energy he fought against inside that previous trial of his.


    That made him realize that his trial wasn''t that simple at all. More secrets veiled everything here, and the more he knew the more puzzled he became.


    "Keep throwing ores there," he said, "all troops should carry as much as they can. Also pour out tons of ores from the portals when the shields are down."


    As these invisible clashes to all but him erupted, the ores kept getting ruined fast. It seemed like the land of the islands were eating away these ores.


    But this didn''t come without a price to pay. Under his observation, Arthur noticed that the toxin affecting his troops got extremely thin after using the purple ores.


    And the more ores were poured in there, the thinner the fog became.


    That gave his forces the chance to kill more mages inside the islands, throw more ores there to buy themselves more time.


    As things turned out this way, the morale of his troops skyrocketed and they started to fight in a more brutal way.


    Until a new change occurred.


    ''There is something happening over the islands,'' Gege said, ''some sort of portal is opening over each island.''


    "He is using that old plan of his then," Arthur turned his head to see the sky. There he could spot whirlpools of black energy appearing over each island.


    Like a storm coming, things didn''t look well in his eyes. But he didn''t look startled or surprised. After all, he expected his enemy to use that useless way to attack his troops.


    "Make sure to use your portals to shield the troops," Arthur said, "those bitches of the world''s wills are coming."


    ''But the scale¡­ It''s so big to cover with my portals alone!'' Gege said and she had all the right to worry. After all, the size of these portals weren''t like anything else they fought against before.


    "Just focus on the originals and most of the troops as you can," Arthur wasn''t worried like her, "even if he killed everything there, we''ll send much more in the next waves. These islands are mine! And he won''t be able to change that."


    Arthur''s determination calmed down the worried Gege. she complied and didn''t object anymore.


    As Arthur expected, the portals appeared before they rained down thick attacks of natural disasters.


    Fire, snow, lightning, and even solid big rocks like mountains; everything was thrown over the heads of his troops.


    But at the same time these attacks also took away a large number of the enemy troops. It was a mutual exchange of damage where Arthur held the upper hand here.


    No matter how many troops he lost, he could easily replace them with a snap of his fingers. Unlike his enemy, whose troops were limited.


    "Keep protecting the troops," Arthur said before adding, "and add more ores as well."


    ''There is something wrong here,'' Gege suddenly said, ''they aren''t attacking the forces, they are targeting the ores!''


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes gleamed when he heard that with realization. "So he is trying to kill the ores? Hahaha, then leave as many portals as you can to pour out more ores there."


    ''On it,'' Gege started to work as hard as she could. However with time Arthur realized how much he greatly underestimated his enemies.


    Their attacks were really explosive enough to wipe out no matter how much ores he threw there.


    "This won''t do," Arthur knew if he continued this way, then even his great stock of ores wouldn''t be enough in the end. After all, he wasn''t just thinking about these islands. He eyed the large number of islands waiting for him after this battle.


    If he couldn''t reach a balance and find a better way to consume these islands, he wouldn''t win this war.


    ''Why not try to detonate the curtains now?'' the golden dragon asked, ''like send in troops with ores then instantly detonate the curtains.''


    ''Ding! This will wipe away many of our troops but it might help in taking down the islands,'' the system agreed.


    "Let''s try it then," Arthur didn''t object as he wanted to try the curtains and see their effects. "Send the next waves with one big curtain for each island. Make them hit the curtains with anything to trigger their explosion."


    ''Ok,'' Gege wanted to express her disagreement, but she didn''t. After all, she read Arthur''s mind and knew how complicated their situation was.


    They were having a way to crush the islands, but at the same time they couldn''t crush all the islands using this way alone.

 Chapter 996 - The Green Energy

    Arthur stood on the side while waiting for the experiment to start.


    He knew this fight was going to be his loss if things kept going this way. So he waited and looked at the portals opening at three islands with their shields down.


    "C''mon, take them down," he muttered while waiting. Just after a few minutes, three mighty explosions occurred.


    The world in his eyes changed abruptly all of sudden. The fierce purple fire appeared again in this world and inside the three islands.


    "What?!!" However, just as he was watching, something weird happened.


    The fire engulfed the islands as expected. It was also expected for it to expand outside and eat away the rocks of the island. However just as the fire reached the border of the islands, the bodies of these islands gleamed in weird green light.


    Arthur watched the bodies of these islands shine brightly while the green light ate away and dominated the purple fire in his eyesight.


    "No way!" At this moment Arthur started to fly as fast as he could towards the closest island. He wanted to know what exactly was going on here.


    He used one of his deadliest weapons, the curtains that nothing stood against but the purple ore. However this weird green light managed not only to stop the fire, but to crush it down.


    He went fast towards the closest island. Things looked quite normal from outside with no difference. The rocks kept shining with green light which created a sort of shield around it.


    "Should I clash with it or not?" Arthur hesitated. He didn''t know if he could deal with this mysterious green energy. Even the purple fire failed, so he hesitated about doing this.


    "What''s that?"


    Just as he was in such a dilemma, he noticed something strange. At the center of the island, and at the direction facing ground, the green light there sparkled in different ways.


    It looked like gems or special ores were there reflecting the green light. Arthur didn''t delay and moved directly towards that spot to see something he never expected.


    "The flower¡­" in front of him a big flower appeared. It was the same flower that turned the original into a world''s will from before.


    But this flower seemed like it was petrified inside the island by some sort of weird drawings around. The drawings were the thing reflecting the green light.


    ''Ding! I can sense a great suppressive force from these drawings,'' the system said, ''they are the ones causing all this.''


    ''I agree,'' the golden dragon said, ''but what are these drawings anyway? They looked strangely familiar.''


    "I know them," Arthur said in a dignified tone, "Gege, bring Sara here."


    ''Now?'' Gege was surprised to hear such a request. She thought he would ask for one of his strong generals.


    "Yeah, these drawings are nothing but the original''s diagram."


    The moment Arthur saw these drawings he recognized them. They were the weird and mysterious diagrams of the original civilization.


    Just seeing these diagrams here made him realize that the dark angel grandmaster knew about the original civilization.


    But that didn''t make any sense. After all that mage didn''t seem to enjoy eternal life blessing or being an immortal with extended life span.


    So when he thought about it again, one name popped up in his mind this time and cleared all the doubt. "The ancient world''s wills¡­ Damn you!" he cursed while watching the flower trapped in the main body of the island.


    "Did you call for me?" Sara came in the next moment while feeling surprised by Arthur''s call.


    "Do you recognize this?" Arthur didn''t say anything else as he pointed towards the flower and the diagrams around.


    "This¡­ how come the diagrams are here? And what is this flower?"


    "That''s for later," Arthur didn''t answer her questions, "now we need to find a way to deal with these diagrams. Can you do it?/"


    Sara didn''t hurry to answer before she took her time to examine the complicated setting of the diagrams. After long time of pondering and study she finally turned to Arthur and said:


    "They are layered in a complex manner, but I believe I can deal with it," she said in a hesitant tone.


    "Are you sure?" Arthur asked, "this will decide the victor of our war."


    Sara realized how grave the situation was. Still her face didn''t change and she nodded. "I can do it, but I''ll need materials for that."


    "Snap!"


    Without even thinking, Arthur snapped his fingers and a portal appeared next to her. "Go in there and say anything you want out loud. I''ll make sure to provide everything you need."


    "I need that blood from before," she paused while gazing up at the gigantic size of the entire island, "I want a massive amount of it actually."


    "No problem with that," Arthur knew it would be hard to provide a large amount of such blood.


    After all, it was made by the combination of blood from his grand dragon and the octopus monster he had inside his garden world.


    He now had much more grand dragons than before. But he still had one octopus monster.


    Despite that he wasn''t worried. After all, his main priority now was to test Sara''s theory first and make sure it was effective.


    Then he would think about the problem of that blood later on. He decided to take problems one by one and solve them slowly as he progressed.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur simply said.


    ''I''ll bring everything she needs,'' Gege said without the need for Arthur to say anything.


    "Good," Arthur didn''t retreat and instead he examined the rest of the islands. The attacks of the islands didn''t affect him as he easily evaded all using the portals.


    The only advantage he gained from using the curtains and purple fire was to exterminate the enemies in three islands. That left the islands almost defenseless.


    Only the pillars of fire that fell from the islands were the only thing continuing to rain down from there. That told Arthur that this attack was linked to the dark angel mage.


    As he examined the rest of the islands, he couldn''t see any flowers there.


    "So they need to be triggered to be seen¡­ Gege, keep sending curtains up there. I want these diagrams to be exhausted," he said in a decisive tone.


    If he couldn''t deal yet with these islands and diagrams, at least he would keep his enemy pretty occupied until Sara found something to solve this problem.


    After all, the fact that Arthur had a large stock of curtains was something unknown to his enemy.. And he intended to use this to his best advantage.

 Chapter 997 - Getting Ready To Join The War

    Arthur watched all the islands getting triggered by his forces'' efforts. In fact the losses he had kept piling up with each attack. However the thought of calling off the attack never crossed his mind.


    He focused mainly on the main base of the enemy. "As expected, this island has a group of seven flowers forming some sort of an array," he muttered while watching the main base getting burned down one time after another by the purple fire.


    This base looked strong from the start. Despite all the attacks over it, the shield proved to be harder to crack, faster to be generated. Plus even after all these attacks the deadly fog up there didn''t show any sign of weakening.


    That gave Arthur a thought about how hard that dark angel mage tried to fortify the base.


    The fact that that distasteful grandmaster didn''t give the order to the base to run away and kept it moving steadily towards the direction of the incoming reinforcements proved that he wasn''t worried at all.


    Arthur got out of this confidence that this base was equipped with many defenses and traps that he had yet to unveil. However in return to that enemy''s confidence, Arthur was also confident as well.


    He trusted the abilities of his geniuses, with Sara working on top of them to solve this problem. He didn''t doubt the ability of his grand army or its strength.


    He only needed to create a gap, create a chance even if it was slim for his army to crush this base once and for all.


    As for the rest of the islands, he would prefer to find another feasible way to control them. After all his main goal here wasn''t to just win these wars, but also win as many as possible of these islands.


    Having such a grand and mighty weapon, one that could accommodate a huge number of forces and travel to any part of the world was really tempting in Arthur''s eyes.


    He wanted these islands. He wanted all the islands he could control.


    He could, instead, work his best to crush them here and then dominate the entire world. Then he would order those clans who created these islands at the west and north to make more islands.


    But leaning to such a solution seemed a far fetched goal than just having the already ready islands here.


    That unfavorable solution gave Arthur more choices here. After all he wasn''t that bitter at obtaining the islands here.


    If he couldn''t find a way to obtain them, then he better crush them all and get rid of their threat for now.


    "How is Sara going?" Arthur asked while in his mind a surgical strike began to take shape.


    ''She is almost done,'' Gege said before adding, ''but she managed to create a few counter diagrams to the ones around the flowers. According to her, she needed more time to create more of these arrays.''


    "Good," Arthur nodded in satisfaction before adding, "gather up everyone. I want everyone ready to move when I give the mark."


    ''What do you intend to do here?'' The golden dragon wasn''t the only one feeling the weird tone of Arthur.


    ''Ding! Do you plan to do something foolish and risky again?'' the system asked despite him knowing Arthur better than anyone else.


    Once Arthur put something in his mind, he would eventually do it no matter what.


    "That damn base," Arthur motioned with his head towards the base nearby, "I''ll attack it first with everything we got. I will make that grandmaster watch in bitterness his crown jewel crash and burn without being able to do anything to save it."


    ''But¡­'' Gege''s worry wasn''t groundless, but Arthur interrupted her as he firmly said:


    "We can''t attack the islands with what we got now," Arthur said before adding, "we have to buy time for Sara to provide us with enough diagrams to crush these islands. Besides¡­"


    He turned his gaze towards other islands before adding, "we need to find a way to dominate these islands and add them to our forces. We can''t do it with that nasty base controlling everything and putting us under pressure. We need to levitate that threat off our shoulders and have enough time and room to test as we should do."


    His words made sense despite the risk this move implied. However no one complained anymore.


    They knew the situation wasn''t looking good to them if they didn''t manage to retaliate to what that grandmaster prepared for them.


    Just trying to stop the islands the way they were doing wouldn''t work. Arthur''s plan was risky, but it held an element of surprise as its greatest weapon.


    That was why Arthur ordered for everyone he had under his control to be ready. If he gave his enemy enough time to think about this attack then something worse might happen.


    The only possible way to win this was by taking that enemy by surprise and force reality over him. That was by pouring everything Arthur got inside that bass island and facing whatever that dark angel had prepared there.


    And then they would work with all their might to crush these traps and defenses and bring this base to the ground.


    ``We are ready,'''' after ten minutes, and a couple of failed attacks over all the islands, Gege finally gave Arthur the answer he wanted to hear.


    "Good," Arthur flew higher in the air before stopping hundreds of meters away from the base island, "I''ll go in first once the shield is down. Take Sara out and make her ready. The moment these flowers are triggered, she has to use her diagrams to nullify and crush them."


    ''On it,'' Gege said before returning to say, ''she wants to go out now and get things ready.''


    "No problem," Arthur agreed while watching a group of five originals appear in front of that sturdy shield of the base island and start to bombard it.


    According to what happened before, they would take around five minutes to bring down the shield and crack it open.. Once they would achieve that, Arthur would wait for his boys to trigger the curtain and then he would enter the battle for the first time.

 Chapter 998 - A Hidden Entrance

    Sara came out and started to attach her diagrams over the body of the island. She was confident in her diagrams'' ability to crush the ones around the flowers.


    However as she was informed by Gege before coming out, this island didn''t contain only one flower but seven. And they formed some sort of an array there.


    That meant these flowers would exert far stronger resistance than what she expected.


    "It''s good that I prepared a lot of diagrams beforehand," she muttered while putting the diagrams in places informed by Gege before.


    According to Arthur''s instructions which Sara totally approved with, she had to form another array of her diagrams to counter the one in that island.


    Doing so gave her diagrams more power. Plus she also had another idea in her mind.


    "Why go for one array when I can make overlapping arrays?" she didn''t intend to make one array and then replenish it with her diagrams.


    According to what she knew, Arthur intended to launch a big and full assault over that island. From the look of things, this island seemed pretty much important to both Arthur and his enemy.


    So dealing with crucial pieces in this war shouldn''t come in shaky hands like this. She started to form a group of eleven overlapping arrays, using almost everything she had from the diagrams.


    "I''m ready," she said before pointing to the air next to her, "take me inside. I''ll keep making more diagrams and come to replenish the ones exhausted here."


    Gege relied her words on Arthur who didn''t disagree with Sara. The latter went inside the garden world to resume making her diagrams while Arthur waited on the side for the sturdy shield to crack open.


    Just to make sure the enemy wouldn''t suspect anything, he asked Gege to keep hammering the other islands like always.


    He didn''t want to alarm his enemy, not when he was this close to start his plan.


    "Crack!''


    "Crack!"


    "Boom!"


    In the next few minutes the originals managed to finally crack open that shield. "It''s finally down," Arthur said before adding, "send in the attack as usual. But make everyone ready. Once the island''s green energy is removed, I''ll step in and you shall bring forth everything."


    ''Don''t worry,'' Gege said, ''everyone is already waiting for your mark.''


    Arthur watched his usual group of forces appear on the island and take the curtain out. They detonated it, releasing a mighty wave of purple fire again.


    Like before, the entire island shone brightly in green light. However, just before the light could clash with the purple fire, something else happened.


    The diagrams Sara planted there worked and clashed with the green energy instead.


    "Let''s go," Arthur started to move before adding, "bring forth purple ores to limit the purple fire range."


    ''On it,'' Gege complied and first limited the reach of the purple fire to a small area. Then an endless number of portals popped up inside the island preparing for the full out assault.


    "Attack!" Arthur stepped on the island for the first time as he shouted as he rapidly increased forces, "aim at all the buildings here. Smash them into pieces and destroy everything that stands in your way!"


    "Awuah!" the mighty war cry came from everyone here before they started to do as he said.


    The island was really gigantic! Unlike what Arthur felt from far away, it wasn''t as small or limited as he expected.


    The surface of it was covering tens of miles in radius, making it the biggest island in the group here. But against his portals and large number of forces, this space didn''t look anything special.


    In the span of one minute, the entire island was filled with his forces entirely. They started crushing all buildings and destroying everything on it.


    The purple fire did its best to kill anything living here. But against the buildings it couldn''t do anything like that.


    The buildings seemed to be well protected from the fire by the green energy. However with the energy removed out of the picture, the buildings became vulnerable again.


    ''There is an entrance found,'' all of sudden Arthur got this notification from Gege.


    "Take me there now!" He didn''t hesitate to pass through the portal and appear on top of a big hole.


    It was well hidden in the depths of a big building. It was situated in the center of the island, a perfect place to hide such a thing.


    The building got ruined already by the brutal force of Amera, Doaf, Jude, and the crow. The moment they noticed Arthur''s presence, they cheered and greeted him.


    "Finally you decided to show up here," Amera said in a laugh, "I knew you won''t miss the party."


    "What shall we do now?" Jude asked.


    "We shall enter," the crow firmly said and Arthur nodded.


    "Bring more troops here," Arthur instructed while flying directly through the portal, "I''m sure there are many enemies inside."


    "What about you?" Doaf asked in some worried tone.


    "He is strong," Amera patted Doaf on the back, "don''t think he is a low realmer anymore, hahaha."


    Amera seemed to be in a great mood. She wasn''t the only one feeling so. Everyone here felt the same after evolving using the black curtains.


    The evolution came as a shocking surprise to everyone. They gained unbelievable strength they never imagined before. Strength that could rival even the grandmasters of their clans.


    If they were told that by joining the forces of such a low realmer and would eventually gain such a massive boost in strength and abilities, they would never have believed that.


    But things turned out that they bet on the right man, the right leader, even if he was a low realmer from the start.


    Now Arthur wasn''t any weaker than any grandmaster of a mighty clan from the high realms! Joining him might be considered the best decision anyone of them ever took in their lives without exaggeration.


    "This is interesting," the moment Arthur entered the underground segment of the island, he was surprised to see a grand world waiting for him. "Hiding such a world here with such grand forces means you planned to conquer my empire by surprise¡­ We are alike after all, hahaha."


    As Arthur decided to surprisingly attack the main base of that enemy, the enemy was also planning to do the same to his empire.


    In front of Arthur''s eyes, this grand world that looked no inferior to a small realm was filled with cities, towns, villages, and herds of monsters.


    On top of that, the world was filled with grand armies, wielding their weapons and ready to battle.


    "They are expecting me," Arthur snorted, "let''s not make them wait then. Gege¡­ Summon every single original here. Ah, don''t forget my grand dragons as well.. Let''s have a grand party here on the honor of smashing and bringing down this main base."

 Chapter 999 - The Weird Hole

    If it was before, then Arthur would have to struggle to clear such a world.


    However he now had a terrifying army of originals and grand dragons. All he needed to do was just release them, wait for one hour before everything settled.


    During this time, Amera and others came down with their top forces. They were all shocked when they saw the terrifying one sided battle led by Arthur''s troops.


    Arthur seemed like he wasn''t giving any heed towards this fight at all. He simply kept roaming this world and explored its places.


    As he expected, it was like a world of its own. There were rivers, mountains, and even ores that he discovered. However the more surprising thing was the origin of this world.


    ''I think the energy here is just above the level of the intermediate world we are in,'' the golden dragon said before adding, ''If I''m not mistaken, this world here is from the higher realms.''


    "I agree," Arthur nodded as he held a large gem in his hand. He stood on the side of a big sea where the shores were all made by head-sized red gems, like grains of sands but a lot bigger. "If I took this into my star map, would it be counted as a world I conquered?"


    His mind was settled upon taking this world and binding it to the star map. However even if this world wouldn''t count, he still wanted it.


    Apart from its big space, the resources here made him crave to get this world for himself. There were ores, plants and trees he never saw, plus various kinds of monsters.


    Also there were many people living here. He didn''t know if they belonged to some sort of a clan or they served the dark angel grandmaster with devotion or not; however he still had a large number of population waiting to be acquired.


    It seemed foolish to just leave this world alone. At this moment he hoped every single island would contain such a world. If so then he would be lucky and truly grateful to the dark angel grandmaster for this awesome gift.


    ''Ding! I believe it won''t be counted as one,'' the system said, ''Ding! After all, it''s not a separate world of its own. But you can try.''


    "I''ll take it no matter what," Arthur let down that gem and shook the dirt off his fingers before adding, "Gege, link this world to the star map."


    ''Gimme a minute,'' Gege seemed uncertain, ''I need to check if this will work or not.''


    Arthur stood in midair while watching the ongoing fight all around the world. His instructions for his troops were simple; just kill anyone resisting and leave those who surrendered alive.


    Per his words, the forces kept crushing any resistance standing against them. At first the enemy forces here had high morale, thinking high of themselves.


    But just after crushing tens of cities and towns, killing an endless number of these hostile forces, their confidence was crushed and seemed to be filled with cracks.


    ''There is an issue here,'' Gege returned with the bad news, ''this world seems to be integrated inside the island. We need to find the link and sever it first.''


    "The link?" Arthur turned around but he couldn''t see anything special here, "use the tree then and see if there is a special place here."


    ''On it,'' Gege went and this time she came after the fight was over.


    Arthur watched his forces shout the last cry of victory before he turned towards his generals.


    "This fight didn''t need us," Amera said.


    "But we had some fun," the crow appreciated any good fight.


    "Go up there," Arthur pointed to the surface, "keep the island secured. If anything strange happens, just get inside here."


    "Something like what?" Jude asked.


    "Like more reinforcements?" Doaf had this thought in mind.


    "Like a natural disaster befalling from the sky," Arthur didn''t say it out clearly. He feared the world''s wills to step in and smash his attack.


    But up till now, nothing new has happened. The base island kept moving like there were no enemies on its surface smashing and destroying everything.


    Even after this long hour, no one found the place to control this island.


    Arthur wasn''t that surprised by this. After all this isolated big world here told him that this island was unique.


    Finding more trapped worlds like this one wouldn''t be a surprise to him. So when Gege came back with the news, he only nodded.


    ''There is another hole at the center of this world,'' she said, ''I believe the link must be there.''


    "Everything will be there," Arthur said before turning around, "make sure to take all the people and resources they have. I don''t know if I can salvage this world or not."


    The next moment he started to fly towards the direction of this world''s center. "Also take in all my forces and take out Fox and Lara. let the two deal with the people and the surrendering forces here.


    Arthur flew through a series of portals to cover a large distance in a short time. He took around ten minutes to arrive at the central place of this world.


    And there he was surprised when he saw what awaited him there. He imagined it would be a hole, just like the one he came through here.


    But the hole in front of him was a whirlpool, so giant and looking massive and dangerous. In the center of it a dark abyss appeared.


    Arthur flew on top of the mighty waves of this raging sea while feeling puzzled. "Is this the hole you talked about?" he couldn''t help but ask to make sure he didn''t come to the wrong place.


    But Gege never made such a mistake before. ''It''s the hole, what''s wrong with it?''


    ''Ding! It''s a dangerous hole and looking peculiar. However it suits to be the guardian of the important things below it.''


    ''Don''t tell me you are afraid of the waters and whirlpools!'' the golden dragon laughed.


    "Stop it you two," Arthur said before taking a deep breath. He was startled when he saw this hole, but that didn''t mean he wouldn''t get inside.


    And the next moment he moved and vanished into this hole.

 Chapter 1000 - 1000

    Arthur passed through that gigantic whirlpool feeling like his body was torn to pieces by the impact. It wasn''t the water which caused this but the assault of strange strength and energy that kept pressuring over him.


    "Dammit! It''s that bastard''s energy," Arthur was already familiar with the energy from the dark angel grandmaster mage. He didn''t hesitate to use his own energy pillar to assault this hostile energy and nullify it.


    The clash was fierce, however that didn''t prevent him from pushing himself deeper. He felt repulsive force coming from the deepest part of this hole, but that didn''t stop him.


    He expected such a situation. After all this was the main base of the grandmaster''s attack on his empire. Such a base must have some sort of fierce protection. But to dominate it, Arthur had to crush that residual force in the heart of this flying island.


    Despite feeling much pain all over his body, he brandished his sword and started using his technique. He used his golden pearl''s power to hit everything around, rapidly expanding his pillar of energy.


    He knew this clash would be decided the moment his energy managed to stabilize itself. It was his first time to see the energy pillar of his being pressured and eroded by someone''s dark energy.


    But the answer to this puzzlement came from the golden dragon and the system.


    ''Ding! I feel like this is some sort of a bidirectional way portal,'' the system said before the golden dragon added.


    ''This place is situated in the middle of a portal linking this world with another.''


    "A higher realm," Arthur gnashed his teeth, "a higher realm of that filthy bastard! That''s expected, however let''s see how long he can sustain this link."


    As he got the answer he wanted, things started to become clearer now. He realized he was dealing with this battle in the wrong way. Victory here wouldn''t be decided by crushing the enemy''s energy, but through crushing this portal and shutting it down.


    The moment this would happen, the hostile energy would stop flowing this way and he would be secured. Instead he was trying to resist the incoming energy, wasting his in return and gaining nothing in the end.


    "Gege¡­ be ready to take out black curtains," Arthur suddenly said.


    ''One?'' Gege was surprised for a second there before asking.


    "Bring tons of them," Arthur didn''t want a half assed solution to this problem or else this wouldn''t get him anywhere. Plus if he failed in dealing with the portal in one go, his enemy would read his plan and would prepare a countermeasure for it.


    ''But¡­'' Gege was worried and she had all the right to feel so. Just one curtain was enough to create enough devastation that was hard to handle. And now Arthur wanted a ton of them? That seemed suicidal.


    "Don''t worry about me," Arthur said in confidence, "you''ll take out a large number of purple ores and let them float around my body. Plus I already have the blessing and protection of a curtain."


    ''It''s just one black curtain,'' the golden dragon seemed worried, ''I doubt it can negate the coalition forces of many curtains together.''


    Arthur knew this move held a lot of risk, many dangers to his life. However it was the only thing he could use now to crush such a high end portal.


    He was quite positive this portal was created from the higher realm of the dark angel mage. So crushing it using his weaker and lower grade energy wouldn''t work.


    The only thing he had that could crush such higher energy was his own energy pillar. But up till now his pillar didn''t get a chance to expand properly and was constantly attacked and eroded by his foe.


    The dark angel mage seemed to be well prepared for this annoying ability of his. So Arthur had to come up with something else, something even his allies wouldn''t expect and would be objecting to it like now.


    "Just do it," as he noticed the hesitation of Gege and others, he shouted in urgency, "or else we are all going to die here."


    ''Ding! Using that ability will kill you as well,'' the system didn''t see a difference.


    "I have a slim chance of surviving, unlike if I didn''t do anything," Arthur believed in his ability to survive this. Indeed he would emerge with a lot of wounds, but in the end he would retain his life. "Just trust me and do it!"


    ''Why not take you in my garden world?'' Gege tried to think of another way to survive this.


    "Do you think you can open a portal here for so long?" Arthur was sure the moment a portal opened next to him to escape this trap would be crushed by his foe, "try it. I''m sure only far away portals will be left unscathed for a few moments."


    Gege didn''t believe him until she tried her portal out. All portals were crushed by the higher form of energy constantly pouring from the other end of this portal.


    However those that she tried to summon next to Arthur were mercilessly crushed in a blink of an eye. Arthur wouldn''t have time to step into any portal this way.


    ''How¡­ How is that even possible?!!'' Gege was shocked as this was the first time for her portals to fail.


    "It''s not your fault," Arthur said in rapid words, "my energy is weaker in grade than that enemy. He isn''t subjected to the limitations of this lower world. It''s like I moved to his higher realm and there¡­ he can use his full strength unhindered."


    ''Then what?'' Gege asked.


    "Just do as I told you," Arthur was still persistent on his plan, "it''s the only way to survive this."


    ''...''


    "Just do it!" Arthur urged, "I can''t hold much longer here. This way I''ll die in the next couple minutes!"


    He wasn''t exaggerating! Just now the enemy smelled his intention to flee and poured more hostile energy towards Arthur. The latter was protected by a shaking pillar of light that kept dimming and shrinking at an alarming rate.. "Do it now or we''ll all die!" Arthur shouted and Gege started to finally act.

 Chapter 1001 - Its My Victory

    Arthur expected to have a clash with the dark angel grandmaster once he passed the hole. But he never expected to find himself trapped inside such a scary portal, a portal linked directly to the higher realm of that enemy.


    This meant he was on the losing side here. The enemy wouldn''t let him go unscathed from this clash and would come fiercely for his life.


    That was why Arthur didn''t hesitate to think of the most brutal way to crush this portal. He didn''t aim just to escape, but also to inflict some damage to that hard enemy.


    In front of his eyes, the black curtains were summoned. Portals of Gege didn''t last more than five seconds here, but it was enough to let the curtains pass through and float in the middle of the portal.


    As for triggering these ticking bombs, Arthur wasn''t worried about that. He trusted his enemy to attack anything he threw at him, and that was what happened.


    The dark angel mage exerted immense pressure over the curtains once they were out. When he realized what they were, it was too late for him to withdraw his energy.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Many curtains which were brought out first exploded under this pressure. The explosion was really powerful enough to make Arthur see nothing in the world but purple.


    "Bring out the ores¡­ Now!" he curled himself up while trying to cover his body with his purple wings. This wasn''t enough, he knew that. So he asked Gege to start summoning the ores now.


    The portals she tried to bring nearby were crushed in no time, so she had to open the portals higher than Arthur''s level and let the ores fall around him.


    Despite the series of explosions here, the dark angel mage seemed to control himself better than what Arthur thought before.


    "But that won''t last for long, bastard!" Arthur gnashed his teeth and endured the pain that started to come from the purple energy.


    This time he wasn''t just facing one curtain''s explosion, but many. Up till now over a hundred curtains exploded, creating what he could consider as a mass destruction explosion on the level of an apocalypse.


    He sustained injuries before the purple ores started to gather around his body, helping in shielding him a little. However even them seemed to have their limited capacity.


    "C''mon bastard!" Arthur gritted his teeth and tried to endure with all his might. It was a battle against time, against whoever would consume his energy and break up first.


    Despite being in the center of that scary explosion, Arthur wasn''t worried. After all his goal from the start wasn''t that enemy, but this portal here.


    "Crack!"


    "Crack!"


    "Crack!"


    In less than one minute the portal started to crack under the effect of the explosion. The portal kept releasing popping sounds that kept increasing with time.


    "Almost there," the portal seemed to crush at any moment now. However, just at this point, the sudden gush of the dark angel mage''s energy flooded in and started to amend some of the damage.


    "Bring more¡­" Arthur said in a deep tone, "bring all you can to crush this bastard."


    ''But¡­''


    "Do it!"


    Gege was worried about his safety. The attempts of the dark angel mage were futile. After all, his energy was crushed midway by the purple energy and his repair efforts were halted in the middle.


    But that enemy kept releasing more waves of energy, something that alarmed Arthur.


    "He is trying to buy time," this was what Arthur felt and the answer that popped in his mind decided his next course of action. "That bastard¡­ he is after the core that controls this base. If he got it, then he can use it to turn another island into a commanding base."


    That meant all this would be pointless and Arthur had to take the trouble to look at this base again and try to destroy it. But trying to repeat things the same way would do, as that grandmaster would react in a different way.


    So Arthur decided not to let him get away with what he wanted here. Gege took out more curtains that instantly exploded under the effect of the purple energy acting berserk around.


    Then the purple energy got a sudden gush in strength and intensity that made even Arthur roar out of pain.


    "C''mon," it was now a race against time. He didn''t want his enemy to move and get that core. He was pretty sure that the core was neary, inside this portal.


    However the purple energy was interfering with the ability of the grandmaster to take it back. That was the only reason behind that pointless release of successive waves from that bastard.


    As Gege kept pouring out curtains, the ferocity of the purple energy became uncontrollable for the grandmaster. It started to erode the dark angel''s energy and crush everything in its path.


    A bright purple light erupted that turned into white from the extreme brutality of the explosion. Arthur was thrown in the middle of the portal like a broken kite, unable to control his body at all.


    ''Take him inside!'' the golden dragon shouted in urgency but I didn''t agree.


    "Don''t," I firmly said while my voice was burdened with my pain and wounds, "I have to get that core no matter what!"


    I had to see it crush and be wasted by my two eyes. Or else how could I be relieved?


    The others knew what I was thinking about. Despite their worry, they realized I paid a lot to just reach this stage.


    If I made any mistake now, that distasteful enemy wouldn''t miss the chance. It wasn''t acceptable and so I kept myself inside the portal and got lashed out by the purple energy.


    The more I stayed, the more wounds I got. The pain was starting to become unbearable while I started to wonder when that damn bastard would give up, would break up, would lose!


    "Crash!"


    The answer didn''t take longer than five more minutes as the entire portal was smashed and all the remaining energy of that dark angel was consumed and eaten away. The next moment I saw a big hall that seemed to be in here from the beginning of everything.


    In the middle I saw an altar that rose for ten meters with something shiny in the top of it. Without even asking, I flipped my wings with extreme pain and exhaustion and let my body fall over that core before shutting down my eyes.


    I went unconscious after this exhaustive battle. As for the core, I trusted my three helpers would know what to do best about it.


    This time¡­ This time it was my victory¡­ again!

 Chapter 1002 - Soul Crystals

    Arthur didn''t know how long he was unconscious there. However the moment he opened his eyes, he noticed that the scenery was totally different than before.


    And he wasn''t alone.


    "You guys¡­"


    He stood up to feel some pain in his body to stop him from standing in one go. His army leaders were all here in this bright world. The entire world was radiant with light like it was midday here.


    Arthur looked at the sky to see no sun there. The light was coming from the sky itself like it was formed by the coalition of many stars.


    "We were called here by you, don''t you remember?" Amera asked while she was holding a large crystal on her back.


    "That¡­" Arthur noticed that she wasn''t the only one holding crystals, everyone else was doing the same. From the expressions over their faces, it seemed like they were holding great treasure.


    "They are the legendary soul crystals of the higher realms," Doaf said in excited tone, "using it in training will increase one''s speed by folds!"


    "Training in the techniques is a very hard process," Jude explained, "but with these we can bring better results using less time."


    "And this world seems to be filled with them," the crow said in a rare excited tone, "it''s like the ground itself is made entirely of it."


    "Well well well¡­ That grandmaster is really generous," Arthur stood up at last before turning around. ''Gege, can you link this world to my star map?''


    ''I already did,'' Gege said.


    ''The core is the link to this place,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! Gege moved it to the star map and linked this world to it. Now this world is separate from that island.''


    ''Oh, what happened to that island then?'' Arthur recalled the fight, ''is it still standing?''


    ''It collapsed after taking the core away,'' Gege said, ''the enemy now lost all the communications he had.''


    "Great," Arthur said in pleasure, "let''s go out then."


    "B¡­ But¡­" the crow seemed to be reluctant to leave.


    "Don''t worry," Arthur couldn''t help but grin, "this world belongs now to me. You can come here anytime to get whatever you want."


    "Really master?" Jude seemed touched by Arthur''s words while the others showed happy expressions.


    ''It seems these useless crystals hold more benefit to them than I thought,'' Arthur muttered to himself before a portal opened and he passed through.


    Others also joined him and went to the outside world. The battle was over, but the war was still raging between his forces and the enemies.


    "Go," Arthur wasn''t interested in these small fries anymore, "control these islands and make sure to kill everyone inside."


    As he cut the link between the grandmaster and this world, these islands lost most of their danger. And now Arthur could easily take control over them.


    His aim was to build a grand army of flying islands, obtain as many islands as he could to hasten the steps of ruling this world.


    "Building cities is a long and tiring process," he sighed, "but if I wiped out all the enemies here, then this world is already mine."


    He planned first to spread the cities slowly and encroach over the entire world. But after crushing his enemy more than once, and with his last overwhelming victory; taking over this world seemed like a breeze to him.


    The fight over the islands didn''t last for long. The main resistance was wiped out before Arthur crushed the base island.


    "Now let''s go and hunt more islands, shall we?" He stood on top of one of the islands while Agnus and other geniuses were trying their best to control them.


    After all, such knowledge wasn''t available to people living in this part of the world. Arthur had many prisoners who could control the islands, and in return for their lives he let them work for him.


    But their number dwelled in front of the needed manpower to operate these giant behemoths. So Arthur instructed Agnus and other geniuses from the sky castle to learn how to drive these islands.


    Then he would start a big academy to let other people join and learn. His aim wasn''t only towards a handful of islands after all.


    "Any news?" he asked while watching the distant fights going on between his forces and the islands.


    Gege already marked the places of the flying islands for him in a map. He gave a copy to each of his generals to hasten the steps of overcoming these islands.


    As for Sara, she kept working her best to make the diagrams needed to nullify the danger of each island.


    However Arthur was looking for another thing. He knew he got rid of the main threat here by defeating the dark angel mage before. However that didn''t mean this world was safe yet.


    From the look of things, he knew there must be a strong force of mages hiding somewhere around. All he wanted was to find and crush them to secure this part of the world.


    However no matter how hard Gege looked around, she couldn''t find such a force.


    ''Are you sure they exist?'' Gege asked in doubt.


    "They must be using an illusion array," Arthur knew this was the only answer, "it can''t be helped then. I''ll send ground troops to search for every corner around us. They can''t be far away from the main force of these islands anyway."


    Arthur believed in that. After all, if he was in the shoes of that grandmaster, he wouldn''t let this chance slip off his hands.


    The islands were very good at offense, but they lacked enough manpower to dominate his forces. In his eyes, the dark angel grandmaster planned to first invade his territory using these islands.


    Then that mage would send in swarms of dark forces to take his shaky empire by surprise.


    "Is there any free army now?" he asked while the battle up front led by Jud was still hot.


    ''Amera is free,'' Gege said, ''also Doaf.''


    "These two are enough then," Arthur nodded, "send the word to them. Make them move outwards in an expanding arc. Once they spotted the enemy, let them notify me first."


    He knew such a force wouldn''t be composed of large numbers only. Big names would be there, even strong grandmasters as well.


    Letting these two handle things on their own would be hard.. He wanted to minimize his casualties at this stage, especially when he held the upper hand in this war.

 Chapter 1003 - The Suspicious Enemy Base

    Arthur didn''t have to wait for so long. As he expected, there was a big group of enemies hidden under a grand concealing array at the north.


    ''We found them'' Gege said before adding, ''over three million! I dunno how they moved them without getting noticed.''


    "They must have used summoning gates," Arthur thought for a second, "how about the fight here?"


    ''We secured three islands and destroyed the rest,'' Gege said, ''but there are many still coming this way.''


    Before this all started, the dark angel mage ordered nearly all the islands to converge and gather around the main base. He never thought he would lose this badly to Arthur. But that wasn''t the issue here.


    These islands got the order to advance, but didn''t get any other order after the destruction of the main base. So they were heading this way without stopping.


    "How come we lost all these islands?" Arthur frowned. He thought that the islands were easy to secure after getting rid of the main base.


    ''Ding! This is because all islands have a self destruction array,'' the system explained, ''Ding! The moment it''s triggered, the entire island will be lost.''


    "This¡­ is a mean way to keep these islands off my hands," Arthur didn''t like it. He wanted to secure as many islands as possible to expand fast and control this entire world in months. However this way meant he would lose at least two thirds if not more of these islands.


    "Is there a way to solve this?"


    ''We sent Sara and her team to analyze the islands before attacking them,'' the golden dragon said, ''she has a great team now. So hopefully she''ll find a pattern there.''


    "She, alone, isn''t enough," Arthur shook his head, "send someone from the higher realmers with her as well. It''s better to be someone well versed in arrays."


    ''Got it,'' Gege handled this, ''but what about that big base of the enemies? They have walls and a castle there! It''s like they were building this for a long time already.''


    Arthur doubted this. After all, him coming here was the end result of many unforeseen circumstances. "Gather everyone and let''s go to crush those bastards first," he said before adding, "if any island got closer, just notify me. I''ll send a few originals to handle this."


    ''The closest island is a few hours away so¡­'' Gege paused as the meaning in her words was obvious. The battle against the enemies would take much longer than a few hours.


    "Let''s get started then," Arthur said before suddenly asking, "are there any allies inside? Two girls perhaps?"


    He was reminded by the two kidnapped by the enemies at the beginning of all this. However Gege''s answer made him drop his hopes to the rock bottom.


    ''Not a shadow of them, sorry.''


    "Sigh, then where are they hiding these two?" Arthur knew one way or another he would find his two friends taken by the enemies. If not now, then after conquering the entire world he would go and look at every inch here to find them.


    Even if they were hidden inside a cave inside a forsaken desert, he would definitely find them.


    "Woosh!"


    He passed through a portal to find himself standing midair in front of a grand scene. Just like Gege described, this wasn''t a last minute preparation at all.


    Tall and mighty looking walls, one single gate that was separated from the land by a crossing bridge. The entire place was lined by a deep and dangerous looking trench, especially with these thick tongues of black fire rising from within.


    And that wasn''t everything. The inside was filled with endless turrets and defense towers, complicated layers of defensive shields covering the entire place. Arthur could see even smaller versions of these shields covering groups of turrets and towers.


    On top of that, there was a big central castle in the middle. It was dark red in color like it just came out of hell. In the middle of it, there was a strange central pillar that rose high up in the sky like it was a big spear.


    Arthur furrowed his brows when he looked at the energy emanated from this pillar. All the place was brimming in dark energy, but that pillar had a different color; it was green.


    Like green fire was dancing around its tip. As if it was gathering up energy and was ready to unleash it at any second.


    ''What''s wrong?'' Gege sensed the change in Arthur''s mood. ''Won''t we start hitting that base now?''


    "I think we shall send a few troops first to test it," Arthur slowly said while feeling more unease towards that distant pillar. For some reason, he felt like this base wasn''t placed and built here out of coincidence.


    It didn''t seem like a marching army following the islands. In fact it looked more like a fixed base that operated for so long already.


    ''That pillar over there doesn''t look good,'' the golden dragon slowly said.


    ''Ding! I feel a strange gush of energy coming from it,'' the system also added.


    "I don''t like it either," Arthur shrugged, "let Doaf and Amera attack now. Also others are ordered to stay behind this place by a mile. No one is moving until I say so," Arthur slowly gave his orders before adding, "also bring a hundred of my originals out. Let''s put that pillar under a direct test from the start."


    ''What about the shield?'' Gege asked, ''the two can''t crack this shield open.''


    Arthur looked at the complicated pattern of the shield before adding, "take another hundred out. They will open the shield and then hit the inside of the base."


    ''Two hundred originals¡­ That''s a big force to be honest,'' Gege sighed, ''then why do I feel you unsettled? They can crush this force without any problems!''


    "I think otherwise," Arthur narrowed his eyes, "that base¡­ It gives me a bad vibe right now. Let''s just test it first and see what dirty tricks this place hides from my eyes."


    ''Ok,'' Gege then summoned two hundred portals gathered in two different groups. The two hundred originals appeared with their shocking auras and giant bodies.. Just be their standing out there, the entire world kept rumbling like it couldn''t tolerate their combined immense energy.

 Chapter 1004 - The Originals Are Killed

    Arthur stood in the air while watching the changes inside that base. In his eyes, the world looked totally different than what others could see.


    The moment the hundred originals headed to the shield to crack it open, a surge of the green energy erupted and took over the dark energy supporting the shield.


    It was like the attack triggered the green energy and like fire it expanded and ate all the dark energy standing in its way. The shield turned from being black to dark green, while its surface showed more changes there.


    Spikes started to grow outside the shield in an unorganized manner. It seemed like the shield was burning and it emitted long wisps of green fire outwards.


    And this fire started to engulf the originals attacking the shield.


    Arthur never saw his originals failing in cracking open any shield before except this one. Even before the green fire started its attack against them, the originals failed to cause any significant damage to the shield.


    It was like they held sticks of wood and kept hitting a sturdy rock. The shield didn''t even budge or show the faintest cracks ever.


    And when the fire started to emit outside the shield, another shocking scene erupted.


    "Ahhh!"


    "Roar!"


    The originals twisted in deep pain and roared in agony. Arthur''s eyes went wide while watching his hundred originals getting barbecued by the green fire until they lost all signs of life in their bodies and fell from such high altitude.


    "Thud!"


    "Thud!"


    "Thud!"


    Their bodies fell heavily on the ground. They lied there, all silent as good as dead.


    They were killed, and in such a swift manner that didn''t make any sense.


    "What the hell is that green fire?" he couldn''t help but gasp when he realized what just happened. It was his first time witnessing such a thing. And when he controlled himself better, he started to have more puzzles to solve.


    "If they had such a weapon, why didn''t they use it in the islands? At the base island? Why did that dark angel mage never show it before?"


    Arthur was at a loss of words and thoughts at this moment. He believed his war in this world was over, but now he realized it wasn''t.


    This base proved that there was a weapon in the hands of his enemy, a weapon capable of rendering all his originals useless.


    And his originals were the cornerstone of his current force, alongside his grand dragons.


    ''I didn''t see any green fire,'' Gege, however, didn''t understand what he meant. Her words made him realize whatever this green fire was, it had the similar feature of the purple fire; both couldn''t be seen by normal eyes.


    ''Ding! I felt a sudden surge of brutal energy, is that the green fire you mentioned?'' the system was puzzled as well.


    ''What do we do now?'' The golden dragon got over his puzzlement and started to ask the most important question here.


    "Let''s keep testing this thing," Arthur pointed at the direction of the central pillar, "bring one grand dragon and let him try attacking this shield. Also take in all the dead bodies of the originals. I''ll examine them later myself."


    He wouldn''t trust anyone to examine the originals. After all no one could see the two energies, the green and purple, except for him.


    Plus he trusted himself better than anyone to crack this mystery.


    ''Are you sure?'' the golden dragon seemed a bit hesitant, ''you can only summon one grand dragon per day.''


    "Losing one isn''t a big issue," Arthur slowly said, "and who said I will only use the dragon? If he fails, then we''ll send troops there to keep testing the shield."


    ''...''


    ''...''


    ''...''


    The three beings in his mind all fell in silence while thinking Arthur was crazy. They didn''t see what he saw, but they all felt the dangerous aura coming from the world beneath the shield.


    They didn''t think such energy could be contained or confronted with any force they had. But Arthur had a different mindset than the three of them.


    His old researcher self resurfaced again. He knew he couldn''t base any assumptions on just a single failing attempt. He needed more trials, more failures so he could get more of the picture here.


    Reluctantly Gege opened a portal and a grand dragon came forth from it. The moment he appeared, he roared in challenge before releasing a ball of fire towards the shield.


    Yet another shocking scene appeared there. The green energy surging inside the shield seemed to get restless. Under Arthur''s keen observation, the fireball slammed into the shield while a big fight erupted between it and the green fire inside.


    "It''s eating it away! No way!" Arthur was shocked when he saw this scene. The fire ball seemed like a nemesis enemy for the green fire, eating it away just like what the green fire did to the dark energy before.


    "Boom!"


    But a single fireball wasn''t enough. Arthur watched it getting consumed rapidly before exploding, eating more of the green energy with it.


    "Rumble!"


    Just as this happened, the intensity of the green fire in the shield thinned at a rate visible to naked eye. But when that happened, the central pillar suddenly shook and it emitted a sudden gush of great green fire with a loud rumble.


    But that didn''t come without a price.


    "The energy around it¡­ it''s getting fainter," Arthur narrowed his eyes while noticing the slight changes in the intensity of the green fire around the spear-like tip of that pillar.


    "Bring more grand dragons here," he instantly gave the order, "and make them all use their breaths in the attack."


    ''On it,'' this time Gege wasn''t acting in reluctance or showing any signs of objection. She wasn''t the only one who had her attitude change after watching the last attack.


    The three beings perceived the changes in the energy inside the shield. They all saw the small cracks that appeared from this mere and weak looking attack.


    "Also make any long ranged mages to gather up," Arthur didn''t depend only on his dragons here, "let''s rain hell over this damn shield."

 Chapter 1005 - Fighting The Green Fire With Dragon Breaths

    It was clear by now. The attacks of the originals were ineffective against that green fire. It seemed like that green fire was the nemesis of the purple fire.


    "What is that fire?" Arthur watched as the shield finally cracked and was about to burst open. He was now curious about the green fire. It wasn''t easy to handle the purple fire even by the highest realm grandmaster mages.


    And now¡­ There was simply another domineering fire that was able not only to suppress the purple fire but it was eating it away.


    "Will they be able to survive it?" This was the main concern for Arthur when the shield was about to be brought down. "Be prepared to suck in all the dragons and the warriors once the shield is down."


    ''This green fire isn''t simple,'' the golden dragon slowly said in a deep tone, ''but strange enough I kinda feel it is familiar.''


    ''Ding! I also can''t pinpoint when or where I met such domineering energy,'' the system also seemed to have the same feeling.


    "I had this vague impression that I know this energy but can''t tell without directly clashing with it," Arthur narrowed his eyes while gazing up at the distant pillar, "but I don''t have the confidence to survive if I got bathed with that green fire."


    ''I''m ready,'' Gege said, ''once it''s down I''ll take them away. What about you?''


    Arthur hesitated. He had the feeling that when the shield would be down, the green fire would act like the purple one. The world would be covered in green fire until it was exhausted or contained in some way.


    He wanted to stay and feel the pressure of this fire. However he hesitated. He didn''t have anything to fight back against this fire.


    His purple wings couldn''t do anything against this. Also he felt that his pillar of energy wouldn''t do anything as well. Only one thing proved to work here and he decided to give it a try.


    "I''ll stay," he decided, "but be ready to take me in if things went sideways."


    ''Always ready here,'' Gege only said that without trying to persuade him. Even the other two didn''t say anything as well. Without needing to say much, everyone knew how dangerous this new weapon was.


    If they didn''t find a solution to deal with this green fire, a way to overcome it, then the next fights would turn all around and the enemy would depend entirely on this fire.


    And that was what puzzled Arthur the most.


    ''If they had such a weapon from the start, why didn''t they use it?'' This was something he couldn''t find a head or tail about no matter how hard he thought about it.


    All the confrontations with the grandmaster dark angel mage till now ended up by his victory. If he was in the shoes of that mage then he wouldn''t hesitate to deploy that weapon in any battle once it was lost.


    That was, of course, if the dark angel mage couldn''t perfectly control this energy.


    "Woosh!"


    Just as he expected, once the shield was burst open the green fire exploded outwards. He watched endless portals opening up under the guidance and control of Gene and sucked away most of his army.


    But few didn''t have time to get away, including five grand dragons.


    He watched the green fire engulfing their grand bodies with indomitable strength. Arthur felt pain deep inside his heart for the loss of those five grand dragons.


    One had to know that he needed one entire day to make one of them. He could have thousands upon thousands of originals per day, but his grand dragons were something precious.


    "Gege¡­" Arthur''s deep voice told well about his feelings at the moment, "tell them to fight back using their breaths. Let them get together and try to cleanse each other using their breaths."


    ''On it!'' Gege instantly relayed his message and under Arthur''s vision he saw the five dragons twisting in deep pain before they roared with their breaths.


    Any dragon Arthur summoned using his dragomancer ability could use a dragon breath. These grand dragons weren''t an exception, but their breaths were on a whole level apart from other dragons he summoned so far.


    Even compared to him, the breaths these dragons emitted were much domineering.


    Arthur had a moment of inspiration under this turmoil. If the dragon breaths could pierce through the green fire and eat it away, then why not use these breaths to fight against the green fire?


    As he prepared his energy to unleash his breath, he watched the green fire getting smashed by the domineering dragon breaths.


    "That''s it," he finally released his breath while the green fire came upon him. The fire wasn''t any slower than the purple fire and it reached him in mere seconds.


    Even when he stood far away, the amount and intensity of the green fire coming at him was really dense and dangerous. Under his estimate, if this fire left untouched then it would eat away a good part of his cities and crush down a big part of his empire.


    He couldn''t allow this to happen! So he kept releasing his breath all around. A blue ray of fire appeared surrounded with dancing golden blue arcs of energy like thunder. His breath was unique, something he never saw alike even amidst his grand dragons.


    Like the grand dragon breaths, his breath once came in contact with the green fire and it started to eat it away. He could hear the sizzling noise coming from this clash, and what made him slightly shocked was the feeling he had when that happened.


    "My breath¡­ it''s getting stronger!" It was like this green fire was a catalyst, adding a variable to his breath and helping him to break through.


    "Rumble!"


    Just before he could make sure of this vague feeling, the far away pillar shook and released another gush of the green energy to replenish what was consumed.


    "Gege," Arthur didn''t hesitate to take a moment of rest while catching up his breaths. His fire breath managed to clean a grand area of almost half a mile around him. "Bring all the grand dragons¡­ no, bring any dragon I ever summoned.. Let them all come here and fight this green fire all together."

 Chapter 1006 - Evolving The Dragonair Power

    He wasn''t going insane. If this green fire really had such an impact on his dragon breath, then it would have the same effect over the other dragons as well.


    So why not use this calamity to the best benefit then?


    Plus he started to have a vague clue about the origin of this green fire. Despite it being something unbelievable, he couldn''t deny his feelings now.


    When the green fire came in contact with him, he felt the same feeling he had when he was upgrading his dragonair power. This green fire had the same nature of the power of the trials he went through, like it was made by the same force or something.


    He still didn''t know how, but this was something he was totally sure of. This green fire might be the nemesis of the purple fire, but the best thing to evolve any dragon, including himself.


    But he couldn''t dare to directly face it without his breath. It was berserk and hostile. The only way to contain it was through clashing directly using the fire breath and letting the leftovers get sucked by his body.


    He didn''t know how his body managed to absorb this energy, but who cared? He had a chance now ripe in front of him. So why would he hesitate?


    "Woosh!" "Woosh!" "Woosh!"


    The portals kept flashing again and this time the dragons that came out from it were in thousands. Arthur never stopped summoning dragons from any good corpse, and he had a lot of decent corpses recently.


    The number of dragons alone formed a good force to fight against any army. But the ratio of his grand dragons still fell short compared to the other dragons he had.


    "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!"


    The entire world shook under the mighty roars of the dragons. Arthur noticed the shaking of the entire green fire under the immense roaring and the endless breaths his dragons unleashed.


    And gradually the green fire was pressured, eaten away, and started to get contained. It wasn''t fast, but it was happening despite the immense rumbling of the central pillar.


    "I want that pillar," at this moment Arthur was quite sure of all his earlier assumptions. This green fire here was really beneficial not only to him but to all his dragons as well.


    The situation looked at a standstill after the passage of long hours. However during this time, Arthur felt his dragonair energy surging inside his body getting evolved constantly.


    It looked like he underwent the trial and won it. Was it a trial? He didn''t know. But for sure those dragons around started to show visible signs of evolution.


    The smaller ones started to get their bodies bigger. Their scales kept changing, getting thicker and longer. The vibe coming from their bodies also kept evolving to show their increase in strength.


    As for those grand dragons which Arthur didn''t have much hope for their evolution, they proved him wrong. Their bodies kept getting bigger at a faster pace than other dragons.


    It seemed like the higher the strength of the dragon, the higher his ability to evolve. Arthur put down a theory about their ability to absorb more energy and thus evolve faster.


    It wasn''t only the size that changed, even their breaths started to grow arcs of lightning around just like himself.


    As for his dragon breath, it changed color from golden blue to pure blue. The dancing arcs started to become silver blue in color, thicker, and their amount doubled or even tripled.


    He was now sure that a single breath of him could crack open any shield without the need of the originals.


    By the upgrade of all his dragons and himself, the pressure exerted over the green fire increased as well. However unlike what he thought, no matter how hard they tried they couldn''t set a foot inside that base.


    The central pillar kept rumbling constantly while emitting an endless stream of green fire. It looked like a bottomless pit with an endless supply of green fire.


    "I have no complaints right now," Arthur realized this would continue for days, even weeks, "I and my little babies are having many benefits out of this. Gege, send my armies around and let them continue fighting the incoming islands."


    During these long hours, despite him getting pinned here like this, the islands that roamed the empire were still marching at high speed towards his direction.


    At this point he didn''t want any disturbances from them. He just wanted to keep this situation as long as he could. He was enjoying such a good chance and he didn''t want to spoil it.


    ''What about the originals?'' Gege asked.


    "Send as many out as you need," Arthur didn''t need his originals for now. He was simply absorbed in facing this green fire and getting his stuck for a long time dragonair power evolved.


    Under Gege''s control, many portals opened far away and a large number of his forces gushed out from the garden world.


    The moment they got out, they couldn''t shift their gazes away easily from the brutal confrontation at the distance.


    Despite no one being able to notice the green fire, the pressure and aura from this fire was felt by everyone. It was obvious that Arthur was fighting a deadly battle out there.


    And that just helped in igniting their fighting spirit.


    "Let''s go," Amera led the grand army, accompanied even by originals, towards the direction of the incoming islands. "Our leader is fighting with his life on the line. I don''t expect less from any of you," she roared as she raised her spear high in the air and led the army forward.


    Doaf also followed alongside other leaders of the grand army. Their feelings surged and they were all determined to show no less courage and brutality in fighting the incoming islands.


    Gege kept arranging their lines and taking out the grand armies inside her garden world. She also coordinated with those staying away and made everyone converge at common points with the incoming islands.


    As Arthur was fighting against the endless green fire, his armies were also fighting against the incoming islands.

 Chapter 1007 - Fierce Fights

    With the passage of time, Arthur got himself detached from the world around. The energy coming from the green fire was intoxicating for him. He felt himself getting stronger in a pace he never imagined before.


    Even when Gege was reporting the updates of the fight, he didn''t hear her. Even when the enemy tried to strike back more than once, and she asked for his guidance, she only got silence in return.


    Despite all that, Gege with the help of the system and the golden dragon managed to control the course of the ongoing battles and emerge victorious each time.


    The islands weren''t just the main issue. After all they got the way to crack and control them. But just as they were doing that, the forces of Arthur were faced with two new challenges.


    First their capacity to handle islands was growing with each victory. But at some point the amount of islands coming was much more than their capacity.


    They couldn''t attack and dominate islands without getting cross fire. In addition to that, more and more islands started to adopt the attitude of self destruction instead of letting the islands fall in the hands of Arthur''s forces.


    The self destruction came as an unpleasant surprise. It didn''t only make them lose islands at a fast pace, but it was also devastating to the troops around.


    After all, for Arthur''s forces to dominate an island, they had to board it and surround the island from all sides. And this created a problem that Gege wanted Arthur to solve.


    But as Arthur was deeply immersed in his experience, she had to listen to the advice of the system and golden dragon. So an elite force was selected for each island and Gege played the role of the grand commander here.


    Anytime she sensed the tribulations and changes before the self destruction, thanks to the help and guidance of the system and golden dragon here, she would take away the forces using her portals.


    That helped a lot in reducing their losses. However it made the quest of conquering islands slower.


    Plus it made the forces wary of what would happen if the islands went berserk and started to self detonate. It took roughly a couple of days and endless attempts to make the forces regain their former morale.


    The high realmers played a great role in that. After all their strength wasn''t comparable with anyone from Arthur''s main planet or the forces he gathered from this world.


    The second challenge came in the shape of a new attack coming from the enemy. This one wasn''t new as it came by the mixture of the ground troops and flying monsters.


    But the timing of these attacks was the problem here. There seemed to be a general, a smart leader supervising over these moves.


    The enemies interfered only when the forces of Arthur tried to take an island. And with time everyone realized that they were only attacking the islands that were going to self detonate.


    That meant these forces weren''t here to kill, but to delay the strategic retreat of Arthur''s forces. Plus they didn''t appear from the start. They appeared just after the forces regained their morale and Gege started to organize things.


    At first the losses returned to be high until the golden dragon asked her to bring forth all the mecha legions and scatter them in an arc.


    With the help of the system, the guidance of the golden dragon''s vast war experience, and the portals of Gege, the arc made out of mechas managed to stop most of the attacks.


    However that resulted in branching the battle into two battlefields, both were important and needed a lot of troops.


    At this point Gege missed Arthur and his brilliant ideas. He was always acting out of concept, coming up with solutions that seemed ridiculous at first, but brilliant when executed.


    No matter how hard she tried to call out for him, Arthur didn''t respond. He already lost any contact with the outside world.


    The golden dragon asked for the dragons here to be dispatched. After all they grew stronger and became fierce enough to make a difference at the ongoing battle.


    The enemies once faced with the strong fist of the mecha''s arch, they started to show annoying development. Grandmasters and mages of higher realms began to appear frequently.


    If not for the timely interventions of Amera, Doaf, and other higher realmers leaders, with the help of Gege''s portals, the losses in the mecha forces would be beyond retribution.


    But this led to slowing the pace of taking more islands, and increasing the rate of the self detonating islands.


    Gege wanted to use the originals in this fight. At first the originals worked brilliantly and made an obvious impact on the two battlefields. But just in less than a few hours, holes opened above the head of any original and the wrath from the world''s wills of the high realms began to shower them.


    Gege was the key player in defending the originals before, with the help of Arthur. But now her efforts were divided along a large stretch of land, serving many fights already ongoing everywhere.


    She couldn''t manage to save a lot of originals, and from that point onwards she didn''t bring them again.


    The last solution the system provided brought finally control over the ongoing fights. The necromancers were summoned.


    All this time the necromancers got full support from Arthur and his forces. Not only in the form of providing rich dead energies for them to summon their skeletons, or vast battlefields for their skeletons to evolve; but also each one of the three got a black curtain as well.


    Not only them, but any outstanding skeleton got the chance to gain an immense boost in strength as well using the curtains. That made the current skeleton army fiercer than ever.


    But they were already fighting far away from here. Despite calling off all the forces, Arthur saw that leaving the necromancers alone was the best course of action.


    The more they fought, the stronger they became.. But at this point the three beings in Arthur''s mind didn''t have any other way but to summon them.

 Chapter 1008 - The Necromancers

    The moment the necromancers appeared, things started to change on the two battlefields.


    It was the right decision after all. Bringing forth those white skeletons helped in dominating the scene. Through all this time, the three necromancers made great contributions and created even high quality skeletons.


    Using the black curtain, their powers got augmented and increased on a rate visible to naked eye. Instead of just summoning basic skeletons with nothing of power and gears, they started summoning higher grade skeletons.


    That cut the path of their skeletons'' evolution by a lot. Also that helped at increasing the rate of transforming their skeletons to higher grades.


    Yet there was no visible dragon out there. The highest grades available were cavalry skeletons and the newly formed magicians.


    The skeleton magicians were really scary. Just imitating their three masters, they could summon skeletons. Of course the number and quality of these skeletons summoned by them paled in comparison to the three masters, but with their increasing numbers that helped in making a difference.


    The moment the skeletons appeared, it looked like a gigantic white wave enveloped the entire world. Gege first summoned them to the islands they were attacking.


    But later on she left many portals at the ground, just near the second battlefield and behind the arc made up by the mechas.


    That helped a lot in aiding the forces fighting. Even if the main bulk of that endless army was made up from weak skeletons, they acted perfectly as cannon fodders.


    Just the simple fact of losing them without any issues of regret provided itself to replace any other forces attacking the flying islands.


    Even if the islands got detonated, things wouldn''t come to such a bad state of losing valuable and hard to train forces.


    Losing tens of thousands of skeletons? Then in the next hour much more would be summoned again. That made the three beings in Arthur''s mind quite elated by such development.


    As expected, they all directed the attention and effort of everyone else to go and hit the incoming and annoying ground and flying forces of the dark mages.


    No matter how the enemy was sent, they failed to create another mess in this fight. The battle looked to continue for a long time, but now the losses were minimal and mainly composed of the skeletons.


    Only a few strong mages were left behind to coordinate with the skeletons and made sure to get hold of the flying islands. Despite the presence of detonating islands, the losses became nil in the ranks of the mages.


    Gege worked her best to save anyone trapped inside any detonating island. Paying attention to a couple hundred images was much easier than tens of thousands of them.


    And with the help of skeletons, with their berserk way of fighting regardless of anything else, the rate of detonating islands became slower and grew scarcer with time.


    As for Arthur, as the battlefield raged wildly around him he kept himself busy in absorbing the energy from this rare opportunity.


    That pillar was mysterious in ways that shocked even Arthur. He thought the pillar''s energy had a limit. But after weeks of absorbing it, he couldn''t help but be inwardly shaking.


    It seemed like that pillar was directly connected towards another realm, the realm of the advancement of his dragonair class.


    He wasn''t the only one thinking like that. During the past weeks, the battle was won and things finally stabilized here. But the three beings in his mind noticed that Arthur didn''t show any signs of stopping.


    The energy coming from that pillar looked endless. In their eyes they began to suspect the same thing as Arthur, which was something good actually.


    If Arthur made full use of this chance, he would rise higher, way faster than anyone imagined. However during the past weeks, the other dragons seemed to hit a wall they couldn''t pass.


    One by one they stopped their absorption and opened their eyes. Their outer physique changed slightly and grew to become all like a similar version of the same species.


    Lengths extending for hundreds of meters, scales so thick and shiny, brimming with bright light. Their strength seemed unfathomable, and the increase they gained in their strength and abilities looked more complicated and much advanced than just having their speed, defense, and strength augmented.


    In the eyes of everyone, even those coming from the higher realms, even those gaining the augmentation of the black curtains like Amera and Doaf, these grand dragons might have reached a height no precedent before.


    ''What shall we do now?''


    Gege asked after the end of this war and attaining their victory. According to her observation and own estimate, Arthur seemed to continue his own experience for a much longer time.


    ''Ding! We shall send them over the planet. This battle must have exhausted the main forces of the enemy!'' the system expressed his own thoughts.


    ''But building cities will take slower pace than their advancement,'' the golden dragon said in warning, ''plus Gege''s portals won''t be able to help.''


    ''Ding! I believe Arthur was slightly overprotective. His forces grew dependable on him recently. This last battle showed that flaw and we need to take advantage of this current special circumstances and send them out.''


    ''So we are going to send them blindly like that?'' Gege was still reluctant. She used to grow fond of Arthur''s way of doing things.


    ``We have to,'''' the golden dragon seemed to agree on what the system said, ``in fact Arthur planned to send them off to invade more planets without his help. Let them get a taste of this and also¡­ You''ll be helping from the side using the tree of mirror ability.''


    ''It''s just a limited ability,'' Gege expressed her doubts, ''it can''t cover up the entire planet.''


    ''Ding! That''s their problem, and they have to handle it.''


    ''Won''t he be mad at us when he wakes up?'' This was what troubled Gege the most. She knew that Arthur''s mind wasn''t normal, and he might get angry at their planning here.


    ''Ding! I don''t think he will,'' the system said before adding, ''Ding! And even if he is, I''ll take the responsibility and explain everything to him.''


    ''I''ll also stand by your side my friend,'' the golden dragon expressed his utmost support to the system.


    ''Sigh, alright, I''ll send everyone out.''

 Chapter 1009 - The Empire Is Growing Steadily

    Gege started to act fast. Once hearing the orders coming from Gege, everyone imagined for granted that these were Arthur''s orders.


    In fact they all were itchy to fight. But Arthur always played it safe till now. They couldn''t complain as he managed to create miracles without failing for a single time till now.


    Yet they all craved fighting and yearned to gain merit and create their own legends. The moment Gege relayed the order, everyone started to organize their own troops.


    Amera, Doaf, the crow, and others from higher realms got divided into two main groups led each by Amera and Doaf. As for the mechas, their number was just overwhelming so they got separated into three separate armies.


    The ground mage army was divided among the armies present. So each army would have his cannon fodder and enough numbers to contend as much as he liked.


    The last army that was really majestic and overbearing was the necromancers. Even when they got separated into three armies, each led by one of the three necromancer masters, the size and strength of each army was overwhelming.


    The last force Arthur obtained was the grand dragons. However the three beings decided to leave them behind to protect Arthur. At this moment Arthur was in his most vulnerable state.


    He couldn''t defend himself against any attack. And if things went wrong and he was interrupted, then the losses he would suffer would be much more than endangering his life.


    No one could predict what would happen if the connection between Arthur and that pillar got severed. If that resulted in ending this opportunity prematurely, then the loss would be immense and immeasurable.


    So the three beings left the grand dragons hovering around the place. As for the flying islands, each army gained part of this big cake. As for almost one third of the islands, they were tasked to remain behind and protect the empire.


    Another army was given the order to stay behind, which was the army of Sara, Gena, and the scorpion queen. Despite the last two expressing their unwillingness, Sara convinced them both to remain behind.


    After all, if the enemy decided to put on a last show and come for the empire and Arthur, the great dragons wouldn''t be alone able to defend the two, even with the help of one third of the flying islands.


    The size of the empire was rapidly expanding. Just during the past weeks, the building process of new cities made the empire connect to the new lands Arthur claimed.


    So that meant during the upcoming weeks, the empire would expand further and that would make such a mighty power weaker without proper defense.


    As everything was settled in this way, the different forces of Arthur started to go to their own paths. Gege kept tracking their movements and helped them with her fullest capabilities until they all made it out of the range of the tree of mirror.


    During this, the armies fought many battles, and won them all. Despite killing such major forces of the dark side, the enemy still held great power on this planet.


    Yet the gains also were immense. The number of newly joined people was now exceeding tens of millions with each passing day. The planet was already huge, and the number of people living here were in tens of billions.


    As Gege instructed all the armies before leaving, they had to send everyone back to the border of her ability. There she left many portals open and connected to her garden world.


    From there she would transform the main bulk into the growing empire of Arthur. Only those who showed interest in fighting and becoming mages would stay inside the garden world.


    As for arranging people after coming out, Gege left this job to Sara and others. Also if any talent was discovered like forging, array formation, or even building, then they would instantly get assigned to their respectable department.


    The new coin started to appear in the empire soon after the end of the first war. For the citizens there, it looked like discovering a new way of life, a pleasant and happy one.


    It wasn''t just a coin, or a way to demonstrate economy and wealth; it was also a sign of the advancement of their empire and its growing in strength.


    Things started to work orderly like that, while Gege kept relaying reports of the updates to the other two beings.


    As for Arthur, even after the passage of three months, he didn''t show any sign of awakening. The area around which suffered from great battles changed drastically beyond recognition by now.


    Big cities were erected, roads were built, and many caravans of merchants were traveling safely between the cities inside the empire all the time.


    During the day things wouldn''t look much different than at night. Thanks to a new invention from the geniuses of the sky castle, there were shining orbs that were hanging tens of meters away from the ground that helped in illuminating everything.


    This transformed the entire terrain at night to look more majestic and much more beautiful than during the day. The dense shining orbs on the two sides of any road, plus the lights coming densely from inside any city, left dancing twigs of different lights on the dark sky and gave a deeper feeling of prosperity, security, and strength.


    From time to time, one could see one island floating in the air and doing its own patrol around the empire. As the size grew in such an immense way, the system proposed to regulate things and divide the empire into segments, provinces in his own words.


    Each province would be ruled by a trusted and capable mage, had its own protective garrison, and above all one floating island to maintain peace and provide more security to the dwellers.


    During all these months, things started to grow steadily in the direction of Arthur''s empire taking full control over this planet.. And that wasn''t all, the empire really provided new ways to prosperity and peace, giving people ways of living beyond what they even dreamt about.

 Chapter 1010 - Admired And Feared

    Life inside the empire kept advancing steadily and calmly with all signs pointing out towards its prosperity and growing strength. Right now the mages'' academies were established by many leaders of the armies of the empire.


    Gege didn''t need to take them inside her garden world anymore. All those youths with potential were supported by the empire. In each city was a branch of these academies, with each favoring part of the mages'' life.


    Some focused on the innate talents, others focused on teamwork. But all were attentive to growing the entire strength of the individual and the armies.


    During the past months, the sheer number of the new talents in the mage lines was just astronomical. Each academy had hundreds of thousands learning and training under the guidance of esteemed and capable mages.


    Despite the fact that the armies were fighting everywhere, there were still many who were dispatched by these armies to attend the academies and make sure the new seedlings would grow stronger faster.


    Everything started with a mere person, Sara. since the beginning of her rebirth and she had such overwhelming emotions towards her past civilization.


    She valued the castle of the sky project and when time was ripe, she started the first academy ever. It carried the same name as the castle of the sky.


    Her efforts were noticed by everyone. No one was a fool and they all realized fast the great importance of such a move. So everyone started to establish their various academies.


    Despite they all came from clan based culture, the new culture introduced by Sara coupled with the previous efforts of Arthur by giving special attention to new talents in the mages made them more acceptable to such approach.


    Unlike their clans which were based entirely on bloodlines, they all started to take a new approach in nourishing talents based on their strength.


    Gradually everyone started to discover their own interests. Some were interested in strength, others were interested in team strength, while few were interested in other branches like arrays, diagrams, and even forging and alchemy.


    Like a monster lying low and preparing its might, the entire empire worked in such unison and under such calmness for months. The newly added blood coming from the various regions of this planet helps in adding more to these academies.


    Gradually these academies started to gain honor and create a name for themselves. Gradually everyone eyed those learning there as elites, celebrities among common people.


    It became a life changer if any family had a kid with a talent as a mage. It even reached to make grand celebrations all over the cities.


    At the same time, the presence of such a strong financial base helped in strengthening the lives of everyone. Those who lived under the threat of death their entire lives knew the new taste of freedom.


    As they all lived most of their lives under confinement, it was logical to see herds of people leaving cities and decide to build villages and towns all around. Gradually the entire empire began to show signs of growing into a mighty and civilized form, where cities would be surrounded by tens of villages and few towns.


    Anywhere in the empire the lives of people prospered and began to give excellent results. Not only did the economy grow steadily, but the quality of people''s lives became exceptionally good.


    Fights became scarce and crimes started to vanish. Tyranny became part of the past and slavery turned into a myth. Under the justice established by the strong rulers of the empire, people entered a new era, a prosper era.


    The news of the growing empire traveled not only to this planet, but also to other worlds. After all, the grand fight going on here wasn''t just the focus of the people living here, but it stretched to reach even the clans of the higher worlds.


    The example set by Arthur and his people was really exceptional. No one ever heard of such an empire before, where people were equal and had the same chances of living and learning to become mages.


    The terms of bloodlines and clans started to slowly change into talents and personal abilities.


    But even if people eyed the current progress of the empire, no one tried to mimic it and succeeded. It wasn''t easy to change the fixed rules that ran for long eons in the minds of people.


    What they didn''t notice was that the empire wasn''t born all of sudden like they observed. This idea started a long time ago when Arthur came to this world, challenging the rules of it and defying the existing taboos.


    To be able to establish such an empire, people needed someone like Arthur. Not only brave or strong, but able to defy the existing shackles and smash them.


    If not with pure strength, then with will and grand effort. With utmost devotion and clear conscience and believing in one self, anyone could build such a thriving empire.


    But was that easy? In fact it wasn''t! Each clan in the upper realms had their own rules. In their eyes, they wanted to subdue others to follow their own model.


    No one tried to really think outside the box, act outside the known rules and create new ones suited for the grand term of empire.


    So any attempt was faced with devastating failure, to such an extent that people started to eye Arthur''s empire as an existence defying any logic and common sense.


    No one saw the empire as a small achievement anymore. In fact they became wary of it. How could someone coming from a low realm with meager strength and no background be able to establish such a grand existence as the empire?


    But especially because of these factors Arthur was able to achieve what he had today. If not for his own dreams, to shatter every rule and stand against all powers, then he wouldn''t have reached such heights.


    Plus luck, one needed luck more than anything else to be able to mimic Arthur.


    In the past few months, even in the eyes of his deadliest enemies, Arthur became an existence everyone admired and feared at the same time.


    But the man who created all these legends was still immersed in his own cultivation, enjoying the baptism of the grand pillar and advancing his dragonair''s power ceaselessly during all these months.

 Chapter 1011 - Arthur Wakes Up

    Six months passed since Arthur was absorbed in the middle of the pillar''s green light. All this time his empire never ceased growing, his people never stopped training, and his armies never defeated.


    Yet this world was so vast that six months weren''t enough to control the entire world. Up till now they faced many hidden pockets of resistance, and fought hard battles.


    However they won them all. According to the reports coming from the frontlines, they might need three more months to get this job done.


    Even with the growing fame of the empire that stretched to every corner of this world, people couldn''t simply leave their homes and come to join them.


    Settlements of the dark camp alongside many academies and clans here stood in front of such attempts. So if the armies didn''t clash with those stubborn forces, no one would ever come to the empire on his own.


    However when six months passed, it was time for Arthur to wake up. Like an old mountain finally getting moved, he felt his own body stiffened from all this sitting.


    He was used to such long periods of cultivation when he was in his past life. In fact six months were nothing compared to the long years cultivators used to seclude themselves during and cultivate.


    However this was his first time doing so in this life. His body cracked and his bones popped in loud voices when he just attempted to stand up.


    He looked around. When he faced this pillar there was a big fight going on here. He didn''t know how long it passed, but the world around changed drastically beyond recognition.


    Instead of ground filled with holes and running rivers of blood from enemies and allies alike, the ground now was paved with green lush coming from thick plants.


    Even at a distance he could notice the shadows of two big cities, meaning that his men were able to extend his empire there.


    "What''s going on here? How long have I slept?" As the evidence was clear in his mind, he had to make sure of how long he kept absorbing that green light.


    ''Welcome back, I really missed you!'' The first to speak was Gege. she was, after all, the one buzzing around all the time, asking everyone about waking him up.


    ''Ding! You went dazed for six months already,'' the system said.


    ''Many things occurred. Right now the armies are way far from here fighting to unify this world. As for the empire, things are going smoothly as you can see.''


    Arthur couldn''t refute these words. However being in trance for such a long time was a surprise even for him. He never thought he would take such a long time in cultivating his dragonair energy.


    This made him recall his past when he had to stay secluded for long months and even years to just make a breakthrough. Unlike cultivation in the past, he felt his gains this time were more immense.


    As he expected his body, he realized the difference at once. Aside from his body growing by three folds, his scales became sharper and bigger, brimming with pure blue light this time.


    His tail became more grandiose, with a very sharp thorn at its end that kept flickering in blue light. His strength grew to the extent of not knowing his limits.


    He had the confidence that facing even a grandmaster from the higher realms like that dark angel grandmaster would be much easier this time. His body and strength made him feel invincible.


    Yet he knew this was just the tip of the iceberg, and he had to test himself better to know how much advancement he got.


    "Let me through all the details," he asked while flapping his wings and soaring into the sky.


    This simple move astonished him again. His speed from before was already high, but now it was simply described by one word: tyrannical.


    Just flapping his wings once made him cross a couple of miles in a blink of an eye. If not for his strong will, he would have lost control over his body thanks to such immense speed.


    As he stood in the middle of the clouds, he started to hear about what happened. He was flying towards the direction of his most beloved city, the mountain city.


    He thought about going to the lake city, but he wanted to see how the mountain city ended up. He had much anticipation towards it, and hoped it would be like what he expected.


    However as he flew towards it, he frowned by what he heard.


    "Academies? Everyone is teaching now?" He was surprised to hear that. But after listening to more of the explanation, he couldn''t help but ponder deeply about this.


    According to the trio in his mind, the academies acted separately and secretly there was a competition in between them.


    If Arthur was someone else, he would already be amazed and agree upon this situation. But not Arthur.


    He came from a world based on sects. From his perspective, this act seemed honest and harmless at the start. Yet if given time, these academies would act to rival each other on the account of the empire itself.


    This wouldn''t work. For someone who experienced a more advanced system than academies, he couldn''t help but disagree.


    In his eyes, this was simply like having a mighty sect divided by its mountain peaks, with each peak acting as a separate sect on its own.


    Despite the rivalry that he encouraged, things must be more unified. If people started to see the academies as separate entities, then this wouldn''t benefit anyone in the future.


    "Call out for everyone to come to the mountain city," he suddenly said, "even those fighting up front. I believe their absence won''t affect the fights greatly by now."


    ''Ding! Don''t underestimate the enemy,'' the system didn''t know the real reasons behind Arthur''s claims, ''Ding! Even a cornered beast can kill a mightier being.''


    ''Besides we have only three months before completing the unification,'' the golden dragon also didn''t see what Arthur wanted, ''so why the rush? You just woke up, why not take a few weeks break before asking for them?''


    "Just summon them here," Arthur''s firm words made everyone realize he had his own reasons and wasn''t just asking for a general meeting, "anyone who has an academy or ruling one must appear in the meeting, no exception."

 Chapter 1012 - The Mountain City

    With Arthur''s speed, getting from the place of that pillar towards the city of the mountain was fast. Before finally leaving, Arthur took a final round above what remained of that pillar.


    Up till now he didn''t know the origin of that pillar. However what he gained from it was something he never expected. Currently speaking, his dragonair''s energy reached its max, reaching its limit.


    He doubted even if he tried to advance it anymore he wouldn''t succeed. His feeling came from his vast experience as a cultivator.


    The pillar now crumbled and got shortened. The green luster it had became dim and not even an ounce of energy could be felt from it right now.


    "Take it inside," after making sure there was no other use for that pillar, Arthur didn''t leave it there. He still didn''t know the full secrets behind this pillar.


    Perhaps one day he would. So he decided to take in the garden world, the only place he felt so much confident about.


    As he got near the mountain city, a grand scene appeared in front of his eyes. The planning of this city depended on taking the mountain as a back and building the city around.


    However, from the scale he saw from high altitude, and after circling around it for a long hour, he realized the city went beyond his expectations.


    The city grew bigger, much bigger than any city constructed up to date. In his eyes he could see that big mountain standing in the center of the city, while the rest of the city was surrounding it.


    Just from the scale alone, he was sure this city looked like five separate cities coming together. Something this big left an impact inside him, feeling this would be the new crown jewel of his empire.


    Long ago he considered his empire''s crown jewel to be the lack city. However even if the lake city had its own vibe and beauty, this mountain city didn''t pale in comparison.


    It''s scale alone was enough to put it on top of the entire empire''s cities. And that wasn''t all. He noticed a big palace constructed on top of that mountain where he first conducted his research with Sara about casting the coins.


    The palace looked majestic even from the air. Its scale extended to cover almost ten miles in radius, nearly the entire top of the mountain.


    And looking from this high all around, the giant city looked mediocre in his eyes. As he landed on the side of the palace, he landed inside a big garden with many roses in different colors.


    The atmosphere here was really unique and serene. He felt that his inner spiritual energy surged like never before, even compared to his garden world.


    When feeling this he was astonished. He never thought a place would exist to rival his garden world. If not for the time factor, he would prefer to cultivate here and advance his base.


    Currently he is at the nascent soul stage. To finally ascend this realm to the higher ones he needed to push his limits and break through the hard bottleneck of the immortal stage.


    Reaching there and coupled with his full dragonair''s energy, he was confident in his ability to ascend. But he had a long way ahead in cultivation, adding to that the precondition of having ten worlds under his arm.


    He already established a strong and mighty empire like this. So he didn''t need to be a head of an academy or the leader of a clan. His empire was enough to push him towards new heights.


    But considering other things, he might have gotten lucky to get his hands over this world. However this was, after all, just one of the ten needed to advance higher.


    In his mind he started to consider his next move. The idea of the academies was something fresh and genuine in this world. But compared to his sect world from the past, this idea seemed a bit dull.


    He knew the extreme value of this idea if given time. If given enough time, then these academies would not only bring fresh blood to his armies and empire, but would also help in unifying its people.


    Where there was hope, human strength surged beyond limits. In addition to the traditional things taught in these academies, he finally started to think about introducing this universe to the vast knowledge he got from the cultivation world.


    Turning all of them into cultivators became a dream too good to be true. Despite living here for these years, Arthur never forgot about his origins.


    Putting into his mind the strength brought by cultivation, the secrets lying behind the origin of this world, besides the strange relation between his past world and this one, he finally came to the decision to start spreading his past civilization in the form of cultivation.


    "Make someone bring a large amount of paper, I''m going to write down many books," as he reached the palace, everyone there knelt down and acknowledged him.


    He didn''t know most of his empire''s people, but he was a known figure for all of them. In the people''s eyes, he was the savior, the one who created miracles anywhere he went to.


    So it wasn''t strange to find a grand picture describing himself in human and dragonair form in the front of the palace main hall. He also felt from the burning eyes of everyone he met so far that this kind of drawn picture was vastly spread across his empire.


    Knowing the empire by knowing the emperor, that was something he didn''t reject. After all he fought so hard to achieve his current status, and he wouldn''t say no to some appreciation and even veneration.


    As someone who was considered a mighty cultivator in the past, he was used to such eyes of worship. Even back in his sect, he was highly appreciated and considered as a genius.


    "Also notify Deem and Gor, I want them to prepare people to copy what I will write down," he added as he sat on the big golden throne that had two giant dragon statues at each side.


    It seemed while he was away, everyone decided to take the dragon as the main symbol of the empire. He didn''t reject that either.. After all his power was mainly hailed from dragons in this world.

 Chapter 1013 - Everyone Is Heading Home

    As Arthur started to write down the famous cultivation techniques, his return caused a huge stir inside his empire.


    He didn''t know that the current information delivery system between the villages, towns, and cities was very advanced. Unlike the known system that needed someone to travel from one place to another, this system used a strange method devised by a few kids from the castle of sky geniuses.


    A grand network was laid and connected the entire empire together like a gigantic spider web. Using energy flares passing through a special sort of an ore, any message could travel in mere minutes between the vast corners of the empire.


    This system was built as a military service at first, before it was used later in exchanging regular updates and also giving some trade knowledge.


    What made this idea applicable and easily executed was the abundance of that energy transmitting ore in the entire empire and this world.


    That ore was looked slightly upon before, but now everyone knew its value. Not only it helped in delivering messages, it was also used to distribute a stronger light net inside the empire during night time.


    The streets inside any village, town, and cities were now filled with this type of ore. All they needed was just a source of bright energy, a thing they found easily in many explosive ores.


    But no one dared to use the purple ore in such a thing. After all, the purple ore was something uncontrollable by many, and it could easily kill people.


    Arthur''s return was instantly known to everyone inside his grand empire. Even the leaders at the frontlines got to know about his return even before Gege''s messengers arrived.


    In the eyes of the empire citizens, this was like the return of their king, or their emperor. As for those who lived alongside Arthur and saw him creating this grand miracle, they had a different type of feeling.


    If anyone felt gratitude and veneration towards Arthur from the citizens, then for those who accompanied Arthur during his journey felt worship towards him.


    He wasn''t only a man capable of achieving the impossible, he was a person who shared his knowledge and power with everyone else.


    The army knew this firsthand, especially the army leaders. If not for the black curtains that Arthur provided to them, their strength would never have reached this current scale.


    Right now anyone from the army leaders and their first assistants were on the same level of power with the grandmasters from higher realms and big clans.


    Only thanks to this they managed to crush any enemy coming on their way, even if he was a grandmaster coming from a higher realm.


    The speed of their strength growth was simply unbelievable. If not for experiencing it themselves, no one would ever believe such a thing even existed.


    So when Arthur''s return news reached them, all the armies decided to halt their advance and wait until their leaders would see him.


    And when Gege''s messages arrived and delivered the orders from Arthur, everyone moved in faster speed while feeling eager to meet Arthur.


    After all in their eyes, everytime Arthur called out for them he was ready to create a miracle. This time they didn''t know what he had in mind for them, but they guessed it must be something related to the academies they established.


    No one ever thought that Arthur wasn''t pleased by their efforts. They all mistook their doings as being the best for the empire.


    If Arthur saw their lines of thoughts right now he would shake his head in disappointment. He knew how deadly such an approach was in the long term. Its deadliest effect started by the veil of goodness it presented itself with at the beginning.


    But he knew it was dangerous, and he wouldn''t allow this to continue.


    The journey of those generals wasn''t easy or short. After all they were far, far away from the nearest portals. During the past months, Gege extended her portals at fixed places, which came to be known as the highways of the empire.


    Once reached at the portal region, anyone could reach any place in the empire without the need to spend much time or effort.


    Just passing through a series of portals to reach a place lying hundreds or even thousands of miles away. In their eyes, these portals were really mysterious, and no one ever managed to break down their secret.


    And that added more vibe around Arthur in their eyes. The more they thought about him, the more shocked and awed they became. Arthur held a myriad of weird abilities that no one else had.


    Just like these portals, just like his ability to create dragons, just like his ability to issue orders even from miles apart, as if he was standing next to them.


    The journey of the generals took roughly ten days to finally arrive at the portals. Once reached there, Gege started to give further instructions about the location and purpose of the meeting.


    During the past ten days, Arthur kept himself busy writing down all the cultivation knowledge he was aware of. At some point he felt astonished from himself as he muttered:


    "I never expected myself to know all of this about cultivation methods¡­"


    In front of him lay a lot of papers, arranged into slightly over two hundred books.


    Despite the number, each book didn''t contain more than ten pages, mostly drawings and few writings.


    Cultivation was a knowledge based on imagining the true secrets of one''s body. Just drawing was enough, and enlightenment was left for everyone to experience differently based on their talents.


    Arthur wrote the most important and widely spread cultivation methods first, then the basics and advanced knowledge about cultivation.


    Reaching this far and as no one had arrived yet to disturb him except for Deem and Gor with their men, he kept working on special forms of cultivation.


    At this point he realized that inside his mind, knowledge about cultivation was way too much. As such he decided to enter into the garden world at day five and there he started to produce much more works under the blessing of time difference.


    As for the books he wrote, he left them to be handled by Gege. The latter kept sending the finished works to Deem and Gor who ordered their men to copy these books as fast as they could.


    During the process the two kept peeking at the content. At first they didn''t get head or tail from what was written there. But gradually they started to get enlightened and viewed these books in a different light.


    To them these books were a real masterpiece, a treasure without equal.

 Chapter 1014 - The Meeting Starts

    Cultivation was always about enlightenment. As the two kept reading and getting enlightened, each started to get attached to one way of cultivation from the pile Arthur prepared.


    Arthur didn''t know that. He kept himself shut inside the garden world while writing down everything he knew about. The experience lasted for over a month. During which only three days passed in the outside world.


    When he finished, he got the news that his people had arrived and were waiting for him. He didn''t have anything else to do but to get outside and check about the process of copying the techniques.


    When he went to see Deem and Gor, he was astonished to see the two sitting cross legged, crossing their eyes and cultivating.


    "These two¡­" he was surprised and delighted by these two. He never expected from just reading his techniques to be affected and enlightened like this.


    He wasn''t a green sprout in the world of cultivation. Just from seeing the look on their face, that look of content and pleasure, he could already guess what they were feeling at the moment.


    They trespassed their first steps into the world of cultivation. "I just hope for them to choose good cultivation methods," he said before checking on other people working on the copies.


    Unlike Demand For, the others were totally absorbed in writing the copies. So it wasn''t strange for no one to feel enlightened.


    Perhaps after all this would be over, these people would be easier to step into cultivation. After all they were reading across many data and cultivation ways, despite not realizing it yet.


    Their minds were storing information and when the time would be ripe, they would show signs of advancement, much faster than anyone else.


    "Summon everyone now," after checking on the process, he took a sample from each cultivation method copied and went back into the hall of throne.


    He sat there waiting for the others to appear, sitting on his throne while checking on the copies in his hand.


    The drawings were perfect, the writings were good. He didn''t find any flaw luckily amidst these copies. He knew mistakes might happen, so after making the copies he had to go through another round of checking over everything.


    Also these copies were merely the beginning. The number of people in his empire was so vast. He would also gain many more people after adding more worlds to his empire.


    So he thought about establishing a facility across all cities. Through there copying the cultivation methods would continue for a long time. He also wanted something to organize the cultivation process and organize things between his people.


    Who knew, he might find really talented people among the sheer number of his civilians. If that happened, and he believed it would, then he would have more reasons to support and nourish these talents.


    Thinking about this he found that having one facility wouldn''t work. After all he wanted people to copy the methods, another group to distribute and regulate cultivation, plus a group to watch over any talents and lastly a group to keep records of everyone''s levels.


    That meant just depending on one facility things would get messy. He thought about mimicking the sect rules, having various peaks as the main powerhouses in his empire.


    Thinking about that he couldn''t help but frown. He had a much greater territory than any known sect he ever heard about. He also had a very big number of people, so controlling them would be a hard process.


    When his people arrived in big groups, he couldn''t help but recall the idea of academies. What if he turned these academies to work as the pillars of any sect? To work as mountain peaks of his empire?


    "Welcome back!"


    "You got us worried!"


    "Did you see? Someone proclaimed to distribute your orders for me not to fight! Humph, I can''t believe that!"


    "I missed you!"


    Many words came from all his friends and army generals. The one who complained was none other than the scorpion queen. She was still as beautiful as ever, wearing a green gown that sculpted out her beauty and curves perfectly in his eyes.


    As for Amera, she just said she missed him with a faint blush over her face. This giant girl wasn''t rejecting him anymore. He knew what the two experienced together for this long had changed her mind.


    Thinking about that, Arthur noticed that his old friends, the ones who came with him from his village, had all got companions.


    Ron got mad, but others got people from outside his friend zone. He didn''t have a saying at that, after all this was his friends'' lives.


    But that highlighted something, he didn''t have a companion so far. Despite sleeping and fooling around with few, he didn''t have a fixed girl or girls yet.


    He had few in his mind, being it the three he gathered during his journey, Sara, Tina, and the scorpion queen. Or girls like Amelia and Amera¡­ he had many to choose from, many to call his women.


    ''Not the right time yet,'' despite feeling this way, he didn''t show any resolve about this matter. He knew this wasn''t the time to relax and rest. Things were far from being over.


    Despite this visit to this world might be considered their win, but it was, after all, one world. He still needed nine more worlds and a lot of work to do before advancing to a higher realm.


    "Sit, we have few important things to discuss," he smiled warmly as he gestured to them to sit on the two rows of seats that were aligned in front of his throne.


    As everyone sat there, he couldn''t help but recall the long journey he had. He came to this world in a messy weak body with no hope for anything, not even to survive on his own.


    And now? He was surrounded and blessed with those powerhouses, each was enough to cause a stir in any clan or academy even in the higher realms.


    He felt blessed by this, and he knew he paid a hefty price to reach this far.


    All the more for him to continue the path he was on, seeing everything to the end.

 Chapter 1015 - Talk About The Academies

    Arthur moved his eyes silently among the creme of his forces. He gave them a few moments of silence so they''d ready their minds for what he was going to say.


    "I''ve heard about what you did," he started speaking regarding the academies'' issue, "I know you want the best for the empire, but many academies under the same roof aren''t good."


    "But we tried to mimic the essence of the strong academies in our higher worlds," Doaf didn''t get Arthur''s point as he said with a frowned expression on his face.


    He wasn''t the only one showing such a reaction. In fact almost everyone sitting in front of Arthur showed signs of confusion.


    "We came from clans, but we know everything about academies," Amera stepped in as she thought Arthur didn''t get the full picture about this matter, "academies are the best institutes to foster offsprings not belonging to the same clan."


    "I know," Arthur had to speak and stop any further unneeded words from everyone, "but that doesn''t mean it''s very good. Academies are a good concept, but having such a big number will cause unneeded strife in the middle of our empire."


    As he said these words, everyone started to see the matter from his perspective.


    "But academies always were present in the higher realms, actually in all realms," Jude said while looking around, gaining support from others by nodding to him. "And yet not such a matter existed before as internal strife."


    "That''s in case we are talking about a clan with an academy or few academies following its lead," Arthur wasn''t rash as he slowly started to explain his point to them.


    He knew that for someone like him, living two lives and witnessing what others couldn''t, he had a different point of view here.


    But just giving them the order without explaining things was bad. Also trying to explain things as rude and crude as saying he witnessed this dead end before wouldn''t do. He had to slowly take their hands and walk with them along that path.


    "But we are speaking about a new thing, an empire. Our empire is different from clans and much more than academies. In clans people are only allowed to join based on their bloodline. Direct and indirect offspring would become the core of the clan. Strength of the clan is simply unidirectional, not enjoying the vast diversity of our empire."


    He took a deep breath, giving them enough time to digest what he said before adding, "but compared to the clans, our empire depends on a wide variety of talents. We don''t acknowledge bloodlines, only talents are allowed to blossom here."


    "So the academies should be the best place to support the empire," Sara was also incomprehensive to what Arthur was proposing, "as academies are based on the diversity of talents and not only one bloodline."


    "That''s partly true," Arthur nodded before highlighting one of the main problems in their way of thinking, "but the model you all followed came, after all, from the higher realms. There the clans built and supported academies to just supplement their bloodline powers with fresh talents. In a sense it''s a good way to lessen the shortcoming of a single bloodline. But from another perspective, it''s detrimental to our empire."


    As he saw their faces, he could conclude easily that they didn''t get his point yet. So he had to elaborate further by saying:


    "Academies can''t be more partial to one facet of strength than another. That''s the main disadvantage your academies have. Let me guess, Amera''s academy focuses on the outburst of power plus little defense, while Doaf''s academy relies mainly on long ranged strength, right?"


    He didn''t need to hear their responses as the slight change in the two''s faces was enough as an answer.


    "How did you know that?" Amera couldn''t help but complain.


    "This is¡­ did you have eyes inside our academies?" Doaf couldn''t help but ask.


    "This is also another aspect that makes this idea terrible," Arthur was a fast witted person, so he naturally guessed what the two meant.


    It seemed each one dealt with his academy with utmost priority, veiling each academy with a thick curtain of mystery.


    "Making each academy be secretive in such obvious determination is bad. We aren''t enemies. We aren''t clans opposing each other. We are part of the same empire. If we don''t know each other, how can we expect our future offspring to cooperate with each other?"


    His words made the faces of everyone around drop. The more he talked, the more depressed they became.


    They thought they were doing a great favor to the empire. Yet with Arthur''s words, they realized how deep the pit they dug for the empire by their actions was.


    No matter how well intended their actions were, in the end digging such a deep pit was something bad.


    "Each academy will focus on the traits of strength each one of you saw as the pillar of support to your powers. This is a limited vision, like a frog still seeing the world from the tiny opening of the well even if it left the well already. You need to broaden your perspective, seeing things as anew, not like what you always saw before."


    He knew he was asking too much from them, but he also knew how vital these words and his arrangement were to the future of his empire.


    "As a growing empire, our strength won''t stop here. We will have ten fold of the population we have now at least in the future, ten folds of talents and mages. Tell me, with such an outstanding number of people, how can we still limit the abilities of each person to what your clans originally needed? What do your bloodlines need? Can this be an empire, or a group of clans clustered together under the same roof?"


    Arthur was slowly trying to make them see the future he feared to happen.. "If we allow such division to continue, alongside the secrecy and the unavoidable rivalry between the academies, we will foster only hatred, nothing more."

 Chapter 1016 - The Blue Imperial Dragonair Sect

    Arthur was now speaking without any room for others to intervene. At this moment he was acting as always, the unshakable pillar of the empire, the one who truly led everyone all this way towards this point.


    "So we can''t let that happen. In fact the academy concept isn''t bad, but not in that divided way. We need to build an academy, a grand , single and unified academy where all of us will work together to bring the best out of our kids."


    He finally said what he had in mind. As he didn''t object totally over the concept of the academies, the eyes of everyone showed their agreement and understanding.


    What was the point in making different academies? None of them lacked or craved to be a leader or something. If so then they wouldn''t have ended up being beside Arthur.


    Those who came from the higher realms chose to stand with Arthur in heart and mind. They were convinced with his deeds and will, not questioning his brilliant future.


    So when he proposed to merge everything under the single banner of one academy, none of them argued or objected.


    "This one academy is a good thing," Sara was the only one to speak at this moment, "but how are we going to arrange things inside? We, after all, belong to many different forces and different ways of thinking and training."


    Arthur knew this was true, so instead of using flashy words and big symbols, he simply explained in plain words:


    "Each one of you will have a separate training ground. We can call it peaks, like mountain peaks."


    "Peaks?" Everyone gazed at each other, astonished by this weird name.


    "A peak is a symbol, like a mountain pushing all the way against the shackles of the ground and world, soaring towards the sky, aiming to touch heavens. Each peak led by you will be like this, a place where anyone has a chance to become a true powerhouse of the empire, a powerhouse recognized by the entire universe and even higher realms."


    His words ignited the excitement inside each of them. And how could they not be? After all this simple concept that Arthur brought with from the cultivation world was all new to them, even to the higher realmers as well.


    "So we are going to have an academy with peaks, right?" Amera tried to ask about something but Arthur interrupted her as he said:


    "It won''t be called an academy. To distinguish it from any other academy in the entire universe, we''ll call it the blue imperial dragonair sect."


    "Sect?"


    This time the shock in many eyes wasn''t small. Many of those sitting here accompanied Arthur before when he went to support that sect. The consequences of that move and the tedious journey that followed was still engraved in their minds.


    So when he mentioned the word sect, not a few sitting here had their faces changed.


    "A sect isn''t just a place like an academy. I want to introduce you to something you aren''t familiar with in this world."


    As he said these mysterious words, he took out many copies which he took before. Each copy was thrown to those sitting in front of him, letting each take a deep glance at the booklets he just gave to them.


    Each booklet had few papers, not exceeding ten by most. Many drawings and few words were in each page, even some pages were entirely void of any words.


    At first no one paid much attention to these books and drawings, but the more they read, the more they became absorbed into these booklets.


    Arthur sat in silence while watching the reaction over their faces. The ones sitting in front of him were his most trustworthy subordinates. Most of them had lived for long years already, making it difficult to step into the cultivation path by common sense.


    However he didn''t doubt their talents. After all, the path of cultivation wasn''t that strange from the path of their training here; both required talent.


    To reach to the point each stood at, the peaks they owned weren''t simply accomplished by mere luck. Each one had a monstrous level of talent, making Arthur raise his expectations.


    And he was right in doing so.


    Just as everyone bypassed their first ignorant reaction, they became deeply absorbed in reading the booklets. The cultivation ways that he selected and threw to them weren''t random.


    He selected the ones he believed to truly fit his people, and they were the highest level of cultivation suitable to each of them.


    And when he threw these booklets to them, he did this on purpose and with intention and attention. As a result, not a single one could raise his or her head from the booklet, not even after an entire day and night passed.


    Arthur didn''t hurry or interrupt them. He knew the value of getting enlightened. The biggest value came from the purest and longest enlightenment, which was usually the first time anyone would get such a chance.


    So he watched his trustworthy circle of powerhouses in contentment and pleasure, nodding his head from time to time when he noticed a few sparks of light gathering up around any of them.


    Such a reaction meant that person already got into a deep stage of enlightenment. And what did that mean? Looking at the current circumstances, Arthur was quite sure that his people would all turn into cultivators the moment their enlightenment would be over.


    However he underestimated their talents. Not a single one of them was weakling or mediocre. Even his friends, even Ron and others who came with him from his village.


    In fact Arthur paid extra attention to their talents from the first moment. Except for the long and hard challenges he was faced with, he would have nourished their talents further.


    However what he did was enough. Each one of them wasn''t much inferior to any powerhouse coming from a prestigious clan in the high realm.


    The one day and night extended, and in a blink of an eye an entire week passed with everyone engulfed with the light and power of enlightenment, giving Arthur an eerie feeling that he missed since coming here from his cultivation world.


    "Prodigies¡­" he couldn''t help but mutter to himself from time to time, "I have gathered an army of geniuses and prodigies around me¡­ How lucky and blessed am I?"

 Chapter 1017 - Golden Pearl Energy

    Seven days and nights was all the others needed before they got over their enlightenment. Arthur was just thinking to himself about how lucky he was before each one started to slowly open their eyes.


    Just this simple move made the entire hall brim under bright lights. Their eyes looked lovelier than ever, while emitting defying myriad of lights.


    "Congratulations," Arthur spoke in a warm tone expressing his current mood, "you all got enlightened."


    "This¡­" Amera was the first to stand up from her seat. The moment she did so, a loud cracking sound came from her body, like her body stiffened and petrified from all this sitting. "What was that technique? I can feel myself stronger, much stronger than before¡­"


    "You have a different kind of power," Arthur slowly explained, "what you are feeling is just normal. You got stronger indeed, all of you, but in return you might feel awkward. After all this is your first time obtaining such strength."


    He knew what she wanted to say. The power inside her body made her feel stronger and a little weird. After all they never felt this kind of strength before.


    Spiritual power was different from the powers they used to train in their entire lives. Despite it being a form of power, it still felt weird.


    "So that means we are now going to train in another form of power?" Doaf also emitted the same cracking sound as he slowly stood up.


    He was followed by everyone. Arthur calmly watched them and could ascertain that they got good results at this point.


    Just in one week they managed to traverse the qi condensation stage and now at the body strengthening stage. It looked like a miracle, yet he knew if they were given time, they would eventually cross that border faster than others.


    "You have to," Arthur nodded, "I train myself in both dragonair and cultivation. So you should do the same. At some point, when you have some confidence, you can try and merge the two together into a new form of energy."


    His words landed as a shock over everyone. They all thought this was the end of his magic show, but who knew he still had more in his sleeves to shock them with.


    "Do you mean our two forms of energy can evolve higher?" Sara asked in doubt yet Arthur''s nod cleared all her confusion.


    "This is what I call the golden pearl energy," he slowly stimulated his golden pearl energy. Right now his golden pearl energy reached a terrifying stage that looked like the size of a human head. His golden energy was something heaven defying, the seed which he planted long ago and depended entirely upon to reach this far.


    Under the careful gazes of everyone, Arthur''s body turned all golden in color. His vibe changed and a familiar terrifying aura emanated from him.


    Everyone standing here accompanied Arthur for such a long time already. They were all familiar with his way of fighting. Just feeling that dreadful aura again made them realize everything.


    As Arthur said, he trained into merging his both energies into one. They now believed him. And now they realized another shocking matter.


    If they had such a chance, they would turn into the same heaven defying existence like Arthur. In their eyes, Arthur was such an insurmountable height, a peak they all looked at in admiration without being able to reach.


    Yet from his words and his simple display just now, they all realized they finally got such a chance now. If they managed to train their cultivation and mage power and merged the two together, then creating miracles like Arthur wouldn''t be a fantasy anymore.


    "All you need to do is to train diligently under the two powers, then find a way yourselves to merge the two together," Arthur retracted his golden power before adding, "but to do so you need to make sure the two powers'' levels are already close to each other. Of course that couldn''t be done in just one day, but I can promise you that if you worked hard and sincerely trained, you can reach that level eventually."


    Their faces beamed with excitement despite not saying a single word. From their eyes alone, Arthur knew they were determined to try all their best to do what he just suggested.


    "As for what I said before," he didn''t start all this discussion just for making them train and become cultivators, "each one of you can be considered a powerhouse in my sect. But giving you each a peak isn''t practical. So after we return from this expedition to my world, you will train together and exchange notes. After that you can find similar people to your levels and ways of cultivation. Establishing the peaks from there won''t be hard."


    Now his words carried another weight and meaning. They all got what he wanted to do and right now they realized what he proposed earlier was the best approach.


    Having a sect was much better than having an academy or thousands of academies. Even clans couldn''t be compared to what Arthur wanted to do here.


    "So our peaks will scout talents and train them?" Jude was smart enough to catch this hidden meaning from Arthur.


    And Arthur nodded before saying in declaration:


    "Our empire will depend on the sect to train all our people into cultivation and being strong mages. If you manage to merge the two powers together then you can also teach others how to do that. The peaks will only be led by people having the golden pearl energies in their bodies, and those who can do it later on can ascend higher in the ranks of the sect."


    His words calmly drew the future of the empire and the sect. Arthur didn''t know that at this moment, while he was speaking without any consideration for the future, his words here would mark the birth of a new age over the entire universe.


    People would always remember this moment and this meeting as the legendary moment where their greatest god created the long road ahead of each one later on to train and get stronger and try to become a god like him.

 Chapter 1018 - Testing People

    Arthur''s words landed and everyone had their minds stirred up. From just the look on their faces, Arthur could say for certain they were all excited, not less excited than himself.


    "So we are going to establish a sect and teach people there how to cultivate and also train in the mage power?" Amera summed up what he said before nodding, "I now realized why you said the vision of our clans can''t be done."


    "The sect can''t be limited to one view, even if it was the mightiest mage clan, it won''t do," Arthur calmly said, confirming over her words, "our sect''s main goal is to push as many as possible to train and form their golden pearl energy. As for mage''s powers, they can train as freely as they want."


    Others nodded and they couldn''t say anything more. Arthur''s words were like a god decree to them. According to his vision, according to everything miraculous he had done so far, they got the chance to become existence in heaven defying him.


    And that wasn''t the only advantage they got in the sect. Having chances for everyone in the sect was the priceless opportunity everyone would get in the sect.


    "So when are we going to establish the sect?" Ron suddenly asked, and that was the main question everyone had in their minds right now.


    "First we''ll have to establish sect places in the entire world," Arthur thought about it for a few moments before adding, "we need to test the affinity of each person in the empire to know their talents. No matter what, even if people were only talented in cultivation or mages alones, we need them."


    "That means¡­" Sara waved her booklet in her hand and didn''t add more. Arthur got what she wanted to say from a mere look.


    "Don''t worry about that, I''ve got Deem and Gor working hard in copying the cultivation ways I know about."


    "How did you get all of these amazing things?" Jude''s question wasn''t just curiosity, but also admiration.


    "You can consider me lucky," Arthur vaguely said, "now aside from establishing the sect, you all have a great work to do. First you need to train diligently and try to hit a stage of merging the two forces together. This way our sect can be called really established."


    "But it seems that will take a long time, right?" Sara asked while others waited impatiently for his words.


    "It will take time," Atrhur didn''t lie to them, "but why are you rushing things? We still have a long way ahead. First we''ll control this world, then we will go back and control mine. After that we can all enter a long time of seclusion before expanding again. Let''s see, even if it took twenty years to achieve that goal, I wouldn''t mind that."


    He wasn''t bluffing, but stating facts. Just subduing two big words seemed easier said than done. Just this world here took them more than a year and half to subdue, and that came over constant fighting and clashing mercilessly with higher powers.


    As for Arthur''s world, they all knew it wasn''t advanced like this one here. So the forces there wouldn''t pose a great threat to them. Even if the higher clans sent people to cause them trouble, they would easily crush them no matter what.


    So the only important task here was for them to grow accustomed to this new way of cultivation. Also embarking on the path of the golden pearl strength was essential as well.


    How come a sect which emphasized over the golden pearl energy would operate when its peak leaders didn''t actually have that higher form of energy?


    So despite their chests brimming with the fire of excitement, and they wanted to go out right now and start operating the sect, they couldn''t do that yet.


    They had first to strengthen themselves, then a time would come for the sect to shine.


    "Now you need to go back," Arthur calmly said, "you will merge all the academies under the banner of the sect. After that I''ll give the task for Deem and Gor to build the sect''s main buildings just outside the cities. This way everything will be ready and only lacking your strength to grow."


    "We will do our best," everyone nodded to Arthur and said in pure and utmost veneration. To them this meeting was eye opening, making them all so much excited and feeling grateful to this youngster ahead of them.


    As Arthur gave them the order, they first exited the palace and got in contact with their forces all over the world. The academies they all established and worked their best to imply their old teachings in were all canceled.


    A new behemoth appeared in the empire, known as the blue imperial dragonair sect. Arthur''s words were deeply engraved into every single one of them.


    Alongside the long task of building the sect, a task Arthur gave to Deem and Gor to build sect places identical to each other, identical to his home sect, the two also worked hard in copying and distributing the cultivation booklets all over the empire.


    Just like a primordial behemoth sleeping in seclusion, the entire grand empire was now resting and cultivating its strength.


    Every single one of the citizens were tested, either in mage powers or in cultivation. If there was an occasion where someone had an affinity for both, and it was common actually, then he or she would get its name marked with golden letters.


    In a short time, tens of thousands of people began to have their names delivered to Arthur and the leaders of the sect. According to Arthur''s directions, these names were distributed over twelve peaks inside the sect.


    This wasn''t mainly according to their mage powers, but mainly over their cultivation ways. Having an affinity in cultivation meant that the person would have an affinity towards one way of cultivation.


    Of course Arthur lacked many consumables like energy crystals and other things used to test people, but that didn''t stop him.


    He made anyone experience the big number of cultivation methods first for one month. During it if anyone entered into epiphany, then this person meant to have a great deal of affinity in that cultivation way.


    That way looked simple, yet it gave Arthur a means to find decent talents in a short time. Even the number he got, which was in tens of thousands, was nothing compared to the tens of billions he ruled in his empire.


    And the good news wasn''t only the test process still in its early stages, but it was also the result from a single world. Imagine ruling over ten worlds? A hundred worlds? Or even the entire universe? How many great talents would he find among such an endless number of people?

 Chapter 1019 - Training

    Arthur knew his empire already embarked on the path of cultivation. But that didn''t mean he could rest.


    He needed to train again, raise his level to the immortal stage.


    Conquering ten worlds wasn''t the only condition needed to ascend to the higher realms. He also needed to raise his strength and merge his two forms of energy into the golden pearl energy.


    Right now he only managed to have golden pearl energy amounting to the size of a human head. But that wasn''t enough. He needed to transform his entire energies inside his body into the golden pearl.


    "I need to start cultivating again," he knew that the early stages of cultivation were always blessed by being fast. Starting from the core formation stage and higher, cultivation speed diminished a lot.


    Not to mention he didn''t live his past year focusing only on cultivation.


    "How are others doing?" as he entered his garden world, he couldn''t help but smile in content. The view of the vast garden world was really refreshing to his eyes.


    The whole world was now brimming with endless people working diligently. In addition to anyone having good talent in both cultivation and mage, the garden world was now the main center for forging the needed weapons for the armies, preparing the necessary materials for building cities, and also making the consumables for his coins.


    Arthur stood in the air watching all these people working to their best efforts. He couldn''t help but recall the first time he got the garden world, it was much smaller and only filled with plants and an angry ancient guardian.


    ''The sect disciples are training, half of their time is for mage training and the other half is for cultivation,'' Gege said.


    "What about the peak leaders?"


    ''They are working their best, right now almost half managed to merge both energies and form a speck of golden pearl energy.''


    Arthur smiled. In the garden world the time difference was such a great factor. Ten times difference played a great role in pushing the speed of training and cultivation for his friends and empire pillars.


    He needed them to obtain the golden pearl energy fast. Without it his sect peaks wouldn''t have a meaning. When he heard that almost half of them had already gotten the golden pearl in less than one month in the outside world time, he was greatly satisfied.


    "Keep getting any talent inside and make sure to leave behind one region away from our control," Arthur gave his final orders before flashing and appearing just beside the Golam lake.


    In his garden world he didn''t forget to build cities as well. Right now the stunning place of the Golam lake can be enjoyed from a big city over its shores.


    Arthur appeared on a big platform, tens of meters away from the ground. It belonged to the main palace of the city, a palace that overlooked the lake and gave Arthur a better look over the lake.


    As Arthur sat on the ground, he gave a final thought to the last words he gave to Gege.


    He came to this world as part of a competition. Of course he didn''t need anything from that competition, but he wouldn''t forget he came here based on it.


    The competition was for taking control of the entire world in six months. Six months extended to almost two years now, but Arthur wasn''t worried.


    He knew when he came here that the organizers and those from higher dark clans must have arranged things for him to not come back alive.


    And to make sure of that, they must have linked the condition of returning back to the overall control of the world.


    Arthur''s strength was growing, his empire was now considered a large behemoth. He got many mages from higher realms and wasn''t afraid of coming back.


    But he didn''t choose to hurriedly return. After all this world was considered to be his first safe world, the first world of his empire without any enemies.


    The best course of action would be to strengthen the foundation of the empire, taking all the time needed to train and organize things.


    His trustworthy subordinates were all now training and getting stronger. Many of his talents were showing signs of progress, besides the empire''s total population wasn''t yet screened.


    Trying to build in times of war was something impossible, Arthur knew that. As being blessed to have such a safe world, such a rare chance of peace, he decided to not easily abandon this opportunity.


    Leaving behind one zone without conquering was his answer to all these thoughts. He decided to leave behind this small area, making the world not unified on intention.


    As for how long he would remain hidden here, like a hidden dragon, he didn''t know the answer yet. For him he wanted to stay until he reached the immortal stage.


    But he knew that wasn''t possible. Not to mention the fierce tribulation tests he needed to overcome at each major breakthrough, the time to cross each major step was also a nightmare.


    Normally he took long years in his past life just to bypass these stages and eventually failed before attaining the immortal stage. So in this life, he lacked much confidence in getting himself past the immortal bottleneck.


    Even though he had a higher chance than in his past life. This life he didn''t only cultivate but also had the mage powers, in addition to the higher golden pearl energy.


    "Having a higher form of energy means much easier training in the lower energy forms," he muttered to himself. If not for having his golden pearl energy already he wouldn''t have much hope in reaching the immortal stage or exceeding it.


    Logically speaking, he considered staying at the garden world for one year. But without knowing it, twenty years passed on him while sitting on and cultivating.


    Twenty years inside the garden world was an astonishingly long period, but in fact only two years passed in the outside world.


    And during all this time, nothing challenging happened for his empire, all but great news and big breakthroughs and accomplishments.


    As for him, Arthur underestimated himself.. What he thought about before entering his long session of cultivation was correct, except for one thing¡­ He wouldn''t receive any more tribulations until the last bottleneck towards the immortal stage.

 Chapter 1020 - Special Path For Ascension

    Arthur stood slowly from the ground while feeling his body stiff. Twenty years weren''t his longest record in cultivation, but it was the longest since his rebirth and coming to this world.


    In his eyes, a pure blue light flashed like they were divine. Just sobering from the cultivation made him feel as refreshed and strong as ever before.


    "Hum!"


    Without doing anything, just clenching the fists produced an ear deafening hum. He looked at his body in amazement while one strain of thought appeared inside his mind at this moment.


    "Peak level strength! I''ve reached all the way towards my former power!!" he was totally shocked when he felt his strength and state of body.


    He lived stuck in the bottleneck of the immortal stage for long years in his past life. He was totally familiar with that state, a state of overbearing and strength beyond measure.


    But that wasn''t enough. He yearned nothing more, going further to take this last step in his past life. Yet he failed.


    No matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t take this last single step ever. It was like a mountain was encroaching over his heart, preventing his body from taking this last step.


    However right now he was elated by the simple facts in front of his eyes. He finally reached that stage, at last! He finally regained his former power, at last!


    Without asking about anything, he closed his eyes and sat down again entering his cultivation world. He examined his body thoroughly, sensing his meridians and dantian, alongside the nodes scattered all over his body.


    His mind dantain changed drastically and right now it was literally best described as a galaxy of its own. An entire universe of sparkling stars was present inside his vast dantian, not like the way he had before.


    In this life he was sure he got himself much better results than what he gained before. Even with all his hardships at first, he finally managed to come back at the same stage he stood at before.


    And now he was thrilled by what he saw! Jade like meridians were standing inside his body, so strong, so broad, and so majestic like never before.


    He once heard about a saying, to reach the immortal stage one had to  obtain an immortal body.


    At this moment his body could be described as being an immortal body. He never got such a body before in his life, not even close to it.


    It wasn''t only his dantian and meridians that showed all these changes, but also his entire body. His muscles looked like being sculpted out of an immortal ore. His blood vessels and organs brimmed with a strange blue luster like never before.


    "This¡­" amidst his excitement, he slowly opened his eyes not daring to believe what he saw, "I finally got the body suited to take that step¡­ how come?"


    Arthur was always the scientific cultivator who usually wondered about things before celebrating. He knew he did have a different experience from his past life, but that wasn''t simply the answer.


    Again closing his eyes and watching closely, he finally found the reason.


    His golden pearl energy!


    Before, the golden pearl was the size of a human head. It was made by the merge between his dragonair energy and his cultivation. Till this point, he never expected his golden pearl energy to grow in magnitude or quality.


    Yet the facts that appeared in front of him proved him wrong. The previously head sized golden pearl was now best described as a golden body.


    Yes, his entire body was immersed by a golden shadow, faintly taking the outline of his entire body. There was no golden pearl this time, but a golden body.


    And it seemed that golden body was the reason behind having his immortal body. It was more accurate to say his body turned immortal thanks to shaping out his golden body.


    As for the reason behind that, he soon discovered it. Everywhere inside his body, the two kinds of his own energies were merging constantly and in astonishable harmony.


    They weren''t fighting anymore. In his eyes, his dragonair energy was produced from his body, taking a single circulation around his evolved blood vessels before finally merging with his spiritual energy.


    As for his spiritual energy, they were constantly produced from his dantian, taking a full circle inside his meridians before actively merging with the dragonair energy.


    Just during the few hours he kept himself seated like that, he saw an immense amount of both energies merging together and forming the new brand of golden energy.


    That golden energy seemed like a torrent, yet his body proved to be like a bottomless pit. No matter how much energy was produced, they were all absorbed without leaving a single trace behind.


    That simple scene shocked him greatly and he didn''t break up his cultivation and observation until after long hours. He still couldn''t believe what he saw, but his golden body was hazy, getting all the golden power produced like a hungry wolf without showing any signs of satisfaction.


    "So I now need to make my golden body complete and corporeal before ascending?" he opened his eyes while slowly contemplating that issue.


    Facts were presented in front of his eyes at the moment. His path to advance seemed a bit different than other mages in this world, much different than cultivators in his past world.


    Yet despite the difference, he was excited. He knew thanks to this difference he, who once failed to take this last step, was now able to go all out and become an immortal.


    However he didn''t get one simple point. He was different, so his ascension was bound to become a different experience than others.


    If cultivators in his past life were able to ascend to higher cultivation realms, and mages in his current world were able to ascend from lower to higher realms, then his ascension was destined to go onto a totally different path than everyone.


    Yet his ignorance about this point made him not realize the end of the path he was walking right now. Despite that, the conclusion he reached about how to ascend was right in the end.


    He needed to turn his golden body into a real and complete body before being able to ascend.

 Chapter 1021 - Problem In Training

    "Gege¡­ How long was I training?"


    As Arthur reached the conclusion about his future and knew how to advance to the higher realm, he decided to be briefed about the status of the empire and his forces.


    And what he heard from Gege made him startled at first before showing a wry smile over his face.


    The first thing he heard was about his absence for twenty years. Such a long time made him realize that he trained for the longest period ever since coming to this world.


    Despite being here for twenty years, only two years passed in the outside world. Yet it was also a long period of time. Two years wasn''t something small for a large empire like his.


    During this long time, his people listened to his orders. The academies were all merged together under the single banner of his blue imperial dragonair sect.


    The sect had been established for a long time. Each city had a big residence of the sect, a few miles away from the walls of each city.


    The people of his empire got scanned already. Many discovered their potential at mage or cultivation, while fewer geniuses appeared to have potential in the two aspects.


    Those geniuses were taken inside the garden world per his orders. According to the legacy he left behind, all with cultivation potential started to embark on the path of cultivation with steady steps.


    During the past twenty years, all his friends and generals, those who he personally selected to become peak masters, already formed their golden pearl energy.


    Of course they weren''t close to his current level, but according to Gege''s words, they all had ventured a decent distance into that path.


    As for the newly discovered geniuses, few of them had already formed their golden pearl energy. That was something unbelievable even for him.


    However even after twenty years, these people seemed not to show any signs of improving fast like him. Even his peak masters, all still far distance away from his current level.


    According to the long report from Gege, the problem lies in the difference in the two sides of training. Being a mage required a different path than being a cultivator.


    Only Arthur was lucky enough to have his dragonair mage path. That path seemed somehow similar to the cultivation path.


    As for others, they were required to hunt monsters and feed upon their energies to advance. Facing their internal demons was a step crucial for any mage to become stronger.


    Yet this required much time and sincere effort. Compared to cultivation, the latter needed much time of contemplation and meditation, plus a clear mind, heart, and soul.


    With the presence of an internal demon endangering his people, they couldn''t bring their cultivation to the desired end. The results of their cultivation was at first evident, yet later on they needed much time to get small advancement.


    And that made many see this path as an impossible one. According to Gege, the number of geniuses asking to focus only on the mage route was increasing by day.


    Arthur calmly listened to all these words without showing any anger. In his vision, the internal demon was a crucial problem that would stagnate any cultivator.


    Cultivation was, after all, depending entirely on pure soul and mind. If the thoughts of the cultivator showed any distraction, then no matter how many decades the cultivator spent in his sessions, nothing would change.


    "Get me out," without any change on his face, he calmly said, "and convene everyone of the peak masters together. We''ll meet at the mountain city."


    ''Ok,'' Gege complimented and didn''t say anything more. In her opinion, she saw these people as mere fools.


    But that was expected. After all she was one of those who watched Arthur''s long journey, and knew for sure this path of combining the two ways of training was fruitful, not fruitless.


    Yet she missed a small matter here. No one knew how Arthur did it. Not many saw Arthur training and merging both energies, or knew how far he reached in his own path.


    But Arthur had an idea in his mind. According to what he heard from Gege, he realized he made a mistake here.


    Without getting rid of the main problem here, the internal demon issue, no one would be able to become like him. He was optimistic and a bit rash about letting everyone become cultivators.


    He mistook everyone to be like him. But facts proved otherwise. He was different, a different person with a different destiny and a different path than others.


    Yet that didn''t mean he would become the only person able to achieve the same result. He just needed to adjust the process of training, something he was familiar with.


    After all, as a person with such a scientific mind, he knew that failure was the mother of all success. It didn''t matter if he failed, if others failed, if his empire failed in the first attempt to get the golden pearl energy.


    What he cared about was the lessons learnt from such failure. For him this was a golden chance, where nothing was encroaching over their chests or pressuring the empire.


    What was twenty years for cultivators and mages? They were nothing. Even when considering that only two years passed in the real world. Even if twenty years passed out there, he wouldn''t mind that failure.


    What he cared about was his own thoughts towards correcting it. If it was a mistake without any room for correction, then he would be frustrated.


    But that wasn''t the case here. Just from listening to Gege, his mind simply found the crucial problem and started to draw a solution for it.


    Just by listening, he already figured out what was needed to do. He just had to gather everyone up, modify the orders and process of training for everyone, then let them return and resume their training.


    Even if his own solution wasn''t perfect, he wasn''t stressed or worried.. He knew he would continue monitoring and tweaking the solution one bit at a time until he finally reached the perfect state he wanted.

 Chapter 1022 - Silence!

    Arthur passed through the portal and appeared inside his magnificent palace. Just seeing this place made him feel weird.


    Being absorbed in cultivation was something extraordinary. Even after the passage of twenty years, for him it was like a blink of an eye.


    Just seeing this palace made him recall the events that happened here like it happened yesterday.


    As he sat over the main throne, watching the warm atmosphere around coupled with the rays of the shining sun over the place, many portals flashed and his peak masters appeared one by one.


    Twenty years passed and it wasn''t a simple time, yet most of his friends and his generals looked the same. Few showed exhausted expressions over their faces, especially Deem and Gor, yet the rest looked the same.


    Looking at Deem and Gor made Arthur feel empathy for the two. Most of the work done here depended on these two, exhaustion was something expected.


    Building cities and expanding the reign of his empire, copying the cultivation manuals, building the sect''s numerous headquarters, and even training people over arrays and building¡­ These were all their tasks.


    If other tasks had many people to accomplish, but these two were the only people he had to do such important jobs.


    "How are you all doing?" he asked at first, while looking precisely at Deem and Gor.


    "We have problems," Amera was direct as always.


    "It''s just the will of the people we thought to be geniuses that are lacking," but Doaf seemed to be disagreeing with her, "if they are just like us, like our people, then they won''t show such attitude and try to preserve."


    "I don''t see any problem at all," the crow said while acting aloof, "my people are all persistent and none have abandoned the training so far."


    "That''s because you only selected the cream of the crop," Sara complained, "if you did like us and accepted everyone, then you would have faced such a problem."


    "Alright, calm down a little," just from hearing this small discussion and argument, Arthur realized this problem was deeper than he initially thought.


    It seemed even his peak masters were affected by it, even had their own theories about what went wrong.


    Yet nothing they said was true. In fact Arthur knew the main mistake came from no one but him. So as he was the one to commit this error in the first place, he decided to take the charge and be responsible for fixing it.


    "I believe the problem is the internal demon, right?" he calmly said, while closely watching the reaction of everyone present.


    "It''s not that," Ron shook his head before adding, "it''s related to many people asking to abandon the golden pearl training."


    "They are fools!" Jude said in disdain, "even after seeing many accomplishing this feat, they didn''t stick around and try harder."


    "Don''t say that," Madly seemed no less aggressive than before, "even amidst those who attained golden pearl energy, some of them decided to give up."


    "That''s your problem," the crow shrugged in a carefree mood, "I never faced such a problem from the start. You all played it wrongly and selected quantity over quality. Since when our big clans developed talents without strong will? This is your mistake, not theirs."


    "You¡­" Amera''s eyes shone brightly and the atmosphere suddenly changed, "I dare you to say it one more time!"


    "Silence!" Arthur didn''t like the current mood and the present attitude between everyone. In his eyes, they were all his friends and comrades in arms.


    They both witnessed and experienced many hardships together. Yet just in the span of twenty years, he saw the chaotic seeds of their previous lives resurfacing again, threatening the cohesion of his empire.


    "Since when we were talking with fists and not minds? That''s ridiculous!" Arthur even stood up before he released his fully developed golden pearl energy.


    All of sudden the atmosphere here changed. It looked like a sun just descended in this world, as his entire body got bathed under bright golden light that came from his body.


    Yet despite it looking like a sun, the temperature in the hall dropped to sub zero in just an instant. At this moment, Arthur showed his demeanor as an emperor, something many here seemed to forget with the passage of years.


    "If anyone wants to challenge you, you are free to come and find me," he said in a challenging manner. Yet no one dared to speak a single word further.


    In fact on their faces a shocking expression came up clearly in his eyes. They were all shocked, shocked by the level of his strength that seemed unfathomable.


    To them, they really forgot about his tyranny. They still held the memories of fighting and roaming the universe with him as mere bedtime stories.


    Yet at this moment, they all realized how foolish they were. Just from releasing his energy without doing anything else made their souls shudder.


    In their eyes, he returned to become the bloody dragon who stood aloof and mighty against even the grandmasters of their worlds, of the higher realms. The one who created miracle after miracle without showing any signs of stopping.


    "You became stronger, hooray!" amidst such a depressing atmosphere, it was Tina who laughed wholeheartedly as if she never felt threatened in the first place.


    Her words broke the ice of this situation without planning to. Everyone''s gazes changed as they realized the simple fact they all missed amidst their shock¡­ Arthur was their emperor, their sole ruler.


    And their legendary figure just grew stronger, much stronger than ever.


    "I selected each one of you just because I trust you all," Arthur didn''t comment over Tina''s words but he addressed everyone before continuing, "so don''t disappoint me. I hate to be disappointed."


    "Blop!"


    "Blop!"


    "Blop!"


    He didn''t know who started it first, but everyone knelt on their knees and bowed their heads to the lowest degree and hit the ground. In their eyes, Arthur was such an insurmountable existence, one they dreamt to become alike and knew they would never ever reach.


    "Stand up, I know where the problem lies and how to fix it," he casually waved his hand while retracting his energy. He didn''t lose anything by showing off like this, after all his body was now brimming with golden energy.


    Yet his anger didn''t subside like this. He hated it to the bone! How the people he selected were all polluted with the useless thoughts of the clans and academies of this universe.


    Such useless thoughts and beliefs were enough to bring demise upon his empire.. And that made just the importance of teaching the new generation of his empire higher than before.

 Chapter 1023 - Arthur Is Angry

    Arthur returned to sit on his seat without saying anything for a long minute. He moved his eyes around, trying to control his anger.


    In the eyes of everyone present here, they all saw his eyes flickering with golden blue arcs of lightning. In their eyes he looked like a volcano on the verge of erupting.


    Just recalling the scene that just happened, no one dared to open his mouth and get that volcano eruption over his face.


    So they all remained silent, attentively waiting for him to speak again.


    "Sigh, you made me really disappointed," he slowly sighed, "I can''t believe you all ended up in such a mess while I was away. How disappointing!"


    He shook his head in regret and disappointment, yet no one dared to speak or even give reasons. In their minds, they knew no matter how they thought themselves were right and righteous, they all had their fear from even expressing their thoughts in the open.


    Arthur was now acting like a primordial beast. No one here has gotten their power advanced during the past years. Yet no one had thought himself able to contend against Arthur now.


    If it was before, they might have such thoughts, especially after gaining advancement from the black curtains. After all these black curtains made their powers ascend to a level even higher than the grandmasters of the big clans of the higher realms.


    In fact that was the main reason behind all this mess. Everyone mistook himself for being a powerhouse with no equal, and all decided to make changes and take decisions based on their own preferences.


    Yet when seeing Arthur now, they all realized how foolish they all were. If they thought themselves mighty, then in front of Arthur they felt like ants in front of a giant.


    So they kept their silence, kept all their thoughts inside and didn''t express anything. They didn''t want to become the victim of Arthur''s anger, waiting to listen to all his words and execute them to the letter.


    Arthur wasn''t a fool either. He was someone who lived through two lives and two different worlds with different rules. He could simply tell from mere gazes at their faces what they were thinking about.


    Just the past experience of these twenty years made it clear to him. Old habits never died! Not even with the guidance of him, not even with strength, not even with time.


    Everyone here still held tighter to the beliefs they lived all their lives upon. He didn''t have the intention of going through trials and tests to make them change their minds.


    Because he simply believed they wouldn''t change. Just by this simple test he realized nothing would be effective in changing their beliefs.


    So if he couldn''t change them, he would use his power instead to control them. His main hope now relied on the new generation, the ones who were now experiencing their lives under his rule.


    This was his empire, and he would lead his people the way he wanted. That was what he thought and decided upon. And as he decided that, he simply had to change his way of using his top people in front of him.


    Instead of giving them freedom like before, he would confiscate their freedom and limit the choices in front of them.


    This was the only way he had right now. Instead of democracy, he would use tyranny to make sure his empire wouldn''t go astray in the end.


    After all he wasn''t just doing this just for himself. He knew sooner or later, he would finally advance and leave this world. He would be in the higher realms, but he would be busy minding the issues of his empire in the lower realms.


    That was what he thought about. Yet if he knew that he wouldn''t end up in any higher realm but in a different world, then he would realize this decision he took at this moment was the wisest decision he ever made.


    "Listen, the main problem lies in the way of our training, to be precise the mage way of training," he started to speak. He wasn''t explaining things with any hope for them to change their minds, but to make them able to explain things to the later generations if anyone was curious enough to ask.


    And despite him pausing intentionally for them to speak up, none said anything. So he had no choice but to keep talking.


    "The mage route depends entirely on the internal demon process. You all absorb the energy of the killed monsters, creating and nourishing the internal demons inside your souls. Yet this internal demon is the nemesis of any cultivation."


    He paused again, yet no one spoke so he continued.


    "The cultivation ways you all had need calm mind, heart, and souls. Without any disturbances from outside and more from the inside, one can show his own advancement and advantage, making progress in cultivation. However¡­ this can''t be achieved with the problem of the internal demons."


    He took in a deep breath before adding:


    "The internal demon is a problem growing with mages through their entire lives. So in theory the stronger the mage is, the more troublesome the internal demon will be. At first, this problem won''t be present as everyone will advance in cultivation based on their own talents and former strength. Yet after a long time this problem will become the main hurdle before all of you, before everyone becomes stronger."


    As no one planned on interrupting or asking, he kept saying without any pause:


    "So to make it simple, to obtain power equal to mine you need to find a solution for this internal demon problem first. Trying to persist over the two ways together with the presence of the internal demon hurdle unsolved means wasting effort and time with no result at all. So from now on the way of training people in the empire will change and become like this¡­"


    He didn''t speak further before he took out a large piece of paper, his own ink and brush, and started to write many things and few diagrams.


    "At first, all the people with talents in both will start cultivating.. If they already had their mage powers unlocked, then they will start cultivating briefly before they stop."

 Chapter 1024 - Killing Inner Demons

    He looked around while slowly adding:


    "Those who had their mage path opened can''t overexert themselves in cultivation. Their inner demon problem will just keep increasing until it reaches a scale no one can control. So if anyone has already become a mage, he or she can''t cultivate past the first major breakthrough."


    Everyone kept nodding while he continued to write and draw on the paper in front of him.


    "As for those who didn''t yet embark on either path, then it''s easier to cultivate them first then they can train to become mage. This way they can avoid the problem of the inner demon affecting themselves."


    He finally wrote the last letter before folding the paper and throwing it towards Deem and Gor.


    "This is the general drawing of anyone''s path. Copy it as fast as possible, then distribute these over the entirety of the sect and even inside the cities. Anyone in the empire shall know his future path from now on."


    At last one had the courage to speak, and it was none other than Amera who opened her mouth and asked:


    "What about the current people? Those with inner demons already festering inside their souls?"


    Arthur turned to her as he gave her an encouraging look. With asking questions could everyone here understand his intentions clearer.


    Even if he had lost hope on changing their nature and beliefs, he didn''t want to lose hope on them. He just hoped they could simply adapt and stop causing problems when he wasn''t paying his full attention to them.


    "They can simply focus on training as mages, paying full attention and all their effort into killing their inner demons," Arthur slowly said, "by the killing of their inner demons, one can simply have a chance to train as a cultivator."


    Yet his words didn''t leave behind anything but worry and confusion. It was logical. After all the inner demon problem was an eternal one, even those standing in front of him as the peak of the powers of the mage world were still suffering from it.


    "This seemed unreal," the crow got the courage from Amera''s words and dared to speak up. Yet he tried his best not to be overbearing, not to cross the line and get the wrath of Arthur. "The inner demon problem will continue to exist as long as mages are advancing their powers."


    Unlike what he expected, Arthur simply nodded and even faintly smiled. "This is good, after all the gap between killing the inner demons and acquiring new demons will be the golden chance for anyone to cultivate."


    Arthur knew his words wouldn''t be fully understood by his people so he elaborated further.


    "The period between killing the inner demons and acquiring one after the one''s power has increased will be an optimum period to cultivate. Even after gaining the inner demon, the first few months will be smooth and they can continue to cultivate without problems. Only when the inner demons start to affect their peace of mind they shall stop and focus on killing their demons then they can return to cultivate again, and so on."


    This time the light of enlightenment he saw in the eyes of everyone made his smile turn wider. He knew they got his meaning, even if that meaning didn''t really affect their inner beliefs.


    "From this day onwards, these will be the sacred rules of our empire. Spread it now, and make sure to help everyone to dispose properly of their inner demons."


    Per his words, everyone couldn''t help but show a gloomy face. After all, killing the inner demons was much easier said than done.


    In that process, a single mistake or error was enough to reap the life of the mage. And he didn''t just ask to do this for only once, but for as many times as it would take for someone to train to the pinnacle.


    Even for those mages coming from the higher realm clans, they couldn''t help but feel pessimistic towards this. Facing the inner demon was a taboo even at the higher realms.


    "I have an array here," as he noticed their reaction and gloomy faces, Arthur couldn''t help but smile. He took out an old piece of paper which he once drew in his free time.


    With a flick of his hands, he threw it towards Deem and Gor while adding:


    "This array helps a lot in affecting the inner demons. I won''t dare to say the process will be one hundred percent perfect, but with this array any mage attacking the inner demon will have his demon weakened by at least seventy percent."


    Seventy percent? Everyone sucked in a cold air of breath. Forget about seventy percent, if the array only weakened the inner demon by twenty percent then anyone would have a greater chance at attacking the inner demon hurdle.


    And Arthur dared to speak about seventy percent weakness, so how couldn''t they become enthralled with what he just declared?


    "There is just a single catch here," Arthur knew the mood of his people so he had to explain things fairly to them, "this array must be done by each individual to have the desired effect. I have one that can be done by array masters and used by others, but the weakening effect will only diminish to be lower than thirty percent."


    With another flick of his hands, another scroll of old and tattered yellow paper flew over to Deem and Gor.


    "Thirty percent? That''s more than enough!" Jude was so shocked when he heard Arthur''s words. He couldn''t believe the weakened version, the imperfect array that Arthur took simply like this, could affect the inner demon by thirty percent.


    "Don''t underestimate inner demon strengths," Arthur warned in a sincere tone, "I faced my inner demons before and I can say even with such arrays it was hard to conquer them. Just aim for a higher percentage for a safer process. Train everyone in the array field and let them be able to make their arrays. This array isn''t that complicated after all."


    His words were meant to make them not underestimate the inner demon''s strengths. However he underestimates the minds and wills of those mages here.


    Even if the weakening effect was limited to twenty percent or even lower, no one here wouldn''t accept this big help in such life and death confrontation with the inner demons.

 Chapter 1025 - Long Period Of Peace

    However it seemed like what Arthur said didn''t make it past their skulls. From the look over their faces, he knew they were excited for what he just said.


    He felt more disappointed. Not knowing if he should cry or laugh, he simply decided to drop this matter.


    After all this matter was related to their lives, not something they should toy with.


    "You should also prepare to get rid of the last piece unclaimed in this world," he finally said the last thing he wanted from them.


    "It''s nothing," Doaf shrugged as if it was already a piece of cake, "we can just send any legion there. Our forces back then could have crushed that last place. And now after all this time, our forces didn''t dwindle but enlarged by a large portion."


    "Good, then you''ll be tasked by this," Arthur appointen this mission to him. "Pay attention, we will leave this world and go back to my basic world. So this world will be left behind for a while. It''s not the matter of our inability to come here, we will have a fixed giant portal linking this world with mine. We will just be busy unifying my world before turning it into this one."


    His words weren''t just a warning to the fighting legions, but to everyone. After all, he wanted to copy the same experience here in his world.


    Not to mention the construction of a large number of cities, but also integrating a lot of people and expanding again in all fields.


    The sect needed to be ready, all the fields from fighting to construction and even forging needed to be prepared as well. So giving them a head up warning was something worthy to end this meeting with.


    However from their faces and reactions he could tell they didn''t need any warning at all. These people around him weren''t naive or weak. It was his luck to have such a formidable line up under his command.


    No matter what, even dealing with a single world was something easy for them. Their past experience in this world, dealing with things with or without his presence made them all ready to deal with more worlds at the same time.


    But Arthur planned to take it easy. Taking many worlds at the same time looked perfect, but he wasn''t this impulsive kind of a person.


    He knew his enemies wouldn''t let him have his way this easily. Even if they couldn''t do anything to his lower realm, they would prepare better for other worlds and wait for him to misstep.


    The common mistake here would be by overextending at a short time. Biting what he couldn''t chew was a common mistake that he wouldn''t commit.


    Any world he would acquire needed a lot of work to strengthen it. Not to mention the army, the mere process of building the gigantic array of Ley Lines and his cities would consume a lot of time.


    Even after leaving this world, if the higher realmers wanted to come here and make trouble they wouldn''t find it easy to do that. The main reason was thanks to his strong and united net of cities.


    And that made him more confident in returning. By the passage of two years in his cultivation, the entire world was filled with cities.


    His empire wasn''t weak of defenseless. So he could easily leave once he conquered and unified this world. He also planned to wait for a while until Deem and Gor led their legion of workers to build the last cities in that last piece of this world.


    So he rested in his palace while waiting for the good news. He didn''t plan to cultivate as he felt he already reached the bottleneck of the immortal stage.


    Without fulfilling the requirements for blending both energies together and forming a corporeal and solid golden body, he wouldn''t be able to take this step yet.


    In addition to that he needed to follow this universe''s rules. Having an empire was a condition getting fulfilled. He only lacked to control ten worlds under his empire and unify them together.


    And thinking about that made him consider what his enemies might do. During the past two years his enemies looked like turtles hiding inside their shells.


    Not a single attack came through from the higher worlds, not even once. That was something even himself never dared to imagine.


    He had many thoughts and worries in his mind, but no way to ascertain anything. His enemy wasn''t a kind or merciful one, so he would never allow him the time to grow stronger like this without a proper reason.


    Arthur feared most was the war in the higher realms. If the war was getting won by the dark angel grandmaster and the dark clans, then his ascension would end up a big failure.


    He knew he couldn''t help in such a war, not yet. He even couldn''t get any information from the higher realms. Up till now, it wasn''t only the enemy side that didn''t send people here, but also his light camp side didn''t send anyone as well.


    "I just hope they sustain long enough until I arrive there," he couldn''t help but sigh. In his opinion, and if he got the chance to select, then he would rather prefer to crush his enemies by each step he would take and not just swiftly get his own way like now.


    But this wasn''t something he could determine on his own. His enemy was far, far away from his reach. If his enemy decided not to show up, then Arthur was helpless against such a situation.


    All he could do was to wait and pray, hoping for the best to come.


    But he greatly underestimated his enemy. In fact the past period of peace wasn''t thanks to a great war in the higher realms.


    Arthur didn''t imagine what he hoped for was about to come, and the best situation he thought of was already waiting for him around the corner.


    "Gege, are you sure once I conquered this world I can link it to my star map?" After the passage of a few days with no words from the frontline, he knew it was almost time for the last piece of this world to fall under the reign of his empire.

 Chapter 1026 - Building The Last City

    ''Once you have total control over the entire world, you can simply link this world with your star map using a blood drop of yours,'' Gege said before adding, ''after that you can simply summon gates anywhere around you to link this world with any world you are in.''


    "And these gates won''t be limited to anything?" Arthur asked, trying to get better knowledge about this point.


    ''Nothing at all. Not even a lock state over any world will affect this. This link will be direct to your soul, so nothing can stop it except your death.''


    "That''s perfect," Arthur didn''t worry about him getting killed. Not to mention his last upgrade in dragonair, cultivation, and golden pearl strength, his special sensation for the energy around also got upgraded.


    Previously he could see the world in a strange mood, like he had some higher power in his eyes. Around him would be a pillar expanding and reacting to any hostile energy.


    But after getting all his powers elevated, he started to get a feeling that he could now use this power to a higher level. It wasn''t only a defensive pillar, but if he wanted he could simply summon any pillars inside the area covered with his spiritual sense and attack anyone and any place he wanted.


    This was a great ability, especially effective against sneaky enemies or large numbers of enemies. As for the exact strength of these pillars, he had yet to put them under test to know their real value.


    But he had this feeling that even if his enemy was someone from the higher realms, he wouldn''t fart well in front of his pillars.


    "What''s taking them so long?"


    After another three days, he didn''t hear anything from Doaf. for a moment he suspected something bad happened and sent an order for Amera and Jude to lead their armies and go out there to help Doaf.


    During this time he got to chat more with Gege and got to know more about his future link with this world. According to Gege, anywhere covered with the tree of mirror sense could be used to summon portals in it.


    If it was this world, Arthur wouldn''t find it bad. But considering the fact that he would target lower realms from now on, he knew the coverage distance of his tree of mirrors would grow exponentially, making this ability something terrifying.


    Just after two days of dispatching Amera and Jude out, he got a bird''s wing from Doaf at last.


    "They have already conquered the area two days ago," Arthur read the message more than once before he got another from Doaf. "They got delayed because of Deem and Gor¡­ the two are now building the last three cities in that spot using the help of Doaf and his men."


    Arthur went into silence for a brief while before he knew this world wouldn''t be conquered until the last city was built. According to the past records of Deem and Gor, the two could build cities in less than two weeks.


    As he had nothing else to do, Arthur decided to take a stroll over his empire here. He knew once he left this world, he wouldn''t have the chance to get back again and get to know this world better.


    Two weeks'' time seemed not too much, but for someone like Arthur who had his portals ready to take him all around the world was enough. He started his tour with the mountain city, then to the lake city, before taking a wide tour around, ending up at the place he first started from.


    It was a large and open space, with a series of mountains behind and a large forest ahead. In these plains he first came to this world, leading his scattered armies and got to acquire his first people.


    Here he faced retaliation from the dark clans, proving one time after another his strength and superiority above them. Right now the plains were squeezed between three big cities of his, the oldest cities he ever had.


    The number of people living in each city was above ten million already. Prosperity, peace, and strange tranquility prevailed over the atmosphere.


    Being here made him forget all about his hardships, like this piece of the world was cut apart from the rest. Nothing here pointed out any struggle or war, any misery or poverty, any injustice or tyranny¡­ just being inside any of these three cities and seeing the proud looks over the faces of his own citizens made Arthur realize how deep his success was.


    He didn''t succeed in just conquering the dark camp, getting victories from the brutal enemies he faced, but he gave birth to a great opportunity for everyone living in this world.


    He gave them hope. Hope for a better future for them, for their kids, grandkids, and even their grandkids. At this moment Arthur truly felt how blessed he was by what he did.


    Without even knowing it, he started something that looked at the moment more grandiose than anything else he ever did, not even in his past life.


    "This empire of mine¡­ I bet it will last for the last time," he felt more proud than anyone else while walking in his first three cities'' streets.


    At this moment he felt like a god, leaving behind a legacy that was strong enough to sustain the cruel challenges of the time.


    But he never expected that his grand empire would only last for hundreds of years. He never expected that time was crueler, much crueler than what he ever thought.


    "They are finished?" Just as he was walking through a bustling street in one of the three cities, and after the passage of two weeks, he finally got a bird''s wing from Doaf, Amera, and Jude telling him about the success of Deem and Gor for building the last city in this world.


    Despite feeling honored and proud, he frowned. He looked around while feeling nothing, nothing at all after receiving this message.


    And at this moment he felt strange pressure over himself, like he missed something trivial, yet very crucial for him to return home.


    ''Ding! Don''t worry, I believe it will take a few more minutes before happening,'' the system tried to comfort him while the golden dragon agreed.


    ''You have been here for many years, so it will take a while until the portal leading back appears.. Now you should start linking this world with yourself before anything else.''

 Chapter 1027 - Strange Incident

    Arthur calmed down when hearing the logical explanation of his two trusted friends. He had been here fighting for almost three years, not to mention the time he went towards the higher realms and returned back in time to this world.


    As he found a reason for this delay, he decided to start linking this world to his star map. After all, even if the portal linking back to his original world appeared, he wouldn''t jump through it right away.


    He first had to link this world to his star map, then he needed to arrange his troops.


    In his mind he already prepared the troops coming with him back to his original world. Unlike what the other three suggested, he decided to only take the elites from the higher realms with him.


    It wasn''t like he was underestimating his enemies. He was pretty sure once returned, the lycan clan would act upon him if not already prepared to welcome his return with a grand army.


    But coming back with a grand army would make it hard through one portal. So he felt it would be more appropriate to return with a selected elite force before activating the link between the two worlds and start summoning his big armies.


    As for the arrangement of his forces, he already left Gege to handle this matter. Gege became far more experienced in dealing with issues like that. During the past days of wait, she already sent orders to the entire armies of the empire to be gathered around certain regions.


    All she needed to do was to summon portals at these areas, and the armies stationed there would act accordingly. Arthur knew he just needed to sustain the first attack from his enemies, a fact he had to accept no matter what.


    Even if he decided to listen to the three voices in his head and summon a big army with him, the army would take much longer to pass through the portal. Arthur wouldn''t believe his enemies would let such a chance slip by and not target the portal itself, killing any troops coming unprepared, unorganized, and fewer in numbers from the portal.


    So bringing a handful of elites with him was the best choice he had right now.


    "So I just need to let a drop of my blood fall on the ground? Nothing else?" Arthur asked while watching the drop he just produced fell on the ground without doing anything. "Is it done?" he didn''t feel anything at all, so he had to ask Gege.


    Yet Gege only returned with an exclamation of shock as if something out of ordinary just happened. Arthur already had a bad omen about the delay of the portal appearance. And now he couldn''t feel anything after using his blood.


    "What''s going on?!!" He felt more annoyed when he examined his mind. His star map already integrated itself deeply into his galaxy-sized dantian, allowing it to grow larger and become stronger with his advancement in strength.


    His star map was the basis of his dantian, yet he didn''t feel anything new inside it once he linked his consciousness with it. The star map still held the previous worlds like stars inside it, with nothing appearing new or out of ordinary.


    "Gege¡­ What''s going on?" as he confirmed his darkest worries, he had to ask Gege who seemed to know something.


    ''As far as I can tell, it seems you haven''t cleared the entire world yet!''


    "What?" Arthur frowned again, "didn''t you tell me that the armies went all over the world already? Even if they missed something, the cities built by Deem and Gor should have covered the entire planet already! How come we missed something then?"


    Arthur was feeling more unease the more he thought about it. He did everything right, and the only explanation he got was that something went wrong back at his home world.


    "Don''t tell me all this was a trick of their end?" he frowned when he thought about that. In fact he wasn''t that attached to his home world. As for the ten world quota, the number of worlds attached to his star map was enough for this task.


    Yet he felt this was much more complicated than just this simple reason.


    ''Ding! I think there is a place still not conquered in this world,'' the system suddenly said this and that made Arthur''s face more unsightly.


    ''Yeah, I also thought about that place,'' the golden dragon seemed to understand what the system was talking about.


    "Can you two stop talking in riddles? Where the hell is that place? My armies visited every corner in the world and my cities already covered the entire ground!"


    ''It''s alright to say that the entire ground is pretty much covered and conquered,'' the golden dragon said, ''but if we want to speak about the entire world, then there is still a place you haven''t visited or conquered yet.''


    Arthur''s face became gloomier while he tried to control his rage. He knew these two were just playing with him right now, so he decided to keep his silence and be patient.


    ''Ding! Do you still remember the old prophecies of that sect you once saved?''


    "That¡­ no way!!" Just as the system gave him a hint, Arthur instantly linked all the dots. Unconsciously he raised his head and looked at the bright sky while muttering, "so that prison is considered part of this world?"


    He didn''t know why but he always felt these old prophecies to be useless. He even totally forgot about them, about what was mentioned there of his visit to that place.


    But now all evidence pointed towards these prophecies being correct at the end. He had now to go there, visit that prison and enter a big war up there according to the prophecies.


    And according to these prophecies of that strange sect, his life would be in danger once he went up there. Arthur stood in his place thinking about this issue.


    He wasn''t worried about the threats mentioned in these prophecies, he believed it needed a miracle for anyone to threaten his life.


    He was only thinking about the path to that prison. Up till now the only evidence he got from that prison was the fall of the purple ores once during his stay here.


    Other than this, he still didn''t find any clue pointing towards the presence of that prison.


    "Take me inside," he sighed, "I''ll have to ask those originals about that prison and how to get up there."

 Chapter 1028 - The Prison Of The Originals

    A portal appeared silently in front of Arthur and he went through it without saying anything. The next moment he appeared in front of his originals, whose numbers swelled to a terrifying army of millions.


    "Gege, assemble the armies and make them ready to move at any moment," he said before turning into his dragonair form and flew fast towards the gigantic army of his originals.


    His speed was unparalleled after his upgrades. He didn''t get to appreciate his new speed as he was burdened by what was going on right now.


    "Lord!"


    Everyone of the originals knelt the moment they noticed him coming. Arthur wasn''t in the mood to appreciate such a marvelous scene. If he was in another time, he wouldn''t stand idle like this and would even take a large tour around this horrifying army.


    A single original was terrifying enough to rival an army by his own. And now Arthur had millions of them. What army would stand against him now? No, the right question would be: what world could stand against this army in the entire universe?


    But Arthur wasn''t in the mood to think like that. The moment he got closer he stopped midair while his energy carried out his voice to be heard to all.


    "I''m now planning to attack the prison which held you before, and still hold your brothers and sisters, your families and friends. But I lack the way to get to that prison. So can anyone here help me in this matter?"


    Despite trying to act normal, his anxiety burdened itself through his voice. Unlike what he intended to convey, his voice came domineering, crushing over the bodies and souls of the entire army of originals underneath him.


    Unlike what he expected, the next moments went all in silence before mighty roars came from all the originals down below without exception. Each one of them raised both fists high in the air, giving a savage expression over their faces.


    "Our lord is mighty and merciful, just and benevelounce," without prior arrangement, everyone of the original shouted at the same time with such weird words.


    "What the hell¡­" Arthur stood midair stupefied by their sudden shouts. He was amazed and dazed by what they mistook his intentions for.


    After a brief minute, he got what they all thought about. They mistook him taking such a step to help them take vengeance, help them free their comrades in arms and their relatives and friends, their kin.


    Despite his desire to correct them, he didn''t. He knew morale was above all, and even if he aroused them by mistake, he wouldn''t correct his error and extinguish such a mighty aura in them.


    Besides, his mission now would become easier. After all he was worried they wouldn''t tell him such a secret, but right now his hopes escalated to new heights.


    "C''mon, calm down and tell me how to get there first," he tried his best to muster his act while waiting for someone to speak up.


    "I''ll tell my lord," one of the originals moved with his giant body. He knelt down first and kowtowed to Arthur thrice, as if he was offering up his life in return for this help.


    Arthur stood in the air silently and didn''t stop him or the others who followed. Like a plaque, everyone of the originals knelt and kowtowed to Arthur, expressing their utmost desire to serve him wholeheartedly than ever.


    A fanatic atmosphere erupted all of sudden and without warning, yet Arthur didn''t say no to such an unexpected result. He stood in the air waiting, like a monarch eyeing down over his loyal subjects.


    "The prison lies in the sky, inside a secluded realm that has a gate high in the air," the one who started all this said without removing his head off the ground. "The gate lies above a big lake in the center of the world."


    "Big lake¡­ Don''t tell me¡­ it''s above my city lake?" Arthur muttered in disbelief. He never expected one of his most beloved cities to be so close to the enemy in such a way.


    At this moment his resolve to eradicate that prison up there grew firmer. He would never let such danger lurk above his beloved city. Even if he could find a way to leave this world and get back to his original world, he wouldn''t do this now.


    He would rather assemble everyone and lead them high in the air into that prison. In his eyes, if such a prison was left untouched then after leaving this world that hidden volcano might erupt and consume a lot of his people and cities in the middle of its eruption.


    Before listening to these words of that original, Arthur felt frustrated by such a result. However at this moment he felt relieved. What would have happened if he left the world and that prison untouched? Who knew what damage the troops hidden in that secluded realm would do to this beloved city and world.


    "Stand up," Arthur said in a strong voice, voice filled with desire for battle and real intent for crushing his enemies, "I''m going to summon you soon to hit that prison together. Get ready, it will be a brutal war."


    "We will prevail!" The originals all raised both fists high in the air once more and screamed with a mighty roar. Arthur gave them a last look before turning around and a portal appeared next to him without asking for it.


    ''Such a world will be tightly secured and locked,'' the golden dragon said, ''I doubt you can bring many forces through it in the first wave.''


    ''Ding! If that prison was designed to keep the originals inside and not escape then I can imagine how tight and fierce its defenses are.''


    ''I don''t know if the portals will work inside or not,'' Gege hesitantly said.


    "Spread the word, all the generals have to select the most capable of their armies. Send them all inside the garden world. Evacuate the garden world from anyone training inside. I want my garden to be filled with warriors and legions upon legions of death. Inform Agnus to prepare the mightiest and deadliest war big weapons he created. Inform Deem and Gor to bring forth their deadliest arrays for this war. This war is going to be my victory no matter what!"


    Arthur said all his orders while flying fast towards one direction, his lake city.

 Chapter 1029 - The Scorching Sun Sword Technique

    Arthur knew the upcoming battle wasn''t that simple. After all he lacked the knowledge of the attachment of the prison up there with the current world here.


    But he had this feeling, like his enemies knew about this long ago. Right now he wasn''t confused about the strange behavior of his enemies. Keeping themselves all silent for over two years wasn''t a simple decision or a lack of interest from his enemies.


    On the contrary, he was quite positive of his doubts at this moment. His enemies didn''t decide to retreat from the scene except only for this upcoming battle.


    All the evidence pointed towards the difficulty of this fight, yet Arthur wasn''t worried or afraid. In fact he was excited. After all this time, and with his large advancements in his individual strength and the might of his armies, he wanted a chance to put all this under test.


    He wanted to fight, his soul never yearned for a fight ever before like this time.


    He also knew whatever his enemies prepared for him during all this time was only a taste of what they would do after that. This world wasn''t the end of his journey, only the beginning.


    He still lacked nine more worlds to conquer. And right now he got the chance to peek over his enemies plans prior to the big battles waiting for him at the nine worlds.


    As he thought about that, he started to reconsider his own abilities and techniques. Before this he was greatly limited in using all the techniques from his past world thanks to his lack of strength.


    But after all these upgrades, he was quite confident in his ability to use all the skills from his past life, even those which he never mustered before.


    That was the main reason behind his refusal to use the portals in his flight. If he did so, he would reach the lake city faster than his own speed. But he would be busy arranging the armies and preparing the plans for the upcoming battle.


    Even if he had to waste a few days in his flight, what was the effect over the overall picture? His enemies waited for him for more than two years, what mere days would change then?


    As he started to go through his strongest abilities in his mind, he started to select the deadliest techniques from his past life.


    "The scorching sun sword technique was considered the epitome of all sword techniques back in my past life¡­ Yet I never managed to assemble the massive strength required for this brutal technique. I can now use my golden pearl energy as the basis for such a technique¡­"


    The first technique to select was this scorching sun sword technique. Compared to his phantom sword technique, this one was overbearing.


    Not to mention its devastational strength, the requirements for executing this technique were much more overbearing in his eyes.


    He never dared to even test his ability to use this technique. Despite the conditions for using it were simple, yet the end result of any failure was simply described as deadly backlash!


    Not all strong techniques had backlashes when failed to get executed, but not a single one of them had such overbearing punishment on any soul like this technique.


    Failing in executing it meant one end; death.


    So Arthur never tried to use this technique, not even when he developed his golden pearl for the first time. Even with all the energies inside his body, he knew the price of failure was something he never dared to face.


    As this backlash would neglect any defense or strength and directly assault the soul. Crushing the soul of anyone no matter how strong he was meant only death.


    But now he had the confidence in trying such a legendary technique out. The scorching sun sword technique is simply based upon a simple concept; burning all the energy inside one''s body to turn a single man into a single sun.


    A sun was something not easily produced by normal strength. But if Arthur ignited his golden pearl energy inside his body, he would turn into a brilliant sun on this world.


    Alongside the hardships, the advantages could be imagined.


    Arthur once read an old record about a genius cultivator who managed to learn and use this technique in his life. That man was considered the single entity equal to any sect or groups of genius cultivators assembled together.


    It was once said that having this technique was equal to having the strength to rival the entire world, and even the confidence in winning against it.


    Arthur started to recall the past knowledge about this technique. It was simple, only accumulating strength to beyond the limit of one''s ability, then taking the steps needed to ignite the energy inside one''s body.


    After igniting his energy, Arthur would have infinite time using this ability until he personally canceled it.


    The only drawback of this would be the absolute weakness haunting the person using this technique, even to the degree of turning an immortal to mortal without any power for one month.


    But Arthur never doubted his own ability to overcome this faster than anyone else. Not to mention his golden pearl energy came from the merge between the two other forms of energies inside his body; he also had another advantage here.


    He would sacrifice a single form of energy, leaving behind two other forms completely intact. Even if he was faced with another deadly situation later on, he would simply sacrifice all his energies to return his golden pearl energy to the peak and reuse his deadly technique again.


    That was besides his own ability to regain his golden pearl energy faster. Under his personal estimation, he would be able to regain full golden pearl energy level in one day! From one month to one day was such a ground shaking change.


    If he added the time factor inside his garden world, then if he entered his garden world and trained calmly there for one day, only two and half hours would only pass in the real world.


    In his eyes, using this technique was as simple as using any other technique. He wouldn''t coward away thanks to the deadly backlash or the extreme weakness happening after using it.


    After all Arthur wasn''t only a genius, he was on a totally different level than anyone else in his two lives.


    "One technique is good, but I still have three others to consider," he slowly opened his eyes with a flash of confidence after contemplating on the ground amidst his flight for an entire day.

 Chapter 1030 - The World Of Gems Technique

    Arthur wasn''t content about having a single technique like that. Even if the scorching sun sword technique was overbearing and lethal, it wasn''t enough to deal with different situations in the fight.


    Arthur knew the sole weakness about this technique, which was water and ice. Fire was considered the nemesis of these two energies, and if he was destined to face foes experienced in these two aspects, he would struggle.


    Not to mention the biggest threat he would face up there was not the enemies, but the sturdy defenses of the prison itself.


    He didn''t know what the prison was like, but he had a thought about it and had few ideas regarding that prison.


    In his eyes, the prison would be on par with the strongest castles and forts he ever faced so far, if not being the strongest out of all.


    The presence of a defensive shield was a must for such a prison to exist. But the most troublesome thing would be the arrays. If there were arrays affecting personal strength or manipulating with elements, then such overbearing technique wouldn''t have the chance to show its full potential.


    Arthur was just trying to think about everything his enemies would use against him. At that place, his highest advantage known for his enemies would be nullified even before the fight would start.


    And that was his own army of originals. Even if his enemies never knew about his large increase of originals in his army, they knew that prison was built to contain the originals inside and deprive them of any powers.


    Having arrays was a must if they wanted to achieve such an effect on a large scale. In Arthur''s mind, the strongest feature that made his originals scary was their ability to manipulate and control the forces of nature.


    So if the prison had arrays, then a large number of them would be focused on depriving such control of those inside it. And for a technique depending on the fire element like his scorching sun sword technique, then being there was like a shark outside the ocean.


    Arthur didn''t want that. So his next selection of a technique wasn''t offensive, or defensive, but rather auxiliary and supportive.


    "The world of gems technique isn''t considered the strongest at all, but it was once considered as the most suitable technique to support other techniques¡­"


    He thought about two techniques actually, one that could antagonize any outside control or affection over the space around him, and this technique.


    Despite having a technique that could antagonize the arrays, he didn''t select it. After all, his own ability wasn''t stronger than the entire energy supporting the grand arrays up there.


    If such a contest erupted between the two, it would turn into an attrition war and would eventually be his loss. Not to mention he would be mostly burdened with supporting his technique and wouldn''t get the chance to perform in that fight.


    And that wasn''t a thing he would desire in that war.


    On the contrary to that, his selected supportive technique was famous for being autonomous. As long as his own energy never depleted, it would continue to perform at its highest peak without pause.


    The world of gems technique wasn''t as simple as the scorching sun sword technique. This one required prior preparation for almost an hour, during which Arthur would constantly do hand seals and inject his own energy inside this technique.


    In his eyes, it was like crafting. He would pour energies to form a myriad of big seven gems, each representing one force of nature.


    Nature was boundless, but if there was such intervention from outside like at that prison, then depending on it was pointless. That was what Arthur thought about.


    Replacing the forces of nature to flood from these gems was his answer to this obstacle. This would be limited to a small space around him, not exceeding a hundred meters, but it was enough to make him use his own techniques unhindered.


    As for the problem of having one energy linked to this technique, he decided to select his dragonair energy. After all, replenishing dragonair energy was simply done by eating his stored monster meat. Comparing this with the replenishment of elixirs to his spiritual energy, his dragonair energy was much better.


    Not to mention his limit on elixirs at the moment, he had an army of chefs ready at his empire. Just a simple order to Gege made her shift a lot of them inside her garden world and they were now cooking his desired meat.


    Elixirs couldn''t be made except by himself. It was one of the many limitations such a way had to replenish his spiritual energy.


    On another note, elixirs left behind traces of impure energies inside his body. Not like the meat which left nothing behind. So overusing elixirs would be detrimental for him in the future.


    As he decided to use the world of gems technique, he descended again to the ground and took four hours only to contemplate it. This technique''s difficulty came mainly from the process of forming it, the long time of its preparation, and lastly from the large pressure it exerted over his body during its use.


    As he reopened his eyes, he started to consider another technique in his mind.


    "I have an offensive one, a supportive one, it''s time to select a defensive technique¡­"


    When he came to this aspect, he couldn''t help but feel puzzled. In his mind, the past cultivation world seemed on a parallel level with this current mage world.


    But if he wanted to describe the two worlds by simple words, then this mage world depended upon explosive offense, while his past world focused mainly on impregnable defense.


    What was the use of big strength and might offense if it was faced with a defensive technique that nothing could penetrate through?


    So when he came to choose a defensive technique for that battle, he was at a loss out of the large number of high end defensive techniques he was familiar with.

 Chapter 1031 - The Blue Lightning Tortoise Technique

    Arthur wasn''t a defensive type of a man, not right now, not back when he was a cultivator. He leant over offense and saw the strongest defense was by using the deadliest attacks.


    Yet when he was on the verge of walking directly inside the den of his enemies, he had to consider ways to sustain not only his life but also the lives of his army.


    Not to mention he would be vulnerable if he lost big at the start, he needed his hard trained armies to be ready for the upcoming fights over the nine remaining worlds.


    So when he was lost at first to choose a defensive technique, the first thing that popped up in his mind was an area defensive technique.


    When he gave it more thoughts he was astonished to realize he never looked for defensive nature mages. It seemed that his own nature affected the way he attracted mages to him in this world.


    Only Deem and Gor might be considered a bit defensive, but not superpowers to be compared with offensive mages like Doaf, Jude, or even Amera.


    "I need to make up for that weakness," as he reached this shocking conclusion, he decided to select not only a single strong defensive technique but a group of them.


    He was the tip of the spear, but he was also the heart of the army. If times needed him to show up his explosive strength then he would do it, and if the situation required him to defend his top fighters then he should also be able to do it.


    So this time he took roughly three days to directly learn slightly over ten strong defensive techniques from his past world. The strongest one was called the blue lightning tortoise technique.


    The blue lightning tortoise technique was considered a full rounded defensive technique. It worked by forming a big shield in the form of a tortoise shell over a large stretch of land. This shield was illusionary, letting the troops inside to attack freely without any limitations.


    And that was one of the advantages of this technique.


    Another advantage was its ability to face various elemental attacks. The lightning factor here would help in defending against earth based, wind based, and slightly fire and water based attacks. As for the blue element here it referred to ice, which could strongly defend against water based, earth based, lightning based, and even fire based techniques.


    The mix of lightning and ice also defended against the light and darkness attacks, making this defensive technique a fully rounded technique.


    As for the size it could cover, it totally depended upon the ability of the user himself. Arthur didn''t want to waste anymore time in testing this ability especially since it had a single weakness; time restriction.


    Once activated, the user couldn''t undo it for at least half day or until the technique was destroyed or the energy of the user got depleted.


    In his current condition, using this technique as a trial would waste half more days. Plus he would deplete his own energy without any use at the moment.


    Another factor made him refrain from using it. He had three types of energies, with three different effects on this technique for sure.


    In his current state, he couldn''t tell which type he would use. If he had the choice, then he would use his spiritual energy to activate it. But he had a feeling that the other two energies would get him more results with half effort.


    He had an offensive technique linked to his golden pearl energy, and a supportive one linked to his dragonair energy. So Arthur was left only with the option of using his spiritual energy.


    However he didn''t know if he was going to use it just after entering that trap, or in the middle of the fight. If it was just at the beginning, he would prefer to use the golden energy instead and anchor a strong base for his forces before summoning much more up there.


    Yet if the situation changed and he was faced with a must to do or die one, he would then use the spiritual energy, or even the dragonair one if he got the chance.


    After selecting and learning all these techniques, he had one more defensive technique to learn before leaving directly without any pause to the lake city.


    He needed a self securing defensive ability for his own safety.


    In normal situations, Arthur would never doubt his ability to defend his life. Up till now, he faced situations hard and complicated and yet his head still on his shoulders.


    But this time was different. He knew his enemies wouldn''t be naive or unprepared. They took all the time they needed to come up with a plan aiming directly for his head.


    If he was in the shoes of that dark angel grandmaster, he would try his best to kill Arthur at the first of the battle.


    "Or all through the battle itself," Arthur muttered to himself before selecting a single defensive technique that suited him.


    "The black dragon scale technique was known one time to be the invincible defensive technique in my world. But I never saw anyone practicing it before and only had one record fragment describing its might¡­ shall I use it?"


    He frowned in front of this choice. Dragons were mythical creatures very famous back in the cultivation world he came from. Unlike this world, dragons in his world were extinct, even to the degree that many people believed they never truly existed.


    That was thanks to the long time of their absence from his past world. Yet that wasn''t the reason behind no one ever used this technique before.


    In his past world, dragons weren''t just famous for their explosive offense, or their abnormal physical strength; they were more famous with their impregnable defense.


    According to what he read back then, this technique would turn the user into a mighty scale of a legendary dragon.

 Chapter 1032 - Arriving To The Lake City

    Dragon scales were known to be invincible, indestructible even against the mightiest attacks, and also known to be quite domineering.


    Dragon scales weren''t just for show. Any dragon scale was considered to be one of the main keys of any dragon strength.


    After Arthur came to this world, and especially after awakening the dormant bloodline in his body and becoming a dragon, he knew how scales were important to any dragon.


    For example he started up with faint scales, turned into dark red then black, then eventually a mutation occured and he became a blue dragon.


    In his eyes, if the scales had no rule to the dragon powers, then his scales would never show changes with each advancement or changes occurring to his dragonair body.


    So he believed truly in the mightiness of this defensive skill. However he also knew the shortcoming of such a technique.


    The most important was absolute stillness. Not like the blue lightning tortoise technique, where he could at least use his techniques. This one required absolute stillness.


    Once used, and as a price for total invincibility, Arthur couldn''t move, use any of his techniques, or even use another form of energy during the process. Even recuperation during this time wasn''t available as well.


    So when using it, despite him being safe, he wouldn''t be able to help others. In fact if his enemies read through this technique''s flaw, they could surround him during his use without any problems.


    Another price was the massive amount of energy used to activate it. However Arthur had a suspicion regarding this point.


    This technique would usually consume at least two thirds of the user''s energy without question. Of course that was based on spiritual energy and not other forms of energies that Arthur had.


    However there were three things that made Arthur doubt this. First of all the basic and most essential requirement that made no one in his past life world to be able to use this technique for thousands of years; the blood of a true dragon.


    Arthur himself was a dragon. So when using a technique based on his blood, how come he would spend a lot of energy on this technique?


    Another factor was him being a true dragon. So turning into a scale wouldn''t differ from him turning into a dragon. He planned to use this technique in his dragonair form, not in his human form anyway.


    The last variable he had was his dragonair energy; it was an energy form of dragon power. So when using this technique, Arthur had the confidence in limiting his own energy expenditure to his half, or even much lower than that.


    Of course thinking about that made him determine the form of energy used in this technique. The most suited one would be his dragonair energy, the best would be his golden pearl energy which formed from his dragonair energy, and the least form of energy he didn''t want to use was his spiritual energy.


    As he made up his mind regarding this technique, he closed his eyes and consumed one more day to learn it.


    After finishing everything up, he started to fly again, directly going towards the lake city without any more pauses.


    During the war he revised more offensive techniques, and decided to select a few from which he mustered back in his days to use them at times of need in that battle.


    "How are things in the city right now?" Arthur asked Gege periodically about any updates from his flourishing city.


    Since knowing that the prison world gate was located just above his own city, he couldn''t help but feel worried about it. He didn''t want his enemies to move faster than him, especially when troops were showing obvious movements at the walls of the city at the moment.


    ''I gathered up all the generals with their respective elites inside the garden world,'' Gege said before adding, ''as for the armies, I scattered them around the lake city as you requested.''


    ''Ding! I don''t see any use of this, after all even if the enemies notice, they won''t be able to come and attack us.''


    ''Being too cautious isn''t a crime,'' the golden dragon stood by Arthur''s side. After all, it was Arthur''s arrangement to scatter his troops around the lake city on a very wide scale.


    After all, Gege''s portal coverage range was really monstrous. Even if he scattered the armies on a wider scale, it wouldn''t be a problem for Gege to sum them up.


    The only worry of the system was regarding the gate entrance of that prison world. The system feared the gate would limit the entrance to be related to a certain area around it.


    But even so, Arthur wasn''t worried at all. He knew he got a large number of forces through his garden world, and not through this world itself.


    Besides if that was the case, then instead of making Gege move the armies directly from the cities towards that prison world, she would move them first inside the garden world then into the prison world.


    It might consume slightly longer time, but it wouldn''t mean he was out of options either.


    As for the fear of the enemies attacking the troops directly, Arthur doesn''t agree with that.


    "If they had such ability, they would have long used it when the city defenses weren''t alarmed. Plus they invested too much into that trap of theirs. They must be anxious to make me enter it, then triggering a fight outside and risking losing troops without need."


    Arthur''s words made quite sense, so the system refrained from speaking about his own doubts again.


    The flight towards the lake city took roughly another day before Arthur finally arrived. Just from a distance, he could smell the scent of gunpowder in the air.


    The walls of his city were filled with defensive troops, showing abnormal alert state and activity than usual. However Arthur wasn''t worried about alarming his enemies.


    After all his enemies were prepared for a long time for his arrival. Besides they would depend mainly on the trap they built, meaning the value of their troops up there wouldn''t be that large.


    "Make everyone ready," Arthur took a deep breath and didn''t even give a single glance over the beauty of his city, "I''ll go directly towards that gate."

 Chapter 1033 - Prison World War - Part 1

    Arthur considered himself ready. This battle, after all, was delayed for more than two years at least. His enemies were well prepared for him.


    Just thinking about taking them out of surprise was out of the question. He knew they were well prepared and would never be allowed to take them by surprise this time.


    So in times when surprise attacks wouldn''t work, only brute and overwhelming strength would. He had already gathered his entire armies together. He learnt many techniques to suit this battle.


    If all this wasn''t enough, then he didn''t know what else he should do. So once reached the lake city, he didn''t delay or pause at all and went directly towards the sky.


    When he reached high altitude, just above the clouds, he could see a faint luster taking the shape of a great sphere hanging midair. Its presence seemed to not stir anything around, making it look like it wasn''t even there.


    Yet the more Arthur saw it, this bright green luster marking that big sphere with a radius exceeding two hundred meters at least, the more he became uneasy.


    He was now considered the strongest person in this world, only one step away from breaking through to the higher realm. He even doubted that he would meet up with any matching enemy high up there.


    Yet with all his current strength and with all his advantages, he couldn''t feel anything from this sphere. Even with his own special eyes, all he could see was flickers of lights dancing from time to time around this sphere.


    "Get Amera, Doaf, Jude, the crow, and their top fighters here," he said in a gratified tone while narrowing his eyes. He stood tens of meters away from that sphere, and yet he could feel nothing coming out from it.


    This made him wary of his enemies even more than ever. He thought he reached a peak where nothing could touch or stand against him. Yet that sphere in front of him made him realize how deeply wrong he was.


    This sphere''s energy wasn''t detected even with his high energy. He couldn''t believe something like that would happen without the presence of a stronger form of energy inside that prison world.


    Or else he should have been able to detect this sphere a long time ago.


    Just the presence of such danger lurking nearby without being able to detect it became an instant threat to him. If his desire to crush that prison world before stemmed up from his will to unify this world, then at this moment he only wanted to go up there to challenge that energy and prove his supremacy.


    Something like a higher form of energy for him was a challenge, a direct challenge which he wouldn''t accept to exist.


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    "Woosh!"


    Without any delay, a lot of portals flashed around him before a group of a thousand people appeared led by his generals. He didn''t give them any heed while speaking in low tone:


    "Get ready, this fight seems to be a desperate one."


    "We can face anything, my liege," Jude seemed more respectful to Arthur than ever.


    Arthur didn''t know that his decision to go up to the prison world and crush it left a deep impression on many of his forces. They weren''t like the originals, feeling sentimental about his actions. Instead this was a clear demonstration of Arthur''s might and his bravery.


    Going directly and personally towards the den of the enemies was a brave move indeed. Some would consider it a foolish step, but to those who accompanied Arthur all this time knew this man, this youngster who created miracles piling on top of each other, wasn''t a foolish or an impulsive man.


    He never did something without a certain percent of certainty in his victory. Perhaps this was the reason behind all his legends that he created all this time in front of their eyes.


    And just knowing they were about to witness another miracle made everyone respect him more. In their eyes, without Arthur there would be no Hope Empire at all, they would never have the chance to grow stronger and see different ways of becoming superpowers like the way he showed to them.


    "Don''t get overheated," Arthur warned, "this fight is destined to be hard."


    He felt a strange vibe coming up from his forces around. They looked like they were intoxicated and dulled with the consecutive serials of victories under his leadership.


    Yes he knew he did a lot of miracles already, but that didn''t mean they should lower their guards. As far as he was concerned, his enemies weren''t lowering their guard against him and they were doing their best to crush him and his forces and empire.


    To win a fight, one had to show his utmost respect to his enemies in battle. Even if the enemies were weak and scattered, without enough respect to their strength and might, one could end up losing his life.


    "Follow me," he slowly moved towards that sphere up ahead. Against all his expectations, there was no shield protecting the sphere at all.


    It was like his enemies were simply inviting him and his forces to come, accepting the challenge in public and not fearing to face him.


    And that made Arthur more wary about the upcoming fight.


    "Flash!"


    It was a simple step yet the world around changed drastically once taken. Arthur stood in midair, seeing a strange scene in front of him.


    He thought a lot about this prison world. From the name, he thought the world would be a floating island, so big to be called a world. Inside there would be cages imprisoning the originals and preventing them from leaving.


    He even thought that the ground would be made entirely out of the purple ore mixed with something that could hinder the power and limit the abilities of the originals.


    He thought that this world might also be a big world of its own, like his garden world, like the many pocket worlds he visited and crushed before.


    Yet he never expected himself to stand in midair, just at the position he stood before taking that step.. Instead of his empire and grand cities filling the horizon, the world showed a gray picture of a desolate land below his feet.

 Chapter 1034 - Prison World War - Part 2

    As for the prison itself, it wasn''t located inside that gray land, but in another land that looked like an exact copy of the great world he just conquered.


    The two lands looked identical to each other, facing each other and forming the ground and skies of each land. Arthur felt like passing through a separate membrane, separating two dimensions from each other.


    Yes, this prison world was situated in another dimension, a dimension where the lands he previously conquered were barren and destroyed, with no speck of life appearing as far as he could see.


    As for the other land standing above his head, suspending miraculously like it defied gravity, it was filled with a strange mist that covered up what lay deep inside it.


    "Gege, can you scan that land?" Arthur didn''t hurry to move as he calmly asked. First he got to know his current circumstances, not blindly charging inside his enemy trap.


    As Gege answered, more of his forces were getting here in large numbers, standing around in daze and amazement.


    They were all intelligent people. After getting over their first shock, they started to get the same feeling as Arthur; this was a dimensional world that was parallel to the world they came from.


    Unlike the pocket worlds that would hide entire worlds inside, this dimensional world was rather unique. It seemed like time flowed here in different ways, and history that happened in the real world seemed to go on another track here.


    Instead of the lavish green forests and world brimming with life and many creatures including man, this world seemed to stagnate after the loss of the originals, not even taking a single step forward.


    The scenes appearing in the vision of everyone told them the world beneath their feets was the place of a great war. Even the death energy filling the ground and air was so tangible that it could be touched.


    ''The mirror tree can''t see past that thick fog, but she said it looks like miasma,'' Gege said before adding, ''this place¡­ what exactly happened here?''


    Arthur kept his silence and his own theories to himself. He knew jumping out to conclusions wasn''t the right decision. He needed to get more knowledge and test waters first.


    Yet from just standing here and feeling the two great lands, he could feel something that could help him in this fight. "Bring the three necromancers here, it seems they will play a greater role in this fight than I expected."


    In the presence of such thick death energy, the role of necromancers became far more important than ever. Necromancers would be like whales returning to oceans in this atmosphere, able to show off an even greater strength than they did ever since joining Arthur''s ranks.


    ''There is a problem,'' Gege suddenly said, ''the world here seemed to force limitations on my portal ability.''


    "What do you mean?" Despite expecting such a limitation, Arthur felt something was wrong. After all, he told Gege if there was any limitation on bringing people from the outside world directly, she could use the trick of sending them inside her garden world to do it.


    ''I can''t summon my portals in large numbers like before,'' she said in hesitation before adding, ''even if I opened a portal, the portals will have  limited time before getting crushed.''


    "Time limitation? That''s new!" Arthur frowned before adding, "what about limitations on the outside world itself? Does it still exist?"


    ''What do you mean?'' Gege didn''t get his point clearly until she prayed over his thoughts, ''oh, you want to open portals at the sphere and let them come through this path?''


    "If the sphere isn''t protected and doesn''t limit our people entering here, then why not use this way instead?" Arthur shrugged, "as for the portals, leave them to the real fight."


    "What are we going to do now?"


    Just as he said these orders to Gege, Amera came closer to him. From the look on her face, Arthur could tell she was already stressed out from being here.


    This place¡­ it had such a strange gloomy effect on their souls. Seeing all this grayish surrounding them from below, and such destruction and ruins without any sign of life there made them all feel a little down.''


    "Send a probe," Arthur said without thinking too much about it, "send small groups in different directions, including this one."


    Out of Amera''s expectations, Arthur pointed at the barren world down below. She thought that the prison must be in the world above, where that thick greenish fog existed and blocked their vision.


    However unlike what she, and the others, thought of, Arthur didn''t exclude any single possibility here.


    In his eyes, the place with the highest possibility of being the prison would be that barren world underneath them. As for that strange land up above their heads, it was the most suitable place for the trap of their enemies.


    Sending teams out to scout was the wisest decision right now. Without risking to lose too much, he decided to scan this world before his necromancers arrive.


    "Also¡­" he suddenly stopped her and others from forming the teams, "send a group through that sphere back to our world."


    The sphere they came from was still there. Like the way they felt it from the outside world, it looked the same without any visible changes on it at all.


    "Alright," Amera got what Arthur wanted. Getting in seemed too much easier than anyone expected, so could they leave this world through the same way was an important question at the moment.


    After all, if they could enter and not leave, that meant they were already trapped inside this world, trapped inside a prison.


    However testing it proved that they could enter this world, but not leave it without paying a price.. As the team Amera selected to test the sphere touched its surface, a ribble of green energy suddenly appeared out of nowhere and engulfed their bodies first.

 Chapter 1035 - Prison World War - Part 3

    Under Arthur''s keen observation and special vision, he could see this as a green fire, just like the fire that helped him advance greatly in his dragonair power from before.


    "They are the same¡­" he was shocked to discover this. Up till now he didn''t know the origin of that green fire, or that strange pillar that he still kept inside his garden world.


    Yet after enveloping the team with the fire for a few breaths, they vanished as if they passed some sort of a test.


    "Gege," however Arthur felt this process wasn''t as simple as it looked, "bring that team back now."


    ''What team?''


    But the next answer made Arthur''s scalp go instantly numb. "The team that just passed this sphere, didn''t you see it?"


    ''Well, I saw a group of people passing through the sphere,'' Gege''s tone seemed uncertain before adding, ''but they never appeared on the next side of it.''


    "..."


    As Arthur expected, this place wasn''t as easy as it looked. Getting in was really smooth, suspiciously easy. Yet leaving it seemed to have more tricks than it looked from the surface.


    "If I guessed right, then that green fire took them away, into the real prison then," Arthur''s tone was deep and his heart dropped.


    "So we need to pass through it to get to the real prison?" Doaf heard what Arthur said and could already link the dots.


    "Let me go and test it then," the crow was as impulsive as ever. He wanted to throw himself into such uncertain conditions, feeling over confident in his ability to sustain anything on the other side.


    "No, don''t ever touch that thing," but Arthur''s firm tone stopped him and everyone from thinking about doing that.


    After all Arthur knew this might be the real entrance towards the real prison, but that didn''t mean they would have any freedom once appearing there.


    In his opinion, once they got engulfed with that green fire, their strength and powers would get sealed by some unknown method. Entering the real prison through this path meant only one end, death!


    One path was blocked, meaning they had only to advance and explore this world to get a way out of here. Away from that, Arthur had a vague feeling that the only possible way to get out of here would be through crushing the prison and dominating this world.


    However when he thought about this situation from the perspective of his enemies, he frowned. If he was his enemy, then he would use this situation in another way.


    "Doaf, I want you to test another thing," as the teams were already formed from his generals, Arthur said to Doaf while adding: "Gege, stop anyone from coming through that sphere for now."


    ''What? All of them?'' Gege was shocked before adding, ''What about the necromancers then? I''ve already summoned the three and they are almost here.''


    Arthur thought for a moment before saying, "let only one of them pass, as for the others they had to stay standby."


    ''Ding! Are you afraid they might trap the lion to raid his den?'' The system was smart, smart enough to link the dots behind Arthur''s weird arrangement.


    ``If this was true, then it might be a disaster,'' even the golden dragon already saw through this, ''the mightiest people of the empire forces are gathered here. If they send out any strong lineup like grandmasters or elites from higher realms, then things out there will turn ugly.''


    Arthur knew all this already, so he didn''t comment and only snapped his fingers.


    The next instant a portal appeared. Gege wasn''t familiar with Arthur just yesterday. Out of habit she instantly opened a portal once Arthur flickered his fingers.


    "Doaf, go inside," Arthur said while Gege understood what he wanted from the other two and through reading his mind. Doaf, on the other hand, looked a bit confused.


    "What should I do?" he asked with a tone filled with doubts.


    "You''ll get inside the garden world then through a portal to the world outside," Arthur slowly explained.


    "Going back?" Yet Doaf seemed to not get what Arthur wanted, "isn''t the fight going on here?"


    Arthur gazed up towards his trusted man. From the look of it, it seemed this trick wasn''t even noticeable for anyone but him. The more the trick was well covered, the more likely it was to happen.


    "You''ll understand once there," Arthur didn''t further explain. After all, he still didn''t have the confidence in sending people back to the real world.


    "Alright," Doaf had no authority to question his emperor. If Arthur ordered him to get back, then he had nothing else to do but to retreat.


    Once vanished the portal couldn''t stand there and was crushed down into specks of light. Arthur got the feeling that a hidden strength just passed down over the portal and crushed it without any warning.


    He even couldn''t see any change of the energy until the portal started cracking. Under his keen eyes, he spotted wisps of green fire eating the portal and crumbling it into powder.


    "Gege, send him back," he said to make sure Gege wouldn''t delay out of her lack of understanding.


    ''I got this,'' yet Gege''s tone told him she finally understood his meaning.


    However, the next moment, something new happened.


    Just before any group could reach any of the two lands, a tornado of green fire suddenly erupted above Arthur. It started with waves of green fire accumulating from the green fog like something drew its attention.


    The tornado appeared all of sudden and its appearance startled everyone. Yet it was formed tens of miles above Arthur, giving him precious time to react.


    "Everyone, go away from me right now!" without any useless commands, he instantly ordered everyone to stay away. Compared to them, he had more than one card up his sleeve to use in defense against this attack.


    Under his watch, everyone first frowned then retreated a mile away from him.


    As they retreated, his face changed and showed a defiant look. "Let''s see how you plan on crushing me down."


    The next moment he started to circulate his most suited form of energy to sustain this attack, his dragonair energy.

 Chapter 1036 - Prison World War - Part 4

    At first Arthur thought about using the golden pearl energy to perform his defensive technique. However when he saw the green fire gathering in abundance above his head, he recalled the green fire that helped him advance his dragonair energy before.


    If that fire couldn''t touch him before thanks to his dragonair energy, and even helped him a lot, then it made sense to use the same form of energy to defend against such an attack.


    As for the form of defense he decided to use here, it was the blue lightning tortoise technique.


    He was very attentive to each small detail since coming to this prison world. From the look of it, this attack was directed against himself and not others.


    Yet who said this attack would be limited to him only? So if he started using another technique, like the black dragon scale technique, then he would only trap himself.


    The blue lightning tortoise defensive technique wasn''t weak. It could sustain any form of elemental attack, making him able to sustain this massive tornado forming fast above his head.


    Also it gave him another advantage, his ability to adapt to any sudden situation. When he gave the order for everyone to retreat, he watched the tornado up above.


    Yes nothing changed on the surface, but he noticed a few arcs of green fire changing its course as if they were tracking something moving.


    To be more safe and had a thing to do if the attack changed its target, Arthur decided to depend on this defensive technique for now.


    As for its main drawback, the inability to move a finger or do anything during half an hour at least, it wasn''t that big of a deal.


    First there was no enemy nearby to fear. Secondly even if he stayed for half an hour in this way, he wasn''t hopeless.


    If the attack only focused on him, he would instead use this half an hour to send everyone back into the other world.


    The mistake Arthur did, and just recently realized, was to bring every single general and elite with him to this world. This might look like he was preparing everything to crush this world.


    Yet since he appeared here with his army of elites, he never spotted a single foe. Something told him that his real enemy in this world wasn''t mages, or originals, but nature itself.


    The prison world rules would be his main enemy here. If that was true, then where were his enemies hiding?


    Or to be more precise, he asked himself another question; what was the real target of his enemies?


    When he put himself in the steed of his enemies, he realized that the biggest and most beneficial target wouldn''t be here.


    But it was the outside world, his hard earned empire and cities. His citizens, his sect, and everything his people worked hard during the past two years to accomplish.


    If he was his enemies, then he would rather let him stay here trapped with all his elites and focus only and solely on destroying the empire Arthur built.


    The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. This world didn''t show any threat to him so far. There was no large army waiting for him like he imagined, not a big fortress lying in the distance and hard to crack.


    But this world''s main threat to him was its ability to trap him inside it. He knew sending people back would come at a price to pay. The main path to the outside world was blocked by the green fire.


    Like the team he tried to send through the sphere, they were all gone and sent to an unknown place at the moment. He guessed they were sent directly into the prison, making it impossible for them to break free.


    So the other way around, and the only way he could solely do, was by using the weakness in this system; his garden world.


    As he tested, Gege was able to connect to the real world. That meant the path to the real world was still present and intact. Yet that didn''t mean sending people through this path was safe.


    As he figured it out, then his long prepared enemy for more than two years must have thought about it as well. So when the tornado appeared, Arthur wasn''t shocked like others and instead started to calmly react.


    And this was just the beginning. If his enemies really wanted to target his empire, then they were planning to bring forth a large force that no one of his current armies stationed outside or the defensive mechanisms of his empire cities could stand against.


    The only threat to that army would be in the form of his generals and their elites, the one who were currently trapped with him inside this world.


    So what if he was going to be trapped for half an hour and prevented from moving? He planned to take all the hits alone and send everyone back during this.


    Half an hour? Arthur planned to keep using this technique for long hours until he sent back most of his generals and armies stationed inside his garden to the real world.


    That was why he decided not to bring the three necromancers here and only brought one.


    Also he didn''t plan on bringing that necromancer through the regular route, not through that sphere.


    He felt something was linked to that sphere, like a brand of energy was imprinted over the souls of those who passed it.


    That explained why when he sent Doaf back to the real world, the green fire here detected and reacted to this.


    It would be a foolish mistake to follow the arrangements of your enemies, especially when things looked uncertain in front of your eyes.


    So he decided that from now one, any reinforcements coming would be through the garden world and Gege''s portals. Although that might limit his ability to summon large armies instantly, it was the safest response he could think of at the moment.


    "Woosh!"


    The next minute and just as the tornado up above was accumulating force to make Arthur feel a bit threatened, a semi-transparent layer extended and formed a shield on top of Arthur''s head.

 Chapter 1037 - Prison World War - Part 5

    The shield took the form of a tortoise shell, with faint blue lightning dancing all over its surface. If someone looked closer, faint sparks of whiteness could be seen flickering from time to time as well.


    This was the final form of such mighty defensive technique. As Arthur summoned it, he felt his body being frozen and only his eyes could move with some difficulty.


    He was raising his head to see the incoming attack, as if he was defying heaven. A single dragon standing midaid, surrounded by a semi-transparent shield and looking up towards a gigantic green fire tornado that was swirling towards him.


    The tornado changed from a mere arc of green fire into a massive cone shaped mighty arm that was coming from above and pressing hard over Arthur''s head. The closer it got to Arthur, the narrower its end became.


    Yet when it reached Arthur, it was still as big to cover up a distance of a hundred meters without a problem. Arthur stood there while watching the incoming attack while his mind kept delivering orders with Gege.


    ''Is Doaf finally in the outside world?''


    This was the first thing he asked Gege about. After all, if the enemies did something unpredictable and intervened with his garden world and Gege''s portal''s ability to link the two worlds together, then things would really turn ugly.


    ''He is there, but he looks a bit weakened,'' Gege paused before adding, ''it feels like he went through a hard battle to reach there. What''s going on?''


    Arthur understood that the green fire lurking around the sphere wasn''t for show. Even if his top forces were exhausted, at least they ended up getting back to the real world.


    ''Listen, spread a dense network of eyes all around the world,'' he ignored explaining everything to her while adding, ''anything abnormal appearing, they must instantly report it.''


    ''Like enemies?'' Gege said in a light tone as if this was a joke.


    ''Yes, they''ll come,'' yet Arthur wasn''t joking around, ''they are planning to attack the real world while we are trapped here. If they missed this chance then they don''t deserve to be my sworn enemies.''


    ''Ok,'' Gege felt Arthur wasn''t in the mood to joke around. And how come he is? He was trapped inside, facing such calamity approaching, and his enemies were preparing to move their daggers at his precious empire.


    Just thinking about the devastation they could do out there made him enraged. He would end up in a far worse state than if he fought grand armies one after another.


    Losing his empire, or part of it would hinder his progress. It wasn''t enough to stop him, but saying he would need another two years to rebuild everything wasn''t an exaggeration.


    He knew the real target of this attack wasn''t at the cities, not his elites, but at his people. Any empire''s real strength, any clan or even an academy''s real strength didn''t come from their top fighters and elites.


    It came from the masses they ruled, the people who were following them. For example if his enemies managed to cause enough devastation and kill almost half of his citizens, if not more, then he would face a great setback at this moment.


    His empire''s greatest advantage, Arthur''s greatest gain from this expedition in this world, was simply the large number of people following him.


    His empire didn''t start as an empty shell with no people to support it, a talent pool that would constantly pour talents and elites into all the fields and not only the army.


    Losing that talent pool was detrimental to Arthur''s progress, even considering it the most painful hit to him since coming to this world wouldn''t be an exaggeration.


    He wanted to shield his weak spot and not give his enemies the chance to prevail and succeed. Even if he lost many of his forces, he would still keep the backbone of his empire.


    Or the other way around would be having a large empire with few people to support it. So he would have to go through all the trouble again and conquer a fresh world and amass new people from it.


    It seemed easy, considering his past experience in this world, but who said his enemies would give him such a golden chance again?


    Saying they would perform brutal massacres all over the worlds his forces would reach wouldn''t be an overstatement.


    If he was in their shoes, this would be the best way to hinder Arthur''s progress with the maximum results. Without enough people, what was the use and value of an empire? Or a clan? Of any force in the universe?


    People seemed useless, but when looking at things from this way, they were the hardest currency he had to fight desperately to obtain.


    So even if he would suffer major losses in this fight, even if he had to struggle and even gain injuries sustaining that tornado, he was completely willing to do so in return for defending against his enemy''s treacherous scheme.


    ''Make him recuperate fast, also anyone getting out from here will have to do the same,'' Arthur said before hastily adding, ''as for the two necromancers, Tina, Sara, and the scorpion queen, scatter them all around the world to be ready to move at once and interrupt any incoming enemies.''


    ''Are you going to send more outside of this prison world?'' Gege was surprised to hear his arrangement.


    ''Not only them, but also the armies stationed inside the garden world, also those originals sitting idle inside their world,'' Arthur said before adding, ''every single strong one must be ready and prepared for a fight. I also want you to concentrate on that world, making sure you don''t miss anything there. Also scatter around ready portals to use, make sure the movement of the armies is smooth and fast to react to anything.''


    ''So I shall start moving them,'' Gege knew doing all that required some time and put a lot of pressure on her. Yet for her usual self, she didn''t feel anything amiss and felt only excited.


    ''Not yet,'' Arthur declined, ''if they wanted to play dirty with me, we shouldn''t give them the impression that we are prepared for them. Let them come, I swear to turn that world into their graveyard!''


    Arthur''s tone was ruthless and cold that even gave the three souls inside his mind shivers down their spines. Arthur intended to not only passively defend, but also to retaliate.


    That was the true nature of Arthur, not accepting to just defend against his enemy but aspiring at causing great losses to his foes in return.


    That was also what created Arthur''s legend and helped to sculpt his later on mythical fame.

 Chapter 1038 - Prison World War - Part 6

    The tornado just landed!


    Arthur finished his arrangements and deployments of tasks for Gege before that monstrous tornado hit him.


    The first thing he felt was a big bang, like a loud explosion that erupted just meters away from his head.


    The entire world rumbled next, before Arthur''s vision went blank. He couldn''t see anything, couldn''t feel anything other than intense trembling of the shield covering him up.


    At the moment of contact, his dragonair energy became like a burnt candle, getting sucked away at a terrifying rate that made him worry.


    ''Trying to consume my energy? Not a chance!''


    Arthur was ready for that. Inside his garden world, tens of thousands of chefs worked hard during the past hours to cook tons of monster meat for him.


    He only needed to cancel his technique to be able to replenish his expenditure, but at least he got a way for that.


    The violent clash between the two sides continued for long minutes that seemed like a century. Just as the friction calmed down, Arthur finally heaved a silent sigh of relief.


    His dragonair energy was consumed at least for one third, making him realize how brutal that tornado was.


    But in the end nothing else happened. The tornado''s ferocity declined and kept only hammering over his shield without any more risk over him.


    At this point, his energy consumption was balanced with his energy generation rate, making him more confident in replenishing the dragonair energy consumed in the next five minutes.


    ''Gege, how are things outside my shield?'' Despite winning in this brutal clash, he didn''t lower his guard yet. He knew the danger was still present and that tornado would target everyone around at any moment.


    ''Nothing new, the tornado is fixing on you,'' she knew what he wanted and feared so she gave him the answer he desired.


    But that didn''t make him feel any relief at all. ''Keep watching until the tornado is gone,'' he said while watching the world turn from blankness into a world of intense green.


    He knew he was engulfed inside a massive tornado of green fire at the moment. However his defensive technique was surrounding his body from all sides, with no weak spots to be spotted at all.


    What he cared about now was studying this clash, how long it would last and how much energy it would consume.


    Luckily the fierceness of that tornado was only at the start. Within the next minutes, the dragonair energy production rate kicked in to fill in the consumed energy from before.


    In five minutes, as he predicted, his dragonair energy returned to the peak level again. However, that tornado didn''t show any sign of stopping. It looked like it would continue for much longer than he expected.


    But he wasn''t willing to waste more time here.


    ''Gege, send Amera back through the same way.''


    ''Now?'' Gege was taken aback. From her view, Arthur was doing great just now. Yet it seemed risky to trigger the tornado once again.


    But Arthur knew better. He didn''t want to be trapped here, wasting more time in waiting for the tornado to cool down.


    If this continued, then the time needed to get everyone out would take days, even weeks. This wasn''t wise or practical. There was only way for him to add more risk in the equation and see if he could handle this.


    ''Just do it,'' he firmly gave the order and waited for Amera to leave.


    ''Ding! Why not send those inside the garden world first?'' the system saw this risk unneeded.


    ''The number of those people are huge! If you want, you can send them now and see if they''ll affect that damn tornado,'' the golden dragon agreed.


    But Arthur had another point in doing so. He didn''t want to let this chance pass without experimenting. He knew they got a point here. After all, the number of forces stationed inside the garden world was in millions, reaching a terrifying figure of tens of millions.


    Compared to them, getting one more powerhouse outside was more worthy in his eyes. Even if he managed to get the tens of millions outside before the enemy attacked, they wouldn''t do well against the real powerhouses of the enemy side.


    If the enemies started to deploy their elites and grandmasters early on, then even using tens of millions to stop them would become a suicide.


    Only powerhouses of equivalent level or higher were able to contend against his enemies, not mere soldiers.


    So he persisted in his opinion.


    ''Just take her outside and let''s talk later.''


    ''Fine,'' Gege complied. The next minute Arthur felt a new change in the atmosphere around. The tornado that was now being pressed down by his defensive technique flared up again.


    It was like a dying fire got sprayed upon using a tank of gasoline! The green fire escalated all of sudden and got more intense, turning the entire world into blankness again.


    This time it was destined to be different. The tornado continued to rage havoc at his shield for ten long minutes. During which his dragonair energy consumption jumped to cross even half of his total amount.


    That was unbelievable! However he expected that to happen. After all, he didn''t wait for the tornado to die down before sending Amera out.


    Adding one more triggering action to the raging tornado added more ferocity to it. Arthur didn''t know how much green fire his enemies prepared here in this world. He didn''t know if his actions here would consume this energy in return as it consumed his energy.


    But he hoped for that to happen.


    After the end of ten minutes, the tornado died down again and returned to its passive state. Arthur glanced around to see the entire world becoming pitch green without anything else to see.


    ''Anything new?'' he calmly asked.


    ''Nothing other than the tornado,'' Gege said, ''but I felt a strange presence in the other world.''


    ''Really? What happened?'' Arthur''s eyes shone in bright blue light while knowing what Gege meant.. His empire world had a new change, meaning his enemies were about to move.

 Chapter 1039 - Prison World War - Part 7

    ''It''s still nothing, but the tree of mirrors caught a strange appearance of whirlpools just scattered along the world. Yet these whirlpools vanished the moment they appeared.''


    ''Weird,'' Arthur thought, ''did anyone come out of them?''


    ''No one,'' Gege said, ''but its number is above a hundred.''


    ''If a hundred portals opened up, things might turn ugly,'' the golden dragon said.


    ''Ding! We should start moving the entire army now!'' the system warned.


    ''Alright, bring everyone out while I''m recovering my energy,'' Arthur had no other choice but to stop his experiment.


    If there was such a large number of portals appearing in his empire world, then even with the presence of his powerhouses, he needed a lot of troops to be deployed.


    ''Make sure the mechas are ready to be deployed at a given notice, also the originals and my dragons as well,'' at this point, he had no luxury at saving up his strength.


    Anything he could use must be used, or else the devastation alone would set him back for months or even years.


    ''Save it to me,'' Gege said in a confident tone, ''but the areas not covered with the mirror tree still are a problem.''


    Arthur knew what she referred to. After all, the mirror of a tree had the ability to cover up to one fifth of the entire world. That meant most of the world wasn''t covered or monitored by that tree, or even worse Gege''s portals would be limited to such a small area.


    ''Start moving troops then,'' Arthur firmly said, ''let Doaf, Amera, Sara, Tina, and the scorpion queen handle one fifth of the world. Leave the two necromancers with others on wait. If things went south, and if any zone requested aid, send them accordingly but leave some behind to help other regions as well.''


    ''How about we assign them to each zone as well?'' the golden dragon suggested, ''like each necromancer handles a zone, the mechas handle a zone, the dragon''s another zone, and the rest of powerhouses here would handle the last zone?''


    ''Not enough,'' Arthur instantly declined. He already thought about this, yet there was a problem in this arrangement. ''The mechas, the necromancers, and even some powerhouses here can''t handle a few top fighters of the enemy, especially those grandmasters.''


    ''Ding! So shall we wait until we get reports first? This might be risky,'' the system said.


    ''We can do it this way,'' Arthur had another opinion, ''we shuffle the current forces we had. Let them be arranged in ten armies, each had a mix of skeletons, originals, monsters, mages, mechas, and dragons. This way we will be sure that any army moving to help will be able to contend against any powerhouse the enemy sends to some point.''


    ''Ten? I like that,'' Gege seemed excited about the idea for unknown reasons, ''leave it to me.''


    ''Don''t forget that the tens of millions inside must be deployed into sixteen armies, not ten,'' Arthur warned.


    ''I said I got it,'' Gege was so excited to care about his warning. And that made Arthur inwardly sigh.


    Time proved that this tornado only had enough strength to endanger Arthur only at the early minutes. Later on the tornado became as calm as a normal storm, without even causing any more consumption of his dragonair energy.


    In the next twenty minutes, Arthur regained his dragonair energy to peak level. Yet the enemy didn''t attack and Arthur didn''t cancel his technique.


    Even if the tornado looked under his control, it didn''t stop yet. If Arthur rashly canceled his technique, he would face instant danger in return.


    So his next move was expected. ''Move the crow back,'' he said, ''and make him go to support one army.''


    ''Ok,'' this time Gege didn''t disagree with him. Just in the few breaths taken for the crow to move back, the tornado regained its ferocity.


    It was like a dying monster that got a sudden outburst of power before dying. This time the ferocity didn''t change a lot from the last time, and the energy consumption remained at the fifty percent scale.


    Arthur didn''t want to press harder on himself. The enemy was still acting cautious till now. During the past twenty minutes, another occasion of over a hundred whirlpools appeared and vanished without leaving a trace.


    According to Gege, they appeared near the places the first whirlpools appeared. That meant his enemy was trying to forcibly open the portals but failed.


    That made Arthur think about two options. First the enemy lacked enough energy to really open these portals like before. Or the most practical option was that his enemy was trying to open gigantic portals, enough to move hundreds of thousands of troops in a short time without much resistance.


    That option was the most logical. After all Arthur and his empire weren''t the only ones having two years of time to prepare.


    According to what Arthur discovered in the prison world so far, his enemies didn''t take this time to fortify this world as he expected.


    So if two years of time passed with intense preparations, Arthur had to believe his enemies had amassed endless armies to crush him.


    If the portal''s capacity to move troops was a hindrance in their faces, then all of their preparations would be useless.


    What was the use of having hundreds of millions of mages while they could only move tens of thousands only in each minute? Throwing this few number against his large armies was suicidal.


    In the end his armies might take longer time in fighting, but they would always hold the upper hand all the time.


    So if he was in his enemies'' shoes, he would care too much about expanding the capacity of these portals.


    That was the reason behind his doubt that the final number of portals appearing in his empire world wouldn''t amount to a large figure.. If the enemy focused on expanding the portals, then the energy needed to do that would be astronomical.

 Chapter 1078 - Changes In The Dantian

    "So it''s as he described," Arthur was surprised by the accuracy of John''s words, "it seems he was a good leader," he couldn''t help but shake his head before returning up there.


    "So?" John asked, "everything is good?"


    "Looks safe," Arthur said, "but it''s weird, such places should have monsters."


    This was one of the things that bothered him about this cave.


    "I told you already, the army here is working all day around to clear the monsters from this area," John said as if this was a known fact, "we won''t find any monsters unless we get to the border of this kingdom."


    "Alright," Arthur helped him stand, "let''s talk inside then."


    He cautiously helped him descend till the bottom before the two entered the cave.


    "Nice idea," John motioned with his head towards the nearby shining ore, "but you know this will attract unneeded eyes to here."


    "I will take it back after exploring part of this cave first," Arthur held the ore before adding, "will you be alright here all alone?"


    "I survived more than this," John said with his usual laugh.


    "Good," Arthur nodded to him before going deeply inside the cave.


    The cave entrance was just a narrow tunnel that kept widening the more he got deeper. "I should walk for ten minutes and then return if I found nothing," he muttered and started to point the ore towards many directions.


    He kept attention to the ceiling and the ground. He was looking for any evidence of the presence of any monster here, like remnant bones or strange marks or even foul odor.


    "This cave¡­ it''s a gold mine!"


    As he kept walking deeper he only found traces of ore veins in the ground appearing every now and then. After some time he was tempted to take out his sword and try to hit the ground.


    "I''ll store them for later," he kept the ores in his storage ring while continuing forward.


    "So it keeps getting lower," he muttered while noticing the increase in the height of the ceiling while getting deeper. "Where would this end?" Just as he walked for five minutes he finally found three more tunnels going deeper into the ground.


    "I should get back," he pointed the ore towards the inside of each tunnel without getting any more info.


    "Tuck!"


    Just as he was about to leave, he heard this low and muffled voice of a rock hitting each other. He instantly turned around and pointed his sword towards the direction the sound came from.


    "So there is something here after all," he heard another sound in the next moment and then a third. "It''s coming," he didn''t hesitate to create a distance by retreating while throwing the ore on the ground and standing there prepared to face whatever was coming at him.


    "Neigh!"


    "It''s¡­ a horse?" Just as he was ready to fight, a horse suddenly appeared in front of him. Yet this one was strangely bigger than usual horses he knew of. Rising off the ground for five meters and had a long body that would span over ten meters at least.


    "Easy," Arthur glanced at the horse while watching each move that horse would do.


    "Neigh!" Yet the horse waved his head towards him like a warning, turned around and returned to the tunnel it came from.


    "Wait," Arthur suddenly shouted, stopping the horse, "don''t you want to go out on an adventure?" he asked as if he was a mighty being speaking to an ant.


    And the horse just glanced at him like he was eyeing a crazy person before returning to walk away like it heard nothing from Arthur.


    "Damn! That horse looked cool!" Arthur couldn''t help but mutter before the horse finally vanished in the deep darkness of the tunnel it came from.


    Arthur didn''t hurry to leave but the horse didn''t come again to him. "So it was warning me about its territory? Interesting," Arthur couldn''t help but say before taking the ore and leaving it back to John.


    Just as he reached there he found John half awake and the wound over his knee was getting worse. "This wound¡­ it was opened a long time ago," Arthur couldn''t help but glance at the pale John and sighed.


    "I''ll try my best," he muttered before taking the ore away, sat on the ground, closed his eyes and started to regulate his breathing.


    This time the spiritual energy roared while entering his body in a way that greatly startled him. "This energy¡­ it''s like a hurricane!" he couldn''t help but exclaim in shock before trying his best to deal with this energy.


    After all his dragonair energy was sealed away along with his system. From the words of John it seemed that breaking the seal would take more than just running away.


    And that made even the life of John far important to him.


    The spiritual energy first accumulated at his dantian in a terrifying speed. As a seasoned cultivator he didn''t hurry to circulate it through his body meridians and kept it there locked in his dantian.


    "Danitan is the heart, the nucleus, the source of everything," he muttered to himself, "I need to make it grow stronger and adapt to this higher form of energy first before doing anything else.


    "To do that he had to keep accumulating the energy as much as he could. The energy started to transform the dantian, slowly strengthening it and he even started to notice some light coming from parts of his dantian.


    "I can''t¡­ take anymore," yet after only half an hour he couldn''t keep storing up the energy inside his dantian.


    And he started to feel pain inside his dantian.


    The next thing he did was to let the energy flow out of the dantian, circulating first around the meridian network around his brain. The meridian network there was so dense and he knew it would take more time to saturate them.


    "At least this bought me more time," he muttered while observing the meridians getting stronger and his dantian getting improved as well.

 Chapter 1079 - Training

    Yet after another half an hour his meridians around his brain were all flooded and filled with dense spiritual energy.


    "Time to strengthen the rest," he didn''t have any option but to fully open the door in front of the spiritual energy looked up in his head and let them roar down below.


    And like a dam being crushed, a mighty wave of spiritual energy started to soak every single meridian inside his body.


    "I have to circulate it," he didn''t hesitate to push the energy around, instigating it to take a full circle inside his meridian network.


    Yet when the energy reached his abdominal meridians, he was shocked to see deep injury everywhere there.


    "I can''t risk it," he decided to lock all the meridians in this area for now, fearing for the strong gush of the spiritual energy to do more harm than good. "At least the other meridians are ok."


    These injuries were caused by the brutal fight with that bug inside the prison. He was in a hurry and didn''t check his meridians after the fight, yet even he found these wounds he couldn''t do anything to heal them.


    The spiritual energy kept racing inside his meridians before it started to slow down a bit. "Don''t stop," he kept pushing them and replenishing the energy with his regular breathing, "it''s still too far to stop."


    He had a very wide and complex network of meridians inside his body from his cultivation before coming here.


    He knew he had to circulate the energy at every meridian he got, strengthen them all to match the refined energy of this world.


    Or else he would face more problems later on while trying to rise higher in his cultivation.


    After an hour, and with continuous breathing and tries, the energy finally completed the first circle around his body. "The hardest part is over," he heaved a deep sigh of relief, "now it''s all depending on my training."


    He didn''t stop there and kept pushing the energy to circulate for a second time, then third, and so on. He didn''t stop until two more hours passed.


    He managed to make his body accustomed to the spiritual energy. "I now can fight with my techniques at least," he opened his eyes and smiled faintly when he noticed the weak rays of sun lightening the world outside.


    "So it''s already day time," he muttered before moving toward John and found his condition getting worse. "Just wait, now I can help and save you."


    He didn''t hesitate to try his new power and sprint outside. His speed was much faster than before, yet it wasn''t comparable to what he used to have before coming to this world.


    "Sigh, I only wanted to go to my master''s world, and ended up being in such an alien world," he muttered to himself while knowing something wrong must have happened midway during his ascension.


    "As a higher realm, all my powers will look meager and weak to this world''s rules," he knew the reason behind his low speed compared to what he anticipated before, "but at least I can deal with any threat without any worry."


    He was itching to try out his energy in the fight, but thinking of the about to die John behind made him refrain from doing so.


    "Let''s see¡­ this plant had a strong earth aura," he stopped all of a sudden beside a small tree with thick bark. "Its leaves have the highest concentration of energy," he sensed the tree in focus before collecting all the leaves from it and then left.


    He didn''t lose his senses to energy fortunately, which was something he kept having even when he was reincarnated in the previous world as well.


    "This seed looks fine."


    "This rock seems nice."


    "This butterfly will do¡­ damn it! it flew fast!"


    "This fruit¡­ it''s good and delicious."


    He kept collecting materials for two hours before reaching a place on a small branch of a silver water river. "These waters¡­" he knelt and touched the water with his fingers before tasting it. "Oh, it has a strong concentration of energy."


    His eyes shone at this moment with faint blue light before he started to store away a large amount of this water after drinking from it to fill his thirst.


    "I still miss my meat," he could only bitterly recall the delicious meat he used to eat while moving back to John. "But the question is how should I make the potion then?"


    He now had everything to make a good potion, yet he didn''t have a cauldron. Without one he couldn''t make any potion at all.


    "I should improvise then," he only thought of a rough solution while getting back to the cave.


    "He is getting worse," he checked John and now in addition to being pale, his body was drenched in sweat. "I need to hurry," Arthur muttered before moving fast towards the depth of the cave.


    With the light of the sun, the inside of the cave didn''t look so gloomy like it was at night. Yet after walking for a couple of minutes the light was so thin that he had to take the fiery ore out.


    "This vein won''t do," he leaned over one ore vein and checked it in a hurry before jumping to another one. "This one¡­ looks like I can use it to build the sides with it."


    He took out his sword and started to hit the ground. The metallic sound reverberated all over the cave and traveled deeper than he expected.


    "These plates would do," he stored what he took out of the ore vein before moving again to get another ore vein and examined it.


    He kept doing so until he found what he was looking for. "It''s small but it would do the job," he hurriedly separated this concave ore from the vein. "Hmm¡­ yeah, it would do," he took it and turned around fast and returned to John.


    He didn''t notice the distant two eyes glancing at him in the darkness while watching what he was doing with some curiosity.

 Chapter 1080 - The Weird Horse

    Arthur returned to John''s side and then took out everything he had gathered so far. "First I need to build a cauldron," he held each ore with both hands, closed his eyes and started to circulate his spiritual energy fast inside his body.


    The trick to make a good cauldron wasn''t to just add pieces of ores together, but to make sure each piece would be bathed with the same type of energy like what he was doing now.


    And that process didn''t take more than ten minutes before he roughly refined all the pieces he got. "At least this would make it a basic cauldron, suited for this life saving task."


    He turned towards one of the barks he collected. This one was different from others in that it wasn''t a real bark of a tree, but a residual material gathered over time around a real bark.


    "I hope it can work as a glue," he held it before touching the tip with his fiery ore. The next thing that happened was for the fire to catch it and start to melt it like a candle.


    "Nice and easy," he calmly moved the melted liquid over the rough edges of the ore pieces. He didn''t have time to shape them to nicely fit each other, so he decided to use this as a glue material and to fill in the holes in between the ore pieces.


    After covering all the edges he started to align them on top of the concave part, which formed the base of that cauldron.


    "Almost set," he muttered while glancing with content to the rough cauldron he just created. "It should do the job," he glanced over at the extremely pale John before waving his hand over the cauldron and a gush of water appeared to fill part of it.


    Then he took out the explosive ores from his ring and put them together.


    "I hope it can withstand the heat," he stood on the side, watching the cauldron getting hotter with each passing second.


    And the ores under it started to rage with wildfire.


    "The basic healing potion requires only to have a large concentration of energy inside the fluid," he said while starting to cut the leaves to smaller pieces using his sword, crush the seeds with his hands, and squeeze the fruit over the top of the cauldron.


    Even the pieces of bark he collected were cut with his sword to smaller pieces as small as he could before throwing everything at once in the boiling water.


    And then he used his sword to mix everything together before closing his eyes and started to circulate his energy inside his meridians.


    Despite him starting to overuse his recently collected energy without starting truly to cultivate or build his base, he knew it wasn''t too much to ask from such pure energy.


    After all he already had the strong foundation inside his body that could sustain the pressure of his usage of the energy.


    "It''s done," after ten minutes most of the water had evaporated and only a small amount remained in the depth of the cauldron. "At least it can be used to make more," he glanced at the cauldron before using his long sleeves to carry the hot cauldron and use it as a pot.


    "Drink this," he said, yet John didn''t react despite having his eyes semi-opened.


    "Damn, he is already in a world of his own," he couldn''t help but curse before he hurriedly put the cauldron down. He blew his hands to decrease the sense of extreme heat in them before he searched his ring for anything to be used.


    "This necklace¡­ it would do," he took out a large necklace in the shape of a curved crescentic moon and had a deep groove in the middle before using it as a small cup and filled it with the potion.


    "Drink this," he put it in John''s mouth before returning again to refill it.


    "I think this would do," he muttered as he already made him drink what could be considered as two full potions. "As for these¡­" he glanced at what remained at the base of the cauldron and there was enough to make ten potions or even more.


    "I shouldn''t let you be wasted," he moved and filled the necklace before heading to his opened wound just below his knee and started to soak it with the potion.


    Then he stood aside and waited.


    "Neigh!"


    All of a sudden that loud neigh came from his back, startling him. He hurriedly turned around and pointed his sword in reflex towards that huge horse''s face.


    And that horse only glanced briefly at him like an adult gazing at a kid holding a useless stick.


    "Neigh!"


    The horse neighed again before it pointed its head down towards the direction of the cauldron and then turned to the back and walked a couple of steps there before stopping.


    "Neigh!"


    It neighed again as if it was urging him to come.


    "Do you want this¡­ potion of mine?" Arthur was speechless for a few moments before he realized what was going on. "But I can''t leave him alone," he pointed to John who was now closing his eyes as if he was sleeping¡­ or dying.


    "Neigh," the horse neighed then moved towards John as it bypassed Arthur and stopped beside John''s body and shook it with its head.


    "Alright, alright," Arthur understood his meaning before hurrying to carry the helpless body of his friend and let it fall over the back of the giant horse before he took in everything and walked to the depth of the darkness alongside the horse.


    As he went deeper, the darkness started to prevail again and he couldn''t see clearly anymore. "Sorry pal, but I need to use my ores to see," he took one explosive ore and let its light show him the way around.


    And the horse didn''t show any sign of disapproval this time and kept walking in fast steps, or its steps were just too wide for Arthur to simply follow using his normal pace.

 Chapter 1081 - The Potion

    They returned to the three tunnels before the horse walked inside the tunnel it once appeared from without hesitation. The tunnel was so big, almost fifty meters wide.


    So Arthur didn''t find any problem running beside the horse.


    Just after ten minutes Arthur found the tunnel getting wider until it ended up in a gigantic underground cave that extended for miles.


    The ceiling was so far high up, almost half a mile above his head. Long and thick rocks extended from it like different sized spikes, and the ground was filled with different ores that were enough to lighten up the entire cave with orange and brown light.


    And in the center of this vast place Arthur spotted a group of small horses compared with the giant one on his side.


    And they were lying weakly beside the body of another horse that seemed to be not moving.


    "Is she¡­ the mother?" Arthur muttered in deep shock while he realized what was going on.


    "Neigh," the horse strongly neighed as if it didn''t accept such judgment from him. It even pushed his body using its big body.


    "Easy pal," Arthur said, "I''ll do my best to save her," he said and the horse motioned his head to the small horses. "And your sons and daughters as well," Arthur added and the horse neighed and bowed his head to the ground.


    "Just follow me and make sure not to harm my friend," Arthur said before using his energy and jumped many times over the irregular ground before finally reaching the helpless body of the giant horse.


    "She has lost a lot of blood," he noticed the large pond of dried up green blood just around her body. "Was she injured during labor?" he turned to the horse which just landed John to a place with few rocks.


    "Neigh," the horse neighed before it moved towards the body of its wife and touched with its hooves one place.


    "It''s¡­ a saber," Arthur found a saber inserted deeply inside her belly, "damn, she was injured this way while about to give birth¡­ that''s a dirty move," he couldn''t help but say and the horse didn''t make a sound.


    "I''ll do my best," Arthur took out his cauldron and first held it and emptied its content inside the semi-opened mouth of the horse.


    Part of the potion was lost but most entered her body successfully. "It''s not enough¡­ it''s far from enough," Arthur stood by her side and glanced at all that blood and that deep wound in her belly, "I''ll make more than," he turned to the horse as he said.


    "Neigh," and the horse slowly sighed while sitting on the ground and watching Arthur do his magic.


    "It''s just luck I have collected a large number of materials before coming here," Arthur muttered while preparing the materials once more while the water boiled.


    Under the high temperature provided by the explosive ores, the cauldron started to mix everything Arthur threw inside. This time he filled the entire small cauldron with water and didn''t let the water evaporate before refilling it again.


    "It''s ready," he had enough now to help that giant horse. "Let''s see¡­ I can use this helmet as a big cup to suit her big mouth," he said jokingly while the horse only touched the body of his weakly lying small horses around.


    "Don''t worry, I didn''t forget them," Arthur said to reassure him before he moved to the deeply injured mother first and started to feed her the potion one time after another.


    "It''s your turn now," after almost giving her half of the entire potion he felt it was enough and then started to feed the other horses.


    There were five small horses double the size of him. Each horse took two full helmets filled with potion before he turned to the mother again.


    "She won''t get better only by that," he glanced at the wound at her belly and noticed blood starting to gush out once more, "that saber¡­ it must be extracted first."


    He glanced at the horse and the horse only learned its head over the head of the injured mother. "Sigh, don''t worry pal, she won''t be in any danger after that," Arthur promised before starting to examine the wound.


    "It was thrown from a far distance," he muttered, "with such strong skin I doubt the one who threw it was weak."


    He gave the horse a deep glance and the horse didn''t care about his doubts. "After I save her you owe me an explanation," he said before filling the helmet once again and started to drip the potion over the wound.


    His actions helped in stopping the bleeding for a while, yet he knew that after taking the saber out the wound would act berserk.


    So he first moved the cauldron to his side and waited for half an hour until the mother regained her normal breathing.


    "I''ll take the saber out," he turned to the horse and said as if he was speaking with a sane person, "and you have to hold her body firmly and not let her change her posture at all."


    "Neigh!"


    "Listen and understand this well," Arthur wasn''t satisfied with the simple answer from the horse, "if she flipped over then the wound would explode with a fountain of blood. I won''t even be able to save her in time¡­ do you understand what I mean?"


    "Neigh!!" This time the horse stood up, raised its frontal hooves high in the air and the scene made Arthur quite intimidated before the horse landed its hooves over the body of the mother, fixing it on the ground.


    "Neigh!"


    The horse glanced at him and Arthur only nodded. "Alright, let''s do it," he said while grabbing the handle of that big saber with both hands, "I''ll count to three, and then I''ll pull it," he warned before the next moment he said, "three," and he pulled the saber out as fast as he could.


    "Neigh!"

 Chapter 1082 - The Strange Saber

    The moment Arthur pulled the saber with all his might, the two horses neighed, one in panic and other one in pain. Yet he was ready with his healing potion as he instantly carried the cauldron and flooded the wound with the fluid.


    The moment he grabbed the saber out, the female horse tried to break free yet the male horse managed to fix her on the ground. Just as the fluid touched her wound, she neighed and violently convulsed out of severe pain.


    And she managed to push the two males away from her and started to roll on the ground in violent movies.


    "Don''t touch her for now," Arthur hurriedly stopped the deeply anxious horse, "leave her to feel the pain."


    The horse glanced in question and worried Arthur. "She is going to be alright," he said before adding as he stood up from the ground, "leave her to rest for now. She will wake up much better."


    The horse didn''t hear his words and went to check on his girl. Arthur only shook his head helplessly while taking the cauldron. "It''s still fine," he sighed as he was worried it would be damaged, "it''s a blessing I had extra of everything¡­ barely enough for this big family."


    He glanced at the horses around before noticing the saber. The saber was thrown away when his body was hit by the female horse.


    "This¡­ isn''t a normal weapon," as he examined it, he felt how special this saber was. The blade had many writings over the sides of it. neatly arranged like being carefully engraved by such a skillful blacksmith.


    "At least I know this world is advanced in matters of forging," he muttered.


    He stored it away and went to check on his friend. "Sleeping like a little baby¡­ even the prison didn''t change that nature of you, old man," he found him peacefully sleeping and so he left him.


    "I should start training," he sat on the ground and closed his eyes for now. He kept breathing in and out for a long time. The speed of accumulating spiritual energy was fast, but nothing compared to what he felt when he was bathed with the green fire.


    "I''ll have to first adjust my body to this world''s spiritual energy quality before doing anything else," he softly muttered while considering his training.


    He knew he would start now from scratch. It was a known fact to him that after ascending he would start from zero again.


    It didn''t matter how strong or mighty you were, in any new realm you would start down from the bottom. As this bottom was already the pinnacle of your past cultivation base.


    And in this world all his powers seemed to mean nothing.


    "Even my dragonair energy¡­ although it''s strong but in itself it''s weak."


    He knew the reason he managed to kill that guard wasn''t because of his energy but from his transformation. "Even it failed to maintain the transformation for minutes," he thought about what happened and reflected upon it deeply.


    "So I need to find a way to break that seal over my system," he thought before adding, "but why was I sealed?"


    This was a dilemma he knew nothing about. All he knew was that his powers were sealed away, and he needed to find a way to retrieve it back.


    "So my system works on my golden pearl energy," he thought about the words John told him before, "and to form it I''ll need to merge the two powers again together. Or would I gain this energy directly from here?"


    He considered asking John about this when he woke up, but he soon dropped this idea. "I have to keep my own secrets to myself. My only aim now would be entirely focused on running away as far as possible from this place before finding a way to break my own seal."


    He knew John was also sealed as well, so the way he would use it would apply to him in theory. "Provided that we both have the same type of seal," he thought before finally clearing out his mind of all these disturbing thoughts.


    "I need to first train. Walking around these lands without a proper strength is suicidal."


    He started to focus on absorbing as much spiritual energy as possible. His dantian was now filled to the brim after long hours of training.


    And so he started to circulate his energy inside his dense network of meridians. The more he did that, the stronger his body became, but he felt he didn''t yet reach the limit of his power.


    "What are you doing?"


    All of sudden this weak voice came so clear from his side, startling him. He was interrupted and hurriedly opened his eyes in vigilance to see John standing in front of him with questioning eyes.


    "I''ve been watching you for an hour¡­ your body seems to grow slightly stronger and call me crazy, but I sensed a strange flow of energy seeping inside your body."


    "I¡­ was trying to break the seal," Arthur had to lie, yet from the look on John''s face he knew that the old man didn''t buy his reason.


    "I had to warn you then," John only said after long moments of silence, "your old ways to train won''t apply here, at least they won''t yield the same results as before."


    "I¡­ sensed that problem already," Arthur lied again.


    "That''s logic, after all the level of energy and the rules of this world can''t be compared at all with any other realm," John sat weakly beside him, "what is this stable you suddenly brought it?" he motioned his head towards the horses as he asked with curious tone.


    "I found them here," Arthur said before telling him what happened in brief.


    "A strange looking saber¡­ huge and strong looking horses¡­ hmm¡­" His words seemed to puzzle John who suddenly turned to Arthur with wide eyes as he instantly urged, "show me that saber, now."


    Arthur didn''t hesitate to take it out before John snatched it from his hands.. "Damn! You are really blessed with all the luck here boy," John next laughed in a very strange way.

 Chapter 1083 - Talk About Systems

    "Do you know anything about this saber?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask, "it looked quite¡­ special."


    "It''s indeed special," John firmly nodded, "I only saw one of these inscriptions before¡­ and that was on the blade of a royal."


    "Royal?" Arthur suddenly recalled what John said about these, "are there any royals nearby here?"


    "They live far, far away from here," John seemed to be in better state while he played with the saber, "yet that saber, these horses¡­ they all point out one clear fact."


    He suddenly paused as if he was lost in thought. "Damn! No, I was mistaken¡­" he suddenly turned to Arthur, "where did you find them? Hurry tell me!"


    "H- Here," Arthur was startled by this sudden shift in his friend''s nature.


    "No way," John firmly shook his head, "they must have run here¡­ have you scanned the place? Have you found anything?"


    Arthur turned around. Everything was literally made entirely out of rock. "I just glanced around," he honestly said.


    "Wrong move boy," John used the saber to stand while his body faintly trembled, "we need to search."


    "For what?" Arthur didn''t delay to stand with him.


    "This saber you said caused a deep wound inside that horse, right?"


    "Indeed."


    "Then it''s not a saber," John firmly said, "it''s one of the lethal weapons famous for the holy guardians of the royals."


    Arthur was feeling more puzzlement at the moment.


    And without asking anything, John hurriedly volunteered to explain:


    "I initially thought this was something belonging to one of those reckless royals, but I was wrong! These horses belonged to royals, that''s for sure. They were running away and were hunted down by a holy guardian!"


    Up to here Arthur started to understand the meaning of his friend. "The riders?" he muttered in question and John nodded.


    "Whoever were riding these horses must not be far away, and¡­" he paused before helplessly adding, "we have to assume their hunter is still around."


    "Damn!" this time it was Arthur''s turn to curse.


    "Now we need to gain answers," John said before urging, "and we need to gain these fast before that hunter can sniff our location."


    Arthur didn''t ask anymore questions as he turned to one side while John turned to another. Arthur gave the couple of horses a deep glance before starting his search.


    The place was really large, even for the two of them it took roughly one hour and half to completely search it through.


    "Found anything?" Arthur hurriedly asked.


    "Nothing," yet John shrugged, "and you?"


    Arthur simply shook his head before asking the question that made him quite puzzled during the past hour, "why would a royal hunt another? Are there wars between royals?"


    "There are many wars along the history of our world between them," John nodded before adding, "but this isn''t a war. It''s one royal trying to hunt down others using the holy guardians."


    "And that means?" Arthur was still alien to this world and so he lacked any knowledge about what it even meant.


    "It means whoever were running were either ambushed on surprise, or they were already on the run," John paused for few minutes while the two returned to sit close to the couple of horses, "but from what I know, no royal would move without being protected with a small group of holy guardians."


    "Then the hunter must have killed the entire protective group."


    "That''s¡­ quite unlikely," John had to shake his head, "if you saw one you''ll understand. Imagine someone as big as a small hill, armed with all kinds of weapons and controlled by more than ten elite fighters with deadly offensive systems. No one can kill a holy guardian that easily, not to mention a group of them¡­ unless¡­"


    John''s eyes suddenly shone brighter as he paused, and Arthur urged him. "Unless what?" he asked.


    "Unless the ones hunting them down weren''t just royals¡­ but they have cursed mages as well."


    "This¡­" Arthur had deep hatred towards any dark mage, "can this be possible?"


    "In theory? No, but in real life anything can happen," John sighed, "this world¡­ real life is simply too complicated to be judged by mere rules."


    Arthur couldn''t help but nod in agreement. Life was so complicated and he got that. "So what should we do now?" he said before adding, "I planned to take these horses and use them to run away faster."


    "We have a bigger threat around," John firmly said, "we can''t take them or else we would be inviting those death reapers to us."


    Arthur didn''t argue with him as he knew he was telling the truth. He glanced over the giant horses and sighed. "We should leave then," he muttered, "we can''t stay here anymore. They¡­ have to deal with their fate on their own."


    "That''s the right thing to do, but¡­" John pointed to himself, "I still need a day or two to recover. If I had my former power then I would have healed much faster."


    "Can''t you gather up your energy still?"


    "I''m very weak right now, and trying to gather any energy would end up causing more trouble than benefit."


    John patted on his shoulder, "I''ll leave you to train, but try not to be so loyal to your old ways. After all, our main method of training here is through fighting."


    "Fighting?"


    "We can absorb energy from the world around us, but we need to condense it and make it ours," John explained and Arthur found it strangely similar to when he breaks through any cultivation base.


    "What about the systems then?" Arthur asked, "won''t they guide us?"


    "Guide?" John glanced at him like he was hearing a funny joke, "systems don''t speak with us here buddy or befriend us. They act like our superiors, only giving us quests and rewards for them."


    "Then why should we train our energies? I believe it''s more convenient to follow the system quests," Arthur didn''t say anything about his system. After all, his system was so friendly to him and always talked to him.


    "Any system runs on energy, our energy," John tried to explain things that seemed so simple to be hard to explain, "the higher the energy is, the stronger our systems would be.. Eventually that means more options and quests for us."

 Chapter 1084 - They Can Speak Human Tongue?!!

    Arthur understood roughly the general picture here. "Alright, try also to train," he said as he closed his eyes and started to train once again.


    John glanced strangely at him before shaking off his head. "Where the hell did that boy come from?" he only muttered before walking away from Arthur and returning to the place he woke up at.


    Then he started to rest.


    Time passed fast and suddenly Arthur had a strange sense of extreme weakness that haunted his body all of sudden after a day of training. "Weird¡­ why do I feel like that?" He opened his eyes and glanced at his body in a strange way.


    "What happened?" even John noticed his weird look and couldn''t help but ask.


    "I felt strangely weak all of sudden."


    "Hahaha, that''s normal my friend. It''s called¡­ hunger," John laughed before adding, "you need to eat something. I already told you before at the prison, without properly eating your body won''t sustain your training."


    "But¡­"


    "New world¡­ new rules," John interrupted him, "I also feel the same hunger. We need to find ourselves something to eat."


    Arthur knew his meaning and then stood up. "I''ll go then."


    "I''ll come as well," John stood up but Arthur stopped him. "I''ll be much better alone."


    John gave him a suspicious look before warning. "That saber has something that can be tracked. Don''t use it."


    "I''m not that stupid to do that," Arthur said, "I''ll use the other weapons we got from the guards."


    John nodded and Arthur returned all the way back into the darkness of the tunnel until he exited the cave. "It''s night time still," he muttered before glancing around. "Sigh, this brings back my earliest memories about that world."


    When he woke up at the previous words after being transmigrated, he headed to a forest and started to hunt down monsters and eat their meat to get stronger.


    And now he decided to try the same thing again. "Yet this time I''m all alone," he muttered while moving outside the deep groove and headed towards the nearby trees.


    "It''s night, so monsters should be active," he hoped to meet any monster that wasn''t cleared by the guards of this kingdom.


    Yet after an entire hour he had to drop this idea as he found nothing at all. "Sigh, these people seemed to take this task so seriously," he couldn''t help but resign to collect plants and fruits from the trees.


    At least these would provide enough energy to their bodies and would be much better than that rotten bread he lived upon back then.


    Just as he was on his way back, he felt a faint tremble coming from the ground. He hurriedly hid himself behind a group of large trees and waited.


    "Roar!"


    Just as he was down there he heard this faint roar coming from far. The world was so dark today with not enough light of the moon penetrating through the dense clouds in the sky.


    Even the stars were all gone.


    Yet after a couple of minutes, he could finally see a dark shadow so big in the air moving from one side to another. He couldn''t spot anything about it but that shadow seemed quite dangerous.


    And these annoying roars came from it.


    Arthur waited for ten more minutes before deciding to retreat. He knew keeping himself here was a bit dangerous and he already had enough food to satisfy their needs for the entire week.


    "You saw something moving in the air and emitting roaring sounds?!!" John was shocked the moment he heard his words.


    "Do you know what it was? is it the holy guardian?" Arthur asked.


    "No, it''s the patrolling elite guards of that damned kingdom," John said in dejected tone, "they are already searching for us¡­ that''s not good."


    "We can hide here then," Arthur suggested.


    "We¡­ these horses are ticking bombs," John said while motioning at the two horses.


    "Neigh!" and the male horse seemed to be offended by his words.


    "Indeed you are ticking bombs," yet John seemed to vent out his anger upon the horse, "you are being hunted down, and now we are in more danger because of you."


    The horse glanced at him for a second before neighing while shaking off his head. He seemed to ignore John and return to lay his head over the injured body of his girl.


    "That horse¡­" yet John seemed to be enraged by his actions.


    "Just drop it," Arthur couldn''t help but laugh, "he is just a mere horse after all."


    "He is one of those intelligent races of wild monsters," John said, "one of the rare who can understand our tongue yet they always feign ignorance."


    "They¡­ he can speak human tongue?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "Indeed he can," John said before suddenly shouting at the horse, "I know you can."


    And the horse kept ignoring him.


    "Now what can we do?" Arthur tried to divert John''s attention off the horses, "can we outrun them?"


    "In the daylight? We can''t," John bitterly said before adding, "we can only move during night and we must find a suitable place to hide before light shines again."


    "This¡­" Arthur felt his earlier decision to help John was indeed right. After all he wouldn''t know any place to hide in these lands at all and would eventually get caught. "Do you know of such places?"


    "I do," John nodded before pointing to his head, "I have all stored here, but there is a catch."


    Arthur already guessed it. "The distance is that big?" he asked and John nodded. "Then¡­" Arthur moved his head towards the horses.


    "No, they would bring more problems to us than help," John firmly refused this suggestion, "we need to find ourselves another ride."


    "From where?"


    "There are many towns and villages around," John said, "but to enter any we will need to go there in daylight and also would have to get checked by the guards there."


    "Each village is guarded?" Arthur was surprised when he heard that.

 Chapter 1085 - Prepared To Leave

    "That''s not the rule, but this time is different," John said and Arthur got his meaning.


    "So?" Arthur asked again, "what can we do?"


    "We¡­ sigh, we can''t go all alone without getting caught."


    "We can wait here then," Arthur said and when John gave him a stern glance he added, "or take them with us."


    "No, we better try out our luck instead," John said before adding, "let''s rest tomorrow and move the day after."


    He put a small piece of red fruit with luster inside his mouth before stretching his body over the ground and closed his eyes.


    And Arthur stood there helplessly looking at him. "You are stubborn," he couldn''t help but say.


    "I''m just trying to survive, that''s all," John said without opening his eyes, "I took an oath to myself not to return to such a place ever again. If I get caught, I''m ready to die and not return there."


    And Arthur gave him a weirder glance before shaking his head and returning to his spot of training.


    "So you can speak to me?" he muttered while gazing at the horse as he passed beside him. And the horse simply returned the glance with another calm one.


    "Hopefully you decide to tell me your story or else I''ll have to leave you all alone here."


    "Neigh!" and the horse seemed to be more stubborn than his friend.


    Arthur didn''t start his training before leaving enough fruit for the two horses beside them. "No need to thank me," he said before heading to his spot and the horse neighed in response.


    "Damn you two," and he only muttered before closing up his eyes and starting his training.


    For the next two days Arthur did nothing but train and eat fruits whenever he felt hungry. Other than this he didn''t speak with John again, as the latter was secluding himself, trying to train.


    Arthur once stopped to watch him training. He only stood silent for a few minutes while closing his eyes before starting to move his hands and legs like he was fighting with them.


    "Pathetic," this way didn''t appeal to Arthur who found his own way much better than this.


    The only thing that happened during these days was for the female horse to wake up. She seemed a bit weak, but at least her life wasn''t in any danger.


    And that made the male horse more grateful to Arthur as he kept nodding to him whenever he passed by the two lovers.


    "You should abandon your silence and speak to me as gratitude," Arthur said every time the horse nodded to him, yet the horse only kept neighing and feigning ignorance.


    If not for the firm words of John, Arthur would have bought this brilliant act from the horse.


    As for the female, she kept her silence and evaded glancing or reacting to his words.


    "We should move today."


    Just as he was taking moments of rest and eating beside the silent horses, John suddenly spoke for the first time in days. "We need to go out while it''s still dark."


    "Still planning to leave them here?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask.


    "Too risk to take these bombs without knowing what we are going to face," John glanced at the horses, "if they just spoke and told us everything we need, then we might have decided to take them with us."


    "Let me try one last time," Arthur didn''t abandon the hope to get these two horses with them while running away. After all, the speed of those giant horses was something that couldn''t be compared with any human speed.


    Even after accumulating all this energy inside his body, Arthur knew he still had a little distance left for him to walk before finally being able to train again.


    "C''mon pal," he stood in front of the two horses while addressing the male one, "I''m going out and my friend here refuses to take you with me. I need info, I need intel, I need to know what really happened and what caused that deep wound from before."


    "Neigh!"


    His horse kept his fake performance and that made Arthur glance in silence to him for a few minutes, hoping he would change his mind.


    "Just forget it," John''s loud voice came from behind, "these horses are famous for their stubbornness to any outsider."


    "But I saved his girl''s life," Arthur said, "I saved his kids'' lives, and I deserve not to be treated like an outsider."


    He kept standing for a few more minutes and just before he would drop everything and leave, the horse suddenly moved.


    This time he moved like a human, on two legs while raising the other two high in the air. Standing before such a giant horse in such a position made Arthur quite restless.


    Then the horse dropped something in his hand from his right raised hoof. It was a ring, and Arthur glanced strangely at it before glancing at the horse again.


    Couple seconds ago that horse didn''t have anything in his hooves.


    "Look for its owner, and she will help," a deep voice suddenly came to startle Arthur before the horse returned to his normal state and walked on four again.


    "You¡­ spoke!" Arthur was speechless for a moment before nodding as he wore the ring and tried to delve deeply inside it.


    Yet he was faced with strange resistance that told him the owner of that ring was still alive.


    "It''s not our fight," John grabbed his hand and started to leave the cave in wide steps, "and if I were you I would better throw that ring away¡­ it''s too eye-catching to carry around."


    Arthur glanced at it and found that big middle pink ore in the ring very special. It had vague small writings and it was surrounded by a group of five golden smaller ores like they were guarding it.


    "I''ll store it away," he agreed with John''s opinion about this ring¡­ it was truly too eye-catching.

 Chapter 1086 - The Hunt For Running Prisoners

    "You better throw it away," John advised before warning, "we are just mere ants in front of those royals. We should meddle in our own business here."


    Arthur simply nodded yet he stored the ring inside one of the three he currently had.


    And John shook his head in helplessness before the two moved away from the cave and returned to the place they first entered.


    "It''s night," Arthur couldn''t help but mutter the moment he reached the opening of that cave, "and the moon is brightly shining today."


    "It''s the great moon," John simply said, "it''s always shining bright these days before turning dim. C''mon, we have no time to waste."


    John wasn''t yet fully recovered but he was able to move on his own this time. The two climbed up the groove and stood on the surface while John took a deep and long breath. "How sweet is the taste of freedom¡­ may it last forever."


    "Amen," Arthur nodded.


    "From which direction you spotted that flying guard?" John asked without moving an inch.


    "Will he stay up there?" Arthur said in doubt.


    "He will scan pieces of land each day," John said, "so it''s safer to pass through what was initially scanned by him."


    Arthur got the idea before pointing to a certain direction and said, "he came from here and vanished towards there."


    "Hmm¡­ so they are already scanning the big road up ahead," John muttered, "it''s not too safe then to take it. We will just cross the road to the other side and start taking a detour from there."


    Arthur didn''t have a saying in that. After all John was his guide and he was just a newcomer here.


    "Don''t get lost," John started to run and Arthur simply shook his head bitterly as he started following him.


    The speed of John wasn''t that bad for such a middle aged man without a system. Yet compared to Arthur, he was like a turtle. If it was up to Arthur then he would prefer to create a gap and go up front to scout the lands.


    But he feared to get lost here.


    Under the bright silver light of the moon shining in this evening, the two found their way easily amidst many trees and rocks. "Is the road nearby?" Arthur couldn''t help but ask after one hour of silent running.


    "Just spare your energy pal, we have no time to rest until dawn," John didn''t speak otherwise and Arthur refrained from asking him again.


    Yet after another two hours of continuous running, Arthur started to hear some noise coming from up front.


    "It''s the main road," John simply said before warning, "reaching there we should behave like normal travelers. It''s normal for a few individuals to travel on their own."


    Arthur glanced at him in surprise while keeping himself running, "Will we take that road then?" he asked.


    "We need info," John explained, "we need to know what our enemy is doing."


    Arthur understood his meaning before pointing to the clothes they were wearing, "what about those?"


    "What about them?"


    "Two guards walking in the road and befriending the passengers while our enemies are looking for two guards in these areas¡­" Arthur didn''t need to continue while glancing in a meaningful way to his friend.


    And John frowned for a moment while understanding his little grave mistake here. "Then we should break the pattern," John decided, "I''ll go and meddle with some caravans and you keep yourself on the side."


    Arthur got his idea. "Breaking up the pattern sounds good, but if you can then try to steal some clothes for us."


    "I''ll try my best," John knew this was the best action to avoid any future troubles, "but I won''t risk alarming anyone to this area."


    "Alright then," Arthur didn''t argue much with his friend as he knew he was worried about those flying patrols.


    In less than ten minutes the sounds coming from the far started to grow louder. "We are near enough," John said, "I''ll go now and try to act as someone inspecting their caravans. You keep yourself walking to the front and wait for me."


    "Good luck then," Arthur said before watching John running towards the direction of the road.


    "At least you got me this far," Arthur muttered as he knew John wasn''t going to scout for news and return, but he was planning to ditch him.


    Arthur only waited for a few minutes before running in the direction John ran towards.


    Arthur wasn''t that shocked about John''s decision. After all, the two weren''t formally acquinticies or something. The distance to the road took roughly ten minutes to cross.


    And when he reached there, he found a wide road paved with special ores that made its surface glistering smoothly under the shining light of that big rounded moon.


    That one hundred meters wide road was now filled with caravans marching in two opposing directions, one going to the castle direction and the other moving away from it.


    And there were many people marching without carriages at all, and even many had horses either walking on their sides or riding them.


    "Where have you gone?" Arthur''s eyes were dazzled with all those passengers and he couldn''t help but walk at the same pace as them.


    "Hello Mr guard, may I take a minute with you?" Suddenly one of the passengers on the side moved a couple of steps and approached Arthur.


    "I''m not that free to hear nonsense," Arthur tried to mimic the attitude of that harsh guard he first killed.


    "Sure, I won''t take much of your time," the man seemed quite relaxed the moment he heard Arthur''s answer, "it''s just some folks a couple of minutes ago caught one of those runners."


    "Oh," Arthur''s eyes shone brightly, "where is that damned prisoner?" he said, playing his role the best he could, "humph, thinking he would escape from us¡­ that bastard deserves instant death."


    The man stopped couple of steps away from Arthur before whispering:


    "I know it''s none of my business, but what really happened back there?"


    "Why are you asking?" Arthur asked, "it''s not that you weren''t there when everything happened."

 Chapter 1087 - Getting Near A Village

    "I was in the big castle indeed," the man nodded and Arthur could see his face was void of any sign of tiredness or hard work, "but I didn''t get what happened."


    "None of your business," Arthur just closed the topic with this rude answer.


    "Alright, just don''t get mad at me," the man raised both of his hands, "I just want to ask for a trade here."


    "About what?"


    "About that prisoner," the man said with a big smile, "if someone like him was courageous enough to escape from the tight prison, then he should be very capable¡­ right?"


    Arthur''s face changed and a fake glimpse of anger flashed over him. "If I were you, I would keep my own thoughts to myself."


    The man suddenly took out a ring after glancing around fast, "this is just a gift. I''ve done many deals with your friends and got myself a lot of benefits. And it''s an exaggeration to say they also gained the same or even more."


    Arthur glanced at the ring before taking it in swift motion. "What do you want?" he asked before turning around and glancing at the man''s entourage of around a dozen other men and a bunch of armed guards around the big carriage, "who are you?"


    "Well, I believe we can skip such useless introductions," the man smiled, "I believe that ring will be enough as an answer."


    Arthur got his meaning and the next moment he checked the ring. There was no resistance at all in the ring and there he found many coins that he admired most and many ores, plus some weapons.


    "Indeed is sufficient," Arthur nodded, "then I can say that this road is safe and no one is here looking suspicious."


    "Mr. Guard is indeed right and wise," the man smiled, "but y''know some accidents might happen along this long road. With the presence of such prisoners out there, some might get hurt."


    Arthur nodded. "I believe such actions are just normal findings here," he said before adding, "I hope you won''t be a victim of such things."


    "I won''t," the man laughed, "and I hope you can reassure your friends about this."


    Arthur nodded and took his leave. He went back for a couple of minutes before the entire man''s caravan went off sight. "Sigh, you brought this to yourself and all I can do now is to run alone," Arthur muttered, knowing that John was too anxious to get his freedom even at his expense.


    Arthur then moved to the other side of the road and started running after getting enough distance off the road. This time he had no extra weight and started to travel faster with his high speed.


    "That mountain¡­" as he kept running for hours, he couldn''t think of anything but that giant shadow looming up front in the dark. He previously saw it when he first entered the port.


    It was such a solitary mountain standing all alone in the middle of the world. "I never thought it would be this far," after a couple more hours he started to grow restless. "These patrols¡­ I have never met anyone so far but it''s still risky to travel at the light."


    As he kept running forward, he started to think about his other options. That dark shadow seemed like a far fetched target to him. So he decided to look for other places he could hide, especially when the dawn was drawing near.


    "Should I go to one of those lights?" During his run he spotted many far lights shining in the dark. From their sizes and the intensity of the lights he could tell they were villages.


    Yet he dropped this when he saw his uniform. That guard uniform helped him to get out of the prison but sticking to it would bring him back to it.


    "I need to find a new set of clothes," he decided as this was the wisest decision he could take now. "I should solve this problem at once," he decided then to head to one village and try to sneak into it.


    As he got closer he could see the village buildings from far. "So they do have walls," he couldn''t help but think his luck was bad. "I can''t get in from the front door. I need to look for another one that is easy to sneak in."


    He stopped getting to this village as he changed direction and started running towards another light spot in the distance.


    Each spot of lights took roughly half an hour to reach, and after three more hours he didn''t find any village he could enter.


    "Stop right there," yet just before he could leave away from the last village he reached, this strong shout came to startle him from behind.


    He turned and saw a small group of five people moving fast to surround him. What attracted his attention wasn''t their weapons or bigger numbers, or even these scars over their faces which gave them a vicious expression¡­ it was their clothes.


    They were wearing different sets of clothes with blue, dark, and red colors in them.


    "What do you want?" Arthur strongly asked while taking out two swords off his ring, "clear the way or else your lives will be the cost for your rudeness."


    "Hahaha, you are such a funny guard," one of the middle aged men said while others laughed with him. "We outnumber you, and if you want to keep your dirty head over your shoulders then you should nicely and calmly drop your weapons and your rings and gears here then leave."


    "It''s a far distance from your base guard, and you should know it''s not safe to walk alone in these lands during night," another one said in mockery.


    "It''s not his option my friend," another said while seeming to enjoy this catch, "they set their precious prison on fire and many escaped. They had to go out and roam the lands looking for those escapers."


    "Yeah, this isn''t the first guard we met since that started, and he won''t be the last."